Zhong Chenle Fluff - Tumblr Posts

You had stayed at your boyfriend's place last night because he had just gotten free of promotions for NCT DREAM's new comeback. Chenle had insisted you have a sleepover after every comeback to make up for lost time.

"Baby, baby, look at this! Sweetheart, come see!" your boyfriend called to you when you came into the kitchen the next morning for breakfast. "Y/n, hurry up, it might leave!" On the windowsill by the sink, there were some plants, the one Chenle was intently staring at was a little chili plant which had just blossomed. When you stood next to him, he pointed at one of the little white flowers, where a bee was currently collecting pollen.

"Awe, a little bumble bee! Look at its little bumble bee legs. Oh, he's doing such a good job, I'm so proud of my boy," you say, leaning in closer to look. Chenle leaned in, too, just as the bee moved on to the neighbouring flower, and opened the window a little further so the bee would find it easier to leave when it decided to. Taking ahold of your waste from behind, he began to waddle towards the kitchen table.

"What about me?" he asked, getting two bowls and a box of cereal from the shelf, while you got spoons and milk, "Personally, I think my job is harder than a bee's, and therefore deserves more recognition."

"I mean, yeah, probably, but, like. Bumble bee," you said, pouring cereal into the bowls, Chenle having started clinging to your back again. You felt his pout against your skin at the same time that he huffed right in your ear, "Ugh, dude, gross."

"Can't even get as much love out of you as you so willingly give to an insect, why do I even bother," he began mumbling to himself, putting the milk and cereal away. He sat down next to you, angrily munching on his frosted flakes, giving you a little glare,"If I grew some wings and two extra limbs, would you praise me like that then? Hmm?" He smiled at you, with your bedhead and crispy bits on your cheek.

"No, that would be weird. However," you wiped your face and got off your stool, moving behind him and wrapping your arms around his shoulders, "I am so incredibly proud of you. You make me and so many other people all around the world so happy with just your smile. You are doing such a good job, I can't even describe it, and I need you to know that I am one hundred times more proud of you, Zhong Chenle, than I ever will be of some bumble bee." Sitting back down, you smile at him and go back to your cereal, but Chenle was blushing so hard he didn't trust himself to actually aim for his mouth properly.

"Well, I knew that, but thanks for saying it out loud." As you kiss him on the cheek, you hear foot steps coming in, and Renjun appeared at the door.

"That was gross."

This is just so sweet.

oh could you please write like a soulmate au for chenle? i just watched this video on yt 'chenle is an angel' and honestly its giving me major chenle feels because hes so sweet and caring and cUTE?? if its not a bother and if you arent busy hehe

pinky promise — ZCL

a long time ago, long before the symbols on your wrists appeared, chenle gave you a promise. no matter what, he’ll love you forever, whether that’s going to be in a familial sense or romantic. you would never have thought that chenle would break it.

soulmate au — when you turn eighteen, a symbol will appear on your wrist that matches the one your soulmate has.

gladly bubs! honestly this is chenle’s era, look at him go,,,, i love him so much sigh

Promises are sacred. In this friendship, they’re not shallow words that are easily spoken. Whenever Chenle and you lock pinkies, the next thing that’s going to be promised is of utmost importance.

“I promise to tell you the truth.”

“I promise to take care of myself.”

“I promise to love you forever.”

Your eighteenth birthday is supposed to be a day you get excited for, and not a day you dread. Yet, you’re the one who’s going to lock herself into the room for the next seven days, and if you want to cry on your birthday, you will do it.

Zhong Chenle has broken his word, and your heart with it.

❀ ❀ ❀

You met Chenle in kindergarten. Rosy-cheeked and a big grin on his lips, he had offered to push you on the swings. He always made sure you didn’t fall, and when you did, Chenle was always the fastest to grab some bandaids. At that age, boys tended to be disgusted by the other gender, but Chenle had always treasured you as much as any other friend. You shared sweets with him, and you already began exchanging birthday presents at age seven. Toys turned into handwritten letters and bracelets you made yourself, and flowers were replaced with real jewelry Chenle bought you with his pocket money.

