More Than Meets The Eye [3/7]

[thebakaberry]

When they finally do come over for dinner, it’s Baekhyun who plans to knock on the door. “I’m afraid that Lu Han is going to do something.” He reasons with Chanyeol, practically shoving him out of the way so that he can do it.

Chanyeol allows him, with a laugh. “I feel like Lu Han is not even half as bad as you make him out to be.”

“Then, man, tonight will blow you away.” Baekhyun says as he goes to knock on the door. It takes only a mere three seconds before Lu Han pulls open the door.

“Chanyeol!” He greets, immediately extending a hand for Chanyeol to shake.

“You must be Lu Han, correct?” Chanyeol asks with a polite smile as he takes the other's hand, but Baekhyun can see the smile begin to strain as Lu Han proceeds to pump his hand up and down energetically.

"Yes I am, nice to meet you!" Lu Han affirms with a grin. He doesn't stop shaking and eventually it becomes Baekhyun's responsibility to pull Chanyeol back and break the handshake. "Come in." Lu Han says with a smile, as if the last minute of intense handshaking hadn't just happened.

Baekhyun leads Chanyeol in, keeping a hand around his wrist just in case Lu Han might lure him away for some impromptu interrogation. "This place is nice." Chanyeol comments offhandedly as Baekhyun tugs him through the apartment to the dining table.

Right before they actually take a seat, though, Minseok steps out of the kitchen, embarrassing ruffle-y apron and all. "Chanyeol!" He greets with a gummy smile. "I'm glad you could make it."

Chanyeol returns with a slight bow. "Thanks for inviting me."

"Dinner's not quite done yet." Minseok says and he's about to say more when a pair of arms snake around his waist. A face then appears from behind him, Lu Han's chin propped up on his shoulder in a way that only works because of Minseok's height. No one really knows when exactly Lu Han entered the kitchen, or when he got behind Minseok, but they don't question it. Minseok just continues, unfazed, "Why don't you show him your room or something."

"Keep the door open though. You're forbidden from closing it with a boy in the house." Lu Han pipes in helpfully and it's comments like these that are part of the reason why Baekhyun wasn't looking forward to bringing over Chanyeol.

He doesn't say anything; responses will only encourage Lu Han's behaviour. Instead he carts Chanyeol to his room, making sure to slam the door closed despite Lu Han's loud objections.

"He told you not to close the door." Chanyeol smirks, "Aren't you a rebel."

Baekhyun only groans, pulling out his desk chair to collapse into. "Do you see why I didn't want you meeting Lu Han?"

Chanyeol shrugs. "I don't know. It's kinda cute how clingy he is. He's like a koala."

"Maybe at first..." Baekhyun mumbles under his breath.

Again, Chanyeol shrugs. He's just about to drop down to the floor to take a seat, limbs already slightly bent to lower himself, when Baekhyun stops him. "You could just sit on the bed," He says without thinking.

There's a twinkle in his eyes and Baekhyun really doesn't know what it's about until Chanyeol says, "Already inviting me to the bed? This relationship is moving a bit fast, don’t you think?”

“Kindly shut up.” Baekhyun rolls his eyes. He turns his back toward Chanyeol as he searches his desk for that CD he’s been meaning to show Chanyeol.

“Make me.” He hears Chanyeol challenge from behind him and the words have Baekhyun abandoning his search for the CD (chances are, he probably lost it anyways) and spinning back around to look at Chanyeol.

“Is that a challenge?” Baekhyun throws back, eyes narrowed.

Chanyeol doesn’t even have to reply before Baekhyuns stalking over to the younger. “Is that a challenge?” He repeats, wedging himself between Chanyeol’s legs.

Again, Chanyeol skips out on replying and they’re just standing there (well, Chanyeol’s sitting), breathing each other in when Chanyeol laughs. "So much sexual tension." He snorts but Baekhyun doesn't find the situation to be quite as funny, surging forward to lock lips with Chanyeol.

“Dinner’s ready!” Lu Han announces cheerfully as he so kindly barges into Baekhyun’s room without knocking. The couple on the bed immediately still, eyes turning toward the intruder with a look of embarrassment. Slowly, very slowly, Chanyeol reaches to the ground near the side of the bed to retrieve Baekhyun’s discarded shirt. Slowly, very slowly, Baekhyun removes his hand from Chanyeol’s pants and begins to put his shirt back on. Slowly, very slowly, a wicked smile forms on Lu Han’s face. “I thought I told you not to close the door.” He says with a smirk.

He closes the door too quickly for the pillow that Baekhyun’s thrown to reach him. “Do you see why I didn’t want you coming over to meet him?” Baekhyun groans as he tugs down his shirt to cover his belly.

“I don’t know.” Chanyeol shrugs, zipping his pants back up. “It’s kinda cute how clingy he is. He’s like a koala.”

This time it’s Chanyeol who is attacked with the pillow.

Baekhyun returns to the dinner table first and drops down into his usual seat. The table is already set but neither Lu Han or Minseok are seated yet; Minseok’s still finishing up some dish and Lu Han is there adhering to his side as always. “Where’s your boyfriend?” Lu Han asks with a knowing smile.

“In the bathroom.” Baekhyun replies nonchalantly, picking some food off of one of the dishes on the table.

There’s a glint in Lu Han’s eye and he moves over to Minseok, making a show of cupping his hands around his mouth and whispering something into his ear. By Minseok’s pained expression, Baekhyun can already guess what he’s said. “Go sit down.” Minseok shoos his boyfriend back to the table and Lu Han follows obediently with a pout.

Lu Han takes the seat across from Baekhyun and immediately leans forward with a wicked look that’s almost terrifying. He’s just about to say something, something perverted probably, or oddly personal, but Chanyeol returns just in time and even though Lu Han’s bad, he has the decency to refrain from being totally disgusting around new people.

