MORE THAN JUST HAUTE COUTURE for AEMILLA
For: aemilla
Title: More than just haute couture
Pairing(s): Chanyeol/Tao,[Spoiler]side!Baekhyun/Sanghyuk (VIXX), side!Kyungsoo/Jaehwan (VIXX), side!Hakyeon/Wonshik (VIXX), Taekwoon/Hongbin (VIXX) if you squint
Rating: PG-13
Length: 5089 words
Summary: It’s difficult for Chanyeol to tell what’s harder: to win the program or to hold back his feelings. Project Runway!AU
Author's note: Hiiiiiiiiii! So here I am after all the pairings related asks I sent you C: the story didn’t end up as I imagined and planned it to be but I really hope you like it, Project Runway was one of the shows I avidly watched when I was younger haha so this was pretty fun to write :D in another note, I’m sorry for shoving VIXX so enthusiastically into the story omg I couldn’t resist lol Thank you mod for being so patient with me, I’m like, the ultimate late participant, kudos for you if you decide to read this story because this is a mess of nothing and I’m not creative so yeah, I’m sorry but I still had a lot of fun writing it :D Do enjoy!
Chanyeol remembers how he used to watch that fashion program when he was little.
Not - only - because Heidi Klum looked good (he’d later realize that he didn’t like girls that much), but, also, because he was marveled at the possibility of being able to design clothes and work with important people - to see them wearing something he made himself.
That was something Chanyeol liked pretty much. His a-little-more-than-the-usual self centered ambitions liked the idea as well.
And after watching about, four whole seasons of the program, Chanyeol decided that, yes, he wanted to be a fashion designer too. He asked his sister to use her sewing machine, which surprisingly was replied with a yes, just don’t ruin or do anything dumb with it and that was the start of everything.
Chanyeol started from little things, like something for his mother’s dog, to bigger ones, he even made his sister’s graduation dress.
Being known out there is Chanyeol’s biggest dream, he spent his whole teenage life inside his room, only leaving to go to school and buy all the fabric, buttons, thread and whatever he needed to make something that was wearable.
And that’s how, him, Park Chanyeol, for more than surprising that it is (and also trying to prove himself to his mother, because ever since he decided to follow this path - and come out - the only person who supported him was his sister, Yura), finds himself as one of the five remaining contestants on Project Runway Korea - there’s no Heidi Klum, but Chanyeol thinks he can live with it.
The first time he read about the korean version of his ultimate favorite tv show, or saw an advertising somewhere, he almost screamed, as far as he remembers, he was at work, it’s been a little more than a year and, different from the majority of the kids at his major - fashion designing and everything he ever wanted -, he wasn’t filthy rich to start his own brand. The chance just fell from heaven and went straight to his lap.
Until now, it has been a tough path, Chanyeol was in the line sometimes, on the verge of being eliminated, but he’s still here and that’s what really matters.
The remaining ones are Byun Baekhyun, also known as the master when it comes to making dresses - and who’s secretly, but not so secretly dating the model that he always chooses, Han Sanghyuk, he used to only get the female models to wear his pieces, but ever since the kid became part of the model’s team, he’d been going for male outfits.
Huang Zitao, skilled with his hands and imagination, his creations follow a pattern: impeccable.
Do Kyungsoo, who doesn’t really look like someone who would choose fashion for a living, but is here, steady and strong - and just like Baekhyun, kind of going out with Lee Jaehwan, the opposite of him. Jaehwan’s personality is bright and he’s always happy, maybe that’s why Kyungsoo likes him so much - but the big difference about Kyungsoo and Baekhyun is that he’s not obvious as fuck.
Cha Hakyeon, the most serious among them, he doesn’t have the time to what most contestants are doing, dating. Though, that model with the pastel hair colour, Kim Wonshik, keeps on shamelessly hinting interest on him and Hakyeon is oblivious to it or he just doesn’t want to correspond or react to his attempts.
The funniest part is that their in-show contract says no dating among contestants and every single one of them found a gap in it: models are not really contestants.
Chanyeol can only laugh, bitterly.
The reason is simple, Huang Zitao is a contestant and so is Chanyeol.
And now that there’s only five people running to the final, the production decided to put everybody inside one house, different from when they were separated into smaller teams to share an apartment.
Chanyeol thinks that he’s so lucky, but extremely unlucky at the same time. He just can’t believe that when he’s nearing the end, this happens, how did he let this happen? He’s recently pulling his hair out more than he already was, trying to distract his mind and pay attention to why he’s here and focus on everything.
It’s almost the end. He’s almost there, even if he doesn’t win, maybe he can have a chance with Zitao after the program, but the current problem is: Chanyeol is on the verge of exploding, it’s like he can’t hold it back. Every time they’re in the house, preparing themselves for the last challenge or simply watching television, even having a quiet lunch or dinner, Chanyeol is staring. Baekhyun once approached him and asked is there something on Zitao’s face or are the hearts on your eyes giving everything away?, Chanyeol snorted and waved him away.
Baekhyun snickered at him before leaving his room.
It’s almost there, they gave the participants a week to get ready for their last ‘mission’ and there are three remaining days. The tension is taking over the place and Chanyeol is feeling more and more uneasy.
Uneasy because he’s not that worried. Not like Hakyeon, who rarely leaves his room, only to use the bathroom and eat something or Kyungsoo, who’s busy carrying papers and more papers around, dark circles under his eyes and a tired expression following everywhere he goes.
Baekhyun is the same as him, more worried about what Sanghyuk would think about the pair of shoes he’s wearing than anything else.
And Zitao, oh Zitao, silly Chanyeol, worrying more about how Zitao’s going than about himself.
Zitao is as great as he always is, not too worried and not too calm too - that’s actually how he usually is, Chanyeol is over thinking way too much.
Chanyeol can only be grateful that no major drama is happening among the contestants, because after all the seasons he watched from the original one, he was worried someone would explode - or sabotage - and accuse others of nothing and make a scene out of it.
Chanyeol hopes that he’ll manage to keep contact with them once the show is over, even one of the eliminated participants - Park Hyungsik - exchanged numbers with him.
Two remaining days and Chanyeol is finally trying to focus on something, it’s hard, but he just has to - try to - block whatever is coming his way to distract him.
Apparently Baekhyun thinks that he’s Chanyeol’s best friend or something, coming to his room whenever he wants to ramble about Sanghyuk holding his hand or how he already has things in mind for the final challenge, but he’s not sure what the said challenge would be (of course you don’t know, none us us do).
It’s funny to think about it, because if Chanyeol doesn’t win, he knows that he made more friends in these past three months than in his whole lifetime.
