The Stars Shine Brighter (When You're With Me)
Title: The Stars Shine Brighter (When You're With Me)
Pairings: Chanyeol/Baekhyun, Jongin/Kyungsoo
Genre: romance, humor
Rating: pg-13
Length: 3k
Summary: Kyungsoo and Jongin are your typical angel and demon, Chanyeol might be schizophrenic, and Baekhyun isn't as oblivious as he seems.
Chanyeol isn't exactly normal. Not in the sense that he's tall or awkward or not at all socially appealing (yeah, he's those too), but more by the way he's able to see things. People, rather. Two people, to be exact. An angel and a devil. He doesn't remember when he started to see, hear, converse with them, it just kind of happened one day out of no where, and he never questioned it.
Other people aren't able to see Kyungsoo and Jongin-- that's their names-- or hear them arguing incessantly, which is all they ever seem to do. They appear randomly, at different times of the day, sometimes during lessons at school and sometimes in the middle of the night, forcing him to turn on his lamp so they can see each other's faces in their bloodbath of words.
One could call Kyungsoo and Jongin Chanyeol’s own personal consultants. They help him by giving him advice, though most of it sucks, and giving their own commentary of his life.
"Tell me you saw that bitch's hoochie skirt."
"Don't say that! But oh my gosh, did you see her nose ring? It doesn't match her face!"
"I don't know, I thought it looked pretty good."
"You would."
Most of the time they serve as a distraction, like when his teacher is boring or he's eating alone at a restaurant. Those are probably the only times they're useful. He's learned that he can somehow summon them from wherever they come from at anytime he wants by just calling out their names, the random string of syllables letting out a crack in the air before there's two small pressures beside his head.
Chanyeol is also weird in another way, to the school and society and pretty much anyone who sees him at the wrong time. One would think that he and his supernatural counterparts would be able to communicate telepathically or some shit like that, but it's not true. He has to talk out loud like they're any other person in the world. Needless to say he gets a few stares when he turns to his left or right and starts talking to thin air.
"Jesus Christ, did you see that kid's rainbow hair?"
"Stop using the Lord's name in vain, you demon!"
"Guys, shut up," Chanyeol whispers harshly all of a sudden, turning more to his left than his right to look at the little devil. Kyungsoo's red hair is so bright that it's almost an eye sore, but he could say the same thing about Jongin's glowing blond head of angelic pureness.
There is only one time in the rotation of the Earth (besides when he has a headache or he's in the shower and Kyungsoo feels the need to talk about his wang) that Chanyeol would ever tell the two to shut up: when Byun Baekhyun is within the vicinity.
"Oh, is it Baekhyun again?" Jongin asks almost sympathetically, eyes darting around the room to find the familiar face. "I bet today you'll get lucky and he'll finally see you and ask you on a date!"
"Or Yeol could grow some balls and do it himself," Kyungsoo scoffs, flicking his tail and stabbing Chanyeol in the back of the neck.
"Watch it," he murmurs under his breath, trailing after Baekhyun with his eyes as he walks to his locker with his friend Luhan, occasionally stopping to say hi to people.
Baekhyun is way too popular, too gorgeous, too outgoing to notice bordering-on-insanity Park Chanyeol-- or at least that's what he likes to call himself. Because really, who sees angels and demons? Hello, life isn't a book by Dan Brown.
He eventually gets back to class after Kyungsoo tells him to pick his jaw up off the floor and wipe the drool from his chin, causing him to blush madly and practically sprint his way to class, cutting his stare-at-Baekhyun-as-unsuspectingly-as-possible routine short. It’s his favorite part of the day to be honest.
"You're over six feet tall and you really think he hasn't noticed you?" Jongin asks out of pure curiosity, reaching up to play with his earlobe. Maybe he should get it pierced, that would attract some attention.
"If not, this kid must be blind," Kyungsoo replies for him, blowing hot air on his neck to try and make him laugh and hopefully throw Jongin off accidentally as his giant body rumbles. Whatever, it's just wishful thinking. “You really want to date a blind guy?”
"I wasn't talking to you," the angel grumbles, deciding to change the subject immediately so he doesn't have to fight with that demonic skum. "Maybe you really should ask him out. I mean, you guys aren't getting any younger."
