pairing: baekyeol.
word count: 7400 (merry ing christmas to me).
rating: PG-13.
genre: tooth-rotting fluff, attempted humor.
warning(s): major harry potter spoilers(!!!), kid!sehun, disgusting flirting.
summary: con: a strange child seems to have broken into baekhyun's apartment. pro: his uncle is super cute.
 

Working in retail is always particularly stressful during the merry month of December. Baekhyun feels tired all the way down to his bones when he drags his weary body over the threshold of his front door after spending ten hours dealing with hordes of rabid Christmas shoppers at the bookstore. By now, he's more than ready to put on his softest set of sleepwear, finish the leftovers of yesterday's pizza, and pass out in bed for several days.

But there's a kid in his apartment. There is a child in his apartment. Baekhyun notices the small shoes first, kicked off haphazardly in the entrance hallway next to Baekhyun's own row of footwear. Then he sees the jacket in a heap on the floor a few feet ahead, then the Avengers backpack leaned against the wall, and finally his gaze lands on the kid – a young boy, sitting on the couch and staring right at Baekhyun with furrowed eyebrows. To Baekhyun's knowledge, he doesn't have any children. He doesn't even know anyone, who has children. What the ?

Baekhyun takes a moment to collect himself. He may not be an expert at Child, but he's pretty sure swearing in their presence is a big no-no. While taking slow, deep breaths, Baekhyun starts removing his clothes. He nearly stumbles on the way out of his boots. There's a dusting of snow on the shoulders of his coat, and it's drizzling all over the floor. His hair is a staticky mess when he pulls off his beanie. He doesn't care about any of those things because there is a strange child in his living room. “Hello,” Baekhyun says. He has his customer service training to thank for being able to keep his voice diplomatic when all he really wants to do is laugh hysterically. “Who are you?”

“Who are you?” the boy shoots back, narrowing his eyes under fierce brows.

“I'm Byun Baekhyun,” Baekhyun says. He hangs up his clothes and approaches the boy, doing a wide gesture to encompass the whole room. “You're in my apartment.” . How did this kid even get in here? The door was locked when Baekhyun got home just now, and he doubts the kid somehow climbed all the way up to the fifth floor to crawl through a window. This entire situation is so weird.

The boy frowns and crosses his arms. “No. This is my mommy and daddy's 'partment.”

Baekhyun can feel his eye twitching. He exhales sharply through his nose as he deflates onto the opposite end of the couch, rubbing at his temples. “Listen, kid, I don't know know what you're on about. I live here.” It's not that he wants to be mean to children, he has just had a very exhausting day, and he is so not in the mood for this. “I don't know who you are, and I don't know what you're doing here, but you need to get out of here and go home to your parents. Right now!” Too late does Baekhyun notice the wobble of the boy's lower lip. Fat tears spring forward in his eyes, and suddenly Baekhyun feels like the worst person ever. The boy starts wailing. Baekhyun panics.

It takes the better part of an hour and Baekhyun's last honeydew Melona (which he had been saving for himself) to calm the boy down. Baekhyun awkwardly wipes tears and snot and milky ice cream off the boy's face with a wad of tissues, and the boy sniffles. “Ahjussi,” he says. The title has Baekhyun bristling slightly. “Can I watch cartoons?”

“Alright, first of all,” Baekhyun says, trying to keep his voice from being too harsh lest he make the kid cry again. “I'm not that old, okay? Call me 'hyung'. Secondly...” Here, he casts a redundant look at the clock hanging on the wall in the kitchen – redundant because he already knows it's Way Too Late for this kid to still be up and about. “...you should really go home. I'm sure it's past your bedtime.” Not to mention the fact that his mom and dad are probably looking for him, but the boy hadn't exactly reacted very well the last time Baekhyun brought up his parents, so he decides not to say that last part out loud. The boy pouts again, crosses his small arms over his small chest again, and Baekhyun relents for no reason other than not wanting to have to deal with a weeping child. “Ugh. Fine. What do you want to watch, then? Pororo? You people love Pororo, right?”

The boy huffs. “Pororo is for kids,” he says with a tone as if Baekhyun has offended him greatly with his ignorant assumption.

“You are a kid,” Baekhyun deadpans. “What are you, like, four?”

“Five and a half!” the boy protests, puffing out his chest proudly.

Baekhyun waves a dismissing hand. “Whatever. Same thing.” He ends up turning on the TV and flipping through the channels until he comes across something that looks like it could potentially be a kids' show – even though Baekhyun doesn't know why they would show children's cartoons when it's nearly eleven at night. In any case, it makes the boy perk up in interest, so Baekhyun deems it good enough and leaves it as is.

With the boy distracted, Baekhyun gets off the couch. The boy is captivated enough by the TV that he doesn't even spare Baekhyun a glance, which is probably a good thing. That means he won't notice Baekhyun walking over to his backpack and crouching down to look through his things. There isn't much in it, and whatever's in there seems to have been shoved in without much finesse. The boy probably packed the bag himself. It contains a coloring book, a box of crayons, a folded blanket and an Iron Man action figure. At least the coloring book has the boy's name on it: Oh Sehun.

