out of the spotlight (and into your heart) i/ii
out of the spotlight (and into your heart)
pg-13; fluff, crack; kris/suho, mentions of sehun/luhan; 15,844w
summary: it all starts with joonmyun asking for his number one day and kris realizes, probably a moment too late, that his life as a fanboy will never ever be the same again after that.
warning: if you’ve ever acknowledged kris’s manliness before……..you’ll probably find it hard to do so again after reading this fic. u___u
a/n: written for daeseol! ♥ sequel to manliest fan in history.
“So I have a little surprise for you,” is what Luhan casually greets him with as soon as he opens the door to Kris’s apartment. He crosses the room in five quick strides and proceeds to unceremoniously plop down onto the little vacant space left on Kris’s bed, completely disregarding the fact that he doesn’t live here but still acting like he owns the place. It all happens in two seconds flat that Kris doesn’t even have the time to blink, much less summon a proper reaction out of himself.
Luhan’s unexpected (and very much uninvited) appearance doesn’t even faze Kris, though; being friends with him has certainly taught Kris how to calmly deal with Luhan barging into his room at random times of the day.
“For the love of god, Luhan, why are you here.” Kris grunts out. It sounds just as rude and unwelcoming as he hoped it would. It’s only a little over ten on a Sunday morning and it’s still too early for Kris to handle any kind of surprises that Luhan has in store for him.
“Can’t you at least try and be a little nicer to your bearer of good news?” Luhan replies, annoyed. Kris can practically hear the pout in his voice. “Anyway, I’m sure you would be pleased to know that Joonmyun asked me for your number today! He was kind of doing it in a roundabout way and it was so cute, you should’ve seen him! I wasn’t really sure if you’d mind, but then again, you’re his biggest fanboy so I figured you probably wouldn’t-”
Kris barely hears Luhan’s enthusiastic tirade after that first sentence sinks in.
Joonmyun asked me for your number today!
Kris isn’t entirely sure how to react at first. He should be happy - overjoyed even - but it’s hard to feel like he’s the luckiest person in the world when this just strangely feels like a scene straight out of a very clichéd drama. He struggles to wrap his mind around the fact that Joonmyun - the famous actor Kim Joonmyun who’s practically perfect in every sense of the word (at least according to Kris and the remaining 634,134 fans registered in his official fan cafe) - had apparently asked for his number. It should be the other way around, Kris inwardly reasons. That’s how the real world works most of the time, right?
This kind of universe just refuses to exist in Kris’s mind.
Kris finds himself opening and closing his mouth several times, willing the words to pour out from his lips but finding his mental faculties thoroughly bungled by that sudden information to even come up with anything. Despite being fluent in four languages, Kris has never really been particularly good with expressing himself vocally (or…expressing himself in general, anyway).
“-so, of course, me being the good friend that I am, willingly gave it to him,” Luhan finishes with a bright grin. Even in Kris’s dazed state, it isn’t too hard to detect that hint of satisfaction in Luhan’s voice. Kris can’t really come up with a single reason as to why Luhan should sound so proud of himself like he does right now, but Kris decides to just leave him be for the sake of his sanity. There’s really no use trying to understand Luhan, sometimes.
On impulse, Kris spares a glance at his phone by the bedside table and a tight coil of anxiety immediately settles heavily in his stomach. If Luhan isn’t playing a cruel prank on him right now and is indeed telling the truth, then Kris thinks he definitely needs to prepare himself. He may have avoided embarrassing himself in front of Joonmyun the first time Luhan dragged him to see the actor up close (and, thankfully, the subsequent meetings that soon followed after that), but there really is no saying that he’ll be able to do it again this time around. Unbidden, images of his phone lighting up flits through his mind, an unknown number flashing on the screen, Joonmyun cutely introducing himself through text-
Kris loudly groans. He can’t even put up with these images without wanting to faint out of nervousness.
The prospect of receiving a message from Joonmyun one of these days (Kris refuses to consider the possibility that it’s going to be tomorrow or maybe even tonight - he’s trying not to have a heart attack here, thank you very much) causes him a lot of unnecessary distress and, god, it really is too fucking early in the morning for this.
A tuft of pink hair first appears in his line of sight and then suddenly, there’s Luhan’s face hovering just inches away from his own, concern etched deep into his features. “I hope you’re not too mad?”
“I’m not mad,” Kris chokes out, more out of shock than anything else. “I'm just-” Luhan raises an eyebrow, patiently waiting for Kris to find whatever word it is that he’s looking for.
“-surprised?” Kris finishes lamely. “This…just feels so unreal. Are you sure this is really happening right now?”
Luhan unabashedly grins at him, not at all feeling very sympathetic for Kris and his Joonmyun Situation. Of course, trust Luhan to enjoy every single second of his misery. “Yes, believe it or not, this is really happening, Kris.”
Kris resolutely pushes Luhan’s face away with his hand. He feels vindictively pleased when he hears Luhan’s muffled moan of protest. “Jesus, Luhan, you’re not really helping me right now.”
Luhan huffs. He must have done a lot of unspeakable things in his past life to deserve such rude friends like Kris. “Excuse me, but I think I’ve already done the helping part when I gave your number to Joonmyun. And you haven’t thanked me for that, by the way.”
Kris just looks at him incredulously, like Luhan’s suddenly grown two heads or something, and then using his most impassive voice ever, says, “Thank you.”
Luhan rolls his eyes. He easily comes up with a conclusion that Kris is actually the rudest and most ungrateful of them all.
“You are literally ruining all the fun for me.” Luhan sighs and gives up any pretense of tolerating Kris’s behavior. “Can you please just relax and stop thinking too much? I know you’re nervous as hell, but I can guarantee you that there really is no reason to be.”
“And besides,” Luhan continues, not even giving Kris a chance to defend himself, “I don’t think you have anything to worry about.” He leans forward then, eyes twinkling in mischief. Luhan has this thing about always getting up into people’s personal space and Kris just feels the urge to push his face away again. “Because, you know, it’s pretty obvious that Joonmyun loves your embarrassing self~”
Kris can’t decide if he wants to strangle Luhan or kick him out of his bed first. It shouldn’t be an incredibly hard choice, really, because either one inflicts bodily harm on him and it’s all Kris ever wants to do right now.
But before Kris can even do anything, Luhan suddenly gets up from the bed, luckily avoiding the imminent danger heading his way. Damn. Why must Luhan’s self-preservation instincts kick in at the most inopportune times?
“So I know my presence has been beneficial for you and all-” Kris doesn’t even have it in himself to stop the loud snort from escaping through his lips. Beneficial, my ass. “-but got a hot date with Sehun today so I better leave!”
“Be sure to update me if anything interesting happens!”
Like hell Kris would. He’d much rather stitch his lips together if that’s the last thing he needs to do to keep his mouth shut.
Luhan makes to leave and Kris is all but ready to heave a sigh of relief for finally getting rid of him. But then, he suddenly stops by the doorway, turns back one last time, and threateningly says, “Don’t even think of hiding things from me, Wu Yifan, because you know I’m more than capable of persuading Joonmyun to tell me every single detail that there is.”
For a brief moment, Kris can’t help but fear for his life. He’s quite used to Luhan making shallow threats every now and then, but it’s the first time that he actually looks so damn serious about it. Knowing Luhan, Kris won’t be surprised if he, somehow, manages to know things even without him disclosing anything. Luhan can be scarily persuasive when he wants to be and Joonmyun is probably too nice to even tell him to fuck off and mind his own business.
Kris momentarily bemoans over the fact that he’s the biggest fanboy of the nicest guy on the planet. There really is no harder life than this.
In a second, the almost sinister expression on Luhan’s face quickly morphs into something disturbingly pleasant, a smile now pulling the corners of his lips as he chirps a rather animated “Bye!” in Kris’s direction. He’s out the door in a heartbeat, merrily skipping his way like nothing happened, like he hadn’t just threatened Kris mere moments ago.
Kris would’ve felt a lot bothered if it wasn’t Luhan who just walked out of his room. But, well, it really was him, Luhan the spawn of the devil, so Kris ends up not really thinking too much about it.
It’s not like he’s got enough brain activity left this morning to even think of anything else right now, anyway. As soon as the door closes, apprehension hits him hard like a ton of bricks and Kris almost wants to laugh at himself for feeling this way. He doesn’t really like to admit it, not while Luhan’s here, but it’s definitely nerve wracking to entertain the idea of talking with Joonmyun more often, of possibly exchanging good morning, or good night, or have a nice day, or take care messages with him all throughout the day.
It’s ridiculous because he feels like a kid experiencing his first crush all over again and what the fuck hold up where did that thought suddenly come from?
Kris vehemently shakes his head, a poor attempt to drive those weird thoughts away. He doesn’t have any kind of explanation as to why he’s been having the same train of thought for the past few weeks but Kris blames it all on Luhan nonetheless. Luhan clearly enjoys seeing him miserable and beyond helpless when it comes to any kind of Joonmyun Situation, so Kris figures it’s only appropriate for Luhan to hold responsible for everything.
The rational part of his brain tells him it’s pretty unreasonable to blame Luhan for the kind of things he’s been thinking lately. But then Kris remembers that Luhan, the little devil who can’t quite shut his mouth and just had to tell Joonmyun certain embarrassing things about him, is the sole reason why Joonmyun is now aware of his existence.
Which is absolutely the root of every Joonmyun crisis he’s been having for the past couple of weeks.
Don’t get him wrong - it’s definitely not a bad thing to suddenly have the attention of his favorite actor but, sometimes, Kris can’t help but wonder how things would turn out if Luhan hadn’t meddled and introduced him to Joonmyun. He would probably still live his life quietly as Joonmyun’s fanboy, one who would just spend his days contentedly admiring him from afar.
The thought oddly comforts him. Maybe it would make Kris’s life easier if he could stay invisible like that, just another avid supporter among the thousands that Joonmyun undoubtedly has.
Kris burrows deeper into the inviting warmth of his bed, just about ready to smother himself with the nearest pillow that he can reach. He shouldn’t even be doing this Deep Thinking Shit in the first place, not when his head is mostly still clouded with sleep and it’s still too fucking early for him to behave as a functional human being.
