Betting everything for theperfnerd [1/3]
For: theperfnerd
Title: Betting Everything
Pairing(s): Chanyeol/Sehun, side! Kyungsoo/Minah
Rating: PG-13
Warning(s): Inclusion of Kris, Luhan and Tao
Length: 27.2k
Summary: Surviving life on the set of the latest Kris Wu indie romance film seems like it’s going to be a piece of cake until Chanyeol meets the too-hot-for-his-own-good director’s assistant.
“Would you like to explain to me why Sunyoung is currently crying her eyes out in the props trailer?” Joonmyun seethes.
“The outfit she brought me was for someone else’s character, hyung, I don’t know where her head’s been lately,” Chanyeol intones as he continues reading through today’s lines with utmost focus. Joonmyun sighs in exasperation. “On the contrary you probably do where it’s been, so do me a favor and ask her about it when you get the chance.”
“What? Why would I know?” Joonmyun stutters.
“Hyung, you really thought that I was unaware of the fact that you two fuck on the regular?” Chanyeol smirks. Joonmyun’s face turns an ugly shade of red.
“I’ll have you know, we’re actually in love. Have been for a while, in fact, thank you very much,” Joonmyun attempts.
“I really could care less. Just tell her to get her head in the game so I can do my job.”
“Would it kill you to ask nicely?” Joonmyun says, mostly to himself, as he stalks out of Chanyeol’s trailer.
Chanyeol takes a minute to think about this as he is once again left in silence. Ever since he shot to stardom after his breakout role in the Lee Taemin directed action film The Misconceptions of Me, Chanyeol hasn’t pressed the brake pedals on his career even once. The day that Park Chanyeol stood on stage, clutching his first ever Blue Dragon Award, was the day he swore that he would stop at nothing to become the very best. Five years and three Blue Dragons later, Chanyeol had definitely achieved his dreams.
Dubbed as the nation’s son in law by the South Korean masses, Chanyeol knows that he was blessed with a spotless public image. His work ethic in addition to the fact that he’s been booked back to back for the last five years has kept him from the dreaded scandals that some of his peers have faced. However, despite the fact that he had, in his precious fans’ opinions, a perfect personality, Chanyeol seemed to run into problems when it came to his name within the industry. In plain and simple terms, Chanyeol’s reputation within the Korean entertainment industry could be best described using his nickname: the plague.
At first, Chanyeol had sincerely attempted to appease the staff members of the various projects he worked on, but as time went on he started to realize that it simply wasn’t worth his time. Chanyeol was there to focus on his work, and if he was being honest, he didn’t give a shit what people thought about his personality. In his opinion, as long as he was producing the best work he possibly could, nothing else mattered. It wasn’t like he was expecting anything unusual, just for people to do their job properly so he could do his.
“You’re on standby in fifteen, get your ass out there.” Baekhyun saunters into Chanyeol’s trailer and sits himself down on the couch. He grabs a magazine and starts flipping through it.
“Are you just going to sit there?” Chanyeol asks.
“That’s the plan,” Baekhyun deadpans.
Chanyeol sighs. Baekhyun is the only staff member on set that somehow didn’t fear Chanyeol’s existence. Sadly for Chanyeol, the production team has developed the annoying habit of only sending Baekhyun to him whenever they needed something. It’s been almost two months since filming began for his latest project, Love Like Oxygen, and Chanyeol hasn’t even met most of the staff members. In all honesty, Chanyeol doesn’t mind the company as much as he seems to. This isn’t the first time he’s worked with Baekhyun on a set, and for some reason the other man keeps showing up as a staff member of every other film he’s done in the last three years. He’s developed an odd camaraderie with the other man, and as much as he comes off as cold and unapproachable, Chanyeol doesn’t really mind the company of other people as long as they don’t disturb him while he rehearses.
“You’re sitting there and not moving,” Baekhyun breaks him out of his thoughts. “That is the opposite of what you should be doing. If you don’t go now someone is going to combust into a pile of stress and tears and I’ll have to clean up the mess.”
After taking another glance at Baekhyun’s face, which pretty much says go now or I will beat your sorry ass, Chanyeol gets up and walks out of his trailer, silently hoping to himself that Baekhyun doesn’t use all of his skin products and try on his designer clothes like the last time he “hung out” in Chanyeol’s trailer.
The shoot takes three hours with all of his scenes going smoothly. The only hiccup comes as a result of Irene screwing up the light fixture settings, but the problem is solved quickly enough before either Chanyeol, or Jinki, the director, get upset about it. Worn out and ready for a long shower, Chanyeol walks back to his trailer to gather his stuff and get the hell home. Shooting took longer than he expected to because much to the crew’s dismay, Jinki decided to add extra scenes to the schedule in order to make up for time they lost due to weather a few weeks ago.
The lights on his trailer are on, much to his surprise, and he sees Baekhyun curled into a ball on his couch, covered in a warm blanket. He looks to the the right and sees Joonmyun scrolling through his phone on Chanyeol’s hair and makeup chair.
“Oh, you’re finally back.” Joonmyun looks up from his phone as he hears the door close behind Chanyeol.
“What’s up with him?” Chanyeol wonders, nodding towards Baekhyun.
“He passed out on your couch and looked cold so I gave him a blanket,” Joonmyun explains. “He looked too peaceful to be woken up and he had nothing else to do for the rest of the day anyways.”
Chanyeol shrugs in return, letting Joonmyun know that he doesn’t mind.
“Why are you here?” Chanyeol shoves Baekhyun over a little. He flops down on the couch and takes a deep breath. “What do we need to talk about? Make it fast, I’m tired as fuck.”
“I have a new script for you,” Joonmyun starts right away. “It’s the new Kris Wu film.”
The director’s name gets Chanyeol’s attention
“Kris Wu only does indie romance films,” Chanyeol points out, eyebrows raised. “I’m an action star.”
“You’ve been talking about expanding your range for for a while now, but I hadn’t gotten a script that was good enough till now,” Joonmyun explains. “I know you admire Kris’ work. I mean, there aren’t many people who don’t.”
“It would be a good step…” Chanyeol entertains. He has been wanting to diversify his projects for the last year. “I’ll read it after wrap and get back to you.”
“I’m sure you will,” Joonmyun replies. Chanyeol knows that if Joonmyun approves of the script, him reading it over was merely a formality. They’ve always worked seamlessly together and Chanyeol can’t remember a single instance where the two have disagreed on the his career decisions. Chanyeol figures it comes as an added perk from knowing each other long before his career even began. They had become quick friends in college when Chanyeol had taken a class about the inner workings of the Korean entertainment industry. When Chanyeol was suddenly juggling an acting career with no idea of how to manage it, Joonmyun was the first person he went to for help.
“Now if you’ll excuse me, I have dinner plans with Sunyoung.” Joonmyun gets up from his seat and walks to the trailer door.
“What am I supposed to do with this thing?” Chanyeol shoves Baekhyun a little and gets only a disgruntled groan in response.
“Figure it out, ice princess,” Joonmyun smirks over his shoulder as he leaves.
The only solution that Chanyeol can come up with is to push Baekhyun completely off the couch. Chanyeol hears a loud thud as Baekhyun hits the ground, followed by a lengthy string of curse words and something extremely rude about his mother.
“I really fucking hate you,” Baekhyun groans as rolls around on the ground for a few seconds before picking himself up and punching the actor in the shoulder
“That hurt,” Chanyeol states matter of factly, rubbing the sore spot.
“No shit Sherlock,” Baekhyun grins. “I still don’t understand how you’ve managed to become such a good actor. Your range of emotions in real life is equivalent to that of a dead fish.”
“Why do you talk so much?” Chanyeol complains, rubbing his temples. He moves over to the vanity to throw his things into a leather bag. Baekhyun flops over onto the couch and stares at Chanyeol intently. “Do you need something?”
“Actually…” Baekhyun begins tentatively.
“No, you can not stay in my house tonight again.” Chanyeol huffs as he throws the last of his things into the bag and walks towards the door. Baekhyun jumps up eagerly and follows him out. “I thought we discussed this already, you are not a welcome guest anywhere in my life, please leave.
“But my roommate and his girlfriend are probably having really loud sex in my apartment right now and your couch is probably infinitely more comfortable than my bed is.” Baekhyun attempts. “I’ll be silent.”
“No.”
“I’ll make you breakfast,” Baekhyun adds.
“...No,” Chanyeol hesitates. Baekhyun picks up on it immediately.
“I’ll make you those chocolate chip pancakes with the cute fruit faces on them,” Baekhyun grins.
“Even the clown ones?” Chanyeol gives in a little.
“And the pirate ones.”
Chanyeol sighs to himself and decides that Baekhyun is Satan reincarnated. He also decides that he lost this round with Baekhyun because even Ice Princess Chanyeol can’t resist pirate decorated chocolate chip pancakes.
“Fine, but if you don’t shut up, you’re sleeping outside,” Chanyeol relents. There’s no winning with Byun Baekhyun, even for Chanyeol.
“Fuck yeah,” Baekhyun whoops and jumps into Chanyeol’s car. “We can drive to work together again, it’ll be super cute.”
“I hate you,” Chanyeol deadpans. “So much.”
--
“Hyung, this is the best script I’ve read in years,” Chanyeol gushes into the receiver on his cell phone. “I’m in. A million times in.”
“I figured,” Joonmyun chuckles. “I’ll let the production team know that you are interested and eager to join the cast. You’re Kris Wu’s top choice for the role, so we shouldn’t have any trouble moving from here.”
“Unsurprisingly,” Chanyeol smirks. Baekhyun smacks him in the arm.
“Humility, Chanyeol. I thought we talked about this,” he lectures as he simultaneously shoves chips into his mouth while playing Call of Duty. Chanyeol sends the smaller man a glare and snuggles further into the couch. He starts picking at his frayed pajama bottoms until Baekhyun slaps his hand away. Chanyeol’s frown gets deeper and he shoves Baekhyun into the armrest as revenge.
On his rare days off, Chanyeol takes to wearing the rattiest clothes he can dig out of his closet and lounging around doing nothing. The last time he had a day off, he spent the entire day playing Assasin’s Creed until his eyes turned bloodshot. Joonmyun yelled at him the next day because he had a CF shoot, but he didn’t regret it very much. It feels good to let down the hard exterior that automatically builds up when he’s working. Having a day off reminds him that he’s capable of being what society considers a normal human being. Despite the fact that he loves his job to pieces, it’s nice to take a step back and relax once in a while. He’s thankful that Joonmyun forces him into it once every blue moon. According to Baekhyun, he seemed incredibly less “cactus-y” than usual, and it was rather refreshing.
“Filming starts in three weeks, and we’ll be flying to Los Angeles next Tuesday to get settled in and to film that K.Will music video we committed to. Be packed and ready to go,” Joonmyun fills him in
It’s been almost been eight years since he’s been back in the States after moving to Seoul to attend KAFA. He should probably brush up on his English. And call his mom. He probably doesn’t do that often enough.
“What about until then?” Chanyeol asks.
“I’m forcing you to go on a vacation because I’m going to Jeju-do with Sunyoung and I can’t be bothered with you,” Joonmyun explains.
“I can’t take a break. I’ll have nothing to do,” Chanyeol whines.
“This is precisely why I have always been in full support of you getting a life,” Joonmyun sighs. “I’m sure Baekhyun will be willing to introduce you to his friends if you promise to be civil.”
“I already hate Baekhyun. Why would I want to hang out with his friends,” Chanyeol drones, looking to the left where Baekhyun has made a makeshift home on his couch.
“Hey, I’m amazing, okay. It’s you who has the personality problems,” Baekhyun says with his mouth full of food.
“Could you please chew with your mouth closed, oh my god,” Chanyeol fumes.
“Well, I hope you have fun!” Joonmyun exclaims. “I’ll see you in a week.”
The line goes dead before Chanyeol can complain anymore.
“I’m leaving the country in a week. You officially have to leave and go back to nights with your sex crazed roommate. I’ve had enough of you mooching off of my success and wealth,” Chanyeol huffs.
“You know, having a sex crazed roommate sounds great actually. Too bad he’s straight,” Baekhyun ponders, completely ignoring everything else Chanyeol just said. “Are you sure I can’t set up permanent residence in this wonderful apartment of yours? It’s a waste to leave it unused for four entire months.”
“No amount of pancakes can convince me to let you live in my house while I’m gone.” Chanyeol puts his foot down. “You’d probably just use my bed to sleep with that producer’s assistant you’ve been having sexual tension with.”
“I think you mean the producer’s assistant that I’ve been having sex with,” Baekhyun smirks and wiggles his eyebrows. “I’m sure Tao would love your bed.”
Chanyeol throws up a little on the inside.
