can’t help falling in love with you [1/2]
Title: can't help falling in love with you
Author: Anonymous until 1/30/14
For: tripmee
Pairing: Baekhyun/Chanyeol
Word Count: 9,994
Summary: Park Chanyeol has to deal with violent flying monkeys when he realizes his best friend is a girl.
Warnings: girl!Baekhyun
Rating: PG
One
He blames everything on L. Frank Baum.
Park Chanyeol thinks his life could have been so much easier if Dorothyhad been a boy. Then there would've been no need for him to feel like a million flying monkeys were violently playing tag inside his stomach right now. To make matters worse 'Dorothy' just had to wear those ruby red slippers. Fuck his life, really.
Everyone will probably think he's crazy yet he most certainly isn't. Well, perhaps a little. It's actually a very sad thing. Looking back, he knows he should have refused to go along with his friends' wonderful idea more adamantly when he had the chance. But he didn't, so here he is years after that wonderful idea, burning in the fiery pits of hell-in the special circle reserved for idiots like him.
Okay, maybe he's kind of exaggerating. But still.
Now, people may think it's extreme to blame someone who died ages ago for his current predicament except Chanyeol believes otherwise. It really is the deceased author’s fault. To better illustrate why he thinks so, let's go a year back... No, actually, let's go about six years back to where it all really began.
October, 2008.
"Why do I have to be a dog?" Chanyeol asks for the umpteenth time.
"Because you look like one," his friend, Jongdae, answers irritably while he bats on the fake hay stuffed inside his collar and sleeves. The boy is busy scratching on his neck and arms and has no time for Chanyeol's whining.
"I don't!" Chanyeol huffs. "Why can't Jongin be the dog?"
At the mention of his name, the olive skinned boy stirs from his nap from the corner of the room and looks up sleepily at his four friends. Deciding nothing's amiss, except maybe Chubby Chanyeol being more dramatic than usual, Kim Jongin returns to dreamland. Chanyeol thinks that the silver-metallic-whatever the youngest boy is wearing doesn’t appear comfortable, but at least it’s not the furry overall his friends are forcing him to put on.
"Jongin can't be a dog because it already took me an hour to get him in that thing," Yifan replies with a scowl, formidable eyebrows meeting.
"Then we can exchange! I'll be the lion. You be the-" Chanyeol doesn't finish because the eldest boy’s scowl deepens and he's just twelve. He doesn't want his life to end so soon.
"We can switch if you want," Baekhyun pipes up from across room.
Chanyeol stares helplessly at the petite girl in front of the mirror and gives up. "Fine, I'll be the dog."
Kim Jongdae snickers. "A pity. I would've wanted to see you walking around the neighborhood in that dress."
"Shut up. Whose idea was this anyway?" Chanyeol looks at Jongdae accusingly.
"It was my idea and it's a wonderful idea," Yifan answers. Of course it was his idea. "So go put your costume on now before those other kids get our candy."
"I want candy," Jongin murmurs in his sleep.
Chanyeol sighs. Baekhyun walks over to him and gently pats him on the head. "At least you'll be my dog."
He leans in to the touch and feels a bit better. ByunBaekhyun's the best. She's the only one who understands him. "Oh, okay."
"And I get to lead you around with a leash," she says with a laugh.
Did he say the best? Baekhyun's the worst. Allhis friends are the worst.
"Just kidding, Toto." With a pinch to his plump cheek, Baekhyun walks away with a swish of her long light blue skirt and dons her ruby red slippers.
It takes only a few minutes more before Chanyeol's being led outside Kim Jongdae's house, wearing stupid dog ears and the stuffy dog costume, with the tip of his nose painted black.
“Let’s follow the yellow brick road!” Jongdae suddenly shouts and hooks his right arm around Jongin's and the left around Baekhyun’s. The brunette girl smiles widely and does the same to Yifan. Chanyeol’s about to hook his own arm around the scariest looking Cowardly Lion ever but then the tallest boy gives him a pointed look.
“You’re the dog," Yifan says.
As if Chanyeol needs anymore reminders. He watches on as his stupid friends march together down the street to go see the wizard, laughing, while he follows grudgingly behind.
So do you now see where the problem lies? No? Well, then let's fast forward to four years later, to their gang’s fifth straight Halloween as Dorothy and friendsand to Chanyeol’s third adjustment to his Toto costume because at almost seventeen, contrary to what everyone else believed, he's now as tall as a tree. Sadly, according to what everyone did believe, he's as dumb as one. Why else would he say yes to his friends again?
October, 2012.
Being Toto isn't as bad as it was the first time he did it. A lot of moms seem to think that next to Jongin the Tinman, Chanyeol the dog is the cutest so he gets the second most number of candies. Not that it matters, though, because half of it always goes to Baekhyun. Yeah.
He's also uncertain as to why his friends insist on going trick or treating when they're clearly too old for it and honestly, Chanyeol kind of hates it when he has to fall in line next to small kids giving him the evil eye as if he's stealing their candy.
He's in front of his bathroom sink, watching his reflection as he powders his nose black with his mom's eye shadow. For the last time, he thinks. No more of this next year. He's really going to put his foot down and say no. He nods resolutely.
Chanyeol hears a rustling behind the shower curtains. He almost forgets that Baekhyun's inside the bathroom with him, changing into her blue and white checked tunic and her white blouse. They agreed to meet up in his house this time, having gone through all of his other friends' houses the past four Halloweens.
"Chanyeol?"Baekhyun peeks from behind the curtain, shoulder length hair a mess around her small face. "Close your eyes."
The tall boy turns to look at his friend. "Huh?"
"Just close your eyes, okay?"
Chanyeol does, although he really doesn't know why, he has always done whatever Baekhyun says. "Done."
More rustling and then he hears the short girl speak somewhere in front of him. "Okay, now button me up."
Chanyeol scratches his head in confusion. "How am I supposed to do that with my eyes closed?"
Baekhyun grabs for his hand and places it against the soft fabric of the back of her blouse. "Come on.”
Chanyeol holds onto the cotton and the back of his fingers brush against smooth skin. He thinks he hears a slight gasp from his friend. “Sorry, my hands are cold,” he mumbles as he fumbles with the plastic buttons. “Why the frick are these so tiny?”
Baekhyun laughs lightly. His lips spread into a wide grin for no particular reason at all. Well, possibly just because Baekhyun laughed.
One by one, Chanyeol gets them done. He reaches the last button at the base of Baekhyun’s nape and he’s just a boy, how can he resist? He leans down and blows on it, reveling in the girl’s startled yelp. He can't say he is surprised when a small knuckle hits the side of his head. Chanyeol cackles at the sound of indignation from the short girl. Before he can blink his eyes open, he's pushed roughly out of the bathroom. He's still laughing when he falls on his butt. Baekhyun's so predictable.
