My legs are stumbling, stumbling as I walk

Another meaningless day is passing today

Love is just for all those who are the same

There’s nothing to make my heart flutter

Wiing wiing, goes the fruit fly

It flies far away as if it’s laughing at my sadness

Bing bing, the world spins

It squirms as if it’s laughing at me too

(Wi ing Wi ing - hyukoh)

----

Chanyeol is 23 years old today. He doesn't know why he thought it'd be different, feel different, or why he's still clinging onto the childish notion that being one year older changes anything. He doesn't know how he even manages to be that optimistic, when the past 23 years have all been equal parts that make up a monotonously steady life.

He wished he could just give up his hopes, because he can practically see on the horizon a majestic peak, rising high like a beautiful mountain, a day when his life will change and become something more. Only its not getting any closer, it never has, and he wonders if maybe it's just a figment of his cheesy-drama-addled imagination. 

It's not as if he had a bad life. He had a loving family that would always keep his Star Wars themed bedroom exactly as it was the day he left for college, waiting for him to return if he should ever want to. He spent his days as a writer for a prestigious newspaper alongside his best friends Jongin and Kyungsoo, putting his degree in journalism to good use. He had no reason to feel so unsatisfied, but it turns out he wasn't a very reasonable man.

He was sometimes a boring one, though. He planned to spend his evening enjoying a bowl of ramyeon and maybe a couple beers. His plans were stomped all over when Jongin called him, his voice loud enough that Chanyeol had to hold the phone away from his ear to preserve his hearing.

“Chanyeollie! Soo and I have been talking, and I think we’ve found the perfect solution to your grumpiness!”

“I'm not grumpy-”

“Shh. You barely said 5 words all day and it's your birthday. You are so grumpy. Anyways, we found you the perfect present. It was really expensive, but because we’re such good friends and because we know it’ll change your life..”

Jongin knew him too well. The particular word choice had Chanyeol pressing the phone closer to his ear, eyes squinted in suspicion even as he was hurriedly asking Jongin where he was. He was told not to worry about that, because his friends would be there in about half an hour with his marvelous prize.

He would never admit it, but he was fretting. What if he'd gotten all excited and it ended up being something dumb? What if a group of strippers showed up in half an hour with a cheeky note from Jongin about how he hadn't gotten laid in so long that this would certainly be life changing? That was probably all it was, something ridiculous like that just to mock him. He had to keep telling himself this for the next half hour to keep himself seated and watching TV instead of pacing.

He stood up from the couch just a bit too fast when the doorbell rang, practically jogging to the door and flinging it open. There were no strippers.

Instead there was Jongin, and there was Kyungsoo, and that was all fine and good but standing between them was him. He was somewhere in between their heights but smaller in frame than either of them. He had wavy brown hair that seemed perfectly styled and completely effortless at the same time. And sticking out of that fluffy hair was a pair of folded over puppy ears. 

“I- Um- Who is this?” Chanyeol asked, staring rather blatantly into the pair of bright droopy eyes that were looking right back at him. He hadn't quite connected the dots yet, his brain melted into useless goo by the positively adorable boy standing in front of him.

“He's a hybrid, Chanyeol. Don't you like him?” Kyungsoo asked, grinning at him (which was a little terrifying in and of itself).

“Yes, I know what he is, I meant what's his-” he paused, realizing he was talking about him like he wasn't even there, which was sort of rude. “What's your name?” he asked in a gentler tone, gaze flickering curiously over his face and downwards, to check if he had a tail. He did, and it was wagging furiously behind him.

“Baekhyun.” he answered quickly, in a pleasant voice that seemed too big and boisterous for his small frame. Chanyeol noticed that he was bouncing on his tip toes and peering past him to looking into his apartment with barely concealed excitement.

“Nice to meet you. Um, come in?” he suggested, still completely confused about what exactly Baekhyun had to do with his birthday present- and then it clicked. His eyes widened and he stepped out of the doorway, allowing the excited puppy to barrel past him, but he placed a hand on Jongin’s shoulder to stop him from doing the same. “What is this?” he whispered somewhat loudly, narrowing his eyes at him.

“What is what? You're lonely and irritable and your life is boring, so we got you a pet.” he said as if it was common sense, Kyungsoo nodding supportively beside him.

“He's not a pet, he's a person. You got me a roommate for my birthday? Who the hell does that?” he asked, practically hissing at this point.

“He definitely still counts as a pet. We got him from a shelter and everything. He was the only one near our age there, the rest were all little kids. Isn't he cute?” Kyungsoo rambled cheerfully, acting as if Chanyeol wasn't clearly angry right now. Still, he convinced him to look over at where the boy had made himself at home on the couch, peering over the back of it with his ears perked up. He seemed to have caught a bit of their conversation, because he looked pretty distraught.

“You don't like me, Chanyeollie? Are you going to send me back to the shelter?” he asked, a low whine escaping at the end of his sentence. Chanyeol’s supposed best friends both elbowed him at the exact same moment, and he found himself stepping towards the couch wearing a panicked expression.

“No! No, I like you, it's just…”

“Good! I think I like you too.” Baekhyun proclaimed so earnestly that there was absolutely nothing Chanyeol could say in reply without feeling like a complete . “Won't you pet me?” he asked mere seconds later, practically shoving his head into Chanyeol’s hand.

He had no time to contemplate that it was weird that he was standing here petting another grown man on the head, or the fact that he'd always kind of been freaked out by the whole hybrid situation, because Baekhyun’s hair was even softer than it looked and Chanyeol found himself stepping closer. 

He felt his mind rapidly compartmentalizing all of the reasons why he might not want to keep Baekhyun and stuffing them into a big box labeled ‘Come on Chanyeol, he's cute!’, and he realized that he was definitely a goner. Jongin and Kyungsoo realized it too, because they were cackling in delight at their victory as if their true purpose really had been to make his life harder rather than to give him a present.

Maybe it would end up making his life more complicated, but right now the boy nuzzling his hand with his eyes scrunched closed with happiness looked like the best birthday present he'd ever received.