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It’s a late Friday afternoon and most of the dream members that should and should not be there are chilling on the sofa in the living room.
Chenle is a proud member of the latter group although his companion and the only other member, Donghyuck, makes it hard to feel anything more than shame ninety percent of the time. Truly, he doesn’t know what Donghyuck is doing here without his better half attached at the hip.
Also, chilling might be an overstatement since no one in the group knows how to perform the dictionary definition of ‘chill’ correctly.
Apart from Chenle, he knows how to be chill. Really chill.
He throws a piece of popcorn at Donghyuck’s head.
“Hey!” Donghyuck’s voice blocks out whatever groundbreaking information the main character in the movie on the screen was about to share with them. Jisung groans, clearly invested in the action despite most of the dialogue being lost among their endless bickering.
“Real mature,” Renjun comments with a tint of amusement coloring his voice. “Maybe you two should get back home, I think it’s past your curfew already.”
Donghyuck rolls his eyes and this time it’s him who pulls out a piece of popcorn but instead of revenge he chooses to toss it at Renjun’s head.
One thing that must be said about Donghyuck is the fact that he never misses.
Normally, this would result in a full-on fight that Mark, called by Jisung hiding behind the sofa, would come down to solve. Chenle can imagine Donghyuck’s face when the oldest member of Nct Dream would drag him away to the other dorm. He can imagine Renjun’s unsatisfied expression when he would claim he missed his chance to crush Donghyuck thanks to Mark hyung’s intervention. Chenle can imagine it all and it’s glorious. The perfect way to spend his Friday night.
Except none of it happens because there’s someone at the door and everyone's attention suddenly shifts from Donghyuck and Renjun to him when they see what the delivery man is carrying.
Okay, the object doesn’t earn raised eyebrows itself at first, it’s the short note stuck to it.
‘enjoy - Felix’ has all heads in the room turn to Chenle with synchronization better than most of their dances.
There’s no point pretending the box can be addressed to anyone but him even if Chenle’s name isn’t anywhere on it.
“What are you waiting for?” Donghyuck asks as soon as the door closes after the delivery man and all the members move closer to Chenle like sharks slowly surrounding their prey. Chenle knows he won’t like it when they attack. “Open it!”
“This better be—” Jaemin starts but a kick from Renjun successfully silences him. Chenle raises his eyebrows in question. Honestly, he has no idea what kind of game his friends are playing but he hates the look Renjun and Donghyuck exchange over Jaemin’s half-dead body on the floor.
“This better be good!” Donghyuck finishes smoothly. Even Jisung gives him a judging look but after a few seconds, Chenle finally sighs and starts opening the mysterious box.
It’s really carefully packaged in a nice red paper that has Chenle trying to open it without damaging everything too much. He takes a mental note to thank Felix for such a nice gift.
Well, that is, until he finally opens the lid and all hell breaks loose.
“It’s cookies!” Jeno remarks with glee. “Chenle you better share with your hyungs.”
“Hey! What about me?” Jisung adds and frowns.
“That’s so romantic,” Renjun sounds only half sarcastic and it makes Chenle pause. The last thing he needs right now is his friends questioning his relationship with maybe or maybe not crush. “I feel like I’m a cheap Christmas rom-com right now.”
“Let’s please stop with the dramatics,” Chenle raises a hand in the air but everyone ignores him, too focused on the box still in his hands.
“No but Renjun has a point,” Jeno argues and Donghyuck adds a cheerful ‘Multiple even,’ as if it would make Chenle feel any better somehow. It doesn’t.
“First of all,” Donghyuck leans in to see better, a grin Chenle can best describe as devilish slowly lifting the corners of his mouth. “The box is red. That’s guaranteed romance.”
“It looks like you had to pay extra for the bakery to pack it so nicely,” Renjun adds. “If this isn’t romance then romance is dead.”
“They’re homemade hyung,” Chenle sighs at his friends’ stupidity. They’ve seen Felix’s baking before so why are they acting so strange now of all times? “Why would he buy me cookies?”
Donghyuck throws him a nasty look.
“I’m sorry Lele but I can’t defend your stupidity anymore,” Jisung says as if his best friend had actually tried to help him instead of nodding his approval to whatever the others were saying from the start. “Homemade cookies he sent you without occasion? That’s romance even I know it.”
“He thought of you and made them,” Jaemin pats Chenle on the shoulder. “Look at you being all grown up.”
“They’re made by him, they’re full of loveeeee,” Donghyuck drags the word out as if Chenle needed any more reminders of just how delusional his friends are. “You can deny it all you want but the truth remains the same.”