Baekhyun glances over at the boy, Sehun, and finds him conked out on the couch. He can't help but smile a little. This Sehun kid is pretty cute... when he's asleep. Sehun lets out a snuffling noise, and Baekhyun pulls the blanket out of the backpack and walks over to carefully drape it over Sehun, who immediately curls in on himself, clutching the blanket in tiny, balled fists. Baekhyun's heart twinges before he shakes himself out of it. He doesn't even know Sehun, and Sehun did kind of break into his apartment. He shouldn't be having affectionate feelings towards him. Baekhyun returns to look through the backpack.

At the bottom of it, he finally unearths a laminated piece of paper with Sehun's name and several phone numbers printed on it, and he breathes a sigh of relief. It was exactly something like that he had been hoping to find. Still crouching on the floor, he quickly pulls his own phone out of the pocket of his jeans and dials the numbers next to “mom”, listening to the dial tone. There's no answer. Starting to feel a slight sense of anxiousness, Baekhyun then tries calling “dad”, but he doesn't get a response out of that either. And, just like that, he's starting to get a Really Bad Feeling about this.

As he types in the third number on the list and presses the call button, he looks over at Sehun again. Sehun is still asleep, his features softer, now. Once more Baekhyun wonders how he even got in here, and then why he decided to come here in the first place. He doesn't know Baekhyun, and Baekhyun doesn't know him. This whole thing has been so weird, such a disruption from Baekhyun's monotone life, yet at the same time, it has been... “Hello?”

The sound of a deep voice speaking in a frantic tone tears Baekhyun out of his trail of thought. “Yeah, hi,” he blurts out, standing up straight. “Is this...” He glances down at the paper with the contact information on it. “Is this Uncle Chanyeol?” There's silence on the other end, lasting long enough for Baekhyun to get concerned. “Hello?”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” the guy says. He sounds confused more than angry, though. (He also sounds kind of hot... really hot.) “Who the hell is this?”

Baekhyun clears his throat. “Sorry, I... my name is Byun Baekhyun, and I have your kid... uh, not like that! I mean, I think your kid is at my place. Oh Sehun?”

“Sehun-ah is with you?” Chanyeol says, and right away, he sounds infinitely less tense. “Oh my god. Is he okay? Where is he?”

“I think he's fine,” Baekhyun says. “He's sleeping on my couch right now. Wanna come get him?” At Chanyeol's immediate agreement, Baekhyun rattles off his address, still slightly unfamiliar on his lips. He hasn't lived here more than a few weeks, after all. Chanyeol is silent for another moment before letting out a bark of hysterical laughter that has Baekhyun frowning in confusion. “What?”

“Why didn't I think of that?” Chanyeol mutters as if speaking to himself, then says, louder: “I'm coming over, right now. Please don't let Sehun go anywhere.” He has hung up before Baekhyun can confirm or deny anything. Sighing Baekhyun puts down his phone, and he stares longingly in the direction of the kitchen. His One True Love, pizza, is calling his name from the confines of the fridge, but Baekhyun is starting to get the feeling that they won't be reunited tonight.

Baekhyun is wrong. In the time it takes Sehun's so-called uncle to get to the apartment, Baekhyun gives into the temptation and does eat the last slices of his pizza, and it is glorious. He's watching the cartoon he put on for Sehun, gradually realizing that he probably should not have let a child watch this in the first place, when the doorbell rings. He casts a look at the clock as he goes to answer the door. It's been about twenty minutes since he called Chanyeol.

Chanyeol is tall. Chanyeol is tall. That's all Baekhyun can think about as he has to lean his head almost all the way back to look up at Chanyeol's (very attractive) face. There are snowflakes melting in Chanyeol's hair, and in this lighting it kind of sparkles like glitter and makes him look ethereal. Baekhyun is probably staring harder than he should. Fortunately, though, Chanyeol doesn't notice, because he isn't even looking at Baekhyun. He's craning his neck as if trying to look past him, probably eager to see Sehun. “Are you Chanyeol?” Baekhyun asks just for the sake of confirmation. It would be pretty awkward if he gave this stranger's kid away to another stranger.

“Huh?” Chanyeol says. His voice is even deeper than it had been over the phone. It makes Baekhyun feel embarrassingly swoony. “Oh, uh, yeah. That's me. Sehun is here, right?” Baekhyun nods and steps aside to let Chanyeol enter, and Chanyeol just barely remembers to take off his snow-covered boots in his hurry to rush over to the couch where Sehun is still fast asleep. He drops to his knees, one large hand gently caressing Sehun's hair, and he breathes a shaky sigh of relief. “Oh thank god. Thank god you're okay.”