“So are you finally telling me that you have a thing for Zitao?” Baekhyun says out of nowhere at this same day. “Please, tell me, so I can try to set you two up.”
“Baekhyun,” Chanyeol says, calmly. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Helping my best friend?” he pouts and Chanyeol shakes his head, pushing Baekhyun out of his bed. “Hey, don’t do this, you’re going to wrinkle my outfit.”
“I don’t like him,” Chanyeol starts and Baekhyun turns his head to look at him, mouth pressed into a firm line with a judging stare. “Maybe a little.”
Baekhyun raises a brow and scoffs, getting up because, apparently, Chanyeol succeed on throwing him out of his bed, directly to the carpet. He gives lights pats on his pants to get rid of some dust that glued to it, all of this while still staring at Chanyeol.
"Anyway," Baekhyun starts sitting again. "I'm actually here to tell you that since tomorrow is almost our last day here, we're going to celebrate with food and wine! And you have to come."
"You guys will make me cook." Chanyeol snorts and yawns, it's not too late, but be has been feeling tired, maybe he's worrying too much.
“Of course, do you think we know how to even make rice?” Baekhyun laughs and gives Chanyeol’s knee a light pat. “See you tomorrow.”
When Baekhyun closes the door, Chanyeol throws one of the nearest pillows towards it, he knows he wouldn’t hit his friend, but he’s too frustrated, he just needed to discount his anger on something that wouldn’t get hurt or sad.
The next day is, weird? Chanyeol thinks it is, he wakes up to Baekhyun being dumb in the kitchen, dropping a bowl of cereal and breaking it in half. Hakyeon is suddenly blasting Beyoncé from his room and Kyungsoo is watching cartoons in the living room and screaming at the television, if Chanyeol is not at some kind of madhouse, he doesn’t know where he currently is.
“What is happening?” Chanyeol screams to Baekhyun, trying to be louder than Beyoncé and Pororo’s opening song.
“I don’t know!” he screams back and attempts to clean the kitchen floor. “They’re just being themselves.”
“And where's Zitao?” Chanyeol whispers, but Baekhyun doesn’t miss his words and if he does, he knows Chanyeol too well to point his fingers towards the roof, meaning that Zitao is not inside the apartment.
Chanyeol mouths him ‘thanks’ before leaving the room, passing by an angry Kyungsoo and he hears a door slamming, it must be Hakyeon.
Who needs elevators?, Chanyeol thinks to himself and skips his way to the roof, two steps at time. He doesn’t think much about his actions - that’s one of his characteristics as a designer too, he doesn’t plan it a lot, he just...does it - he silently pushes the heavy door and the wind hits his face.
Different from his usual loud self, Chanyeol manages to stay unnoticed, staring at Zitao’s back, dark hair moving because of the same cold wind that entered in contact with his face a few seconds ago.
Chanyeol doesn’t know how long he stays there, just looking. Maybe it’s until he sees that Zitao is too close to the edge, looking down at something and Chanyeol thinks that this is dangerous. He contemplates barging into the rooftop and pulling Zitao back to the apartment, where it’s less deadly and where they can avoid catching a cold.
But Zitao sighs from his place and Chanyeol senses that he’ll probably go back inside, he runs without making a sound, just like when he arrived, and when he pushes the door for the apartment, breathless from running all the way - he took the stairs again -, he leans against the kitchen counter, catching his breath and watching as Baekhyun is still there, trying to gather the shrapnel carefully.
“What the hell is up to you all today?” Chanyeol complains when Baekhyun is finally done, the kitchen finally clean and safe. “It looks like some wave of bad luck is washing over this place. Well, not really because a part of it is being caused by a few people, but I think you got it.”
“This is bullshit,” Hakyeon says, Chanyeol didn’t notice that the loud music was gone when he entered the apartment, but may God bless, because he had enough of that. Chanyeol watches as Hakyeon furiously opens the fridge and closes the door right after. “Absolute bullshit, there is no food here. How do you expect me to survive?”
“Go out and buy food,” Kyungsoo appears from the living room, the sound of the television is gone and he looks tired, it looks like he marathoned Pororo the whole night and didn’t get any sleep - maybe he did -, or maybe he spent it texting Jaehwan. “You have a credit card and your boyfriend has a car.”
“Shut up.” Hakyeon grunts and ends up drinking a glass of water.
“Anyway, I’m going out, got better things to do instead of staring at your faces the whole day, I’ll be back later for the dinner, I’m anticipating the food and the wine,” Kyungsoo says and eyes all of them, one person in special. “Right, Chanyeol?”
Chanyeol scoffs, he didn’t offer to cook or anything, but he just knows that he’d end up being the chosen one. When Kyungsoo leaves the place with only his wallet in hands, Zitao passes by the door at the same time as him, looking at all of them quietly and then heading to his own room. Baekhyun turns his head to stare at Chanyeol, but Chanyeol averts his eyes, patting his pocket to see if his wallet and phone are with him before he walks out of the apartment without saying anything.
Well, he doesn’t need to tell all of them that he’s going out to buy the food for their dinner.
When he’s exiting the building he bumps into the pastel blue haired man Wonshik, both stumble and regain their balance quite quickly, shaking hands and Chanyeol asks him where he’s going.
“Nowhere, really. I was actually going to knock on the door of your apartment and ask if you guys were busy tonight.” Wonshik says and Chanyeol smiles, great, he can bring Wonshik to the grocery store with him.
“Well,” Chanyeol starts. “You can come have dinner with us tonight, do you want to? We need to go buy food first though.”
Wonshik looks at him, surprised, but then he smiles, telling Chanyeol that, yes, he’d love to. Chanyeol nudges him and both start walking towards a good place to choose the food for their dinner.
“How are things going with Zitao? You know?” Chanyeol groans in the middle of the place when Wonshik speaks those words to him. “I’m sorry, did I say something wrong?”
Chanyeol rubs his temples and Wonshik stares at him.
“Ohh so you guys are still in bad terms?”
“What?” Chanyeol asks confused, he’s the one pushing the cart and, right now, he’s trying not to crash it against anything.
“So you guys are not together? Interesting, I was quite sure you two were dating. I’m sorry about my words, feel free to ignore it.” Wonshik walks ahead of him, looking for the sauce while Chanyeol is left behind staring at cereal boxes.
“Wait!” Chanyeol finally comes back to Earth. “Kim Wonshik, you come back here.”
Wonshik cackles all the way to the vegetables section with Chanyeol trying to run after him while avoiding the shelves full of glassware.
