“Hey Baekhyun! Could you stock these new products for me?” One of Baekhyun managers called from the back room.

“Coming!” Baekhyun beamed and rushed over. He was handed a box full of the brand new gummies he’s been trying to get his hands on for ages. Finally, he could try the limited edition breakfast gummy packs. It was completed with toast and of course, his favourite bacons and eggs.

Baekhyun went over to the premade display near the front of the shop and started placing the candy packets accordingly.

“Wahh, that guy sure is tall.” Baekhyun overheard a high school girl say from behind him. He glanced over to her before following her gaze to a giant of a creature standing by the shop’s selection of jelly beans.

“I wonder if he’s good looking.” Another girl cooed in reply. Baekhyun chuckled under his breath as he saw a giggling pack of girls make their way to the jelly beans.  He directed his attention back to the candy display for a few moments when he heard a gasp and then the sound of something scattering on the ground. He turned his head just in time to see the girls rush out of the store. Baekhyun looked to where they previously were and saw that there were jelly beans littering the floor. The tall man that had caught the girls attention earlier was now crouching on the ground and picking up the jelly beans one by one.

Baekhyun quickly dropped his box of stock and rushed over to help the customer.

“Sir, I’ll take care of that!” He called as he reached the man. Upon hearing his voice, the man stopped picking up the jelly beans and stood up. Finally, the man turned around and showed his face to Baekhyun.

O-Oh my god, it’s a real life mad scientist. Baekhyun thought as he took the man’s appearance in. The man before him towered over him and observed him with his strange and overly wide eyes. His hair was styled into a frizzy poof and with the man’s bizarre choice in clothing, it all didn’t help change Baekhyun’s first impression of him.

“I-I’m sorry.” The man rumbled out in a husky and deep voice that nearly made Baekhyun jump, “O-Oh, sorry! I didn’t…I…” The man continued to fumble with his words and his cheeks started to flush red. Baekhyun blinked up at him, still trying to understand the image before him.

“Chanyeol! Come on, we gotta go!” An even taller and rather good looking man from the front of the shop called out to the mad scientist in front of Baekhyun. Baekhyun tried to rationalize how a man like that could possibly befriend a man like the one before him.

“Coming!” A deep voice bellowed back and suddenly the jelly beans within the man’s or Chanyeol’s hand were dropped to the floor. Surprised, Baekhyun jumped back as even more jelly beans covered the floor. “O-Oh, I forgot that I had them in my hand. I’m so sorry!” Chanyeol’s big eyes popped out even more as he stuttered and bowed his head down in apology. Unfortunately, this Chanyeol fellow must have a bad sense of perception because when he bowed, his head collided with Baekhyun’s .

“Ow!” Baekhyun cried out and touched the newly throbbing spot on the top of his head. He looked up at Chanyeol who stared at him in shock.

“I-I…I-I-I.”

Chanyeol then decided to whip around and bolt out of the shop, leaving behind a rather baffled Baekhyun and a mess of jelly beans. 

That was Baekhyun’s first experience with the fidgety but creepy looking Chanyeol. It only took one week for them to meet again.

“Mister, do you have any more cotton candy jelly beans?” A small girl shyly asked Baekhyun as he swiped the floors. He smiled softly to the child and nodded his head.

“Yes of course we do. Why don’t you come with me and I’ll give you a secret free sample of our newest flavor, how does that sound?”

The girl giggled and nodded her head. Baekhyun rested the broom against the closest wall and walked over to the jelly bean section. He froze when he recognized a certain someone with familiar frizzy hair standing in the section.

“Mister?” The girl questioned from behind him, which snapped him out of his thoughts. He looked between the girl and the tall man for a few moments. When returning his gaze to the jelly bean section for the fifth time, he saw that the man had walked away. Baekhyun promptly thanked his luck.

He walked over to the newly emptied section and saw that the container holding the cotton candy flavor was indeed low. So, he looked up to the shelf carrying the overstock and saw one particular box labeled with the words “cotton candy”. Going on his tiptoes, he reached up to the box, or he at least attempted to. He reached and reached but in the end slumped back down defeated.

