we make a great pear

There’s a family joke the Byun’s always titter about during gatherings that Baekhyun thinks is more of a jinx: “Your hyung Baekbom must have taken all your mother’s nutrients when she fed him, Baekhyun – no wonder he’s grown so tall and you haven’t!”

(And so cue Baekhyun laughing and crying at the same time as the entire Byun household guffaws around the table, his older brother, Baekbom, perhaps the loudest.)

It’s never really been too great of a problem in everyday life; like others, he can get around just fine. 174 centimeters isn’t even that short anyway, he argues. Not as tall as others, sure, but not laughably tiny to the point where there is more than a second difference between the rain falling on him and on his friends. Really, there is no harm done to his wellbeing because he is kind of maybe petite for a guy with such a large mouth. He is not suffering from internal bleeding and he is not slowly deteriorating due to liver problems. The world spins perfectly fine with or without Baekhyun existing as a tall and built 184cm man, and, put frankly, people like him for it too, think that his height matches his silly personality. Baekhyun often reassures himself with this fact.

Some days, though, he does feel inexplicably small. Or most days, to be frank, after he first enters the building to SM Entertainment. Easy example: when he first bumps into his to-be roommate Park Chanyeol.

The thing is, Baekhyun has never had too big of a problem with confidence before. He isn’t afraid to be on stage and belt out notes or bust a lame joke to an unresponsive crowd; he’s outgoing and likes to pull pranks and tease his friends. But when this confidence has to be in parallel to height; when the level of his physical worth is measured by the darn-blasted centimeters he is away from the ground, Baekhyun shrivels. He realizes, with a dreadfully long sigh, that it’s not really a problem, his height, until it actually starts to matter.

(And thus tumbles in trouble.) The idiot, Park Chanyeol, in all his long-limbed glory, crashes over and onto him during some dance practice to mysteriously satanic music (Mama, mama it keeps chanting; it scares the living out of Baekhyun to be honest). He’s walking into the practice room for the first time in all his tiny-bodied life, and then out of nowhere: in slams Chanyeol; in slams the lankiest boy he has ever had to associate himself with; in slams this chunk of hunk worth everything. he. isn’t.

“Sorry!” giant oaf with surprisingly deep voice apologizes. Baekhyun’s eyes sigh as they follow Chanyeol’s body up, up, up, as he stretches himself back to full height again after falling. “I’m super clumsy. Clumsy Park Chanyeol, they call me,” he beams, outstretching a lengthy arm with a laugh as he collects himself again, “You must be the new trainee Junmyeon hyung was talking about. What’s your name?”

Becoming friends with giant Park Chanyeol, as surprising as it is considering Baekhyun likes to keep his friends on his level of atmospheric pressure (the next person to ask him how the “weather is down there” will receive a fistful of fury straight to their crotch), is easy. He gets his lame jokes, makes even lamer ones himself, tumbles over his own clown feet and over completely flat surfaces especially in the mornings after nights spent practicing until inhumane hours. They’re always together, more or less, since they live in the same neighborhood and because they are also part of the same training team, and rumors even say that he will be debuting within the year along with the group of boys Chanyeol had been dancing with when Baekhyun first entered the room. Personality-wise, Chanyeol is all the fun Baekhyun ever needs, and it’s when they spend hours into the night laughing at inside jokes in the dark with Junmyeon yelling at them to shut up that he forgets about how scrutinized he is in the company. Though, just when he is about to think his being 174 is okay, Minho and Yunho sunbae walk into the practice room and intimidate him without saying a single word; intimidate him even if they compliment how fast he’s catching up with the others. Baekhyun knows they don’t mind him being more geared towards adorable than hot material due to his height, but he feels self-conscious anyway.

But perhaps, Baekhyun thinks, that is why one of his favorite things about Chanyeol is that he doesn’t cross the line when he makes jokes about him. He teases by resting his arm on his shoulder with a smirk or by manhandling him in their dorm living room during movie nights with the others, but he never stabs at his insecurities in a way that makes him feel offended. The stylists, they fuss over him sometimes, bickering amongst each other about whether or not they should let him wear insoles in his shoes like he isn’t even present and listening. Of course in truth, Baekhyun is completely fine with the gap when he stands next to some of his fellow peers like Kris and Tao, but the directors in charge of their physical appearance aren’t, and that’s what ticks him off.

