the problem with fiction (04/10ish)
kris/chanyeol | PG-13
summary: that's right, this is your usual idol oppa/ordinary high school boy fake engagement story. unless you never read one. you know, you should click the link.
author notes: ± 4, 940 words. comments are encouraged. seriously. oyeee. don't hate me though. you'll see when you've finished reading.
o n e / t w o / t h r e e
“guys! five minutes!” the head of SM’s event organizer team announces, before he runs again somewhere yelling to a handie talkie.
hearing that, chanyeol does a mehrong to no one in particular as a stylist-noona wipes the sweat off of his neck. he thanks her and his eyes are instantly scanning the crowd.
where’s kris?
“chanyeol-ah!” ryeowook-sshi shrieks, grabbing chanyeol’s sweating hand and guiding him through the sea of crews and exo members who give him encouraging words. he doesn’t remember much until he’s practically shoved to kris’ arms and together they enter the conference room and are instantly bombarded by the blinding blitz.
a chair is pulled for him, and kris squeezes his hand before he lets go. chanyeol grimaces because honestly? he’s scared.
he’s scared he’s going to screw up. he’s scared that he’s not synched with ryeowook-sshi’s script. he’s scared that their lie will blow up right here, just in a matter of minute; because of him. he’s scared kris’ career will―
“this is my chanyeol’s first time handling so many attentions,” suddenly kris’ hand is back on him; giving it a tight, reassuring squeeze as he addresses the reporters. their eyes meet and then kris continues,
“he will try his best.” he smiles at chanyeol before standing up and dragging his chair a whole lot closer to chanyeol's side.
chanyeol hides his swooned heart by smiling shyly to his palm while the clicky click from the cameras are suddenly intensifying.
kris is introducing himself, thanking the reporters for attending the press conference and stating that he and his chanyeol will only answer the proper questions. he turns to chanyeol again, nodding his head slightly. chanyeol blinks as he, by instinct, sits straighter on his chair and grabs his knees.
“ummm,” his voice is loud but also small on the speakers, “annyeonghaseyo, park chanyeol imnida.” he gives a slight bow and tries to smile. another series of click click click (he has to blink furiously to stabilize his whitening vision), and finally someone asks;
“chanyeol-sshi, how old are you?” it’s coming from the right side of the room.
chanyeol looks at kris and upon the older’s nod he answers, “i am seventeen years old!” he smiles. “i’ll be eighteen this november.”
“so you’re on third year of high school, chanyeol-sshi?”
chanyeol nods.
“we heard you’re from gangwon. do you still live there or...” a woman wearing a green polo shirt asks with a friendly smile.
chanyeol looks at kris again before he cites ryeowook-sshi’s script,
“b-because of what had happened, i live with hyung right now. we thought we have nothing to cover up anymore.”
“so you live in exo dorm right now?”
“ang...” chanyeol huffs his cheeks, that question wasn’t on ryeowook-sshi’s script. “um...”
“we,” kris gestures to himself and chanyeol, “live just next door. chanyeol understands that exo is still my number one priority. i am exo’s leader after all. that, and we also need our own privacy.” the whole room laughs at that.
chanyeol blushes.
a new question is quick to follow up,
“do you have any siblings, chanyeol-sshi?”
chanyeol shakes his head (still smiling), “aniyo...”
“did your parents know about the leaked photo? what was their reaction?”
“they teased me about it,” chanyeol tries to widen his mouth like a smile. “and they scolded my friend who took it.”
“your friend, why did he delete his twitter?” another new question.
“ummm, he was sorry. he regretted it. he was just too excited to find us in such compromising position,” chanyeol makes a quick glance at kris who has been watching him. chanyeol straightens his position again before he continues more confidently, “also, on this special occasion, i would like to apologize if that photo is considered unsuitable for south korea’s public.”
the room echoes a ‘gwenchana’.
chanyeol relaxes to his chair, eyeing the water bottle in front of him.
he quickly leans to ask kris, “hyung can i have a drink?” as the reporters take time to mess with their laptops.
kris takes the water bottle and uncaps it for chanyeol, who blinks; he's confused because he didn’t ask for that but again, he’s too swooned to protest (not that he wants to anyway)―and he swears he can hear ryeowook-sshi’s squeak of approval somehow. he offers the bottle to kris after gulping half of the content, and his ‘fiancee’ easily drinks it without so much care that practically, they just have an indirect kiss.
a new question is being asked,
“kris-goon, we’re so curious. how did you meet chanyeol and what made you so sure that proposing to him was the best thing you’ve ever done in your life?”
kris smirks handsomely as he takes the mic and answers, “it’s kinda easy, i guess. many of you probably think that i’m being too risky, considering my young age and my idol status.” he pauses for five seconds straight before he shrugs, “well i take it back. it’s not easy. if you all have been falling in love with someone, i guess you can relate to me. i’ll just let the public make assumptions. i mean,” he reaches a hand to ruffle chanyeol’s hair, “my chanyeol has always been himself yet he already had me ever since day one.”
the female reporters are aww-ing, the male ones are nodding like they know exactly what kris is talking about.
(that wasn’t on ryeowook-sshi’s script; not a single word. that strong statement is. an. impromptu. lie.
chanyeol doesn’t know whether to feel relieved or upset.)
the same reporter asks again,
“but you haven’t told us how did you two meet?”
“oh,” kris says, “when was it, chanyeol-ah?”
chanyeol is snapped out of his reverie, and he pouts and politely asks kris to repeat the question. more laugh from the reporters as kris patiently repeats,
“i think it was last year? when exo visited your parents’ hot spring?”
chanyeol makes a show, he nods cutely, “it was before exo debuted, um, noonas, hyungs,” his unsureness refreshes the whole room. chanyeol’s shoulders feel lighter, “i always helped my parents there on weekend. i also like to make new friends, and my first impression for hyung was, ‘whoooa he looks like a foreigner!’”
the whole room chuckles.
“go ahead,” kris encourages him.