At age thirteen, you bought him a proper bracelet, not one you made yourself. It wasn’t much and couldn’t compare to the ones Chenle always got for you, since your family didn’t earn as much as he did, but when you told him that you saved up your pocket money and even helped around in the neighborhood to gain some, he had burst into tears and held you close for the longest time.

It was the first and last time you ever saw Zhong Chenle cry.

He was not the type of child to spill tears; always happy, constantly loud. His good mood radiates and affects every person around him. It’s funny to watch him panic when you start bawling, since you’re a big crybaby and Chenle is a stone when it comes to feeling upset. He just doesn’t see any reason to do it. If something upsets him, he works on it.

Tears don’t get you far in life. It’s what Chenle was taught, drilled into his head since he first stood on his own two legs. Even now when the stress bursts open his temples and weighs on him as heavy as an anchor, he’s just unable to do it. He clutches to you like his own personal life ring, fingers leaving scratch marks on your arms and back as he tries to get a grip on reality. Never once do tears pool in his eyes. It’s just not him.

At age sixteen, Chenle bought you roses. He was just a little older than you, barely being able to call himself that with the few months he’s got on you. You’re younger than your shared friend Jisung, but it’s not fair he plays the ‘respect your elders’-card every time you get cheeky with him. On that day though, Chenle had given you the roses and held your hands tightly, his face unusually serious, almost scary.

“You’re younger than me, so I have to protect you. I have to show you how a boy should treat you so you’ll never let anyone trample over you.”

Pinkies interlocked, Chenle promised to never let anyone hurt you. He started showering you with presents and bouquets, even though you begged him not to waste any money on you. Your words fall on deaf ears - he doesn’t accept the ‘your friendship is the biggest present’. He has to show you. Windows are left open in the middle of the night so Chenle can climb in, because you don’t want to be alone. When your parents start fighting, he starts taking you out to do all the things they usually don’t allow you. Stay out until the sun rises. Skip town and go to a fair. Go on your first party and get a taste of alcohol, but only this sip - Chenle still deems you too young.

You don’t know when your friendship had shifted into something more, but there comes a time where Chenle stops looking at you as his baby that he has to protect and starts recognizing you’re becoming a woman. Hands start hindering you from getting to your first date; he claims your boy is nothing but trouble. Cute outfits are snatched out of your hands just so he can pull his own hoodie over your frame, because “it’ll be cold outside and I don’t want you to get sick”. Chenle stops making his friends sit on each other’s lap in a full car so you have a seat for your own and begins sitting you down on his own lap, legs spread, hands on your waist.

When you look Chenle into the eyes, you don’t see the innocent toddler that used to put Spongebob bandaids on your nose, but a grown man. Chenle, who fills out his baby face features. You still pinch his cheeks, but it’s not the same when both cheekbones and jawline are sharper than in your childhood days. Veiny, big hands that cover your own. He even thinks about going to a fitness center, but you can hinder him from that by luring him with cuddles.

The moment this boy - or man, whatever - starts gaining muscles, you’re seriously going to lose it. You have to postpone that for as long as you can. There’s still that selfish wish inside you that craves for Chenle to stay the friend you made in kindergarten, with a soft tummy and dimply cheeks. It’s childish, but you don’t want him to grow up and be noticed by even more fans who will for sure fall in love with him.

Of course you’re happy for him. You attended lots of showcases and concerts, and Chenle always laughs and says you’re the loudest one to scream. Every album is bought yourself, no matter how much he wants do it for you. Very often, you end up going with his parents to support him at an event. It seems like with every comeback, Chenle drifts out of your hold.

Age seventeen, Chenle makes you a promise that changes your friendship forever.

Surrounded by several plates of sweet and sour pork, dumplings and spring rolls, Chenle and you are seated on the ground inside your room. The window’s wide open, the nightly breeze making you shudder every once in a while. In the past few weeks, he’s been busy preparing for a comeback, and had practically jumped at the chance to have a free day. As soon as he had told you about it, you grabbed your keys, gotten some takeout and took the bus to his place. With a big grin, Chenle shared some information with you about the music video(even though he was technically not allowed to), going so far to ask you to only look at him during the music video or he’ll get jealous.

You rolled your eyes at that, but he was only halfly joking. Not that you knew that.