Chanyeol doesn’t quite seem to like his height either; Baekhyun finds out through many silly episodes; for the reason that it is so hard to control. Baekhyun would say he’s lucky he doesn’t have to stress over appearing like a midget on screen (Chanyeol hits him whenever he says this), but Chanyeol doesn’t grumble about his problems like Baekhyun does in the first place. In many ways, the vocal is grateful that his tall friend listens to all his rambles whenever they come back from meetings with the makeup committee. Chanyeol is loud by nature, but when Baekhyun needs a pair of ears to listen to him, Chanyeol lends his without hesitation. But still, even though the rapper empathizes with him like a mother, Baekhyun knows there’s a sort of suspicious glint in his eyes when he towers over him in the subway on the days they are allowed to go home, and teases, “Like the smell of my armpit?”

Of course the idiot thinks it’s funny that Baekhyun has a VIP nose pass to his underarm when they are standing with one hand on the handrails. Of course.

“Park Chanyeol, don’t you dare–”

Before he even gets to finish speaking, his already-grimy face gets smothered with a fresh load of Park Chanyeol’s rather unhygienic man hairs as the younger laughs obnoxiously from above. Steam rising in his ears, Baekhyun roars with a volume biologically impossible in ratio to his small body, muffled by Chanyeol’s pits, “I am going to bite your ing skin off!”

(But of course he doesn’t because Chanyeol backs away with a finishing wheeze of laughter and also apologizes with the most ridiculously resplendent smile that it makes Baekhyun stumble.)

When they debut under a subgroup named EXO-K, Chanyeol and Baekhyun are given a room to themselves while the others split into two’s in the leftover rooms.

Airports are always war zones now that they’re quite well-known with a decent fan base for a rookie group. Chanyeol and Baekhyun always end up pasted together like a brand new Velcro as soon as they exit the plane, always close because they sit next to each other in the rides to and from China. Because of his height, Baekhyun finds himself swimming across a sea of dense bodies, eyes blurring before him at the many colors of shirts, and it makes him slightly dizzy due to the fact that there is so much mass surrounding him accompanied by a dozen camera flashes by the second. Behind him, though, Chanyeol chuckles and lands a sturdy hand on his shoulder, guiding him through the crowd as he asks people to excuse them through. When he would otherwise be shrinking away from the chaos around him, Baekhyun laughs because Chanyeol leans down to whisper nonsense into his ear, leading him through the loud crowd safe and sound. It’s almost like there is no crowd around them at all.

He likes that Chanyeol can keep him safe, Baekhyun secretly admits that night as he lies quietly in bed, blinking away in the dark as he tries to make out the strong back of Chanyeol sleeping across him. He likes that Chanyeol can wrap his arms around him comfortably and shield him from that many people at one time. And he bites the inside of his cheek when he looks slightly up at Chanyeol the day after, because maybe, maybe those lips catch his eyes a bit more often than they'd used to before.

“I read something online,” Chanyeol says on a day they’re both lounging out in the living room. There is a basket of fruits sent by fans on the tea table, piled by the pound to commemorate their 100 day anniversary since debut. They send things for every occasion, Chanyeol thinks. Sehun'd once got a 2-wheeled Segway scooter for a 100 day anniversary since his first teaser.

Looking up from his phone, Baekhyun gives him a questioning look that tells him to continue.

“It said the ideal height difference for couples is 11 to 14 centimeters,” Chanyeol says, “and guess what? We’re 11 centimeters apart.”

Blinking, Baekhyun turns away.

“Baekhyun,” Chanyeol says in that teasing voice again, inching closer to him with a taunting giggle. He picks out something from the pile of fruits and holds it by his face like a child. “Hey look, we’d make a great pear – get it?”

Chanyeol laughs at his own joke, and Baekhyun would have played along if it weren’t for the blush threatening to choke up his throat.

“You don’t get it? A pair, you know. Pair, pear?” Chanyeol says, pointing between them and then at the fruit in his hand. Baekhyun gives him the stink-eye in response.

“Yeah, but you’re also a great pear with Kyungsoo since there’s 12 centimeters between you two, and also with Junmyeon hyung, Jongdae, and Minseok Hyung, right?”

Chanyeol’s smile slowly drops when he sees a hint of annoyance in Baekhyun’s eyes, dejectedly putting the poor innocent pear back where he had pear-napped it from.

“Geez, I was joking, Baek. No need to get all serious about it,” he says, retreating. Baekhyun blows air into his cheeks silently as he curses himself through the keyboard under his fingers.

