A Million Songs But I Only Hear You

[strengthinfire]

Title: A Million Songs But I Only Hear You

Rating: PG-13
Length: 7,392
Recipient: latinaeinstein
Genre: Comedy, Fluff

Side Pairings: Sehun / Kai
Summary: Chanyeol is a music snob that starts to fall hard for the cute dark haired boy that comes in every other week and lingers long over the R&B section at his store.

Chanyeol was having a slow day. 

No new customers had come in since noon, nearly three hours ago, and he forgot to grab his coffee before leaving his house in the morning. Even the traffic outside was nearly nonexistent, and he could feel his eyes starting to flutter close as he rested his cheek on his palm.

The bell hanging above the door clattered and Chanyeol hurried to lift his head off his palm, while simultaneously attempting to wipe off any drool with his free hand. 

Chanyeol lazily eyed the customer, who made his way straight to the R&B section, and scoffed. He rolled his eyes at those silly teenagers, who think  they know everything there was to know about music, just because they  listen to three or four albums by bands that no one has had heard of 

Chanyeol knew about music. Chanyeol had opened his own record store. Chanyeol was taking night classes for composing and music history.

Park Chanyeol, 23 years old and running a mediocre record shop, was basically a music expert. 

From his seat behind the counter, Chanyeol wondered how long this kid had been browsing the same exact section. An hour, maybe? He must have been avoiding his parents or homework or an annoying girlfriend.

“Uh, excuse me?”

Chanyeol looked up from the sheet music he’d been sorting and nearly choked on his own spit as he met the gaze of the teenager, who was holding a record in his hand.

The thing was, the kid wasn’t a kid.

He was a young man, probably around Chanyeol’s age. Chanyeol had only caught sight of the back of him as he entered the store and had assumed due to the young man’s height that he was, well, a kid. 

His lower than expected voice and his rather handsome looks proved otherwise,.

“Yes?” Chanyeol gurgled, trying to sound more collected than he felt.

“There’s no price on this.” 

Chanyeol took the album from the shorter man’s hands and snorted as he caught sight of the cover.

“Mariah Carey? Really?” 

This guy was clearly an amateur.

“You’re the one who’s selling it in your store.” The customer countered, his eyebrows furrying.

Taken aback by his quip, Chanyeol busied himself with searching for a price, letting out a sigh when he couldn’t find the price sticker.

“Looks like you lucked out. When there’s no sticker you get it,” Chanyeol let out another sigh, “for five dollars.”

The young man’s eyes lit up and Chanyeol watched as his lips twitched upwards.

“Great.” He said, pulling out a five from his pocket and handing it to Chanyeol, who then made quick work of taking the money and putting the man’s album and receipt in a bag.

“Thanks.” The not-so-teenager said as Chanyeol handed him his purchase. “By the way, it’s for a friend, not for me,” he added.

“Sure it is.” Chanyeol snorted and gave a small wave as the young man left his shop.

He wondered if he’d come back.

-

Chanyeol had all but forgotten about the tiny handsome guy, until one day, he found him lingering in the same section as he had been in two weeks ago.

“Look who’s back.” He muttered to himself, but the man must have heard, because he glanced over at Chanyeol with a questioning smile.

Chanyeol cleared his throat and went back to taking inventory of the shipments he’d gotten earlier that day. He had to get it all done in the morning because the new semester started that day and he needed to close up early to get to his classes on time. Chanyeol had decided to take more college classes, not out of his own academic curiosity but rather to appease his mother, who was less than approving of his decision to open up his own business as opposed to going to law school. 

Chanyeol was just not law student material. His passion for music had begun when he was young and had only increased as he grew up. He had no doubt that it was something he wanted to pursue.

It was pretty shitty sometimes, seeing as he didn’t always bring in a lot of money, if any at all.

Still, he liked to think it was worth it at the end of the day.

The boy left that day without another glance at Chanyeol, and Chanyeol willed himself not to think about those thin fingers and delicate eyelashes.

-

Chanyeol looked up as the doorbell chimed. “Ah, this guy again,” he thought to himself. Chanyeol still couldn't tell if he was a teenager or adult, but he figured it probably didn't matter. He smiled at him, and the customer smiled back politely. This time he only stayed for about ten minutes, and he didn't purchase anything.

As he was stacking up piles of discarded CDs, Chanyeol wondered if that boy had heard about the new record store opening about half an hour away and had started to go there instead.

Not like Chanyeol would care anyway.

"Hmmm, back again, huh?" Chanyeol said as his favorite customer came in the store. He was so easy to tease. Chanyeol was starting to appreciate his mannerisms, though. He was so careful as he flipped through CD after CD, carefully inspecting each one. Sometimes his bangs would fall into his eyes, and Chanyeol had to resist the temptation of going up to him to push them back, because that would definitely be beyond creepy. Chanyeol wondered if the guy ("Kyungsoo. My name's Kyungsoo. " He had told Chanyeol one day when Chanyeol held out his "Thank you, and come again..." in hopes of finding out his customer's name)- if
Kyungsoo would ever leave the r&b section. Unlikely, Chanyeol decided.

Kyungsoo merely smiled at Chanyeol as he made his way to his regular section.

