Chanyeol sighed out deeply, throwing himself onto his bed. It was finally starting to become less chaotic. He was almost finished moving into his new dorm for his second year of college and all he wanted to do was take a nap. His body was aching from moving all his belongings up and down the stairs. His old dorms were being assigned to new incoming freshmen, and as such, he had to move out. Though, he wouldn’t complain after all was said and done; the new dorms were much nicer and bigger.

            “Just a few more things to drag in and I’ll be set.” he said. He forced himself up, seeing as, the faster he finished, the faster he could rest. Fortunately, he only had to move in things that he’d left in the socializing area outside of his bedroom inside. That area would be shared with his new dormmates on the room opposite his. Speaking of, he’d better move quickly before his new roommate got there. He could be one of those demanding types that tries to take 3/4ths of the room to himself; Chanyeol had heard horror stories of his friend Jongin's first roommate the year before.

            He got up and went outside the room and, after debating for half a second, decided he’d grab a quick snack from the machine down the hall if he truly wasn’t planning on getting up for the next 6 hours until dinner. Making his way down the hall and to the snack machine, he punched in his choice of a honey bun before he noticed someone sitting at the sofa behind him. Despite being seated, he could tell the guy was probably tall with how long his legs were. His hair was blonde and he had a puzzled look on his face (as much as he could see as he leaned a bit over the guy’s shoulder) as he stared at the paper in his very large hands.  The paper, one Chanyeol’d seen far too many times that day, was the sheet directing him to his assigned room with all the building’s contact information he’d need should there be any issues, as well as assigning each area to each roommate, which would be agreed on by the two in case anything was broken or not cleaned.

            “Ah, so you’re moving into your new room, too?” Chanyeol asked the guy, probably louder than he’d expected, since he jumped a bit. Chanyeol didn’t realize he was leaning that close over this guy’s shoulder.

            “Sorry! I just saw the assignment sheet you were holding here. I just moved into my room, too.” he said, trying to make conversation. Hell if he wasn’t going to take the chance to meet and get to know someone before classes even start.

            “Oh…uh…yes…umm…” the guy mumbled.

            “So, where are you staying?” Chanyeol asked.

            “Umm, I don’t know…the…um…” he stuttered. The guy seemed unsure for some reason. Perhaps he was new to these dorms, too.

            “Do you need help finding your room?” Chanyeol asked.

            The guy seemed nervous for some reason. He kept averting his eyes and shifting a bit. And Chanyeol could barely hear what he was saying; the guy was speaking so softly, almost as if he didn’t want to be heard. He seemed to be reading Chanyeol’s thoughts and decided to speak up a bit.

            “I…Korean not good.” the guy said a bit slowly. Chanyeol blinked a couple times.

            Huh? Oh? Ooohhhh! No wonder the guy was mumbling so much. He must have been a transfer student.

            “Oh? You’re an exchange student? That’s so cool! Where are you from?” Chanyeol was asking questions on a motor.

            “Canada…I’m Chinese.”

            “Really? Wow, that’s cool! I think we’re getting a lot of new students from outside the country, but I’ve never met anyone from Canada before!”

            “Yeah, sorry for…um…” The blonde began, but Chanyeol shook his head, not waiting for him to finish.

            “That’s okay! Really, it’s fine! I’ll help you with whatever you need!” he said with a smile.

            Now it all made sense why he was just sitting here staring at the sheet instead of going straight to his room. He probably couldn’t tell where he was supposed to go seeing as there was the name of the hall listed in front of the room number. He felt sort of bad for him; how long would he have been sitting here if he hadn’t come out of his room? He wondered if he’d tried to ask for help but didn’t know how to ask.

            “How long have you been sitting here?” Chanyeol asked, trying not keep his questions simple and specific, even pointing to the spot where he was seated.

            “Um, not long…a few hours…” he said.

            A few hours? Wasn’t that long? And no one had even tried to help him in all that time?

            “Did you try to ask anyone else for help?” Chanyeol asked, curiously.

            “I was scared…to ask, so…” the guy started playing with his fingers. Chanyeol blinked and tilted his head.

            This guy is…sorta cute, Chanyeol thought. For someone taller than he was and with a much scarier looking face, Chanyeol wasn’t expecting his mannerisms to be so effeminate. He must be shy talking to new people. He tried to suppress a giggle.

            “Oh, I forgot to ask, what’s your name? I’m Chanyeol.”

            “Ch-Chanyeol?” the blonde asked.

            “Park Chanyeol” Chanyeol replied, grinning.

            “I’m…Wu Yifan. But you can call me Kris…” he said, obviously pretty rehearsed, not that it was a bad thing.

            “Krease? That’s a cool name.” Chanyeol said, while reaching for Kris’ paper. “So, let’s see where you’re staying there.”

            Kris gave it to him and Chanyeol began looking it over, quickly. If Kris had really been sitting here for hours, he must have been tired by now. Chanyeol needed to get him to his room so he could relax comfortably in his own bed.

            “Oh, so you’re in Kang Hall. Ok, I’ll help you find your room then.” Chanyeol said, confidently.

            Truth be told, Chanyeol didn’t even know what Hall he was in. He hadn’t really been paying much attention when he’d been going back and forth between his old and new hall after he found it the first time. He just wanted to get moved into it as quick as possible. But he didn’t really want to embarrass himself in front of this guy by going back to his room to check his own paper, though he debated that Kris wouldn’t even know if he was checking or not. All the same, he thought it’d look better to just go from there. After all, he figured it wouldn’t take that long to find.

            Kris stood up and, woah, he really was tall. Taller than Chanyeol himself, which was something Chanyeol wasn’t used to. He felt slightly intimidated looking up at Kris for a split second before the taller blonde shyly averted his eyes again.

            “Ready to go?” Chanyeol asked. He was given a nod in return and Chanyeol nodded back with a grin and the two set off.

            Unfortunately for Chanyeol, he spent about 20 minutes walking back and forth, left and right, around and around, with no Kang Hall in sight. He was sure Kris probably thought he was an idiot and had no idea where he was going. Which…was true…but Kris didn’t need to know that.

            “Let’s see, we uh…we did Bae and Kim Halls. We already passed Son and Hwang, right? Did we do Jung? Yeah, I think we did. Um, so…Lee was back there and, uh…” Chanyeol was looking around frantically before he noticed a sign right in his line of vision as the reentered the building.

            “Oh! We did it, here it is, Kang Hall!” he said. Kris followed right behind him as the two walked down the hall before he started to slowly recognize the familiar setting. The two made a complete stop when they noticed the snack machine down the hall.

            Chanyeol could feel his face burning. Of course, fate would have it that Kang Hall was HIS OWN hall. Why did he not just check his room papers? He just wasted 20 minutes wandering around campus when he could have found Kris’ room in seconds and been helping him move in.

            He forced himself to make eye-contact with Kris. He may not know Korean well, but he wasn’t blind. There was no way he didn’t know they were in the same place where they started. The worst part was that he couldn’t even tell if he was mad or not seeing as he probably wasn’t going to say anything about it. Chanyeol tried desperately to save face.

            “And, uh, your room’s right over here! Room 610!” Chanyeol said, walking towards the doors.

            Oh…of course.

            It was Chanyeol’s own room.

            “I’m an idiot.” Chanyeol mumbled. Again, he had to cover his , fast.

            “Well, look at that! We’re in the same room! Haha…isn’t that a coincidence!!

            “Oh…it’s your room?” Kris asked.

            “Yeah! We’re roommates! Ha ha! Funny, right?” Chanyeol laughed, awkwardly.

            “Thank you.” Kris said, a slight bow.

            “Oh, no problem!” Chanyeol said, desperately trying to save face.

            “Thanks for showing me around before.” Kris said. Chanyeol mentally slapped himself. Kris didn’t even realize Chanyeol was clueless before; he just thought he was being shown around before getting to his own room. He supposed he should be grateful, but he couldn’t help but figure that Kris wouldn’t have come to this conclusion had his room been somewhere else. Well, no point in dwelling on it.

            “So…I guess we need to move your things in.” Chanyeol said, trying to keep Kris from catching on to his major failure from earlier.

            “Oh…um, it’s…outside…over there.” Kris said, pointing out the door.

            “Over there?

            Oh…he’d left his suitcase by the couch next to the snack machine.

            “Ehehe…hehe…” Chanyeol laughed, awkwardly.

            “I’ll get it.” Kris said, smiling a bit.

            “OK, we can unpack when you get back.” Chanyeol said. Kris nodded and went out to go get his bags.

            “Well, this is an awkward start.” Chanyeol sighed.

~~

            It wasn’t long before both Kris and Chanyeol had moved into the room and chose their beds (not that Kris had much choice in the matter since Chanyeol had already been there) as well as arranging their belongings.

            “Ugghh, finally rest time.” Chanyeol said, laying on his bed. “What time is it?” He waited for a few seconds, thinking maybe Kris was just looking for his phone around the messy room, but sat up a bit after a few more moments of silence.

            “Um, it’s…uh…s-six…forty.” He replied

            “Already that late? Hnnnnnnn, I don’t even feel like going down for dinner. I just want to sleep.” Chanyeol whined.

            Kris didn’t say anything, as if not knowing what to add, and continued his unpacking. After thinking for a minute, Chanyeol wondered if Kris had wanted to eat.

            “Are you hungry?” he asked.

            “I’m okay.” Kris replied.

“I can take you downstairs if you want.” Chanyeol assured. “You should know where the cafeteria is, after all.”

            “Just sleep.” Kris said. “I’ll finish this. I’ll sleep, too.”

            “Are you sure?” Chanyeol asked.

            “Sleep.”

            “OK, um…well, wake me up if you need me.” Chanyeol said, not really knowing what else to say without sounding weird like “I’ll see you in a few hours”.

            “Goodnight Chanyeol.” Kris said.

            Chanyeol hummed contentedly as he laid down on his pillow. For whatever reason, he really liked hearing his name his new roommate’s lips.

 

 

            The next morning, Chanyeol woke up almost forgetting he wasn’t in his regular home anymore. It took him a few blinks and glances around the dorm room to remember the events of yesterday.  He didn’t even realize how exhausted he’d been, realizing he’d gone to sleep without so much as a shower. Must have been all the running around he’d done. He suddenly remembered the cause of said franticness, his new Chinese roommate. Oh yeah, Kris! Better get up quickly to make sure the taller man was alright. He lethargically sat up, stretched, and looked over, but saw that the bed was empty.

            “Huh? Kris?” he said, slightly groggily. This didn’t seem right. Kris could barely look anyone in the eye, much less ask the question he wanted to ask of anyone. He couldn’t have left the room given Chanyeol’s warning the day before. Dammit, if he needed something, why didn’t he just wake him up? He couldn’t have gone too far, so Chanyeol hopped up, threw some socks on, and rushed out the front door to the living room section, but he didn’t have to go far.

