read till author note at the end

⠀⠀"Jongdae? What's up?"

⠀⠀Said male let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, I'm glad you picked up. Am I bothering you or anything, Chanyeol?"

⠀⠀Chanyeol glanced down at his laptop screen where he was starting to type up his essay, then around the living room. Pokémon was blaring on the TV, Sehun was mindlessly eating snacks while watching the TV and probably texting Jongin or something, and the warm colors of the sunset outside were filtering through the blinds on the windows. He shrugged and said, "Not really, no. Besides, I bug you all of the time and you never mind, so why should I?"

⠀⠀"I don't know. Common courtesy, I guess?" Jongdae laughed, though Chanyeol could hear the embarrassment in his voice. There was another sigh on the line—this time, one of dismay—before Jongdae said, "Listen. This is gonna sound random, but do you know anything about relationships?"

⠀⠀Chanyeol straightened in his spot on the couch. He held his phone with his hand rather than pin it between his ear and shoulder and raised a brow. "Maybe," he said slowly, thinking back to all of the times he had brought girls home with him, both drunk and sober. "Why do you ask?"

⠀⠀"Well, it's gonna be me and Liyin's anniversary tomorrow, and I don't really know what I'm gonna do for her. Which sucks, because I've been spending the last week trying to come up with something original. Any ideas?" Jongdae sounded tired, almost like he had spent the entire day mulling over possible anniversary gifts for his girlfriend. Chanyeol's chest tightened at the prospect of Jongdae ever being such boyfriend material to him too, but he pressed forward.

⠀⠀"Well, first, this sounds awfully familiar." At this, Jongdae snorted while Chanyeol smirked. "Second, if I was any good at anniversary gifts, I wouldn't have asked you for advice on Minseok-hyung's anniversary," Chanyeol said dryly. Jongdae laughed brightly like it had been the funniest thing he had heard that day and Chanyeol's heart felt like it would swell.

⠀⠀"True, true," Jongdae admitted with a wry tone. "It's just that I really want Liyin to be impressed this year again. I've always pulled out all of the stops for her and I really don't know what to do. She means so much to me and I want to convey how special she is but I've come to a blank." He ended with a tiny whine. There was a deep thump on the other line, then a tiny ow.

⠀⠀Chanyeol chuckled and shook his head. "You don't need to literally beat yourself up, Dae. What have you done before?"

⠀⠀"Uh. . . too many things, to be honest." Jongdae sounded almost embarrassed, and Chanyeol could imagine him rubbing his nape shyly (What a cutie). "I try to take her out for her birthday, my birthday, every holiday and anniversary, and whenever we both have the time. The most expensive thing I've ever done is take her flying in a hot-air balloon."

⠀⠀I would want Jongdae to take me flying in a hot-air balloon, Chanyeol grumbled in his head enviously. "Woah. She must have high standards then."

⠀⠀A laugh. "Not at all, actually! She always tells me not to go all out when it comes to her, but I just want to spoil her, y'know? Make her feel like a princess and that she has the entire world in her hands. I try to do that for her, anyways. Not sure if I really fulfill it, though."

⠀⠀"Oh, don't give me that bullshit, Dae!" Chanyeol snapped light-heartedly. "You're, like, the epitome of perfect boyfriend. Hell, I would date you—"

⠀⠀"Wait, what?"

⠀⠀"Shit," Chanyeol swore, blood rushing to his face at an alarming rate. At this point, Sehun was finally taking interest in his conversation, turning with a raised brow and a smirk aimed right at him. Vehemently, Chanyeol glared at him before frantically continuing with, "Um, I mean in a totally platonic way! I—uh, yeah, because we're just friends, Jongdae! Haha, just friends. . ."

⠀⠀Jongdae was just laughing on the other line, and Chanyeol instantly felt both relieved and also a little hurt at the same time. "You're really stupid. Did you know that, Yeollie?" he asked teasingly, seeming to take pleasure in Chanyeol's nearly-incoherent grumbles about meanie-heads.

⠀⠀"Everyone associated with me has called me stupid once before," Chanyeol admitted with a tight frown.

⠀⠀"Because you're a fucking idiot!" Sehun shouted loudly in hopes of being heard by Jongdae. Chanyeol growled deep in his throat and threw the nearest pillow directly at Sehun's smug face, knocking him back slightly with an oomph.

⠀⠀"Who was that?" Jongdae asked confusedly.

