Chanyeol pressed his face up against the glass, round eyes agape at the five, multicolored, fluffy creatures that squirmed about inside a box just behind the glass. As he watched them, enraptured by each individual puppy’s adorableness, his grin grew wider. His expression of joy grew wider still when he caught sight of the flimsy ‘FREE’ sign written in a sloppy scrawl and hung haphazardly over the edge of the box.

 

“Baekhyun! Baekhyun!” Chanyeol called his boyfriend’s name excitedly while flailing his hands and bouncing up and down. “I want one! Can we get one? Pretty please?”

 

Baekhyun turned his attention to his younger boyfriend and peered through the glass as well. The puppies were pretty cute…and they were free…but then Baekhyun thought of the food they’d have to provide – and the poop he’d eventually have to pick up – and shuddered. “Chanyeol, you know we can’t provide for a puppy right now…” Baekhyun trailed off, not having the courage to look his younger lover in the eyes as he turned him down. That, and if he looked at the pout the younger was undoubtedly wearing, Baekhyun knew he would give in right away.

 

“But Baek,” Chanyeol pouted, trying at every angle to get Baekhyun to look at him. He stealthily avoided all of Chanyeol’s advances, though, “don’t you want one of these cute puppies? You know, they’d make an adorable Christmas card addition…”

 

Baekhyun knew he was close to breaking. He bit his lip while barely avoiding Chanyeol’s pout.

 

“Baek~” Chanyeol sing-songed, bobbing his head in every possible way to get Baekhyun to see him. “C’mon, look at me! You know you want to~”

 

Baekhyun blushed visibly and scratched the back of his neck nervously. He looked at Chanyeol finally, but only at the taller’s forehead. He was safe. He sighed and closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose between index finger and thumb, and shook his head. “Chanyeol…we can’t.”

 

Immediately Baekhyun regretted looking into Chanyeol’s eyes on accident at that moment. The younger’s thoroughly dejected look – from his sad eyes to his jutted lip – made Baekhyun cringe and almost break. He had a miraculous lapse in his naturally soft and flimsy ways when it came to Chanyeol, though, and set his jaw firm. “Our…” he racked his brain frantically for an excuse for a moment. “Our…apartment! The landlord doesn’t allow pets.” He bit his lip, waiting for Chanyeol’s pouting demeanor to see right through his fib. Beakhyun was lucky Chanyeol was pretty thick sometimes, though. He didn’t see through him.

 

“Oh,” he pouted again. “Well, that’s stupid. Puppies are cute. And fun. And I’ve never had one before.”

 

As they walked away from the window with the cute puppies, Chanyeol deflatedly and with his hands stuffed in his pockets and Baekhyun with a relieved sigh, Baekhyun couldn’t help but be glad that he’d stayed strong and didn’t give in to Chanyeol, because he’d had an epiphany; Chanyeol’s birthday was drawing nearer and Baekhyun was no longer in search of a gift.

 

* * *

 

It was the day before Chanyeol’s birthday – November 27th – and Baekhyun found himself on the streets of Seoul, his smart phone opened to his navigation app. He hoped from the bottom of his heart and with every fiber of his being that there would still be a puppy left at the store he and his boyfriend had just visited that week. If there wasn’t any left, Baekhyun didn’t know what he would do because he hadn’t come up with a backup gift and that would result in more pouting from the oversized, six-foot-one-inch baby that Baekhyun called his boyfriend.

 

Baekhyun quickly arrived on the strip where the pet store they’d visited was. He spotted the window and crossed the  street with bated breath. He chewed on his lip nervously until he approached the glass and sighed with relief at the sight of three puppies – cute as ever – still in the box. They squeaked up at him happily and Baekhyun found himself grinning with excitement.

 

* * *

 

“Hey, babies!” Baekhyun cooed when he entered the shop and made a beeline for the puppies. “You’re all so cute! How will I ever choose?”

 

A worker made her way over to Baekhyun and smiled at him. “Are you interested in one?” she asked, face bright and friendly. “Poor things have been in here for a while, waiting for someone special to come and give them a new home.”

 

Baekhyun smiled and nodded in response to her question. “Yes. My boyfriend and I were in here earlier this week and he really wanted one! His birthday is tomorrow, so I’m getting him one.”

 

The woman grinned and picked up a sandy-colored puppy with smooth fur and big, brown eyes. “This guy is the smallest,” she stopped to giggle at the cute sneeze the puppy let out, “but he has the most personality!”

 

The woman stuck around for a bit, playing with each of the puppies – the breed of which Baekhyun inquired to be of a lab mix – and she let Baekhyun hold each of them, too. All three were the epitome of adorable and innocence, but the one puppy that stood out to him most was the youngest one. Despite this puppy being the youngest, he was the largest in size among the three puppies. He was light brown with a distinct shade of red-orange to his fluffy, unkempt fur. Baekhyun smiled to himself, unable to think of anything except the fact that this puppy reminded him so much of Chanyeol. From his fuzzy, poofy, wild hair, to his big brown eyes, to the way his tongue seemed to always flop out of his smile, to the overwhelmingly adorable way the big puppy flopped about on his limbs; Baekhyun knows this puppy is the one for Chanyeol. “Looks like you’ll have a new daddy by tomorrow, little guy!” Baekhyun crooned to their new ‘child.’

 

The woman came back to Baekhyun. “So is this the one?” she asked, smirking slightly.

 

Baekhyun nodded. “Yes. Chanyeol will love him. He’ll be so happy.”