            Kris was by the small stove area in the corner of the room with a plate in front of him. He seemed to be fixing eggs and rice. Chanyeol exhaled in relief that his roommate hadn’t left the room and approached him.

            “Kris?” he asked. “You were cooking?”

            The slightly taller man seemed surprised at Chanyeol’s presence and shyly nodded.

            “When did you get up?”

            “Um…30 minutes?” he sounded unsure but nodded while he spoke as if mentally convincing himself that he was correct; probably his speaking more so than for the time itself.

            “You’ve been cooking all this time?” Chanyeol asked, but was answered by Kris pointing to the table in the middle of the room.

            “Yours is…over there…” he said.

            “Wah? You cooked for me, too?” Chanyeol said, a bit taken aback.

            “I want to know…what…you like…eat.” Kris spoke, trying to sound surer of himself.

            “Huh, why?” Chanyeol asked.

            Kris gave him a strange look. “So I can cook that food.”

            Chanyeol flushed slightly at the obvious reply. “Oh, really? I didn’t know you could cook.”

            “Learning…you or me…need to know…” Kris tried to explain.

            “Haha, I get it. Well, I can’t wait to try it!” Chanyeol said with excitement in his voice. “Is yours done now?”

            “I think so.” Kris said, poking the food with the spatula in his hand, as if he was a child.

            “Well, come on let’s eat!” Chanyeol said, grinning at the taller man’s mannerisms.

            The two went over to the couch in the intersection of the two dorm rooms. There was no sign of their neighbors waking up, so they figured that they could eat there without interruption considering it was pretty early and that college students tended to sleep in until noon, even though classes hadn’t started yet. Chanyeol examined his plate, it looked and smelled pretty good. He glanced at Kris as he sat beside him. He wanted to just jump into the food but thought he should wait for Kris before starting. On the other hand, he didn’t want to look like he didn’t want to eat it.

            Kris was playing in his food a bit and Chanyeol noticed him trying to subtly glance at him out of the corner of his eye so he figured he must have been waiting for him to eat. Not wanting to keep Kris or himself waiting, he started shoveling the food into his mouth because damn, he hadn’t eaten since the honey bun yesterday.

            “It’s really good! When did you start cooking? Was it before you got here? You could be a professional or something, really. What else do you cook?” Chanyeol asked, in-between attempts to swallow.

            Kris frowned at him. Chanyeol stared at him before it clicked.

            “Oh, I get it, too many questions, sorry!” Chanyeol said, then motioned for Kris to speak.

            “I just cook a little.” Kris replied. “Before I came here.”

            “It’s great.” Chanyeol said. “Why haven’t you started eating yet?”

            “I wanted…to see…if you like it…” Kris mumbled.

            “Let’s eat then! I’m starving and you should be, too.” Chanyeol reassured.

            “Okay…” Kris said.

            The two ate in relative silence, enjoying the early morning tranquility they could take advantage of with their neighbors being asleep. Chanyeol felt oddly happy, he hadn’t expected to wake up and enjoy a casual quiet breakfast prepared just for him after the hectic day prior.

            “That was really good, Kris.” Chanyeol said.

            “Thank you.” Kris replied, somewhat shyly.

            “This was nice.” Chanyeol hummed, then patting Kris’ leg with the back of his hand to encourage him to talk a bit more, added, “It was good, wasn’t it?”

            “Oh…um…I liked it, it was good.” he said. He seemed flustered, as if not knowing what to say about his own cooking.

            Chanyeol smiled it him. “Don’t be so shy, you can say you liked it. Have some confidence.”

            Kris played with his fingers and shyly looked away. “I…really liked it.”

            Chanyeol found Kris’ mannerisms so weird, so unbefitting of the giant seated next to him. He would never have expected this when he’d first come upon the man yesterday.

            Now that Chanyeol got a good look at him, Kris was…incredibly handsome. Like, Greek god kind of handsome. He looked like a model more than a college student despite just being in a sleeveless top and some shorts. His expression came off as cold, but he somehow looked so timid and cute when he pouted at Chanyeol when he couldn’t understand what he was saying. His lips were really plush and soft looking and totally unbefitting his exterior appearance when pressed out in dissatisfaction. But the slightly curly, blonde hair styled down on his head, expensive- looking earrings, his deep, yet intimidating eyes, strong and muscular frame, Chanyeol’d even noted a few tattoos on him as well as multiple rings and bracelets adorning his fingers and wrists; Kris was a complete male god.

            And he was Chanyeol’s roommate.

            How did he luck out THIS good?

            “Wh-What?” Kris asked, glancing away with his cheeks slightly reddening. Chanyeol felt bad for staring but he really couldn’t resist.

            “Hehe, you looked so intimidating before, it’s weird that you’re like this.” Chanyeol said.

            “Like what?” Kris asked.

            “Hmmmm, nothing!” Chanyeol said, smirking.

            Kris mumbled something Chanyeol assumed was Chinese.

            “What? Hey, speak Korean or you’ll never get any better at it!” Chanyeol said.

            “Stop…looking at me…” Kris said, his cheeks slightly red.

            “Ok, ok, sorry for teasing you.” Chanyeol said, assuming that was the word Kris wanted to use. The blonde’s expression told him he was probably right. Chanyeol gave him an encouraging look.

            “S-Stop…teasing…me.” Kris said. Chanyeol laughed, unable to stop himself.

            “Good, you said it right.” he said, before adding, “But I probably won’t stop teasing you.” He smirked as he watched Kris taking a moment to register his words.

            “Wh-What?! Wh-Why??” Kris asked, timidly and somewhat whiny, as if mad at the response despite being praised for his pronunciation.

            “I think it’ll become fun.” Chanyeol laughed. Kris pouted and picked up both plates before heading back into the kitchen and starting the water in the sink.

            “I can wash mine.” Chanyeol said, his turn to pout.

            “I’ll do it.” Kris said, still pouting himself.

            “What am I going to do with you for the rest of this year?” Chanyeol sighed. “I guess this would be a good time to discuss chores. I hate dishes so I won’t mind if you do them.”

            “W-What?” Kris said and Chanyeol figured it was time to do what he did best. Well, in his opinion, his friends heavily disagreed.

            “Pleeaasseee, Hyungie?” Chanyeol begged, doing his best aegyo.

            “U-umm…” Kris seemed a bit thrown off.

            “I’ll wash the clothes, I can do that.” Chanyeol didn’t want Kris to think he wasn’t willing to pull his weight. “It’s what I did with my last roommate. Well, we kinda took turns. We can take turns if you want, too. I really hate doing the dishes, though. I’ll even fold the clothes so you won’t have to! And I’ll put them away for you. You just have to tell me where you want everything.”

            “I’ll um..it’s…”

            Chanyeol could see Kris starting to get fidgety. He mentally slapped himself, still forgetting he wasn’t speaking to a native speaker. This would take some getting used to, in conjuncture with Chanyeol’s habits of speaking a mile a minute. He probably terrified the man every time he opened his mouth.

            “Oops, sorry! I forgot again!” Chanyeol bowed, apologetically and added with a smile. “We can talk about it later, Hyung. I’m going to go change my clothes.” Chanyeol said. “We can figure it out while you’re done.”

            Kris give him a weird look, tilting his head a bit as Chanyeol bounced off back to their bedroom, waving when he reached the door before closing it behind him.

            “He’s…strange…” Kris said to himself.

~~

            A couple days before class was set to start, the two found themselves on their beds watching some TV. Well, Chanyeol was, while Kris worked on his pre-quarter assignment. Chanyeol tried to tell him not to bother, only 20% of professors ever asked for them, anyway. Not to mention, they weren’t even graded. But the older man insisted. Chanyeol figured it was no use arguing, at least he seemed determined to work on his Korean, though he felt bad he was wasting away their last days of freedom on an assignment he’d probably never get a grade for.

            "Is everything alright?” Chanyeol asked when a commercial break began.

            “Oh, um…yes…” Kris said.

            “If you’re going to do it, you might as well do it right.” Chanyeol said, getting up to look at Kris’ work.

            “No! Wait!” Kris childishly covered the paper with his arms. Chanyeol couldn’t suppress the laugh threatening to bypass his lips.

            “Come on, just let me see it.” Chanyeol said, trying to move Kris’ arms, but he refused to move them. Chanyeol pouted and then, slyly lowered his hands to near Kris’ shoulders.

            “If you don’t move them, I’m gonna tickle you.” Chanyeol sang while laughing. Kris seemed not to understand at first until he felt Chanyeol’s fingers start creeping under his arms. He quickly sat up to protect himself and Chanyeol swiped the paper without missing a beat, leaving his roommate flustered and trying to cover himself.

            His handwriting was messy in a cute sort of way, and he had notes in Chinese written next to some things. And some in…English?

            “Hm? You know English?” Chanyeol asked with a raised eyebrow.

            “Um…I’m from Canada.” Kris semi-deadpanned.

            “Oh yeah, right, you told me before didn’t you?” Chanyeol asked, sheepishly. “You know a lot of languages. How do you even remember it all?”

            Kris shrugged. “I have to…to pass school…right? Speaking, at least…”

            “Well, your writing is pretty good. Really good, actually. I almost wouldn’t know you’re a foreigner.” Chanyeol praised.

            “Really?” Kris seemed surprised.

            “Yep! There’s a few spelling mistakes, though, like…” Chanyeol reached over to grab Kris’ pen. “This…isn’t the same word as…this.” he said, writing the correct word next to Kris’ writing.

Chanyeol went through Kris’ work, making several corrections and alterations before the taller man interrupted him after a few minutes. It seemed as though he was waiting for an opportunity to do so.

            “Chanyeol.”

            “Huh, what is it?” Chanyeol replied, quickly.

            “My…name is Kris…not Krease.”

            “Oh, have I been saying it wrong?” Chanyeol asked. Kris nodded, shyly.

            “Sorry about that, hyung.” Chanyeol felt slightly embarrassed he’d been pronouncing his name wrong for days at that point.

            “It’s okay.” Kris said

            “Er, why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

            “Oh…it doesn’t bother me…but, if I…meet someone…” Kris tried explaining.

            Oh, it would probably be awkward if a teacher or classmate said his name incorrectly and he corrected them, but not Chanyeol. Well, this just saved him some potential embarrassment.

            “Aish, just tell me next time if I’m mispronouncing your name.” Chanyeol said. “By the way, we should probably look at your schedule so you know where you’re going when classes start in a couple days.

Without waiting for a reply, Chanyeol dug through the strewn about papers in front of Kris until he located his schedule.

