Snapbacks and Snapshots (2/2)
part 1
From PCY:
I can’t believe you’re that cold hearted to turn me away. You know where I’ll be sleeping today? In the streets. Maybe you’ll at least pray I won’t get shanked in the kidney at night.
From Shorty:
Boo hoo. You only need one kidney to live anyways.
From PCY:
I didn’t know you were educated on the human body. That’s cute. But anyways, let’s go eat dinner.
From Shorty:
I’ll eat later.
From: PCY:
First you reject to house me. Then you didn’t want to go to the mall. After that you didn’t want to walk around-I mean, we’re in China, not your grandmother’s village. There are things to see. Now you don’t want to eat. Am I ugly?
From Shorty:
Uglier than a hairless dog.
It took a while before Baekhyun heard a ding from his phone again.
From PCY:
Hairless dogs are so ugly you can’t help but think they’re cute. I’m taking that as an underhand compliment.
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The giant’s conquest to try and continue to douse Baekhyun in guilt didn’t end with the requests to dinner, which Baekhyun eventually agreed to and spend a better part of his evening arguing about the environmental issues against the giant who thought nuclear power had its uses.
As he sat on his bed brushing his teeth, Chanyeol continued to send picture messages of him and his makeshift bed in the lobby.
From PCY:
Do I look sexy right now? No. Sleeping in the lobby isn’t sexy.
From PCY:
I had to pay the staff under the table for this couch. Do I look sad?
From PCY:
Do you like this angle? I’m pouting, in case you didn’t know.
From PCY:
It’s a nice pillow, right? I’m sure if I flip it over, it’ll smell like butt. It is a cushion in the lobby after all.
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To Shorty:
I hope no one comes and shanks me here in the hotel lobby, because I-
Suddenly, Chanyeol felt a tiny shampoo bottle bop off against his head, knocking his attention from his phone and jolting him to an upright position. His eyes quickly focused, fixing themselves on the damped haired brunet who stood before him wearing his pajamas and fuzzy slippers.
The innocent look about Baekhyun could’ve fooled anyone, but Chanyeol knew better.
“Get the fuck up and get your shit. I’m not waiting for you.” Immediately after finishing his proclamation, Baekhyun turned back around and started walking diligently toward the elevators around the corner.
-
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The room was absolutely dark, but neither of the two boys inside was asleep. The sound of the city could be faintly heard, especially since Chanyeol opened the window despite Baekhyun’s opposition. Baekhyun was diligently going through all his accounts on his phone and replying to messages all the while lying on the only bed in the room. The giant, on the other hand, slept on the floor, using anything he could to make a makeshift bed.
With an arm tucked behind his head for comfort, Chanyeol stayed quiet as he listened to the brunet’s mindless humming to SNSD soundtracks, not wanting to disturb the mini musical by speaking. It was only until after a while did Baekhyun speak up, surprising the boy on the floor.
“Are you alive down there?”
Chanyeol’s lips curved in the dark. “My situation could be a little better if you shared that big bed of yours.”
Not surprisingly, Baekhyun didn’t reply and Chanyeol thought that was the end of it. A few minutes later, the giant heard some mumbled words before hearing Baekhyun throw his covers over and jumping out of bed, putting on his fuzzy slippers. Chanyeol didn’t sit to see what was going on until Baekhyun turned on the lamp on the side table, grabbing one of the hotel room cards.
“I’ll be right back,” the brunet mumbled, shuffling his way toward the door in a tired, yet determined manner.
Curious, Chanyeol called out, “Where are you going?”
“Shut up,” was the answer.
-
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For a highly rated hotel, Baekhyun thought it was complete shit how there wasn’t a strong enough staff at that time of night to help him carry the stupid cot.
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As he was dragging the cot along the hallway, giving up on trying to carry it off the ground, Baekhyun was caught off guard when he turned a corner and hit something warm, face first. Stumbling back, he automatically rubbed his nose, whining to himself and muttering apologies under his breath. Then he felt his hand being pried away from the heavy object he was carrying.
“You’re an idiot.”
Rolling his eyes upward, Baekhyun frowned as he scowled-or tried to. “I better not hear you complaining anymore.”
“I wasn’t even complaining to begin with.”
Baekhyun stayed quiet. Then, opting to say nothing more, he let Chanyeol carry the bed as he led the way back to their room, making sure to stay at least ten feet ahead.
-
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Chanyeol snored. The douchebag snored.
It bothered Baekhyun, who had stayed up longer. Getting on his knees, he crawled his way across his bed, closer and closer to where Chanyeol slept beside him. Then, leaning over, Baekhyun used his cellphone as a light source as his other hand reached down and gently close Chanyeol’s mouth, pressing his lips together.
The giant was a disgusting giant who liked to lick his lips in his sleep, apparently. And unfortunately for Baekhyun, his fingers were present when the tongue came out.
Instantly pulling his hand away, Baekhyun scurried back under his covers, paused for a while, and then wiped his fingers along the side of his bed.
Gross, he thought.
-
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For breakfast, Baekhyun opted to stay at the hotel and eating from their American menu for tourists just to be quick about it. Chanyeol, however, decided to run out and eat from the street vendors. When he met up with the brunet in the lobby roughly after an hour, he smelled the like the streets of Beijing, but Baekhyun didn’t say anything.
All he said was, “There’s something in your teeth.”
Snorting, Chanyeol reflexively closed his mouth and tried to feel around. “No, I don’t think so. I checked.”
“Well, you missed one.”
“Great. Do you want to suck it out for me?” Chanyeol retorted, rolling his eyes.
Baekhyun scrunched his face. “No.”
“Good,” the giant said, shrugging. “Then don’t lie.”
-
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The concert wasn’t until evening, and although Baekhyun wanted to be there early to beat the crowd, it seemed unreasonable to be there ten hours prior, so he ended up going on a date with the giant Blackjack who didn’t bother to style his hair after taking a shower, leaving it slightly wavy even under his hat.
But, Baekhyun didn’t consider it as a “date”. It wasn’t one by definition. They were just going around to pass the time away by eating anything and everything they could dare each other to eat. Holding each other’s hands in a crowded local market or the moment when Chanyeol held onto the brunet’s shoulders, pushing him in the direction out of there wasn’t something to be romanticized.
They were just enemies in an unfamiliar country with only each other to hang out with.
-
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The concert was phenomenal, or at least in Baekhyun’s opinion. His girls sang a total of four songs, which was the highlight of the entire event. With his camera fixed up with new lenses that he bought earlier that day with the help of the giant, he was able to capture all of Sunny’s beautiful moments.
When his girls were up on stage, he made sure to take shots, but to also take the time to just let one hand free so he could wave the fandom’s light stick in the air, singing and shouting his support, because in those moments, he saw nobody else but the group he loved.
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As Baekhyun looked over the photos on his camera in the hotel room after the concert and after-frenzy, Chanyeol sat behind him on the bed and began to dry the brunet’s damp hair, knowing that it wasn't good for the device to get dripped on by his wet hair ends. For a while, the giant hummed to himself as Baekhyun reviewed his work, and during this time, neither verbally spoke, letting the moderate silence comfortably sit with them in that moment.
Then Baekhyun piped. “She’s absolutely stunning…” he said in awe under his breath. “I feel like I shouldn’t even photoshop her…”
Moving his head around, Chanyeol tried to see the camera’s screen over Baekhyun’s shoulder. “Pretty.”
Momentarily putting the camera on his lap, Baekhyun turned his head off to the side. “Are you being sarcastic?”
“No,” Chanyeol replied with a shrug.
Quirking his lips, Baekhyun got on his knees to change his position, turning his entire body around to face the giant straight on with his legs crossed. Chanyeol had let go of the towel, letting it sit around Baekhyun’s shoulders.
“Not that I care,” Baekhyun said casually as he looked to the side for a second, “but how did your photos come out? Nice?”
Chanyeol grinned, appreciating the niceness in their relationship at the moment. He leaned in towards the brunet; so far that Baekhyun had to move his head slightly back. “Fine, thanks for asking,” he said in a platonic voice.
“Are you sure?” Baekhyun asked, suspicious of the giant’s fake manner. “I didn’t see you take a lot of shots of Dara even though she practically walked in front of us.”
“Quality over quantity.”
Snorting, Baekhyun rolled his eyes as he pushed Chanyeol’s face away. “Whatever. Can I see?”
Smiling, Chanyeol softly laughed as Baekhyun distanced their faces. “No, you can’t.”
Baekhyun frowned. “Why not? I let you see the ones that I took so it’s only fair. If not, I’ll look through your camera myself.”
Placing his hands on the bed, Chanyeol leaned back and shrugged. “Go ahead, princess. I hope you’ll like what you see.”
Giving the cocky giant a stare, Baekhyun pushed himself off the bed and walked over to their room’s small two-people table to snatch Chanyeol’s memory card off the top while setting down his own device. Bending down, he unlatched the extension lenses from the camera that Chanyeol had used during the concert, turned the camera’s naked form on, and slipped the memory card inside a compartment.
