#chenle drabble | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

rrxnjun · 1 year

Text

how to self-sabotage: a bulletproof guide by zhong chenle

pairing: rival! zhong chenle x fem! reader genre: college au | humor, fluff wc: 10.8k warnings: swearing, a mention of alcohol and weed, this is written like a bad disney channel sitcom. i really channeled my inner business graduate with this fic i am so sorry a/n: this is a repost from yesterday bc tumblr was shitty and turned my text black!! playlist: self-sabotage - waterparks ; are you gonna be my girl - jet ; countdown (1, 2, 3) - nct dream ; teenager in love - neon trees ; maniac - conan gray ; drama - txt

one would say it's ungraceful to turn a charity fundraiser into a competition, but you and zhong chenle have no boundaries when it comes to beating each other in a fight. crashing each other's plans, making irresponsible decisions, all just for the sake of winning a competiton you two made yourself; zhong chenle finds a turn of events when the whole thing turns into a self-sabotage.

❥ hello! this is y/n and welcome to my new youtube video! to celebrate my 600 followers milestone, I prepared something special: let's look at all the boys I've ever had a crush on and interrogate them with a fun questionare! for today's part, we have the boy that tried to sabotage me, but ended up doing quite the opposite: zhong chenle himself! ❥

this fic is a part of my collab! find the rest of the works from the dream chronicles collab here! [tba]

Sitting at the table, fingers drumming against the light wood, you stare into the unknown and make your dear friend Jisung a little afraid of what’s about to come. Being your best friend is always a challenging fact, considering your over-the-top ideas and drive that makes your clueless friend a little taken aback, but with the premise of a challenge– the charity event that’s going to take place at your university, he already knows he’s up for something wild.

Maybe taking a step back from your master plan would be a better idea. Jisung would save his sanity and also, most likely, a lot of trouble; but that’s not who Park Jisung is. If anything, he’s a loyal friend. No one will take that title away from him. And that’s exactly why he’s sitting opposite of you right now, listening to the hum of the cafeteria, waiting for what you have to say.

“How many people are joining?” you ask, voice stone cold and focused. You don’t meet Jisung’s eye, focusing on the people flowing in and out of the cafeteria instead, the gears in your brain turning faster than on your midterms.

“I don’t know exactly, but I’d say around ten teams of people, each one consisting of at least two to three people, so… at least 30..?” Jisung hums, quickly calculating the numbers in his brain.

“30…. so that means we have at least a 20% chance of winning,” you mutter, chewing on your bottom lip and furrowing your brows, seemingly lost in thought.

“That- that’s not adding up, Y/N…” Jisung mumbles, running the numbers through his brain once again, trying to see if he’s made a mistake or if it was you. See, Jisung is not a straight A student– that’s what you’re here for, after all– but when it comes to Maths, he’s pretty confident. He’s not quite sure why it’s the only subject he’s good at, considering it might be the hardest of the course, but for some reason, logical things are easy for him to grasp.

“I ruled out the freshmen girls, they’re absolutely not winning this. Also, Renjun and Jeno are out as well, because they will underestimate everything and not try hard enough. That leaves us with Yangyang and Hyuck, since I know damn well that each and every girl that’s ever hooked up with either of them will hop on their dicks and buy anything they’re selling,” Jisung chuckles at the seriousness of your voice as you talk, finding the fact that you’re taking this whole thing as your main mission of the semester amusing, “and then… Him. He’s the professor’s favorite. And he’s super good at persuading people. And I know damn well he’s gonna try hard, so actually, the chances of winning are split into three teams, so we have an approximately 30% chance of winning the prize.”

Jisung blinks at you a few times, trying to clear his head. Right now, you look like you’ve been programmed– a robot with no emotions, only set on the task it’s been told to do. You’re not even blinking, he notes and immediately gets freaked out– because what if they switched his best friend for a robot while he was sleeping? What if this is some sick experiment? What if he’s in the Truman show? You may never know these days…

“Y/N, that’s not-”

“It’s 50/50, actually,” you cut him off, nodding.

“How can it be-”

“Simple. It’s me or him. And I will do anything in my power to win, Jisung, so be prepared for a fight,” you order, taking a sip of your water, still not meeting eyes with your companion. Jisung’s kind of glad for that, though– what if you turned into a siren and eye contact with you will turn him into stone? He really doesn’t need that, he hasn’t even had his first girlfriend yet. He’s too young to die!

“It’s for charity, for fuck’s sake, don’t be so competitive…” Jisung sighs, taking another bite of his sandwich that he forgot he was eating for a second as you started with your business meeting, shaking his head in disbelief at your antics. Is anyone even taking this whole thing so seriously?

The business department at your university is having a charity event the upcoming month. The goal is to sell things and raise the most money you can– it’s all for a good cause, of course. The only thing is that your university already realized that your generation, although it loves to help people in need, won’t do anything without having enough motivation. And so, the head of the business department– professor Lee– promised that the team that raises the most money for charity (or the winning team, as you like to call it), will get an iPad pro for their efforts.

Jisung would understand if you were doing it for the iPad. Hell, even he wants one. But the reality is completely different– you just really, really need to be the best at everything. It’s your main purpose in life and when you fail, you fall into weeks long depression, mourning every single aspect that made you fail at your task and getting angry at every person in your sight. That is even scarier than your weird transe that you’re in right now, Jisung admits, and so he usually does his best to help you with your efforts, because he doesn’t like to get screamed at for multiple weeks if you come second.

That, and he also really doesn’t like to see you sad.

“Yeah, so I’m having the right intentions, aren’t I, Jisung?” you finally meet eyes with Jisung, your devoted business partner, as you smile with that kind of curve to your lips that doesn’t really meet your eye.

A shiver runs down the poor boy’s spine at that, pupils widening with terror. Standing up from your position at the table, completely ignoring Jisung’s half-eaten sandwich left at the red tray on the table, you move towards the exit of the cafeteria, expecting him to follow along. “Let’s go, Jisung. We have work to do.”

“I’m so so surprised at everyone’s interest in the charity event! Thank you so much for coming here today to discuss the details,” Ms Lee chirps from her spot at the top of the table, swinging her arms around like a Disney princess when she sings to all the animals that gathered around her in the backyard of her palace.

Your eyes scan the figures gathered around the room. You’re sitting at one of the big, rounded tables settled in the middle of the conference room, two of the same, mahogany ones to your left and right side, all filled with business students. Some of the faces are familiar to you– like your classmate’s Renjun and Jeno’s, but some of the other ones are foreign to your eyes. You doubt you’ve ever seen those people in your whole, entire life, and you were in the student council last semester, so you were pretty much friends with everyone back then. Maybe it’s the freshmen, you think, as you look at your overly-excited professor and try to listen to what she has to say.

“Only if she knew that half of these people are here for the iPad,” Jisung murmurs into your ear, making you chuckle. He’s right– almost everyone’s here for that. But not you– you could never make your interest in charity so surface-level like everyone else does. You care about much more than getting an iPad, your interests are deeper than that. You don’t need the iPad– although you wouldn’t hesitate to take it if you win, you’re not stupid, after all– you need to win and beat your longest academic rival.

You need to win against Zhong Chenle himself, the top of the business class– he owns the title mainly because his parents own one and he’s had enough time to learn about all the wonders of the business world long before the rest of the people in your class– because you need the satisfaction of being the absolute best. See, you were used to that your whole life. In high school, you were the model student. The one that was set as an example. The best student, the most praised one, the most talented one, the gifted one, even.

You may already know why all of this was more damaging to you than it was good. Getting into university– into the sea of people that were told just that while growing up– was a feeling that made you fall down from the tallest heights of talent to the very middle of it all. The shift from being the best to being mediocre was perhaps the most painful experience of your whole life, but after you managed to get your shit together– and studied your ass off, because it won’t work any other way anymore, it seems– you set your mind on being the best one again, because in your whole childhood, you didn’t know any better. And if you were raised to be the picture perfect child, it’s hard to outgrow these habits.

So if Zhong Chenle was the top of the class in most of your courses, you had to be better than him eventually. The charity event is just another part of the whole process.

“I know this is all for a good thing, but I feel like we still need to set some rules for this whole thing. The main thing is to sell something– anything you want, really– and raise the most money you can for charity. I think everyone already got that, since you’re all sitting here, but I know that the vision of the iPad can blind some of you and get you to be a little too competitive, and while I encourage you to try hard, I also want all of you to play fair. So, here’s the thing,” your professor announces, making you shift a little in your chair and whisper to Jisung to get his notepad out so he can scribble the important info down, preventing you from forgetting it.

“Rule number one. No bad mouthing the others, no anti-campagne. I want all of you to be nice to each other and play it fair, got it?”

A few of you nod, humming in agreement, when a disappointed sigh comes from somewhere behind you, a low mumble reaching your ears and making you chuckle. “I had so much dirt on Donghyuck…”

“Rule number two. I don’t want you selling alcohol, cigarettes, or pretty much anything that’s against the university rules. God forbid if you bring drugs. I won’t hesitate to call the police on you if you do,” your professor continues, earning herself another set of bored hums and nods, cut off only by a pair of your classmates sitting right next to you at the big, rounded table.

A disappointed sigh leaves Yangyang’s mouth at this one, shaking his head in disapproval. You won’t say anything, because you don’t really want your classmate to get in trouble, but the last time you were on a party where Liu Yangyang was present, you couldn’t shake off the smell of weed for weeks, so you’re pretty sure his plan was to sneak in a little something to get more money for the charity. His friend and business partner in one– Lee Donghyuck from your Economy class– grins as his hand shoots up into the air, waiting to be called to ask a question.

“Yes, Donghyuck?”

“Are condoms allowed?” he asks, the innocent grin on his face making the freshmen girls in the back of the room chuckle and hide their face behind their hands.

“Why are you asking that?”

“No reason,” he shrugs, the innocent smile not leaving his face for a second as his childish friend only giggles at the encounter.

“Please don’t sell condoms at the charity event, Donghyuck,” professor Lee pleads, her eyes already full of misery as she realizes just what she’s gotten herself into when agreeing to lead the whole event.

Another disappointed sigh leaves his lips at that, shaking his head. “That’s our whole business plan gone, then…”

Taking exactly three seconds to calm herself down, your professor takes a deep breath in as she runs her hand through her long black hair and then clasps her palms together at her waist, regaining her composure. “Back to what I was saying, we have one more rule you have to follow. You can’t lie about your product. No false advertisement, no made-up stuff to make what you’re selling be more interesting than it already is. We want this to be a serious event, so please, take all of these rules to heart and try your hardest to follow them. Got it?”

Scanning the room, waiting for each and every single one of you to nod, the gathering falls silent. “If none of you have any questions, I consider this meeting to be over.”

The room is instantly filled with the shrieking of chairs on the linoleum ground, making your hair stand up as you arch like an angry cat, hating the sound. Waiting for everyone to get out of the room, you find a pair of men sitting still opposite of you, a cocky smirk plastered on the face of your moral enemy, his friend Jaemin sitting next to him with a well rehearsed poker face. They already look like they run a company, you realize, the thought making your blood boil just at the thought of Zhong Chenle looking more professional than you do– in your baggy sweatpants and a cropped top you grabbed from the top of the pile of half-dirty clothes in your room this morning.

“Ready to get your ass kicked?” Chenle asks, grinning to himself as your eyebrows furrow and you reveal an annoyed face to him. It makes him happy to see you like this– it gives him more satisfaction than anything in his life, to be exact.

“The game’s on, Zhong.”

Walking towards your table in the cafeteria, a pair of young boys looking very engaged in their conversation lands in your rear point of vision. Eyes squinting, as if it was supposed to make you see better, you watch your best friend Jisung walk side by side with the accomplice of your moral enemy, Na Jaemin. One of them looks cool, dressed in all black, flashing a charming smile, and the other one is truly bubbly– jumping up and down, almost, as he giggles like a boy and adjusts the straps of his backpack. I won’t tell you which one’s which. Figure it out by yourself.

“We have a visitor today?” you ask as the two of them sit down at your usual table in the cafeteria, both of them smiling to themselves like two teenagers in love. The sight is an unusual one, to say the least, and you don’t know what it is about it that makes shivers down your spine. You just know that you kind of despise it.

“Yeah, Jaemin will be sitting with us today, if that’s okay,” Jisung smiles, looking at you with wide eyes full of excitement.

“Great, great,” you mumble, eyeing the boy with suspicion. Is this how he chose to execute your plan? You did tell him to be nice to Na Jaemin– you did even tell him to try to befriend him, if that was what he needed to do to get under his skin– but at the same time, you didn’t think that sitting together at lunch exactly two days after you told him to try to get some information from Jaemin was the right way to go around this.

See, you’d call it intuition. You know something’s wrong, you just don’t know what it is yet.

“So, what’s up, Jaemin?” you ask, poking the food on your table around with your fork, avoiding eye contact. You despise even sitting at the same table with one of Chenle’s friends– you feel like you’re suddenly in his circle, and that makes you gag a little into your mouth. While you need to be better at everything than this young businessman, you also need to stay away from everything that includes him– and yes, that means his friend circle as well. Who knows, Na Jaemin might even be a nice guy. You just don’t care enough to find out.