            “We don’t have any classes together, but some are in the same halls. We can walk to class together.” Chanyeol said, glancing at the paper. “And if you need anything, I’ll be nearby, so you can text me. Oh! Let me give you my number.”

            “Oh thanks, ummm, I’ll give you mine.” Kris said.

“Just call or text me if you need anything. Don’t worry about whether I’m in class, I’ll always answer you!”

“Hmm…thank you.” Kris said, smiling genuinely.

Chanyeol didn’t know what it was about his smile that gave him butterflies. Despite only knowing him for a few days and coming to realize that Kris rarely smiled as it was, he couldn’t help but feel happy whenever one was directed his way.

“No problem, hyung!”

~~

            “So, anything you need before we go our separate ways?”

            The first day of classes had arrived, and while Chanyeol would usually be in a hurry to get them over with, something about his new roommate made him excited to get up that morning to continue serving as his official roommate-tour-guide.

            Kris shyly played with the straps on his backpack. The guy had a face that would scare anyone within a two-mile radius away if he wasn’t too shy to make eye contact.

            “Kris, stop it! You gotta have confidence!” Chanyeol said, shaking him by the shoulders.

            “C-Confidence?” Kris managed to get out through the younger boy’s shaking him around.

            “Yes! You’ll never get through the school year like this. Man up!” Chanyeol said, releasing him.

            “O-Okay…” Kris said.

            “I know you’re nervous.” Chanyeol said, understandingly. Well, as much as he could be, having never really been in a situation where he was a foreigner. “But you can’t show it, people won’t take you seriously that way. Never show fear!”

            “Okay…I’ll try…t-thanks…” Kris said.

            “You’ll be fine, and I’m right down the hall. And remember, I’m always here if you need me.” Chanyeol whipped his phone out of his pocket quickly, signaling his apparent readiness at Kris’ beck and call.

Kris gave him another nod, and with that, the giant made his way to his first class of the year. Chanyeol somehow felt sentimental about it. While he was nervous, he trusted that Kris would be fine. And if he wasn’t, who better to come to his rescue than Park Chanyeol?

~~

The first day came and went, and the two settled into a comfortable routine. Kris’ understanding in his classes wasn’t amazing by any means, but he was much more capable than Chanyeol, or even he, had expected. His classmates were more than open to helping him out whenever he had difficulty understanding anything. And whenever he was too nervous to ask for help, he would simply shoot Chanyeol a quick text and be answered almost within seconds. Kris was wondering if Chanyeol was even paying attention in his classes to reply that quickly. But he didn’t think much of it. He appreciated Chanyeol’s willingness to help him. While Chanyeol was pretty happy to see that things were going well for his new friend.

            A few days later, Chanyeol was walking out of class with a couple of friends down the hallway, stretching his arms behind his head.

            “So, you never texted me back yesterday. How’s the new roommate?” Baekhyun asked.

            “Oh, he’s really cool! He’s a transfer student, actually. I should probably find him. He has a bit of trouble with his Korean and…oh! There he is! Hey Kris!!” Chanyeol called out, after seeing him down the hall.

            The boys all stopped and turned to see the person Chanyeol was waving at. He was a short distance away from them. All of them seemed to stop simultaneously and just stare. Chanyeol, realizing that they stopped walking with him, turned around, confused.

            “Wait, that’s him?” Jongin asked.

            “Isn’t he like, the model everyone’s been talking about lately?” Baekhyun added.

            “Model?” Chanyeol asked. Though, he probably shouldn’t sound so confused; he’d had the same thoughts when he first saw Kris, too.

            “He’s an exchange student, right? Dude, everyone’s been talking about him!” Junmyeon half-whispered. “Sehun was telling everyone how a super-hot model transferred this semester. We saw him in a classroom this morning and the room was packed with people just trying to get a glimpse of him.”

            “Really?” Chanyeol had no idea Kris had a following. Did he even know about it?

            “Dude, how could you NOT KNOW?! He’s seriously your roommate?” Baekhyun asked.

            “Well, yeah…but I didn’t…

            “DUDE, WHAT’S HE LIKE?!”

            “Is he rich, is he a gang member?”

            “Has he been to jail? How many girls is he dating?”

            “Does he have a lot of cars?”

            “HAVE YOU SEEN HIM ?”

The guys were spilling out questions faster than Chanyeol could register who was asking what. Geez, all this hype over a guy who’d tuck his tail inbetween his legs and hide if he was on the receiving end of so much attention.

            “GUYS! CALM DOWN!” Chanyeol yelled over them.

            “He’s just a nice guy, transfer student, has trouble with Korean just a bit.” Chanyeol explained.

            The guys looked at each other, doubt written all over their faces.

            “Come on, man, that’s it?” Baekhyun folded his arms. “You’ve got nothing else on him?”

Chanyeol shrugged. “Believe it or not, there isn’t much to tell. He’s a pretty normal guy when you get to know him.”

“That’s his code for ‘He’s for me to know and you to find out.’” Jongin remarked, nudging Junmyeon. Baekhyun smirked as Chanyeol rolled his eyes.

“Whatever, come on. Let’s go get something to eat.” Chanyeol said. He wasn’t sure what his friends were being so skeptical about, but nevertheless, didn’t let it distract him from missing out on the cake being served in the lunchroom that day.

~~

            As weeks passed, Chanyeol and Kris were becoming more accustomed to each other and their dynamics. Chanyeol realized that Kris, while tending to keep to himself, had a mischievous streak when he wanted to. Even if he pretended he was a loner, cool guy, who stayed locked up in his room whenever he wasn’t in class, Chanyeol was quick to find out that his hyung wasn’t one to shy away from some fun whenever Chanyeol could get him to entertain him.

            “Come on, Kris!!” Chanyeol yelled one afternoon, bursting into his room.

            “Huh?” Kris nearly dropped the book he’d been reaching for.

            “Let’s go get ice cream! It’s hot out and I’m hungry, come on!!” Chanyeol yelled.

            “Uhh…but I…”

            “No “but”s! Ice cream, now!” Chanyeol no less than demanded.

            While Kris was certainly capable of refusing, it was usually easier to just do what Chanyeol wanted. And he couldn’t complain if he was getting ice cream out of it, after all.

            “Hmmm, they all look so good!” Chanyeol said when the two reached the ice cream stand on campus. “Come on, Kris, go ahead and order. You can do it.”

            Kris took a deep breath, approaching the counter. “Umm…can I have…uh..th-this…”

            “You can read it if it helps you.” Chanyeol smiled at him.

            Kris nodded. “Umm…watermelon…”

            “Is that the one you want, Kris?” Chanyeol asked. The taller man nodded, shyly.

            “Watermelon, coming right up.” The vendor said, handing both men their orders after a few minutes.

“See, you’re getting better every day!” Chanyeol said, patting Kris on the back.

The older man initially responded with a small glare at the way Chanyeol could have threatened to make Kris drop his ice cream if he hadn’t been careful. But it quickly morphed into a small grin. One that, as usual, made Chanyeol’s heart beat faster for reasons he couldn’t explain.

            ~~

            “Kris! Hey! What are you doing here?”

Kris had made his way into a small campus store for the first time and was surprised to see Chanyeol of all people behind the counter.

            “Oh, um…why are you here?” Kris asked, approaching the counter. He was always wary about entering new places on campus by himself, but became much more comfortable seeing Chanyeol there.

            “I work on here!” Chanyeol said.

            “Really?” Kris asked. He and Chanyeol were together so often, it had hardly occurred to him that the shorter man had a job on campus.

            “Yeah, I didn’t expect to see you here.” Chanyeol said, finishing up an order for a customer and handing it to them.

            “Um…I…wait…” Kris said.

            “Huh?” Chanyeol blinked. It was harder than usual to tell what Kris was trying to say what with all the loud noise surrounding the two of them.

            “Wait for you?” Kris explained.

            “Oh, oh no no! I don’t get off for a few more hours. You go home, I’ll be back soon!” Chanyeol assured.

            “Are you sure?” Kris asked as Chanyeol began to shoo him off.

            “Don’t you have homework to do? Go on back to our room! Go go go!”

            Kris reluctantly left, but not before waiting outside the door for a few minutes to watch Chanyeol in an entirely new element than he was used to seeing him in. He was somewhat envious and it made him more determined to practice his Korean, which he did for several hours after leaving the store.

~~

As the semester continued, two only grew closer to each other and were close friends in no time. Chanyeol was constantly doing everything in his power to make Kris feel as included not awkward as possible.

-

            “Hey, Kris, come here!” He said one day, as the older man approached him at his campus job. “Here, take this…pepero!”

            “Huh? But I didn’t pay?” Kris said, reaching into his back pocket for some money.

            “Just take it.” Chanyeol insisted.

            “Th-thanks.” Kris said, at a loss for words.

            “I’ll see you when I get off work.” Chanyeol said, with a smile.

-

            “Hey, Kris, want to watch a movie with me?” Chanyeol asked.

            “A movie?”

            “Yeah, we just went through a whole 6 weeks of classes. I say we deserve a break.”

            “We should….work…”

            “We should rest!” Chanyeol said, plopping down next to Kris. “You can pick it out, Hyung!”

            Kris rolled his eyes before giving in; Chanyeol knew he would.

“So, what movie did you pick?”

            “Kong: Skull Island.” (A/N: Really dating myself and how long this fic has been in the oven) Kris replied.

            “Really, why that one?”

            “Um…some students…classmates…talked about it…” he said.

            “OK, we can watch it. I’ll get some snacks while you set it up.” Chanyeol replied.

            “Are you okay with it?” Kris asked, after a minute.

            “What do you mean?” Chanyeol raised an eyebrow.

            “You won’t be scared?”

            “What makes you think I’d be scared?!” Chanyeol asked, incredulously.

            “Baekhyun told me…”

            “Ignore him, he’s an idiot. I told you to stop talking to him when I’m not around.” Chanyeol interrupted. What was with his friends and wanting to make him look bad? Not that he necessarily wanted to look good in front of him or anything.

            “Okay…if you say so.” Kris said before starting the movie.

-

            “GYAAAAHH!!!” Chanyeol screeched as a man was impaled through the mouth from the sky. How did that even happen? Oh, OH , it was a giant spider!

            “Chanyeol-ah?”

            “I’M FINE, I GOT THIS!!” he was still shouting.

            “We can stop it…” Kris said, quietly, as if to get Chanyeol to lower his volume in return. Which…hardly happened.

            “NO, WHAT ARE YOU CRAZY IT JUST STARTED!” The younger man didn’t even stop to take a breath.

            Kris suddenly grabbed Chanyeol’s hand before pulling him closer so his head rested in the crook of his neck.

            Chanyeol was suddenly calming down and becoming aware of what was happening all at once and it was starting to click in his head that Kris was coddling him right now.

