Words (TaoXChanyeolXreader fanfic)

Chapter 12: want me to watch?

Chanyeol tightened his fingers on Victoria's. Touching her was rare enough for even just her hand in his to be a bit of a thrill. He leaned in, lacing his fingers with hers and setting his shoulder against Tao's while they both watched him. Their combined gazes had weight but he pretended he couldn't feel it. He wasn't sure he was ready for this but this wasn't an invitation that had come up before. He wasn't prepared to waste it.

"Do you still want me to watch?" he asked.

Tao glanced at Victoria and the near smile she gave him must have meant more to him than it did to Chanyeol because he leaned in and kissed her again. Her fingers tightened in Chanyeol 's and he stroked the back of her hand with his thumb but otherwise kept his hands to himself. He wanted to get closer. He wanted to touch Victoria's hair and slide his hand up her neck when Tao's moved down her shoulders and traced down to her waist. He wanted to trace Tao's jaw but he held himself to just watching it happen.

Tao hooked his fingers into her belt loops to pull her closer but he didn't resettle his hands around her waist. One disappeared into her hair, cradling the back of her neck and tilting her face up, the other slid around Chanyeol 's waist. Chanyeol 's promise to himself that he wasn't going to cross any more lines fell apart. He slid his arm around Tao's shoulder and pressed in so his body touched both of theirs. He wasn't a part of the kiss, but he was unavoidably a part of the moment.

Things might have shifted permanently that night if Victoria's phone hadn't rang and distracted them all. It took Chanyeol so much by surprise that he actually jumped. He had leaned in so his face was almost pressed into her hair and he pulled back like he was a child being caught doing something naughty. There was too much embarrassed laughter to find that moment again and it had all fallen apart.

Awkward moment by awkward moment, Chanyeol carefully wove them into every corner of his life. Every bit of time or space that could be devoted to them, was. He didn't watch movies on his laptop anymore, he watched them slouched on the second hand sofa in Tao and Victoria's apartment. He dragged Tao on trail runs with him when he went on Saturday mornings. He let Victoria into the grad lounges and they studied together in a corner. He edited her essays which were full of brilliant ideas and meandering grammatical choices. She read over his notes for the discussion groups in his lit class and did a good enough job fixing them that the professor had stopped by to tell him how much he had improved.

It had become his new definition of home.