Chenle rolls his eyes.
“You’re all so painfully single it actually hurts,” he says and Donghyuck starts protesting because ‘he’s practically dating Mark’ to which Chenle has enough decency not to protest. Still, almost dating is not the same as dating so his point still stands.
“We might be painfully single,” here Renjun gives Donghyuck a pointed look that successfully keeps the other’s mouth sealed for a moment. “But you’re just painfully stupid. Which, if you ask me is worse.”
“I never asked,” Chenle argues. He really didn’t ask for their opinions on Felix’s gift and he certainly never asked for opinions on his love life. “I really don’t care.”
Donghyuck raises one eyebrow in a doubtful expression and the corners of his lips lift up slightly and Chenle knows that the older thinks he knows exactly how much Chenle cares.
He probably does and so does the rest. It doesn’t mean Chenle is going to admit it though.
“Don’t you?”
“I don’t.”
xxx
Unfortunate spoiler alert: Chenle does care.
To the point where his insides twist uncomfortably the whole way back to his apartment when the wind tries to unsuccessfully knock him over and Chenle tries to, also unsuccessfully, focus on anything else than the red box sitting safely in his backpack.
It’s only when he closes the door to his apartment after him that he relaxes slightly, his shoulders dropping in a sigh of relief.
Chenle turns on his bedside lamp and snaps a quick photo of the list Donghyuck somehow managed to sneak into his hoodie pocket while he wasn’t looking.
In the safe space of his bedroom at night, Chenle can finally let his feelings lose without fearing his friend’s judgment.
He stares at the words scribbled on a wrinkled piece of paper by Jaemin illuminated by the scene of his phone. Here, in the dark, he can admit they make sense.
Things that point to the cookies being a sign of romance:
1. The box is red
2. They’re homemade
3. It can’t get more romantic than this
Things that point to the cookies NOT being a sign of romance:
1. Whatever crap Chenle tries to argue
2. That’s it, there’s nothing else
3. A point just so Chenle won’t feel bad about this having fewer points even though it’s kind of obvious which side wins
Still, Chenle is too smart to hope for what his friends said to be true. Back in the dorms, it was easy to laugh about it and deny any feelings being involved but now when it’s just him and the half empty box of cookies Chenle finds it hard to stay indifferent.
Honestly speaking, the list gives him nothing but mixed feelings so in the heat of the moment he opens his chat with Felix, and with fingers trembling only slightly he types out a short message and attaches the picture he’s taken just a few minutes ago.
He lingers for a moment before pressing send. Chenle makes sure his text is light enough to be interpreted as teasing if needed.
To Felix: my teammates are ridiculous. you should have sent them to my apartment if you didn’t want your crush on me exposed
For the next few minutes, it takes for Felix to replay Chenle doesn’t dare to as much as breathe.
The loud notification sound signalizing a new message makes Chenle almost jump out of his skin. It certainly manages to make him curse under his breath. He throws Daegal a look as if the dog could report him to his hyungs. After all, the world is a strange place so you never know.
When he finally looks down at his phone he can feel the tip of his ears heat up in embarrassment.
From Felix: wops I guess I’ll be more careful next time
Chenle frowns down at his phone for a second before he finds himself laughing uncontrollably. Of course, it was going to go like this with them; a sort of a confession over text in the middle of the night. Well, Chenle made this happen so he might as well finish it off.
To Felix: hyung I can’t believe we’re lame enough to do this over text
From Felix: I made an effort with the cookies, it’s you who texted me you know
Chenle rolls his eyes but wastes no time in pressing the green button next to Felix’s name. He waits for one signal, two, before the older picks up, laughter already present in his voice.
“Say it,” he whispers in the silence of his apartment, Daegal still judging him from the couch.
Somehow Felix knows what Chenle means right away.
“I like you?” the end of his sentence sounds like a question but it’s more thanks to the laughter, not uncertainty. Chenle smiles too.
“I hope you know the only cookies I can send you are storebought ones,” he says as he feels his ears turn even hotter than before. It’s true that he can’t bake and offer Felix something as nice as a carefully packaged box of homemade cookies full of love as Donghyuck claims. Still, he wants to somehow let the other know that they are on the same page.
Felix gets him, of course.
“Make sure you buy chocolate chip ones then.”
Chenle rolls his eyes but nods all the same and after he realizes that Felix can’t see him right now he mumbles a quick “Fine.”
His friends aren’t always so off, after all, Chenle must give them that. He’s so not looking to tomorrow’s practice.