Baekhyun took a step backwards to admire his handiwork. With his hands, smeared with black, tucked behind his back and his chest puffed out proudly, he looked his art up and down. Yes, it was almost perfect. He just had to put the finishing touches on it and – there! Now it really was perfect.

Joonmyeon was hard to draw, only because Baekhyun had only seen him for a few moments in person. It wasn’t as though he was drawing a portrait of Chanyeol; Baekhyun knew every tiny detail of his face.

Despite the fact that he had drawn – a rather rough – Joonmyeon from memory, Baekhyun was certain that Kris would cherish it. Of course he would. The only thing really missing from the drawing was a cape. Baekhyun had been fighting the urge to add a bright green one since he began the drawing. It looked plain without one.

But Joonmyeon was already Kris’ super hero, even if he didn’t have a cape.

Stooping down, Baekhyun scooped up the drawing, the black on his hands transferring onto the carpet. Squeaking with surprise, Baekhyun attempted to blend the mark into the carpet with his sock. Instead of disappearing, the smudge grew. And grew.

Baekhyun frowned. That wasn’t supposed to happen. The smudge was supposed to disappear. Lifting his head, he glanced from the drawing clutched tightly in one hand to Kris, who once again sat at the window, his head in his hands, gazing.

The smudge could wait. Right now, he had a friend to cheer up.

Hurrying across the living room as quickly as his legs would carry him, almost tripping on the picture as he went, Baekhyun tried his best to hide the surprise from Kris. He knew that Kris would be too distracted by what lay outside, but Baekhyun didn’t care. He wanted to eliminate any chances of Kris finding out that he –

“Baekhyun?” Chanyeol’s voice drifted down the hallway. “Did you take my eyeliner?”

Freezing, Baekhyun tried to hide the enormous paper behind his back.

“No,” he replied quietly, not daring to look away from Kris. But the other didn’t so much as flinch at the sound of Chanyeol’s voice.

The piece of paper was tugged gently out of Baekhyun’s grip and he turned, surprised to see Chanyeol crouched behind him. Instinctively, Baekhyun stuck his arms up in the air, waiting for Chanyeol to pick him up.

A quiet chuckle escaped Chanyeol’s lips when he saw the black eyeliner that coated Baekhyun’s tiny hands.

“Caught in the act,” he said, a gentle smile on his face. Lifting Baekhyun up gently, Chanyeol sat him on his shoulder. “Who is this?”

Baekhyun looked first down at his hands that bore the aftermath of his hard work, then to Kris who sat with his back to them. Baekhyun snuggled into Chanyeol’s hair.

“Mister Joonmyeon,” Baekhyun whispered. “But it’s supposed to be a-”

“Secret,” Kris finished. “You’ve spent the last hour talking to yourself about it, Baek. We’re in the same room …”

“Oh.”

Baekhyun looked away dejectedly. Since it was no longer a surprise, he may as well just give Kris the picture now. Signaling for Chanyeol to place the drawing on the window ledge, Baekhyun offered his friend a warm smile.

“We’ll always be here for you,” he said, watching Kris’ face carefully. To his surprise, the other turned, the faintest trace of a smile on his face.

“Thank you,” Kris said simply. “That means a lot.”

Story time before lunch was always one of Baekhyun’s highlights of the day. He could never wait to snuggle down on the couch at Chanyeol’s side, his friends around him and allow his mind to go blank, his imagination left to run wild.

A content sigh escaped Baekhyun’s lips and he leaned his head backwards, closing his eyes. Chanyeol had decided to read them The Frog Prince and Baekhyun couldn’t help but wriggle in excitement. The love, the heartbreak, the devastation – the love! It was a beautiful storyline. Not quite as good as his favourite My Little Pony episodes, but The Frog Prince was definitely wonderful.

In fact, Baekhyun found that he was disappointed when Chanyeol had finished the story. And it wasn’t just because the other had stopped talking. Baekhyun had always liked his voice …

Tugging on Chanyeol’s sleeve, Baekhyun tapped his toes together and stared up at him, his big eyes full of questions.

“Mister Giant?” he chirped happily.

“Yes, Baek?”

“And then what happened?”

Chanyeol resisted the urge to sigh. He had grown used to Baekhyun’s constant questioning, particularly after story time. In fact, he would have been surprised if Baekhyun didn’t ask any questions.

“They lived happily ever after.”

Baekhyun shook his head furiously, propping himself up on his knees.

“No, no,” he said in the most serious tone he could muster. “What happens after the happily ever after?”

