[Team Five] Good enough

[singilu.livejournal.com]

Well dealing with this last word was fun? Have some teenage BaekYeol, warning for Chanyeol in a dress?


The prom is less than two days away when Kim Taeyeon tells Byun Baekhyun that she won't go to the said prom with him after all. Baekhyun had claimed she'd be the one he'd take second week of his freshman year. Kim Taeyeon had been a cool junior. She's also a neighbor living three houses down from him, right next to Chanyeol whom Baekhyun had befriended when he had moved in just for the purpose of having a chance to watch Taeyeon cut the grass in front of her parent's house. By his senior year, it had been more a joke than anything else, telling everyone that he'd take her, still, even if she had long gone to college. But then Chanyeol, silly, always supportive, foolish best friend Chanyeol had devised a plan and Baekhyun had found himself on Taeyeon's doorstep with her favorite flowers and several awkward cheesy attempts of flattery over the past few weeks under the belt. Taeyoen had been fond and kind and amused and said yes.

Baekhyun doesn't know what had changed her mind eventually. On the phone she sounded kind and apologetic about not coming back from uni for the weekend after all. Baekhyun had only managed to get half of his deposit back for the limousine. The tax he'd only return after the weekend. Chanyeol had sounded hurt and sadder than Baekhyun over the phone when Baekhyun had told him. It had been at that moment that Baekhyun had realized he didn't know who Chanyoel's taking to the prom, if he was even going. Chanyeol is kind of a nerd, but he is an attractive one; he has a future and a too kind strike to him, and Baekhyun remembers the girls he had overheard talking about whether one of them should ask him to go with her, approach him. Baekhyun had laughed into the phone at Chanyeol's consolations and had told Chanyeol about his plan of spending his night in pajamas, watching anime and eating pizza.

That is exactly what Baekhyun is doing when his older brother opens a door to someone who rang the doorbell and comes into the living room, looking sheepish.

"Some's at the door for you," he says.

Baekhyun shuffles, his pant legs too long and dragging on the floor. In the doorway stands Chanyeol, in a long strapless dress, his frizzy long hair pulled up into a neat bun, eyes rimmed with eyeliner, a hint of pink eyeshadow going well with the dusty pink of the dress. His dress looks ... a bit retro, and Chanyeol's shoulders are bony in it, his hands too huge as he smooths the fabric down his tummy and looks at Baekhyun, bashful.

"I know I'm not Kim Taeyeon, but I think we'll look good together. It takes real swag to take a taller girl to prom," he says. He moves a little, and Baekhyun sees he's only wearing simple flat shoes. Baekhyun has no clue where he even found ones as big as Chanyeol's feet are. He knows he's staring, his mouth hanging open, and there's a pizza stain on his t-shirt. All in all, he must look absolutely inadequate. Chanyeol is ... stunning, unbelievable, complete idiot, lanky, male and in a pink prom dress.

"Is the dress too weird?," Chanyeol starts talking again. "It was my mom's for her prom, and my sister helped by adding an extra layer to the bottom to make it long enough for me. She did my make-up and hair too." Chanyeol brushes invisible strand of hair behind his ear. Those ears stand out a lot now, but Chanyeol still looks like a fairy. The bottom layer of the dress that he's talking about is an off-white and kind of frilly and makes the dress so regal.

Baekhyun has been talking about taking Kim Taeyeon to the prom for four years, but for the last two of them, it was just so that no one asked him who he really liked, so that no one really questioned why he wasn't interested in any other girl in school, most of all so that Chanyeol wouldn't ask him, in his low, soft, insistent tone, looking at him with big, imploring eyes. It was all Baekhyun could do so he wouldn't have to tell Chanyeol he likes boys more than girls and most of all likes Chanyeol more than Taeyeon.

Right now, Baekhyun's heart finally registers Chanyeol's crazy gesture of kindness, or maybe pity, the absolute nonsensical solution to Baekhyun's prom tickets going to waste and a good tux lying around his room uselessly. Baekhyun feels weak in his knees, and his temples are throbbing. His hands are sweaty and his heart aches.

