Baekhyun’s heart skipped a beat when the stool he was on wobbled and he was almost sent to the floor, holding still for a long moment after he regained his balance in fear that he would start to lose it again. Taking a slow breath he looked back up at the string of lights in his hands, stretching up as slowly as he could to place it onto the hook that he had attached to the ceiling, eagerly getting down off the stool once it was finally in place. He looked around the room, from the bed he had managed to lean up against the wall, to the several strings of lights he had spread across the room, to the keyboard he had set up on a card table in the corner.

The brunet nodded to himself, leaving the room and closing the door behind himself, making his way into the kitchen when the ding of the kitchen timer went off, and he turned off the oven before opening the oven door, cringing at the very dark brown substance in the pan. Digging around for a pair of oven mitts, he pulled out the cake pan, setting it on the stove and closed the oven door, pulling out a fork and taking a piece from the pan. He gingerly touched it until it cooled enough to put in his mouth, where it didn’t stay for long before he spat it out in the sink, almost gagging at the taste. How could it taste so awful, he had followed the recipe exactly! Baekhyun frowned, pulling up the recipe on his mobile again and going over the instructions.

Remember, T means tablespoons and t means teaspoons. This is very important when mixing in the baking powder and baking soda, you want teaspoons.

Baekhyun looked over at the dished in the sink, sighing deeply at the measuring spoon label that read tablespoon. That could explain a few things if the person who posted the recipe made it out to be such a big deal. The sound of the deadbolt lock turning made Baekhyun flinch and his eyes darted to the clock on the stove; why was Chanyeol back from class so early? He should have had almost another hour! Baekhyun looked around the kitchen for somewhere to stash the sad excuse for a cake, and when nothing came to mind and the door handle turned the brunet took the cake and shoved it into the garbage can, pan in all.

“I’m home,” Chanyeol called, pausing half way through taking off his shoes to his head to the side in a curious expression as Baekhyun slammed the lid onto the garbage can as he stepped inside. “Everything okay, Baek?” He asked and the older nodded, looking down for a moment.

“Yeah, everything’s fine just…” Baekhyun took a slow breath, trying to calm himself down and push back the little voice telling him that this whole plan was going horribly wrong. “Happy birthday, Chanyeol.” When Baekhyun looked up, his heart jumped at the smile that lit up Chanyeol’s face, and the black haired male kicked his shoes the rest of the way off, crossing the space between them to pull Baekhyun tightly to his chest.

“Hey, easy there, all I said was happy birthday,” Baekhyun argued, trying to push himself back from the other’s chest, surprised when Chanyeol let him so easily. The again, the other had been a lot more careful about crowding Baekhyun since their big fight; Baekhyun getting a job at the make up botique in the mall had helped a lot as well, but that was a different matter.

“It still made me happy, Baek,” Chanyeol replied, Baekhyun moving to take one of Chanyeol’s in his own, tugging him out of the kitchen and towards the bedroom.

“Just wait, it gets better than just me telling you happy birthday. Close your eyes,” he said and Chanyeol moved his free hand up to shield his eyes, his grin still completely unblocked from Baekhyun’s sight.

“Did you plan a special night, Baekhyunnie?” Chanyeol asked, implications dripping from his words and Baekhyun gave a roll of his eye even though Chanyeol couldn’t see, reaching back to open the bedroom door and guide Chanyeol through the doorway. He let go of Chanyeol’s hand, closing the door once he had situated the younger in the center of the room, and he crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned back against the door.

“Open your eyes and find out.” Chanyeol lowered his hand, opening his eyes slowly, and after a moment they widened. He turned around slowly, eyes running over the strung up lights, the decorations all over the walls, the stereo that held Baekhyun’s mp3 player as a familiar melody flowed out of the speaker.

“This is…” He trailed off, turning to Baekhyun when the other made his way to the dresser, opening the top drawer and pulling out what looked like a to-go box before he padded over to Chanyeol and held it out to him.

“It’s not exactly like the one you gave me,” Baekhyun mumbled shyly, and Chanyeol opened the box, his heart skipping a beat at the white rose corsage that was revealed, and he pulled it out, turning it slowly noticing that the center of it looked like it had… paint? “I couldn’t get the splatter pattern right so I just colored the inside of the petals,” Baekhyun admitted, looking up when the to-go box hit the floor and Chanyeol cupped his cheek.

“Baekhyun, did you recreate our first date for my birthday?” Chanyeol asked and Baekhyun nodded once slowly.

“I tried to, it’s not exact-”

“Baekhyun.”

“What?”

