When I first met you, it was truly eye-blinding

When I first saw your smile, I felt like I had the whole world

Little star tonight

All night, I will watch over you

(Little Star - Standing Egg)

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Chanyeol had slowly coaxed the high-strung excitement out of Baekhyun and got him to sit down properly, which is when he proceeded to give an animated telling of how he'd nearly gotten run over on the way to Chanyeol’s because he didn't really know how crosswalks worked and his temporary caretakers were too busy canoodling to pay him any attention. 

“You were making out instead of making sure nothing happened to him?” Chanyeol asked, turning his dumbfounded expression on his friends. He wasn't sure why his tone was so much harsher than it had been in his head.

“You seem strangely protective all of a sudden, Chanyeol.” Kyungsoo stated in a flat tone, raising an eyebrow at him and ruffling Baekhyun’s hair. 

Chanyeol stuttered helplessly before coming up with an answer, shaking his head. “No, I just… well, a dead hybrid wouldn't be a very good present!” he argued weakly. Of course he was feeling protective, Baekhyun was completely harmless and too nice to even be angry about the fact that his friends had almost gotten him killed during his first five minutes of freedom from the shelter. 

“It's okay, Channie. I didn't die, see?” Baekhyun said with a bright grin, waving his arms as if Chanyeol might not have noticed yet that he was, in fact, alive.

Chanyeol paused for a second to ponder the nickname. His older sister often called that when she was making fun of him in some way or another, and he decided he liked it much better in Baekhyun’s cheerful voice. “No, I guess you didn't. Do you want anything to eat?” he asked, unable to stay angry for very long. 

“Candy?” Baekhyun suggested, wiggling closer to him. Chanyeol prepared himself for a difficult argument until suddenly Baekhyun had a change of heart. “No, wait. Fried chicken! I haven't had any since my birthday.” The idea of only getting to eat fried chicken once a year broke all of their hearts, so Jongin and Kyungsoo were soon offering to pay half. Chanyeol found himself feeling very grateful that they were sticking around for a while. Even if he had decided that he liked Baekhyun and wanted to keep him, he still wasn't sure what to do if he was left alone with him. He already got along marvelously with his friends, especially Kyungsoo, so it was helpful to have them there.

Chanyeol wandered off to the silence of his kitchen to order fried chicken, shoving the abandoned beer bottles to the back of his fridge while he was there. His plans of drinking alone were long gone, and he wasn't sure if Baekhyun knew what alcohol was or if he could safely consume it, so he figured he'd better tuck it away for now. 

He must've lingered for longer than he thought, because when he returned with an armful of soda cans they'd all relocated to the floor around his coffee table. Kyungsoo was recounting the tale of how he realized Jongin was “The One” and Chanyeol was starting to wonder if Kyungsoo actually knew any stories besides that one, because it certainly didn't seem like it. He hovered in the doorway and made very uncomfortable eye contact with Jongin, suddenly wishing he had decided to rearrange his whole fridge instead of returning right then.

Baekhyun seemed enamored by the story, but he still turned his head as soon as he realized Chanyeol was there, smiling up at him and patting the space on the floor beside him. He couldn't very well turn around and leave now that they all knew he was there, so he sat down, looking at Baekhyun instead of… well, anyone else, as he placed the soda cans on the table and nudged them in the direction of each of his friends.

“And then?” Baekhyun prompted, scooting closer to Chanyeol even though there was plenty of room for him to not do so and turning his gaze back to Kyungsoo.

“Um… maybe I'll finish telling you some other time. It's kind of a long story.” Kyungsoo said, a somewhat forced smile on his face. “But what about you? Were you allowed to date anyone at the shelter?”

He was clearly just trying to change the subject, but Chanyeol was still interested to hear Baekhyun’s answer. “I suppose I would've been allowed to if I wanted, but it was kind of rare for anyone my age to be there. Most of us who are in a shelter this old are there after their owner gets rid of them because there's something wrong with them.” he said, seeming casual enough about it that Chanyeol figured he could safely assume he didn't include himself in the ‘something wrong with them’ category. He wanted to ask why he was there, then, but he didn't get the chance. “Are you dating anyone, Channie?” Baekhyun asked before he could say anything, taking a sip of his drink and ogling at him with wide, curious eyes.

“No. I'm not really looking to, either.” he mumbled, shrugging sheepishly. He was so used to the old ‘But you've got to! You're old enough to be married already.’ argument that he almost expected it even from him. However, he wasn't expecting Baekhyun to shift even closer to him, leaning into his side and briefly nuzzling his cheek, suddenly entirely too close for comfort.

“Good, you'll have plenty of time to spend with me, then.” he said with a blinding grin (especially when it was only inches from his face), and Chanyeol supposed he was right, even if it did turn his face red enough to cause Jongin to laugh indiscreetly from across the table. The doorbell rescued him from any further weird overly close contact, and he stood up, taking the money that his friends offered with one hand and patting the top of Baekhyun’s head with the other before going to the door to get the chicken.

It was quiet for a while as they all crowded around, more interested in eating than talking, and Baekhyun was no longer trying to snuggle up to him now that there was food in his vicinity. After a while, Chanyeol realized that Baekhyun had eaten twice as much as any of them. “Did they feed you at the shelter?” he asked, suddenly concerned for his health.

“Yep. Not anything this good, though.” Baekhyun mumbled through his mouthful of food, swallowing after a moment and his lips. “Can we have fried chicken every day?”

“Unfortunately, no.” Chanyeol replied, smiling fondly at the pout he got in return. “We can have other good food, though.”

“Every day?” Baekhyun asked suspiciously, raising an eyebrow at him. Chanyeol nodded solemnly, apparently satisfying him, because he reached for another piece of chicken while humming contently. 