Minseok comes to the table soon after, holding a basket full of bread fresh out of the oven. “Here’s some garlic bread,” Minseok says as he sets down a basket onto the table. “Help yourself.”

“Hey look, it’s not burnt.” Baekhyun teases, earning a kick in the shin from Lu Han. He flips him off as he goes to reach for a piece. “You want a piece?” He asks, turning toward Chanyeol.

“Nah I don’t really like garlic.” Chanyeol comments and Lu Han’s mouth drops open.

“Who doesn’t like garlic?” Lu Han gapes, “What are you, a vampire?”

Minseok smacks his boyfriend. He tries to be subtle about it, to be polite, but the table doesn't block nearly as much as he'd hope. “It’s just a personal taste, idiot.” He then turns to Chanyeol. “There’s a lot of garlic in tonight’s dish… Do you want me to make something else?”

Chanyeol’s quick to refuse, “No, it’s quite okay. I don’t dislike it that much.” He flashes a reassuring grin for Minseok but the elder is too distracted with Lu Han who is grinning proudly.

“You’re so cute,” Lu Han cooes as he reaches up to peck Minseok on the cheek.

“Ew,” Baekhyun sneers, rushing to cover Chanyeol’s eyes with his hand, “PDA.”

True to his words, Minseok had added a lot of garlic in the dishes and Chanyeol ends up just barely picking at his food. He refuses all of Minseok’s apologetic offerings of cooking something else, though, and does end up taking a bite or two to appease Minseok.

The dinner passes pretty quickly, and it’s really not as bad as Baekhyun expected it to be. They talk about mundane things, only occasionally directing questions toward Chanyeol and even then, they aren’t anything particularly horrifying. Lu Han is on his best behaviour and that in itself is enough to be thankful for.

They’re in the middle of one of Lu Han’s many random anecdote when Chanyeol’s phone vibrates from inside his pocket. It’s fairly quiet and only Baekhyun actually notices Chanyeol fish the device from out of his pants and quickly read the message. Baekhyun is too far and too proud to do something like actually sneak a peek and read the text but when Chanyeol locks the phone screen and puts it back in his pocket, he can’t help but be a little curious.

He’s just about to lean over and ask what it was about when Chanyeol speaks up. “Hey… uh.” Chanyeol interrupts while Lu Han is still speaking and Minseok pales.

“I told you he was getting bored of you and your stories,” Minseok whispers but it comes out much too loud. Chanyeol laughs.

“No uhm,” He stops himself, “This is going to sound awkward but uh…” He glances at his phone yet again. “Jongdae. He’s supposed to come over today. Is it cool if he comes in here?”

Lu Han nods excitedly, “Jongdae? Of course he can!”

“Oh? Are you friends with Jongdae?” Chanyeol asks amicably.

“Uh… Kind of?” Lu Han coughs awkwardly.

“He’s never met him before.” Baekhyun points out helpfully and the confused look on Chanyeol’s face is priceless.

“Well. Uhm.” Chanyeol stammers, his furrowed brow deepening by the second, “I’m just gonna go let him in.”

He clambers up and moves over to the front door. The minute he’s out of hearing range, Lu Han jumps up and leans toward Baekhyun. Baekhyun startles back and Lu Han hisses, “What the hell are you doing, you’re making me look like some kinda creepy stalker.”

“Are you not a creepy stalker?” Baekhyun asks innocently, enjoying the affronted look on Lu Han’s face.

“I’m… I’m not a stalker.” Lu Han pouts, sinking back into his chair. Minseok rubs a comforting hand over his arm.

“Jongdae’s here.” Chanyeol announces when he returns to the dining room, an awkward looking Jongdae in tow.

Lu Han’s face immediately brightens. “Jongdae!” He calls out and Jongdae only flashes him a weird look before quickly bowing to Minseok. “Sorry for intruding.” Jongdae says sheepishly and Baekhyun has never seen him be so polite before. “Your place is delightful.”

Minseok bounds up to shake Jongdae’s hand and retrieve a chair for him to sit in. “Sit sit,” He smiles as he pushes a bar stool over toward the table.

Jongdae bows again and takes the seat. He sits there awkwardly as he watches the others, about a foot below him, eat their cake. Minseok seems to pick up on this and he springs out of his seat. “Do you want something to eat? Something to drink?”

Jongdae only shakes his head, smiling politely, “No thank you, it’s too much. I’m already intruding.”

Baekhyun has to physically stop himself from saying “You sure are”.

“No, I insist! You’re the guest.” Minseok urges but when it’s clear that Jongdae isn’t going to relent anytime soon, he makes an executive decision and just asserts, “I’ll make you some coffee.”

With a tight-lipped smile, Jongdae begrudgingly accepts.

The table is pretty quiet while Minseok’s up making coffee. Chanyeol and Jongdae seem to be in the middle of a mental conversation, Lu Han is occupied with just watching Jongdae, and Baekhyun is left fidgeting awkwardly. It’s Minseok yet again that breaks the silence. “How do you like your coffee, Jongdae?”

“Black is fine.” Jongdae answers and Lu Han cracks a smile for no discernible reason.

It’s when Minseok finally returns to the table that Baekhyun understands why. After Minseok has handed off the coffee and sat back down in his seat, Baekhyun can just barely see as he discreetly pulls out his wallet and presses a $10 bill into Lu Han’s palm. He frowns at the two but they ignore him.

x x x

Baekhyun does end up regretting bringing over Chanyeol for the dinner. But in a way he wasn’t expecting.

Somehow, during dinner, the conversation had taken a turn toward Baekhyun’s writing (or lack there of, according to Lu Han) and now Chanyeol has taken toward badgering about Baekhyun’s work.

“Why do you never write around me? Or like show me what you write?” Chanyeol asks when they’re mindlessly watching some show, their hands comfortably entwined together.