"Nothing much new came in since your last visit." Chanyeol offered, but Kyungsoo flipped through the albums meticulously anyway.
Chanyeol let out a rather content sigh and went back to his unboxing.

"Jesus, why is everything in your store so overpriced?" He heard Kyungsoo mumble, twenty minutes later.

"I'm a poor semi-college student. What do you expect?" Chanyeol replied, peeking up from one of the many boxes he was unpacking. "What are you interested in?"

Kyungsoo held up an older Maroon 5 album.

"Everyone wants their old stuff! That's why it's so pricey!" 

Kyungsoo sighed and put the album back to where he found it. Chanyeol watched as he idly flipped through a few albums before turning to go.

"Hey!" Kyungsoo turned around at the sound of Chanyeol's voice.

"Yeah?"

"If you help me unbox and sort through this stuff, you can have the album for free." Seeing the hesitant look on Kyungsoo’s face, Chanyeol continued. "It might take an hour or two, but I hear this guy plays really good music while he works. Sometimes he even lets other people choose what they listen to."

Kyungsoo smiled at this and made his way over to where Chanyeol was sitting. 

"I have nothing better to do this morning, sure.”

"Great." Chanyeol grinned. 

"So, uh," Chanyeol cleared his throat, "how old are you?" 

The guy had to be in college right? He had to be. Chanyeol would feel a bit weird hanging out with someone underage. He shouldn't though, right? It's not like he was interested in the guy or anything.

Okay, maybe he was. Only a little.

Kyungsoo looked up from the Bee Gees records he was sorting through and raised an eyebrow.

"I mean, I can't have teenagers skipping school to hang out in my store." Chanyeol said nervously, hoping Kyungsoo might think he was joking.

The edge of Kyungsoo's mouth twitched up, smiling slightly.

"I'm twenty-two."

Chanyeol mentally sighed. Thank god.

"Don't you go to college?" 

"I take some weekend classes." Kyungsoo's eyes returned to the records he was holding gently.

Chanyeol wanted to ask what he did with the rest of his time, but he thought that perhaps they hadn’t reached that level of comfortableness quite yet.

A loud rumbling interrupted his thoughts.

"Hungry, hmmm?" He giggled and Kyungsoo sent him a glare. 

Chanyeol pushed himself up off the ground and held out a hand to Kyungsoo. "Let's grab some lunch. My treat."

Kyungsoo huffed but stood up anyways, ignoring Chanyeol's outstretched hand.

Chanyeol led him to a small restaurant a few blocks down that he frequented himself.

"They have the best sandwiches." Chanyeol said, holding the door open for Kyungsoo, who mumbled a quiet "thank you". 
The host seated them at a small table by the window.

Chanyeol hummed happily as he looked through the menu he was familiar with, pointing out dishes to Kyungsoo every now and then.
When the waiter returned, Chanyeol ordered his usual, a hot roast beef and cheese sandwich, and Kyungsoo told the waiter he’d have “whatever he was having.” Chanyeol kicked him gently under the table and smiled too wide.

“Pretty good restaurant, huh?” Chanyeol asked, as they were heading back to his store.

“It wasn’t bad.” Kyungsoo shrugged.

Chanyeol rolled his eyes and smiled. Kyungsoo had finished even faster than Chanyeol, and he had laughed at seven of Chanyeol’s jokes. Not that Chanyeol had been counting or anything. Not that he had felt his heart turn to mush each time he saw Kyungsoo’s lips twitch up in a smile.

Definitely nothing like that.

A few minutes of comfortable silence passed as they continued walking before Kyungsoo spoke.

“So,” the younger man began, “if I come in next week and help in your store, could I get that album for free?”

“What? I told you that you could have it if you helped out today!” Chanyeol said, reaching for his keys to unlock the door.

“You just paid for my lunch.” Kyungsoo said as Chanyeol fiddled with the lock.

“Well, yeah, but-”

“I know you’re probably working your ass off to pay for your classes, Chanyeol. At least let me come in and help, if you’re going to go giving all your stock away to other broke college students.”

Chanyeol could feel himself starting to smile at the thought of having Kyungsoo back again to help next week.

“I guess you could do that.” Chanyeol decided, trying hard to hide any hint of excitement in his voice. He wasn’t excited. Why would he be excited? He wasn’t interested in Kyungsoo or anything.

“Okay, well, I guess I’ll see you then.” Kyungsoo said and began walking down the street before Chanyeol even had the chance to look up and say goodbye.

-

The autumn wind nipped at Chanyeol’s neck as he shoved his notebook into his messenger bag. The bottom of the bag was starting to get holes in it, and he would need a new one soon. 

It was evening, but Chanyeol was reluctant to go home. His mother had mentioned calling tonight, and he figured if he wasn’t home, she would only go so far as to leave a message on his voicemail.

He was still on campus, so he headed to the radio building that was in the far east corner of the campus. He used to frequent it often during the summer, when he wasn’t taking classes. His friend Sehun usually did announcements and radio shows for it. But, because of his increased workload, Chanyeol hadn’t visited it in a while and was pleasantly surprised to see the inside glowing with a few yellow lights. 

