It’s a slow day and finals aren’t for another month, so Chanyeol and Sehun decide to watch Mean Girls, as one does on a slow day. Both of them have seen it before, so neither of them is really watching; Sehun is playing some game on his new pink Nintendo DS, and Chanyeol is half-heartedly reading a magazine. He happens to glance up during the scene where the titular mean girls are getting ready for the Halloween party, eyes hesitating on Amanda Seyfried’s Karen and her “mouse, duh” costume.

Baekhyun is walking past, and he sees that Chanyeol is actually paying attention for once. “You like her, huh?” he says, offering Chanyeol an apple slice as he goes by.

Chanyeol takes it, crunching thoughtfully. “I dunno? Maybe?” He feels weird about the whole thing and looks down at his magazine again.

Baekhyun snorts and keeps walking.

***

A couple of days later, Baekhyun has his chin over Chanyeol’s shoulder, and Chanyeol is showing him a new music editing app on his phone.

“So then you go like… this,” he says, pushing a slider up, “and it changes the EQ, see? But that’s a cop-out and I don’t like any of the presets.”

“Hmm,” Baekhyun says. “I think you’re just a snob.”

Chanyeol gets a text notification and he closes the app so he can open the message, and Baekhyun makes a weird noise when he sees Chanyeol’s homescreen.

“What?” Chanyeol says as he texts Jongin back.

“Zootopia? Seriously?”

The tips of Chanyeol’s ears go red and he starts feeling defensive. “It was a cute movie!” he says, crossing his arms and knocking Baekhyun’s chin off his shoulder. “You liked it, too!”

“Yeah, but it’s not my homescreen.” Baekhyun looks at him critically for a moment, then shakes his head. “Tell me more about the IQ or whatever.”

“EQ,” Chanyeol corrects.

“I know that.”

Chanyeol knows that Baekhyun knows that, and Baekhyun is generally being very suspicious. But Chanyeol is a trusting and forgiving person, so he lets it slide and shows Baekhyun the EQ again. Whatever’s up with him, he’ll probably bring it up again within the week.

***

Even though the party’s supposed to be chill, “chill” isn’t really in Baekhyun’s vocabulary unless he’s narrating a fancy recipe that requires fridge time, so instead of wearing jeans and a t-shirt like everybody else, he’s in stupid fire-engine-red leggings, a shapeless blouse thing, and a black choker that looks like a collar.

“What’s the deal, are we pre-gaming?” he says to announce his presence, stomping into Chanyeol and Sehun’s apartment without any warning, just like always. Chanyeol frequently regrets giving him a key.

Chanyeol is still getting dressed, but he pops his head out of his bedroom door to say, “Yeah, Sehun made appletinis.” Then he sees what Baekhyun is wearing and quickly pops his head back into his bedroom, face heating up. Why can’t they just go out and have a chill time for once? Why does Baekhyun always look like that? Not that he’s actually complaining. He just makes everybody else look bad by comparison (except Sehun, but Sehun is pretty much an ethereal being and not a college student and therefore doesn’t qualify).

God. What the ?

Chanyeol finishes pulling his Duran Duran shirt on and runs a brush through his hair, then jumps out of his skin when Baekhyun says, “You look boring,” from his bedroom doorway.

“Only because you look like you just escaped a life sentence at Hot Topic,” Chanyeol shoots back, turning around.

Baekhyun’s in a great mood, though, practically glowing like the cat that got the cream, and he holds his arms above his head and grins. His shirt rides up, because of course it does. “It was 30 years to life, but yeah, I did. You like?”

Chanyeol’s eyes catch on the collar. “If you’re hoping to hook up with Hot Kyungsoo From Accounting…”

“God, is he coming tonight?” Baekhyun says, pushing past Chanyeol to check himself out in Chanyeol’s mirror.

“I don’t know, but I was gonna say that it probably won’t work on him,” Chanyeol says, crossing his arms again. Why does he feel defensive around Baekhyun all the time nowadays? It . “He doesn’t seem like a… space pirate type, so.”

