fic dump pt. iii [exo]
untitled [baekyeol]
a/n: backstory/sidestory to beautiful stranger!au
One long leg after the other, Chanyeol climbs easily-excitedly-out of his car and shields his eyes from the sun with his hand. His mother leans out of the driver seat window, one hand resting on the steering wheel and her other hand patting his cheek briskly. “Be good for Minseokie, okay?” she says, eyeing him over her sunglasses. “And make sure you don’t jump too early or strap your helmet on too loose.”
Chanyeol rolls his eyes good-naturedly, grinning and leaning in so she can kiss his cheek. “Sure, sure,” he says lightly. “Are you going to pick me up or should I catch a ride with Minseok-hyung?”
“Go ahead and go home with him,” she says. “His mother said you can stay at their house and I’ll walk over and pick you up later tonight.”
“Okay,” Chanyeol says and waves her off-watches as her window moves up and she backs out of the parking lot, driving down the gravel roadway back to the main highway. He tucks his hands into his pockets and starts walking down towards the cluster of warehouses in the distance. The breeze from the forest blows against his face gently, easing his nerves-even though most of the nervousness he managed to get rid of last night after his father went through some last few mounting pointers.
Minseok is standing near the steps of the first warehouse Chanyeol reaches, waving for Chanyeol to walk over. The tamer is the son of Chanyeol’s parents’ friends, family friends, which is why, since Chanyeol has finished all the theory classes, his parents bring him to this center to ride. It hasn’t been long, apparently, since Minseok’s been an official tamer since he’s not much older than Chanyeol is-according to Chanyeol’s father, from his talks with Minseok’s father, the government only scouted Minseok’s birth records four years ago and registered him to be in charge of a center shortly after.
“Ready?” Minseok grins, clapping Chanyeol on the shoulder and motioning him to follow the tamer into the warehouse. Chanyeol’s only met Minseok a few times here and there-at neighborhood gatherings and occasionally he’s seen the tamer at school although now Minseok is in university.
The interior of the warehouse is shady and cool-filled with damp and musty air like the inside of a barn. There’re suits and helmets and plenty of other riding equipment that Chanyeol, up until now, had only seen in textbooks and when his father or mother brought some home to have adjusted or more thoroughly washed. It’s mildly, momentarily, disconcerting to think that in just a few minutes, he’ll be suiting up himself.
There’s a boy lying across the couch nearest to the bookshelf and, except for him, the rest of the warehouse was seemingly empty before Minseok and Chanyeol arrived. “Kim Jongin,” Minseok introduces as the boy meets Chanyeol’s eyes and smiles quietly, getting to his feet and stepping closer.
Jongin is a few inches below Chanyeol, probably a few years younger than Chanyeol, and there’s no shirt to cover any of the smooth, tan skin of his torso-rippling over slight, wiry muscles. He’s wearing the familiar sleek, black spandex material of an untransformed-saddle as pants, and he bows neatly to Chanyeol, holding out his hand.
“Hi,” Chanyeol says, bowing back and shaking the boy’s hand.
“Minseok-hyung says you’re going to be awesome,” Jongin grins.
Chanyeol raises his eyebrows, amused, at the tamer. Minseok shrugs, smiling playfully, and nudges Chanyeol, gesturing back to Jongin. “You guys’ll be flying together today,” the tamer directs at Chanyeol while Jongin falls back onto the couch. “Jonginie’s kind of young,” Minseok says, tugging Chanyeol over to one of the walls covered with hanging Under Armour, “but he’s the first dragon I tamed, so I usually start off new riders with him since I know his flying style the best.”
“Is he good?” Chanyeol asks as Minseok starts sifting through the suits-probably looking for Chanyeol’s size.
“Very,” Minseok says absently, eyebrows furrowed when he glances back at Chanyeol-looking up and down the younger man’s body before directing his eyes back to the rider suits. “He’s really in control of the way he flies so he adjusts pretty well to new riders. After you get used to him, though, I’m thinking of putting you with this other one I’m still training-Kim Jongdae-and see how you like it with him.”
The tamer pulls out two separate hangers-one from the top rack and one from the bottom, both holding corresponding pieces of a rider’s suit. Minseok holds them up to Chanyeol’s body, squinting thoughtfully. “That looks okay,” Minseok says. “Try those and if it doesn’t fit, you can just look in this section here,” he points to an area on the racks, “because those are all about your size.”
“Thanks, hyung,” Chanyeol says, and throws the suit over the couch Jongin is on.
“The mounting pad is out there,” Minseok says to Chanyeol as the tamer claps Jongin on the shoulder and the dragon jumps lightly to his feet, jogging out of the warehouse door and down the steps. “I have to get Jongin saddled and all that, so when you’re done changing just head out, okay?”
