(un)conventional

[happyxings]

title: (un)conventional
pairing: baekhyun/chanyeol
rating: m?
length: 7.8k
summary: a cliched story about cliched characters
notes: sehun, tao and jongin are female in this ;u; happy valentine's day everyone !!

((also I'm sorry I made chanyeol musically-inept in this ;n;))



it definitely isn't love at first sight for either of them.

chanyeol is the too loud eight-year-old who thinks throwing paper balls across the room when the teacher's back is turned is funny, and baekhyun is the right type of quiet who picks up all the scrunched-up homework to recycle properly at the end of class.

chanyeol is the class clown full of fart jokes and imitations, in the center of attention, and baekhyun keeps to the outskirts of the crowd, humming songs to himself. he prefers it that way.

they go to different middle schools, chanyeol taking up lacrosse and baekhyun joining orchestra and choir for extra credit in the meantime. life goes on; they hit puberty, experiencing those awkward voice cracks and mood swings that come with becoming a teenager.

when they meet again, chanyeol is nearly six feet tall with a lean build made for sports, a stark contrast to that chubby kid in fifth grade. baekhyun doesn't pay much attention though, too distracted with his own classes. he's stayed the same tiny kid from elementary, his slim stature growing to only eight inches past five feet.

they end up attending the same high school, along with a few other kids from their elementary school days, geared for exceptionally bright students who excel in fields outside of academia. 'creating future celebrities' is the unofficial motto that gets passed around; it's a private school like no other, where uniforms are worn to create a sense of equality within the walls, but despite that, dress code regulations don't mean a thing.

chanyeol makes first string as right winger a few months into freshman year, having switched to ice hockey as his main sport a year before entering high school. his talent is highly recognized, the coach already keeping a close eye on him. baekhyun keeps himself busy at home with his instruments and headphones. he uploads his first video to youtube in winter, a violin and vocal cover of 'rather be'. it gets over thirty thousand views before second semester starts.

they fall on opposite ends of the social spectrum; chanyeol spends time in the rink or gym, and baekhyun invests himself in music and the arts department, taking different classes related to their field. the two of them don't cross paths, so it's expected they don't know much about the other except for their associated labels of 'jock' and 'musician'.

after summer break chanyeol gets mentioned in the local newspaper as a key player to look out for, and his popularity skyrockets even more in school; the tall freshman born for hockey. he tries out for the district's under 18s team and makes the cut, practicing at the city rink every monday and wednesday night.

baekhyun hits twenty thousand subscribers with only ten covers in just under three months. some people in school tell him they've seen him on youtube, and he just smiles and accepts their compliments with a bashful demeanour.

a few weeks into first semester, baekhyun exhausts all the local talent shows and minor competitions he can sign up for. he racks up a wallet and shelf full of gift card prizes, plastic medals and tiny trophies. as per his violin teacher's suggestion, he signs up for a state wide competition, placing fifth in his instrument.

kyungsoo, a fellow musician, likes to talk baekhyun's ear off about ice hockey, because he's got his eye on wufan, the goalie for the school's team. baekhyun doesn't listen much and barely registers when park chanyeol's name comes up in conversation. in baekhyun's eyes, he's still the kid who couldn't colour inside the lines and liked to blow-burp. from what he's heard, rumour or not, park chanyeol is the literal embodiment of the jock stereotype.

the school holds a compulsory awards assembly during the day, calling up sports players first (chanyeol among them) to award some mvp things that baekhyun doesn't care for. he looks up briefly from his sheet music he smuggled in when the student body claps, and his eyes widen slightly when he notices just how much chanyeol has grown over the years. it's only the end of freshman year, summer being three days away, and chanyeol is past the six foot mark, hair all grown out and wavy. he gets a medal placed around his neck by the district's sports official and heads back to his seat with wufan, hooking an arm around his neck as they examine the other's medals for best in their shared sport. the headmaster moves the assembly along to academics, followed by drama and theatre, and baekhyun zones out again, tapping his pencil against his knee as he hums a melody under his breath. his ears only perk up near the end of the hour when he hears his own name being called and all of a sudden the gym is filled with applause and kyungsoo is shoving him up to go down to the front. he stands meekly in front of the hundreds of pairs of eyes next to the head of the music department as he announces byun baekhyun as 'most dedicated' and 'shows most promise' for the next academic year. kyungsoo gets 'most skilled vocal improvement'.

chanyeol plays more games during summer, his district team advancing to quarter-finals within the tri-city area championships. baekhyun continues to upload covers, sometimes mixing it up with piano or acapella. he doesn't think to post his own compositions just yet.

their first official interaction happens during junior year.

an opportunity for baekhyun comes up, his violin coach bringing up berklee's summer program workshop that immediately catches his interest. baekhyun almost right away gets to spending his sixth periods in the third floor music room at the end of the hall working on his application.

