the one with the halloween party // z.c.l
zhong chenle x reader // 2.3k words // high school!au
“We’re enemies that coincidentally go to the same costume party wearing masks and I get to know you and I think I’m in love” // first bulleted au (?) // masterlist // part one of one // warnings: swearing, theres a party but its Completely Pure and Innocent, just fluff tbh
okay, so you and your friends are pretty close, sorta popular but mostly just really nice
so you get along great with almost everyone at ur school
I mean everyone except zhong chenle
dont get me wrong, the guy has great friends and seems pretty easygoing,,, but for some reason he hates your guts
which is okay, cause you hate his guts too
he’s a bit of an ass to you and has been for a while now
would knock your book off your desk “accidentally” or kick your chair constantly during classes just to annoy you
but you weren’t any more mature:
you’d stick your foot out to trip him up in the halls and remove the ink part from his pens just to have him experience an inconvenience for once in his perfect goddamn life
you were in competition constantly,,, and not the cute kind of competition,,
if you beat him on a test he’d be so annoyed, and would study for hours to make sure he beat you on the next one
and there were times when your friends and his would have to drag you away so an actual fist fight wouldn't break out during one of your petty arguments during literature, when discussing the meaning of a particular symbol in a book
you were both so stubborn when it came to that, and neither of you would back down
it got to the point where every little thing he did pissed you off
laughed like he always does loudly?? pissed you off
sat down with his friends during lunch, making a face when he made eye contact with you?? pissed you off
seeing him flirt with random students in the year levels below you ?? pissed you off
“he’s such a fucking flirt, why does he have to lead them on? the poor things they just look up to him” “sounds like you’re jealous” “I am NOT jealous”
“he’s just doing it to make them vote for him for president!!” “I thought we discussed this yesterday, y/n” “we did but im still annoyed about it... dont roll your eyes at me, I do NOT like him!!” “sure, y/n, sure”
a girl in your year decides to throw a fun halloween party, to get everyones minds off of school and exams and such, and you're hella excited like
opportunity to dress up in ridiculous costumes ??? hell ye
you’ve been planning your outfit with two of your friends for over a month, you've decided to go as the three musketeers (a reference to a book one of them has been studying in a class) complete with leather outfits, boots, swords, and for fun, masks
when the party is only a week away, you walk into ur lit class (ayyy get lit fam) and chenle is sitting on his desk, talking to his friends about how he’s got the best costume for Saturday night
“hey, y/n, you going on Saturday?” “idk, are you?” “yeah” “then no”
you poke your tongue out at him when he flips you off, and turn your back to him, making yourself busy by grabbing out your books
his dumb (but a lot nicer) friends are going OooOoOoOooh and u feel a smug smile on your face as you pretend not to care
you hear chenle mumble a “whatever” as he jumps off the desk when your teacher walks in and makes his way to his own seat
luckily, you dont see much of chenle around school for the rest of the week, and when u do, its just giving each other death stares or glaring at each other from across the room
he did “accidentally” trip you while you were walking into one of your classes
and you “just so happened to” pull his chair away as he went to sit down, because your chair was coincidentally missing and you “didnt see him sitting down”
he glared at you as he stood up, hand holding the back of his head as he forcefully grabbed a spare chair and sat down
when Saturday rolled around, you grabbed all the last minute items you needed and drove to your friends house to get ready
“how do I look” “why? planning on impressing someone tonight ? maybe,,, chhheeeeeeeenleeeeeeeee”
you finished your eye makeup and tied the mask around you head, grabbing one of the swords from the bed and tucking it into your belt loop
“damn y/n, you're going to have guys fawning all over you all night” “maybe chenle will finally have the courage to ask you out” “SHUT UP”
you arrived at the party not soon after, and marvelled at everyones costumes
there were definitely some really good ones this year
after two hours, you found yourself standing by the drinks table, tired from dancing with your friends and having impromptu sword fights
“I like your costume!” someone shouted over the music
you turned around and it was,,
nah seriously you couldnt tell who it was, but you knew it was someone from your year
“batman? wow thank you,, that means a lot, coming from you” you jokingly raised a toast
“shouldn't there be three of you?”
“the other two are off dancing, I lost them a while ago. shouldn't you be off fighting superman?”