Baekhyun laughs, turning to face him. “So you do like!” He strikes a pose, hand on his waist and his lips pouted. “Take a picture, it’ll last longer.” And he lifts his chin, showing off the line of his neck broken by the black collar.

Chanyeol knows he’s being made fun of, but he doesn’t know for what. “Let’s just go, don’t you want your appletini?”

Baekhyun’s still grinning as he goes out of Chanyeol’s room, and Chanyeol still feels weird. Hopefully the party will get his mind off of things.

***

The only thing that the party does is vaguely upset Baekhyun, because before Baekhyun can hook up with Hot Kyungsoo From Accounting, Sehun beats him to the punch. Apparently, he started off by talking about boring math major things, and now they’re in each other’s laps eating Maraschino cherries. Baekhyun is leaning on Chanyeol’s arm and glaring at them.

“Go dance or something,” Chanyeol suggests.

“No,” Baekhyun mutters. “I’m too… wronged.”

“You know you were never dating, right? Either of them,” Chanyeol points out, offering Baekhyun his rum-and-Coke to be polite. Baekhyun’s just a little tipsy, so he’s not making Chanyeol feel weird anymore. Well, not as much, at least.

Baekhyun pulls away from Chanyeol’s arm and knocks back the whole thing in one go. The bubbles make him cough, but he valiantly hands back the empty glass like nothing happened. Chanyeol’s more impressed than pissed, but he hadn’t even known that Baekhyun liked Hot Kyungsoo that much. Or maybe something else is up?

“If I’m gonna dance, you’re gonna dance with me,” Baekhyun declares, and grabs Chanyeol’s hand.

“Why?” Chanyeol says, very alarmed, and digs his heels into the carpet so Baekhyun won’t be able to drag him to the makeshift dance floor. “I don’t dance.”

“You can’t dance,” Baekhyun corrects, but at least he’s starting to smile again. “And you’re gonna dance. Otherwise we’ll get separated and who knows what’ll happen!”

“What? We’ll both have a normal time,” Chanyeol says. “We’re adults. What, you need me to put you on a leash or you’ll get lost?”

Wrong thing to say. Baekhyun makes a weird face and steps closer to Chanyeol, using his hold on Chanyeol’s hand to make Chanyeol hook a finger in the front of his collar. “Maybe,” he says, and his tone is weird, like he’s testing him. If this is a test, Chanyeol hasn’t studied and doesn’t know the answers, so he just blinks at Baekhyun.

“Uh,” he says. “Are we dancing, or…?”

Baekhyun is still looking at him in that bizarre, pointed way, and he steps back, but doesn’t unhook Chanyeol’s finger from the ring on his collar, and Chanyeol allows himself to be tugged along. “We’re dancing,” Baekhyun agrees, pulling Chanyeol close once they’re in the middle of the room.

They’re best friends. They dance together. It’s fine.

***

By the end of the night, Baekhyun is actually drunk, and Chanyeol has had the same amount but he’s so much taller and bigger that he’s just buzzed. Sehun and Hot Kyungsoo have disappeared, and Chanyeol takes Baekhyun out of the party and onto the night bus back to their apartments. Baekhyun is cuddly and drunk-upset, but he had a good time; there’s lipstick on his cheek and he’s still wearing the collar. Chanyeol had expected him to have taken it off by now, since it’s leather and metal and doesn’t look very comfortable, but no, he’s still wearing it. It’s a strange detail for Chanyeol to notice as he pays their bus fare, so he looks away.

They take seats near the back, and Baekhyun leans on Chanyeol’s shoulder again.

“You okay?” Chanyeol asks around a yawn.

Baekhyun nods a little, slipping his arm through Chanyeol’s. “Good party.”

“How many numbers did you get?”

“None,” Baekhyun says, stretching his legs out and wiggling them. “It’s okay. You have fun?”

“Yeah,” Chanyeol says, fond of Baekhyun even though things are kind of inexplicably weird between them and he can’t put his finger on why.

Baekhyun is quiet for a while as the bus stops to drop off some passengers, but once it starts moving again, he sits up straighter so his chin is on Chanyeol’s shoulder. “I know what’s up with you,” he breathes, and a shiver runs down Chanyeol’s spine.

