When the round sun rises the first

thing I do is to think happy thoughts

One, two, three get up from the bed

give a great big yawn like a hippo

Open both eyes nice and big

stretch out

Enjoy the happy imaginations

Don't forget happy happy things.

(Happy Things - J Rabbit)

----

The next time Chanyeol was awakened, it was by the sound of his alarm. He reached over with his left arm to turn it off, because he couldn't even feel his right arm due to the weight of Baekhyun laying on it all night. He was still there, fast asleep despite the noise and drooling an impressive puddle onto Chanyeol’s shoulder. It was a strange feeling, waking up with someone else not only in your bed but also snuggled up very close to you.

No time to worry about that now, though. He had to get up to get ready for work. He said Baekhyun’s name 20 or so times at varying volumes, and he still was not budging, so he had no choice but to wiggle his arm out from under him, plopping his head onto the pillow.

“Channie? Is it morning already?” he asked after letting out a tremendous yawn, eyes still closed, as he stretched his arms up above his head.

“Yep. Did you sleep okay?” he asked curiously, since he hadn't been awakened by any more distressed noises during the night. 

Baekhyun nodded, eyes opening widely as if he'd only just realized that himself. He seemed to wake up fully then, sitting up and bouncing in place. “You were right, I didn't have any more nightmares. Thank you.” he said, grabbing Chanyeol in a hug so tight that it knocked the air out of his lungs.

Chanyeol stayed there for as long as he could afford to, idly running his fingers through Baekhyun's hair to brush out the little tangles that had formed overnight. Eventually, though, he had no choice but to hurry up. “I have to go take a shower, Baek.” he said, gently detaching the boy from himself.

“Can I come with you?” Baekhyun asked, frowning when Chanyeol stared blankly at him in a way that was a fairly obvious no. “Well, if not, you'll still give me a bath later, right? I don't like doing it myself, I always get water in my ears.” he whined, leaning most of his weight against Chanyeol and preventing him from standing up. 

Chanyeol really, really did not want to, but Baekhyun was rambling on about ear infections and shampoo in his eyes and then he finally accepted it when he looked up at him with a very upset looking pout and said, “You know, the owner of the shelter always did it for me and he wasn't even my real owner, but I was his favorite, and I want to be yours too, so I thought…”

“Okay. Alright. When I get home, we will do that, but right now I really have to hurry up or I'll be late to work.”

Baekhyun seemed to find this acceptable, because he rolled back into bed, nodding contently. He pulled the covers back up to his chin as if he'd only got out of bed to nag Chanyeol a little and now he was done for the day, ready to go back to sleep. 

Chanyeol took a very rushed shower and cut himself twice while he was shaving, but he somehow managed to make up for lost time and still had a few minutes to pour some cereal for Baekhyun and show him how to use the phone in case of emergencies.

“I can't call you just because I want to talk to you?” Baekhyun asked through his mouthful of fruit loops, frowning.

“Only if you need something.” Chanyeol said, patting his shoulder and sighing when he continued pouting. “I'm sorry. I'd talk to you all day if I wasn’t busy, but I have to work or I wouldn't be able to buy food for you. I'll be home all weekend, though.”

“Okay. I understand.” Baekhyun said, nodding very seriously and wiping away his frown. Chanyeol thought perhaps the mention of food had convinced him.

It seemed that he was wrong, though, because when he went to the fridge to pack his own lunch and glanced over at Baekhyun while he wasn't paying attention, the boy had laid his head down on the table instead of continuing to eat. He suppressed the uncomfortable feeling of guilt and the small part of him that was actually crazy enough to consider taking a sick day just so he would stop looking so sad.

“Baekhyun? I'm leaving now, okay?” he said, resolved about the fact that he absolutely must go to work. Still, he couldn't resist walking over and petting his hair for a moment, trying to get him to lift his head.

“Okay. Have a good day.” Baekhyun said quietly, not just sitting up but also squirming out of his chair to stand up and give Chanyeol a hug. This was becoming quite a reoccurring thing.

“I'll call you during my lunch break, okay?” Chanyeol said after a moment, waiting for him to let go. He really was as clingy as you'd expect from an actual puppy.

Baekhyun finally nodded and pulled away, slumping back into his chair and starting to eat his cereal again. 

Chanyeol really hoped he'd get used to him leaving for work, because right now he felt like a horrible evil person just for going on about his life, and he really didn't want to go through that every day. He wished he was old and retired and could sit at home and pat him on the head all day. No such luck, though.