"Yeah," Kyungsoo agrees. "Unlike me and white wings here, you humans don't live forever, so you might as well jump on the love-bandwagon pretty soon. You know, before you die and all.”
It isn't until later that night, when Chanyeol is laying in bed with the lamp on, Kyungsoo and Jongin having some type of competition on his collarbones that he gets to thinking. "Hey, do angels and demons have feelings?"
"What?" Both of them ask at the same time, instantly scowling at each other.
"Why would you ask that?" Jongin wonders sincerely while Kyungsoo mutters a what the fuck.
"Just wondering. You guys can obviously experience hate, but have you ever been in love?"
Chanyeol misses the glance the other two share as he sighs, the sudden weight on his chest disappearing and he looks up to see smoke in their absence. Of course they would avoid a question like that, he thinks bitterly, deciding not to call them back. Maybe it's not his place to know that. Maybe he's supposed to be forbidden from knowing these kinds of things-- but if that's true, then why the fuck are Kyungsoo and Jongin on his shoulders every single day without fail?
With or without his schizophrenic tendencies, he doesn't think he could get a guy like Baekhyun. The perfect man with good grades and a ton of friends. That's just who Chanyeol is. Shy. Insecure. Clingy. Stubborn, though sometimes that can be a good thing. Kyungsoo had said it would get his ass kicked one day while Jongin just explained that some people have thicker skulls than others and it wasn’t necessarily horrible if he knows the right time to give up.
His sidekicks are back the next day, acting like nothing ever happened, so Chanyeol decides not to mention it again. He'll leave emotions like love to the human species.
--
"I need advice."
It's Friday morning, the rain is falling and the sun is hidden under the sky that has swelled like a bruise.
"On what, you bulbasaur?"
"Stop being so rude, Soo," Jongin lightly smacks his arm. They're on the same shoulder today, surprisingly not trying to kill each other, just tired and using each other as leverage.
Chanyeol usually walks to school, because taking the bus would be a hassle with those two guys and riding his bike makes them fall off of him from the wind. "I want to ask out Byun Baekhyun." He says with determination, clenching his fist tightly and smiling to himself. He's not going to let anything ruin his mood. He’s a man with a mission and everything else be damned.
"You finally grew some balls, huh? This will be the first and only time I say this, but amen."
"You're so dumb," Jongin yawns, letting out a little kitten mewl that has Chanyeol wanting to tuck the two of them into a little 5-inch long bed.
"Why are you guys so tired, anyway?"
"Bitchin' party in hell last night. Even Michael and Raphael went!" Kyungsoo gapes in amazement, suddenly out of his fatigued-stupor. "You should have been there, Yeol, you could have fucked Baekhyun's guardian angel!"
"I don't particularly want to go to hell, thanks," he replies, letting a shiver travel down his spine. It's probably a sign.
"Look, I'll ignore that little jab, but we need to talk about your game plan. Jonginnie, any suggestions?"
"Yes. First of all, don't call me that." Kyungsoo frowns. "Second of all, you need to buy that boy some flowers and straight up ask him out."
"How will I do that?" Chanyeol stops before he reaches the school gates, scooping the angel and demon into his hand so he can look at them. They’re so tiny, barely bigger than his fingers and it makes him coo every time he sees them.
"Well, we know that Baekhyun works at that shoe store part-time, right?"
"Wait, how--"
"So tomorrow, you buy some pretty flowers, and on the little card you write your confession, and wait for him to react. Simple as that."
"I have to agree with the saint here," Kyungsoo nods seriously. "We'll implement it tomorrow, ogre, and don't you dare cheap out on the bouquet!"
--
Chanyeol decides not to take Kyungsoo and Jongin with him on his shopping trip or to the shoe store where Baekhyun works. They would be a complete nuisance and make him nervous and stutter and he definitely does not want to look like a fool in front of the love of his life. How embarrassing would it be to give a mediocre, half-ass attempt at a confession? He would surely be rejected.