“Oh, a lot of exciting things are happening! Aren’t they, Jisung?” he smiles, kicking the clueless boy into his shin under the table in excitement, “the charity event, for example! We are preparing a lot of stuff with Chenle, and I think it’s gonna be a lot of fun. What about you two?”

Humming, you try to take the opportunity by its reached-out hands, smiling a little on the inside. “You’re doing a lot of things? What things exactly, may I ask?” you lock eyes with Jaemin, seeing his cunning smile.

“That’s a surprise, dear Y/N,” Jaemin mutters, the combination of his low voice and glimmering eyes making your stomach twist in anger and frustration. Of course he’s not that stupid– he won’t reveal what him and Chenle have planned for the event. He knows who you are. He knows how far you’re willing to go to completely destroy whatever the two of them have planned, just so you could win. And he won’t even dare to give you a single hint on his plans, because he’s intelligent and cunning.

“Is it…” you mutter under your breath, matching his competitive energy.

“Yeah,” he nods, turning to Jisung, “but maybe if you tell me first, I can share. Maybe we can brainstorm together, you know, that would be so much fun. Wouldn’t it, Jisung?” he asks your best friend, smiling sweetly at him.

You know damn well about the effect Na Jaemin has on people. He’s charming and sweet, magically alluring. He pulls everyone towards him, and he does it oh so easily. You’ve heard enough about how this man worked his magic spells on the girls in your grade, getting them on dates and then deciding he’s bored of them a few weeks later.

Now, you didn’t know that your best friend Park Jisung wasn’t immune to this effect. He was, in fact, very much not immune to it– he was just like every other girl in your class, just like all the poor freshmen girls that giggle at his stupid jokes in the cafeteria.

It was a saddening fact and an even more devastating sight to see your best friend fold under the eyes of the local charmer. You should’ve expected it, though– maybe this was the intuition you were supposed to listen to the very moment Na Jaemin showed up at your table in the cafeteria.

“I mean, I think that’s a good idea, maybe we can work together on it as well,” Jisung hums, eyes big never leaving the man as he nods to his manipulation tactics.

“See? Amazing! That’s exactly what I love to hear. So, what are you two planning?”

“Me and Y/N wanted to-”

“Jisung, shut up,” you coldly say, taking a hold of the situation and trying to save the day. Your poor best friend looks at you all lost, the furrow in his brows breaking your heart as you had to be rude to him for no reason at all– well, there is one, he just doesn’t know it yet.

“Why-”

“Why are you shutting your friend down like that? That’s not really nice of you, Y/N,” Jaemin says, locking eyes with you. The look in his orbs is knowing, your wavelength matching as he knows that you finally see right through his plan, that you know exactly what he’s trying to do– because you and Zhong Chenle are more alike than you both think, it seems. At least with your business tactics, after all.

“How about we work on our stuff alone, Na Jaemin? I don’t need Chenle’s help with anything,” you snap back, watching as the boy grins to himself and takes the red tray into his hands as he stands up from his place at your cafeteria table.

“Okay then,” he mutters, “have a nice day, you two.”

With his departure comes a loud whine from Park Jisung himself, earning himself a kick into the shin as you start your scolding session.

“What was that? Why were you so rude to him all of a sudden?”

“Jisung,” you coldly stare at him, making him silence, “I told you to befriend Na Jaemin to get out some information from him. I didn’t tell you to do the exact opposite and get exploited of all our plans instead!” you finish your little rant, breathing heavily as you notice the boy’s face clearing into understatement, smiling to himself a little in shame.

“Oh. I didn’t notice that…”

Park Jisung’s good at Math. Social interaction? Not so much… Maybe you should take things into your own hands and get some information yourself, instead of sending your most gullible friend on a mission that requires interaction with Na Jaemin…

“I still don’t understand what we are doing here. I thought you didn’t like parties!” Jisung mourns as you two step your feet inside of a big mansion (or at least that’s how the house looks in your eyes), the loud music of the event that’s going on inside making your eardrums bubble along with the beat.

“Jisung, you have so much to learn about this world…” you sigh, smiling at some of the girls you encounter on your way to the big kitchen, aiming straight for one of the red cups waiting for you on the kitchen island, all filled to the brim with various alcohol.

Turning around in your spot, two solo red cups in the palms of your hands, you offer one to your companion and grin at him. “Here, have this,” you smile, “I know you’re not a fan of vodka, but they don’t have anything else… Try not to die while I’m gone,” you note, earning yourself a confused look from the tall boy standing in front of you, listening to your commands.

“And where are you going? What’s going on-”

Sighing, you take the boy by his hand and drag him into the half-empty hall, the dim lightning making the whole encounter feel more secretive than it already was.

“Jisung, this is Zhong Chenle’s party,” you say, the sentence alone enough for the boy to instantly widen his eyes and part his lips agape in understatement, nodding at you. There’s a slight glint in his eyes that’s telling you that he doesn’t like where this is going, but you don’t really care about what he has to say right now. Your mind is set on one thing– winning, and that’s why you’re not afraid to do even the most desperate things of them all.

“Try to enjoy yourself,” you say, “but please don’t talk to Na Jaemin while we’re here, okay?”

“But Jaemin is nice-”

“Okay then, just don’t talk to him about the event, alright? They’ll use it against us if they know anything,” you mumble, downing the entirety of the red cup, scowling at the taste of your most hated alcohol. It’s like Zhong Chenle knew you were gonna appear– it’s like he wants to kill you. You wouldn’t even have to drink the poison that vodka is, but having some liquid courage in you could be useful in the crime you’re about to do right now.

“Try not to die,” Jisung resonates with the same words you’ve said to him just a few minutes prior, making you smile at him with a tense smile, hugging him goodbye before you go. Who knows, if Zhong Chenle catches you, you might not even make it out alive and see Jisung ever again. You might as well embrace your best friend for the last time.

Taking a deep breath in and out, you march up the stairs. The second floor of the house is not as crowded as the first one– the stairs are too steep to walk up if you’ve had too much to drink already, so it’s quite understandable. Looking around like a spy, you try hard to stay as natural as possible, not wanting to make anyone suspect you. Walking casually through the halls, you figure this is the best way to make everyone believe that you’re supposed to be here, that you were invited, and that you’re not just about to do a very, very bad thing.

Opening the first door to one of the rooms, you notice a king’s bed and flowery wallpaper. Closing it again, deciding that this isn’t the room you’re looking for, you continue your search on the second floor– opening the room to one of the bathrooms, and then what you presume is a guest room occupied with someone moaning loudly on the bed, making you shut the door behind you with disturbance.

Finally finding the right one– you assume so by the obnoxious Gucci hoodie sprawled on the chair right opposite of the door– you silently walk inside and close the door after you, making sure you’re alone and not watched by anyone. Trying the hardest to not make any sound, you walk through Zhong Chenle’s room and let your eyes roam across the furniture, looking for the thing you broke into his room for in the first place.

When you don’t find what you’re looking for anywhere at sight, you choose to walk over to his desk and open the first drawer. It’s full of textbooks and other notebooks, making you sigh and close it in disappointment, moving over to the one under it that surprises you with a stash of snacks and a single sock laying on the very top. Disgusted by the state of everything, you result in looking through the last drawer, wanting nothing more than to find the materials you saw Chenle write on the last meeting your charity event group had.

You needed to know what he had planned, so you could plan something bigger, better.

A stash of white paper appears in your eyes, the handwriting of none other than the owner of this house recognizable to you for various reasons (no, you never look at his exam papers over his shoulder just to make sure you did better than him. Never…), the title “charity” in a wobbly, light blue pen making your eyes light up. Bingo.

Excitement flowing through your veins, you scan over the paper and try to find any clues about the boy’s plan. The handwriting is a little hard to read, though, and so you squint your eyes, slowing down your breathing as you try to focus all of your attention to decoding the content in front of you–

–when the paper is swiftly pulled away from your grasp, making you gasp in shock and surprise. Turning your head around, you see the owner of the handwriting looking at you with a glare, making your body instinctively shoot to your feet and taking a step back.

“What are you doing here?” he asks, although he knows damn well what your previous actions were already.

“I’m- I was- I-” you stutter, your brain not allowing you to form coherent sentences.

He takes one step towards you, which leads in you taking another one back, repeating enough times for you to be pressed against the wall, shivers running down your spine either at the contact of the cold against your shoulders, or the look that Chenle gives you as he towers over you both physically and mentally, scoffing.

“Are you really that low? That desperate?” he spits, making your blood boil. You feel red in your face as the hint of his cologne makes its way up your nose, feeling both embarrassed and flustered by the whole encounter.

“I- I don’t know what you’re talking about,” you peep, seeing the boy shake his head in disbelief, putting his hand up against the wall, close to where your head is resting.

“So what were you doing with this, then, huh?” he asks, showing you the paper in his other hand, waiting for you to answer, but not stepping away from you.

The truth is, you have no words in you to defend yourself. Suddenly, you’re left unarmed, empty and humiliated– but what’s worse, you’re left with no new information about the charity event, which means you’ve done all of this for absolutely nothing.

Seeing that you’re making no effort in answering the boy, he leans even closer to you, which makes your whole body tingle with what you presume is uncomfort, biting at your lower lip as your eyes lock with his mouth as he speaks to you. “Play fair, Y/N.”

Focusing on his plump, pink lips, you wonder if he uses a lip scrub or a lip balm– because there’s no way his lips are this luscious and beautiful, and so inviting…

“Get out of my room,” he orders, making your body unfreeze, feeling sweat drip down your back as you run out of the place, suddenly not having enough oxygen.

Maybe this wasn’t your best idea.

“Jisung, we gotta do something,” you mourn, head in your hands as you sit at the table in your room, papers scattered all around you and a half-made banner laying on the carpet in the middle of the floor.

“We are doing something right now, Y/N,” Jisung mumbles with the paintbrush in his hand, leaning over the white sheet of paper, trying his hardest to not go over the lines you’ve scribbled onto the banner just a few minutes prior, ordering him to paint in the bubble letters of your banner.

Grunting, you turn around in your office chair, looking at the boy. He doesn’t seem as stressed as you feel right now– it’s only a week until the charity event is supposed to take place and you really, really don’t want to be thinking about how badly it will go if you don’t think of something big at this exact moment. You feel defenseless. You have zero information about what Chenle’s about to do, so you can’t get prepared to do something better. Jisung didn’t manage to get any information out of Jaemin, and while you were able to find Chenle’s plans in his room, he took the paper out of your hands and cornered you against the wall before you even managed to read a single sentence.

You’re selling cupcakes. Jisung said his mum will help and chip in more baked goods, since she’s a good cook, but you doubt that cookies and pastry will help you win the first place. This sounds like something Renjun and Jeno would do– and you hate to put yourself onto their level, because they’re not the greatest when it comes to business. You doubt you’ll beat Hyuck and Yangyang’s condom stand either. There’s a lot of guys at your university that will rather go for a condom than a cupcake.

“No, Jisung, you don’t understand. Cupcakes won’t win. We won’t win. Zhong Chenle and his big head will win, and that will be absolutely fucking infuriating. I won’t let that happen,” you exclaim, huffing.

“But you don’t even know what they’re going to sell! What if it’s really bad? We still have a chance to win,” Jisung smiles at you, trying to encourage you.

Bless him. Even when seeing you so annoyed and having to deal with your snappy attitude every day, since the nerves always get the worst of you, he still tries to be your rock and help you through it all. His words might not help you win and they for sure do not help you calm down, but he’s trying– and that’s the important part.

“Chenle’s the son of the wealthiest business man in this country, Jisung. He has winning in his fucking genes,” you roll your eyes, “and that’s why I need to think of something right now or else I’ll physically combust.”

Jisung just sighs at you, not really knowing how else to help you. He’s trying his hardest– and you appreciate it, despite the fact that your actions suggest otherwise– and this is not even his battle. He’s okay with being mediocre– he’s just cursed with the burden of his friend always trying their hardest to be an overachiever. It’s not healthy, but he doesn’t feel like he can do anything about it, really.

“Maybe I can… Maybe I can tell everyone that if I win, I’ll do a giveaway with the iPad. I’m sure that will lure some people in,” you mumble, fixing your eyes onto the poster of Ross Lynch stuck on your bedroom door, lost in thought.

Jisung looks at you with squinted eyes, trying to decipher what’s going on inside of that brain of yours. The scheming look on your face doesn’t look the nicest, but he won’t tell you that in fear of being beaten up on the ground.

“That’s…”

“An amazing idea? I know, right?” you grin, looking at your friend with euphoria running through your veins.

“Y/N, I don’t think-”

“Bingo!” you yelp, eyes glimmering with joy and excitement, “We are about to give everyone who buys two cupcakes a lottery ticket and then, if we win, we randomly pick someone and give them the iPad! This is a brilliant idea!!”

No amount of effort can make you stop now. Jisung won’t even try anymore.

“I’m going to work on it right now. This is perfect!” you grin.

Jisung sighs.

He kind of wanted that iPad…

Sitting in the library, your laptop open as you try hard to focus on studying after the frantic preparations for the charity event, your eyes are stuck to the screen, starting to hurt a little from how hard you’re concentrating. The world around you is a mere blur, the background noises being no distraction to your brain as you type away on your keyboard from time to time, taking notes.