⠀⠀"Oh," Chanyeol cast a glance back at Sehun who had scooted exponentially closer, "just my annoying roommate—"

⠀⠀"Annoying?!" Sehun demanded, swiping the phone clean out of Chanyeol's hands. He hit the speaker button before yelling, "If anything, you're the annoying one, Park!"

⠀⠀"Give me my phone, you piece of trash!" Chanyeol barked, making a swipe for his phone and missing as Sehun jumped back and got onto his feet, the most mischievous smile on his face. Man, Chanyeol hated that face.

⠀⠀"Nuh-uh," Sehun sang in a sing-song voice. He waved Chanyeol's phone back and forth before winking. "Come and get it, Yoda."

⠀⠀"Why, you—!"

⠀⠀"Yeol? Hey, Yeol! What the actual hell is happening over there?" Jongdae asked loudly, trying to keep the laughter out of his voice. Meanwhile, in the Park-Oh residence, Chanyeol was chasing Sehun around their coffee table, teeth bared like he was ready to rip the younger's throat out (which wasn't much of an understandment).

⠀⠀"Chanyeol-hyung is being mean to me," Sehun whined, turning on the crocodile tear noises. Chanyeol rolled his eyes and paused with Sehun on the other side of the table.

⠀⠀"Don't listen to him, Jongdae! He's a damn liar—"

⠀⠀"See what I mean, Jongdae-sshi?" Sehun complained. He shot Chanyeol a silent smirk as Jongdae laughed on the other line.

⠀⠀"Aw, Yeol, you shouldn't be so mean to your roommate. . ."

⠀⠀"The name is Sehun. Oh Sehun."

⠀⠀"Nice to meet you, Sehun! I'm Jongdae. Kim Jongdae." The male on the other line proceeded to sing the James Bond theme before laughing in embarrassment.

⠀⠀Sehun covered the microphone on the phone with his hand before saying, "This is the hyung that you have a crush on, right?" Chanyeol rolled his eyes but nodded, and Sehun smiled. "Okay, good. I like this hyung so far. Seems like a nice guy." He took his hand off of the microphone.

⠀⠀"Just give me my phone, you brat!" Chanyeol leapt onto the coffee table this time to attack Sehun, eliciting a little squeak of surprise from the younger as he immediately dashed away. Jongdae was still laughing—How does he laugh so much? Chanyeol wondered—as a game of cat and mouse occured in the living room.

⠀⠀"Okay, that's enough, you two!" Jongdae commanded in a mock-stern voice. "Sehun, I really need to ask Chanyeollie something, so can I please talk to him?"

⠀⠀Silence for a moment as Sehun considered it. "Oh. Since you asked so nicely, hyung, I guess so." Sehun shrugged and carelessly tossed the phone in Chanyeol's general direction, the latter scrambling to catch it. "Hope I'll be seeing you soon around here, Jongdae-hyung!" he said loudly before grabbing his own phone and walking into his room.

⠀⠀"What a brat," Chanyeol mumbled to himself as he flopped back onto the couch. He turned off the speaker and held the phone up to his ear, saying, "Okay. So, where were we, exactly?"

⠀⠀"Hey, Yeol? Invite me over some time. I'd like to meet your roommate," Jongdae said cheerfully. Chanyeol's eyes widened as he vehemently shook his head.

⠀⠀"Oh, hell no. He's a brat, he's a prankster, he's literally everything people warned you about."

⠀⠀There was a wolf-whistle on the other line, causing Chanyeol to scrunch up his brows in confusion. "Ooh," Jongdae said, all flirty-like, "I like a bad boy."

⠀⠀"Dae!" Chanyeol shouted, stunned. Thankfully, Jongdae promptly collapsed into a fit of laughter. Good.

⠀⠀"I'm kidding, I swear!"

⠀⠀"You better be," Chanyeol grumbled. "Anyways, you're, like, ten gajillion levels above Sehun, to be honest, Dae."

⠀⠀"I don't know," Jongdae said carelessly. "I kinda just believe that everyone has the same worth. I don't really like saying we're all the same on the inside, since we're really not—different ideas, different opinions, different everything. But we're all worth the same, so Sehun is on my level, don't worry." There was a teasing edge in his voice.

⠀⠀Wide-eyed, Chanyeol said, "Woah. That got very deep, very quickly," relishing in Jongdae's rich laughter. "Anyways, back to your whole. . . um, anniversary thingy. I suggest going with something simple, maybe. You said you always go all out, so just go simple with some flowers or a teddy bear and just go out for dinner or something. It's nicer to your wallet."