Baekhyun hovers awkwardly in the background. He feels like he's encroaching on an intimate, personal moment, which is stupid, to be honest, because this is his apartment, and if anyone is encroaching it's this unfamiliar child and his equally unfamiliar uncle. “I fed him Melona,” Baekhyun says, folding his arms. “I hope he's not allergic or something.” Chanyeol shakes his head, attention still fastened on Sehun. Baekhyun walks a little closer. “He was here when I came home from work tonight. Don't know how he got in.”

“He probably still has a key,” Chanyeol mutters, and Baekhyun can feel his eyebrows shoot upwards in surprise. Chanyeol goes on to explain: “Sehun used to live here with his parents, my sister and her husband. We might have forgotten to give the key back when they moved out.”

“I see.” When Baekhyun was in the process of renting this apartment, he never actually met the previous inhabitants, but he does remember the landlord mentioning a couple and their son living here before him. Things are starting to make more sense, now.

Chanyeol's expression is serious as he watches over a sleeping Sehun. “I'm taking care of him while his parents are out of town for some sort of company Christmas party. I wouldn't let him have his dessert before he had done his homework. He got angry and said he was going to run away. I didn't believe him until I went to his room a while later to give him dessert anyway because I felt bad and found out that he was gone.” He sighs and hangs his head. “Man, I'm so bad with kids.”

“I accidentally let him watch South Park,” Baekhyun admits, and Chanyeol snaps his head around to look at him in horror. Baekhyun sweats nervously. “Uhhh, he fell asleep pretty fast, though, so he didn't really see much. I think.” It's the first time since Chanyeol arrived that they've actually made eye contact, and Chanyeol is staring so long and so hard with such an intense gaze, it's making Baekhyun uncharacteristically flustered. He forces out a chuckle. “What? Is there something on my face?” He follows with his eyes as Chanyeol pokes out his tongue to wet his (super soft-looking) lips.

“Actually, there is,” Chanyeol says, touching the corner of his own mouth. “Right here. Tomato, maybe?”

Baekhyun blanches and quickly wipes at his face with the back of his hand. There's a smear of red sauce when he pulls it away. . Way to make an impression on the hot guy, Byun Baekhyun. “Okay, I may or may not have ed half a pizza before you got here, don't judge me.”

Chanyeol looks startled for just a moment, looks like he wants to say something, but then Sehun stirs on the couch, and Chanyeol snaps his mouth shut in favor of smiling a soft smile at Sehun, who's rubbing his eyes. “Uncle Chanyeol?” he says blearily.

“Hey, buddy,” Chanyeol says. “You alright?” He's Sehun's hair, and he sounds so gentle and so sweet and so kind. If Baekhyun had ovaries, they would probably be singing right now.

Sehun whimpers, his lower lip jutting out, and his voice sounds as wet as his eyes look when he says: “I'm sorry I ran away, uncle Chanyeol, I'm really sorry, please don't be mad at me.”

“Hey, hey, shhh.” Chanyeol lifts Sehun off the couch and into his arms, rocking him back and forth. “It's okay, it's okay. I found you, didn't I?” Sehun nods. “And you're alright?” Sehun nods again, and Chanyeol smiles despite the fact that Sehun can't see it with his face pressed into Chanyeol's neck. Baekhyun can definitely see it, though, and it's making his heart beat at an alarming rate. Chanyeol is really hot. “Then everything is okay.” For a while longer, he hugs Sehun, sitting there on Baekhyun's living room floor, and it's honestly really cute, but also really awkward for Baekhyun, who doesn't know what to do with himself. He clears his throat as inconspicuously as possibly (which isn't really inconspicuous at all). At least it seems to make Chanyeol remember where he is and what he's doing. He smiles at Sehun and says: “Ready to come back home with me?”

“Yeah,” Sehun says, nodding. Chanyeol stands up and reaches out his hand for Sehun to take. He's so tall, he has to bend his knees slightly just so Sehun can reach. The realization of just how tall Chanyeol is instantly fills Baekhyun's mind with the sort of thoughts he quickly shoves away because he feels wrong thinking things like that when there are children present.

Sehun insists on putting on his clothes himself, and Chanyeol relents way too easily. Of course he does. He definitely seems like the type who would crumble at the first sign of a pout, and Baekhyun finds himself mentally filing that information away, even though he doesn't know why. It's not like he's going to see Chanyeol again or anything.

Baekhyun's train of thought is derailed when he feels a small touch. He looks down in time to see Sehun with a focused expression on his face as he wraps Chanyeol's hand around Baekhyun's. Baekhyun snaps his head up to stare at Chanyeol. The tips of Chanyeol's (cute) big ears have turned red. “Sehun-ah,” he says in an exasperated tone.

“So your hand doesn't get lonely,” Sehun says matter-of-factly and turns around before Chanyeol can say anything else. Chanyeol casts an apologetic glance at Baekhyun, who just smiles and shrugs. He considers making a comment about how this is the most action he has gotten all year but decides that would probably be inappropriate. Instead he stays quiet and just focuses on the feeling of Chanyeol's big, warm hand enveloping his, and he tries very hard not to think about what hands like these could do to him.

