[CONTENTID1] wear me down  [/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2]Wordcount: 4079

The blanket is as soft as it is thick and comfortable. He heaves it over his shoulders, around his neck, secured in the hollow of his throat by a shabby knot. He looks at the lone person sitting before him, his audience to a spectacle that will unfurl and forever stay hidden behind the newly painted walls of their bedroom.

With a steadying breath, he opens his mouth to release the words that he now knows by heart, “How did it get so late so soon? It's night before it's afternoon. December is here before it's June. My goodness, how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?” 

With a flourish, he kicks out one foot and jumps off from his makeshift stage, landing on his feet and bowing gracefully. His ears perk at the sound of hands coming together in an eager applause, making his lips pull out into a wide smile and his head dizzy with affection.

“That was great, Baek! I’m sure the kids would just love that!”

Baekhyun smiles, pulling at the haphazard knot that he made in an effort to fashion himself a cape. “I’m pretty sure they’d just be really confused if I perform that to them.”

Chanyeol shakes his head, as if he couldn’t believe that Baekhyun even said anything remotely negative about the silly performance. “Don’t tell me you really believe that because it’s just plain silly. Might I just remind you that it won’t do you any good to underestimate the bunch of bright four-year-olds in your hands?” As he says this, Chanyeol grabs at Baekhyun’s waist, pulling him close and tight against his body. “Besides, they love you. They’d appreciate anything from you.”

“I guess a little Dr. Seuss never hurt anyone,” Baekhyun relents, his nail catching on a loose thread on their blanket. “Hey, this is going to become a hole.”

Chanyeol merely chuckles, lifting Baekhyun up and laying him down on the bed as if he weighed nothing, much to the smaller man’s protests.  “We can get Kyungsoo to fix it when he visits.”

Baekhyun almost scolds him, but he has to admit that he understands this, the subtle message that his partner is trying to send him in the way his nose is pressed against Baekhyun’s neck, nuzzling it. He understands what Chanyeol’s hand on his thigh means, too, and he understands the strain pressing against his lower back.

They are newlyweds, after all, in whatever non-legal sense they could make out of the fact that they’ve just moved into their own house. They had spent seven years of their life together to save up for it, and their friends often teased that it was a long and arduous seven-year engagement.

As Baekhyun presses back, awarded by a low, throaty groan, he realizes that every second of those seven years was worth it. The immense sense of gratitude and contentment that spreads out from his heart, warming his fingers and his toes like a tame little current of fire, lasts even as they finish exploring and remapping each other’s skins, leaving him warm and pleasantly breathless.

Baekhyun thinks he falls asleep with a smile on his face.

July rolls around without much of a hitch, the two of them settling in just fine into new habits and new routines to follow. Baekhyun’s old teaching job is still going well as the first semester nears its end, and Chanyeol’s new office is situated conveniently enough for the both of them that they’re able to squeeze some more time together in their quaint car when Chanyeol drives Baekhyun to work every morning.

Driving to work with Chanyeol has a lot of benefits; less travel time, less commuting expense, and less morning stress. The sole con to it, though, is listening to Chanyeol belt out crappy pop songs at the top of his lungs. On some days, it’s annoying, but on most days it just gets Baekhyun torn between cringing to death or laughing himself into a coma. When Mariah Carey’s Emotions starts playing and Chanyeol turns to him with a sly grin, Baekhyun smiles and admits to himself that driving with Chanyeol isn’t the worst part of his day.

With Kyungsoo’s arrival comes with him the brunt of a rain storm, the first of the year, but the three of them face it unbothered. With his small yet sturdy hands, their visitor helps them add some finishing touches to their home. Baekhyun thinks it’s almost like watching the humble beginnings of a small house turn into something much grander, but Kyungsoo waves the compliment off.

“If the two of you weren’t always so busy messing up the sheets then you’d have enough brain power to come up with half of these ideas.”