“I hate you bro,” Chanyeol tells Wonshik when he’s taking his credit card out of his wallet to pay for all the food. “Now you have to carry 70% of the groceries by youself.”
“I don’t care, I’m strong, different from you who’s going to carry the lettuce.” Chanyeol snorts, punching in the password and both leave the place, it’s not even near dinner time, Chanyeol knows he woke up late, mostly because yesterday he ended up going to sleep late - actually all of them did, some didn’t, like Hakyeon, but Hakyeon always wakes up early - and now that he stops to think about it, he didn’t eat anything ever since he left his bed and he’s probably not going to eat anything until dinner starts.
Much to his disliking, Wonshik is right, Chanyeol ends up carrying the light stuff while Wonshik carries the meat and related. Luckily enough, the building is not that far and they’re back quickly. Chanyeol opens the door and lets Wonshik enter the apartment first, after all he was a lot of help and that’s the least he could do.
“What is he doing here? We’re not working yet,” Hakyeons says from the couch, arms wrapped around his legs while he watches some random movie Chanyeol doesn’t care about. “Did you bring food, Chanyeol?”
“Yeah,” Chanyeol replies and Hakyeon looks at him, jumping out of the couch and walking up to him and Wonshik. “What did you buy?”
“Dinner.” Chanyeol says and takes the bags out of Wonshik’s hands, thanking him silently and Hakyeon trails after him, demanding answers and to why there’s nothing that he can eat now. “Stop being like this, just go back to your movie or there will be no dinner for you.”
“You wouldn’t dare.” Hakyeon narrows his eyes at him, lips curling down and he pouts, Chanyeol watches as Wonshik presses his lips into a line, trying not to smile like an idiot.
“You can wait to see if I would,“Chanyeol replies, done with putting all the food at its right places. “But seriously, just wait, if you want me to take care of our last dinner together before we’re competing against each other, I advise you to sit down and be patient.”
Hakyeon huffs and Chanyeol makes a sign with his head to Wonshik, take him out of here, NOW, Wonshik gets the message and tries to make Hakyeon go back to the living room without touching him or pissing him off.
Now that Chanyeol is at peace, he looks at the clock hanging on the kitchen wall, five in the afternoon, it’s enough for him to set the barbecue on the terrace and take care of the other foods that aren’t the meat that needs to grill perfectly.
There is no sign of the presence of Zitao or Baekhyun or even Kyungsoo - of course, he’s out. Baekhyun is probably babysitting Sanghyuk - Chanyeol likes to joke because well, Sanghyuk still looks and acts like a kid most of the time, so the two nerds are most likely having fun at the playground -, he also imagines Kyungsoo to be out somewhere with Jaehwan, walking around in the park sounds like them, Kyungsoo just being quiet while Jaehwan brings a sketchbook with him and silently draws Kyungsoo without his boyfriend noticing - Chanyeol knows because he already witnessed it happening - and Zitao is probably sleeping right now, he looked tired earlier - Chanyeol can tell because the door to his room is closed while the others are all opened.
While Chanyeol makes his assumptions, he plans what he’s going to do for dinner, aside from the barbecue, he should just make some rice and a huge pot of kimchi stew.
That’s what he’s going to do anyway, so Chanyeol takes the food he just put into place out again, sighing, he should’ve thought about it before, but whatever.
He washes and chops them the way he’s used to, helping back at home was good in a way, Yura taught him a lot of things and he’s glad his sister was of so much help, for basically everything.
Halfway done with the stew, Chanyeol is slow at this, trying to make everything perfectly is a blessing and a curse, but it makes time pass faster, so at the moment it’s something good. He calls Wonshik and his friend comes running with a smile.
“Can you set the barbecue grill for me? I’ll be done here in a few and then we can call all the boys,” Wonshik nods and runs to the porch where everything is waiting to be used, it’s actually been there for a long time, but they never had the chance to use it. “Hakyeon, you too.”
Hakyeon groans, but Chanyeol watches as he follows Wonshik’s steps.
Kyungsoo arrives right on time and so does Baekhyun, Sanghyuk and Jaehwan end up joining them, Baekhyun makes sure to not let Sanghyuk touch any glass of wine, giving him coke as Sanghyuk whines about being an adult already.
Zitao appears with his hair wet, apparently he just got out of shower and Chanyeol stares, Wonshik pokes him on the shoulder, stopping him from embarrassing himself any further. They eat and drink, a lot. Kyungsoo drinks so much that he ends up passed out on the floor with Jaehwan laughing at his face, lucky him that Kyungsoo is not seeing this or he’d be screwed.
Hakyeon dances to no music, it’s late right now and they’re not allowed to disturb the neighborhood, Wonshik watches him with an embarrassed expression, shoving the already grilled meat into his mouth and Chanyeol snickers at him.
Sanghyuk and Baekhyun are both surviving out of coke, for Kyungsoo’s happiness because he ended up having all of their share of the wine, but he’s not conscious anymore, it doesn’t matter. Zitao is eating, quietly, appreciating the food and nodding at the taste, Chanyeol’s eating too and Wonshik is pretty sober, Jaehwan is pissy drunk, laughing and making jokes that all of them are ignoring, next thing he’s going to talk to a wall and pass out like Kyungsoo.
Wonshik sits next to Chanyeol and pokes him with his chopsticks.
“Yo,” he says, mouth full and Chanyeol makes a face at him, rude. “I have a question and something to tell you.”
“Spill it.” Chanyeol replies, drinking a glass of water, he’s not very fond of alcohol and the effect it has on his brain and body so he’s not having it.
“Are you going to make a move on Zitao over there anytime soon? Also, I know you guys like to make fun of me for liking Hakyeon who’s obviously not interested, but you do know that we’ve been dating for like, a whole damn year, right? He’s just stupid.” Wonshik says, pointing at Zitao with his head and them looking over at Hakyeon being ridiculous. “Back at college when he took fashion designing and I was a music major, I was his model like I am now, but in the end I didn’t follow what I was bounded to and here I am, being a model with too much brain compared to some.”
Both turn their heads to stare at Jaehwan who’s already lying flat to the ground.
Chanyeol processes Wonshik’s words, he should've known about Hakyeon and Wonshik, but the actual important part is the one about him and Zitao, he doesn’t want to make things awkward, besides, this would be a distraction to Zitao during the final.
“Maybe when everything is over, you know?” Chanyeol tells Wonshik and he nods.
“It sounds a lot more clever,” Wonshik says and empties his plate. “It’s getting late, I think I’m going to my room to sleep.”
