The soil that has been bathed in sun all afternoon is warm under the soles of Chanyeol's bare feet as he pads into the small clearing. It lies like an oasis in the middle of the dense forest, an open area surrounded by firs and beeches stretching tall towards the clear, blue sky and an underbrush ripe with berries and blooming flowers.

In Chanyeol's opinion this is the perfect hiding place. This is where he comes whenever he wishes to escape the tiresome duties his people bestow upon him. Being the second-born child of the Elven King means responsibilities he's not too eager to be trusted with, but he tends to simply remind himself that he has it a lot easier than his older sister, the heir to the throne, and then it's all a little easier to cope with.

On most days Chanyeol gets to have the getaway to himself with the exception of the forest animals that occasionally tentatively tread the grounds. Once in a while the Water Guardian will brave the underwater tunnel systems and travel from the sea to come take a swim in the small lake in the middle of the clearing where the water runs fresh and cool. The Water Guardian is good company and they always get along well so Chanyeol doesn't particularly mind him being there.

Today's events turn out to be completely different. Chanyeol is headed for the lake to see if the Water Guardian has decided to join him today when he hears a small voice calling out. Doing a full turn, he is quick to determine that there is no one else there and he figures that he must have heard wrong and continues on. He only manages to take a few more steps before the voice calls out once more. "Hey!" it says. "Hey, you! Over here!" The elf turns around again and he frowns because there definitely isn't anyone there. But the voice keeps yelling at him, telling him to go left, right, forward, more left, until he's standing in front of a blackberry bush and he crouches down.

Stretched out between thorny branches is a cobweb and smack in the middle of that cobweb is... "Wow," Chanyeol exhales, eyes widening and mouth agape as he leans in to get a closer look. It's a tiny male, probably not more than a few inches tall, with tiny features on a tiny face and tiny hands and tiny feet and tiny limbs that flail wildly in the air as he attempts to get out of the netting he's helplessly stuck in. But the sticky web clings to his wings - they're large and protruding from his shoulder blades and they seem to be glowing with a pale light - and he can't move.

"Yeah, I know I'm pretty and such but can you please stop staring and help me get out of this thing before Mr. Spider comes back and decides that I would make a nice dinner?"

Chanyeol blinks. "Oh, right, sorry." He reaches out, but pauses with his hand midair. "How do I...?"

"I don't know, just don't pull on my wings and please hurry up." The small male casts a glance in all directions and it's easy to tell that he's scared. Chanyeol thinks that he would probably be terrified too if he thought he was going to turn into spider food. Reaching out once more, he pinches the back of the male's shirt between two of his fingers, successfully grabbing a hold of him that way, and he pulls until the web snaps around him and the tiny male is freed. "Thank you," he says when he is standing safely albeit a bit unsteadily in Chanyeol's palm. There are threads of white sticking to his hair and his clothes and his wings, but other than that he's alright.

"No problem," Chanyeol says without tearing his eyes away from the creature in his hand. The tiny creature really is pretty, Chanyeol thinks to himself, as he his head to the side, making his long hair brush against his cheeks with the movement. "I've heard of your kind before, but I've never seen one of you in real life. You're a fairy, right?"

"Yup," the fairy answers brightly, popping on the 'p', and he adds: "My name is Baekhyun." Chanyeol replies with his own name. Baekhyun nods in acknowledgement. Then he looks over his shoulder and his tiny, pretty face pulls into a frown at the look of his messed up wings. "Ugh, it's going to take me forever to get these clean."

"Do you need any help?" Chanyeol offers, earning himself a skeptical scowl from the other.

"Why on Earth would you help me?" Chanyeol shrugs and flashes the grin he has been chastised for many times by the elders of his people because it makes him look deranged and elves are only supposed to look pretty and ethereal, not deranged. They have tried to train Chanyeol to make his smile less overwhelming but never quite succeeded. Baekhyun recoils, taken aback by the brightness of the elf's expression. "Alright, uh... can you take me to the lake?" He stumbles when the other begins to move unannounced and he lets out a shriek of surprise, clinging to the tall male's thumb for dear life.

Carefully Chanyeol puts Baekhyun down on the shore once they've reached it. He sits down cross-legged on a large, flat rock and watches the fairy lean over the side of the stone he's perched on to collect drops of perspiration in his hands in order to carefully clean his wings and hair. "I thought you guys were supposed to be able to change size and stuff," Chanyeol muses. "Couldn't you just have escaped like that?"