Luckily, today the sun is out, and Chanyeol happily stops by a small flower shop to spend his allowance on a bundle of red tulips because apparently they are a declaration of love. He doesn't expect Baekhyun to be some kind of flower meaning expert, but flowers in general are a connotation for love, right? Ugh, he sighs to himself, maybe he really should have at least brought Jongin along. He seems to know the most about this kind of stuff. Kyungsoo is the type of guy you go to for sex advice.
Chanyeol is halfway to the shoe shop, the green plastic surrounding the bouquet crunching against his chest from his tight hold on it. He doesn't want anything to happen to it before he can give them to Baekhyun. The ahjumma had been nice enough to lend him a pen so he could write a simple, I like you. Please go out with me? on the card, and he's pretty satisfied with it. With the simplicity of it.
He doesn't notice the buzzing noise surrounding him until it flies a little too close for comfort in his face, yellow and black passing his eyes followed by several more. Bees, those little greedy bastards. He tries to swipe them away, because they're painful and he doesn't want to be in pain or have unsightly red marks in front of Baekhyun, but Chanyeol seems to forget that bees only attack when provoked.
He ends up running away from them with no other choice, passing the shoe shop by a landslide and sweating all the way through his blue button up. And he still ends up with a few stings on his arms!
Kyungsoo and Jongin shake their head in pity when he returns, hair disheveled and hands empty because he dropped the flowers somewhere between the tenth and twelfth minute of running. He figured maybe those were the reason the bees were still chasing him. They weren't.
Goddamn, bees are fast.
--
Their second tactic is to go with a simple box of chocolates that spell out 'I love you'. Chanyeol has his mom buy him a box of Valentine's Day candy and he specially arranges them, Kyungsoo yapping in his ear about how stupid and corny this is while Jongin tells him to shut up because the devil knows he would honored if someone did this for him (which shuts him up effectively).
He waits until the next Saturday to actually go to the store again, too embarrassed at last week's fiasco. He was practically putting on a show being chased by those bees. And for free no less.
Chanyeol sees Baekhyun as soon as he walks in, the bell jingling, signaling his entrance, and he walks up to the counter with newfound courage. Kyungsoo had told him to stop pussyfooting around or else he'll die a virgin and while it doesn't sound very tactful, it's really motivational.
"Hello, how can I help you?" Those simple words coming out of Baekhyun's beautiful mouth seem to suck the vigor right out of him. He is really too perfect for words, why did Chanyeol ever think this would work!?
He thinks about Kyungsoo's words again and ends up just shoving the box in Baekhyun's sculpted-to-perfection hands. "These are for you," he says simply, swallowing over the lump in his throat.
The elder smiles breathtakingly, opening up the box immediately and taking no heed to what it's spelling out before shoving a piece of it in his mouth. He can't deny that he really loves chocolate.
"Wow! This is really--"
Chanyeol looks up from his shoes, because maybe after his rejection he should go ahead and buy another pair since his are old, and this place is nice, and he probably won't come back after this, to see Baekhyun with his hands around his throat like he's pulling off an invisible strangler.
"Allergic," is the only thing he can gasp out before Luhan, who also conveniently works here, is rushing over to him and patting him on his back.
Baekhyun points to the chocolate box and something inside of Luhan seems to click. "Do those have nuts in them?!"
"I don't know!" Chanyeol answers panically, not really knowing what's going on but not really liking it either. Oh how he's glad that Kyungsoo and Jongin aren't here now.
"He's allergic to nuts!" Luhan screams, and panicking even more at the prospect that he could go down for manslaughter, Chanyeol runs to the other side of the counter, slings the wheezing boy over his shoulder, and is out the door, taking a sharp left and managing to avoid bumping into people.
Chanyeol runs all the way to the hospital, watches a doctor shove a needle in Baekhyun’s thigh, and praises the heavens that Baekhyun isn't going to die. Jongin would be proud of him.
He spends the night in a chair by Baekhyun's hospital bed, watching over him since the doctors said he should stay to make sure the allergy doesn't flare up again in his sleep and kill him. Chanyeol doesn't mind if it means he gets to look at Baekhyun's peaceful face for hours at a time (not that he's creepy or anything).
Kyungsoo and Jongin pop up only once to give him a disgusted look before disappearing together, and he laughs because yeah, he's disgusted with himself too.