Chanyeol grins affirmatively and Minseok waves as he leaves.
He sheds out of his clothes and shoes swiftly, yanking out one half of the suit from the hanger and sits on the couch so he can push his feet through the suit’s bottom portion. The lower part of the suit looks like any pair of black, spandex pants-thicker than spandex though, closer to the material of a scuba diving suit-but, when actually touched, it feels like Chanyeol is trying to push his legs through a suit of armor five sizes too small.
He isn’t sure how long he struggles with just the pants (if they can even be called that), but by the time he hears steps coming up towards the warehouse door (hopefully it’s Minseok, wondering why Chanyeol still hasn’t emerged yet), his hair is stuck to the sides of his face with perspiration from trying to yank the suit on.
Chanyeol stands up, pants still at his ankles (he personally thinks it’s a historical landmark that he even got his feet through) and turns around to ask Minseok why-
-he’s not Minseok.
“Er-no-sorry,” the skinny boy-dressed similarly to Jongin, shirtless with only the lower half of what looks like a scuba diving suit-says apologetically. Unlike Jongin, however, he’s slighter, thinner, smaller and paler. “I’m Baekhyun. I was just-never mind-I’ll just go-”
“Wait,” Chanyeol says, a little more desperately than he’d have liked to sound, “can you-er-help me? Do you know how to put this on?”
Baekhyun’s expression goes from surprised to befuddled, as he seems to stop moving long enough to really take in the sight of Chanyeol standing in his boxers with a rider’s suit pooling at his ankles. “Oh-I-sure,” he says, hurriedly making his way around the tables and sofas towards where Chanyeol is.
“Should I get a bigger size? Is that why I can’t fit?” Chanyeol asks as Baekhyun tries to assess the problem, tugging at the material.
“No, it’s okay,” Baekhyun shakes his head. “You’re just pulling it the wrong way-you have to ease it up from the bottom instead of just trying to yank them on like regular pants.”
Chanyeol stares because that’s what he’s been trying to do for the past ten minutes-he’s been trying to pull them and push them on every which way possible, but they’re still not moving any further up his legs. “What?”
Baekhyun blinks back blankly for a moment before stepping closer. “D’you want me to help you? I can try-”
Chanyeol sits down on the sofa and stretches his legs out at Baekhyun because at this point he just really wants to put the suit on-and also doesn’t like standing around in his boxers in front of a stranger for long periods of time. However, neither does he want to go out and have to ask Minseok to come back in and help him because Minseok would probably think this is hilarious and end up telling it at the dinner table tonight.
Baekhyun stands in front of Chanyeol, gripping the cloth of the suit pooling around Chanyeol’s calves and braces himself. Chanyeol holds onto the back of the sofa so he won’t be toppled over when Baekhyun pulls. Their eyes meet for a split second before Baekhyun yanks seemingly with all the strength in his small frame-which, unfortunately and fortunately for Chanyeol, happens to be a shocking amount relative to what Chanyeol had expected, and he ends up toppling onto the floor anyway, bringing Baekhyun down with him.
Chanyeol’s eyes shut in pain as his head thumps against the floor and Baekhyun’s body plops on top of him-creating for a sandwich of ache on both sides of the rider’s body. Baekhyun’s nails also dig into Chanyeol’s arms in an effort to steady both of them and Chanyeol winces again at that. “Oh-fuck-sorry,” Baekhyun says immediately, voice slightly high-pitched now as he instantly sits back.
Chanyeol opens his eyes when some of the pain starts to recede, sitting up as well, and finds that maybe he should’ve remained lying down for a few more moments because with Baekhyun still on top of him and both of them sitting, facing each other, their faces are inches apart and Chanyeol has never been more aware in the past five minutes of how shirtless Baekhyun is.
Like-extremely shirtless.
Like-there is no shirt whatsoever on Baekhyun’s body.
(but then Chanyeol notices his eyes because Baekhyun has these eyes that aren’t deep set or particularly round, but they crinkle at the corners and they curve in a way that makes Chanyeol feel a smile bubble inside of him even though he doesn’t even know who Baekhyun is other than-well-Baekhyun)
Chanyeol swallows as Baekhyun scrambles off and stands up. Chanyeol straightens back to his feet as well. His pants are on now, at least.
“The top part’ll probably be easier,” Baekhyun says, the tips of his ears now visibly red as he blinks a little too fast at Chanyeol. “But I can’t help you put it on.”
“Why?” Chanyeol blurts.
Baekhyun blinks again and smiles slightly. “I don’t know how to,” he shrugs brightly. “I’m not a rider.”
