the problem with fiction - deleted scenes
because i like having you gulls frustrated.
and i know how rare krisyeol fics are.
take o n e:
2, 083 words - featuring crybaby tao and commoner!baekhyun
chanyeol blinks as he stares to his empty locker.
his black and white limited edition vans, the new pair he bought before the press conference, are gone.
it’s only been two days since they took his favorite conv―
▲▼
exo has a free day off, and they use the rare opportunity to either sleeping (joonmyun and kyungsoo), sleeping and eating all the junk food available (yixing and minseok), and reading (kris). tao prefers to go shopping, and he shyly asks chanyeol to accompany him. chanyeol instantly says yes because he needs a pair of new, less fancy shoes to go to school.
“hyung,” tao begins hesitantly as they stroll around the first floor of seoul’s largest shopping mall, “you don’t smile much nowadays.”
ryeowook-sshi with jongwoon-sshi are a couple of steps ahead of them, and tao is looking at chanyeol with genuinely worried-curious eyes.
chanyeol is panicking for a split second, because a) that was unpredictable; coming from tao, of all people and b) is he really smiling less as days go by? now that’s something he needs to recheck because a) he doesn’t want any more people to notice his out of character-ness and b) it’s a proof that the bullying is succeeded to ruin his mental while he has sworn that he can handle it it’s alright he just has to endure for four more months before the contract between him and kris ends―
“hyung?” tao squeezes their entwined hands, he looks so sad. why is he looking so sad like that?
when chanyeol tries to stretch his mouth to form a smile, it feels so damn foreign that even he realizes he must be looking so ugly right now. maybe the girls who bully him are right; he’s ugly when he smiles, when he blinks, when he nods, when he talks, when he―
“don’t be silly,” chanyeol flicks tao’s forehead. “hyung is studying real hard, taonda, don’t forget i’m going to be a university student soon!” he tries to sound playful but again, his voice sounds so annoying.
the girls are right.
“are you sure?” tao is so precious with his feline eyes and soft voice, worrying over the unworthy me, chanyeol thinks. he lifts the corners of his mouth to grin, well, he hopes so, but tao’s sad face doesn’t falter. in fact, tao begins nibbling on his bottom lip and looking away.
those are usually the signs when exo’s maknae is thisclose to cry, from what chanyeol has learned whenever kris is raising his voice and whenever exo is having a scary movie night.
chanyeol hasn’t really mastered the art of calming down an emotional hwang zitao (that’s minseok-hyung’s job), so he just keeps walking hand in hand with the younger boy.
then suddenly tao is using the sleeve of his cloud printed t-shirt to wipe at his face, and that’s when chanyeol takes him to a secluded spot and awkwardly helps wiping the tears off using his own sleeves.
tao hiccups, “h-hyung don’t lietome...”
chanyeol doesn’t respond to that. doesn’t know how.
“hyung!” tao stomps, glaring at chanyeol. “please tell me you’re okay!”
chanyeol’s not fully trained older brother instinct kicks in; he rubs tao’s muscly arms soothingly and speaks shushedly,
“yah, what makes you so upset, taonda?” he chuckles, surprisingly whole heartedly now. “hyung is doing okay. it’s just school, my brain sometimes can’t handle it.”
lying never feels so right before.
tao sniffs, blinks, and bores a hole through chanyeol’s eyes.
“really?” his body relaxes. “promise?”
chanyeol tilts his head and scrunches his nose. then he nods reassuringly, “yep!” he joins tao who laughs sheepishly after that, and pushes him to the restroom to splash water to his face. luckily tao brings his foundation and he dabs it quickly before they resume strolling around the mall.
ryeowook-sshi texts chanyeol telling that they can go freely and he has to tell the older man when they’re hungry. chanyeol replies with a ;*
“hyung,” tao is smiling shyly as he waits for chanyeol’s focus to come back on him. chanyeol raises his eyebrows. “let’s go buy matching t-shirts.”
“hm?” he and baekhyun have this super awesome ‘my loyal slave ⇢ ⇠’ t-shirt with an arrow pointing at each other, but obviously tao’s taste won’t be that tacky, right?
“what kind?” he asks.
“anything!” tao looks relieved that chanyeol is welcoming his idea. “i’ve already had matching t-shirts with the other hyungs. even i have one with wookie-hyung.” he pauses.
“how about...super heroes t-shirts? you like that, hyung?”
chanyeol nods and offers to pay. tao gapes.
“i’m your favorite hyung, right, tao-yah? my kung fu panda?” chanyeol elbows tao’s side and tao happily declares that yes, prince (in english) chanyeolla is my most favorite hyung ever!
but please stop wasting your time worrying about me.
▲▼
somehow, chanyeol is no longer surprised that in just a couple of hours after lunch; pictures are already surfacing on the internet. most of the headlines are focusing on ‘why tao from exo is crying in a mall with exo’s leader fiancee?’ and stuffs similar to that.
and when he’s back at school on monday, the girls are attacking him; personally shoving him and screaming to his face nonsense like first it was kris-oppa now tao!? OUR HWANG ZITAO HOW DARE YOU YOU VILLAGE SCUM!!! etc etc etc.
chanyeol itches to scream back to their sadly quite pretty and cute faces that no, he’s not that sick like them; claiming tao as theirs. no. he was merely consoling a very sad dongsaeng, and the said dongsaeng was sad because of what? because of what you all have done.
to me.
but chanyeol just closes his eyes and doesn’t flinch when a girl wildly tugs at his hair and scratches his face with her long, sharp nails.
he explains to the school nurse that the slight red mark marring his cheek is courtesy of his own clumsiness. i scratched my face with a pen, he says. the school nurse giggles and treats him. when he gets home he throws away the transparent plaster and finds a quick wound remover on the first aid kit. then, he lazes around a little bit; eating a bucket of vanilla-chocolate-cream-mint ice cream while watching a re-run of x-men: first class. he’ll do his homework and studying later.
but then he falls asleep, and is woken up by a gentle hand shaking his shoulder.
kris is looking down at him with his usual a hint of smile from the right corner of his mouth, and chanyeol’s heart skips a beat.
“hyung?” he slaps his cheeks. “what time is it?”
“dinner is ready,” kris takes the empty ice cream bucket. “come on. wookie-hyung has something to say to you.” the tv is turned off already, and chanyeol blindly holds onto the hem of kris’ jacket as they step out of his messy bedroom.
“hyung you finished early today?” chanyeol yawns to his palm.
kris nods, and chanyeol greets ryeowook-sshi who is slurping on a bowl of kimchi jjigae.
“ah! baby-yah, come here!” the older man pats the empty chair next to him. chanyeol obliges and inhales the food in front of him deeply.
“were you napping?” ryeowook-sshi asks, eyeing chanyeol’s still dazed being.
“yes,” chanyeol sniffs. kris is washing his hands. right, the ice cream.
soon kris joins them, sitting across the table. chanyeol immediately mouths a thank you. kris snorts.
“okay,” ryeowook-sshi is using his business mode voice, and chanyeol once again slaps his cheeks to get into the business as well. “aw, it doesn’t hurt?” chanyeol shakes his cleared up head. ryeowook-sshi continues, but still grimacing,
“regarding exo’s comeback in two weeks prior, we’ve decided to assign both of you―the krisyeol couple as the fans say―to have a one hour special variety show. i’ve talked to my friend from MTV, and he’s been blending ideas with his creative team since lunch. the concept for your very first one hour special variety show should be emailed to me any second now.”
kris is already looking at chanyeol when he turns his attention to the older boy.