Stupid stupid stupid, he types into the message box. Stuuuuupppiiiiidddd.

If Baekhyun could hold a grudge against Park Chanyeol, he swears he would. But it’s not that easy when the younger takes him out to eat at their favorite gogijib (since the beginning of their trainee days) as a way of saying sorry about his joke about the ideal couple height difference and also the many jokes that have come before.

“You can make fun of me all you want, Baekhyun. Any harsh joke and I’ll take it like a man,” he says. Baekhyun truly doesn’t know how he can stay upset at someone so persistent and borderline puppy. Yes, Baekhyun thinks. That’s what Chanyeol is: borderline puppy. Cute golden retriever, he is.

They chat away like usual, Chanyeol occasionally stealing the piece of meat Baekhyun calls dibs on when they start grilling slabs of samgyubsal and chadolbaki (just to earn that little frown of disapproval, a look he has come to find strangely endearing). They play rock-paper-scissors to determine who has to eat the leftover pieces of the gobchang they’d both unknowingly picked off the all-you-can-eat buffet menu, and Baekhyun laughs so hard a little bit of Cola buzzes and burns the back of his nose.

Full to the brim and hearts blazing against the winter wind, Baekhyun and Chanyeol decide to walk back to the dorms, a lucky half-mile away. Chanyeol playfully tugs at the tip of Baekhyun’s beanie to slide it off and the older scowls at him, telling him to stop or else “I’m going to make you call me hyung”. It’s a threat whenever Chanyeol puts their height on the line, Baekhyun wagging his finger at the rapper and saying with firm eyes, “I’m older than you, Park Chanyeol. Don’t forget that just because I’m shorter”. But of course none of Baekhyun’s threats actually work on Chanyeol, and the younger taunts him:

“Hyung,” he says with a toddler voice just to irritate the main vocal, laughing as Baekhyun’s lips thin into a straight line and a fist comes flying toward his arm. It doesn’t hurt when Baekhyun hits him, though, and Chanyeol’s eyes crinkle in amusement as Baekhyun tries to pull the beanie down his head again.

“You twisted it the wrong way,” he chuckles, pausing in his steps to let Baekhyun adjust his knit hat. The older turns it in the opposite direction at this and only frizzes his hair up, ends staticky at the friction. Shaking his head, Chanyeol bats Baekhyun’s hands away and reaches over to pull the beanie off, smoothing down the rising hair before placing it snuggly back on Baekhyun’s head again. All the while, Baekhyun looks down at the floor and then up at Chanyeol again, heart whispering dares into his ear.

“There we go,” Chanyeol says, smiling as he pats the top of Baekhyun’s head just to playfully remind the shorter of the centimeters between them. The older raises himself just slightly on his toes at this and brings himself just that bit closer to Chanyeol.

It’s a frozen moment.

Chanyeol stares directly into Baekhyun’s eyes for the first time, noticing the subtle downward slope at the ends that make him look almost like a bunny; the minuscule mole on the upper right corner of his lips that he’d missed before; the way the tips of his fringes dip perfectly across his forehead. Button nose, he thinks. Baekhyun is so cute.

Eventually, the vocal comes to his senses and slams his forehead – hard – onto Chanyeol’s own before dropping back down on his heels.

“Ow!” Chanyeol yells, immediately recoiling two steps back in a surprised stumble with a hand darting up to rub at his forehead. “Baekhyun, what was that for? Christ, that hurt!”

Clearing his throat, Baekhyun replies with a ridiculous, “Buy me some soju.”

“What?” Chanyeol asks, coming up from his bent position with one eye cringing at the pain coming from the newly formed red lump. “What do you mean soju? You know we’re not allowed to drink alcohol.”

“I know, but I haven’t had a drink in such a long time and I miss being buzzed,” Baekhyun reasons, almost pouting when he saddles up next to the injured Chanyeol to pull his sleeve. “Please Chanyeol?”

“Don’t do this to me,” the rapper says with an exasperated look, knowing very well that Baekhyun is one of the only people in the world excluding his mother and sister who can ask a literal anything from him and get it in the end. “Baekhyun, no.”

“Chanyeoooooool.” Now linking his arm in Chanyeol’s, the vocal leans a head on his shoulder and blinks up at him. “I want soju.”

The younger stiffens like a nutcracker. He thinks in a frenzy: the bunny is close – way too close. He turns his head almost stiffly, almost hesitantly, and when their eyes lock, there is a moment of awkward silence crawling between them again.