            “Um, hyung…” Chanyeol said, finally having lowered his volume.

            “Don’t be scared.” Kris said, warmly.

            “I’M NOT SCARED!!” Chanyeol said, embarrassed at how caring Kris was being about it.

            “You’re…very loud.” Kris said, annoyance in his voice. Chanyeol flushed and glanced at the floor. He thought about looking back at the TV but he didn’t want to make a fool of himself again.

            “It’s…a little scary…” Chanyeol whined. Kris snorted and Chanyeol looked back up at him, as the older man tried to contain from laughing.

            “Your face…it looks like a baby…” he said.

            “Hnnn, shut up!!” Chanyeol said, hiding further into Kris’ shoulder. He shifted around a bit uncomfortably before grabbing onto Kris’ arm and bringing his legs up onto the couch.

            “I just…don’t like giant bugs…” Chanyeol said. “Or regular sized bugs…”

            “We can watch a different movie.” Kris offered.

            “No, that wouldn’t be fair.” Chanyeol said. “I said you could pick out the movie. We can watch it, I’ll be fine.” he held on tighter to Kris’ arm. It half occurred to him that he didn’t know if Kris was okay with this type of skinship. They didn’t really have this kind of close contact between them up until now, but Kris didn’t seem bothered, and he wasn’t pushing Chanyeol away from him. That was good, right?

            Chanyeol remained latched onto Kris’ arm with his head resting on Kris’ shoulder for the remainder of the movie. Granted, it got much less scary at the end, but he wasn’t willing to risk moving back to the other side of the couch only to have some demonic Japanese creatures come out of nowhere at any given time to scare him back onto Kris. Not to mention, Kris had started his arm at some point to calm him down (he wasn’t sure when) but it certainly didn’t make him want to pull away, quite the opposite. It, in conjuncture with being pressed against Kris’ warm body (Kris smelled amazing, by the way) had almost been enough to lure him to sleep if it weren’t for the older man’s occasional shifts in his seat as he reacted to the movie. It was a bit embarrassing, and he didn’t know if Kris noticed, but if he did, he didn’t say anything about it.

            Chanyeol had been a bit shaky since the movie, even surprising himself by making it through the whole thing. He didn’t even know why; it wasn’t like it was a ghost movie. He wasn’t going to start seeing giant bugs lurking around the corners. …Right?

            Needless to say, Kris wasn’t becoming any less attentive towards him as the two were preparing for bed.

            “Chanyeol…come here.” Kris said, before he could get in his bed.

            “Wh-what?”

            “In here.” Kris said, pointing at his own bed, a bit timidly.

            “Wh-What?! What do you mean?” Chanyeol asked, his face warming up by the minute.

            “If you’re scared, then…sleep here.”

            “Don’t be so stupid! You can’t actually think I was that scared just because of a movie!” Chanyeol said, heat spreading through his face.

            Kris’ fingers shyly twisted the blanket in his hands. He seemed more nervous than usual, which Chanyeol couldn’t blame; he was literally asking another man to sleep in the same bed with him.

            “OK, gosh, if you’re just going to keep staring like that, I guess I’ll sleep here just so you’ll feel better!” Chanyeol said, blushing heavily and quickly getting into Kris’ bed. He tuned to face the other side of the room, not trusting himself to make eye-contact with his roommate.

            “G-Get in already! I’m tired! I want to sl-, EEEP!” Chanyeol was cut off by Kris’ presence filling the bed, rocking it slightly.

            “Are you…um…can you sleep well?” Kris asked, awkwardly. “Do you feel okay…here?”

            “I’m comfortable, hyung.” Chanyeol said, laughing a bit. Kris seemed satisfied with that answer and laid down beside him.

            Chanyeol felt stupid, going to sleep at his age afraid OF A KING KONG MOVIE! But every time he closed his eyes, he kept seeing giant lizards and mutant insects coming at him. And he was starting to itch everywhere. Were they in his bed?!!

            “Are you okay?” he heard Kris ask.

            “I’m fine! I hate bugs! Why are they all on me?! Why can’t they eat you?” he said, absurdly.

            “Can I hold you?” Kris asked.

            “Wh-what?!” Chanyeol shrieked. Kris simply reached out and pulled Chanyeol’s body close to his, wrapping his arms around him to pull him closer.

            “Now the bugs won’t get to you.” Kris said.

            “Th-thanks…” Chanyeol mumbled. He felt like an idiot.

            “Are you okay?” Kris asked, as if nothing out of the ordinary was occuring.

            “I’M F-FINE!” Chanyeol said, much too loudly, though Kris didn’t seem to mind as he just offed him a smile.

            “Good night.” Kris simply said.

            “G-Good night.” Chanyeol replied.

            Oddly, he slept better than he could say he ever had when he was at college.

~~~

            “Hyung, how was class today?”

            “It was fine.”

            Hm? A short answer like that wasn’t like Kris. Well…it was. But his tone was off.

“What happened?”

            “Nothing.”

            “Something.” Chanyeol folded his arms.

            “Huh?” Kris looked at his roommate.

            “You always have something to tell me about class. So why not today, what’s wrong?”

            “I-I…messed up something.” Kris admitted.

            “What was it?” Chanyeol asked.

            “Trying to read something…I had to read to the class…” Kris explained.

            “Yeah?”

            “There was a word…I could read but…when I tried to say it, it was wrong.”

            “That’s okay, Kris. Don’t be embarrassed about it. It happens to everyone.” Chanyeol said, reassuringly patting him on the back.

            “I heard people laughing.” Kris said with a sigh.

            Chanyeol frowned. “Hey, cheer up. Don’t worry about it.”

            “I…don’t want to read in class anymore…” Kris said.

            “That will make it worse, not better, Kris.” Chanyeol said, sitting beside him. “Tell you what, I’ll teach you the material the night before. That way, by the time you get to class, you’ll know all the words you have trouble with.”

            “Really?” Kris asked, his eyes widening.

            “Yeah, I wasn’t planning on doing my own homework anyway.” Chanyeol said.

            Kris gave him a glare.

            “Kidding!”

            “So, what was the word? We’ll start by learning that tonight.” Chanyeol said, more seriously.

            “It was this.” Kris picked up the book he was reading and pointed to the word I question.

            “You were studying it for a while, weren’t you?” Chanyeol asked, noting the many small notes he saw surrounding it on the side of the pages.

            “I kept writing it all class.” Kris said.

            “Hehe, well, it’s an easy word. And you’ll probably hear it a lot, so you’ll have it down in no time.”

            “OK.” Kris nodded.

            “Well, it’s a bit embarrassing to just say it like this, but it’s ‘saranghae’”. Chanyeol explained.

            “Saranhae?” Kris repeated.

            “Saranghae.”

            “Saranghae?”

            “You got it!” Chanyeol clapped, trying to shrug off the awkwardness of having to repeat the word to his roommate that many times.

            “Saranghae…” Kris mumbled to himself.

            “You know what it means, right?”

            “It’s…I love you.” Kris answered in English.

            “Oh, yeah, that’s it, you’re right.” Chanyeol hadn’t expected him to answer in English. This was actually a good thing. Chanyeol knew simple phrases well enough. It would help for when he couldn’t explain things in Chinese.

            “Saranghae.” Kris said once again with assurance.

            “I’m going to quiz you on it every night, so you better practice!” Chanyeol said, poking Kris’s arm.

            “Ok…thank you.”

            “It’s nothing, Hyung!”

~~~

            The two men only grew closer throughout the semester and it was becoming rare to see one without the other these days. The two played basketball together on the weekends, hogged the video game room for hours upon hours at least twice a week, and Kris had even taken to giving Chanyeol Chinese lessons in return for the Korean lessons he was receiving. Chanyeol was rather humbled at realizing just how hard it was to learn another language, despite how simple the phrases were that Kris had taught him. It only made the other man seem that much cooler for already knowing three other languages.

            Chanyeol’s admiration for Kris was slowly turning into a possessiveness that even he hadn’t begun to realize was festering. Though, it didn’t stop any of his friends from taking notice whenever they were in a group together.

            “Dude, do you ever let go of Kris?” Baekhyun asked on day as the group was heading to get lunch after class.

            “Like seriously, it’s like you’re glued to his side.” Sehun laughed.

            “What are you guys talking about?” Chanyeol pouted.

            “I mean, get off the man, how’s he supposed to even eat lunch?” Jongin said.

            “We’re not in the cafeteria yet.” Chanyeol huffed, squeezing Kris’ arm tighter.

            “Yeol-ah…chill, he’s not going anywhere…” Baekhyun said.

            “I know he’s not, just mind your own business guys, geez!” Chanyeol said.

            “It’s okay.” Kris chuckled.

            The others seemed not to believe Kris but would always back off when he rejected their attempts at freeing his arms from his roommate’s grip. Chanyeol only grumbled and pulled Kris ahead of them even faster, all the way until they reached the cafeteria.

            “What would you like, young man?” a server asked.

            “What do you want, Kris?” Chanyeol asked.

            “Um, I don’t know.”

            Chanyeol eyed the options. “You haven’t had chicken in a while.”

            “Chicken is…not my style…”

            “What? Hyung, you have to pick something before the line gets longer.” Chanyeol said.

            “Um…can I have the egg rolls?” He asked.

            Chanyeol rolled his eyes. “Just eggrolls? That’s not filling, Hyung, you need more than that.”

            “Fine…can I have the chicken?” Kris gave in.

            “He wants the chicken.” Chanyeol repeated. The lunch woman gave Chanyeol a weird look before putting the chicken on a plate and handing it to Kris. Chanyeol reached out and took it instead. The woman gave an even weirder look, as Kris thanked her, and the two walked off.

            “Hyung, what do you mean ‘it’s not your style’ when we were ordering?” Chanyeol asked, suppressing a laugh.

            Kris pouted. “It’s not…I don’t look…man…with chicken…”

            “You don’t what?” Chanyeol asked. As good as Kris had been getting, it was still hard to decipher him at times.

            “Um…it’s not…good to me…just for me…” Kris attempted to explain.

            “I’m confused Kris.” Chanyeol said, completely stumpted.

            “Um…I’m not cool…eating it…”

            Chanyeol thought for a minute, trying to put all of Kris’ broken gibberish together. He was starting to piece things together and he thought he knew what Kris was saying, but it was a bit…well…unusual…

            “Hyung, are you saying you don’t think you look cool eating chicken?”

            Kris nodded.

            “Hyung…what?! Why do you think that? And why chicken specifically? Chanyeol asked, dumbfounded. Who even considers how they look when eating certain foods?

            “I don’t know…it’s just…I can’t eat it…cool…” Kris said, stringing words together as best he could.