Baekhyun grimaces. "Yeah, well, I haven't quite mastered that part yet so for now I have to stay this way until I figure out how to do that." He lets out a harsh sigh at the thought of it. He's clearly not pleased.

As he leans over to get more water he loses his balance and nearly tumbles into the lake. Luckily Chanyeol has fast reflexes and he grabs him by the waist in the last minute. "Be careful, little Baek," he chides with another one of those bright grins, gently tapping the smaller on the head with his finger. The fairy scowls at him, muttering something under his breath about how he doesn't appreciate being manhandled. Chanyeol is sure he's thankful for being rescued, though.

By the time Baekhyun has rid himself of the last of the sticky cobweb the sun is long gone behind the treetops and the clearing is shrouded in shadow yet Chanyeol remains sitting on the large rock by the lake and waits patiently for him to finish. Baekhyun throws him a sidelong glance. "Why are you still here?"

Chanyeol's already wide eyes widen. "You're in no state to defend yourself at the moment and the forest can be a dangerous place for someone like you. I'm here to protect you, of course."

"So to sum it up you've pretty much saved my life twice and you stuck around to keep me safe." Baekhyun runs his fingers through his wet hair to make sure it's clear of cobweb. He eyes the other suspiciously. "What do you expect from me in return?"

"I don't expect anything," Chanyeol answers without even having to think about it. "I just think it's common courtesy for us to help each other out. I'm sure you would have done the same for me if I was in a situation like that."

The other hums. He doesn't really seem to believe the elf. "How about I grant you three wishes for your trouble? Everyone wants that." Chanyeol shakes his head fervently to decline the offer. "What about one wish, then? Come on, there's got to be something you want."

Chanyeol makes to shake his head again, but then pauses. "Actually... there is," he says slowly and Baekhyun sighs a little because of course there is. There always is.

"Alright." He bats his wings experimentally, smiling when they cooperate and actually manage to lift him off the ground. "Let's hear it. What do you want?"

"I want a friend." Baekhyun's head snaps up and he stares at the other in surprise. Chanyeol is fiddling with the foxtail that is pinned to his pants and there is color dusting his cheeks, a faint hue of pink. "All the other elves think I'm weird and they don't want to be around me and I... I get really lonely sometimes because I'm always by myself. All I want is a friend." He looks hopefully at the fairy, who purses his lips in thought.

After a few moments Baekhyun nods decisively. "Alright," he says. "It's done. You have a friend."

Chanyeol's eyes widen. "Really? Just like that?" The other nods again and the elf grins brightly and his eye twitches and he looks deranged but at the same time it's awfully endearing. Seconds later he is frowning, though. "Wait, how will I know who my friend is?"

Baekhyun stares at him as if he can't quite decide whether the other is joking or if he's just that oblivious. "It's me," he says when Chanyeol continues to wear that same blank expression. "I'm... I'm your friend."

"Oh." The grin is quick to slither back onto Chanyeol's face and despite the fairy huffing in protest and batting feebly at his hands, he pets his tiny head one more time. "That just makes it even better."

~*~

A/N: for wushustatue who wanted fluffy supernatural baekyeol. (I love you, meeghan ♥)
I'm just going to talk about that beautiful, beautiful fanart first. it's made by lumiukko (I had originally posted the link to the picture on tumblr here, but apparently she deactivated) and actually it has nothing to do with my story at all (the fanart is chanyeol as peter pan and luhan as tinkerbell). my story is not inspired by the fanart and the fanart is not inspired by this story, but a few days after I finished writing this story that fanart showed up on my dashboard and I had a minor spazz attack because, I don't know, it just fits my story perfectly (even though it's luhan, not baekhyun and chanyeol is peter pan, not an elf). yeah. :3
you should all know by now how much I absolutely adore breakfast couple. this was fun to write. :D baekhyun is a sassy fairy (a fairy in more ways than one eheheheheheheh /shot) and chanyeol is an elf (imagine his beautiful, curly hair tangled with leaves and small sticks and look at those ears, oop). you get brownie points if you can guess who the water guardian is, even though it's kind of easy. like, really easy if you know anything about exo at all. oh well. \o/