He used to listen to his university’s radio pretty often. The music choices were (surprisingly) not horrible. He wish he knew who put together all the tracks for it. It definitely wasn’t Sehun, he knew that. Chanyeol was aware that Sehun had a total of seven songs on his phone that he listened to on repeat, none of which were very good to begin with.

He pushed open the door and was met with a hug of warm air. A young man sitting at one of the few desks in the small building looked up.

“Hey, haven’t seen you in a while.”

“Yeah, hey.” Chanyeol grinned and walked over to ruffle the man’s (more like a boy, Chanyeol thought, seeing as he was two and a half years younger than him) hair.

“Ah, don’t touch my hair! I just got it cut,” Sehun protested, swatting his hand away

“Alright, chill, Sehun. I’m not going to get my cooties all over you.”

“That’s debatable.” Sehun said, leaning back in his chair and started straightening up his hair. “Besides, Jongin said he might come by later and-”

“Jongin’s coming later?” A familiar voice asked softly.

Chanyeol looked up and saw Kyungsoo entering through the back doorway. Kyungsoo met Chanyeol’s gaze, and his face went from confused to mildly amused in a matter of seconds.

“What are you doing here?” Kyungsoo asked. He was trying to balance a laptop, coffee mug, and three CD’s in two hands.

“I could ask the same about you.” Chanyeol said, walking over and offering to take the coffee mug out of Kyungsoo’s wavering hold.

“Wait, you know each other?”

“He’s my favorite customer.” Chanyeol told Sehun. Sehun’s face didn’t change, and Kyungsoo let out a snort.

“He’s easily excitable,” he joked, tossing his bangs out of his eyes, “so don’t do anything too crazy.”

“Oh, I can tell.” Chanyeol snickered. 

Sehun only rolled his eyes as he put his headphones back on. 

“It’s amazing how animated he can get when Jongin visits.” Kyungsoo shuffled over to what must have been his desk and set down his laptop and the CD’s.

“Love, it’s a magical thing.” Chanyeol laid a hand over where his heart was and sighed dramatically. 

Kyungsoo snorted and rolled his eyes, hitting a few keys on his laptop before meeting Chanyeol’s eyes again.

“So,” Kyungsoo pulled on his hoodie sleeves, “why are you here exactly?”

“Me?” Chanyeol pointed at himself, after glancing around the room. Of course it was him that Kyungsoo was addressing. He was the only one in the room, other than Sehun, who was off in his own world. “I, um, was just coming by to visit Sehun. I used to come a lot in the summer.”

“Oh, really? I guess that’s why I’ve never seen you here then. I was visiting my family over the summer. I still have to get all the playlists ready for Sehun to play. That can be a pain in the ass.”

Chanyeol eyed Kyungsoo suspiciously.

“You’re the one who puts together the song sets that are played?”

“Why do you sound so surprised?” Kyungsoo smirked, raising his eyebrows tauntingly.

Chanyeol really shouldn’t have been surprised. Why was he surprised? Maybe he was flustered because Kyungsoo was both handsome and had good taste in music.

“I-I,” Chanyeol stuttered, “just wouldn’t think… it’s not like… I don’t know! I didn’t expect you to be working here at all.”
Kyungsoo shrugged and pulled up his hood, tugging it down nearly past his bangs. 

“I mean, it’s really cool that you do! I, uh, like the music you guys play a lot.”

“Hm, the professional music guru Park Chanyeol likes the music I play, huh?” Kyungsoo’s smirk was back, and Chanyeol’s palms were starting to sweat. 

“You don’t have to make it sound like that.”

Chanyeol did of course know quite a bit about music. All he read in middle school was wikipedia articles on bands and the history of music, and in high school he ran an online blog that critiqued local bands. And now he owned a record shop. So, yes, he was a bit knowledgeable when it came to music, but Kyungsoo didn’t have to make it sound like that.

“Like what? Like you think you know everything there is to know about music?” 

Chanyeol’s face was flushing, he could feel it.

“I never said anything-”

“I’m only teasing.” Kyungsoo gave a small smile and stepped forward to gently punch Chanyeol in the arm.

Chanyeol felt himself rubbing his arm and pulling away a bit.

“Yeah, I know.” Chanyeol nodded, stealing a glance at Sehun, who was  nodding off in his seat. “Uh, I should probably get going.”

“Oh,” Kyungsoo tugged on his hoodie strings. “Yeah.”

“Yeah. See you.” Chanyeol glanced at Kyungsoo briefly once more before heading out the door.

-

Chanyeol blew his hair out of his eyes. He had just dyed it a deep brown, and he could smell the chemicals from the dye. He went back to filling out his inventory. However, his inventory sheet was less inventory and more doodles. He really should have been using a computer, but he found he was more accurate doing it with pen and paper first, and transferring it to his computer files later.

He was moving extra slowly today though. He’d been feeling kind of shitty ever since he’d gone to the radio station that one night. He knew Kyungsoo’s joke shouldn’t have hit him so hard, but he couldn’t help but take it to heart. Was he really that pretentious and know-it-all-ish? It had him questioning all his movements throughout the day.