Chanyeol’s eyes fall back to the pale skin of Baekhyun’s bare torso, and he commences to feel extremely stupid. “Oh-right.”
“I’ll see you on the pad,” Baekhyun waves then, heading back outside with another bright smile.
Chanyeol is left standing in the cool shade of the warehouse, unmoving for a good six minutes before he remembers that he’s supposed to finish putting on the rest of the suit, meet Minseok outside, and ride a dragon.
“Did you have trouble putting it on?” Minseok asks when Chanyeol finally stumbles outside, helmet and goggles in tow (after he spends ten minutes struggling with the top half of the suit, and then another fifteen wandering around the warehouses, trying to find the right path out to the mounting pad-which happens to be very-hard-to-miss elevated platform at the focus of the center, right near the forest edge).
“A little,” Chanyeol says, meeting Minseok’s eyes and they both break into matching, knowing, grins simultaneously.
“Sorry,” Minseok says sheepishly. “I guess I should’ve figured it’d be a little harder for you since you’re so tall.” He claps Chanyeol’s shoulder, and jerks his chin towards the groupings of people spread out on different parts of the mounting pad. “Zhang Yixing is our medic,” Minseok says, pointing out the young man sitting with his legs dangling off of the edge of the pad.
There are two people below the platform that Yixing seems to be talking to, and Chanyeol peers over the side slightly to catch a glimpse of them-one of them is shirtless (a dragon) and one of them is suited up just like Chanyeol and Minseok. “Kim Joonmyeon and Do Kyungsoo,” Minseok says. “I tamed Joonmyeon but Kyungsoo was trained at his parents’ private center.”
“Are they partners?” Chanyeol asks as he catches the rider-Kyungsoo’s eyes-before looking away again back to Minseok.
“Kyungsoo likes to ride Jongin sometimes, but for the most part, they are-he has a different style of riding than I train, so he does whatever,” Minseok says casually and gives a short wave to Kyungsoo and Joonmyeon.
Jongin walks over to them then, tan skin glowing in the sunlight and dark hair whipped around by the afternoon breeze. “Hyung,” he says to Minseok. “Sehunie’s here.”
Minseok blinks, looking to Chanyeol and then back to Jongin. “Oh,” the tamer breathes with surprise. “He’s early. I thought he’d have test prep or something after school today so I could set Chanyeol up first-”
“He’s still getting suited up-like he just got here,” Jongin says dismissively.
“Oh-okay,” Minseok turns back to Chanyeol, and gives a bracing smile. “We’ll just get to it then, yeah?”
Chanyeol stares.
Minseok raises his eyebrows.
“What?”
Minseok laughs, and tugs Chanyeol back a few steps-all the way until the backs of their heels are at the utmost edge of the platform-to the point where Chanyeol wonders if Minseok wants both of them to have matching neck braces after a joint trip to the emergency room. “Yah,” Minseok shouts suddenly, and Chanyeol flinches in surprise. “Clear up!”
Yixing glances at them briefly before getting to his feet and climbing down the nearest ladder leading back to the ground. Another dragon whom Minseok hasn’t introduced yet-who’d previously been sitting next to Yixing-jumps effortlessly to the ground, landing neatly on his feet beside Joonmyeon.
“Okay,” Minseok says urgently, seriously, and Chanyeol’s nerves suddenly explode in a flurry inside his chest because Jongin starts to smirk and grin-starts jogging out to the center of the pad in a highly intimidating way that turns the contents of Chanyeol’s brain into uncomfortable goop. “Jonginie is going to shift and since it’s your first time, we’re doing it on the mounting pad-there are some dragons and riders who like to always use the pad, and some who really prefer mounting on the go. Jongin hasn’t used the pad in a while so he’s kind of rusty with it but he’ll be okay,” the tamer is talking at rapid speed and the way Jongin has started to bounce up and down on his feet is really taking a toll on Chanyeol’s composure.
“When he shifts,” Minseok continues as Chanyeol begins to feel sick (the wind has picked up and Jongin has started to stretch as if he’s about to run a marathon), “his pants are going to turn into a saddle and I asked him to put on the beginner’s saddle today so that you have bigger stirrups to use to climb up on and there’re reins for you to hold onto while you fly. There’s also a safety net-”
“I need a safety net-?”
“In case you fall,” the tamer goes on as if Chanyeol hadn’t spoken, “but Jongin is a smooth flier, so you won’t.” Minseok pats Chanyeol on the arm a few times briskly before completely ignoring how Chanyeol’s mouth is hanging open. The tamer turns to Jongin and raises his hand as a signal to which Jongin grins back and starts off in the opposite direction at a full sprint.