“We probably should head home.” Jongin said after realizing that if he waited for him to finish eating, he might be there all night. Baekhyun paused in his munching to look up at him, frowning. “Call me if you need anything.” he added, as if he was totally aware of Chanyeol’s concerns that he had no idea what to do after they left.

Those concerns had faded, though, and it was nearly time to go to bed anyways, so he figured there wasn't much to worry about. “I'll see you at work tomorrow.” Chanyeol said, getting up to show them to the door. Baekhyun got up too, apparently to give Kyungsoo a hug.

“I'll see you again soon, right?” he asked, sounding quite panicked. His suddenly watery eyes forced Chanyeol to realize that maybe he wasn't feeling quite as comfortable and secure about all of this as he acted- and why would he? He was probably used to friends disappearing and never coming back, whenever they were adopted from the shelter. All three of them were quick to reassure him that nothing like that was happening now, Jongin joining in on the hug and Chanyeol Baekhyun’s hair when both of them pulled away and said their goodbyes and final birthday wishes before leaving with promises to visit over the weekend.

Baekhyun turned to Chanyeol once they left, apparently not done hugging, because he wrapped his arms around him like the world’s biggest teddy bear. He hesitantly reciprocated the hug, unsure what to do with all of this affection. The most touchy-feely he ever got with his friends was when they drank a little too much and ended up wrestling like kids, which was a far cry from this… cuddling. After a moment Baekhyun interrupted his thoughts by speaking. “They're really nice. I like them. I'm glad I get to stay with you, though, because how they look at each other sometimes is kind of gross.” Baekhyun mumbled into his chest, jumping a little with surprise when Chanyeol burst into laughter. 

“I'm glad someone finally agrees with me about that.” Chanyeol said, grinning. Baekhyun pulled away a little bit to look up at him, looking amused but quite sleepy-eyed. “Are you done eating?” he asked, getting a small nod in response. He supposed that when you were as boisterous as Baekhyun had been for the entire time he'd been there, it must be easy to suddenly run out of energy. He let go of him to go clean off the table, and once he was done he steered his sleepy companion in the direction of his bedroom.

“You can sleep here, and I'll be on the couch if you need me.” Chanyeol said, waiting for Baekhyun to make his way to the bed. He'd have to figure out something better eventually, but for now he was fine with the couch. There probably weren't big comfy beds in the shelter, so he thought the other boy needed the good rest more than he did.

“You aren't going to sleep with me?” Baekhyun asked, as if he was supposed to do so and it made absolutely no sense for him to do otherwise.

“Um. I wasn't really planning on it. Should I?” he asked dumbly, waiting for his pet’s opinion on what he should do in his own house.

“Of course you should! I really can't steal your bed from you, and I don't like being in the dark by myself.” He didn't wait to see if he listened to him, as if he was completely sure that he would, walking over to the bed and pulling back the covers. He was clearly excited about the bed, despite how tired he was. “Wow, it's so soft. Come on.” he said, growing a little impatient with his owner’s stubbornness.

Chanyeol would've argued. Really. But Baekhyun really wasn't giving him much chance to, and he supposed it was a pretty big bed, so he found himself shutting the door behind him and going to turn on the bedside lamp before turning the light off. His feet would've hung off the end of the couch, and he would've woken up with uncomfortably stiff shoulders. This wasn't really all that weird, because even if they were practical strangers today, they were living together now, so he might as well get over it. After enough mental justification, he crawled into bed, so close to the edge that he'd be surprised if he didn't fall off during the night. 

Baekhyun, on the other hand, made himself completely comfortable, curling up on his side with the blankets pulled up to his chin. “Thank you.” he said quietly, smiling at Chanyeol. He wasn't sure what specifically he was thanking him for, but he didn't ask, waiting until his pretty brown eyes closed and his breathing slowed to turn the lamp off. 

It took him a while to fall asleep, and he was pretty sure he'd barely slept for 10 minutes when he was awakened again by quiet but persistent whining. “Baek?” he mumbled, his tired voice giving up on him halfway through his name. He reached blindly for the lamp, and once he finally turned it on, he found that the noise was Baekhyun, but he was asleep. He reached over to nudge his shoulder, gently waking him up.

It startled him when Baekhyun’s eyes snapped open, his whines going silent to be replaced by a sharp gasp. It took all of five seconds for him to calm himself down, eyes red-rimmed but his face completely blank except for a bit of exasperation. “Just a nightmare. I'm sorry I woke you up.” he murmured, rubbing his eyes before offering him a small smile.

“Do you have them a lot?” Chanyeol asked, though he was pretty sure he could guess the answer to that just based on how quickly he composed himself. 

“...Yes. I didn't think about it, because I was excited, but- should I go sleep on the couch? You have work tomorrow, I don't want to wake you up again.” he said, already making his way to the edge of the bed until Chanyeol reached for his wrist.

“No, it's okay. Come here.” he urged, shifting closer. “You probably won't have another.”

“I will.” Baekhyun said, sounding like he knew from experience, but he was moving closer.

“You won't.” Chanyeol mumbled, and of course he didn't know that for sure, but he hoped he was right. He shifted to get comfortable again and extended an arm to him. Baekhyun looked vaguely confused, relieved, and exhausted all at once as he laid his head on the comfortable pillow that was Chanyeol’s bicep, snuggling closer when his other arm wrapped around him.

The hybrid fell asleep less than a minute later. Chanyeol had no such luck, because he really hadn't planned this very well. He couldn't move with the head lying on his arm, and he'd left the lamp on, casting yellow light across the room that he could still see through his closed eyelids. 

Maybe he'd be tired the next day, but maybe Baekhyun wouldn't have any more nightmares. He supposed he'd made the right decision, even though his clock reminded him that it was 4 AM when he fell asleep again.