he normally takes the first ten minutes of independent music study to unwind after history, tinkering on the piano or singing along to whatever song comes on shuffle on his ipod. it's exactly three weeks before his deadline when he's casually covering 'stay with me' on violin (a possible new cover for his youtube channel) pausing for one second to check his violin is in tune, that the door handle of the music room jiggles and baekhyun watches with a substantial amount of confusion as some junior varsity player backs a girl into the room, their lips attached as they giggle into each other's mouths. his arms are around her waist, and baekhyun gets more and more insulted with every passing second that they don't notice his presence. or the fact they just barged into his music room.

jocks don't even have classes on this side of the school, and baekhyun knows for a fact that they're skipping class to... canoodle. he waits for another few seconds before lifting the violin to place his chin on the rest, coughing loudly and stringing the bow as loud as he can against the strings as he continues to play sam smith. the two of them spring apart, and baekhyun rolls his eyes when he looks up to see park chanyeol colouring. he doesn't break from playing, merely muttering to himself how inconsiderate people can be as he stares at the frozen state the both of them are in.

"the door is to your left," baekhyun says over his playing in a tone more harsher than expected, and watches with some slight amusement as the girl scurries out, red with embarrassment.

"shit, shit, sorry," chanyeol says before leaving, but baekhyun simply plays louder in efforts to pay him no attention. he closes his eyes, hoping that the next time he opens them, park chanyeol won't be in the room and the door will be closed.

he ends up playing for an extra ten minutes before starting work on his composition, the interruption making him too frazzled to think.

he doesn't expect another disturbance a week later, much less by the same person.

this time, it's more polite. baekhyun's eyebrows furrow, and he lowers his violin down, voice a little apprehensive as he answers the knock with, "come in."

"um, hi, again."

baekhyun lets out a deep breath, shaking his head as he brings his violin back up to place on his shoulder; he can't believe he stopped for park chanyeol, again.

he proceeds to ignore him, trying to avoid looking at him out of the corner of his eye as he reads the sheet music off the stand in front of him; it's his original composition-in-progress that he scribbled down months ago before he even heard of the program. he's being interrupted in the middle of his work, trying to work out exactly what it is that's bothering him about the piece he's got written. it's still far from perfect.

chanyeol doesn't do anything but watch, softly shutting the door behind him so the sound doesn't travel down the corridor. baekhyun makes a show of rolling his eyes, decidedly blocking out the image of park chanyeol in his own space and figuring out he'll leave once baekhyun shows he's not listening.

he's not even three quarters through his composition before he exhales in frustration and glares at him, stopping abruptly as he bites out, "what do you want?"

chanyeol teeths at his bottom lip, "um, I wanted to properly apologize. I know it's been like a week, but I didn't know where to find you."

"well you're not doing a very good job of it," baekhyun says, walking over to momentarily place his violin carefully back in its case as he turns to face him, hands on hips.

"I'm really sorry! we didn't know that this room was being used," chanyeol flushes, and baekhyun's gaze drops to his hands fidgeting with the hem of his shirt.

is park chanyeol nervous?

baekhyun shakes the thought out of his head; it shouldn't concern him either way.

"well now you do. so you can leave and stop bothering me."

"no, I'm not going to go until you accept my apology."

baekhyun's eyebrows rise ever so slightly. he isn't expecting park chanyeol to have this much... pride? was that even the right word? "aren't you supposed to be in a class right now?"

chanyeol doesn't say anything, and it's the fleeting look of resignation in his eyes that causes baekhyun to quicken the conversation so he can just leave, "okay, okay, fine, I accept."

"that doesn't sound sincere," chanyeol worries at his bottom lip.

"listen," baekhyun starts looking him straight in the eye, "I accept your apology. thank you for taking the time to say sorry."

it's a shock when chanyeol suddenly smiles, a bright one that seems to reach his ears, "it's no trouble! I have to admit, I like hearing you play. you have some serious talent."

it's a compliment heard time and time again before, but baekhyun waits until chanyeol excuses himself with a, "see you around," and, "sorry again," before blushing slightly.

chanyeol doesn't pay much attention whenever one of the girls in his circle of friends starts talking about guys, because he already knows more than he'd like to about their top twenty ranking of male butts in the school (he sits at nineteen, not that he's bitter about it). but his ears perk up during lunch, attention straying away from the nhl stats yixing is complaining about and towards the girls' conversation about a certain musician.

"my parents dragged me to the music recital yesterday, and wow, baekhyun is really so good at violin."

"looks like someone's got a crush~" one of the other girls laughs, and sehun colours.

"who's got a crush?" chanyeol cuts in at the mention of baekhyun's name, and sehun quickly tries to shush the girls.

"sehun likes baekhyun," zitao teases. "he's that music student on youtube or something. you remember him from elementary, don't you?"

"oh. yeah." chanyeol says, and his participation in the conversation ends when yixing and wufan bombard him with predictions of who's going to win this year's stanley cup.

the next time chanyeol and baekhyun meet, it's in the bathroom.