“Because that’s bad luck.” Baekhyun rolls his eyes like its the most obvious thing in the world. “And plus its un-edited. I’d rather die than let anyone see that kinda monstrosity.”

“I don’t even know what you write about, you never told me!” Chanyeol turns toward Baekhyun, eyebrows furrowed.

“I’m pretty sure I did.” Baekhyun dismisses, keeping his eyes locked on the television.

“No no,” Chanyeol shakes his head, and to Baekhyun’s dismay, turns down the TV’s volume. “All you told me is that you don’t write homosexual erotica.”

“Well now that you know what I don’t write, it shouldn’t be too too hard to figure out what I do.” Baekhyun shrugs, reaching over to steal the remote control from Chanyeol.

Chanyeol chucks it across the room before he even has a chance. “What the hell?” He asks, narrowing his eyes and Chanyeol only shakes his head.

“Tell me.” Chanyeol says.

“No, it’s okay,” Baekhyun shakes his head, “It’ll be like a mystery. Everyone loves a mystery.” He is just about to get up and retrieve the remote that Chanyeol had stupidly thrown away but he’s stopped by Chanyeol’s grip on his arm. He’s jerked back onto the couch. “What the hell, Chanyeol?” Baekhyun begins, rubbing at his shoulder.

“I have ways of making you tell me, you know.” Chanyeol says with a straight face as he starts to back Baekhyun into the corner of the couch. Chanyeol brings his face in extremely close, so that there’s less than a foot distance between their faces. He stares into Baekhyun’s eyes intensely but the slight twitch of laughter gives his act away and Baekhyun can’t take him seriously.

“I’m not sure how I should feel about that statement.” Baekhyun admits with a laugh, pushing Chanyeol’s face back so that it’s a more comfortable distance away.

Chanyeol comes back merely seconds later, this time considerably closer. “Tell me.” He whispers before he goes in and steals a kiss.

The giggle that Baekhyun lets out leaves him absolutely mortified but Chanyeol seems to think it’s cute as he does it again and again, pressing chaste kisses onto Baekhyun’s lips over and over again. “You know,” Baekhyun sputters out, still laughing, “Kissing me isn’t going to get you anywhere.”

Chanyeol suddenly freezes and lifts himself up just a centimeter or two. “You’re right!” He stage whispers, before swooping down to brush a kiss against Baekhyun’s cheekbones and then to his ear. “I guess I need a change of tactics.”

“What?” Baekhyun just manages to croak out when he feels Chanyeol readjust himself so that his knees are on either side of Baekhyun’s hips. “What are you doing--?”

And suddenly there’s Chanyeol’s hands running up Baekhyun’s sides. Tickling him. Baekhyun practically howls with laughter.

"You're so ticklish, Baek." Chanyeol smirks as he continues, Baekhyun squirming beneath him.

"No," Baekhyun wheezes out, trying to push off the offending male. "No shit, Sherlock."

Chanyeol grins, leaning down to the junction of Baekhyun's neck and whispering, "Just tell me, and this. This all can stop." Baekhyun can practically feel Chanyeol's smile pressing against his neck, his breath puffing on the sensitive skin.

"You are so creepy." Baekhyun shakes his head, starting to flail around his legs as Chanyeol continues on relentlessly. "I'll never tell you." He punctuates with another shove.

But this time the shove is strong enough for Chanyeol to go flying off the couch and tumbling onto the ground. There’s a muted thud of Chanyeol’s head on the coffee table and then a quiet groan of pain from the younger.

“Oh my god! Are you okay?” Baekhyun gapes, peering over the side of the couch to look at Chanyeol. Chanyeol’s clutching at his head but he doesn’t seem to be too affected. He affirms his condition with a cheesy smile and a thumbs up.

“No worries. I’m good. But I’m going to stay down here. You know, for safety reasons."

"That--" Baekhyun starts off, offended, but stops. "That actually might be a good idea." He finishes shyly and draws out a warm chuckle from Chanyeol. He drapes an arm over the side of couch to touch Chanyeol’s face. Chanyeol’s eyes immediately flutter close.

“Yes, you’re fingers in my face is exactly what is going to fix the situation.” He mutters but Baekhyun can see the faint traces of a smile.

“Always.” Baekhyun smiles back and pats Chanyeols cheek. Retracting his hand, Baekhyun folds his arms beneath himself and rests his cheek on the makeshift pillow of limbs, keeping his gaze set on Chanyeol.

When they lapse into a relaxed kind of quiet, Baekhyun finally whispers: “Supernatural books.”

“What?” Chanyeol asks, looking up at Baekhyun with a look of question.

“I write supernatural books. About like vampires, and werewolves, and even fucking sparkly-ass Tinkerbell fairies sometimes.” Baekhyun eyes Chanyeol. “Go ahead. Laugh. Most people do.”

Chanyeol sits up all of the sudden and Baekhyun only watches him. “Scooch over.” Chanyeol instructs, pushing Baekhyun’s body just a little toward the inside of the couch. He’s just about to climb up onto the space he just cleared out but he stops about halfway on. “And just so you know. I’m getting on. So don’t like, fling me off again.”

Baekhyun gives an affronted look but keeps his mouth closed because he did technically fling Chanyeol off before. “I won’t.” He promises quietly instead and Chanyeol grins.

“But supernatural books,” Chanyeol starts as he’s comfortably settled lengthwise across the couch, pressed up against Baekhyun, staring face to face, an arm and a leg hooked around the older for support from falling. “That’s pretty awesome, I think.” Baekhyun makes a sound of confirmation just before Chanyeol adds in, “Why would anyone laugh at that?”

“I don’t know. Because that’s like a cliched teenage romance genre now?” Baekhyun shrugs. “They think it’s childish, I guess.”

“You’re writing out your dreams, your imagination.” Chanyeol says quietly, “What’s so childish about that?”

Baekhyun doesn’t have a good answer for that so he doesn’t reply.