“Spare me the details and get out of my house,” Chanyeol demands, losing patience.
Baekhyun sighs and quits his game, “I should probably go anyways. I have a date tonight and I look disgusting.”
“You really do,” Chanyeol deadpans. He’s not disappointed that Baekhyun took him seriously. Not at all.
“Aww, don’t worry my little cactus, I’ll hang out with you tomorrow,” Baekhyun reassures him. “I’ll take you to the bars with my friends and you can show your ‘socially awkward with a hint of rude’ personality to an expanded group of people. Although the rude has gotten a lot better ever since you got off set. You should just quit working and become a hermit forever, it would be easier to deal with.”
Chanyeol throws a pillow at the other.
“I hope Tao holds out on you tonight, you poor excuse for a human being,” Chanyeol frowns. Baekhyun gasps in return.
“You wouldn’t,” Baekhyun scowls. “Anyways, don’t make me take back my kind words about your shocking transformation.”
He gathers his things and heads towards the door.
“See you tomorrow, ice princess,” Baekhyun calls as he leaves.
Chanyeol looks at the now empty spot next to him and realizes something.
“The little bitch didn’t even clean up after himself.”
Chanyeol pulls out his vacuum and begins cleaning his entire apartment, erasing any traces of Baekhyun’s general lack of hygiene.
--
After an uneventful week and only slightly embarrassing himself in front of Baekhyun’s friends, Chanyeol finds himself on a plane to LA. He’s flying first class, thankfully, and he’s far enough away from Joonmyun that he doesn’t have to hear the cheesy details of his manager’s “perfect in every way” Jeju vacation with his girlfriend. He spends the entirety of the flight poring over his script and connecting with his character, Jaehyuk, a man on a soul searching foreign adventure who falls in love with a beautiful local girl. The film has just the right amount of indie romance, adventure, and feel good vibes to make it perfect for any audience. Without even beginning filming, Chanyeol is more than certain that it’ll be a hit at the box office when it releases next summer.
Chanyeol steps into LAX airport and is surprised to be met with no fanfare at all. He looks to Joonmyun in confusion. It’s been years since Chanyeol has stepped into an airport without being met by hordes of screaming fans equipped with DSLRs and long arms that easily reached over barricades, ultimately leaving him feeling more than a little violated.
“Your travel dates weren’t announced this time,” Joonmyun explains. “It’s too much of a hassle to be honest, and Kris Wu has been trying to keep the project on the down low for whatever reason.”
“Interesting.” Chanyeol strolls to the baggage claim and begins looking for his suitcases, pulling his hat lower over his face, hoping to get out of the airport undetected. Despite the fact that his travel dates went unannounced, being one of Korea’s top stars made him easily recognizable. “So what’s the schedule for the next few days?”
“Music video shooting starts the day after tomorrow and shouldn’t last longer than a half day,” Joonmyun clarifies, hauling his own bags off of the conveyor belt. “Filming for the Untitled Kris Wu Project starts three days after that. That gives us a little time to explore the city and whatnot.”
“Explore the city?” Chanyeol frowns. He’s never been one for adventure, or leaving the house in general for that matter. “Why not just stay home?”
“Because I want to explore the city and I don’t want to go alone,” Joonmyun sighs. “I’m dragging you with me, willing or not. Think of it as part of my Force Chanyeol To Get A Life Initiative.”
“Fine,” Chanyeol huffs. There’s no winning when it comes to Joonmyun and his ‘exploring’, which mainly consists of taking cheesy photos at the most touristy locations that the older can find. He shudders, praying that California doesn’t provide Joonmyun with any absurd ideas. The last time they ‘explored’ he was filming in Paris and Joonmyun was insistent on climbing all the way to the top of the eiffel tower on their last day. He couldn’t feel his legs for at least 4 days after that, and frankly, he would rather not repeat the experience.
They hail a cab and arrive at a fancy high rise building about half an hour later. Joonmyun pulls out a set of keys and hands it to him.
“These are yours for the time that we’re here,” Joonmyun explains as they travel up the elevator. “We’ll both be staying in the same apartment, but honestly, it’s big enough that we probably won’t have to even see each other if we don’t want to.”
Chanyeol exaggeratedly sighs in relief.
“Oh, shut up you little brat. Give it three days and you’ll be kneeling at my door, begging me to cook you some authentic Korean food,” Joonmyun grumbles. “Anyways, half of our locations are close enough that we can come back here for the night, and the film’s production team has taken care of lodging for the rest of the locations.”
They arrive at the door and Joonmyun twists the key in, opening it up to reveal an apartment that, in Chanyeol’s opinion, is the best fucking thing he’s ever laid his eyes on.
“Wow,” Chanyeol breathes.
“I’d like to say,” Joonmyun exhales. “The pictures didn’t do this place justice.”
Chanyeol swiftly enters and starts looking around. “I call the master bedroom.”
“Take it, I have no interest. I don’t want to hear you bitching about having the smaller room until we go home, ice princess,” Joonmyun smirks. Chanyeol ignores him and finds the master bedroom. It’s probably bigger than half of Chanyeol’s entire apartment back in Seoul.
“How did you get us this place?” Chanyeol asks Joonmyun, returning to the living room and taking a seat on the couch.
“I didn’t actually. It was the production team,” Joonmyun fills him in. “Apparently Kris Wu has friends in high places.”
“Looks like it,” Chanyeol sinks deeper into the cushions. “I could get used to this.”
“Not too used to it!” Joonmyun exclaims. Chanyeol makes a disgruntled noise. He knows exactly what that tone means and he doesn’t like it one bit. “We’re starting our adventure at 8 AM tomorrow morning!”
“Don’t even touch me until at least 11:30 or I’ll snap your arm off,” Chanyeol growls.
“11:30 it is,” Joonmyun gives in.
“I think the jet lag is getting to me,” Chanyeol yawns. “This couch is so comfortable, I could pass out right here.”
“Well, you go ahead and do that. I’m gonna check out my room,” Joonmyun heads to his own room. “Goodnight, princess.”
“Stop calling me that.”
“Make me,” Joonmyun laughs, shutting his door behind him and effectively ending the conversation.
Chanyeol groans and starts to drift off, not before deciding that he really needs to keep Joonmyun away from Byun Baekhyun.
--
It’s hot. This is what Chanyeol thinks as he jumps through burning sand, generally hating his existence.
“Why the fuck did I think it would be a good idea to be friends with you?” This is what Chanyeol says as he tries his best not to let out a string of curse words at Joonmyun, the one person’s existence that he currently hates more than his own.
“Because I’m handsome and I have a winning personality,” Joonmyun beams, ignoring Chanyeol’s anger.
“It’s hot and disgusting. I’m sweating, Joonmyun. I never sweat,” Chanyeol whines. “Also, I thought you were well aware of the fact that I hate the beach.”
“Get over it,” Joonmyun rolls his eyes. “It’s a beautiful day!”
Joonmyun lays out a blanket and sticks a giant parasol in the sand. He pulls out a romantic comedy paperback from his summer tote bag and begins reading, still sporting the same giant smile.
“How the fuck are you straight? Even I don’t do shit like that,” Chanyeol mutters before stalking towards the shoreline, hoping that letting his feet hit the water will cool him down a bit.
The feeling of the waves hitting his feet relaxes him and after looking back to make sure Joonmyun was settled, Chanyeol continues to walk down the shore line. The beach is bubbling with people today. Being an actor, he’s always found it fascinating to people-watch. People evoke the widest range of emotions without even realizing it, and sometimes he stores away instances in his back pocket to pull out when he needs a little inspiration.
He’s gone almost a half mile down the beach when he wonders if he should turn back or not. Joonmyun is probably perfectly content sitting under the shade reading his book, but Chanyeol had been eyeing the porcelain bathtub in his bathroom since yesterday and was eager to go home and give it a try.
He’s about to turn around and walk back in the same direction he came from when a group of loud boys running towards the shore ahead of him grabs his attention. They’re speaking a mix of Korean and English while also managing to run and tackle each other all at the same time. Chanyeol rolls his eyes at the group and begins turning around yet again, when he turns back. One of them is especially loud and Chanyeol wants to see what the ruckus is all about.
The culprit is unmistakably handsome and almost as tall as himself, maybe even taller. He’s sporting platinum blonde hair and a subtle six pack. Everything about him screams “California” and when Chanyeol notices the surfboard he’s dragging along with him, he wants to scoff and turn away. The problem, however, is that he can’t seem to do it. His eyes stay fixated on the surfer for a few more seconds until Chanyeol’s luck turns against him more than it already has today. The boy turns his head and accidentally meets his gaze. It might be a trick of light, but for a second Chanyeol thinks he sees recognition flit through the his expression. Chanyeol doesn’t give himself the chance to observe more and swiftly turns around, walking to Joonmyun without looking back, no matter how much he wants to. At his new speed, Chanyeol makes it back to Joonmyun in fifteen minutes and complains to the elder until he begrudgingly agrees to going home.
As they drive home, the tall blond boy lingers in Chanyeol's mind for a few more seconds before he realizes he hates the beach and is hungry and shouldn’t be thinking about random Los Angeles beach boys with model like looks because that’s just absurd and stupid.
And Chanyeol is smart so he doesn’t. Not one bit.
--
“Chanyeol,” Kyungsoo nods at him in greeting. Chanyeol scoffs and rolls his eyes.
“Being cordial, are we?” Chanyeol notes. “Still playing the second lead, huh, Kyungsoo?”
This earns him a jab in the ribs.
“Four months, Chanyeol,” Kyungsoo sighs. “Can we please at least pretend to get along? I’ll turn a blind eye to your general dickheadedness.”
“We do get along, Soo. You’re one of my only friends in the industry” Chanyeol points out. It earns him another jab. “Fine, I will do my best to pretend to be civil.”
Kyungsoo has a point. No matter how much the two got on each other’s nerves, they were going to be spending a lot of time together for the next couple months. Harmless banter can become annoying after that long.
They had both debuted at the same time in similar roles, receiving rave reviews and immense praise. They were easy targets to pit against each other in the press and ever since then, the Chanyeol-Kyungsoo rivalry has been documented thoroughly by fans and media alike. When Chanyeol started moving up to lead roles at the same time that Kyungsoo kept accepting secondary characters, people started claiming that Chanyeol was winning the race that in reality neither of them were even participating in. Their careers are far from the reason that they tend to be hostile towards each other; their only problem lying in the fact that they can’t stand each other’s personalities. Despite this, however, Chanyeol considers the smaller man his friend in some way or the other.
They both take their seats at the script reading table, occasionally greeting other actors as people slowly start filling into the room. About fifteen minutes later, the entire table is full except for one seat. Kris Wu.
The cast waits in a awkward silence, smiling uncomfortably at each other with no idea of how to proceed from here. A few moments later, the door bangs open and in walks a short man sporting a spiky hairdo and an annoyed expression. He plasters on a smile and addresses the cast.
“Hello everyone. I’m Minseok, executive producer for the,” the man pauses and cringes, “tentatively titled Kris Wu project, Oh, She’s Got Me. Very tentatively. It’s really fucking tentative because let me tell you, I think it’s a disgusting name.”
Chanyeol tries not to laugh. Kris Wu and Kim Minseok have worked together exclusively as director and producer for as long as Chanyeol can remember, never failing to produce hit after hit at the Korean box office. Their relationship is infamous for being dysfunctional, yet somehow they manage to get the job done everytime.
“What’s wrong with it?” Kris Wu strolls in casually in his 6 foot 3 glory. Chanyeol wonders why the man didn’t just go into modeling. “It’s a great name, Minseok.”
“It’s really not,” Minseok sighs. “Don’t worry guys we’ll come up with something. We always do. Kris, sit your ass down, you’re already 10 minutes late.”
The script reading commences and continues without to many problems. Kris Wu adds in his insight here and there, but the cast begins to get comfortable with each other. Script readings are always Chanyeol’s favorite time to observe and learn more about the people he’ll be working with. Kyungsoo is playing his best friend and despite their personal relationship, they’ve worked together enough in the past to easily fabricate that chemistry. The female lead, Minah, on the other hand, is someone that Chanyeol has only briefly met in the past, as with some of the supporting characters like Hakyeon and Seokjin. It’s been awhile since Chanyeol has worked with such an unfamiliar cast and he can’t help but feel a little excited to experience it again.
The script reading is dismissed a few hours later and after a lot of bowing and head bobbing, Chanyeol walks out into the hot California day next to Kyungsoo.
“Hyung!” Kyungsoo exclaims once they spot Joonmyun. He gives the elder a big hug. “It’s been so long, how have you been?”
“Pretty great,” Joonmyun chuckles. “LA has been treating me well. What’s up with you two? Finally able to stand next to each other without limbs getting chopped off.”
