Baekhyun isn’t necessarily fond of birthdays. It has nothing to do with the fear of getting old - he’s still in that phase where he tells people he’s a couple of years older than he actually is, mostly because being older sounds cool, even for hybrids.

The main issue is that he’s never properly celebrated one, so he can’t be sure whether he likes the idea of having a birthday or not. Birthdays are mostly a human thing, hybrids are taught about what humans do to celebrate them, during their first classes about human traditions. Most of Baekhyun’s friends at the facility were convinced that they’d have their first real birthday with their future foster family, and the idea ended up growing on him as well.

Baekhyun doesn’t know how his friends spent their first birthday, but he does remember being a bit disappointed about his. Baekhyun’s former family was a young couple of newlyweds, and they seemed to like him a lot until they found out they were expecting a few days before Baekhyun’s birthday. That of course meant no birthday party for Baekhyun, and not even a happy birthday card from them. He still thinks they’re kind of justified for forgetting about it, though. A baby is a big event. Or maybe it’s just that he genuinely loved them a lot.

On May 2nd Chanyeol’s dad decides to pay a visit. Visits, in Chanyeol’s dad’s vocabulary, mean yelling at his ex wife, for the most part, and occasionally stealing Chanyeol or Yoora for a couple of hours to buy them expensive gifts -and with them their love, hopefully.

This technique has stopped working for Chanyeol since the day his dad thought it was a good idea to share his thoughts about hybrids. Simply put, Chanyeol doesn’t like his hybrid being called a toy just because of what his dad hears from his colleagues, or from the news. And while Baekhyun let it slide with a glare, Chanyeol has stopped using his dad gifts since. He gives them to Baekhyun, or the toy, according to his dad’s opinion.

This visit is not different from the others, and soon enough, the moment the kitchen door closes, Park senior starts with the insults.

Chanyeol and Baekhyun are both sitting on Baekhyun’s bed in the basement, playing Cluedo. Most of the original miniatures have gone lost, Chanyeol likes to say that Baekhyun ate them in hybrid form. Baekhyun gets mad every single time he says that.

There’s a blast of not really nice words coming from upstairs, along with the shattering of glass. “They must have thrown a dish again.” Baekhyun stops his motions midway, his fingers almost placing Colonel Mustard on the board.

Chanyeol raises his head, throws a glance towards the stairs and shrugs it off. “I’ve gotten used to it.” He starts, and sighs soon after as he lies down on the bed, propped up on his elbows. “It’s been like this for years.”

“I know, but it’s still scary.” Baekhyun places his miniature in the square representing the conservatory. He gets distracted, doesn’t make any suggestion and stares at the board for a couple of seconds.

“Well they already got divorced, what more can they do?” Chanyeol’s not paying attention to the game either, his arms folded under his head.

He keeps saying that he’s used to it and that it’s not important to him, and it’s plausible because Chanyeol seems to have gotten desensitized to the whole my dad is a jerk issue. Baekhyun has only been living with them for a bit more than half a year, and can’t help but feel a bit out of place and anxious whenever Park Senior comes over. He still doesn’t know if it’s his hybrid half reacting that way, or just human Baekhyun being particularly sensitive.

“Are we still playing?” He asks as he lies down mirroring Chanyeol, just on the opposite direction.

“Na. I’ve seen the cards anyway.” Baekhyun cackles. Typical.

“Cheater.” He whispers as he closes his eyes. He’s still smiling though, and Chanyeol laughs back.

“You weren’t even trying Hyun.”

Chanyeol’s dad and his arrival creates a big crack in the otherwise peaceful weekend and by Friday night Baekhyun has convinced himself that it’s not a big deal if Chanyeol forgets. It’s just a birthday.

“Not like I was expecting much.” He thinks, distractedly on a popsicle on the porch, in the backyard. Chanyeol is still inside, studying for some final test he has next week and pretending not to be bothered by the fact that his dad wants him to move to his place.

“I’m not going to.” He clarifies, chuckling weakly as he repeats the same sentence for the one hundredth time. He sounds tired more than amused. “Can you stop worrying about it?”