“How’s school going?”

You sigh. “Sucks without you, of course.” Chopsticks clatter on your plate as you let go and lay back, looking for comfort in the blanket your best friend had given you. He’s got the best view of the house - the city’s skyline is clearly seen even from your seat on the ground, the pale moonlight filling his room with a ghostly ambience. Outside, you can still hear people chattering away, even though it’s late in the evening. “But atleast I don’t have to worry about exams anymore. We’re all just waiting for summer break. It sucks to be stuck in a classroom when it’s a thousand degrees outside and we’re not even doing anything productive. Why would I go to school to watch a movie?”

“Be patient, you big baby,” Chenle giggles. He stuffs his mouth with a dumpling and follows your gaze, before he looks at your face again. You may not notice it, but Chenle stares at you often. There’s something so angelic about your features, the soft slope of your throat ... When he closes his eyes, he can vividly picture you. You’re unforgettable. Born out of stardust and sunlight, you are the single most beautiful thing Chenle has ever laid eyes on.

No money in the world would ever be enough to match your worth. That’s why he will treasure you forever. It’s a silent promise, the only one he never speaks aloud.

A yawn tumbles from your lips, and you wrap yourself tighter into the blankets. Why cuddle the blanket when you can cuddle him? “Whatever,” you mumble, unknowingly answering the question he posed in his mind. “I just want to get the hell out of school and visit the ocean again.”

“You want to visit your grandmother?”

You hum. “Yeah. It’s been so long since we last went. I didn’t even get to swim that day.”

Chenle remembers. It was cold and the wind was freezing up your cheeks, almost hurtful to the touch as he had pressed his hands against them. You shared a picnic there, but your mother forbade you from entering the water. That day, he had discovered that you’re even pretty when you pout. He clears his throat. “I’ll take you,” he says then.

His heart jumps in the most lovely way when you reach for his hand. He mimics you, gripping it tightly as he inches closer to your tired body and presses your hands against his cheek. Even though the darkness casts shadows over your pretty face, the dim light makes your eyes shine like jewels. “You’re busy,” you remind him, but there’s a big, grateful smile on your lips as you take in the view infront of you. Does he make your heart skip like you do to him? What galaxies do you find in his eyes? “You can take me when you’re not busy promoting another album. I’ll go with my cousins this summer.”

“Let me take you,” he complains, but Chenle knows just as much as you that he won’t be able to. When you pull him closer, his fingers move on instinct to untangle the blankets enveloping your body so he can pull it against his own. You’re frail and precious, but that doesn’t stop him from holding you as tightly as humanly possible. When your hands bury themselves in his dyed hair, his eyes slip closed.

In moments like these, he can pretend you’re his and he’s yours and there’s not a worry in the world. Someday though, you’re going to find your soulmate and leave him forever. And he can’t even get mad about it; how could he get mad over something that makes you happy, when it’s all he wants in life?

“(y/n).” Chenle breaks free of your embrace and holds up your hand so he can lock pinkies. You follow his quick movement with your eyes, suprised about his sudden actions. “I want to promise you something.”

“Hear, hear.” You’re joking, but there’s just a slight hint of nervousity hiding in your voice. He doesn’t have the time to ponder over that.

Chenle looks you in the eyes and sees the woman he wants to marry someday. The woman he’s never going to have. “(l/n) (y/n), I promise to love you forever.”

❀ ❀ ❀

You had left Chenle’s house that evening with thousands of questions swarming your mind. After he promised you, he returned to finishing his dinner and even offered to take you home, but you had needed the fresh air and alone time to think about what he said. Why would he say something like that, when his soulmate mark already appeared? Does he want to break your heart that badly?

A summer at the seaside will help clear your head. It’s not like Chenle confessed to you - in a way, it was just like any other promise he’d made you. This isn’t the first time where he had been overly affectionate with you. You’re reminded of the last summer where Chenle was so hellbent of proving you how a real boyfriend should treat you, and you almost want to start crying again.

What guy that was in love with you would show you how another guy should do that?

When Chenle comes to help you pack your bags for Busan, he never mentions the promise. Like always, he makes fun of you and your bad habits, since you tend to pack last-minute every time. Your grandmother would be disappointed Chenle wouldn’t accompany you both, but it’s not like you can tell the guy “hey, stop being an idol for once and come chill with my grandma”.