With an annoyed grunt, Kris turns on his side and determinedly closes his eyes so he can go back to sleep. He needs to get as far away as possible from this reality. He’s not ready for all of this yet.
Kris can only hope that, in a few hours, he will be.
*
More than twenty-four hours later, Kris eventually accepts the fact that he will never ever be ready for this. And this cruel truth becomes even more glaringly obvious than it already is when he receives his first text from Joonmyun.
It’s almost two in the afternoon when it happens.
He’s in the middle of figuring out whether Sojin - one of his preschool students - meant to draw a snake or a rather elongated version of a tadpole for their art class activity this morning when his phone suddenly beeps, effectively breaking his concentration. He isn’t quite sure what he’s expecting, but the short message coming from an unknown number that he reads next is definitely not it.
From: 010-4321-9876
Hey! This is Joonmyun. n______n
I got your number from Luhan~
I hope you don’t mind?
His first instinct is to, unsurprisingly, pinch himself so hard that it leaves a bruising mark on his skin because no shit is this really happening right now? Kris stares at the little screen of his phone for one full minute, unblinking, his entire attention now focused on the words that currently make up Joonmyun’s message. When Kris is finally convinced that his eyes aren’t playing tricks on him, he figures the second most Kris-like thing to do now is to panic.
But not before inwardly cooing at the adorable being that is Kim Joonmyun because, honestly, who in the world still includes smileys like “n____n” in their messages (Well, Joonmyun does, obviously).
(Kris painfully remembers that Sehun does, too. But while Joonmyun appears cute and endearing with his use of smileys, Sehun is just basically obnoxious and insufferable when it comes to his text emojis. He’s not even sure how Luhan can stand looking at those messages littered with (●´∀｀●) or (๑・ω-)～♥ or ＼(^o^)／ in every goddamn line.)
Now that he’d just spent a minute or two silently burbling over Joonmyun (and practically being a disgusting and embarrassing excuse for a fanboy in the process), panic quickly settles in and Kris finds quivering fingers barely holding his phone upright. He steadily takes in a deep breath, a feeble attempt to calm his nerves. He knows it’s completely absurd to feel like what he’s about to do right now is a matter of life and death but he really doesn’t have time to berate himself for even feeling this way.
Especially when he needs to spend that time thinking of a quickly reply to Joonmyun.
With trembling fingers, Kris begins to type the first thing that pops into his mind-
To: 010-4321-9876
Hi. And it’s fine.
-and then promptly erases it because that was way too simple and boring. Kris doesn’t want Joonmyun to think that he’s entirely uninterested over the prospect of talking to him. Maybe he should try to sound a little more eager in his response. He can obviously do way better than this.
So Kris tries again.
To: 010-4321-9876
Hey, Joonmyun! I’m glad you finally texted!
And it’s totally fine! You don’t have to worry a single thing!
Kris hits the backspace button as soon as he finishes composing the message. Definitely not. It sounds just way too enthusiastic for his liking. He could probably stab himself with the amount of exclamation marks he’d subconsciously included in that response.
Kris frustratingly runs a hand down his face. What the hell is happening to him? For someone who’s known to have a good head on his shoulders most of the time (aka whenever he’s not in his favorite actor’s presence), this simple task of typing a quick reply to Joonmyun is proving to be incredibly difficult for his usually sensible self.
“Oh my god get a hold of yourself, Wu Yifan!” a nagging voice at the back of his head suddenly says. It sounds suspiciously like Luhan. Quite honestly, Kris won’t really be surprised if it turns out to be his voice after all.
If Luhan was here, he’d probably have the time of his life cackling over how Kris looks right about now, frustrated beyond belief and just simply pathetic. Luhan’s going to have a field day if he suddenly walks in on Kris like this.
Kris takes a deep breath to clear his head. Now isn’t really the time to think about insignificant things like that, especially when he’s just wasted enough of it by coming up with ridiculous messages to send to Joonmyun. Squaring his shoulders with a renewed determination to come up with a socially acceptable reply, Kris tries again for the third time.
To: 010-4321-9876
Hi, Joonmyun. This is Kris.
Luhan did mention something about
you getting my number. And it’s
really okay; I don’t mind. :)
It was a split second decision to add that little text smiley at the end, but now that he thinks about it, maybe affixing those cute things every now and then isn’t that bad of an idea at all. He quickly presses the send button before he can even get the chance to think about composing, yet, another message.
Well, that took a hell lot of time.
Kris had never thought sending just one measly reply can be this fucking hard. He’s tempted to just bury his phone underneath a bunch of pillows to keep him away from potential distractions - at least until he’s done perusing all of his students’ drawings for today - but before Kris can even drop his phone like a hot iron, he remembers he still needs to do one last thing: save Joonmyun’s number.
And he does that without a moment’s hesitation. Thankfully, Kris catches himself before he can even put a ♥ beside Joonmyun’s name (because it isn’t really like him to do something like that, shut up). He decides to affix the “n____n” at the end instead, and instantly smiles as he hits the save button. It’s really nice and still kind of surreal to finally see that name stored in his phonebook.
His phone buzzes again before Kris can even think of putting it down.
From: Joonmyun n_____n
Well, that was a relief. ^~^
Luhan kept on insisting that you wouldn’t mind,
but I just wanted to make sure! I hope I’m not
being too much of a bother?
To: Joonmyun n_____n
Oh. I’d like to apologize in behalf of Luhan, then.
He can really be a handful sometimes (well, most
of the times, actually, but let’s not tell Luhan that
that I mentioned that). Shouldn’t I be the one
asking you that, though? I’m pretty sure you’re an
even busier person than I am. Not filming for your
new drama right now?
From: Joonmyun n_____n
Well…yes, Luhan hyung can be a /teensy/ bit over
the top at times. >n< but it’s a part of his personality!
And I’m currently on a vacation! :D a 1-day vacation
if you can even call it that, haha.
Kris snorts at Joonmyun’s rather poor (but cute) attempt at defending Luhan. He briefly considers telling Joonmyun how he secretly calls Luhan the devil incarnate behind his back but then promptly decides against it. He figures it’s probably too early in this friendship - or whatever it is that they have - to divulge things like that.
Oh well. At least, they have this kind of mutual understanding about Luhan for now (he definitely doesn’t feel giddy about this, please).
To: Joonmyun n_____n
Shouldn’t you spend your free day just resting then?
It’s probably going to be a long day for you again
tomorrow. I don’t really want to disturb you in your
alone time.
From: Joonmyun n_____n
But you’re not!! ;u; And I texted you first, remember?
If anything, /I/ should be the one worrying about that.
I really would like to spend my time talking to you, if
that’s okay?
Kris feels like his whole world just came into a standstill as soon as he finished reading Joonmyun’s reply for what seems to be the twentieth time. His stomach is currently doing that weird somersault thing it usually does whenever Joonmyun so much as crosses his mind and his heart is beating so hard against his ribcage that it feels like it’s going to fly right out of his mouth anytime soon.
It’s incredibly disconcerting to see those words flashing on his phone screen, and even more so when he realizes that Joonmyun is actually the sender of that message. Kris doesn’t quite know what to do at this point and, for the briefest moment, it utterly feels like everything’s a little too good to be true.
But then, his phone happily vibrates again in his grasp and Kris is definitely sure that, this time, everything is as real as it can get.
From: Joonmyun n_____n
Um, unless you’re busy right now? :|
If you are, then I can totally understand
if you don’t want to talk, don’t worry!
Kris sneaks a quick glance at the pile of artworks he still needs to check, thinks about a bunch of paperwork still waiting for him by his desk, and-
To: Joonmyun n_____n
No, I’m not busy. And yes, of course,
it’s okay. I would really, /really/ love
to spend my time talking to you, too. :)
He presses the send button and then quickly tries his best not to pass out after remembering what exactly he said in that reply. Kris hopes he didn’t sound too eager to take Joonmyun up with his offer to “talk”. He hadn’t had the time to properly ponder over his response because, well, his fingers just basically did all the work for him.
Kris sighs, slumping in his seat. No use crying over spilt milk, really. He starts to gather all the remaining artworks he hasn’t checked and just neatly stacks them in the corner. From the looks of things, he’s probably going to end up not doing any kind of work the entire day, anyway.
It’s a little bit surprising, but Kris thinks he’s fairly okay with that.
*
“This is just extremely disturbing,” Baekhyun, a former classmate from college and now a co-worker, suddenly tells him one day over break. They’re currently inside the faculty room, having a rather quick snack with all of the other teachers before their respective classes start again. It hasn’t been a rough morning so far - his students were surprisingly subdued today than on most days - but Kris feels thankful for the brief respite nonetheless.
“Hmm?” Kris says distractedly, eyes trained on his phone screen. Joonmyun just sent him a funny picture he took at the set of his new drama and Kris, even though not really one to possess a good sense of humor, still finds it amusing for some reason. It’s already too late before he realizes he’s smiling and Kris tries to pull his lips back into a straight line as inconspicuously as he can. “What is?”
“Your face,” Baekhyun replies without missing a beat. He sounded so deadly serious that Kris has to stop whatever he’s doing to look at Baekhyun questioningly.
“My…face?”
“Yes,” Baekhyun answers without hesitation. Kris notes that he’s using that tone again - the one he uses strictly for Serious Matters Only. “Have you seen your face recently?”
Kris momentarily remembers looking at himself in the mirror just before he went to work today. He nods, slow and hesitant, unsure where this conversation is heading to. Most of the time, talking with Baekhyun is pretty much like dealing with Luhan - Kris has long since given up trying to understand how both of their minds work.
“Well…?” Baekhyun stares at him. Kris isn’t sure if he’s supposed to understand a hidden message behind that unyielding stare.
Kris stares back, hoping that doing so would help him reach some kind of telepathic understanding with Baekhyun. But when it becomes obvious that this intent staring competition isn’t going anywhere, Kris just gives up and says, “I’m…not sure if you’re trying to tell me something, Baekhyun.”
Baekhyun sighs exasperatedly, like talking to Kris is a grueling task he’d rather not do right now. “Do you have any idea how much you’ve been smiling to yourself these past few weeks?”
