♛

It was almost five by the time Chanyeol reached the sandbox. There was still some sun, but in the summer here, it might as well have been winter, where the sky started glowing orange too early.

Or maybe it was just early for Chanyeol, who woke up so late in the afternoon; his days were only about eight hours long – he didn’t make much of them, anyways.

Baekhyun was already there, sitting with his legs in the sandbox and his back facing Chanyeol; his puppy sat diligently beside him. Chanyeol his lips before sneaking up on the unsuspecting male.

“You smell like six different shampoos,” Baekhyun said, turning around and scaring Chanyeol, who jumped.

Baekhyun laughed, leaning his head back and swinging his legs like a child. The puppy barked gleefully. Chanyeol coughed.

“Ha-ha…” he noticed the sketchbook in Baekhyun’s lap. “What’re you drawing?”

“Designs.” Baekhyun turned around fully, taking his legs out of the sand and planting them on the grass. He looked up at Chanyeol, who loomed over him.

“For what?”

“I’m an architect, Park Chan-useless,” Baekhyun sighed. He was smiling. “I’m drawing designs for a project.”

With a bitter expression at the – particularly true – nickname, Chanyeol sat down cross-legged in the grass, letting Baekhyun look down at him instead. “You have a project here?”

“I was hired to build a playground.” He gestured around the field with his hands.

The puppy trotted over to Chanyeol, who picked her up and grinned. “How could you not name her immediately?” He tapped her nose and she yipped, always happy, like sunshine. “Her name’s Byun.”

Baekhyun snorted. “I’m not naming my dog after myself, Park. Only you would do that.”

“I’m not naming her after myself, though.” Chanyeol shook his head. “I’m naming her after you.”

“That’s…no. I thought you said you were creative.” Baekhyun joked.

“I am.” Chanyeol played with the puppy’s nose, overjoyed by her attraction to his fingers. “I just need to get to know her first.”

“And how do you intend to do that?”

Chanyeol rolled his eyes and stood up. “Come on, love,” he said to the terrier. “Your owner’s a so we’re gonna ditch him.”

The puppy barked in agreement.

“Hey, Park-”

“Silence, Byun Butthyun.” Chanyeol bent over to untie her leash, and she started to jump. “This lovely lady and I have some socialising to do.” And then he broke into a run, letting the puppy chase him around the open field.

Baekhyun watched with his mouth open slightly.

In high school, Park Chanyeol wore band t-shirts and hoodies and snapbacks. He always had his head in the clouds and sleep on his face. Headphones in his ears. Shade over his eyes like a zombie.

The Chanyeol he was looking at now wore a plain white tee, exposing muscle in his arms and a glistening collarbone as he ran in the setting sunlight, hair blowing manically in the breeze and smile lighting up everything around him.

Baekhyun found himself staring.

He was so focused on the way the neck of Chanyeol’s shirt hung over his shoulder to realize that he was charging towards Baekhyun, the puppy at his heels, at light speed.

It took him a minute to understand that he was the finishing line of a race between the two.

“Wait-”

Oof.

He was on his back now, his head in the sand and his puppy on his chest, his face in triumph.

Chanyeol stood outside the sandbox, panting. “Dammit, Lady. That should be me on top of him.”

Baekhyun laughed, hoisting himself back to his feet and placing the pup back onto the grass. “Oh my God, Park Chanyeol, you lecher.” He stepped out of the sandbox for a second time and shook his head vigorously to get the sand out. “Lady, huh?” He looked at his pet, who danced around Chanyeol’s legs in excitement. “I like it.”

“One day, I’ll get a dog too.” Chanyeol said. “And I’ll name him Tramp. It’ll be a double-love-story.”

“Double?”

“Ours and theirs.”

“Oh.” Baekhyun laughed, letting himself fall into the grass. “Of course.”

“Of course.” Chanyeol repeated back to him. He plopped down after him, and they both sat with their legs outstretched and their backs resting against the wooden frame of the sandbox.

“So tell me, Park. How’d you spend the last six years?”

Chanyeol scrunched up his nose. “Well, after high school, I started working for SM Ent in Seoul. As a songwriter and composer.” He sighed. “Year later, I moved to Parkside.”

“Wait, SM? That’s big.” Baekhyun raised his eyebrows, impressed. “A songwriter for SM. Damn.”

“It might be big, but I can’t write a song for .”

Baekhyun hummed. “No inspiration?”

The composer shrugged. “I don’t feel like it.”

“Wow, I knew you were lazy, Park Chanyeol, but really?”

Chanyeol laughed. “Don’t you worry, Baby Byun, I’ll find my drive. In the meantime, tell me,” he started to stand. “Have you had a tour of the town yet?”

 “No…”

“Then what are we still doing here?” Chanyeol was on his feet now. Baekhyun chuckled. It was already become sunset, but the younger spoke like they had the whole day to themselves. “Come on, this place may be small, but it’s surprisingly a lot to explore.”

♛

♞

Minseok replayed the rest of his conversation with Luhan and cringed.

“I don’t need fixing.” He frowned. Luhan’s expression was unreadable – he managed to keep a straight face while Minseok started to burn up into his own special rage.

“Maybe you don’t. But, depending on your reaction, you need some relaxing.”

Minseok’s nostrils flared slightly and his grip tightened around the Rubik’s cube. “I’m fine.”

Luhan raised an eyebrow but dropped it just as fast. “Really, are you? You’re Kim Minseok, right?”

He’d nodded, barely breathing, maybe choking.

“From what I’ve heard, you get pissed a lot. Break things a lot. Punch walls, a lot.”