He got stuck in a traffic jam and ended up late to work despite all of his efforts, and he must've looked more exhausted than he thought when he finally made it to his desk with a cup of coffee, because Jongin and Kyungsoo both regarded him with raised eyebrows.

“Did he keep you up all night howling at the moon?” Jongin asked playfully, going to great lengths to roll his chair a couple feet over to Chanyeol’s desk and elbow him. 

Chanyeol scrunched his nose up at the joke, frowning a little. “Don't make fun of him.” he mumbled, swallowing a mouthful of coffee and nudging Jongin back to his own space by pushing his chair with his foot.

Kyungsoo surprisingly agreed with him there, grabbing Jongin’s ear on the other side of him and tugging harshly. “Be nice.” he said in a gentle tone as if he hadn't just half pinched his ear off. Jongin clutched at his ear for a few minutes and whined excessively, but once he got over that he kept his commentary to himself for the rest of the morning.

It was nearly time for his lunch break when Chanyeol’s phone buzzed loudly, shifting a little on his desk from the force of the vibration. The caller ID identified it as his home phone, so it must have been Baekhyun, which alarmed him a little. He had visions of his apartment on fire and his panicked puppy launching himself out the window. Luckily his workplace was laid back enough that he could get away with taking the occasional phone call, so he answered it in a low voice. “Baek?” he questioned, as if it could've been anyone else.

“Chanyeol.” Baekhyun said back in the same low voice, though he had no reason to be quiet. “Can you get me some strawberries on the way home? I saw some on TV and now I really want some.”

Chanyeol knew that he should scold him, because he had told him to only call for something important, but he found himself grinning instead. “Okay. Anything else?”

“No… wait! Um, you're out of cookie dough.”

“I didn't have any in the first place.”

“Right. So you should buy some.” 

“I should? Alright. Peanut butter or chocolate chip?”

“Peanut butter… thanks, Channie.” Baekhyun said sweetly, and Chanyeol supposed that made it worth the portion of his paycheck that would be going towards junk food from now on.

It wasn't, however, worth the way his friends kept poking fun of him for the rest of the day, claiming that in one short evening Baekhyun had him wrapped neatly around his finger. Even if it was completely true.

“You should come over tomorrow.” Kyungsoo suggested towards the end of the day. “Well, actually, you should bring Baekhyun. I don't care if you come or not.” Jongin burst into laughter at his boyfriend’s ruthless honesty.

“Are you sure you don't want to get rid of Jongin and get yourself a hybrid instead?” Chanyeol asked, sticking his tongue out at the no longer laughing Jongin.

“Nah, I don't want to have to take care of him. I just want to give him candy and then send him home for you to deal with. Like a cool uncle. Or a grandma.” It took a good five minutes for Chanyeol to stop laughing at the image of Grandma Kyungsoo. “But really, you like him, don't you? And you don't mind taking care of him? You look really tired and I don't want you to be more stressed because we got you a terrible present.” he asked after a moment, frowning over at him.

“No, he's fine. He's great, really.” Chanyeol assured him, smiling despite the fact that he was pretty tired. He was sure he had never grown to like someone so much in such a short time. Baekhyun was just so lovable, and Chanyeol wanted desperately to protect him. From what, he wasn't sure, but he never wanted to see the sort of defeated sadness he'd had on his face after he woke up from what must've been the most recent of a lifetime of nightmares again.

He didn't accomplish much in the last half hour of his work day, mostly just pondering the fastest way to go to the grocery store and get home quickly afterwards. He promised Kyungsoo that he definitely would bring Baekhyun over the next day as long as Kyungsoo agreed to cook for them. They struck a deal and somehow Jongin ended up inviting himself as well, which was no surprise when he practically lived in Kyungsoo’s apartment during the weekend. Chanyeol told himself he didn't mind, and it almost felt true this time.

He purchased some strawberries, cookie dough, a toothbrush, and instant ramyeon for Baekhyun, which according to him he knew how to cook. He decided that he'd take him shopping sometime that weekend to get some new clothes, but for now he could borrow some of Chanyeol’s after he gave him a bath. Remembering that almost made him not want to go home yet. Almost.

He was greeted by an armful of Baekhyun, who pounced on him and clung on with grabby arms and legs as soon as he got the door open. “Hey, Channie.” he said into his shoulder quite casually, as if he hadn't just jumped into his arms, but Chanyeol could hear him grinning.

“Hi. You survived?” he asked, shutting the door with his foot and carrying Baekhyun (and his groceries) to the kitchen. He placed the bags on the counter and sat Baekhyun beside them, waiting patiently for him to let go. He'd thought he was just being dramatic this morning. He didn't know he'd really miss him this much.