Kris furrows his eyebrows. He isn’t quite aware that he’s been smiling more often than usual but, well, now that he thinks about it, maybe Baekhyun’s right. Huh. Maybe that’s why his co-workers were eyeing him weirdly the other day. Kris can’t really blame himself, though. It’s not exactly his fault that Joonmyun can make him smile even in the simplest of ways. (“You’re so whipped,” The Luhan Voice inside his head says. Kris grits his teeth and shuts it down immediately.)
At that exact moment, his phone buzzes, signaling another new message from Joonmyun, and Kris can’t help but smile instinctively as he silently reads it to himself. He’s about to press the reply button when-
“SEE!” Baekhyun loudly screeches in his direction, a finger pointing accusingly at his face. Or, more specifically, at the upward quirk of his lips. “THAT’S THE SMILE I WAS TALKING ABOUT! OH MY GOD KRIS SERIOUSLY-”
Baekhyun’s sudden outburst is enough to draw the attention of the other teachers in the room and Kris feels horrified and embarrassed at the same time to find himself a recipient of that unwanted interest. Kris quickly places his hand over Baekhyun’s mouth, effectively shutting him up before sending an apologetic nod of his head to his coworkers.
“Do you have to be so loud, Baekhyun?!” Kris hisses as soon as he deems it safe to speak again. He knows no one is really paying them any attention anymore but Kris just can’t shake off the feeling that they’re still secretly being judged by his co-workers even with their backs turned against them.
Baekhyun’s expression shifts into one of disgust as soon as he peels Kris’s hand away from his mouth. He quickly sends Kris a glare before thoroughly wiping his mouth with his own hand, looking so upset and repulsed at the same time. “Well, I wouldn’t be so loud if you can just stop creeping me out for a second!”
Kris grimaces. As far as he knows, he hasn’t consciously done anything to have Baekhyun feeling so bothered like this but, apparently, Baekhyun is so intent on thinking otherwise.
“But, seriously, there has to be some kind of reason why you’re being so weirdly smiley these past few weeks,” Baekhyun muses out loud.
Kris is just about to think of a response that can hopefully stop any kind of dangerous idea from creeping into Baekhyun’s mind when Baekhyun’s face suddenly lights up in realization. It’s a bit too late to even open his mouth to speak and Kris is left feeling helpless and terrified for the state of his well-being.
“So, tell me,” Baekhyun starts. He has that scary glint in his eyes that makes Kris want to do nothing but turn tail from this conversation. Kris can already tell that this is going to be a Very Mortifying Talk. “Whose dick have you been getting these days?”
Kris tries not to choke on his own saliva. With his nonexistent luck though, he fails and he just ends up coughing his lungs out like his life entirely depends on it. Baekhyun is busy giving him that shit-eating grin to even think about being a good friend.
“W-What?” Kris finally manages to splutter.
Baekhyun drops the grin from his face and levels Kris with an exasperated look. “Wow. It must have been very long since you last got laid if the word dick even renders you deaf.”
“I heard you the first time!” Kris indignantly says. His voice reaches an octave higher than usual and Kris has to remind himself that there are other people in the room aside from him and Baekhyun. It definitely wouldn’t do him good to lose his cool here.
“…That’s good.” Baekhyun makes sure to utter those two words in a very cautious manner, as though he’s speaking to a little child whose about to throw a tantrum any minute. “So whose dick have you been getting these days?”
Kris wonders if it’s possible for the ground to suddenly open up and swallow him whole because, goddamn it, he refuses to have this kind of conversation with Baekhyun, of all people. He desperately tries to ignore Baekhyun’s annoying existence as much as he can (or until their break is over at least) but then Baekhyun practically shoves his face directly into Kris’s personal space and all attempts of dodging his question just basically fly out the window.
What is up with his friends and their obvious disregard for Kris’s personal bubble, really?
“I have approximately ten more minutes left before I have to teach my next class and I swear to God, Kris, if you don’t tell me right this instant-”
“I’m not fucking anyone!” Kris all but harshly whispers. Now that he hears the words coming straight out from his mouth, he feels kind of pathetic and sad for his lonely life because, shit, has it really been that long since he got laid?
“Oh.” Baekhyun’s face suddenly scrunches up in deep thought. “Well, I honestly didn’t peg you as someone who likes to bottom. But! I’m not one to judge and I can deal with this kind of information, don’t worry-”
“I’m not-”
“So, who’s doing the fucking then?”
“No one! No one is fucking with anyone!” Kris feels a pulsating vein in his temple and the hard surface of his desk just looks like a good place to hit his head on right now.
Baekhyun immediately shuts up, looking so surprised at the sudden revelation that Kris is, apparently, still not getting any after his last relationship ended for only God knows how many years ago. It only takes a second for Baekhyun’s expression to shift into one of frustration, though, like he just realized he spent the remaining time of his break interrogating Kris for nothing. He could have spent those minutes eating his now untouched food.
“Well…that’s kind of sad,” Baekhyun eventually says. He then stands up and speedily arranges all the things he needs for his next class. This is strangely reminiscent of that time where Luhan told him about Joonmyun getting his number and then leaving him right after to deal with his Joonmyun Problem alone. There is already a feeling of abandonment slowly pooling in Kris’s belly. “Okay, I guess we’re pretty done with this conversation. I better go and see my students before they start crying out for their favorite teacher! Bye!”
Kris can only stare at Baekhyun’s retreating back in shock and disbelief. Well, that Mortifying Talk ended rather abruptly. Kris slumps in his seat, unsure whether he should feel relieved that Baekhyun finally left him alone or insulted that Baekhyun found his sex life (or lack thereof) somewhat uninteresting to keep him around longer.
Kris is far from being a genius but he doesn’t really need to be one to realize that getting rid of Baekhyun is actually more of a relief than anything else. This is for the greater good, really.
With about six minutes to spare, Kris takes a mouthful of air and breathes. He has about three more classes to attend to and there’s absolutely no way he’s letting that little talk with Baekhyun ruin the rest of his day.
He gathers his things, slips a slightly convincing smile on his face, and heads out of the faculty room.
By the time Kris’s last class of the day ends, he belatedly realizes that he forgot to reply to Joonmyun. He momentarily curses Baekhyun for being such a big distraction before quickly pulling up a blank message on his phone. It takes lesser time for him to reply to Joonmyun now than he did the first time they texted and before Kris can even stop himself, he’s already making the impulsive promise of visiting Joonmyun on set one of these days to make it up to him.
It doesn’t take long before his phone vibrates, signaling a new message from Joonmyun.
From: Joonmyun n_____n
I look forward to seeing you soon then~ (≧◡≦)
You’re not allowed to go back on your promise!
Kris feels like promptly fainting on the spot.
*
One of these days just ends up being a week later and Kris finds himself being blackmailed into agreeing to something he’s not quite ready for and then being forced out of the house by an aggravatingly persistent Luhan at his heel. Kris is tempted to scream “INJUSTICE!” right at Luhan’s face because spending his only day off anywhere that’s not his house is just all kinds of wrong in his opinion.
“Stop sulking!” Luhan chides, voice almost lost in the commotion of the crowd they’re in. “And please wipe that pout off your face. It really doesn’t look quite as cute as you probably think it does.”
Kris can swear to all the deities out there that it’s definitely not his conscious decision to pout. His mouth just decides to do that thing on its own without his permission.
As discreetly as he can, Kris rearranges his face back into its usual impassive expression and tries to keep it that way for as long as he can. There’s the usual flock of fan girls (and fan boys alike!) already gathering at the set when they arrived just barely an hour ago and it’s getting increasingly hard to keep his stoic face on when a bunch of overly loud and excited teenagers keep crowding him left and right, practically robbing him of space and air to breathe.
But despite the constant shoving and the amount of sweat he’s probably already shed just from standing in this heat, Kris still stays rooted in his spot beside Luhan, quietly watching Joonmyun charm his audience through his effortless acting. Kris likes to think the only reason why he’s staying in the first place is because Luhan had threatened to have his ass if he so much as considers the thought of high-tailing it out of here.
But the absolute truth is, he just really, really wants to see Joonmyun and, maybe, talk to him after his shoot. There’s still a little (well, more like a whole lot, really) part of him that feels so terrified of meeting Joonmyun in person again. It’s silly, Kris knows it is, because he’s acting like this is the first time he’s seeing his favorite actor in flesh when it’s really anything but that.
Well, technically, it is their first meeting after they’ve started texting each other three weeks ago and Kris wonders if that fact should make any difference.
(It probably does. But that thought only makes Kris more anxious than he already is, so he tries not to think about it too much.)
In the three weeks that they’ve spent constantly talking to each other, Kris thinks he knows Joonmyun better now than all those years he’d devoted following him around and collecting viable information about him through the internet. Kris is aware that it’s a fairly short amount of time to actually know someone, but Joonmyun just makes it easy for him to feel otherwise.
His thoughts come to a halt when he hears the loud “cut!” coming from the director and Kris sees the actors on set gradually disperse as they head towards their very own corners, including Joonmyun. Kris takes this time to let his eyes sweep over the crowd. The throng of fans gathered at the set is just as massive (if not even more) as last time, if he remembers correctly, and Kris finds that he isn’t really surprised about this. He can actually see quite a few familiar faces and, for a second, Kris wonders if someone also remembers seeing him at all those film shootings Luhan had successfully roped him into.
He doesn’t get to think much though, because his phone is suddenly vibrating in his pocket and Kris is quickly scrambling to get it out. Who in the world has the nerve to text him at such a Very Inconvenient Time?
From: Joonmyun n_____n
Luhan hyung told me you’d be here!
But I haven’t seen you yet. (╥_╥)
Are you somewhere in the crowd?
It feels like it’s the fiftieth time that he’s reading Joonmyun’s message, but Kris can’t stop reading it over and over again to make sure he’s not just imagining things. His heart feels like it’s going to leap right out of his chest with how it’s thudding so hard against his ribcage and Kris does his best to fucking calm it down.
Joonmyun is trying to find him among the crowd and, at this point, Kris is just willing to let himself hope that, maybe, Joonmyun is looking forward to seeing him just as much as Kris does. Kris can’t help but goofily smile at the thought.