Chanyeol remained on the bed, nonchalantly watching Baekhyun do with the camera as he pleased. When the expressions on Baekhyun’s face began to change as he clicked further and further into the card’s memory stock, Chanyeol shifted from the bed, throwing his legs off the side and stood up.
“What is this?” Baekhyun asked, looking up from the camera and flipping it around to show the approaching giant what he was talking about. “Is this a joke?”
“No,” Chanyeol calmly replied.
“You took photos of me.”
“Yeah.”
Gripping onto the camera with shaking hands, Baekhyun tried to move away as far as he could with every step that Chanyeol took, but the table and camera gear behind him thwarted his attempts. As Chanyeol became unbearably close, Baekhyun pressed himself up against the wall, wanting to be sucked into the solid structure and disappear.
Chanyeol spoke again, cocking his head slightly to the side. The playful and teasing look in his eyes had faded and it scared Baekhyun to see him so serious. “I think, in all honesty? You were far more appealing to my eye than Dara, especially watching you hop around and sing along to your favorite songs.”
Not knowing how to react, Baekhyun nervously laughed, trying to shake the feelings that were crawling up his body away. “Okay, I get it,” he said, attempting to curve his mouth into a smile. “That’s very funny. Why don’t you send these to me? I’ll post them on my personal account.”
“I think,” Chanyeol started again, “that you and I both know I’m not joking right now, babe.”
Baekhyun’s attempt to smile faded, replaced by a frown and a confused expression. “Then what the hell is this?” he asked again, more demandingly. “What? Are you making fun of me? Are you going to post these online? I look half stupid in all of them. I bet you’re going to-”
Bursting out laughing, Chanyeol cut him off. “You’re very dense,” he said as he gradually lost his laughter. Although he was grinning, Baekhyun couldn’t detect any humor in his eyes. “I don’t know whether or not you’ve noticed, my tiny Sone, but I like you. A lot.”
With his arms giving out, Baekhyun dropped them to his sides, camera still in one hand. “This isn’t funny, Chanyeol,” he said quietly, determined not to break eye contact. “Just say the punch line already and back off…”
“You want to know the punch line?” Chanyeol said, closing the last bit of space that was present between them, forcing Baekhyun to bite his lips as he neared. “I’m a Blackjack in love with a Sone. Isn’t that funny? I ended up falling in love with the little runt who broke my nose the first time that we met.”
“Chanyeol-”
“Sadly,” Chanyeol went on, overriding Baekhyun’s voice, “you’ve been a little dense for the last year and a half. Ever since that night, you’ve been involved in some sort of one sided competition with me.”
Gently holding Baekhyun’s chin and tilting up upwards to face him, Chanyeol grinned when he saw Baekhyun’s face flush of all color except for the subtle brush of red on his cheeks. Then, without warning, he leaned down and tilted his head, barely slanting his lips over Baekhyun’s. “Permission to kiss?” he asked.
Taken aback and with nowhere else to back away to, Baekhyun’s lips parted. “I-I don’t know!”
“Well, you should say yes,” Chanyeol suggested, brushing his lips on Baekhyun’s mouth. “Because it’d be a bitchy thing for you to say no, you know?”
“I…I don’t-”
“I won’t kiss you unless you say yes.”
Baekhyun’s jaw slacked. “Oh, how modest of y-”
In a second, Chanyeol’s lips were on the brunet’s, cutting his sentence off. Baekhyun’s lips were closed tight at first until he gave in, parting them when his lungs began to burn. Before he could respond, Chanyeol released him, caressing the brunet’s face and stroking it with his thumb. “You took too long.”
“Wha-I didn’t even-You said!” Baekhyun cried, flustered, yet forgetting to push distance between them.
“I got tired of waiting for the yes,” Chanyeol shrugged, slowly letting his hand fall from Baekhyun’s face. “But you liked it, right?”
Frowning, Baekhyun unconsciously moved his hand to his mouth. “What the hell? Why would you even ask that shit?”
“So, that’s an automatic yes,” the giant declared.
“No, it’s not, because I’m conf-”
Grabbing the smaller male’s waist, Chanyeol used his superior strength to pull the both of them towards the bed, surprising Baekhyun by pushing on the mattress and climbing on top of him. For a couple of long seconds, Baekhyun shrunk in spirit as Chanyeol watched him intently from above. Keeping his mouth shut, he said nothing as it seemed as though the giant was inspecting every aspect of him in that position.
“What’re you doing?” he finally squeaked with his body tense.
“I don’t know,” Chanyeol mumbled back with a cheeky grin on his face. “I just liked kissing you the first time around. I’ve been waiting for it since the first time we met, you know. Maybe not immediately after you punched me, but you know how that goes.”
“I’m…” Baekhyun couldn’t find the right words.
Giving the male under him a comforting smile, Chanyeol softly laughed. “What? What do you have to say? Just say it.”
“I don’t know what I want to say.” The answer came softly as Baekhyun fought with himself and the discomfort he had concerning his indecisiveness. “I just…want to know what you’re doing.”
“Well, since I didn’t give you the choice last time, I’ll ask you again. Fair?” the giant proposed. “Permission to kiss?”
With nothing else to go off of, Baekhyun nibbled on the insides of his bottom lip as thoughts dwindled into his head. Then his eyes drifted to the male’s mouth above him and when he realized where his attention had gone, Baekhyun stopped breathing.
A “yes” was at the tip of his tongue, surprisingly, but frankly, he was scared of wondering where it was all going. The first kiss was a surprise, not unpleasant, and Baekhyun wasn’t offended although the tall Blackjack was the last person he ever thought of kissing. And besides that fact, Baekhyun was unsure as to what Chanyeol really wanted past the kiss, though it wasn’t too hard to decipher.
Before he could let his mind wander elsewhere, Chanyeol flicked him on the chin, garnering his attention once again and bringing him back down. “Hello in there. I’m still waiting for the yes.”
Gulping, Baekhyun pursed his lips even more before he awkwardly replied under pressure. “The first one wasn’t that shitty.”
Grinning from ear to ear, Chanyeol finally lowered himself down and gently slotted his lips in with the brunet’s. Nudging Baekhyun’s legs apart, he positioned himself in the conjunction of the thighs, gradually pressing himself against Baekhyun’s body more.
Knowing that for the moment he had possibly made a turning-point decision by subtly agreeing, Baekhyun decided that maybe for one night, he’d just let things happen. As Chanyeol took control of his mouth, the brunet beneath him was slowly becoming undone as he raised his arms and wrapped them around the giant’s neck.
Then Baekhyun pulled his lips away and turned his face off to the side when Chanyeol tried to reclaim them. The giant furrowed his eyebrows as he lifted himself off slightly and frowned at the small male looking up at him, Baekhyun pulled him back down, placing his lips on the other’s neck.
Letting his eyes close, Chanyeol softly moaned, letting his hands wander from the side of Baekhyun’s body all the way down until his large hands rested against the brunet’s waist. He shifted, pressing into Baekhyun’s body. The brunet rolled his hips and, for the love of god, Chanyeol didn’t know whether or not that action was on purpose, but it got him excited.
Gasping, he tore himself away from the contact of Baekhyun’s lips and cupped his face, placing short kisses on the boy’s lips and cheeks, making Baekhyun scrunch his face. Then he gave the brunet one last kiss before getting up and licking his bottom and upper lip. As he watched Baekhyun breathe heavily on the bed, looking right back at him with his face heatedly red, Chanyeol gave him a tired grin.
“Any more of that,” he said breathlessly, “and I would’ve wanted more.”
Baekhyun’s lips went into a straight line at the confession as he knew that it was the truth.
“I think…” the giant paused. “I think we should go to bed.”
Wordlessly, Baekhyun glanced over at the clock, and when he could, he said, “it’s only twelve forty-seven.”
“Exactly,” Chanyeol said as he leaned over and pulled Baekhyun’s body to one side, shifting his position so that his feet faced the foot of the bed. “It’s too late to get excited over you…So we’ll just go to sleep.”
In the seconds that followed, embarrassment washed over Baekhyun’s entire body and he suddenly kicked the covers open, slipped inside, and throwing the bed covers back on him, giving Chanyeol his back. “Sleep on the fucking floor then.”
After their spontaneous moment together, Chanyeol knew he wasn’t going to have any of that. Instead, he hurriedly picked up Baekhyun’s wet towel off the hotel floor and went to the bathroom to place it on one of the racks. And once he finished quickly washing his hands, he evaluated his appearance in the mirror and was completely satisfied.
Not soon afterwards, once the lights were all turned off except for the one near the bed, Chanyeol crawled inside and was immediately attacked in an unromantic way. Baekhyun popped up from under and tried to push him off.
The struggle had never been more real than at that point. Baekhyun managed to push Chanyeol to the floor once, but when the giant came back around for round two, he came back more determined. Getting on, he found Baekhyun’s hands trying to move him over the edge again and eventually won, managing to wrap his arms around the struggling brunet all the while throwing the covers on both of them.
