The music was exceptionally loud and Park Chanyeol wasn’t sure if he was able to stay in that club for another second.

He fidgeted on his bright red plastic bar stool, feet on the floor (because everyone knew he was a goddamn giant), either his right or left hand busy pushing the frame of his big glasses that perched on the bridge of his now sweaty nose, and his dark hair was messy from all the stuff he had gone through. He had never ever been to a place this loud, and bearing with the music was a torture itself. If he were capable of escaping, he definitely would, but Oh Sehun – the friendliest-of-all-jocks friend he had – would totally be upset not to find him on his place and Chanyeol wasn’t going to make any more enemies (while the last enemy he made was, like, when he was still in elementary school), especially the well-known football player and Homecoming King Oh Sehun. He could imagine what things that Sehun could do to tear his grades down and take over his three years in-a-row valedictorian title (metaphorically saying – because of all people, Sehun wasn’t in his list to steal it away from him).

He took a glance at those heavily raving people; bodies sliding against each other in a discreetly sensual way, letting themselves drown into the music and crazy strobe lights and left no space on the dance floor for one to join. It was packed – blame T.G.I.F for technically everything – and he had heard from Sehun that the DJ was a girl who “got whacked some sense of excellent beats to her mind.” Still, whatever nickname people were throwing at her (“Some called her ‘The Bride of Rhythm’, but I’d like to call her myself as ‘y ’, ‘cause she got the whole rhythm workin’ right behind her”), Chanyeol wasn’t going to neither Google her nor search pictures of her “rhythmic” .

Guzzling down to a glass of ice cold water, he washed away his concentration on the dance floor to an instant brainfreeze. He shook his head to clear his mind, but ended up emitting an embarrassing ‘brrr’ – luckily, it was only heard by the nearby bartender.

Who knew that brainfreeze could eventually bring him and his heart to the love of his life?

Chanyeol always thought that he was one unlucky nerd, but the club proved that he was completely wrong – in the place he least expected to happen, plus the wrong timing and some other mistake that made one Godzilla of Park Chanyeol.

It was an accidental – and lucky – eye contact. Right across the dance floor stood a brunet with the darkest shade of brown spilled all over his mop of hair. He wasn’t the typical one to catch everyone’s eyes in a club or to be the main character of a cheesy romantic novel Chanyeol had been reading over the last two weekends (and he stopped because he decided that reading a Cosmopolitan magazine was much worth the waste), but he was enough to catch Chanyeol’s attention. He was standing on the corner like a wallflower (or maybe he was – just like Chanyeol) and his glasses slid when he held on Chanyeol’s gaze. And he was smiling. A mere small smile to express friendliness, but it managed to steal Chanyeol’s heart! Was he cheap, or perhaps the smile was simply breathtaking?

By instinct, Chanyeol knew somehow he had to get up from his seat and reach for that brunet over there. Crossing through the dance floor would be an obstacle itself, but who was Park Chanyeol to care about it? Yes, he was pretty much aware about himself being the only nerd in a club full of people with reputations to keep and alcohol to drink, but knowing that he wasn’t the only nerd in the club already boosted his (nerdy) self-esteem. And he’d like to call dibs on this attractive nerd he just saw.

C’mon, Park Chanyeol. Make a move before some other weirdos will, he thought to himself, slowly pushing himself off the stool and towards the dance floor, gulping hard.

The figure of that dark-haired boy suddenly came back to his view, making the complaints and grunts of disapproval within his earshot dissipated as he cut through the crowd like a boss. Except for the music. It was loud in his ears – ringing, even. The lyrics were crystal clear and the beating of his heart made a great sync with it.

This must be love.

Boom! Clap!

The sound of my heart.

The beat goes on and on and on and on and.

Boom! Clap!

You make me feel good.

Come on to me, come on to me now.

Before he knew it, his life took a dramatic turn and everything was in a slow motion once that brunet turned from where he was looking and took a glimpse at what commotion was happening in the middle of the crowd. And, of course, he recognized that stuck out tall build he saw earlier. His eyes widened – poor Chanyeol’s heart had to bear with the cuteness – when that tall build was, in fact, looking and coming to his direction.

With ragged breathing, Chanyeol finally reached his destination (which was inappropriately exactly in front of the brunet and the other could easily mistaken it with a mock of height contrast between them both, and that would be a serious problem of misunderstanding) and he settled on looking down at the brunet’s gleaming orbs behind those lenses. Funny thing that the other didn’t feel intimidated by the taller’s presence. It was as if there was a chemistry going on between them, and none of them wanted their constant eye contact to break.