Chanyeol watches as Wonshik gets up and pats Hakyeon in the back, bidding him goodbye with a wave of his hand. With a sigh, Chanyeol holds his head in his hands and then he lifts it, bastard, Wonshik left without helping him clean the dishes, he’ll have to do it all by himself because the rest look like they’re about to die.
(Zitao is not at the porch anymore, Chanyeol notices when it’s a little too late.)
The next day Kyungsoo wakes up complaining of a headache and neck pain, Jaehwan is at the couch, Chanyeol had the decency to find a place for him to sleep, Sanghyuk left to his own room last night - possibly rooming with Wonshik, Jaehwan and the other models like Hongbin or Taekwoon - and Baekhyun is up early, eating his daily bowl of cereal with cold milk, Chanyeol gets himself a toast with butter and munches in it while he watches Kyungsoo throw a fit at everything around him.
It’s going to get busy when the clock hits nine in the morning.
(Chanyeol is amazed that all of them woke up in time.)
Zitao is drinking a mug of tea with a smile on his face.
“Dinner was nice yesterday,” he tells Chanyeol while he has the mug in front of his face and Chanyeol the toast on his mouth, Chanyeol nods, trying not to choke on the food. “Thanks.”
“Don’t need to thank me,” Chanyeol replies, smiling back, but covering his mouth a little. “My pleasure, I’m glad all of us had the chance to eat together for the last time.”
“I thought the last challenge would take more than a day like the other ones, but apparently it’ll be quickly, I’m nervous.” ZItao says and Chanyeol pats his back.
“Everything will be okay if you believe,” Chanyeol says and ends up snorting at his own words. “I’m sorry, this sounded ridiculous, like it was taken out of one of those american movies. My apologies, I tried.”
Zitao laughs and gets up, placing his mug on the sink and going back to his previous place.
“Thank you.” he says before leaving to his room to get changed.
Chanyeol feels like a dead weight was lifted away from him. Baekhyun watches him from his spot with a smile.
Chanyeol doesn’t like to brag, but the last challenge is what he’s best at, not super great, but he’s better at making dresses out of everything ever since he was little.
This means that this time, they’re using female models, unless some of the boys offer to wear the dresses, but he thinks none will want - aside from Hongbin at the side that looks excited, but ends up holding himself, only sitting next to Taekwoon and shutting his mouth, Taekwoon looks at Hongbin suspiciously, but forgets about it soon.
Chanyeol only observes, he’s not that nervous, is this a good or a bad sign?
There are five smaller tables around a bigger one, the bigger one is filled with different kinds of materials and clothing fabric next to it. They’re directed to a table each and the host explains everything. They have five hours to finish their piece and dress their models, Chanyeol sights Sanghyuk pouting at the other side of the room, along with Jaehwan laughing silently at Kyungsoo's face.
Yeah, okay, it doesn’t sound hard and Chanyeol hopes he’ll succeed.
Time flies, it really does, Chanyeol finishes sewing and planning the dress quite quickly, he’d never been the type to sketch it all before getting into action, so he has it all inside his head, he measured the model up and down, everything will be okay, Im Jinah is absolutely flawless and Chanyeol also thinks that he’s lucky that he got such model, though, Zitao doesn’t look really happy at it, maybe he was the one that wanted Jinah as his model.
Chanyeol ends up making a red silked layered short strapless dress, adding those other materials at the center of the table - which is the main purpose of the challenge, make something normal and turn it unique with what he has in hand, - it looks nice and it looks even nicer when Jinah wears it, her blond hair highlights it and it looks like one of the best things Chanyeol ever made.
The judges make no ceremony too, everything ends too quickly, first Jinah is modelling, the other, Go Soo Hyun - the host - is announcing the winner, loud cheering is heard and Chanyeol is happy.
He didn’t win, neither did Zitao, but oh well, one can’t have anything. Byun Baekhyun goes up the stage in almost tears - he says his eyes are hurting from sewing too closely, but that’s bullshit.
Baekhyun gets a mentorship with one of those big brands in South Korea, added to a check with a good amount for him to start his own brand.
Baekhyun’s going to throw a last party at the apartment later.
When Baekhyun said party, Chanyeol didn’t imagine all of them + a few models eating pizza and drinking coke - optional is water.
“Congratulations,” Chanyeol says for the nth time to his friend. “I knew you could do it.”
“Thanks man,” Baekhyun replies slinging an arm around Chanyeol’s shoulder. “I’ve been thinking about something,” he says and motions for Chanyeol to take a seat at the same time he does. “If I was to win, I thought about asking you to come work with me, whatcha think?”
“Me?” Chanyeol asks pointing at himself and Baekhyun nods at him with a grin all over his face. “Are you sure?”
“Of course, you’re my best friend and you’re a great fashion designer,” Baekhyun pats Chanyeol’s knee and gets up, pulling him up with him. “Now now,” he says tapping his fingers against Chanyeol’s head. “You go and talk to Zitao, we can talk about business later.”
The hard shove Baekhyun gives Chanyeol almost makes him stumble, but Chanyeol is not a fool - at least not that much of a fool -, he runs a hand through his hair and sights Zitao sat outside staring at the sky.
He takes a chair with him and sits by his side without making any sound or speaking any word, Zitao looks at him and them focuses back to the night sky.
“Thought you’d win,” Zitao breaks the silence and Chanyeol sighs. “I also never thought I’d come until this point of the competition, that was quite an experience.”
Chanyeol nods and raises a finger, ready to say something when Zitao beats him to it.
“Do you want to go out sometime?” Zitao says while he hides his hands into the pocket of his jacket. “I don’t know if you noticed, but I kind of like you, it’s been a while and I thought you didn’t talk a lot to me because you didn’t want anything to do with me, I don’t even know, I’m also a coward so that’s another negative point, I don’t know, would you like to? Maybe someday, it doesn’t need to be now or tomorrow, it doesn’t even need to be next week, I just wanted to be friends with you before I can ask for more.”
“Are you sure you want to go out with a loser?” Chanyeol jokes and gets up, Zitao follows his movements and nears him, taking his hand and smiling.
“Yes, that’d be a great idea.”
At this very moment Chanyeol thinks back about that one time that Wonshik asked him about him and Zitao. Maybe he was so busy looking at Zitao, worried that he wouldn’t like him back that he missed Zitao looking at him the same way. Maybe it was obvious to all of them minus the ones involved - it’s always like this.
Chanyeol is glad things went this way because like this, everything feels at place, even if it took longer to be settled.
Chanyeol is happy, everything feels right.
Especially Zitao smiling at him and holding his hand.
The sound of chatter inside the house is inviting and so is the food, Chanyeol concludes that yes, this was the best experience of his whole life.