And even when Baekhyun was completely locked into a spooning position, he kept moving around, unconsciously rubbing himself physically against Chanyeol to a point where the giant finally decided to blow on the brunet’s neck, and immediately disabled him. After then, he couldn’t resist the temptation, placing his mouth softly against Baekhyun’s skin.
Once all movement declined to none, Chanyeol smiled against the neck. “Good. Our flight’s at seven in the morning. We need to go to sleep and worry about updates later, alright? Besides, I like it here on the bed with you. Last night was hell on the floor.”
Baekhyun didn’t say a word for a few minutes until he began to slowly release the tension in his shoulders. When he finally opened his mouth to respond, he felt like he waited too long and decided to remain silent as he had been before.
-
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Baekhyun had a dream slash nightmare.
Perhaps it was from the euphoria he felt before going to bed, despite constantly telling himself to stop feeling happy and giddy over the interaction that went on between him and the Blackjack. Baekhyun didn’t know, but whatever it was that caused it, it created a dream that night.
In the dream, he was dating Chanyeol. He should’ve been scared to be dating the curly haired, gum-smacking giant, but he wasn’t. They went on a typical date with their hands locked together as they laughed and joked around at the park. It was a warm and comforting dream; to be in a relationship such as that was something Baekhyun secretly craved.
However, as the dream went on, Baekhyun saw his worst fears come to play. When he tried to update his fan site, Chanyeol wouldn’t allow him, telling he should stop obsessing over such a group. Afterwards, Baekhyun didn’t know why, but for Chanyeol, he gave up the very group that had given him happiness since the moment they came out.
Love was something he both yearned for and feared. In the dream, Baekhyun interpreted the meaning of “love” with blind following, leaving his beloved girls to cheer and support Chanyeol’s 2NE1.
When he woke up, Baekhyun remembered feeling a sadness that could’ve dropped him down to his knees if he was standing. The very thought of giving up what he loved for another person and pretending to be somebody that he wasn’t just for them utterly killed him.
And maybe it was because of that fear and thought that Baekhyun slipped away from Chanyeol’s arms at four in the morning, quietly packed the few items that he still needed to stuff in his duffle bags, and quietly left the hotel room. The clerk at the front desk gave him an odd look, most likely wondering what the hell he was doing leaving the hotel building at such a time.
He merely gave her a small nod before walking out of the glass doors and calling a cab to take him to the airport.
-
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When Baekhyun got to the airport, the check-in desks for his airline were on and open. There was a modest group of people, but it didn’t take long for him to get his bags in and ticket printed. And because of his early-bird check-in, he got a promising seat near the front of the plane.
After getting his flight business taken care of, Baekhyun promptly took his carry on and backpack and started heading to the pat down areas to be processed before going to his gate number.
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He spent a majority of the waiting period avoiding being alone.
For his very early breakfast, Baekhyun visited a café, ate some bread and drank some coffee all the while with his back facing the walkway where other passengers were passing by.
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When it was time to board, Baekhyun was near the first in line to go in. After getting on, it didn’t matter whether or not Chanyeol saw him when passing because it wasn’t like the giant could just stop and converse with him without holding people up in line. Once his things were put away, Baekhyun just sat in his seat, staring out the window, casually looking into nothing, but the pitch black appearance of the outside world.
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As the plane became more and more filled with people and both of the seats next to him became occupied, Baekhyun mentally released some of the stress that he felt about being confronted. However, the relaxation didn’t last long.
A female flight attendant came to his attention when she began speaking to the man and woman next to him. When he looked up, Chanyeol stood beside the attendant with a small boy holding his hand. Too focused on the fact that Chanyeol was staring somewhat angrily at him, Baekhyun wasn’t able to listen in on what was being discussed. Then all of a sudden, the couple next to him gracefully rose, took their things, and was relocated. Immediately following after, Chanyeol took the seat next to him and placed the kid in the aisle seat.
Chanyeol didn’t speak to him right away. Instead, he sat there, occupying both of the arm rests on either side of him and leaving Baekhyun to feel awkward. Glancing at the kid, the brunet had to wonder who the hell the giant just kidnapped for his ploy, but before he could ask, the guy who he decided to ditch finally turned his head towards him.
“Did I accidentally sleep through some sort of alarm for the both of us, or did you really mean to ditch me?” Chanyeol sarcastically asked with a face just as bitter as the remark. “You must’ve gotten up bright and early to get a seat this far up the plane. I came here about an hour ago and I got one all the way in the back.”
“That sucks,” Baekhyun automatically said, immediately regretting how indifferent he sounded.
Chanyeol looked him over. “You know what else sucks? Being ditched by someone you kinda said you liked a lot.”
Baekhyun glanced down at the ground before turning his face to the window. “We didn’t travel together. I came to China for SNSD. You came here for 2NE1. I wasn’t aware I had to share my travel plans with you and details like when I planned on leaving.”
For a minute, the giant was silent. Then, “Why’re you being a bitch, babe?”
Baekhyun’s eyes widened at the question before darting to the kid. “Did you just curse in front of a kid?”
“Yeah, I did,” Chanyeol curtly confirmed.
“Chanyeol, that kid’s like ten-”
“No,” Chanyeol cut, “he’s twenty-two. I told this ‘kid’ I liked him and kissed him-tongue and all. Oh, he kissed me back, too. He responded very positively, so guess what? I took it as a good sign. Anyways, I thought we were both good until my alarm for six woke me up and saw that he left. I went looking for him, but what do you know, he was avoiding me. Then I found here in-what seat is this? 16A?” he asked.
“Well, here, in 16A, I found him after our grand cat and mouse game.”
Keeping his eyes firmly to the window, Baekhyun rubbed his fingers together in anxiety. “What’s your point?”
“My point is,” Chanyeol said, unable to keep his voice stable and low, “is that you led me on-or you’re leading me on. Depends if you’re still doing it now.”
“I’m not doing anything,” Baekhyun argued, still facing the airplane’s structure. “You kissed me, I liked it, so I kissed you back. End of story.”
“Stop lying to me, runt muffin,” Chanyeol said, clicking his tongue and shaking his head. “You like me. I know it. If you did-if you really hated me, your so-called ‘arch-enemy’, then you wouldn’t have pressed your body against mine like the way you did last night. You wouldn’t have stuck your tongue down my throat or took the initiative to lick your way down my neck.”
The brunet didn’t move, but Chanyeol could see his face in the reflection of the window. Then he leaned over, took Baekhyun’s face with his thumb and finger, and forced the brunet to look up at him. “Look at me.”
“I don’t like your shirt. What kind of shit is Nolza-”
“Baekhyun.”
Pursing his lips, Baekhyun sucked it up and raised his eyes. “What?”
“What’s the problem?” Chanyeol asked in a low voice as to not let the other passengers in on their conversation any more than they already were. “You were okay yesterday, so what the hell?”
Baekhyun thought about avoiding it again, but when he moved his head ever so slightly away, the grip of Chanyeol’s thumb on his cheek tightened. “I went to bed. That’s what happened.”
“I don’t understand,” Chanyeol responded flatly. “Is it because I refused to suck on anything but your tongue-”
“That’s gross-”
“I’m only asking,” the giant insisted.
Sighing, Baekhyun pushed Chanyeol’s hand away gently with his. For a second, Chanyeol thought that Baekhyun was pulling away even more, but all thoughts vanished when his hand stand wrapped around the giant’s wrist. “I had a dream. You and I were dating. Then it turned into a nightmare.”
Chanyeol’s jaw slacked at the comment, unsure of how to feel. “I’m sorry that dating the dream version of me was that horrible?”
Shaking his head, Baekhyun stopped him. “No. Dating you was great, but-”
“Really now?” the giant interrupted, raising his brows at the comment.
Rolling his eyes, Baekhyun mentally shot himself on the foot. “Yeah, but-”
“You know, dreams are great indications of what could be,” Chanyeol said, wiggling a finger in front of Baekhyun’s face. “Science says so.”
“Yeah, well you made me give up on Girls’ Generation in that dream, so if dreams really do indicate signs, getting involved with you must not be the thing to do in this life style,” Baekhyun quickly said, letting go of Chanyeol’s hand as he spoke. “Let’s just remain as colleagues.”
Chanyeol drew his eyebrows in, giving Baekhyun a dissatisfied frown. “No.”
“What do you mean ‘no’?” Baekhyun said incredulously. “Since you like science so much, here’s a little analogy. I’m water. You’re oil. We’ll never mix.”
“We don’t have to mix,” Chanyeol argued. “We can still do our own thing and go out. Dating doesn’t mean we have to turn into something we’re both not. Besides, I don’t want to be colleagues. I didn’t do all this work just to be friend-zoned because of some dream.”
“Chanyeol-”
“Do you really think that if you decided to date me I would make you unstan the girls you practically live and breathe for?” the giant questioned him, cocking his head. “Do I seem like that type of person?”