They watch Sehun struggling to put on his shoes. Chanyeol and Baekhyun are both silent, and it's starting to get kind of awkward, them just standing there holding hands without speaking, so Baekhyun asks: “Do you play guitar or something?”

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Chanyeol looking at him in surprise. “How did you know?”

“Your fingers are calloused,” Baekhyun says, unconsciously caressing the hardened skin.

“Sorry.”

“No, I like it,” Baekhyun says, but quickly corrects himself once he realizes how compromising that sounds (even though it's true). “I mean, playing guitar is cool. I play a bit of piano myself.”

“You do have the hands for it,” Chanyeol mutters, flushing immediately afterwards.

Baekhyun smiles. “Thanks?” he says, and Chanyeol lets out a meek laugh. They look at each other for a while. Chanyeol appears as though he wants to say something, but then Sehun finally gives up trying to zip up his jacket and asks Chanyeol to do it for him, and Chanyeol has to pull his hand out of Baekhyun's to comply. Baekhyun feels inexplicably disappointed by the loss. He shoves his hands into his pockets instead.

Soon, Sehun is fully dressed in jacket and boots and the long scarf Chanyeol wraps around his neck despite miffed protests. Sehun's bag is packed, his blanket folded up and put back in, and Chanyeol turns to Baekhyun again. “Thank you so much. For taking care of Sehun-ah, and for calling me. I don't know what I would have done without you.”

“Thank you for the ice cream, ahjussi,” Sehun says. Baekhyun resists the urge to scowl at him.

“It's no problem,” Baekhyun says. “Glad I could help.” Even if he had been looking forward to that Melona.

Chanyeol lingers. He still looks like he wants to say something, and Baekhyun waits for it, but then Sehun is tugging on Chanyeol's hand. “Uncle Chanyeol, can we go home, please? I'm sleepy.” And there's that pout again, the one Chanyeol can't say no to. His shoulders slump, and he gives in, and whichever words were on his tongue remain unspoken.

Baekhyun stands in the doorway and waves at them all the way until the elevator door closes. When he walks back into his living room, it feels empty now that he's alone again. The tacky Christmas garland, arguable the most festive item Baekhyun owns, looks oddly forlorn taped to the wall above his TV.

It's about an hour into Baekhyun's late afternoon nap two days later when he is brutally yanked out of his sleep. The bookstore has closed down for the holidays, and he has a week off, which he plans on spending mostly in bed, if he can get away with it. But now his phone is ringing. He groans, pawing at the sheets at random until his hand finds the offensive object, and he has half a mind to hurl it across the room, but he chooses to answer it instead. “What?”

“Uh,” a deep voice says, and Baekhyun is immediately fifty percent more awake. “Hello.”

“Chanyeol-ssi?” Baekhyun never thought he'd hear from him again. It's not that he hasn't been thinking (he has... a lot) about calling Chanyeol, he just didn't think it would okay for him to do so. Apparently he was wrong about that assumption.

Chanyeol chuckles sheepishly. “Yeah. Sorry, did I call at a bad time?” Baekhyun lets out a muffled, groggy gurgling noise that could honestly mean anything. He's too bleary and taken aback to form actual words right now. “I just... I'm really grateful. I wanted to maybe buy you dinner? To thank you for looking out for Sehun-ah. Or, you know... something like that.”

Finally cracking one eye open, Baekhyun peers at the window. It's still snowing just as heavily as it had been when he first burrowed into the sheets for his nap an hour ago, and he groans as he rolls himself into a blanket burrito. “But it's so cooold. Don't wanna go outside.” If he had been more lucid, he might have reconsidered using such a whiney tone with someone who is essentially a stranger. Then again, maybe he wouldn't. He kind of has a history of being shameless. Whatever, his aegyo is cute, anyway.

“Oh.” Does Chanyeol sound disappointed? Chanyeol definitely sounds disappointed. It makes Baekhyun want to take his words back, but then Chanyeol goes on to say: “Uh. I guess I can get some food and come over to your place?”

Baekhyun definitely isn't awake enough to properly register that suggestion, which is probably also the only reason why he replies with a: “Sure.” Chanyeol sounds excited as he announces he'll be there in about an hour, and they hang up. Not until then does Baekhyun realize that one, this means he has to actually get out of bed, and two, neither him nor the apartment are in any state to entertain guests at the moment. He groans into his pillow.

Like the true procrastinator he is, Baekhyun ends up lazing in bed long enough that he only barely has time to wash his face, brush his teeth and clean up the worst trash in his living room before Chanyeol is at the door. He looks a lot less frazzled today, but no less attractive when he smiles at Baekhyun. “Hey,” he says, holding up the takeout bag in his hand. “I hope it's okay that I got us Italian food. You seemed to really like pizza, what with the whole, uh... ing. Thing.”