“i think hyung liked me first,” chanyeol scrunches his nose at kris, who playfully narrows his eyes. the whole room bursts out laughing at their exchange. chanyeol pouts to the reporters and whines,
“it’s true! he demanded my number on exo’s second visit! right after exo debuted on inkigayo he called and asked me to go out with him. i immediately said yes because hyung had looked so cool on stage! trust me, at school the next day i was sooooooo tempted to yell out to my friends―girls, you know?―that actually kris wufan, yes, chingudeul, the kris wufan, is my boyfriend. but because hyung had asked me so sweetly not to say anything, i didn’t! it’s so funny hearing my friends gossiping about hyung everyday...” he ends it with a cute sigh, because that’s how his ‘image’ should be from what’s written on ryeowook-sshi’s script;
be your cute self, chanyeolla, baby-yah~~~imma sure you’ll become the next ‘south korea’s little brother’!
chanyeol glances at kris, who is covering his face, his shoulders are shaking.
kris wufan is currently laughing.
chanyeol feels a surge of pride filling up his nerves. he bounces his feet, waiting for a new question. this is quite fun, actually.
“chanyeol-sshi you’re so cute!” a new female reporter with white framed glasses raises her pink-nailed hand. “how did kris propose to you? did he do something embarrassing? romantic? cool?”
chanyeol makes an oh puhlease face, “we were jogging, and he just said it like, ‘hey, chanyeol-ah, how about we get married?’”
some of the female reporters are holding onto each other’s arms. kris maintains a supposedly stoic but amused face but he fails, because he’s facepalming, as if he’s surrendering to what though; chanyeol has no idea.
“then tell us, chanyeol-goon, how would you like your hyung proposing you?”
“ang...” chanyeol does a mehrong, this wasn’t on ryeowook-sshi’s script. but if kris could make a believable lie then he could make one too.
but before he can sprout nonsense about walking on a beach or lying outside watching the stars or playing on his favourite stream back home; catching fishes with their bare hands―kris outruns him by saying,
“noona, please don’t plant ridiculous ideas to my chanyeol’s innocent brain thank you very much.”
the said reporter fusses weakly but gives up anyway,
“okay okay. then how was your parents’ opinion about kris’ proposal? you two are young still, and kris is an idol.”
chanyeol bites his bottom lip. he’s going to lie about his parents’ opinion. can he do it? it feels like he's cheating on god, or something similar. ugh.
“um,” chanyeol scratches his chin, “actually, my umma is hyung’s fan―” a howl of laughter “―and my appa wants to adopt minseok-hyung―” the speakers ring annoyingly because of the excessive amount of laughter, that kris volunteers to shield chanyeol’s ears with his big palms. the reporters only come to their right selves after ryeowook-sshi steps out and orders them to calm down (he’s giggling while doing so).
and then kris takes chanyeol's left hand, not squeezing but holding it tightly as they wait for the reporters to calm their hysterics. chanyeol feels his cheeks are about to explode but holding back just as tight.
▲▼
ryeowook-sshi takes them to a fancy restaurant after the press conference, announcing that they can eat anything since lee sooman has just called and told them to do so. lee sooman was so satisfied with kris and chanyeol’s performance that he transferred a special dinner allowance to ryeowook-sshi’s account.
as usual, they get a private room, and the waiter and waitress serving them recognize chanyeol immediately. but since it’s a five star restaurant, they don’t comment anything.
chanyeol notices tao is stealing glances at him every now and then. the younger boy seems like he wants to say something important. but even until the long-awaited dinner arrives, tao keeps plastering himself to kris’ side.
speaking of.
there’s this weird feeling looking at them; at how kris lets tao eat his share of wagyu beef or how tao speaks oh so softly to everyone or when tao smiles at kris. chanyeol thinks he’s going to notice when tao blinks or breathes. and that’s like, ridiculous.
he tries his best to define it as ‘not-jealousy-not-at-all-i’m-just-being-delusional-from-the-great-amount-of-touching-i-did-with-kris-today’; or, NJNAAIJBDFTGAOTIDWKT.
NJNAAIJBDFTGAOTIDWKT makes his brain so sure that kris is his for god’s sake, he’s been with kris since they woke up earlier today until now; to the moment when chanyeol is losing his appetite because kris is not sitting next to him but next to tao and kyungsoo.
r to the i to the d to the i―
maybe it’s time to call jongdae.
he excuses himself to use the restroom.
only to find a nice indoor garden with mini fountain. the fountain has quite collection of koi fishes. the fishes are almost the size of chanyeol’s forearms. he crouches down on the sideline, not really wanting to be seen by other customers of the restaurant. the garden is situated right under an open roof where chanyeol can see the moon and the stars. he takes out his phone and captures the swimming fishes; they gather in front of chanyeol, thinking that chanyeol will feed them.
chanyeol takes ten shots, eight with the instagram application and the rest with the night mode activated. he takes a selca then, pouting with his chin on top of his left knee. next, he aims his phone to immortalizing the stars.
of course, the picture only shows the darkness of the night, with a hint of a silver round a little to the left of his phone’s screen. chanyeol pouts again and begins poking at the nearest koi.
obviously, time flies, because chanyeol’s yelp is shooing away the fishes when suddenly a soft voice is calling him.
“hyung? chanyeol-hyung? what are you doing?”
it’s tao, of all people.
chanyeol wipes his wet hands to his brand new levi’s 501 limited edition jeans, and tao flinches at the careless gesture.
“hyung? wookie-hyung was wondering what took you so long.”
“ah...” chanyeol sniffs. “hi, tao...yah...”
the younger boy giggles, approaching him slowly, like a kitten scrutinizing a new toy. “just tao is alright, hyung,” he peers over to see what’s inside the mini fountain, and then he makes a face.
“were you touching them?” tao asks.
“yes?” chanyeol is confused by tao’s gurl-that-ain’t-sexy face (tumblr’s reference, again).
“but why?” tao is about an inch shorter than chanyeol but his look is more intimidating due to those developing muscles and scary feline eyes. he smells nice though, like a very, very expensive peach.
“why?” chanyeol smiles. “ummm...why, are you afraid of fish, tao? hoooooooooo...” he changes his voice to tease the younger boy.
tao pouts.
“what! awww,” chanyeol nudges tao’s ribs, “that’s so cute! fishes won’t harm you!”
“i know!” tao stomps, and that’s really really really cute. “but―they’re just so slippery,” his hands are flying in a flamboyant wave, “and they smell icky!”
chanyeol wants to cry because seriously, the boy is so, so, so cute he wants to squish him with a hug. but maybe that’s not a wise move because tao can easily manhandle him and squish his skinny body for real instead.
so chanyeol copies kris’ smirk and crouches down again. he catches the smallest white-red-orange koi and mischievously touches tao’s cheek with its slippery and icky gaping mouth.
tao shrieks.