Title: More than just haute couture
Pairing(s): Chanyeol/Tao,[Spoiler]side!Baekhyun/Sanghyuk (VIXX), side!Kyungsoo/Jaehwan (VIXX), side!Hakyeon/Wonshik (VIXX), Taekwoon/Hongbin (VIXX) if you squint
Rating: PG-13
Length: 5089 words
Summary: It’s difficult for Chanyeol to tell what’s harder: to win the program or to hold back his feelings. Project Runway!AU
Author's note: Hiiiiiiiiii! So here I am after all the pairings related asks I sent you C: the story didn’t end up as I imagined and planned it to be but I really hope you like it, Project Runway was one of the shows I avidly watched when I was younger haha so this was pretty fun to write :D in another note, I’m sorry for shoving VIXX so enthusiastically into the story omg I couldn’t resist lol Thank you mod for being so patient with me, I’m like, the ultimate late participant, kudos for you if you decide to read this story because this is a mess of nothing and I’m not creative so yeah, I’m sorry but I still had a lot of fun writing it :D Do enjoy!
Chanyeol remembers how he used to watch that fashion program when he was little.
Not - only - because Heidi Klum looked good (he’d later realize that he didn’t like girls that much), but, also, because he was marveled at the possibility of being able to design clothes and work with important people - to see them wearing something he made himself.
That was something Chanyeol liked pretty much. His a-little-more-than-the-usual self centered ambitions liked the idea as well.
And after watching about, four whole seasons of the program, Chanyeol decided that, yes, he wanted to be a fashion designer too. He asked his sister to use her sewing machine, which surprisingly was replied with a yes, just don’t ruin or do anything dumb with it and that was the start of everything.
Chanyeol started from little things, like something for his mother’s dog, to bigger ones, he even made his sister’s graduation dress.
Being known out there is Chanyeol’s biggest dream, he spent his whole teenage life inside his room, only leaving to go to school and buy all the fabric, buttons, thread and whatever he needed to make something that was wearable.
And that’s how, him, Park Chanyeol, for more than surprising that it is (and also trying to prove himself to his mother, because ever since he decided to follow this path - and come out - the only person who supported him was his sister, Yura), finds himself as one of the five remaining contestants on Project Runway Korea - there’s no Heidi Klum, but Chanyeol thinks he can live with it.
The first time he read about the korean version of his ultimate favorite tv show, or saw an advertising somewhere, he almost screamed, as far as he remembers, he was at work, it’s been a little more than a year and, different from the majority of the kids at his major - fashion designing and everything he ever wanted -, he wasn’t filthy rich to start his own brand. The chance just fell from heaven and went straight to his lap.
Until now, it has been a tough path, Chanyeol was in the line sometimes, on the verge of being eliminated, but he’s still here and that’s what really matters.
The remaining ones are Byun Baekhyun, also known as the master when it comes to making dresses - and who’s secretly, but not so secretly dating the model that he always chooses, Han Sanghyuk, he used to only get the female models to wear his pieces, but ever since the kid became part of the model’s team, he’d been going for male outfits.
Huang Zitao, skilled with his hands and imagination, his creations follow a pattern: impeccable.
Do Kyungsoo, who doesn’t really look like someone who would choose fashion for a living, but is here, steady and strong - and just like Baekhyun, kind of going out with Lee Jaehwan, the opposite of him. Jaehwan’s personality is bright and he’s always happy, maybe that’s why Kyungsoo likes him so much - but the big difference about Kyungsoo and Baekhyun is that he’s not obvious as fuck.
Cha Hakyeon, the most serious among them, he doesn’t have the time to what most contestants are doing, dating. Though, that model with the pastel hair colour, Kim Wonshik, keeps on shamelessly hinting interest on him and Hakyeon is oblivious to it or he just doesn’t want to correspond or react to his attempts.
The funniest part is that their in-show contract says no dating among contestants and every single one of them found a gap in it: models are not really contestants.
Chanyeol can only laugh, bitterly.
The reason is simple, Huang Zitao is a contestant and so is Chanyeol.
And now that there’s only five people running to the final, the production decided to put everybody inside one house, different from when they were separated into smaller teams to share an apartment.
Chanyeol thinks that he’s so lucky, but extremely unlucky at the same time. He just can’t believe that when he’s nearing the end, this happens, how did he let this happen? He’s recently pulling his hair out more than he already was, trying to distract his mind and pay attention to why he’s here and focus on everything.
It’s almost the end. He’s almost there, even if he doesn’t win, maybe he can have a chance with Zitao after the program, but the current problem is: Chanyeol is on the verge of exploding, it’s like he can’t hold it back. Every time they’re in the house, preparing themselves for the last challenge or simply watching television, even having a quiet lunch or dinner, Chanyeol is staring. Baekhyun once approached him and asked is there something on Zitao’s face or are the hearts on your eyes giving everything away?, Chanyeol snorted and waved him away.
Baekhyun snickered at him before leaving his room.
It’s almost there, they gave the participants a week to get ready for their last ‘mission’ and there are three remaining days. The tension is taking over the place and Chanyeol is feeling more and more uneasy.
Uneasy because he’s not that worried. Not like Hakyeon, who rarely leaves his room, only to use the bathroom and eat something or Kyungsoo, who’s busy carrying papers and more papers around, dark circles under his eyes and a tired expression following everywhere he goes.
Baekhyun is the same as him, more worried about what Sanghyuk would think about the pair of shoes he’s wearing than anything else.
And Zitao, oh Zitao, silly Chanyeol, worrying more about how Zitao’s going than about himself.
Zitao is as great as he always is, not too worried and not too calm too - that’s actually how he usually is, Chanyeol is over thinking way too much.
Chanyeol can only be grateful that no major drama is happening among the contestants, because after all the seasons he watched from the original one, he was worried someone would explode - or sabotage - and accuse others of nothing and make a scene out of it.
Chanyeol hopes that he’ll manage to keep contact with them once the show is over, even one of the eliminated participants - Park Hyungsik - exchanged numbers with him.
Two remaining days and Chanyeol is finally trying to focus on something, it’s hard, but he just has to - try to - block whatever is coming his way to distract him.
Apparently Baekhyun thinks that he’s Chanyeol’s best friend or something, coming to his room whenever he wants to ramble about Sanghyuk holding his hand or how he already has things in mind for the final challenge, but he’s not sure what the said challenge would be (of course you don’t know, none us us do).
It’s funny to think about it, because if Chanyeol doesn’t win, he knows that he made more friends in these past three months than in his whole lifetime.