“Er,” said Chanyeol. “They’re happy and live the rest of their life together. Forever.” He couldn’t find a way to respond without rephrasing the question.

“Wow,” Baekhyun exclaimed. “Forever? And they’re happy together?”

“Sure,” Chanyeol said, relieved that Baekhyun had accepted his answer.

“Mister Giant? I want a happily ever after, too!”

Chanyeol busied himself in the kitchen as he prepared dinner; Zitao and Sehun (who had volunteered to help) left tiny flour footprints throughout the house – it didn’t take much to distract the pair, and one open bag of flour seemed to do the trick.

Whilst most of his friends had a nap on the couch, Baekhyun crept as quietly as he could down the hallway and into the bedroom. Chanyeol had left his phone on top of the quilt, so it didn’t take very long before Baekhyun had discovered it.

He was determined to delete the selfie he had taken last night (and, thanks to the laughter of his friends and Chanyeol’s quiet chuckling), Baekhyun knew that even if the photo was gone, he still wouldn’t live it down.

With his eyes narrowed in concentration, Baekhyun went over what Kyungsoo had told him earlier that day.

Slide to unlock. Easy enough. Now where was that green button? A-ha! He would have that selfie deleted in no time! What was next? Baekhyun paused, deep in thought. He tried to remember Kyungsoo’s word clearly.

“When the menu appears,” Kyungsoo had told him, “tap the first option to appear.”

Baekhyun couldn’t quite work out why Jongin was laughing so hard. Was the selfie really that bad? Baekhyun’s cheeks heated up at the memory of it.

“Yes,” Jongin had added. “It’s voice activated! Just tell the phone what you want it to do, only after it asks you.”

Baekhyun smiled to himself as he tapped the first option in the menu list. He had such wonderful, helpful friends. The phone of the screen darkened, a loud ringing filled Baekhyun’s ears. And then – silence.

“Hello?” asked a voice on the other end of the phone.

“Hello, yes,” replied Baekhyun with a small nod. “Please delete the selfie.”

“Pardon?” asked the voice, confused.

“Delete the selfie, please,” Baekhyun repeated, a little louder this time.

Glancing at the phone screen, Baekhyun saw six little circular options. Was he supposed to select one of those? No, no. Kyungsoo hadn’t told him to do that. It was voice activated. Baekhyun’s brow knitted together in confusion. Why was the phone named Joonmyeon?

“What selfie?” asked the voice on the other end of the phone.

With a roll of his eyes, Baekhyun tapped the red ‘End’ button at the bottom of the screen and, after a few moments, returned to the menu.

“Technology,” Baekhyun snorted. “It’s useless.”

Maybe it would be best if he tried the second option. Yes, that would have to work. Tapping the second option, the loud ringing of the phone reached his years once more.

“Hello?” asked the voice on the other end of the phone. It was female this time. “Chanyeol?”

Baekhyun froze as the voice repeated Chanyeol’s name several more times. Was this …

“Who are you and how do you know Mister Giant?” Baekhyun demanded, his heart racing.

“Mister Giant?” repeated the female voice. “Chanyeol, it’s me, Yoora. What-“

That’s when it clicked. In his phone, Chanyeol had a photo of a girl, his arm draped over her shoulder, hers around his waist. It must be her. Baekhyun felt his heart sink.

“No!” Baekhyun shouted. “Go away! Mister Giant is mine!”

“Chan-”

Baekhyun tapped the End button a lot harder than necessary, the front of the phone lifting up. The room fell silent. A strange feeling washed over Baekhyun; his heart felt heavy – did this … This Yoora really mean so much to him?

But then again, if she was in one of the pictures, that could only mean … The loud ringing of the phone reached Baekhyun’s ears again. He waited patiently for it to stop.

“Hello, yes. Is this Puppy?”

There were butterflies in Baekhyun’s stomach that night as he and his friends prepared themselves for bed. Snuggled up in his pajamas, his (particularly grubby) cape still tied proudly around his neck, Baekhyun sat with his friends in their box like bed, talking.

 “You know,” Zitao suggested, leaning towards Baekhyun, a small smile on his face. “Just like in The Frog Prince, I bet if you get Chanyeol to kiss you, you’ll grow.”

Baekhyun’s face lit up. “Really?” he asked and Zitao nodded.

“Sure! But you have to get him to kiss you, first.”

“On the lips!” Sehun added, earning a disapproving look from Luhan.

“Kisses on the lips are for couples,” Luhan said quietly as he tucked Sehun into bed. At this, Baekhyun nodded his head eagerly.