“Well, it’s not completely up to you, is it?” Chanyeol has joined Baekhyun on the porch with one more popsicle and one extra jumper. He’s sitting on the wooden stairs leading to the yard, giving his back to the hybrid, he’s slouching as usual.

“It is, to some extent.” He replies with a flick of his shoulders, before turning around. “Catch.” He says, and tosses the black bundled up sweater on Baekhyun’s lap. “Mom says to wear something. She doesn’t want you sniffling around.”

He wants to sound so grown up, he tries hard, Baekhyun suppresses a laugh and replaces it with a grin. “Says King Sneezy.”

Chanyeol groans in response, he slouches a bit more, his head between his knees now. “It’s the allergies and you know it.” He says, and stands up before walking up to where the Hybrid is sitting, on the white wicker rocking chair. He nudges at his shin with his flip-flop.

“You’re not allergic to me, are you?” Baekhyun throws at him, playfully. Chanyeol’s face goes still for a second, then he shakes his head and laughs out loud. Everything about Chanyeol is loud -Baekhyun doesn’t mind.

“That would .” He says. “What if I am, though? Huh Hyun?” And he keeps nudging at Baekhyun’s leg, annoyingly.

“Then you I guess? I’m not leaving. You can go with your dad. Bye.”

“I’m hurt.” Chanyeol finally stops (lightly) kicking his leg, almost pouts.

“ for you. At least your sister didn’t get the faulty sneezy genes. I’m staying with her.”

Baekhyun starts laughing even before Chanyeol starts leaning forward, apparently trying a combo of tickling and punching him on his shoulders. “I like Yoora more anyway!” He yells, and curls up on one side in retaliation, his knees cocked up to his chest.

“Should I bite your ear like in that movie with the dentist?” Chanyeol tries to find a breach in the wall of Baekhyun’s arms to keep tickling his hips -Baekhyun’s most ticklish spot, the spot of death. The hybrid, instead, stops laughing and squirming stare ad Chanyeol when he fakes the aforementioned bite, and wince.

That’s when Chanyeol stops, and Baekhyun is internally dancing the happy dance. He loves to see Chanyeol’s reactions when he pretends to be hurt by something he does or say. He panics and apologizes until Baekhyun doesn’t have the heart to keep teasing him.

“Wait, I didn’t mean to do it for real Hyun..” Here he goes. Baekhyun’s lips curl up in a smile.

“You know you’d start with another sneezing fit if you actually bite me, Park Chanyeol.” Mirth in his voice.

Chanyeol catches the hint immediately, his face scrunches up in a grimace, as he shakes his head. He flops on one of the chairs scattered around the porch his popsicle melting- still in its wrapping- near the wooden stairs.

“.” He mutters. Then his arms are flailing in the air for a second. He kicks Baekhyun’s knee now, with a bit more purpose. “I thought you were really upset about that!”

“I know.” Baekhyun grins, and stands up to stretch his arms above his head. He scratches close to his tail and only then he throws on the sweater. It’s big, which is not different from what Baekhyun usually wears, and it smells like laundry and Chanyeol. He likes it.

“I should really just leave you with my sister.” Chanyeol says, his tone almost daring, his usual grin making his ears look bigger than they already are. “I wonder if you’ll survive the ribbons and all that weird stuff she uses on her face when she thinks mom’s not watching.”

He can’t even finish the sentence, Baekhyun looks at him with a smug face, the actual punch me face that he knows Chanyeol hates. “You wouldn’t.” He says, nonchalantly. He wears the hood, then pulls the strings until his face is half the size it was a second before. “You like me too much.” There’s some pride coloring his words, because Chanyeol looks at him and seems hesitant for a second.

“Don’t test me.” He says with his mouth, but Baekhyun is pretty sure his face is saying you’re right, I wouldn’t.

“Have you got plans with the guys from school for Sunday?” Chanyeol makes it sound like a casual question, but Baekhyun is warily eyeing him already.

Sunday, his birthday.

“My mom wants to invite my grandma over.” He explains, but there’s some breathiness in the sentence that makes it sound like Chanyeol is not telling him everything.

