collar me surprised

Jongdae likes to think of Chanyeol as the human personification of a puppy. Not even a cute puppy, like a fluffy Pomeranian or a majestic husky. Chanyeol is one of those huge St Bernards who doesn’t know how big he is and trips over everything.

Chanyeol doesn’t just look like an overgrown shaggy dog, especially with his bangs growing into his eyes, he fully embraces the role like a truly dedicated method actor. Chanyeol’s constant need for validation means that he’s often a bit too eager and loud, always ready to be in the centre of attention with another unfunny joke and admittedly lame prank.

“Chanyeol is needy,” is what Kyungsoo says, eyeing Chanyeol with distaste.

“Chanyeol is friendly,” Jongdae corrects, feeling some displaced need to stand up for his friend, but only because Chanyeol gave him a sugar doughnut for breakfast this morning.

“Chanyeol is right here,” Chanyeol grumps. He lets his head slump to the table face down and stretches out his unfairly long arms, almost sweeping Jongdae and Kyungsoo’s food trays off the table.

Jongdae pats Chanyeol comfortingly on the back of his head and Kyungsoo snorts. “Take your pet play away from where the normal humans eat.”

Baekhyun suddenly pops up at the table as if summoned by his creepily attuned kink radar. “Did someone say pet play?”

“I need to get to my next class so I can graduate with honours, get a great job in law and move away from all of you,” Kyungsoo tells them. He pushes his chair back and stands up huffily, lingering around just long enough to listen to their goodbyes.

He gets none. Baekhyun plops his head down next to Chanyeol and asks, “Would you like to buy a collar? Because I know this guy-”

"Park!” Jongdae yells as he kicks the door closed behind him. Chanyeol comes up to greet him like he always does and Jongdae lets Chanyeol unravel his scarf and fuss over the snow in his hair.

"I picked out the trashiest movie I could find,” Jongdae says, craning his neck to allow Chanyeol to pull the scarf off. “We're watching The Ugly Truth."

"Sorry, Jongdae," Chanyeol says. "I was just about to leave."

Jongdae stills. "But it's Friday."

"Yeah." Chanyeol rubs the back of his neck and stares at Jongdae until the silence stretches into uncomfortable territory. Jongdae raises an eyebrow and Chanyeol finally says, "I have to run some errands."

"On Dick Flick Friday?" Dick Flick Friday has been their tradition ever since they met in freshman year through Sehun. Sehun owned an old television that he rummaged from the side of the road and one night, the only channel that worked was showing The Notebook. Two hours of muffled crying later, Chick Flick Friday was born, except Sehun insisted that they changed the name to something more manly because fragile masculinity and what not. Sehun has since gotten a girlfriend because he’s a betrayer who doesn’t know the bro code, leaving Chanyeol and Jongdae to continue their weekly bonding session. If anything, Dick Flick Friday has become even more fun, so hah, Sehun.

"Yeah, so. I'm just going to go." Chanyeol wraps Jongdae's scarf around his own neck and gestures awkwardly at the door.

"Don't get anything on my scarf," Jongdae calls out but the door has already closed in his face.

On Saturday morning, Jongdae wakes up to silence.

Silence is rare around their household because Jongdae makes up for his tiny size with a loud voice and Chanyeol matches his big size with a big voice. Luckily, their neighbour is a nice near deaf old lady who makes them kimchi in return for the occasional handyman job.

There's a banana peel on the table and a still hot pot of coffee on the kitchen table, evidence that Chanyeol had come home last night, and Jongdae lets out the breath he hadn't known he was holding.

Jongdae has never really realised how touchy Chanyeol is until Chanyeol suddenly isn't there anymore.

Over the past week, Chanyeol has barely been home. When he does get home, he heads straight to his room and stays in there all day. It should be hard to miss each other when they live in a tiny shoebox apartment with thin walls, but Jongdae has been eating dinner alone for three days straight now.

Usually Jongdae gets to catch him in between lectures so Chanyeol can whine about another silly journalism assignment while Jongdae chimes in about his overdramatic theatre course mates, but Chanyeol texted him that he had something to attend to today, so Jongdae is forced to endure the company of two of his least favourite people.

Kyungsoo carefully sets his coffee down on the table. He’s one of those people that orders cappuccinos in a Starbucks and doesn’t even have the excuse of liking sugary complicated drinks to justify paying that much for a cup of coffee. "Where's your oversized twin?"