“Can you not reach it Mister?” The girl asked with sadness in her eyes.

“Ah, no.” Baekhyun attempted to calm the girl, “I’m just going to get th-“ A shadow loomed over him and he leapt in shock. His surprise would have nearly sent him into the entire jelly bean display if an arm didn’t quickly wrap itself around his waist and help his stabilize.  Looking up, up and up, his eyes finally met with his savior’s rather wide ones. 

“This…This is the one you wanted, right?” Chanyeol’s deep voice vibrated against Baekhyun chest. Baekhyun looked to the side and saw that Chanyeol was holding the box that contained the overstock of the cotton candy jelly beans in one of his hands.

“O-oh. Yes, yes it is.” Baekhyun took it in his hands and hesitantly smiled at him, “Thanks!”  The arm around his waist loosened as Chanyeol backed up while scratching the back of his neck.

“It looked…like you were having some trouble.” Chanyeol murmured out, nervously directing his big eyes elsewhere.

“You could say that.” Baekhyun agreed, “I can’t say I was exactly gifted with a lot of height, so thanks for saving me from having to get the step stool.” Baekhyun naturally felt himself beaming at the quickly becoming bashful Chanyeol. 

“A-Ah no. It’s no problem.” Baekhyun became surprised once again when Chanyeol’s lips formed into a small smile and one of his wide eyes grew smaller and twitched. Although it may have looked creepy to others, Baekhyun found it quite charming.

“M-Mister.” A small voice came from behind Baekhyun and tugged on his uniform apron. Baekhyun looked down at her with a small smile.

“Look, this kind man was nice enough to help get your jelly beans. We should say thank you, right?”  Baekhyun told the small girl who stared up at Chanyeol, traces of fright washing over her features. She looked to Baekhyun and he only gave her an encouraging smile.

“T-Thank you.” The girl stuttered out before fully hiding behind Baekhyun. Chanyeol looked down at the girl and his lips cracked into a smile that took Baekhyun by surprise again. He was amazed such a mouth could conceal so many big and pearly white teeth.

Suddenly, the light grip of the girl attached to Baekhyun’s apron was released. Baekhyun looked and saw that a women, presumably the mother of the girl, had taken her by the hand and hide the girl behind her. She glared at both Baekhyun and Chanyeol before dragging the girl out of the shop. String of words like child predator and e were heard from the woman’s mouth.

Baekhyun gapped at the fleeing woman, “The nerve!” He exclaimed, “Can you believ-“Baekhyun turned to Chanyeol whose previous toothy smile had completely fallen and was replaced with him biting down on his bottom lip.  He swore those big eyes directed to the floor had traces of tears in them.

“C-Chanyeol.” He hesitantly called out to him. Chanyeol without sparing a glance to Baekhyun, turned around quickly and took off and out of the store. Baekhyun cursed under his breath and subconsciously ran after him.

“Wait!” Baekhyun yelled out after a few minutes of the chase. It was near impossible to keep up with the long legged man. Baekhyun stopped and rested his hands on his knees in order to catch his breath. Looking down at the ground, he saw a pair of dirty sneakers enter his vision. Looking up, he saw a flushed Chanyeol who seemed a little out of breathe.

“You don’t…you didn’t have to come after me.” Chanyeol told Baekhyun. Baekhyun sighed as he straightened up and tried to match with Chanyeol’s height a little better.  “I’m used to it…”

“And let you think what that woman said was acceptable? Cause it’s not-“

“It’s okay. I-I know my face can get out of hand. I don’t mean to look, I mean my face just, it just happens. I try to talk but I just get more nervous and my expression only gets worse.” Chanyeol hopelessly tried to explain himself but to Baekhyun there was no need for a further explanation.