"You look stupid," Jongdae says. He's sitting on Chanyeol's bed beside a napping Jongin. Yifan, who's checking his reflection in the mirror hanging on a wall, rolls his eyes at them and continues to primp.
"Not more than you do," Chanyeol replies. He straightens up and crosses his arms. "This is the last time, okay? I'm not going to do this again."
Jongdae snorts. "That's what you’ve been saying the last four years."
"I'm really, really serious this time! Why do we even do this? I mean, it's so silly! And I'm tired of angry kids glaring at me!"
"It's fun," Yifan says with a shrug.
"Of course you'd say that, it's your idea," Chanyeol mutters.
"The first time we went, it was. But you know full well that it's Baekhyun's idea to keep doing it."
Yeah, Chanyeol knows but it's not like he can complain about it to Baekhyun. He pouts. "Still. I'm putting my foot down. This will really be-"
He pauses when he hears the door behind him open. Chanyeol frowns a bit at the surprised looks on Yifan' and Jongdae's faces. He turns around. What's with the gaping it's just-He can feel his own jaw dropping."B-baek?"
Chanyeol has to ask because he's not exactly sure it's his childhood friend standing in front of him, smiling with her eyes disappearing into cheerful crescents. Her brown hair's now parted into two pigtails. It's obvious it's not only Chanyeol's mom who did some adjusting on their costumes. Baekhyun's white blouse now has small puff sleeves and is a little snug across her-chest. It's not just a chest, Chanyeol thinks as he continues to stare. There are two bumps on her chest. Bumps!
His eyes travel disbelievingly down the tunic that used to fall past the girl's knees but it now stops just mid-thigh, letting him get an eyeful of smooth white legs. And really, he believes Byun Baekhyun has been wearing those ruby red shoes since forever (she didn't grow much since they were young) but the sight of them on those dainty feet suddenly got him feeling all sorts of strange.
"Yo, what's up, sexy Baek?" Yifan teasingly asks and Chanyeol wakes up from the daze he was trapped in the moment he saw Baekhyun. Jongdae wolf whistles before he drops down on the bed laughing, waking Jongin up who smiles lazily at Baekhyun.
"You look pretty," the youngest says.
Park Chanyeol sees a faint color fill Baekhyun's cheeks. "Thanks? I told my mom I want to-Yah! What?"
He can't take it. He doesn't let his friend finish. Chanyeol pushes Baekhyun back inside the bathroom and closes the door on her. He holds on to the knob to keep the girl from getting out.
"Hey, Park Chanyeol! What do you think you're doing?" they hear Baekhyun's muffled shouts.
Chanyeol turns and leans his back against the bathroom door. He looks at his other friends who are all gaping at him. "She's a girl!" he blurts out.
"Well, yes." Jongdae’s brows knot.
"No, you don't understand. She's a girl!"
"Chanyeol, she has always been a girl," Yifan says, exasperated.
"But she has boobs!" Chanyeol answers, panicking. He feels the door being pried open and he tightens his hold on the knob. Baekhyun hits the wood with her palm.
"Yah, Park Chanyeol, what the hell? Let me out!"
Why is everyone looking at him as if he's demented? Even Jongin is looking funnily at him. Can't they see? Baekhyun's a girl and when did that happen?
"But you're a girl!" he says back.
"I can't help it. I was born a girl!"
"Chanyeol, let Baek out," Yifan tells him.
His mind rebels. No. Baekhyun can't come out wearing that dress outside! What if other boys see her and finds out she's a girl girl. He wipes his free hand down his face. Why can't anybody understand? "But they'll know she's a girl."
"I'm pretty sure everyone else already does," Jongdae says with a roll of his eyes.
"Stop being dumb, Chanyeol." Yifan starts to walk towards him.
"Okay, wait!" He quickly opens the door and slips in. Baekhyun's the smartest out of all them idiots and so she'll get why she can't go out looking like that. Chanyeol finds Baekhyun glaring up at him, her foot briskly tapping on the tile floor. But maybe she sees the troubled expression on Chanyeol's face for her scowl disappears to be replaced by a concerned frown.
"Hey, what's wrong?"
"You're a girl, Baek. And-and you can't wear that costume outside," he says, willing the shorter girl to understand.
"Chanyeol."
"Baekhyun. Listen. You just can't," he insists.
Baekhyun reaches up and pokes his cheek. "Why?"
Why? Yes, Park Chanyeol, why?He opens his mouth but no words come out. He can't explain it. His brain can't seem to get past the Byun Baekhyun's a girl part. It's pretty much trapped between that and the image of his best friend's legs. Don't look down.
He holds his palms up. "Just, please?"
Baekhyun sighs resignedly and he feels a bit better, relieved. "Alright, Yeol. But what am I supposed to wear now?"
The tall boy starts at the question. He looks around the cramped bathroom. What can they use? He honestly can't think of anything. His eyes settle back on Baekhyun. And on her dress. Park Chanyeol thinks his life really is hard.
The whole street probably hears Jongdae's shout of obnoxious laughter when he and Baekhyun get out of the bathroom. Chanyeol pulls on the hem of the skirt which is just a few inches shy of exposing the family jewels. Kim Jongdae lets out another guffaw.
"Chanyeol, you could've just told us you wanted to wear the dress. There was no need for the theatrics," Yifan says laughingly.
Chanyeol feels his face heat up.
"Stop it, you two," Baekhyun reprimands the two boys and pats Jongin's head when he smiles up at her and tells her once more of how cute she looks. Chanyeol kind of wants to pat Baekhyun's head, too.
Yifan gives Chanyeol a thumbs up. "Looking good. Leggo."
"Did you just say leggo?" Jongdae asks with disdain which earned him a glare from the oldest boy. They all shuffle out of Chanyeol's room, with the newly minted Dorothy's head hanging low and praying that his mom's at the kitchen and won't see him. Yifan leads the way out, his fake tail swishing, followed by Jongdae and Jongin. Baekhyun's about to go out the front door when she looks back at Chanyeol who is sitting on the last step of the stairs, grudgingly putting on a pair of red sneakers. He definitely won't wear Baekhyun's slippers, thank you very much. Not to mention they won't even fit.
"Ready?" the girl asks.
"Yeah," Chanyeol answers though he doubts he is.
"Oh, here."Baekhyun comes closer. Since it's such short notice, Chanyeol doesn't have a wig so his friend removes the hair clip from her hair and tells him to bend down.
"You're too tall," Baekhyun complains. She pulls Chanyeol by the ruffles of his collar and proceeds to put the ribbon in his short hair. "Now, smile. So pretty," she coos.