It’s a four-hour-drive by train. Chenle insists on buying you snacks while you wait for said train to arrive at the station, and your best friend returns just before your transportation means arrive. “I’m going to miss you,” he says, and you wish he wouldn’t say that. It tugs at your heartstrings, since they’re tied around Chenle’s mere existence. Every step away you take away from him hurts. You don’t want to go without him.

But you don’t say that. Instead, you tell him: “I’ll miss you, too. I’ll show grandma your music video.”

“You better - she’s my biggest fan.” Chenle hooks an arm around your waist and pulls you close. You want to scold him not to do that in public, but his lips are already on your cheek. It’s a pretty quick way to shut you up, and he enjoys the way you blush. Unbothered, Chenle lets go and stuffs your bagpack with the many gummybears and chips he bought. “Text me when you’re there. I don’t want to find out over the news that you turned into a zombie.”

“Please leave the corny jokes to Jeno, Chenle.”

That makes him laugh. He grips your hands for a last time. When he offers you his cheek, you can’t help yourself, leaning forward to leave a peck there on instinct. It hurts. But you stay quiet.

“See you soon, (y/n)ie.”

❀ ❀ ❀

What a blatant lie.

When you reach Busan, several trends are already taken up by Chenle and the most recent scandal. You should’ve known. No, you knew you should have stopped him, and yet you selfishly decided against it because you did everything for just a slither of his attention. The place where his lips had met your skin still tingles, the effect not numbed by the tears running over them.

The public eats the rumors up; they’re all very excited to trash you for being close to their precious Chenle, and it doesn’t take long for his company to react. This is what you feared. This is what you’ve been trying to avoid for so long, and now it’s caught up with you.

He ignores all of your messages. Not a single call goes through. That evening, you’re contacted by his manager. He tries to formulate it as a plead, but you know it’s an order.

“Please refrain from meeting Chenle ever again. He has a dating ban until he finds his soulmate.”

The words are like a slap to the face. Your grandmother doesn’t question it when you leave the house to walk to the beach, at the very spot Chenle and you hang out at every time you’re there. There’s a bench in which Chenle carved in both your initials, and you can still hear yourself beg him not to do it because he’d hurt himself.

Of course that idiot cut himself several times. But it’s impossible to get mad at him when he smiles so sweetly at you and hugs you so tight you forget all about your worries.

He’s never going to hug you like that again.

The sea shells you find prick tears at your eyes, since they’re the same ones you used when you were younger to create the necklaces you gifted him. You shatter them inside your hand, matching the state your heart is currently in.

You curse the universe for giving you Chenle when he was never yours to begin with.

❀ ❀ ❀

Days stretch into weeks as you wait for any sign of life from Chenle. With every day that passes, the pain grows bigger, eating away at your heart and mind as you cry yourself to sleep. You tear out all of the birthday presents you’ve gotten from Chenle in plans of being rid of them forever, but it feels like such a betrayal to yourself that you end up cowering over them, violent sobs wrecking your body. You’ve never been away so long from Chenle, and it hurts. It hurts to reread the many letters and hear his voice whispering the words. Looking at pictures seems almost impossible when it feels like salt being strewn into a deep wound.

The closer your eighteenth birthday looms, the more you feel like vomitting.

You don’t want a soulmate if it’s not going to be Chenle. Your Chenle, who laughs so loud the entire street hears him. Chenle, who taught you how to play basketball despite you being so clumsy. Chenle, who composed a song on the guitar for you as a seventeenth birthday present. You’d rather die than look at anyone else the way you used to look at him.

You know hearts can’t physically break, but your chest hurts so much. With your best friend gone, it feels like someone ripped a huge piece out of it and left it to bleed out. And it feels disgusting.

In the last hours before your birthday, your thoughts keep drifting back to Chenle’s soulmate tattoo. You’ve never seen it, but you know it took him a longer while for it to appear. Usually, when the clock strikes twelve on your birthday, it’s supposed to already be there. It only takes longer when your soulmate lives far away, or you’re not the same age.