--
The third and final time that Chanyeol attempts to confess, he simply writes a letter containing all his pent up feelings. Kyungsoo and Jongin shrug at him, saying go for it and standing on his shoulders as he walks down the sidewalk.
It's been two weeks since the hospital incident, and it's a considerably later time, the sun already starting to set with yellows bleeding into reds and oranges. He hasn't really talked to Baekhyun, either, considering he left right before he woke up and avoids him at all costs during school (for which he's scolded by the tiny men on him).
He has the letter placed in his hand, because he doesn’t want the envelope to get ruined in his pockets or something. Surely nothing can go wrong with a fucking letter. He's lost in thought, trying to ignore Kyungsoo and Jongin talking about how God scolded that one archangel for screwing that one demon when his hand feels oddly empty.
"What?" Chanyeol whispers, whipping around so fast he knocks Kyungsoo's off of him. He sees a twelve year old on a skateboard with his letter. His motherfucking letter! In the hands of a heathen!
"You're a loser," the kid says degradingly before throwing the opened letter in a puddle, made better when it starts to drizzle. And he doesn't even have an umbrella.
Chanyeol thinks he's going to cry. Jongin is scolding him for dropping Kyungsoo and he's going to get sick and he wants to cry, his eyes stinging and vision blurring dangerously. The world obviously has a vendetta against him. He's going to die alone and a virgin. He's going to watch Baekhyun get a better boyfriend, someone who doesn't act crazy and see angels and demons.
"Uh," someone says, and they're probably talking to him, but he can't keep his eyes off of his ruined letter soaking up water from the sidewalk. The same person keeps tapping him on his head and it's annoying because his hair is probably already frizzy from the humidity and this day just totally sucks.
"What?!" He finally snaps, making sure to turn around carefully because Jongin may be an angel but nobody likes an angel when they're mad.
"Oh, sorry." It's Baekhyun. Of course it's fucking Baekhyun. Of course it's the one person he's been pining after for years. Of course he just snapped at his soulmate that he almost killed that one time.
"I'm sorry." The words tumble out and suddenly they're accompanied by a whole lot more that he really would have rather kept private. "I'm really frustrated because I bought you flowers but a gang of killer bees chased me all around town and then I almost fucking killed you with my chocolate but I don't completely blame myself because my mom bought them but then I wrote this letter and some kid threw it in the puddle," he points to the destroyed stationary, "and he called me a loser and I'm really starting to believe it. I'm sorry I couldn't confess to you correctly and that I'm a loser and you probably think I’m crazy but I know I am."
There's a tense silence in the air after that. Chanyeol hangs his head low and Kyungsoo and Jongin are sitting on his shoulder and probably enjoying the show. They would enjoy his misery. Then Baekhyun is letting his face split open into a grin and he asks, "you really bought me flowers? What kind?"
"Red tulips."
"I like red tulips."
"You think our job is done here?" Kyungsoo whispers to Jongin, not taking his eyes off of Baekhyun.
"Yeah. I think our counseling session here is done, babe," he nods with finality, and Kyungsoo smiles before smashing their lips together and they disappear into a puff of smoke, hoping that their love remediation has paid off and Chanyeol won't fuck this up any further.
Chanyeol chuckles meekly, the situation starting to soak in along with the water in his clothes.
"Oh!" Baekhyun suddenly shouts, digging into his messenger bag and bringing out a flaming red umbrella. The color reminds him of someone, but he can't remember who. "You don't look like you have an umbrella. Can I walk you home?"
"Sure," he answers, not at all embarrassed that he's the one having to be walked home.
"So when is our date?"
"D-Date?" Chanyeol chokes on his own spit, looking down at the male he's huddled closely with.
"You said you were confessing, right? So when is our date? So I can get to know you better," Baekhyun explains without a care in the world.
"Oh, um, tomorrow, if you're free?"
"I like the sound of that."
"I like you."
"I think you're a little too late for that, Channie."
Chanyeol doesn't end up dying a virgin, Chanyeol doesn't fuck his last opportunity, and he doesn't have to watch Baekhyun get a better boyfriend than him because he never leaves the elder's side until he's accepted his feelings. Chanyeol doesn't go around whispering to his shoulders anymore, and instead walks around with his fingers intertwined with Baekhyun's and a phantom pressure on his shoulders.