You like to study alone. You never really got the magic of studying in groups, since every time you tried it with Jisung, you two just grew distracted and didn’t know how to focus on your studies, too busy gossiping and talking about anything and everything. So to go here like this, in the evening, the university library has become your safe haven.

When suddenly, there are footsteps landing into your ear, the noise making you lose your focus for a moment when the owner of them decides to sit in the space next to you, making you swiftly look around and see who dared to pay you a visit when you’re studying.

Met with the gaze of none other than Zhong Chenle himself, you suddenly shrink in size and bashfully look away from the male. You’re not used to the feeling of embarrassment in your veins, not used to how you feel pathetic in his eyes and how you really want to disappear from the face of the earth every time you notice him registering your existence. It’s all your fault anyway, for snooping around in his room and being caught, but you’re not ready to admit that to yourself just yet, even though the reality is slowly catching up on you.

“Hi,” he greets, making you furrow your eyebrows in confusion. A conversation between you and Chenle is a rare sight– you just like to jab at each other and scream curses each other’s way– and starting one with a greeting is even more unusual for the two of you. It’s like both of you lose all sense of formality whenever you’re around each other– only the hatred remains.

“Hello,” you mutter, nervously scratching your forearm. Not daring to meet his eyes, you suddenly feel like he has something above you– the reality of catching you red handed, the very moment at his party. You won’t admit it out loud, but it’s the most defeating thing you’ve ever felt in your whole entire life, and you don’t think you’ll ever be able to recover from it. Never in a thousand years did you expect to be met with the fact that Zhong Chenle is above you in something, but it came down to it, and you don’t know what to do with this information.

Your posture screams hesitance. Not knowing how to act around him, you refrain from acting at all– you don’t think you’re in the position to be rude to him anymore, for it would make you seem even more petty. His presence makes you nervous, the tingling sensation in your whole body and the heat you feel rising to your cheeks making you the most uncomfortable you’ve felt ever since you were cornered up against the wall of Chenle’s room last weekend.

“What’s up?” he asks, the casual tone of his voice confusing you even further. Taking one short look at him, you try to scan his features and somehow find out his true intentions. The boy has an inviting smile on his face– making your heartbeat quicken with a detail you choose not to pay any attention to– and his eyes are soft, opposed to the stone cold look he usually has reserved for you.

“Um… not much, ‘m just studying, I guess…” you mumble, too confused to pay attention to just how lost and puppy-like you must look right in this moment. Kicking your foot up and down under the table, a nervous fixation to ground yourself, you await his next steps.

The boy hums in acknowledgement. If he noticed your state, at least he didn’t mention it– a fact you were grateful for. Cracking your knuckles in the silence of the library, you forget how to keep up a conversation– or you just never learned how to keep up a conversation with Zhong Chenle, of all people. He doesn’t seem to mind, though, when he just takes out his stuff from his backpack and starts working on his homework.

Watching him for a while, you clear your throat and just decide to get it over with. You don’t like the quiet tension in the air, wanting it to disappear, so you just face it with a confident face (well, the most confident you can master up right now). “What are you doing here?”

Your rival looks up at you from his textbook with furrowed brows, shrugging. “Studying.”

“Yeah,” you blink, “but… why are you studying next to me?”

“Is this spot not free?” he asks, obviously teasing you with how the very well-known shiteating grin slowly starts to appear on his face.

“I- I mean it- it’s free, but-”

“Then I don’t see a reason why I shouldn’t study here,” he shrugs, momentarily pointing his look back to his textbook, driving you absolutely insane. Did he lose his mind? Was he having a fever?

“Chenle-”

“Look,” he says, looking up from the textbook again, turning to you with his full body– while also bumping into your knee with his for a second, making you jolt in a weird sense of electricity, “I know we’re not really on the best terms, but I think I’m done with being petty and acting like a child. Seeing that we’re kind of similar, in a way, I think we could even make good friends, so that’s what I’m trying to do here,” he says, smiling at you with that friendly expression he only reserves for his closest friends, making you feel light-headed. Are you having a fever?

“I- I don’t think I understand,” you mutter out, your expression lost. What was going on? Why did your rival suddenly want to be friends with you? After you searched through his room at one of his parties? You felt like you were having a weird dream.

“Let’s just… focus on our own projects for the charity event and forget about the rivalry. What do you say?” he asks, the glint in his eyes taking you off-guard.

What does one even say to that? You’ve spent your whole university years hating this boy, all for being too good at things you always wanted to be exceptional at. The rivalry made you so crazy you didn’t even recognise yourself anymore in the actions you were taking, and while it all felt worth it at the time, to see Chenle himself not even taking it that seriously made you feel even more embarrassed. Was this all just a one-sided battle?

Blinking a few times, you notice the boy out-stretching his hand for you to grip, the handshake a silent seal of the war between the two of you ending. “Friends?”

Gasping for air, you hesitantly reach for his hand, too lost in your own brain and thought spirals to even register what was going on around you. The contact of his skin on your burned, but you shook it nonetheless. “I- I wouldn’t say friends, exactly…”

“Acquaintances on good terms, then, got it,” he grins, seeing your empty eyes and the mess in your brain at the very moment. Suddenly, you feel a hand ruffle your hair, making you jump up in shock. “I’m sure you’ll do great, Y/N,” he grins, making you turn back to your homework and– although to no use– try to focus on the assignment again.

Feeling heat rising to your cheeks and your hands shake with nerves, the rest of the afternoon comes by like a blur.

Mixing the batter in one of the big bowls Jisung’s mum provided you with in their spacious kitchen, you are too lost in thought to even sing along to your favorite baking playlist your best friend put on to make the atmosphere lighter, despite the tension of the upcoming charity event rising. This doesn’t go unnoticed by the boy, when he cautiously approaches the matter.

“What’s gotten you so weird?” he asks, opening the oven and taking out the cupcake tray that’s been sitting in there, prepared for your baking session, since yesterday evening.

“I’m not weird,” you mumble, but don’t even meet his eyes. That’s an instant hint.

“Y/N, you’re not even singing along to One Direction right now, of course something’s up,” he says to prove his point, seeing you sigh and look up to the ceiling for a moment, seemingly debating on finally talking about what’s bugging you the most these days.

“Chenle approached me the other day… to make amends? I guess?” you mumble, shrugging.

Your best friend takes the information in, analyzing what you just uttered out of your lips. Are you sure you weren't dreaming? He wants to ask you if you’re sure it wasn’t all an image of your imagination, but he choses against it as he steps closer to you, scanning your face for any signs of mania.

“He did that after catching you looking through his stuff?” he clarifies, seeing you nod.

“That’s strange.”

“Isn’t it?” you ask, still not believing what you saw at the library the other day.

Jisung hums, furrowing his eyebrows to get his brain cells to work better, chewing on the inside of his cheek. “Well, maybe he was sincere, however strange it might sound… He realized the little war you two have is childish and wanted both of you to have fun,” he shrugs, mirroring the exact words Chenle said at the library. Is this really so easy? Is this the final conclusion? The end of everything? You couldn’t just believe that.

“I don’t know…” you hum, moving to drape the cupcake batter into the tray, ready to bake it for tomorrow's event. Jisung helps you with the cleaning-up process, not wanting the burnt batter stuck on the tray to make the whole house smell like forest fire, wiping the excess away with tissues. After you’re done, he plops the tray into the oven and sets a timer for 15 minutes, resting his tall figure against the kitchen counter.

“Maybe you can… quit with the iPad giveaway thing? I mean, now that you don’t have to win, you can forget about that part. I think it’s kind of against the rules as well, since it’s a hint of false advertising? You’re supposed to win by selling the goods, and not by bribing them with an iPad, so I don’t think professor Lee will like that,” he mutters hesitantly, seeing your mouth open agape, shaking your head in disapproval.

“Absolutely not. Just because Zhong Chenle hit his head or something, I won’t back away from this fight,” you sternly say.

“Y/N, I promise you it’s not a good idea. You’re just going to get in trouble-”

“I’m not! It’s totally legal, and if I really win, I’m ready to give the iPad away, if that’s what I’m gonna have to do, Jisung.”

A heavy sigh escapes his lips at this, shaking his head. Yeah, maybe he is petty– maybe he just wants the iPad for himself, but at the same time, what he said was right. This wasn’t a fair game and he doesn’t think it will get approved by your business professor, no matter how hard you try to back it up.

“Life would be so much easier if you constantly didn’t try to impress Zhong Chenle,” Jisung mutters, making blood boil in you, anger felt at the tips of your fingertips.

“Take that back. I am not trying to impress him,” you coldly say, snapping.

“Yeah, sure,” Jisung rolls his eyes, “every single time, it’s all I have to be better than Chenle, I have to win against Chenle, I have to beat him in this and this and that… to me, it just seems like you want him to be impressed with your abilities, because you like him.”

Gasping, you catch the edge of the kitchen counter to steady yourself. “I do not like him. I absolutely despise him, that is,” you grit your teeth, trying to convince your best friend…. and maybe yourself as well.

Jisung just hums, mocking you. The look on your face is enough of a confirmation to him, he doesn’t have to fight you anymore. Besides, the looks you give the boy are surely not you trying to get his business strategy. Not in the gym class, when your rival is a little sweaty and overly-enthusiastic about basketball, at least.

“I still think you should stop with the iPad thing, though,” he says, crouching down to the oven to check up on the cupcakes.

Angrily stomping, you reach towards your backpack on the ground, taking out your papers for the charity event so you can quickly calculate how many batches of the batter you’re going to have to make to fill your goal. Looking through the stack of papers, seeing worksheets from English class and old exam papers that you should’ve thrown out long ago, you disagree with your partner. “Absolutely not, I think-” you stop in your tracks, looking through the papers, still not finding the ones you’re looking for.

Leaning back towards your bag, you stumble through it, still not finding your charity event plans and documents. Stress rising inside of you, knowing too well that you always have the papers with you and there’s no way you left it at home, the reality dawns on you, making you scream in despair. Of course Zhong Chenle’s sudden amends were a little weird.

“That motherfucker stole my charity event plans while I was too busy freaking out over his charming smile!” you yelp out.

Jisung snickers at the state of you. He called it.

When you’re 6 years old, you go to school for the first time. You manage to make every single teacher in your elementary school gasp in amazement as you tell them that you already know how to read and that you don’t need help with signing your textbooks– you know how to write your name as well. As you grow, you only get more intellectual; being put into special level classes, being told you were the best pupil out of the whole school, being constantly praised and made to believe that you are, simply put, much better than everyone else your age.

When you’re 19 years old, you get to university. The gifted child in you starts slowly dying out with the pressure of assignments and the realization that maybe, your whole life, you’ve been lied to and you’re not as extraordinary as everyone told you you were. At 19, you meet Zhong Chenle– the model student, the social butterfly, the teacher’s pet– and suddenly, he’s your enemy. You promise yourself to always be better than him. That itself was your only goal.

When you’re almost 20, standing in the enormous gym of your university, looking over at Zhong Chenle’s stand with fast food and the giveaway tickets for a brand new iPad being given with every purchase above 5 dollars, the flood of people gladly giving money to the man dressed in a neat black suit, looking like the businessman he, at heart, truly is, you finally admit that you’re losing.

The cupcakes stay abandoned at the trays, no one paying attention to all the effort you and Jisung gave into the charity event. If you really think about it, it’s kind of unfair– you did play fair, despite your previous antics, and you did everything in your power to raise as much money as you could. Looking at the lonely pastries, you feel defeated.

“Want one?” you ask Jisung, pointing towards the ones covered with pink icing– the exact ones he wanted to eat yesterday evening instead of dinner, after several hours of baking– seeing the boy furrow his brows in confusion.

“I thought I wasn’t allowed to eat them until the event ends,” he says, watching over your dull look.

“Yeah, well,” you shrug, “it’s over for us anyways, so I don’t really care anymore,” you proclaim as you take a bite of the cupcake, not even paying attention to the icing smearing all over your face.

The boy next to you only pouts at your argument, not used to seeing you so discouraged. He can’t say you’re not right– hell, he does have eyes and common sense, he can see the row of people waiting for Zhong Chenle’s fries from McDonald’s and pizza from Papa John’s– but still, he expected more determination from your ambitious persona.

“Y/N,” he whines, “it’s okay. Maybe we can still win,” he lies through his teeth, trying to cheer you up.

“Jisung, look at Chenle’s stand.”

“I am looking.”

“Do you still think we can win?”

“No,” he says, “but I thought my white lies could make you feel better.”

“Well, they can’t.”

“Okay, just eat your cupcake, will you?” he mutters, sighing at the state of you. Some freshmen girls come by to buy a cute little cupcake, but the few dollars in your basket right now won’t make any difference to the money moves your moral enemy is making.

“I tried so hard, Jisung,” you mourn with a full mouth, letting your emotions run free, “I tried so hard, and I still got nothing. This is so embarrassing, you can’t even imagine. I was supposed to be the winner, I was supposed to have the masterplan,” you complain, seeing Jisung sympathetically, although a little absent-mindedly, nod at all your points and arguments.

“It’s okay, Y/N, you can’t win all the time. It’s not embarrassing,” he encourages you, slyly taking a cupcake off the tray and biting into it, still acting cautious in case you decide to change your mind and revoke your approval to eat your goods.

“It is! You can’t imagine how defeating this feels.”