“oh my god you’re serious!” chanyeol doubles over and the fish accidentally falls to the dry ground.
tao shrieks again,
“chanyeol-hyung it’s going to die! put it back!” he’s about three meters from chanyeol already. “put it back!” and he’s practically yelling right now. chanyeol can’t control his laugh and releases the poor fish back to the pond. he gets a nastier idea though. he quickly grabs the biggest yellow-black-orange koi and runs to tao. tao is a split second too late to realize what’s happening and his scream is echoing to the whole restaurant.
in the end, ryeowook-sshi half heartedly scolds the two boys; no dessert for them and early bed time, too.
chanyeol regrets nothing though, because at least tao is talking to him and he finally knows the feeling of taking care a little brother; since tao doesn’t stop sobbing until chanyeol offers him a free-from-fish hug.
▲▼
for the next two days, chanyeol is busy moving his few possessions to his and kris’ new apartment; right across from exo’s dorm.
the apartment number 505 is huge; with two bedrooms and two bathrooms, a walk in closet, a study room slash a guest room, and a modern kitchen. inside of chanyeol’s bedroom, the most spacious one; he has his own 32 inch plasma TV, a PS3, an xbox 360, a DVD player, and a very nice bookshelf for his one piece manhwas collection. in short, he doesn’t even need to leave his bedroom at all unless he’s starving. the sophisticated refrigerator in the kitchen is stacked with snacks, fruits, juices, and milks; although because of idol’s healthy lifestyle, there’s not a single ramyun in the apartment. it’s not a problem, chanyeol can live without it.
“...and sungjong just gained 300 or so followers!”
chanyeol giggles quietly as he browses tumblr’s ‘chanyeol’ tag using his brand new macbook pro; a ‘small’ gift from lee sooman himself. he finds a lot of nice photoshop edits of him with kris already; even fanfictions, but sadly they’re all written in english.
“yah, are you listening to me?” baekhyun clicks his tongue on the other line.
“i am!” chanyeol whispers, “kris is taking a nap you know?”
“awww, what an obedient little waifu you are now, park chanyeol!” baekhyun laughs obnoxiously then he adds without missing a beat, “wait. is it true though? you live only with him?”
“yeah,” chanyeol moves his position on the bed, he lies on his side now, “why?”
baekhyun takes a sharp breath.
“well, aren’t you afraid? last time i checked, he misunderstood your cute self as an invitation. he’s a good guy, alright, but you can’t just believe him one hundred percent, chingu-yah.”
“i’m...” chanyeol pouts, there goes his good mood. he’s been having the classic ‘new kid on new school’ nervousness since morning; because tomorrow he will finally enroll to seoul performing arts high school as a transferred student.
sure, chanyeol might be the most easygoing seventeen years old, but now he has the ‘kris wufan’s fiancee’ title painted with permanent marker on his face. he got his first anonymous hate letter yesterday, about him being oh so unsuitable to be kris-oppa’s fiancee and how ugly he is. ryeowook-sshi had made him felt better by cursing the sender to hell and back.
but ryeowook-sshi won’t be with him anywhere he goes; the exo manager can’t be with him 24/7. at school, he’s flying solo completely.
“chanyeol-ah?”
“ugh you suck byun baekhyun!” chanyeol mutters. “i hate you.”
“no you don’t,” baekhyun chuckles. “what’s wrong though? is it something that i said?”
“why are you so full of yourself...” chanyeol moves to his stomach again and whines, “don’t laugh, but i miss you.”
baekhyun doesn’t laugh, his voice cracks instead.
chanyeol hates it when his best friend cries. not long after, he joins baekhyun in their totally unplanned crying show. to brighten up the weird atmosphere, they insult each other lamely, because they’re still sobbing and laughing at the same time.
“you stupid stupid stupid,” chanyeol mumbles incoherently, wiping at his cheeks with the hem of his frayed t-shirt. “why are you crying you stupid!”
“i can’t help it okay!?” baekhyun snorts. “i miss you too, my wangja, i really do.”
“huu huu~” chanyeol whimpers, snorting and sniffing, “baekhyun-aaaaah i’m scared...”
“what what of what?” baekhyun asks with, finally, his manly voice.
“i-i-i―” chanyeol blows his nose after finding a box of tissue on one of the bedside’s drawer. “i’m going to a new school tomorrow! the uniform is so nice but still! in those movies, seoul kids look like meanies...”
“jeez,” baekhyun also blows his nose, “i thought krisus is molesting you again.”
“yah!” chanyeol is not sure why he’s shouting at his best friend, either it’s because baekhyun just offends kris or because baekhyun offends his fiancee who is napping right now. huh, that’s basically one same thing.
“whatever, you got that CEO ahjusshi buying you a freaking macbook pro and you were basically the most popular kid back here and now you’re worrying over snotty seoul kids? really, park chanyeol?”
but baekhyun forgets one thing though.
delusional girls, apparently, can be so cruel.
oh so cruel.
▲▼
entering the first week, chanyeol wonders what he’s done wrong to them. almost every girls at his school purposefully gossiping about him and kris whenever he’s near them; about how unlucky kris-oppa is to have a village scum as his fiancee, kris-oppa is slowly contaminated by that village scum’s hideous whole being did you see the clothes he wore earlier today on his way to SM building?!
kris-oppa this and kris-oppa that.
they hiss loudly about chanyeol’s face; about his eyes, his nose, his lips, his skin, his ears, his height, his weird voice, his handwriting, his name, his walk, his run, his ugly smile―and what those girls like to insult the most is his press conference’s ‘sickening, fake, totally lameass cute act’―and after they’re done with everything, they will laugh extra loud to let chanyeol know that it’s him being the subject of their very interesting conversation.
at first, the boys aren’t participating in the bullying―yes, he's bullied, no matter how much chanyeol try to think positive about them abusing him verbally―but entering the second week, they start giving him cold shoulders. there’s a gay joke thrown somewhere, barking dirty sex noises whenever chanyeol is walking past them; one of the boys imitates chanyeol’s voice ‘when that village scum is getting fucked in the ass’ and the others are asking obnoxiously if ‘that village scum will spread his legs to anything with two legs and a dick’.
his classmates are ignoring him. his homeroom teacher doesn’t seem to notice that no one wants to be paired up with park chanyeol, the new transferred student, on biology and korean history project assignments.
ryeowook-sshi, upon chanyeol’s request, wrote ‘acting’ on his field of interest section and so he joins the theater club; where no one sees him―not even the underclassmen―but the bubbly hwang-songsaenim. the young woman’s attraction towards chanyeol proves that he has a big, raw talent and that he’s still as lovable as he is. unfortunately, hwang-songsaenim is too obvious on showing her favoritism for chanyeol, and that’s like an open enticement for them to create another creative insult.