Baekhyun didn’t immediately answer. He knew that Chanyeol was not, but there were illogical fears inside of him. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
“Wrong,” Chanyeol sighed. “I’m not. If you like them, fine. I can’t do anything about that.”
“But I love them,” Baekhyun reminded adamantly.
“Yes, I know,” the other said, nodding his head impatiently.
Baekhyun glanced past him to check and see if they were causing a seen. As he saw, they were not. Even the child that the giant had taken was busy playing interactive games on his screen. Afterwards, Baekhyun gave Chanyeol his attention again.
“You love 2NE1.”
“Yeah. So?”
“You hate SNSD,” Baekhyun said, giving him a blank look. “I can’t be with someone who hates them.”
Groaning, Chanyeol rubbed his eyes as he leaned against his seat for a moment before turning his head towards Baekhyun again. “Used to,” he said. “I used to.”
“Once a hater, always a hater,” Baekhyun sarcastically hummed.
“Not true!” Chanyeol piped, pointing a finger in front of Baekhyun’s face, causing the brunet to crane his head back. “Not true at all. I’m a changed guy.”
“Yeah, okay,” the smaller male snorted.
Pursing his lips in a blank fashion, Chanyeol rolled his eyes as he pulled out his cellphone from his pocket. When Baekhyun told him to turn it off because they were on an aircraft, the giant scoffed, muttering for the brunet to shut up and look.
Thrusting the phone in Baekhyun’s face, Chanyeol tilted his head. “Look at it. Does it look familiar?”
Moving his eyes to the phone, Baekhyun frowned. As his eyes focused in, his brain recognized the photos of Sunny. They were fairly recent and Baekhyun swore he had seen them somewhere. It took a few more seconds before it dawned on him that they were the same pictures he had uploaded on his fan site from the concert in Japan a while back.
Snapping his attention back to Chanyeol, Baekhyun opened his mouth to speak, but his jaw only slacked. It took a minute for him to finally find his voice. “So what?” he said in an uneasy voice. “It’s a picture of Sunny in Japan. I have it on my site.”
Taking the phone back, Chanyeol returned it to its standby mode. “Guess who took that photo, babe,” he said as he stuffed it back in his pocket. When Baekhyun didn’t answer, the giant knew that the male beside him had gotten the hint. “I was one of the people who volunteered for you.”
Baekhyun had nothing to say, but Chanyeol had expected that. “I took pictures for you at other events, too, you know. It was all under different usernames. And just to say, I even waved the light sticks you gave out for the concert in Taiwan, no matter how that hurt my manly pride to wave around a pink light stick, alright? Another thing,” he said, pausing, “remember that fan gift for your birthday? The signed album and Nature Republic goods? Yeah, you’re welcome.”
“But…” Baekhyun stopped. Out of nowhere, he suddenly felt hot. Reaching upwards, he twisted his seat airway on, suddenly being blasted by cool air before sitting back down and glaring at the seat in front of him. Then, he turned his head back at Chanyeol. “You hate SNSD.”
“Once you stumble on some badly done dance covers by BaekStar4 online, they don’t seem that bad.”
With his face turning red, Baekhyun couldn’t help himself. He lifted his hands up into fists and began hitting the passenger next to him. “You’re such a motherfucker-”
Chanyeol struggled with defending himself until he was able to grab onto Baekhyun’s wrists. It didn’t matter to him how they had the eyes of a few other passengers looking their way. He just grinned. “Would you still want to date me? I swear on my collection of albums and goods that I’ll never tell you to stop liking SNSD or making amateur dance covers to their songs or even deciding to sing along to the hits that come on the radio sometimes. And if you ever need any type of lenses, I have it. I’ll let you borrow it all.”
Baekhyun studied Chanyeol’s cheeky grin. “You’re not going to tell me to sell my stuff?”
“Would I dare?” Chanyeol chuckled.
“You better not tell me to shut my site down,” the brunet warned.
Chanyeol let go of one of Baekhyun’s hands to hold up his own palm. “Never.” Putting his hand back down, he paused for a second. “Are we done with these terms and conditions for dating?”
Baekhyun thought about it. “No. Lastly, you can’t force me to stan 2NE1. I only have room in my heart and memory cards for SNSD at the moment. I can’t be multi-fandom right now.”
“That’s fine by me,” Chanyeol shrugged. “But you have to accompany me to events sometimes and cheer them on with me.”
“Why?” Baekhyun said, giving him a look.
Scoffing, Chanyeol brought a hand to his face. “You know, I really didn’t have to fly to other countries for events that didn’t even have 2NE1 as visiting artists just for you. The least you could do is be a supportive boyfriend and wave around a white light stick.”
Sighing, Baekhyun looked away, figuring that the giant had a point. At the moment, it seemed somewhat surreal to him that he had practically negotiated the terms and conditions of their new relationship. He wasn’t exactly sure if there was really something there on his behalf despite knowing that Chanyeol was damn sure about wanting to romantically court him for reasons beyond Baekhyun’s human understanding. However, it wasn’t as though he really hated the curly haired, snapback beanstalk, and the blonde had already promised that their relationship would end up nothing like their dream.
Baekhyun figured he might as well give it a try.
After a while of not speaking to each other, Baekhyun looked up at Chanyeol again. The giant must’ve felt eyes on him because he reciprocated the action and looked down. Remembering the child in the aisle seat, Baekhyun finally asked out of curiosity, “Who’s the kid?”
Looking back at the kid next to him, Chanyeol shrugged as he turned his face back at Baekhyun. “I don’t know. I kind of paid him to be my pretend-brother.” When it became obvious that the brunet was no longer following, the taller male bobbled his head from side to side. “I might’ve told the attendant we were all brothers and that we got separated by the ticket clerk. Family has to stick together, I told her.”
Blankly looking at Chanyeol, Baekhyun quirked his brows. “You told her we were brothers?”
“Yeah,” Chanyeol said indifferently as he shrugged. Then as he gave Baekhyun a sharp look, he smirked.
“Don’t get me wrong. I might’ve told her we were brothers, but the things that I want to do you are extremely dirty.”
Closing his eyes, Baekhyun inwardly groaned as he hit his head against the window, thinking about how long of a flight he had to endure. He stayed that way even when he heard Chanyeol laughing and felt the giant’s large hands sliding their way over his and holding onto them. Although the giant might’ve expected it, the runt didn’t pull away.
-
-
“Study.”
“No, I have to get the orders for the manufacturers done.”
“Baekhyun.”
“No.”
Getting off the brunet’s bed, Chanyeol moved to where the small male was hunched over with his computer on the floor. Sliding down beside him, the giant slanted his shoulders down as he tilted his head to try and see what was on Baekhyun’s screen. “I see that you have a tab open on word document. Could that be your Econ paper?”
“Maybe,” Baekhyun said distractedly as he filled out forms, checking back and forth to write down the orders correctly.
“How done are you?”
“Almost.”
The answer came too dismissively that Chanyeol scoffed. Taking the laptop off Baekhyun’s lap, Chanyeol took it into his position, pulling a flash drive from his back pocket and sticking it inside the device. When Baekhyun tried to take it back, Chanyeol turned his body to block his attempt.
“What’re you trying to do? I have things to do!” Baekhyun whined, getting on his knees and trying harder to retrieve the laptop back.
“Calm your horses, runt!” Chanyeol said loudly. Within a few seconds, he unplugged the flash drive and gently pushed Baekhyun back on his butt. “Here.”
Staring at the flash drive in the giant’s hand, Baekhyun frowned. “What a stupid looking thing,” he mumbled, commenting on the banana appearance of the small piece of technology.
Rolling his eyes, Chanyeol took one of Baekhyun’s hands and forced him to take it. “My laptop’s underneath my bed, next to the condoms you haven’t given me the chance to use yet.”
Baekhyun’s jaw unhinged, hanging for a few seconds before Chanyeol used two of his fingers to lift the smaller male’s chin back up. “Your essay’s on it. Go work on it. I’ll do your orders.” As Baekhyun failed to reply, the giant smiled. “You can say thank you.”
“I don’t need your help,” the brunet mumbled.
“Your mouth says no, but your grades cry ‘daddy’,” Chanyeol laughed, shaking his head. “Stop being a little stubborn short muffin and go do your homework. You procrastinate more than I do.”
Groaning in reply, Baekhyun held onto the drive tightly in his hand as he scrambled to his feet. Fixing his shirt, he huffed. “Fine,” he said under his breath, turning to the door. “Don’t mess up the orders. I’ll kill you.”
“Cross my heart and hope to die, babe,” Chanyeol said, blowing his gum up into a bubble before letting it pop.
Baekhyun pursed his lips and snorted as he turned away in disgust.
But he wasn’t disgusted at all. In fact, he didn’t mind the giant’s habits anymore, though it wasn’t like he was going to admit it. He would rather have Sunny’s breasts deflate than to admit anything to the giant.
The brunet was that stubborn.
-
-
“What the hell…”
“What?”
“You have pictures of me on this fucking flash drive-oh god, I didn’t do my hair that day.”
“Still looked amazing.”
“Shut up…you cheap creeper.”