“Sadly, no. Kyungsoo has already threatened to chop off my dick three times today,” Chanyeol shares.
“You probably deserved it,” Joonmyun laughs it off. Kyungsoo joins him.
“I often feel like I have nobody on my side,” Chanyeol laments dramatically.
“It’s not a feeling, Chanyeollie, it’s reality. Get used to it,” Kyungsoo smirks. “I heard you’ve met Baekhyun.”
“Of course you two know each other,” Chanyeol frowns. “That makes so much sense. You both greatly resemble Satan’s children.”
“He wanted me to tell you that he has secured the passcode to your Gangnam apartment,” Kyungsoo mentions. “His exact words were, nothing screams Chanyeol more than making your own birthday the passcode to your apartment.”
“I’m gonna kill him,” Chanyeol screeches, immediately pulling out his phone to text Baekhyun and tell him not to fuck anything up.
“I’m sure he’ll be very responsible,” Kyungsoo attempts.
“Are we talking about the same Baekhyun?” Chanyeol asks.
“Have fun trying to figure that out!” Kyungsoo fakely grins. “I’m going to head home and sleep. Bye Joonmyun hyung!”
“Bye, Kyungsoo. See you soon,” Joonmyun calls after his retreating figure.
“What’s for dinner?” Chanyeol asks, still trying to get a hold of Baekhyun as the two of them walk to the car.
“I found a restaurant in Koreatown with killer jjigae,” Joonmyun hums. “Or I could cook at home.”
“Nah, let’s eat out. I want to try it,” Chanyeol chooses.
“Koreatown it is then.” Joonmyun enters the address into the car and they drive off.
--
“Well, that’s certainly comprising,” Chanyeol casually comments as he walks in and takes a seat on Kyungsoo’s trailer couch. Minah gasps and scrambles away, straightening her clothes, and Kyungsoo lightly bangs his head on the wall he was just pressing her up against in frustration.
“Cockblock,” Kyungsoo groans. Minah slaps his arm and gives him a what the fuck are you doing fix this look. “How about we pretend like this never happened?”
“Fine by me,” Chanyeol begins. Kyungsoo’s face brightens a little. “But you owe me.”
“I should have known,” Kyungsoo frowns. “You’re still a little bitch, aren’t you.”
“Well, I’m going to get going then,” Minah awkwardly interjects. “I’ll see you on set, Chanyeol.”
The minute Minah exits the trailer, Chanyeol raises his eyebrows at Kyungsoo in fascination.
“Stop looking at me like that,” Kyungsoo complains.
“I didn’t know you had this much game,” Chanyeol hums. “Props to you, Kyungsoo.”
“We’ve been seeing each other since we shot that coffee CF a few months ago,” Kyungsoo explains grumpily. “Now leave me alone. I have lines to run.”
“That was actually the reason why I came,” Chanyeol remembers. “Can we run the second scene? I wanted to see how you’re delivering the dialogue so I can match you.”
“You really never take a break do you?” Kyungsoo wonders. “You probably have the script memorized cover to cover.”
“It’s my job,” Chanyeol defends.
“On the contrary, I disagree,” Kyungsoo sighs. “I’ll run it with you if you promise me that you’ll actually go to sleep tonight.”
“Yes sir,” Chanyeol relents.
They run it a few times until Chanyeol is finally satisfied with the results. Kyungsoo then promptly tells him to get the fuck out of his trailer. He’s about to get up and leave when the trailer door bangs open to reveal a disheveled and out of breath young boy.
“Mr. Park!” the boy exclaims eagerly, a grin appearing on his face. “There you are, I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”
Chanyeol sighs. He almost forgot about the fact that he had to get used to and deal with an entirely new crew. It almost makes him miss Baekhyun, but then he thinks better of it because missing Baekhyun is just crazy.
“What do you want?” Chanyeol deadpans. The boy’s expression shifts into uncertainty at Chanyeol’s unenthusiastic tone.
“Um, I just wanted to introduce myself to you,” the boy regains some confidence. “I’m Jongin! Your set assistant for the tentatively titled Kris Wu project You Got Me, You Got Me Good. Minseok hyung wanted me to emphasize the fact that it is very tentative.”
“Kris’ directorial skills obviously don’t translate to his naming abilities,” Kyungsoo bemuses. “Nice to meet you, Jongin. Don’t get too scared by this guy over here. He’s all talk.”
“What do you want,” Chanyeol deadpans, ignoring Kyungsoo completely. “Make it quick.”
“I, uh, just wanted to introduce-” Jongin begins.
“Well you’ve done that,” Chanyeol hints. “So get out.”
“What?” Jongin’s eyes widen.
“You heard me,” Chanyeol quips. “Get out. I’ll ask for you when I need something.”
“O-okay?” Jongin looks taken aback. Kyungsoo sighs from his makeup chair in the corner.
“Seriously don’t take him seriously, he’s just a piece of shit,” Kyungsoo reassures. Jongin relaxes a little at Kyungsoo’s words and then wordlessly exits the trailer.
“He looks like the kind of guy that will get me the wrong kind of coffee in the mornings,” Chanyeol groans.
“Simmer down ice princess, I’m sure he’ll get the hang of it,” Kyungsoo purrs. Chanyeol bristles at the use of the nickname.
“You too?” he snaps. “Fucking Byun Baekhyun.”
--
Chanyeol sits while mumbling his lines under his breath in his trailer when he hears a soft knock at his door.
“Come in.”
The deliriousness that results from shooting a Kris Wu film has already hit him and it’s only been two days. The director insists on settling for nothing short of perfection and as much as that ideology aligns with Chanyeol’s own thought process, it’s been making his job increasingly difficult.
“I have your dinner,” Jongin squeaks, setting the plate on his makeup table. Chanyeol grunts in acknowledgement. The younger assistant has grown on Chanyeol. Jongin does exactly what needs to be done without any mistakes and with the sleep deprivation that Chanyeol is going to be dealing with in the coming months, he’s going to need as much perfection as he can get.
“Would you like anything else, Mr. Park?” Jongin mumbles, shoving himself into a corner and trying to make himself as small as possible.
“I told you to call me Chanyeol,” Chanyeol intones without even looking up.
“Sorry, Mr-” Jongin pauses. “Ch-chanyeol.”
“And no, I don’t need anything else so-” Chanyeol begins.
“Yes, get out,” Jongin completes the sentence and quickly scrambles towards the exit. “Let me know if you need anything, sir. I mean, Chanyeol.”
Chanyeol sighs and puts down his script, picking up the dinner Jongin brought him. He’s almost halfway through his food when the door opens yet again. He can’t catch a goddamn break.
“We’ve been summoned,” Kyungsoo notifies him. Chanyeol groans and scarfs the rest of his meal down at the speed of light.
“Is it Kris again?” Chanyeol whines.
“Sadly, yes,” Kyungsoo sighs.
“I swear, that man will be the death of me,” Chanyeol whines. Kris has taken up the habit of ‘summoning’ cast members at his every whim and will to discuss matters ranging from dialogue delivery to fine art in the 19th century. “What is it this time?”
“We’ll find out together,” Kyungsoo doles. Chanyeol begrudgingly gets up and walks with Kyungsoo to one of the break rooms that Kris was occupying.
The minute they enter, Kris’ expression brightens and he greets them with a giant smile.
“Well look at this, it’s my two favorite lead actors paying me a visit!”
“Uh, yeah. Hey Director Wu!” Chanyeol musters up as much enthusiasm as he possibly can.
“How many times do I have to tell you, call me Kris. And stop being so stiff, Yeol,” Kris admonishes. Chanyeol has no words.
“So, what’s up?” Kyungsoo attempts as the two of them take a seat across Kris.
“I actually have something very important to discuss with the two of you.” Kris’ face turns serious. “I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and I wanted to run an idea past the two of you.”
The two of them nod, curious.
“I was thinking of tweaking the story slightly, actually. I know that the story begins as two best friends going on a soul searching adventure, and along the way Chanyeol’s character falls in love with Minah’s,” Kris begins. “But what if your characters fall in love with each other instead!”
“Uhh…” Chanyeol croaks.
“Huh?” Kyungsoo’s eyes go wide. The two of them can’t seem to formulate any kind of response to that suggestion.
“Don’t worry guys, I’ve got this,” a voice behind them reassures. Chanyeol turns around to see that it belongs to a short man with jet black hair and feline features. The actor had seen the man around set quite frequently, actually, but was never able to figure out exactly who he was.
“Kim Jongdae, screenwriter,” he says. Then he lets out a big sigh and begins ranting.
“Kris, nothing, and I mean nothing, will convince me to rewrite the entire goddamn script as a homoerotic fanfiction instead of the beautiful love story it is now.”
“But-” Kris attempts.
“NO,” Jongdae yells. “Literally, I’m officially putting this down as number 2 on the list of stupid ideas Kris has had.”
“What’s number one?” Chanyeol wonders aloud before he can catch himself.
“Freshman year of college,” Jongdae smirks. “Trust me, you don’t want the details.”
“Oookay,” Kyungsoo whistles and gets up from his seat. Chanyeol follows suit and they both walk towards the exit.
“So, we’re free to go now?” Chanyeol prompts before they reach the door.
“Yes, you guys are fine,” Jongdae laughs. “Get some sleep, tomorrow’s gonna be a long day.”
“Yes, sir,” Chanyeol pipes. By the time they exit the building, the soft orange rays that were peeking out on the horizon are gone. “Wow, it’s already dark out.”
“It’s almost 10, what else would it be?” Kyungsoo snorts. “Anyways, crisis averted. I would more likely drown myself in the Pacific over playing your love interest in a movie.”
“Touche,” Chanyeol rolls his eyes. “I’m sure you’re a terrible kisser.”
“Minah can be the judge of that,” Kyungsoo smirks.
“That’s gross,” Chanyeol grumbles. “I will never be able to unthink that.”
“Payback,” Kyungsoo grins. “I’m headed home. See you tomorrow, princess.”
“Can’t wait,” Chanyeol deadpans in return, but waves nonetheless.
He walks back to his trailer to gather his things before heading home. It’s slightly eerie, being in the dark alone, but Chanyeol is a man so he doesn’t get scared. Not even a little bit.
“I don’t even know what he is,” Chanyeol hears Jongin’s voice coming from near his trailer. He stops in his tracks.
“It’s like he’s almost an asshole but he’s not,” Jongin continues. “Like, I see him with Kyungsoo and he’s totally fine, and it’s not like he’s rude to me either. Just extremely unresponsive.”
Chanyeol smiles a little at that. It’s nice to know that at least Jongin understands him.
“And my god, he fucking worships that script. I’ve never seen him without it in his hands,” Jongin wonders. “But still, it would be nice if he was a little less prickly. I’m scared to death of him.”
Chanyeol walks a little further up, but stops again when he sees another boy standing next to Jongin right outside his trailer.
“He sounds like an entitled pain in the ass,” the boy scoffs. “You’re just too nice, Jongin. If it were me, I would have kicked him in the balls at ‘get out’.”
“I could say the same about you,” Jongin defends. “You have no patience. Some people take some work, Sehun. It’s all about giving them a chance.”
“Chance, my ass,” the boy, Sehun, intones.
“You say that like you were always Mr. Manners,” Jongin laughs.
“I was in high school. It was an awkward teenager phase,” Sehun defends.
Chanyeol’s phone buzzes in his pocket and he opens it up to see a text from Joonmyun.
Where are you? I’m waiting out front. Come quickly, I’m tired.
Chanyeol takes a deep breath and walks towards his trailer, pretending like he hadn’t heard anything There’s nothing that Chanyeol hates more than awkward situations.
The closer he gets, the easier it is to see the two boys standing outside. He gets ready to greet them, wanting to prove Jongin’s friend wrong, but nothing comes out when he gets a clear look at the boy
He’s tall, with platinum blond hair and Chanyeol knows he’s hiding a six pack under his bro tank. Chanyeol knows that because he’s seen them before and maybe thought about them more than once.
“Uh-” is all Chanyeol gets out before he freezes. It’s the hot surfer boy from the beach.
“Chanyeol!” Jongin’s eyes go wide, as if he wasn’t expecting Chanyeol to show up. “I thought you already went home. I was going to put this in your trailer for tomorrow.”
He holds up garment bag, most likely containing tomorrow's costume.
“Oh,” Chanyeol manages. He looks over at the boy, Sehun, and his eyebrows furrow automatically. Jongin takes this as a cue to introduce the boy.
“This is my friend Sehun Oh,” Jongin explains, attempting to resolve Chanyeol’s obvious confusion, not knowing the true reason behind it. “Or I guess Oh Sehun if we’re talking Korean style. He’s working as a director's assistant to Kris until the end of the project. We go to USC together.”