“So are you finally telling me that you have a thing for Zitao?” Baekhyun says out of nowhere at this same day. “Please, tell me, so I can try to set you two up.”
“Baekhyun,” Chanyeol says, calmly. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Helping my best friend?” he pouts and Chanyeol shakes his head, pushing Baekhyun out of his bed. “Hey, don’t do this, you’re going to wrinkle my outfit.”
“I don’t like him,” Chanyeol starts and Baekhyun turns his head to look at him, mouth pressed into a firm line with a judging stare. “Maybe a little.”
Baekhyun raises a brow and scoffs, getting up because, apparently, Chanyeol succeed on throwing him out of his bed, directly to the carpet. He gives lights pats on his pants to get rid of some dust that glued to it, all of this while still staring at Chanyeol.
"Anyway," Baekhyun starts sitting again. "I'm actually here to tell you that since tomorrow is almost our last day here, we're going to celebrate with food and wine! And you have to come."
"You guys will make me cook." Chanyeol snorts and yawns, it's not too late, but be has been feeling tired, maybe he's worrying too much.
“Of course, do you think we know how to even make rice?” Baekhyun laughs and gives Chanyeol’s knee a light pat. “See you tomorrow.”
When Baekhyun closes the door, Chanyeol throws one of the nearest pillows towards it, he knows he wouldn’t hit his friend, but he’s too frustrated, he just needed to discount his anger on something that wouldn’t get hurt or sad.
The next day is, weird? Chanyeol thinks it is, he wakes up to Baekhyun being dumb in the kitchen, dropping a bowl of cereal and breaking it in half. Hakyeon is suddenly blasting Beyoncé from his room and Kyungsoo is watching cartoons in the living room and screaming at the television, if Chanyeol is not at some kind of madhouse, he doesn’t know where he currently is.
“What is happening?” Chanyeol screams to Baekhyun, trying to be louder than Beyoncé and Pororo’s opening song.
“I don’t know!” he screams back and attempts to clean the kitchen floor. “They’re just being themselves.”
“And where's Zitao?” Chanyeol whispers, but Baekhyun doesn’t miss his words and if he does, he knows Chanyeol too well to point his fingers towards the roof, meaning that Zitao is not inside the apartment.
Chanyeol mouths him ‘thanks’ before leaving the room, passing by an angry Kyungsoo and he hears a door slamming, it must be Hakyeon.
Who needs elevators?, Chanyeol thinks to himself and skips his way to the roof, two steps at time. He doesn’t think much about his actions - that’s one of his characteristics as a designer too, he doesn’t plan it a lot, he just...does it - he silently pushes the heavy door and the wind hits his face.
Different from his usual loud self, Chanyeol manages to stay unnoticed, staring at Zitao’s back, dark hair moving because of the same cold wind that entered in contact with his face a few seconds ago.
Chanyeol doesn’t know how long he stays there, just looking. Maybe it’s until he sees that Zitao is too close to the edge, looking down at something and Chanyeol thinks that this is dangerous. He contemplates barging into the rooftop and pulling Zitao back to the apartment, where it’s less deadly and where they can avoid catching a cold.
But Zitao sighs from his place and Chanyeol senses that he’ll probably go back inside, he runs without making a sound, just like when he arrived, and when he pushes the door for the apartment, breathless from running all the way - he took the stairs again -, he leans against the kitchen counter, catching his breath and watching as Baekhyun is still there, trying to gather the shrapnel carefully.
“What the hell is up to you all today?” Chanyeol complains when Baekhyun is finally done, the kitchen finally clean and safe. “It looks like some wave of bad luck is washing over this place. Well, not really because a part of it is being caused by a few people, but I think you got it.”
“This is bullshit,” Hakyeon says, Chanyeol didn’t notice that the loud music was gone when he entered the apartment, but may God bless, because he had enough of that. Chanyeol watches as Hakyeon furiously opens the fridge and closes the door right after. “Absolute bullshit, there is no food here. How do you expect me to survive?”
“Go out and buy food,” Kyungsoo appears from the living room, the sound of the television is gone and he looks tired, it looks like he marathoned Pororo the whole night and didn’t get any sleep - maybe he did -, or maybe he spent it texting Jaehwan. “You have a credit card and your boyfriend has a car.”
“Shut up.” Hakyeon grunts and ends up drinking a glass of water.
“Anyway, I’m going out, got better things to do instead of staring at your faces the whole day, I’ll be back later for the dinner, I’m anticipating the food and the wine,” Kyungsoo says and eyes all of them, one person in special. “Right, Chanyeol?”
Chanyeol scoffs, he didn’t offer to cook or anything, but he just knows that he’d end up being the chosen one. When Kyungsoo leaves the place with only his wallet in hands, Zitao passes by the door at the same time as him, looking at all of them quietly and then heading to his own room. Baekhyun turns his head to stare at Chanyeol, but Chanyeol averts his eyes, patting his pocket to see if his wallet and phone are with him before he walks out of the apartment without saying anything.
Well, he doesn’t need to tell all of them that he’s going out to buy the food for their dinner.
When he’s exiting the building he bumps into the pastel blue haired man Wonshik, both stumble and regain their balance quite quickly, shaking hands and Chanyeol asks him where he’s going.
“Nowhere, really. I was actually going to knock on the door of your apartment and ask if you guys were busy tonight.” Wonshik says and Chanyeol smiles, great, he can bring Wonshik to the grocery store with him.
“Well,” Chanyeol starts. “You can come have dinner with us tonight, do you want to? We need to go buy food first though.”
Wonshik looks at him, surprised, but then he smiles, telling Chanyeol that, yes, he’d love to. Chanyeol nudges him and both start walking towards a good place to choose the food for their dinner.
“How are things going with Zitao? You know?” Chanyeol groans in the middle of the place when Wonshik speaks those words to him. “I’m sorry, did I say something wrong?”
Chanyeol rubs his temples and Wonshik stares at him.
“Ohh so you guys are still in bad terms?”
“What?” Chanyeol asks confused, he’s the one pushing the cart and, right now, he’s trying not to crash it against anything.
“So you guys are not together? Interesting, I was quite sure you two were dating. I’m sorry about my words, feel free to ignore it.” Wonshik walks ahead of him, looking for the sauce while Chanyeol is left behind staring at cereal boxes.
“Wait!” Chanyeol finally comes back to Earth. “Kim Wonshik, you come back here.”
Wonshik cackles all the way to the vegetables section with Chanyeol trying to run after him while avoiding the shelves full of glassware.
