Pairing: Chanyeol x reader
Genre: Friends to lovers, a little angst
“Are you even listening?” Chanyeol shook your shoulder from across the table. You snapped out of your daydream. You found yourself doing that constantly, daydreaming. It was becoming a favorite pastime. You laying down on your hard mattress staring up at the ceiling at one in the morning. With this instance you were currently at the library with your friend Chanyeol. It was almost 9pm and there was a few people in the college library. A girl with black hair sitting a couple seats down from you was sleeping soundly. A boy with ginger hair a couple tables away from you was typing furiously away at his laptop. You didn’t know if he was typing a paper for a class or playing a video game.
“Hey,” Chanyeol grabbed your attention again when he shook your wrist. You felt your face grow warm at his touch and instantly pulled your arm away.
“I’m fine,” you choked out.
“You sure? It doesn’t look like it,” Chanyeol chuckled. You glanced at the time on your laptop.
“It’s getting late, we should get going,” you said gathering up your things. You put your various pens and pencils in your book bag and placed your laptop in your laptop bag. Chanyeol was mirroring your actions across from you. He was putting away his things as quietly as possible, he probably didn’t want to wake up the girl that was sleeping. You both quietly walked out of the library. Chanyeol said goodbye to the librarian who had a squishy smile on her face when Chanyeol acknowledged her. Chanyeol had that affect on people. He made people feel like they were on top of the world when he was around. He was funny, kind, charismatic, good looking and overall such a nice person to be around. He didn’t make you feel awkward or out of place, he made you feel like you were apart of his world.
You both were walking to your respective dorms, the cool autumn breeze chilled your exposed arms. You noticed Chanyeol instantly take off the hoodie he was wearing. You started to protest but Chanyeol didn’t hear it. He handed you his hoodie and you took it. Chanyeol graciously took off your book bag so you easily slip on his hoodie. The scent of him engulfed your senses. He smelled like pine and peppermint, two fragrances you loved. When you fully had his hoodie on, he took your hair that was trapped between the fabric and pulled it back. You felt your neck grow hot. You were glad it was semi-dark out so he won’t notice your blush.
“You’re too nice,” you said. Chanyeol laughed, he also took your laptop bag out of your hands and proceeded to carry both your bag and laptop.
“It’s called being a gentleman,” he said, smiling at the distance. And that was the problem. He was too nice. Compared to the many guys you’ve meet, they’ve never lived up to the gentlemeness of Chanyeol. He put all those boys to shame. Of course someone like him had to be an asshole right? But no, Chanyeol didn’t have a mean bone in his body. He was constantly helping others with their papers, projects, he helps out at the local animal shelter, he was a literal Disney prince but with an actual personality. And that was many of the reasons why you loved him.
Yes, love. You loved Chanyeol. You couldn’t help it. It all started a couple years ago. You used to bike to your classes every morning. It was therapeutic for you. You loved the way the wind flew through your hair, the way the morning sun burned your face, the way you felt so free. You loved that feeling. But it all came crashing down when a car beeped and it surprised you so much that you fell off your bike. You could faintly hear a bone crack in your ankle. You didn’t want to believe it, you’ve never broken anything in your life. As a scream rang through your ears, you noticed a figure standing over you.
“You okay?” The person asked. All you could do was nod. “You’re gonna be okay, I called an ambulance.”
“Before you knew it, you were in the hospital for a broken ankle. You were startled by a woman who was in her car. Her face was blotchy and red from all the crying she was doing but you insisted her that you were alright. It was just a broken bone. The boy who discovered you was Chanyeol. He was on his way to the library when he heard the car horn and when you fell off your bike. He ran to you in panic to see if you were okay. The nurse said you’re probably gonna need a cast and might be in here for a few days.
Chanyeol was there for all those days. The nurse thought he was your boyfriend but you wiped your head back and forth in protest.
“Okay honey, whatever you say,” the nurse whispered to you when Chanyeol appeared by your hospital door. He brought you sunflowers on your last day at the hospital. You were already in your ankle cast. You were just waiting for the doctor to sign you out so you could leave.
“How did you know these are my favorite flowers?” You asked.