When he realizes that Baekhyun’s not going to answer, Chanyeol asks instead. “What do you write about then?”

That draws a laugh from Baekhyun. “I just told you, supernatural books. What, you have a memory of a goldfish or something?”

Chanyeol shakes his head frantically but with their close proximity, he almost knocks into Baekhyun. “No I meant like, plot-wise.”

“I’m not telling you.” Baekhyun replies suddenly, “It’s bad luck to discuss an unfinished novel. It’ll jinx its success.”

Chanyeol snorts, “Bullshit. Then what about your editors, don’t they kind of have to discuss the unfinished novel with you before it goes to print?”

“That’s totally different. The editor is the only one allowed to know of the story’s imperfections.”

Chanyeol frowns, “But isn’t it better to get an extra set of eyes to scan through the book, to catch any unseen errors.”

“Nice try, but no.” Baekhyun rolls his eyes. “But I will tell you…”

“Humour me.”

“It’s about…” Baekhyun trails off just to see Chanyeol watch him expectantly. He takes the chance to lean in just a bit closer to press a kiss to Chanyeol’s lips. When he pulls back, he's quick to rush out. “It's about this guy who becomes a thing by accident and then does the thing to save himself from this other thing.”

It takes a while for the words to actually sink into Chanyeol, namely because of the impromptu kiss, but when they do, it has him crying out indignantly. “You asshole!’ He exclaims, sitting up. “That’s what literally every book is about.”

“You called me an asshole.” Baekhyun fakes a pout. “There’s no way you’re getting anymore top secret information.”

“I hate you.”

“Don’t we all.” Baekhyun grins. He’s taken by surprise when Chanyeol leans over to kiss him but welcomes it anyways by looping an arm around the younger’s neck.

Chanyeol rolls his eyes. “I’m going to read it one day.” He states confidently. “Mark my words, one day I will read it.”

Baekhyun snorts. “One day.”

x x x

For the most part, Chanyeol does continue to randomly pester Baekhyun about his novel: how it’s going, what part he’s on, what’s it about, and things of that nature. It’s all pretty passive; Chanyeol acknowledges Baekhyun’s feelings toward his writing and doesn’t press for more information. What’s not quite as passive, though, is Chanyeol’s constant effort to help Baekhyun out with his writing. Since he’s not actually able to read the writing, he can’t actually help with specifics but he’s always more than willing to send Baekhyun stuff about writing tips or good words for said.

Baekhyun appreciates the effort, the support, and he thinks its adorable that Chanyeol’s thoughtful enough to do these kinds of things. It’s all really sweet and surprisingly helpful.

Chanyeol seems to stick to just random questions and articles which is why it’s so unexpected when Chanyeol volunteers to take him somewhere.

“Hey, let’s get out of here.” Chanyeol offers out of nowhere when they’re folded up together on the couch one night after dinner.

“What do you mean?” Baekhyun mumbles, scooting just a bit closer into Chanyeol’s body so he doesn’t topple over the couch. “I’m so comfortable and I’d really rather not move.”

“No no no,” Chanyeol says and to Baekhyun’s dismay, he sits up. “This will be great. Romantic even.” And now he’s suddenly being hauled off of the couch. “You need fresh air, anyways, you like never go out.”

“I do too!” Baekhyun indignantly argues, “Just yesterday…”

“Just yesterday, what?” Chanyeol challenges.

“I… uh… went to the grocery store...”

Chanyeol rolls his eyes. “You went to the convenience store. The one that’s about a block away.”

“It’s still going outside. And what do I need to go out for?” Baekhyun whines, “What is there that the outside world has to offer?”

And it takes a while before Chanyeol comes up with an answer, and just when Baekhyun thinks that he’s given up, he says, “Inspiration. How can you write when you don’t do anything? When you don’t have any kind of experiences to base it off of?”

“I have had plenty of experience in my previous 25 years of life, thank you very much.”

Chanyeol raises an eyebrow in challenge, “Really? Because what I’ve gathered, you’ve spent your previous 25 years the exact same way you are now: trying to avoid the outdoors at all cost.”

“Let me reiterate: What is there that the outside world has to offer?” Baekhyun argues indignantly.

“You write stories of adventure, of the unknown. Don’t you need to base it off of experiences?

“Yes.” Baekhyun rolls his eyes, “Pray tell me where I can find something like a vampire in this world.”

“Well not… Not like actual mythical creatures or supernatural beings but like… Maybe places with a nice inspiring atmosphere.”

“Where would you even go for supernatural inspiration?”

Chanyeol only grins and Baekhyun has a sinking feeling that he’s going to regret even asking that question.

“So your idea of a romantic date is to take me to the woods in the dead of the night?” Baekhyun deadpans, staring unimpressively at the looming trees before him.

“Well, for one, it’s like 5. Hardly the dead of the night.” Chanyeol laughs. “It’s a kind of inspiration, is it not?”

“It’s going to get dark though.. And yes. The fear of getting mauled by a bear is going to really help me get through that one scene I’ve been having trouble with.” Baekhyun sneers, faking a kick at the back of Chanyeol’s legs. “Thanks a lot, man.”

“It’s what I do.” Chanyeol says proudly, “But really. Let’s just walk around. You can just absorb the scenery and maybe talk out some scenes you’re having trouble with writing. I’m a great listener you know.”

“What makes you think that I’m going to tell you about my book’s plot? I told you it’s bad luck to tell someone about an unfinished novel. It’s a secret!”

Chanyeol pouts, “Okay fine. We can just walk around, talk, enjoy the outdoors. This is the place I always escape to whenever I need to clear my head so I think it will do you good.”

“There’s literally nothing to enjoy about the outdoors.” Baekhyun frowns while kicking at the dirt.

Chanyeol only grins. “We’ll see about that.”