“Yeah?” he says, being careful to keep his voice low and calm so he doesn’t scare Baekhyun out of whatever mood this is.

“Yeah,” Baekhyun says, smelling like bubblegum for some reason.

Chanyeol waits, but Baekhyun doesn’t say anything else. “…Are you gonna tell me what it is?”

“Nope,” Baekhyun says, pressing a kiss to Chanyeol’s cheek and slumping down again. “I’m so ing sleepy, can I stay over at your place? You can make me breakfast.”

“No!” Chanyeol laughs, his cheeks flushed bright red. From the party, he tells himself. If Baekhyun doesn’t want to tell him why he’s acting strange, that’s fine, it’s none of his business. “Your place is the next stop, c’mon. I’ll walk you to your door, it’ll be fine.”

Baekhyun presses his face into Chanyeol’s shoulder and whines, like a puppy that’s not being let back in, and nuzzles him. “Please,” he mumbles, hoarse, and his breath brushes Chanyeol’s arm. He bites the sleeve of Chanyeol’s t-shirt.

Chanyeol feels frozen and hot all at the same time, and every internal organ he has trembles for a second before he gets embarrassed, laughs, and pushes Baekhyun off his arm (gently, though). “Okay, okay,” he says, ears red, face red, heart beating. “You can stay over.”

“Yay,” Baekhyun says, rubbing a hand over his face and yawning like he hadn’t just bitten Chanyeol’s shirt after whining at him, like he doesn’t keep doing weird like that and making Chanyeol feel like he’s being turned inside out. “Yum. Make me waffles tomorrow.”

“I can’t, you broke the waffle maker,” Chanyeol mumbles, scooting an inch or so away from Baekhyun for safety’s sake. “How’s pancakes?”

“Yum,” Baekhyun says again, and he kisses Chanyeol on the cheek one more time before they get off the bus together.

***

If Baekhyun is avoiding Chanyeol, Chanyeol hasn’t noticed. Well, he has, but he’s trying not to think anything of it. That’s not going well, but still.

Baekhyun probably has finals, and Chanyeol has homework, so it’s okay that they’re not seeing each other. That morning after the party was totally fine. Chanyeol made pancakes, and he fed Baekhyun a bite of them before Baekhyun decided that they were good and demanded a full pancake meal. He had a little red line on the left side of his neck, evidently chafe from the collar. Chanyeol didn’t stare, and Baekhyun borrowed Chanyeol’s sweatshirt to wear, and it was fine and normal. They’ll hang out again soon. They’re both just busy.

Chanyeol’s not worried.

***

When Chanyeol gets home from his bio lecture a week later, Baekhyun is sitting on his couch and reading some manga. Chanyeol hadn’t been expecting to see him, but he’s certainly glad, and all the angsty feelings he’s had all week dissipate immediately when he sees Baekhyun there. “Hey!” he says, tossing down his book bag and taking his shoes off. “What’s up?”

“We should talk,” Baekhyun says, folding down the corner of his page and closing the book.

Chanyeol swallows. That’s always a bad way to start a conversation. “Uh… okay,” he says, coming over and sitting on the other side of the couch. He probably looks like he’s about to walk into the execution chamber, and Baekhyun rolls his eyes.

“Nothing bad,” he says, reaching over to poke Chanyeol right in the middle of his forehead. “Relax.”

“I’m so relaxed,” Chanyeol assures him. He’s really not. “If I was any more relaxed, I’d be in a cup labelled ‘vanilla pudding, extra liquid.’”

“Don’t be gross,” Baekhyun says. “Also, I owe you an apology.”

“What?” Chanyeol says, totally thrown-off. “You do? For what? Can I see an official IOU?”

Baekhyun, very understandably, covers Chanyeol’s mouth with his hand. Chanyeol, also understandably, sticks his tongue out to get him to stop doing that, and Baekhyun pulls his hand away and wipes it on Chanyeol’s shirt. “It’s about that, actually.”

“About… me your hand?” Chanyeol says, confused.