The young man let out a deep sigh and lay his face in his hands, not bothering to lift his head as the door jingled.

Ah, speaking of the devil. “I like the new hair.” 

“Thanks.” Chanyeol muttered to his arm. “I thought it was time for a change.”

“Huh.”

Chanyeol finally raised his head up and blinked a few times before focusing his eyes on Kyungsoo.

“Are you gonna buy anything today?” Chanyeol asked, probably sounding a bit too snarky based off of Kyungsoo’s facial reaction.

“Uh, no. I was just wondering if you needed any help sorting stuff or anything.”

“Ah, you still want the Maroon 5 album, right?”

“Well,” Kyungsoo smiled awkwardly, “yeah, but I thought that could wait for another time. Your shop just looked pretty dead today, so…”

“You came in to keep me company?” Chanyeol raised his eyebrows.

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes and slung his backpack on the floor. “No, I figured I’d attract future customers for you by making this place look like it’s actually alive.”

“How very kind of you.”

Chanyeol stood up fully, stretching his arms and giving a big yawn before speaking again. 

“You can reorganize my classical section by alphabetical order if you want. An old lady came in yesterday and made a big mess of it.”
Kyungsoo nodded and immediately went to the section and started working.

He was becoming too familiar with the store, Chanyeol thought.

This was all bad. Very, very, very bad.

-

“Stooop.” Kyungsoo laughed as Chanyeol continued his horribly off-pitch singing. 

Chanyeol only sang louder until the end of the song.

“You’re horrible.” Kyungsoo grinned. 

And Chanyeol was flustered because he wanted to be kind of sort of a little bit upset with Kyungsoo still, but every time he got Kyungsoo to smile he felt some dumb squishy feelings in his stomach.

“I think you’re just jealous of my killer vocals.” 

Kyungsoo cackled. “Ah, yes, you caught me,” he said, his voice laced with sarcasm. 

Chanyeol made the mistake of looking up and catching Kyungsoo’s eyes, which were crinkling prettily at the corners. No, no, no, no, don’t do that.

“I’m sure you can’t do much better.” Chanyeol taunted. He actually did think Kyungsoo could do much better. Chanyeol had heard Kyungsoo mumble-sing a few times, and he was stunned that he had never heard him singing in a local bar or bookstore or even some dorky indie band (Chanyeol's guilty pleasure).

"You know, you should sing for me sometime." Chanyeol said, stacking up a few CD's in a more orderly fashion and trying his very hardest not to look at Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo didn't reply, and Chanyeol didn't bring it up again.

-

"Oh, you're back. Sehun isn't here today." Kyungsoo greeted Chanyeol as he entered the small radio building.

"I know, I came to see you." Chanyeol mumbled as he unwrapped his scarf. 

"Oh. Well, I'm here." 

"Yes, I can see that." Chanyeol giggled and fumbled with his backpack before pulling something out. "This is for you by the way."
Kyungsoo took the item from Chanyeol's hand.

"The Maroon 5 album?" Kyungsoo examined the CD before looking up at Chanyeol. "Is this a polite way of telling me I can't loiter and help in your store anymore?"

"W-what? No!" Chanyeol stuttered, and his face heated up as he saw a small smile growing on Kyungsoo's face. "You asshole. You know you can always come in and whine for more free music."

"Thank god. It's really become my only source of entertainment besides this place."

“Hm,” Chanyeol looked around, enjoying the warmth that contrasted with the biting December cold outside. “It’s not too bad. It’s warm. You’re here.”

Kyungsoo’s cheeks seemed to heat up at this, but Chanyeol figured he was probably imagining what he wanted to see.

“Well, it’s pretty boring otherwise.”

Chanyeol scoffed at this. He had passed the building a few times and seen Kyungsoo furiously typing on his laptop, small little smiles on his face as he created whatever set of music was supposed to play that week.

“Okay, sure it is.” Chanyeol rolled his eyes. “But anyways, if it’s so boring, why don’t you come with me to get some lunch?”
Chanyeol hoped it didn’t sound too much like a date because with his luck Kyungsoo was probably really straight, and Chanyeol would like him as a friend at the least.

“Uh, sure.” 

“You don’t have to! I mean, I get that you’re probably really busy.”

“Nah,” Kyungsoo shrugged his shoulders, “I can just let some playlists go without any ads for an hour or two, it’s no big deal.”

“Okay.” Chanyeol stopped himself from bouncing on his toes because that would look dumb, and he was a grown man who was definitely not dumb.

Chanyeol suggested the restaurant he had first shown to Kyungsoo, and the two headed in that direction. But the cold was persistent, and they ended up taking refuge in one of the college’s shitty cafes, staffed completely by students. A girl loudly popping her gum took their order at the counter, and after they had gotten their food they chose a booth far from the counter.

“I swear,” Kyungsoo shook his head as he unwrapped his sandwich, “some of the people at this school.”

“Ouch. A bit brutal there, Kyungsoo.”

Kyungsoo chuckled and shrugged. “She was awful, really. I could barely focus on the menu with her snapping her gum like that every five seconds.”

An idea came to Chanyeol, and he chewed on the inside of his cheek before speaking.

“You’ll never get a girlfriend at this rate, Kyungsoo.”