“hwang-songsaenim must be so fucking retarded. that gay village scum won’t even glance at pussies, because he is one! ahahahahahahaha!”
chanyeol knows how bullying works; bullies feel superior when the bullied is showing any sign of discomfort, so he doesn’t. but that also means the bullies will game up their actions, sooner or later. and obviously, it’s just a battle of who will stay alive till the end.
(it is also known as the battle of when will park chanyeol seek for help?)
“oh look, it’s the famous gay village scum.” an eleventh grader (from his and his friends’ red tie) is pointing at chanyeol who just changes his shoes. today is another bunch of hate letters decorating his poor locker and chanyeol tries to shut it without a sigh, because every little things he does; like blinking and breathing, they all can be used as a new insult material. for two days he doesn’t eat his lunchbox because he’s too well aware that his classmates are watching his every moves. he doesn’t change together on boys’ locker room with his classmates on gym class anymore, because option a) they avoid him like a plague but not without throwing another gay jokes, or option b); despite chanyeol being taller than any of them, they somehow manage to toss around his gym uniform and kangin-songsaenim hates slow kids the most. chanyeol has two warnings already, and if he’s late for the third time, he’ll have a detention cleaning the gym after school hour.
a detention doesn’t sound so bad, right, after everything chanyeol has experienced for three weeks; but having a detention for a fault he’s not even responsible, goddamnit park chanyeol still has his pride.
and it’s become a habit for him to count down the days before he can come back to gangwon; to his parents and baekhyun and jongdae. ah, jongdae. hopefully when he gets into seoul national university no one will treat him like shit.
jongdaejongdaejongdaejongdaejongdae, what are you doing right now?
chanyeol finds a weird sense of calmness when he thinks about gangwon and jongdae, in particular. so his mind processes his hometown along with jongdae’s smiling face. he does it as he marks another day in gloomy october on his phone’s calendar with another :(
about four more months before the contract between him and kris ends.
(maybe) he can do this.
he pockets his phone back to his pants as he gets out of the classroom, forty five minutes after the bell rings.
the school is empty already, and that’s exactly how chanyeol wants it. they all hurry to worry their own businesses after the bell rings; going to cram schools or hanging out, forgetting about the village scum park chanyeol.
(but chanyeol had miscalculated his assumption twice, because apparently some of them who didn’t have anything else to do were waiting by his locker to, “say goodbye to our gay village scum because we’ll miss insulting you dearly,” and, “your kris fucking wufan must be rich. i need to buy cigarette and my daily dose of starbucks.”)
no one is perching in front of his locker today, and chanyeol doesn’t forget to thank god for it.
he opens his locker, but his shoes aren’t there.
he tries to look unaffected though, living with kris has its advantage after all, he’s been training his own face’s muscles to create a perfect poker face. so far, he looks like he’s sleepy but it’ll do; he only smiles when he’s around exo members because at school, where he spends most of his time in a day, he doesn’t even talk.
it’s another one of his new habit to keep his poker face on, even now that he’s all by himself.
chanyeol tiptoes to look at the top of the lockers’ shelves and he checks at every trash bins on the first floor of his school. nothing. he tries the boys’ toilets on the first floor, but still nothing.
this is ridiculous.
it’s his most favorite black hi-top converse that he bought with his own money earlier this year; one of his most precious possessions because he actually worked for it himself while his parents could just easily give him the money. plus, the shoes have accompanied him feeling cool going to school and playing basketballs and riding with baekhyun on his best friend's motorcycle around their neighbourhood and every other places he’s been to in gangwon.
he walks barefooted to a red kia picanto (because ryeowook-sshi insisted that chanyeol goes to school with a personal car instead of taking public transportations). he sheepishly pleads the driver, a quiet thirty something man, to never mention about today; lee-sshi sees nothing, please? please? (insert a helpless pout and smile). thank you so much! so how was your other job, lee-sshi...and then he apologizes because he made lee-sshi wait for so long, lying that he had an extra theater meeting. lee-sshi nods and agrees, but not without sending him a concerned look.
thankfully when he gets home―it’s home, alright, only for now though―kris isn’t back yet. exo has just started their intense dance practice for their november comeback with a full length album, and they always get home past midnight; exhausted and looking like zombies.
chanyeol spends his time relearning today’s subjects and completing his notes. today is thursday; his university examination private tutor only comes on wednesday and friday.
when chanyeol is stuck on the english composition section on his TOEFL text book, he feels the sudden urge to cry.
he just wants to cry, with no reasons at all, because he’s convinced that the bullying gets nothing on him. he stares blankly to the empty lines on his notebook. his mind flies to when he ate his lunch on the farthest cubicle of the fifth floor's deserted boys toilet, to when he almost fell asleep on korean history class, to his conversation with lee-sshi about his―
the first sensation comes from his lungs; they’re suffocated so bad and they refuse to expand when he tries to inhale. next, he can’t breathe through his nose, because his nostrils are blocked with snots, maybe, or something else more solid than mere snots.
and somehow, chanyeol doesn’t even care anymore.
he tastes saltiness on his open mouth, and he whimpers to his transformers bed sheet because―
deep down, chanyeol is aware that it’s not really about his shoes, no.
he doesn’t care though, he cries, curling on his side; trying so hard to think about gangwon, his parents’ faces, jongdae―but he can’t―all he sees is nothing, only darkness with a hint of technicolor here and there. he grips the bed sheet so tightly that when he’s done; when invisible hammer is pounding his head and when his body feels hot and cold all over, his fingers are numb. it hurts when chanyeol tries to straighten them. it really hurts.
he’s cried for two hours straight. and he gets three unread texts from kris, asking him if he’s home, asking him what he’s doing, and lastly; asking him if he wants to have spicy fried octopus for dinner because exo is going to finish early today. chanyeol types with difficulties a simple answer,
Im so sry hyung I fell aslep - ok hyung I liek octps for dinnr 8DDD
to be c o n t i n u e d
summary: that's right, this is your usual idol oppa/ordinary high school boy fake engagement story. unless you never read one. you know, you should click the link.
author notes: ± 4, 940 words. comments are encouraged. seriously. oyeee. don't hate me though. you'll see when you've finished reading.
o n e / t w o / t h r e e
“guys! five minutes!” the head of SM’s event organizer team announces, before he runs again somewhere yelling to a handie talkie.
hearing that, chanyeol does a mehrong to no one in particular as a stylist-noona wipes the sweat off of his neck. he thanks her and his eyes are instantly scanning the crowd.
where’s kris?