Baekhyun shakes his head, still a bit taken aback. Chanyeol is usually really bad at surprising him, or in general in surprising people. Like last time, for Christmas, when he got him a present and let it slip while talking to Yoora during breakfast. Baekhyun had to pretend not to have heard anything for two days, and he even managed to pull the excited face when he got to opening it. Chanyeol is really bad at surprises, but at the same time Baekhyun considers himself unlucky with birthdays -even though his only experience with them is consists with that one birthday with his former foster family.

Plus, there’s still the whole Park Senior issue that keeps him on edge. Especially when he overhears Chanyeol having a conversation with his mom. Something about his dad, and what about Hyun then?. This second part confuses him, and he doesn’t want to hear the rest. He pushes the thought of his birthday to the back of his brain.

When the clock reads midnight Chanyeol is sitting next to Baekhyun on the floor of his room. He doesn’t say anything after the clock beeps a couple of times. Baekhyun tries waiting, while Chanyeol is his fur and watching tv. He yawns, after a bit.

“I’m having a shower.” He says.

Again, not like he expected anything. Chanyeol is definitely hiding something he can’t make out and despite Baekhyun being really good at reading Chanyeol, either Chanyeol is doing a better job this time, or he has genuinely forgotten about his birthday or there’s actually something weird going on that he doesn’t want to share.

Either way, Baekhyun struggles a bit to climb on his bed -climbing onto places in his hybrid form is quite the challenge. Chanyeol ends up helping him pushing his up the mattress before Baekhyun can tumble off, and they hybrid can settle on his usual spot next to the pillow. He only half notices the screen of his phone lighting up multiple times.

The morning after is just as hectic and weird at the same time. Something is obviously not being told, and it’s making Baekhyun more nervous than excited. Chanyeol’s mom is loading her car with stuff -food, mostly- and Chanyeol himself has been collecting more stuff -mostly Baekhyun’s dog toys- around the house.

“Where are we going again?” He asks, standing in the corner of the kitchen with his carton milk, while Chanyeol is eating a half- burnt toast and packing a couple of comics into his backpack. “Should I bring something as well?”

“Uh-uh.” He shakes his head and proceeds to add coke to one of the bags his mom was filling up earlier.

Baekhyun is many things, but he’s not an idiot, and it doesn’t take much to guess that Grandma is not coming over, and that they wouldn’t need this much food to visit her anyway.
He stares at Chanyeol for a second, then glances at his mom and finally opts to pack a few comics himself, although they end up into Chanyeol’s bag.

“What about your nan?” he asks, just in case.

Chanyeol shrugs. “She wasn’t feeling well, so we’re going.” He doesn’t look Baekhyun in the eyes and, again, he sounds like he’s making it up.

Chanyeol is really really bad at surprises.

The car ride is relatively silent. They drop Yoora in front of her friend’s house and she leaves a smooch on Baekhyun’s cheek before closing the car door. “Have fun!” She whispers cupping his ear before scratching it, and Baekhyun grins. He takes him two seconds to get excited, and less than that to turn to Chanyeol after the car leaves behind a Yoora waving her hand.

“We’re not going to your nan’s are we?” He whispers, elbowing Chanyeol on the hip. It’s so obvious at this point, especially since Chanyeol groans in frustration.

“I hate you and your hybrid sixth sense.”

Baekhyun smiles wider, with a satisfied look. There’s definitely something that makes him feel powerful when he outsmarts Chanyeol. It must have something to do with the fact he’s a hybrid and he wants to prove that he can be smart too. Or maybe it’s just that Chanyeol’s surprised and frustrated face is fun to watch. “And we’re going to the park, the one on the other side of the city aren’t we?”

“HA! I was able to hide something from you in the end!” Chanyeol’s expression changes in a second and he’s happier than Baekhyun has seen him in the last couple of weeks, since the day when finally passed his math test with a good score.

“Is it not the park?” Baekhyun hesitates for a second, taken aback. He studies Chanyeol’s stupid grin that he desperately wants to punch it off his face, and at the same time blames his stupid corgi half for being so damn excited over a surprise. His tail is definitely moving on its own, and he’s grateful that Chanyeol’s clothes are huge and his tail is the size of his palm. “The coffee shop that I like, then?” He tries.

Chanyeol shakes his head. “Nope. Not gonna tell you.”