From PCY:
I can’t believe you’re that cold hearted to turn me away. You know where I’ll be sleeping today? In the streets. Maybe you’ll at least pray I won’t get shanked in the kidney at night.
From Shorty:
Boo hoo. You only need one kidney to live anyways.
From PCY:
I didn’t know you were educated on the human body. That’s cute. But anyways, let’s go eat dinner.
From Shorty:
I’ll eat later.
From: PCY:
First you reject to house me. Then you didn’t want to go to the mall. After that you didn’t want to walk around-I mean, we’re in China, not your grandmother’s village. There are things to see. Now you don’t want to eat. Am I ugly?
From Shorty:
Uglier than a hairless dog.
It took a while before Baekhyun heard a ding from his phone again.
From PCY:
Hairless dogs are so ugly you can’t help but think they’re cute. I’m taking that as an underhand compliment.
-
-
The giant’s conquest to try and continue to douse Baekhyun in guilt didn’t end with the requests to dinner, which Baekhyun eventually agreed to and spend a better part of his evening arguing about the environmental issues against the giant who thought nuclear power had its uses.
As he sat on his bed brushing his teeth, Chanyeol continued to send picture messages of him and his makeshift bed in the lobby.
From PCY:
Do I look sexy right now? No. Sleeping in the lobby isn’t sexy.
From PCY:
I had to pay the staff under the table for this couch. Do I look sad?
From PCY:
Do you like this angle? I’m pouting, in case you didn’t know.
From PCY:
It’s a nice pillow, right? I’m sure if I flip it over, it’ll smell like butt. It is a cushion in the lobby after all.
-
-
To Shorty:
I hope no one comes and shanks me here in the hotel lobby, because I-
Suddenly, Chanyeol felt a tiny shampoo bottle bop off against his head, knocking his attention from his phone and jolting him to an upright position. His eyes quickly focused, fixing themselves on the damped haired brunet who stood before him wearing his pajamas and fuzzy slippers.
The innocent look about Baekhyun could’ve fooled anyone, but Chanyeol knew better.
“Get the fuck up and get your shit. I’m not waiting for you.” Immediately after finishing his proclamation, Baekhyun turned back around and started walking diligently toward the elevators around the corner.
-
-
The room was absolutely dark, but neither of the two boys inside was asleep. The sound of the city could be faintly heard, especially since Chanyeol opened the window despite Baekhyun’s opposition. Baekhyun was diligently going through all his accounts on his phone and replying to messages all the while lying on the only bed in the room. The giant, on the other hand, slept on the floor, using anything he could to make a makeshift bed.
With an arm tucked behind his head for comfort, Chanyeol stayed quiet as he listened to the brunet’s mindless humming to SNSD soundtracks, not wanting to disturb the mini musical by speaking. It was only until after a while did Baekhyun speak up, surprising the boy on the floor.
“Are you alive down there?”
Chanyeol’s lips curved in the dark. “My situation could be a little better if you shared that big bed of yours.”
Not surprisingly, Baekhyun didn’t reply and Chanyeol thought that was the end of it. A few minutes later, the giant heard some mumbled words before hearing Baekhyun throw his covers over and jumping out of bed, putting on his fuzzy slippers. Chanyeol didn’t sit to see what was going on until Baekhyun turned on the lamp on the side table, grabbing one of the hotel room cards.
“I’ll be right back,” the brunet mumbled, shuffling his way toward the door in a tired, yet determined manner.
Curious, Chanyeol called out, “Where are you going?”
“Shut up,” was the answer.
-
-
For a highly rated hotel, Baekhyun thought it was complete shit how there wasn’t a strong enough staff at that time of night to help him carry the stupid cot.
-
-
As he was dragging the cot along the hallway, giving up on trying to carry it off the ground, Baekhyun was caught off guard when he turned a corner and hit something warm, face first. Stumbling back, he automatically rubbed his nose, whining to himself and muttering apologies under his breath. Then he felt his hand being pried away from the heavy object he was carrying.
“You’re an idiot.”
Rolling his eyes upward, Baekhyun frowned as he scowled-or tried to. “I better not hear you complaining anymore.”
“I wasn’t even complaining to begin with.”
Baekhyun stayed quiet. Then, opting to say nothing more, he let Chanyeol carry the bed as he led the way back to their room, making sure to stay at least ten feet ahead.
-
-
Chanyeol snored. The douchebag snored.
It bothered Baekhyun, who had stayed up longer. Getting on his knees, he crawled his way across his bed, closer and closer to where Chanyeol slept beside him. Then, leaning over, Baekhyun used his cellphone as a light source as his other hand reached down and gently close Chanyeol’s mouth, pressing his lips together.
The giant was a disgusting giant who liked to lick his lips in his sleep, apparently. And unfortunately for Baekhyun, his fingers were present when the tongue came out.
Instantly pulling his hand away, Baekhyun scurried back under his covers, paused for a while, and then wiped his fingers along the side of his bed.
Gross, he thought.
-
-
For breakfast, Baekhyun opted to stay at the hotel and eating from their American menu for tourists just to be quick about it. Chanyeol, however, decided to run out and eat from the street vendors. When he met up with the brunet in the lobby roughly after an hour, he smelled the like the streets of Beijing, but Baekhyun didn’t say anything.
All he said was, “There’s something in your teeth.”
Snorting, Chanyeol reflexively closed his mouth and tried to feel around. “No, I don’t think so. I checked.”
“Well, you missed one.”
“Great. Do you want to suck it out for me?” Chanyeol retorted, rolling his eyes.
Baekhyun scrunched his face. “No.”
“Good,” the giant said, shrugging. “Then don’t lie.”
-
-
The concert wasn’t until evening, and although Baekhyun wanted to be there early to beat the crowd, it seemed unreasonable to be there ten hours prior, so he ended up going on a date with the giant Blackjack who didn’t bother to style his hair after taking a shower, leaving it slightly wavy even under his hat.
But, Baekhyun didn’t consider it as a “date”. It wasn’t one by definition. They were just going around to pass the time away by eating anything and everything they could dare each other to eat. Holding each other’s hands in a crowded local market or the moment when Chanyeol held onto the brunet’s shoulders, pushing him in the direction out of there wasn’t something to be romanticized.
They were just enemies in an unfamiliar country with only each other to hang out with.
-
-
The concert was phenomenal, or at least in Baekhyun’s opinion. His girls sang a total of four songs, which was the highlight of the entire event. With his camera fixed up with new lenses that he bought earlier that day with the help of the giant, he was able to capture all of Sunny’s beautiful moments.
When his girls were up on stage, he made sure to take shots, but to also take the time to just let one hand free so he could wave the fandom’s light stick in the air, singing and shouting his support, because in those moments, he saw nobody else but the group he loved.
-
-
As Baekhyun looked over the photos on his camera in the hotel room after the concert and after-frenzy, Chanyeol sat behind him on the bed and began to dry the brunet’s damp hair, knowing that it wasn't good for the device to get dripped on by his wet hair ends. For a while, the giant hummed to himself as Baekhyun reviewed his work, and during this time, neither verbally spoke, letting the moderate silence comfortably sit with them in that moment.
Then Baekhyun piped. “She’s absolutely stunning…” he said in awe under his breath. “I feel like I shouldn’t even photoshop her…”
Moving his head around, Chanyeol tried to see the camera’s screen over Baekhyun’s shoulder. “Pretty.”
Momentarily putting the camera on his lap, Baekhyun turned his head off to the side. “Are you being sarcastic?”
“No,” Chanyeol replied with a shrug.
Quirking his lips, Baekhyun got on his knees to change his position, turning his entire body around to face the giant straight on with his legs crossed. Chanyeol had let go of the towel, letting it sit around Baekhyun’s shoulders.
“Not that I care,” Baekhyun said casually as he looked to the side for a second, “but how did your photos come out? Nice?”
Chanyeol grinned, appreciating the niceness in their relationship at the moment. He leaned in towards the brunet; so far that Baekhyun had to move his head slightly back. “Fine, thanks for asking,” he said in a platonic voice.
“Are you sure?” Baekhyun asked, suspicious of the giant’s fake manner. “I didn’t see you take a lot of shots of Dara even though she practically walked in front of us.”
“Quality over quantity.”
Snorting, Baekhyun rolled his eyes as he pushed Chanyeol’s face away. “Whatever. Can I see?”
Smiling, Chanyeol softly laughed as Baekhyun distanced their faces. “No, you can’t.”
Baekhyun frowned. “Why not? I let you see the ones that I took so it’s only fair. If not, I’ll look through your camera myself.”
Placing his hands on the bed, Chanyeol leaned back and shrugged. “Go ahead, princess. I hope you’ll like what you see.”
Giving the cocky giant a stare, Baekhyun pushed himself off the bed and walked over to their room’s small two-people table to snatch Chanyeol’s memory card off the top while setting down his own device. Bending down, he unlatched the extension lenses from the camera that Chanyeol had used during the concert, turned the camera’s naked form on, and slipped the memory card inside a compartment.
