Word Count: 5946

A toy store used to be Baekhyun’s version of Disney land when he was young. It was like a big world of fantasy and magic and just everything perfect in his child eyes, a place he has sadly only been to a handful of times. But just like the other things he cannot afford, it was just that—a world of fantasy.

Back then, every time he would pass by a store that sells toys, he would stare at them longingly. He would imagine himself playing with them or imagine how the toys work. He would watch other kids play with theirs and pretend he has one too. On the few times he gets to go inside, he would run all over the place to check out every aisle and play with a few. Sometimes he would even force his little tiny fingers into holes of those boxes that says ‘push here’ or ‘try me’, the closest he would get to playing with these toys kept in boxes. And when it was time to leave, he remembers crying—his grandmother coaxing little Baekhyun out the toy store he never wanted to part with. He always thought it was unfair, because while the other kids he saw go out of the store carrying new toys, he would always go out with none. That is probably why he ended up an artist because everything he does not have, he draws; pretending they were real and they were in front of him—even if only on paper.

When he entered university, after his grandmother died, he would always take time to pass by the toy store when he’s in the area. Not to buy toys—not only is he too old for that now but he still can’t afford any—but to simply look around. No one is ever too old to dream, no? There are times though when he leaves feeling even more alone because he would see parents buying their kids toys or some taking pictures of their children posing in front of big life sized character statues. He could not help the feeling of envy. Always a bittersweet scene.

The mall’s toy store was also apparently big. It was bigger than the toy stores he had been to, this had a more range of toys displayed. Their purpose here was to buy Luhan and Sehun a gift, but Baekhyun was too distracted by everything that it was hard to focus...at least, Chanyeol had a hard time focusing. Seeing Baekhyun let out his inner child—looking through the toys left and right, trying out a few even the baby toys in the toddler section—it was all too amusing.

Too amused of everything, Baekhyun mindlessly checks every aisle he can. He checks out the boy’s section, playing with a few toy guns and creating some ruckus due to the sounds. He walks through the baby section, amused at all the rainbow colors and pushing big baby buttons and creating another set of ruckus. He doesn’t miss the girl’s section either, looking through dolls and Barbie’s and even life sized baby toys—a few creeping him out. Although what caught most of his attention was the Sylvanian Family set. Doesn’t matter if he’s a male and this is most probably a female’s toy, this is appreciating detail. The detail to each and every toy of its set was superb in his opinion. And the cute little animal characters were just absolutely adorable.

Back when he was young, he remembers adoring this stuff. Not because it was a dollhouse to play with but because it confused him; it left him wondering. The shanty he grew up in only consisted of two rooms—the bathroom and the main house. The rooms had no separators; all supposedly separated rooms were all gathered in one. There was no separate bedroom—they slept on a very thin, very old futon. There was no living room—only plastic stools and an old chair. There was neither a dining room nor a kitchen—maybe a kitchen, yes, but only the size of a length of a long table. So when he was introduced to the concept of a dollhouse, it had him questioning his grandmother. Only later did he realize his grandmother was fooling him to not feel bad—too young to understand the harsh truth.

“Grandmamma? Why does our house have no separate rooms like this? Why does this have many rooms? It says dollhouse so why is ours different? Don’t we live in a house too?”

“Baekhyunnie, this is just a toy not a real house. Okay?”

Too busy eyeing the Sylvanian display and looking through the boxes of the little toys, Baekhyun did not notice Chanyeol behind him.

“You like them?” Chanyeol’s deep voice mildly startles him; his arms wrapping around Baekhyun’s waist.

“They’re cute. Look, rabbit family.” He shows Chanyeol the box. “They even have babies. So adorable!”

“Ah, indeed they are.”

They were then distracted by a little girl beside them—tip toeing and stretching her hands as far as she can to reach the toys at the top shelf. In an instant, Baekhyun leaves Chanyeol’s hold to attend to the little girl, crouching down beside her to ask what she wants.

“Hi there.”

Baekhyun greets gently with a wave of hand. The girl gets distracted but only stares at him in response.

“What do you want? I’ll get it for you.”

The little girl seems to have turned shy as she looks away and down at the floor, fidgeting her little feet and hands but still not replying to Baekhyun’s question. On the other hand, Baekhyun does not give up and continue to ask gently the little girl of what she had wanted earlier.

“Don’t be shy.” His voice was soft and soothing that had the girl returning her attention back to him. “Point to me what you want?”

Baekhyun’s eye smile seems to have done the trick as the little girl points, albeit meekly, at the toy she had wanted—a box of a cat family. Happily fulfilling the girl’s silent wish, he picks up not only one box but a few others; giving the girl boxes of different cat families to be able to choose from.

“Here, which one?”

Shyness gone, the little girl looks at all the boxes Baekhyun has picked. Even having a hard time as they were all to her liking. Baekhyun simply watches fondly as the girl silently chooses, heeding to every sign of want the girl shows.

Standing not too far away, Chanyeol watches with a smile—his chest swelling with warmth at the heartwarming adorable display between the little girl and Baekhyun.

“Friend of yours?” An old man appears and stands beside him.

Chanyeol shakes his head and answers with a fond voice the old man did not miss. “Yes, but more than that.”

The old man chuckles silently, amused at both the tall man and the scene in front—it is not every day you see some genuine love after all; especially between young people.

“Well I’ll be young lad, I must say, you’ve got yourself a keeper.”

Confused but delighted at what he just heard, Chanyeol furrows his eyebrows. “How so?”

“My daughter’s mute, she does not speak.” The old man shrugs. “And for someone like him…” He nods towards Baekhyun, who was now carrying the little girl in his arms to have her level with the toys by the top shelf. “…to understand my little girl without having to use words. That, my friend, I believe is a keeper.”