“Is there…any formula for me to invent so I can figure out what your name is?,” Chanyeol unexpectedly blurted out like he was born for pick-up lines – smartypants way. He grinned awkwardly, holding his hand out for the other to shake on, “and, uh…I’m Chanyeol. Park Chanyeol, by the way. Nice meeting you.”

The other chuckled at the awkward air that lingered around them, but he smiled it away and took Chanyeol’s callous hand (compared to his smaller and softer one) in his, shaking their clasped hands slowly as if he were afraid if he went too quick the taller one would slither away from his grip. “No, you don’t need to invent anything, Chanyeol. For you, I’m giving it away for free,” he said, widening his already broad smile, “I’m Byun Baekhyun. And nice meeting you, too.”

His voice. It was…velvety and drawn with light streak of humour. Chanyeol’s head was spinning. Was this what everyone called ‘love’? If it was, then damn. He felt like he was going to puke.

“Are you okay with the idea that you’re currently talking with a total stranger now?,” Chanyeol stated rigidly before pulling his hand back, attempting to make this as a safe, brand new friendship prior to going further, “because, you know…mom advised you not to talk with strangers?”

Baekhyun widened his smile, and Chanyeol tried so hard to regain his gradually crumbling mental composure, which he failed miserably, resulting for him to widen his awkward grin. “Did you just imply that I look like a seven-year-old?,” the smaller asked in a cheerful voice, differed from the previous tone (and Chanyeol couldn’t deny that, so he stayed silent), “now that I’ve known your name, you’re not a stranger anymore, right?”

“Oh. Right. Acquaintances,” Chanyeol said between a fake cough he produced, and he scratched the back of his head to make out some more words out of that big brain of his, “that’s some…um…good progress right there.”

Baekhyun let out a brief laugh before speaking again, “since we’re acquaintances now, I’d like to know more about you, Park Chanyeol.” And he adjusted those glasses on his nose by scrunching his nose slightly.

Chanyeol nodded enthusiastically before claiming a short, “ask away!,” and he braced himself for the questions he was going to face.

Apparently, Baekhyun wasn’t a fan of giving witty questions, despite of the image he was sporting. He liked them simple and made sure they were clear enough for Chanyeol to comprehend. And Chanyeol felt like this small guy over here was underestimating his brain to process every word he was saying, but it wasn’t like he was complaining though. He liked to watch those small cherry lips parting and would curve in every smile, and Baekhyun was right to speak carefully because it was hard for the taller to focus. Yet it wasn’t any better for Chanyeol because damn, Baekhyun just made it harder for him to focus.

It turned out that Chanyeol was the one to discover a lot about Baekhyun. Baekhyun was schooling at the rival school – “Are we stuck in a modern Romeo and Juliet cliché now?,” and Baekhyun laughed at that response – and he lived ten blocks away from Chanyeol’s, which was in a distance Chanyeol needed to re-consider if he wanted to pay a visit later on – yes, he was that lazy to go everywhere on foot. He was dragged by his two popular friends named Luhan and Do Kyungsoo – “I’m definitely their DUFF, judging from my style and their style” – and he told some stories about how they eventually became BFF (“Freshman year, new faces, shy introductions. But, I ended up getting closer with them, which was weird, since we were practically no one to each other – just like you and me! I approached them first and boom! We’re inseparable!”). His hobbies were playing the piano, listening to music, and reading books (he even told Chanyeol that he had this weird childhood dream to read every book that existed in the whole universe). His all-time favourite book was The Adventures of Tom Sawyer because it was the first book he read. He also preferred listening to Classical music rather than EDM, and Chanyeol told him that EDM was a pain to his eardrums, too, so he couldn’t stand being in a club for hours if he wasn’t being forced to stay by his ‘The Bride of Rhythm’-crazed friend. He liked the colour black and white because he liked the way monochromic colours complement with each other, just like Yin and Yang did, and the last but not least, his birthday was in 6^th of May.

Then, Chanyeol was going to ask his final and most awkward question of them all before Baekhyun’s friend – he assumed that it was the Luhan one because of his Chinese features (and now he knew why Baekhyun said he might can’t believe it when he said that Luhan was two months older than him, because he could think that Luhan was waaayyy younger than that) – came hurling at them both like a party-crasher with a drunken boy trailing behind him – the Do Kyungsoo one, maybe. The words he was screaming through the ear-piercing music were frantic, like his mom was going to lock him in his room for passing his curfew, and he ignored the distinct tall figure in front of Baekhyun.