“I-”

“You threaten people, too. Maybe it’s not a big deal for you because you do it so much, but it’s not a good thing.”

The cube in his hand slammed against the table, and Luhan had jumped a little.

“This is insane,” Minseok stood up, running a hand through his hair. He started for the exit but whipped around suddenly. He would’ve guessed he’d looked like a madman. “How would you ‘fix’ me anyway? You’re not a therapist. You sure as hell don’t know anything about psychology. You’re just a guy in an apron.”

He bit his lip as he remembered Luhan’s face.

Taken aback, but not saying anything. Luhan had stayed seated at the table, one leg crossed over the other just as when he’d first sat down. Neither of them had spoken.

“Come to the sweetshop tomorrow,” he insisted. “You don’t have to buy anything. Just…come.”

“And it I don’t?”

Luhan had ignored him. “I’ll help you, Kim Minseok. Whether it be with jokes, music, sweets, or all the toys in the world. I’ll fix you for sure.”

Minseok remembered scowling, and leaving without another word. He sat in his shop now, rolling around on the desk chair he kept behind the counter for his own convenience. He twirled a pencil in his hand, contemplating snapping it, but rejecting the thought because he didn’t want to give the deer-like employee such a satisfaction.

He gripped it before throwing the pencil at the wall. It landed with a snapping noise anyway.

“I’m fine”, he whispered weakly.

♞

♛

When they entered the sweetshop, Chanyeol ushered Baekhyun into a seat before walking up to the counter. “What’ll you have?” He called across the room. Baekhyun thought before answering.

“A big- brownie.”

“Got it.” He turned back to the counter and grinned. “Hey, Yixing.”

The owner smirked. “Well, look who’s finally crawled out of his man-cave to get some air.”

“It’s been a week,” Chanyeol snorted.

“And a long one, at that. What’ll it be?”

“A brownie…a big one. And,” he looked up at the menu backboard. “Water.”

Yixing laughed. “A brownie and water it is.”

Chanyeol nodded and headed back to his seat, where Baekhyun was talking to Lady in a hushed tone. There was someone asleep a few tables down, but he took no real notice of them as he sat.

“So this sweetshop,” he gestured around the place and then pointed to Yixing, who esd looking down at his phone. “Is owned by that guy. He makes the best cake in the world.”

Baekhyun nodded, a small smile curling onto his lips, making his eyes look as amused as they usually were. “Do you eat here often?”

“Whenever I can.”

The architect looked around, studying the pale pink walls and Christmas lights and wall posters. The shop was small, with one row of five five-seater tables parallel to a counter that stretched across the entire shop. There was a kitchen behind the counter, which continued even after the main shop ended, behind an open Employees Only door. From where Baekhyun was sitting, he could see an oven and a tray of uncut cookie dough on a table.

He was smiling, because the place played soft, cliché love songs, and the quaint aura of sweet romance was soaked in the scent of fresh baked desserts and all things delicious. Lady was at his feet, wagging her tail in joy. Baekhyun ruffled her head before turning back to Chanyeol, who was watching Baekhyun in amusement. He noticed someone behind Chanyeol and furrowed his eyebrows, because he recognized them.

Chanyeol followed Baekhyun’s gaze and turned around, just as the person behind him tapped his shoulder. He blinked before grinning like a fool.

“Jongin?”

The guy laughed. “Yeol, it’s been like a decade, man.” Chanyeol stood up and they hugged – kind of, in a sideways slant that could pass as a hug.

“It’s been six years.” Chanyeol corrected. “Do you still swim?”

“Oh, please.” Jongin beamed. “I do more than just swim, now.” He looked at Baekhyun. “If it isn’t the student council vice-president.”

“If it isn’t the captain of the swim team.” Baekhyun replied. Jongin pulled up a chair and sat down beside Chanyeol. “First of all, what are the two most different people I’ve ever met doing in this tiny little town….together?”

“We got married.”

“I’m just here for work.” Baekhyun said, ignoring Chanyeol’s comment.

Chanyeol scoffed, but collected himself. “I live here, actually. What’s your excuse?”

Jongin smiled. “I’m the same as Prez. Just a visitor.”

“Then I’m the one who should be asking what you’re doing here.” Chanyeol leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest.

“I’m here on vacation,” Jongin clarified. Baekhyun focused on petting Lady, letting the two old friends catch up.

He checked his phone and laughed nervously. “Uh sorry, I should go. I have a meeting.”

Chanyeol furrowed his eyebrows. “We haven’t even started our tour yet.”

Baekhyun flashed him his sunlight smile, and a thumbs-up. He’d wrapped Lady’s leash around his other hand like a bandage. “Next time, Park.” He turned to Jongin. “It was nice seeing you again,” he nodded his head in a way that could’ve looked really classy if he’d been wearing a fedora.

As Baekhyun started to leave, Jongin noticed Lady and his eyes widened, following her like he’d much rather be with the puppy than with Chanyeol. He snapped out of it as Chanyeol brought him back into their conversation.

Yixing brought the brownie and water, confused when Chanyeol’s previous companion had been replaced by Luhan’s childhood friend. Nevertheless, he set the order on the table anyway.

Chanyeol let Baekhyun’s brownie sit there, unsure what to do with it, until Jongin – by force of habit – absently ended up munching it down.

♛

♫

Halfway through his biochemistry lecture, Kyungsoo realized that the tall guy who’d walked him there could very well have been a ert, and just not have admitted it.

He’d frozen in fear mid-class, which disrupted his focus for the rest of the day.

On his walk to the sweetshop that ev