"oh, hey," chanyeol greets him first, and baekhyun blinks a couple of times before realizing there's no one else in the toilets he could be talking to.

"hi." baekhyun frowns slightly, turning off the tap to grab a paper towel.

"haven't seen you around," chanyeol tries to casually comment, before instantly regretting it the moment he sees baekhyun's face.

"we are in different programs."

"right, right, I know that," chanyeol laughs, scratching the back of his head. he makes no move to use the stalls or urinals, and baekhyun arches an eyebrow, chucking the towel into the trash as he walks past him.

chanyeol remembers the conversation during lunch yesterday, and it would be really easy to ask him, and why not? so he turns back quickly and, "hey, by the way, are you free this weekend?"

baekhyun halts with a foot in the door. "what? why?"

"I have a friend... she's interested in you. what do you think?"

baekhyun thinks on it for a moment, "sorry, I don't date." he juts his chin out at a urinal to change topic, "didn't you need to pee?"

chanyeol's eyes grow wide when he remembers that yes, that is the exact reason why he came into the bathroom, and baekhyun laughs, walking out the door and letting it swing shut behind him before chanyeol runs over to empty his bladder.

chanyeol is dragged by his parents to the school's winter gala, a fancy benefit event where everyone gets all dressed up only to get drunk and piss away their money on auctioned donations they don't even need. chanyeol groans, tugging at the bowtie his mother practically forced around his neck. it's stuffy wearing a suit, and he'd much rather be in his hoodie and plain jeans, but he can't exactly "show up to an event ticketed at $120 per head with his three-year old jeans". it's a good thing he's got wufan with him though, having been saddled into coming as well by his own very persuasive mother. the two families are seated at the same table, and chanyeol and wufan spend less time concentrating on what items are being auctioned off and more on which of their teachers is going to puke before the night is over. he doesn't realize there are performances to watch as well, until the arts department head is on stage announcing the start of the entertainment portion of the evening, and chanyeol yawns.

he's just about to fall asleep when baekhyun walks onto stage, followed by a smaller boy who goes to stand at the microphone. baekhyun's got his violin, raised and ready, and chanyeol quickly jolts wide awake, grabbing the programme from his father's hands and skimming through the names until he spies byun baekhyun listed right next to a do kyungsoo's name, as a featured musical accompaniment.

wufan looks at him with a strange look, but chanyeol is too concentrated on the way baekhyun looks in a suit, all dressed up, hair styled back instead of the way it normally just hangs in front of his eyes. he watches as baekhyun throws kyungsoo a reassuring grin before beginning to play, and then kyungsoo starts to sing.

when the gala ends, chanyeol goes home that night with the sound of the violin and image of that smile burning in his mind. to say he's mesmerized is an understatement.

baekhyun submits his application three days before the deadline, closing his eyes as he prays for his own luck before letting the package fall through the mail slot. he hopes it's all enough to secure him a spot.

baekhyun doesn't care for sports, as he's told kyungsoo time and time again. the younger doesn't listen though, insistent on dragging him to the mandatory pep rally because, "it's all for school spirit". baekhyun unwillingly goes, glad they run into lu han on the way to piling into the bleachers, because now he can take his only chance to ditch when kyungsoo is distracted by their friend. he'll apologize to him later with a chocolate bar.

he hides out in the boy's locker room for a while until he hears footsteps and a teacher's voice at the door, and he quickly scrambles out the other exit, making sure to grab his sheet music. he doesn't get far without running into someone else though, nearly colliding with park chanyeol's back as he dodges right at the last second.

"whoa, what's up with you?" chanyeol asks, noticing just how heavy baekhyun is breathing.

"n-nothing," baekhyun gets out, paranoia causing him to glance over his shoulder to double check there's no one else around.

"are you... are you ditching?" chanyeol asks, and baekhyun notices the slight amusement in his voice.

"no. I am simply not attending," baekhyun defends, eyes dropping to the clothes chanyeol's wearing. "why are you in football stuff? aren't you a hockey player?"

"pep rally skit," chanyeol shrugs.

"oh well, better get out of your way then," baekhyun says, tapping on the nonexistent watch on his wrist as he tries to find a way out of this conversation.

"hey wait," chanyeol begins, grabbing baekhyun's arm before he can make a break for it, "I have a favour to ask of you."

baekhyun exhales deeply, wishing he was in a music room somewhere. he flips his bangs out of his eyes to see properly as he looks up at him.

"I know I already asked you, but can you, could you possibly take sehun out on a date?"

"what?" baekhyun stares at chanyeol. "sehun is the girl you were thinking about?" chanyeol nods, and baekhyun wonders how a softball player could ever be interested in him for a second. "I already said no, didn't I?"