Which is probably a really bad idea, considering there’s a little devil situated beside him and it doesn’t take long before Luhan’s all up in his face again, squinting at him in suspicion. “Who’s that?”
“No o-”
“It’s Joonmyun, isn’t it.”
When Luhan makes it sound more like a statement than a question, there’s really no use in trying to lie right in his face. So, with a resigned sigh, Kris admits, “Yes, it is.”
Kris is half expecting Luhan to make a grab for his phone (which is partially the reason why he subtly tightens his grip on it and brings it closer to his chest to keep it away from Luhan’s clutches) but, to his surprise, Luhan stays still in his position, looking like he never had the intention to see the message for himself in the first place. Kris feels a little ridiculous for his reaction.
“Figures,” Luhan says casually. He’s standing on tiptoes now, trying to look over the group of people crowding in front of him. Probably to see Joonmyun. “You had that dumb smile on your face again when you checked your phone.”
Kris splutters embarrassingly and before he can even breathe a single word out, Luhan gives him a look that basically says “don’t even try and defend yourself because it’s not going to work”. Kris just promptly shuts his mouth.
He can’t help but feel a little self-conscious, though. He’s gotten a lot of offhanded comments about how he’s smiling more than usual these past few weeks, all of which coming from his friends and coworkers alike. The attention is not necessarily a bad thing, he supposes, but when Kris gets bombarded by sly questions pertaining to his love life, if there’s actually a person responsible for his frequent disturbing smiles, he unfailingly chokes on air and loses all ability to formulate a proper response.
It’s a very far-fetched idea, him and Joonmyun being in a romantic relationship. It’s really something his brain refuses to consider because, no matter how much the possibility makes him nervous and giddy at the same time, Kris prefers to stay as realistic as he can and this isn’t just one of those things that he sees happening anytime in the future. (But then again, having his favorite actor know about his existence, even talking to him all throughout the day through text, isn’t one either so nobody can really blame Kris if he still ends up hoping every once in a while.)
There’s a realization that hits him out of nowhere, one that easily extinguishes whatever flicker of hope that’s blooming in chest: he’s not even sure if Joonmyun likes guys. Luhan has been hinting since forever that Joonmyun indeed does but Kris doesn’t really consider him as a reliable source. Asking Joonmyun directly just to satisfy his curiosity is a definite hell no, and Kris would much rather glue his lips together than actually try and do it.
His phone happily vibrates again and, this time, when Luhan peeks at him, he seems a little bothered that Kris keeps on getting texts while he doesn’t.
From: Joonmyun n_____n
I finally see you!! ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ
When Kris looks up and tears his gaze away from the screen of his phone, he instantly sees Joonmyun smiling at him, followed by a little wave that causes his heart to stutter and trip over itself. The instinctive reaction to smile back takes over him and, before he knew it, Kris already has his lips quirked up into a tiny smile, all the while trying to fight the blush quickly rising to his cheeks. Logically, there really is no reason for him to be so embarrassingly flushed like this (it’s just a little smile and God knows Joonmyun smiles at his fans all the fucking time) but his logic has always been so flawed when it comes to Joonmyun so Kris thinks this isn’t something new at all. He doesn’t miss the few heads turning around and staring at his direction after that very unsubtle exchange and Kris feels like burying himself to the ground and dying right there and then.
Too busy willing himself to suddenly disappear into thin air, Kris almost misses the rather loud cough beside him.
“Are you and Joonmyun done making googly eyes at each other?” Luhan sounds a little bit disgusted but Kris is still busy trying to think of ways on how to blend in with the ground to even say anything.
“There’s obviously something going on between you two,” Luhan continues, sounding so confident with his assumption even when Kris is just practically ignoring him now, “and, as your best friend, I’m offended that you haven’t told me a single thing yet. You are seriously the worst best friend ever, Kris.”
Kris can say the same to Luhan, really, but he decides not to. He’s pretty sure he has said the same thing to him on a daily basis, anyway.
Thankfully, Kris is saved from any possible guilt-tripping that may happen when the filming resumes, the director calling out his actors to get back on the set. Kris takes a quick peek at Luhan beside him and, as expected, he looks a bit put-out, lower lip jutting out and eyebrows creased in a frown. Kris doesn’t miss the determined glint in his eyes though and, just from experience alone, he’s pretty sure Luhan’s going to wrestle every single detail out of him the first chance he gets. Kris can only hope it won’t be anytime soon.
Watching Joonmyun on set is enough of a distraction though, so Kris ends up completely forgetting about Luhan’s existence for the next few hours or so. There’s something entrancing with the way Joonmyun obviously loses himself and takes on his character’s role when the camera’s rolling, all traces of the cuteness he practically gives off in his messages now totally gone, replaced with an undertone of seriousness and professionalism as he delivers each and every one of his lines with clarity and precision.
It’s probably just his eyes playing tricks on him, but Kris thinks he sees Joonmyun glancing at him from time to time, a flash of a smile gracing his features when he sees Kris still standing in the same spot as earlier, never moving an inch. It doesn’t mean anything, his brain screams at him. But no matter how much he tries to let those words sink in, Kris can’t still stop the warmth flooding his chest whenever Joonmyun so much as looks in his general direction.
Christ. He really is turning into a teenage girl. Kris thinks this is actually even worse than openly being Joonmyun’s fanboy.
“Did you hear about the special event they’re planning to hold later?”
“Oh! Are you talking about the dinner they prepared for a few chosen fans?”
Despite his attention being held captive by the ongoing shoot, Kris can’t help but overhear the two girls talking in front of him. Not because he’s secretly a nosy person who has the habit of poking his nose into people’s business - that’s more like Luhan, to be honest - but because they’re talking loud enough for Kris to actually pick up words without even trying to strain his ears.
“Yeah!” the other girl responds, quite enthusiastically. She wiggles in her place from too much excitement and Kris wants to hold onto her shoulders to keep her in place. “I hope they’ll pick me! Just imagine sitting through dinner with all of your favorite actors and actresses around.”
“With Joonmyun oppa around, you mean.” The two girls giggle obnoxiously and Kris feels his right eye twitch just from hearing them.
Kris usually doesn’t care much when it comes to fan events like this. But, well, this greatly changes things.
To put it bluntly, he doesn’t really give a flying fuck about the other actors and actresses involved in this drama but-
Dinner. With Joonmyun.
That thought is more than enough to make him want to get chosen for this event thing.
Kris has the distinct feeling that this is the exact reason why Luhan was so adamant on bringing him here in the first place. And his hunch is only proven right when Luhan suddenly leans in close to him, mouth poised over his ear to whisper something.
“I also had both of us signed up for that!”
Kris isn’t really surprised - Luhan’s just sneaky with a lot of things like that. With his unfortunate luck though, the possibility of being picked among the hundreds of fans present is really close to none but Kris has long since believed that there really is nothing impossible in this world. Maybe all the deities above will take pity on him and grant him this one wish if he prays hard enough.
He seriously needs to think of ways on how to thank Luhan if he miraculously gets chosen for this.
It feels like the few remaining hours of Joonmyun’s drama shooting couldn’t fly by fast enough. The seconds seem to tick by at a snail’s pace, each one torturously dragging longer than the next. Kris is doing everything he can to distract himself, but even watching Joonmyun cutely stumble over his words isn’t enough to help him take his mind off of things.
Thankfully, before all this waiting can drive him mad, the director’s finally calling it a day - a cue for the crew to start packing up. One of the staff members stand in front of the crowd of fans, a small bowl filled with bits of rolled up paper in her hand, and Kris tries his best to stop his heart from beating so loud in his ears. This is it.
“Everyone remembers the special event we prepared for today, right?” The fans nod their heads in unison and they’re ridiculously in synch that it almost draws a laugh out of Kris’s throat. “Three lucky fans will get to spend time with the entire cast and we’ll randomly pick them from the list of people who registered this morning.”
“So, the first lucky fan is…” The staff member dips her hand into the bowl, grabs a piece of paper, and intentionally unrolls it as deliberately as she can. Everyone stops breathing in anticipation. “…Kim Ye-eun.”
An ecstatic cheer can be heard at the very front of the crowd just a second after and Kris can’t help but counter that with a silent groan of in disappointment. He tries not to get disheartened, though. Two more names left. Two more chances for him to be picked.
“Another one from the list is…”
Kris instinctively holds his breath-
“…Choi Ji-hun.”
-and releases it with a frustrated sigh. Damn, lucky fanboy.
Kris doesn’t have time to bemoan over another lost chance, though, because the staff member is quickly unfolding another piece of paper and, right now, all he can do is pray his hardest for a miracle to happen.
“Last fan that will be joining the other two is…” The few seconds of silence that follows after is nothing but unadulterated torture for Kris. His hands are clammy with sweat and his heart is thundering so hard against his ribcage, it’s really ridic- “…Park Ji-min!”
Kris almost jumps when he hears a loud, screeching voice just close to where he is. There are mainly two reasons behind the grimace that quickly takes over his face: 1) The last name was already called and it definitely wasn’t his and; 2) The aforementioned name apparently belongs to one of the two girls in front of him and his right eye twitches again when he suddenly remembers her giggly voice calling Joonmyun oppa a while ago.
“Why do I never win in these things,” Luhan complains forlornly. He then turns to Kris with a sour expression on his face and begins to poke him incessantly. “I swear your unfortunate luck is rubbing off on me. Maybe it’s time you step down from your best friend position, Kris.”
There’s an indignant reply just dangling at the edge of his tongue but Kris is too preoccupied lamenting over the fact that he just entirely lost an opportunity to have dinner with Joonmyun to even open his mouth.
Unable to elicit any kind of reaction from Kris, Luhan quickly catches on and decides to stop his relentless poking. He may be quite the little devil when he wants to be but, no matter how much he enjoys being an annoying little fucker most of the time, Luhan is still Kris’s best friend above all else. So Luhan puts aside all attempts of bothering Kris for his own entertainment and tries to be sympathetic for once.
