btw just to briefly explain two things-

1: i honestly don't really ship these two on a romantic level too much I just genuinely think they're at least platonic soulmates, but when this idea came to mind I had to write it

2: in this 'AU' thingy Chanyeol is an idol/music artist of some kind and Baekhyun is just his close friend who isn't really an idol he just straight vibes with da homie- but maybe he does wind up writing music and collabing with Chanyeol eventually :] idk I randomly thought of this it's kinda cute hope you like it! :D

-------------------

Baekhyun flinched as he heard his phone land with a thud across the room. It was his own fault for throwing it so hard, but he hadn't meant for it to go that far. He turned over restlessly, letting out a huff as his lips protruded into their normal pout.

You may be wondering what he was so worried about. Well, he had just scored a dinner date with Chanyeol, and while that isn't that big of a deal (it wouldn't be their first date and lord knows it wouldn't be the last) it is to Baekhyun who hadn't gotten to see Chanyeol in months due to his work. He rolled over on the old couch and looked at his phone across the room before glancing up at the TV to see what was playing on whatever channel he had left on.

"Have you ever wanted to be a better you for your significant other?" Baekhyun perked up, letting out a soft 'huh?' Under his breath.

Yes, he did.

"Do you want to impress them with looks and charm?" Baekhyun sat up, eyes widening a bit as he nodded, pushing his glasses up on his nose, messy fluff bouncing softly on his head.

"If you answered yes to any of those questions, then you've come to the right place! It's time for Mr. Khyoon's, get you alone!" Baekhyun watched the TV as they revealed the rather good-looking host, clad with a nice black blazer on a white button-up, his blonde-white hair matching Baekhyun's almost exactly.

"If Mr. Khyoon looks like that I'm sure he knows what he's talking about..." Baekhyun said to the giant stuffed bear on his floor before focusing on the TV again.

"Hello and good evening. Tonight I'm going to be solving the problems of some of our lovely, beautiful viewers. Call the number on the screen now and you could be the lucky caller! And now, a brief performance by Baekon of OXE!" Baekhyun looked at his phone across the room for a moment, then back at the TV, phone, TV, phone, TV, phone-

"Aish." He shook his head and stood up picking up his phone and opening it to where he could dial. He carefully entered the numbers that sat in the corner of the screen and hit the green button before waiting as it rang and rang.

It rang throughout all of Baekon's song, the man (who had a striking resemblance to both the show host and Baekhyun) was performing one of his recent solo songs that he had made just for the show, aptly named "Get You Alone", and it was actually really good. Baekhyun couldn't help but start jamming to the song a bit while he sat on the couch and waited.

Once the performance was finished, it panned back to Mr. Khyoon who had a rather charming smile painting his face.

"What an amazing performance! But now, it's time to answer a call from one of our lucky viewers at home." Baekhyun held his breath a bit as Mr. Khyoon was handed a phone by some random person off-screen.

"Hello?"

...

Did he just hear that- twice?

"Hello? Mr. Khyoon?"

"Hello and congratulations! You're our lucky viewer!"

"Ah, r-really?" Baekhyun didn't know why he was suddenly nervous, but he was. What if Chanyeol was watching this right now? That would be so embarrassing.

"Yes! Now, would you please tell us your name?"

"Oh, yes, um I'm Baekhyun."

"It's nice to meet you Baekhyun! What seems to be your problem tonight?" Baekhyun hesitated, biting his lip. What if Chanyeol somehow found out he was consulting a late-night talk show host for relationship advice?

"Uhm well I have a date tonight with someone who I haven't seen in a uh really long time and well I wanna impress them..." He heard Mr. Khyoon give a small 'ah' and he watched as the host shook his head, hanging up the phone and looking at the camera.

"This is an issue that I think a lot of people have and can relate to so thank you Baekhyun. I'll have to tell you about my 10 tips for impressing that boy or girl until they're swooning." Baekhyun smiled as he put down his phone and watched intently.

"Number one," Mr. Khyoon began, "is to smile. Make sure you have a genuine smile that you give them to, if it's too forced they might think you aren't into them." Baekhyun nodded and smiled a bit, trusting that he didn't look like an absolute dork.

"Number two is distance- make sure you stay aware of how close you are to them," The man instructed, holding up a Barbie doll and a Ken doll, slowly bringing them closer to each other. "and gauge when the best time is to close that distance." He pushed the two dolls' heads together to emphasize his last word and smiled at the camera. Baekhyun turned to his teddy bear and held its head, slowly leaning in closer with pursed lips before shaking his head and pulling away, going back to the show.

"Number three, muscle. Keep your body in shape to make sure they'll always stay impressed by that." Baekhyun looked down at his torso. He would say he was pretty in shape, and it's not like he had a lot of time to get himself some muscle, so he would have to make do with what he had.