"okay, but," chanyeol begins, a slight smile tugging at his mouth, "I did catch you ditching a compulsory school event; the headmaster isn't going to be very happy about that."

baekhyun glares at him, "are you blackmailing me?"

"maybe."

baekhyun scowls, trying to figure out a way out of this before realizing he has no leverage in this situation. "ugh, fine. I'll do it. now can I go?"

chanyeol nods with a beaming face, telling baekhyun the time and place before he scurries off with headphones on his ears as he rounds the corner before a teacher comes.

baekhyun taps his foot, glancing down at the time on his phone. kyungsoo had been anything but sympathetic, laughing with a mouthful of his chocolate bar when baekhyun told him the news of this blackmail ("that's what you get for ditching me.")

it's a little chilly, despite spring approaching soon, and he shivers in the cold. he's arrived a little early, his mother all too happy at the news of a date that she literally pushed him out of the front door a good ten minutes prior to his planned time of departure.

he doesn't expect to see chanyeol walking up to him a few minutes later, hands in his pockets as he stands equally shivering next to him.

"what are you doing here?" baekhyun asks, looking around him to see if sehun's coming.

"oh, didn't I mention? it's a double date." chanyeol smiles.

sehun is a very excited female, a smile constantly on her face as she talks about anything and everything. baekhyun finds her easily likeable to be honest, what with her easygoing and incredibly friendly personality. they're at an italian restaurant near their school, a place baekhyun has been only once or twice with his family. sehun ends up talking to chanyeol's date, a volleyball player on the women's team called jongin, more than with baekhyun, not that he really minds. it's no surprise, considering how much more they have in common with each other. chanyeol manages to keep the conversation going easily enough however, surprising baekhyun in many ways of just how different he is than expected.

it comes as a slight shock how affected he is by chanyeol over sehun, his actual date. baekhyun doesn't understand why he enjoys those small smiles chanyeol sends his way throughout the night so much, or why he's massively relieved that sehun runs in front to jongin and chanyeol is the one to lag back and walk beside him to the movie theatre.

he ends up sitting in between the two of them, with jongin on the other side of chanyeol, eyes glued to the screen as days of the future past is projected. he jumps a little during some scenes, hitting chanyeol on the arm when he hears him snicker beside him ("it was the loud noise!" baekhyun whispers in his defense, only to get mockingly shushed by chanyeol).

there's one particular moment when baekhyun flinches, hand automatically coming to rest on top of chanyeol's on their shared armrest. he immediately pulls back once he feels his skin, blushing hard as he stares at the screen. he ends up spending the last hour of the movie sitting on his hand as he shuffles as far as he can away from chanyeol to widen the space between them.

when they exit the movie, chanyeol doesn't bring it up and despite how calm baekhyun is afterwards, he still avoids eye contact with him. he excuses himself to the bathroom before they head home, splashing some water on his face to help forget the accidental hand-touch. it's only after he's finishing drying his hands, checking his phone for texts from kyungsoo, that chanyeol comes in and baekhyun fumbles as he tries to shove it back in his pocket.

"how'd you like it?" chanyeol asks, walking towards the sinks to wash the popcorn off his hands.

"mhm yeah," baekhyun clears his throat, turning around to lean against the counter "it was pretty good." he turns to face him, regretting it when he sees how deep dark brown chanyeol's eyes are; all chocolately and warm. he can feel the tips of his ears heating up, and before he knows it, chanyeol's leaning down.

the kiss lasts for three seconds, and it's only when chanyeol pulls away do his eyes widen and he stammers out a, "I-I don't know why I did that," before muttering some inaudible things as he exits the washroom all flustered.

baekhyun follows in a similar manner a minute later, needing the time to process what just happened. he comes out to find only sehun waiting there, and apologizes for how long it took him.

"no, it's okay. chanyeol left with jongin just now."

baekhyun puts the kiss to the back of his mind and plasters the best smile he can manage, "shall we go home too?" he holds his arm out for her to loop her own through.

if anything, baekhyun sees more of chanyeol during school the next week. the irony just kills. it's not like chanyeol ignores him though - in fact, the taller seems to talk to baekhyun more, even going as far as introducing himself to kyungsoo and lu han when he spies the three of them walking down the hall. baekhyun's friends look at him questioningly, but baekhyun doesn't say anything, going along with the pretense that nothing happened. he's doubting himself, wondering whether it was just his imagination in the end. but then again, that would mean admitting to those all-of-a-sudden daydreams about chanyeol earlier during the date, where he imagined himself in jongin's place.

kyungsoo and lu han bring it up a few days later though,  when they get together to sort out their joint performance for the spring recital coming up, his curiosity having gotten the better of the former, "what's up with you and chanyeol?"

baekhyun stills for a second, before shrugging, powering on the computer in the far corner, "nothing. I knew him in elementary."

"I didn't know that," luhan says, pulling up a chair beside baekhyun as he joins the both of them at the table.