“Hey. I’m sure there’ll be a next time, though?” Luhan offers him. Kris thinks it’ll take more than Luhan’s sympathetic pats on his shoulder to really soothe him.
one | two
pg-13; fluff, crack; kris/suho, mentions of sehun/luhan; 15,844w
summary: it all starts with joonmyun asking for his number one day and kris realizes, probably a moment too late, that his life as a fanboy will never ever be the same again after that.
warning: if you’ve ever acknowledged kris’s manliness before……..you’ll probably find it hard to do so again after reading this fic. u___u
a/n: written for daeseol! ♥ sequel to manliest fan in history.
“So I have a little surprise for you,” is what Luhan casually greets him with as soon as he opens the door to Kris’s apartment. He crosses the room in five quick strides and proceeds to unceremoniously plop down onto the little vacant space left on Kris’s bed, completely disregarding the fact that he doesn’t live here but still acting like he owns the place. It all happens in two seconds flat that Kris doesn’t even have the time to blink, much less summon a proper reaction out of himself.
Luhan’s unexpected (and very much uninvited) appearance doesn’t even faze Kris, though; being friends with him has certainly taught Kris how to calmly deal with Luhan barging into his room at random times of the day.
“For the love of god, Luhan, why are you here.” Kris grunts out. It sounds just as rude and unwelcoming as he hoped it would. It’s only a little over ten on a Sunday morning and it’s still too early for Kris to handle any kind of surprises that Luhan has in store for him.
“Can’t you at least try and be a little nicer to your bearer of good news?” Luhan replies, annoyed. Kris can practically hear the pout in his voice. “Anyway, I’m sure you would be pleased to know that Joonmyun asked me for your number today! He was kind of doing it in a roundabout way and it was so cute, you should’ve seen him! I wasn’t really sure if you’d mind, but then again, you’re his biggest fanboy so I figured you probably wouldn’t-”
Kris barely hears Luhan’s enthusiastic tirade after that first sentence sinks in.
Joonmyun asked me for your number today!
Kris isn’t entirely sure how to react at first. He should be happy - overjoyed even - but it’s hard to feel like he’s the luckiest person in the world when this just strangely feels like a scene straight out of a very clichéd drama. He struggles to wrap his mind around the fact that Joonmyun - the famous actor Kim Joonmyun who’s practically perfect in every sense of the word (at least according to Kris and the remaining 634,134 fans registered in his official fan cafe) - had apparently asked for his number. It should be the other way around, Kris inwardly reasons. That’s how the real world works most of the time, right?
This kind of universe just refuses to exist in Kris’s mind.
Kris finds himself opening and closing his mouth several times, willing the words to pour out from his lips but finding his mental faculties thoroughly bungled by that sudden information to even come up with anything. Despite being fluent in four languages, Kris has never really been particularly good with expressing himself vocally (or…expressing himself in general, anyway).
“-so, of course, me being the good friend that I am, willingly gave it to him,” Luhan finishes with a bright grin. Even in Kris’s dazed state, it isn’t too hard to detect that hint of satisfaction in Luhan’s voice. Kris can’t really come up with a single reason as to why Luhan should sound so proud of himself like he does right now, but Kris decides to just leave him be for the sake of his sanity. There’s really no use trying to understand Luhan, sometimes.
On impulse, Kris spares a glance at his phone by the bedside table and a tight coil of anxiety immediately settles heavily in his stomach. If Luhan isn’t playing a cruel prank on him right now and is indeed telling the truth, then Kris thinks he definitely needs to prepare himself. He may have avoided embarrassing himself in front of Joonmyun the first time Luhan dragged him to see the actor up close (and, thankfully, the subsequent meetings that soon followed after that), but there really is no saying that he’ll be able to do it again this time around. Unbidden, images of his phone lighting up flits through his mind, an unknown number flashing on the screen, Joonmyun cutely introducing himself through text-
Kris loudly groans. He can’t even put up with these images without wanting to faint out of nervousness.
The prospect of receiving a message from Joonmyun one of these days (Kris refuses to consider the possibility that it’s going to be tomorrow or maybe even tonight - he’s trying not to have a heart attack here, thank you very much) causes him a lot of unnecessary distress and, god, it really is too fucking early in the morning for this.
A tuft of pink hair first appears in his line of sight and then suddenly, there’s Luhan’s face hovering just inches away from his own, concern etched deep into his features. “I hope you’re not too mad?”
“I’m not mad,” Kris chokes out, more out of shock than anything else. “I'm just-” Luhan raises an eyebrow, patiently waiting for Kris to find whatever word it is that he’s looking for.
“-surprised?” Kris finishes lamely. “This…just feels so unreal. Are you sure this is really happening right now?”
Luhan unabashedly grins at him, not at all feeling very sympathetic for Kris and his Joonmyun Situation. Of course, trust Luhan to enjoy every single second of his misery. “Yes, believe it or not, this is really happening, Kris.”
Kris resolutely pushes Luhan’s face away with his hand. He feels vindictively pleased when he hears Luhan’s muffled moan of protest. “Jesus, Luhan, you’re not really helping me right now.”
Luhan huffs. He must have done a lot of unspeakable things in his past life to deserve such rude friends like Kris. “Excuse me, but I think I’ve already done the helping part when I gave your number to Joonmyun. And you haven’t thanked me for that, by the way.”
Kris just looks at him incredulously, like Luhan’s suddenly grown two heads or something, and then using his most impassive voice ever, says, “Thank you.”
Luhan rolls his eyes. He easily comes up with a conclusion that Kris is actually the rudest and most ungrateful of them all.
“You are literally ruining all the fun for me.” Luhan sighs and gives up any pretense of tolerating Kris’s behavior. “Can you please just relax and stop thinking too much? I know you’re nervous as hell, but I can guarantee you that there really is no reason to be.”
“And besides,” Luhan continues, not even giving Kris a chance to defend himself, “I don’t think you have anything to worry about.” He leans forward then, eyes twinkling in mischief. Luhan has this thing about always getting up into people’s personal space and Kris just feels the urge to push his face away again. “Because, you know, it’s pretty obvious that Joonmyun loves your embarrassing self~”
Kris can’t decide if he wants to strangle Luhan or kick him out of his bed first. It shouldn’t be an incredibly hard choice, really, because either one inflicts bodily harm on him and it’s all Kris ever wants to do right now.
But before Kris can even do anything, Luhan suddenly gets up from the bed, luckily avoiding the imminent danger heading his way. Damn. Why must Luhan’s self-preservation instincts kick in at the most inopportune times?
“So I know my presence has been beneficial for you and all-” Kris doesn’t even have it in himself to stop the loud snort from escaping through his lips. Beneficial, my ass. “-but got a hot date with Sehun today so I better leave!”
“Be sure to update me if anything interesting happens!”
Like hell Kris would. He’d much rather stitch his lips together if that’s the last thing he needs to do to keep his mouth shut.
Luhan makes to leave and Kris is all but ready to heave a sigh of relief for finally getting rid of him. But then, he suddenly stops by the doorway, turns back one last time, and threateningly says, “Don’t even think of hiding things from me, Wu Yifan, because you know I’m more than capable of persuading Joonmyun to tell me every single detail that there is.”
For a brief moment, Kris can’t help but fear for his life. He’s quite used to Luhan making shallow threats every now and then, but it’s the first time that he actually looks so damn serious about it. Knowing Luhan, Kris won’t be surprised if he, somehow, manages to know things even without him disclosing anything. Luhan can be scarily persuasive when he wants to be and Joonmyun is probably too nice to even tell him to fuck off and mind his own business.
Kris momentarily bemoans over the fact that he’s the biggest fanboy of the nicest guy on the planet. There really is no harder life than this.
In a second, the almost sinister expression on Luhan’s face quickly morphs into something disturbingly pleasant, a smile now pulling the corners of his lips as he chirps a rather animated “Bye!” in Kris’s direction. He’s out the door in a heartbeat, merrily skipping his way like nothing happened, like he hadn’t just threatened Kris mere moments ago.
Kris would’ve felt a lot bothered if it wasn’t Luhan who just walked out of his room. But, well, it really was him, Luhan the spawn of the devil, so Kris ends up not really thinking too much about it.
It’s not like he’s got enough brain activity left this morning to even think of anything else right now, anyway. As soon as the door closes, apprehension hits him hard like a ton of bricks and Kris almost wants to laugh at himself for feeling this way. He doesn’t really like to admit it, not while Luhan’s here, but it’s definitely nerve wracking to entertain the idea of talking with Joonmyun more often, of possibly exchanging good morning, or good night, or have a nice day, or take care messages with him all throughout the day.
It’s ridiculous because he feels like a kid experiencing his first crush all over again and what the fuck hold up where did that thought suddenly come from?
Kris vehemently shakes his head, a poor attempt to drive those weird thoughts away. He doesn’t have any kind of explanation as to why he’s been having the same train of thought for the past few weeks but Kris blames it all on Luhan nonetheless. Luhan clearly enjoys seeing him miserable and beyond helpless when it comes to any kind of Joonmyun Situation, so Kris figures it’s only appropriate for Luhan to hold responsible for everything.
The rational part of his brain tells him it’s pretty unreasonable to blame Luhan for the kind of things he’s been thinking lately. But then Kris remembers that Luhan, the little devil who can’t quite shut his mouth and just had to tell Joonmyun certain embarrassing things about him, is the sole reason why Joonmyun is now aware of his existence.
Which is absolutely the root of every Joonmyun crisis he’s been having for the past couple of weeks.
Don’t get him wrong - it’s definitely not a bad thing to suddenly have the attention of his favorite actor but, sometimes, Kris can’t help but wonder how things would turn out if Luhan hadn’t meddled and introduced him to Joonmyun. He would probably still live his life quietly as Joonmyun’s fanboy, one who would just spend his days contentedly admiring him from afar.
The thought oddly comforts him. Maybe it would make Kris’s life easier if he could stay invisible like that, just another avid supporter among the thousands that Joonmyun undoubtedly has.
Kris burrows deeper into the inviting warmth of his bed, just about ready to smother himself with the nearest pillow that he can reach. He shouldn’t even be doing this Deep Thinking Shit in the first place, not when his head is mostly still clouded with sleep and it’s still too fucking early for him to behave as a functional human being.