Surprisingly enough, it does turn out to be kind of fun. Walking around with Chanyeol, talking of nothing of importance, taking in the atmosphere, he actually does come up with some good scenes to add into his story but he’ll never admit that to Chanyeol. They wander deep into the woods, and about two hours later, they settle down on some random log to watch the sun go down.

“Something’s poking at my butt.” Baekhyun states helpfully as they wait for the sun to settle onto the horizon.

Wordlessly, Chanyeol pulls him into his lap, his eyes still transfixed on the slow setting sun.

“I was suggesting you to move over or something but this is good too.” A smirk finds its way onto Baekhyun’s face as he grinds down onto Chanyeol’s lap. “Though I’m not sure if this will be much better.”

“Shut up,” Chanyeol says and Baekhyun laughs triumphantly. “Just watch the stupid sunset, you idiot.”

The sunset is pretty. Scratch that. The sunset would’ve been pretty had the dulled hues of red, orange, and purple not been blocked by a shit ton of foliage.

“Not gonna lie,” Baekhyun hops off of Chanyeol’s lap before helping Chanyeol back onto his feet. “The trees blocked like everything. I didn’t see anything.”

“Yeah sorry, I should’ve taken you somewhere with a better view.” Chanyeol says with a look tinged with disappointment. “Next time.” Baekhyun thinks he hears Chanyeol murmur.

He doesn’t question it, though, and Chanyeol just continues on, “So you want to turn back or go just a bit farther?”

“... Just another hour or so.” Baekhyun admits and he hates the shit-eating grin that appears on Chanyeol’s face.

“I knew you’d like it here.”

“Shut up.” He frowns as they begin to walk. “It’s getting cold…” Baekhyun muses as he wraps his arms around himself. Chanyeol suddenly stops.

“I’ll go get your jacket from the car.” He says all of a sudden and Baekhyun shakes his head.

“The car is way too far and it’s really not all that cold.” He shivers despite himself and that’s enough to have Chanyeol running back toward the car.

“I’ll be right back!” Chanyeol calls over his shoulder, “Don’t move.”

Before he can call Chanyeol back, he’s gone. Baekhyun heaves a sigh, ultimately deciding to just sit back down on that nearby log and wait for him to return.

He probably isn’t sitting there for more than five minutes but it feels like eternity as he brings his knees to his chest and curls into himself to conserve body heat. “Jesus fucking Christ it’s cold,” He hisses to himself, slowly rocking himself back and forth.

And then he hears a snap of twigs from behinds him and he freezes, limbs suddenly rigid with fear. “C-chanyeol?” He calls out softly, “Are you back already?”

There’s no response and his blood runs cold. Slowly, very slowly does he turn back, praying to god that it’s Chanyeol trying to be funny and not like a bear or something.

It’s not Chanyeol.

But it’s also not a bear.

Instead, it’s a deer. Bespeckled with snow white dots and about as startled as Baekhyun is, it's a fucking deer. "Jesus Christ." He breathes out, his eyes wide and unblinking as he watches the deer with caution.

He remains motionless as the deer begins to take a couple of tentative steps forward. When the deer eventually comes within a foot radius, Baekhyun extends a hand forward. He's not really sure what he's doing, trying to pet a deer, a wild animal, but to his surprise, the deer actually continues inching closer until it can finally touch its head on Baekhyun's hand.

This might just be the best day of Baekhyun's life. For the first couple of strokes, he leaves his hand at the bottom of the deer's face, just tickling against the bottom of the snout, but slowly, as the deer seems to relax just a bit, he repositions so that his hand is now on top, petting the deer.

This goes on for a while. The wild animal allows itself to be petted for a surprisingly long amount of time and Baekhyun allows himself to pet the wild animal for an equally surprising amount of time. It probably would’ve gone on for significantly longer, though, had it not been for Chanyeol’s intrusion.

"I got your jacket!" Baekhyun hears through the thicket of trees. It's undeniably Chanyeol what with the unmistakable voice, and the clumsy clomp of steps.

“Come slowly!” Baekhyun shouts out. When he sees the deer startle from his volume, he only continues to pet it, making a some soft cooing noises at it in hopes of calming it down. “I have a deer here.”

As per his instructions, Chanyeol proceeds with caution, looking a bit ridiculous in the way he slowly creeps through the thick foliage of the bushes with exaggerated motions. “Whoa.” He breathes out, taking in the sight and the sound catches the deer’s attention.

The deer’s reaction is instantaneous. It’s limbs tense and it give one last look at Baekhyun, one full of pure, unadulterated fear, before dashing away.

“You were petting a deer.” Chanyeol states the obvious.

“Indeed I was,” Baekhyun says, rising from the log to go stand next to Chanyeol. “But you scared it away.”

Chanyeol grimaces, “Sorry. I brought your jacket, though.” He offers the said item to Baekhyun.

With a thankful smile, Baekhyun takes the jacket and shrugs it on, quickly zipping it all the way up and shoving his hands in the pockets to warm up again. “It’s weird though,” He says once he’s finally regained feeling in his fingertips. “You approached so calmly and yet it just fled as soon as it laid eyes on you.”

Chanyeol shrugs. “I don’t know, I mean deer can be pretty unpredictable.”

“I don’t know,” Baekhyun muses aloud, “This one seemed so placid, used to humans or something.” And it might be just him, but Baekhyun swears he sees Chanyeol’s eyes twitch.

"Weird," Chanyeol dismisses quickly before ushering them into a new topic, "So we gonna walk?" He asks, extending an arm for Baekhyun to take.

Looping an arm through Chanyeol's, Baekhyun presses himself close to his boyfriend. "Yeah let's."

They spend a while walking around but it's a different kind of ambience that Baekhyun can't help but soak in. The night is so dark that they can barely see what's just a foot in front of them but the lack of vision only intensifies the sounds, the scent, the atmosphere of the forest.