            “Hyung, you’re not making any sense, but you’re going to eat this chicken. Got it?”

            Kris gave a disapproving pout back at Chanyeol, but he wasn’t going to be fazed this time by the older man’s unbefitting tricks.

            “You can have the eggroll first.” Chanyeol conceded.

            A short distance away, Chanyeol’s friends had been watching the pair.

            “You guys think he likes him?” Junmyeon asked.

            “Likes?” Sehun asked. “He’s not just down bad, he’s down really bad.”

            “I haven’t seen him down this bad in ages.” Baekhyun added.

            “Weird, doesn’t really seem like they’re each others’ types.” Jongin said.

            “You never know what you’re getting when it’s Chanyeol.” Junmyeon shrugged.

            The boys joked to themselves about how amusing the pair of twin towers would look dragging each other around campus before going over to grab their own lunches.

~~

            Chanyeol had gotten a text from Kris saying he was helping out another student, confusing Chanyeol at first; what could Kris possibly be helping another student with when he barely knew how to speak Korean or knew his way around the school? He re-read the text message to make sure he was going to the right room (if it even was the right room since Kris said he wasn’t sure himself).

            He hurried down what seemed like the 10th hallway before finally reaching room 402. He had no idea why he’d been walking so fast for, he thought, panting. Kris didn’t seem to be in any particular distress in his message (he always used sad emoji faces when he was confused). He guessed he just didn’t like leaving him alone, regardless. After catching his breath to not look like a total weirdo, he remembered that he didn’t exactly know what was going on in the room when he heard a lot of excited voices coming from the room and even some claps. Chanyeol raised an eyebrow. Were they playing a game or something?

            He peeked through the front door’s glass frame; glad the blinds were open just enough for him to see a bunch of guys toward the back of the room, with Kris in the center.

            Chanyeol’s jaw dropped. Kris was full on modeling for these guys. Well, from sitting on top of a desk but…the way he posed and positioned himself. How he rested his face in his hand or how he glanced with an uninterested stare across the room or just running his long fingers through his blonde hair…Chanyeol swallowed hard.

            “That was great Kris, you’re doing awesome!” one of the guys said, snapping a few pictures.

            “You’re a lifesaver, you know?” another added, clicking away at his laptop, probably at pictures he’s already taken.

            Kris mumbled a “thank you” and shyly averted his gaze. The photographing boys noticed his shyness and moved closer to him with the camera.

            “Don’t stop yet, just give us a few more shots and we’ll take a break.” Kris seemed to take a minute to translate in his head what they meant but nodded and went back to posing a second later.

            After a few more clicks, one of the guys called for a break and rejoined his friend by the laptop after telling Kris how well he’d done. Kris thanked them again and sat silently on the desk. Chanyeol eyed him curiously and noticed him fidget just barely as he started staring at his phone.

            “!” Chanyeol suddenly remembered that Kris was probably wondering why he hadn’t reached the room yet. Not really thinking, he pushed the door open, ungracefully, and darted in, almost tripping inside.

            “Chanyeol!” Kris said when he entered, standing up off the desk. The other two looked at him as if confused.

            “Uhhh, hi.” Chanyeol greeted, trying to regain his footing.

            “A-are you okay?” Kris asked, timidly.

            Chanyeol blinked a few times before answering “yes” and turned when he saw the two guys mumbling to themselves. One then smiled and stood.

            “Ah, you must be his roommate, right?” he said. “He did say you were coming to get him. We were starting to worry you weren’t gonna show up.”

            “Sorry about that, I ran into someone on the way here.” he semi-lied. He didn’t say he stopped to talk to them, it wasn’t as if he hadn't seen a couple of classmates on the way that he had given a slight wave to.

            “Not a problem, Kris has been doing perfectly!” one of the boys said.

            “I hope he didn’t cause you any trouble.” Chanyeol said. “His Korean…umm…”

            “He was fine, on his best behavior, and working the camera!” the boy holding the camera said.

            “Just give us a couple of shots with him and you’re free to have him back.” the seated one, added.

            Chanyeol finally made eye-contact with Kris and examined him. He didn’t seem uncomfortable. Actually, his entire demeanor looked much calmer than he had when he was watching from outside the door.

            “Are you okay with that?” Chanyeol asked. Kris nodded and returned to the desk while Chanyeol sat on a desk at the side of the class. The two boys hurriedly returned to clicking away with their cameras.

            Chanyeol just couldn’t shake Kris’ change in behavior from his mind. He looked so much like a real model, owning his element while they were shooting. And yet when they were off, he did a complete 180 and was mumbling and averting his eyes from anyone who looked at him.

            The two clicked away for about two minutes before getting up from their spots

            “Thanks again, Kris, you're a lifesaver!” one of the guys said.

            “Th-thanks…” Kris said, giving them a slight bow.

            “You’re welcome.” Chanyeol whispered to him. Kris repeated Chanyeol’s words quickly but the other two didn’t seem to notice.

            “We’ll let the two of you see it when it’s finished.” The leader of the two said.

            “Before anyone else.” The computer boy added.

            “See ya around!” Both said before heading out the door.

            “See you later!” Chanyeol called, trying not to sound awkward. Kris only offered a wave that probably went unseen by the two boys.

            Chanyeol didn’t really know what to say as an awkward silence arose.

            “A-Are you hungry?” Kris asked, nervously. Chanyeol blinked.

            “Um, yeah, kinda.” he replied.

            “Sorry for…making you…come here…” Kris said, looking off to the side of the room.

            “It’s fine, I would have come looking for you anyway.” Chanyeol said with a smile, trying to ease Kris’ tension.

            “Oh, you have-” Chanyeol was cut off by Kris holding a pretzel up to his lips, staring dead at him. Chanyeol blinked a few times in confusion

            Chanyeol’s eyes never left Kris’ as he opened his mouth for Kris to feed him. Well, he wasn’t really waiting for Kris to feed him, he just sort of…did…before he could move to grab the pretzel from him. He chewed it when he remembered how to use his mouth, not really sure if he should say anything. Though, he didn’t know if he’d be able to if he tried.

            This wasn’t that weird for Chanyeol, he and his friends fed each other pretty often. The weird thing was how intensely Kris was staring at him while he ate. It made Chanyeol feel incredibly self-conscious. When he finished chewing and swallowed, there was already another pretzel in front of him, which Kris proceeded to feed him. And proceeded to stare. Chanyeol was somewhat concerned that his entire body was combusting into flames at the moment, but Kris didn’t seem to be alarmed so he guessed that probably wasn’t the case, externally at least.

            He started putting two pretzels in his mouth now and Chanyeol was wondering when the bag would end. It was getting embarrassingly awkward in the dead silence of the room other than Chanyeol’s own chewing and Kris’ almost unblinking stares. The next time Kris’ fingers left Chanyeol’s mouth, Chanyeol unconsciously brought his hand up to cover his chewing. He felt like he was being judged even though he knew it wasn’t Kris’ intentions.

            At least he hoped it wasn’t.

            “Hyung?” Chanyeol asked.

            “Hm?”

            “We should stop for now, don’t you think?”

            “Huh?”

            “If we keep eating, we’ll be too full for dinner.” Chanyeol said, not sure why he said “we” when Kris hadn’t eaten anything yet.

            “Oh okay.” Kris said.

            “Let’s head back to the room.” Chanyeol said.

            As the two were walking back, Chanyeol wondered if it would be weird to do too much skinship with Kris so soon. It wasn’t as if they were strangers at this point, in fact he considered himself and Kris closer by this point than he had been with his last roommate. Though the difference was, Chanyeol hadn’t really had a desire to be that close to his last roommate.

            He decided to go for it, poking Kris on the shoulder.

            “You were really great today, you know?” Chanyeol said. Kris flushed and looked away.

            “Oh…um…it…thanks.” he said, flustered. Chanyeol felt bad he found it much easier to talk to Kris this way.

            “What are you so nervous for? You’re a natural at modeling. You can’t be shocked so many people think you are one.” Chanyeol said, putting an arm around him.

            “I didn’t do much…” Kris mumbled.

            Chanyeol gave him an odd look but didn’t comment, unlocking the door to their room.

            “What do you want to eat?” Kris asked. “I’ll…cook something.”

            “I’m hungry…don’t we have anything we can fix in five minutes?” Chanyeol whined.

            “Ramen…” Kris suggested.

            “Please?” Chanyeol whined, cutely.

            After ten minutes, Kris sat down next to Chanyeol with two bowls of fresh, hot ramen. Despite how hungry Chanyeol was, his eyes were pretty much glued to Kris and the oddly alluring way he ate his ramen.

            “What?” Kris eventually asked, snapping Chanyeol out of his thoughts.

            “You know, you could model for ramen, too, if you wanted to.” he said.

            Chanyeol really needed to stop enjoying flustering Kris.

 

~~

 

It was beyond apparent, after a while, that Chanyeol was very, vert prone to just staring at Kris for extended periods of time.

“You have a lot of tattoos” Chanyeol pointed out one day, as if Kris didn’t know. The look Kris gave him suggested he did indeed know.

“Yeah.” Kris said.
“Why?” Chanyeol asked.

“I don’t know.” Kris said, before pausing and adding, “D-Do you like them?”

“Your tattoos?” Chanyeol asked.

“Um…tattoos…” Kris repeated.

“They’re cool, haha, how many do you have anyway?” Chanyeol asked.

The response was a shrug, causing an annoyed look from Chanyeol.

“Count them”

“One…two…four…five…seven…” It seemed as if they were never ending. Chanyeol was almost surprised how many he’d had no idea about.

“Here…” Kris pointed to his ankle. “This one is…new.”

“Damn…that’s…a lot.” Chanyeol said.

“Are you…getting one?” Kris asked.

Chanyeol flushed, painfully aware that the question was otherwise quite out of the blue. “Oh, I never really thought about it. Um, maybe.”

“No.” Kris said, matter-of-factly.

“Why not?” Chanyeol asked, raising an eyebrow.

“It’ll hurt you.”

Chanyeol crossed his arms. “I’m not a kid.”

“Hmmm…either way…don’t get it” Kris repeated.

Chanyeol gave him an odd look before Kris stood and was about to walk off to his bedroom.