With an annoyed grunt, Kris turns on his side and determinedly closes his eyes so he can go back to sleep. He needs to get as far away as possible from this reality. He’s not ready for all of this yet.
Kris can only hope that, in a few hours, he will be.
*
More than twenty-four hours later, Kris eventually accepts the fact that he will never ever be ready for this. And this cruel truth becomes even more glaringly obvious than it already is when he receives his first text from Joonmyun.
It’s almost two in the afternoon when it happens.
He’s in the middle of figuring out whether Sojin - one of his preschool students - meant to draw a snake or a rather elongated version of a tadpole for their art class activity this morning when his phone suddenly beeps, effectively breaking his concentration. He isn’t quite sure what he’s expecting, but the short message coming from an unknown number that he reads next is definitely not it.
From: 010-4321-9876
Hey! This is Joonmyun. n______n
I got your number from Luhan~
I hope you don’t mind?
His first instinct is to, unsurprisingly, pinch himself so hard that it leaves a bruising mark on his skin because no shit is this really happening right now? Kris stares at the little screen of his phone for one full minute, unblinking, his entire attention now focused on the words that currently make up Joonmyun’s message. When Kris is finally convinced that his eyes aren’t playing tricks on him, he figures the second most Kris-like thing to do now is to panic.
But not before inwardly cooing at the adorable being that is Kim Joonmyun because, honestly, who in the world still includes smileys like “n____n” in their messages (Well, Joonmyun does, obviously).
(Kris painfully remembers that Sehun does, too. But while Joonmyun appears cute and endearing with his use of smileys, Sehun is just basically obnoxious and insufferable when it comes to his text emojis. He’s not even sure how Luhan can stand looking at those messages littered with (●´∀｀●) or (๑・ω-)～♥ or ＼(^o^)／ in every goddamn line.)
Now that he’d just spent a minute or two silently burbling over Joonmyun (and practically being a disgusting and embarrassing excuse for a fanboy in the process), panic quickly settles in and Kris finds quivering fingers barely holding his phone upright. He steadily takes in a deep breath, a feeble attempt to calm his nerves. He knows it’s completely absurd to feel like what he’s about to do right now is a matter of life and death but he really doesn’t have time to berate himself for even feeling this way.
Especially when he needs to spend that time thinking of a quickly reply to Joonmyun.
With trembling fingers, Kris begins to type the first thing that pops into his mind-
To: 010-4321-9876
Hi. And it’s fine.
-and then promptly erases it because that was way too simple and boring. Kris doesn’t want Joonmyun to think that he’s entirely uninterested over the prospect of talking to him. Maybe he should try to sound a little more eager in his response. He can obviously do way better than this.
So Kris tries again.
To: 010-4321-9876
Hey, Joonmyun! I’m glad you finally texted!
And it’s totally fine! You don’t have to worry a single thing!
Kris hits the backspace button as soon as he finishes composing the message. Definitely not. It sounds just way too enthusiastic for his liking. He could probably stab himself with the amount of exclamation marks he’d subconsciously included in that response.
Kris frustratingly runs a hand down his face. What the hell is happening to him? For someone who’s known to have a good head on his shoulders most of the time (aka whenever he’s not in his favorite actor’s presence), this simple task of typing a quick reply to Joonmyun is proving to be incredibly difficult for his usually sensible self.
“Oh my god get a hold of yourself, Wu Yifan!” a nagging voice at the back of his head suddenly says. It sounds suspiciously like Luhan. Quite honestly, Kris won’t really be surprised if it turns out to be his voice after all.
If Luhan was here, he’d probably have the time of his life cackling over how Kris looks right about now, frustrated beyond belief and just simply pathetic. Luhan’s going to have a field day if he suddenly walks in on Kris like this.
Kris takes a deep breath to clear his head. Now isn’t really the time to think about insignificant things like that, especially when he’s just wasted enough of it by coming up with ridiculous messages to send to Joonmyun. Squaring his shoulders with a renewed determination to come up with a socially acceptable reply, Kris tries again for the third time.
To: 010-4321-9876
Hi, Joonmyun. This is Kris.
Luhan did mention something about
you getting my number. And it’s
really okay; I don’t mind. :)
It was a split second decision to add that little text smiley at the end, but now that he thinks about it, maybe affixing those cute things every now and then isn’t that bad of an idea at all. He quickly presses the send button before he can even get the chance to think about composing, yet, another message.
Well, that took a hell lot of time.
Kris had never thought sending just one measly reply can be this fucking hard. He’s tempted to just bury his phone underneath a bunch of pillows to keep him away from potential distractions - at least until he’s done perusing all of his students’ drawings for today - but before Kris can even drop his phone like a hot iron, he remembers he still needs to do one last thing: save Joonmyun’s number.
And he does that without a moment’s hesitation. Thankfully, Kris catches himself before he can even put a ♥ beside Joonmyun’s name (because it isn’t really like him to do something like that, shut up). He decides to affix the “n____n” at the end instead, and instantly smiles as he hits the save button. It’s really nice and still kind of surreal to finally see that name stored in his phonebook.
His phone buzzes again before Kris can even think of putting it down.
From: Joonmyun n_____n
Well, that was a relief. ^~^
Luhan kept on insisting that you wouldn’t mind,
but I just wanted to make sure! I hope I’m not
being too much of a bother?
To: Joonmyun n_____n
Oh. I’d like to apologize in behalf of Luhan, then.
He can really be a handful sometimes (well, most
of the times, actually, but let’s not tell Luhan that
that I mentioned that). Shouldn’t I be the one
asking you that, though? I’m pretty sure you’re an
even busier person than I am. Not filming for your
new drama right now?
From: Joonmyun n_____n
Well…yes, Luhan hyung can be a /teensy/ bit over
the top at times. >n< but it’s a part of his personality!
And I’m currently on a vacation! :D a 1-day vacation
if you can even call it that, haha.
Kris snorts at Joonmyun’s rather poor (but cute) attempt at defending Luhan. He briefly considers telling Joonmyun how he secretly calls Luhan the devil incarnate behind his back but then promptly decides against it. He figures it’s probably too early in this friendship - or whatever it is that they have - to divulge things like that.
Oh well. At least, they have this kind of mutual understanding about Luhan for now (he definitely doesn’t feel giddy about this, please).
To: Joonmyun n_____n
Shouldn’t you spend your free day just resting then?
It’s probably going to be a long day for you again
tomorrow. I don’t really want to disturb you in your
alone time.
From: Joonmyun n_____n
But you’re not!! ;u; And I texted you first, remember?
If anything, /I/ should be the one worrying about that.
I really would like to spend my time talking to you, if
that’s okay?
Kris feels like his whole world just came into a standstill as soon as he finished reading Joonmyun’s reply for what seems to be the twentieth time. His stomach is currently doing that weird somersault thing it usually does whenever Joonmyun so much as crosses his mind and his heart is beating so hard against his ribcage that it feels like it’s going to fly right out of his mouth anytime soon.
It’s incredibly disconcerting to see those words flashing on his phone screen, and even more so when he realizes that Joonmyun is actually the sender of that message. Kris doesn’t quite know what to do at this point and, for the briefest moment, it utterly feels like everything’s a little too good to be true.
But then, his phone happily vibrates again in his grasp and Kris is definitely sure that, this time, everything is as real as it can get.
From: Joonmyun n_____n
Um, unless you’re busy right now? :|
If you are, then I can totally understand
if you don’t want to talk, don’t worry!
Kris sneaks a quick glance at the pile of artworks he still needs to check, thinks about a bunch of paperwork still waiting for him by his desk, and-
To: Joonmyun n_____n
No, I’m not busy. And yes, of course,
it’s okay. I would really, /really/ love
to spend my time talking to you, too. :)
He presses the send button and then quickly tries his best not to pass out after remembering what exactly he said in that reply. Kris hopes he didn’t sound too eager to take Joonmyun up with his offer to “talk”. He hadn’t had the time to properly ponder over his response because, well, his fingers just basically did all the work for him.
Kris sighs, slumping in his seat. No use crying over spilt milk, really. He starts to gather all the remaining artworks he hasn’t checked and just neatly stacks them in the corner. From the looks of things, he’s probably going to end up not doing any kind of work the entire day, anyway.
It’s a little bit surprising, but Kris thinks he’s fairly okay with that.
*
“This is just extremely disturbing,” Baekhyun, a former classmate from college and now a co-worker, suddenly tells him one day over break. They’re currently inside the faculty room, having a rather quick snack with all of the other teachers before their respective classes start again. It hasn’t been a rough morning so far - his students were surprisingly subdued today than on most days - but Kris feels thankful for the brief respite nonetheless.
“Hmm?” Kris says distractedly, eyes trained on his phone screen. Joonmyun just sent him a funny picture he took at the set of his new drama and Kris, even though not really one to possess a good sense of humor, still finds it amusing for some reason. It’s already too late before he realizes he’s smiling and Kris tries to pull his lips back into a straight line as inconspicuously as he can. “What is?”
“Your face,” Baekhyun replies without missing a beat. He sounded so deadly serious that Kris has to stop whatever he’s doing to look at Baekhyun questioningly.
“My…face?”
“Yes,” Baekhyun answers without hesitation. Kris notes that he’s using that tone again - the one he uses strictly for Serious Matters Only. “Have you seen your face recently?”
Kris momentarily remembers looking at himself in the mirror just before he went to work today. He nods, slow and hesitant, unsure where this conversation is heading to. Most of the time, talking with Baekhyun is pretty much like dealing with Luhan - Kris has long since given up trying to understand how both of their minds work.
“Well…?” Baekhyun stares at him. Kris isn’t sure if he’s supposed to understand a hidden message behind that unyielding stare.
Kris stares back, hoping that doing so would help him reach some kind of telepathic understanding with Baekhyun. But when it becomes obvious that this intent staring competition isn’t going anywhere, Kris just gives up and says, “I’m…not sure if you’re trying to tell me something, Baekhyun.”
Baekhyun sighs exasperatedly, like talking to Kris is a grueling task he’d rather not do right now. “Do you have any idea how much you’ve been smiling to yourself these past few weeks?”