“oh,” chanyeol’s brain is telling him to act surprised, intrigued, and nervous.
he’s being nonchalant instead.
“‘oh’?” ryeowook-sshi shrieks.
“i mean,” chanyeol breaks his eye contact with kris and pouts at ryeowook-sshi, “oh my god, i’m so excited but i’m scared too!”
ryeowook-sshi pinches his cheek and jumps when his blackberry buzzes. he tells chanyeol and kris to eat while he reads the email from his friend. chanyeol picks at the pickles without an appetite, his stomach hurts from the one liter ice cream he ravished earlier. he yelps when a foot is touching his left ankle, stroking it.
kris asks monotonously, “you okay?”
chanyeol does a mehrong because he doesn’t think he can form a smile or a grin right now.
“hey,” kris calls out more firmly. “seriously.”
chanyeol knows it’s a wrong, fatal move to look irritated, but the last time he feels free was with tao―two days ago―and today he got yelled, got scratched, ate his lunch on his usual spot at the furthest cubicle of the fifth floor toilet―plus his current state with a stomachache really, really don’t help him to act like his supposed-to-be self at all.
kris frowns.
“chanyeol-ah?” he says as if he doesn’t know who the hell it is right in front of him.
and then, just with a snap, chanyeol laughs humorlessly and says,
“tricked you, didn’t i!” he points at kris with the chopsticks. and then he tries slurping the kimchi jjigae to tame his stomach. kris is still looking at him though, so he does another mehrong.
kris shakes his head, but he seems like he’s buying it; because there’s a hint of smile from the corners of his mouth as he starts eating too.
ryeowook-sshi waltzes back to the dining room announcing that they’re going to film a day with krisyeol MTV special comeback this weekend.
▲▼
chanyeol tells baekhyun and his parents about the variety show. his parents say that if he has something to object, he should never afraid to voice it out. the same goes if the crew wants him to do something weird with kris; if he’s uncomfortable with that, then he should object with all of his might. chanyeol takes note on that. then his appa is coughing and not so subtly asking if minseokkie is near his son and maybe chanyeol would kindly please pass the phone to minseokkie.
chanyeol whines and yells that minseok-hyung is practicing with exo for the comeback―his appa clicks his tongue and refuses to talk to him any longer.
baekhyun is actually anticipating what kind of outcome will chanyeol show off, he asks,
“is it scripted?”
“eh,” chanyeol says, “...i don’t know?” and he can totally see baekhyun is rolling his eyes.
“if it’s scripted, then you should challenge yourself, wangja-yah! treat it like a free acting lesson! if it’s not scripted, well, you’ll have to rely on yourself, okay? i’m sure everybody will approve anything that park chanyeol does; even when you’re sneezing or snorting in that trademarked way of yours. ahahahahahahahaha!”
chanyeol should have been laughing along with his best friend, but he just produces a weird syllable and really; another wrong move, because baekhyun is alerted at once.
“yah yah yah, what the―yah!” he growls. “are you okay!? is krisus―”
“calm down, commoner,” chanyeol sighs, “it’s not kris.”
baekhyun gasps.
“what is it then? what’s bothering you?”
and chanyeol is contemplating whether to tell baekhyun about the bullying or not. he’s survived almost a month without telling anyone, so why would he start pitying himself now?
“i think i gain weight,” he randomly blurts out the first thing that crosses his mind, inspired by the loud whining from his classmates recently. “i’m scared, commoner, i need to keep up my godly appearance!”
baekhyun scoffs and hangs up.
take t w o:
3, 580 words of so much drama. and what is it ted? chanyeol gets sexually harassed? lu han?
chanyeol discovers that the longer he talks to his parents, the greater the urge to tell them about everything because they keep on asking about how is seoul how is your new school how is your new friends, aegi, do you like it there? is everyone treating you well?
“umma, my tutor has arrived,” it’s thursday, lu han only comes on wednesday and friday. “i have to go because he’s so cute but he’s too strict! i’m so sorry!”
his umma snorts and murmurs an affectionate ‘brat’ before she says, “alright alright. what? appa asks if this lu han chingu is cuter than his minseok.”
chanyeol bursts out laughing, literally rolling on his bed right now.
“appa! do you want to adopt minseok-hyung?”
his appa is protesting on the background, and his umma also laughs,
“he’s in denial, aegi. he says he wants to eat minseok.”
“oh my god!” chanyeol giggles. his umma playfully scolds her husband.
“alright then, annyeong, aegi-yah, take care. don’t forget to hurt kris’ face if he ever tries to touch you again.”
chanyeol smiles to nothing in particular, his chest suddenly feels so tight after hearing his umma’s weird advice over and over again. he hangs off and lies upside down on his bed that his hair touches the floor, staring off into the ceiling. today is five minutes and six seconds, a minute faster than the last time his parents called.
his mind wanders off to gangwon, to his very own ‘palace’; at this time of hour he’s either sleepy already or messing with his homework and browsing tumblr. if baekhyun feels like it; sometimes he will call and take chanyeol eat at shindong-ahjusshi’s jjangmyun restaurant, or they will go to movies and watch hollywood thriller and scream like two teenage girls. he never really hangs out with jongdae because the boy prefers to read and listening to music instead of talking and laughing obnoxiously like any normal seventeen years olds.
chanyeol sighs loudly, but smiling at how jongdae had seriously told him that, “i’m not really into talking.” it seems like long, long ago.
he jumps off of the bed. he’s hungry and it’s actually past dinnertime. he decides to take a nice night stroll around exo’s dorm neighborhood instead of ordering delivery like he usually does for the past two weeks.
exo is currently busy practicing new choreography and polishing their new songs for their comeback on november, leaving chanyeol all alone in his and kris’ apartment. sometimes when he feels too lonely he will do his homework and eat dinner on exo’s dorm across the hall; the place is messier, it gives chanyeol a calming atmosphere because he’s surrounded by exo’s members dirty laundry, shoes, books, colorful post it notes, and everything else screaming hey, there are people live here.
because kris doesn’t even snore when he sleeps and he’s so neat chanyeol becomes too reluctant to make their apartment more homey. he only dares to create chaos in his bedroom just so he can feel more familiar with his spot. books are scattered everywhere; his socks, pajama pants and three days old t-shirts, posters from his favorite bands and movies, tangled controllers wires and he bought wall stickers that he randomly glued to decorate his bedroom. they are one piece’s characters, finding nemo’s characters and pisa tower plus eiffel tower and a vintage black and white kurt cobain’s face.
chanyeol grabs his wallet and his red hoodie before he goes out. it’s starting to get chilly nowadays, but seoul chilly is not gangwon chilly because seoul is crowded with more vehicles and tall buildings. he locks the door and after he’s inside the elevator he remembers he doesn’t have his phone with him. but he quickly shrugs it off; he’ll be back in thirty minutes, top. he can live without his phone for that long, right?
he greets the main lobby’s security ahjusshis who wave at him. he slaps his cheeks as he’s out of the apartment complex; contemplating what to eat, whether he’ll just eat at the restaurant or eat it home, and suddenly he craves for some snacks (oreo, maybe? or ttoboeki?) to accompany him later. there’s a rerun of spiderman 3 and he’s going to watch it!
he takes a right turn, and instantly spots neon signs of so many restaurants. thai, chinese, pasta, kebab―his mouth waters and he fastens his pace.
only to come face to face with four boys who have been actively bullying him; those from class C, and they automatically sneer at him and call his name.
the street is quite busy, but people mind their own businesses and chanyeol doesn’t want to make a scene.
the one who wears thick glasses slings an arm to chanyeol’s shoulders; they’re about the same height and maybe that’s why―chanyeol often wonders―he doesn’t have the height complex unlike his other bullies and dares to touch chanyeol all he wants. he bit chanyeol’s left shoulder once as a greeting before walking away like he did not just do abnormal thing to the person he hates.
the glasses boy says sickeningly sweet,
“isn’t it our handsome park chanyeol?” his allies are exchanging glances already.
chanyeol has his poker face in that instant.