"wasn't exactly important," baekhyun replies, continuing on before either of them can say anything else, "anyways we should decide what song to do for the recital, since we got chosen to perform together in addition to our solos." he plugs in his ipod and scrolls through a playlist of possibilities.

kyungsoo and luhan share a glance, but drop the conversation anyways and chanyeol is left forgotten for the rest of the afternoon.

baekhyun glowers at kyungsoo, wondering if his glare is enough to create sharp blades out of thin air to pierce him with. it's bad enough that they're outside not practicing for the spring recital, but to top it off, they're at a sports game of all things. they're not far from the ice, kyungsoo wanting to get as close as he can to the glass. they've only been there for fifteen minutes, and he already wants to leave.

kyungsoo ignores baekhyun's permanent frown, opting to cheer loudly when wufan saves another puck from entering the net. baekhyun humphs in his seat, turning the volume on his ipod up and adjusting his earbuds to drown out the incessant cracks of wood against the puck and loud whooping that comes with every save or near-goal. he's wondering why kyungsoo couldn't have dragged lu han to this hell instead, when he catches sight of chanyeol skating towards the other team's net. he's agile, faster than the opposition's left winger for sure, and all it takes is a little flick of his wrist before the puck soars into the back of net. the buzzer sounds, and baekhyun finds himself smiling amongst the loud cheering. there's something different in chanyeol when he's playing; he's concentrated and focused, and he doesn't notice just how much attention he's paying to him until he realizes he's paused his music, one earbud hanging out.

he gulps. he doesn't like boys. he doesn't like chanyeol. the kiss was just a momentary thing. maybe it didn't even happen at all. but then he sees him pump a fist in the air as a teammate skates over to hug him, and all previous thoughts fly out baekhyun's mind as he grins.

"see? you're having fun," he hears from his left, and baekhyun intentionally corrects his smile to a grimace, causing kyungsoo to laugh. "just keep your eye on number sixty-one, and you'll enjoy tonight."

baekhyun blinks, "I don't like chanyeol."

"sure you don't."

"kyungsoo!" baekhyun protests. he doesn't like chanyeol.

"shush, I'm watching a game."

he huffs, crossing his arms as he frowns at the rink. he doesn't like chanyeol.

he doesn't like chanyeol.

"I saw you last night."

"huh?" baekhyun looks up from the water fountain, nearly spraying his face in the process when he forgets to lift his finger up off the button.

"at the rink, watching from the bleachers," chanyeol laughs, and baekhyun's mouth forms an 'o' after he wipes across his face with his sleeve. "I thought you didn't do sports."

"I don't," baekhyun mumbles, a slight blush on his cheeks, "kyungsoo made me."

"ah," chanyeol says, adjusting the strap of his gym bag on his shoulder. "well, did you enjoy it?"

"s'okay," baekhyun shrugs, picking up his violin as he heads with chanyeol down the hall. baekhyun doesn't want to admit to him (nor kyungsoo) just how not bad last night was.

they don't say anything else during their little walk together, only until they're about to split off, chanyeol towards the gym and baekhyun to music theory, does the taller speak again.

"you should come to another one."

"what? no I'm okay." he shakes his head.

"but then you can cheer me on," chanyeol tilts his head in an innocent smile, and baekhyun rolls his eyes to mask the tiny quickening of his heartbeat.

"like you need any more cheerleaders," baekhyun scoffs. "do you have an official fanclub or something? I think I nearly got run over by twenty girls walking out of the rink."

"what can I say," chanyeol blows on his fingernails, "I've got that charm."

baekhyun rolls his eyes with a smile, "see you later park."

"so is that a yes?"

baekhyun pretends to think it over, playing coy as he walks away with a, "we'll see."

okay, he can admit, his feelings for chanyeol are a little bit past the toleration mark.

baekhyun opens his locker, a little bewildered at the piece of paper that falls to the floor. he bends down and unfolds it, before realizing it's a confession.

"thank you for the message and heart-warming words, but I'm sorry, I'm not dating at the moment."

baekhyun's not lying, but the real truth of "I only accepted because park chanyeol blackmailed me" would be too harsh, and baekhyun likes sehun enough to avoid hurting her. it's not her fault, after all, that a certain other jock clouds his thoughts lately.

"oh." sehun looks disappointed, bowing her head down as she tries to smile, "it's okay. I just- thank you for the date." the corners of baekhyun's mouth curl up, and something tugs at his heart. "I just want you to know that I really like your playing. you're very talented."

they're similar to the words chanyeol said to him that day, but they don't achieve nearly the same effect. baekhyun gives her a soft smile and thanks before turning to walk away, not even a hint of pink on his cheeks.

"okay, I might have a problem," baekhyun announces when he walks into music theory, disrupting whatever conversation kyungsoo and lu han were having.

"with what?" the latter asks, swirling in his seat.

"a... crush problem."

kyungsoo rolls his eyes, "we already know about it."