“I don’t have time to cuddle you every time you start crying.”

~~~

            A night of intense storms kept Chanyeol tossing and turning in his bed, trying to get to sleep. It wasn’t unusual during this time of year for there to be many violent storms, they actually seemed to happen every other few days or so.

            And every time, Chanyeol couldn’t get to sleep.

            And every time, Kris would let him sleep in his bed with him.

            He never asked. Kris was always the one to offer.

            And in the morning, Chanyeol always felt somewhat guilty, but Kris would never make much of a deal about it, usually he didn’t mention it at all.

            Some storms weren’t too bad so Chanyeol would often sneak out of Kris’ bed in the early morning hours and return to his so that the blonde could get at least some quality rest without a guest in his bed. He hated when Kris tried to hide the fact that he was tired throughout the day and desperately began trying to feign sleep even if it was raining just so Kris wouldn’t ask him to join him in his bed.

            This night in particular was the worst in a while. Thunder booming, wind howling, and the rain was unrelenting against their windows. The sheet over Chanyeol’s head offered no relief from the tormenting weather outside and he could feel the sweat on his face and arms from turning over so much, trying to get comfortable. The thunder roared so loudly, he couldn’t hear anything else. Or so he thought.

            “…yeol…Chanyeol…!”

            “WHAT?” Chanyeol’s eyes shot open.

            “Chanyeol!” the voice yelled again. He was being shaken and sat up way too fast when he realized it, slightly startling the person above him. When his eyes met his roommate, he was wondering how long it had even been since he laid down.

            “Chanyeol, what are you doing?” Kris asked.

            “W-What do you mean?” Chanyeol asked, breathing heavily. He looked at the clock near him. He felt a coil in his stomach at realizing he’d only climbed in bed about 10 minutes ago.

            “Why are you still here…you’re scared…” Kris said, concern in his voice and…he sounded confused.

            “W-What do you mean…where else should I be? And I’m not scared!”  Chanyeol lied through his teeth.

            “It rains less than this…and you’re scared…I know now you’re scared…” Kris said, now sounding surer of himself, making Chanyeol feel embarrassed at just how much Kris recognized he was scared of rain.

            Without Chanyeol able to get another word out, Kris took his hand and pulled him out of his own bed and over to the older’s, climbing in first and leading Chanyeol behind him.

            As Kris was tucking them both in, another boom of thunder burst forth and Chanyeol jerked a bit and shivered, feeling pathetic that he was this scared of rain. He hoped Kris would just cover him with the blanket and leave him to wallow in his self-pity, but of course he wouldn’t; he never did. After feeling the cover pulled up to cover almost his whole head, he was immediately engulfed into Kris’ warm embrace. Chanyeol knew he must have still been shivering hard and it was making him more self-conscious. He felt Kris rubbing soothing circles into his back, but he just couldn’t stop shaking. The cackles of lighting weren’t doing anything to help; it was as if Mother Nature was desperate to make him look pathetic.

            “Are you okay?” Kris asked, quietly.

            Chanyeol did his best to nod but he thought Kris didn’t notice. He moved closer to hide in Kris’ chest as the older pulled him closer into his tight embrace and tried to continue soothing him.

            “I’m here…it’s okay…” he said. Chanyeol tried to nod again to let him know he heard him as Kris continued to comfort him.

            Chanyeol started to think he knew what Kris meant when he asked what he was doing. It almost seemed like he was literally asking what he was doing there in his own bed. As in, why had he not come over to Kris’? He was grateful Kris wouldn’t see his reddening face in the dark.

            “But…he always asks me to come over to him…why would I…does he just expect at this point that I should go over without him asking?” Chanyeol wondered to himself. “Does it not bother him…or does he just think I’m that scared? Maybe he’s just tired of having to get up and drag me over…”

            “S-sorry…” Chanyeol said, not sure if it was loud enough for Kris to hear or even if he wanted him to hear. He assumed he did though, as he pulled back slightly and looked down.

            “What?” Kris sounded more confused than he had before. Chanyeol moved to look up, but it didn’t make much of a difference with how dark it was in the room.

            “Every time it rains, you have to do this…you must be getting tired of this, you have to be losing sleep over me…I’m sorry…” Chanyeol rambled.

            “Don’t cry.” Was all Kris said.

            “I wish I could ignore it, it’s just so loud…I’ve been scared my whole life, I don’t know why…” Chanyeol continued rambling on, not able to stop himself, despite knowing that Kris probably didn’t give a damn about his lifelong fear of thunderstorms and was just waiting for him to shut up so he could get some sleep.

            “It’s okay.” Kris said, again reassuringly.

            “Hy-Hyunngg…” Tears continued to spill from Chanyeol’s eyes.

            “I won’t let you go…you can sleep…don’t cry.” Kris said.

            Chanyeol was somewhat embarrassed that he was actually crying and didn’t realize it, but also somewhat not embarrassed since he was already crying and Kris was doing his best to console him and it felt needless to try to hide his emotions now. He wanted to wipe his eyes, but he couldn’t tear his death grip off of Kris’ tank top, which Kris seemed to notice and moved to gently thumb away the tears from his eyes for him. Chanyeol looked up at Kris but it was still so dark in the room, he couldn’t make out his facial features at all. But he desperately needed to see him, even if just for a second. He didn’t think he’d be able to stop shaking otherwise. He wasn’t sure why, but he just needed that comfort from his eyes.

            Kris’ words kept replaying in Chanyeol’s mind and he was starting to get a hold of himself. His heart rate was finally beginning to slow down; he could hear Kris’ heartbeat and it was starting to drown out the rain for him. Lightning flashed from the window behind Kris and Chanyeol was able to finally make out his face if only just for a moment. He looked full of concern, but also warmth. Chanyeol suddenly couldn’t hear anything from outside anymore, only Kris’ heartbeat as Kris brushed his cheek with the back of his hand. Chanyeol knew he was trying to get him to look at him, but he didn't want to with how pathetic he knew he looked and kept trying to avert his eyes, which is hard when you’re buried in your roommate’s chest.

            When he realized Kris was definitely trying to get him to look up, he did, slowly and was met with his hyung leaning as close as he could to whisper by his face.

            “From now on…just…always sleep here…no matter if it rains or not…”

            Chanyeol blinked a few times. Did he just hear what he thought he heard? Was Kris saying what he was trying to say correctly? Did he just tell Chanyeol to sleep in the same bed, permanently? Like…even when it doesn’t rain?

            “Hyung…no…you don’t have to…the rainy season will end soon. You don’t have to do this for me…” Chanyeol said, ashamed.

            “I don’t care.” Kris said.

            He Chanyeol’s hair. “I don’t…lose sleep because you’re with me…I lose sleep if you’re not with me.”

            “What?” Now Chanyeol was the one confused.

            “I can’t sleep, if you’re alone and scared.” Kris said.

            Was Kris not only worried about him, but so worried about him that he actually lost sleep if Chanyeol was alone? Surely, he was just exaggerating to make him feel better or maybe he just didn’t know the proper words to say.

            “R-Really…?” Chanyeol asked.

            “You aren’t bothering me, you know?” Kris said. “I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t want you here. I just want you to sleep and not be scared…every night.”

            “Kris…” Chanyeol was at a loss for words. All this time he thought Kris was doing this out of pity, not genuine concern. No other roommate would have ever done this much for him, even his friends would have probably laughed at him more than comforting him.

            “Are you okay now?” Kris whispered.

            Chanyeol blinked a few times and finally nodded, wrapping his arms around Kris’ torso. Kris pulled Chanyeol close again with one arm around his back and one his hair. Chanyeol pressed himself into Kris’ chest so he could only hear his heartbeat once again. He completely forgot about the storm, was it even still raining? All he could hear was his roommate’s heart beating against his ear and feel his comforting hands on his hair and back. And warmth. Chanyeol’s eyelids began to flutter shut, unable to stay open anymore as the only thing he could remember last hearing was a soft whisper he wasn't sure was real or in his imagination.

            “Good night, my Yeol-ah.”

 

~~

 

            Several weeks had passed since the rainstorm that solidified Chanyeol and Kris beginning to…well…sleep together. Chanyeol’s face flared up any time he even thought about it, but there was really no better way to word it, even if it was completely platonic in nature.

            Not that he would have minded if it wasn’t.

            Chanyeol immediately shook his head. No, no, Kris doesn’t want that. He’s being a good friend. Nothing more.

            And yet, despite that, Chanyeol couldn’t help that, more and more, he was becoming extremely anxious when Kris wasn’t around him. Not because he was uncomfortable. Not in the least bit, Chanyeol was still the life of the party, with or without Kris’ presence. Yet there was this constant nagging feeling in the back of his head every second they were apart that was only soothed once his hyung was by his side. And it was starting to take a toll on him.

As he was strolling around campus between his classes, Chanyeol stopped when he saw Kris talking to some guys by a snack machine and, for whatever reason, immediately threw himself behind a nearby bush, suddenly deciding he didn’t want to be seen. He remained still for about ten seconds to both catch his breath and assure no one had seen his dramatic dive to the ground. Once he figured it was safe to move, he sat up and peered as much above the bush as he could while remaining hidden.

            Kris was just casually talking to the other three guys, as all three were standing around the snack machine, staring into it. Knowing far too well this scene setting from personal experience, he assumed that something was stuck in it. A couple taps at the glass by two of the guys confirmed his thoughts. All four casually took turns hitting and kicking the machine trying to shake whatever it was out of there. Chanyeol just sat back and watched, not really thinking much of it at first but gradually staring to feel…odd about the interaction.

            The guys kept playfully teasing Kris about getting his snack stuck in the machine. One had his arm around Kris every time neither were squatting down at the machine. Chanyeol felt weird in his stomach seeing it. He tried not to prod into Kris’ daily life too much because he didn’t want to start acting like his mom, but he didn’t even know if Kris had ever even mentioned these people to him before. How many friends did he have? Kris was a grade above him, so he guessed it made sense that he didn’t know these guys, but still. He didn’t like how close they seemed and the lengths they were going to help Kris. At the beginning of the year, it seemed like no one would be willing to stop everything they were doing and baby a foreigner around with whatever he needed. And it made all of the sense in the world that, months later, people would have warmed up to Kris and become more open to helping out a classmate. Yet for some reason, as terrible as it sounded, Chanyeol almost wished people still ignored Kris.

            The longer he stared at the scene, the more he prayed for that stupid snack to just fall already. He didn’t even know why it was making him so mad…at least he was trying not to think about it.

            “I would have got it out of there in one minute…ugh, these guys don’t even know what they’re doing.” Chanyeol mumbled to himself. “Just hurry the hell up and get away from Kris already.”

            Chanyeol felt his stomach coil. Even just the mental verbalization made it begin to set in for him. He wanted those guys away from Kris and NOW. He didn’t like all the attention they were giving him and that he was giving them back. Who were these people to come out of nowhere like they were Kris’ best friends? Did they not know that a whole Park Chanyeol existed?

            After what seemed like an eternity, Kris and the stupid guys finally got his bag of chips to fall from the metal coil. Chanyeol couldn’t be any more grateful as he saw Kris thank the guys and them proceed to go on their merry way. He sighed out in relief and remembered that he was still on the ground in a bush, like an idiot, so he stood up slowly and brushed his pants off so Kris wouldn’t think he was attacked by a dog or something. And since Chanyeol was a quick thinker, he started debating what he’d say when he approached his roommate. He had to look cool and not at all suspicious so he could say he just got out of class and was coincidentally on his way to get a bite to eat, or that he’d left something outside when he had been playing basketball with Jongin earlier or…

            “Chanyeol-ah?”

            .

            His roommate had noticed him and called out to him, but Chanyeol didn’t answer. Kris ran over to him, not seeming to think anything of Chanyeol being suspiciously behind a bush.

            “Chanyeol-ah.” Kris called again as he approached. “Where did you come from, how long…were you here?” he asked.

            “Oh, I just got here, haha. I didn’t notice you over there.” Chanyeol lied.

            “I was…trying to…um…buy…snacks…but it was stuck…in…there.” Kris explained as best he could. Chanyeol nodded.

            “Ah yeah, those machines are always doing that. People constantly make so much noise kicking that thing all day.” Chanyeol laughed. Kris nodded and pointed to the direction that the other guys left.

            “Some classmates helped me.” Kris said. Chanyeol tried not to give any visible reaction.

            “Ah, so that’s what was going on. I saw some guys huddled around over here. So, it was your fault, tsk tsk.” Chanyeol teased in an attempt to distract Kris from the fact that he couldn’t seem to decide whether he’d seen Kris before showing up or not. Lying was hard.

            Thankfully, it seemed to work, as Kris stuck out his lips and whined.

            “It wasn’t my fault.” he said. Chanyeol snickered to himself.

            “Well, it was your snack, wasn’t it?” he said. Kris hit him on the shoulder and ate some of his chips.

            “Are you out of class?” he asked. Chanyeol blinked, completely forgetting what he had even been doing before staring at Kris and some guys beating a machine for about ten minutes.

            “Oh, yeah, yeah I am.” he said.

            “Let’s go back to the room then, why are we talking out here?” Kris whined. “I want to lay down.” Chanyeol rolled his eyes. Kris was such a child sometimes, though it was a rarity between the two of them.

            “Okay, geez, stop pouting.” he said. “Let me just go get my things. Wait here and we’ll walk back.”

~~

            Chanyeol and Kris had been walking for about seven minutes across campus back to their room. Not that Chanyeol was counting. Kris was babbling in his cute, childlike way about his day while Chanyeol was trying to look like he paying attention, but he just couldn’t get the thought of Kris laughing and playing around with those other guys out of his head. He waited until Kris finished talking about some student getting chewed out by the professor for never having his work on time due to waiting for stuff from other students or something like that and took his chance.