“I can see it on your face, sweetheart. Maybe if you stop frowning…?” Jisung mumbles, making you glare at him momentarily, his insides loosening up a little from the image of taking your mind off the issue at hand for just a few seconds.

“We have the last few minutes until the charity event is over!” you hear the voice of professor Lee through a megaphone she borrowed from the drama club, making you grunt. “Everyone, the sale is over at 2pm! Count your money after and bring it to me.”

Sighing, you don’t even try to sell any last-minute cupcakes anymore, opting to gather the money you’ve raised today. Quickly counting it and finding a scrap of paper to scribble down the amount (which is a sad, poor 20 dollars, if any of you were interested), you put the money into a zip-lock back and walk over to your professor, handing it in.

“Why did you rush it? Maybe someone would want-”

“Jisung, just… leave it. I’m over this already,” you say, sitting back next to your best friend, seeing him pout– mirroring your saddened expression– suddenly making you feel bad for impacting the mood of your business partner so much. “But hey, we had fun, didn’t we?”

Jisung looks at you in disbelief, breaking out into a grin at your poor attempt at easing the mood. “I guess we did, yeah,” he notes, “I know I did, although my stomach kind of still hurts from eating all the left-over icing from yesterday.”

“I told you there were raw eggs in that, what if you get salmonella, for fuck’s sake?” you sigh, shaking your head at him.

“It’s not salmonella! I just don’t handle sugar well-”

Your conversation is ended soon with a noise of a gong, signaling that the charity fundraiser was now over and every single stand should stop selling their goods. Looking around, you see the gym slowly empty out, leaving behind only the business majors that participated in the event, all counting up their raised money.

“Dude, I think we got around 150,” you hear Yangyang gasp from the stand next to yours, making you sigh with the information that even the condom stand raised more money than your cupcakes that were baked with care and love (and maybe a little bit of spite for Zhong Chenle. You can’t see it on them, though, so you guess it’s fine).

The next events come by in a whim– everyone hands in the money they raised at the fundraiser, one by one, gossipping about how much they’ve earned and how good they’re doing. Throughout the whole process, your eyes are glued to one person in particular– the one you were competing with in the first place.

Zhong Chenle moves through the place like he owns it, like it’s his own prestigious branch of his successful business, dressed formally, now shrugging off the suit jacket, leaving him only in a stylish white button-down and black pants, leaving you gasping for air. Grinning to his companion, Na Jaemin– although dressed similarly, but not leaving the same impact– you can only imagine how much he’s shit talking you right now, laughing maniacally at the fact that he stole your plan and won with it, taking all the credit and being the best yet again. It makes your stomach turn and twist in angry knots, feeling stupid each time your eyes flash down to his toned forearms when he moves away the things from the little stand, cleaning it up; for if you would’ve paid less attention to the man with the name Zhong Chenle, you wouldn’t feel half as defeated as you do right now.

“Stop ogling him,” Jisung teases, making you grunt.

“I’m trying to kill him with my glare.”

“I think you confused it with heart-eyes, sweetie-”

“If you don’t shut the fuck up right now, I’ll choke you with your favorite pink cupcakes,” you smile at him innocently, making the boy shut up instantly, fearing for his own life.

Professor Lee triumphally stands in the middle of the gym, looking around at everyone. The proud smile on her face tells you that the other stands most likely made more money than yours did, earning the charity a solid amount of money that your university doesn’t have to be ashamed of. The only thing is that you are ashamed– of yourself, though. You thought you’d do better than you did, but you guess you have to come to terms with the fact that you can’t always be the winner.

“Everyone,” the professor starts her speech, “I am really grateful for every single one of you standing here right now. I want to thank you all for your effort, and I also will be grading everyone with an A for this event, because I can see that all of you truly worked your hardest. Now, though, is the time to announce the team that earned the most money, and therefore, won the little competition I made to motivate you.”

Looking around at everyone, you suddenly feel like you’re watching Eurovision, waiting for the points to be added up until 2am, slowly losing your motivation to keep watching further. Professor Lee smiles before she turns to the stand expected to win, making everyone’s suspicions correct.

“The team that made the most money, ladies and gentlemen, is Zhong Chenle and Na Jaemin,” she proclaims, making the boys scream in joy, jumping up and down in their places as they rush into a hug. They look like their hard work has paid off after 20 years of effort, however, the only work they did was steal your plan and buy some fast food… pathetic, really. Seeing the wide grin on Chenle’s face, you find yourself rolling your eyes, especially when your make eye contact with him and quickly force yourself to look away. “However,” the professor continues, making the boy’s faces fall.

“I was met with the information that you two violated the rules,” she says, making Chenle furrow his brows in confusion.

“H-how-”

“You worked with false advertisement, which, as I already said, was against the rules of the whole event.”

“How was this false advertisement?” he asks, getting all defensive. Something inside of you lights up at the sight of him all frustrated, but you wouldn’t say it out loud, for you think Jisung would accuse you of being a sadist.

“What you were supposed to be selling was the food, although I don’t agree with it being store-bought either, but I’m willing to ignore that fact,” she explains, “but what you did instead was sell tickets to your iPad giveaway, which was not in the business plan you’ve given me a few days ago.”

“But professor Lee, it’s not like that-”

“Therefore, you will not get the iPad, and the price goes to the second place, which is Lee Yangyang and Lee Donghyuck. Congratulations, boys.”

The duo on your right fist bumps and screams at the top of their lungs, making everyone in the university gym scowl with the sharp pain in their ears. Now, this wasn’t exactly the outcome you were expecting… you can’t say you hate it, though. Turning to Jisung, ignoring the yells of despair uttered out of the mouth of Zhong Chenle, complaining that condoms weren’t technically allowed as the product for sale, you hug your best friend with stars in your eyes, tugging him closer. He was right with his previous arguments, after all. Not that you'd admit it to him, since you're still super petty, but you're glad you didn't proceed with your innitial plan nonetheless.

“Woah, there,” Jisung gasps as he hugs you back, “we didn’t win, Y/N, though…”

“I know,” you hum into his chest, satisfied.

“So…”

“I’m just happy Zhong Chenle isn’t the winner,” you grin, pulling away from the boy, ready to celebrate the win of the two dumbasses in your business class. You never thought you’d see the day when Chenle is beaten by a duo that rarely attends the class, but you’re more happy than ever to let them indulge in the joy right now.

Hearing someone clear their throat behind you, you turn around. Surprised to see Chenle there, your smile freezes at your face, making you look like you’ve just been paralysed, earning yourself a kick into your shin from Park Jisung sitting at the chair next to you before he excuses himself and leaves for a bathroom break.

“Hi,” you greet as you see Chenle sheepishly look at you, his hands in the pockets of his pants.

“You got me there, Y/N,” he says, shaking his head in disbelief, “I didn’t take you for such a mastermind,” he adds, making you confused.

“What?”

“The plan in your bag… you had it there because you knew I’d take it, didn’t you? You were trying to make me lose all along,” Chenle adds, finally bringing clarity into your brain. He’s not right– you were just too stupid to realise the consequences of your future actions in that moment, but now you’re glad the universe worked in your favor and you were too gullible to trust your moral enemy in the moment. You may have been weak back then, but now, you’re the winner out of the two of you– and you can’t say it doesn’t make your ego rise to enormous heights.

“Y-yeah…” you hum, not realizing your expression gives it away almost immediately, bringing Chenle the last hint of confidence he needs before he takes his next step towards you. The knowledge that you didn’t plan to sabotage him, and that this was self-sabotage all along, makes the boy content– you may hate him, but not as much. The fact that you were so out of your mind to let him take your plans right under your nose must be a hint of something.

“So…” he mumbles, scratching the back of his neck, “what I said back then in the library still stands, though,” he says, chuckling. “I know I kind of lied back then, but now I mean it. I don’t… I don’t really want us to fight anymore, and I actually think the two of us would make a great pair- I mean, friends, so…”

Blinking at him a few times, feeling heat rising to your cheeks, you feel like you’re having another fever dream. There’s no competition right now, no business strategies, no exams to be taken. So… the intentions behind his words must be truthful, right?

“Um, I…” you start, but end up gasping like fish on sand, at a loss for words. Flickering your eyes from his to your feet and back to his shy smile, you feel like your brain is overheating. Curse hormones, really… it can’t be anything other than that. There’s no other reason why your brain keeps contemplating if this is him asking you out, and no reason why you so desperately want that accusation to be true.

“We can hang out after this, if you want,” Chenle suggests, rocking a little in his place, “with- with Jaemin and Jisung as well, since they seemed to get along…” he adds, the hint of blush creeping onto his cheeks making you want to scream into your pillow with overwhelmingness.

“That would be great,” you say, seeing the boy nod at your words, relief visibly flashing behind his eyes.

“Okay, great,” he smiles, “I’ll just get my things and I’ll find you later?”

“Sounds good,” you nod, your brain turning into a foggy mess.

Watching him turn on his heels and walk towards Jaemin standing on the other side of the gym, grinning at his friend with a suggestive wiggle to his eyebrows, you zone out. Is this your reality? Did you shift into another universe where the two of you don’t want to kill each other? How did you even move on from those emotions?

“You okay?” Jisung suddenly emerges from behind you, feeling shocked at the sight of you completely unfocused and still in your movements.

“Mhmm,” you peep, taking deep breaths.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” you nod, turning to your friend. “Do you wanna hang out with Jaemin later?”

You meet Zhong Chenle at 19, hating everything about him with burning passion, despising the way he always made you feel challenged and on your toes. He shakes with your word, turning you into a competitive mess, always trying your best to be better than him at everything, just so you could see the defeated look on his face and get acknowledgement.

When you’re almost 20, you realize that a hint of what you always wanted was acknowledgement from Zhong Chenle.

It might not solve all your problems, but maybe turning less competitive is a start.

#nct #nct dream #chenle #zhong chenle #nct x reader #nct dream x reader #chenle x reader #chenle fluff #chenle scenario #chenle fic #chenle oneshot #chenle fanfic #chenle drabble #nct dream fluff #nct fluff #nct dream scenario #nct dream fic #nct fic

594 notes · View notes

zcls · 2 years

Text

first kiss, z.cl

synopsis you and chenle have been friends since you could begin to speak; every memory has him attached to it. when he asks you to teach him how to kiss before his first date with the girl of his dreams, although you’ve never kissed anyone before, you agree. after a kiss or two— feelings come to the forefront. genre gn!reader x chenle, childhood friends to lovers!au, warnings very small angst (?), mentions of comparing oneself to someone else, making out, kissing chenle for the first time! chenle is a bit handsy when it comes to kissing; nothing too serious! word count 2.7k

chenle was utterly infatuated; not with you, but with someone else. you saw it in his eyes whenever he spoke about the girl that he had been talking to for the past three weeks. you saw it in the spring in his step whenever he walked through your door for saturday movie nights that you two had shared every weekend since you were fourteen, and through the way he canceled on you the previous saturday because he was taking her out on an extravagant date. he viewed her as entirely perfect and although you had never met her in person— you started to see her as perfect too.

the problem with seeing her as perfect from all that you heard from your best friend’s point of view lied within the fact that your heart had been in his palms since your first day of freshman year of high school, when he locked his arm with yours, reassuring you that you would be okay; that he would be by your side through it all. his smile was warm, his eyes were a galaxy full of love for you—a friendly love— and stars all combined. you fell right then, and since, you haven’t been able to pick yourself back up; you haven’t been able to fully piece yourself back together.

now, you sit next to chenle as he types on his phone, an adoring smile plastering his visage that you had come to love so much. the hearty chuckle that escaped his heart-shaped lips caused your heart to ache— you only wished you could make him display such emotions. only in your dreams, that’s the only place where you could make him as happy as she did.

“y/n?” chenle asked, tearing himself away from his phone for a brief second to look over at you, who was shaking unknowingly, from the upset that filled your heart and the thoughts that played throughout your head as if a broken record.

“yes, chenle?” you questioned, turning around to face him. his eyes were still full of that friendly love, but there was a glint of concern that now filled his orbs. your heart ached more at the sight, knowing he could somewhat feel the pain that plagued your heart and filled your every thought. you wondered how he knew you so well; to be able to look at you and instantly know that something was out of the ordinary.

he knew you like the back of his hand though, truth be told. he knew the way your hands trembled when you were upset and how the movements of your hands changed when you were happy; you would do things softer, in a quicker motion, especially when you wrote in your journal. he knew that your lip quivered when you were about to break down in tears and how your eye twitched when you were angry. he knew everything about you, although you didn’t notice— he always paid attention to you, to everything about you.

he also knew that you hated when others asked about how you were feeling— you hated the intrusion. chenle knew that you’d come to him eventually; that you would explain how you are feeling and why you feel such a way. that was the beauty about your friendship; communication was always there.

so, he was going to ask you the next thing that appeared within his mind. he wanted to know how to kiss— how to give someone a genuine kiss, like how they’re portrayed in movies. he wanted his first kiss with the girl he’d been texting to be absolutely perfect, and you were just the person to go to. you were his best friend; you always helped him in times of need and you were always there with him, no matter what.

“do you know how to kiss someone?” he questioned, “like, the right way?” he asked, his face seeming full of anxiety. he had never asked anyone such a question and asking the person he’s had by his side since he was just a little boy seemed to make him even more fearful. he tapped his knee, wishing that he didn’t screw anything up within his relationship with you.