Baekhyun scans his face again, gets closer to the point where his forearm is on the backrest and he’s got one leg propped on the seat. “The arcade?”

Chanyeol genuinely laughs, and his mom follows him this time. Baekhyun is debating whether to feel extremely happy because of his birthday, the surprise, everything, or being really annoyed because he can’t guess. And Baekhyun is a sore loser. “It’s the arcade and you’re lying right?”

“I don’t know, what do you say?” Chanyeol is enjoying this way more than Baekhyun would’ve ever expected, but he knows which fights to pick and which to let go instead. He bites his bottom lip to suppress a smile that is way, way more carefree than he originally wanted to show.

“Then it’s ok, I’ll know soon anyway.” He says, going back to sit comfortably. “And I’ll be actually surprised for once.”

Chanyeol remembered his birthday, contrary to the expectations. “I always surprise you, I’m a good friend.” Chanyeol remembered his birthday and is trying to surprise him. Baekhyun puts all the effort he can into not smiling wider, he really doesn’t want to blow his cover, but his lips will eventually fall if he keeps biting on them.

“I’m not surprised, you at surprises Park Chanyeol.”

“You do, Yeol.” His mom intervenes, stopping at the traffic light and throwing a glance towards the backseat through the rearview mirror. Baekhyun doesn’t directly look at Chanyeol, but he’s pretty sure the other is pouting. He often does that, when his mom seems to like Baekhyun more than she likes him.

“Mom. You always take Baekhyun’s side.” And there it is. Baekhyun shakes his head. The first time he’d heard this conversation he panicked, and he’d been really close to rushing to Chanyeol to reassure him or, well, do something. Now he’s gotten used to it, and he just waits for the usual.

“He’s cuter.”

He flicks his head to the side, his lips are still curled up in a smile as he tries to recognize view from outside. It’s nothing he’s ever seen, so they’ve never taken him here. Chanyeol doesn’t reply immediately, but he mutters something through his teeth as he rummages into his bag for something.

He offers Baekhyun one of his useless earbuds which the hybrid obviously can’t use, but they’ve done this countless times, so Baekhyun knows how close to his ear he needs the earbud to be for him to listen to the same music Chanyeol is listening to. On the other hand Chanyeol turns up the volume a bit, but not that much, so that Baekhyun can hear properly without the the music bothering him for being too loud.

“I’ll buy hybrid friendly ones some day.” He says, as he rests his head on the car window and closes his eyes. Baekhyun stares for a couple of seconds and fights the urge to shift, just so that he can lie down and properly take a nap.

It’s not a long ride, but Baekhyun tends to fall asleep easily on public transports or in the car despite him being a dog -and dogs not being exactly at ease inside moving metal boxes. He dozes off before he can realize what’s happening, and when he jolts awake it’s because someone has opened the car door and is pulling it out of the cabin. Like, literally, from his leg.

He whimper instinctively, mostly because he’s shocked and it takes always a few minutes before Baekhyun processes who he is after he wakes up from a nap. Naps are lethal more than actual sleep is. Which is why going from very happy to very grumpy is extremely easy to him, now that his hits the ground -the sand?- without too many compliments.

“BIRTHDAY BOY!” It’s Jongdae. Jongdae is loud, as usual, Baekhyun flinches.

Chanyeol and Jongdae are so loud, always: at home, in front of the hybrid school and now in front of Chanyeol’s car, with a very groggy Baekhyun on the ground. Today it’s only Jongdae, though, Chanyeol is somewhere in the background, he can hear his laughter.

He blinks a couple of times before he can finally get what’s going on. He’s still kind of taken aback when Seulgi and Sehun help him up.

“Happy birthday Baekhyun.” Seulgi smiles at him, her black sleek tail is curled around Sehun’s leg, as the cat hybrid goes stand next to her and waves to Baekhyun too. “Yep. Why didn’t you check your texts? Jongin and I sent a few and you never replied.”

He bites his bottom lip, searches Chanyeol with his eyes. “I went to sleep early. Jongdae you’re an , why did you have to do that while I was sleeping?”