Despite all the exposed skin afforded by his minuscule dress, Chanyeol's suddenly warm all over and he feels his insides are gonna go bonkers on him any moment now. He jerks back. Baekhyun remains grinning up at him and the tall boy can't seem to breathe properly.
"Do I look okay?" she asks, her head tilted.
"Of course, yeah. You do."
"Really? You look all Dorothy now but do I look all Toto?"
"Yeah-Oh, the nose. Your nose. It needs to be black and oh my god you're laughing. I still have the make up on mine, don't I?"
Baekhyun nods, giggling. Chanyeol groans. "Okay, wait here I'll go get it."
"That'll take too long. Just come here." Baekhyun pulls him down again, tiptoes and promptly rubs the tip of her nose against Chanyeol's. His breath hitches and then he can't breathe at all but surely it must just be because the waistline of the dress is digging into his ribs. For he has been this close to ByunBaekhyun before, even closer as a matter of fact and, and, and-
"All done." She beams up at him, tip of her nose adorably black, and then walks out of the front door to their waiting friends. Chanyeol's left trying to catch his breath, a sense of foreboding settling in the pit of his stomach.
Almost two months later and Chanyeol still can’t seem to catch it.
December, 2012.
Chanyeol looks inside his wallet and nods happily. With the additional money he got from helping at his aunt's store, he has enough to get all his friends better Christmas presents this year. Well, late Christmas presents. He just got back from spending the holidays with his relatives outside the city. He had purposely been very nice to his annoying cousins so his mom would let him spend New Year’s Eve with his friends at Jongin's.
The youngest boy’s place was the only one with a rooftop so they all decided to meet later and watch the fireworks from there by midnight. He won't need to arrive until ten in the evening so Chanyeol has enough time to go around the mall and buy the gifts. There are only a few people roaming about the mall to his relief, most opting to spend the day at home or going out to attend parties.
Buying gifts is fairly easy since he always gives his friends identical presents every year anyway. Everyone does. He chuckles as he recalls their exchange last Christmas. Chanyeol gave his friends fuzzy hand warmers ("Hey, at least they’re useful!"). Yifan bought them animal print wallets ("One word, Jongdae, and you're dead."). Baekhyun got porcelain mugs hand-painted with their names ("No one is allowed to complain."), Jongin, a bar of chocolate for each ("They're buy one get one so Baekhyunnie gets two."), while Jongdae threw them a pair of socks each ("100% cotton. You're all welcome.").
They'll probably get the same kind of gifts this year, Chanyeol thinks, shaking his head. He enters a clothing store and walks aimlessly around. Those beanies look cute, he tells himself as he goes to a shelf of hats, but too expensive. He sighs and turns away. Now what to buy? Just then his eyes go to a stand full of colorful knitted scarves. He moves closer and breaks out into a wide grin at the prices. They're perfect.
He takes five red ones and goes to pay at the counter. He's still contemplating on whether to have them gift wrapped when he gets distracted by a display of sparkly hair clips near the register. A particular blue one in the shape of a ribbon catches his attention. It kind of looks like the one Baekhyun put on his hair last Halloween.
Chanyeol gets that strange breathlessness again when he thinks of Baekhyun's smiling face close to his, brown eyes full of concentration as she pinned the clip on Chanyeol. That memory inevitably gets followed by the one where their noses rubbed together and how Chanyeol felt all disoriented even after the day ended and he was already on his bed, stomach hurting from eating too much candy and the sugar from Baekhyun's smile.
He doesn't notice that he's touching the hair clip until the lady on the counter speaks. "That'll be a good present for your girlfriend."
Chanyeol jerks his hand back and immediately shakes his head. "No, no. I don't have a girlfriend. You're mistaken. She is a girl. A girl, yeah. She is a girl friend but not a girlfriend. Just a friend." Of course Byun Baekhyun's his friend and-why is his throat closing up all of a sudden?
"Slow down, young man. I understand," the lady says with a grin and there's something about the look she's giving him that makes Chanyeol want to run for cover. "It's still a pretty present for a friend. Who's a girl."
Chanyeol pauses. Yes, it is. The ribbon sparkles from its case as if beckoning for him to pick it up. It would look very pretty on Baekhyun's soft dark hair he thinks. It's also the same shade of her Dorothy dress. Baekhyun looks great in blue. He thinks she always has. But no. It will be weird, wont it? He can't buy Baekhyun the ribbon because, because, because. He already got her the scarf and if he buys her another gift then she'll have two.
If Baekhyun gets two gifts then the others will think that Baekhyun's more special to him and she isn't. Not really. She's has always been just one of the guys but with bumps on her chests and smooth legs and pink lips and pretty hands and pretty eyes and a pretty smile and-One of the guys, he'll stop there.
With a resolute shake of his head, Chanyeol grabs onto the bag of scarves, thanks the old lady and all but runs out of the store. He spends another half hour buying sparklers and other stuff, studiously avoiding the paths leading back to the blue hair clip.
Chanyeol returns home by six and helps his dad set up the fireworks in their front yard. He has dinner with his family before kissing his mother's cheek on his way out the door, bearing his plastic bag of gifts and a container of kimbap. The tall boy lights up when he sees Jongdae and Baekhyun at the bus stop waiting for him, the two also carrying food and presents. His breath hitches when Baekhyun bumps her shoulder to his but he ignores it and tries to play cool.
They talk about their holidays excitedly while on the bus, catching up on the past ten days as if they haven't been in contact for long, when in truth they've been messaging each other almost every day. Four stops later, the three friends get off and meet up with Yifan who lives only a few blocks away from Jongin. They trudge through the snow covered streets, guessing each other's presents and laughing as the guesses become more and more ridiculous.
Chanyeol isn't sure how it happened but he ends up carrying all of Baekhyun's things while the girl walks ahead of them, skipping cheerfully from time to time. At one point, she turns to face the three boys and beams at them, walking backwards. "I am so happy," she says with a giggle.
"Really not obvious," Yifan replies straight faced but his lips eventually lift into a smile when Baekhyun makes a face at him. The girl returns to her skipping, looking too short to be seventeen. She doesn't see it but her three friends share a look.
"How is she older than us?" Jongdae asks Chanyeol. "She's so tiny, too."
Chanyeol has no answer to that. His brain becomes engrossed with the way the tips of Baekhyun's ears redden with the cold and how her hair trails in loose curls down her back. They've known each other since second grade and Chanyeol has seen that same hair frame Baekhyun's small face the first time they met, but why can't he suddenly seem to take his eyes off of it?