he smiled and you felt like you recognised him, but u couldnt place it “already defeated him, look...” he pointed to the dance floor, where another boy dressed like superman was dancing “the only thing that could make someone dance that badly is if they had an injury” he pointed at himself proudly “I did that”
you laughed and the conversation continued from there
you felt bad for not knowing who the person was, as he clearly knew who you were, and were too shy to ask, so you just went with it
“do you wanna go outside? I can't hear you in here” he shouted over the music, pointing to the door
you ended up spending an hour with him on the porch, picking out the best costumes, having playful arguments about their origins and which ones were more original, and you found yourself to be happier when you were talking with him than with anyone else there
you agreed on four of the top five most unoriginal costumes,, with the exception being his own
“Im sorry, but batman is not original at all! there are at least three walking around here” “so? theres at least three musketeers too” “THERE ARE THREE MUSKETEERS!! AND ONLY ONE BATMAN?!” you both began laughing at your own dumb arguments, and settled into a comfortable silence
it was getting pretty late, and the sun had well set, and you shivered as a breeze passed you
without thinking, batman offered you his cape, wrapping it around your shoulders
you couldnt help but think he was flirting, and had been since you began talking, and now had the strongest feeling that you’d developed a crush on someone
it was too late now to ask his name, considering you’d been talking like you’d known each other for years the entire night
when your ride arrived a while later, he was waiting with you and stepped back onto the porch as you turned away to walk to the car
suddenly, you felt sad that you’d have to leave this perfect night, so you quickly ran back, pecked him on the cheek and ran to your car without looking back at his reaction
when Monday rolled around, your friends instantly found you in the hallway, wanting to hear everything about ‘Batman’ and your bold flirtations
you’d stressed for the past two nights that he might not have actually been flirting with you, and you’d taken his jokes and friendliness the wrong way
but your friends had assured you he probably felt the same way, based on what you'd already told them
“ugh, and I just had calculus with y/n’s favourite person, and he would not stop boasting about this chick he’d met at the party. whats the bet he’s still talking about it when you both have lit with him” your friend laughed and continued eating her lunch
you had lit right after your lunch block, and when u walked in, he was smugly talking to his friends
he looked up as you walked past “y/n didnt catch you at the party, guess you really decided not to come, huh?”
“?? I was there, chenle, or were you too busy talking chatting up that girl you met to notice” you continued to your desk, but froze at the words of one of his friends
“yeah, I thought batman wasn't supposed to fall in love”
you looked back at the group, and they hadn't noticed your behaviour, so you quickly made your way to your desk and flung your stuff down, grabbing your phone in panic
you tried to calm yourself, there were more than three batman’s at the party, what’s the likelihood it was chenle you had kissed??
“idk man, the way you talked about her made it sound like you are” jeno laughed
“aNd tHeN sHe kiSSeD mE” jaemin mocked, making his voice higher
you buried your head in your hands
it could NOT HAVE BEEN CHENLE
and then to make things better, one of your friends walked in
“Y/n! sword fight!” he grabbed a pencil from his pocket and pointed it at you
immediately you playfully sparred with him, before jabbing him in the stomach
“guess once a musketeer, always a musketeer” he mumbled, sitting in his seat, defeated
in your peripheral vision, you saw chenle’s head whip to you
“thats what you get for coming as a CLOWN”
you tried to keep your voice level and your head down as your teacher started the class,, but you couldnt help it
you snuck a glance towards chenle’s desk
he was already looking at you
you felt your eyes widen, and watched his do the same
there was something unrecognisable in his gaze, and you decided to focus on your work, dragging your eyes from him
when the bell signalling the end of the class rang, you haphazardly stuffed your textbook and notes into you binder and attempted to dart from the room,, but something held you back
you looked at chenle’s hand wrapped tightly around your wrist and shot him a pleading gesture
he simply nodded and began packing his things away neatly
you waited, tapping your foot anxiously
you found yourselves sitting behind the school in awkward silence (wheremystaysat) as both of you thought about what to say
“im really hoping your costume was unoriginal enough that it maybe wasn’t you” you said, shooting him a glance
“there were three musketeers, too” he mumbled, not looking up as he fiddled with his watch
that’s when you knew it was definitely him at the party
more silence fell between you
suddenly you took a deep breath
“I actually had a really great time on Saturday night” you said, glancing up to gage his reaction
you saw him smile a little “me too”
you felt a bit more comfortable seeing him smile, and it felt like you both became submerged in memories, comfortably thinking in silence
“my favourite part was when you said goodbye” he moved his hands to either side of his body and leant back, basking in the sunlight
he had made a point of not looking at you, but he turned his head towards you and squinted after he had spoken
you tried to recall actually saying goodbye to him, but all you had said was “oh your cape!” as you handed it back to him and took off running to your car
when you pointed this out to him, he laughed and shook his head at you
suddenly his voice became quieter
“I meant the part where you kissed me”
you felt your smile widen into a grin “zhong chenle do you have a crush on me?”
his eyes widened as he turned to you “what? Of course n- maybe?” he looked at you sheepishly
you moved your hand over his, and he threaded his fingers through yours “I maybe have a crush on you too”
he looked at his watch again “look, the last thing I want to do is go to class rn but I think Im already ten minutes late”
“shit,that means I am too” you picked up your belongings and walked inside with him, heading to your separate classes
“what do you have now?” he asked
“oh yea, you always have chem when I have calc”
“you know my schedule?” you blushed
now it was his turn to flush “maybe”
his classroom was down a separate corridor to yours, so when it was time for to split off, you said a quick goodbye and started down the hallway “ill catch you later yeah?” he bid you goodbye
thinking better of it, you turned around “wait!”
he stopped walking, looking confused as you ran back towards him
“I forgot” you said, biting the inside of your cheek as you approached
you stepped onto your tip toes and pressed a kiss against his cheek, his mouth forming into a dumb grin as you stepped back
you turned around, ready to go to class for real now, when he grabbed your arm, spinning you around
he pulled you closer to him, his arm wrapping around you waist as he kissed your lips softly, quickly
when he moved away from you, creating a distance you only wanted to close again, he had the biggest smile on his face, his eyes forming little crescent moons
“fuck, ive wanted to do that for so long”
this is my first bulleted fic, what do you guys think?? also,,, two posts in one day?? how blessed ?? I felt inspired a lot today, and the fact im working from home made me more productive (for fic writing not for actual work tho lol)