"Next is manners- be sure to have good manners for them, show it in small gestures like pulling out their chair for them or opening the car door when you go to pick them up." Baekhyun nodded to himself and Mr. Khyoon.

"Number five is mood. Make sure wherever you take them the mood is set for a good date night." Baekhyun thought about the place he had told Chanyeol to meet him at. It's just a small bar where they used to go all the time to get fried chicken and beer, but it didn't have much of a 'mood' at all. He frowned a bit but decided it was too late to change the location.

"Now number eight it Scent. Be sure you smell like something they'll remember, that way every time they smell something with that scent, they think of you-" Baekhyun cut him off by shutting off the TV abruptly and standing up. If he was going to take this seriously, he needed to follow Mr. Khyoon's instructions.

He went to his room, changing out of the mint green sweater and into a nice button-up shirt with some black slacks and a matching black blazer.

He sprayed some cologne on himself and looked at his phone-

Shit.

It was already time for him to go.

He shut off the TV with a soft 'thank you' to the host before he grabbed his keys and headed out the door.

The drive to Chanyeol's house didn't take too long, and waiting for the younger to come out to the car took even less time, Baekhyun just grooving to whatever came on the radio while he waited. Once he saw Chanyeol come out though, he remembered what Mr. Khyoon had said.

be sure to have good manners for them

Baekhyun got out and cleared his throat with a cheeky grin, adjusting his non-existent tie and walking over to open the passenger door for the taller.

"Well, what's all this about?" Chanyeol asked, tilting his head as he kept his hands stuffed in his coat pocket. Baekhyun beamed back at him.

"I'm just having good manners for you." He said innocently, gesturing for the younger to get into the car. Chanyeol just laughed and shook his head a bit before getting into the car. Baekhyun walked back around and got back into his own seat, humming a bit as he put in the keys and pulled back onto the road.

"So, what about all of that?" Chanyeol questioned, gesturing to the olders attire. The shorter boy shrugged.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, this isn't the normal Baekhyun get up. Normally you would come rollin out in one of your cute little hoodies and you would pout at me with little puppy eyes till I agreed to drive us to dinner." Chanyeol teased with a knowing smile, reaching up and pushing some of his dark hair out of his face. A soft shade of pink dusted Baekhyun's cheeks as he watched the road, trying to think of a convincing reason. 

"I just felt like looking nice for you today, that's all." Baekhyun sputtered, in a definitely natural tone. "Do you like it?" He asked, starting to doubt the show he had watched before leaving. Chanyeol smiled and held Baekhyun's free hand that wasn't on the wheel, bringing their joined hands to sit over the center console.

"Well of course I like it, but I would like it no matter what so long as it's you. As long as you feel comfortable and confident, then I fully support every Baekhyun you throw at me." Sometimes Baekhyun wondered how he got such a sweet man to even consider his existence worthy, but then he remembered that he was Byun Baekhyun and he deserved every bit of this love.

They arrived at the small restaurant and got out, walking in, hand in hand, before finding a table to sit at. They ordered fried chicken and beer, just as they had planned, and made small talk about whatever came to mind, sometimes catching up, and sometimes making random comments about random ads that would play on the small TV in the corner of the restaurant.

Their dinner went smoothly, Baekhyun completely forgetting about the TV program he had watched earlier that evening as the night continued, and after what seemed like mere minutes, the two of them were driving back home, sitting in the parked car outside of Chanyeol's house and stalling their conversation so that they didn't have to separate yet.

"I'm just saying, 'chogiwa' will always be more iconic in my book than the 'I can't believe' line, and that's saying something because you and I both know how much I enjoy Chen's vocals." Baekhyun said, raising his hands in surrender. Chanyeol laughed and hit the older on his arm as he did, eventually calming and leaving them in comfortable silence for a moment.

"I really should go in..." Chanyeol said suddenly, the mood in the car shifting to a bit of a sullen one. Baekhyun nodded.

"It is late. Just don't forget to take breaks like this more often Mr. Pop-star, okay? You deserve it." Chanyeol smiled and nodded as he unbuckled, looking at Baekhyun with a bit of a sigh.

"Thank you for tonight, I really enjoyed it. I definitely needed this." The taller said gratefully before begrudgingly releasing Baekhyun's hand and getting out of the car. He paused and leaned back down, poking his head back into the vehicle. "and by the way, even if you hadn't listened to Mr. Khyoon's advice, I still would've enjoyed myself tonight." He said, not giving Baekhyun a chance to register what he said before he shut the door and began to walk towards his house. 

Baekhyun paused, the gears turning in his head for a minute.

"Ooh you fucker, goddamnit, come back here, hey!" Baekhyun said, getting out of his car and rushing after Chanyeol.

← e n d →