“chanyeol-ah!” ryeowook-sshi shrieks, grabbing chanyeol’s sweating hand and guiding him through the sea of crews and exo members who give him encouraging words. he doesn’t remember much until he’s practically shoved to kris’ arms and together they enter the conference room and are instantly bombarded by the blinding blitz.
a chair is pulled for him, and kris squeezes his hand before he lets go. chanyeol grimaces because honestly? he’s scared.
he’s scared he’s going to screw up. he’s scared that he’s not synched with ryeowook-sshi’s script. he’s scared that their lie will blow up right here, just in a matter of minute; because of him. he’s scared kris’ career will―
“this is my chanyeol’s first time handling so many attentions,” suddenly kris’ hand is back on him; giving it a tight, reassuring squeeze as he addresses the reporters. their eyes meet and then kris continues,
“he will try his best.” he smiles at chanyeol before standing up and dragging his chair a whole lot closer to chanyeol's side.
chanyeol hides his swooned heart by smiling shyly to his palm while the clicky click from the cameras are suddenly intensifying.
kris is introducing himself, thanking the reporters for attending the press conference and stating that he and his chanyeol will only answer the proper questions. he turns to chanyeol again, nodding his head slightly. chanyeol blinks as he, by instinct, sits straighter on his chair and grabs his knees.
“ummm,” his voice is loud but also small on the speakers, “annyeonghaseyo, park chanyeol imnida.” he gives a slight bow and tries to smile. another series of click click click (he has to blink furiously to stabilize his whitening vision), and finally someone asks;
“chanyeol-sshi, how old are you?” it’s coming from the right side of the room.
chanyeol looks at kris and upon the older’s nod he answers, “i am seventeen years old!” he smiles. “i’ll be eighteen this november.”
“so you’re on third year of high school, chanyeol-sshi?”
chanyeol nods.
“we heard you’re from gangwon. do you still live there or...” a woman wearing a green polo shirt asks with a friendly smile.
chanyeol looks at kris again before he cites ryeowook-sshi’s script,
“b-because of what had happened, i live with hyung right now. we thought we have nothing to cover up anymore.”
“so you live in exo dorm right now?”
“ang...” chanyeol huffs his cheeks, that question wasn’t on ryeowook-sshi’s script. “um...”
“we,” kris gestures to himself and chanyeol, “live just next door. chanyeol understands that exo is still my number one priority. i am exo’s leader after all. that, and we also need our own privacy.” the whole room laughs at that.
chanyeol blushes.
a new question is quick to follow up,
“do you have any siblings, chanyeol-sshi?”
chanyeol shakes his head (still smiling), “aniyo...”
“did your parents know about the leaked photo? what was their reaction?”
“they teased me about it,” chanyeol tries to widen his mouth like a smile. “and they scolded my friend who took it.”
“your friend, why did he delete his twitter?” another new question.
“ummm, he was sorry. he regretted it. he was just too excited to find us in such compromising position,” chanyeol makes a quick glance at kris who has been watching him. chanyeol straightens his position again before he continues more confidently, “also, on this special occasion, i would like to apologize if that photo is considered unsuitable for south korea’s public.”
the room echoes a ‘gwenchana’.
chanyeol relaxes to his chair, eyeing the water bottle in front of him.
he quickly leans to ask kris, “hyung can i have a drink?” as the reporters take time to mess with their laptops.
kris takes the water bottle and uncaps it for chanyeol, who blinks; he's confused because he didn’t ask for that but again, he’s too swooned to protest (not that he wants to anyway)―and he swears he can hear ryeowook-sshi’s squeak of approval somehow. he offers the bottle to kris after gulping half of the content, and his ‘fiancee’ easily drinks it without so much care that practically, they just have an indirect kiss.
a new question is being asked,
“kris-goon, we’re so curious. how did you meet chanyeol and what made you so sure that proposing to him was the best thing you’ve ever done in your life?”
kris smirks handsomely as he takes the mic and answers, “it’s kinda easy, i guess. many of you probably think that i’m being too risky, considering my young age and my idol status.” he pauses for five seconds straight before he shrugs, “well i take it back. it’s not easy. if you all have been falling in love with someone, i guess you can relate to me. i’ll just let the public make assumptions. i mean,” he reaches a hand to ruffle chanyeol’s hair, “my chanyeol has always been himself yet he already had me ever since day one.”
the female reporters are aww-ing, the male ones are nodding like they know exactly what kris is talking about.
(that wasn’t on ryeowook-sshi’s script; not a single word. that strong statement is. an. impromptu. lie.
chanyeol doesn’t know whether to feel relieved or upset.)
the same reporter asks again,
“but you haven’t told us how did you two meet?”
“oh,” kris says, “when was it, chanyeol-ah?”
chanyeol is snapped out of his reverie, and he pouts and politely asks kris to repeat the question. more laugh from the reporters as kris patiently repeats,
“i think it was last year? when exo visited your parents’ hot spring?”
chanyeol makes a show, he nods cutely, “it was before exo debuted, um, noonas, hyungs,” his unsureness refreshes the whole room. chanyeol’s shoulders feel lighter, “i always helped my parents there on weekend. i also like to make new friends, and my first impression for hyung was, ‘whoooa he looks like a foreigner!’”
the whole room chuckles.
“go ahead,” kris encourages him.