“Who says I don’t already have one?” Kyungsoo spoke in between mouthfuls of sandwich. “Who says I like girls?”

“Um,” Chanyeol said. Smooth.

Kyungsoo laughed again, though it was a bit nervous this time.

“No, yeah, uh. No, me too. About the girls thing. I mean, if you’re implying - I’m not trying to assume things!” 
Kyungsoo snickered this time, any trace of nervousness gone.

“I hate you.” Chanyeol smiled slightly and focused on the lettuce falling out of his sandwich.
Stupid Kyungsoo.

-

“So, are you doing anything over Christmas break?” Chanyeol asked as he walked back to the radio building with Kyungsoo.

“I’ll probably go to that dumb party Sehun’s having. I would very much like to see him embarrass himself by trying to impress Jongin in a goofy Christmas sweater.”

“Excuse me?” Chanyeol faked a gasp. “Christmas sweaters are not goofy. Gosh, what a fashion amateur.”

Kyungsoo grinned and gave Chanyeol a shove. “You’re a dork.”

Chanyeol chewed on his cheek again until he tasted blood. Maybe he’d go to that Christmas party.

-

“Sehun, this is the lamest Christmas party I’ve ever attended in my whole life.” Chanyeol muttered as he inched his way into the host’s kitchen.

“It’s only lame for you because your little boyfriend isn’t here yet.”

“W-what?” Chanyeol spluttered, nearly tripping over his own feet in the process. “He’s not - we aren’t. That’s not how it is!”

“God Chanyeol, you’re so fucking obvious about it. I didn’t expect Kyungsoo to be so dense.

“He’s not dense! And I don’t have feelings for hi-”

The doorbell rang again and Sehun scampered out of the kitchen, pushing past a lot of guests that Chanyeol didn’t know and didn’t really care to know.

Honestly, he only came in the hopes that Kyungsoo really would as well. He had texted him the day before, and Kyungsoo had seemed intent on coming. The party had started half an hour ago though, and Chanyeol was beginning to doubt that Kyungsoo was really coming.

He peeked out the kitchen door and saw Sehun happily welcoming Jongin into his house. Chanyeol sighed and rolled his eyes, almost disappearing back into the kitchen, but stopping right as he saw a small little body wiggle its way in through the front door. Chanyeol was about to walk out as calmly as he could before he heard Sehun yell a “Chanyeol’s in the kitchen waiting for you.” to Kyungsoo.

“That little piece of shit, I swear.” Chanyeol hissed before retreating back into the kitchen, trying to look casual by leaning against the counter.

Kyungsoo came in a few moments later, carrying a bag of chips and his jacket. He smiled at Chanyeol before setting his things down on a stool.

“Hey.” 

“Hey.”

Chanyeol licked at his lips nervously before squinting a bit at Kyungsoo.

“Woah, woah, woah. Wait just a second,” Chanyeol took a few steps toward the smaller man and grabbed his shirtsleeve. “Are you wearing,” he vigorously shook the sleeve, “a Christmas sweater?” 

Kyungsoo chuckled and gently pushed Chanyeol off. “Shut up. I’m sorry I can’t stylishly pull it off like you, but there’s no need to make fun of me.”

“Who’s making fun? I personally think you look pretty cute in it.” Chanyeol surprised himself with his own words, and attempted to recover by throwing in a quick “But I definitely look cuter.”

Kyungsoo punched him in the shoulder and settled down on one of the stools, propping his elbows up on the counter.

“Hm, maybe I’ll have you beat by next year.” Kyungsoo raised his eyebrows at Chanyeol, and Chanyeol thought he was going to pass out because Kyungsoo’s eyes were really, really sparkly. 

He was knocked out of this trance when Sehun and the rest of his rowdy guests began singing horrible pop Christmas songs in the living room.

“Ugh, my ears are going to bleed.”

Kyungsoo laughed, temporarily blocking out the off-key singing in the other room. “Maybe we should have our own singing session.”

“You’re going to sing for me?” Chanyeol asked, eyes widening. “You should have told me in advance. I would have brought my guitar with me.”

“Acapella is more fun anyways.” Kyungsoo brushed off the pouty look on Chanyeol’s face and yanked Chanyeol down into the seat next to his.

“Now, what should we sing?”

“Hmmm,” Chanyeol stroked his chin, “Rudolph!”

“What? Seriously?” Kyungsoo sighed. “Out of all the Christmas songs we could sing, you choose Rudolph.”

“What’s wrong with that song?” Chanyeol asked.

“You’re like five years old, oh my god.” Kyungsoo breathed out before humming a starting note. “On three. One, two, three.”

They began the song together, both with too much enthusiasm for college boys.

“Aha, that was fun.” Chanyeol giggled after the last line. “Your voice is really, really beautiful, and I’d love to make out with you even though we just sang a song intended for young children.” is what he wanted to say, but he decided to play it safe this time.

“You should sing me a song by yourself since, you know, you apparently have this fucking amazing voice that I didn’t know about.” 

"Kyungsoo felt his cheeks heat up at the other's words, shrugging his shoulders as he looked away.

“I’m not that good.”