Thankfully, they soon reach Jongin's apartment building, granting Chanyeol a reprieve from his increasingly confusing thoughts. The Kim’s welcome them graciously inside their home where they snack on Mrs. Kim's cooking. With stomachs full, the five friends go up to the rooftop an hour before midnight. It's fifteen stories off the ground and the air is really cold but they don't mind. The group of teens stands side by side against the low wall surrounding the place. They can see the city from there, beautiful and glowing like thousands of twinkling lights.
They start exchanging gifts shortly after and everyone is torn between hugging and strangling each other when each present is revealed.
"I was tempted to give you, poopies, hand painted plates, but you know I gave up on painting all together so," Baekhyun says while her friends were opening her gaily wrapped gifts.
"Thank god," Jongdae comments, earning him a glower from the girl.
Chanyeol finishes unwrapping his. It's a framed picture of all of them in their Halloween costumes, taken five years ago. He wants to laugh at the scowling Cowardly Lion, the sleepy Tinman, the grumpy looking Scarecrow and the sad-looking Toto but the laughter gets stuck in his chest as he stares at their forever smiling Dorothy-at the twelve year old Byun Baekhyun. She looks younger in the photograph but no less sparkling. Chanyeol stares and stares and he feels his brain is on the verge of telling him something. But whatever it is, it's gone before he can even blink.
"A framed picture of our stupid faces.Great," Jongdae deadpans.
"Shut up. It's way better than your gift. Insoles, seriously?" Yifan throws said insoles at Jongdae. "You're the only one here who needs them. Even Jongin's taller than you.”
"Kim Jongdae is obsessed with feet," Jongin mumbles.
"I am not!" Jongdae holds up a tiger printed handkerchief from Yifan. "Is this any better then?" The boy goes on to complain about Jongin's energy bars and even Chanyeol's red scarves. Exasperated, Baekhyun picks up Jongdae's scarf and wraps it around his mouth, assisted by Yifan and Jongin who are holding the boy down. "This is not umf-“
They end up tangled in wool and laughter, everything else forgotten for the meantime in the face of paying Jongdae back for everything he pulled on them the past 365 days. But then fireworks start to go off all around them, painting the sky with bursts of light and color. The five friends scramble to light up their own sparklers and shout and cheer for the coming of the New Year, all hopeful and eager.
Chanyeol’s wishing that they’ll stay like this forever, corny as it may sound. It’s just that even if they are the worst, his best friends are also the best, not that he would admit that aloud. He feels a finger poke at his cheek and he glances down at Baekhyun standing beside him, smiling impishly, her eyes reflecting the fireworks quite spectacularly.
"Happy merry, Yeol,” she says softly.
He wants to smile, greet her back, and reply with the same words but the sudden difficulty in breathing attacks him again and all the tall boy can do is gasp and cough and sputter incoherently. Jongin hears him wheeze and the younger boy pats him quite hard at the back, pushing him against Jongdae whose knees buck under Chanyeol’s weight. Jongdae grabs Yifan’s jacket on his way down, pulling the eldest with them along and Jongin, thinking it’s some kind of game (“Woohoo!”), throws his body into the mix, making them all groan in pain. Amidst all the dumb, Baekhyun laughs while watching them sort out whose limbs are whose. The only girl soon joins them on the rooftop’s floor and they all lay there grinning in tired and contented silence until Jongin’s father comes up and tells them it’s time to go home.
Mr. Kim takes them all home in his car, dropping Chanyeol and Baekhyun off at the girl’s street and continuing on to Jongdae’s a few blocks away. Chanyeol has always been on the Walk-Baekhyun-Home duty since forever, having the closest house to her. She goes on to complain about the end of the holidays, twirling the ends of the red scarf wrapped around her neck while Chanyeol gets distracted when he slips his hand into his coat pocket and feels the corner of a gift box inside.
Okay, he admits it. He wasn’t really able to stop himself.
He wants to give it to her and he’s puzzled because why does this have to be so difficult? If he's being honest with himself, he really doesn't care what the other boys will think if Baekhyun gets two presents from him. He doesn't know why he's so nervous and why this feels different. He's kind of scared of the part where he has to actually take out the gift and hand it over to her because, because, because.
"Hey, Yeol, where are you going?"
Chanyeol halts and belatedly notices he already strolled past the gate to Baekhyun's house. "Oh, sorry," he apologizes and walks over to her.
Baekhyun's head is angled to the side and she's looking curiously up at him. "Is there something wrong? You've been kind of preoccupied lately." His heart thumps hard inside his chest when the girl pulls him close by his coat until he's standing directly in front of her. "No wonder, your brain's frozen. You don't warm yourself up properly."
The girl proceeds to button up Chanyeol's coat all the way to his collar before carefully arranging his scarf around his neck. "There. Really, what would all of you do without me?" she says.
The banter is familiar enough that Chanyeol's able to stick his head out the ocean of uncertainty he's drowning in to say, "Celebrate?" He lets out a small yelp when he feels a sharp pull on his left ear.
"Shut up, Park Chanyeol. You'd waste away and rot without me," she responds and Chanyeol thinks she's undoubtedly right. The girl gives him a last poke to his cheek and then turns to open the gate.
"Baek," he blurts out. Baekhyun pauses and looks back at him, brow raised expectantly. "I-uh-I." Before he loses whatever courage he managed to scrape up, Chanyeol grabs her hand and places the gift on it.
Baekhyun's lips open in surprise as she stares at the box. "What's this?"
"A gift?" the boy mumbles.
"Oh, another one?"
He watches, stomach churning, as the girl grins and opens it. Chanyeol is tempted to crawl under a big rock when Baekhyun holds up the electric toothbrush he bought for her.
(Yeah, he couldn't handle the hair clip.)
The toothbrush looks stupid in her dainty hands. Easily as stupid as Chanyeol’s feeling. Who the hell even gives something like that for Christmas? And Byun Baekhyun's just standing there, too, staring at it intently and most certainly thinking the same thing.
"I just had extra money and well, it's the first thing I saw and I know it's really stupid, right? I'll just-" Chanyeol, fully embarrassed, moves to take back the damned toothbrush, intending to burn it and burn himself in the process, too, but Baekhyun snatches it to her chest.
"You can't take it back," she says with a pout. "You already gave it so it's mine now." Chanyeol's amazed because the girl's holding the stupid thing like it's something precious. And as if he isn't stumped enough, Baekhyun beams up at him and says, "You got it in blue, my most favorite color. Thank you, Yeol."
Then Baekhyun tiptoes and places a small kiss on his cheek before she enters the gate and closes it behind her without another word. The place where her lips touched tingles. Flying monkeys, he thinks in a daze. His insides are filled with violent flying monkeys.
"Happy merry, Baek," he whispers a few minutes too late. Chanyeol walks home deciding to have his lungs checked soon. They don’t seem to work properly anymore.