“i think hyung liked me first,” chanyeol scrunches his nose at kris, who playfully narrows his eyes. the whole room bursts out laughing at their exchange. chanyeol pouts to the reporters and whines,
“it’s true! he demanded my number on exo’s second visit! right after exo debuted on inkigayo he called and asked me to go out with him. i immediately said yes because hyung had looked so cool on stage! trust me, at school the next day i was sooooooo tempted to yell out to my friends―girls, you know?―that actually kris wufan, yes, chingudeul, the kris wufan, is my boyfriend. but because hyung had asked me so sweetly not to say anything, i didn’t! it’s so funny hearing my friends gossiping about hyung everyday...” he ends it with a cute sigh, because that’s how his ‘image’ should be from what’s written on ryeowook-sshi’s script;
be your cute self, chanyeolla, baby-yah~~~imma sure you’ll become the next ‘south korea’s little brother’!
chanyeol glances at kris, who is covering his face, his shoulders are shaking.
kris wufan is currently laughing.
chanyeol feels a surge of pride filling up his nerves. he bounces his feet, waiting for a new question. this is quite fun, actually.
“chanyeol-sshi you’re so cute!” a new female reporter with white framed glasses raises her pink-nailed hand. “how did kris propose to you? did he do something embarrassing? romantic? cool?”
chanyeol makes an oh puhlease face, “we were jogging, and he just said it like, ‘hey, chanyeol-ah, how about we get married?’”
some of the female reporters are holding onto each other’s arms. kris maintains a supposedly stoic but amused face but he fails, because he’s facepalming, as if he’s surrendering to what though; chanyeol has no idea.
“then tell us, chanyeol-goon, how would you like your hyung proposing you?”
“ang...” chanyeol does a mehrong, this wasn’t on ryeowook-sshi’s script. but if kris could make a believable lie then he could make one too.
but before he can sprout nonsense about walking on a beach or lying outside watching the stars or playing on his favourite stream back home; catching fishes with their bare hands―kris outruns him by saying,
“noona, please don’t plant ridiculous ideas to my chanyeol’s innocent brain thank you very much.”
the said reporter fusses weakly but gives up anyway,
“okay okay. then how was your parents’ opinion about kris’ proposal? you two are young still, and kris is an idol.”
chanyeol bites his bottom lip. he’s going to lie about his parents’ opinion. can he do it? it feels like he's cheating on god, or something similar. ugh.
“um,” chanyeol scratches his chin, “actually, my umma is hyung’s fan―” a howl of laughter “―and my appa wants to adopt minseok-hyung―” the speakers ring annoyingly because of the excessive amount of laughter, that kris volunteers to shield chanyeol’s ears with his big palms. the reporters only come to their right selves after ryeowook-sshi steps out and orders them to calm down (he’s giggling while doing so).
and then kris takes chanyeol's left hand, not squeezing but holding it tightly as they wait for the reporters to calm their hysterics. chanyeol feels his cheeks are about to explode but holding back just as tight.
▲▼
ryeowook-sshi takes them to a fancy restaurant after the press conference, announcing that they can eat anything since lee sooman has just called and told them to do so. lee sooman was so satisfied with kris and chanyeol’s performance that he transferred a special dinner allowance to ryeowook-sshi’s account.
as usual, they get a private room, and the waiter and waitress serving them recognize chanyeol immediately. but since it’s a five star restaurant, they don’t comment anything.
chanyeol notices tao is stealing glances at him every now and then. the younger boy seems like he wants to say something important. but even until the long-awaited dinner arrives, tao keeps plastering himself to kris’ side.
speaking of.
there’s this weird feeling looking at them; at how kris lets tao eat his share of wagyu beef or how tao speaks oh so softly to everyone or when tao smiles at kris. chanyeol thinks he’s going to notice when tao blinks or breathes. and that’s like, ridiculous.
he tries his best to define it as ‘not-jealousy-not-at-all-i’m-just-being-delusional-from-the-great-amount-of-touching-i-did-with-kris-today’; or, NJNAAIJBDFTGAOTIDWKT.
NJNAAIJBDFTGAOTIDWKT makes his brain so sure that kris is his for god’s sake, he’s been with kris since they woke up earlier today until now; to the moment when chanyeol is losing his appetite because kris is not sitting next to him but next to tao and kyungsoo.
r to the i to the d to the i―
maybe it’s time to call jongdae.
he excuses himself to use the restroom.
only to find a nice indoor garden with mini fountain. the fountain has quite collection of koi fishes. the fishes are almost the size of chanyeol’s forearms. he crouches down on the sideline, not really wanting to be seen by other customers of the restaurant. the garden is situated right under an open roof where chanyeol can see the moon and the stars. he takes out his phone and captures the swimming fishes; they gather in front of chanyeol, thinking that chanyeol will feed them.
chanyeol takes ten shots, eight with the instagram application and the rest with the night mode activated. he takes a selca then, pouting with his chin on top of his left knee. next, he aims his phone to immortalizing the stars.
of course, the picture only shows the darkness of the night, with a hint of a silver round a little to the left of his phone’s screen. chanyeol pouts again and begins poking at the nearest koi.
obviously, time flies, because chanyeol’s yelp is shooing away the fishes when suddenly a soft voice is calling him.
“hyung? chanyeol-hyung? what are you doing?”
it’s tao, of all people.
chanyeol wipes his wet hands to his brand new levi’s 501 limited edition jeans, and tao flinches at the careless gesture.
“hyung? wookie-hyung was wondering what took you so long.”
“ah...” chanyeol sniffs. “hi, tao...yah...”
the younger boy giggles, approaching him slowly, like a kitten scrutinizing a new toy. “just tao is alright, hyung,” he peers over to see what’s inside the mini fountain, and then he makes a face.
“were you touching them?” tao asks.
“yes?” chanyeol is confused by tao’s gurl-that-ain’t-sexy face (tumblr’s reference, again).
“but why?” tao is about an inch shorter than chanyeol but his look is more intimidating due to those developing muscles and scary feline eyes. he smells nice though, like a very, very expensive peach.
“why?” chanyeol smiles. “ummm...why, are you afraid of fish, tao? hoooooooooo...” he changes his voice to tease the younger boy.
tao pouts.
“what! awww,” chanyeol nudges tao’s ribs, “that’s so cute! fishes won’t harm you!”
“i know!” tao stomps, and that’s really really really cute. “but―they’re just so slippery,” his hands are flying in a flamboyant wave, “and they smell icky!”
chanyeol wants to cry because seriously, the boy is so, so, so cute he wants to squish him with a hug. but maybe that’s not a wise move because tao can easily manhandle him and squish his skinny body for real instead.
so chanyeol copies kris’ smirk and crouches down again. he catches the smallest white-red-orange koi and mischievously touches tao’s cheek with its slippery and icky gaping mouth.
tao shrieks.