There’s the sound of a wine stopper being popped before the wind picks up, gathering dust from beneath the gravel and causing the nearby trees to tremble, shaking from side to side. Chanyeol shields himself from the debris with an arm over his eyes. “Put on your goggles,” Minseok says loudly over the roaring that’s begun. Chanyeol fumbles a minute, slipping on the tight band of the goggles and then pulling on his helmet, fastening it beneath his chin.
Jongin is gray and white with a silvery cast over his scales that glitter in the sunlight. Chanyeol has only been within touching distance of a dragon twice in his life-both times when he was too small to recollect very clearly, and both times with the dragons of his parents. The feeling is slightly disconcerting-the way anything of such large a scale is disconcerting at first for all humans, but there’s another feeling beneath that-as if his emotions right now were built in layers-and this feeling is warmer, bubbling with excitement and longing (fascination).
Minseok doesn’t even get the chance to approach Jongin before the dragon instantly takes a humongous step towards the tamer, tongue lashing out and licking Minseok from head to toe-Chanyeol bites his lip to hold back the laughter at seeing how the entire front of Minseok’s suit now shines with saliva.
“Fucker,” Minseok laughs, as he hugs Jongin’s snout. “Okay,” the tamer says, turning to Chanyeol. “Just go on ahead and climb up. If you’re right-handed, it’s easier to get on from the left so you can cross your arm over and pull yourself up.”
Jongin suddenly bends his legs, and the dragon’s long body flattens against the surface of the platform. Chanyeol realizes that the dragon is lowering himself to make it easier for Chanyeol to climb on for the first time. He hooks one boot into the stirrup and does as Minseok says, grabbing the rein farthest from him with his left arm and pulling himself up with the gathered leverage. He manages to slide on easily, adjusting in the saddle-similar to that of a horse’s only made out of the Under Armour material rather than leather.
“All good?” Minseok asks. Chanyeol nods. “I won’t give you an earpiece just yet because Jongin knows where to take you, but later on, I need to brief you on how to use that for when we go scouting or for when we have to take rogues in.”
Chanyeol nods again and Minseok grins, taking steps backward after lightly patting Jongin’s snout once more. The tamer waves and then suddenly Chanyeol finds himself gripping the reins far more tightly, flattening his body instinctively against Jongin as the dragon pushes off from the platform and immediately launches into the air. As the platform grows smaller and smaller below them-and the warehouses soon turn into the green capped tops of the forest-Chanyeol is just thankful that he’s Korean and lives in Korea and gets to fly on Korean dragons because dragons from Europe and North America have wings and Chanyeol has heard that the wind caused from the flapping of those wings during flight often times blows the rider off of the dragon.
Jongin soars slowly, clearly letting Chanyeol get adjusted enough to be able to sit upright and not grip the dragon with his entire body. Chanyeol fixes his goggles against his face and looks forward instead of down-looks out at the white clouds above them, seemingly close enough to touch. He licks his lips, taking a deep breath, before he finally does peak downward-down towards the forest’s lush greenery passing by below them.
He sits up straighter because the knots in his stomach have vanished, leaving pure adrenaline pumping through him and suddenly even sitting up as straight as his spine will allow him doesn’t seem enough. He’s seen his father fly before and even though his mother sits, his father stood-if Chanyeol remembers correctly.
Chanyeol bends over to glance at Jongin’s face-the dragon doesn’t seem to be looking back for Chanyeol to be able to catch his eye. Jongin is looking straight ahead, most likely focused on making Chanyeol’s first flight as easy and safe as possible. Chanyeol takes that chance then to grip the reins and push himself up on the stirrups, wobbling slightly at first before he regains his footing. A grin slides onto his lips.
Standing, he can see everything laid out before him-the shadow of the mountains through the misty clouds, the faint outlines of the other centers-he can even see the forest more clearly, instead of just watching it as a green blur passing underneath. The wind rushes through the hair that’s slipped from his helmet, and he feels his cheeks and ears flush. Every breath he takes should be a little more difficult because of the altitude, but instead, it feels like breathing is easier up here-like he’s never been happier to be able to hear and smell and breathe and taste and see.
Jongin suddenly turns his head slightly, the large brown orb of the dragon’s eye glancing up at Chanyeol standing. The rider grins sheepishly, shrugging, and the dragon abruptly flashes his teeth into what can only be a grin in return. Chanyeol can hear the unspoken words in the slight surprise of Jongin’s glance. “Ay,” Chanyeol drawls playfully and pats right behind Jongin’s ears, “I’m a natural.”