“I love you too.” Jongdae grins, not even a bit apologetic and Seulgi disentangles herself from Sehun to hit Jongdae lightly on his arm. “..” Baekhyun grimaces, rubbing his distractedly as he just now realizes where they are.

Chanyeol’s mom has stopped the car on the closest path to the sea, and there’s sand already mixing with gravel as the road melts into the beach. It’s just a cove, really, a strip of white sand close to the countryside. It’s not as clear as those pictures of her honeymoon in the Caribbean that Chanyeol’s mom has shown him, but Baekhyun doesn’t actually care.

The air is thick with salt and there’s enough wind for it to be annoying almost -it’s already making Baekhyun’s hair a mess. He keeps a straight face when he glances at Chanyeol who’s grinning, his smile going from ear to ear, his face looks like it’s gonna explode if the grin gets any bigger than that.

He turns his back to fully take in the view, before he hears Jongdae muffle a laugh and he realizes that he’s happy and it’s showing, a bit too much.

“So, how do we do this?” He asks. Chanyeol’s mom is helping her son unload the car, and soon Baekhyun is following, picking up a couple of bags.
“You guys shift and have fun, we organize the rest. But it’s your birthday, Hyun, you do you.” Chanyeol shrugs, and he pulls one of the straps of his backpack over his shoulder. Only after waving his hand to an approaching Kyungsoo and hybrid Jongin, he closes the trunk and stops to talk to his mom.

“Was he able to keep the surprise factor for awhile at least?” Kyungsoo inquires, as he closes the distance between him and Sehun, even though Jongin never leaves his side.

“Just until this morning. Then Yoora rat him out.” Baekhyun explains. There’s a general laugh, even Seulgi joins. Although she isn’t the most constant presence in their group, she doesn’t seem uncomfortable. Jongdae is holding her pinky, Baekhyun finds himself thinking they’re cute.

Chanyeol mom leaves after a few minutes, they all bow to her before the car drives off.

The beach is not crowded. There’s only a family having a picnic and a couple that seems to be leaving. Seagulls screeching, the sea is calm and the waves are sloshing lazily on the shore with a slow but steady relaxing swoosh.

“You are surprised aren’t you?” Sehun asks elbowing Baekhyun as they put down the bags and Baekhyun realizes they all have something prepared, food, clothes, Jongdae even has a huge towel just in case he says.

“Mh, just a bit I guess?” He says, with a flick of his shoulders. Sehun doesn’t buy it though, and looks at him like he’s just said the most idiotic thing ever. He doesn’t comment though. “You are a big fat liar Byun Baekhyun, but you’re also funny, which is why we all like you.”

“And why we came all the way here. Kyungsoo made us take the bus, his mom couldn’t take us.” Baekhyun doesn’t know what to say, so he pretends to be busy spreading a mat on the floor as an excuse.

“It was nice of you to come.” He says with a tentative smile, it’s almost shy.

Chanyeol comes next to him when he needs to shift, mostly to help him in case he gets stuck with the clothes. It’s completely unnecessary, really, but it is really cute to see how Jongdae has the towel around Seulgi’s body so that she can get rid of the clothes and shift.

She’s taking more time than expected, apparently, because Jongdae kisses her on the nose and she goes redder than an apple. She shifts immediately after that, and it’s a panther cub that comes out of the towel curtain, biting playfully at Jongdae’s ankle.

Sehun is the cutest of them all because he prefers to shift on one of the mats. He takes off his shirt before his features start to change, but he ends up staying there and curling up even as a kitten. Jongin joins him, pulls at his tail with his teeth, even growls a bit. Sehun lets himself be convinced, and soon enough he’s following Jongin on the sand, towards the water.

“So, what are you waiting for?” Chanyeol pokes Baekhyun’s hip with a finger.

Shifting doesn’t require much concentration, it’s just knowing where you are and how your body feels, and then it’s the turning of a page. Not difficult at all, unless Baekhyun is having one of those no moments in which changing from human to dog takes a lot more effort than usual. Today, luckily, is not one of those days.

He runs off in the sand only after a few seconds. If he can hide what he feels in human form, in hybrid form he has no luck with that.