“you don’t know how to kiss her, do you?” you asked, tilting your head to the side, smiling at the boy in front of you whose cheeks were now tainted with crimson.

“i was kinda—,” began the boy, cheeks turning darker at each thought; the pure embarrassment of asking his best friend what was about to escape his champagne colored lips, “wondering if you could show me how to kiss her?”

you nearly choked on your own saliva at his words, heart beating faster and faster each second after. you were at a loss for words. your best friend was asking you, his best friend since the two of you were kids, to teach him how to kiss. hell, you’ve never had your first kiss before. you had no idea what you were supposed to do anyway, so how could you be of help to chenle at all? you felt as if you would only make the situation worse— for both him and your heart.

“you want me to kiss you?” you questioned, now playing softly with the hem of your shirt to distract you from your thoughts. he was all you could think about; from the top of his head where his soft hairs lie to his heels that press him firmly to the ground when he stands. each and every aspect of him filled your mind; it was as if the only thing in the world to exist within your brain was him. for that split moment, you really didn't mind.

"i want to kiss you to test the waters—," chenle said, clearing his throat and looking the other way to avoid any type of awkward eye contact with you, although he knew it wouldn't be that awkward. you were his best friend, after all, you always were there to help him learn new things. "you're my best friend, y/n. it wouldn't be weird at all."

you sighed softly, nodding your head to the boy and seeing his eyes light up with the gleam that you found yourself madly in love with. you saw the entire galaxy within the sole irises of his mahogany orbs and at times, it was almost as if you couldn't pull yourself from staring into them. you were so enamored by the way his eyes showed his emotions when his face didn't need to. each feature about him was perfect, and you wished your brain was merely a camera to capture each moment of him so you could never forget— so he was always there through euphoric memories within your brain when he wasn't in front of you.

without noticing, as you were lost in thought about the boy in front of you, chenle moved himself closer to you so your knees were now touching and you were facing one another. you couldn't help but smile at the goofy look on his face; he always looked so silly when it came to new things, like the time you two went on your first rollercoaster together and held hands the entire way through. he had the silliest of smiles plastered on his visage, but you could see the happiness placed there, too.

in that moment, you realized— chenle was always there for your firsts of something. he was there the first time you ever rode your bike without training wheels, the first time you drove your car with your license. he was there to be your first dance at homecoming your freshman year of high school, and your last during prom when your senior year caught up with you. he was there for you when you got your first pet, and there throughout the nights you sobbed when it left. he was always there to turn to; he was always, without complaint, by your side.

“instead of blabbering on, kiss me already, chenle.” you said finally, trying to loosen the muscles in your body that were tense at the thought of your lips touching. “you won’t learn anything for her if you keep sitting there, you know.”

chuckling at your works, chenle leaned in closer to you, cupping his hands around your face. he smiled softly at you, caressing your cheeks gently with his thumbs. you couldn’t help the swarm of butterflies within your stomach, he was just so beautiful.

from the way his eyes crinkle when he laughs to the way he looks at the things he loves; it was all beautiful. from his head to his feet, from the air above his head to the ground below him— nothing could get any more beautiful than that. you swore that there has never been a being in the world more beautiful—or just as beautiful— as him, and you believed entirely that there would never be enough.

he made you see the world in ways that you would have never seen it before him. the world is certainly not as beautiful as it may seem; as it ranges in beauty and fair ugliness— chenle was surely the true beauty in this cruel, yet, ugly world. no words could possibly describe how truly wonderful he is in your eyes. everything he does, everything he touches— it holds some type of beauty because it has touched him.

the smiles that kisses his lips daily, the reason for light. the laughs that he lets out when he's happy, the reason for happiness. the way he holds your hand when you’re anxious, the way he doesn’t care about what others think of your friendship; the reason to keep trying. the small smiles he gives you when he looks up from his phone and sees you glancing at him; the reason to keep your heart open.

chenle’s lips touched yours, causing you to let out a gasp at his warm touch. his lips were soft and tasted of vanilla, causing you to wonder if he was the one who took your vanilla chapstick from your glovebox. his kiss was an eager one, full of willingness to learn for the girl he liked so very much, and that caused your heart to only become sore at the thought.

he pulled away and looked at you with warm, comforting eyes that also held worry within them. he pursed his lips. “was that good?” he questioned.

you could only nod in response, quietly hoping that he would kiss you again. you felt your heart beating against your ribcage, and you knew that you wanted his lips connected to yours once more. it was as if you entered your own special heaven with his lips attached to yours and with that; it was a heaven you never wanted to leave.

chenle’s thoughts were preoccupied though, with thoughts of you, and just how right it felt kissing you in that moment. you and chenle—the most exciting bunch around. meeting only at age three at a playground and becoming instantly close, you both felt as if you had known each other your entire life.

you went to parties together, you laughed and cried together; you did everything with one another. he helped you study when you were completely lost, always cheering you on with the you're doing great’s and the occasional you got this!’ speeches.

he helped you when things felt like they were crashing down; he made things stable. he made it feel like things were going to get better, with time, at least. he always reminded you how it was okay to make mistakes and that no matter what, you're human. no amount of failures could make you less of a human; they only make you stronger.

late night's with your hands intertwined watching television, he couldn't help but admire how lovely you are— how lucky he is to call you his best friend. the things you did were always in a platonic manner, seeming how you, of course, were merely silent about love and how you wanted to pursue it. he never knew what you wanted, due to the fact that you never initiated anything with him out of your sheer timidness, which caused him to run and stick with people who he didn’t even want anything romantic with. all that because he was waiting— waiting hopelessly for you.

he realized then that he was in love with you, too— that the looks he gave you weren’t out of concern, but out of love. he realized that the things he wrote in his journal about you, including the songs, weren’t just a phase of a young boy feeling puppy love, but rather a boy who was growing up and feeling the love of the most important person in his life.

“can i kiss you again?” chenle asked softly, rubbing the back of his neck as the words escaped his lips. his shyness caught your attention, causing your stomach to erupt with butterflies and euphoria.

“of course, chenle,” you began, “you can kiss me again.” you didn’t even have to finish your sentence before his lips were connected to yours once more. but this time, his kiss was filled with more fervor than what it was to begin with. it was as if he was no longer kissing you for practice, but as if he asked to kiss you again to genuinely kiss you.

your lips molded perfectly together as you kissed, his hands rubbing the outer part of your thighs. you then moved yourself to straddle his lap, having him chuckle against your lips at the movement. you had no idea what you were doing, honestly, there was nothing except passion filling your brain. you wanted to kiss him until you could no longer breathe— you wanted to kiss him until the world ended and you hoped that if it did, you could find a possible way to kiss him again.

as you straddled his lap, his hands found their way underneath your shirt to softly caress your waist. you felt yourself fall more in love with the boy in front of you, whom you were currently making out with. you would have never ever thought you’d be in this position with chenle, your best friend, who you believed was in love with someone else.

you pulled away to look at him, your eyes glimmering with love and lust to kiss him once again. you couldn’t help but think— why were you two in this position? was it because he saw you as someone he could potentially be with, or was it because it was his way of practicing for the girl he was supposed to see in the upcoming days?

“chenle,” you breathed as the boy leaned his forehead to touch yours; a meaningless gesture to some, but you felt your heart swell up. it was romantic, and you couldn’t get enough.

“yeah, baby?” he asked, causing you to feel dizzy at the nickname that he rarely gave you unless you were upset and he was calming you down.

“was that—,” you begin, catching yourself shaking slightly at the thought of the words that were just about to fall from your lips, “for practice? you know, for your date in a few days?”

chenle only laughed at you, his mellifluous laugh filled the air as you stared back at him. he was so beautiful when he laughed— he always looked as if he was the happiest being alive when he did so, and nothing made you happier than seeing his inexplicable happiness.

“i wouldn’t have kissed you again if it weren’t for you.” he said, now caressing your hips with his thumbs since you didn’t leave your previous position of atop his lap. “i realized halfway through our first kiss that you are the only person i ever want to kiss.”

you felt your cheeks heat up with crimson; “you want to only kiss me?” you inquired, causing the boy to shake his head before leaning down and kissing you again.

“more than you’ll ever know,” he said softly against your lips— leaving your heart in flutters.

you no longer had to worry about chenle and his short-lived relationships with others, because you knew now that his heart was yours, entirely yours. as the tears brimmed your mahogany eyes, you reached for his hand and kissed it gently. with his hand in yours, you sat in a comfortable silence for a moment, adoration filling the air.

449 notes · View notes

neodaydreams · 2 years

Text

YOUNG HEART| Z.CL(PREVIEW)

Pairing: Idol! Chenle x Stylist! Reader

Genre: angst, coming of age, strangers-to friends-to lovers, hurt/comfort, right person wrong time

W.c: 0.456k

Summary: after long years of living in an abusive household and watching your father ruin his life and the life of those around him, it's no wonder you have a hard time adjusting to your mother's new marriage and overall luxurious and privileged life. Wanting to help to get over your past traumas, your stepdad makes a deal that he will pay for you to finish your degree in London's Central Saint Martin with the condition that you will work in nct dream styling team for the rest of the year.

Warnings: alcohol consumption, smoking, mentions of alcohol abuse, gambling addiction and domestic abuse. Reader has ptsd and major daddy issues, fem reader.

"would you like anything else?" Y/n asked forcing a smile, trying to get the mental image of strangulating your boss of of her head.

"you can iron the suits." She answered without taking her eyes of the paper where she draw the clothes for the next comeback. Relieved y/n didn't hesitated to agree with her head and make her away out the room, this a time a genuine smile forming in her lips. For the first time her boss hasn't complain about the coffee, maybe she had finally learned how to it right.

"Y/n this is decaffeinated." Or maybe not, well at least this time she almost made it through the door, it was already some advance. "How many times do I have to tell you?" Sung Mi yelled and y/n closed her fists trying to take a deep breath while she walked back to her bosses desk. "Go make another one now.”

"I'm sorry, that mistake won't happen again." Y/n said grabbing the cup.

"Yeah, you say that everyday." Y/n bitted her inner cheek to keep her from saying anything that get her in trouble, exiting the room as quickly as she could.

When her stepdad got her a internship as the assistant of nct dream head stylist, making coffee wasn't what she envisioned as her principal task. She didn't even liked coffee, how was she was supposed to know how that stupid machine worked.

"Could you make me a coffee too?" Chenle's teasing voice close tho y/n ear made her jolt forward in surprise.

"you scared me," y/n said feeling blood accumulating in her cheeks. Chenle chuckled standing by her side now.

Chenle slowly pushed her to the side taking her place in from of the machine dealing with it with no problem.

"here, Sang Mi likes her coffee almost as strong as Jaemin does." Chenle said handling her a new cup of coffee while flashing his sweet smile that never failed to make y/n heart to skip a beat.

“thank you." Y/n said trying to fight away her shyness hoping he wouldn't notice how nervous he'd make her.

“no problem, you can always count on me if need help with anything." Y/n could swear her heart was about to jump out of her chest.

"if I don't go now Sang Mi is probably going to kill me." The girl said flustered, trying as hard as she could not be awkward. "see you later." That was said without a thought.

Y/n walked away without giving Chance the chance to answer, cursing herself all the away until the room Sang Mi worked in.

Don't be stupid Y/n, it's not the time to get attached, not when you're gonna leave.

She repeated to herself over and over again.

#nct angst #nct dream #nct fanfic #nct dream angst #nct fluff #chenle #zhong chenle #chenle angst #chenle imagines #nct scenarios #nct drabbles #nct reactions #nct x reader #chenle scenarios #chenle reactions #chenle drabble

104 notes · View notes

blu-joons · 2 years

Text

BEST FRIEND NCT A⇴Z HEADCANON ⇴ Zhong Chenle

A ⇴ ATTENTION

He would pretty much always find himself paying attention to you just because it was what felt like instinct for Chenle. It was as if there was a magnet on you quite a lot of the time that just drew him towards you.

B ⇴ BICKER

Having a bicker wasn’t something that the two of you were particularly big on, it wasn’t something that happened often. The most you’d usually do was mutter under your breaths as you didn’t like to let the other one hear you when you were having a go at one another or say it aloud to start something unnecessary.

C ⇴ COMFORT

He would always be with you when you needed comforting, Chenle would talk to you all night long if that was what he needed to do for you. He didn’t mind if it meant not going to sleep, most of the time he couldn’t sleep anyway because he was too busy worrying about you and wanting to solve your problems for you.

D ⇴ DISAGREEMENTS

Neither of you were big on disagreements, you both were pretty good at squashing an argument if it felt like something was starting. You knew the signs, as did Chenle, and so when one of you suggested changing the subject, the other person would always disagree. If it was something particularly troubling, then you’d stall it and talk about it sensibly when you were both feeling a little bit calmer.

E ⇴ EARLY YEARS

It took a little bit of time for the two of you to settle around one another, but once you began to bond and notice the similar interests that you had, it made things a lot easier. You found yourselves getting along because you could talk about the same thing and add to the conversation by asking the other whether they knew a certain thing attached to that interest, and if they didn’t, then you’d tell them about it.

F ⇴ FAMILY

Chenle’s family could never quite describe just how much you meant to them, knowing that Chenle had you was a huge comfort to them all. Anytime that they got to talk to you, they always let you know how much they liked you and how they couldn’t wait to see you again so that they could treat you and thank you for being there for Chenle, keeping him company and making sure that he was healthy too.