"Don’t you have law lectures to attend, people to sue?” Jongdae asks, but he pulls the chair out for Kyungsoo to sit anyway.

Baekhyun slips into the seat opposite them, the beginnings of a milk moustache on his upper lip. "Weird, you two are usually the most disgusting couple ever."

Jongdae concentrates on his peppermint toffee latte and reminds himself to ignore them to the best of his ability.

"Yeah, you steal these disgustingly sweet looks at each other,” Kyungsoo says, flicking an unopened packet of sugar in Jongdae’s face to emphasise his point.

“And complete each other's sentences," Baekhyun continues.

“You mean like what you’re doing now?” Jongdae asks just to spite them both. His mind wanders off as their protests patter off into yet another spat and wonders what Chanyeol is doing at that moment.

Jongdae manages to corner Chanyeol five days in by barging into Chanyeol’s room unapologetically and throwing himself onto the bed.

Chanyeol slams his laptop shut and whirls around with his eyes wild, but he relaxes into his chair when he sees it’s just Jongdae.

Jongdae tries to sound nonchalant as he plays with the Pikachu plushie Chanyeol keeps on his bed. “Was that porn? Because the walls really are thin. I know what you do, it doesn’t matter.”

“Porn? Yeah, sure. That was what it was.” Chanyeol has no qualms climbing into bed next to Jongdae while discussing porn and Jongdae feels oddly comforted by that. He pulls his blanket over Jongdae and starts rolling him into a blanket burrito, but Jongdae stubbornly resists, pushing his palms into Chanyeol’s stomach.

Chanyeol relents and flops down on his side so that he’s facing Jongdae. “What’s wrong?”

“Are you keeping secrets from me?” Jongdae blurts out, tone only slightly demanding. He sounds like a hysterical girlfriend, even feels like one, but more than anything, he hates the idea of his best friend drawing away.

They’ve been Jongdae-Chanyeol, Chanyeol-Jongdae since the first year of university, and Jongdae doesn’t want that to change ever. He doesn’t mind if Chanyeol has a social circle outside of Jongdae, but Chanyeol being so distant frankly… frightens him.

Chanyeol worries his lower lip and shifts himself closer until their toes touch, like an unspoken apology. “I tell you everything.”

“Are you dating someone?"

“What, no-"

"Did you meet a new friend?"

At this, Chanyeol’s face contorts into the same lopsided eye laugh that made Jongdae notice him all those years ago. His laugh shakes the bed, sending rumbles through Jongdae that shoot straight into his stomach. “Kim Jongdae, are you jealous?”

It’s just what they need to break the ice and Jongdae finds himself smiling along with Chanyeol’s teasing grin. “Okay, I trust you.” Jongdae curls his toes back against Chanyeol’s and hooks their big toes together for good measure. “If you’re seeing someone, you’ll let me know first right?”

He doesn’t miss how Chanyeol avoids his eyes when he mumbles his agreement.

It says a lot about their friendship when Chanyeol walks into their living room to find a pink tent set up and barely even blinks an eye.

He merely crouches in front of the entrance flaps and asks Jongdae, “Are you nesting?”

Jongdae stops fluffing up the pillows he dragged into the tent and cocks his head. “Get in here.”

Chanyeol looks sceptically at the tiny tent. “Jongdae, it says here ages 6 to 12.”

“Hunch, you doofus,” Jongdae barks, patting the pillows next to him.

“You’re always so mean to me,” Chanyeol complains, but he obediently climbs into the tent and settles himself next to Jongdae. The tip of his head touches the roof and Jongdae almost says something snarky about giraffes before Chanyeol lets out this squeaky laugh at the absurd situation, an actual giggle, and Jongdae’s words get lost in his throat.

But he is a man on a mission and he shouldn’t be side tracked. “We’re staging an intervention, Park.” Jongdae crosses his arms and tries to look as stern as possible.

“We?” Chanyeol looks around the cramp space and sees no one else.

“Me and your embarrassing collection of Beanie Babies.” The Beanie Babies were a gag gift from Jongdae many birthdays back but somehow it became a running joke. One of Jongdae’s favourite things about Chanyeol’s birthday, aside from the cake, is making him guess which Beanie Baby Jongdae got him. He's saving up for Nuts the squirrel next.

“You’re sitting on Creampuff,” Chanyeol says and saves the bunny doll from being crushed by Jongdae’s ass. Not that it’s a bad way to go.