“Me and pizza are in a truly complicated relationship,” Baekhyun sighs. He gestures for Chanyeol to come inside and takes the food from him to let him divest himself of his clothes. “No Sehun?”

“His parents came home today and took him off my hands. Disappointed?”

Baekhyun makes a noncommittal noise. “He was good company. But I'm sure you will be as well.” Chanyeol has finally taken off his coat, and Baekhyun now sees that he is wearing an ugly Christmas sweater with matching socks. Baekhyun can't decide if it's kind of cute or super hideous. He says as much to Chanyeol, who looks down at his own lanky body and shrugs, wide-eyed. “Both?” Baekhyun suggests with a grin.

“Both.” Chanyeol nods. “Both is good.”

Thankfully, the apartment isn't as much of a disaster as Baekhyun had feared it would be, although that's most likely mostly due to the fact that he still hasn't unpacked all his boxes after moving in. If anything, Baekhyun is the disaster with his hair that he just barely managed to run his fingers through before the doorbell rang and his sleepwear that should without a doubt have been washed several sleeps ago because it is now on the verge of developing a sentience of its own. “Sorry about the me,” Baekhyun says. “You caught me mid-nap and I'm lazy when I'm on holiday, and I also don't really have enough shame in me to be embarrassed, so.”

“It's fine,” Chanyeol says. “You still look cute.” He reaches out and pats down Baekhyun's messy hair, but pulls his hand away and flushes when he remembers it's probably not appropriate to pet a stranger. That's a win, though, that's definitely a win. Procrastination: one, looking presentable: zero?

Baekhyun flashes his cutest eye smile. “Thanks, you're not so bad yourself. But I still think I'm gonna go change into something a little less crusty. I'll be right back.”

This isn't a big deal. Chanyeol is barely an acquaintance, and Baekhyun is a pro at charming people, anyway, so it's not like he needs to put a lot of effort into picking the right clothes to wear for this... whatever them having dinner together means. He doesn't spend long choosing his outfit, he really doesn't, yet by the time he makes it back to the living room, Chanyeol has busied himself looking through Baekhyun's collection of movies. He's crouching to look at the lower shelves, but stands up quickly once he hears Baekhyun approaching. “You're back,” he says.

Baekhyun nods. “I sure am.” If he had been any more shy, he might have blushed under the long onceover Chanyeol gives him. Good thing he's shameless. He strikes a pose, one hand on his hip, the other coming up to let his forefinger and thumb form an L under his chin, and Chanyeol seems to catch himself, then, looking away with a flush dusting his cheekbones. Cute.

“I wanted to set the table, but your kitchen is pretty empty.” Chanyeol sounds apologetic. As if it's his fault that Baekhyun is a mess.

“Yeah, I know,” Baekhyun says, scratching the back of his head. “I'm still not completely settled in here.” Even though it's been close to four weeks since he moved in and he should have unpacked his most essential items by now. Such as plates. And pans. And utensils. Whatever. At least he has managed to put up some more Christmas decorations since Chanyeol was last here – more garlands, more fake snow, more figurines, a small plastic Christmas tree standing in the corner of the living room with gaudy baubles and multicolored lights. Priorities and all.

“It's fine,” Chanyeol is quick to assure him. “We can just eat out of the containers. I'm not high maintenance.” Baekhyun adds another bullet point to the list of Pros and Cons he keeps in his head. So far, Chanyeol has a lot of the former and nearly none of the latter, which tells Baekhyun that Chanyeol is most likely not into guys. That's the kind of luck Baekhyun always has when it comes to this.

He walks a little closer to glance at the DVD case Chanyeol is still holding in his hands, and he can feel his own face lighting up. “You like Harry Potter?”

“Yeah,” Chanyeol says. That's a pro. “I never got around to watching the last two movies, though.”

Baekhyun sputters. “What? What do you mean you never...?!” What kind of madness is this? Outrageous! He snatches the movie from Chanyeol's grip, and he pokes his finger into Chanyeol's chest and stares him right in the eye as he says: “We're fixing this immediately.” Baekhyun's vaguely threatening tone makes Chanyeol gulp. “Get the grub. It's going to be a while.”

There's... a lot of food. A lot. Baekhyun sits on the couch and stares at all the open containers once they're spread out on his coffee table, taking up almost all the space. He doesn't even know what half the things are. “I may have gone a bit overboard,” Chanyeol says sheepishly as he sits down as well. “I didn't know what you like so I got us a few options.”

“Food. I like food. Especially if it's free.” Besides, it's hard to go wrong with cheese and sauce and carbs. Baekhyun points to one of the containers filled with spaghetti and looks at Chanyeol with a smug smile. “You only got this to have an excuse to Lady and the Tramp it with me, didn't you?” he accuses.

It's kind of cute how Chanyeol's ears almost match the color of the tomato sauce they're about to eat. “Oh yeah, definitely,” he says in an unapologetic tone, despite the fact that he's visibly flustered. “But you should know that I refuse to stick my nose into any meatballs.” Baekhyun grins. He always liked a guy, who could give as good as he gets. That's another one for the pro list.