“When your roommate was gathering stuff from your dorm to give to me, I noticed a couple sunflowers by your bed and they were wilting, I figured you wanted some new ones,” he said.
“Bora probably didn’t water them,” you sighed. “She never waters the flowers.”
“Doesn’t matter now, you have these,” Chanyeol held the new batch of the sunny flowers to you. Your fingers brushed as you took the flowers in your hands.
The crush on Chanyeol evolved a few weeks later when he invited you to his basketball game. When he scored the winning basket, he came running towards you, all tall and sweaty, and lifted you up in a hug. You were both taken back by the sudden affection and he quickly put you down.
“You sure you’re not dating?” Your roommate Bora asked you one evening. Chanyeol invited you to a house party. You were never really a partier, you preferred staying in the dorm reading a book or binge watching The Office for the 24th time. But since Chanyeol asked you to go, you would go.
“We’re not dating, he’s just a friend,” you said. Of course he wasn’t just a friend. You really liked him. The way he always put others before himself, the way he would treat anyone he talked to like they mattered. You admired him.
You walked into the house party with nervousness. You told yourself to not be such a loser. You barely had friends in college but you decided you were gonna suck it up and deal with it. You walked towards the kitchen, you recognized a few faces here and there but most everyone else were new to you. When you reached the kitchen, someone placed a beer in your hand. You hesitantly wrapped your fingers around the cold beverage and took a sip. You instantly regretted it as you swallowed the devil’s drink.
“You don’t like it?” Someone asked you. You looked up and you found a boy with sandy blonde hair and a gentle smile on his face. You recognized him from campus.
“Uh, not really no,” you said. He took the beverage out of your hand and placed it on the counter behind him.
“I’m Baekhyun,” introduced the boy. You told him your name.
“Oh, you’re friends with Chanyeol?” He asked. “I know him.”
“Yeah, he helped me out when I broke my ankle a couple months ago.”
“He’s actually out back, let’s go see him.”
Before you could figure out what was going on, Baekhyun took your wrist and dragged you out the kitchen towards the back of the house. You saw a glistening pool and a few people swimming. The cool breeze hit your face as Baekhyun slipped through the back doors.
“Hey Chanyeol, look who I found!” Baekhyun explained. The sight you saw before you nearly broke your heart. Chanyeol was kissing a pretty girl with blonde hair when Baekhyun called out his name. He tore his lips away from the girl and glanced at Baekhyun who was still holding your wrist in his hand. You couldn’t make out what he was thinking from the emotions from his face. A grin spread across his face when he saw you and Baekhyun.
“That’s his girlfriend,” Baekhyun said to you as Chanyeol started making his way towards you, his girlfriend slowly trailing behind. You slipped out of Baekhyun’s grip on your wrist.
“Hey, so glad your could make it,” Chanyeol said when he reached you. He squeezed your shoulder. His touch burned your skin. “This is my girlfriend, Miyoung.”
The blonde haired girl popped up behind his shoulder.
“Hello, Chanyeol told me so much about you,” she held out her arms out for a hug and you politely hugged her back. She smelled like cotton candy and strawberries. You couldn’t possibly hate someone who smelled liked that. It was impossible. And it was impossible for you to hate Miyoung. She was just as nice as Chanyeol if not nicer. They were made for each other, it was clear as day. Miyoung invited you to places with her and her friends. You said yes to those activities since you didn’t want to be mean. But then one day, those activities stopped. You weren’t complaining since most of what her and her friends would do wasn’t your thing. You were relieved she wasn’t contacting you anymore. You could go back to watching The Office.
“So how’s Miyoung?” You asked Chanyeol now, you were both still walking to your dorms. The sky was filled with stars, illuminating the streets. The setting was quite romantic but you didn’t want to dwell on that.
“We broke up a couple weeks ago,” Chanyeol said, looking up at the sky. You ignored the fluttering feeling in your chest.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” you said.
“It’s fine, it didn’t work out, that’s all.”