There are a couple drawbacks of wandering around in the dark of the night, namely the more than occasional tripping and getting lost. Somewhere along the way, they lose their way and it takes hours to circle back to where they'd come from. It's fun, though, just spending time with him like this.

x x x

And as cool as the forest was -- is, Baekhyun expects it to be a while before Chanyeol brings him back there. He’s wrong, though, and within the next week, he finds himself back in Chanyeol’s car, driving on the familiar road that brings them back to the forest.

“Why do you keep bringing me to this forest?” Baekhyun laughs the next time Chanyeol decides it’s high time for Baekhyun to get some ‘fresh air’.

Chanyeol pretends to look offended as he shuts off the car’s engine. With a pout, he says, “What? Are you telling me that you don’t like this place?”

“Not particularly,” Baekhyun rolls his eyes but gets out of the car regardless. While waiting for Chanyeol to do the same, he spares a glance at the scenery. It’s serene, beautiful even but it’s still definitely not his idea of an ideal date. “You didn’t bring me in the middle of the night. So that’s an improvement.” Baekhyun snorts at Chanyeol’s fistpump.

“No but really,” Chanyeol says, walking over to the car’s trunk. Baekhyun follows and is surprised to see a bag of food and some blankets stored away in the back. “It’ll be nice, I swear.”

“Well you look about a thousand times more prepared than last time. I’m guessing we’re actually here to do something apart from walk aimlessly around the forest and get hopelessly lost?” Baekhyun asks innocently and he has to repress the urge to laugh at the blush quickly filling Chanyeol’s cheeks.

“Would you let that go?” He whispers and he pretends to wipe at his lips in order to cover the red, “That was one time…”

“And there can easily be a second time with the way this date’s going.” Baekhyun so helpfully points out.

“I know this forest like the back of my hand.” Chanyeol mumbles, his pride obviously a little hurt.

“Well you apparently don’t know the back of your hand very well.” Baekhyun snorts but he helps to get the things out of the car, grabbing the couple of neatly folded blankets in the trunk. Chanyeol grabs the large basket of what Baekhyun hopes to be filled with food that was sitting right next to them.

“I didn’t know people legitimately owned picnic baskets.” Baekhyun comments as Chanyeol shifts the basket’s handle into the crook of his arm.

“Shut up,” Chanyeol says pointedly before taking Baekhyun’s hand and leading him into the forest. “And be prepared to be swept off your feet.”

Chanyeol leads them a bit further into the woods this time around -- or at least that’s what Baekhyun assumes. He doesn’t quite remember the exact logistics of the forest, given that last time it was shrouded in shadows, but they do seem to take a longer time to get to the destination.

When they finally do arrive, Chanyeol brings them to a clearing in the forest, revealing a large, sparkling lake. “Here we are,” He smiles, eyes locked on the way that the sunlight reflects off the water. “You wanna start setting up the blankets?”

Baekhyun nods, dropping to his knees to spread out the blanket as Chanyeol moves to the other side to help. “Why didn’t we come here to watch the sunset last time? We’d actually be able to see it from here.” Baekhyun comments, distracted with smoothing out the wrinkles in the fabric.

“By the time we would’ve made it here, the sun would have been long gone,” Chanyeol shrugs. Whenever he’s satisfied with straightening his side of the blanket, he barrels onto it, taking one of the other, clean blankets and draping it around his shoulders.

“True.” Baekhyun gives up with trying to make the blanket perfectly flat -- it’s near impossible with Chanyeol seated on top -- and sits down next to Chanyeol.

“I mean, if we wait around long enough, we can see the sunset again today.” Chanyeol comments as he moves the basket of food closer to him. Slipping his hand in before quickly pulling out a bag of chips, he offers his newfound treasure to Baekhyun.

“Also true.” Baekhyun repeats as he accepts the offering.

So, that’s what they do. Somehow, the hours pass by quickly and before they know it, the sun is retreating, colouring the skies with pale tones of orange and pink. It passes by pretty quickly, gone within minutes, leaving them with a quickly darkening sky.

As soon as it’s over, Chanyeol’s looking over at Baekhyun with a sparkle in his eyes. “The lake looks nice doesn’t it?”

Even without explicitly saying it, Baekhyun knows where the other is going with this. “I’m not getting in that water.” Baekhyun declares before Chanyeol can say anything else.

“Come on,” Chanyeol begs, already scrambling to his feet. “It’ll be fun.” He draws out the last syllable as if that will make his argument all the more effective. (It kind of does.)

“Excuse you,” Baekhyun shakes his head, “But I would prefer not to put myself through that kind of torture.”

“I bet it’s not even that cold.” Chanyeol insists but he’s only met with a blank look from Baekhyun.

“Why not?” Chanyeol starts again, changing his approach. He tries to tug Baekhyun up onto his feet but he’s resilient. “Where’s your sense of adventure that you’re always writing about?”

“My sense of adventure has nothing to do with skinnydipping in the middle of September.”

“I beg to differ.”

With the way things are going, Baekhyun’s already over the fence. There’s really no harm in doing it so why not? “This is just a way for you to get me naked, isn’t it?” Baekhyun asks with a sardonic smile.

“Darn,” Chanyeol exhales, comically snapping his fingers in a disappointed gesture, “And I would’ve gotten away with it if it weren’t for you meddling kids -- er. kid.” He bends down to punctuate his words with a kiss to Baekhyun’s nose.

Baekhyun sticks his tongue out. “Just for that, I’m going to leave my clothes on whenever I jump.”

Chanyeol perks up immediately, his eyes gleaming with excitement. “Wait, wait. So you’re gonna do it?”

“Yeah, we better go before I change my mind.” Baekhyun nods, allowing Chanyeol to finally pull him to his feet. As they near the water, Baekhyun stops to remove his socks and shoes and poke a toe into the water. He shivers at the feelings. “It’s so damn cold.” He hisses, jerking his foot hurriedly out of the freezing waters.