G ⇴ GETTING TOGETHER

He loved to invite you to his place when Chenle wanted to hang out with you, he was very cautious about being out with you too often and allowing you to get swarmed by fans. Being able to close out the rest of the world by staying at his home and away from everything was definitely Chenle’s favourite thing to do.

H ⇴ HABITS

The two of you had a habit of knowing exactly what the other person was going to say. Quite often you would finish each other’s sentences, much to the surprise of others around you, but never to the surprise of each other, as you always had a pretty good feeling of what the other person was hinting at.

I ⇴ INSIDE JOKES

Together the two of you had many inside jokes, you kept them written in a list too so that you could make sure that you never forgot them. When the two of you were talking about the past, or if you wanted to try and make the other person smile then you’d get the list up and talk about your favourite jokes.

J ⇴ JEALOUSY

He couldn’t help but be quite judgemental of your other friends, Chenle only wanted the best for you, and that included the people that you surrounded himself with. He never wanted to consider himself as jealous of those around you, but Chenle would certainly take the time to get to know them and form an opinion of them based on what he saw, even if he decided to keep that opinion to himself.

K ⇴ KICKS

Chenle got a kick out of knowing that he was your best friend. It was little things like how you’d turn to him when you needed help or someone to make you smile before you turned to anyone else that meant the most to him, getting a great deal of satisfaction from knowing that he was your number one person.

L ⇴ LOVE

He loved how easy everything was with you, conversation, enjoyment and laughter was never forced when Chenle was with you. Things between you both could best be described as effortless, you knew how the other one worked, what they liked, when they were feeling down, all of the little things that added together to make getting along with one another pretty much the easiest job that either of you had.

M ⇴ MEETING

The two of you first met when Chenle first signed to as SM and you were working there. You noticed that he seemed a little lost, and through the language barrier you tried to point him in the right direction, bumping into him a few more times and helping him before eventually introducing yourself properly.

N ⇴ NONSENSE

He loved the fact he could be himself with you, he never had to be conscious or worry. It took a bit of time for him to get that comfortable around you, but as soon as he was, Chenle never held back after.

O ⇴ OBSESSION

Chenle was obsessed with your kindness and how you were such a good friend to him. He felt lucky more than anything else to have such a good friend in you who was always there for him when he needed you.

P ⇴ PRECIOUS MOMENTS

Seeing you with his family were always the moments that meant the most to Chenle. Even if you were talking to them over the phone and struggling to understand because of the dodgy signal, he still loved to just sit back and see the smile that was on your face and the smile that his family had too.

Q ⇴ QUESTIONS

If he had something he needed answering, you were the one that he turned to. You were smart in his eyes, and he knew that if he ever got confused that most of the time you were the one who could help him out.

R ⇴ RANDOM FACTS

In the spare room of his apartment, Chenle had a box under his bed of your things so that you always had the essentials whenever you suddenly decided to spend the night at his. He invited you to stay so often that the box saved you from a lot of wasted journeys back to your place to pick up a few things.

S ⇴ SUPPORT

Without his family always there to cheer him on, Chenle relied on you a lot to be that voice to give him a boost when he needed it. Whenever he was beginning to doubt himself, you were the first person that he called, letting you know that he was nervous, and then letting you reassure him not to be.

T ⇴ TRIPS

Nothing made him smile more than the first time that he was able to take you home, Chenle was so proud to introduce you to all of those that meant the most to him as his best friend, he had a huge smile on his face.

U ⇴ ULTIMATE

He was lucky beyond belief to have you, which was something that those around him often made sure that Chenle knew too.

V ⇴ VISITS

Most of the time Chenle would invite you to his place when he was bored, even if you were far away, he’d send a car to go and get you, trying his best to counteract any excuses that you tried to give him to not visit.

W ⇴ WISDOM

He prided himself on being helpful when you were struggling and would bombard you with advice to help you solve your concerns.

X ⇴ XXXX

The two of you weren’t massive on affection with one another, you tended to hug or poke each other, but it was never really anything too dramatic from either of you as that wasn’t really your styles.

Y ⇴ YOU

You were his support, Chenle turned to you whenever he needed a boost.

Z ⇴ ZZZ

Having his home place definitely made it easy for Chenle to offer you his place to stay when you hung out. He loved having you there for company quite a lot of the time, letting you stay for as long as you wanted.

---

Masterlist

77 notes · View notes

neotism · 2 years

Text

𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐘 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐍 ➳ ᴢ.ᴄʟ

➥ originally written in part of ❝ 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖈𝖗𝖔𝖜𝖓 ❞ collaboration.

⤷ pairing(s): chenle x fem!reader

⤷ genre(s): pretty neutral mix of both fluff and bittersweetness, con artist!au, mafia!au

⤷ warning(s): mentions of death, murder, and running away???

⤷ word count: 1.594k

⤷ synopsis: a fall from grace; would that still make you the king? prestige, fame, and fear, stripped away quicker than one can blink. whether tainted or pure, notoriety is like a drug. addiction can kill. soon, it might also be your turn to go as well. so, would you run away too?

⤷ a/n: get ready to be disappointed muahaha :>

When he puts it like that, he makes it seem as if he’s a bad boy for you. But in fact, it’s enough to swindle your heartstrings. A real scheming scammer, he is. Just another cruel con man.

Actually, the best and highest paying con artist of the century.

So when he dropped by your house, it is inexplicably only going to complicate things.

“What in the world are you doing here?” Your voice raises into a whisper shout, undaring to wake all your neighbours up at 3 am in the morning.

In a sweater that you grasp closer to your chest, the autumn air chills your skin. Studying his disheveled appearance, your eyes zero in on the bleeding wound on his face. A perfect swipe across his cheek, oozing with his red blood, dripping with deadly potency.

“And who did that to you?”

At the question, Chenle sighs, his shoulders sagging with an undeniable worrisome lack of spirit. He seems to be out of it of some sorts.

“I’m sorry, y/n. I’m sorry.”

His apologies quiver in the cold night.

“I know I shouldn’t be here, but I am.”

His confession is blatant with evidential guilt. It’s been a whole year and he still hasn’t been able to sleep properly.

Observing the shell of a man for a mere second, your shoulders are wrecked with another sigh. “Just come in. It’s late already.” You push the door wider for him to enter and trust that he still can lock the door.

As he wanders in, your back is busily preparing cups of warm tea. His jaded, dull pupils scan your living room. Everything is still in its place, nothing has changed. Part of him is relieved but also dreadful.

It seems as if his impact had merely been a fleeting existence. He didn’t move you like you moved him. It leaves a bittersweet taste; he’s glad you haven’t changed yet bitter to know he wasn’t the change.

When you round the kitchen corner, you find him drifting off into space. His eyes barely flutter, staring mindlessly at a picture frame.

You follow his gaze, spotting the frame with a picture taken in your 4th year of elementary school. The flowers from the trees were abundant, blooming only in the spring. That day, it was windy, sending trails of petals in the wake of the tree’s shade. It was a school trip to visit the cherry blossoms in Shanghai. So as memento, the teacher had a class picture snapped.

On the left end of the photo stood a shy girl, clutching her teacher’s hand with a tiny smile. Following on the opposite end, on the far right, was a boy who was laughing. Shoulder locked with his classmates, he shared their howling laughter and clearly he was popular.

Exhaling once more, you take a seat down, sliding Chenle a cup of soothing tea. He’s awakened from his daze, met with your pretty features in his view. And for a second, your appearance causes him to freeze in place.

“What? Is there something on my face?” You blink in concern as his penetrating look makes you shift around.

Shaking himself out of that trance, he shakes his head. “No, sorry.”

Admittedly, if one of the world’s most notorious con artists’ was to proclaim your beauty aloud, wouldn’t it make you uncomfortable?

Not believing him, you divert your irises, glancing down at your cup before sipping. “Why are you back here, Chenle?”

He hesitates for a moment. “Is it so wrong to visit?”

“Yes.” Your curt and clear answer slices the tension in the atmosphere. “Chenle, you can’t be here.”

Inhaling deeply, his pupils lock with yours. “I know.”

“So then, why? Why are you here?”

“Because I wanted to tell you something before it’s too late.”

You wonder if he knows. That the words of a king are the words of the law. A proclivity to incite the furrowed brows and hunched back, even now is the emperor clutching death like a mantra.

Eyebrows raised, you survey his earnest mood. “Before it’s too late?”

A minute passes before he even begins to speak. “I left you because I was a man of pride.”

In the wake of the sudden subject, you give him the time to compose himself and gather his thoughts.

“But it seems like even though I had pride, I left you because I wanted to protect you. But even that wasn’t enough.” The exhaustion is more distinct as he continues speaking. Almost as if he wasn’t able to have any sleep for several days.

“Y/n,” he says your name softly. “Run away.” His voice is faint, like a whisper, easily lost to the wind.

Shock, surprise, disbelief are just the core feelings that are elicit from you. It’s particularly hard to fathom his intent. Is it to hurt you again? “Why?” Your breathless tone lingers in the stiff air.

“They’ve found you, y/n.” He starts, his tone edging onto the desperate side.

Perhaps you had a lapse in judgment because you firmly shake your head. “They have no evidence.”

Chenle makes a face. “You think they won’t kill you if they don’t have evidence? Y/n, they kill in cold blood.”

“I’m not moving, Chenle.”

His frown deepens. “A raid happened a day ago. NCT has been found. They are planning to wipe us out.”

“And that includes me?” you ask.

He nods. “That includes you.”

“How did they even know if I was related to NCT?”

A strange silence overcomes the space. It encloses the both of you, making the air harder to breathe.

Soon, Chenle finds his words again, or rather the courage to speak the truth. “In our files, mine in particular, someone has put you down as a connection.” He doesn’t meet your eyes. “We even had a separate file on your information.”

Displeased, you cross your arms. “So you guys spied on me? That’s a breach of personal privacy.”

“Security reasons, y/n.” And you can’t argue with his statement.

So, you change the subject. “Who’s they?”

He passes you a blank look. “You don’t know?”

“No? To be fair, you’ve made too many enemies to even begin counting.” You shrug in return.

“Fair enough,” he halfheartedly agrees, waving a haphazard hand. “But, y/n. You need to leave soon. They could be on their way as we speak.”

Tutting your chin out at him, you raise an eyebrow. “Well, if they decide to stop by, I’m always ready-”

Thud.

As if proving you wrong, a loud slam wakes you right up. Jerking his head to scan for incoming threats, Chenle gets up with a practiced stance. Offering a reassuring smile, he takes your hand without a word. “They’re here. Y/n, what are you going to do?”

His question reverberates within your ears, your once warm teas now forgotten.

For once, you’re kind of speechless. Breathing from your nostrils, you sigh. “You weren’t joking?”

“No.” A light smile grazes his cheeks. Despite the urgency of the matter at hand, Chenle took no time to idle about it. Instead, he took the opportunity to stare. At the features he so misses, always endearing to him.

Though, an abrupt bang from within the compound shakes him from his trance. “Don’t die here, yeah? Go, y/n.”

“Run. I’ll hold them off for a bit.” His urgency is heard in the way he tugs on your sleeve, helping you raise to your feet with a hand.

Today might actually be Chenle’s first day to ever see your complexion morph into a glare. Directed at him, he stares at you in confusion. “No… Have you gone crazy, Chenle?”

With your accusing question, Chenle frowns. “No, I haven’t.”

“Then any sane person would go together. Why are you trying to do this by yourself?” you ask, vehemently denying his proposal. “Now, hurry up. You’ve been spouting too much nonsense. They might catch up to us.”

Not a word more as you spin around, prepping with an emergency bag you always had in your closet. Chenle stares blankly at your back, once more, it faces him. How many more times will he have to see it? Why does he keep saying things that make you turn away?

Sighing, running a hand through his tangled locks, he grimaces. “You’re willing to risk that, y/n?”

The sound of thudding and pounding seem to be at a peak, but it scares you little as you put on a brave face. “What’s there to be scared of when I’m with the world’s scariest con man?”

At that, he snickers. “You got me there. Let’s go.” Swiftly, Chenle takes hold of your hand and guides you through the back door.

NCT, a swift tumble from grace, hitting the brick hard concrete with a simple slipup.

Perhaps their era is fatefully ending. But nobles will not sit and wait, not when they have all the resources to reconvene.

Hand in hand, your feet fly across pavements in perfect rhythm. As if you haven’t spent a year apart from him.

Kings all have had to conceal the nasty scars they’ve garnered. He’s no different.

So, as for once a change, your orbs take in the breathtaking smile that you so missed. Chenle turns his head slightly, enough for you to see the debonair grin that crosses his lips.

This king, in deep turmoil, hardly has time. However, he can’t help but to feel content with the sweet affirmation of a smile you return.

Remember, a king, fallen or not, will always have his queen.

⤷ tagged: ☆ (send an ask, comment, or message if you’d like to be tagged! the more the merrier!)

⤷ a/n: oh my, what a strange journey… i haven’t written about mafia dealings in such a long time. so hope this, equating to stretching my limbs, will satisfy the thrill-seeking chenle world domination fans hahah

✧ i do not own any of the pictures used.