“oh my god you’re serious!” chanyeol doubles over and the fish accidentally falls to the dry ground.
tao shrieks again,
“chanyeol-hyung it’s going to die! put it back!” he’s about three meters from chanyeol already. “put it back!” and he’s practically yelling right now. chanyeol can’t control his laugh and releases the poor fish back to the pond. he gets a nastier idea though. he quickly grabs the biggest yellow-black-orange koi and runs to tao. tao is a split second too late to realize what’s happening and his scream is echoing to the whole restaurant.
in the end, ryeowook-sshi half heartedly scolds the two boys; no dessert for them and early bed time, too.
chanyeol regrets nothing though, because at least tao is talking to him and he finally knows the feeling of taking care a little brother; since tao doesn’t stop sobbing until chanyeol offers him a free-from-fish hug.
▲▼
for the next two days, chanyeol is busy moving his few possessions to his and kris’ new apartment; right across from exo’s dorm.
the apartment number 505 is huge; with two bedrooms and two bathrooms, a walk in closet, a study room slash a guest room, and a modern kitchen. inside of chanyeol’s bedroom, the most spacious one; he has his own 32 inch plasma TV, a PS3, an xbox 360, a DVD player, and a very nice bookshelf for his one piece manhwas collection. in short, he doesn’t even need to leave his bedroom at all unless he’s starving. the sophisticated refrigerator in the kitchen is stacked with snacks, fruits, juices, and milks; although because of idol’s healthy lifestyle, there’s not a single ramyun in the apartment. it’s not a problem, chanyeol can live without it.
“...and sungjong just gained 300 or so followers!”
chanyeol giggles quietly as he browses tumblr’s ‘chanyeol’ tag using his brand new macbook pro; a ‘small’ gift from lee sooman himself. he finds a lot of nice photoshop edits of him with kris already; even fanfictions, but sadly they’re all written in english.
“yah, are you listening to me?” baekhyun clicks his tongue on the other line.
“i am!” chanyeol whispers, “kris is taking a nap you know?”
“awww, what an obedient little waifu you are now, park chanyeol!” baekhyun laughs obnoxiously then he adds without missing a beat, “wait. is it true though? you live only with him?”
“yeah,” chanyeol moves his position on the bed, he lies on his side now, “why?”
baekhyun takes a sharp breath.
“well, aren’t you afraid? last time i checked, he misunderstood your cute self as an invitation. he’s a good guy, alright, but you can’t just believe him one hundred percent, chingu-yah.”
“i’m...” chanyeol pouts, there goes his good mood. he’s been having the classic ‘new kid on new school’ nervousness since morning; because tomorrow he will finally enroll to seoul performing arts high school as a transferred student.
sure, chanyeol might be the most easygoing seventeen years old, but now he has the ‘kris wufan’s fiancee’ title painted with permanent marker on his face. he got his first anonymous hate letter yesterday, about him being oh so unsuitable to be kris-oppa’s fiancee and how ugly he is. ryeowook-sshi had made him felt better by cursing the sender to hell and back.
but ryeowook-sshi won’t be with him anywhere he goes; the exo manager can’t be with him 24/7. at school, he’s flying solo completely.
“chanyeol-ah?”
“ugh you suck byun baekhyun!” chanyeol mutters. “i hate you.”
“no you don’t,” baekhyun chuckles. “what’s wrong though? is it something that i said?”
“why are you so full of yourself...” chanyeol moves to his stomach again and whines, “don’t laugh, but i miss you.”
baekhyun doesn’t laugh, his voice cracks instead.
chanyeol hates it when his best friend cries. not long after, he joins baekhyun in their totally unplanned crying show. to brighten up the weird atmosphere, they insult each other lamely, because they’re still sobbing and laughing at the same time.
“you stupid stupid stupid,” chanyeol mumbles incoherently, wiping at his cheeks with the hem of his frayed t-shirt. “why are you crying you stupid!”
“i can’t help it okay!?” baekhyun snorts. “i miss you too, my wangja, i really do.”
“huu huu~” chanyeol whimpers, snorting and sniffing, “baekhyun-aaaaah i’m scared...”
“what what of what?” baekhyun asks with, finally, his manly voice.
“i-i-i―” chanyeol blows his nose after finding a box of tissue on one of the bedside’s drawer. “i’m going to a new school tomorrow! the uniform is so nice but still! in those movies, seoul kids look like meanies...”
“jeez,” baekhyun also blows his nose, “i thought krisus is molesting you again.”
“yah!” chanyeol is not sure why he’s shouting at his best friend, either it’s because baekhyun just offends kris or because baekhyun offends his fiancee who is napping right now. huh, that’s basically one same thing.
“whatever, you got that CEO ahjusshi buying you a freaking macbook pro and you were basically the most popular kid back here and now you’re worrying over snotty seoul kids? really, park chanyeol?”
but baekhyun forgets one thing though.
delusional girls, apparently, can be so cruel.
oh so cruel.
▲▼
entering the first week, chanyeol wonders what he’s done wrong to them. almost every girls at his school purposefully gossiping about him and kris whenever he’s near them; about how unlucky kris-oppa is to have a village scum as his fiancee, kris-oppa is slowly contaminated by that village scum’s hideous whole being did you see the clothes he wore earlier today on his way to SM building?!
kris-oppa this and kris-oppa that.
they hiss loudly about chanyeol’s face; about his eyes, his nose, his lips, his skin, his ears, his height, his weird voice, his handwriting, his name, his walk, his run, his ugly smile―and what those girls like to insult the most is his press conference’s ‘sickening, fake, totally lameass cute act’―and after they’re done with everything, they will laugh extra loud to let chanyeol know that it’s him being the subject of their very interesting conversation.
at first, the boys aren’t participating in the bullying―yes, he's bullied, no matter how much chanyeol try to think positive about them abusing him verbally―but entering the second week, they start giving him cold shoulders. there’s a gay joke thrown somewhere, barking dirty sex noises whenever chanyeol is walking past them; one of the boys imitates chanyeol’s voice ‘when that village scum is getting fucked in the ass’ and the others are asking obnoxiously if ‘that village scum will spread his legs to anything with two legs and a dick’.
his classmates are ignoring him. his homeroom teacher doesn’t seem to notice that no one wants to be paired up with park chanyeol, the new transferred student, on biology and korean history project assignments.
ryeowook-sshi, upon chanyeol’s request, wrote ‘acting’ on his field of interest section and so he joins the theater club; where no one sees him―not even the underclassmen―but the bubbly hwang-songsaenim. the young woman’s attraction towards chanyeol proves that he has a big, raw talent and that he’s still as lovable as he is. unfortunately, hwang-songsaenim is too obvious on showing her favoritism for chanyeol, and that’s like an open enticement for them to create another creative insult.