“so what are you doing all alone like this, park chanyeol?” he asks, face too close to chanyeol’ds liking, “don’t you know that it’s dangerous for a handsome boy like you? fangirls or haters are everywhere.”
chanyeol keeps silent as he’s steered to the quieter side of the street; they’re in front of a dimly lit closed boutique right now.
“aw don’t be such a tightass, park chanyeol~” he grabs chanyeol’s chin then, after he throws chanyeol to the cold bricks wall; one arm is placed conveniently right on his neck. the other three boys are blocking pedestrians from knowing what happen; it will look like a group of boys chatting like any other days.
chanyeol is hungry, he’s tired from all the verbal bully from earlier today, his homework is also tiring, and he was just on the phone with his parents and that fact adding more salt to his wounded heart. he can’t take this anymore. he wants to scream for help and ends everything using the pity from strangers who might help him. screw logic and future consequences; he just wants to run.
he shoves the glasses boy’s unbuckling chest, and his bully mocks a surprised gasp.
“oh, feisty,” he smirks and presses closer.
it’s all coming back in a rush; kris’ big and strong hand covering his mouth so he wouldn’t scream, the same unknown panic attacking his nerves. his heart is hammering his ribs because even after all this time he’s still not comfortable enough to make any body contact with anyone. he can handle skinship with kris, although it’s strange alright, due to what had happened between them―aside from the fact that skinship with kris is a must because they’re a couple now―and so far it’s tao who develops a fixation to cling to chanyeol whenever they’re in a same room.
but taewoo is not tao; tao is a lovely dongsaeng. taewoo―he―
he might hurt chanyeol physically if he feels like it.
“s-stop,” chanyeol whispers as he closes his eyes, trying to block the other boy pressing closecloser with his fists.
his bullies exclaim. in delight.
“what was it, park chanyeol?” the glasses boy then tugs the crown of his hair and chanyeol bites his bottom lip hard to prevent a whimper. it hurts.
“speak louder, you’re a namja aren’t you?” the glasses boy continues. “oh sorry, my bad. you’re a fucking faggot.”
then he does the last thing chanyeol can ever think a bully will do to him.
“ahahahaha! oh shit, taewoo-yah!” someone is laughing, already fishing out his phone and recording what’s happening. the other two are making disgusted noises as the glasses boy sucks a mark right on the underside of chanyeol’s jawline. chanyeol tries to kick taewoo’s (such a nice name but horrible attitude) legs to break his strong stance but taewoo doesn’t even budge. then taewoo licks the mark; dips his tongue there before he bites at it again a little bit too happily and chanyeol finally whimpers and surrenders.
there’s a notable freeze from taewoo, and chanyeol uses the opportunity to blink back his tears of humiliation at the same time taewoo pushes himself off and wipes his mouth.
“dude?” one of his allies asks, still laughing. he pockets back his phone and punches taewoo’s bicep. taewoo growls at him and stalks off, but not before he sends chanyeol an accusing slash disbelief glare.
“yah!” his three allies follow, confused. chanyeol tries to stand upright on his shaking feet. when he moves his neck, the mark stings.
he doesn’t realize he’s sweating so much until he bends down to compose his breathing and a bead of sweat falls from the tip of his nose. he squats down then, gripping the lapels of his red hoodie. he’s not hungry anymore. he―
he feels so dirty.
he should’ve fought taewoo. he―
oh my god.
oh my god did he just let taewoo sort of claiming him on a sidewalk just ten minutes from his home―
oh my god ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod―
chanyeol feels a bile rising up on his throat and and and he needs to get to somewhere to throw up but his legs refuse to cooperate and why the hell taewoo did that! and then―
“chanyeol-ah?”
chanyeol jumps as someone is touching his shoulder gently. in between his blurry visions, he can make out lu han is looking down at him with a slight smile. but that smile turns into a frown in just a matter of second.
“what’s wrong?” the older boy kneels in front of him and wipes at chanyeol’s face using the sleeve of his black hoodie. “chanyeol-ah?”
“lu han-hyung,” his voice creaks because lu han shouldn’t do that, really, he’s so dirty.
lu han is waiting for an answer but chanyeol shakes his head and tries to smile brightly,
“i-i think i’m lost,” he says. lu han makes the are-you-serious face but with no hint of malice at all. thinking that his lie pays off, chanyeol continues, “i was so hungry and wanted to explore the neighborhood but,” he laughs to emphasize his own stupidity, “but i’m lost instead! help!”
lu han laughs warmly at that, patting chanyeol’s head and holds out his hand as he stands up. chanyeol hesitates.
lu han wriggles his eyebrows, “what? you don’t want free food? fine.” he playfully scoffs and chanyeol is relieved that his baby faced tutor doesn’t suspect anything.
he stands up too, pouts and clings to lu han’s side; ignoring the slight headache forming in his head and how coldness is still haunting his body.
lu han is smiling smugly and dragging chanyeol to a small but packed pasta cafe. if he notices chanyeol’s trembling hands he doesn’t say anything and he just squeezes them tighter.
they take the window seats and lu han volunteers to order for both of them. it’s his favorite cafe after all, so chanyeol should trusts him.
after ordering, lu han just looks at chanyeol with his doe eyes and smiles and smiles and smiles and chanyeol scrunches his nose to cover up his nervousness. apparently, his tutor is a really nice guy. he will never tell his appa about lu han anymore.
“but,” lu han suddenly says, “were you crying? you looked so pale.”
chanyeol snorts, “i was sweating a lot, hyung, i’ve never been living outside gangwon and getting lost like that was so scary!”
lu han narrows his eyes, “but your house is so near!”
“i know, right!” chanyeol fakes a sigh. lu han chuckles.
“so how’s school?” ah, such a forbidden topic. chanyeol makes a face. lu han nods like he understands. “high school can be so lame. better enjoy it though. anyway, i’ve been wanting to ask. do you know oh sehun? he goes to your school too.”
chanyeol simply shakes his head with an apologetic smile.
“he’s on the same grade like you,” lu han says, “oh sehun. sure you don’t know him? shorter than you but taller than me, small face. high nose. pink lips. quite white for a boy. i heard he’s pretty popular.”
chanyeol frowns, trying to make out the details and match them to his bullies’ faces.