Pairings: Chanyeol/Baekhyun, Jongin/Kyungsoo
Genre: romance, humor
Rating: pg-13
Length: 3k
Summary: Kyungsoo and Jongin are your typical angel and demon, Chanyeol might be schizophrenic, and Baekhyun isn't as oblivious as he seems.
Chanyeol isn't exactly normal. Not in the sense that he's tall or awkward or not at all socially appealing (yeah, he's those too), but more by the way he's able to see things. People, rather. Two people, to be exact. An angel and a devil. He doesn't remember when he started to see, hear, converse with them, it just kind of happened one day out of no where, and he never questioned it.
Other people aren't able to see Kyungsoo and Jongin-- that's their names-- or hear them arguing incessantly, which is all they ever seem to do. They appear randomly, at different times of the day, sometimes during lessons at school and sometimes in the middle of the night, forcing him to turn on his lamp so they can see each other's faces in their bloodbath of words.
One could call Kyungsoo and Jongin Chanyeol’s own personal consultants. They help him by giving him advice, though most of it sucks, and giving their own commentary of his life.
"Tell me you saw that bitch's hoochie skirt."
"Don't say that! But oh my gosh, did you see her nose ring? It doesn't match her face!"
"I don't know, I thought it looked pretty good."
"You would."
Most of the time they serve as a distraction, like when his teacher is boring or he's eating alone at a restaurant. Those are probably the only times they're useful. He's learned that he can somehow summon them from wherever they come from at anytime he wants by just calling out their names, the random string of syllables letting out a crack in the air before there's two small pressures beside his head.
Chanyeol is also weird in another way, to the school and society and pretty much anyone who sees him at the wrong time. One would think that he and his supernatural counterparts would be able to communicate telepathically or some shit like that, but it's not true. He has to talk out loud like they're any other person in the world. Needless to say he gets a few stares when he turns to his left or right and starts talking to thin air.
"Jesus Christ, did you see that kid's rainbow hair?"
"Stop using the Lord's name in vain, you demon!"
"Guys, shut up," Chanyeol whispers harshly all of a sudden, turning more to his left than his right to look at the little devil. Kyungsoo's red hair is so bright that it's almost an eye sore, but he could say the same thing about Jongin's glowing blond head of angelic pureness.
There is only one time in the rotation of the Earth (besides when he has a headache or he's in the shower and Kyungsoo feels the need to talk about his wang) that Chanyeol would ever tell the two to shut up: when Byun Baekhyun is within the vicinity.
"Oh, is it Baekhyun again?" Jongin asks almost sympathetically, eyes darting around the room to find the familiar face. "I bet today you'll get lucky and he'll finally see you and ask you on a date!"
"Or Yeol could grow some balls and do it himself," Kyungsoo scoffs, flicking his tail and stabbing Chanyeol in the back of the neck.
"Watch it," he murmurs under his breath, trailing after Baekhyun with his eyes as he walks to his locker with his friend Luhan, occasionally stopping to say hi to people.
Baekhyun is way too popular, too gorgeous, too outgoing to notice bordering-on-insanity Park Chanyeol-- or at least that's what he likes to call himself. Because really, who sees angels and demons? Hello, life isn't a book by Dan Brown.
He eventually gets back to class after Kyungsoo tells him to pick his jaw up off the floor and wipe the drool from his chin, causing him to blush madly and practically sprint his way to class, cutting his stare-at-Baekhyun-as-unsuspectingly-as-possible routine short. It’s his favorite part of the day to be honest.
"You're over six feet tall and you really think he hasn't noticed you?" Jongin asks out of pure curiosity, reaching up to play with his earlobe. Maybe he should get it pierced, that would attract some attention.
"If not, this kid must be blind," Kyungsoo replies for him, blowing hot air on his neck to try and make him laugh and hopefully throw Jongin off accidentally as his giant body rumbles. Whatever, it's just wishful thinking. “You really want to date a blind guy?”
"I wasn't talking to you," the angel grumbles, deciding to change the subject immediately so he doesn't have to fight with that demonic skum. "Maybe you really should ask him out. I mean, you guys aren't getting any younger."