“hwang-songsaenim must be so fucking retarded. that gay village scum won’t even glance at pussies, because he is one! ahahahahahahaha!”
chanyeol knows how bullying works; bullies feel superior when the bullied is showing any sign of discomfort, so he doesn’t. but that also means the bullies will game up their actions, sooner or later. and obviously, it’s just a battle of who will stay alive till the end.
(it is also known as the battle of when will park chanyeol seek for help?)
“oh look, it’s the famous gay village scum.” an eleventh grader (from his and his friends’ red tie) is pointing at chanyeol who just changes his shoes. today is another bunch of hate letters decorating his poor locker and chanyeol tries to shut it without a sigh, because every little things he does; like blinking and breathing, they all can be used as a new insult material. for two days he doesn’t eat his lunchbox because he’s too well aware that his classmates are watching his every moves. he doesn’t change together on boys’ locker room with his classmates on gym class anymore, because option a) they avoid him like a plague but not without throwing another gay jokes, or option b); despite chanyeol being taller than any of them, they somehow manage to toss around his gym uniform and kangin-songsaenim hates slow kids the most. chanyeol has two warnings already, and if he’s late for the third time, he’ll have a detention cleaning the gym after school hour.
a detention doesn’t sound so bad, right, after everything chanyeol has experienced for three weeks; but having a detention for a fault he’s not even responsible, goddamnit park chanyeol still has his pride.
and it’s become a habit for him to count down the days before he can come back to gangwon; to his parents and baekhyun and jongdae. ah, jongdae. hopefully when he gets into seoul national university no one will treat him like shit.
jongdaejongdaejongdaejongdaejongdae, what are you doing right now?
chanyeol finds a weird sense of calmness when he thinks about gangwon and jongdae, in particular. so his mind processes his hometown along with jongdae’s smiling face. he does it as he marks another day in gloomy october on his phone’s calendar with another :(
about four more months before the contract between him and kris ends.
(maybe) he can do this.
he pockets his phone back to his pants as he gets out of the classroom, forty five minutes after the bell rings.
the school is empty already, and that’s exactly how chanyeol wants it. they all hurry to worry their own businesses after the bell rings; going to cram schools or hanging out, forgetting about the village scum park chanyeol.
(but chanyeol had miscalculated his assumption twice, because apparently some of them who didn’t have anything else to do were waiting by his locker to, “say goodbye to our gay village scum because we’ll miss insulting you dearly,” and, “your kris fucking wufan must be rich. i need to buy cigarette and my daily dose of starbucks.”)
no one is perching in front of his locker today, and chanyeol doesn’t forget to thank god for it.
he opens his locker, but his shoes aren’t there.
he tries to look unaffected though, living with kris has its advantage after all, he’s been training his own face’s muscles to create a perfect poker face. so far, he looks like he’s sleepy but it’ll do; he only smiles when he’s around exo members because at school, where he spends most of his time in a day, he doesn’t even talk.
it’s another one of his new habit to keep his poker face on, even now that he’s all by himself.
chanyeol tiptoes to look at the top of the lockers’ shelves and he checks at every trash bins on the first floor of his school. nothing. he tries the boys’ toilets on the first floor, but still nothing.
this is ridiculous.
it’s his most favorite black hi-top converse that he bought with his own money earlier this year; one of his most precious possessions because he actually worked for it himself while his parents could just easily give him the money. plus, the shoes have accompanied him feeling cool going to school and playing basketballs and riding with baekhyun on his best friend's motorcycle around their neighbourhood and every other places he’s been to in gangwon.
he walks barefooted to a red kia picanto (because ryeowook-sshi insisted that chanyeol goes to school with a personal car instead of taking public transportations). he sheepishly pleads the driver, a quiet thirty something man, to never mention about today; lee-sshi sees nothing, please? please? (insert a helpless pout and smile). thank you so much! so how was your other job, lee-sshi...and then he apologizes because he made lee-sshi wait for so long, lying that he had an extra theater meeting. lee-sshi nods and agrees, but not without sending him a concerned look.
thankfully when he gets home―it’s home, alright, only for now though―kris isn’t back yet. exo has just started their intense dance practice for their november comeback with a full length album, and they always get home past midnight; exhausted and looking like zombies.
chanyeol spends his time relearning today’s subjects and completing his notes. today is thursday; his university examination private tutor only comes on wednesday and friday.
when chanyeol is stuck on the english composition section on his TOEFL text book, he feels the sudden urge to cry.
he just wants to cry, with no reasons at all, because he’s convinced that the bullying gets nothing on him. he stares blankly to the empty lines on his notebook. his mind flies to when he ate his lunch on the farthest cubicle of the fifth floor's deserted boys toilet, to when he almost fell asleep on korean history class, to his conversation with lee-sshi about his―
the first sensation comes from his lungs; they’re suffocated so bad and they refuse to expand when he tries to inhale. next, he can’t breathe through his nose, because his nostrils are blocked with snots, maybe, or something else more solid than mere snots.
and somehow, chanyeol doesn’t even care anymore.
he tastes saltiness on his open mouth, and he whimpers to his transformers bed sheet because―
deep down, chanyeol is aware that it’s not really about his shoes, no.
he doesn’t care though, he cries, curling on his side; trying so hard to think about gangwon, his parents’ faces, jongdae―but he can’t―all he sees is nothing, only darkness with a hint of technicolor here and there. he grips the bed sheet so tightly that when he’s done; when invisible hammer is pounding his head and when his body feels hot and cold all over, his fingers are numb. it hurts when chanyeol tries to straighten them. it really hurts.
he’s cried for two hours straight. and he gets three unread texts from kris, asking him if he’s home, asking him what he’s doing, and lastly; asking him if he wants to have spicy fried octopus for dinner because exo is going to finish early today. chanyeol types with difficulties a simple answer,
Im so sry hyung I fell aslep - ok hyung I liek octps for dinnr 8DDD
to be c o n t i n u e d