Chanyeol remained on the bed, nonchalantly watching Baekhyun do with the camera as he pleased. When the expressions on Baekhyun’s face began to change as he clicked further and further into the card’s memory stock, Chanyeol shifted from the bed, throwing his legs off the side and stood up.
“What is this?” Baekhyun asked, looking up from the camera and flipping it around to show the approaching giant what he was talking about. “Is this a joke?”
“No,” Chanyeol calmly replied.
“You took photos of me.”
“Yeah.”
Gripping onto the camera with shaking hands, Baekhyun tried to move away as far as he could with every step that Chanyeol took, but the table and camera gear behind him thwarted his attempts. As Chanyeol became unbearably close, Baekhyun pressed himself up against the wall, wanting to be sucked into the solid structure and disappear.
Chanyeol spoke again, cocking his head slightly to the side. The playful and teasing look in his eyes had faded and it scared Baekhyun to see him so serious. “I think, in all honesty? You were far more appealing to my eye than Dara, especially watching you hop around and sing along to your favorite songs.”
Not knowing how to react, Baekhyun nervously laughed, trying to shake the feelings that were crawling up his body away. “Okay, I get it,” he said, attempting to curve his mouth into a smile. “That’s very funny. Why don’t you send these to me? I’ll post them on my personal account.”
“I think,” Chanyeol started again, “that you and I both know I’m not joking right now, babe.”
Baekhyun’s attempt to smile faded, replaced by a frown and a confused expression. “Then what the hell is this?” he asked again, more demandingly. “What? Are you making fun of me? Are you going to post these online? I look half stupid in all of them. I bet you’re going to-”
Bursting out laughing, Chanyeol cut him off. “You’re very dense,” he said as he gradually lost his laughter. Although he was grinning, Baekhyun couldn’t detect any humor in his eyes. “I don’t know whether or not you’ve noticed, my tiny Sone, but I like you. A lot.”
With his arms giving out, Baekhyun dropped them to his sides, camera still in one hand. “This isn’t funny, Chanyeol,” he said quietly, determined not to break eye contact. “Just say the punch line already and back off…”
“You want to know the punch line?” Chanyeol said, closing the last bit of space that was present between them, forcing Baekhyun to bite his lips as he neared. “I’m a Blackjack in love with a Sone. Isn’t that funny? I ended up falling in love with the little runt who broke my nose the first time that we met.”
“Chanyeol-”
“Sadly,” Chanyeol went on, overriding Baekhyun’s voice, “you’ve been a little dense for the last year and a half. Ever since that night, you’ve been involved in some sort of one sided competition with me.”
Gently holding Baekhyun’s chin and tilting up upwards to face him, Chanyeol grinned when he saw Baekhyun’s face flush of all color except for the subtle brush of red on his cheeks. Then, without warning, he leaned down and tilted his head, barely slanting his lips over Baekhyun’s. “Permission to kiss?” he asked.
Taken aback and with nowhere else to back away to, Baekhyun’s lips parted. “I-I don’t know!”
“Well, you should say yes,” Chanyeol suggested, brushing his lips on Baekhyun’s mouth. “Because it’d be a bitchy thing for you to say no, you know?”
“I…I don’t-”
“I won’t kiss you unless you say yes.”
Baekhyun’s jaw slacked. “Oh, how modest of y-”
In a second, Chanyeol’s lips were on the brunet’s, cutting his sentence off. Baekhyun’s lips were closed tight at first until he gave in, parting them when his lungs began to burn. Before he could respond, Chanyeol released him, caressing the brunet’s face and stroking it with his thumb. “You took too long.”
“Wha-I didn’t even-You said!” Baekhyun cried, flustered, yet forgetting to push distance between them.
“I got tired of waiting for the yes,” Chanyeol shrugged, slowly letting his hand fall from Baekhyun’s face. “But you liked it, right?”
Frowning, Baekhyun unconsciously moved his hand to his mouth. “What the hell? Why would you even ask that shit?”
“So, that’s an automatic yes,” the giant declared.
“No, it’s not, because I’m conf-”
Grabbing the smaller male’s waist, Chanyeol used his superior strength to pull the both of them towards the bed, surprising Baekhyun by pushing on the mattress and climbing on top of him. For a couple of long seconds, Baekhyun shrunk in spirit as Chanyeol watched him intently from above. Keeping his mouth shut, he said nothing as it seemed as though the giant was inspecting every aspect of him in that position.
“What’re you doing?” he finally squeaked with his body tense.
“I don’t know,” Chanyeol mumbled back with a cheeky grin on his face. “I just liked kissing you the first time around. I’ve been waiting for it since the first time we met, you know. Maybe not immediately after you punched me, but you know how that goes.”
“I’m…” Baekhyun couldn’t find the right words.
Giving the male under him a comforting smile, Chanyeol softly laughed. “What? What do you have to say? Just say it.”
“I don’t know what I want to say.” The answer came softly as Baekhyun fought with himself and the discomfort he had concerning his indecisiveness. “I just…want to know what you’re doing.”
“Well, since I didn’t give you the choice last time, I’ll ask you again. Fair?” the giant proposed. “Permission to kiss?”
With nothing else to go off of, Baekhyun nibbled on the insides of his bottom lip as thoughts dwindled into his head. Then his eyes drifted to the male’s mouth above him and when he realized where his attention had gone, Baekhyun stopped breathing.
A “yes” was at the tip of his tongue, surprisingly, but frankly, he was scared of wondering where it was all going. The first kiss was a surprise, not unpleasant, and Baekhyun wasn’t offended although the tall Blackjack was the last person he ever thought of kissing. And besides that fact, Baekhyun was unsure as to what Chanyeol really wanted past the kiss, though it wasn’t too hard to decipher.
Before he could let his mind wander elsewhere, Chanyeol flicked him on the chin, garnering his attention once again and bringing him back down. “Hello in there. I’m still waiting for the yes.”
Gulping, Baekhyun pursed his lips even more before he awkwardly replied under pressure. “The first one wasn’t that shitty.”
Grinning from ear to ear, Chanyeol finally lowered himself down and gently slotted his lips in with the brunet’s. Nudging Baekhyun’s legs apart, he positioned himself in the conjunction of the thighs, gradually pressing himself against Baekhyun’s body more.
Knowing that for the moment he had possibly made a turning-point decision by subtly agreeing, Baekhyun decided that maybe for one night, he’d just let things happen. As Chanyeol took control of his mouth, the brunet beneath him was slowly becoming undone as he raised his arms and wrapped them around the giant’s neck.
Then Baekhyun pulled his lips away and turned his face off to the side when Chanyeol tried to reclaim them. The giant furrowed his eyebrows as he lifted himself off slightly and frowned at the small male looking up at him, Baekhyun pulled him back down, placing his lips on the other’s neck.
Letting his eyes close, Chanyeol softly moaned, letting his hands wander from the side of Baekhyun’s body all the way down until his large hands rested against the brunet’s waist. He shifted, pressing into Baekhyun’s body. The brunet rolled his hips and, for the love of god, Chanyeol didn’t know whether or not that action was on purpose, but it got him excited.
Gasping, he tore himself away from the contact of Baekhyun’s lips and cupped his face, placing short kisses on the boy’s lips and cheeks, making Baekhyun scrunch his face. Then he gave the brunet one last kiss before getting up and licking his bottom and upper lip. As he watched Baekhyun breathe heavily on the bed, looking right back at him with his face heatedly red, Chanyeol gave him a tired grin.
“Any more of that,” he said breathlessly, “and I would’ve wanted more.”
Baekhyun’s lips went into a straight line at the confession as he knew that it was the truth.
“I think…” the giant paused. “I think we should go to bed.”
Wordlessly, Baekhyun glanced over at the clock, and when he could, he said, “it’s only twelve forty-seven.”
“Exactly,” Chanyeol said as he leaned over and pulled Baekhyun’s body to one side, shifting his position so that his feet faced the foot of the bed. “It’s too late to get excited over you…So we’ll just go to sleep.”
In the seconds that followed, embarrassment washed over Baekhyun’s entire body and he suddenly kicked the covers open, slipped inside, and throwing the bed covers back on him, giving Chanyeol his back. “Sleep on the fucking floor then.”
After their spontaneous moment together, Chanyeol knew he wasn’t going to have any of that. Instead, he hurriedly picked up Baekhyun’s wet towel off the hotel floor and went to the bathroom to place it on one of the racks. And once he finished quickly washing his hands, he evaluated his appearance in the mirror and was completely satisfied.
Not soon afterwards, once the lights were all turned off except for the one near the bed, Chanyeol crawled inside and was immediately attacked in an unromantic way. Baekhyun popped up from under and tried to push him off.
The struggle had never been more real than at that point. Baekhyun managed to push Chanyeol to the floor once, but when the giant came back around for round two, he came back more determined. Getting on, he found Baekhyun’s hands trying to move him over the edge again and eventually won, managing to wrap his arms around the struggling brunet all the while throwing the covers on both of them.