“Kris, huh?” Chanyeol can’t stop himself. “Brave soul.”
Sehun’s eyebrows quirk at this, obviously amused.
“It’s an experience,” he admits. Chanyeol can feel himself being judged by Sehun’s eyes. Normally, it doesn’t bother him at all, but something about the other boy has him feeling completely thrown off.
“Well, I’m going to grab my things,” Chanyeol awkwardly inches around the two and opens the door to his trailer.
“See you tomorrow,” Jongin grins. “Sorry for lingering out here, by the way, we ran into each other while I was dropping this stuff off.”
Chanyeol mumbles an, “It’s okay,” that nobody hears.“I’ll take that,” he adds, more confidently, grabbing the garment bag out of Jongin’s hands.
Chanyeol quickly enters his trailer and lets the door shut behind him. While he packs up his things, he wonders to himself why the hell his heart is beating so fast.
--
For some reason, Chanyeol shows up to work the next day feeling just a little nervous. He chalks it up to a bad night of sleep coupled with an increasing suspicion in regards to Kris’ erratic directorial style, but the actor can’t help but admit that the tall blonde director’s assistant from yesterday has been on his mind. More than he should be.
It’s fascinating, really, how much Chanyeol wants to prove himself in a way that he’s never wanted to before. He didn’t even feel the need to prove himself this much when filming his first project after coming off of back to back Blue Dragons. Perhaps it was because acting is something Chanyeol has always had undoubted confidence in. People, on the other hand, well, Chanyeol has never been very good at people. That explains why he has such few friends, all of whom approached him first and then adapted to his personality, realizing that he isn’t all that bad after all. The actor was a lot of work, as Jongin had described, but not bad.
Being in an industry where everyone has an image, it was easy for Chanyeol to build up an obnoxious and overconfident image. In reality, he was obnoxious and overconfident about his skills, but everything else was a completely different story. He never knew how to turn acquaintances into friends and he often didn’t have time to turn himself off work mode. This led him to generally avoiding forging real relationships in the Korean entertainment industry. The actor was comfortable as a workaholic with a close circle of great friends, but because of it, he had to get used to being called everything from ‘loner’ to ‘snobbish’. It took time, but Chanyeol had stopped caring about what other people thought and said about him.
Until Sehun appeared, of course.
It seemed that Oh Sehun was a completely different story in every way possible. Attraction most definitely isn’t a new thing to Chanyeol, but he’s never felt an attraction that was so unrelenting. This new kind of attraction he had to Sehun was a puppeteer to his heartstrings, forcing him into thoughts and feelings that he didn’t want to go anywhere near.
Chanyeol was hopelessly drawn to a boy that he hasn’t even spoken two words to. All he had was a name and an occupation. The logical side of Chanyeol’s brain was being taken over by foreign emotions that he frankly had no time for. The actor wasn’t here to fantasize about making out with a stranger, he was here to work. Just work and nothing else.
“CHANYEOL.” Jongin’s screaming voice snaps him out of his thoughts.
“Huh?” Chanyeol’s eyes focus on Jongin’s face in front of him. “Why are you so close to me?”
“I thought you were sleeping with your eyes open,” Jongin sighs. “Or that you were dead. I said your name like, ten times and you didn’t notice.”
“Oh,” Chanyeol mumbles. “Sorry.”
“Wow, you know how to apologize,” Jongin awes.
“When you do something wrong, you apologize,” Chanyeol explains. “It’s just that most of the time, I’m not wrong so I don’t have to do it much.”
“Aaaand he’s back!” Jongin announces to everyone in the hair and makeup room. “Don’t worry guys, our lead actor is alive and well.”
Chanyeol looks around to see the concerned faces of the entire beauty team staring at him. He turns a light shade of pink and looks back at Jongin with a scowl.
“What did you do?”
“I was just scared that you were sick or dead,” Jongin waves off. “More importantly, however, Kris would like to see you.”
“But it’s so early,” Chanyeol whines. “I don’t wanna deal with Kris this early. Kris is so… just so.”
“I know he is,” Jongin empathizes. “He asked me to write him a report about the pros and cons of adding a zombie apocalypse scene to page 235 of the script. I haven’t even read the script. I’m just an assistant and I don’t even know what this movie is about.”
“The scene where Jaehyuk and Emily go on their first date?” Chanyeol gawks.
“I guess so!” Jongin exclaims. Chanyeol wonders how the assistant is able to muster up so much energy this early in the morning. “Too bad they don’t have Glassdoor reviews for movie directors or I would have avoided the trainwreck that is Kris at all costs.”
“What’s Glassdoor?” Chanyeol asks. He’s been in Korea for too long.
“It doesn’t matter,” Jongin laughs. “Kris is gonna flip a shit if you don’t get there soon.”
“God, it’s not even like he’s a terrible person,” Chanyeol frowns. “He’s just unique. Too unique.”
“Sounds a lot like you, Chanyeol,” Jongin responds. “Now go or I’ll get in trouble, and if I get in trouble, I’m skipping your 4:00 pm Starbucks run.”
“I hate you,” Chanyeol growls, standing up quickly.
“So you’re unique and a liar huh?” Jongin teases at Chanyeol’s retreating figured.
Chanyeol rolls his eyes, praying silently that he doesn’t have another Baekhyun on his hands as he walks to today’s filming location. The set is fully set up but oddly empty when he arrives. It’s the time in between when the setup crew leaves and the camera crew arrives, and it’s eerily quiet save for a few soft voices. Chanyeol follows the sound to find Kris and Minseok arguing. Again.
“Hell fucking naw, Kris,” Minseok fumes. “Always no. Five billion times no.”
“It sounds so nice though,” Kris pouts.
“Chanyeol!” Minseok calls to him. “Kris wants to name the movie The Fault in Our Scars. Please tell him he’s crazy.”
“Umm,” Chanyeol steps back a little, hoping to avoid the situation.
“Chanyeol, what’s your honest opinion?” Kris asks.
“Is that why you called me here?” Chanyeol inquires with a sigh.
“Oh yeah, I summoned you,” Kris wonders. “I forgot why, actually. How funny.”
“Yeah,” Chanyeol grits out. “So funny. Ha ha.”
“But really, what do you think?” Kris repeats.
“I think it might be a little to similar to the popular movie, The Fault In Our Stars?” Chanyeol voices carefully.
“You think?” Minseok scoffs. “I have to go now, but before you get any more ideas, please stop having ideas. Also, Jongdae wanted me to tell you to shove the zombie apocalypse idea up your ass because it sucks.”
“Why can’t he just tell me himself?” Kris complains.
“Because Jongdae says he has a mental breakdown everytime he talks to you,” Minseok intones. Chanyeol agrees with Jongdae on that one. “Bye Chanyeol, good luck.”
“Well, I’m going to get going as well and practice lines for today.” Chanyeol inches away nervously.
“I thought you had the entire script memorized?” Kris wonders.
“You can never have too much practice!” Chanyeol reminds.
“Now, that’s why you’re my favorite actor,” Kris praises. “Your work ethic is endless! Run along then, I’ll see you in 45 minutes.”
“But call time is in an hour,” Chanyeol mentions.
“I want you to meet my directors assistants for the first time! You might have seen them around, Sehun and Youngji,” Kris quips. “You’ll be working pretty closely with them from now on, especially Sehun. Youngji is working with the crew more than the cast.”
“Oh,” is all that Chanyeol can manage at the thought of having to work ‘closely’ with Sehun for the next four months. “I’ll see you soon, then.”
Chanyeol slips away before Kris can continue the conversation, thinking about the news he just heard. He returns to the hair and makeup room and immediately, the team begins to fuss over him, making sure that he’ll be ready for the shoot in time.
The distraction is welcoming, but it’s not enough to take his mind off of Sehun. At this point, Chanyeol assumes there’s nothing that is.
--
“That’s a wrap for today,” Kris calls into his microphone. The entire set, Chanyeol included, lets out a collective sigh.
“What was that, five hours over?” Chanyeol sleepily mumbles to Kyungsoo.
“Five and a half,” Kyungsoo yawns. “The man might be crazy, but no wonder his movies are all blockbusters and awards season hits. Perfection is his minimum standard. I never thought I’d meet someone who does perfectionist better than you.”
“Right?” Chanyeol agrees, eyes almost shutting.
“Ready to go?” Joonmyun comes up behind him.
“I have been for hours,” Chanyeol sighs. “Food. Want.”
“Me too,” Kyungsoo adds.
“Me three,” Minah chirps from next to Kyungsoo.
“Where are your managers?” Joonmyun whines. “I’ve been getting you two food for three days straight.”
“Korea,” Kyungsoo and Minah say in unison.
“No one is as dedicated as you are, Oppa,” Minah praises, using flattery to her advantage.
“He’s just here for a paid vacation,” Chanyeol clarifies.
“I really am,” Joonmyun agrees. “Wait here, I’ll get you guys In N’ Out.”
“I can’t eat that,” Minah argues.
“You’re already skin and bones, Minah, a burger is going to do nothing to you,” Kyungsoo reassures sweetly.
“You two disgust me,” Chanyeol glares.
“I’ll be back soon, text me if you go somewhere else on set.”
“Alright,” Chanyeol agrees.
“Thanks, hyung,” Kyungsoo adds cheerily as Joonmyun walks away. “What did Baekhyun say about manners, Chanyeol? Always use the magic words or the manners monster will eat you.”
“He’s officially drunk tired,” Minah catches Kyungsoo’s arm when the other sways a bit.
“How are you not dying right now?” Chanyeol wonders.
“I took a power nap when you and Soo were shooting your scene,” Minah explains. “Don’t kill me
“Can we trade bodies, I can’t even feel my legs,” Chanyeol asks Minah.
“If you’re willing to occasionally make out with Kyungsoo, then sure,” Minah offers. “I wouldn’t mind getting to know that director’s assistant you’ve been checking out all night.”
“I change my mind, I don’t like you anymore,” Chanyeol huffs.
“You need to expand your insult library further than “I hate you” and “I don’t like you anymore”, Chanyeol. Nobody is going to take you seriously,” Minah laughs.
Chanyeol has found that he’s been able to get close to Minah faster than he has been with any other costar in the past. Perhaps it had something to do with her relationship with Kyungsoo, but the three of them were so comfortable around each other, even after only about a week. It normally takes multiple weeks or sometimes even months for Chanyeol to get on the same comfort level with people as he has with Minah. It’s weird, but a good kind of weird.
“So, what’s the deal with the director’s assistant? Sehun, right?” Minah continues.
“There is no deal,” Chanyeol speaks the truth. “I’ve spoken to him twice in my life.”
“You’ve been discreetly looking at him all night,” Minah says knowingly. The horrified look on Chanyeol’s face makes her laugh. “Don’t worry, you did a good job of being subtle. It’s just that not much gets past my eye.”
The two of them find an empty bench on set while the crew buzzes around them, packing up equipment. Minah pulls a half asleep Kyungsoo along with her and sets him down.
“So, explain,” Minah prompts with a smile.
“How do you do that?” Chanyeol awes.
“Do what?”
“I am actually contemplating telling you what I’m thinking right now,” Chanyeol wonders eyeing Minah curiously. “I never tell people what I’m thinking.”
“I have a knack of knowing how to make people comfortable. It comes with the perceptiveness,” Minah explains. “But stop changing the subject and spill, I’m curious.”
“Honestly, I don’t know what it is,” Chanyeol sighs. “I’ve never been this baselessly attracted to someone before. Also, he might hate my guts?”
“It’s probably not baseless,” Minah considers. She takes a quick look to make sure that Kyungsoo is asleep. “I mean he is pretty hot. Not pretty hot, actually, he’s downright sexy. He’s pretty and hot and sexy, that’s what he is. I would probably be attracted to him if I didn’t have this thing holding me back.”
She nudges Kyungsoo with enough affection to make Chanyeol want to throw up.
“Talk to him,” Minah advises. “Maybe he doesn’t hate you. And if he does, change his mind.”
“How? My default personality is, as Kyungsoo likes to describe it, “despicable human being’,” Chanyeol deadpans.
“You’re not a bad guy, Chanyeol,” Minah punches him lightly in the arm. “Anyone who knows you well enough also knows that. So get to know Sehun over there. You never know what might happen.”
“Talking to people is hard,” Chanyeol whines. “I don’t know how to people.”
“He’s a director's assistant. It can’t be that hard to find something to talk to him about,” Minah shrugs.
“Of course you would say that,” he mumbles. “You could probably hold a conversation with anyone.”
“You are hopeless,” Minah sighs. “It could stop you from getting distracted, at the least. Just think about it.”