He yips, following Jongin and Sehun near the water’s edge and he leaps at a small wave, the feeling of water on his fur mildly uncomfortable because ew, wet. Sehun is on him in a second, pawing at his side. He jumps on him and then over him, and he finally wanders off like Sehun often does when he’s in cat form. His span of attention doesn’t last more than a couple of seconds.

When Baekhyun turns back towards where he came from, tongue tangling and tail whipping, he sees Chanyeol with a camera and a bottle of coke and barks, or at least he tries since his bark sounds a lot less powerful than Jongin’s one, which comes soon after.

Click!

Chanyeol keeps taking pictures even when Baekhyun starts hopping in the sand to reach him. It’s a mess, he can feel the sand everywhere on his fur and it’s a weird sensation but at the same time it’s a lot of fun to run and see how the sand flares when he jumps a bit more wildly.

Chanyeol crouches, takes a few more pictures -Baekhyun can distinctively hear the click- with one hand only as his hand Baekhyun’s back first, then he catches the corgi’s head in his palm and moves it left and right just to annoy him. Baekhyun growls, Chanyeol laughs instead. “Why don’t you try the water?”

He asks and lets go, but keeps playing with Baekhyun’s snout. The corgi his fingers, nibs at them. Jongin is next to him in a second, he sniffles Chanyeol’s hands then he barks once and rolls in the sand.

“What are you guys doing here, huh? The fun is over there!” Despite saying that, Chanyeol takes a hold of Baekhyun’s body and applies just enough force to make him flop onto his side side, on the sand. Jongin butts in and the side of Baekhyun’s face, as Chanyeol half tickles, half rubs his belly. Baekhyun squirms, tries to roll back, but he’s happy with the attention. He yelps when Chanyeol catches one of his paws. And bites his hand playfully after he grabs his snout again.

He pats his as he helps him stand on his legs and that’s when Baekhyun barks again, glaring at him. Chanyeol has been doing that too much lately, and Baekhyun is half convinced that before he realizes Chanyeol will start patting his when he’s a human too.

Water is..wet. Baekhyun has tried showering -especially that one day when he accidentally turned it on, but never the real sea. He barks instinctively at it when the waves wash over his paws. Then he stands on his hind legs for a second and ends up falling on the side, water splashing everywhere.

Kyungsoo has joined Jongin in the water wearing a t-shirt and black bermuda shorts, the korean jindo happily paddling around him in circles. Chanyeol is a bit less smart on that front, he throws himself in the water with jeans and hoodie, creating a giant wave that hovers over both Baekhyun and poor Seulgi that was barely standing on the edge of the water pulling at the hem of Jongdae’s jeans.

“Park Chanyeol what the hell!” Jongdae complains, Kyungsoo laughs in response.

“Chanyeol I hope you have spare clothes because it’s gonna take like ten years for those to dry.” He says as he throws a plastic orangey ball somewhere further down in the water and Jongin dives to catch it.

“Of course I have.. Kind of. , no spare knickers though.” He realizes, but doesn’t seems that worried. “Hyun-ah come here!” Chanyeol yells and Baekhyun does, hesitantly. Chanyeol rushes over to help, salt water dripping down his face because the idiot has gotten that wet as well.

Chanyeol keeps him in the water as Baekhyun starts following what Jongin was doing, as in paddling like a duckling. He feels extremely stupid. “You’re doing great Hyun!” Chanyeol at least is keeping it fun. He lifts him just above the water level and Baekhyun is still there working his legs before he realizes he’s not in the water anymore.

“I believe i can flyyyy” Chanyeol sings, he rocks him back and forth a couple of times.

Baekhyun groans, stops moving and even tries to free himself from Chanyeol’s grip. They do kinda swim together like Kyungsoo and Jongin -bless Kyungsoo who doesn’t tease Jongin while he’s swimming around. Baekhyun gets tired quite early though, so he ends up climbing over Chanyeol’s shoulder and relaxing there for awhile, Chanyeol holding him up.

He dries him off with a towel when they get back to the mats, which is a good excuse to make Baekhyun sprawl on his lap and tickle him again while he’s the most vulnerable -because who would complain about napping on Chanyeol’s lap under the sun. The human gives up the tickling after a while, being content in pulling Baekhyun’s paws every now and then, as he feeds him small pieces of the cupcakes his mom has made for them.