"Yeah," Kyungsoo agrees. "Unlike me and white wings here, you humans don't live forever, so you might as well jump on the love-bandwagon pretty soon. You know, before you die and all.”
It isn't until later that night, when Chanyeol is laying in bed with the lamp on, Kyungsoo and Jongin having some type of competition on his collarbones that he gets to thinking. "Hey, do angels and demons have feelings?"
"What?" Both of them ask at the same time, instantly scowling at each other.
"Why would you ask that?" Jongin wonders sincerely while Kyungsoo mutters a what the fuck.
"Just wondering. You guys can obviously experience hate, but have you ever been in love?"
Chanyeol misses the glance the other two share as he sighs, the sudden weight on his chest disappearing and he looks up to see smoke in their absence. Of course they would avoid a question like that, he thinks bitterly, deciding not to call them back. Maybe it's not his place to know that. Maybe he's supposed to be forbidden from knowing these kinds of things-- but if that's true, then why the fuck are Kyungsoo and Jongin on his shoulders every single day without fail?
With or without his schizophrenic tendencies, he doesn't think he could get a guy like Baekhyun. The perfect man with good grades and a ton of friends. That's just who Chanyeol is. Shy. Insecure. Clingy. Stubborn, though sometimes that can be a good thing. Kyungsoo had said it would get his ass kicked one day while Jongin just explained that some people have thicker skulls than others and it wasn’t necessarily horrible if he knows the right time to give up.
His sidekicks are back the next day, acting like nothing ever happened, so Chanyeol decides not to mention it again. He'll leave emotions like love to the human species.
--
"I need advice."
It's Friday morning, the rain is falling and the sun is hidden under the sky that has swelled like a bruise.
"On what, you bulbasaur?"
"Stop being so rude, Soo," Jongin lightly smacks his arm. They're on the same shoulder today, surprisingly not trying to kill each other, just tired and using each other as leverage.
Chanyeol usually walks to school, because taking the bus would be a hassle with those two guys and riding his bike makes them fall off of him from the wind. "I want to ask out Byun Baekhyun." He says with determination, clenching his fist tightly and smiling to himself. He's not going to let anything ruin his mood. He’s a man with a mission and everything else be damned.
"You finally grew some balls, huh? This will be the first and only time I say this, but amen."
"You're so dumb," Jongin yawns, letting out a little kitten mewl that has Chanyeol wanting to tuck the two of them into a little 5-inch long bed.
"Why are you guys so tired, anyway?"
"Bitchin' party in hell last night. Even Michael and Raphael went!" Kyungsoo gapes in amazement, suddenly out of his fatigued-stupor. "You should have been there, Yeol, you could have fucked Baekhyun's guardian angel!"
"I don't particularly want to go to hell, thanks," he replies, letting a shiver travel down his spine. It's probably a sign.
"Look, I'll ignore that little jab, but we need to talk about your game plan. Jonginnie, any suggestions?"
"Yes. First of all, don't call me that." Kyungsoo frowns. "Second of all, you need to buy that boy some flowers and straight up ask him out."
"How will I do that?" Chanyeol stops before he reaches the school gates, scooping the angel and demon into his hand so he can look at them. They’re so tiny, barely bigger than his fingers and it makes him coo every time he sees them.
"Well, we know that Baekhyun works at that shoe store part-time, right?"
"Wait, how--"
"So tomorrow, you buy some pretty flowers, and on the little card you write your confession, and wait for him to react. Simple as that."
"I have to agree with the saint here," Kyungsoo nods seriously. "We'll implement it tomorrow, ogre, and don't you dare cheap out on the bouquet!"
--
Chanyeol decides not to take Kyungsoo and Jongin with him on his shopping trip or to the shoe store where Baekhyun works. They would be a complete nuisance and make him nervous and stutter and he definitely does not want to look like a fool in front of the love of his life. How embarrassing would it be to give a mediocre, half-ass attempt at a confession? He would surely be rejected.
Luckily, today the sun is out, and Chanyeol happily stops by a small flower shop to spend his allowance on a bundle of red tulips because apparently they are a declaration of love. He doesn't expect Baekhyun to be some kind of flower meaning expert, but flowers in general are a connotation for love, right? Ugh, he sighs to himself, maybe he really should have at least brought Jongin along. He seems to know the most about this kind of stuff. Kyungsoo is the type of guy you go to for sex advice.