“Okay dude, don’t do that,” Chanyeol says, shaking his arm away from Baekhyun’s puppy grasp. When he looks back at his roommate, Chanyeol bites his lip. “It’s… it’s cute. So don’t… do that.”

And for some reason, that shuts Baekhyun up.

At random times of the day, especially when Chanyeol is near him, Baekhyun feels a strange thing. It’s a pulling urge from within to go up and kiss him. Kiss him. He wants to hide himself in Chanyeol’s arms even if he can go through an airport fine on his own now, wants Chanyeol to continue teasing him even if the coordinators have decided that his height is petite enough to be cute and tall enough to pull off their best tight-fitting leather pants. When Chanyeol stands next to him, he can’t stop staring at those lips, at that messy sun-kissed hair, at the way Chanyeol’s eyes slowly slant downward when he glances down at him because he is that much taller, and it kind of drives him nuts.

It’s a problem when Baekhyun comes home late one night due to extra vocal practice and he wants to make himself a midnight snack. It’s a problem because he can’t reach the top cabinet and he’s a little afraid to wake Chanyeol up; a problem that escalates into a really big problem when Chanyeol awakens on his own at all his failed silent banging and leans into his back as he sleepily reaches a lengthy arm into the cabinet. The main vocal stupidly stands there in a parallel line with a numbed and pounding heart as Chanyeol’s warmth rubs comfortably on him, the foreign urge of wanting to hug the giant nagging at him again.

“Can’t… can’t find it,” Chanyeol groans, leveling his heels to the kitchen floor again as he yawns. “I think someone used it and forgot to put it back in. Or maybe didn’t wash it. I dunno.”

Baekhyun’s not even hungry anymore though, a chunk of nervousness filling up his insides as he turns his body slowly to come face to face with a groggy Park Chanyeol ruffling his already-messy bed hair. The rapper rubs at his eyes in a way that makes Baekhyun want to kiss the top of his nose, and his face reddens at the thought and at the second realization of their close proximity. Chanyeol is just inches away from him as he is backed into the stove and counter connected to it, a distance that can be closed in the fraction of a second.

“Chanyeol,” he says, voice threatening to tremble at how rapidly his heart is palpitating, Baekhyun bites as his lips as he grips the counter under his fingers.

Both hands now down by his sides, Chanyeol looks at him with half-lidded eyes, still droopy with sleep. “Hmn?”

Chanyeol’s slightly jutted lips; his slightly slurred speech; his slightly twitching eyes at the brightness of the kitchen light – all of it, all of Chanyeol, overwhelms Baekhyun for a second and before he knows it, he’s leaning in.

It’s not a far stretch, but Baekhyun has to stand on his tippy toes to aim his lips on Chanyeol’s – and… he doesn’t even get there. Halfway up, Baekhyun stumbles and lands awkwardly into the younger’s chest instead, face flushing even more as he squeals the tiniest of squeals at the impact. Now fully awake, Chanyeol blinks.

“… Uh,” he says, not even looking down at Baekhyun but instead facing straight ahead as he talks. He blinks at the awkward staggering of breaths rising in them both, blinks in confusion. “Were you trying to…,” a crinkled eyebrow, “kiss… me?”

Mortified, Baekhyun steps away and attempts to make a run for it (which of course is an unintelligent flight response because they share the same room anyway), but Chanyeol grabs him. This time, he looks down, straight down in that angle that makes Baekhyun’s heart race fifty miles a minute, and damn the height difference, Baekhyun blames silently, cringing at his stupid miscalculation, because it makes Chanyeol just that much more irresistable.

“Were you?”

Eyes casted on the floor, he freezes under Chanyeol’s gaze and doesn’t utter a single word. A sprinkle of pink flitters over his cheeks and ears in embarrassment, Chanyeol watching carefully as Baekhyun squirms in front of him, clearly denying the truth.

“You’re nervous, huh?” Chanyeol says with a startled blinking of eyes, just as rapid as Baekhyun’s.

In defense, Baekhyun tries to look back, straight into Chanyeol’s eyes and tell him no, but when he stares, when he’s put in that eye-lock mode again now that Chanyeol is leaning forward just slightly into him, he can’t say anything.

The tiniest of smiles tugs at Chanyeol’s lips as he closes a couple inches worth’s distance between them, soft, mussed up bangs falling over his forehead in the way that Baekhyun loves (so inviting for him to touch, he’s been thinking lately). “You are so nervous right now.”