One | Two
Author: Anonymous until 1/30/14
For: tripmee
Pairing: Baekhyun/Chanyeol
Word Count: 9,994
Summary: Park Chanyeol has to deal with violent flying monkeys when he realizes his best friend is a girl.
Warnings: girl!Baekhyun
Rating: PG
One
He blames everything on L. Frank Baum.
Park Chanyeol thinks his life could have been so much easier if Dorothyhad been a boy. Then there would've been no need for him to feel like a million flying monkeys were violently playing tag inside his stomach right now. To make matters worse 'Dorothy' just had to wear those ruby red slippers. Fuck his life, really.
Everyone will probably think he's crazy yet he most certainly isn't. Well, perhaps a little. It's actually a very sad thing. Looking back, he knows he should have refused to go along with his friends' wonderful idea more adamantly when he had the chance. But he didn't, so here he is years after that wonderful idea, burning in the fiery pits of hell-in the special circle reserved for idiots like him.
Okay, maybe he's kind of exaggerating. But still.
Now, people may think it's extreme to blame someone who died ages ago for his current predicament except Chanyeol believes otherwise. It really is the deceased author’s fault. To better illustrate why he thinks so, let's go a year back... No, actually, let's go about six years back to where it all really began.
October, 2008.
"Why do I have to be a dog?" Chanyeol asks for the umpteenth time.
"Because you look like one," his friend, Jongdae, answers irritably while he bats on the fake hay stuffed inside his collar and sleeves. The boy is busy scratching on his neck and arms and has no time for Chanyeol's whining.
"I don't!" Chanyeol huffs. "Why can't Jongin be the dog?"
At the mention of his name, the olive skinned boy stirs from his nap from the corner of the room and looks up sleepily at his four friends. Deciding nothing's amiss, except maybe Chubby Chanyeol being more dramatic than usual, Kim Jongin returns to dreamland. Chanyeol thinks that the silver-metallic-whatever the youngest boy is wearing doesn’t appear comfortable, but at least it’s not the furry overall his friends are forcing him to put on.
"Jongin can't be a dog because it already took me an hour to get him in that thing," Yifan replies with a scowl, formidable eyebrows meeting.
"Then we can exchange! I'll be the lion. You be the-" Chanyeol doesn't finish because the eldest boy’s scowl deepens and he's just twelve. He doesn't want his life to end so soon.
"We can switch if you want," Baekhyun pipes up from across room.
Chanyeol stares helplessly at the petite girl in front of the mirror and gives up. "Fine, I'll be the dog."
Kim Jongdae snickers. "A pity. I would've wanted to see you walking around the neighborhood in that dress."
"Shut up. Whose idea was this anyway?" Chanyeol looks at Jongdae accusingly.
"It was my idea and it's a wonderful idea," Yifan answers. Of course it was his idea. "So go put your costume on now before those other kids get our candy."
"I want candy," Jongin murmurs in his sleep.
Chanyeol sighs. Baekhyun walks over to him and gently pats him on the head. "At least you'll be my dog."
He leans in to the touch and feels a bit better. ByunBaekhyun's the best. She's the only one who understands him. "Oh, okay."
"And I get to lead you around with a leash," she says with a laugh.
Did he say the best? Baekhyun's the worst. Allhis friends are the worst.
"Just kidding, Toto." With a pinch to his plump cheek, Baekhyun walks away with a swish of her long light blue skirt and dons her ruby red slippers.
It takes only a few minutes more before Chanyeol's being led outside Kim Jongdae's house, wearing stupid dog ears and the stuffy dog costume, with the tip of his nose painted black.
“Let’s follow the yellow brick road!” Jongdae suddenly shouts and hooks his right arm around Jongin's and the left around Baekhyun’s. The brunette girl smiles widely and does the same to Yifan. Chanyeol’s about to hook his own arm around the scariest looking Cowardly Lion ever but then the tallest boy gives him a pointed look.
“You’re the dog," Yifan says.
As if Chanyeol needs anymore reminders. He watches on as his stupid friends march together down the street to go see the wizard, laughing, while he follows grudgingly behind.
So do you now see where the problem lies? No? Well, then let's fast forward to four years later, to their gang’s fifth straight Halloween as Dorothy and friendsand to Chanyeol’s third adjustment to his Toto costume because at almost seventeen, contrary to what everyone else believed, he's now as tall as a tree. Sadly, according to what everyone did believe, he's as dumb as one. Why else would he say yes to his friends again?
October, 2012.
Being Toto isn't as bad as it was the first time he did it. A lot of moms seem to think that next to Jongin the Tinman, Chanyeol the dog is the cutest so he gets the second most number of candies. Not that it matters, though, because half of it always goes to Baekhyun. Yeah.
He's also uncertain as to why his friends insist on going trick or treating when they're clearly too old for it and honestly, Chanyeol kind of hates it when he has to fall in line next to small kids giving him the evil eye as if he's stealing their candy.
He's in front of his bathroom sink, watching his reflection as he powders his nose black with his mom's eye shadow. For the last time, he thinks. No more of this next year. He's really going to put his foot down and say no. He nods resolutely.
Chanyeol hears a rustling behind the shower curtains. He almost forgets that Baekhyun's inside the bathroom with him, changing into her blue and white checked tunic and her white blouse. They agreed to meet up in his house this time, having gone through all of his other friends' houses the past four Halloweens.
"Chanyeol?"Baekhyun peeks from behind the curtain, shoulder length hair a mess around her small face. "Close your eyes."
The tall boy turns to look at his friend. "Huh?"
"Just close your eyes, okay?"
Chanyeol does, although he really doesn't know why, he has always done whatever Baekhyun says. "Done."
More rustling and then he hears the short girl speak somewhere in front of him. "Okay, now button me up."
Chanyeol scratches his head in confusion. "How am I supposed to do that with my eyes closed?"
Baekhyun grabs for his hand and places it against the soft fabric of the back of her blouse. "Come on.”
Chanyeol holds onto the cotton and the back of his fingers brush against smooth skin. He thinks he hears a slight gasp from his friend. “Sorry, my hands are cold,” he mumbles as he fumbles with the plastic buttons. “Why the frick are these so tiny?”
Baekhyun laughs lightly. His lips spread into a wide grin for no particular reason at all. Well, possibly just because Baekhyun laughed.
One by one, Chanyeol gets them done. He reaches the last button at the base of Baekhyun’s nape and he’s just a boy, how can he resist? He leans down and blows on it, reveling in the girl’s startled yelp. He can't say he is surprised when a small knuckle hits the side of his head. Chanyeol cackles at the sound of indignation from the short girl. Before he can blink his eyes open, he's pushed roughly out of the bathroom. He's still laughing when he falls on his butt. Baekhyun's so predictable.