“It is rare, to meet someone who doesn’t need words to understand a person’s feelings.” He adds as an afterthought.

Chanyeol is left silent. He did not know what to say. All he knew is that he’s currently feeling very happy inside and pleased at the new thought—greatly enlightened. So in response, he merely smiles. They both continue to watch their interactions. The whole time, the girl was silent, but just like the elder had said, Baekhyun seems to understand his little girl despite it all.

In the end, they weren’t able to buy any toys; almost leaving the toy store with nothing in hand. Baekhyun did, however, give Chanyeol an idea of a gift, simple but meaningful—putting out there his specialty of personalized gifts that Chanyeol delightedly agreed to.

At the counter, when Chanyeol was about to pay, Baekhyun was yet again distracted.

“Is this all sir?” The clerk asks.

“Baekhyun, this is all, right?-” Chanyeol tried to ask Baekhyun who he expected was by his side but apparently wasn’t. He saw him looking through a bunch of stuff toys instead. “I’m sorry, but could you hold on for a minute?”

“Of course.”

Chanyeol planned to call out to him but what he saw had him stopping and watching for a moment.

Playing with a weird looking giant stuff toy, Baekhyun had on a huge smile. He was wiggling its long arms and patting its hair, thumbing its ears and tracing with a finger the design in its front. Cute.

For the nth time that day, Baekhyun was again distracted by a toy—this time, a stuffed toy that resembled a lot like his giant. It was big, nearly half his size excluding its legs. It had big round ears sticking out its head.. supposedly its head, it had no neck—just one big body pillow. It has two big black buttons as eyes and a long stitched up line for its smiling mouth. It had curly brown hair with long dangling arms and legs. And at its center was a big red heart. So much like Chanyeol.

He got too amused and ended up playing with it for a moment—flailing its arms, patting its hair, feeling its soft cushiony fabric, and hugging the daylights out of it pleased at how soft it was. And with a hopeful desire of buying it, he checks its price. But then pouts at the large number written in its tag… too expensive. Not only does he not have money on him at the moment but even if he had, he still wouldn’t buy it—mustn’t buy recklessly, after all.

Putting back the stuffed toy on its rack, he sighs in defeat. “Sorry, can’t buy you.”

And once again, he doesn’t notice Chanyeol’s presence that stood beside him.

“You like this?” he says as he too pats its head, brown fluffy hair bouncing in his hand.

Still distracted, he answers absently. “Mhmm~ it looks like you, see?” Baekhyun flaps its big ears. “Big eyes, big ears, long arms and legs. So you.” He giggles, nose scrunching cutely at how amused he was of the lookalike toy.

“Oh really?” Chanyeol feigns offense. “Well… this looks like you.” He points to a Mandora stuff toy—a small stout, odd looking white stuffed toy with two green leaves sticking out on its head; its eyes slits and a cute puppy smile. Baekhyun indeed.

“Heey~” Baekhyun whines with a pout. “Are you saying I’m fat?”

“No.” He laughs. “Flabby.” and gets slapped in return.

Reaching across Baekhyun, Chanyeol gets the two stuff toys—albeit struggling with the big lookalike one because of its size, it doesn’t stop him. “I’ll get these then.”

“What? No!”

“Getting it Baek.”

And without another word, leaves Baekhyun speechless with two stuff toys in hand to add to the things he had bought.

When Chanyeol had paid for everything, the clerk distracts him. The boys’ gifts and the Mandora stuffed toy were packed in a medium sized paper bag, but the Chanyeol lookalike was too big to fit along with it.

“Sir would like me to pack this in a bigger bag or would you not mind carrying it?”

But before he could answer, Baekhyun answers for him instead.

“I can carry it.”

Like an excited kid who was just bought a new toy (he is), he takes hold of the giant doll and carries it against his chest, a skip in his steps as he walks to the exit of the toy store. Bidding a happy thank you with a big smile on his face, flashing his pretty eye smile to both the clerk and a salesperson he passed at.

“Such a radiant boy.” The old lady behind the counter said, fond at the happy aura Baekhyun exuded. It wasn’t always that you are able to meet someone who exudes so much happiness you can’t help but feel affected.

Chanyeol chuckles; proud and pleased that his Baekhyun was getting some delightful attention. What used to be his role—catching the attention of many for his handsome looks, Baekhyun overshadows – catching the attention of the people around them for the happiness he radiated, bringing at least a little joy to unsuspecting people.

“Well he does bring joy to the table.” He replies as he bows a thank you to the old lady and leaves to follow Baekhyun.

♠♠♠

Jealousy. Chanyeol wasn’t someone who often got jealous, it just wasn’t like him. He trusted his partner to not feel threatened over some mere interactions; that or he just couldn’t be bothered. Even when his friends or tell him about people threatening to steal his partner away, he rarely reacted. It was no different with Yejin, he trusted her enough to not be suspicious of anything that might come odd; trusted her enough to not feel threated nor bothered of her friendly interactions with other males (even Yongguk for that matter). So no, Chanyeol wasn’t the jealous type.. at least, he thought. But what he sees next had him oddly boiling inside. When he thought insecurities were the least of his concern, with Baekhyun, he was proved otherwise.

Only for a few minutes—fifteen to be specific. He only left Baekhyun for about fifteen minutes to load the shopping bags in his car so they are able to walk around more without having to worry about the weight in their arms—refusing Baekhyun to carry anything (he was a gentleman like that but Baekhyun was also stubborn). Fifteen minutes short and yet now he’s greeted by Baekhyun who was surrounded by three men who seems to be the same age as him, three admittedly handsome men, a different set of men from earlier.

Looking at Baekhyun who was still carrying his giant doll lookalike (he refused to hand it over), talking and smiling at the three men, oddly made him feel infuriated. To passersby, it was all an innocent interaction