"Say something?" Chanyeol speak then again, and Baekhyun has to take a hold of the door frame to steady himself a little. Anything that is solid and real would do.

"I canceled the limo," is what comes out of his mouth. "I told you, prom night has been canceled. Can't take anyone else but Taeyeon after all."

Chanyeol's face falls, and his shoulders slump. "Oh."

Fuck, fuck, fuck, Baekhyun was trying to joke, but it came all wrong; he's messing it all up even more than it already is. "You ... you. This is a joke, right? I mean, I thought. Where's your date?" Baekhyun feels dread in his stomach. "Please, tell me you didn't cancel your prom date for this," he says because Chanyeol totally would, that faithful, soft-hearted idiot, because he may have thought Baekhyun was too down about his spoilt prom plans. Baekhyun hadn't even been planning to go to prom originally, before Chanyeol's crazy plot was put in action. He didn't want to see Chanyeol dancing with some pretty girl, his big hand on her waist as they'd fumble about, because Chanyeol has kind of clumsy feet, but still looking adorable.

"No, no ... I--" Chanyeol's lips pull into a thin line. He's wearing a light blush, Baekhyun thinks, but underneath that, his cheeks seem to be getting redder. "I wasn't planning to go, but you have tickets, and I have the dress, so..." He trails of again, smoothing his dress one more time. Baekhyun wonders what's in his bra that holds the dress up. "This was a bad idea," Chanyeol says then, starting to turn around. "Sorry, I should have known. It's not the same, obviously. I don't even make a convincing girl, and Tayeon's so pretty and small--"

Baekhyun grabs for Chanyeol's wrist, making him stop talking. Chanyeol also thankfully stops walking away and turns to look at Baekhyun over his shoulder. The line of his neck, exposed like this, is so ..

"... breathtaking. You look breathtaking," Baekhyun blurts out.

Chanyeol just looks down at him, quiet. It's disconcerting; Chanyeol is a loud guy, full of bouts of laughter, quick smiles, weird jokes and random trivia, but he can be so quiet sometimes, so fragile despite his tall and loud appearance.

"Don't lie," he says in the end.

Fuck. Baekhyun's not lying. there's so much on the tip of his tongue right now, bigger truths than. "You're beautiful. Let me change my t-shirt."

Chanyeol blinks, and he's pulled inside. Baekbom has disappeared into his room, and Baekhyun's parents aren't at home from their dinner yet. Baekhyun doesn't know what to do with Chanyeol, so he pulls him to the back yard, where the only light right now is that inside their tiny pool. "I'll be right back," he says. He doesn't know what he's doing, but he can't stand there, dealing with Chanyeol in his sleep sweats and a stained t-shirt, so he sprints up to change, pulling on a random pair of jeans and a cleaner t-shirt. He's breathless when he comes back down, but it's not from running, not really.

Chanyeol is sitting daintily on the edge of the out door table, looking out into the dark. In the faint light he looks like a really tall, pretty girl, maybe a swim team member, with strong shoulders and defined back.

"Fuck," Baekhyun says before he can stop himself. "Fuck," he repeats when Chanyeol turns to look at him.

"Ah, it's not. It's not your tux," Chanyeol gets out. He sounds so disappointed. "I thought when you said. Never mind; it was stupid."

"Yeah. You're stupid," Baekhyun says, exasperate. "What kind of a fool dresses up as a girl and comes knocking down on doors unannounced on prom nights just because their friend got turned down?" he asks. He sounds a little hysterical to himself.

"I'm sorry. I realize now this is not what you wanted," Chanyeol looks down at the gentle frills on his dress.

"Yeah," Baekhyun nods. "I don't want you to dress up as girl because you pity me," he agrees. "I also don't want to take you to prom so some drunk jock can try to grope you there while I'm getting us a glass of punch or whatever. You look like every straight boys' dream," he says.

Chanyeol looks up at that, tilts his head. "Everyone but yours," he corrects.

"Well that's because I'm gay," Baekhyun throws his hands in the air. This whole thing is so surreal, and Chanyeol's dress shimmers, and this is still Chanyeol with his deep voice and long eyelashes and soft mouth, and it shouldn't be such a turn on, because Baekhyun finds Chanyeol the hottest when he's wearing a simple t-shirt and skinny jeans that make it obvious how bow-shaped his long legs are but ... "It's so hard to concentrate right now," he blurts out.

