Title: best(estest) friend
Length: 2203
Rating: G
Genre: family!au, kid!yeol, kid!sehun
Pairing: Chanyeol-centric, best friends Chanhun
Summary: Five year old Chanyeol wants to give his new best friend Sehun the best-est-est-est Christmas gift ever
A/N: Happiest birthday dearest Vi!! Accept this crappy omg so crappy gift from your biggest and meanest fan <333 can you tell i got lazy by the end
Chanyeol is quiet, too quiet, on the way back home from school, Junmyeon immediately notices, and he stays quiet in spite of Junmyeon’s attempts at asking him about his day. It has never taken Junmyeon much to get worried, and becoming a father has certainly not changed that.
“Chanyeol, you’re so quiet today, do you feel ill?” he asks, glancing into the rear-view mirror. The temperature has plunged down quite a bit, and even though Junmyeon has been lovingly wrapping Chanyeol up in soft woolen scarves over a thick coat and tiny gloves and making sure he has hot packs in his pockets every time they step out when it’s snowing, there’s always a chance of catching the flu that makes it’s rounds every year, and Junmyeon knows how children are vulnerable to it.
“I’m thinking, daddy,” Chanyeol replies, furrowing his eyebrows further and staring into space.
Junmyeon almost slams the brakes on because he’s not sure what he’s just heard.
Thinking. He’s thinking.
Chanyeol never thinks.
Granted, for a five year old, he’s really smart and does really well in school and gets along with all the other students, often entertaining them with stories of dragons who aren’t fierce but are cute, and barbies that turn into monsters when you kiss them, but he never really thinks.
It’s like second nature to Chanyeol, to talk to people about anything and everything, no matter how old or young they are, and listen to them talk as well. It’s not that he doesn’t have a filter either, because even when he’s babbling non-stop, he somehow knows not to mention how Junmyeon accidentally spilled coffee all over the book he borrowed from Kyungsoo, or how his friend Jongin's parents still blame each other for the missing chicken leftovers that one night that Jongin had sneaked down to the kitchen and eaten up or how he’d once seen his Teacher Byun and Teacher Kim kiss in the hallway when it was nap time and everyone but Chanyeol had been asleep.
But because he doesn’t really consciously think of anything specific, he ends up being clumsier than the others, stumbling into a snow pile at the side of the road while animatedly explaining every detail of his basketball match that day to Junmyeon, when he led his team to victory, or accidentally burning his tongue when he drinks his soup, or hitting his head against the car frame while getting in and out of the car when he’s not even that tall yet. Most of the clumsiness leads to very minor incidents that they laugh over (not before Junmyeon’s heart clenches in panic every time he hears Chanyeol’s scream of ‘Daddy!’) but Junmyeon has taken to carrying around a first-aid kit with him everywhere they go, ever since an absent-minded year old Chanyeol had crawled into the side of the couch.
“What are you thinking about, baby?” Junmyeon asks, almost a little apprehensively.
“A gift for Sehunnie!” Chanyeol replies, his eyes imperceptibly lighting up. “We drew names today for giving Christmas presents, and Sehun and I got each other! Isn’t that great? But,” he pouts, “he’s my best friend, Daddy, I have to give him the bestest gift, but I don’t know what!”
Junmyeon heaves a mental sigh of relief. “It’s only a gift, Chanyeol, I’m sure Sehun will like anything you give him.”
Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say because Chanyeol looks scandalized when Junmyeon pulls up into their driveway.
“Only a gift?” he says, horrified. “No, no, daddy, you don’t understand! Sehun is my best friend, my bestest friend, which means I have to get him the bestestest gift, or he won’t want me to be his best friend anymore!”
Junmyeon highly doubts that would happen because Chanyeol and Sehun are practically attached at the hip, choosing each other’s company even on weekends, when either Junmyeon or Jongdae, Sehun’s dad, or sometimes, both, take them to the park to play, or the zoo, or the place where the kids enjoyed most, but is Junmyeon’s living nightmare: Kiddyland. And while they have had their fair share of arguments in the few months since September that they met, they have pretty much been inseparable.
But Chanyeol clearly does not see that, intent on proving his ‘bestest friendness’ to Sehun, and pouting disappointedly when Junmyeon explains that no, he cant’s throw a lasso and catch a star for Sehun.
Everybody calls him smart. He’ll think of something.
Chanyeol whines a lot after Junmyeon refuses to take him to Kiddyland to find Sehun a present because they had been there just last month and Sehun had bought practically a cartload of stuff by convincing his own father with crocodile tears, puppy eyes and wobbling juts of his lips, and there can’t possibly be anything more that he wants.
(Junmyeon is also intent on avoiding this trip for as much as possible because he knows that Chanyeol has been eyeing and sighing longingly every time an advertisement of the new Power Rangers set pops up on TV, and Junmyeon might be a single dad, but he is responsible and he will not fall for such tricks played on him.
He will not. No.)
Chanyeol also huffs when Junmyeon refuses to give in to his cries of “Do you want me to lose my best friend, daddy? Do you want me to be alone for the rest of my life?” and instead tells Chanyeol to find something else to give him and no, he can’t replace the statue in the park with a hand-made clay model of Sehun.