“I will, I promise.”
►
Title: Betting Everything
Pairing(s): Chanyeol/Sehun, side! Kyungsoo/Minah
Rating: PG-13
Warning(s): Inclusion of Kris, Luhan and Tao
Length: 27.2k
Summary: Surviving life on the set of the latest Kris Wu indie romance film seems like it’s going to be a piece of cake until Chanyeol meets the too-hot-for-his-own-good director’s assistant.
“Would you like to explain to me why Sunyoung is currently crying her eyes out in the props trailer?” Joonmyun seethes.
“The outfit she brought me was for someone else’s character, hyung, I don’t know where her head’s been lately,” Chanyeol intones as he continues reading through today’s lines with utmost focus. Joonmyun sighs in exasperation. “On the contrary you probably do where it’s been, so do me a favor and ask her about it when you get the chance.”
“What? Why would I know?” Joonmyun stutters.
“Hyung, you really thought that I was unaware of the fact that you two fuck on the regular?” Chanyeol smirks. Joonmyun’s face turns an ugly shade of red.
“I’ll have you know, we’re actually in love. Have been for a while, in fact, thank you very much,” Joonmyun attempts.
“I really could care less. Just tell her to get her head in the game so I can do my job.”
“Would it kill you to ask nicely?” Joonmyun says, mostly to himself, as he stalks out of Chanyeol’s trailer.
Chanyeol takes a minute to think about this as he is once again left in silence. Ever since he shot to stardom after his breakout role in the Lee Taemin directed action film The Misconceptions of Me, Chanyeol hasn’t pressed the brake pedals on his career even once. The day that Park Chanyeol stood on stage, clutching his first ever Blue Dragon Award, was the day he swore that he would stop at nothing to become the very best. Five years and three Blue Dragons later, Chanyeol had definitely achieved his dreams.
Dubbed as the nation’s son in law by the South Korean masses, Chanyeol knows that he was blessed with a spotless public image. His work ethic in addition to the fact that he’s been booked back to back for the last five years has kept him from the dreaded scandals that some of his peers have faced. However, despite the fact that he had, in his precious fans’ opinions, a perfect personality, Chanyeol seemed to run into problems when it came to his name within the industry. In plain and simple terms, Chanyeol’s reputation within the Korean entertainment industry could be best described using his nickname: the plague.
At first, Chanyeol had sincerely attempted to appease the staff members of the various projects he worked on, but as time went on he started to realize that it simply wasn’t worth his time. Chanyeol was there to focus on his work, and if he was being honest, he didn’t give a shit what people thought about his personality. In his opinion, as long as he was producing the best work he possibly could, nothing else mattered. It wasn’t like he was expecting anything unusual, just for people to do their job properly so he could do his.
“You’re on standby in fifteen, get your ass out there.” Baekhyun saunters into Chanyeol’s trailer and sits himself down on the couch. He grabs a magazine and starts flipping through it.
“Are you just going to sit there?” Chanyeol asks.
“That’s the plan,” Baekhyun deadpans.
Chanyeol sighs. Baekhyun is the only staff member on set that somehow didn’t fear Chanyeol’s existence. Sadly for Chanyeol, the production team has developed the annoying habit of only sending Baekhyun to him whenever they needed something. It’s been almost two months since filming began for his latest project, Love Like Oxygen, and Chanyeol hasn’t even met most of the staff members. In all honesty, Chanyeol doesn’t mind the company as much as he seems to. This isn’t the first time he’s worked with Baekhyun on a set, and for some reason the other man keeps showing up as a staff member of every other film he’s done in the last three years. He’s developed an odd camaraderie with the other man, and as much as he comes off as cold and unapproachable, Chanyeol doesn’t really mind the company of other people as long as they don’t disturb him while he rehearses.
“You’re sitting there and not moving,” Baekhyun breaks him out of his thoughts. “That is the opposite of what you should be doing. If you don’t go now someone is going to combust into a pile of stress and tears and I’ll have to clean up the mess.”
After taking another glance at Baekhyun’s face, which pretty much says go now or I will beat your sorry ass, Chanyeol gets up and walks out of his trailer, silently hoping to himself that Baekhyun doesn’t use all of his skin products and try on his designer clothes like the last time he “hung out” in Chanyeol’s trailer.
The shoot takes three hours with all of his scenes going smoothly. The only hiccup comes as a result of Irene screwing up the light fixture settings, but the problem is solved quickly enough before either Chanyeol, or Jinki, the director, get upset about it. Worn out and ready for a long shower, Chanyeol walks back to his trailer to gather his stuff and get the hell home. Shooting took longer than he expected to because much to the crew’s dismay, Jinki decided to add extra scenes to the schedule in order to make up for time they lost due to weather a few weeks ago.
The lights on his trailer are on, much to his surprise, and he sees Baekhyun curled into a ball on his couch, covered in a warm blanket. He looks to the the right and sees Joonmyun scrolling through his phone on Chanyeol’s hair and makeup chair.
“Oh, you’re finally back.” Joonmyun looks up from his phone as he hears the door close behind Chanyeol.
“What’s up with him?” Chanyeol wonders, nodding towards Baekhyun.
“He passed out on your couch and looked cold so I gave him a blanket,” Joonmyun explains. “He looked too peaceful to be woken up and he had nothing else to do for the rest of the day anyways.”
Chanyeol shrugs in return, letting Joonmyun know that he doesn’t mind.
“Why are you here?” Chanyeol shoves Baekhyun over a little. He flops down on the couch and takes a deep breath. “What do we need to talk about? Make it fast, I’m tired as fuck.”
“I have a new script for you,” Joonmyun starts right away. “It’s the new Kris Wu film.”
The director’s name gets Chanyeol’s attention
“Kris Wu only does indie romance films,” Chanyeol points out, eyebrows raised. “I’m an action star.”
“You’ve been talking about expanding your range for for a while now, but I hadn’t gotten a script that was good enough till now,” Joonmyun explains. “I know you admire Kris’ work. I mean, there aren’t many people who don’t.”
“It would be a good step…” Chanyeol entertains. He has been wanting to diversify his projects for the last year. “I’ll read it after wrap and get back to you.”
“I’m sure you will,” Joonmyun replies. Chanyeol knows that if Joonmyun approves of the script, him reading it over was merely a formality. They’ve always worked seamlessly together and Chanyeol can’t remember a single instance where the two have disagreed on the his career decisions. Chanyeol figures it comes as an added perk from knowing each other long before his career even began. They had become quick friends in college when Chanyeol had taken a class about the inner workings of the Korean entertainment industry. When Chanyeol was suddenly juggling an acting career with no idea of how to manage it, Joonmyun was the first person he went to for help.
“Now if you’ll excuse me, I have dinner plans with Sunyoung.” Joonmyun gets up from his seat and walks to the trailer door.
“What am I supposed to do with this thing?” Chanyeol shoves Baekhyun a little and gets only a disgruntled groan in response.
“Figure it out, ice princess,” Joonmyun smirks over his shoulder as he leaves.
The only solution that Chanyeol can come up with is to push Baekhyun completely off the couch. Chanyeol hears a loud thud as Baekhyun hits the ground, followed by a lengthy string of curse words and something extremely rude about his mother.
“I really fucking hate you,” Baekhyun groans as rolls around on the ground for a few seconds before picking himself up and punching the actor in the shoulder
“That hurt,” Chanyeol states matter of factly, rubbing the sore spot.
“No shit Sherlock,” Baekhyun grins. “I still don’t understand how you’ve managed to become such a good actor. Your range of emotions in real life is equivalent to that of a dead fish.”
“Why do you talk so much?” Chanyeol complains, rubbing his temples. He moves over to the vanity to throw his things into a leather bag. Baekhyun flops over onto the couch and stares at Chanyeol intently. “Do you need something?”
“Actually…” Baekhyun begins tentatively.
“No, you can not stay in my house tonight again.” Chanyeol huffs as he throws the last of his things into the bag and walks towards the door. Baekhyun jumps up eagerly and follows him out. “I thought we discussed this already, you are not a welcome guest anywhere in my life, please leave.
“But my roommate and his girlfriend are probably having really loud sex in my apartment right now and your couch is probably infinitely more comfortable than my bed is.” Baekhyun attempts. “I’ll be silent.”
“No.”
“I’ll make you breakfast,” Baekhyun adds.
“...No,” Chanyeol hesitates. Baekhyun picks up on it immediately.
“I’ll make you those chocolate chip pancakes with the cute fruit faces on them,” Baekhyun grins.
“Even the clown ones?” Chanyeol gives in a little.
“And the pirate ones.”
Chanyeol sighs to himself and decides that Baekhyun is Satan reincarnated. He also decides that he lost this round with Baekhyun because even Ice Princess Chanyeol can’t resist pirate decorated chocolate chip pancakes.
“Fine, but if you don’t shut up, you’re sleeping outside,” Chanyeol relents. There’s no winning with Byun Baekhyun, even for Chanyeol.
“Fuck yeah,” Baekhyun whoops and jumps into Chanyeol’s car. “We can drive to work together again, it’ll be super cute.”
“I hate you,” Chanyeol deadpans. “So much.”
--
“Hyung, this is the best script I’ve read in years,” Chanyeol gushes into the receiver on his cell phone. “I’m in. A million times in.”
“I figured,” Joonmyun chuckles. “I’ll let the production team know that you are interested and eager to join the cast. You’re Kris Wu’s top choice for the role, so we shouldn’t have any trouble moving from here.”
“Unsurprisingly,” Chanyeol smirks. Baekhyun smacks him in the arm.
“Humility, Chanyeol. I thought we talked about this,” he lectures as he simultaneously shoves chips into his mouth while playing Call of Duty. Chanyeol sends the smaller man a glare and snuggles further into the couch. He starts picking at his frayed pajama bottoms until Baekhyun slaps his hand away. Chanyeol’s frown gets deeper and he shoves Baekhyun into the armrest as revenge.
On his rare days off, Chanyeol takes to wearing the rattiest clothes he can dig out of his closet and lounging around doing nothing. The last time he had a day off, he spent the entire day playing Assasin’s Creed until his eyes turned bloodshot. Joonmyun yelled at him the next day because he had a CF shoot, but he didn’t regret it very much. It feels good to let down the hard exterior that automatically builds up when he’s working. Having a day off reminds him that he’s capable of being what society considers a normal human being. Despite the fact that he loves his job to pieces, it’s nice to take a step back and relax once in a while. He’s thankful that Joonmyun forces him into it once every blue moon. According to Baekhyun, he seemed incredibly less “cactus-y” than usual, and it was rather refreshing.
“Filming starts in three weeks, and we’ll be flying to Los Angeles next Tuesday to get settled in and to film that K.Will music video we committed to. Be packed and ready to go,” Joonmyun fills him in
It’s been almost been eight years since he’s been back in the States after moving to Seoul to attend KAFA. He should probably brush up on his English. And call his mom. He probably doesn’t do that often enough.
“What about until then?” Chanyeol asks.
“I’m forcing you to go on a vacation because I’m going to Jeju-do with Sunyoung and I can’t be bothered with you,” Joonmyun explains.
“I can’t take a break. I’ll have nothing to do,” Chanyeol whines.
“This is precisely why I have always been in full support of you getting a life,” Joonmyun sighs. “I’m sure Baekhyun will be willing to introduce you to his friends if you promise to be civil.”
“I already hate Baekhyun. Why would I want to hang out with his friends,” Chanyeol drones, looking to the left where Baekhyun has made a makeshift home on his couch.
“Hey, I’m amazing, okay. It’s you who has the personality problems,” Baekhyun says with his mouth full of food.
“Could you please chew with your mouth closed, oh my god,” Chanyeol fumes.
“Well, I hope you have fun!” Joonmyun exclaims. “I’ll see you in a week.”
The line goes dead before Chanyeol can complain anymore.
“I’m leaving the country in a week. You officially have to leave and go back to nights with your sex crazed roommate. I’ve had enough of you mooching off of my success and wealth,” Chanyeol huffs.
“You know, having a sex crazed roommate sounds great actually. Too bad he’s straight,” Baekhyun ponders, completely ignoring everything else Chanyeol just said. “Are you sure I can’t set up permanent residence in this wonderful apartment of yours? It’s a waste to leave it unused for four entire months.”
“No amount of pancakes can convince me to let you live in my house while I’m gone.” Chanyeol puts his foot down. “You’d probably just use my bed to sleep with that producer’s assistant you’ve been having sexual tension with.”
“I think you mean the producer’s assistant that I’ve been having sex with,” Baekhyun smirks and wiggles his eyebrows. “I’m sure Tao would love your bed.”
Chanyeol throws up a little on the inside.