“You are! Don’t play dumb!” Chanyeol hit his arm gently. “Just sing me your favorite Christmas song.”

Kyungsoo’s face cheeks heated up and he shrugged his shoulders.

“Come on, Kyungsoo! I’m sure it’ll be great.” Chanyeol smiled warmly.

“Ugh, fine.” Kyungsoo groaned. He cleared his throat a few times before starting the song.

The notes of “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” surrounded Chanyeol like a warm blanket, and he instantly closed his eyes. He figured it wouldn’t matter much since Kyungsoo wasn’t meeting his gaze anyways, too lost in his own little musical world.

Chanyeol didn’t even realize the song was over until Kyungsoo shook his shoulders, quietly joking “Was I so bad that I put you to sleep?”

Chanyeol blinked and took in Kyungsoo’s shy smile and his rosy cheeks and his tiny hands that were sliding off Chanyeol’s shoulders (and would probably feel really, really nice holding Chanyeol’s own hands).

He thought maybe he was a little tiny bit in love with Kyungsoo.

“No,” Chanyeol said slowly, “you sounded perfect.”

-

The two spent the rest of the night singing slightly more cheesy Christmas carols and stuffing themselves with Christmas cookies. They giggled in between mouthfuls of cake and chocolate pudding, telling each other stories about Christmas’s they had celebrated as children. They’d never really spoken about their families or anything personal before this, but Chanyeol was ecstatic to share about himself and learn more about Kyungsoo.

“Are you goobers still in here?” Sehun swung the kitchen door open.

“Hello, yes!” Chanyeol said, crumbs spilling out of his mouth as Kyungsoo snickered. Sehun rolled his eyes. 

“Well, it’s almost 3 am, so you should probably leave.”

Chanyeol pouted at this. “Can’t we just crash here?”

“No, you can’t.” Sehun’s face flushed. “Jongin’s staying over.”

“What?!” Kyungsoo and Chanyeol asked in unison.

“Just get out! Oh my god!” Sehun whined as he pushed his friends out of the kitchen and through the front door, slamming it behind them.

Chanyeol and Kyungsoo looked at each other and held it together for a few seconds before bursting into laughter. They managed to calm down a few times, only to look up at each other and start laughing again.

“Okay, okay, okay.” Kyungsoo giggled. “I really need to get home. I promised my aunt I’d visit tomorrow.”

“You mean today?” Chanyeol grinned, eyes sleepy.

“Shut up, Park Chanyeol.” Kyungsoo returned the grin and shook his head before walking away, leaving Chanyeol to stare at him affectionately as he left.

-

Chanyeol flopped down on his couch, letting out a heavy sigh. He was a bit disappointed that Kyungsoo was celebrating New Year's with his brother, but he knew that Kyungsoo's world did not revolve around him. He still decided to send a quick text to the younger, wishing him a good new year and adding that he hoped they would become even better friends in the coming year.

Thanks, you too :) You’re a great friend!

Chanyeol wiggled around excitedly when he got Kyungsoo’s text. He stopped when he remembered that he was a twenty-three year old man, not a giggly school girl with a crush.

That so wasn’t him.

-

“Do you play guitar?” Kyungsoo asked the next week as he was going through Chanyeol’s assorted personal CD’s. He’d grown tired of sorting through things people were actually going to buy, so he moved on to less challenging work.

“Huh?” Chanyeol snapped out of the daze he was in. “Oh, yeah. Piano too.”

“Woah, really?” Kyungsoo looked impressed. “Could you show me sometime?”

Chanyeol licked the roof of his mouth, a nervous habit. “Yeah, you can come hang out later tonight if you want.” Did he just invite Kyungsoo over? Would it be weird? Nah, they’d known each other for a few months now. Plus, he was only coming over to hear Chanyeol play instruments. 

Maybe that did sound a bit weird.

“Cool, that sounds good.” Kyungsoo agreed, laying down on the floor and closing his eyes. He’d been taking naps the past few days in the store. Chanyeol asked him why he didn’t just go to his dorm, and he’d responded “It smells more like home here than in my dorm.”
Chanyeol didn’t really know what that meant, but Kyungsoo snored cutely when he slept, so Chanyeol was more than happy to let him sleep on his store’s floor, even if that meant having to step around him as he worked.

Kyungsoo woke up from his nap about two hours later, ruffling his hair and letting Chanyeol know that he was off to his afternoon classes, but that he’d be back after Chanyeol closed up shop. Chanyeol nodded and gave a wave to the younger boy as he left. 

The rest of the day seemed to fly by, and, soon enough, it was seven o’ clock, and Chanyeol was locking the door to the store. 

“Hey.” A voice from behind him startled him.

“I swear to god, Do Kyungsoo. One of these days…” Chanyeol turned around, playfully hitting him on the back of the head. “I can’t believe I’m about to allow you to enter my home. You’ll probably poison me or something. You want me dead, I can feel it.” 

As they walked the short distance to his apartment, Chanyeol continued to make up ways that Kyungsoo would kill him, with Kyungsoo laughing at each one. The January air made their laughter come out in puffs, cold enough that they were overly eager to get inside once they reached Chanyeol’s apartment. 