“nope, hyung. why?” maybe this oh sehun is the kind who doesn’t care about him.
“he’s my stepbrother.”
chanyeol shifts on his seat.
“when i asked him about you, he said of course he knows you. so i thought you two know each other.” lu han continues before bouncing on his seat. he seems like liking the idea of his stepbrother knowing chanyeol, his student. “he’s a good kid. you should be friend with him.”
“heh heh,” chanyeol grins and crosses his fingers, hopefully oh sehun is really the kind who doesn’t care about him because it’s going to be so awkward if it’s the other way around.
“oh yeah, hyung, let’s study english more tomorrow,” chanyeol changes the subject, “i need to max up my TOEFL score for university.”
“sure,” lu han nods, looks at chanyeol some more, and he frowns again. “hey, did you get hurt?” he reaches forward and chanyeol immediately covers his jawline with both hands, unfortunately looking like a deer caught in a headlight and horror mars lu han’s face.
“oh, chanyeol...” lu han moves to sit next to him, gently prying off chanyeol’s yet again shaking hands and inspects the mark.
“who did this to you?”
chanyeol shakes his head.
“chanyeol-ah, did they―” lu han whispers, “did someone sexually harassing you?” he pauses. “did―did kris-sshi do this without your consent?”
chanyeol shoves lu han’s body after hearing that, shaking his head more frantically.
“i’m so sorry,” lu han offers a sincere smile, regretful. “chanyeol-ah, are you okay?”
it’s the first time after the many long days of being bullied, tons of homework, the pressure from studying―and finally someone is asking him if he’s okay, and chanyeol had thought that if the day come he’d be crying like a baby but in reality, right now, he just feels so...happy.
he laughs and laughs and laughs until he needs to lean to the window and hides his face with his hoodie. laughter is contagious, right, and lu han is starting to smile hesitantly.
“chanyeol-ah?”
“i’m―i’m so sorry!” chanyeol sniffs. their foods come then, and the delicious smell is calming down chanyeol a little bit. lu han is still sitting next to him as chanyeol chews a mouthful of creamy cheese whatisit curly pasta with basil and beef in it. chanyeol moans as he swallows.
“oh my god hyung, this is so daebak!” chanyeol hums. “oh my god.”
lu han doesn’t comment, he watches chanyeol for awhile before he too, digs his own dinner. he lets chanyeol takes one-third of his portion, and he even orders dessert for the younger boy.
chanyeol knows he needs to make up a story for lu han after they finish their dinner, so he decides to enjoy the current situation he’s in; he promises to himself to get the older boy a gift as an exchange for tonight. for now, it’s food and more food in chanyeol’s brain.
in the end, lu han never mentions a thing. he opens a new conversation about the latest drama on sbs and the newest running man episode. chanyeol happily talks all about it and really, this is nice; spending time with your friend in a cafe, eating, talking, laughing and if it’s baekhyun―insulting each other. has chanyeol forgotten everything, because he feels like he’s being reborn; what he’s doing right now with lu han feels so new.
exo is currently very busy, remember, and they usually hit the bed when they get home. and chanyeol doesn’t have any friend here in seoul.
they talk about everything and nothing, until suddenly lu han receives a call from his friend and that makes him look at the time. it’s past midnight already. he apologizes sheepishly but chanyeol shrugs it off, he says,
“i’m glad i’m with you, hyung,” but lu han just gives him another apologetic smile.
“hyung, stop it.” chanyeol smiles sadly, because it’s not like that.
“what?” lu han is doing it again.
“i’m alright, hyung, i promise.” chanyeol takes lu han’s hands and squeezes. “thank you so much.” you’re not useless.
but since chanyeol can’t verbalize the magic words, lu han shakes his head and still giving off the vibe that he’s the worst friend ever exists. he pays for their dinner and goes to a 24hr drugstore to buy antiseptic, cotton buds, and a stripe of transparent plaster.
then he nurses chanyeol’s jawline gently.
lu han also walks chanyeol back home, hand in hand because chanyeol tried to let go but lu han didn’t let him. it really shouldn’t be a habit for chanyeol to greedily cling to every older males he knows, but he’s not going to say no. he’s too happy to object.
as they stand in chanyeol’s apartment lobby waiting for the elevator; lu han suddenly gives chanyeol a bear hug and murmurs,
“it will get better, chanyeol-ah. just hold on, okay?”
chanyeol hugs back and kisses lu han’s cheek because it’s the least he can do for his baby faced tutor, right? words fail him anyway. actions speak louder than words. chanyeol doesn’t want lu han to go.
you’re not useless, hyung.
“see you tomorrow,” the tips of lu han’s ears are reddening and chanyeol pretends he doesn’t see it.
he hopes he doesn’t mislead anyone again.
▲▼
he’s surprised to find everyone is gathered in his and kris’ apartment; all with tired, worried faces. tao runs to hug him when he enters the living room. kyungsoo and yixing are visibly sighing. minseok is patting kris’ back and joonmyun joins tao, who starts sobbing.
“hyung don’t scare us like that again!” tao presses his wet cheek to chanyeol’s and chanyeol widens his eyes to joonmyun.
joonmyun is smiling, alright, but he also looks either relieved or angry.
he whispers, “where have you been?”
chanyeol then remembers that he forgets his phone and it’s past midnight and he’s kris wufan’s fiancee.
he hugs tao because it’s time to act like an older brother and can’t help the goofy smile to bloom. “i’m so sorry, tao,” he says, “i-i got lost.”
“it’s okay,” joonmyun ruffles his hair, “but what took you so long?”
chanyeol has to pause to wipe at tao’s face using the sleeve of his red hoodie; it feels like a deja vu only that lu han did it to him before. it feels good to have a younger brother.
chanyeol clears his throat to speak to everyone in the room, and he realizes ryeowook-sshi is not there.
“i met lu han-hyung, he bought me dinner. then we talked...and i guess we forgot the time,” he smiles apologetically to exo members. “i’m so sorry.” not really, though, because he finds it so sweet of them to worry about him. that means that they care about him, right?
joonmyun takes tao off of chanyeol as he smiles and gestures with his eyes to kris. chanyeol blinks and bites his bottom lip; kris looks quite down next to a smiling minseok. he grins at minseok when the older boy gets up and coaxes kyungsoo and yixing to get back to their own dorm.
“wookie-hyung passed out if you’re wondering,” minseok playfully informs before he leaves, and chanyeol is torn to choose between laughing or feeling flattered. joonmyun bids goodbye and tao does too, his eyes are red.
chanyeol locks his and kris’ apartment door, counts to thirty before he goes back to the living room, but kris is nowhere to be seen.
something inside of chanyeol is falling to the ground.
he notices that the light from kris’ room is filtering through the gap on the door. his hand, as usual, is faster than his brain; because he’s knocking firmly right now.
“hyung?”
“what.”
yeah, what?
“go to sleep, chanyeol-ah. you have school tomorrow.” comes the monotonous voice telling him what to do and chanyeol thinks,
aren’t you going to fuss over me, hyung?
“okay,” he mumbles instead, pressing his forehead to the door, hugging himself. “good night, hyung.” and then he adds after a moment of silence, “i’m so sorry.” did i make you worried? i hope i did.