“About what I’ve been doing for the past couple of weeks,” Baekhyun says. Chanyeol is lost, but at least it seems like Baekhyun’s got a map. “I’ve been… okay. This is gonna sound like I’ve been experimenting on you, but that’s not what I’ve been doing, just— I thought you might like it, I had this hunch, and I really think I’m right, and I also think you’re super repressing it, and if anybody’s gonna teach you about your freaky kinks it’s gonna be me, goddammit. So I tried a few things, and—”

“Wait, what?” Chanyeol says, frowning. “Freaky kinks? What are you talking about?”

Baekhyun stares at him for a second. “Wow. You really don’t know, do you?”

What the is Baekhyun talking about? Sure, maybe Chanyeol has a little crush on Baekhyun, but doesn’t everybody have a thing for their best friend, especially if their best friend looks like that and is so funny and loud and kind and there for them always? That’s not a freaky kink, that’s a universal problem, and Chanyeol definitely has it under control. “No?” Chanyeol attempts.

Baekhyun looks at Chanyeol, then glances very quickly at his backpack, then at Chanyeol again. “You liked it when I wore that collar.”

“Uh,” Chanyeol says, cheeks flushing. “Well—”

“It’s okay,” Baekhyun assures immediately. “I know. And you loved Zootopia. And your favorite part of Mean Girls is when she dresses up with the mouse ears, and you used to have a poster of the tiger lady from Kung Fu Panda in your room. Lupin is your favorite Harry Potter character. And you have such a big crush on Robin Hood when he’s a fox.”

“Literally what are you talking about,” Chanyeol says, getting defensive again. “I like cartoons, so what?”

“It’s the— how can I say this— please use your brain,” Baekhyun huffs. “Don’t you think the Beast is cuter when he’s a beast and not a prince?”

“Doesn’t everyone?” Chanyeol says, raising his eyebrows.

“No!” Baekhyun says. “Maybe you do, and maybe I do, but not everyone. That’s what I’m trying to say.”

“…okay?” Chanyeol says, still lost.

“And,” Baekhyun continues, taking a deep breath, “I think you might like it if… I, or whoever, was also… a beast.”

Chanyeol really doesn’t get it. “Like, for Halloween?”

“Holy ,” Baekhyun says. “No. Not for Halloween. Well— kind of.”

“So not Halloween, but kind of Halloween,” Chanyeol clarifies. “Great. Makes sense.”

“Chanyeol,” Baekhyun half-shouts. “What I’m saying is that you’re a ing furry.”

Chanyeol has several emotions in very quick succession, most of them negative. “Like with the suits?” he says, then thinks about it for another second and feels like he got punched. Holy , Baekhyun is kind of right. All of that does add up to a suspicious pattern of enjoying anthropomorphic animal content. He thinks about Baekhyun whining and nuzzling his shoulder and his cheeks go red. . This is freaky. And it’s not good. Like, really not good. “Holy .”

“It’s okay,” Baekhyun assures him quickly. “You probably couldn’t afford a suit even if you wanted one.”

“Wait, holy ,” Chanyeol says, grabbing at his own hair. “I hate this, I’m not a furry— what?! Where are you getting this?”

“It’s okay! It’s not a big deal!” Baekhyun says, moving closer to Chanyeol on the couch. “Seriously, it’s fine. I just thought you should know about it, and I thought I might be able to help you.”

“Help me?” Chanyeol says, still reeling from this furry revelation. God, it all does make sense, that explains why he loved that Hyper Police anime so much. Is Baekhyun making fun of him or something? Jeez. This ! “What? , have you told anyone?”

“No,” Baekhyun says, rolling his eyes again. “Will you please chill? It’s all good. I have some stuff I think you’ll like.”

“Stuff?” Chanyeol repeats. Honestly, Baekhyun could tell him that the moon landing was faked by Chanyeol himself in a time machine and Chanyeol would believe it at this point, that’s the kind of headspace he’s in. Besides, he thinks the moon landing was faked anyway. “What kind of stuff?”

“Tell me if you don’t want this,” Baekhyun says, and suddenly he’s right in Chanyeol’s space and he’s kissing him.