“Wow, you have a pretty nice place.” Kyungsoo admired the interior as he placed his shoes beside Chanyeol’s.

“Ah, really? I think it’s pretty messy. I don’t have much time to clean it. Would you like anything to eat?”
Kyungsoo shook his head and looked around a bit more. “Nope, you told me you were going to play guitar and piano for me. So, please do that now.” 

Chanyeol laughed, rolling his eyes. “Okay, princess. They’re in my bedroom, come on.”

Kyungsoo followed Chanyeol into his room, letting out a quiet gasp of awe when he saw the shelves upon shelves of CD’s and records. Chanyeol noticed his excitement and grinned. He was usually pretty protective of his collection, but his feelings for Kyungsoo got the best of him yet again.

“You can borrow something any time you want.” He said as he tuned his guitar. Kyungsoo made a noise that sort of sounded like “thank you”, and Chanyeol chuckled. “So, are you going to listen to me play or not?”

Kyungsoo snapped out of his trance and sat down in Chanyeol’s computer chair as the other began to play. Chanyeol peeked up at Kyungsoo halfway through the song and saw him smiling a bit. 

“Sing for me.” Chanyeol said. He was sure Kyungsoo would refuse, but, to his surprise, Kyungsoo opened his mouth and began to sing. He didn’t know the song, so the lyrics were all made up. They seemed very genuine and heartfelt though, and Chanyeol briefly wondered if they were personal.

Chanyeol played the final chord and shook his head in disbelief at Kyungsoo. “You’re so good. You should be professional.” Kyungsoo’s face flushed at this, and he shook his head no. “I’m serious! You’ve got such a great voice, Kyungsoo!” Kyungsoo only rolled his eyes at this, and Chanyeol groaned. This guy could be so stubborn sometimes.

“I’m hungry.” Kyungsoo changed the topic. “Do you want me to make us something?”

“Can you cook?” Chanyeol asked, quirking an eyebrow.

“Guess you’ll have to see.” Kyungsoo grinned, getting up from his seat and dashing into Chanyeol’s kitchen.

Kyungsoo could definitely cook, Chanyeol decided as he ate another spoonful of the alfredo Kyungsoo had made. “I’m pretty sure I didn’t have the ingredients for this.” He said as he shoved another forkful of noodles into his mouth.

“You did.” Kyungsoo assured him.

After cleaning up, Kyungsoo suggested watching a movie. Chanyeol was excited about this idea because it meant he would get to show off his impressive movie collection as well as his impressive blanket collection. After returning with like five blankets, the two spread out on the floor in front of Chanyeol’s tv and began the movie. It was probably around twelve when the movie finally finished, and Chanyeol suggested that Kyungsoo just crash at his place.

“We can have a sleepover and just watch movies all night.” Chanyeol murmured, but he was close to nodding off himself. 

“Yeah,” Kyungsoo yawned, “we should totally do that.”

So, that’s what they totally did. And Chanyeol totally wasn’t excited when he woke up with a blanket burrito-ed Kyungsoo snuggled up beside him.

Totally not.

-

Their Thursday into Friday sleepover began to become a regular thing, with the two boys either staying up til one or two am either watching movies or playing video games or writing music together. Kyungsoo was a talented lyricist it turned out, and Chanyeol was adept at coming up with the music to fit with his lyrics.

“I wanna write a love song.” Kyungsoo said one night in March.

Chanyeol wrinkled his nose. Was Kyungsoo in love? He never spoke about anybody. However, he was pretty quiet about his feelings. He had never really gotten properly angry at Chanyeol, which the latter was thankful for.

“Really?” Chanyeol asked, to which Kyungsoo nodded. “Okay, if you want to.”

So that night they stayed awake until three am working on a love song, one which, at the end of it all, Kyungsoo claimed was perfect. Chanyeol had to agree that it wasn’t too bad. Neither of them were conscious enough to move from Chanyeol’s bed, so in the middle of the night Chanyeol woke up to an armful of Kyungsoo, who had managed to wiggle his way into the space between Chanyeol’s chest and arm.

“Soo, wake up, you’re doing that weird cuddling thing again.” Chanyeol nudged Kyungsoo and pinched his cheek gently.

“Shut up!” A only half-awake Kyungsoo muttered. “Why can’t you just cuddle me like a normal person? You’re so shit at cuddling. No wonder you don’t have a boyfriend.”

Chanyeol let out an annoyed sigh. This would all be totally great except Chanyeol wanted to cuddle him significantly more. He wanted to cuddle Kyungsoo’s lips with his own lips. 

Nonetheless, the older fell asleep after shifting a bit to get more comfortable and assure that his arm wouldn’t fall asleep.

And when he woke up in the morning, he found a sleepy Kyungsoo making breakfast in his kitchen. He briefly wondered if cuddly Kyungsoo had even happened or if he had dreamed it.

-

Chanyeol was having a shitty day.

He hadn’t seen Kyungsoo in a few weeks seeing as the other had three term papers due within the same two weeks. This had been a bummer in itself for the past two weeks, but today was especially terrible.

His mother had called to check up on him. Her calls had not been particularly cheerful lately. She was constantly lecturing him about how music wasn’t a stable career and that he should really consider applying for law school.