Chanyeol's staring at him, incredulous. "What?" he says weakly.

"And while we're here dropping those shocking admissions, if I really could take someone to prom, then it would be Park Chanyeol, my very male best friend, looking fancy in some perfectly fitting tux, and in my wet dreams he'd let me snog him by the bathrooms at the end of the night and maybe cop a feel of his tiny ass as we slow danced, but I obviously couldn't go around telling people that. Telling him that," Baekhyun adds in a whisper.

"Your wet dreams are so classy," is Chanyeol's answer.

"What?" It's now Baekhyun's turn to be bewildered, and bashful, and so fucking on edge with all the emotions, heart pounding and ears ringing. When Chanyeol stands up properly, he's so much taller than Baekhyun, so much more beautiful than it's ever fair for him to be. He digs around the purse Baekhyun's only noticing now, pulling his phone from it. Before Baekhyun can put himself together enough to comprehend what's going on, Chanyeol puts the phone on the table, and it's now playing a slow ballad.

"I guess we're not going to the prom then," he says, sighing, still a little dejectedly. "Such a waste of a good dress if you ask me." He steps closer to Baekhyun, and Baekhyun just watches him, frozen to the spot. The dress is not wasted; it looks amazing on Chanyeol, and just the fact he wore it is worth it. "And I don't really have a tux since originally I was planning on staying at home and wallowing in misery alone while you have the time of your life with your dream girl," Chanyeol continues. "But I'm willing to work with what we have."

"Which is what?" Baekhyun asks weakly. Other than confused confessions, half broken hearts and money wasted on acting fancy with someone who was a nice acquaintance at best.

"A good song for a slow dance," Chanyeol says.

Dancing with Chanyeol like this is weird. Baekhyun has fantasized about them pressed close to each other, about Baekhyun dropping his head on Chanyeol's shoulder, about Chanyeol's big warm hands on his waist. Now it's not like that, its' Baekhyun who's leading, and Chanyeol who's trying to make himself smaller, and the dress is almost kind of in the way. Combined with Chanyeol's clumsy shuffling, Baekhyun fears they might end up in the pool. But when Chanyeol looks down at Baekhyun, his breath is still warm on Baekhyun's face, smelling of mint, and it's so nice. Baekhyun still doesn't understand how he got here, how Chanyeol didn't run away from him, or gently let him down because they're just best friends and those don't date each other on prom nights. He's reeling, and maybe dropping into the pool is actually a good option, to wake him up.

"You're being an awful gentleman for all those big words about groping and kissing," Chanyeol says then, and Baekhyun's heart skips a beat. Then, just as he looks up to demand a fucking explanation, he catches Chanyeol's eyes dropping to his mouth for a just a second. Chanyeol's hand squeezes around Baekhyun's shoulder, and Baekhyun's whole body heats up, and his eyes sting a little from being open too wide, because he's dancing with Chanyeol, by his pool, on his prom night because they're skipping that prom together, to be together, and Chanyeol put on a dress for Baekhyun and is looking down at Baekhyun like there's no other place he'd rather be.

Baekhyun spreads his fingers on Chanyeol's waist, rubs a slow circle into his lower back, and when Chanyeol's breath stutters, Baekhyun goes up on his tiptoes and kisses him.

So they do kiss, even if not by the bathrooms in the prom hall. First, they kiss by the pool, and later, when it gets a bit complicated with dresses and a threats of parents coming home, in Baekhyun's bedroom. There's groping too, and fumbling to get Chanyeol out if his dress and Baekhyun out of his t-shirt so there can be more kissing and touching and wrapping themselves into a blanket together to fall asleep with their foreheads pressed together and giggling like the teenagers they are.

In retrospect, it's the best prom Baekhyun's never been to. Park Chanyeol is a much better date for the occasion than Kim Taeyeon could ever be, too. It's kind of ideal.


It's your turn, bluedreaming. Good luck.