Chanyeol only shrugs. “You already agreed to this. No backsies.”

“Your elevated language astounds me.” Baekhyun snorts. “But I have to say, I’ve never done this before so you’re going to have to take me through this like step by step.”

“I realize that.” Chanyeol says with a laugh. “There’s no real way of doing it but… Well, first.” He pauses and proceeds to pull off his shirt. “You strip.”

Baekhyun gives him a look, trying not to get too sidetracked by the soft contours of Chanyeol’s abs. “I’ll pass,” Baekhyun dismisses with a wave of his hand. At the sight of Chanyeol confused little frown, he adds, “It’s way too cold to be nude.”

With a shrug of his shoulders, Chanyeol turns to remove his pants, “You’re just gonna be even colder when you get out.” His fingers are slipping under the waistband of his underwear, about to remove the garment when Baekhyun rushes to stop him.

“Wait.” He says suddenly, and Chanyeol immediately freezes. “Leave your boxers on.”

“Why?” Chanyeol asks but he moves his hands away anyways.

“Because it’ll be weird. Me completely clothed. You completely naked.”

“You could always strip too,” Chanyeol suggests with an exaggerated wink.

“I am okay.” Baekhyun laughs at the gesture, “Just leave your stupid underwear on.”

“Ugh,” Chanyeol groans, with a comical roll of his eyes, “God, Baekhyun. Why do you have to be such a buzzkill?” The shy little grin that edges up on his face lets Baekhyun know that it’s really just a joke. Baekhyun lightly smacks him on the arm anyways.

“So like…” Baekhyun starts, uncertainly looking at the lake, “We just jump in?”

“That’s the gist of it.” Chanyeol affirms with a nod and he reaches over to take one of Baekhyun’s hand. He leads Baekhyun back a couple of feet so that they have a bit of space to run before they actually jump in. “So on a count of three, we jump.”

“Why am I doing this again?” Baekhyun murmurs as he eyes the body of water again.

His question goes ignored as Chanyeol starts the countdown. “Okay one. Two. Three!”

Chanyeol goes with a running start, almost dragging Baekhyun behind him and then they jump.

It’s fucking cold. It’s so fucking cold and Baekhyun hates himself for agreeing to it.

Whenever they submerge, Baekhyun immediately shuts his eyes closed and raises his free hand to pinch his nose to stop the water pressure from forcing water up his nose. Chanyeol, however, pushes away his hand and makes him open his eyes. In front of him, Chanyeol is grinning wildly and all of a sudden he’s moving closer, disentangling their hands to wrap his arms around Baekhyun’s waist to press in closer.

He connects their foreheads first, his eyes boring into Baekhyun’s. Then he moves and touches their noses together in an eskimo kiss before finally turning his head to plant a kiss on Baekhyun’s lips.

The action is surprising and has Baekhyun his mouth gasping open in surprise, letting out precious oxygen from his lungs. Before he can close it though, Chanyeol’s pressing himself closer and sucking lightly on just the tip of his tongue before moving in to close the kiss again. It’s very nice and all, very romantic, but Baekhyun can’t last very long, his lungs already running low on oxygen within less than thirty seconds.

Chanyeol doesn’t seem to have this problem. Even as Baekhyun pushes him away, quickly covering his nose and mouth with his hands as if that will help retain the quickly escaping air, Chanyeol seems just fine, only the occasional, small air bubble arising from his mouth.

He tries to stay down as long as possible but before long, his lungs are burning for oxygen. He rushes up to the surface just as Chanyeol points excitedly at something and drops to the bottom of the lake.

Baekhyun resurfaces, gasping for air. The lake isn’t exactly deep but it’s not shallow enough for him to actually touch the bottom; he has to constantly doggie paddle to stay afloat.

After he manages to catch his breath, he goes back under; he’s curious to see what Chanyeol was pointing at. When he’s back under the water, he tries his best to stay at the bottom of the lake, tries his best to copy the way Chanyeol is sitting with ease but he can’t. He has to constantly exhale the little amount of oxygen he has left just to sink. Before he can even see what Chanyeol was trying to point out, he has to go back to the surface to catch his breath having already wasted his breath trying to stay at the bottom.

Again, he goes back under but his last gulp of oxygen was too rushed; he has to go back up before he even gets a chance to sit on the floor.

This time around, he stays above water for a good five minutes, waiting for his breathing to return to complete normalcy before he even bothers to try again.

Whenever he finally feels like he’s ready to submerge, he manages to sink to the bottom quickly where he’s met with a slight wave from Chanyeol. Chanyeol’s still seated comfortably on the floor, not seeming to be running low on air. He directs Baekhyun’s attention to what he’s been watching this whole time and it’s just a crab. He has wasted so much oxygen just to see a tiny little crab.

Surprisingly enough, though, he ends up wasting even more just watching it scuttle around. But soon, too soon, the familiar burn sets into his lungs and he has to scramble to get some air.

This time, though, whenever he returns to the surface, Chanyeol follows him up.

“How did you stay under for so long?!” Baekhyun manages to exclaim through his labored pants. Chanyeol doesn’t even seem to be out of breath. Noticing that Baekhyun’s having a bit of a workout just staying afloat, Chanyeol moves forward to hug him, moving to wrap Baekhyun’s legs around his waist so that his weight is completely supported by the strenght of his arms.

“What do you mean?” Chanyeol asks as he moves quickly to peck Baekhyun’s wet cheek with a kiss.

“You were underwater for so long!” He flaps his arm around to add emphasis but as soon as he begins to fall backward. To keep himself from falling, he has to lunge forward, wrapping his arms around Chanyeol for dear life. “You should’ve died, being under there that long. And I don’t know if that’s cool or mildly terrifying?”