“I heard Jaehwan was showing off pictures of his iguana hybrid wearing a Chopper hat.” Jongdae says as he fits an annoyed Seulgi into his baseball hat. He then proceeds to hold her in both hands like that scene from the Lion King.

“Why have I never I thought about hats?” Chanyeol looks down at Baekhyun on the verge of dozing off again. “What do you say Hyun?”

Hyun groans, rolls over and sneaks under Chanyeol’s hoodie. “Not a good idea huh?”
Kyungsoo has given his own bucket hat to Jongin, who’s turned back into a human and is wearing nothing but boxers. He’s is drinking in all the sun he can get, lying down next to his owner, Sehun in kitty form curled up on his belly. They look like a small family.

“Honestly Wonsik in that police dog outfit was the best thing ever. Where do they even find those hybrid friendly clothes anyway, they were way too detailed to be the ones you find in normal shops..” Kyungsoo laughs, as he takes a sip of coke.

“That was unexpected, I didn’t think you’d find it funny.” Jongdae notices, and he lets Seulgi literally assault the hat with her claws and fangs.

Jongin raises a hand, he doesn’t even open his eyes. “Try it on Sehun I’m not wearing any. Sorry.”

Baekhyun keeps peeping from underneath the hem of Chanyeol’s hoodie as the human plays distractedly with his tail. He hates that, but he doesn’t shimmy away.

Sehun doesn’t like Jongin’s response, he moves to nap right on his face in revenge.

Chanyeol plays some music with his phone, Jongdae convinces him to learn how to play the guitar, that they should practice together. It’s a fun afternoon. Sehun and Baekhyun leave for a run along the edge of the water following after Chanyeol and the tennis ball he throws too far for them to actually catch up.

Baekhyun always gets the ball before Sehun anyway, and he keeps biting and playing with it until he flops on the ground and it’s Sehun’s turn to snatch it from him.

Kyungsoo and Jongin disappear for a while, they come back with popsicles and ice-creams for everyone. Chanyeol takes the mini chocolate ice-cream tub for him and Baekhyun, and lets the corgi lap at the spoon while Jongdae helps Seulgi with her mango sorbet.

Baekhyun falls asleep inside the pan they’d used for the sandwiches. Chanyeol takes polaroids of that and keeps teasing him about it for the whole day.

They don’t shift back until the sunset, and now everyone ends up using that huge towel that Jongdae has brought along to cover themselves as they shift and get dressed, not to scandalize Seulgi too much.

They don’t even try to start a small fire, mostly because Kyungsoo convinces them it’s the worst idea ever -he doesn’t trust Chanyeol with matches. Chanyeol seems hurt after that, Baekhyun just find it funny, since he’s getting his revenge for the polaroids he can’t burn now.

“Baekhyun, your gift. From Jongdae and I.” Seulgi starts the birthdays gifts ritual. Baekhyun is confused at first, then he’s blushing -the reddish hue reaching his neck- as he accepts the small box and opens it fumbling with the ribbon around it.

He raises an eyebrow at the content, Seulgi giggles and Jongdae bursts out laughing as he hugs her from the side.The general laugh infects everyone, even Chanyeol, as he inspects the studded dog collar with a stupidly amused expression.

“Wanna try it Hyun?”

“Nope. No thanks. More gifts?”

Kyungsoo, Sehun and Jongin have bought him an Adidas corgi outfit that looks strikingly similar to what Chanyeol usually wears. It’s cute. He promises to wear it.

“I’d never wear that.” Jongin needs to specify. “I wanted to buy you some comics but they insisted with that. So we got it.”

“Together with that special edition comic that you were looking for.” Sehun adds, giving him another slim packet. It’s a Spiderman comic, an issue that is quite rare to find in comic book stores. It’s a Fantastic Four crossover, and Baekhyun has been on the hunt for a while until today.

If Baekhyun could explode with happiness right now, he would. It’s his birthday, and they’ve gotten him his favorite comic -a rare edition too!- and even though he doesn’t really know what to do with Jongdae’s gift, everything is way better than he’d expected it.