The rider feels a rumbling beneath him and realizes that Jongin is laughing.
a/n: backstory/sidestory to beautiful stranger!au
One long leg after the other, Chanyeol climbs easily-excitedly-out of his car and shields his eyes from the sun with his hand. His mother leans out of the driver seat window, one hand resting on the steering wheel and her other hand patting his cheek briskly. “Be good for Minseokie, okay?” she says, eyeing him over her sunglasses. “And make sure you don’t jump too early or strap your helmet on too loose.”
Chanyeol rolls his eyes good-naturedly, grinning and leaning in so she can kiss his cheek. “Sure, sure,” he says lightly. “Are you going to pick me up or should I catch a ride with Minseok-hyung?”
“Go ahead and go home with him,” she says. “His mother said you can stay at their house and I’ll walk over and pick you up later tonight.”
“Okay,” Chanyeol says and waves her off-watches as her window moves up and she backs out of the parking lot, driving down the gravel roadway back to the main highway. He tucks his hands into his pockets and starts walking down towards the cluster of warehouses in the distance. The breeze from the forest blows against his face gently, easing his nerves-even though most of the nervousness he managed to get rid of last night after his father went through some last few mounting pointers.
Minseok is standing near the steps of the first warehouse Chanyeol reaches, waving for Chanyeol to walk over. The tamer is the son of Chanyeol’s parents’ friends, family friends, which is why, since Chanyeol has finished all the theory classes, his parents bring him to this center to ride. It hasn’t been long, apparently, since Minseok’s been an official tamer since he’s not much older than Chanyeol is-according to Chanyeol’s father, from his talks with Minseok’s father, the government only scouted Minseok’s birth records four years ago and registered him to be in charge of a center shortly after.
“Ready?” Minseok grins, clapping Chanyeol on the shoulder and motioning him to follow the tamer into the warehouse. Chanyeol’s only met Minseok a few times here and there-at neighborhood gatherings and occasionally he’s seen the tamer at school although now Minseok is in university.
The interior of the warehouse is shady and cool-filled with damp and musty air like the inside of a barn. There’re suits and helmets and plenty of other riding equipment that Chanyeol, up until now, had only seen in textbooks and when his father or mother brought some home to have adjusted or more thoroughly washed. It’s mildly, momentarily, disconcerting to think that in just a few minutes, he’ll be suiting up himself.
There’s a boy lying across the couch nearest to the bookshelf and, except for him, the rest of the warehouse was seemingly empty before Minseok and Chanyeol arrived. “Kim Jongin,” Minseok introduces as the boy meets Chanyeol’s eyes and smiles quietly, getting to his feet and stepping closer.
Jongin is a few inches below Chanyeol, probably a few years younger than Chanyeol, and there’s no shirt to cover any of the smooth, tan skin of his torso-rippling over slight, wiry muscles. He’s wearing the familiar sleek, black spandex material of an untransformed-saddle as pants, and he bows neatly to Chanyeol, holding out his hand.
“Hi,” Chanyeol says, bowing back and shaking the boy’s hand.
“Minseok-hyung says you’re going to be awesome,” Jongin grins.
Chanyeol raises his eyebrows, amused, at the tamer. Minseok shrugs, smiling playfully, and nudges Chanyeol, gesturing back to Jongin. “You guys’ll be flying together today,” the tamer directs at Chanyeol while Jongin falls back onto the couch. “Jonginie’s kind of young,” Minseok says, tugging Chanyeol over to one of the walls covered with hanging Under Armour, “but he’s the first dragon I tamed, so I usually start off new riders with him since I know his flying style the best.”
“Is he good?” Chanyeol asks as Minseok starts sifting through the suits-probably looking for Chanyeol’s size.
“Very,” Minseok says absently, eyebrows furrowed when he glances back at Chanyeol-looking up and down the younger man’s body before directing his eyes back to the rider suits. “He’s really in control of the way he flies so he adjusts pretty well to new riders. After you get used to him, though, I’m thinking of putting you with this other one I’m still training-Kim Jongdae-and see how you like it with him.”
The tamer pulls out two separate hangers-one from the top rack and one from the bottom, both holding corresponding pieces of a rider’s suit. Minseok holds them up to Chanyeol’s body, squinting thoughtfully. “That looks okay,” Minseok says. “Try those and if it doesn’t fit, you can just look in this section here,” he points to an area on the racks, “because those are all about your size.”
“Thanks, hyung,” Chanyeol says, and throws the suit over the couch Jongin is on.
“The mounting pad is out there,” Minseok says to Chanyeol as the tamer claps Jongin on the shoulder and the dragon jumps lightly to his feet, jogging out of the warehouse door and down the steps. “I have to get Jongin saddled and all that, so when you’re done changing just head out, okay?”