If that wasn’t enough, two orders that he was counting on getting today were going to be late. 

So, needless to say, he was a bit on edge when Kyungsoo came in.

And when Chanyeol turned around and saw Kyungsoo his first thought was that this was definitely all Kyungsoo’s fault.
If he wasn’t so head over heels for Kyungsoo, he would be more focused and maybe his mom would be less critical of him and maybe he’d be able to handle the stress of late orders more easily.

But instead he was daydreaming about baking apple strudels with Kyungsoo, or thinking about how cute Kyungsoo looks when he wears beanies.

Yes, this was totally all Kyungsoo’s fault.

“Hey.” Kyungsoo smiled brightly.

“Hi.” Chanyeol said emotionlessly, turning around so that his back was facing Kyungsoo again. Maybe if he didn’t have to look at Kyungsoo’s super stunning face, he would be okay.

“Are you okay?” Kyungsoo sounded concerned and Jesus Fucking Christ, Chanyeol was so flustered that someone so nice and cool and charming like Kyungsoo even existed. He didn’t want to get worked up over nothing, but his brain to mouth function wasn’t really working today.

Chanyeol groaned loudly before turning around to face Kyungsoo. 

“You’re so annoying, you know that?” Kyungsoo’s eyes widened at this and he took a step back.

“Every little thing you do pushes my buttons. I can’t think, I can’t sleep, I can’t do anything because you’re always on my mind, and your stupid voice is always in my head.” Kyungsoo’s face twisted from hurt to confused as Chanyeol rambled on.

“You come in here to work and help me, but you never take any of the albums you work for. You just leave with pieces of my heart instead. And you’re really fucking annoying, with your stupid cute laugh, and your good taste in music, and the dorky way you dance in my room when you think I’m watching.” Chanyeol paused to catch his breath. “Well, I am watching, and I think it’s adorable. And it’s so, so annoying that you still haven’t caught on that I’m in love with you.”

If Kyungsoo’s eyes were wide when he began, that was nothing compared to their size now.

“Oh.”

“Yeah.” Chanyeol was breathless from his rant, and it suddenly occurred to him what he had just blurted out. “I’m sorry, I’ve had a really shitty day. I didn’t mean to get ang-”

“Wait.”

Chanyeol stopped blabbering at Kyungsoo’s request.

“Say,” Kyungsoo walked up to the counter, so that he was only a foot away from Chanyeol, “that last part one more time. Say the last thing again.”

Was Kyungsoo’s voice shaking? Chanyeol licked his lips and tried to remember what he had said at all.

“The dancing thing? You’re really cute when you dance-”

“The ‘I’m in love with you.’ part.” Kyungsoo rolled his eyes.

Ah, that part.

“Oh, hah, yeah, listen about that”

“I’m still surprised that I said it before you.” Kyungsoo shrugged, leaning up on his toes and oh god is he going to kiss me, Chanyeol wondered.

“Wait, w-what?” Chanyeol asked, stuttering. His hands were sweating. 

“That love song, idiot. Please don’t tell me you didn’t know it was about you.”

“Um, I-I didn’t realize that, um, it-”

Kyungsoo had had enough of Chanyeol’s incapability to form words, so he decided to end the small talk altogether by yanking Chanyeol down and pressing their lips together.

And holy shit, Kyungsoo’s lips felt divine against Chanyeol’s. They were warm and soft and oh. Oh. That was Kyungsoo’s tongue in his mouth. Oh. 

He tried to bend down a bit to make it more comfortable for Kyungsoo, but he ended up ramming their noses together instead. His face changed to a considerably pinker than normal shade after this, but Kyungsoo only giggled.

“Sorry.” Chanyeol murmured.

“I wouldn’t have expected anything else from you.”

“Hey!” Chanyeol pinched Kyungsoo’s cheek. “It’s not my fault your lips are too far down for me to reach.”

“Maybe we should kiss somewhere more comfortable, like on a bed, perhaps without any clo-”

“Shhhh.” Chanyeol clamped a hand over Kyungsoo’s mouth as an old lady, one of his regulars, came in. “You’re like five years old. Relax, champ.”

Kyungsoo bit at Chanyeol’s hand until he let go.

“Whatever, jeez. I was just dropping by to say hello anyways.” Kyungsoo huffed, but Chanyeol saw the teasing smile he was trying to conceal.

“Mhm, okay.” Chanyeol grinned.

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes and tugged his hood up, so that it nearly covered his eyes. 

“So, can I come hang out for a sleepover tonight?” Kyungsoo asked, and he almost sounded shy.

“I don’t think we’ll be doing much sleeping.” Chanyeol wiggled his eyebrows, and Kyungsoo snorted.

“Relax, champ.” Kyungsoo mocked Chanyeol, turning to leave. “But really, I’m only coming if you cuddle me while we sleep. And while we don’t sleep. You have to cuddle me the entire.” 

“God, what a bummer. I’m totally not looking forward to the end of the day now.” Chanyeol teased, and Kyungsoo grinned as he headed towards the door.

He wouldn’t mind learning how to cuddle if Kyungsoo was going to teach him.