Over the span of the nearly two and a half hours it takes to watch the seventh Harry Potter movie, they somehow manage to get through most of the food. Maybe, in hindsight, they should have talked over dinner instead. It would have been a good opportunity for Baekhyun to get to know Chanyeol better, and at the same time he could have worked his charms and seduced Chanyeol. Taking in Chanyeol's vivid expressions as he reacts to one of Baekhyun's favorite movies is pretty good as well, though. A casual, relaxed hangout session with low expectations where Baekhyun can be himself and not worry too much about making a good impression. Yeah. This is good.

Once the movie has ended, Baekhyun groans, leaning back on the couch with one hand pressed against his own stomach, which he swears is bulging out more than it was earlier. He really shouldn't have had that last garlic bread. “I think I'm gonna die.”

“I can't believe they killed off Dobby,” Chanyeol says quietly. Baekhyun glances at him and finds him staring emptily at the screen where the credits are rolling. “And Hedwig. They killed Hedwig, what the .”

To be honest, Baekhyun had seen Chanyeol blinking back tears during a couple of scenes, but he had pretended not to notice cause he's a True Bro like that. He smiles solemnly and doesn't tell Chanyeol that the final movie is going to be even more heartbreaking. “I can't believe you've accomplished to go unspoiled this entire time. People are bad with character death.”

“What the ,” Chanyeol says again. He runs a hand through his hair like he's frustrated. “This is so not cool. What's next, are they gonna murder one of the ing twins or something?” Baekhyun bites the inside of his cheek to keep quiet. Chanyeol seems to mistake Baekhyun's silence for displeasure, and he looks sheepish about his outburst. “Sorry. I just loved Dobby a lot.”

“I can't imagine why,” Baekhyun deadpans as he lazily reaches up to give one of Chanyeol's ears a light tug, making Chanyeol scowl at him playfully. At least there's a smile on his face again. Chanyeol has a nice smile. Shaking his head to get rid of unwarranted thoughts, Baekhyun stretches his arms above his head until his shoulders give a satisfying crack. “Wanna watch the last one while I try not to explode from eating too much?”

“Oh!” Chanyeol exclaims as if he suddenly remembered something. “I put the cake in your fridge!”

“Cake,” Baekhyun repeats meekly. He's almost afraid to ask. He never knew such an innocent word with such positive connotations could sound so oddly ominous.

As it turns out, Chanyeol has bought them an entire ing Christmas cake, complete with tacky decorations and all. “Pretty, right?” he says proudly as he places it on the coffee table after cleaning up all the food containers (pro: Chanyeol doesn't mind taking out the trash). Baekhyun isn't sure whether to laugh or cry, so he settles for slumping against Chanyeol's side with a groan once Chanyeol has sat down again. If Baekhyun dies today from overeating, then so be it.

He ends up needing the reinforcement, anyway, for the part where Harry Potter walks through the halls of Hogwarts and sees all the people, who died fighting the Death Eaters. Baekhyun feels that telltale lump in his throat and tries to push it down with a giant mouthful of cake. He's a grown man, he shouldn't be crying over the death of fictional characters, but, alas, here come the tears. “This scene always gets to me,” Baekhyun mumbles, slightly embarrassed as he has to wipe at his cheeks with the sleeves of his sweater.

“Yeah,” Chanyeol says, his voice suspiciously wavering as well. “. I was kidding about the twins.” Baekhyun just sniffles. , why is he still crying? He has watched this movie so many times, he shouldn't be crying over this anymore, not to mention the fact that it's probably not a good impact to make on someone you're lowkey trying to impress. Baekhyun's hand is resting between them on the couch, and Chanyeol reaches out to pat it a few times as if in an attempt to console him, and, okay, maybe this whole crying thing isn't so bad after all. Especially not when Chanyeol kind of just... doesn't pull away. When Baekhyun looks at Chanyeol in question, he simply shrugs. “My hand was lonely.”

Even through his tears, Baekhyun snorts. “So that's where Sehun got it from, huh?” He flips his hand over and links his fingers with Chanyeol's. Two can play that game. Even if it makes his heart palpitate and his stomach lurch, though that's probably just the food. It's not like Baekhyun has Feelings for Chanyeol or anything.

“He may or may not have heard me using it as a pickup line once. Or twice. Or a few times.”

Baekhyun brushes his thumb along one of Chanyeol's fingers. “Does that usually work?”

Chanyeol huffs. “I'm single,” he says. “So you tell me.” Pro: Chanyeol is single. Con: Chanyeol is, apparently, a flirt.

(Pro: Holding Chanyeol's hand is really nice.)

Throughout the rest of the movie, Baekhyun ends up watching Chanyeol more than he does the screen. He has seen the entire Harry Potter series so many times he knows them all by heart, anyway, and seeing Chanyeol's expressions – his widening eyes, the furrow of his brow, how his mouth takes different shapes as he smiles and pouts and frowns and gawks and laughs – is an experience in and of itself.

