His dog was terribly ill. It wasn’t like Toben to be out of breath and passed out over a twenty minute walk around the park. Chanyeol found himself up and early after making an appointment with the vet. He took off from his studio in Seoul and made a corner to a pet hospital he wasn’t too familiar with, but was the only one that was free.

The waiting room was a zoo of animals, some owners adults other’s children. He held Toben close, praying to god it wasn’t anything bad, he couldn’t stand the thought of ever losing him.

In the meantime, he picked up his phone when he felt it vibrate, 

From Kyungsoo: your song is #1 <3<3<3 So proud! 

Chanyeol smiled at his phone. He had almost forgotten about his newly produced song that had been released. He had sold the demo to Dean, a popular solo artist and he had released it today. Feeling a little better, he smiled at his dog, cooing that he was going to be alright. 

“Park Chanyeol,” someone said, “Right this way.”

Chanyeol carried Toben into a room that was opened by a nice lady who had told him to wait there for a few moments before the doctor came. Looking around the room, he hadn’t realized how similar vet clinics and human clinics looked. He stared at the painting on the wall, one of a tree with rainbow leaves for what felt like an hour. Finally, the door clicked open.

The doctor opened his mouth to greet him with a smile, but something stopped him. No, not something, someone. 

Chanyeol's eyes linger on the familiar face in front of him. Shocked, surprised, disbelief etched on his face.

“I see your dog has found himself the treats.” Baekhyun bent down to open the cabinet and offer the poodle a treat.

The vet was making it very clear that he and the man in front of him were nothing but strangers. A small smile adorned that once very familiar-close-to-home face Chanyeol had grown up with. A smile that he had fallen in love with so long ago.

“Toben,” Baekhyun said, ruffling his fur. “Cute name.”

“Where have you been for five years?” Chanyeol finally breaks the ice. 

He’s always been rash and direct with people, especially his friends. Maybe now wasn’t the time, but he knew if he didn’t say it now, Baekhyun would just disappear again. 

“Chanyeol,” He breathed, “Nice seeing you again.”

“Don’t act like we saw each other yesterday. To hell with you and your nice to see you again.” Chanyeol said, “I’ve been searching for you for five years, five damn long years and this is how we meet? By chance? Hell no, I won’t-I won’t stand here and take any of this-”

The angered man lifts up his dog and proceeds to walk out of the clinic with nothing except the memories of Byun Baekhyun. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

September 2003 - 10 years ago

The night before summer break ended, Chanyeol was finally allowed to sleep over at his best friend's house. A small birthday gift given to him by his mother who had packed him a small duffle bag of essentials. He was only to walk a few blocks down to reach Baekboms house.

As a teen he didn’t care much about the crazy exterior-a classic spanish styled home- he more so cared about the new video games Baekbeom had gotten last christmas, the ones Chanyeol wasn’t able to afford or was too violent to be let into his household; Metal Gear Solid and Parasite eve were his favorites. 

He was kind of nervous. He had never been to Baekbeom's house because it was always so far away to walk from after school they would always just end up playing games that he packed the night before and geek out at Chanyeol's house anyways.

Of course, Baekbeom had other reasons.

Chanyeol knocked on the door patiently, but when a stranger opened the door instead, he stumbled back in shock. He bowed in a clumsy apology.

“S-sorry wrong, house.” Chanyeol said.

The boy in front of him was no older or younger than him, but he had a smaller and skinnier stature. His arms were crossed over his chest and his eyebrows raised. 

If the boy could be compared to anything, it would be that of a regality. Poised and brooding, ready to spit a dangerous venom which were his words.

“Oh, you’re Boem’s friend.” He rolled his eyes, backing off the door and shutting it right in Chanyeol’s face.

After a minute or so, the door opened again. This time it was Baekbeom his face full of excitement. 

“I’ve got the snacks and I’m starting up the game console, come in!” Baekbeom said.

Chanyeol paid no attention to how beautiful their house was, only the glimmering playstation one that was neatly placed on a huge glass table top in front of an enormous T.V.

Baekbeom sat him down on a black leather seat. It had a cup holder and everything. 

He was eager to start, but he had a nagging thought left in his head.

“Who was the person who opened the door?”Chanyeol asked.

“Yeah, sorry that was my stupid brother.” Baekbeom said.

