Cursed Freedom

Effects

(Story under construction  🏗)

Chanyeol stood in his bathroom fresh out of the shower, a towel tucked around his waist, looking at himself in the mirror. He was studying every little detail of his reflection. His dark (almost black) hair was on the shorter side at the moment.

He had taught himself how to cut his own hair to look presentable. Even though that road had been fraught with some extremely terrible hack jobs that Chanyeol had to live with until his hair grew out enough for him to try again. Over the years, he got better and better at the task, wanting his hair to look as suave as possible.

For what reason did he have to make sure his hair looked attractive? A man alone in a mansion in the forest? He really couldn't say. Maybe for the same reason he worked out so hard. Out of boredom. If he had nothing else to do, might as well perfect his appearance, or at least try.

Little droplets of water dripped from his hair onto his shoulders and slid down his collarbone and his shapely body until they disappeared at his toweled waist.

His own dark brown almond eyes looked back at him and he wondered if Baekhyun was attracted to him at all? Chanyeol suspected that it was now obvious to Baekhyun how his beautiful features and magnetic personality affected him. But... maybe if Baekhyun felt the same way...

Chanyeol grunted at that thought and moodily stomped his way out of the bathroom, flipping the light off switch more aggressively than strictly necessary as he went.

He made his way to his wardrobe where he swung open the doors and violently flipped through his shirts, looking for the perfect one. He wanted to look nice for Baekhyun. Once again he growled in frustration, because why!? He slammed the doors to the wardrobe.

He stood there with his head, full of fire, pressed to the door, his mind going a million miles an hour.

He looked up once he had calmed down, finally re-opening the doors. He figured he should just put something on, it didn't matter what. But when he looked again into the wardrobe, he saw a new shirt folded up nicely on an eye level shelf. He pulled it out to examine it. It was a black button up with a modern pattern and long sleeves. And when he proceeded to open the drawer containing his slacks, he saw a pair of dark wash jeans on top of the pile.

It was as nice as anything else he owned, but it was something he had never seen among his clothing before, and way more modern than any of his other clothes. That made him wonder just what the house was playing at with the new clothes. He grabbed the jeans, resigning himself to putting them on. They were nice anyways, so might as well, he thought.

Once dressed, he walked back into the bathroom to look at himself in the mirror. The shirt and jeans were definitely something he was unaccustomed to, and as he looked himself up and down. He undid a few of the top buttons on the shirt and untucked it from the jeans. The clothes were tight, and left little to the imagination and Chanyeol thanked his younger self for the strict workout regimen that he had begun long ago, because the results really showed with this outfit on.

He then brushed and flossed his teeth and dabbed a tiny bit of cologne on his wrists and neck.

He sighed and wondered how he looked in someone else's eyes. Baekhyun's eyes. He was nervous all of a sudden, but left the bathroom and his unmade bed behind and made his way downstairs to the library.

The doorway was partly open and Baekhyun was sitting on the floor, leaning up against the front of an armchair. His legs were folded up in front of him, almost to his chest, and the book rested on his knees. He was wearing a different t-shirt, a smaller one than the baggy sleep shirt he had been wearing earlier, and a similar pair of jeans to Chanyeol, although Baekhyun's had small ripped holes at random intervals down his legs. Finally, he had a hoodie slung over one of the armrests of the chair.

His hair looked just as mussed up as it had been when he was in his pajamas. It looked as if he had done nothing to it since he had woken up, but Chanyeol found his long, haphazardly styled hair adorable, so he wasn't complaining.

"You know, I think this Elizabeth character must've started the 'I'm not like other girls' cliche," he said dramatically, he smirked, but kept his eyes on the book.

Chanyeol couldn't help but laugh. He moved into the room and over to the wall of bookcases, he browsed the titles on one of the shelves, but nothing caught his eye. Honestly, his eyes would much rather be looking at Baekhyun.

He turned around and saw Baekhyun looking back at him. His legs were now crossed on the floor, and his book was on the seat of the armchair. He looked up at Chanyeol and gave him a lopsided smile.

"Do you always look this nice, or are you trying to impress someone?" He said, his head tilted to the side in question, his smile now sly.

He completely ignored the compliment and kept his demeanor as it had been.

"I usually wear whatever is clean and on the top of the pile in my wardrobe." He replied. Which, actually, wasn't a lie.

He tried to act cool, but his palms were getting a bit sweaty from the way Baekhyun was looking at him.

Chanyeol didn't know what to do, and wondered how weird he looked just standing there. He was attempting to be as casual as possible, but it just came off as awkward in his mind's eye.

"So..." he finally said, shifting out of his stagnant position. He placed one hand on the bookshelf and leaned to the side. "What do you wanna do today? Are you hungry? We didn't have breakfast. I don't know about you, but I never sleep in so late."

Baekhyun narrowed his eyes at his companion. They were full of curiosity and suspicion. But he answered the question anyways, dragging himself to his feet.

"I'm gonna have to disagree with you there," Baekhyun replied, swinging his pointer finger at nothing in particular. "Sleeping in is one of the best feelings in the world. Especially on that bed." He pointed upwards to the third floor and laughed. "But, yeah, I'm always hungry." He replied, smiling.

Chanyeol ignored the comment's connection to Baekhyun's homelessness and his tears from last night, but it didn't take much for his mind to wander elsewhere when Baekhyun grabbed his hoodie and began to pull it over his head which caused his t-shirt to ride up a bit to expose the flawless, pale skin of his abdomen.

Chanyeol tried to ignore the images which began to burst into his mind of pulling that t-shirt all way off the petite man and pondering on what patch of skin he'd like to get his hands and his mouth on first. Chanyeol had to shake his head. He also balled up his fists until his fingernails were digging into his palms in order to pull himself from his mind's dirty wanderings.

Baekhyun's head pulled up and out of the hood as he mused, "You know what I've been craving for the longest time? Lucky charms!" He sighed as he shrugged his shoulders and looked up into space. "Man, those were my favorite as a kid!" He put his hands casually in the middle pocket of his hoodie.

"I think I probably have some Lucky Charms." Chanyeol replied, walking towards a daydreaming Baekhyun, grabbing him gently by the elbow to pull him out of his reverie and out of the library.

Once Baekhyun was back on planet Earth and had followed Chanyeol out into the hallway, he let go of his elbow quickly as if he had been burned by the touch.

The effects Baekhyun were having on him were getting more and more intense, especially now that Baekhyun seemed to realize what was going on in the mind of the giant. But Chanyeol had to try his hardest to ignore it, hoping the thoughts would pass, as most of his blooming obsessions had while in his solitude.

And he hoped they would pass soon, because he had a feeling that Baekhyun was sticking around for a while, and Chanyeol didn't want his first guest to be uncomfortable in his new home.

He guided him as casually as possible down to the kitchen for a late breakfast.