Baekhyun doesn’t bother reminding their friend that he’s the one holding a degree in interior design, not Baekhyun and most definitely not Chanyeol. He works like their very own interior whirlwind, leaving behind elegance and a homey ambiance instead of destruction, whipping up meals and hot chocolate for the three of them to share, and even fixing the small hole that had eventually developed on the couple’s blanket. Baekhyun is, of course, beyond grateful, but he also couldn’t honestly say that he isn’t thankful for the return of their much missed privacy when their friend’s visit comes to an end.

After all, with Kyungsoo’s departure comes the slightly drier weather of August, and with that comes more energy and time for the couple to go out and enjoy what the neighborhood has to offer. The city lights twinkle down on them as they walk through crowded streets, eating at random food stalls and drinking cheap bottles of beer. There’s a bounce to Baekhyun steps as they wind their way around bodies and cars that even the heavy pollution can’t tamper down. He keeps exchanging wide grins with Chanyeol, thinking that if he can’t see the stars in the sky, he can definitely see them in Chanyeol’s smiles.

It’s on a particularly humid day when Chanyeol surprises Baekhyun during his lunch break at the kindergarten summer camp, employing the help of Baekhyun’s whole class. He’s chatting with a fellow teacher when a usually sullen and quiet girl approaches him, handkerchief in one hand and the other balled into a tight fist.

“What’s the problem?” He immediately asks, kneeling down in front of the girl so he could get into her eyelevel. “Are you hurt, Jung-ah?”

The girl shakes her head, her shoulders squared with resolve and determination. Sticking a hand into her pocket, she produces a crumpled piece of paper that she hands over to Baekhyun. He watches her, the quivering line of her lips and the dusting of pink on her cheeks, then he looks at the paper in his hands.

It’s a drawing, one that was obviously done with shaky little hands and inexpensive crayons, but he knows without a doubt that it’s him. He recognizes the apron and the shirt, although the colors are all wrong, and he recognizes the little girl that his drawing version is lifting up into the air. In the bottom, in a clumsy scrawl, is a sweet little message for Baekhyun.

Thank you, teacher. We love you.

All of a sudden, Jung-ah is running away, but somebody’s already replacing her, handing over another drawing, and then more of his little students are coming together and giving him drawings. He finds himself tearing up a bit, confused but happy all the same, wondering what brought this on. When the final piece of paper is delivered, Baekhyun has to hold himself back from rolling his eyes.

This one doesn’t contain the pretty drawings of his class, just a simple message, an invitation that has him laughing and eyeing the man that had suddenly appeared by the faculty room’s door.

Dinner tonight?

They go to a relatively quiet restaurant, one that isn’t too cheap to be considered fast food but isn’t too expensive that Baekhyun would be embarrassed to walk in wearing his working clothes. They seat themselves, ordering a simple meal, and in the time they spend waiting for their orders to arrive, they simply look at each other.

Already, Baekhyun can see that there isn’t a special occasion. He sees it in the almost nervous look in Chanyeol’s eyes, as if the taller male was worried that Baekhyun would find the whole gesture stupid, and he sees it in Chanyeol’s content smile: they’re not celebrating a milestone in their relationship or a work promotion—they’re celebrating another day together, another meal to be enjoyed together, and a whole lifetime ahead of them.

The smile that breaks across Baekhyun’s face is both giddy and excited and he wears it all the way home like a prized jewel

.

September arrives and with it comes a considerably colder weather which meant more fooling around on their bed and more holes in their blanket. With Chanyeol refusing to let the blanket go, they have no choice but to wash it every now and then, let it dry, then use it again. By now, the material is already thinning, much to Baekhyun’s annoyance.

“What is it with you and this blanket anyway?” he asks, picking at a new hole. “At this rate, it’s going to be all tattered before the holidays even roll around.”

 “Then I’ll just buy you a new one as your Christmas gift.” The way he says this, Baekhyun almost thinks that Chanyeol isn’t even joking. “Aren’t I the best?”

“You’re a cheapskate is wh