The movie comes to an end with lines Baekhyun can mouth along to even while only halfway paying attention to the movie, and when the final scene fades and the credits start, Chanyeol falls back against the couch with a vacant expression. Baekhyun knows the feeling. He decides to give him a couple of minutes to digest everything, turns off the TV once the DVD cycles back to the main menu, and thus they sit in silence. “So?” Baekhyun asks when he feels the quiet has lasted long enough (when he feels that sitting there still holding hands without speaking has become borderline awkward). “What do you think?”

“Amazing,” Chanyeol says. He's staring up at the ceiling. “Thank you for making me watch that.”

“Any time,” Baekhyun says. “I'm honestly always up for watching Harry Potter.” He hesitates for a heartbeat, then: “Maybe next time we can have a marathon. Watch all of them.” He's been looking straight at Chanyeol this whole time, so he sees the expression on Chanyeol's face when he turns to Baekhyun. It's surprise. Perhaps a bit of hopeful elation, or maybe that's just Baekhyun projecting. He also sees how Chanyeol's eyes drop to his mouth, and his heart rate picks up approximately three hundred percent because of it. He parts his lips just slightly in that way he knows makes them look so soft and inviting, and when Chanyeol sits up straighter, Baekhyun can tell it's working the way it's supposed to. His breath hitches when Chanyeol leans just the tiniest tad closer.

But then Chanyeol grins. “Are you doing this on purpose or are you just a messy eater?” A large hand (the one that's not holding Baekhyun's, cause they're still ing holding hands) lifts and Chanyeol's thumb swipes the corner of Baekhyun's mouth. There's a dollop of white cream on it when he pulls away, probably from the cake. Baekhyun resists the urge to curse because this is the second ing time he has tried being y, only for it to be ruined by his reckless eating habits.

Fortunately, Chanyeol seems amused more than disgusted, even though Baekhyun certainly is disgusted with himself. Chanyeol's eyes are dancing, giving away his playful nature. They go dark when they fall to look at Baekhyun's mouth again, though. The electric tension in the air between them makes Baekhyun feel like he's suffocating, so he scoffs. “I swear to god, if you do that gross, cliché thing where you brush food off my face and then eat it, I'm legitimately going to ask you to leave.” And just like that it's broken. Chanyeol looks startled for a moment, then laughs sheepishly as he pulls away to wipe the cream off his thumb with a napkin instead, and Baekhyun is left with a hand that suddenly feels too cold without Chanyeol's to hold it and self-deprecating curses burning bitterly at the back of his tongue.

“Well,” Chanyeol mutters. “I should get going, anyway. It's gotten pretty late, and I promised my sister I'd help her with preparations tomorrow, which most likely means finding a way to entertain Sehun and not getting in the way while her and my mom do everything else.” He's not looking Baekhyun in the eye at all. Baekhyun wants to say something to fix this situation and lighten the mood he has ruined, he really does, but he doesn't know what. So he ends up merely nodding, and he leads Chanyeol to the front door to see him out. .

They're silent as Chanyeol puts on his clothes – a thick coat, heavy boots that make him even taller, a red- and white-striped scarf wrapping around his neck several times. The snow has been steadily falling throughout the night. It's probably cold out. All bundled up, Chanyeol turns to Baekhyun, who smiles softly. “Well,” Baekhyun says. “Thanks for dinner.”

“You're welcome,” Baekhyun thinks Chanyeol replies, but it's muffled by the scarf, which Chanyeol pushes down to continue: “Thanks for not immediately freaking out and yelling at Sehun the other day even though he kind of broke into your apartment. He was cold and scared and lost. Thanks for handling him so well. For being so kind.”

Baekhyun shrugs. “It was only cause I was too tired to kick him out,” he says, adding immediately when he sees Chanyeol's horrified expression: “Kidding! Of course I wouldn't have kicked out a child.” He thought about it, sure, but he's not that heartless. “He's, like, four.”

“Five and a half,” Chanyeol mutters, almost as if he has been conditioned to automatically give that response. His mind certainly looks like it's somewhere else, a distant look in his eyes as he stares off to the side, contemplating. Then he looks at Baekhyun. He does a couple of false starts, like he has a question, but is unsure how to phrase it, and then, finally: “This might be a bit short notice, but I was wondering if you have any plans for Christmas Eve?” Well. Baekhyun does kind of have plans. He plans to get drunk off cheap box wine by himself and pass out before ten, just like he has done the past few years. He doesn't exactly want to tell Chanyeol that, though.

“Not really,” he says instead.

“Oh good. I wanted... I mean, Sehun wanted me to you invite you to our Christmas dinner tomorrow.”

Baekhyun chooses not to acknowledge his initial slip of the tongue. “Won't that be awkward?”