"You look stupid," Jongdae says. He's sitting on Chanyeol's bed beside a napping Jongin. Yifan, who's checking his reflection in the mirror hanging on a wall, rolls his eyes at them and continues to primp.
"Not more than you do," Chanyeol replies. He straightens up and crosses his arms. "This is the last time, okay? I'm not going to do this again."
Jongdae snorts. "That's what you’ve been saying the last four years."
"I'm really, really serious this time! Why do we even do this? I mean, it's so silly! And I'm tired of angry kids glaring at me!"
"It's fun," Yifan says with a shrug.
"Of course you'd say that, it's your idea," Chanyeol mutters.
"The first time we went, it was. But you know full well that it's Baekhyun's idea to keep doing it."
Yeah, Chanyeol knows but it's not like he can complain about it to Baekhyun. He pouts. "Still. I'm putting my foot down. This will really be-"
He pauses when he hears the door behind him open. Chanyeol frowns a bit at the surprised looks on Yifan' and Jongdae's faces. He turns around. What's with the gaping it's just-He can feel his own jaw dropping."B-baek?"
Chanyeol has to ask because he's not exactly sure it's his childhood friend standing in front of him, smiling with her eyes disappearing into cheerful crescents. Her brown hair's now parted into two pigtails. It's obvious it's not only Chanyeol's mom who did some adjusting on their costumes. Baekhyun's white blouse now has small puff sleeves and is a little snug across her-chest. It's not just a chest, Chanyeol thinks as he continues to stare. There are two bumps on her chest. Bumps!
His eyes travel disbelievingly down the tunic that used to fall past the girl's knees but it now stops just mid-thigh, letting him get an eyeful of smooth white legs. And really, he believes Byun Baekhyun has been wearing those ruby red shoes since forever (she didn't grow much since they were young) but the sight of them on those dainty feet suddenly got him feeling all sorts of strange.
"Yo, what's up, sexy Baek?" Yifan teasingly asks and Chanyeol wakes up from the daze he was trapped in the moment he saw Baekhyun. Jongdae wolf whistles before he drops down on the bed laughing, waking Jongin up who smiles lazily at Baekhyun.
"You look pretty," the youngest says.
Park Chanyeol sees a faint color fill Baekhyun's cheeks. "Thanks? I told my mom I want to-Yah! What?"
He can't take it. He doesn't let his friend finish. Chanyeol pushes Baekhyun back inside the bathroom and closes the door on her. He holds on to the knob to keep the girl from getting out.
"Hey, Park Chanyeol! What do you think you're doing?" they hear Baekhyun's muffled shouts.
Chanyeol turns and leans his back against the bathroom door. He looks at his other friends who are all gaping at him. "She's a girl!" he blurts out.
"Well, yes." Jongdae’s brows knot.
"No, you don't understand. She's a girl!"
"Chanyeol, she has always been a girl," Yifan says, exasperated.
"But she has boobs!" Chanyeol answers, panicking. He feels the door being pried open and he tightens his hold on the knob. Baekhyun hits the wood with her palm.
"Yah, Park Chanyeol, what the hell? Let me out!"
Why is everyone looking at him as if he's demented? Even Jongin is looking funnily at him. Can't they see? Baekhyun's a girl and when did that happen?
"But you're a girl!" he says back.
"I can't help it. I was born a girl!"
"Chanyeol, let Baek out," Yifan tells him.
His mind rebels. No. Baekhyun can't come out wearing that dress outside! What if other boys see her and finds out she's a girl girl. He wipes his free hand down his face. Why can't anybody understand? "But they'll know she's a girl."
"I'm pretty sure everyone else already does," Jongdae says with a roll of his eyes.
"Stop being dumb, Chanyeol." Yifan starts to walk towards him.
"Okay, wait!" He quickly opens the door and slips in. Baekhyun's the smartest out of all them idiots and so she'll get why she can't go out looking like that. Chanyeol finds Baekhyun glaring up at him, her foot briskly tapping on the tile floor. But maybe she sees the troubled expression on Chanyeol's face for her scowl disappears to be replaced by a concerned frown.
"Hey, what's wrong?"
"You're a girl, Baek. And-and you can't wear that costume outside," he says, willing the shorter girl to understand.
"Chanyeol."
"Baekhyun. Listen. You just can't," he insists.
Baekhyun reaches up and pokes his cheek. "Why?"
Why? Yes, Park Chanyeol, why?He opens his mouth but no words come out. He can't explain it. His brain can't seem to get past the Byun Baekhyun's a girl part. It's pretty much trapped between that and the image of his best friend's legs. Don't look down.
He holds his palms up. "Just, please?"
Baekhyun sighs resignedly and he feels a bit better, relieved. "Alright, Yeol. But what am I supposed to wear now?"
The tall boy starts at the question. He looks around the cramped bathroom. What can they use? He honestly can't think of anything. His eyes settle back on Baekhyun. And on her dress. Park Chanyeol thinks his life really is hard.
The whole street probably hears Jongdae's shout of obnoxious laughter when he and Baekhyun get out of the bathroom. Chanyeol pulls on the hem of the skirt which is just a few inches shy of exposing the family jewels. Kim Jongdae lets out another guffaw.
"Chanyeol, you could've just told us you wanted to wear the dress. There was no need for the theatrics," Yifan says laughingly.
Chanyeol feels his face heat up.
"Stop it, you two," Baekhyun reprimands the two boys and pats Jongin's head when he smiles up at her and tells her once more of how cute she looks. Chanyeol kind of wants to pat Baekhyun's head, too.
Yifan gives Chanyeol a thumbs up. "Looking good. Leggo."
"Did you just say leggo?" Jongdae asks with disdain which earned him a glare from the oldest boy. They all shuffle out of Chanyeol's room, with the newly minted Dorothy's head hanging low and praying that his mom's at the kitchen and won't see him. Yifan leads the way out, his fake tail swishing, followed by Jongdae and Jongin. Baekhyun's about to go out the front door when she looks back at Chanyeol who is sitting on the last step of the stairs, grudgingly putting on a pair of red sneakers. He definitely won't wear Baekhyun's slippers, thank you very much. Not to mention they won't even fit.
"Ready?" the girl asks.
"Yeah," Chanyeol answers though he doubts he is.
"Oh, here."Baekhyun comes closer. Since it's such short notice, Chanyeol doesn't have a wig so his friend removes the hair clip from her hair and tells him to bend down.
"You're too tall," Baekhyun complains. She pulls Chanyeol by the ruffles of his collar and proceeds to put the ribbon in his short hair. "Now, smile. So pretty," she coos.