The other looked at Chanyeol with hesitation written all over his face, and without any phone numbers exchanged – Chanyeol was hoping he could get a hold of Baekhyun’s number, but boy, was he unlucky – he was pulled by Luhan out of the club and he waved his very first goodbye at the ignored tall guy. And it could possibly be the very last.

Chanyeol sighed out loud, back hunched and shoulders slumped, knowing it was time to bury that last question deep into his brain so it wouldn’t re-surface anymore. Not until he had the chance to meet Baekhyun again. Their first meeting was a complete bummer.

“Hey, I was thinking if you’d be willing to hit the dance floor with me just this once. So…would you?”

And Chanyeol swore to God he had been saving that in his mind for the whole night since the first time his gaze fell on Baekhyun’s shining ones, though he knew he couldn’t rely on his dancing skill.

Obviously, Byun Baekhyun was at fault for it.

 

Monday Geography worsened his broken heart. Was it really called ‘love’?

Wow.

Painful much.

He felt like if this feeling continued to meddle with him, he was going to fail not only on Geography, but on every class he was going to attend through the day. Scribbling Baekhyun’s name on his notebook wasn’t how he wanted his day to start, either. Moreover, Mr. Kim’s stare on him intensified when he didn’t raise a hand on every single question he was giving out that day. And Sehun was eerily less annoying to his senses, although that guy had practically threw every stuff he had in his backpack to the taller’s back for blocking his view or was simply throwing them for his own entertainment. And Park Chanyeol that usually got bothered with it was a little bit too different that day.

And Oh Sehun the Sherlock-wannabe came to a conclusion that it was unusual for that tall-as- of a friend to be that silent.

Thus, Sehun chose to sit next to Chanyeol instead of across him on the cafeteria table. The giant was nibbling on a carrot stick absently while his eyes were glued to the Geography textbook spread open on the table, re-reading to the whole chapter Mr. Kim just taught them. Sehun was simply sitting there, eyes boring hole on the other’s temple, waiting for Chanyeol to finally notice him.

Finally, with a five-minute interval, Chanyeol closed the book and turned his head to look at Sehun with half-lidded eyes, putting the carrot stick down, lips pressed together in a thin, unamused line. “Okay, state your business, Oh,” he said nonchalantly, and held a finger up, continuing before he could let the other talk, “but, this time, you’re going to follow my rule, alright? No more invitation for midnight clubbing, and that’s it.”

“But, I thought you’ve encountered something interesting back in the club.”

Widened eyes and gaping mouth.

Bingo.

“N-No, I didn’t,” Chanyeol denied, shaking his head before looking at the cover of the Geography book, “I-I’ve only encountered that clubbing is the stupidest activity an insanely idiotic human being has ever done.”

“C’mon, Chanyeol. You’re not the world’s biggest mystery, so why trying to cover up?,” Sehun said, nudging on Chanyeol’s arm with his elbow, “tell me; what was this person’s appearance like? What did you find interesting in this person? Eyes? Nose? Lips? Or maybe something more than that? Did you manage to get lucky with this person?”

“Get lucky? Sehun, would your logic ever reach the fact that no one wants to get lucky with someone as inexperienced as me? And, moreover, an inexperienced nerd?,” Chanyeol stated firmly, and he looked at Sehun in the eye, “and if they do, I wouldn’t get lucky with someone I barely knew. Did I make myself clear to you already?”

“You may be a nerd, but you’re not a goddamn saint, so stop acting like one,” the other said, jabbing a finger onto the taller’s shoulder, “and I know that secret file in your laptop that consists of your... fantasies.”

Chanyeol gasped. “Oh, no, you in’ didn’t!”

Sehun smiled evilly, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “Oh, yes, I did.”

The taller held up a finger and his mouth was gaping like a fish desperate for water as he tried so hard to restrain from punching Sehun square in the face. He ended up grumbling in disdain, slamming his fist on his Geography book – poor, book – and opened it on a random page, reading to whatever the page served.

“Your temper is kinda bad, Chanyeol. You need a management for it,” Sehun said, patting Chanyeol on the shoulder before the other shrugged his hand off, “wanna punch some hamburgers?”

“Nope. Not hungry. Just stay out of my sight for now, alright, Sehun? And no more midnight clubbing.”

Sehun shrugged and said a curt ‘suit yourself’ before leaving the tall boy alone with his Geography book, heading to the hamburger stand on the corner of the cafeteria when suddenly a wild Kim Jongin appeared, giving the other a deadly headlock with a huge grin splayed on his face. Jongin came to the club, too, but he rather mingled with other people than a nerd like Chanyeol (but he wasn’t a bad person in Chanyeol’s list either, so they were cool).