“Not if you come as... as my date.” Baekhyun can feel his eyes widen. Sure, he's been flirting pretty unabashedly with Chanyeol, because Chanyeol is attractive and flirting is fun, and even though Baekhyun knows he's cute as heck, he didn't expect Chanyeol to actually reciprocate (he also kind of thought he had ruined all his chances by ruining the moment earlier). Chanyeol is smiling, but his cheeks are a rosy pink above the scarf, and the longer Baekhyun stays silent, the more strained Chanyeol's smile gets. “It's okay, you can say no if you want to.”

“No!” Baekhyun says quickly, and Chanyeol's face drops. Baekhyun backpedals. “I mean, yes. I mean, no, I don't want to say no. I'm...” He cuts himself off. He's rambling and it needs to stop. Sweaty palms, racing heart, butterflies going on a rampage in his tumbling tummy. He takes a deep breath to steady himself and says: “Yes. I would like to be your date.”

“Are you sure?” Chanyeol sounds relieved and hopeful, yet at the same time uncertain. “You don't have to feel pressured or anything, I only asked because I think you-you're r-really cute and I'm, like, super attracted to you, and you were really nice to Sehun, and he seems to really like you as well, which is definitely a plus, so I decided to take the chance and ask you out, but if you don't feel the same way and I've just made things super awkward, we're still strangers enough that I can just leave right now, and we never have to see each other ag–”

Baekhyun raises a hand to silence Chanyeol, who immediately goes quiet. “Stop,” Baekhyun says anyway. “I said yes. I want to go. I'm going, and that's final.” Another pro is that Chanyeol's big eyes always seem to give away how he feels, and right now he looks happy. He also looks like he wants to say something but doesn't know how with the way he does that thing again where he opens and closes his mouth several times before finally settling for omitting words completely and pulling Baekhyun into a hug instead. Baekhyun melts into it like he belongs there.

(Pro: Chanyeol smells nice. Con: Chanyeol fills Baekhyun with a myriad of unwelcome emotions.)

There are thoughts swirling in Baekhyun's mind of how he would love to stay like this for a long time, snug and warm in Chanyeol's embrace, but they are abruptly interrupted by the feeling of Chanyeol's lips pressing a kiss to his forehead... which is totally sappy and cheesy, and the only reason why Baekhyun's stomach is flipping is definitely because he finds it so disgusting. “I'm glad.” Chanyeol's voice is quiet. Baekhyun hears it loud and clear nonetheless. “I can't stop thinking about you.”

“Gross,” Baekhyun mutters, but he has to burrow his face into Chanyeol's shoulder to hide his pleased smile. They pull away, locking eyes. The way Chanyeol looks at Baekhyun is, once again, making Baekhyun uncharacteristically flustered, and he refuses to relent his control of the situation. So he grabs the ends of Chanyeol's scarf, yanks him down, revels in the startled expression on his face for just a moment, before leaning in to press a kiss to the very corner of Chanyeol's mouth. “Get home safe.”

Even after Baekhyun has let go and taken half a step back, Chanyeol remains in the same slightly lowered position. He's definitely staring at Baekhyun's mouth again. “You too,” he mumbles. He catches his own blunder right away, wincing. “I mean... .”

Baekhyun can't help but laugh. “You're cute.” He tugs on Chanyeol's ear, and Chanyeol wrinkles his nose. That's cute, too. Chanyeol is just... cute. “See you tomorrow? Will you come pick me up?”

“Yeah,” Chanyeol says. “Yeah. I'll text you when I get home so we can... figure things out.” He sounds like he's still struggling to wrap his mind around everything. Baekhyun bites his bottom lip to conceal a grin.

Once again, Baekhyun stands in the doorway to wave at Chanyeol, and when he's out of sight, Baekhyun closes the front door, leaning his back against it and letting out a sigh of content. It's gross and cliché, and he would usually never allow himself or anyone else to be so sappy, but no one is here to witness this disgusting display of emotions. It's Christmas, and for the first time in years, Baekhyun doesn't have to spend it alone because he has a date with a cute guy.

“Merry ing Christmas to me,” he whispers to the empty apartment, and the Christmas lights above the TV seem to twinkle with joy.

~*~

A/N: leaving this here slightly early because I am going to be spending my christmas is sweden. \o/ this story could have been much shorter than it is because their whole italian food/harry potter date is preeetty much pointless, but my brain demanded more christmas! more baekyeol!!! more everything!!!!! as a result, I ended up writing 7400 words in three weeks (a great feat for me!!). I guess I can't complain too much. :)))))

I could tell you about how this story came to be, how the Writing Wolf came along and grabbed the Plot Bunny and ran away with it, but I honestly cannot for the life of me remember when and how this even popped into my head in the first place, and I also don't know what is even going on in this story anymore, lmfao. I won't say anything other than merry christmas, happy holidays, or... a very lovely whichever occasion you celebrate at this time of the year. have some disgusting baekyeol to get you through these days of anxiety and stress:

as usual, the title has been sneakily stolen from a song I enjoy because I am uncreative and unoriginal like that. in this case, the song is this one:

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