“Oh, oh! We’ve been on dates before!” He held up two fingers proudly. “Two dates! We’ve been on two!”

“How romantic,” Yixing said, snuggling into his blanket, his head resting against Jongdae’s shoulder.

The bathroom light flickered off and Baekhyun got to his feet. Saying a quick goodnight to his friends, he climbed out of the bed box and stood, with his arms raised, waiting for Chanyeol to scoop him up.

Placing Baekhyun atop the blankets, Chanyeol made himself comfortable, propped up by his pillow. Shooting a sideways glance at Baekhyun, he shook his head, a small smile on his face.

“So,” he began, fighting back the urge to chuckle. “I spoke to Yoora.”

Baekhyun’s eyes widened in shock. “No!” he said quickly. “She needs to stay in the phone! I don’t want her talking to you, Mister Giant!”

“Yoora is my sister.”

“Oh.”

Baekhyun felt his cheeks heat up, his ears turning pink in embarrassment. He looked down at his feet, refusing to look at Chanyeol in the eye.

“She wants to meet you, you know.”

“I don’t want to meet her!” Baekhyun whined, sitting down on the bed with a huff. He crossed his arms and looked away.”

“You shouldn’t have called her if you don’t want to meet her,” Chanyeol chuckled. “I had quite a hard time explaining the situation, though.”

“No!” Baekhyun pouted. “I don’t! I don’t!”

Baekhyun turned his entire body away from Chanyeol, wrapping the blankets tightly around him. “She can stay trapped in the phone!”

It had been a long day for everyone and Baekhyun wanted nothing more than to fall asleep and leave all of the embarrassment of the day behind him. But try as he might to go to sleep, Zitao’s words continued to repeat themselves in his mind.

“I bet if you get Chanyeol to kiss you, you’ll grow.”

The only thing Baekhyun wanted more than to grow was perhaps a puppy. If Baekhyun grew, he would be able to spend more time with Chanyeol; he could help out around the house, they could go for walks together. Chanyeol wouldn’t have to worry about trying to hide him from sight.

But above all else, perhaps Chanyeol might just love him.

Exhaling quietly, Baekhyun sat up. How was Chanyeol supposed to kiss him if he was asleep? He wanted to grow so badly. He wanted to be the cause of Chanyeol’s smile. He wanted to be able to hug Chanyeol properly.

But if Chanyeol was asleep, maybe if Baekhyun kissed him … That was still the same thing, right? A kiss was a kiss. But on the lips …?

Baekhyun felt his heart beat quicken, the butterflies in his stomach made him feel nervous. Quietly he crept, first to the pillow, then to Chanyeol. He held his breath, terrified that Chanyeol would wake up at any moment.

Quietly, cautiously – careful, careful. Baekhyun hesitated, his face less than an inch away from Chanyeol’s. It was now or never, he had to do this. Baekhyun’s eyes closed. Gently, he placed his lips against Chanyeol’s. His body began to tingle. It was working! It was really working!

Chanyeol’s eyes opened and he sat up quickly. Baekhyun fell backwards onto Chanyeol’s lap with a quiet oof.

“Baekhyun,” he asked, his voice serious. “Did you just … Kiss me?”

It wasn’t working.

Baekhyun held his tiny hands out in front of him for inspection and a quiet sob escaped his lips.

“It didn’t work,” he whispered, tearfully. Chanyeol tilted his head to the side, puzzled.

“What didn’t?”

“Zitao told me I’d grow if you kissed me, Mister Giant,” Baekhyun sniffed, wiping his eyes with the sleeve of his pajama shirt. “Just like in The Frog Prince! But I didn’t, and now you … you … “ Baekhyun didn’t want to finish his sentence. His heart ached.  

“I just wanted to be tall!”

Lifting the tearful Baekhyun up gently, Chanyeol held him close.

“And why do you want to be tall?” he asked.

“Because then I could be with you. And being with you is my happily ever after.”

I've been angry at a lot of things lately.
Work, people, politics, academics.
Time to take my mind off it...

Honestly, I have so many conversations with you guys
in the comments section that I forget who suggests what.
So here’s to Sleeplessbeauty9, Pixie-Tink, AmiMiya, emchan and babyzchen
for your collective input in shaping this chapter.
If I forgot anyone, let me know.
My memory is awful.
 

I finished this on Friday afternoon (Australian time).
 However, my internet provider conveniently decided to
turn off wifi for all users in the state for an indefinite
amount of time.
gg T_T

Still no wifi yet. And only so much 3G left on my phone.
Hotspotting my phone. Huhuhu. Gonna have a big phone bill~