“It’s perfect,” Chanyeol corrected, leaning down to press his lips softly to the older’s. It was soft, and sweet, and made Baekhyun want to melt, Chanyeol pulling back after a moment and holding out the corsage to Baekhyun, silently asking for help putting it on. Once it was in place, Baekhyun crossed the room, skipping a couple of songs on the playlist and turning up the music coming through the stereo before he looked to Chanyeol. He held out his hand as a slow song trickled from the speakers, and Chanyeol noticed the pink that dusted the brunet’s cheeks. “Aw, are you asking me to dance, Baekhyunnie?”

“As long as you don’t do those crazy spins you tried back then,” Baekhyun replied as Chanyeol took his hand and pulled him close.

“That dance didn’t work too well for me, I like dancing close like this,” Chanyeol said, interlocking his fingers as they rested over Baekhyun’s lower back. “I can see how cute you look this way,” He added, and Baekhyun gave a light bap to his chest before he laid his head against it, letting Chanyeol rest his chin a top of his head and start to sway side to side. Halfway through the song they started moving in a slow circle, Chanyeol occasionally kissing the top of Baekhyun’s head as they danced close like this until Baekhyun’s hands became sweaty from clinging to the front of Chanyeol’s shirt. Baekhyun was sure they would have stayed like this for at least an hour until Chanyeol’s stomach growled so loudly that Baekhyun could feel the rumble against his chest, and Chanyeol gave an embarrassed cough.

“Come on, I already prepped dinner,” Baekhyun said, Chanyeol loosening his grip just enough to trail his hands over Baekhyun’s waist and take one of his hands, allowing Baekhyun to lead him back out of the room. Chanyeol helped him pull out the things from the fridge and with little things as Baekhyun worked on dinner. “Here, toss this into the trash,” He said, handing the plastic bag that the carrots had been in to Chanyeol who crossed the kitchen and picked up the trash can lid, pausing.

“Baekhyun?”

“Yeah?”

“Why is our cake pan in the trash?” Baekhyun tensed a little and Chanyeol looked over at him.

“I… Tried to bake you a cake. It didn’t work.”

“So you threw the pan in the trash?”

“You came home too early, I panicked!” Baekhyun exclaimed and Chanyeol started to laugh as he pulled the pan out of the trash, dropping the plastic bag inside. He made his way back through the kitchen, stealing a kiss as he reached behind Baekhyun to place the pan in the sink.

“After dinner, let’s make one together.”

Once the dishes had been done that’s what the pair started on, but they didn’t get all that far as Chanyeol was staring at the bowl of flour and sugar, pulling Baekhyun’s attention from trying to find a teaspoon. He looked over to Chanyeol as he stood from digging around in the junk drawer, stepping over to him.

“Yeol?” he called, and the dark haired male jumped, knocking the bowl over and covering Baekhyun in the white powder in the process. Chanyeol’s eyes widened and he opened his mouth to apologize, shutting it and his eyes tightly when he received a handful of flour to the face. He hesitated with opening his eyes, but when he did Baekhyun cracked a smile before laughing and Chanyeol relaxed and allowed himself to start laughing as well. Perhaps he didn’t need to be on such edge after everything?

“Come on, let’s go shower,” Baekhyun said once they had cleaned up the attempted cake batter, pausing when Chanyeol looked confused. “Dude, you’ve seen me in so many different unnamable instances, a shower isn’t scandalous,” he stated and Chanyeol shook his head, lowering his gaze to the floor.

“No, it’s just… I can’t remember the last time that you actually wanted to shower together,” He pointed out and Baekhyun swallowed the lump that tried to form in his throat before he took Chanyeol by the wrist, gently tugging him out of the kitchen and to their room. He eased his hold on the other when Chanyeol stopped to close the door, picking up on the tension in the younger’s shoulders and he let go of Chanyeol’s wrist completely so he could go start the shower. When he came back out of the bathroom Chanyeol was still by the bedroom door and Baekhyun took a deep breath before stepping towards him, stopping just before their chests would have touched.

Baekhyun stared up at the other until Chanyeol raised his gaze to make eye contact, and then stretched up onto his tip toes to kiss him softly. Chanyeol was slow to warm up to the kiss, but once he had his hands moves to Baekhyun’s hips, Baekhyun sliding his hands up the other’s chest to rest on his shoulders and try to kneed out the tension that was still there. As it started to, the brunet started to lead Chanyeol forward, stepping backwards slowly through the room toward the bathroom.