 

* * *

 

Along with the main present, Chanyeol’s puppy, Baekhyun bought all the necessary supplies for caring for a pet. It was somewhat of a dilema what Baekhyun would do with this puppy – that he desperately wanted to nickname because his lack of a name was annoying, but he knew Chanyeol would want to name him – until the next day. He ended up calling on a mutual friend of theirs – Jongin – to puppy sit until the next day, being as Baekhyun and Chanyeol shared the same apartment and it would ruin the surprise if Baekhyun brought him home.

 

Come party time, Baekhyun was so excited he could barely stand it. He shouldn’t really call their little ‘get together’ a party, because, really, it was only Chanyeol and himself. A quiet evening just the two of them, just the way he knew Chanyeol preferred their evenings.

 

Chanyeol leaned across the couch where the two of them were sitting suddenly and tilted Baekhyun’s slight jaw towards him with is large, warm hand, allowing him easier access to his lips, which he pressed his own against gently, careful not to jostle the wine glasses each of them held. “Thank you for everything today.” Chanyeol laid his forehead on Baekhyun’s shoulder and sighed, full of content. “I know I say this every year, but this was the best birthday yet.”

 

Baekhyun chuckled and ran his fingers absently through Chanyeol’s wild curls. “I’m glad you think so, but,” he pauses, lifting Chanyeol’s face up so he can see him, “haven’t you been curious about your present?”

 

Chanyeol’s eyes widen immediately along with is mouth to for a perfect, round ‘o.’ Baekhyun found him cutest when he wore this expression. “I thought this was my present. A date!”

 

“No,” Baekhyun smiled, his eyes crinkling, “it’s not.” He giggled. “I would be a pretty crappy – and cheap – boyfriend if this was your present, Yeol.”

 

Chanyeol perked up at this and bounced a little in his seat. “Well, if this isn’t my present, then what is?”

 

Baekhyun grinned widely, beaming, and turned his head slightly over his shoulder. “Jongin? You can bring him in now.”

 

Just as Chanyeol was about to voice his confusion, Jongin comes in the room with arms full and overflowing with puppy. He had a giant, red chiffon bow tied around his neck and he was at Jongin’s wrist to get him to let go. “Happy birthday, hyung!” Jongin called, flapping the puppy’s paw in a wave.

 

Baekhyun glanced to Chanyeol and his eyes and mouth were wider than ever. His eyes conveyed his disbelief, while his slowly grinning mouth conveyed his joy. “Oh my…oh my gosh, hyung!” he exclaims as Jongin hands the puppy over into his new daddy’s waiting arms. “Am I dreaming right now?”

 

Baekhyun giggles and shakes his head. “No, you most certainly are not!”

 

“But,” Chanyeol started incredulously, “I thought you said the complex doesn’t allow pets!”

 

Baekhyun shrugged. “I lied.”

 

Baekhyun and Jongin watched Chanyeol ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ over his puppy for a few moments before Jongin stood. “He loves it, hyung, it was such a great idea,” he whispered so he wouldn’t interrupt the little moment that was going on between Chanyeol and his puppy.

 

“Thank you again for helping me out.” Baekhyun smiled at Jongin.

 

“So what’s his name?” Chanyeol asked while managing to tear his attention away from his present, which now occupied himself with lapping his pink tongue across Chanyeol’s forearm. Chanyeol didn't seem to take any note of this.

 

Baekhyun smirked and met Chanyeol’s glittering eyes. “I left that up to you to decide. He’s your puppy.”

 

If Chaneyol weren’t on cloud nine before, he sure was then. His whole face lit up and he played with the puppy’s floppy ears for a moment before meeting Baekhyun’s eyes again. “How about we name him together?”

 

Baekhyun nods. “Okay.”

 

Chanyeol looked up for a second, flicking his unruly hair from his eyes. “What did you think when you first picked him out?”

 

Baekhyun smiled at the memory, how he distinctly thought the puppy reminded him of Chanyeol. The puppy fussed in Chanyeol’s arms a bit before Baekhyun said, “I thought he kind of reminded me a little bit of you, that’s actually why I chose him.”

 

Chanyeol grinned his goofy grin and he ruffled the puppy’s wild hair, flicked his lolling tongue, and giggled at his clumsiness upon his lanky limbs. “I would deny it, but I can’t lie. It’s kind of true.” They both laughed and scratched behind the puppy’s ears. “So what do you think?”

 

Baekhyun pondered for a moment, thinking of things that reminded him of his boyfriend.

 

Chanyeol snorts suddenly. “And don’t say Chanyeol Jr. That’s so cheesy, Ba—“

 

Baekhyun cuts him off. “Yeol.”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“No, not you, babo!” Baekhyun chortles. “Let’s call him Yeol.”

 

“That’s perfect, hyung!”

 

They both smiled and looked at each other, Yeol between them, at anything he can get at, and they both smiled. Chanyeol leaned in again and cupped Baekhyun’s face in his big hands.

 

“Thanks again, hyung,” he whispered, close to Baekhyun’s face and he pressed a soft kiss to his boyfriend’s lips.

 

Baekhyun can’t help but blush.

 

~*~

 

A/N: Happy birthday to my EXO-K bias ^^ I love your craziness, your wild hair, your deep voice, your random, goofy faces, the way you always smile ^^ happy birthday, Chanyeol!! <3 you won't ever know, but I love you and you give me a reason to smile every day :D