Despite rejecting the idea so much, you wonder how it’s going to be for you. You’ve seen several soulmate patters; the intricate lines connecting to form a heart on your parents’ wrists, or the balloons tied together on the skin of Chenle’s parents. Jisung’s small smiley, right over his pulse artery.

Your parents cheers flood your room as midnight signals the end of your seventeenth year of life, but the missing person is felt by everyone. Instead of Chenle, Jisung is the one to burst through the door to give you a present and a hug you desperately need.

It’s not the same. It’s not your childhood best friend of fourteen years, but you’ll take anything that eases the loss of him.

Your soulmate mark doesn’t appear until lunch, where your mother slides you a piece of cake over the table and promises to celebrate your birthday properly when she comes back from home. Your dad’s already long gone.

There’s another promise ringing inside your head while you stare at the dessert, but before you can cry over that, too, it knocks quietly at the door.

It’s unusual for your mom to forget anything. She’s very tidy, a born perfectionist. She never let you forget your school stuff on purpose, no much how you begged her to let it slide just this once. You swing open the door, ready to tease her for being forgetful, but your mouth falls open instead of speaking.

Chenle doesn’t let you recover from your shock. He pushes you inside, locking the door behind him. His hair is disheveled, his cheeks a fiery red - did he run here? “What the hell?” you gasp. “Chenle, what are you doing?”

“I ran several blocks to escape the dreamies and came here because I couldn’t stay away from you.” Your best friend topples over as he tries hard to catch his breath, and you turn to fetch him a glass of water. You’re stopped before you can make a single step, familiar arms wrapping around your middle to keep you there. How long has it been since you’ve last hugged him? You almost forgot his heavenly scent; the mixture of way too expensive perfume and chewing gum. Chenle raises his head to look you in the face. “I made you a promise, didn’t I?”

“You disobeyed your management just to show me your stupid soulmate tattoo? I don’t want to be the reason you get into trouble again...”

“Did yours appear?”

Your breath hitches. For a few seconds, you just continue looking at him, the familiar teddybear eyes that have watched you your entire life. Making sure you don’t trip. Watching you get home safely. “Yeah,” you finally whisper, and you let him hold your arm besides yours.

His fingers are trembling, almost as much as yours. You don’t dare hope, but it’s impossible to do so when Chenle is right here and your heart yearns for him so much, it almost jumps out of your chest. “(y/n),” he says. His voice is the remedy to the pain blooming inside your chest. “I gave you another promise. And I don’t intend going back on that. That’s why I’m telling you again, (y/n), that I love you with all my heart. You are in my heart, been there since the day you gave me that necklace you wasted all your money on even though I’ve got enough to cover us both. I’m so in love with you, in love with your flaws, your mistakes, everything that makes you you. I’ve loved you long before I even knew what love was. It doesn’t matter what’s on your wrist, (y/n), because I’ll love you for eternity. I’ll love you until I die and I’ll love you even after.”

And then he tugs down both of your sleeves.

Despite revealing the soulmate marks, you still look at each other for a long time, imprinting the other’s face into their minds for maybe the last time in long. You think about Chenle’s laughter and how easy it was to laugh with him. The sweet, dark chocolate brown color of his eyes, how you can look past them and right into his soul. And you think about how Chenle never cries, and yet the tears spill past the rims of his eyes to leave wet tracks over his milky pale cheeks.

The pattern matches. Several points, connected by thick lines. A star constellation. You can even name it - Cassiopeia, lover to King Cepheus, a love story written in the sky.

For a long time, you both don’t move. And then you jump straight into Chenle’s arms, you almost knock him over and make him slam his back straight into the door, but he still laughs and wraps his arms around you. You can’t breathe because of his tight embrace, but you don’t care, you don’t need to breathe when this is the single most happiest day in your life.

“I didn’t bring you a birthday present,” Chenle whispers, and you draw back to cup his face. Every single cell inside of you screams for you to kiss him, but first, you have to thank your soulmate.

“You’re the birthday present, Chenle.”

The universe’s apology comes in form of a sweet kiss, one that’s long overdue since the day Chenle sent you off to Busan. This time, you’ll return to your grandmother to introduce her to the love of your life.