nyx

| crushing

then once you two become comfortable around one another, the skinship comes easy to you two. from leaning on one another to adjusting each other's jewelry/clothes (which is all seen on the bts of music show). but that's all it was, friendly, co-workish touching. at least that's what you started telling yourself when butterflies filled your stomach every time he walked into the dressing room. 

the camera the staff had given you captured all the games you played together while waiting for your schedule to start. the rock paper scissors, the hot hands and how you’d both lean into one another laughing. the way neither of you would let go right away. you two sharing whatever snacks and drinks you brought along for the long hours. ‘it’s just a crush that’ll go away.’ 

which leads to your crush only growing. minutes before you’re set to go on stage to declare this week's winner, you feel his hands rest on your shoulders. he stands behind you, leaning in towards your ear so you could hear him over the music playing. his breath on your skin sends a shiver up your spine and you straighten out your back. “who has your vote?” 

suddenly everything he does makes you feel a certain way. you force yourself to ignore it, caught up in thinking there's no chance he’d like you back. that god forsaken smile of his really did it, you’d catch yourself looking to make him laugh just to see his pretty dimples form. you always looked away once he’d look back, missing the way his eyes fill with admiration at the mere sight of you. 

“what?”, you ask the first time you notice his eyes on you. he flushes pink, looking away and shaking his head. he clears his throat, tweaking with his mic. “nothing.” the first person to pick up on your little crush is your manager (who you’re quite close with). you shrug it off, still stubbornly denying it. and not to your knowledge, chan was also dodging every attempt to talk about you from his members. 

| realization

it really starts to set in for you both when you reach your last show together. its comeback season again for your group and you sit with your members in the dressing room after winning. a knock on the door silences the conversation and someone gets up to open it. on the other side stands chan with a bouquet of flowers along with your name written on a card hidden between the stems. all the eyes turn to you and you quickly move to stand outside the room with him. he nervously hands the flowers to you. your fingers brush against his and your eyes lock. 

you then remember what you had gotten him and quickly turn around, opening the door and picking up the bag with a small cake inside. chan hesitates when you stick out your hand, insisting you shouldn’t have gotten him anything. your hand reaches for his wrist, placing the bag into his grip. your touch sends a sheen of heat across his body. you two bid your goodbyes when his group comes prancing down the hallway. you wave to them, thanking chan for the flowers again before slipping back into the room. 

| communicating

since then, the fact that chan didn’t go any farther had been eating him up. it had been nearly a month since he’d seen you, unsure if you even read the heartfelt note he left. not necessarily a confession of any kind, but him sharing how happy he was to have worked with you specifically. which you had read it, more than once actually. however, in all the time he spent with you, numbers were never exchanged. and with such little free time, the only chance you had to mention it was on live. 

“ah! i just remembered,” you say before jumping up and grabbing the vase containing the somewhat healthy flowers off your desk. you pull them into frame, taking out the card. “channie gifted me some flowers on our last day and he left me a card..” 

“they’re kind of dying now,” you laugh softly, “but i never got to thank him for the card. its funny cause we worked together for so long, but we never exchanged numbers.” you flip open the card for the nth time in the last month, smiling when your eyes scan over the words. 

“so channie if you see this, thank you. it was very sweet.” you say looking into the camera before folding up the card and tucking it back into the vase. “ ‘he’s so nice.’ ”, you read aloud from the moving messages on the screen in front of you. nodding, you reply “mhm! he is.” the smile on your face slides past no one, leaving plenty of room for speculation. 

the fans made sure to get the clip to chan, to which he responded on live as well. 

“i saw uh-..y/n’s live..yeah we had so much fun together we completely forgot about sharing our numbers.” he says as his hand rubs up against his arm in the black sleeveless he had on. (that thing he does iykyk)

“i’m glad you liked it! i wasn't sure if you had gotten it…and the cake was really good.” ‘cake?’, “yeah, y/n got me cake. the kids ate most of it though,” he laughs, “it was very thoughtful of her, be nice to her guys, okay?” 

| bag secured

later on, when you two do finally see each other again its around award season. which meant a handful of rehearsals and thankfully your times lined up. so while staff got all the technical stuff ready, you two made conversation. chan’s nails pick at his fingers nervously as doubt racked his brain. the boys had convinced him to ask you out (after forcing the fact that he liked you out of him). after a little while, the tension is eased and you’re laughing and joking just like before. 

someone comes over and hands you your mic pack, he immediately offers to help you, not waiting till you say yes. he loops the wire around your waist, plugging it into the small box and clipping it onto the hem of your pants. as he secures it, a sudden boost of confidence dawns on him and he goes for it. “do you wanna go out with me?” when you freeze up before turning around, his hands drop to his side and he goes pale. 

“yeah...yeah i would.” you say, failing to bite back a smile. he lets out a dry chuckle, nodding. he clears his throat, “we should probably get each others numbers, yeah?” you laugh, nodding along before pulling your phone from your pocket and handing it to him. you take his, putting in yours. you swear your knees almost buck when he looks at you with that shy smile, dimples ever so prominent. 

---

later that evening, after the long day you’ve had, you open your contact list. your phone pings and your heart nearly jumps out your throat.

channie 💙 : hey, when are you free?

ෆ my annual fic longer than 1k omg omg