unbetaed, so please excuse any mistakes. 

You’d think that being an elementary school teacher and having to be surrounded by children all the time would make Baekhyun not want to spend his free time with even more children. However, this is never the case; especially when it comes to his sweet little niece, Seoyul. Right now the six year old girl is running around the candy store grabbing everything she can find. Everything pink she can find, to be specific. 

“Look Uncle Baek, this lollipop looks like your hair!”  

Baekhyun chuckles and nods, giving her a ‘that’s right it is!’ Ever since he dyed his hair blush pink, Seoyul’s been quite interested in the pretty color. By the time he finds her again, her arms are full of pink sweets from lollipops to chocolates to bubblegum. It takes about five minutes for him to convince her to let everything go and that she can only pick one treat because her parents would definitely not be happy with him if he brought their child back with a sugar crash.

 After purchasing a big pink lollipop, Seoyul excitedly runs out of the shop. Baekhyun quickly shoves his change into his wallet and runs after her before she gets out of his sight. She’s always had a habit of wandering off by herself. On her way out of the store, the little girl collides face first into a passerby’s legs, resulting in her falling down and dropping her lollipop. 

“Seoyul, you have to be careful!” Baekhyun says as he picks the crying girl up and tries to comfort her. “It’s okay, Uncle Baek will buy you another one.” 

“You should really have that kid on a leash,” the stranger scoffs. 

Baekhyun shoots him a scowl. “Excuse me? She’s just a kid. It was an accident. Don’t talk about her like that.”

The tall man takes a threatening step forward and leans in with a smug smile, causing shorter to pull back. “What are you gonna do about it, princess?” 

Baekhyun feels a strong desire to punch him in the nose. He knows he shouldn’t being that the man is a whole six inches taller than him with intimidatingly large arms. He knows to never start a fight he can’t finish, so instead of giving the stranger what he rightfully deserves, he simply shoots him one last glare before walking off with his weeping niece. 

Seoyul decides that in order to calm down she needs a trip to her favorite ice cream shop, so that’s where they head to next. It’s the same order every single time. A double scoop of cookie dough in a cup for him. A single scoop of strawberry cheesecake in a sugar cone for her. Once she had begged him for a double scoop and didn’t even come close to finishing it by herself, resulting in a very sticky mess. 

They walk to a nearby park where families and their dogs are enjoying the nice weather. Baekhyun and Seoyul find an empty bench underneath some shade of a large, willowy tree. The little girl laps at her scoop of strawberry cheesecake, her short legs kicking excitedly as they hang over the edge of the seat. They take turns calling out random objects and animals they see until Seoyul suddenly goes quiet. “Is being a princess a bad thing, Uncle Baek?” 

Baekhyun shakes his head. “No, of course not.”

The six year old takes a few more of her ice cream before asking, “Why did the mean man call you a princess if you’re a boy?” 

How exactly does one explain to a six year old that there are just s who think it’s okay to be rude to anyone that doesn’t look like the ideal standard of masculinity? He decides to go with the easy answer for now. “Well…” he starts. “Anyone can be a princess if they want to. Even boys. Just like how I told you boys can like the color pink too, remember that?  I just felt like being a princess today.” 

Seoyul stares up at him curiously, eyes narrowed and lips jutted out in concentration. A couple more of her melting treat and she breaks out into an adorable, wide smile.  “I think you’d be a really, really pretty princess with your pink hair!” 

“Yeah?” Baekhyun grins and pats her head affectionately. “I think you would be a very pretty princess too.” 

♡♡♡

Baekhyun doesn’t think he’s ever seen this many children in one place before his entire life, which is saying a lot considering he works at a school. There’s screaming children, laughing children, crying children. Children running around with little Mickey Mouse ears, holding Mickey Mouse balloons, dressed in Mickey Mouse t-shirts. 

It’s his first time at “ The Happiest Place on Earth,” according to his niece and apparently the rest of the world. Seoyul was supposed to go with her parents, but they both had a last minute emergency at work to attend to, so here he is. Not that he minds it. He’s a single twenty eight year old who spends most of his free time buying cute stickers and other essentials for a first grade classroom, so it’s not like he had any important plans to attend to. 

A certain niece of his is practically jumping out of her shoes, she’s so excited for the princess makeover event her parents had set up for her. She basically drags Baekhyun throughout the gigantic theme park in search of the location they’re supposed to be at. 

“We’re gonna meet real princesses, Uncle Baek! Real princesses!” 

Baekhyun laughs and picks the young girl up before she runs off and gets herself lost again. “I know, I know.” 

“I wanna wear a pretty pink dress just like Sleeping Beauty! And I want a crown! A big one with real diamonds!” she chirps, wriggling around in Baekhyun’s arms. 

“Ooh a pretty pink dress. You’d look very beautiful, my little princess.”