⠀⠀"I just realized how weird this conversation has gone and how many times we diverged from the original topic," Jongdae noted with a wry tone, a laugh catching onto the end of the last word. Chanyeol shrugged with his own smile.

⠀⠀"When you're talking to me, Dae, I never manage to stay on topic. I tend to talk a lot."

⠀⠀Jongdae chuckled. "You and me are more similar than I first thought," he said thoughtfully. "Anyways, thank you again, Chanyeol. You're one of the best friends I could ask for."

⠀⠀Chanyeol's chest clenched. He forced a smile and said, "Always, Dae. I'm here." He thought for a second before frowning. "Wait, what's the again for? What did I do?"

⠀⠀"Talking to me in the first place," Jongdae said, chuckling. "We've been going to the same schools for years, and we just started talking almost two weeks ago. We probably barely knew each other—"

⠀⠀Actually, I knew quite a bit because I've been your secret admirer for more than a decade now, Chanyeol thought, though he didn't dare voice it out.

⠀⠀"—but you had the balls to start talking to me and getting to know me and stuff for whatever reason. And I'm really, really glad you did because I like being with you. It's fun." Jongdae added a little sing-song-y note to the end of his sentence, causing Chanyeol to laugh. Oh, what Jongdae could do to Chanyeol.

⠀⠀"Ah, thank you, Jongdae," the taller mumbled, embarrassed as his cheeks and the tips of his ears heated up exponentially.

⠀⠀"What's the thank you for? I'm just stating facts," Jongdae said in what sounded like a pouty voice (cue more inward squealing from Chanyeol). Jongdae laughed again before saying, "Anyways, thank you for advice! I'm gonna go see if the stores are still open and go buy stuff for her, and I'll keep you updated! Wish me luck, Yeollie!"

⠀⠀Chanyeol silently sighed. "Uh-huh. Good luck."

⠀⠀"Thank you, Yeol. Love ya," Jongdae cooed before hanging up, just moments before Chanyeol jerked away the phone from his ear to stare at it incredulously. Suddenly, the terms of his divine bet rang through his head for the first time in a while, and he sorta, maybe, kinda (totally) flipped.

⠀⠀"Oh, calm yourself, runt," Cupid drawled in his head. "You're not out of this yet. His love ya doesn't count! Didn't you hear Jongdae? He only sees you as a friend. Ooh! That's gotta hurt! You're stuck in the friendzone you're never getting out of!" Cupid gasped melodramatically said Chanyeol scowled at the love god's son sudden appearance.

⠀⠀I swear, you get more and more irritating every time you pay me a visit, Chanyeol grumbled in his head. Cupid sang an annoying tune, just to taunt the taller.

⠀⠀"I'm just saying, kid. You're gonna fail, so you might as well just let me kill you now. I'll spare all of your loved ones too if you give up, because I'm a nice guy."

⠀⠀Chanyeol clenched his jaw tightly. I still have more than half of a month to get Jongdae to fall in love with me, so I'm not done with this bet yet.

⠀⠀Cupid shrugged. "Go ahead and try. I'll get to put an arrow through you either way. Toodles!"

⠀⠀And like that, Cupid was gone again.

[🔥]
*prepare for long apology*

okay, so I really don't have any excuse for not updating in almost two months. it's inexcusable and absolutely not fair to those who actually enjoy this story, and to those people, I'm deeply, deeply sorry that I can't live up to the promise of updating frequently. I felt like a shit human being because of it, and I wish I had the motivation to do it.

honestly, this is my favorite story I've ever written so far, and I'm far from discontinuing it, but even I had to go back and read on what the hell was happening. I'm sorry. I'm so very, very sorry that I am a horrible author who cannot live up to her promises and suddenly show up out of nowhere. please forgive me, though there isn't really any reason to do so.

I hope to get some writing in the following week, and maybe if I type fast enough I'll have chapter up by the weekend?? I'd love to do that but I'm going to be in washington dc next week for a school trip for five days and I'll be unable to have a moment to myself to write. I'd really like to get a chapter up before then, however, and hopefully, there are still some people who would want to read this train wreck of a fic.

TL;DR—I'm sorry for promising that I'd update more frequently and ending up not upholding that promise, and I feel like an asshole. Please forgive me. I'd like to get a chapter up by next week, but I won't promise anything this time because the Lord knows I'll break it again.

-Angie

p.s: I made jongdae laugh way too much in this chapter and I'm sorry forgive me for that too