Chanyeol is halfway to the shoe shop, the green plastic surrounding the bouquet crunching against his chest from his tight hold on it. He doesn't want anything to happen to it before he can give them to Baekhyun. The ahjumma had been nice enough to lend him a pen so he could write a simple, I like you. Please go out with me? on the card, and he's pretty satisfied with it. With the simplicity of it.
He doesn't notice the buzzing noise surrounding him until it flies a little too close for comfort in his face, yellow and black passing his eyes followed by several more. Bees, those little greedy bastards. He tries to swipe them away, because they're painful and he doesn't want to be in pain or have unsightly red marks in front of Baekhyun, but Chanyeol seems to forget that bees only attack when provoked.
He ends up running away from them with no other choice, passing the shoe shop by a landslide and sweating all the way through his blue button up. And he still ends up with a few stings on his arms!
Kyungsoo and Jongin shake their head in pity when he returns, hair disheveled and hands empty because he dropped the flowers somewhere between the tenth and twelfth minute of running. He figured maybe those were the reason the bees were still chasing him. They weren't.
Goddamn, bees are fast.
--
Their second tactic is to go with a simple box of chocolates that spell out 'I love you'. Chanyeol has his mom buy him a box of Valentine's Day candy and he specially arranges them, Kyungsoo yapping in his ear about how stupid and corny this is while Jongin tells him to shut up because the devil knows he would honored if someone did this for him (which shuts him up effectively).
He waits until the next Saturday to actually go to the store again, too embarrassed at last week's fiasco. He was practically putting on a show being chased by those bees. And for free no less.
Chanyeol sees Baekhyun as soon as he walks in, the bell jingling, signaling his entrance, and he walks up to the counter with newfound courage. Kyungsoo had told him to stop pussyfooting around or else he'll die a virgin and while it doesn't sound very tactful, it's really motivational.
"Hello, how can I help you?" Those simple words coming out of Baekhyun's beautiful mouth seem to suck the vigor right out of him. He is really too perfect for words, why did Chanyeol ever think this would work!?
He thinks about Kyungsoo's words again and ends up just shoving the box in Baekhyun's sculpted-to-perfection hands. "These are for you," he says simply, swallowing over the lump in his throat.
The elder smiles breathtakingly, opening up the box immediately and taking no heed to what it's spelling out before shoving a piece of it in his mouth. He can't deny that he really loves chocolate.
"Wow! This is really--"
Chanyeol looks up from his shoes, because maybe after his rejection he should go ahead and buy another pair since his are old, and this place is nice, and he probably won't come back after this, to see Baekhyun with his hands around his throat like he's pulling off an invisible strangler.
"Allergic," is the only thing he can gasp out before Luhan, who also conveniently works here, is rushing over to him and patting him on his back.
Baekhyun points to the chocolate box and something inside of Luhan seems to click. "Do those have nuts in them?!"
"I don't know!" Chanyeol answers panically, not really knowing what's going on but not really liking it either. Oh how he's glad that Kyungsoo and Jongin aren't here now.
"He's allergic to nuts!" Luhan screams, and panicking even more at the prospect that he could go down for manslaughter, Chanyeol runs to the other side of the counter, slings the wheezing boy over his shoulder, and is out the door, taking a sharp left and managing to avoid bumping into people.
Chanyeol runs all the way to the hospital, watches a doctor shove a needle in Baekhyun’s thigh, and praises the heavens that Baekhyun isn't going to die. Jongin would be proud of him.
He spends the night in a chair by Baekhyun's hospital bed, watching over him since the doctors said he should stay to make sure the allergy doesn't flare up again in his sleep and kill him. Chanyeol doesn't mind if it means he gets to look at Baekhyun's peaceful face for hours at a time (not that he's creepy or anything).
Kyungsoo and Jongin pop up only once to give him a disgusted look before disappearing together, and he laughs because yeah, he's disgusted with himself too.
--
The third and final time that Chanyeol attempts to confess, he simply writes a letter containing all his pent up feelings. Kyungsoo and Jongin shrug at him, saying go for it and standing on his shoulders as he walks down the sidewalk.