Despite all the exposed skin afforded by his minuscule dress, Chanyeol's suddenly warm all over and he feels his insides are gonna go bonkers on him any moment now. He jerks back. Baekhyun remains grinning up at him and the tall boy can't seem to breathe properly.
"Do I look okay?" she asks, her head tilted.
"Of course, yeah. You do."
"Really? You look all Dorothy now but do I look all Toto?"
"Yeah-Oh, the nose. Your nose. It needs to be black and oh my god you're laughing. I still have the make up on mine, don't I?"
Baekhyun nods, giggling. Chanyeol groans. "Okay, wait here I'll go get it."
"That'll take too long. Just come here." Baekhyun pulls him down again, tiptoes and promptly rubs the tip of her nose against Chanyeol's. His breath hitches and then he can't breathe at all but surely it must just be because the waistline of the dress is digging into his ribs. For he has been this close to ByunBaekhyun before, even closer as a matter of fact and, and, and-
"All done." She beams up at him, tip of her nose adorably black, and then walks out of the front door to their waiting friends. Chanyeol's left trying to catch his breath, a sense of foreboding settling in the pit of his stomach.
Almost two months later and Chanyeol still can’t seem to catch it.
December, 2012.
Chanyeol looks inside his wallet and nods happily. With the additional money he got from helping at his aunt's store, he has enough to get all his friends better Christmas presents this year. Well, late Christmas presents. He just got back from spending the holidays with his relatives outside the city. He had purposely been very nice to his annoying cousins so his mom would let him spend New Year’s Eve with his friends at Jongin's.
The youngest boy’s place was the only one with a rooftop so they all decided to meet later and watch the fireworks from there by midnight. He won't need to arrive until ten in the evening so Chanyeol has enough time to go around the mall and buy the gifts. There are only a few people roaming about the mall to his relief, most opting to spend the day at home or going out to attend parties.
Buying gifts is fairly easy since he always gives his friends identical presents every year anyway. Everyone does. He chuckles as he recalls their exchange last Christmas. Chanyeol gave his friends fuzzy hand warmers ("Hey, at least they’re useful!"). Yifan bought them animal print wallets ("One word, Jongdae, and you're dead."). Baekhyun got porcelain mugs hand-painted with their names ("No one is allowed to complain."), Jongin, a bar of chocolate for each ("They're buy one get one so Baekhyunnie gets two."), while Jongdae threw them a pair of socks each ("100% cotton. You're all welcome.").
They'll probably get the same kind of gifts this year, Chanyeol thinks, shaking his head. He enters a clothing store and walks aimlessly around. Those beanies look cute, he tells himself as he goes to a shelf of hats, but too expensive. He sighs and turns away. Now what to buy? Just then his eyes go to a stand full of colorful knitted scarves. He moves closer and breaks out into a wide grin at the prices. They're perfect.
He takes five red ones and goes to pay at the counter. He's still contemplating on whether to have them gift wrapped when he gets distracted by a display of sparkly hair clips near the register. A particular blue one in the shape of a ribbon catches his attention. It kind of looks like the one Baekhyun put on his hair last Halloween.
Chanyeol gets that strange breathlessness again when he thinks of Baekhyun's smiling face close to his, brown eyes full of concentration as she pinned the clip on Chanyeol. That memory inevitably gets followed by the one where their noses rubbed together and how Chanyeol felt all disoriented even after the day ended and he was already on his bed, stomach hurting from eating too much candy and the sugar from Baekhyun's smile.
He doesn't notice that he's touching the hair clip until the lady on the counter speaks. "That'll be a good present for your girlfriend."
Chanyeol jerks his hand back and immediately shakes his head. "No, no. I don't have a girlfriend. You're mistaken. She is a girl. A girl, yeah. She is a girl friend but not a girlfriend. Just a friend." Of course Byun Baekhyun's his friend and-why is his throat closing up all of a sudden?
"Slow down, young man. I understand," the lady says with a grin and there's something about the look she's giving him that makes Chanyeol want to run for cover. "It's still a pretty present for a friend. Who's a girl."
Chanyeol pauses. Yes, it is. The ribbon sparkles from its case as if beckoning for him to pick it up. It would look very pretty on Baekhyun's soft dark hair he thinks. It's also the same shade of her Dorothy dress. Baekhyun looks great in blue. He thinks she always has. But no. It will be weird, wont it? He can't buy Baekhyun the ribbon because, because, because. He already got her the scarf and if he buys her another gift then she'll have two.
If Baekhyun gets two gifts then the others will think that Baekhyun's more special to him and she isn't. Not really. She's has always been just one of the guys but with bumps on her chests and smooth legs and pink lips and pretty hands and pretty eyes and a pretty smile and-One of the guys, he'll stop there.
With a resolute shake of his head, Chanyeol grabs onto the bag of scarves, thanks the old lady and all but runs out of the store. He spends another half hour buying sparklers and other stuff, studiously avoiding the paths leading back to the blue hair clip.
Chanyeol returns home by six and helps his dad set up the fireworks in their front yard. He has dinner with his family before kissing his mother's cheek on his way out the door, bearing his plastic bag of gifts and a container of kimbap. The tall boy lights up when he sees Jongdae and Baekhyun at the bus stop waiting for him, the two also carrying food and presents. His breath hitches when Baekhyun bumps her shoulder to his but he ignores it and tries to play cool.
They talk about their holidays excitedly while on the bus, catching up on the past ten days as if they haven't been in contact for long, when in truth they've been messaging each other almost every day. Four stops later, the three friends get off and meet up with Yifan who lives only a few blocks away from Jongin. They trudge through the snow covered streets, guessing each other's presents and laughing as the guesses become more and more ridiculous.
Chanyeol isn't sure how it happened but he ends up carrying all of Baekhyun's things while the girl walks ahead of them, skipping cheerfully from time to time. At one point, she turns to face the three boys and beams at them, walking backwards. "I am so happy," she says with a giggle.
"Really not obvious," Yifan replies straight faced but his lips eventually lift into a smile when Baekhyun makes a face at him. The girl returns to her skipping, looking too short to be seventeen. She doesn't see it but her three friends share a look.
"How is she older than us?" Jongdae asks Chanyeol. "She's so tiny, too."
Chanyeol has no answer to that. His brain becomes engrossed with the way the tips of Baekhyun's ears redden with the cold and how her hair trails in loose curls down her back. They've known each other since second grade and Chanyeol has seen that same hair frame Baekhyun's small face the first time they met, but why can't he suddenly seem to take his eyes off of it?