            “So, speaking about classmates…um…about those guys from earlier…” Chanyeol said, coaching himself to not chicken out.

            “Yes?” Kris asked.

            “Well, um…I think you shouldn’t ask for help from people anymore.” Chanyeol blabbered out. It sounded more absurd hearing it come out of his own mouth.

            “Huh?” The taller man stopped walking and turned to face his roommate. Kris probably thought he was misunderstanding him with the way he was looking at Chanyeol.

            Chanyeol knew he sounded ridiculous. Straight up telling Kris not to ask for help from other people in a foreign country to him when he still hadn’t perfected the language. But he couldn’t help it. His stomach was in knots just thinking about it.

            Kris’ looked turned more shameful than confused as he avoided looking at Chanyeol.

            “Is it…did I embarrass you?” Kris asked, quietly.

            “What?! No, no! Not at all, that’s not it!” Chanyeol tried to reassure quickly. This wasn’t going like he planned…though he hadn’t really planned anything.

            “Then…what…I’m sorry…” Kris mumbled, visibly becoming nervous and flustered.

            “It’s not you, you didn’t do anything!” Chanyeol insisted.

            “Th-then, what?” Kris was getting more visibly lost by the second. Chanyeol sighed and was quiet for a moment, trying to gather his thoughts and say what he was trying to get across.

            “I just…I don’t want anyone else to help you!” Chanyeol finally admitted.

            “What?” Kris asked.

            “I don’t want other people helping you! That’s my job! I want to be the only one who shows you around and helps you with words, homework…ugh!” Chanyeol turned away from Kris.

            “Chanyeol…” Kris blinked

            “Just…just let me do it from now on.” Chanyeol said.

After a moment of silence, Kris replied.

            “OK…I understand…”

            Do you? Chanyeol thought. He felt slightly bad, he knew Kris must have been confused and whispered the question to him.

            “I think so…but…” Kris still seemed unsure as Chanyeol forced a smile on his face.

            “Just come find me! Or call me, text me! Wherever I am or whatever I’m doing, I’ll stop and try to help you. Don’t worry about bothering me.” he laughed.

            Way to sound like the most desperate human being on the planet. Chanyeol thought.

            Kris nodded and seemed to think it over.

            “Ok…I’ll only ask you.” he said. Chanyeol sighed out in relief. He let the silence hang for a few moments in an attempt to calm his nerves.

            “Sorry for being so dramatic, I’m just…”

            Jealous.

            “No, it’s okay…it’s easier.” Kris said. “Thank you…you do so much to help me.”

            “That’s what friends do, right?” Chanyeol grinned. “You don’t have to thank me.”

            Kris smiled at him and nodded.

            “Y-yah, don’t just stand there, let’s go home.” Chanyeol said, pushing him forward. “I’m hungry and we have to hurry before they close the cafeteria.”

            “Aish…okay okay…” Kris muttered, trying not to trip over his own or Chanyeol’s long legs.

~~

            That evening, as the two lay in bed, Chanyeol couldn’t stop thinking about what happened earlier with Kris and it was driving him nuts. He kept squirming around and figured he’d never get to sleep if he didn’t address it, so he waited until Kris joined him at his side and waited again as the older male settled himself in.

            “Hyung…you’re sure you’re okay…about what I said earlier?” Chanyeol asked, somewhat quietly. Kris gave an unsure look.

            “I told you you could have it days ago.” Kris said. Chanyeol blinked a few times.

            “Not your candy!” he said, shaking his head regarding an unrelated discussion. “I meant, the other thing, about asking for help from just me?”

            “Oh…yeah, it’s okay. I just…hope I won’t bother you too much” Kris said.

            “You won’t! I told you, whenever you need me, I’ll come help you.” Chanyeol insisted.

            “If you’re sure…” Kris said, looking at him in the eyes for the first time.

            “I am sure.” Chanyeol said, meeting his eyes.

            The two held each other’s gazes for a while, as if both trying to judge if the other really understood what they meant. Kris ended up breaking the stare with a smile, making Chanyeol tilt his head in confusion, only to be met with Kris patting him on the head.

            “I’m sleepy. Let’s sleep.” Kris said. The younger man frowned at him.

            “Now?” Chanyeol pouted. Kris looked confused.

            “Huh?” he asked.

            “You didn’t say it yet!” Chanyeol whined. “Don’t you still love me, hyung?”

            Kris chuckled and poked Chanyeol’s cheek. “I love you.”

            It was a routine the two had fallen into some time ago, shortly after Chanyeol had begin teaching Kris certain words and phrases before his classes. He would ask Kris to repeat certain phrases at opportune moments to help him remember them. One of which, saranghae, was the phrase they shared each night before bed.

            Chanyeol felt bad he was slightly taking advantage of Kris by having him say this every night, fully knowing Kris certainly didn’t find any meaning behind saying it other than platonic friendship, but he’d be lying if he said he didn’t still crave it. He laughed a bit and sighed happily.

            “I love you.” Chanyeol said.

 

~~

            It was becoming a habit for Chanyeol to inwardly curse himself and his luck. Yet another evening wherein the rain hammered the ground with no signs of stopping in sight.

            “The one day it had to rain this hard and all I have is a hoodie.” he said. He slowly trudged his way over to a bus stop to offer just a slight relief from the torrential downpour.

            “I can just wait here…until it…calms down.” he said, as if trying to convince himself that it wasn’t that bad.

            Until lightning crashed and thunder cackled a few moments later while the rain poured down harder.

            “It’s…not…so bad…” he said, shivering more than he’d ever admit.

            It was so loud, he could hardly hear anything other than the cackling of lighting and occasional boom of thunder, not to mention the harsh winds and pelting rain. And yet…he could swear he heard someone yelling. Probably trying to escape this pseudo-tornado, Chanyeol thought to himself. Until it started getting louder.

            While Chanyeol wasn’t in his best state of mind, shivering out of his wits, even he knew that there was nothing in his direction that would protect anyone from this weather. The small bus stop was hardly protecting him. Why would someone be coming in his direction?

            He tried as hard as humanely possible to drown out the noise as much as possible to see if he was right.

            He was. He heard the shouting again. Now he wondered if it was some poor parent or boyfriend looking for their lost child or girlfriend. He at least felt lucky for a moment that he was out there alone and not trying to traverse the mini-hurricane. It would be impossible to find anyone out here. He could barely keep his eyes open and yet-

            “Chanyeol!”

            He heard it again, and it sounded absurdly close to his name. Was he mishearing another name?

            That was, until he turned around and saw the culprit calling his name.

            “Kris?” Chanyeol thought he was dreaming.

            “Are you okay?” the older man asked, positively drenched, and looking like a soggy rescue hound.
            “Yes, I…how did you know where I was?” Chanyeol was so close to whispering because of how in shock he was, not realizing that Kris obviously couldn’t hear him clearly in these conditions.

            “I didn’t.” Kris answered in the same volume he’d been at before, either guessing what Chanyeol had said given their current situation or reading his lips.

            “What?” Chanyeol asked back, louded than before.

            “I walked until I found you” Kris yelled back.

            “You walked in this weather?” Chanyeol shouted, incredulously. The rain had been pounding for close to an hour and didn’t seem to be letting up at all. How on earth had Kris walked around in this weather just looking for him? Their campus was huge.

Just how long had he been walking around aimlessly?

            “We will talk later, let’s go home.” Kris said, opening an umbrella.

            “Kris…the rain is too heavy. We should wait until-”

            The older man shook his head. “It could rain for a while. If we get home faster…it’ll be better.”

            Despite wanting to protest, there was little gain in doing so. It was freezing out there and, in all honesty, Chanyeol would much rather take his chances with Kris than potentially want two or three hours for the rain to let up. Nodding, he and Kris set off.

~~

            “Here.”

            “You’ll get sick, take these off.” Kris said, pointing at Chanyeol’s soaking clothes.

            “Thanks…umm…” Chanyeol trailed off.

            “What?” Kris asked, raising an eyebrow.

            “I…well..” Chanyeol knew it was going to sound stupid to say he didn’t want to just start taking his clothes off in front of Kris, but it should have probably been the last thing on his mind. Probably behind this growing realization that pneumonia would likely be in his near feature if he didn’t just undress. Besides, his roommate had come all the way out in the stormy weather to get him back inside to avoid getting sick. His efforts would be waisted if Chanyeol kept standing around in his soaked clothes.

            Fortunately, Kris had gone to take off his shoes and set the umbrella outside, leaving Chanyeol the opportunity to quickly strip himself of his wet clothes and change into his pajamas without the pressure of the older man watching him. He was confused as to why his pajamas were neatly folded on the couch, though, as he’d sworn he’d left them strewn on his bed like he always did. Did…Kris leave them there?

            After drying his hair as best he could, Chanyeol sat on the couch, rubbing his shoulders to keep himself as warm as possible, though the already warm room was making him not have to expend as much effort as he thought. Kris must have turned the heat up before coming out to get him since he didn’t remember it being this warm when he’d left out. He was mentally commending the older man as he noticed him out of the corner of his eye standing beside him.

            “You should eat something warm.” Kris said, handing Chanyeol a bowl of warm soup. Chanyeol reached out to take it before stopping himself when a realization hit him. The soup was hot and fully prepared, yet the two had only been back in the room for about ten minutes, even less before Kris had gone to the laundry room to dry his own clothes.

            “You made food before you left?” Chanyeol asked, taking the bowl from him.

            “Yes, is it hot enough?” Kris asked, before warning. “Be careful.”

            Chanyeol blinked a few times before stirring the soup with his spoon to let some of the steam out. He blew on it slightly and took the first taste, always self-conscious of taking too long to start eating something Kris had prepared.

            “It’s perfect, Kris…thank you.” he said.

            The atmosphere suddenly became silent and a bit awkward. He could see Kris nervously fidgeting.

            “I’ll…um…check on your clothes.” he said, before heading out of the room. The tension had been just as awkward for Chanyeol and he probably wouldn’t have known what to say had Kris stayed, so he was somewhat grateful for his roommate’s skittishness for once.

            Chanyeol couldn’t believe just how…attentive Kris had been. Not only did he slowly and probably nearly blinded make his way through storming weather, just to find him, but also prepared warm and dry clothes for him to have when he came back, in addition to making him some food before leaving out and adjusting the room temperature so that it would be quicker to warm up when they returned.

            Was he actually real? Chanyeol wondered more every day how someone could be this ideal, this…perfect. There’s no way anyone would do this much just for their roommate. And yet, he couldn’t bring himself to believe that it was what he wanted it to be. If Baekhyun or Jongin had told him that their roommates did even half of that for them, he would have wasted no time in telling them their roommate was obviously madly in love with them and they’d have to be idiots not to see it. And yet, Chanyeol felt there had to have been something else behind Kris’ actions. With everything he did, it felt like he was just taking care of his careless and irresponsible little brother. Or at least, that had to be how Kris himself thought of it. With all the screwing up Chanyeol did, how could he see it as anything else but a hyung making sure his dongsaeng didn’t freeze to death outside in a torrential downpour?

            It didn’t help that he was constantly getting mixed signals from Kris. Not too long ago, he’d found a letter written by Kris discarded on the floor of his room. The letter wasn’t that unusual. His Hyung would write about random things: his classes, his friends, and the like, every so often to practice his Hangul. Initially, Kris showed all of these letters to Chanyeol to get his feedback, which he’d give each time. But after a while, Kris stopped showing them to him, making him think Kris either stopped due to busyness or that he felt he didn’t need to practice much anymore.

            So when Chanyeol picked up and saw the letter, and read through it, and read that it was a note detailing all of the things the older man liked about Chanyeol, and things he liked to do when the two hung out together, and the repeated use of the phrase “I like” and “Chanyeol” in the same sentences, he had to fight himself not to show the letter to Baekhyun and the guys in fear that he’d only be embarrassed by what was most likely a totally platonic letter. After all, you could have replaced Chanyeol’s name with any one of their friends, and it could have applied to them, too. He likely even only used Chanyeol’s name because he was used to seeing it.

            And yet Chanyeol could not push the thought of “what if” out of his mind every time he thought about the letter. It was maddening. It was agonizing.

            Chanyeol sighed, realizing there wasn’t much more he could do about the situation and continued to eat his soup. After finishing his meal and following a warm shower, Chanyeol wanted nothing else but to curl into bed and sleep the rather eventful day away. The longer he stayed awake, the more he’d just lament on his current situation and how it would never be what he wanted it to be.

~~

            “Thanks for today again…I really appreciate it.” Chanyeol said when Kris eased himself in the bed beside Chanyeol.

            “It’s no problem, I’m glad you’re safe.” Kris said, warmly.

            For once, Chanyeol really hadn’t known what else to say. He thanked Kris more times than he could count, told him he’d surely pay him back for all the trouble he went through, yet his roommate wasn’t having any of it, just repeating that he was satisfied that he could help. It only made Chanyeol feel worse that there was nothing he could give back to him. After all, Kris was much too responsible and well prepared for pretty much everything to possibly end up in a situation like this.

            “I’m…really happy…you’re my roommate.” Chanyeol mumbled. He wished he could have been bolder since he really did mean it, but he just couldn’t seem to get out of the constant inner battle with his own thoughts. It was all he could do to make sure Kris at least knew even a tiny bit how appreciative he felt. One thing for sure was that he heard Kris whisper back, softly, but clearly:

            “Me too.”

            At that moment, Chanyeol couldn’t have cared less what Kris meant or how he meant it. He was going to indulge in his hyung’s words, just once, just for one night.

 

 