“Oh,” Chanyeol said, He had heard stuff about his brother before, but they were mostly negative things.

The said, his brother wasn’t helping his reputation either by acting so rude and inconsiderate when he had answered the door, anyways. 

They played games for about three hours straight before Chanyeol flunked down on the ground in exhaustion. He had a fareshare of chips and coke, but his stomach rumbled. Snacks usually didn't fix his growing boy cravings.

“We could order pizza?” Baekbeom suggested.

“I’ll cook for us!” Chanyeol clasped his hands together, “Come on, I won’t burn the house down, besides your parents won’t be here until five.”

Baekbeom considered the idea. He grinned from ear to ear and he led his bestfriend into the kitchen.

“Make Lasagna! Please, please please.” his friend was adamant on it.

“Fine,fine, hand me the sauce.” Chanyeol laughed.

Before they knew it they had turned the kitchen into a farm, knives and uncut food everywhere all for the sake of tasting Chanyeol’s homemade cooking. Of course, everyone knew he had a knack for cooking, even people at school. He was a natural at it. 

“Oh mom and dad are so gonna kill you for this.” came a voice from behind them.

Chanyeol turned. He saw Baekbeoms brother, dressed in a black and white striped long sleeved shirt and blue jeans. He had his arms over his chest defensively, again.

“Baekhyun, get out, no one likes you,” His brother whined.

“Fine, I’ll just have to tell mom that you went through her knives and cutlery-”

Baekbeom had already made a break for his younger brother, getting him in a playful choke hold, “Shut your mouth, you’re such a tattle tale.”

Baekhyun wiggled out of the contact, stomping his foot angrily, “It’s not a joke! I’m going to tell on you and then you and your friend won’t have you sleep over anymore!”

Chanyeol,who had been witnessing the entire altercation, took offense to the last part. He spinned around in annoyance.

“Looks like someone’s jealous their older brother had a friend, and they don’t.” He laughed, earning a pat on the back from Baekbeom.

He went back to chopping up his pepper. Cocky about his snarky comment. Maybe even a little impressed with himself.

Chanyeol looked back to see if Baekhyun was still there. He was surprised to find the boy give him a glaring look. His lips quivering and the rims of his  eyes forming tears. 

Baekbeom’s little brother bolted upstairs crying.

----------------------------------------------------

“He’s just a cry baby he’ll get over it.” Baekbeom assured.

They laid the lasagna in front of them at the dining table after they had cleaned the kitchen neatly. It smelled delicious. Baekbeoms family had all the expensive ingredients from the grocery store so it wasn’t so hard for Chanyeol to make a masterpiece. The cheese was perfectly melted and the sauce was tangy and a little spicy. 

Eating it, he had to say was much easier than making it.

He finished almost two full plates.

When the two friends felt full, Baekbeom suggested they go play basketball outside.

“Should we give some lasagna to your brother?” Chanyeol asked.

“Hmm? Yeah, I guess. You’re the chef. It's your choice. I’ll meet you outside.” His friend said.

To be honest, Chanyeol felt really guilty for making his friends brother cry like that. What was his name again? Baekhyun, right. He felt bad. He didn’t usually make people cry, much less bully people. Today, he felt extra special in the comfort of Baekbeom home so maybe that’s how it spilled out. If anything ,the reason why he wanted to make amends with the poor boy was to keep his reputation in line. He wasn’t a mean guy. It was as simple as that.

He looked around the second level, unsure of which room was Baekhyun’s. So he resorted to knocking on the door that wasn’t left open. 

Three knocks later, the door opened.

Baekhyun, who was noticeably shorter than Chanyeol looked up in confusion. His eyes were still a little red.

“What?”

“You can try my lasagna. It’s really good.” Chanyeol offered him. 

“It probably tastes like crap.” Said a fourteen-year-old Baekhyun.

Chanyeol held in his anger, and took the fork, placing a litte food on it, “here.” He offered the utensil foreward.

Baekhyun stared at the plate uneasily. 

“How do I know you didn’t poison-”

“Just shut up and eat it.” 

           Chanyeol presented the fork to the kids face, who opened his mouth like a baby and accepted the food, looking down in embarrassment. Quickly his eyes lit up with satisfaction. 

              "Thanks," Baekhyun mumbled quietly.