Chanyeol grins affirmatively and Minseok waves as he leaves.
He sheds out of his clothes and shoes swiftly, yanking out one half of the suit from the hanger and sits on the couch so he can push his feet through the suit’s bottom portion. The lower part of the suit looks like any pair of black, spandex pants-thicker than spandex though, closer to the material of a scuba diving suit-but, when actually touched, it feels like Chanyeol is trying to push his legs through a suit of armor five sizes too small.
He isn’t sure how long he struggles with just the pants (if they can even be called that), but by the time he hears steps coming up towards the warehouse door (hopefully it’s Minseok, wondering why Chanyeol still hasn’t emerged yet), his hair is stuck to the sides of his face with perspiration from trying to yank the suit on.
Chanyeol stands up, pants still at his ankles (he personally thinks it’s a historical landmark that he even got his feet through) and turns around to ask Minseok why-
-he’s not Minseok.
“Er-no-sorry,” the skinny boy-dressed similarly to Jongin, shirtless with only the lower half of what looks like a scuba diving suit-says apologetically. Unlike Jongin, however, he’s slighter, thinner, smaller and paler. “I’m Baekhyun. I was just-never mind-I’ll just go-”
“Wait,” Chanyeol says, a little more desperately than he’d have liked to sound, “can you-er-help me? Do you know how to put this on?”
Baekhyun’s expression goes from surprised to befuddled, as he seems to stop moving long enough to really take in the sight of Chanyeol standing in his boxers with a rider’s suit pooling at his ankles. “Oh-I-sure,” he says, hurriedly making his way around the tables and sofas towards where Chanyeol is.
“Should I get a bigger size? Is that why I can’t fit?” Chanyeol asks as Baekhyun tries to assess the problem, tugging at the material.
“No, it’s okay,” Baekhyun shakes his head. “You’re just pulling it the wrong way-you have to ease it up from the bottom instead of just trying to yank them on like regular pants.”
Chanyeol stares because that’s what he’s been trying to do for the past ten minutes-he’s been trying to pull them and push them on every which way possible, but they’re still not moving any further up his legs. “What?”
Baekhyun blinks back blankly for a moment before stepping closer. “D’you want me to help you? I can try-”
Chanyeol sits down on the sofa and stretches his legs out at Baekhyun because at this point he just really wants to put the suit on-and also doesn’t like standing around in his boxers in front of a stranger for long periods of time. However, neither does he want to go out and have to ask Minseok to come back in and help him because Minseok would probably think this is hilarious and end up telling it at the dinner table tonight.
Baekhyun stands in front of Chanyeol, gripping the cloth of the suit pooling around Chanyeol’s calves and braces himself. Chanyeol holds onto the back of the sofa so he won’t be toppled over when Baekhyun pulls. Their eyes meet for a split second before Baekhyun yanks seemingly with all the strength in his small frame-which, unfortunately and fortunately for Chanyeol, happens to be a shocking amount relative to what Chanyeol had expected, and he ends up toppling onto the floor anyway, bringing Baekhyun down with him.
Chanyeol’s eyes shut in pain as his head thumps against the floor and Baekhyun’s body plops on top of him-creating for a sandwich of ache on both sides of the rider’s body. Baekhyun’s nails also dig into Chanyeol’s arms in an effort to steady both of them and Chanyeol winces again at that. “Oh-fuck-sorry,” Baekhyun says immediately, voice slightly high-pitched now as he instantly sits back.
Chanyeol opens his eyes when some of the pain starts to recede, sitting up as well, and finds that maybe he should’ve remained lying down for a few more moments because with Baekhyun still on top of him and both of them sitting, facing each other, their faces are inches apart and Chanyeol has never been more aware in the past five minutes of how shirtless Baekhyun is.
Like-extremely shirtless.
Like-there is no shirt whatsoever on Baekhyun’s body.
(but then Chanyeol notices his eyes because Baekhyun has these eyes that aren’t deep set or particularly round, but they crinkle at the corners and they curve in a way that makes Chanyeol feel a smile bubble inside of him even though he doesn’t even know who Baekhyun is other than-well-Baekhyun)
Chanyeol swallows as Baekhyun scrambles off and stands up. Chanyeol straightens back to his feet as well. His pants are on now, at least.
“The top part’ll probably be easier,” Baekhyun says, the tips of his ears now visibly red as he blinks a little too fast at Chanyeol. “But I can’t help you put it on.”
“Why?” Chanyeol blurts.
Baekhyun blinks again and smiles slightly. “I don’t know how to,” he shrugs brightly. “I’m not a rider.”