“Shut up,” Baekhyun says, wanting to add a scowl to it but helplessly reaching his fingers back to grip the kitchen counter again. His heart races uncomfortably and loudly in his ears, pupils dilating because Chanyeol casts a shadow over him. Once the words leave his mouth, the younger brings a hand up to cup Baekhyun’s face gently, burning the vocal wherever he touches and leans in until –

“Oh god, wait.”

For the second time, Baekhyun closes his eyes at the idiocy of the situation. They are just not destined to kiss, that is it.

“What?” he asks, heart still vibrating.

“I…,” Chanyeol starts, looking away briefly before running an abashed hand through his hair in the back of his head. “I… My breath probably stinks right now. Just woke up so…”

This idiot, Baekhyun thinks, and pulls Chanyeol down by the back of his neck before he can say another word. Cautiously this time, he raises himself to meet at the middle, perhaps trapping their lips in that perfect 5.5 centimeter median between their differing heights, and damn kisses him.

It’s a quick one, truth be told, nothing more than a peck because Baekhyun pulls back just as quickly as he comes, but it’s enough to make him bite back a smile as he dashes at impossible speed toward the bedroom.

And Chanyeol, standing in the kitchen with the cold tiled floor warming underneath his feet, scratches his ear in mild confusion and giddiness as he paints his face with a dumb grin.

               Epilogue:

“Measure my height, Chanyeol! I think I grew an inch!”

“Bull, you’re twenty years old Baekhyun. You’re done growing.”

“Shut up and come here, will you?” Baekhyun calls from the kitchen, socked toes sliding excitedly on the slick floor as he backs himself against the wall with a thick line across. (Baekhyun tries not to remind himself that the particular line is so thick because he draws over the same area every time he measures his height.)

Sighing, Chanyeol drops his game controller and walks with sloppy steps into the kitchen.

“See?” the main vocal says with a grin, pointing backward at a new line above the prominent thick one. “I grew, huh?”

Chanyeol stares for a bit, but when he doesn’t quite see a difference, he looks back at Baekhyun’s smiling face and laughs. “That is like, maybe a millimeter.”

“Hey, hey! Don’t underestimate that millimeter!” the shorter defends, spinning around and nodding his head proudly at the new line. “This is the definition of progress, Park Chanyeol. When all seems lost and futile, this millimeter shall be my hope.”

“Whatever,” said rapper says, shaking his head and chuckling again. He slings an arm over Baekhyun’s shoulder and brings him in a choke hold. “You’ll still never be as tall as me.”

“I object!” Baekhyun cries, arms flapping uselessly as he tries to squirm away. His boyfriend grins at this and holds his head up from the crook of his elbow.

“Stop trying to grow so tall,” he says, giving Baekhyun a pointed look. “I’m serious.”

“Why? I want to breathe a little of your air up there too,” the older says. He gives him the bunny look again.

“Because,” Chanyeol says, releasing him. He steals a kiss to rid Baekhyun of his pout. “I like you like this. I like your height as it is right now.”

Baekhyun blinks up at him, feeling warmly the way Chanyeol’s hands fall on his shoulder. “Are you sure?”

“Of course I am,” Chanyeol says, and this time, he leans down to give the shorter a proper kiss, one that steals Baekhyun’s energetic breath away and replaces it with a sort of soothing calm.

(That night, when Baekhyun is brushing his teeth, Chanyeol comes up behind him and curls his arms around his waist in a hug, resting his chin on the bend of Baekhyun’s neck. The older intertwines his fingers in the giant baby’s hand and leans into him.

“Besides, I like that I get to do this, too,” Chanyeol says. “My huge plushie.”

Of course Baekhyun smacks the oaf at this, but when they’re curled up in the bed together, he doesn’t reject Chanyeol’s warm embrace. It’s a benefit this time, being small.) 

a/n: sorry that this is so short and rushed and not worthy of a gift, but i just thought you deserved at least something. it's approxiamtely 2:38AM right now and i've been out all day so this is the only time i got to post it so sorry that i'm a wheeee bit late! i thought if i posted this tomorrow (in my time zone) your birthday would already pass so my eyes are twitching as i type this right now HAHAH. anyway, i hope you liked this and i'm sorry this is all i've got! T^T hope you got many nice gifts and happy happy birthday once again! congratulations on reaching the fine, fine age of 21 ;)