“I did. I was going to try and cook you something, but I remember you told me I was only allowed to use the microwave when you aren't here, so I didn't.” he said proudly, pulling away to look at Chanyeol like he was waiting to be praised.

“Good job. You were good.” he said with a genuine smile, cupping his cheek with one hand and gently with his thumb. “Kyungsoo invited us over tomorrow. He says he’ll cook something nice for you. Want to go? We don't have to, if you don't want to.”

Baekhyun nodded, leaning into his hand and slowly unwrapping his arms and legs from around Chanyeol. “I do. Is he a good cook?”

“The best.” Chanyeol assured him, stepping away from him to put the groceries away. “I got toothbrushes, because I need a new one and you need one, do you want red or purple?” he asked, handing the, both to Baekhyun so he could pick whichever he liked. He took the purple one, which made Chanyeol sort of happy. He liked red.

Eventually Baekhyun slid down from the counter and shuffled idly around the kitchen behind Chanyeol, peering in the fridge appraisingly. “I have to eat supper before cookies, right?” he asked, reaching in and grabbing a strawberry.

“Yep. Do you want instant ramyeon or should I order Chinese?” he asked, stuffing the plastic bags into the unofficial bag drawer that was only overflowing a little bit.

“Can we have Chinese?” Baekhyun asked, frowning a little like he thought that was the incorrect answer. Chanyeol just nodded, though, wiping strawberry juice off of his chin with his thumb. Baekhyun smiled  at him and shifted closer, shyly leaning into his chest. Chanyeol wondered where exactly his sense of personal space had gone, because there were no radars in his head telling him not to stick his strawberry flavored thumb in his mouth even though that might've seemed gross, if he thought about it too hard. There were none saying he shouldn't wrap his arms around Baekhyun in a suffocating hug, either, so he did it. Baekhyun giggled and shoved at his stomach until he let go of him, still standing so close he had to look straight up at him.

Suddenly that was too close when Baekhyun’s cheeks were pink and he was smiling so wide, so Chanyeol took a step backwards, pretending to go look for the menu for the Chinese place down the street even though he was pretty sure he had it memorized. He found it crumpled up in a drawer and presented it to Baekhyun from a safe distance of a couple feet away. “We can have whatever you want.”

“Kung Pao chicken.” he requested after a moment of staring at the menu, smiling when Chanyeol nodded compliantly. “Can you give me a bath while we wait for it to get here?” he asked after he'd ordered the food.

“Sure.” Chanyeol mumbled, trying not to seem as reluctant as he felt. There was no reason to be weird about it, he told himself. He was just giving his pet a bath. No, he didn't like that either. He couldn't think of Baekhyun like that, not when he was looking at him with his eyes every bit as warm and human as Kyungsoo’s. Or Jongin’s, he supposed, on the days when he actually acted like a human. 

It turned out to be not nearly as bad as Chanyeol had expected. Baekhyun didn't really want his assistance that much, he just wanted him to fill the bath with warm water and bubbles for him and keep him company.

“I found a cartoon that I liked today.” Baekhyun said, scrubbing violently at his face with a washcloth. He'd been horrified when Chanyeol told him that he didn't have any facial cleanser, demanding that he take him to the store tomorrow to find some for both of them. For now, he settled with water and makeshift exfoliation.

“Really? What is it?” he asked with genuine interest. Baekhyun had been talking about his day for 10 minutes now, and somehow he made sitting at home all day seem interesting with his animated descriptions.

“Pororo the Little Penguin. I think it's for kids, though. Is that weird, if I like little kid shows?” he asked, frowning a little and swishing his hands around in the water.

“Of course not. I like Pororo.” Chanyeol assured him, leaning back on his somewhat uncomfortable seat on the closed toilet lid. He didn't exactly watch it regularly, but it was a decent show, and he wasn't going to make fun of Baekhyun for watching it. Besides, it came on often, so he was glad he'd have something to entertain him during the day.

Baekhyun smiled at him, and Chanyeol averted his eyes when he leaned up to grab the shampoo bottle and was briefly no longer covered up by bubbles. “Can you wash my hair for me?” he asked, and when Chanyeol looked up again he was once again buried in a pile of bubbles, fluttering his eyelashes at him.

Chanyeol moved to sit on the floor beside the bath, taking the bottle from him and pouring a little too much shampoo into his hand. He lathered it all into his hair anyways, scrubbing gently with one hand and keeping the other on his forehead to keep the excess bubbles from making their way into his eyes. “Is your hair naturally brown?”