...
why don’t you yell at me or something?
e n d of trolling
and i know how rare krisyeol fics are.
take o n e:
2, 083 words - featuring crybaby tao and commoner!baekhyun
chanyeol blinks as he stares to his empty locker.
his black and white limited edition vans, the new pair he bought before the press conference, are gone.
it’s only been two days since they took his favorite conv―
▲▼
exo has a free day off, and they use the rare opportunity to either sleeping (joonmyun and kyungsoo), sleeping and eating all the junk food available (yixing and minseok), and reading (kris). tao prefers to go shopping, and he shyly asks chanyeol to accompany him. chanyeol instantly says yes because he needs a pair of new, less fancy shoes to go to school.
“hyung,” tao begins hesitantly as they stroll around the first floor of seoul’s largest shopping mall, “you don’t smile much nowadays.”
ryeowook-sshi with jongwoon-sshi are a couple of steps ahead of them, and tao is looking at chanyeol with genuinely worried-curious eyes.
chanyeol is panicking for a split second, because a) that was unpredictable; coming from tao, of all people and b) is he really smiling less as days go by? now that’s something he needs to recheck because a) he doesn’t want any more people to notice his out of character-ness and b) it’s a proof that the bullying is succeeded to ruin his mental while he has sworn that he can handle it it’s alright he just has to endure for four more months before the contract between him and kris ends―
“hyung?” tao squeezes their entwined hands, he looks so sad. why is he looking so sad like that?
when chanyeol tries to stretch his mouth to form a smile, it feels so damn foreign that even he realizes he must be looking so ugly right now. maybe the girls who bully him are right; he’s ugly when he smiles, when he blinks, when he nods, when he talks, when he―
“don’t be silly,” chanyeol flicks tao’s forehead. “hyung is studying real hard, taonda, don’t forget i’m going to be a university student soon!” he tries to sound playful but again, his voice sounds so annoying.
the girls are right.
“are you sure?” tao is so precious with his feline eyes and soft voice, worrying over the unworthy me, chanyeol thinks. he lifts the corners of his mouth to grin, well, he hopes so, but tao’s sad face doesn’t falter. in fact, tao begins nibbling on his bottom lip and looking away.
those are usually the signs when exo’s maknae is thisclose to cry, from what chanyeol has learned whenever kris is raising his voice and whenever exo is having a scary movie night.
chanyeol hasn’t really mastered the art of calming down an emotional hwang zitao (that’s minseok-hyung’s job), so he just keeps walking hand in hand with the younger boy.
then suddenly tao is using the sleeve of his cloud printed t-shirt to wipe at his face, and that’s when chanyeol takes him to a secluded spot and awkwardly helps wiping the tears off using his own sleeves.
tao hiccups, “h-hyung don’t lietome...”
chanyeol doesn’t respond to that. doesn’t know how.
“hyung!” tao stomps, glaring at chanyeol. “please tell me you’re okay!”
chanyeol’s not fully trained older brother instinct kicks in; he rubs tao’s muscly arms soothingly and speaks shushedly,
“yah, what makes you so upset, taonda?” he chuckles, surprisingly whole heartedly now. “hyung is doing okay. it’s just school, my brain sometimes can’t handle it.”
lying never feels so right before.
tao sniffs, blinks, and bores a hole through chanyeol’s eyes.
“really?” his body relaxes. “promise?”
chanyeol tilts his head and scrunches his nose. then he nods reassuringly, “yep!” he joins tao who laughs sheepishly after that, and pushes him to the restroom to splash water to his face. luckily tao brings his foundation and he dabs it quickly before they resume strolling around the mall.
ryeowook-sshi texts chanyeol telling that they can go freely and he has to tell the older man when they’re hungry. chanyeol replies with a ;*
“hyung,” tao is smiling shyly as he waits for chanyeol’s focus to come back on him. chanyeol raises his eyebrows. “let’s go buy matching t-shirts.”
“hm?” he and baekhyun have this super awesome ‘my loyal slave ⇢ ⇠’ t-shirt with an arrow pointing at each other, but obviously tao’s taste won’t be that tacky, right?
“what kind?” he asks.
“anything!” tao looks relieved that chanyeol is welcoming his idea. “i’ve already had matching t-shirts with the other hyungs. even i have one with wookie-hyung.” he pauses.
“how about...super heroes t-shirts? you like that, hyung?”
chanyeol nods and offers to pay. tao gapes.
“i’m your favorite hyung, right, tao-yah? my kung fu panda?” chanyeol elbows tao’s side and tao happily declares that yes, prince (in english) chanyeolla is my most favorite hyung ever!
but please stop wasting your time worrying about me.
▲▼
somehow, chanyeol is no longer surprised that in just a couple of hours after lunch; pictures are already surfacing on the internet. most of the headlines are focusing on ‘why tao from exo is crying in a mall with exo’s leader fiancee?’ and stuffs similar to that.
and when he’s back at school on monday, the girls are attacking him; personally shoving him and screaming to his face nonsense like first it was kris-oppa now tao!? OUR HWANG ZITAO HOW DARE YOU YOU VILLAGE SCUM!!! etc etc etc.
chanyeol itches to scream back to their sadly quite pretty and cute faces that no, he’s not that sick like them; claiming tao as theirs. no. he was merely consoling a very sad dongsaeng, and the said dongsaeng was sad because of what? because of what you all have done.
to me.
but chanyeol just closes his eyes and doesn’t flinch when a girl wildly tugs at his hair and scratches his face with her long, sharp nails.
he explains to the school nurse that the slight red mark marring his cheek is courtesy of his own clumsiness. i scratched my face with a pen, he says. the school nurse giggles and treats him. when he gets home he throws away the transparent plaster and finds a quick wound remover on the first aid kit. then, he lazes around a little bit; eating a bucket of vanilla-chocolate-cream-mint ice cream while watching a re-run of x-men: first class. he’ll do his homework and studying later.
but then he falls asleep, and is woken up by a gentle hand shaking his shoulder.
kris is looking down at him with his usual a hint of smile from the right corner of his mouth, and chanyeol’s heart skips a beat.
“hyung?” he slaps his cheeks. “what time is it?”
“dinner is ready,” kris takes the empty ice cream bucket. “come on. wookie-hyung has something to say to you.” the tv is turned off already, and chanyeol blindly holds onto the hem of kris’ jacket as they step out of his messy bedroom.
“hyung you finished early today?” chanyeol yawns to his palm.
kris nods, and chanyeol greets ryeowook-sshi who is slurping on a bowl of kimchi jjigae.
“ah! baby-yah, come here!” the older man pats the empty chair next to him. chanyeol obliges and inhales the food in front of him deeply.
“were you napping?” ryeowook-sshi asks, eyeing chanyeol’s still dazed being.
“yes,” chanyeol sniffs. kris is washing his hands. right, the ice cream.
soon kris joins them, sitting across the table. chanyeol immediately mouths a thank you. kris snorts.
“okay,” ryeowook-sshi is using his business mode voice, and chanyeol once again slaps his cheeks to get into the business as well. “aw, it doesn’t hurt?” chanyeol shakes his cleared up head. ryeowook-sshi continues, but still grimacing,
“regarding exo’s comeback in two weeks prior, we’ve decided to assign both of you―the krisyeol couple as the fans say―to have a one hour special variety show. i’ve talked to my friend from MTV, and he’s been blending ideas with his creative team since lunch. the concept for your very first one hour special variety show should be emailed to me any second now.”
kris is already looking at chanyeol when he turns his attention to the older boy.