"wait, what?" baekhyun seats himself down at the empty desk next to lu han.

"that you like chanyeol," lu han answers.

baekhyun's eyes grow wide. he doesn't know how they know, considering he wasn't even fully aware of it until three seconds ago. he didn't mean to walk by the gym, but catching a glimpse of chanyeol running laps with zitao (read: female swimmer) made him feel all... for lack of a better word, jealous. he spent the whole walk from the sports building to music class wondering what those weird feelings meant, and it wasn't until the few steps before crossing through the doorway that the realization hit him.

"how the hell do you know?"

"we're your best friends. how wouldn't we know?"

chanyeol slouches back, twirling his pen around his thumb as he listens to the announcements blasting over the pa system. he's debating whether to go to the spring recital, not knowing for sure if baekhyun is going to be playing or not.

it's been more than a week and the kiss still hasn't left his mind. it was a spur of the moment thing, but he doesn't regret it one bit. in fact, he wants to do it again. and again, and again. he doesn't understand what it is about baekhyun, but it's definitely more than friendship that he wants.

after chanyeol tunes out the sports games announced for the upcoming month, the receptionist moves onto performing arts, bringing up the recital and several other drama performances. chanyeol twists his mouth, looking over to nudge wufan.

"hey, you going to that spring music thing?"

wufan shakes his head, "don't we have a game that night?"

chanyeol's mouth forms an 'o' when he realizes he's right, and he sits back in his chair, a wrinkle in the center of his forehead as the unexpected feeling of disappointment hits him.

baekhyun is at his locker when he sees chanyeol coming towards him, and he waves in greeting, corners of his mouth turning up already.

"hey, you going home?"

"yeah, just packing up my things."

chanyeol notices the violin case by his feet and he bends down to pick it up, carefully slinging it on his shoulder. "whoa, hey, what are you doing?" baekhyun asks, hands reaching up to take it off his back.

"what do you mean? I'm carrying your violin for you," chanyeol says.

"what- why?"

"thought we could walk home together today."

"do you even know where I live?" baekhyun raises an eyebrow, closing his locker door shut.

"now's the time to find out, isn't it?" chanyeol beams, and baekhyun shakes his head.

"alright fine. just- be careful with it, okay?"

chanyeol nods, starting his walk down the corridor before baekhyun calls for him a good ten steps down the way and points in the opposite direction. he flushes, dropping his head down and turning around to follow baekhyun out of the school as the elder laughs.

they spend the walk talking about their respective programs, baekhyun discussing exactly what they do in music whilst chanyeol puts an end to his questions about guys in the locker room ("yes we walk around naked, no we don't share soap.")

it's when they get to baekhyun's house that chanyeol hands his violin over.

"thanks for carrying it for me."

"no big deal. definitely not as heavy as all my hockey gear," chanyeol smiles.

"well... see you tomorrow maybe," baekhyun says, putting his key in the lock.

"wait, baekhyun?"

he turns around, "yeah?"

chanyeol steps up onto his porch, looking down at baekhyun with his hands in his pocket, "um," he shakes his head, stepping down about to walk away, "never mind."

baekhyun nods, teething at his bottom lip as he tries to muster up the courage before the moment is gone. the words leave his mouth at the same time chanyeol decidely thinks to just go for it, the both of them blurting out,

"why did you kiss me?"

"can I- can I kiss you again?"

baekhyun is the first to blink, "um, what, I mean- what?"

(he internally beats himself up later for sounding so stupid in that moment.)

"because," chanyeol takes a breath, answering both his questions in one, "I think I like you. I mean, I know I like you." he grins a stupid endearing grin, and baekhyun's stomach does a little flip-flop thing. "I kind of want to kiss you again. a lot. like at the movie theatre, but in public, holding hands and stuff. and I want to get to know you better. I don't really know what else I exactly want. but having you would be nice."

chanyeol kind of stutters throughout his confession, laughing awkwardly when he thinks he says something really embarrassing, and baekhyun's too giddy to care that it was basically the corniest and cheesiest thing he's ever heard.

"you know, chanyeol, I think I like you too."

their first date is in the afternoon on the weekend. chanyeol meets baekhyun in front of the school on his bike, and after a lot of "no fucking way!!!" and convincing does baekhyun finally give in and sit on the back rack, arms clutching tight around chanyeol's waist as the younger peddles into town.

they go from quaint store to quaint store, chanyeol taking baekhyun around the older part of the town with the flower shops and bookstores that no youth their age would spend their weekend in. chanyeol pulls baekhyun into a bakery, and they buy each other a cupcake; chanyeol chooses a cute giraffe one as per baekhyun's request ("because you're both so tall.") and baekhyun ends up with a simple cupcake, a chocolate treble clef decorating the top of the icing.

it's the kind of date with no awkward pauses or long silences, and the right amount of talking with no sensitive topics approached. all in all, it's perfect.

chanyeol brings it up when they're at the park a little after three, baekhyun sitting on the adjacent swing to him on the playground. "so what happened to the whole 'I don't date' thing?" he asks, feet pushing him off the ground as he leans back on the swing.