Chanyeol doesn’t tell him that he doesn’t want this, primarily because he does want it. He doesn’t say anything at all, in fact, just kisses Baekhyun back, one hand coming up to rest very softly on Baekhyun’s waist as Baekhyun moves a hand to Chanyeol’s shoulder.

They kiss for a moment, then Baekhyun pulls back. “It’s okay,” he says, more firmly than any time before. “And— that’s not the stuff I brought. I brought special stuff. That is stuff you can have any time you want.”

“How about… right now? I want it right now?” Chanyeol says hopefully, all the furry forgotten temporarily, and Baekhyun smiles cutely and leans in to kiss him again.

“No, but seriously,” Baekhyun murmurs after a while, considerably more subdued and pink and puffy-lipped, and grabs his backpack. “I have some things for you. Well, for us.”

“Okay,” Chanyeol says, looking at the backpack and letting Baekhyun get out of his lap to open it. Out of the backpack, Baekhyun withdraws a pink collar with a tag on it — how ing many does he have? Chanyeol feels dizzy. Chanyeol is half expecting him to also pull out a cat ear headband, but thankfully, he doesn’t. This is enough to take in all at once as it is.

“I have more, but I didn’t bring it all with me,” Baekhyun says, glancing up at Chanyeol again. “I thought… maybe…”

“Yes,” Chanyeol says, even though he’s embarrassed and this is definitely weird and he’s not 100% comfortable with it. Maybe 70%? He’ll get there. Baekhyun can get him there.

Baekhyun smiles, and he hands the collar to Chanyeol. “Put it on me,” he says, his tone confident, but Chanyeol can tell he’s a little nervous, too. Baekhyun inclines his head forward, baring the back of his neck to Chanyeol, and Chanyeol undoes the clasp on the collar before carefully looping it around Baekhyun’s neck and fastening it in the back. He’s holding his breath and his hands shake for just a moment, but he gets it closed, and when it’s done, Baekhyun leans up to kiss him one more time before getting off the couch.

“Huh?” Chanyeol says, dazed and confused, and Baekhyun takes Chanyeol’s hands.

“Let’s go,” he says. “What if Sehun gets home?”

“Oh. Right,” Chanyeol says, also getting up even though he doesn’t understand what Sehun has to do with any of this. Baekhyun slides his fingers through Chanyeol’s and tugs on his hand. “Where are we going?”

“Where do you think?” Baekhyun says, walking backwards, and wow, he’s going straight to the bedroom, huh. Chanyeol isn’t complaining, and he certainly admires Baekhyun’s resolve, but if he blushes any harder he’ll probably die. “You’re cute.”

“Nah,” Chanyeol says, startled, and Baekhyun pulls him into the bedroom.

“Am I cute?” Baekhyun asks once they’re in. He steps back and lets Chanyeol look at him. His hair is messy, his lips are pouted, and the collar that’s on his neck is there because Chanyeol put it there.

“Yeah,” Chanyeol says after a moment, not looking away. “You’re real cute.”

Baekhyun locks the door.

***

“Nya,” Baekhyun says.

“Stop it,” Chanyeol says, not looking up from his phone.

“Nya,” Baekhyun insists, poking Chanyeol’s hand with a french fry.

“Stop it!” Chanyeol also insists. “That’s very offensive, you know.”

“What, me saying ‘nya’ to you?” Baekhyun says, eating the french fry.

“No. You not sharing your fries,” Chanyeol says, grabbing the whole container from him and holding it above his head so he won’t be able to reach it. “But also saying ‘nya.’”

“That’s not what you were saying last night,” Baekhyun points out, then pokes Chanyeol in the ribs so he’ll scrunch his body up and bring the fries within Baekhyun’s grasp again. Once he has the fries, he eats two very triumphantly, knocking his shoulder against Chanyeol’s.

“Well… that’s nobody’s business but mine,” Chanyeol says, huffing, and returns to his game of Ratchet and Clank.

“And mine,” Baekhyun points out, headbutting Chanyeol’s shoulder.

Chanyeol smiles to himself, tilting his head down to accept a fry when Baekhyun offers one to him. “Yeah. And yours.”

*~*~*~*

AND THEN THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER………. FUREVER