And even when Baekhyun was completely locked into a spooning position, he kept moving around, unconsciously rubbing himself physically against Chanyeol to a point where the giant finally decided to blow on the brunet’s neck, and immediately disabled him. After then, he couldn’t resist the temptation, placing his mouth softly against Baekhyun’s skin.
Once all movement declined to none, Chanyeol smiled against the neck. “Good. Our flight’s at seven in the morning. We need to go to sleep and worry about updates later, alright? Besides, I like it here on the bed with you. Last night was hell on the floor.”
Baekhyun didn’t say a word for a few minutes until he began to slowly release the tension in his shoulders. When he finally opened his mouth to respond, he felt like he waited too long and decided to remain silent as he had been before.
-
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Baekhyun had a dream slash nightmare.
Perhaps it was from the euphoria he felt before going to bed, despite constantly telling himself to stop feeling happy and giddy over the interaction that went on between him and the Blackjack. Baekhyun didn’t know, but whatever it was that caused it, it created a dream that night.
In the dream, he was dating Chanyeol. He should’ve been scared to be dating the curly haired, gum-smacking giant, but he wasn’t. They went on a typical date with their hands locked together as they laughed and joked around at the park. It was a warm and comforting dream; to be in a relationship such as that was something Baekhyun secretly craved.
However, as the dream went on, Baekhyun saw his worst fears come to play. When he tried to update his fan site, Chanyeol wouldn’t allow him, telling he should stop obsessing over such a group. Afterwards, Baekhyun didn’t know why, but for Chanyeol, he gave up the very group that had given him happiness since the moment they came out.
Love was something he both yearned for and feared. In the dream, Baekhyun interpreted the meaning of “love” with blind following, leaving his beloved girls to cheer and support Chanyeol’s 2NE1.
When he woke up, Baekhyun remembered feeling a sadness that could’ve dropped him down to his knees if he was standing. The very thought of giving up what he loved for another person and pretending to be somebody that he wasn’t just for them utterly killed him.
And maybe it was because of that fear and thought that Baekhyun slipped away from Chanyeol’s arms at four in the morning, quietly packed the few items that he still needed to stuff in his duffle bags, and quietly left the hotel room. The clerk at the front desk gave him an odd look, most likely wondering what the hell he was doing leaving the hotel building at such a time.
He merely gave her a small nod before walking out of the glass doors and calling a cab to take him to the airport.
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When Baekhyun got to the airport, the check-in desks for his airline were on and open. There was a modest group of people, but it didn’t take long for him to get his bags in and ticket printed. And because of his early-bird check-in, he got a promising seat near the front of the plane.
After getting his flight business taken care of, Baekhyun promptly took his carry on and backpack and started heading to the pat down areas to be processed before going to his gate number.
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He spent a majority of the waiting period avoiding being alone.
For his very early breakfast, Baekhyun visited a café, ate some bread and drank some coffee all the while with his back facing the walkway where other passengers were passing by.
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When it was time to board, Baekhyun was near the first in line to go in. After getting on, it didn’t matter whether or not Chanyeol saw him when passing because it wasn’t like the giant could just stop and converse with him without holding people up in line. Once his things were put away, Baekhyun just sat in his seat, staring out the window, casually looking into nothing, but the pitch black appearance of the outside world.
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As the plane became more and more filled with people and both of the seats next to him became occupied, Baekhyun mentally released some of the stress that he felt about being confronted. However, the relaxation didn’t last long.
A female flight attendant came to his attention when she began speaking to the man and woman next to him. When he looked up, Chanyeol stood beside the attendant with a small boy holding his hand. Too focused on the fact that Chanyeol was staring somewhat angrily at him, Baekhyun wasn’t able to listen in on what was being discussed. Then all of a sudden, the couple next to him gracefully rose, took their things, and was relocated. Immediately following after, Chanyeol took the seat next to him and placed the kid in the aisle seat.
Chanyeol didn’t speak to him right away. Instead, he sat there, occupying both of the arm rests on either side of him and leaving Baekhyun to feel awkward. Glancing at the kid, the brunet had to wonder who the hell the giant just kidnapped for his ploy, but before he could ask, the guy who he decided to ditch finally turned his head towards him.
“Did I accidentally sleep through some sort of alarm for the both of us, or did you really mean to ditch me?” Chanyeol sarcastically asked with a face just as bitter as the remark. “You must’ve gotten up bright and early to get a seat this far up the plane. I came here about an hour ago and I got one all the way in the back.”
“That sucks,” Baekhyun automatically said, immediately regretting how indifferent he sounded.
Chanyeol looked him over. “You know what else sucks? Being ditched by someone you kinda said you liked a lot.”
Baekhyun glanced down at the ground before turning his face to the window. “We didn’t travel together. I came to China for SNSD. You came here for 2NE1. I wasn’t aware I had to share my travel plans with you and details like when I planned on leaving.”
For a minute, the giant was silent. Then, “Why’re you being a bitch, babe?”
Baekhyun’s eyes widened at the question before darting to the kid. “Did you just curse in front of a kid?”
“Yeah, I did,” Chanyeol curtly confirmed.
“Chanyeol, that kid’s like ten-”
“No,” Chanyeol cut, “he’s twenty-two. I told this ‘kid’ I liked him and kissed him-tongue and all. Oh, he kissed me back, too. He responded very positively, so guess what? I took it as a good sign. Anyways, I thought we were both good until my alarm for six woke me up and saw that he left. I went looking for him, but what do you know, he was avoiding me. Then I found here in-what seat is this? 16A?” he asked.
“Well, here, in 16A, I found him after our grand cat and mouse game.”
Keeping his eyes firmly to the window, Baekhyun rubbed his fingers together in anxiety. “What’s your point?”
“My point is,” Chanyeol said, unable to keep his voice stable and low, “is that you led me on-or you’re leading me on. Depends if you’re still doing it now.”
“I’m not doing anything,” Baekhyun argued, still facing the airplane’s structure. “You kissed me, I liked it, so I kissed you back. End of story.”
“Stop lying to me, runt muffin,” Chanyeol said, clicking his tongue and shaking his head. “You like me. I know it. If you did-if you really hated me, your so-called ‘arch-enemy’, then you wouldn’t have pressed your body against mine like the way you did last night. You wouldn’t have stuck your tongue down my throat or took the initiative to lick your way down my neck.”
The brunet didn’t move, but Chanyeol could see his face in the reflection of the window. Then he leaned over, took Baekhyun’s face with his thumb and finger, and forced the brunet to look up at him. “Look at me.”
“I don’t like your shirt. What kind of shit is Nolza-”
“Baekhyun.”
Pursing his lips, Baekhyun sucked it up and raised his eyes. “What?”
“What’s the problem?” Chanyeol asked in a low voice as to not let the other passengers in on their conversation any more than they already were. “You were okay yesterday, so what the hell?”
Baekhyun thought about avoiding it again, but when he moved his head ever so slightly away, the grip of Chanyeol’s thumb on his cheek tightened. “I went to bed. That’s what happened.”
“I don’t understand,” Chanyeol responded flatly. “Is it because I refused to suck on anything but your tongue-”
“That’s gross-”
“I’m only asking,” the giant insisted.
Sighing, Baekhyun pushed Chanyeol’s hand away gently with his. For a second, Chanyeol thought that Baekhyun was pulling away even more, but all thoughts vanished when his hand stand wrapped around the giant’s wrist. “I had a dream. You and I were dating. Then it turned into a nightmare.”
Chanyeol’s jaw slacked at the comment, unsure of how to feel. “I’m sorry that dating the dream version of me was that horrible?”
Shaking his head, Baekhyun stopped him. “No. Dating you was great, but-”
“Really now?” the giant interrupted, raising his brows at the comment.
Rolling his eyes, Baekhyun mentally shot himself on the foot. “Yeah, but-”
“You know, dreams are great indications of what could be,” Chanyeol said, wiggling a finger in front of Baekhyun’s face. “Science says so.”
“Yeah, well you made me give up on Girls’ Generation in that dream, so if dreams really do indicate signs, getting involved with you must not be the thing to do in this life style,” Baekhyun quickly said, letting go of Chanyeol’s hand as he spoke. “Let’s just remain as colleagues.”
Chanyeol drew his eyebrows in, giving Baekhyun a dissatisfied frown. “No.”
“What do you mean ‘no’?” Baekhyun said incredulously. “Since you like science so much, here’s a little analogy. I’m water. You’re oil. We’ll never mix.”
“We don’t have to mix,” Chanyeol argued. “We can still do our own thing and go out. Dating doesn’t mean we have to turn into something we’re both not. Besides, I don’t want to be colleagues. I didn’t do all this work just to be friend-zoned because of some dream.”
“Chanyeol-”
“Do you really think that if you decided to date me I would make you unstan the girls you practically live and breathe for?” the giant questioned him, cocking his head. “Do I seem like that type of person?”