"well considering someone already blackmailed me into going on a blind date a while ago, that ship has kind of sailed."

chanyeol cheekily grins. "you want to know a secret?"

"mhm?"

"throughout that night, I sort of pretended it was you and me on the date."

baekhyun blushes, "is that why you asked me to go out with sehun?"

"well," chanyeol tilts his head, "I don't think I knew how I felt about you until halfway through the date, and it was dumb, but I felt so ridiculously jealous of sehun."

baekhyun ducks his head shyly, and chanyeol continues, "just so you know though, sehun is taken now," and baekhyun lifts an eyebrow, "by jongin. so you're left with me." he smirks.

baekhyun laughs, playfully swatting at his arm, "she did seem a lot more interested in her than me."

"who would have thought it would turn out like this; sehun with jongin, and you and me instead."

baekhyun smiles, eyes automatically lighting up when he suddenly spies a little shop on the corner of the street across the park, and he bolts out of the swing set.

"wait baekhyun, where are you going?" chanyeol yells out, jumping off the swing to run after him.

"race you to the music store!"

baekhyun gets there after chanyeol of course (because the only daily exercise he ever does is walking down the stairs from his room to the kitchen to grab a snack) a little out of breath as he pauses by the door. he drags chanyeol towards the piano once the air is back in his lungs, patting the bench next to him.

"really?" chanyeol cocks his head.

"yes. now sit."

chanyeol rolls his eyes but obeys anyways, scooting next to baekhyun as the elder starts to play a soft melody. it's a good thing the store is empty, save for the old shopkeeper watching them from the counter with a soft smile on his face.

"I've never played piano before," chanyeol muses as baekhyun's fingers dance across the keys, and baekhyun stops abruptly to stare at him.

"are you serious?"

chanyeol nods.

"holy shit, okay, I have to teach you something."

they walk out of the music store half an hour later, baekhyun holding a new manuscript book paid for by chanyeol, with the latter still trying to remember how to play his chosen song of twinkle twinkle little star on piano.

baekhyun falls down twenty four times. he's definitely not a natural on the ice, legs turning into jelly whenever he tries to move more than an inch. chanyeol laughs whenever his butt connects with the ice, skating over to help pull him back up to his feet.

"maybe we should stop, or take a break."

"but you're getting so close!" chanyeol says, hands on baekhyun's waist as he slowly skates backward to pull baekhyun forward along the ice.

"it's been an hour chanyeol," baekhyun whines, and chanyeol relents, leaning down to steal a kiss. baekhyun blushes, dropping his gaze down as he lightly pushes against chanyeol's shoulder and mumbles, "stop doing that."

"I can't help it," chanyeol shrugs, "not when you look so cute in that beanie."

"you're not supposed to be kissing me," baekhyun blows air out, watching his breath materialize as fog before his eyes, "you're supposed to teach me how to play ice hockey."

"I don't think you'll ever get round to pushing a puck if you can't even stand properly," chanyeol chuckles. he bends his knees to scoop baekhyun up bridal style, ignoring his squeal as he skates to the edge of the rink.

they sit down on the players' bench, baekhyun wobbling on his skates as he stands to lean over the edge, "aren't you ever scared?"

"scared?" chanyeol asks from behind him.

"that you'll get hurt really badly whenever you get slammed into the glass, or that the puck is going to hit you in the face?"

chanyeol smiles, "no, it used to when I first started, to be honest. but now I don't think about that stuff. I got good at dodging the other team's slams."

baekhyun turns back, shakily sitting back down on the bench, "thanks for trying to teach me today." he smiles big, his eyes forming little crescents, and chanyeol's heart thuds loud in his chest when a little giggle escapes from baekhyun's mouth.

he doesn't say anything, leaning down to press his lips against baekhyun's instead, and the elder doesn't pull away this time.

it takes them a few weeks until they can hold hands in school, the obstacle of different programs hindering just how often they can publicly display their relationship.

kyungsoo and lu han threw looks of fucking finally it's about time when baekhyun first told them, and despite how weird it is that baekhyun's going out with a jock of all people, they don't even flinch anymore when they hear chanyeol's voice before they see him. they already know he's got an arm around baekhyun's shoulder, fighting with the shorter over carrying his violin even if his own gym bag is already weighing him down.

sehun doesn't think much of it, congratulating the two of them with hugs when she finds out, before scooting back to jongin and planting herself in her lap to feed her grapes.

baekhyun's life changes drastically, his lunchtime meals switching from the music side of the high school to the cafeteria, joining chanyeol and his friends. kyungsoo sits next to wufan one time and blushes throughout the entirety of the hour, never once making eye contact.