They sing happy birthday and make him blow the candles on his cake -chocolate and cream, it’s a miracle that it’s still edible after a day in the sun. Everything gets just a bit hurried, since the sun is gone and soon it will be too dark to stay on the beach without some sort of light source.

“Chanyeol’s gift?” Sehun asks, as they eat the cake lazily. Luckily there’s a family who’s joined them on the beach, not too far. They’ve come equipped with lights that they’ve connected to their car, which is good for Baekhyun and the others because they can reassure their parents that they can come to pick them up a bit later.

“Oh, right. I almost forgot about it.” Chanyeol says, and he digs into his bag for a good couple of minutes before coming out with a small piece of paper with something scribbled on it. He hands it to Baekhyun, then ruffles up his hair. Baekhyun shakes his head until his hair are back to normal and one if his ears folds.

“Did you just give him a receipt Yeol?” Sehun insists, and he rests his head over Baekhyun’s shoulder to take a better look.

It does look like a receipt, but it’s just a piece of cardboard where Chanyeol has scribbled something with his horrible handwriting

Birthday Coupon.
Can only be used once. For Byun Baekhyun’s exclusive use.

Ask me anything.

“Anything?” Baekhyun tilts his head a bit so that Chanyeol enters his field of view.
“Anything.” He confirms.

“You are one stingy Chanyeol, you know?” Jongdae says, and he snatches the coupon to examine it. “What’s this? You should’ve bought him a real gift, it’s his first birthday with you. What the ?”

“But he can ask whatever he wants. I don’t want to buy something he doesn’t need.” Chanyeol justifies himself, but he’s not looking at Baekhyun until he’s done talking and he realizes that even Kyungsoo is giving him the judging look.

“That’s just a piece of paper Yeol..” Sehun adds. Chanyeol seems mortified when he finally meets Baekhyun’s eyes.

The corgi hybrid hasn’t said anything yet. “I’m going to buy you a real gift and give it to you tomorrow, I promise. I just..”

“I like it though.” Baekhyun says much to everyone’s surprise, shrugging.

“You like it?” It’s a general question by all of them, Baekhyun nods.

He likes it, mostly because Chanyeol gives him gifts quite often, and he does nag his mom until she gets Baekhyun whatever he wants or needs. He goes to the extent of giving Baekhyun the gifts his dad gives him, so Baekhyun really doesn’t know why he should be upset about the coupon. It’s fun. Plus Chanyeol said anything

“And you’re gonna suffer from dire consequences if you don’t do what I say, right?”

“Cross my heart and hope to die.” He says, and he does still look mortified, but Baekhyun goes up to only half-awkwardly hug him and Chanyeol chuckles.

“Still think it’s a ty gift.” Sehun mutters under his breath.

“That’s what everyone is thinking.” Jongin whispers in response. Baekhyun laughs, and they all shake their heads at Chanyeol in disapproval.

They end up staying a bit longer before they start gathering all of their belongings ready to hop back into their parents’ cars. Baekhyun is still playing with the coupon as they drive back, and he opens the back of his Nokia phone to stick the small card between the case and the battery.

It’s night outside already, soon it’s going to be May 6th. His birthday comes to an end, and Baekhyun is not sure about what to do with all these emotions flurrying into him like crazy fireflies in a jar.

“Was it a good birthday Baekhyun?” Chanyeol’s mom asks. She’s always kind, and she smiles even now turning her head to look at both of them.

He nods, and he gets a bit closer to Chanyeol as a silent thank you. Baekhyun despises how his hybrid half wants him to wear his heart on his sleeve and pour his emotions and feelings out for the world to see. He hates it, and he tries hard not to expect too much and show the smallest amount of feelings he can. He can’t help but smile, happy and relaxed as Chanyeol’s hands distractedly rubs the point of his ears between index and thumb.

“Yeah, it was.” He replies, without hesitation.

Here you are with another chapter -the second last one! The first part of the story is almost coming to an end. As I said at the beginning, I will split this fanfiction in two parts, so please look forward to the second part as well!
 

As usual, let me know what you think! Comments are appreciated <3 

Hugs!

ps. if you notice typos, please let me know ç_ç