Thankfully, they soon reach Jongin's apartment building, granting Chanyeol a reprieve from his increasingly confusing thoughts. The Kim’s welcome them graciously inside their home where they snack on Mrs. Kim's cooking. With stomachs full, the five friends go up to the rooftop an hour before midnight. It's fifteen stories off the ground and the air is really cold but they don't mind. The group of teens stands side by side against the low wall surrounding the place. They can see the city from there, beautiful and glowing like thousands of twinkling lights.
They start exchanging gifts shortly after and everyone is torn between hugging and strangling each other when each present is revealed.
"I was tempted to give you, poopies, hand painted plates, but you know I gave up on painting all together so," Baekhyun says while her friends were opening her gaily wrapped gifts.
"Thank god," Jongdae comments, earning him a glower from the girl.
Chanyeol finishes unwrapping his. It's a framed picture of all of them in their Halloween costumes, taken five years ago. He wants to laugh at the scowling Cowardly Lion, the sleepy Tinman, the grumpy looking Scarecrow and the sad-looking Toto but the laughter gets stuck in his chest as he stares at their forever smiling Dorothy-at the twelve year old Byun Baekhyun. She looks younger in the photograph but no less sparkling. Chanyeol stares and stares and he feels his brain is on the verge of telling him something. But whatever it is, it's gone before he can even blink.
"A framed picture of our stupid faces.Great," Jongdae deadpans.
"Shut up. It's way better than your gift. Insoles, seriously?" Yifan throws said insoles at Jongdae. "You're the only one here who needs them. Even Jongin's taller than you.”
"Kim Jongdae is obsessed with feet," Jongin mumbles.
"I am not!" Jongdae holds up a tiger printed handkerchief from Yifan. "Is this any better then?" The boy goes on to complain about Jongin's energy bars and even Chanyeol's red scarves. Exasperated, Baekhyun picks up Jongdae's scarf and wraps it around his mouth, assisted by Yifan and Jongin who are holding the boy down. "This is not umf-“
They end up tangled in wool and laughter, everything else forgotten for the meantime in the face of paying Jongdae back for everything he pulled on them the past 365 days. But then fireworks start to go off all around them, painting the sky with bursts of light and color. The five friends scramble to light up their own sparklers and shout and cheer for the coming of the New Year, all hopeful and eager.
Chanyeol’s wishing that they’ll stay like this forever, corny as it may sound. It’s just that even if they are the worst, his best friends are also the best, not that he would admit that aloud. He feels a finger poke at his cheek and he glances down at Baekhyun standing beside him, smiling impishly, her eyes reflecting the fireworks quite spectacularly.
"Happy merry, Yeol,” she says softly.
He wants to smile, greet her back, and reply with the same words but the sudden difficulty in breathing attacks him again and all the tall boy can do is gasp and cough and sputter incoherently. Jongin hears him wheeze and the younger boy pats him quite hard at the back, pushing him against Jongdae whose knees buck under Chanyeol’s weight. Jongdae grabs Yifan’s jacket on his way down, pulling the eldest with them along and Jongin, thinking it’s some kind of game (“Woohoo!”), throws his body into the mix, making them all groan in pain. Amidst all the dumb, Baekhyun laughs while watching them sort out whose limbs are whose. The only girl soon joins them on the rooftop’s floor and they all lay there grinning in tired and contented silence until Jongin’s father comes up and tells them it’s time to go home.
Mr. Kim takes them all home in his car, dropping Chanyeol and Baekhyun off at the girl’s street and continuing on to Jongdae’s a few blocks away. Chanyeol has always been on the Walk-Baekhyun-Home duty since forever, having the closest house to her. She goes on to complain about the end of the holidays, twirling the ends of the red scarf wrapped around her neck while Chanyeol gets distracted when he slips his hand into his coat pocket and feels the corner of a gift box inside.
Okay, he admits it. He wasn’t really able to stop himself.
He wants to give it to her and he’s puzzled because why does this have to be so difficult? If he's being honest with himself, he really doesn't care what the other boys will think if Baekhyun gets two presents from him. He doesn't know why he's so nervous and why this feels different. He's kind of scared of the part where he has to actually take out the gift and hand it over to her because, because, because.
"Hey, Yeol, where are you going?"
Chanyeol halts and belatedly notices he already strolled past the gate to Baekhyun's house. "Oh, sorry," he apologizes and walks over to her.
Baekhyun's head is angled to the side and she's looking curiously up at him. "Is there something wrong? You've been kind of preoccupied lately." His heart thumps hard inside his chest when the girl pulls him close by his coat until he's standing directly in front of her. "No wonder, your brain's frozen. You don't warm yourself up properly."
The girl proceeds to button up Chanyeol's coat all the way to his collar before carefully arranging his scarf around his neck. "There. Really, what would all of you do without me?" she says.
The banter is familiar enough that Chanyeol's able to stick his head out the ocean of uncertainty he's drowning in to say, "Celebrate?" He lets out a small yelp when he feels a sharp pull on his left ear.
"Shut up, Park Chanyeol. You'd waste away and rot without me," she responds and Chanyeol thinks she's undoubtedly right. The girl gives him a last poke to his cheek and then turns to open the gate.
"Baek," he blurts out. Baekhyun pauses and looks back at him, brow raised expectantly. "I-uh-I." Before he loses whatever courage he managed to scrape up, Chanyeol grabs her hand and places the gift on it.
Baekhyun's lips open in surprise as she stares at the box. "What's this?"
"A gift?" the boy mumbles.
"Oh, another one?"
He watches, stomach churning, as the girl grins and opens it. Chanyeol is tempted to crawl under a big rock when Baekhyun holds up the electric toothbrush he bought for her.
(Yeah, he couldn't handle the hair clip.)
The toothbrush looks stupid in her dainty hands. Easily as stupid as Chanyeol’s feeling. Who the hell even gives something like that for Christmas? And Byun Baekhyun's just standing there, too, staring at it intently and most certainly thinking the same thing.
"I just had extra money and well, it's the first thing I saw and I know it's really stupid, right? I'll just-" Chanyeol, fully embarrassed, moves to take back the damned toothbrush, intending to burn it and burn himself in the process, too, but Baekhyun snatches it to her chest.
"You can't take it back," she says with a pout. "You already gave it so it's mine now." Chanyeol's amazed because the girl's holding the stupid thing like it's something precious. And as if he isn't stumped enough, Baekhyun beams up at him and says, "You got it in blue, my most favorite color. Thank you, Yeol."
Then Baekhyun tiptoes and places a small kiss on his cheek before she enters the gate and closes it behind her without another word. The place where her lips touched tingles. Flying monkeys, he thinks in a daze. His insides are filled with violent flying monkeys.
"Happy merry, Baek," he whispers a few minutes too late. Chanyeol walks home deciding to have his lungs checked soon. They don’t seem to work properly anymore.
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