              Chanyeol smiled in triumph. He handed the rest of the food over to the younger and patted him on the head, as a way to apologize and ran downstairs. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Present day 

“Sir, I’m only doing this because your dog looks very ill. It would have been more appropriate to make an appointment. Did you do that?” Asked the veterinarian.

The woman had a stern face. She lay Toben on the stretcher examining him. She made several grunts of disatisfaction calling Chanyeol irresponsible.

“I did make an appointment. But...the service at the place I went to...was terrible.” Chanyeol lied.

The women laughed at his comment, “Puppy Love a couple blocks down?” She asked.

“Yeah, that one.” He scowled.

“Poor Baekhyunie, always getting pyscho clients.” She shook her head.

Chanyeol opened his mouth to fight back, but when the woman said his name, his temper died down. This was a waste of time. Why couldn’t this woman just give him to prescriptions and call it a day.

“Alright,” she smiled down at Toben, letting him have a small dog treat, “It seems that your dog had lyme disease. No worries, its nothing a antiobiotics can’t fix.” She handed him a peice of paper.

Thank god, thought Chanyeol. He had been worried sick for the past week about Toben and why he wasn’t getting better. Knowing that it could be fixed helped him breathe better.

“Okay, well thank you.” Chanyeol bowed.

“No worries. Next time though, just go to Puppy Love, it has more facilities for dogs.” the vet said.

“Whats wrong with this place?” 

“This is a Cat Clinic.” She rolled her eyes

Embarrassed, Chanyeol was out of the building  in minutes with his happier dog Toben. He rushed over to his car which to his dismay, was parked next to the other clinic, Puppy Love. Getting into the privacy of his car, he finally looked through his tinted windows at the clinic. It was well built, probably a newer building. Had Baekhyun established this by himself? He knew he went to University for Biology but after that..he hadn’t heard from him.

Chanyeol smiled without realizing it, remembering how much Baekhyun adored his dogs and all kinds of animals. It was the very reason he pursued biology and later majored in zoology. Meeting Baekhyun again, made him realize how long it had been.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

October 2003 

          Baekhyun had managed to find himself wherever Chanyeol was around. Baekhyun, like his brother, was crazy good at video games, to the point where it bored him. Although he was one year younger than them, he could beat them no problem.

  When Baekbeom would be fed up with his brother he would take Chanyeol outside to play their favourite game, Basketball. Of course, he knew Baekhyun wouldn’t play because he would stand no chance against the two giants. 

The day before Halloween, the younger male had made it a goal to play the sport. Baekbeom had refused, irritated by his presence. 

Baekhyun persevered. He was not a giver-upper, as he called it. He threw the ball like a girl and travelled the entire game. 

The way they would play was only against two people, so they would take turns each. First, Baekbeom and Chanyeol played an intense one-vs-one match. Chanyeol had lost, not being strong enough to jump high and make it in. The winner always had to play with the preceeding person.

When it was Baekhyun’s turn, Baekbeom , lifitng the ball in the air and sticking his toungue out. The younger boy's face grew annoyed, so he kicked his brother in the shin.

Whenever the two would play, Chanyeol felt like a referee holding them back from a fight. Still, he had to admit an annoyed Baekhyun made him feel content. For some reason teasing the kid for him excited.

Then came Chanyeol and Baekhyun. The height difference was rather...unfair, but Baekhyun didn’t care much for it. Like his older brother, Chanyeol held the ball up high, smiling when Baekhyun couldn’t even reach his shoulders.

“What’s wrong tinkerbell, can’t reach the ball?” Chanyeol joked.

Baekhyun only smirked, and began to push at him, to snatch the ball away. Chanyeol easily dodged all his attemps.

It was only until he felt a one of his legs give out as Baekhyun had accidently kicked his knee and Chanyeol fell on the ground. His pride made him hold on to the ball. 

Baekhyun fell on top of him, his face way too close for comfort. Chanyeol froze in his place, looking up at the boy on top of him. He could smell the shampoo Baekhyun used, and he could see a small scar on his left cheek.

The younger eviliy smiled before sucessfully snatching the ball away from his oppnent, making Chanyeol stand up in disbeleif.

“What! No way, Chanyeol you let him win.” Baekbeom accused.

“I-I didn’t.” He shook his head.

He didn’t, but he would have.