“Spare me the details and get out of my house,” Chanyeol demands, losing patience.
Baekhyun sighs and quits his game, “I should probably go anyways. I have a date tonight and I look disgusting.”
“You really do,” Chanyeol deadpans. He’s not disappointed that Baekhyun took him seriously. Not at all.
“Aww, don’t worry my little cactus, I’ll hang out with you tomorrow,” Baekhyun reassures him. “I’ll take you to the bars with my friends and you can show your ‘socially awkward with a hint of rude’ personality to an expanded group of people. Although the rude has gotten a lot better ever since you got off set. You should just quit working and become a hermit forever, it would be easier to deal with.”
Chanyeol throws a pillow at the other.
“I hope Tao holds out on you tonight, you poor excuse for a human being,” Chanyeol frowns. Baekhyun gasps in return.
“You wouldn’t,” Baekhyun scowls. “Anyways, don’t make me take back my kind words about your shocking transformation.”
He gathers his things and heads towards the door.
“See you tomorrow, ice princess,” Baekhyun calls as he leaves.
Chanyeol looks at the now empty spot next to him and realizes something.
“The little bitch didn’t even clean up after himself.”
Chanyeol pulls out his vacuum and begins cleaning his entire apartment, erasing any traces of Baekhyun’s general lack of hygiene.
--
After an uneventful week and only slightly embarrassing himself in front of Baekhyun’s friends, Chanyeol finds himself on a plane to LA. He’s flying first class, thankfully, and he’s far enough away from Joonmyun that he doesn’t have to hear the cheesy details of his manager’s “perfect in every way” Jeju vacation with his girlfriend. He spends the entirety of the flight poring over his script and connecting with his character, Jaehyuk, a man on a soul searching foreign adventure who falls in love with a beautiful local girl. The film has just the right amount of indie romance, adventure, and feel good vibes to make it perfect for any audience. Without even beginning filming, Chanyeol is more than certain that it’ll be a hit at the box office when it releases next summer.
Chanyeol steps into LAX airport and is surprised to be met with no fanfare at all. He looks to Joonmyun in confusion. It’s been years since Chanyeol has stepped into an airport without being met by hordes of screaming fans equipped with DSLRs and long arms that easily reached over barricades, ultimately leaving him feeling more than a little violated.
“Your travel dates weren’t announced this time,” Joonmyun explains. “It’s too much of a hassle to be honest, and Kris Wu has been trying to keep the project on the down low for whatever reason.”
“Interesting.” Chanyeol strolls to the baggage claim and begins looking for his suitcases, pulling his hat lower over his face, hoping to get out of the airport undetected. Despite the fact that his travel dates went unannounced, being one of Korea’s top stars made him easily recognizable. “So what’s the schedule for the next few days?”
“Music video shooting starts the day after tomorrow and shouldn’t last longer than a half day,” Joonmyun clarifies, hauling his own bags off of the conveyor belt. “Filming for the Untitled Kris Wu Project starts three days after that. That gives us a little time to explore the city and whatnot.”
“Explore the city?” Chanyeol frowns. He’s never been one for adventure, or leaving the house in general for that matter. “Why not just stay home?”
“Because I want to explore the city and I don’t want to go alone,” Joonmyun sighs. “I’m dragging you with me, willing or not. Think of it as part of my Force Chanyeol To Get A Life Initiative.”
“Fine,” Chanyeol huffs. There’s no winning when it comes to Joonmyun and his ‘exploring’, which mainly consists of taking cheesy photos at the most touristy locations that the older can find. He shudders, praying that California doesn’t provide Joonmyun with any absurd ideas. The last time they ‘explored’ he was filming in Paris and Joonmyun was insistent on climbing all the way to the top of the eiffel tower on their last day. He couldn’t feel his legs for at least 4 days after that, and frankly, he would rather not repeat the experience.
They hail a cab and arrive at a fancy high rise building about half an hour later. Joonmyun pulls out a set of keys and hands it to him.
“These are yours for the time that we’re here,” Joonmyun explains as they travel up the elevator. “We’ll both be staying in the same apartment, but honestly, it’s big enough that we probably won’t have to even see each other if we don’t want to.”
Chanyeol exaggeratedly sighs in relief.
“Oh, shut up you little brat. Give it three days and you’ll be kneeling at my door, begging me to cook you some authentic Korean food,” Joonmyun grumbles. “Anyways, half of our locations are close enough that we can come back here for the night, and the film’s production team has taken care of lodging for the rest of the locations.”
They arrive at the door and Joonmyun twists the key in, opening it up to reveal an apartment that, in Chanyeol’s opinion, is the best fucking thing he’s ever laid his eyes on.
“Wow,” Chanyeol breathes.
“I’d like to say,” Joonmyun exhales. “The pictures didn’t do this place justice.”
Chanyeol swiftly enters and starts looking around. “I call the master bedroom.”
“Take it, I have no interest. I don’t want to hear you bitching about having the smaller room until we go home, ice princess,” Joonmyun smirks. Chanyeol ignores him and finds the master bedroom. It’s probably bigger than half of Chanyeol’s entire apartment back in Seoul.
“How did you get us this place?” Chanyeol asks Joonmyun, returning to the living room and taking a seat on the couch.
“I didn’t actually. It was the production team,” Joonmyun fills him in. “Apparently Kris Wu has friends in high places.”
“Looks like it,” Chanyeol sinks deeper into the cushions. “I could get used to this.”
“Not too used to it!” Joonmyun exclaims. Chanyeol makes a disgruntled noise. He knows exactly what that tone means and he doesn’t like it one bit. “We’re starting our adventure at 8 AM tomorrow morning!”
“Don’t even touch me until at least 11:30 or I’ll snap your arm off,” Chanyeol growls.
“11:30 it is,” Joonmyun gives in.
“I think the jet lag is getting to me,” Chanyeol yawns. “This couch is so comfortable, I could pass out right here.”
“Well, you go ahead and do that. I’m gonna check out my room,” Joonmyun heads to his own room. “Goodnight, princess.”
“Stop calling me that.”
“Make me,” Joonmyun laughs, shutting his door behind him and effectively ending the conversation.
Chanyeol groans and starts to drift off, not before deciding that he really needs to keep Joonmyun away from Byun Baekhyun.
--
It’s hot. This is what Chanyeol thinks as he jumps through burning sand, generally hating his existence.
“Why the fuck did I think it would be a good idea to be friends with you?” This is what Chanyeol says as he tries his best not to let out a string of curse words at Joonmyun, the one person’s existence that he currently hates more than his own.
“Because I’m handsome and I have a winning personality,” Joonmyun beams, ignoring Chanyeol’s anger.
“It’s hot and disgusting. I’m sweating, Joonmyun. I never sweat,” Chanyeol whines. “Also, I thought you were well aware of the fact that I hate the beach.”
“Get over it,” Joonmyun rolls his eyes. “It’s a beautiful day!”
Joonmyun lays out a blanket and sticks a giant parasol in the sand. He pulls out a romantic comedy paperback from his summer tote bag and begins reading, still sporting the same giant smile.
“How the fuck are you straight? Even I don’t do shit like that,” Chanyeol mutters before stalking towards the shoreline, hoping that letting his feet hit the water will cool him down a bit.
The feeling of the waves hitting his feet relaxes him and after looking back to make sure Joonmyun was settled, Chanyeol continues to walk down the shore line. The beach is bubbling with people today. Being an actor, he’s always found it fascinating to people-watch. People evoke the widest range of emotions without even realizing it, and sometimes he stores away instances in his back pocket to pull out when he needs a little inspiration.
He’s gone almost a half mile down the beach when he wonders if he should turn back or not. Joonmyun is probably perfectly content sitting under the shade reading his book, but Chanyeol had been eyeing the porcelain bathtub in his bathroom since yesterday and was eager to go home and give it a try.
He’s about to turn around and walk back in the same direction he came from when a group of loud boys running towards the shore ahead of him grabs his attention. They’re speaking a mix of Korean and English while also managing to run and tackle each other all at the same time. Chanyeol rolls his eyes at the group and begins turning around yet again, when he turns back. One of them is especially loud and Chanyeol wants to see what the ruckus is all about.
The culprit is unmistakably handsome and almost as tall as himself, maybe even taller. He’s sporting platinum blonde hair and a subtle six pack. Everything about him screams “California” and when Chanyeol notices the surfboard he’s dragging along with him, he wants to scoff and turn away. The problem, however, is that he can’t seem to do it. His eyes stay fixated on the surfer for a few more seconds until Chanyeol’s luck turns against him more than it already has today. The boy turns his head and accidentally meets his gaze. It might be a trick of light, but for a second Chanyeol thinks he sees recognition flit through the his expression. Chanyeol doesn’t give himself the chance to observe more and swiftly turns around, walking to Joonmyun without looking back, no matter how much he wants to. At his new speed, Chanyeol makes it back to Joonmyun in fifteen minutes and complains to the elder until he begrudgingly agrees to going home.
As they drive home, the tall blond boy lingers in Chanyeol's mind for a few more seconds before he realizes he hates the beach and is hungry and shouldn’t be thinking about random Los Angeles beach boys with model like looks because that’s just absurd and stupid.
And Chanyeol is smart so he doesn’t. Not one bit.
--
“Chanyeol,” Kyungsoo nods at him in greeting. Chanyeol scoffs and rolls his eyes.
“Being cordial, are we?” Chanyeol notes. “Still playing the second lead, huh, Kyungsoo?”
This earns him a jab in the ribs.
“Four months, Chanyeol,” Kyungsoo sighs. “Can we please at least pretend to get along? I’ll turn a blind eye to your general dickheadedness.”
“We do get along, Soo. You’re one of my only friends in the industry” Chanyeol points out. It earns him another jab. “Fine, I will do my best to pretend to be civil.”
Kyungsoo has a point. No matter how much the two got on each other’s nerves, they were going to be spending a lot of time together for the next couple months. Harmless banter can become annoying after that long.
They had both debuted at the same time in similar roles, receiving rave reviews and immense praise. They were easy targets to pit against each other in the press and ever since then, the Chanyeol-Kyungsoo rivalry has been documented thoroughly by fans and media alike. When Chanyeol started moving up to lead roles at the same time that Kyungsoo kept accepting secondary characters, people started claiming that Chanyeol was winning the race that in reality neither of them were even participating in. Their careers are far from the reason that they tend to be hostile towards each other; their only problem lying in the fact that they can’t stand each other’s personalities. Despite this, however, Chanyeol considers the smaller man his friend in some way or the other.
They both take their seats at the script reading table, occasionally greeting other actors as people slowly start filling into the room. About fifteen minutes later, the entire table is full except for one seat. Kris Wu.
The cast waits in a awkward silence, smiling uncomfortably at each other with no idea of how to proceed from here. A few moments later, the door bangs open and in walks a short man sporting a spiky hairdo and an annoyed expression. He plasters on a smile and addresses the cast.
“Hello everyone. I’m Minseok, executive producer for the,” the man pauses and cringes, “tentatively titled Kris Wu project, Oh, She’s Got Me. Very tentatively. It’s really fucking tentative because let me tell you, I think it’s a disgusting name.”
Chanyeol tries not to laugh. Kris Wu and Kim Minseok have worked together exclusively as director and producer for as long as Chanyeol can remember, never failing to produce hit after hit at the Korean box office. Their relationship is infamous for being dysfunctional, yet somehow they manage to get the job done everytime.
“What’s wrong with it?” Kris Wu strolls in casually in his 6 foot 3 glory. Chanyeol wonders why the man didn’t just go into modeling. “It’s a great name, Minseok.”
“It’s really not,” Minseok sighs. “Don’t worry guys we’ll come up with something. We always do. Kris, sit your ass down, you’re already 10 minutes late.”
The script reading commences and continues without to many problems. Kris Wu adds in his insight here and there, but the cast begins to get comfortable with each other. Script readings are always Chanyeol’s favorite time to observe and learn more about the people he’ll be working with. Kyungsoo is playing his best friend and despite their personal relationship, they’ve worked together enough in the past to easily fabricate that chemistry. The female lead, Minah, on the other hand, is someone that Chanyeol has only briefly met in the past, as with some of the supporting characters like Hakyeon and Seokjin. It’s been awhile since Chanyeol has worked with such an unfamiliar cast and he can’t help but feel a little excited to experience it again.
The script reading is dismissed a few hours later and after a lot of bowing and head bobbing, Chanyeol walks out into the hot California day next to Kyungsoo.
“Hyung!” Kyungsoo exclaims once they spot Joonmyun. He gives the elder a big hug. “It’s been so long, how have you been?”
“Pretty great,” Joonmyun chuckles. “LA has been treating me well. What’s up with you two? Finally able to stand next to each other without limbs getting chopped off.”