Baekhyun didn’t immediately answer. He knew that Chanyeol was not, but there were illogical fears inside of him. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
“Wrong,” Chanyeol sighed. “I’m not. If you like them, fine. I can’t do anything about that.”
“But I love them,” Baekhyun reminded adamantly.
“Yes, I know,” the other said, nodding his head impatiently.
Baekhyun glanced past him to check and see if they were causing a seen. As he saw, they were not. Even the child that the giant had taken was busy playing interactive games on his screen. Afterwards, Baekhyun gave Chanyeol his attention again.
“You love 2NE1.”
“Yeah. So?”
“You hate SNSD,” Baekhyun said, giving him a blank look. “I can’t be with someone who hates them.”
Groaning, Chanyeol rubbed his eyes as he leaned against his seat for a moment before turning his head towards Baekhyun again. “Used to,” he said. “I used to.”
“Once a hater, always a hater,” Baekhyun sarcastically hummed.
“Not true!” Chanyeol piped, pointing a finger in front of Baekhyun’s face, causing the brunet to crane his head back. “Not true at all. I’m a changed guy.”
“Yeah, okay,” the smaller male snorted.
Pursing his lips in a blank fashion, Chanyeol rolled his eyes as he pulled out his cellphone from his pocket. When Baekhyun told him to turn it off because they were on an aircraft, the giant scoffed, muttering for the brunet to shut up and look.
Thrusting the phone in Baekhyun’s face, Chanyeol tilted his head. “Look at it. Does it look familiar?”
Moving his eyes to the phone, Baekhyun frowned. As his eyes focused in, his brain recognized the photos of Sunny. They were fairly recent and Baekhyun swore he had seen them somewhere. It took a few more seconds before it dawned on him that they were the same pictures he had uploaded on his fan site from the concert in Japan a while back.
Snapping his attention back to Chanyeol, Baekhyun opened his mouth to speak, but his jaw only slacked. It took a minute for him to finally find his voice. “So what?” he said in an uneasy voice. “It’s a picture of Sunny in Japan. I have it on my site.”
Taking the phone back, Chanyeol returned it to its standby mode. “Guess who took that photo, babe,” he said as he stuffed it back in his pocket. When Baekhyun didn’t answer, the giant knew that the male beside him had gotten the hint. “I was one of the people who volunteered for you.”
Baekhyun had nothing to say, but Chanyeol had expected that. “I took pictures for you at other events, too, you know. It was all under different usernames. And just to say, I even waved the light sticks you gave out for the concert in Taiwan, no matter how that hurt my manly pride to wave around a pink light stick, alright? Another thing,” he said, pausing, “remember that fan gift for your birthday? The signed album and Nature Republic goods? Yeah, you’re welcome.”
“But…” Baekhyun stopped. Out of nowhere, he suddenly felt hot. Reaching upwards, he twisted his seat airway on, suddenly being blasted by cool air before sitting back down and glaring at the seat in front of him. Then, he turned his head back at Chanyeol. “You hate SNSD.”
“Once you stumble on some badly done dance covers by BaekStar4 online, they don’t seem that bad.”
With his face turning red, Baekhyun couldn’t help himself. He lifted his hands up into fists and began hitting the passenger next to him. “You’re such a motherfucker-”
Chanyeol struggled with defending himself until he was able to grab onto Baekhyun’s wrists. It didn’t matter to him how they had the eyes of a few other passengers looking their way. He just grinned. “Would you still want to date me? I swear on my collection of albums and goods that I’ll never tell you to stop liking SNSD or making amateur dance covers to their songs or even deciding to sing along to the hits that come on the radio sometimes. And if you ever need any type of lenses, I have it. I’ll let you borrow it all.”
Baekhyun studied Chanyeol’s cheeky grin. “You’re not going to tell me to sell my stuff?”
“Would I dare?” Chanyeol chuckled.
“You better not tell me to shut my site down,” the brunet warned.
Chanyeol let go of one of Baekhyun’s hands to hold up his own palm. “Never.” Putting his hand back down, he paused for a second. “Are we done with these terms and conditions for dating?”
Baekhyun thought about it. “No. Lastly, you can’t force me to stan 2NE1. I only have room in my heart and memory cards for SNSD at the moment. I can’t be multi-fandom right now.”
“That’s fine by me,” Chanyeol shrugged. “But you have to accompany me to events sometimes and cheer them on with me.”
“Why?” Baekhyun said, giving him a look.
Scoffing, Chanyeol brought a hand to his face. “You know, I really didn’t have to fly to other countries for events that didn’t even have 2NE1 as visiting artists just for you. The least you could do is be a supportive boyfriend and wave around a white light stick.”
Sighing, Baekhyun looked away, figuring that the giant had a point. At the moment, it seemed somewhat surreal to him that he had practically negotiated the terms and conditions of their new relationship. He wasn’t exactly sure if there was really something there on his behalf despite knowing that Chanyeol was damn sure about wanting to romantically court him for reasons beyond Baekhyun’s human understanding. However, it wasn’t as though he really hated the curly haired, snapback beanstalk, and the blonde had already promised that their relationship would end up nothing like their dream.
Baekhyun figured he might as well give it a try.
After a while of not speaking to each other, Baekhyun looked up at Chanyeol again. The giant must’ve felt eyes on him because he reciprocated the action and looked down. Remembering the child in the aisle seat, Baekhyun finally asked out of curiosity, “Who’s the kid?”
Looking back at the kid next to him, Chanyeol shrugged as he turned his face back at Baekhyun. “I don’t know. I kind of paid him to be my pretend-brother.” When it became obvious that the brunet was no longer following, the taller male bobbled his head from side to side. “I might’ve told the attendant we were all brothers and that we got separated by the ticket clerk. Family has to stick together, I told her.”
Blankly looking at Chanyeol, Baekhyun quirked his brows. “You told her we were brothers?”
“Yeah,” Chanyeol said indifferently as he shrugged. Then as he gave Baekhyun a sharp look, he smirked.
“Don’t get me wrong. I might’ve told her we were brothers, but the things that I want to do you are extremely dirty.”
Closing his eyes, Baekhyun inwardly groaned as he hit his head against the window, thinking about how long of a flight he had to endure. He stayed that way even when he heard Chanyeol laughing and felt the giant’s large hands sliding their way over his and holding onto them. Although the giant might’ve expected it, the runt didn’t pull away.
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“Study.”
“No, I have to get the orders for the manufacturers done.”
“Baekhyun.”
“No.”
Getting off the brunet’s bed, Chanyeol moved to where the small male was hunched over with his computer on the floor. Sliding down beside him, the giant slanted his shoulders down as he tilted his head to try and see what was on Baekhyun’s screen. “I see that you have a tab open on word document. Could that be your Econ paper?”
“Maybe,” Baekhyun said distractedly as he filled out forms, checking back and forth to write down the orders correctly.
“How done are you?”
“Almost.”
The answer came too dismissively that Chanyeol scoffed. Taking the laptop off Baekhyun’s lap, Chanyeol took it into his position, pulling a flash drive from his back pocket and sticking it inside the device. When Baekhyun tried to take it back, Chanyeol turned his body to block his attempt.
“What’re you trying to do? I have things to do!” Baekhyun whined, getting on his knees and trying harder to retrieve the laptop back.
“Calm your horses, runt!” Chanyeol said loudly. Within a few seconds, he unplugged the flash drive and gently pushed Baekhyun back on his butt. “Here.”
Staring at the flash drive in the giant’s hand, Baekhyun frowned. “What a stupid looking thing,” he mumbled, commenting on the banana appearance of the small piece of technology.
Rolling his eyes, Chanyeol took one of Baekhyun’s hands and forced him to take it. “My laptop’s underneath my bed, next to the condoms you haven’t given me the chance to use yet.”
Baekhyun’s jaw unhinged, hanging for a few seconds before Chanyeol used two of his fingers to lift the smaller male’s chin back up. “Your essay’s on it. Go work on it. I’ll do your orders.” As Baekhyun failed to reply, the giant smiled. “You can say thank you.”
“I don’t need your help,” the brunet mumbled.
“Your mouth says no, but your grades cry ‘daddy’,” Chanyeol laughed, shaking his head. “Stop being a little stubborn short muffin and go do your homework. You procrastinate more than I do.”
Groaning in reply, Baekhyun held onto the drive tightly in his hand as he scrambled to his feet. Fixing his shirt, he huffed. “Fine,” he said under his breath, turning to the door. “Don’t mess up the orders. I’ll kill you.”
“Cross my heart and hope to die, babe,” Chanyeol said, blowing his gum up into a bubble before letting it pop.
Baekhyun pursed his lips and snorted as he turned away in disgust.
But he wasn’t disgusted at all. In fact, he didn’t mind the giant’s habits anymore, though it wasn’t like he was going to admit it. He would rather have Sunny’s breasts deflate than to admit anything to the giant.
The brunet was that stubborn.
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“What the hell…”
“What?”
“You have pictures of me on this fucking flash drive-oh god, I didn’t do my hair that day.”
“Still looked amazing.”
“Shut up…you cheap creeper.”