“I hate you bro,” Chanyeol tells Wonshik when he’s taking his credit card out of his wallet to pay for all the food. “Now you have to carry 70% of the groceries by youself.”
“I don’t care, I’m strong, different from you who’s going to carry the lettuce.” Chanyeol snorts, punching in the password and both leave the place, it’s not even near dinner time, Chanyeol knows he woke up late, mostly because yesterday he ended up going to sleep late - actually all of them did, some didn’t, like Hakyeon, but Hakyeon always wakes up early - and now that he stops to think about it, he didn’t eat anything ever since he left his bed and he’s probably not going to eat anything until dinner starts.
Much to his disliking, Wonshik is right, Chanyeol ends up carrying the light stuff while Wonshik carries the meat and related. Luckily enough, the building is not that far and they’re back quickly. Chanyeol opens the door and lets Wonshik enter the apartment first, after all he was a lot of help and that’s the least he could do.
“What is he doing here? We’re not working yet,” Hakyeons says from the couch, arms wrapped around his legs while he watches some random movie Chanyeol doesn’t care about. “Did you bring food, Chanyeol?”
“Yeah,” Chanyeol replies and Hakyeon looks at him, jumping out of the couch and walking up to him and Wonshik. “What did you buy?”
“Dinner.” Chanyeol says and takes the bags out of Wonshik’s hands, thanking him silently and Hakyeon trails after him, demanding answers and to why there’s nothing that he can eat now. “Stop being like this, just go back to your movie or there will be no dinner for you.”
“You wouldn’t dare.” Hakyeon narrows his eyes at him, lips curling down and he pouts, Chanyeol watches as Wonshik presses his lips into a line, trying not to smile like an idiot.
“You can wait to see if I would,“Chanyeol replies, done with putting all the food at its right places. “But seriously, just wait, if you want me to take care of our last dinner together before we’re competing against each other, I advise you to sit down and be patient.”
Hakyeon huffs and Chanyeol makes a sign with his head to Wonshik, take him out of here, NOW, Wonshik gets the message and tries to make Hakyeon go back to the living room without touching him or pissing him off.
Now that Chanyeol is at peace, he looks at the clock hanging on the kitchen wall, five in the afternoon, it’s enough for him to set the barbecue on the terrace and take care of the other foods that aren’t the meat that needs to grill perfectly.
There is no sign of the presence of Zitao or Baekhyun or even Kyungsoo - of course, he’s out. Baekhyun is probably babysitting Sanghyuk - Chanyeol likes to joke because well, Sanghyuk still looks and acts like a kid most of the time, so the two nerds are most likely having fun at the playground -, he also imagines Kyungsoo to be out somewhere with Jaehwan, walking around in the park sounds like them, Kyungsoo just being quiet while Jaehwan brings a sketchbook with him and silently draws Kyungsoo without his boyfriend noticing - Chanyeol knows because he already witnessed it happening - and Zitao is probably sleeping right now, he looked tired earlier - Chanyeol can tell because the door to his room is closed while the others are all opened.
While Chanyeol makes his assumptions, he plans what he’s going to do for dinner, aside from the barbecue, he should just make some rice and a huge pot of kimchi stew.
That’s what he’s going to do anyway, so Chanyeol takes the food he just put into place out again, sighing, he should’ve thought about it before, but whatever.
He washes and chops them the way he’s used to, helping back at home was good in a way, Yura taught him a lot of things and he’s glad his sister was of so much help, for basically everything.
Halfway done with the stew, Chanyeol is slow at this, trying to make everything perfectly is a blessing and a curse, but it makes time pass faster, so at the moment it’s something good. He calls Wonshik and his friend comes running with a smile.
“Can you set the barbecue grill for me? I’ll be done here in a few and then we can call all the boys,” Wonshik nods and runs to the porch where everything is waiting to be used, it’s actually been there for a long time, but they never had the chance to use it. “Hakyeon, you too.”
Hakyeon groans, but Chanyeol watches as he follows Wonshik’s steps.
Kyungsoo arrives right on time and so does Baekhyun, Sanghyuk and Jaehwan end up joining them, Baekhyun makes sure to not let Sanghyuk touch any glass of wine, giving him coke as Sanghyuk whines about being an adult already.
Zitao appears with his hair wet, apparently he just got out of shower and Chanyeol stares, Wonshik pokes him on the shoulder, stopping him from embarrassing himself any further. They eat and drink, a lot. Kyungsoo drinks so much that he ends up passed out on the floor with Jaehwan laughing at his face, lucky him that Kyungsoo is not seeing this or he’d be screwed.
Hakyeon dances to no music, it’s late right now and they’re not allowed to disturb the neighborhood, Wonshik watches him with an embarrassed expression, shoving the already grilled meat into his mouth and Chanyeol snickers at him.
Sanghyuk and Baekhyun are both surviving out of coke, for Kyungsoo’s happiness because he ended up having all of their share of the wine, but he’s not conscious anymore, it doesn’t matter. Zitao is eating, quietly, appreciating the food and nodding at the taste, Chanyeol’s eating too and Wonshik is pretty sober, Jaehwan is pissy drunk, laughing and making jokes that all of them are ignoring, next thing he’s going to talk to a wall and pass out like Kyungsoo.
Wonshik sits next to Chanyeol and pokes him with his chopsticks.
“Yo,” he says, mouth full and Chanyeol makes a face at him, rude. “I have a question and something to tell you.”
“Spill it.” Chanyeol replies, drinking a glass of water, he’s not very fond of alcohol and the effect it has on his brain and body so he’s not having it.
“Are you going to make a move on Zitao over there anytime soon? Also, I know you guys like to make fun of me for liking Hakyeon who’s obviously not interested, but you do know that we’ve been dating for like, a whole damn year, right? He’s just stupid.” Wonshik says, pointing at Zitao with his head and them looking over at Hakyeon being ridiculous. “Back at college when he took fashion designing and I was a music major, I was his model like I am now, but in the end I didn’t follow what I was bounded to and here I am, being a model with too much brain compared to some.”
Both turn their heads to stare at Jaehwan who’s already lying flat to the ground.
Chanyeol processes Wonshik’s words, he should've known about Hakyeon and Wonshik, but the actual important part is the one about him and Zitao, he doesn’t want to make things awkward, besides, this would be a distraction to Zitao during the final.
“Maybe when everything is over, you know?” Chanyeol tells Wonshik and he nods.
“It sounds a lot more clever,” Wonshik says and empties his plate. “It’s getting late, I think I’m going to my room to sleep.”