“Sadly, no. Kyungsoo has already threatened to chop off my dick three times today,” Chanyeol shares.
“You probably deserved it,” Joonmyun laughs it off. Kyungsoo joins him.
“I often feel like I have nobody on my side,” Chanyeol laments dramatically.
“It’s not a feeling, Chanyeollie, it’s reality. Get used to it,” Kyungsoo smirks. “I heard you’ve met Baekhyun.”
“Of course you two know each other,” Chanyeol frowns. “That makes so much sense. You both greatly resemble Satan’s children.”
“He wanted me to tell you that he has secured the passcode to your Gangnam apartment,” Kyungsoo mentions. “His exact words were, nothing screams Chanyeol more than making your own birthday the passcode to your apartment.”
“I’m gonna kill him,” Chanyeol screeches, immediately pulling out his phone to text Baekhyun and tell him not to fuck anything up.
“I’m sure he’ll be very responsible,” Kyungsoo attempts.
“Are we talking about the same Baekhyun?” Chanyeol asks.
“Have fun trying to figure that out!” Kyungsoo fakely grins. “I’m going to head home and sleep. Bye Joonmyun hyung!”
“Bye, Kyungsoo. See you soon,” Joonmyun calls after his retreating figure.
“What’s for dinner?” Chanyeol asks, still trying to get a hold of Baekhyun as the two of them walk to the car.
“I found a restaurant in Koreatown with killer jjigae,” Joonmyun hums. “Or I could cook at home.”
“Nah, let’s eat out. I want to try it,” Chanyeol chooses.
“Koreatown it is then.” Joonmyun enters the address into the car and they drive off.
--
“Well, that’s certainly comprising,” Chanyeol casually comments as he walks in and takes a seat on Kyungsoo’s trailer couch. Minah gasps and scrambles away, straightening her clothes, and Kyungsoo lightly bangs his head on the wall he was just pressing her up against in frustration.
“Cockblock,” Kyungsoo groans. Minah slaps his arm and gives him a what the fuck are you doing fix this look. “How about we pretend like this never happened?”
“Fine by me,” Chanyeol begins. Kyungsoo’s face brightens a little. “But you owe me.”
“I should have known,” Kyungsoo frowns. “You’re still a little bitch, aren’t you.”
“Well, I’m going to get going then,” Minah awkwardly interjects. “I’ll see you on set, Chanyeol.”
The minute Minah exits the trailer, Chanyeol raises his eyebrows at Kyungsoo in fascination.
“Stop looking at me like that,” Kyungsoo complains.
“I didn’t know you had this much game,” Chanyeol hums. “Props to you, Kyungsoo.”
“We’ve been seeing each other since we shot that coffee CF a few months ago,” Kyungsoo explains grumpily. “Now leave me alone. I have lines to run.”
“That was actually the reason why I came,” Chanyeol remembers. “Can we run the second scene? I wanted to see how you’re delivering the dialogue so I can match you.”
“You really never take a break do you?” Kyungsoo wonders. “You probably have the script memorized cover to cover.”
“It’s my job,” Chanyeol defends.
“On the contrary, I disagree,” Kyungsoo sighs. “I’ll run it with you if you promise me that you’ll actually go to sleep tonight.”
“Yes sir,” Chanyeol relents.
They run it a few times until Chanyeol is finally satisfied with the results. Kyungsoo then promptly tells him to get the fuck out of his trailer. He’s about to get up and leave when the trailer door bangs open to reveal a disheveled and out of breath young boy.
“Mr. Park!” the boy exclaims eagerly, a grin appearing on his face. “There you are, I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”
Chanyeol sighs. He almost forgot about the fact that he had to get used to and deal with an entirely new crew. It almost makes him miss Baekhyun, but then he thinks better of it because missing Baekhyun is just crazy.
“What do you want?” Chanyeol deadpans. The boy’s expression shifts into uncertainty at Chanyeol’s unenthusiastic tone.
“Um, I just wanted to introduce myself to you,” the boy regains some confidence. “I’m Jongin! Your set assistant for the tentatively titled Kris Wu project You Got Me, You Got Me Good. Minseok hyung wanted me to emphasize the fact that it is very tentative.”
“Kris’ directorial skills obviously don’t translate to his naming abilities,” Kyungsoo bemuses. “Nice to meet you, Jongin. Don’t get too scared by this guy over here. He’s all talk.”
“What do you want,” Chanyeol deadpans, ignoring Kyungsoo completely. “Make it quick.”
“I, uh, just wanted to introduce-” Jongin begins.
“Well you’ve done that,” Chanyeol hints. “So get out.”
“What?” Jongin’s eyes widen.
“You heard me,” Chanyeol quips. “Get out. I’ll ask for you when I need something.”
“O-okay?” Jongin looks taken aback. Kyungsoo sighs from his makeup chair in the corner.
“Seriously don’t take him seriously, he’s just a piece of shit,” Kyungsoo reassures. Jongin relaxes a little at Kyungsoo’s words and then wordlessly exits the trailer.
“He looks like the kind of guy that will get me the wrong kind of coffee in the mornings,” Chanyeol groans.
“Simmer down ice princess, I’m sure he’ll get the hang of it,” Kyungsoo purrs. Chanyeol bristles at the use of the nickname.
“You too?” he snaps. “Fucking Byun Baekhyun.”
--
Chanyeol sits while mumbling his lines under his breath in his trailer when he hears a soft knock at his door.
“Come in.”
The deliriousness that results from shooting a Kris Wu film has already hit him and it’s only been two days. The director insists on settling for nothing short of perfection and as much as that ideology aligns with Chanyeol’s own thought process, it’s been making his job increasingly difficult.
“I have your dinner,” Jongin squeaks, setting the plate on his makeup table. Chanyeol grunts in acknowledgement. The younger assistant has grown on Chanyeol. Jongin does exactly what needs to be done without any mistakes and with the sleep deprivation that Chanyeol is going to be dealing with in the coming months, he’s going to need as much perfection as he can get.
“Would you like anything else, Mr. Park?” Jongin mumbles, shoving himself into a corner and trying to make himself as small as possible.
“I told you to call me Chanyeol,” Chanyeol intones without even looking up.
“Sorry, Mr-” Jongin pauses. “Ch-chanyeol.”
“And no, I don’t need anything else so-” Chanyeol begins.
“Yes, get out,” Jongin completes the sentence and quickly scrambles towards the exit. “Let me know if you need anything, sir. I mean, Chanyeol.”
Chanyeol sighs and puts down his script, picking up the dinner Jongin brought him. He’s almost halfway through his food when the door opens yet again. He can’t catch a goddamn break.
“We’ve been summoned,” Kyungsoo notifies him. Chanyeol groans and scarfs the rest of his meal down at the speed of light.
“Is it Kris again?” Chanyeol whines.
“Sadly, yes,” Kyungsoo sighs.
“I swear, that man will be the death of me,” Chanyeol whines. Kris has taken up the habit of ‘summoning’ cast members at his every whim and will to discuss matters ranging from dialogue delivery to fine art in the 19th century. “What is it this time?”
“We’ll find out together,” Kyungsoo doles. Chanyeol begrudgingly gets up and walks with Kyungsoo to one of the break rooms that Kris was occupying.
The minute they enter, Kris’ expression brightens and he greets them with a giant smile.
“Well look at this, it’s my two favorite lead actors paying me a visit!”
“Uh, yeah. Hey Director Wu!” Chanyeol musters up as much enthusiasm as he possibly can.
“How many times do I have to tell you, call me Kris. And stop being so stiff, Yeol,” Kris admonishes. Chanyeol has no words.
“So, what’s up?” Kyungsoo attempts as the two of them take a seat across Kris.
“I actually have something very important to discuss with the two of you.” Kris’ face turns serious. “I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and I wanted to run an idea past the two of you.”
The two of them nod, curious.
“I was thinking of tweaking the story slightly, actually. I know that the story begins as two best friends going on a soul searching adventure, and along the way Chanyeol’s character falls in love with Minah’s,” Kris begins. “But what if your characters fall in love with each other instead!”
“Uhh…” Chanyeol croaks.
“Huh?” Kyungsoo’s eyes go wide. The two of them can’t seem to formulate any kind of response to that suggestion.
“Don’t worry guys, I’ve got this,” a voice behind them reassures. Chanyeol turns around to see that it belongs to a short man with jet black hair and feline features. The actor had seen the man around set quite frequently, actually, but was never able to figure out exactly who he was.
“Kim Jongdae, screenwriter,” he says. Then he lets out a big sigh and begins ranting.
“Kris, nothing, and I mean nothing, will convince me to rewrite the entire goddamn script as a homoerotic fanfiction instead of the beautiful love story it is now.”
“But-” Kris attempts.
“NO,” Jongdae yells. “Literally, I’m officially putting this down as number 2 on the list of stupid ideas Kris has had.”
“What’s number one?” Chanyeol wonders aloud before he can catch himself.
“Freshman year of college,” Jongdae smirks. “Trust me, you don’t want the details.”
“Oookay,” Kyungsoo whistles and gets up from his seat. Chanyeol follows suit and they both walk towards the exit.
“So, we’re free to go now?” Chanyeol prompts before they reach the door.
“Yes, you guys are fine,” Jongdae laughs. “Get some sleep, tomorrow’s gonna be a long day.”
“Yes, sir,” Chanyeol pipes. By the time they exit the building, the soft orange rays that were peeking out on the horizon are gone. “Wow, it’s already dark out.”
“It’s almost 10, what else would it be?” Kyungsoo snorts. “Anyways, crisis averted. I would more likely drown myself in the Pacific over playing your love interest in a movie.”
“Touche,” Chanyeol rolls his eyes. “I’m sure you’re a terrible kisser.”
“Minah can be the judge of that,” Kyungsoo smirks.
“That’s gross,” Chanyeol grumbles. “I will never be able to unthink that.”
“Payback,” Kyungsoo grins. “I’m headed home. See you tomorrow, princess.”
“Can’t wait,” Chanyeol deadpans in return, but waves nonetheless.
He walks back to his trailer to gather his things before heading home. It’s slightly eerie, being in the dark alone, but Chanyeol is a man so he doesn’t get scared. Not even a little bit.
“I don’t even know what he is,” Chanyeol hears Jongin’s voice coming from near his trailer. He stops in his tracks.
“It’s like he’s almost an asshole but he’s not,” Jongin continues. “Like, I see him with Kyungsoo and he’s totally fine, and it’s not like he’s rude to me either. Just extremely unresponsive.”
Chanyeol smiles a little at that. It’s nice to know that at least Jongin understands him.
“And my god, he fucking worships that script. I’ve never seen him without it in his hands,” Jongin wonders. “But still, it would be nice if he was a little less prickly. I’m scared to death of him.”
Chanyeol walks a little further up, but stops again when he sees another boy standing next to Jongin right outside his trailer.
“He sounds like an entitled pain in the ass,” the boy scoffs. “You’re just too nice, Jongin. If it were me, I would have kicked him in the balls at ‘get out’.”
“I could say the same about you,” Jongin defends. “You have no patience. Some people take some work, Sehun. It’s all about giving them a chance.”
“Chance, my ass,” the boy, Sehun, intones.
“You say that like you were always Mr. Manners,” Jongin laughs.
“I was in high school. It was an awkward teenager phase,” Sehun defends.
Chanyeol’s phone buzzes in his pocket and he opens it up to see a text from Joonmyun.
Where are you? I’m waiting out front. Come quickly, I’m tired.
Chanyeol takes a deep breath and walks towards his trailer, pretending like he hadn’t heard anything There’s nothing that Chanyeol hates more than awkward situations.
The closer he gets, the easier it is to see the two boys standing outside. He gets ready to greet them, wanting to prove Jongin’s friend wrong, but nothing comes out when he gets a clear look at the boy
He’s tall, with platinum blond hair and Chanyeol knows he’s hiding a six pack under his bro tank. Chanyeol knows that because he’s seen them before and maybe thought about them more than once.
“Uh-” is all Chanyeol gets out before he freezes. It’s the hot surfer boy from the beach.
“Chanyeol!” Jongin’s eyes go wide, as if he wasn’t expecting Chanyeol to show up. “I thought you already went home. I was going to put this in your trailer for tomorrow.”
He holds up garment bag, most likely containing tomorrow's costume.
“Oh,” Chanyeol manages. He looks over at the boy, Sehun, and his eyebrows furrow automatically. Jongin takes this as a cue to introduce the boy.
“This is my friend Sehun Oh,” Jongin explains, attempting to resolve Chanyeol’s obvious confusion, not knowing the true reason behind it. “Or I guess Oh Sehun if we’re talking Korean style. He’s working as a director's assistant to Kris until the end of the project. We go to USC together.”
