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6

Over the next couple of days, Kyungsoo became more and more confused. All of a sudden Chanyeol appeared wildly different from what he had always known him to be. Instead of a loud, rich, party boy, Chanyeol was more of a (still loud) hard-working, ball of fluff. Kyungsoo was starting to see how wrong his preconceived notions had been.

Firstly, Chanyeol actually got up every morning at six to work out and to compose. Once Kyungsoo found that out, he was actually a little intimidated.

"Yah, Park Chanyeol.", Kyungsoo grumbled one morning. "What the hell are you doing this early in the morning. Get back in bed or get out." Kyungsoo hadn't stopped to realize how suggestive that sounded.

Chanyeol snickered. "Don't worry, I'll be out of here in a sec, Kyungsoo-yah. Go back to sleep."

"Kyungsoo-yah?", Kyungsoo thought, a little shocked. "Since when does he call me that?"

What was even more shocking, was that he kind of liked it. A lot.

Another thing that shocked Kyungsoo was that he could be really sweet when he wanted to.

One time Kyungsoo mentioned he felt a cold coming on and when he woke up the next morning, he found medication next to his bed, accompanied by a hot pink post-it note: "Don't get sick, Kyungsoo-yah. C."

Kyungsoo found all of this wildly confusing. He didn't know how to reconcile this image of Chanyeol he had built up in his head for over two years with the newfound picture of what Chanyeol appeared to be. Could he really have been so wrong?

He decided to test this new information by asking Chanyeol to hang out. They were roommates after all (for however long it would last). It was high time they got to know each other better.

The only thing left was to approach Chanyeol.

Kyungsoo decided to do so when he found Chanyeol playing around on his guitar in the living room one afternoon. They appeared to be the only ones in the house.

Chanyeol caught a fright when he found Kyungsoo standing in front of him all of a sudden. "I-I'm sorry.", he stuttered. "Did I disturb your studying? I promise to keep it down."

Kyungsoo was reminded of Baekhyun calling him a giant puppy that one time. He said nothing for a moment, but smiled.

Chanyeol just looked more confused.

"You're not disturbing me. It's...nice.", Kyungsoo finally said.

"Oh.", Chanyeol said. Then with more enthusiasm he asked: "Do you want me to play you something?"

"Sure.", Kyungsoo said easily. "But I wanted to ask you something else too."

"Oh. Shoot!", the taller man said with a big smile. "Ask me anything."

"Okay.", Kyungsoo started carefully. "Would you want to...hang out with me sometime?"

Chanyeol got a blank look on his face. "Hang out? As in...?"

"You and me.", Kyungsoo supplied. "It's ok if you don't want to.", he rushed to add, getting shy all of a sudden. "I mean, we never really did see eye-to-eye. I would...understand completely." Kyungsoo trailed off, looking to the side. Oh God, why had he thought this would be a good idea.

"I want to!", Chanyeol said, a little too loudly.

Kyungsoo was startled, but then smiled widely. "Great! I'll let you pick the time and place. I'm fine with whatever, as long as I don't have to work that day."

"It's a date! I mean, we'll hang!" Chanyeol was tripping over his words but Kyungsoo just smiled and excused himself to get back to his studying.

They decided to "hang" two days later. As agreed Chanyeol had picked the spot.

He was nervous and more than a little excited. He made himself calm down, however. Kyungsoo had called it a hang, so that's what they were going to do: hang out. Nothing more.

As they arrived at their destination, Kyungsoo let out a surprised laugh beside him. "This is where you want to hang?"

"Hey! Don't knock it until you try it! I mean, I'm sure you've bowled before, but this place is special."

They had arrived at an old run-down bowling alley with literally no one in sight, except for a couple of older regulars, who Chanyeol wouldn't be surprised if they were about to grow roots right where they were sitting. It was where he had learned to bowl as a kid, however, so Chanyeol felt attached to the place.

"Okay.", Kyungsoo said. "I'll believe you".

"Good!", Chanyeol smiled. "Now let's get you outfitted."

Kyungsoo, as expected, was not the greatest bowler, while Chanyeol, obviously, was excellent.

"Would it be okay if I gave you some pointers?", Chanyeol asked carefully.

Kyungsoo laughed. "Of course, I couldn't possibly get any worse, now could I. Think of me as putty in your hands. Do with me as you wish."

Chanyeol had to swallow, but moved behind Kyungsoo. The smaller man's ass had never looked better, but Chanyeol forced himself to focus. With his head over Kyungsoo's shoulder, he explained some techniques and showed him how to move his arm for a good throw. All the while he made sure to keep his crotch safely removed from Kyungsoo's pert bottom.

The boy looked like he was having a good time but Chanyeol knew he was mostly torturing himself. Kyungsoo had called it a "hang", as in a platonic outing between two roommates to get to know each other better.

Despite that, Chanyeol was not ready for their outing to be over anytime soon. After bowling, he proposed to get dinner at a nearby bbq-place. Kyungsoo, fortunately, went along with it.

When they were seated at a quiet table in the back, Chanyeol sighed happily.

"Are you that happy you won?" Kyungsoo crinkled his eyes at him. "I could have told you that in advance."

"No! I mean sure, but that's not what I'm glad about."

Kyungsoo looked at him expectantly.

Chanyeol took a breath. "I'm just glad we're getting along, Soo." It was the first time Chanyeol used that nickname, but Kyungsoo didn't say anything, so he pushed forward. "I mean, I know we haven't seen eye-to-eye that much in the past, but I've always..."

"You've always...what?", Kyungsoo asked.

Chanyeol's eyes darted up from the table to his companion's face. "I mean, I've...I've never disliked you. Not really."

"Huh.", Kyungsoo said. "Could have fooled me." But his tone was warm, so Chanyeol knew he didn't mean for it to sting.

"I didn't! I guess I just never got...why you couldn't just like me?" Chanyeol was looking at the table again while he uttered those last words.

Kyungsoo chuckled. "It really is that simple for you, isn't it? You just expect people to like you and they usually do. I guess, in all honesty, I was jealous of that. Things just seemed to come so easily for you." When Chanyeol sputtered, he held up a hand. "I know they don't, but you just make everything look so easy, it's frustrating sometimes, you know. For us mere mortals", he added sheepishly.

"So...do you like me now? Despite the fact that I make things look too easy sometimes. Even though I'm not a hundred percent sure what you mean by that." Chanyeol tried to smile, but he felt his heart beating in his chest.

Chanyeol thought Kyungsoo was looking at him a little fondly at least, before answering. "I do.", he said simply.