“Listen Chanyeol, people who form opinions on a person’s appearance aren’t worth your time.” Baekhyun explained, “The woman was wrong to say such things about you when she doesn’t even know you. To me, you seem like a genuinely nice person. I mean, you’ve tried to clean up that jelly bean mess a week ago and you helped take that box down today. A mean person wouldn’t care for those things, right?” Baekhyun gave Chanyeol a hopeful smile but Chanyeol refused to look at him.

“Really?” Chanyeol muttered, “You think I’m a nice person?”

“Sure. Wait, are you telling me you aren’t?”

“No!” Chanyeol cried and finally met Baekhyun’s joking eyes, “It’s just…I’ve never heard people say that outside my family.” 

“Well, I, Byun Baekhyun, think that Chanyeol is a nice person.” He seriously announced as if he was giving an inspiring speech and then closed it with a big smile.  Chanyeol’s lips twitched a little before they broke into a massive smile, showing two rows of impressive teeth. His smile grew so wide that his usually large eyes shrunk and squinted.  

Baekhyun’s heart throbbed. Confused, Baekhyun put a hand over his heart and glanced away from Chanyeol. Chanyeol noticing his confusion became confused as well.

“I-Is something wrong? Was it my smile? Cause I know that can make people uncomfo-“

“No no. It’s not that.” Baekhyun dismissed Chanyeol with a wave of his hand, “I think I just had a wave of indigestion is all.”

Chanyeol’s  face then became paniced. “Oh! Are you okay? Oh my goodness, what’s if it’s something bad? Kris told me once of this guy who had a stomach ache and it turned out he had an ulcer. Oh! We should take you to the hospital!” Chanyeol exclaimed, getting close to Baekhyun.

“Whoa, no! I’m fine! It was just a-Oh my god!” Baekhyun exclaimed as Chanyeol picked him up bridal style and took off. Baekhyun flung his arms around Chanyeol’s neck impulsively. “Put me down you big oaf! I’m fine I say, FINE!”

Chanyeol stopped running with Baekhyun still in his arms, “Are you sure? Because ulcers only get worse!”

“Positive. Now, if you could please put me down, I really need to get back to work.”

Realization crossed Chanyeol’s face and before anything was said, Chanyeol took off again…still carrying Baekhyun.

“What happened to putting me down!?” Baekhyun yelped, tightening his grip on Chanyeol.

“Don’t worry, I’m a really fast runner.” Chanyeol replied and gave Baekhyun a nod of determination. Baekhyun decided that he better just sit tight and enjoy the free ride while he could.

Chanyeol wasn’t lying when he said he could run fast, even with the extra baggage. Chanyeol ran so fast that he managed to get Baekhyun inside the shop within 2 minutes flat…mind you, still carrying him as if he was his new bride. The employees and customers all sent their puzzled stares at the couple when they entered. Baekhyun felt himself blushing due to the curious stares and nudged at Chanyeol to let him go.  Chanyeol complied and gently let him down.

“Remember, ulcers only get worse.” Chanyeol leaned down and whispered into his ear. Chanyeol nodded assertively and then quickly walked out of the candy shop. Baekhyun’s eyes followed his figure until it was out of sight. And it was for a few moments, until Chanyeol came rushing back into the shop.  “B-by the way,” Chanyeol took a deep breath and stared at Baekhyun urgently, “Thank you very much for today!” Chanyeol belted out loudly and stiffly bowed to Baekhyun. He straightened his posture, his cheeks flushing red before racing away again.

“Who the heck was that?” A co-worker whispered to Baekhyun. “He looked like he just got out of the loony bin.”

“Yeah, he’s a cute little thing.” Baekhyun broke into chuckles, the whole comic scenario replaying in his mind.

“Cute? Little?”

Baekhyun just chose to ignore the look of disbelief his co-worker was giving him and went straight back to work. 

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I find this chapter a little messy. But it will do...at least until I suddenly decide I need to rewrite it or something. Anyways. Chapter 1! Thanks fo all the commenters and subscribers! Oh my goodness, with only the foreword too! THANK YOUUUUU!!! <3<3<3

Much love xoxoxo