chanyeol ends up walking him home nearly every day when he doesn't have hockey practice, giving him a kiss on his porch before handing his violin over on the days baekhyun has it with him.

baekhyun walks onto stage with his violin in hand. he takes a little bow before he raises the instrument to rest on his shoulder, placing his chin on the rest. he's playing his own composition tonight, the one he sent in for berklee. he knows chanyeol's not even here, busy at a hockey game, and he's played in front of audiences many, many times before, but the nerves are still building. it's his own work, and he doesn't know if people will like it.

he spies his parents in the audience, and knows kyungsoo and lu han are cheering him on from backstage.

taking a deep breath, he lowers his bow to the strings.

the last person he expects to see is chanyeol, dress shirt and tie on with actual slacks, and varsity jacket instead of a suit jacket on, holding a bouquet of flowers.

"chanyeol?" baekhyun blinks widely, and his boyfriend grins at him.

"you did amazing tonight, baekhyun," chanyeol says, walking up to him to tilt his chin up and give him a kiss. his parents are talking with his violin coach, and kyungsoo is flushing redder than a tomato that wufan and yixing are right behind chanyeol, waving at him. lu han just rolls his eyes and pushes kyungsoo towards the former, ignoring his whispered protests before walking over to yixing.

"what, how are you here?" baekhyun questions.

"our game started early, and me, wufan and yixing raced back to catch the end of your guys' performance. sorry I didn't see your solo."

baekhyun smiles, "it's fine, I don't mind! you've heard it anyways."

chanyeol nods, hugging him. baekhyun played it for him earlier that weekend as practice, "you, kyungsoo and lu han sounded really good though."

"I wish I could have come seen you play," baekhyun pouts.

"you can watch me play anytime," chanyeol shrugs.

"it's the exact same with me!" baekhyun frowns.

"hockey games are same old, same old. a musical performance is something never to be missed."

"you're grossly cheesy."

"shut up and kiss me."

chanyeol is gentle and soft during their first time, constantly making sure baekhyun is okay with soft kisses and feathery touches. baekhyun feels like he's being split apart, the latex rubbing up against his walls every time he pulls out. they don't wait long to pick up the pace, and chanyeol slides in with increasing force as he connects their lips once more. chanyeol learns that baekhyun is a moaner and kind of loud in bed, but it's also really fucking hot, so that is more than okay.

baekhyun comes first, and chanyeol doesn't take long to finish after, being the one to get up and clean the both of them. they lie in baekhyun's bed, chanyeol stroking his hair as they look into each other's eyes, whispering soft "I love you's" to one another.

they spend the summer apart, baekhyun at berklee and chanyeol training intensely to increase his chances of getting drafted when scouts come out for the next season. they try to skype at least once a week, starting their sessions with "I miss you" and ending with "I love you".

chanyeol comes to pick baekhyun up from the airport when the summer program is done, holding a huge sign with a dorky and embarrassing message saying future nhl star park chanyeol welcomes his boyfriend byun baekhyun future world famous musician home!!!!!

baekhyun laughs at it, almost missing the sight of kyungsoo waiting for him wrapped in wufan's arms, and lu han with an arm around yixing, standing right next to a very excited chanyeol. chanyeol distracts him too much, scooping him up, to kiss the living breath out of him and whisper, "don't ever leave me for that long and go that far again. next time, I'm coming with you," as soon as they pull apart to breathe again.

the night before senior year starts, baekhyun stays over, restless as he thinks about their upcoming days.

"chanyeol," he whispers, nudging him to wake up.

"mhm?" chanyeol says groggily, rubbing at his eyes.

"what if we want to go to different universities?" baekhyun turns on his side to face him, stroking a finger down the length of chanyeol's nose.

"I don't know, baek," chanyeol says, "I'll just apply to where you do."

"I'm not going to make you come to the same university as me."

"why not?"

"well first of all, that's impossible because you can't even play an instrument, and I've heard you sing in the shower," baekhyun points out, "so there's no way you would even be accepted."

chanyeol frowns, about to defend his (lack of) musical skills by stating he just recently learned mary had a little lamb on the piano, before baekhyun continues, "but seriously, what are we going to do?"

"I can't promise you anything," chanyeol says, lacing their fingers together and kissing the end of his nose, "but I'm not going to leave you. I can get drafted anywhere; so no matter where you go, I'll follow."

//

baekhyun feels a pair of hands on his waist, and before he knows what’s happening, chanyeol’s got his back pressed against the metal of the lockers and is leaning down to press a quick kiss to his lips.

a wink and little wave is all the explanation baekhyun gets when he watches his boyfriend walk away to class, and he bites down on his bottom lip in efforts to stop grinning so much.

it's been almost a year, but it’s the little things like this that make baekhyun fall further in love with the hockey player. and with every glance and shy blush, chanyeol grows to love the violinist even more as well.
//

lmao what even is this