Chanyeol watches as Wonshik gets up and pats Hakyeon in the back, bidding him goodbye with a wave of his hand. With a sigh, Chanyeol holds his head in his hands and then he lifts it, bastard, Wonshik left without helping him clean the dishes, he’ll have to do it all by himself because the rest look like they’re about to die.
(Zitao is not at the porch anymore, Chanyeol notices when it’s a little too late.)
The next day Kyungsoo wakes up complaining of a headache and neck pain, Jaehwan is at the couch, Chanyeol had the decency to find a place for him to sleep, Sanghyuk left to his own room last night - possibly rooming with Wonshik, Jaehwan and the other models like Hongbin or Taekwoon - and Baekhyun is up early, eating his daily bowl of cereal with cold milk, Chanyeol gets himself a toast with butter and munches in it while he watches Kyungsoo throw a fit at everything around him.
It’s going to get busy when the clock hits nine in the morning.
(Chanyeol is amazed that all of them woke up in time.)
Zitao is drinking a mug of tea with a smile on his face.
“Dinner was nice yesterday,” he tells Chanyeol while he has the mug in front of his face and Chanyeol the toast on his mouth, Chanyeol nods, trying not to choke on the food. “Thanks.”
“Don’t need to thank me,” Chanyeol replies, smiling back, but covering his mouth a little. “My pleasure, I’m glad all of us had the chance to eat together for the last time.”
“I thought the last challenge would take more than a day like the other ones, but apparently it’ll be quickly, I’m nervous.” ZItao says and Chanyeol pats his back.
“Everything will be okay if you believe,” Chanyeol says and ends up snorting at his own words. “I’m sorry, this sounded ridiculous, like it was taken out of one of those american movies. My apologies, I tried.”
Zitao laughs and gets up, placing his mug on the sink and going back to his previous place.
“Thank you.” he says before leaving to his room to get changed.
Chanyeol feels like a dead weight was lifted away from him. Baekhyun watches him from his spot with a smile.
Chanyeol doesn’t like to brag, but the last challenge is what he’s best at, not super great, but he’s better at making dresses out of everything ever since he was little.
This means that this time, they’re using female models, unless some of the boys offer to wear the dresses, but he thinks none will want - aside from Hongbin at the side that looks excited, but ends up holding himself, only sitting next to Taekwoon and shutting his mouth, Taekwoon looks at Hongbin suspiciously, but forgets about it soon.
Chanyeol only observes, he’s not that nervous, is this a good or a bad sign?
There are five smaller tables around a bigger one, the bigger one is filled with different kinds of materials and clothing fabric next to it. They’re directed to a table each and the host explains everything. They have five hours to finish their piece and dress their models, Chanyeol sights Sanghyuk pouting at the other side of the room, along with Jaehwan laughing silently at Kyungsoo's face.
Yeah, okay, it doesn’t sound hard and Chanyeol hopes he’ll succeed.
Time flies, it really does, Chanyeol finishes sewing and planning the dress quite quickly, he’d never been the type to sketch it all before getting into action, so he has it all inside his head, he measured the model up and down, everything will be okay, Im Jinah is absolutely flawless and Chanyeol also thinks that he’s lucky that he got such model, though, Zitao doesn’t look really happy at it, maybe he was the one that wanted Jinah as his model.
Chanyeol ends up making a red silked layered short strapless dress, adding those other materials at the center of the table - which is the main purpose of the challenge, make something normal and turn it unique with what he has in hand, - it looks nice and it looks even nicer when Jinah wears it, her blond hair highlights it and it looks like one of the best things Chanyeol ever made.
The judges make no ceremony too, everything ends too quickly, first Jinah is modelling, the other, Go Soo Hyun - the host - is announcing the winner, loud cheering is heard and Chanyeol is happy.
He didn’t win, neither did Zitao, but oh well, one can’t have anything. Byun Baekhyun goes up the stage in almost tears - he says his eyes are hurting from sewing too closely, but that’s bullshit.
Baekhyun gets a mentorship with one of those big brands in South Korea, added to a check with a good amount for him to start his own brand.
Baekhyun’s going to throw a last party at the apartment later.
When Baekhyun said party, Chanyeol didn’t imagine all of them + a few models eating pizza and drinking coke - optional is water.
“Congratulations,” Chanyeol says for the nth time to his friend. “I knew you could do it.”
“Thanks man,” Baekhyun replies slinging an arm around Chanyeol’s shoulder. “I’ve been thinking about something,” he says and motions for Chanyeol to take a seat at the same time he does. “If I was to win, I thought about asking you to come work with me, whatcha think?”
“Me?” Chanyeol asks pointing at himself and Baekhyun nods at him with a grin all over his face. “Are you sure?”
“Of course, you’re my best friend and you’re a great fashion designer,” Baekhyun pats Chanyeol’s knee and gets up, pulling him up with him. “Now now,” he says tapping his fingers against Chanyeol’s head. “You go and talk to Zitao, we can talk about business later.”
The hard shove Baekhyun gives Chanyeol almost makes him stumble, but Chanyeol is not a fool - at least not that much of a fool -, he runs a hand through his hair and sights Zitao sat outside staring at the sky.
He takes a chair with him and sits by his side without making any sound or speaking any word, Zitao looks at him and them focuses back to the night sky.
“Thought you’d win,” Zitao breaks the silence and Chanyeol sighs. “I also never thought I’d come until this point of the competition, that was quite an experience.”
Chanyeol nods and raises a finger, ready to say something when Zitao beats him to it.
“Do you want to go out sometime?” Zitao says while he hides his hands into the pocket of his jacket. “I don’t know if you noticed, but I kind of like you, it’s been a while and I thought you didn’t talk a lot to me because you didn’t want anything to do with me, I don’t even know, I’m also a coward so that’s another negative point, I don’t know, would you like to? Maybe someday, it doesn’t need to be now or tomorrow, it doesn’t even need to be next week, I just wanted to be friends with you before I can ask for more.”
“Are you sure you want to go out with a loser?” Chanyeol jokes and gets up, Zitao follows his movements and nears him, taking his hand and smiling.
“Yes, that’d be a great idea.”
At this very moment Chanyeol thinks back about that one time that Wonshik asked him about him and Zitao. Maybe he was so busy looking at Zitao, worried that he wouldn’t like him back that he missed Zitao looking at him the same way. Maybe it was obvious to all of them minus the ones involved - it’s always like this.
Chanyeol is glad things went this way because like this, everything feels at place, even if it took longer to be settled.
Chanyeol is happy, everything feels right.
Especially Zitao smiling at him and holding his hand.
The sound of chatter inside the house is inviting and so is the food, Chanyeol concludes that yes, this was the best experience of his whole life.