#rereading my old stuff is weird #chenle fic #zhong chenle fic #nct dream fanfic #nct dream fic #nct drabble #nct scenarios #zhong chenle drabble #zhong chenle fanfic #zhong chenle scenarios #chenle fanfic #chenle drabble #chenle scenarios

25 notes · View notes

ohmygs-blog · 2 months

Text

calling dreamies pretty boy.

1K notes · View notes

marklease · 4 months

Text

asking bf dreamies for separate beds

telling clingy dreamies you wanna start sleeping in separate beds. enjoy!

requests open, i’m back everyone! 🥺🫶

#i also just noticed that my banner image doesn’t have renjun WHAT #i’m so sorry renjun girlies #nct dream #nct #nct 2023 #nct drabbles #nct fake texts #nct fanfic #nct fluff #nct imagines #mark lee #haechan #lee jeno #renjun #jisung #jaemin #chenle

2K notes · View notes

niki-phoria · 5 months

Text

⋆｡°✩ i feel like we made it pretty far / now we're stargazing

pairing: chenle x gn!reader (no pronouns used) genre: fluff word count: 290

a/n: pls forgive any mistakes i wrote this in like 20 mins skndls

thinking about gamer bf!chenle…

the sun had set long ago, leaving only the rainbow led lights decorating chenle’s pc to illuminate your shared dorm room. his arms rest lazily wrapped around your waist; his chin is perched to rest gently against your shoulder. you shiver when he occasionally leans down to press feather-light kisses against your skin.

chenle’s voice is soft when it cuts through the tranquil quiet of your room, only broken by his raspy whispers of which direction you should travel in or which controls to use. his fingertips occasionally tap along to a silent melody against your hips.

chenle leans back in his chair, gently tugging you backwards until your back is pressed fully against his chest. you sigh softly when his fingertips slip just underneath the stolen t-shirt covering your body to unconsciously trace unidentifiable shapes into your skin.

he halfheartedly watches as you continue to progress through the game, only occasionally speaking up to quip about your performance and chuckling when he’s met with a snarky rebuttal in return. eventually chenle falls completely silent. he can feel his attention slowly slipping away from the game - the hd quality graphics being forgotten in favour of watching your reactions.

smiling to himself, he almost misses it entirely when you twist around to face him. “you’re quiet.” you playfully narrow your eyes, letting the upcoming boss fight be momentarily ignored. “too quiet. what’s wrong?”

“nothing,” chenle simply shakes his head before leaning in to quickly steal a kiss. “i’m glad you’re having fun.”

you raise a hand to cup chenle’s cheek, gently stroking your thumb against his soft skin before leaning in to steal a sweet kiss of your own. “having you here makes it even better.”

if you enjoyed this fic, please consider leaving a like, comment, feedback, or rebloging !! and if you want to support me, consider checking out my nct dream masterlist <3

165 notes · View notes

naids4luv · 4 months

Note

bae what if the dreamies pranked their lover this time? 😂😂 like get a taste of your own medicine now 😭

! dreamies pranking reader !

waittt i really like this idea,, thank u for requesting !!😽😽😋😋

mark, renjun and jeno :

haechan and jaemin :

chenle and jisung :

1K notes · View notes

marksmelodies · 4 months

Text

chenle suggestive bf texts *minors dni*

i love writing for all the dreamies but writing for chenle is literally my favorite thing ever

1K notes · View notes

rrxnjun · 2 years

Text

you're not the only one ;; zcl

pairing: zhong chenle x fem! reader genre: camp counselor! au | slice of life, coming of age, fluff, angst word count: 4.8k (4.846) warnings: minor character death, mention of terminal illness a/n: the first version of this fic was written some time last year,, i wasn't satisfied with it at all so i completely deleted it and started it over with a slightly different idea O:-) hope you like it haha

synopsis: 4 weeks and 4 times of you watching the sky with zhong chenle at different times of the day. in the cycle of life, you finally find solace; hundreds of kilometres away from your home. your soul finally finds its peace as zhong chenle helps you heal, and now, you'll never be alone.

blue monday series | playlist

In May my heart was breaking- Oh, wide the wound, and deep! And bitter it beat at waking, And sore it split in sleep.

And when it came November, I sought my heart, and sighed, "Poor thing, do you remember?" "What heart was that?" it cried. (Dorothy Parker; Autumn Valentine)

[WEEK ONE] – the only birds that never sleep

Birds chirping and grasshoppers jumping along the stems of lively green; sun beaming at the cheeks of cheery children running along the calming meadow. Laughter slowly creeps along the space, summer seeps itself into every bone that walks the earth on this fine day.

Inside of this scenery, there’s a pair of friends laying on the ground, shielding their eyes from the sun. The boy carelessly sits his limbs all across the grass, a position so starfish-like you’d laugh at him if you saw him from above. His friend lies in a similar matter, although a little more reserved with the space she covers.

It’s Zhong Chenle and Y/N Y/L/N, the kids whisper.

Everyone around knows your name. As they should, though. As their camp counselor, you have the responsibility of no more than eleven small children running around the summer camp, and you made it your job to learn their names the first second they arrived, so nobody would feel left out. Each one of them is as smiley as the sun itself, and even though you didn’t really want to get a job this summer, you suddenly don’t regret it one bit now.

“Look at that cloud. Doesn’t it look like a dog with floppy ears?” you muse excitedly, pointing at the fluffy ball of a cloud above you, sitting in the blue sky.

Looking to your right, you are met with Zhong Chenle’s profile. His brows furrow for just a second, eyes searching through the space in front of him, trying to find the cloud you’re talking about so he can judge your imagination.

“That’s obviously a frog,” he mutters, sighing, “you’re really bad at this, you know?”

Gasping, you act fakely offended for a minute. “Excuse you? I’m really good at this. When I was in kindergarten, I was the first one to always point out clouds and tell the teachers what they looked like and I always got praised for it.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean you were good at it,” he chuckles, “if any of those little ducklings came up to you and told you that your dog with floppy ears looks like a boat, would you tell them they are wrong? Obviously not, they’re children.”

“So you admit that it looks a bit like a dog with floppy ears?” you perk up, grinning.

“Of course not,” he snickers, “it’s a frog with big eyes.”

Sighing, you lay back down into the grass, relaxing into the heated sun. Talking with Zhong Chenle isn’t always the most fun experience, because he likes to bring your ego down as much as he is physically able to, but you like the guy. He’s a camp counselor as well, if anyone hasn’t realized by now, and he was assigned to be in charge of the eleven ‘ducklings’, as he likes to call them, with you. You were a little hesitant to work with him at first, since he looked a bit cold and reserved, but once he smiled at you for the first time while introducing himself a few days ago, you felt an instant wave of relief wash over you and calm you down.

“You have big eyes,” you mutter, offended.

“What the-”

“Language. There’s kids around,” you look over at him, a teasing smile plastered onto your face. He smiles at you ironically, rolling his eyes at you.

“I don’t cuss.” he mutters.

“Sure you don’t.”

“Chenle! Chenle!” a voice of a kid calls from the other side of the meadow, the young man next to you stands and runs over. It’s not a panicked voice, but an excited one, rather– so you don’t have to worry about what’s happening to the little boy calling for your friend’s name. Sometimes, the children just want to show him something and he has to act all excited for them and ruffle their hair when they speak so delightedly– an action you find rather adorable, but would never tell the man out loud.

Standing up from your place, you watch him jog over to the little boy. He looks so careless and youthful here; almost like he belongs with the children, destined to play with them forever and forget what's waiting for him once summer ends and he has to leave the camp. And you like it this way; surrounded by nature, away from everything at home. Maybe your mum was right when she told you to find a job for summer. It's kind of freeing, in a way.

“Y/N!” you hear a pleading voice somewhere behind you. Turning around, you find a little girl– one of your eleven ducklings– standing there, a pout sitting on her face.

“Hyunjin?” you ask, a hesitant smile covering your features.

“Can you help me make a flower crown?” she asks.

Giggling at her hesitance, you rush her over with a gesture of your hand. “Come sit with me, we will make some flower crowns together.”

Taking the dandelions scattered around the meadow, you start to tie the stems together and show the little one how it’s done. She struggles a bit, her fingers not as long and experienced as yours are, but you help her hold the flowers together and do the difficult parts for her. You remember making flower crowns with your mother when you were little. She always sang to you as you two tied the long, green stems together, the atmosphere providing a calming memory to you. Sometimes you miss the joy of growing up; finding that you must have lost your youth too soon, but here, surrounded by reckless laughter and smiley faces, you almost feel like you’re healing something inside of you that you didn’t even know was broken.

“It’s so pretty!”

“Isn’t it?” you muse, offering Hyunjin a cheerful smile. “Wanna make another one?”

Plopping the flower crown you made onto her head, you watch her nod and smile. You hope you’re creating a happy memory for the little girl. You hope she remembers this once she’s your age, enveloped by the hug of care you’re trying to provide to every single one of the little humans running around the buzzing meadow.

You’ll have to go back to the camp in a few minutes, needing to catch dinner with everyone, but you figure you have enough time left to make at least two more flower crowns with the calm girl.

“Y/N?” she whispers, looking up at you through her long eyelashes.

“Yes?”

“Do you… do you like Chenle?” she asks, the eight-year-old’s innocence making you almost melt in the beams of sunlight shining down on you, a giggle escaping your lips at her question.

“He’s nice, isn’t he?” you muse, watching her nod almost a little hurriedly. “Do you like Chenle?”

Gasping, the little girl looks embarrassed. Cheeks turning red and eyes drifting away from you, an action instantly telling you the deepest secret this little body holds, you elbow her slightly to the ribs, a sibling-like action making you tease her. “You like Chenle, don’t you?”

“I don’t!” she pouts, shaking her head.

“I won’t tell him,” you whisper sincerely, leaning over to be closer to her ear, “I promise. It’s gonna be our little secret, alright?”

Hesitantly looking up at you and meeting your eyes, the little girl nods and chews on her bottom lip in shyness. “Okay… maybe I do like him a little. He’s cute,” she shrugs.

Giggling at her stance, you encouragingly smooth down her back. Noticing that she’s done with her flower crown, she holds it up to you and looks at you with big eyes and a hopeful glance behind them. “For you.”

“For me?” you gasp, putting your hands up to your chest in surprise.

She nods happily, a smile greeting her features. You lean down for her, allowing the little hands to settle the flower crown on top of your head. Once you straighten your back again and look at her, you’re met with a prideful smile and a clap of her hands, not being able to keep her excitement inside anymore.

“Do I look pretty?” you ask.

“Mhm,” she nods.

“Well thank you, dear Hyunjin! Now, go gather all your friends and tell them we’re going back to the camp in a few, okay?” you say, watching the little girl drift off and run around the meadow with the yellow crown on her head, telling the girls that they have to gather around you, because you’ll have to go soon.

Hearing footsteps in the grass, you turn around and watch Chenle coming back to you.

“What were you girls doing?” he asks as he crouches down next to you, his hands clasped as if he was hiding something inside of them.

“Making flower crowns,” you muse, taking the one sitting in your lap and plopping it on the top of his head, making him giggle. The yellow of the dandelions makes his eyes glow like honey in the bright sun, his cheeks reddening with what you assume is the beginning of a sunburn, and not a blush, because Chenle never grows shy with anyone. Examining him for a second, you get out: “You look cute. It suits you.”

“Do I?” he asks, his tone almost a little too teasing for your liking. Rolling your eyes at him, you shrug.

“Can’t I call my homie cute?” you huff out, offended.

“Of course you can,” he muses, an innocent look on his features now, driving you crazy. Zhong Chenle surely can be annoying when he tries.

“What were you and the boys doing?” you ask the counter-question, interested in the way he was spending his time.

“Oh, nothing important… actually, let me show you,” he grins, bringing his clasped hands towards you.

Opening them right in front of your face, a bug– a shining, green grasshopper– peeks at you for a millisecond before it jumps out of his hands and lands somewhere on your face. Squealing, you quickly get on your feet and try to pry the bug off your face, terror running through your veins at the image of its prideful eyes staring at you maliciously before it attacked you runs through your brain.

After a few seconds of running your hands along your body and dusting yourself off, making sure the bug is nowhere to be found, you glare at him. The sight of him laughing so much he bends over, the music of his high-pitched giggle flying across the meadow, makes you even more infuriated, folding your arms at your chest.

“I’m going to kill you in your sleep, Zhong Chenle. Sleep with one eye open tonight.”

“Please, Y/N,” he gets out through his laughter, seemingly out of breath, “don’t be so brutal. There’s kids around,” he repeats your previous argument, only making you more mad at his actions.

“And to think I gave you a flower crown… You best believe I’ll remember this. And I will make you pay.”

[WEEK TWO] – pushed a lot back, but I can’t forget it

“It’s so quiet,” you mutter, “finally…”

“Right?” Chenle sighs next to you, settled in the orange hue, shades of red making his features sharp when you dare to look at them.

The blanket beneath your bodies is enough to make you just the right amount of warm– it’s no longer as heated as it is in the sunny hours of the afternoon, but you also don’t have to wear a jacket just yet. It’s the last few hours of the evening– the kids finally went to their rooms, meaning that you now have time for yourself in calm and silence.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” you ask, pointing to the sky in front of you.