Kris furrows his eyebrows. He isn’t quite aware that he’s been smiling more often than usual but, well, now that he thinks about it, maybe Baekhyun’s right. Huh. Maybe that’s why his co-workers were eyeing him weirdly the other day. Kris can’t really blame himself, though. It’s not exactly his fault that Joonmyun can make him smile even in the simplest of ways. (“You’re so whipped,” The Luhan Voice inside his head says. Kris grits his teeth and shuts it down immediately.)
At that exact moment, his phone buzzes, signaling another new message from Joonmyun, and Kris can’t help but smile instinctively as he silently reads it to himself. He’s about to press the reply button when-
“SEE!” Baekhyun loudly screeches in his direction, a finger pointing accusingly at his face. Or, more specifically, at the upward quirk of his lips. “THAT’S THE SMILE I WAS TALKING ABOUT! OH MY GOD KRIS SERIOUSLY-”
Baekhyun’s sudden outburst is enough to draw the attention of the other teachers in the room and Kris feels horrified and embarrassed at the same time to find himself a recipient of that unwanted interest. Kris quickly places his hand over Baekhyun’s mouth, effectively shutting him up before sending an apologetic nod of his head to his coworkers.
“Do you have to be so loud, Baekhyun?!” Kris hisses as soon as he deems it safe to speak again. He knows no one is really paying them any attention anymore but Kris just can’t shake off the feeling that they’re still secretly being judged by his co-workers even with their backs turned against them.
Baekhyun’s expression shifts into one of disgust as soon as he peels Kris’s hand away from his mouth. He quickly sends Kris a glare before thoroughly wiping his mouth with his own hand, looking so upset and repulsed at the same time. “Well, I wouldn’t be so loud if you can just stop creeping me out for a second!”
Kris grimaces. As far as he knows, he hasn’t consciously done anything to have Baekhyun feeling so bothered like this but, apparently, Baekhyun is so intent on thinking otherwise.
“But, seriously, there has to be some kind of reason why you’re being so weirdly smiley these past few weeks,” Baekhyun muses out loud.
Kris is just about to think of a response that can hopefully stop any kind of dangerous idea from creeping into Baekhyun’s mind when Baekhyun’s face suddenly lights up in realization. It’s a bit too late to even open his mouth to speak and Kris is left feeling helpless and terrified for the state of his well-being.
“So, tell me,” Baekhyun starts. He has that scary glint in his eyes that makes Kris want to do nothing but turn tail from this conversation. Kris can already tell that this is going to be a Very Mortifying Talk. “Whose dick have you been getting these days?”
Kris tries not to choke on his own saliva. With his nonexistent luck though, he fails and he just ends up coughing his lungs out like his life entirely depends on it. Baekhyun is busy giving him that shit-eating grin to even think about being a good friend.
“W-What?” Kris finally manages to splutter.
Baekhyun drops the grin from his face and levels Kris with an exasperated look. “Wow. It must have been very long since you last got laid if the word dick even renders you deaf.”
“I heard you the first time!” Kris indignantly says. His voice reaches an octave higher than usual and Kris has to remind himself that there are other people in the room aside from him and Baekhyun. It definitely wouldn’t do him good to lose his cool here.
“…That’s good.” Baekhyun makes sure to utter those two words in a very cautious manner, as though he’s speaking to a little child whose about to throw a tantrum any minute. “So whose dick have you been getting these days?”
Kris wonders if it’s possible for the ground to suddenly open up and swallow him whole because, goddamn it, he refuses to have this kind of conversation with Baekhyun, of all people. He desperately tries to ignore Baekhyun’s annoying existence as much as he can (or until their break is over at least) but then Baekhyun practically shoves his face directly into Kris’s personal space and all attempts of dodging his question just basically fly out the window.
What is up with his friends and their obvious disregard for Kris’s personal bubble, really?
“I have approximately ten more minutes left before I have to teach my next class and I swear to God, Kris, if you don’t tell me right this instant-”
“I’m not fucking anyone!” Kris all but harshly whispers. Now that he hears the words coming straight out from his mouth, he feels kind of pathetic and sad for his lonely life because, shit, has it really been that long since he got laid?
“Oh.” Baekhyun’s face suddenly scrunches up in deep thought. “Well, I honestly didn’t peg you as someone who likes to bottom. But! I’m not one to judge and I can deal with this kind of information, don’t worry-”
“I’m not-”
“So, who’s doing the fucking then?”
“No one! No one is fucking with anyone!” Kris feels a pulsating vein in his temple and the hard surface of his desk just looks like a good place to hit his head on right now.
Baekhyun immediately shuts up, looking so surprised at the sudden revelation that Kris is, apparently, still not getting any after his last relationship ended for only God knows how many years ago. It only takes a second for Baekhyun’s expression to shift into one of frustration, though, like he just realized he spent the remaining time of his break interrogating Kris for nothing. He could have spent those minutes eating his now untouched food.
“Well…that’s kind of sad,” Baekhyun eventually says. He then stands up and speedily arranges all the things he needs for his next class. This is strangely reminiscent of that time where Luhan told him about Joonmyun getting his number and then leaving him right after to deal with his Joonmyun Problem alone. There is already a feeling of abandonment slowly pooling in Kris’s belly. “Okay, I guess we’re pretty done with this conversation. I better go and see my students before they start crying out for their favorite teacher! Bye!”
Kris can only stare at Baekhyun’s retreating back in shock and disbelief. Well, that Mortifying Talk ended rather abruptly. Kris slumps in his seat, unsure whether he should feel relieved that Baekhyun finally left him alone or insulted that Baekhyun found his sex life (or lack thereof) somewhat uninteresting to keep him around longer.
Kris is far from being a genius but he doesn’t really need to be one to realize that getting rid of Baekhyun is actually more of a relief than anything else. This is for the greater good, really.
With about six minutes to spare, Kris takes a mouthful of air and breathes. He has about three more classes to attend to and there’s absolutely no way he’s letting that little talk with Baekhyun ruin the rest of his day.
He gathers his things, slips a slightly convincing smile on his face, and heads out of the faculty room.
By the time Kris’s last class of the day ends, he belatedly realizes that he forgot to reply to Joonmyun. He momentarily curses Baekhyun for being such a big distraction before quickly pulling up a blank message on his phone. It takes lesser time for him to reply to Joonmyun now than he did the first time they texted and before Kris can even stop himself, he’s already making the impulsive promise of visiting Joonmyun on set one of these days to make it up to him.
It doesn’t take long before his phone vibrates, signaling a new message from Joonmyun.
From: Joonmyun n_____n
I look forward to seeing you soon then~ (≧◡≦)
You’re not allowed to go back on your promise!
Kris feels like promptly fainting on the spot.
*
One of these days just ends up being a week later and Kris finds himself being blackmailed into agreeing to something he’s not quite ready for and then being forced out of the house by an aggravatingly persistent Luhan at his heel. Kris is tempted to scream “INJUSTICE!” right at Luhan’s face because spending his only day off anywhere that’s not his house is just all kinds of wrong in his opinion.
“Stop sulking!” Luhan chides, voice almost lost in the commotion of the crowd they’re in. “And please wipe that pout off your face. It really doesn’t look quite as cute as you probably think it does.”
Kris can swear to all the deities out there that it’s definitely not his conscious decision to pout. His mouth just decides to do that thing on its own without his permission.
As discreetly as he can, Kris rearranges his face back into its usual impassive expression and tries to keep it that way for as long as he can. There’s the usual flock of fan girls (and fan boys alike!) already gathering at the set when they arrived just barely an hour ago and it’s getting increasingly hard to keep his stoic face on when a bunch of overly loud and excited teenagers keep crowding him left and right, practically robbing him of space and air to breathe.
But despite the constant shoving and the amount of sweat he’s probably already shed just from standing in this heat, Kris still stays rooted in his spot beside Luhan, quietly watching Joonmyun charm his audience through his effortless acting. Kris likes to think the only reason why he’s staying in the first place is because Luhan had threatened to have his ass if he so much as considers the thought of high-tailing it out of here.
But the absolute truth is, he just really, really wants to see Joonmyun and, maybe, talk to him after his shoot. There’s still a little (well, more like a whole lot, really) part of him that feels so terrified of meeting Joonmyun in person again. It’s silly, Kris knows it is, because he’s acting like this is the first time he’s seeing his favorite actor in flesh when it’s really anything but that.
Well, technically, it is their first meeting after they’ve started texting each other three weeks ago and Kris wonders if that fact should make any difference.
(It probably does. But that thought only makes Kris more anxious than he already is, so he tries not to think about it too much.)
In the three weeks that they’ve spent constantly talking to each other, Kris thinks he knows Joonmyun better now than all those years he’d devoted following him around and collecting viable information about him through the internet. Kris is aware that it’s a fairly short amount of time to actually know someone, but Joonmyun just makes it easy for him to feel otherwise.
His thoughts come to a halt when he hears the loud “cut!” coming from the director and Kris sees the actors on set gradually disperse as they head towards their very own corners, including Joonmyun. Kris takes this time to let his eyes sweep over the crowd. The throng of fans gathered at the set is just as massive (if not even more) as last time, if he remembers correctly, and Kris finds that he isn’t really surprised about this. He can actually see quite a few familiar faces and, for a second, Kris wonders if someone also remembers seeing him at all those film shootings Luhan had successfully roped him into.
He doesn’t get to think much though, because his phone is suddenly vibrating in his pocket and Kris is quickly scrambling to get it out. Who in the world has the nerve to text him at such a Very Inconvenient Time?
From: Joonmyun n_____n
Luhan hyung told me you’d be here!
But I haven’t seen you yet. (╥_╥)
Are you somewhere in the crowd?
It feels like it’s the fiftieth time that he’s reading Joonmyun’s message, but Kris can’t stop reading it over and over again to make sure he’s not just imagining things. His heart feels like it’s going to leap right out of his chest with how it’s thudding so hard against his ribcage and Kris does his best to fucking calm it down.
Joonmyun is trying to find him among the crowd and, at this point, Kris is just willing to let himself hope that, maybe, Joonmyun is looking forward to seeing him just as much as Kris does. Kris can’t help but goofily smile at the thought.