You both walked in silence now. You had no idea what to say. It was selfish of you to be happy when he was obviously going through something personal. You’ve only been in one relationship in your whole life and once that ended, it broke your heart and felt like your insides were falling apart. You hated that feeling and hated that that’s what Chanyeol was going through at the moment. So that’s why Miyoung wasn’t contacting you lately. You were Chanyeol’s friend and it would be weird to hang out with your ex’s friends. You finally reached your dorm. You stood outside your door as Chanyeol handed you your things.
“Thank you for walking me to my dorm,” you said. Chanyeol smiled at you. You loved his smile. The way it squished his cheeks and the way how ears stuck out, made him look several years younger.
“You’re welcome, glad I could accompany you,” he said.
You started taking off his hoodie from your body but he quickly stopped you.
“Keep it for now, there’s a basketball game in a couple weeks I would like you to come to if you don’t mind. You can give it me then.”
“Okay,” you said, “goodnight Chanyeol.”
Flash forward to a couple weeks later, the basketball team scored a winning game. Everyone was screaming and yelling. You stayed in the bleachers as everyone gathered around Chanyeol for a high-fives and congratulatory hugs. Chanyeol texted you to come to the locker room a couple minutes later. Everyone seemed to be out celebrating as you walked in the boys’ locker rooms. Chanyeol laughed his deep laugh at you as you coughed from the axe body spray perfuming the air.
“Why are boys so disgusting?” You asked, you sat down next to him and handed him his hoodie. He took it without a word. Chanyeol was still wearing his basketball uniform.
“Hey you okay?” You asked.
“Yeah, just thinking,” he said.
You often confided in Chanyeol with your personal problems. You could go on and on for hours on why you hated your major but decided to do it because your mom suggested it. As you ranted, Chanyeol would rarely open up about his personal life to you. You weren’t bothered by it, he would open up to you when he’s ready and you guessed this is that time.
“What about your future?” You asked, you glanced to the side of his face. Sweat was still running down his face, his muscles were glistening. You couldn’t help but stare at Chanyeol’s physic, he was gorgeous, way too gorgeous, it wasn’t fair.
“I don’t know if I want to do basketball for the rest of my life.”
His sudden confession snapped you out of your daze.
“What do you want to do?”
You weren’t entirely surprised. Chanyeol clearly had a love for music with a guitar tattooed on his arm to his guitar collection in his dorm room to his velvety deep voice you heard once when you were ease dropping on him once. You weren’t planning to but his voice captured your heart in no way anyone else had. It was crazy how much you were in love with him. You felt heat move around your body. You’ve always wondered what it would be like if you confessed to him. If you blurted out the words, “I love you,” to him but you were scared. Scared he would reject you, scared he would stop talking to you. Scared it would ruin your friendship. You kinda thought of yourselves as Jim and Pam from The Office. And it some cases your stories were similar. You were Jim and Chanyeol was Pam. Miyoung was Roy. But with Miyoung out of the picture like Roy was a couple of seasons into The Office, maybe this could work. Maybe you and Chanyeol could become something, anything. The thought made your heart race.
Chanyeol called your name.
You looked to him and you suddenly felt the closeness between you two. Chanyeol was closer than he was before. The words lost in his face as he looked to you. His big brown puppy dog eyes peered down at you. You didn’t know if you were getting closer or if he was, it didn’t matter once his lips touched yours.
You couldn’t quite believe what was happening, the kiss was soft and firm as they moved together. One of Chanyeol’s large hands gripped your hip while the other one held your neck as he titled your head up for a better angle. You placed your hands on his upper arms. The kiss was intoxicating, he tasted like heaven and clouds. You eventually pulled away with a breath.
“I’ve liked you for a really long time,” Chanyeol confessed. “Sorry to startle you.”
You ran your hands up and down his arms.
“It was no problem at all, I, uh, really like you as well,” you felt a weight lift off your shoulders. Chanyeol grinned his cheesy grin of his. The one where he showed his teeth, his cheeks full on display, his ears peeking through his shaggy hair. He pulled you in for another kiss. This one was just as great as the last one if not better.
“You know what I just realized?” You asked.
Chanyeol hummed through the kiss.
“You’re like a real life Troy Bolton.”
Chanyeol’s loud laugh burst through his lips, causing you to separate.
“You’re really something else huh?”
One day you’ll tell him you love him, one day.
2087
janainaart