 

Other than Sehun’s confrontation on him in the cafeteria, the rest of the day wasn’t pretty much of an event, much to Chanyeol’s dismay. Arrived home; kissed his mother on the cheek; mowed the neighbor’s lawn for some pocket money; had dinner; reviewed everything he learned at school; replied to Sehun’s texts; slept with great expectation of what was to come on the next day. If he were to sum up his everyday life activities in one-hundred words, he’d be absolutely screwed, because his life couldn’t even reach fifty words.

The next morning gave him the energy to go to school and come back home. But he wasn’t prepared for what was packed for him.

He walked to school with his eyes glued to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer he retrieved from his bookshelf, reading what kind of fun he overlooked from one of the masterpieces Charles Dickens’ fans had come to love (including Baekhyun). As an avid fan of Super Mario Bros and Pac-Man, little Chanyeol never read the novels his mother had given to him, so this book had survived for fifteen years in his bookshelf, dusty and was slowly eaten by age. And he swore to himself that that book was going to be the first novel he finished reading. He expected a day or two to finish it, based on his calculations.

But, sadly, he didn’t expect that he’d collide with someone as he was reading it. He miscalculated everything.

The figure he collided into was smaller than him, but the brute force made him fall flat on his back while his glasses flew forward, letting out a loud ‘oof!’ when he landed on the cold, hard pavement. Sharp pain started to shoot up his spine, and God, it hurt so much. He groaned as he slowly relaxed his tormented morning muscles on the cold surface, fluttering his eyes close and spread his arms wide, uncurling his fingers on the book and let it lay exactly next to him. He decided that it was too agonizing to wake up right now – silently wishing he wouldn’t receive any concussion after this – and the weight on him wasn’t helping. It didn’t budge either – was still trying to grasp the fact that it ran into a person and accidentally tackled Chanyeol down to the ground, probably.

“I-I’m sorry!”

Chanyeol groaned again when the figure finally spoke, starting an earsplitting ring as he tried to process the voice into his brain. Opening his eyes, he welcomed the intense sunlight and the view in front of his blurry eyes. There was someone’s face, blocking his view from the vast heavens high above him, and it was oddly familiar, despite of his inability to focus.

“W-Wait. C-Chanyeol?”

Familiarity washed over Chanyeol’s frozen being. It was the voice he knew, too. He needed his glasses back, like, right now.

“B-Baekhyun? Is that you?,” he said, cringing inwardly when he sounded like he was blind and desperately in need of some sort of confirmation. He groaned again once he shifted and sat up, Baekhyun leaning back to give the other room and he stood up hastily, realizing his awkward position.

“Y-Yeah, it’s me,” Baekhyun said, extending an arm at Chanyeol for him to grab, “anyways, are you…okay? Because...from the loud thud when you fell...it doesn’t sound okay. At all.”

“To be honest, no,” Chanyeol said, taking the other’s hand in his own and without the laughter he released on the next second, Baekhyun would’ve thought he was dead serious about it, “still, my back hurts like hell, though. A day-off for massage will be nice.”

Stepping back, Baekhyun pulled the tall figure up with a grunt, and the taller was finally back on his feet, wincing whenever he tried to straighten his back. “Sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going,” the shorter of the two responded, re-adjusting the position of his glasses, “to think about it, my rush was unnecessary, and I was kinda hoping to catch with my friends before the bell rings, so…I’m really sorry to have you inflicted in this inconvenient accident.”

“It’s alright,” Chanyeol piped up, trying not to roam his eyes around for his glasses whilst the other crouched down for the taller’s glasses, “I was reading a book, too, so I didn’t see you at all.”

Simultaneously, the shorter took the book and stood back up as he handed them both to the owner. “Tom Sawyer, huh?,” he said, lips breaking into a wide grin, “what made you to re-read it?”

“Uh, no offense, but I’ve never read it in my whole life,” Chanyeol replied as a-matter-of-factly, clearing his throat, “and you’re the reason why I’m reading this now. I don’t usually read books like this, but…yeah. My sentence explained everything already.”

“Me? As in Byun Baekhyun?”

“Yeah. You.”

His grin turned into a sheepish one. “Are you sure? That book was, like, my first book ever, which I read on my childhood days. It could’ve bored you outta your mind,” he stated, shifting his weight from one foot to another.

“I’ve promised to finish it, so I can’t back out now, can I?,” Chanyeol said, mirroring the other’s wide grin, “and I’ve promised myself that if I ever finish this, I’ll take you out on a date.”

Baekhyun’s grin widened even more – if that was possible.

“Can’t wait ‘till then.”