When you told Chenle you wanted to show him something, he didn’t know what you meant. It’s not like you’re a local that would know the deepest depths of this small town, there was nothing for you to show him that would wow him as much. The few minutes you had for yourself every day, when the responsibility you had for the small children running around wasn’t on you, weren’t enough to find something groundbreaking, right?

But he was wrong– you didn’t have to find anything. The sight in front of you was something you don’t have to search for, it’s something that comes to you uninvited, seeping to your bones and making you believe that the visit has a much deeper meaning than just to make you awe at the colors blooming into each other in the evening sky.

The view heals you, in a way. And maybe, in the deepest depths of it all, the presence of each other heals you two as well.

“It is. It’s so beautiful,” he mumbles, agreeing with you. In reality, there’s no way anyone would ever disagree with your statement on this. Everyone with eyes can appreciate the simple beauty of a sunset.

Shyly looking over at him, noticing his awestruck gasp, you wonder if he appreciates the simplicity of what’s in front of your eyes just as much as you do. Seeing the sunset is so much more to you than a pretty view– it reminds you of someone, in a way, and even though the connection is a strange one, as some would believe, you think your little brother is there somewhere, in the sunset, telling you that it’s gonna be okay.

“I’m glad I decided to come work here,” you muse. “I was a little hesitant at first, but I can now recognise that it was a good decision.”

“Why were you hesitant?” Chenle asks, full of curiosity.

“You know… I don’t even like kids that much,” you laugh out, suddenly feeling silly. Sitting with Chenle in a solace always somehow makes you want to open up to him. You think it’s a good thing– it’s been hard for you to do so in recent years.

“You don’t?” he asks, taken aback.

“Yeah,” you snicker, “I’m bad with children. I struggle a lot.”

“It doesn’t seem that way, you know,” he mumbles, “you are doing well, from what I’ve seen.”

Smiling at him in appreciation, you shrug. “I’m trying. It’s something I had to do for myself. And I’m actually reminded of the younger version of me when I see them, so it’s like I’m rekindling my lost childhood when I’m with them.”

Chenle looks at you with eyes full of understatement, even though the intentions behind your words are still unclear sometimes. He may not know the full story and maybe, he never will, but in moments like these, he’s full of understatement and silent comfort. And if that’s all you need from him right now, he’s eager to give it to you.

“To them, you’re everything you needed when you were their age,” he says, getting what you were trying to get across to him.

“Yeah,” you nod. “I mean, it’s not like I had a bad childhood. Some things just… made it more difficult for me to fully enjoy it. Sometimes I feel like my youth got stolen away one morning and I could never get it back. I get that it was inevitable, but I’m trying to let myself mourn it more without feeling guilty these days.”

He nods, not asking questions. He figures that you’ll tell him once you’re ready. He may be just another teenager, stuck in summer camp with a bunch of little children depending on his every move, but with you, he finds an isle of clarity and calm. With you, he relaxes.

He’s known you for a little over 13 days now. In a week, you’ll be a thousand miles away. It’s not like these moments will last forever, but perhaps that’s what’s making you so open and vulnerable to him right now. He won’t try to break you with more prying questions and unsolicited curiosity.

“It’s okay to mourn something that was taken away from you,” he says.

Looking at him, a softest smile creeping onto your lips, you nod. “Thank you.”

You never went to therapy. But this moment surely feels like it could replace it.

His hand hesitantly creeps close next to yours, pinkie finger shyly poking out to touch the skin below yours. When he notices that you pay no effort to hide away from his touch, his hand covers yours in a protective manner, fingers interlocking from above, a shy squeeze almost making you feel like you were enveloped in a hug.

“And you?” you ask, not wanting to be the only one that finds comfort in the silence of a sunset this time. Wanting to repay him for his comfort, you offer him your open arms, ready to accept anything he has to offer, and listen to every word he has to share.

“Me?”

“Yeah. What made you want to work here?” you ask, staring at his profile once again, admiring the curve of his nose and the plumpness of his cherry lips.

He offers you a shrug, laughing airly at your question. “I don’t know. I guess I just needed the money.”

[WEEK 3] – take a piece of my heart and make it all your own

“I can’t believe how fast these past three weeks went by…” Chenle mutters in the dark, the sound of his feet rustling in the grass resonating through the space. Darkness makes the sound more vivid and your body stops in its place to see if your companion would notice the lack of your presence by his side.

The chirping of birds is replaced by the sound of cicadas the first moment the sun gets over the horizon. It’s a little chilly outside and you forgot to take your hoodie, but your friend was thoughtful enough to bring an extra one with him, because even though he hasn’t known you for long, he knows you enough to predict your decision making now.

When you notice him paying no attention to your body disappearing from his side, you decide to play a little game with him– carefully, so you make no sound, you move your body behind the tree to your right. It’s the tree you sat under with your little friend Hyunjin three weeks ago; the meadow has quickly managed to be your favorite space in this small town.

The kids are leaving in the morning, all of their little suitcases carefully packed. The goodbye party is already over, their bodies tucked away in their beds with the first stray tears falling down their round cheeks, the incoming pain of having to leave creeping into all of your bones.

“Y/N?” you hear your name being called, Chenle’s voice flying through the hills. He finally noticed your disappearing, a curious surprise making him wonder where you left and why you’re playing with him again.

“Where are you? Come on, not today…” he mumbles, muttering under his nose.

Battling the giggle that wants to maliciously escape out of your throat, you peek from behind the tree and see him turning around in his place like a ballerina, eyes searching through the space. It’s dark enough to cover you in the shadows, but the moonlight provides just enough brightness for you to see him scrunch up his face in despair.

“Y/N…” he drags out the last syllable of your name, life escaping his body as he sighs and shakes his head, turning around and sitting on the ground. “Okay, play your games. I’ll wait until you’re bored and decide to come back.”

Chuckling under your breath, you take advantage of his body turned away from you, jumping from behind the tree and taking big steps towards him. When you’re close enough and still not noticed, you put your hands on his shoulders and scream into his ear.

“Ah!”

“Aah! Oh come ooon, why would you do that!” he huffs out, pouting. “Today! Out of all time.”

“Well, what’s so different about today?” you quirk up, sitting beside him and grinning widely. He shrugs, pointing his eyes at you and blushing a little under your gaze.

“Well, you know what…” he shyly mumbles, making you shake your head.

“I do... Don’t remind me,” you huff out, “let’s just enjoy the last night together.”

“That sounded mildly suggestive.”

“Chenle-”

“I know, I’m sorry,” he laughs out, already predicting your incoming sentence with the tone of voice you used when you called his name.

Sitting beside him, you let your eyes watch over the horizon. The inky sky morphs in millions and millions of galaxies and you swear that if you stare at them long enough, you could find the same sight in Chenle’s eyes. Constellations upon constellations are watching over you right now, your destiny already written somewhere deep within them, yet, you stare in amazement and turn your brain off for a while– for one of the last times this summer, it seems.

Because soon, you’ll be home again. And there will be no escape for your thoughts; no earthy meadows, no cheerful laughter, no feeling of youth hanging around in the air. But mostly, there will no longer be Zhong Chenle by your side.

You try so hard not to miss it all already.

“You know what, Chenle,” you say, “I’m happy we met.”

“Don’t turn sappy on me right now, Y/N, come on.”

“Well, when else will I have this moment? We won’t be here tomorrow night,” you mumble, “I just wanted to tell you just how much I appreciate you and how important this was for me.”

“Shut up,” he scoffs, trying to ease the air and make the situation lighter.

“Don’t tell me to shut up, man! I’m serious!”

“And that’s why I need you to shut up!” he laughs with you, making you shake your head in disbelief and roll your eyes with irony.

“Okay, I’ll tell you some other time, then,” you mumble, “I just want you to know that I’ll miss you, I guess.”

“You guess?” he mocks with joking offense.

“Yeah, ‘cause you won’t stop getting on my nerves even now, of all times,” you scoff, making him chuckle.

Laying in the grass, you hear the shuffle next to you signaling that Chenle followed your motion. Staring at the moon, you are met with the deja vu of staring at the clouds with him just a few days after you two met, making you wonder if you’ll ever watch the sunrise with him to complete the cycle. The chirping of cicadas starts to lull you to sleep, your body growing more and more tired by the second, fully relaxing when the boy next to you drapes an arm around your middle and snuggles his nose into your neck.

Sleeping under the stars doesn’t sound like a bad idea now, when you’re comfy in his hold.

“I’ll miss you,” he whispers into your ear, “thanks for everything.”

Laughing airly, you flick his palm. “You’re ruining the silence.”

“Oh, shut up…”

“You were the one talking,” you muse.

Beaming in the moonlight, you slowly feel like you’re stripping yourself to him, allowing him to see every deepest crevice of you, even though you haven’t told him anything yet. You’ll be gone tomorrow, but now, all you have is this moment.

Taking a piece of each other’s heart, you make it all your own. So when you’re apart, you’ll never be alone.

And much like today, you’ll always be sleeping under the same stars.

[WEEK 4] – darling, you’re not the only one

Three dial tones, a click and a three second silence. What follows is a cheerful voice, although still a little sleepy, calling your name through the speaker. When you finally settle into the grass on the hill behind your house, a comfortable stance in your position, you reply with a curious spark behind your words.

“Are you outside?” you ask.

“Of course! We’re watching the sunset,” he replies, “I’m with my dog, Daegal. Remember her? I told you about her in camp!”

“Of course I remember her,” you chirp, smiling.

“She’s really happy that she’s outside this early. I gave her some snacks and now she won’t stop wagging her tail against my arm from how excited she is. She loves to meet new people… it’s almost as if she feels your presence,” he says, the excitement in his tone making you smile even wider.

You always wanted to watch the sunrise with Chenle. Only he managed to bring you peace, and it only felt right to experience your first sunrise with him– to heal everything that’s been broken, down to every bone.

“Thanks for waking up so early for me,” you say.

“Everything for you, m’lady,” he giggles, making your heart jump up with joy. It’s been only two weeks since you last saw your friend, but it sure feels like eternity. Even though you’ve been texting and calling every single day, it’s not the same as it was, and it never will be. But even this must be enough for now– who knows, maybe one day, you’ll meet again. And maybe you won’t have to leave him that time.

“It was… important for me to watch the sunrise with you,” you mumble, seeing the first hints of color peek through the dark sky, the sun greeting a new day.

“How come?”

Picking the grass beneath your feet, a nervous habit you’ve picked up since you were little, you finally open up to him with the deepest depths of your heart, allowing him fully in.

“My brother left at sunset,” you say, sighing. “When I was little. But he was even younger. It wasn’t fair, but that’s how life went.”

Chenle remains silent for a while, trying to process the information. “What happened?” he dares to ask.

“Cancer,” you simply reply.

Cracking your knuckles, you await his response. You’re usually met with the usual feeling of worry about your wellbeing or the simple wishes of condolence. People feel sorry for you, and you used to hate it, but along the way, you learned that it was the natural response. You can’t blame other people for feeling sorry about something that absolutely crushed your life.

You were only twelve when he died. The day after, you felt like your childhood ended.

There was no time to be a little kid when your brother passed away. Your parents didn’t need any more worrying. You didn’t want to constantly remind them about your brother, so you made sure to never get into any childish trouble. You made sure to be a picture perfect daughter, just to make everything easier.

You didn’t mourn your brother for a long time. That was your parents’ job, and you didn’t want to take that away from them.

“For a long time, I couldn’t stand being around children,” you snicker, “they reminded me of him too much.”

“That’s… I get that,” he mumbles.

“And I hated kids even when I grew up. So… going to that camp was something I had to do for myself. To remind myself that I can’t hate them just because my brother never got to be a kid for as long as they have,” you mumble, “but I don’t think I’d find it as easy if it wasn’t for you by my side.”

“The strength was already within you,” Chenle mumbles, “I was just someone you could lean on.”

Maybe that was something you so dearly desired for, all your life. Someone to lean on, when you’ve been that person to your family all this time.

You don’t blame your brother and you don’t blame your parents. You could never do that. But now, you feel like it’s your time to heal. And you’re thankful that the circle is finally over and you can allow your soul to let go of everything, just a little.

“I never watched the sunset, ever since. I was awake when my brother died. The doctors told us it was time for him to go, so I stayed up the whole night, waiting for the worst. When it finally happened, the sun was rising and the new day started without him,” you mumble, feeling your eyes burn just the slightest with the tears you’ve kept pushing back, “this was the first time I ever saw the same sight again.”

“Y/N…”

“Thanks for being here with me right now,” you say, wiping your cheeks.

With the rustling in the phone and the sky finally turning light blue with the morning, you lived through another sunset. You watched the new day start, a new episode of your life taking its place as you finally let yourself grow and let go of everything you’ve kept silently mourning about in the past. It’s been too long since you’ve had someone to lean on, turning around in the cold bed at night,

but now, at 5 in the morning, a few years older and decorated with a few more scars, you’re not the only one bearing the pain.

Zhong Chenle’s by your side, even when he’s not physically there. And you’ll never be alone again.

“I would’ve never done it without you.”

#nct #nct dream #zhong chenle #chenle drabble #chenle angst #chenle fluff #chenle fic #chenle x reader #nct angst #nct fluff #nct fic #nct drabble #nct dream fic #nct dream fluff #nct dream angst #nct dream x reader #nct x reader

146 notes · View notes