“Kris, huh?” Chanyeol can’t stop himself. “Brave soul.”
Sehun’s eyebrows quirk at this, obviously amused.
“It’s an experience,” he admits. Chanyeol can feel himself being judged by Sehun’s eyes. Normally, it doesn’t bother him at all, but something about the other boy has him feeling completely thrown off.
“Well, I’m going to grab my things,” Chanyeol awkwardly inches around the two and opens the door to his trailer.
“See you tomorrow,” Jongin grins. “Sorry for lingering out here, by the way, we ran into each other while I was dropping this stuff off.”
Chanyeol mumbles an, “It’s okay,” that nobody hears.“I’ll take that,” he adds, more confidently, grabbing the garment bag out of Jongin’s hands.
Chanyeol quickly enters his trailer and lets the door shut behind him. While he packs up his things, he wonders to himself why the hell his heart is beating so fast.
--
For some reason, Chanyeol shows up to work the next day feeling just a little nervous. He chalks it up to a bad night of sleep coupled with an increasing suspicion in regards to Kris’ erratic directorial style, but the actor can’t help but admit that the tall blonde director’s assistant from yesterday has been on his mind. More than he should be.
It’s fascinating, really, how much Chanyeol wants to prove himself in a way that he’s never wanted to before. He didn’t even feel the need to prove himself this much when filming his first project after coming off of back to back Blue Dragons. Perhaps it was because acting is something Chanyeol has always had undoubted confidence in. People, on the other hand, well, Chanyeol has never been very good at people. That explains why he has such few friends, all of whom approached him first and then adapted to his personality, realizing that he isn’t all that bad after all. The actor was a lot of work, as Jongin had described, but not bad.
Being in an industry where everyone has an image, it was easy for Chanyeol to build up an obnoxious and overconfident image. In reality, he was obnoxious and overconfident about his skills, but everything else was a completely different story. He never knew how to turn acquaintances into friends and he often didn’t have time to turn himself off work mode. This led him to generally avoiding forging real relationships in the Korean entertainment industry. The actor was comfortable as a workaholic with a close circle of great friends, but because of it, he had to get used to being called everything from ‘loner’ to ‘snobbish’. It took time, but Chanyeol had stopped caring about what other people thought and said about him.
Until Sehun appeared, of course.
It seemed that Oh Sehun was a completely different story in every way possible. Attraction most definitely isn’t a new thing to Chanyeol, but he’s never felt an attraction that was so unrelenting. This new kind of attraction he had to Sehun was a puppeteer to his heartstrings, forcing him into thoughts and feelings that he didn’t want to go anywhere near.
Chanyeol was hopelessly drawn to a boy that he hasn’t even spoken two words to. All he had was a name and an occupation. The logical side of Chanyeol’s brain was being taken over by foreign emotions that he frankly had no time for. The actor wasn’t here to fantasize about making out with a stranger, he was here to work. Just work and nothing else.
“CHANYEOL.” Jongin’s screaming voice snaps him out of his thoughts.
“Huh?” Chanyeol’s eyes focus on Jongin’s face in front of him. “Why are you so close to me?”
“I thought you were sleeping with your eyes open,” Jongin sighs. “Or that you were dead. I said your name like, ten times and you didn’t notice.”
“Oh,” Chanyeol mumbles. “Sorry.”
“Wow, you know how to apologize,” Jongin awes.
“When you do something wrong, you apologize,” Chanyeol explains. “It’s just that most of the time, I’m not wrong so I don’t have to do it much.”
“Aaaand he’s back!” Jongin announces to everyone in the hair and makeup room. “Don’t worry guys, our lead actor is alive and well.”
Chanyeol looks around to see the concerned faces of the entire beauty team staring at him. He turns a light shade of pink and looks back at Jongin with a scowl.
“What did you do?”
“I was just scared that you were sick or dead,” Jongin waves off. “More importantly, however, Kris would like to see you.”
“But it’s so early,” Chanyeol whines. “I don’t wanna deal with Kris this early. Kris is so… just so.”
“I know he is,” Jongin empathizes. “He asked me to write him a report about the pros and cons of adding a zombie apocalypse scene to page 235 of the script. I haven’t even read the script. I’m just an assistant and I don’t even know what this movie is about.”
“The scene where Jaehyuk and Emily go on their first date?” Chanyeol gawks.
“I guess so!” Jongin exclaims. Chanyeol wonders how the assistant is able to muster up so much energy this early in the morning. “Too bad they don’t have Glassdoor reviews for movie directors or I would have avoided the trainwreck that is Kris at all costs.”
“What’s Glassdoor?” Chanyeol asks. He’s been in Korea for too long.
“It doesn’t matter,” Jongin laughs. “Kris is gonna flip a shit if you don’t get there soon.”
“God, it’s not even like he’s a terrible person,” Chanyeol frowns. “He’s just unique. Too unique.”
“Sounds a lot like you, Chanyeol,” Jongin responds. “Now go or I’ll get in trouble, and if I get in trouble, I’m skipping your 4:00 pm Starbucks run.”
“I hate you,” Chanyeol growls, standing up quickly.
“So you’re unique and a liar huh?” Jongin teases at Chanyeol’s retreating figured.
Chanyeol rolls his eyes, praying silently that he doesn’t have another Baekhyun on his hands as he walks to today’s filming location. The set is fully set up but oddly empty when he arrives. It’s the time in between when the setup crew leaves and the camera crew arrives, and it’s eerily quiet save for a few soft voices. Chanyeol follows the sound to find Kris and Minseok arguing. Again.
“Hell fucking naw, Kris,” Minseok fumes. “Always no. Five billion times no.”
“It sounds so nice though,” Kris pouts.
“Chanyeol!” Minseok calls to him. “Kris wants to name the movie The Fault in Our Scars. Please tell him he’s crazy.”
“Umm,” Chanyeol steps back a little, hoping to avoid the situation.
“Chanyeol, what’s your honest opinion?” Kris asks.
“Is that why you called me here?” Chanyeol inquires with a sigh.
“Oh yeah, I summoned you,” Kris wonders. “I forgot why, actually. How funny.”
“Yeah,” Chanyeol grits out. “So funny. Ha ha.”
“But really, what do you think?” Kris repeats.
“I think it might be a little to similar to the popular movie, The Fault In Our Stars?” Chanyeol voices carefully.
“You think?” Minseok scoffs. “I have to go now, but before you get any more ideas, please stop having ideas. Also, Jongdae wanted me to tell you to shove the zombie apocalypse idea up your ass because it sucks.”
“Why can’t he just tell me himself?” Kris complains.
“Because Jongdae says he has a mental breakdown everytime he talks to you,” Minseok intones. Chanyeol agrees with Jongdae on that one. “Bye Chanyeol, good luck.”
“Well, I’m going to get going as well and practice lines for today.” Chanyeol inches away nervously.
“I thought you had the entire script memorized?” Kris wonders.
“You can never have too much practice!” Chanyeol reminds.
“Now, that’s why you’re my favorite actor,” Kris praises. “Your work ethic is endless! Run along then, I’ll see you in 45 minutes.”
“But call time is in an hour,” Chanyeol mentions.
“I want you to meet my directors assistants for the first time! You might have seen them around, Sehun and Youngji,” Kris quips. “You’ll be working pretty closely with them from now on, especially Sehun. Youngji is working with the crew more than the cast.”
“Oh,” is all that Chanyeol can manage at the thought of having to work ‘closely’ with Sehun for the next four months. “I’ll see you soon, then.”
Chanyeol slips away before Kris can continue the conversation, thinking about the news he just heard. He returns to the hair and makeup room and immediately, the team begins to fuss over him, making sure that he’ll be ready for the shoot in time.
The distraction is welcoming, but it’s not enough to take his mind off of Sehun. At this point, Chanyeol assumes there’s nothing that is.
--
“That’s a wrap for today,” Kris calls into his microphone. The entire set, Chanyeol included, lets out a collective sigh.
“What was that, five hours over?” Chanyeol sleepily mumbles to Kyungsoo.
“Five and a half,” Kyungsoo yawns. “The man might be crazy, but no wonder his movies are all blockbusters and awards season hits. Perfection is his minimum standard. I never thought I’d meet someone who does perfectionist better than you.”
“Right?” Chanyeol agrees, eyes almost shutting.
“Ready to go?” Joonmyun comes up behind him.
“I have been for hours,” Chanyeol sighs. “Food. Want.”
“Me too,” Kyungsoo adds.
“Me three,” Minah chirps from next to Kyungsoo.
“Where are your managers?” Joonmyun whines. “I’ve been getting you two food for three days straight.”
“Korea,” Kyungsoo and Minah say in unison.
“No one is as dedicated as you are, Oppa,” Minah praises, using flattery to her advantage.
“He’s just here for a paid vacation,” Chanyeol clarifies.
“I really am,” Joonmyun agrees. “Wait here, I’ll get you guys In N’ Out.”
“I can’t eat that,” Minah argues.
“You’re already skin and bones, Minah, a burger is going to do nothing to you,” Kyungsoo reassures sweetly.
“You two disgust me,” Chanyeol glares.
“I’ll be back soon, text me if you go somewhere else on set.”
“Alright,” Chanyeol agrees.
“Thanks, hyung,” Kyungsoo adds cheerily as Joonmyun walks away. “What did Baekhyun say about manners, Chanyeol? Always use the magic words or the manners monster will eat you.”
“He’s officially drunk tired,” Minah catches Kyungsoo’s arm when the other sways a bit.
“How are you not dying right now?” Chanyeol wonders.
“I took a power nap when you and Soo were shooting your scene,” Minah explains. “Don’t kill me
“Can we trade bodies, I can’t even feel my legs,” Chanyeol asks Minah.
“If you’re willing to occasionally make out with Kyungsoo, then sure,” Minah offers. “I wouldn’t mind getting to know that director’s assistant you’ve been checking out all night.”
“I change my mind, I don’t like you anymore,” Chanyeol huffs.
“You need to expand your insult library further than “I hate you” and “I don’t like you anymore”, Chanyeol. Nobody is going to take you seriously,” Minah laughs.
Chanyeol has found that he’s been able to get close to Minah faster than he has been with any other costar in the past. Perhaps it had something to do with her relationship with Kyungsoo, but the three of them were so comfortable around each other, even after only about a week. It normally takes multiple weeks or sometimes even months for Chanyeol to get on the same comfort level with people as he has with Minah. It’s weird, but a good kind of weird.
“So, what’s the deal with the director’s assistant? Sehun, right?” Minah continues.
“There is no deal,” Chanyeol speaks the truth. “I’ve spoken to him twice in my life.”
“You’ve been discreetly looking at him all night,” Minah says knowingly. The horrified look on Chanyeol’s face makes her laugh. “Don’t worry, you did a good job of being subtle. It’s just that not much gets past my eye.”
The two of them find an empty bench on set while the crew buzzes around them, packing up equipment. Minah pulls a half asleep Kyungsoo along with her and sets him down.
“So, explain,” Minah prompts with a smile.
“How do you do that?” Chanyeol awes.
“Do what?”
“I am actually contemplating telling you what I’m thinking right now,” Chanyeol wonders eyeing Minah curiously. “I never tell people what I’m thinking.”
“I have a knack of knowing how to make people comfortable. It comes with the perceptiveness,” Minah explains. “But stop changing the subject and spill, I’m curious.”
“Honestly, I don’t know what it is,” Chanyeol sighs. “I’ve never been this baselessly attracted to someone before. Also, he might hate my guts?”
“It’s probably not baseless,” Minah considers. She takes a quick look to make sure that Kyungsoo is asleep. “I mean he is pretty hot. Not pretty hot, actually, he’s downright sexy. He’s pretty and hot and sexy, that’s what he is. I would probably be attracted to him if I didn’t have this thing holding me back.”
She nudges Kyungsoo with enough affection to make Chanyeol want to throw up.
“Talk to him,” Minah advises. “Maybe he doesn’t hate you. And if he does, change his mind.”
“How? My default personality is, as Kyungsoo likes to describe it, “despicable human being’,” Chanyeol deadpans.
“You’re not a bad guy, Chanyeol,” Minah punches him lightly in the arm. “Anyone who knows you well enough also knows that. So get to know Sehun over there. You never know what might happen.”
“Talking to people is hard,” Chanyeol whines. “I don’t know how to people.”
“He’s a director's assistant. It can’t be that hard to find something to talk to him about,” Minah shrugs.
“Of course you would say that,” he mumbles. “You could probably hold a conversation with anyone.”
“You are hopeless,” Minah sighs. “It could stop you from getting distracted, at the least. Just think about it.”
“I will, I promise.”
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