Chanyeol’s eyes fall back to the pale skin of Baekhyun’s bare torso, and he commences to feel extremely stupid. “Oh-right.”
“I’ll see you on the pad,” Baekhyun waves then, heading back outside with another bright smile.
Chanyeol is left standing in the cool shade of the warehouse, unmoving for a good six minutes before he remembers that he’s supposed to finish putting on the rest of the suit, meet Minseok outside, and ride a dragon.
“Did you have trouble putting it on?” Minseok asks when Chanyeol finally stumbles outside, helmet and goggles in tow (after he spends ten minutes struggling with the top half of the suit, and then another fifteen wandering around the warehouses, trying to find the right path out to the mounting pad-which happens to be very-hard-to-miss elevated platform at the focus of the center, right near the forest edge).
“A little,” Chanyeol says, meeting Minseok’s eyes and they both break into matching, knowing, grins simultaneously.
“Sorry,” Minseok says sheepishly. “I guess I should’ve figured it’d be a little harder for you since you’re so tall.” He claps Chanyeol’s shoulder, and jerks his chin towards the groupings of people spread out on different parts of the mounting pad. “Zhang Yixing is our medic,” Minseok says, pointing out the young man sitting with his legs dangling off of the edge of the pad.
There are two people below the platform that Yixing seems to be talking to, and Chanyeol peers over the side slightly to catch a glimpse of them-one of them is shirtless (a dragon) and one of them is suited up just like Chanyeol and Minseok. “Kim Joonmyeon and Do Kyungsoo,” Minseok says. “I tamed Joonmyeon but Kyungsoo was trained at his parents’ private center.”
“Are they partners?” Chanyeol asks as he catches the rider-Kyungsoo’s eyes-before looking away again back to Minseok.
“Kyungsoo likes to ride Jongin sometimes, but for the most part, they are-he has a different style of riding than I train, so he does whatever,” Minseok says casually and gives a short wave to Kyungsoo and Joonmyeon.
Jongin walks over to them then, tan skin glowing in the sunlight and dark hair whipped around by the afternoon breeze. “Hyung,” he says to Minseok. “Sehunie’s here.”
Minseok blinks, looking to Chanyeol and then back to Jongin. “Oh,” the tamer breathes with surprise. “He’s early. I thought he’d have test prep or something after school today so I could set Chanyeol up first-”
“He’s still getting suited up-like he just got here,” Jongin says dismissively.
“Oh-okay,” Minseok turns back to Chanyeol, and gives a bracing smile. “We’ll just get to it then, yeah?”
Chanyeol stares.
Minseok raises his eyebrows.
“What?”
Minseok laughs, and tugs Chanyeol back a few steps-all the way until the backs of their heels are at the utmost edge of the platform-to the point where Chanyeol wonders if Minseok wants both of them to have matching neck braces after a joint trip to the emergency room. “Yah,” Minseok shouts suddenly, and Chanyeol flinches in surprise. “Clear up!”
Yixing glances at them briefly before getting to his feet and climbing down the nearest ladder leading back to the ground. Another dragon whom Minseok hasn’t introduced yet-who’d previously been sitting next to Yixing-jumps effortlessly to the ground, landing neatly on his feet beside Joonmyeon.
“Okay,” Minseok says urgently, seriously, and Chanyeol’s nerves suddenly explode in a flurry inside his chest because Jongin starts to smirk and grin-starts jogging out to the center of the pad in a highly intimidating way that turns the contents of Chanyeol’s brain into uncomfortable goop. “Jonginie is going to shift and since it’s your first time, we’re doing it on the mounting pad-there are some dragons and riders who like to always use the pad, and some who really prefer mounting on the go. Jongin hasn’t used the pad in a while so he’s kind of rusty with it but he’ll be okay,” the tamer is talking at rapid speed and the way Jongin has started to bounce up and down on his feet is really taking a toll on Chanyeol’s composure.
“When he shifts,” Minseok continues as Chanyeol begins to feel sick (the wind has picked up and Jongin has started to stretch as if he’s about to run a marathon), “his pants are going to turn into a saddle and I asked him to put on the beginner’s saddle today so that you have bigger stirrups to use to climb up on and there’re reins for you to hold onto while you fly. There’s also a safety net-”
“I need a safety net-?”
“In case you fall,” the tamer goes on as if Chanyeol hadn’t spoken, “but Jongin is a smooth flier, so you won’t.” Minseok pats Chanyeol on the arm a few times briskly before completely ignoring how Chanyeol’s mouth is hanging open. The tamer turns to Jongin and raises his hand as a signal to which Jongin grins back and starts off in the opposite direction at a full sprint.