“oh,” chanyeol’s brain is telling him to act surprised, intrigued, and nervous.
he’s being nonchalant instead.
“‘oh’?” ryeowook-sshi shrieks.
“i mean,” chanyeol breaks his eye contact with kris and pouts at ryeowook-sshi, “oh my god, i’m so excited but i’m scared too!”
ryeowook-sshi pinches his cheek and jumps when his blackberry buzzes. he tells chanyeol and kris to eat while he reads the email from his friend. chanyeol picks at the pickles without an appetite, his stomach hurts from the one liter ice cream he ravished earlier. he yelps when a foot is touching his left ankle, stroking it.
kris asks monotonously, “you okay?”
chanyeol does a mehrong because he doesn’t think he can form a smile or a grin right now.
“hey,” kris calls out more firmly. “seriously.”
chanyeol knows it’s a wrong, fatal move to look irritated, but the last time he feels free was with tao―two days ago―and today he got yelled, got scratched, ate his lunch on his usual spot at the furthest cubicle of the fifth floor toilet―plus his current state with a stomachache really, really don’t help him to act like his supposed-to-be self at all.
kris frowns.
“chanyeol-ah?” he says as if he doesn’t know who the hell it is right in front of him.
and then, just with a snap, chanyeol laughs humorlessly and says,
“tricked you, didn’t i!” he points at kris with the chopsticks. and then he tries slurping the kimchi jjigae to tame his stomach. kris is still looking at him though, so he does another mehrong.
kris shakes his head, but he seems like he’s buying it; because there’s a hint of smile from the corners of his mouth as he starts eating too.
ryeowook-sshi waltzes back to the dining room announcing that they’re going to film a day with krisyeol MTV special comeback this weekend.
▲▼
chanyeol tells baekhyun and his parents about the variety show. his parents say that if he has something to object, he should never afraid to voice it out. the same goes if the crew wants him to do something weird with kris; if he’s uncomfortable with that, then he should object with all of his might. chanyeol takes note on that. then his appa is coughing and not so subtly asking if minseokkie is near his son and maybe chanyeol would kindly please pass the phone to minseokkie.
chanyeol whines and yells that minseok-hyung is practicing with exo for the comeback―his appa clicks his tongue and refuses to talk to him any longer.
baekhyun is actually anticipating what kind of outcome will chanyeol show off, he asks,
“is it scripted?”
“eh,” chanyeol says, “...i don’t know?” and he can totally see baekhyun is rolling his eyes.
“if it’s scripted, then you should challenge yourself, wangja-yah! treat it like a free acting lesson! if it’s not scripted, well, you’ll have to rely on yourself, okay? i’m sure everybody will approve anything that park chanyeol does; even when you’re sneezing or snorting in that trademarked way of yours. ahahahahahahahaha!”
chanyeol should have been laughing along with his best friend, but he just produces a weird syllable and really; another wrong move, because baekhyun is alerted at once.
“yah yah yah, what the―yah!” he growls. “are you okay!? is krisus―”
“calm down, commoner,” chanyeol sighs, “it’s not kris.”
baekhyun gasps.
“what is it then? what’s bothering you?”
and chanyeol is contemplating whether to tell baekhyun about the bullying or not. he’s survived almost a month without telling anyone, so why would he start pitying himself now?
“i think i gain weight,” he randomly blurts out the first thing that crosses his mind, inspired by the loud whining from his classmates recently. “i’m scared, commoner, i need to keep up my godly appearance!”
baekhyun scoffs and hangs up.
take t w o:
3, 580 words of so much drama. and what is it ted? chanyeol gets sexually harassed? lu han?
chanyeol discovers that the longer he talks to his parents, the greater the urge to tell them about everything because they keep on asking about how is seoul how is your new school how is your new friends, aegi, do you like it there? is everyone treating you well?
“umma, my tutor has arrived,” it’s thursday, lu han only comes on wednesday and friday. “i have to go because he’s so cute but he’s too strict! i’m so sorry!”
his umma snorts and murmurs an affectionate ‘brat’ before she says, “alright alright. what? appa asks if this lu han chingu is cuter than his minseok.”
chanyeol bursts out laughing, literally rolling on his bed right now.
“appa! do you want to adopt minseok-hyung?”
his appa is protesting on the background, and his umma also laughs,
“he’s in denial, aegi. he says he wants to eat minseok.”
“oh my god!” chanyeol giggles. his umma playfully scolds her husband.
“alright then, annyeong, aegi-yah, take care. don’t forget to hurt kris’ face if he ever tries to touch you again.”
chanyeol smiles to nothing in particular, his chest suddenly feels so tight after hearing his umma’s weird advice over and over again. he hangs off and lies upside down on his bed that his hair touches the floor, staring off into the ceiling. today is five minutes and six seconds, a minute faster than the last time his parents called.
his mind wanders off to gangwon, to his very own ‘palace’; at this time of hour he’s either sleepy already or messing with his homework and browsing tumblr. if baekhyun feels like it; sometimes he will call and take chanyeol eat at shindong-ahjusshi’s jjangmyun restaurant, or they will go to movies and watch hollywood thriller and scream like two teenage girls. he never really hangs out with jongdae because the boy prefers to read and listening to music instead of talking and laughing obnoxiously like any normal seventeen years olds.
chanyeol sighs loudly, but smiling at how jongdae had seriously told him that, “i’m not really into talking.” it seems like long, long ago.
he jumps off of the bed. he’s hungry and it’s actually past dinnertime. he decides to take a nice night stroll around exo’s dorm neighborhood instead of ordering delivery like he usually does for the past two weeks.
exo is currently busy practicing new choreography and polishing their new songs for their comeback on november, leaving chanyeol all alone in his and kris’ apartment. sometimes when he feels too lonely he will do his homework and eat dinner on exo’s dorm across the hall; the place is messier, it gives chanyeol a calming atmosphere because he’s surrounded by exo’s members dirty laundry, shoes, books, colorful post it notes, and everything else screaming hey, there are people live here.
because kris doesn’t even snore when he sleeps and he’s so neat chanyeol becomes too reluctant to make their apartment more homey. he only dares to create chaos in his bedroom just so he can feel more familiar with his spot. books are scattered everywhere; his socks, pajama pants and three days old t-shirts, posters from his favorite bands and movies, tangled controllers wires and he bought wall stickers that he randomly glued to decorate his bedroom. they are one piece’s characters, finding nemo’s characters and pisa tower plus eiffel tower and a vintage black and white kurt cobain’s face.
chanyeol grabs his wallet and his red hoodie before he goes out. it’s starting to get chilly nowadays, but seoul chilly is not gangwon chilly because seoul is crowded with more vehicles and tall buildings. he locks the door and after he’s inside the elevator he remembers he doesn’t have his phone with him. but he quickly shrugs it off; he’ll be back in thirty minutes, top. he can live without his phone for that long, right?
he greets the main lobby’s security ahjusshis who wave at him. he slaps his cheeks as he’s out of the apartment complex; contemplating what to eat, whether he’ll just eat at the restaurant or eat it home, and suddenly he craves for some snacks (oreo, maybe? or ttoboeki?) to accompany him later. there’s a rerun of spiderman 3 and he’s going to watch it!
he takes a right turn, and instantly spots neon signs of so many restaurants. thai, chinese, pasta, kebab―his mouth waters and he fastens his pace.
only to come face to face with four boys who have been actively bullying him; those from class C, and they automatically sneer at him and call his name.
the street is quite busy, but people mind their own businesses and chanyeol doesn’t want to make a scene.
the one who wears thick glasses slings an arm to chanyeol’s shoulders; they’re about the same height and maybe that’s why―chanyeol often wonders―he doesn’t have the height complex unlike his other bullies and dares to touch chanyeol all he wants. he bit chanyeol’s left shoulder once as a greeting before walking away like he did not just do abnormal thing to the person he hates.
the glasses boy says sickeningly sweet,
“isn’t it our handsome park chanyeol?” his allies are exchanging glances already.
chanyeol has his poker face in that instant.