“You’ve been acting weird lately,” Jongdae says after they’ve swept all the dolls aside and settled down.

Chanyeol busies himself with making Bananas the orangutan walk up Jongdae’s arm. “Have not.”

“I’ve seen what you’ve been doing.”

As soon as he says it, Chanyeol cements his guilt by freezing immediately. “If this is about the thing in the closet, I swear I can explain,” he says quickly. “Wait, no, I never said anything. Forget about the closet.”

Jongdae locks eyes with Chanyeol for one terse moment.

“Jongdae,” Chanyeol warns.

Jongdae smiles serenely. “Chanyeol.”

“Jongdae!”

Jongdae bolts, shooting out from the tent so fast he almost dislodges the pegs. The tent falls on Chanyeol, trapping him pitifully inside. It takes Chanyeol a few seconds to escape from the mess of nylon but Jongdae has already bee-lined for the closet.

Jongdae throws the doors open and starts scanning the space, throwing aside winter jackets and basketballs to search for whatever Chanyeol is hiding. He finally spots a small box tucked behind the vacuum cleaner and lets out a triumph shriek.

“Stop!” Chanyeol yells. This is the first time Jongdae has ever heard Chanyeol raise his voice. This is the first time Chanyeol has raised his voice against Jongdae. It startles Jongdae enough that he freezes, box unopened in his hand.

In the blink of an eye, Chanyeol has spun Jongdae around and pinned him against the wall, his long arm blocking his escape and effectively trapping Jongdae in the small closet. The closet is barely more than a hole in the wall and combined with Chanyeol's tendency to hoard useless memorabilia, there's barely enough space for both of them to fit, even pressed chest to chest.

Chanyeol’s gaze flickers down to the box Jongdae’s hands. “You found it.”

This close, Chanyeol’s voice automatically drops in volume. Jongdae should feel cornered but he’s acutely aware of how Chanyeol is tall enough that if Jongdae just leans forward, he would fit perfectly in Chanyeol’s arms, face snug in Chanyeol’s broad, broad chest. He doesn’t want to think about it, but he’s seen Chanyeol without a shirt enough times to know that he’s been bulking up from too many hours in the gym.

This close, Jongdae only has to crane his neck up slightly to-

“I guess the gig is up.” Chanyeol huffs and Jongdae jerks his head down to avoid Chanyeol’s searching gaze. He doesn’t sound angry, more amused, and somehow it adds to Jongdae’s confusion. “I got you for Secret Santa and I wanted your present to be absolutely perfect. I spent the last week looking for the best thing for you.”

“O- oh,” Jongdae stammers. “So all the time away and hiding in your room?”

“I think I went through every store in a 5 mile radius trying to find something that’s well, you.”

Jongdae has nothing to say to that, feeling a rush of conflicting emotions washing over him. Now that the truth is out, Jongdae feels like the worst friend in the world for having doubted sweet, trusting Chanyeol. Chanyeol isn’t even mad at him even though Jongdae ruined the surprise he so painstakingly planned. “Since I discovered it, can I open it?”

He doesn’t wait for Chanyeol’s reply and yanks the box open to distract himself from their close proximity and his racing heart. Despite its size, in it lies only two pieces of paper, but it’s enough to knock Jongdae’s breath away.

Jongdae’s been saving and saving for ages just to go to this musical, and Chanyeol has just given him two VIP seats to the premiere night of Les Misérables.

"Surprise,” Chanyeol says softly. “There’s two tickets, because I thought you would like to go with someone. You can give them to someone else, I guess, but if you can’t find anyone, I would be happy to go with you.”

Jongdae keeps his head down, staring silently at the open box. Chanyeol drops his hand and backs off with alarm, “Hey, Jongdae, did I do something wrong? Did I scare you? Sorry I ruined the surprise. It’s my fa-”

“Park, shut up,” Jongdae commands. Chanyeol stops talking immediately, unblinking eyes wide with astonishment. When Jongdae speaks, his voice is steady again. “Pay attention Chanyeol, because I’m going to give you a gift you’ll never forget.”

Jongdae may be tiny, but he still has enough strength to yank Chanyeol down to give him the best kiss of his life.

Sometimes Park Chanyeol reminds Jongdae of a puppy, not even a cute puppy like a teacup Maltese or a sleek Dalmatian. But hey, Jongdae loves all sorts of puppies, big or small, especially puppies that are his.

("So Baekhyun, about that friend of yours-")