“Nah, I dye it, and my ears too.” Baekhyun said, keeping a straight face for a moment before grinning at him. “Course it is, dummy.”

“Well, it seemed like it, but I thought it must be too good to be true.” Chanyeol said, grinning back before realizing that he was accidentally flirting with him and Baekhyun probably wouldn't notice but it still seemed like a bad, bad idea.

Baekhyun didn't mind, though, laughing and shoving at his shoulder with a soapy hand. “Shut up.” he giggled, which eventually faded into a warm smile as Chanyeol finished washing his hair and carefully rinsed out all of the suds, meticulously avoiding his ears. It was pretty hard to do, so he understood why Baekhyun had asked for help. “Do I have to get out? It's still warm.” Baekhyun said with a sigh, sinking down into the bubbles again so that all that was visible was his head and his toes.

“You can wait until the food gets here, if you want.” he decided, moving to go back to his seat on the toilet until Baekhyun grabbed his hand, intertwining their fingers.

“Thank you. I'll figure out how to do this myself, eventually.” he said quietly, apparently still feeling like he was inconveniencing Chanyeol. He wasn't.

“I don't mind.” he assured him, squeezing his slippery hand a little tighter. He wasn't sure how long he might've remained there if the door bell hadn't rung, and it seemed he'd never find out. He let go of Baekhyun’s hand and stood up, placing his towel within his reach before going to get the food.

When he returned to make sure he'd managed to get out alright, Baekhyun was wrapped up like a burrito in his towel, shivering. “Can I borrow some clothes?” he asked. He was dripping water on the floor, but Chanyeol led him to his bedroom anyways, finding a sweatshirt that was a little too small for him now and a pair of pajama pants that Baekhyun might have to roll up a bit.

It turned out that the small shirt was much too big for Baekhyun, and he had to roll the sleeves up almost as much as he had to roll up his pants, which were longer than Chanyeol had estimated. “We can go get you something that fits tomorrow. I’m sorry.” he said, drying Baekhyun’s hair as much as he could with the towel.

“It's fine. They're comfy and they smell like you.” he said cheerily, pulling the collar of the shirt back up when it slipped off of his shoulder. Chanyeol was not sure how to react to that.

They ended up sitting on the couch to eat, both of them eating from the same plate with chopsticks while they watched an episode of Pororo. “It's so good.” Baekhyun mumbled eventually, sounded quite blissful. Chanyeol thought he was talking about the chicken, but when he looked at him he was staring at the tv like he was in a trance while Pororo carried on about friendship and all that good stuff. He grinned at him, being careful to make sure it didn't seem like he was laughing. He wasn't, it was just cute.

Baekhyun continued eating until every last bit of chicken was gone, and he leaned over to put the plate on the coffee table so he could lay his head on Chanyeol’s shoulder and snuggle closer. This wasn't a bad way to spend his Friday evening, Chanyeol decided. Baekhyun was warm and comfy and Pororo was just as great of a show as he remembered it being. This was nice.

He wasn't really expecting Baekhyun to slide into his lap after a couple more episodes, but there he was. “I'm tired.” he murmured, pretty obviously wanting to be carried to the bedroom. Chanyeol scooped him up bridal style and took him to the bathroom instead, depositing him in front of the mirror.

“I didn't get you a toothbrush so you could ignore it and get cavities and breathe your gross morning breath all over me every day.” he said bluntly, but Baekhyun kept whining anyways. Chanyeol was halfway done brushing his teeth by the time he even got around to starting, but eventually he did.

Baekhyun stomped off to the bedroom without him, and for a moment Chanyeol thought maybe he had seriously pissed him off. Maybe not, though, judging by the way Baekhyun wiggled over and latched onto him as soon as he joined him in the bed. 

“Goodnight, Baek.” he said quietly, turning the lamp off so that he could reciprocate the cuddling without feeling weird about it. Baekhyun leaned up and planted a wet kiss on his cheek. Chanyeol didn't mind but he wondered if maybe he could see well in the dark, for him to be sure he was kissing his cheek and not accidentally somewhere else. Maybe he wasn't sure. Suddenly he thought of people who let their dogs give them mouth kisses with no regard to germs, and he felt a little weird, a little like that was an uncomfortably accurate metaphor.

“Night, Channie. Don't let the bedbugs bite.” Baekhyun replied in a sleepy singsong tone, breathing steadily against Chanyeol’s neck in a way that was comforting instead of annoying. He decided that it was too late at night for weird metaphors, and he closed his eyes.