~~~

            “Have you been practicing?” Kris asked one day, sounding somewhat surprised. Chanyeol chuckled a bit, it was funny hearing the phrase so commonly used by him now being used by his roommate.

            “A little…I’m trying to perfect my writing.” He replied.

            Kris had happened upon Chanyeol practicing writing in Mandarin. The two had been having lessons for a while, Chanyeol having no less than forced Kris to start teaching him one day, threatening to stop teaching the older man Korean if he refused. Despite Kris’ obvious skepticism, he ended up giving in (as always), and deciding to teach his dongsaeng a few words and phrases every now and then. But he never saw Chanyeol actual practice anything he taught him, so color him surprised when he noticed the Chinese characters on the sheet of paper on from of him.

            “Oh, can I see?” Kris asked.

            “Uhhh, I guess, but…” Chanyeol stuttered.

            “But what?” Kris asked.

            “It’s a bit embarrassing.” Chanyeol mumbled.

            “No, you’re just beginning.” Kris said, trying to reassure him.

            “That’s not what I mean, hehe, but…sure…you can see, Hyung.” Chanyeol said, handing the paper to Kris.

            Kris glossed at the paper for only a minute, quickly flipping it back over with a look of confusion on his face. There were three characters repeated over and over on each side of the page and…no words other than them.

            “Um, is this it?” Kris asked.

            “Mm-hmm”

            “It’s…um…just. D-Do you remember what this one means?” He asked, confusion evident in his tone.

            “Yeah, I know.” Chanyeol said with a nod.

            “So…um…why are you only writing this?” Kris asked.

            “I like writing it, and how it looks…” Chanyeol said, with a grin.

            “Really?” Kris blinked a few times, thinking the other man must have been confused somehow.

            But Chanyeol nodded adamantly.

            “Yeah, plus, I think it’s the only phrase I’ll need to know.” Chanyeol said, looking off to the side.

            Kris stared at the other man for a while before giving a short nod back and leaving him to his practice, wondering why on earth the only phrase he’d ever need to know was: “Wu Yifan”.

 

 

~~~

 

            The semester was past the midway point, and Chanyeol and Kris were still inseparable. All their routines were second nature to them now and any and all awkwardness had almost completely faded away. In fact, Kris barely struggled with his Korean anymore to the point that Chanyeol almost forgot they’d spent most of their early months together dealing with a sizable language barrier. Kris would probably be perfectly conversational before winter break. It was incredible to see how far he’d come, but who could be surprised by a guy who already speaks three other languages?

That said, Chanyeol was really, really happy at how his semester ended up turning out. And even if Chanyeol he always felt a small sense of longing in his chest, he could look past it and cherish the friendship he had with Kris. It didn’t need to be anything more for him to know that Kris deeply cared about him.

And that he deeply cared about Kris.

            “I’m tired…hurry up already…” Kris whined one night.

            “If you’re so tired, you can just go to sleep. I do have my own bed, you know!” Chanyeol said, flustered at how Kris still expected him to sleep in his bed with him so casually. Though, he guessed it was becoming a more than frequent occurrence. The only time he didn’t was when he had a really late night shift at the cafe and Kris was already asleep.

            Kris’ lips were pulled together in a displeased pout as he kept holding the bedsheet up, waiting for Chanyeol to get under it.

            “Why are you so…ughh!! Fine!” Chanyeol shuffled over to the side of the bed so he could put his phone down, but Kris reached over and wrapped his long arm around his waist the second he was within reach and dragged him into bed.

            “Hey, what are you doing?! I was only gonna be a few more seconds, are you really that…er…t-tired?”

            Chanyeol was rendered speechless as Kris leaned over and kissed him on the forehead.

            “Sleep…” Kris mumbled as his head hit the pillow.

            Heat quickly spread all over Chanyeol’s face and he was pretty sure he stopped breathing.

            “You…you just…um…” Chanyeol stammered. Kris opened one eye to look at him.

            “Hmm?”

            “W-What was that for?” Chanyeol sputtered out, his heart pounding in both his chest and ears.

            “Does it bother you?” Kris asked.

            “Well…no…um, it’s not that, but…”

            “Okay…good to know.” Kris smirked before dozing off.

            “W-Wait! What did you mean by that?!” Chanyeol shouted. Despite Kris’ orders to be quiet and to stop disturbing the neighbors, Chanyeol remained frantic and flustered for the next ten minutes before pretending to shrug off what just happened and lying down beside his hyung.

            Was that…supposed to mean something?

            Was he just teasing him?

            Or…was it really possible…?

            Chanyeol, thinking he was in the clear, rolled over to look at Kris one more time before he’d leave his mind to self-combust for the rest of the night.

            His eyes met Kris’ one opened eye and…in the blink of an eye, the older man leaned over, pressing a kiss to Chanyeol’s nose, and shutting his eye without missing a beat.

            Chanyeol may or may not have squealed. He honestly didn’t know. He thought he was dreaming,and his thoughts were running a mile a minute.

            The only thing he knew was that hope wasn’t dead. Not by a long shot.

            Hope that one day, he would be brave enough to confess to his hyung. That what just happened wasn’t in his imagination. And that his hyung would hear him out and maybe…possibly…

            Chanyeol covered his face to stop any noises from escaping his lips as he lay there feeling happy. Happy he could dream and happy he could hope.

            Hope for something more.