There’s the sound of a wine stopper being popped before the wind picks up, gathering dust from beneath the gravel and causing the nearby trees to tremble, shaking from side to side. Chanyeol shields himself from the debris with an arm over his eyes. “Put on your goggles,” Minseok says loudly over the roaring that’s begun. Chanyeol fumbles a minute, slipping on the tight band of the goggles and then pulling on his helmet, fastening it beneath his chin.
Jongin is gray and white with a silvery cast over his scales that glitter in the sunlight. Chanyeol has only been within touching distance of a dragon twice in his life-both times when he was too small to recollect very clearly, and both times with the dragons of his parents. The feeling is slightly disconcerting-the way anything of such large a scale is disconcerting at first for all humans, but there’s another feeling beneath that-as if his emotions right now were built in layers-and this feeling is warmer, bubbling with excitement and longing (fascination).
Minseok doesn’t even get the chance to approach Jongin before the dragon instantly takes a humongous step towards the tamer, tongue lashing out and licking Minseok from head to toe-Chanyeol bites his lip to hold back the laughter at seeing how the entire front of Minseok’s suit now shines with saliva.
“Fucker,” Minseok laughs, as he hugs Jongin’s snout. “Okay,” the tamer says, turning to Chanyeol. “Just go on ahead and climb up. If you’re right-handed, it’s easier to get on from the left so you can cross your arm over and pull yourself up.”
Jongin suddenly bends his legs, and the dragon’s long body flattens against the surface of the platform. Chanyeol realizes that the dragon is lowering himself to make it easier for Chanyeol to climb on for the first time. He hooks one boot into the stirrup and does as Minseok says, grabbing the rein farthest from him with his left arm and pulling himself up with the gathered leverage. He manages to slide on easily, adjusting in the saddle-similar to that of a horse’s only made out of the Under Armour material rather than leather.
“All good?” Minseok asks. Chanyeol nods. “I won’t give you an earpiece just yet because Jongin knows where to take you, but later on, I need to brief you on how to use that for when we go scouting or for when we have to take rogues in.”
Chanyeol nods again and Minseok grins, taking steps backward after lightly patting Jongin’s snout once more. The tamer waves and then suddenly Chanyeol finds himself gripping the reins far more tightly, flattening his body instinctively against Jongin as the dragon pushes off from the platform and immediately launches into the air. As the platform grows smaller and smaller below them-and the warehouses soon turn into the green capped tops of the forest-Chanyeol is just thankful that he’s Korean and lives in Korea and gets to fly on Korean dragons because dragons from Europe and North America have wings and Chanyeol has heard that the wind caused from the flapping of those wings during flight often times blows the rider off of the dragon.
Jongin soars slowly, clearly letting Chanyeol get adjusted enough to be able to sit upright and not grip the dragon with his entire body. Chanyeol fixes his goggles against his face and looks forward instead of down-looks out at the white clouds above them, seemingly close enough to touch. He licks his lips, taking a deep breath, before he finally does peak downward-down towards the forest’s lush greenery passing by below them.
He sits up straighter because the knots in his stomach have vanished, leaving pure adrenaline pumping through him and suddenly even sitting up as straight as his spine will allow him doesn’t seem enough. He’s seen his father fly before and even though his mother sits, his father stood-if Chanyeol remembers correctly.
Chanyeol bends over to glance at Jongin’s face-the dragon doesn’t seem to be looking back for Chanyeol to be able to catch his eye. Jongin is looking straight ahead, most likely focused on making Chanyeol’s first flight as easy and safe as possible. Chanyeol takes that chance then to grip the reins and push himself up on the stirrups, wobbling slightly at first before he regains his footing. A grin slides onto his lips.
Standing, he can see everything laid out before him-the shadow of the mountains through the misty clouds, the faint outlines of the other centers-he can even see the forest more clearly, instead of just watching it as a green blur passing underneath. The wind rushes through the hair that’s slipped from his helmet, and he feels his cheeks and ears flush. Every breath he takes should be a little more difficult because of the altitude, but instead, it feels like breathing is easier up here-like he’s never been happier to be able to hear and smell and breathe and taste and see.
Jongin suddenly turns his head slightly, the large brown orb of the dragon’s eye glancing up at Chanyeol standing. The rider grins sheepishly, shrugging, and the dragon abruptly flashes his teeth into what can only be a grin in return. Chanyeol can hear the unspoken words in the slight surprise of Jongin’s glance. “Ay,” Chanyeol drawls playfully and pats right behind Jongin’s ears, “I’m a natural.”
The rider feels a rumbling beneath him and realizes that Jongin is laughing.