Which is probably a really bad idea, considering there’s a little devil situated beside him and it doesn’t take long before Luhan’s all up in his face again, squinting at him in suspicion. “Who’s that?”
“No o-”
“It’s Joonmyun, isn’t it.”
When Luhan makes it sound more like a statement than a question, there’s really no use in trying to lie right in his face. So, with a resigned sigh, Kris admits, “Yes, it is.”
Kris is half expecting Luhan to make a grab for his phone (which is partially the reason why he subtly tightens his grip on it and brings it closer to his chest to keep it away from Luhan’s clutches) but, to his surprise, Luhan stays still in his position, looking like he never had the intention to see the message for himself in the first place. Kris feels a little ridiculous for his reaction.
“Figures,” Luhan says casually. He’s standing on tiptoes now, trying to look over the group of people crowding in front of him. Probably to see Joonmyun. “You had that dumb smile on your face again when you checked your phone.”
Kris splutters embarrassingly and before he can even breathe a single word out, Luhan gives him a look that basically says “don’t even try and defend yourself because it’s not going to work”. Kris just promptly shuts his mouth.
He can’t help but feel a little self-conscious, though. He’s gotten a lot of offhanded comments about how he’s smiling more than usual these past few weeks, all of which coming from his friends and coworkers alike. The attention is not necessarily a bad thing, he supposes, but when Kris gets bombarded by sly questions pertaining to his love life, if there’s actually a person responsible for his frequent disturbing smiles, he unfailingly chokes on air and loses all ability to formulate a proper response.
It’s a very far-fetched idea, him and Joonmyun being in a romantic relationship. It’s really something his brain refuses to consider because, no matter how much the possibility makes him nervous and giddy at the same time, Kris prefers to stay as realistic as he can and this isn’t just one of those things that he sees happening anytime in the future. (But then again, having his favorite actor know about his existence, even talking to him all throughout the day through text, isn’t one either so nobody can really blame Kris if he still ends up hoping every once in a while.)
There’s a realization that hits him out of nowhere, one that easily extinguishes whatever flicker of hope that’s blooming in chest: he’s not even sure if Joonmyun likes guys. Luhan has been hinting since forever that Joonmyun indeed does but Kris doesn’t really consider him as a reliable source. Asking Joonmyun directly just to satisfy his curiosity is a definite hell no, and Kris would much rather glue his lips together than actually try and do it.
His phone happily vibrates again and, this time, when Luhan peeks at him, he seems a little bothered that Kris keeps on getting texts while he doesn’t.
From: Joonmyun n_____n
I finally see you!! ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ
When Kris looks up and tears his gaze away from the screen of his phone, he instantly sees Joonmyun smiling at him, followed by a little wave that causes his heart to stutter and trip over itself. The instinctive reaction to smile back takes over him and, before he knew it, Kris already has his lips quirked up into a tiny smile, all the while trying to fight the blush quickly rising to his cheeks. Logically, there really is no reason for him to be so embarrassingly flushed like this (it’s just a little smile and God knows Joonmyun smiles at his fans all the fucking time) but his logic has always been so flawed when it comes to Joonmyun so Kris thinks this isn’t something new at all. He doesn’t miss the few heads turning around and staring at his direction after that very unsubtle exchange and Kris feels like burying himself to the ground and dying right there and then.
Too busy willing himself to suddenly disappear into thin air, Kris almost misses the rather loud cough beside him.
“Are you and Joonmyun done making googly eyes at each other?” Luhan sounds a little bit disgusted but Kris is still busy trying to think of ways on how to blend in with the ground to even say anything.
“There’s obviously something going on between you two,” Luhan continues, sounding so confident with his assumption even when Kris is just practically ignoring him now, “and, as your best friend, I’m offended that you haven’t told me a single thing yet. You are seriously the worst best friend ever, Kris.”
Kris can say the same to Luhan, really, but he decides not to. He’s pretty sure he has said the same thing to him on a daily basis, anyway.
Thankfully, Kris is saved from any possible guilt-tripping that may happen when the filming resumes, the director calling out his actors to get back on the set. Kris takes a quick peek at Luhan beside him and, as expected, he looks a bit put-out, lower lip jutting out and eyebrows creased in a frown. Kris doesn’t miss the determined glint in his eyes though and, just from experience alone, he’s pretty sure Luhan’s going to wrestle every single detail out of him the first chance he gets. Kris can only hope it won’t be anytime soon.
Watching Joonmyun on set is enough of a distraction though, so Kris ends up completely forgetting about Luhan’s existence for the next few hours or so. There’s something entrancing with the way Joonmyun obviously loses himself and takes on his character’s role when the camera’s rolling, all traces of the cuteness he practically gives off in his messages now totally gone, replaced with an undertone of seriousness and professionalism as he delivers each and every one of his lines with clarity and precision.
It’s probably just his eyes playing tricks on him, but Kris thinks he sees Joonmyun glancing at him from time to time, a flash of a smile gracing his features when he sees Kris still standing in the same spot as earlier, never moving an inch. It doesn’t mean anything, his brain screams at him. But no matter how much he tries to let those words sink in, Kris can’t still stop the warmth flooding his chest whenever Joonmyun so much as looks in his general direction.
Christ. He really is turning into a teenage girl. Kris thinks this is actually even worse than openly being Joonmyun’s fanboy.
“Did you hear about the special event they’re planning to hold later?”
“Oh! Are you talking about the dinner they prepared for a few chosen fans?”
Despite his attention being held captive by the ongoing shoot, Kris can’t help but overhear the two girls talking in front of him. Not because he’s secretly a nosy person who has the habit of poking his nose into people’s business - that’s more like Luhan, to be honest - but because they’re talking loud enough for Kris to actually pick up words without even trying to strain his ears.
“Yeah!” the other girl responds, quite enthusiastically. She wiggles in her place from too much excitement and Kris wants to hold onto her shoulders to keep her in place. “I hope they’ll pick me! Just imagine sitting through dinner with all of your favorite actors and actresses around.”
“With Joonmyun oppa around, you mean.” The two girls giggle obnoxiously and Kris feels his right eye twitch just from hearing them.
Kris usually doesn’t care much when it comes to fan events like this. But, well, this greatly changes things.
To put it bluntly, he doesn’t really give a flying fuck about the other actors and actresses involved in this drama but-
Dinner. With Joonmyun.
That thought is more than enough to make him want to get chosen for this event thing.
Kris has the distinct feeling that this is the exact reason why Luhan was so adamant on bringing him here in the first place. And his hunch is only proven right when Luhan suddenly leans in close to him, mouth poised over his ear to whisper something.
“I also had both of us signed up for that!”
Kris isn’t really surprised - Luhan’s just sneaky with a lot of things like that. With his unfortunate luck though, the possibility of being picked among the hundreds of fans present is really close to none but Kris has long since believed that there really is nothing impossible in this world. Maybe all the deities above will take pity on him and grant him this one wish if he prays hard enough.
He seriously needs to think of ways on how to thank Luhan if he miraculously gets chosen for this.
It feels like the few remaining hours of Joonmyun’s drama shooting couldn’t fly by fast enough. The seconds seem to tick by at a snail’s pace, each one torturously dragging longer than the next. Kris is doing everything he can to distract himself, but even watching Joonmyun cutely stumble over his words isn’t enough to help him take his mind off of things.
Thankfully, before all this waiting can drive him mad, the director’s finally calling it a day - a cue for the crew to start packing up. One of the staff members stand in front of the crowd of fans, a small bowl filled with bits of rolled up paper in her hand, and Kris tries his best to stop his heart from beating so loud in his ears. This is it.
“Everyone remembers the special event we prepared for today, right?” The fans nod their heads in unison and they’re ridiculously in synch that it almost draws a laugh out of Kris’s throat. “Three lucky fans will get to spend time with the entire cast and we’ll randomly pick them from the list of people who registered this morning.”
“So, the first lucky fan is…” The staff member dips her hand into the bowl, grabs a piece of paper, and intentionally unrolls it as deliberately as she can. Everyone stops breathing in anticipation. “…Kim Ye-eun.”
An ecstatic cheer can be heard at the very front of the crowd just a second after and Kris can’t help but counter that with a silent groan of in disappointment. He tries not to get disheartened, though. Two more names left. Two more chances for him to be picked.
“Another one from the list is…”
Kris instinctively holds his breath-
“…Choi Ji-hun.”
-and releases it with a frustrated sigh. Damn, lucky fanboy.
Kris doesn’t have time to bemoan over another lost chance, though, because the staff member is quickly unfolding another piece of paper and, right now, all he can do is pray his hardest for a miracle to happen.
“Last fan that will be joining the other two is…” The few seconds of silence that follows after is nothing but unadulterated torture for Kris. His hands are clammy with sweat and his heart is thundering so hard against his ribcage, it’s really ridic- “…Park Ji-min!”
Kris almost jumps when he hears a loud, screeching voice just close to where he is. There are mainly two reasons behind the grimace that quickly takes over his face: 1) The last name was already called and it definitely wasn’t his and; 2) The aforementioned name apparently belongs to one of the two girls in front of him and his right eye twitches again when he suddenly remembers her giggly voice calling Joonmyun oppa a while ago.
“Why do I never win in these things,” Luhan complains forlornly. He then turns to Kris with a sour expression on his face and begins to poke him incessantly. “I swear your unfortunate luck is rubbing off on me. Maybe it’s time you step down from your best friend position, Kris.”
There’s an indignant reply just dangling at the edge of his tongue but Kris is too preoccupied lamenting over the fact that he just entirely lost an opportunity to have dinner with Joonmyun to even open his mouth.
Unable to elicit any kind of reaction from Kris, Luhan quickly catches on and decides to stop his relentless poking. He may be quite the little devil when he wants to be but, no matter how much he enjoys being an annoying little fucker most of the time, Luhan is still Kris’s best friend above all else. So Luhan puts aside all attempts of bothering Kris for his own entertainment and tries to be sympathetic for once.
“Hey. I’m sure there’ll be a next time, though?” Luhan offers him. Kris thinks it’ll take more than Luhan’s sympathetic pats on his shoulder to really soothe him.
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