His hands started back down Chanyeol’s chest, unfastening the buttons of the younger’s shirt as they traveled down, feeling Chanyeol’s stomach give a small twitch when his cold fingers touched the skin there, sliding up to push the other’s shirt off and let it fall to the floor. A smile perked the corner of his lips when Chanyeol started kissing more eagerly into the kiss, breaking it long enough yank off his own shirt and giving a playful roll of his eyes when Chanyeol tried to chase after his lips. Much to Chanyeol’s pleasure, Baekhyun’s hands were on his waist again before long, and his own hands moved to cup Baekhyun’s face, for the first time in a while not flinching when Baekhyun pulled back.

“Do you plan to keep me pinned to the bathroom door, or do you actually want to shower?” Baekhyun asked, pulling a small noise from Chanyeol when his fingers dipped past the waistband of his pants, and Chanyeol shut his eyes tightly to try and focus on the other’s words rather than his actions.

“S-shower,” he finally got out and Baekhyun slid his fingers back from their teasing position to and zip the dark haired male’s pants, Chanyeol’s cheeks dusting pink when he opened his eyes just in time to watch Baekhyun drop down as he took Chanyeol’s pants and boxers down to his ankles. Chanyeol stepped out of them and Baekhyun started to and zip his own, pausing once they were open to check the temperature of the shower; the older shivered a little when he felt Chanyeol’s chest against his back, callused thumbs brushing over Baekhyun’s hips as he helped Baekhyun out of his own pants.

Baekhyun nudged Chanyeol to step into the warm stream of water first, opening the cupboard door under the sink and pulling out the vanilla scented body wash that he had found at his work, before he followed the other into the shower. He saw the way Chanyeol’s eyes lit up when he saw the label, reaching past the other to grab a washcloth and pour some of the body wash onto it, massaging the cloth a little until it became a foamy mess. Chanyeol gave him a curious look when Baekhyun started washing his chest, and Baekhyun felt his own cheeks start to tint.

“Don’t look at me like that.”

“But you’re washing me.”

“It’s your birthday, I’m being nice.” Chanyeol started to grin a little.

“You’re spoiling me is what you’re doing.” He pointed out and Baekhyun looked down at his chest, causing the other to laugh when he stated to scrub a little harder, tickling the younger. As his embarrassment eased, so did the pressure he used to rub the cloth over Chanyeol, and once he had completely washed the other’s skin he reached up to place his hand on the back of Chanyeol’s neck and pull him down – getting a kiss in response, and Chanyeol grinned into it causing it to break.

“What’s so funny? I was trying to get to your hair to wash it,” Baekhyun grumbled softly, and Chanyeol laughed again.

“Really? You made it seem like you wanted a kiss~” He teased, getting his lower lip nipped. When Baekhyun pulled back, Chanyeol ducked his head down so that the other could suds it up and massage his scalp, noticing the tension had completely left Chanyeol’s shoulders as he hummed contently. He was very thorough in his washing, arching an eyebrow when Chanyeol almost tipped over.

“You’re making me fall asleep.”

“Oh, am I boring you?” Baekhyun cracked sarcastically, and Chanyeol shook his head a little in Baekhyun’s hands, keeping it bowed.

“No, but it’s really soothing. I feel… very loved right now, Baekhyun.” Baekhyun stared down at the head in his hands, swallowing the odd feeling that tried to crawl up his throat and he nudged Chanyeol to step back under the shower spray to rinse out his hair.

“Good. Because that was the whole point of all of this, so I guess I did it right,” Baekhyun said, letting go of Chanyeol only when he was sure he had gotten out all of the suds. He made quick work of washing himself, the best he could at least with Chanyeol standing behind him and wrapping his arms around the brunet to hold him close to his chest.

Once they were both clean of the body wash and shampoo, since Chanyeol had gotten suds on himself by attaching himself to Baekhyun while the other washed up, Baekhyun shut off the shower and grabbed a towel. Chanyeol smiled and hummed again as Baekhyun dried him off before wrapping the towel around his own waist and stepping out of the shower. Chanyeol reached out, giving Baekhyun a swat to his rear and making the older jump and look back at him with a pout.

The cheeky grin that Chanyeol gave him in response had him rolling his eyes as he went to get a pair of sleep pants and shirts for both of them, and he was honestly surprised that dressing Chanyeol in his sleep wear seemed to have the younger flustered. Baekhyun mentally shrugged, dressing himself in his own before crossing the room to join the dark haired male on the bed. He let Chanyeol get under the covers and comfortable first before he slid under them and laid on his back, shifting his arm a little when Chanyeol moved closer, laying his head on Baekhyun’s chest and closing his eyes. It wasn’t long before Baekhyun felt his body go limp as he fell asleep and he looked down at what little of the younger’s face he could see from their position.

“Happy birthday, Chanyeol. I love you.”