“The thought of me dying is only mildly terrifying?” Chanyeol snorts. “And I dunno.” He tries to shrug but it’s a bit difficult with the way his arms are positioned around Baekhyun’s waist. “I guess I can just hold my breath for a long time.”

“But that was for like ten minutes!” Baekhyun gapes, not seeing how Chanyeol isn’t utterly dumbfounded by the amount of time he held his breath like he is.

Again, Chanyeol tries to shrug, but gives up, instead opting for an eyebrow raise coupled with pursed lips that convey the same kind of message. “The record for holding your breath is 22 minutes, I don’t see why you’re so amazed by just 10 minutes.”

“But those are professional divers who train for that kinda stuff.”

“Maybe I’m a professional diver, you don’t know that.” Chanyeol challenges with a sparkle in his eyes and it takes all of Baekhyun’s will not to smack his boyfriend upside the head.

“It was just so inhumane…” He breathes out and he doesn’t know if he’s imagining it but he swears he sees Chanyeol’s jaw lock, even just for a second.

“So you about had enough of this?” Chanyeol asks, using his eyes to gesture at the water around them.

“Oh thank god,” Baekhyun laughs, a little breathlessly “I thought you’d never ask.”

“You didn’t like it?”

“It was okay,” He answers, tilting his head from side to side. “But I’m freezing my ass off and that’s definitely not a plus.”

The chuckle he draws from Chanyeol is satisfying in a way he’d never expect. “No worries, it’s still here.” Chanyeol flashes a wicked smile as he proceeds to grope Baekhyun’s butt.

This time, Baekhyun doesn’t stop himself from smacking Chanyeol. “Take me to land, Park.” He instructs with an angry facade that only cracks at the sound of Chanyeol’s breathy laughter.

It’s unexpected but Chanyeol doesn’t just bring him back to the shore, but he goes as far as to carry Baekhyun all the way back to their blanket. “It’s so fucking cold.” Baekhyun hisses, hugging himself just a bit closer to Chanyeol for some semblance of warmth.

“You complain about the cold whether you’re in the water or not.” Chanyeol snorts as he ceremoniously drops Baekhyun on the blanket. Immediately, Baekhyun moves to wrap the blanket around himself for some kind of warmth. “You should’ve taken your clothes off. Now you have nothing dry to change into.”

“Shut up,” Baekhyun groans, “I realize that now.”

“Here,” Chanyeol offers the older his shirt. “Take this.”

Baekhyun’s eyes flick between the offered shirt and Chanyeol, back and forth long enough as if to emphasize how stupid Chanyeol is being. “I’m not taking your shirt.” He says, squinting. “You are not going shirtless in this cold as fuck weather, either.”

“I really don’t get cold.” Chanyeol shrugs, pushing the shirt closer to Baekhyun in silent insistence.

“You’re going to catch your death in this weather and that would be,” Baekhyun stops himself, his lips curving into a mischievous smile, “Mildly terrifying.”

“Fuck you.” Chanyeol deadpans but the way his eyes crinkle as he smiles discount any kind of actual venom. “And I’m not going to let you freeze yourself to death either so what do you suppose we do?”

“I’ve got an idea.”

It doesn’t go exactly as Baekhyun plans as they end up in a rather peculiar position what with the way Baekhyun (wearing Chanyeol’s shirt as per Chanyeol’s adamancy) is situated in Chanyeol’s lap, the bare chest of the younger pressed into his back as he hunches over his own legs to bunch the ends of the blanket together, keeping it from pooling around them.

“Just until we’ve warmed up enough.” Chanyeol had said when met with skeptic looks from the older. “And then we’ll book it to the car.”

It’s not the soundest plan but Baekhyun finds himself going along with it anyways.

“Your underwear is wet.” Baekhyun comments while they’re sitting, waiting to warm up.

“I am aware.” Chanyeol says, his warm breath puffing against the shell of his ear. “But need I remind you that you were the one who wouldn’t let me take it off?”

“I’d really rather not sit on your naked dick.” Baekhyun snorts, moving his head to the right to softly knock against Chanyeol.

“Nothing you haven’t done before.” Baekhyun doesn’t even have to look at Chanyeol to know that he’s smirking obnoxiously right now.

“And you’re the romantic one in this relationship.” Baekhyun muses, “I worry for our future.”

Chanyeol’s chuckle rumbles deep throughout his chest and Baekhyun can clearly feel the reverberations given their close proximity. It’s only after his laughter has completely subsided that he asks, “So you like this place?”

“At the risk of you saying ‘I told you so’, I’m going to have to say yes.”

And comically, Chanyeol leans in to whisper into Baekhyun’s ear. “I. Told. You. So.” He says, punctuating each word in a way that has Baekhyun thrusting his elbow back hard into Chanyeol’s stomach. Again, Chanyeol laughs, not harmed in the slightest. Whenever he gets over his own obnoxiousness, he asks another question: “So does this serve as adequate supernatural-book-writing inspiration?”

Baekhyun groans in an over-exaggerated manner. “Why do you always bring things back to my book?”

“Because if I bring it up, maybe, just maybe, you’ll slip up and actually reveal something about this oh-so-mysterious piece of literature.”

Baekhyun shakes his head and Chanyeol has to lean back just the slightest bit to keep Baekhyun’s head a safe distance away from his chin. “Nuh-uh. Not happening. Not on your life.”

Chanyeol only laughs at Baekhyun’s reaction, “One of these days, I’m going to get you to let me read your damned story.”

“I’m not saying that you can’t read it.” Baekhyun shrugs, turning his head just to watch amusedly as Chanyeol brightens just the slightest bit. “You just have to wait until it’s published.” He teases and a tiny frown conjures itself on Chanyeol’s face.

“Then so be it.” He pouts.

“What if it never gets published?”

“Then I’ll wait forever for you.”

Baekhyun smiles; he quite likes the way those words sound on his tongue.

>>>