“so what are you doing all alone like this, park chanyeol?” he asks, face too close to chanyeol’ds liking, “don’t you know that it’s dangerous for a handsome boy like you? fangirls or haters are everywhere.”
chanyeol keeps silent as he’s steered to the quieter side of the street; they’re in front of a dimly lit closed boutique right now.
“aw don’t be such a tightass, park chanyeol~” he grabs chanyeol’s chin then, after he throws chanyeol to the cold bricks wall; one arm is placed conveniently right on his neck. the other three boys are blocking pedestrians from knowing what happen; it will look like a group of boys chatting like any other days.
chanyeol is hungry, he’s tired from all the verbal bully from earlier today, his homework is also tiring, and he was just on the phone with his parents and that fact adding more salt to his wounded heart. he can’t take this anymore. he wants to scream for help and ends everything using the pity from strangers who might help him. screw logic and future consequences; he just wants to run.
he shoves the glasses boy’s unbuckling chest, and his bully mocks a surprised gasp.
“oh, feisty,” he smirks and presses closer.
it’s all coming back in a rush; kris’ big and strong hand covering his mouth so he wouldn’t scream, the same unknown panic attacking his nerves. his heart is hammering his ribs because even after all this time he’s still not comfortable enough to make any body contact with anyone. he can handle skinship with kris, although it’s strange alright, due to what had happened between them―aside from the fact that skinship with kris is a must because they’re a couple now―and so far it’s tao who develops a fixation to cling to chanyeol whenever they’re in a same room.
but taewoo is not tao; tao is a lovely dongsaeng. taewoo―he―
he might hurt chanyeol physically if he feels like it.
“s-stop,” chanyeol whispers as he closes his eyes, trying to block the other boy pressing closecloser with his fists.
his bullies exclaim. in delight.
“what was it, park chanyeol?” the glasses boy then tugs the crown of his hair and chanyeol bites his bottom lip hard to prevent a whimper. it hurts.
“speak louder, you’re a namja aren’t you?” the glasses boy continues. “oh sorry, my bad. you’re a fucking faggot.”
then he does the last thing chanyeol can ever think a bully will do to him.
“ahahahaha! oh shit, taewoo-yah!” someone is laughing, already fishing out his phone and recording what’s happening. the other two are making disgusted noises as the glasses boy sucks a mark right on the underside of chanyeol’s jawline. chanyeol tries to kick taewoo’s (such a nice name but horrible attitude) legs to break his strong stance but taewoo doesn’t even budge. then taewoo licks the mark; dips his tongue there before he bites at it again a little bit too happily and chanyeol finally whimpers and surrenders.
there’s a notable freeze from taewoo, and chanyeol uses the opportunity to blink back his tears of humiliation at the same time taewoo pushes himself off and wipes his mouth.
“dude?” one of his allies asks, still laughing. he pockets back his phone and punches taewoo’s bicep. taewoo growls at him and stalks off, but not before he sends chanyeol an accusing slash disbelief glare.
“yah!” his three allies follow, confused. chanyeol tries to stand upright on his shaking feet. when he moves his neck, the mark stings.
he doesn’t realize he’s sweating so much until he bends down to compose his breathing and a bead of sweat falls from the tip of his nose. he squats down then, gripping the lapels of his red hoodie. he’s not hungry anymore. he―
he feels so dirty.
he should’ve fought taewoo. he―
oh my god.
oh my god did he just let taewoo sort of claiming him on a sidewalk just ten minutes from his home―
oh my god ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod―
chanyeol feels a bile rising up on his throat and and and he needs to get to somewhere to throw up but his legs refuse to cooperate and why the hell taewoo did that! and then―
“chanyeol-ah?”
chanyeol jumps as someone is touching his shoulder gently. in between his blurry visions, he can make out lu han is looking down at him with a slight smile. but that smile turns into a frown in just a matter of second.
“what’s wrong?” the older boy kneels in front of him and wipes at chanyeol’s face using the sleeve of his black hoodie. “chanyeol-ah?”
“lu han-hyung,” his voice creaks because lu han shouldn’t do that, really, he’s so dirty.
lu han is waiting for an answer but chanyeol shakes his head and tries to smile brightly,
“i-i think i’m lost,” he says. lu han makes the are-you-serious face but with no hint of malice at all. thinking that his lie pays off, chanyeol continues, “i was so hungry and wanted to explore the neighborhood but,” he laughs to emphasize his own stupidity, “but i’m lost instead! help!”
lu han laughs warmly at that, patting chanyeol’s head and holds out his hand as he stands up. chanyeol hesitates.
lu han wriggles his eyebrows, “what? you don’t want free food? fine.” he playfully scoffs and chanyeol is relieved that his baby faced tutor doesn’t suspect anything.
he stands up too, pouts and clings to lu han’s side; ignoring the slight headache forming in his head and how coldness is still haunting his body.
lu han is smiling smugly and dragging chanyeol to a small but packed pasta cafe. if he notices chanyeol’s trembling hands he doesn’t say anything and he just squeezes them tighter.
they take the window seats and lu han volunteers to order for both of them. it’s his favorite cafe after all, so chanyeol should trusts him.
after ordering, lu han just looks at chanyeol with his doe eyes and smiles and smiles and smiles and chanyeol scrunches his nose to cover up his nervousness. apparently, his tutor is a really nice guy. he will never tell his appa about lu han anymore.
“but,” lu han suddenly says, “were you crying? you looked so pale.”
chanyeol snorts, “i was sweating a lot, hyung, i’ve never been living outside gangwon and getting lost like that was so scary!”
lu han narrows his eyes, “but your house is so near!”
“i know, right!” chanyeol fakes a sigh. lu han chuckles.
“so how’s school?” ah, such a forbidden topic. chanyeol makes a face. lu han nods like he understands. “high school can be so lame. better enjoy it though. anyway, i’ve been wanting to ask. do you know oh sehun? he goes to your school too.”
chanyeol simply shakes his head with an apologetic smile.
“he’s on the same grade like you,” lu han says, “oh sehun. sure you don’t know him? shorter than you but taller than me, small face. high nose. pink lips. quite white for a boy. i heard he’s pretty popular.”
chanyeol frowns, trying to make out the details and match them to his bullies’ faces.