It's been two weeks since the hospital incident, and it's a considerably later time, the sun already starting to set with yellows bleeding into reds and oranges. He hasn't really talked to Baekhyun, either, considering he left right before he woke up and avoids him at all costs during school (for which he's scolded by the tiny men on him).
He has the letter placed in his hand, because he doesn’t want the envelope to get ruined in his pockets or something. Surely nothing can go wrong with a fucking letter. He's lost in thought, trying to ignore Kyungsoo and Jongin talking about how God scolded that one archangel for screwing that one demon when his hand feels oddly empty.
"What?" Chanyeol whispers, whipping around so fast he knocks Kyungsoo's off of him. He sees a twelve year old on a skateboard with his letter. His motherfucking letter! In the hands of a heathen!
"You're a loser," the kid says degradingly before throwing the opened letter in a puddle, made better when it starts to drizzle. And he doesn't even have an umbrella.
Chanyeol thinks he's going to cry. Jongin is scolding him for dropping Kyungsoo and he's going to get sick and he wants to cry, his eyes stinging and vision blurring dangerously. The world obviously has a vendetta against him. He's going to die alone and a virgin. He's going to watch Baekhyun get a better boyfriend, someone who doesn't act crazy and see angels and demons.
"Uh," someone says, and they're probably talking to him, but he can't keep his eyes off of his ruined letter soaking up water from the sidewalk. The same person keeps tapping him on his head and it's annoying because his hair is probably already frizzy from the humidity and this day just totally sucks.
"What?!" He finally snaps, making sure to turn around carefully because Jongin may be an angel but nobody likes an angel when they're mad.
"Oh, sorry." It's Baekhyun. Of course it's fucking Baekhyun. Of course it's the one person he's been pining after for years. Of course he just snapped at his soulmate that he almost killed that one time.
"I'm sorry." The words tumble out and suddenly they're accompanied by a whole lot more that he really would have rather kept private. "I'm really frustrated because I bought you flowers but a gang of killer bees chased me all around town and then I almost fucking killed you with my chocolate but I don't completely blame myself because my mom bought them but then I wrote this letter and some kid threw it in the puddle," he points to the destroyed stationary, "and he called me a loser and I'm really starting to believe it. I'm sorry I couldn't confess to you correctly and that I'm a loser and you probably think I’m crazy but I know I am."
There's a tense silence in the air after that. Chanyeol hangs his head low and Kyungsoo and Jongin are sitting on his shoulder and probably enjoying the show. They would enjoy his misery. Then Baekhyun is letting his face split open into a grin and he asks, "you really bought me flowers? What kind?"
"Red tulips."
"I like red tulips."
"You think our job is done here?" Kyungsoo whispers to Jongin, not taking his eyes off of Baekhyun.
"Yeah. I think our counseling session here is done, babe," he nods with finality, and Kyungsoo smiles before smashing their lips together and they disappear into a puff of smoke, hoping that their love remediation has paid off and Chanyeol won't fuck this up any further.
Chanyeol chuckles meekly, the situation starting to soak in along with the water in his clothes.
"Oh!" Baekhyun suddenly shouts, digging into his messenger bag and bringing out a flaming red umbrella. The color reminds him of someone, but he can't remember who. "You don't look like you have an umbrella. Can I walk you home?"
"Sure," he answers, not at all embarrassed that he's the one having to be walked home.
"So when is our date?"
"D-Date?" Chanyeol chokes on his own spit, looking down at the male he's huddled closely with.
"You said you were confessing, right? So when is our date? So I can get to know you better," Baekhyun explains without a care in the world.
"Oh, um, tomorrow, if you're free?"
"I like the sound of that."
"I like you."
"I think you're a little too late for that, Channie."
Chanyeol doesn't end up dying a virgin, Chanyeol doesn't fuck his last opportunity, and he doesn't have to watch Baekhyun get a better boyfriend than him because he never leaves the elder's side until he's accepted his feelings. Chanyeol doesn't go around whispering to his shoulders anymore, and instead walks around with his fingers intertwined with Baekhyun's and a phantom pressure on his shoulders.