“nope, hyung. why?” maybe this oh sehun is the kind who doesn’t care about him.
“he’s my stepbrother.”
chanyeol shifts on his seat.
“when i asked him about you, he said of course he knows you. so i thought you two know each other.” lu han continues before bouncing on his seat. he seems like liking the idea of his stepbrother knowing chanyeol, his student. “he’s a good kid. you should be friend with him.”
“heh heh,” chanyeol grins and crosses his fingers, hopefully oh sehun is really the kind who doesn’t care about him because it’s going to be so awkward if it’s the other way around.
“oh yeah, hyung, let’s study english more tomorrow,” chanyeol changes the subject, “i need to max up my TOEFL score for university.”
“sure,” lu han nods, looks at chanyeol some more, and he frowns again. “hey, did you get hurt?” he reaches forward and chanyeol immediately covers his jawline with both hands, unfortunately looking like a deer caught in a headlight and horror mars lu han’s face.
“oh, chanyeol...” lu han moves to sit next to him, gently prying off chanyeol’s yet again shaking hands and inspects the mark.
“who did this to you?”
chanyeol shakes his head.
“chanyeol-ah, did they―” lu han whispers, “did someone sexually harassing you?” he pauses. “did―did kris-sshi do this without your consent?”
chanyeol shoves lu han’s body after hearing that, shaking his head more frantically.
“i’m so sorry,” lu han offers a sincere smile, regretful. “chanyeol-ah, are you okay?”
it’s the first time after the many long days of being bullied, tons of homework, the pressure from studying―and finally someone is asking him if he’s okay, and chanyeol had thought that if the day come he’d be crying like a baby but in reality, right now, he just feels so...happy.
he laughs and laughs and laughs until he needs to lean to the window and hides his face with his hoodie. laughter is contagious, right, and lu han is starting to smile hesitantly.
“chanyeol-ah?”
“i’m―i’m so sorry!” chanyeol sniffs. their foods come then, and the delicious smell is calming down chanyeol a little bit. lu han is still sitting next to him as chanyeol chews a mouthful of creamy cheese whatisit curly pasta with basil and beef in it. chanyeol moans as he swallows.
“oh my god hyung, this is so daebak!” chanyeol hums. “oh my god.”
lu han doesn’t comment, he watches chanyeol for awhile before he too, digs his own dinner. he lets chanyeol takes one-third of his portion, and he even orders dessert for the younger boy.
chanyeol knows he needs to make up a story for lu han after they finish their dinner, so he decides to enjoy the current situation he’s in; he promises to himself to get the older boy a gift as an exchange for tonight. for now, it’s food and more food in chanyeol’s brain.
in the end, lu han never mentions a thing. he opens a new conversation about the latest drama on sbs and the newest running man episode. chanyeol happily talks all about it and really, this is nice; spending time with your friend in a cafe, eating, talking, laughing and if it’s baekhyun―insulting each other. has chanyeol forgotten everything, because he feels like he’s being reborn; what he’s doing right now with lu han feels so new.
exo is currently very busy, remember, and they usually hit the bed when they get home. and chanyeol doesn’t have any friend here in seoul.
they talk about everything and nothing, until suddenly lu han receives a call from his friend and that makes him look at the time. it’s past midnight already. he apologizes sheepishly but chanyeol shrugs it off, he says,
“i’m glad i’m with you, hyung,” but lu han just gives him another apologetic smile.
“hyung, stop it.” chanyeol smiles sadly, because it’s not like that.
“what?” lu han is doing it again.
“i’m alright, hyung, i promise.” chanyeol takes lu han’s hands and squeezes. “thank you so much.” you’re not useless.
but since chanyeol can’t verbalize the magic words, lu han shakes his head and still giving off the vibe that he’s the worst friend ever exists. he pays for their dinner and goes to a 24hr drugstore to buy antiseptic, cotton buds, and a stripe of transparent plaster.
then he nurses chanyeol’s jawline gently.
lu han also walks chanyeol back home, hand in hand because chanyeol tried to let go but lu han didn’t let him. it really shouldn’t be a habit for chanyeol to greedily cling to every older males he knows, but he’s not going to say no. he’s too happy to object.
as they stand in chanyeol’s apartment lobby waiting for the elevator; lu han suddenly gives chanyeol a bear hug and murmurs,
“it will get better, chanyeol-ah. just hold on, okay?”
chanyeol hugs back and kisses lu han’s cheek because it’s the least he can do for his baby faced tutor, right? words fail him anyway. actions speak louder than words. chanyeol doesn’t want lu han to go.
you’re not useless, hyung.
“see you tomorrow,” the tips of lu han’s ears are reddening and chanyeol pretends he doesn’t see it.
he hopes he doesn’t mislead anyone again.
▲▼
he’s surprised to find everyone is gathered in his and kris’ apartment; all with tired, worried faces. tao runs to hug him when he enters the living room. kyungsoo and yixing are visibly sighing. minseok is patting kris’ back and joonmyun joins tao, who starts sobbing.
“hyung don’t scare us like that again!” tao presses his wet cheek to chanyeol’s and chanyeol widens his eyes to joonmyun.
joonmyun is smiling, alright, but he also looks either relieved or angry.
he whispers, “where have you been?”
chanyeol then remembers that he forgets his phone and it’s past midnight and he’s kris wufan’s fiancee.
he hugs tao because it’s time to act like an older brother and can’t help the goofy smile to bloom. “i’m so sorry, tao,” he says, “i-i got lost.”
“it’s okay,” joonmyun ruffles his hair, “but what took you so long?”
chanyeol has to pause to wipe at tao’s face using the sleeve of his red hoodie; it feels like a deja vu only that lu han did it to him before. it feels good to have a younger brother.
chanyeol clears his throat to speak to everyone in the room, and he realizes ryeowook-sshi is not there.
“i met lu han-hyung, he bought me dinner. then we talked...and i guess we forgot the time,” he smiles apologetically to exo members. “i’m so sorry.” not really, though, because he finds it so sweet of them to worry about him. that means that they care about him, right?
joonmyun takes tao off of chanyeol as he smiles and gestures with his eyes to kris. chanyeol blinks and bites his bottom lip; kris looks quite down next to a smiling minseok. he grins at minseok when the older boy gets up and coaxes kyungsoo and yixing to get back to their own dorm.
“wookie-hyung passed out if you’re wondering,” minseok playfully informs before he leaves, and chanyeol is torn to choose between laughing or feeling flattered. joonmyun bids goodbye and tao does too, his eyes are red.
chanyeol locks his and kris’ apartment door, counts to thirty before he goes back to the living room, but kris is nowhere to be seen.
something inside of chanyeol is falling to the ground.
he notices that the light from kris’ room is filtering through the gap on the door. his hand, as usual, is faster than his brain; because he’s knocking firmly right now.
“hyung?”
“what.”
yeah, what?
“go to sleep, chanyeol-ah. you have school tomorrow.” comes the monotonous voice telling him what to do and chanyeol thinks,
aren’t you going to fuss over me, hyung?
“okay,” he mumbles instead, pressing his forehead to the door, hugging himself. “good night, hyung.” and then he adds after a moment of silence, “i’m so sorry.” did i make you worried? i hope i did.
...
why don’t you yell at me or something?
e n d of trolling