He thinks he’s finally figured it out though, when he finally starts downsizing his ideas from ‘Let’s get him a pet tiger, daddy!’ to ‘Maybe a kitten?’ but he gets the most perfect idea when he wakes up hungry at 4am one morning because he just dreamt of the most wonderful pastry shop filled with yummy goodies and he darts into Junmyeon’s room, diving under the covers and shaking him awake vigorously while chanting, “I’ve got it, I’ve got it! I’ll make chocolate cupcakes for Sehun! He loves cupcakes!”
Junmyeon squints in the dark, clearly too sleepy to properly understand what is going on, but once his brain somehow comprehends that nothing is wrong with Chanyeol, he puts a hand around his son’s waist and yanks him down on the bed, drawing him close and humming, “Go back to sleep, Chanyeol, we’ll talk in the morning.”
Chanyeol giggles when one of Junmyeon’s hands that is absent mindedly stroking his back tickles his side. “But I found the perfect gift for Sehun, daddy!” he whispers loudly.
“And you can tell me all about it when we’re getting ready for school,” Junmyeon mutters back, covering them both with the blankets and promptly falling back asleep.
Chanyeol however, stays awake, imagining wonderfully decorated tiny cupcakes until his eyes close, and he falls asleep with a smile on his face.
Sehun was going to get the bestestestestestest gift ever.
Chanyeol clutches the card he’s made for Sehun as Junmyeon takes out the box of cupcakes Chanyeol's made (almost all by himself, he’d only supervised and helped when Chanyeol had asked for it) and decorated prettily. The card gets stuffed into his bag and cupcakes handed over to Teacher Byun who begs him for a peek at them, but Chanyeol refuses. His cupcakes are only and only for Sehun to eat. And Chanyeol, if Sehun shares them.
Presents-time is after nap time, and then they break for Christmas holidays, so Chanyeol really really hopes that Sehun likes his gift, because of he doesn’t, he’ll have to spend Christmas holidays all alone without a friend.
He barely sleeps at nap-time, nagging Teacher Byun every five minutes to ask him if nap-time is over and when they would open gifts. Finally, when it’s time, everybody else opens their bags, while Chanyeol follows Teacher Byun to the fridge in the staffroom where his precious box has been kept.
They take out the cakes onto a tray because boxes are not pretty according to Chanyeol, and everything has to be perfect for Sehun. He has his card clutched in one hand, and when Teacher Byun moves to carry the tray to the classroom, Chanyeol insists on carrying it himself. It’s not that big, the tray, neither is it heavy, so he carries it easily, anticipation growing, as Teacher Byun opens all the doors for him.
It all happens in slow motion. One minute he’s calling out, “Sehun! Look what I-“ and the next, he trips over his own feet and drops the tray. All the six perfect little cupcakes he spent so much time and effort on roll away, but one manages to land on Chanyeol's face and drops at his feet, leaving behind a trail of icing.
There is a stunned silence for a split second before Chanyeol's eyes water and his lips wobble, and he can’t help the wails that escape him. All his effort, all his dad’s effort, all gone. He’d put so much love into those cupcakes, refusing to let his dad help him with anything other than the oven and mixing the batter, painstakingly decorating them all so they looked exactly the same and looked delicious.
Teacher Byun warns everybody to not move or pick any cupcake off the ground before crouching next to Chanyeol to comfort him and calm him down. But Chanyeol doesn’t want to be comforted, he just wants his cupcakes back, because now he has nothing to give Sehun, and Sehun is his best friend, but if he has nothing to give him, he won’t be his friend anymore and he doesn’t want Sehun to hate him, he doesn’t-
Chanyeol hiccups without realizing that he’s been speaking out loud, as Teacher Byun tries to wipe his tears without spreading the icing on his face.
“You made them for me?” a voice says and Chanyeol turns around to see Sehun walking towards him. And towards the mess.
Chanyeol tries replying yes, but he can only hiccup and nod, a few more tears escaping him.
Sehun walks right up to him, extends a finger and scrapes icing off his cheek, popping it into his mouth. A smile dances on his lips. “It’s tasty,” he says.
Chanyeol splutters, trying to explain that he tripped, that it wasn’t his fault, but maybe it was because he was just so clumsy but-
Sehun stops him by handing over a card. It has a skewed Christmas tree on the front with ‘Merry Chritmas’ written on it and sparkles. A lot of sparkles. So much that by the time Chanyeol opens the card, his hands are all sparkly. The inside is even more sparkly. Sehun has stuck a rectangular piece of paper and written ‘Best Friend Cupon’ on it with a thick glitter pen.
Dear Chanyeol, the card says. Merry Chrismas and Happy New Year. I really really really really like you as my friend. You’re the bestestestestestest friend I have. Love, your bestestestest friend, Sehun. There are two large red glittery hearts next to his name and Chanyeol finds his eyes swimming with tears once again.
“Do you still want to be my friend?” he asks softly, eyes downcast. “I dropped your present. I don’t have any gift for you.”
“Of course I want to be!” Sehun replies, wiping Chanyeol's tears and successfully getting icing on his hands and all over Chanyeol's face. “You’re my bestest friend, I just gave you the Best Friend Coupon! You have to be my friend forever and ever now!”
Chanyeol's heart feels full all of a sudden, and unbidden, a smile creeps up onto his face, and Sehun only complains a little when he hugs him, icing and snot and all, grumbling about how this is his favourite shirt and if he takes another step back, he’ll step onto a cupcake.
Teacher Byun taps Chanyeol's shoulder, handing him his own card that has only a little bit of cake at the corner.
“I forgot!” Chanyeol says, giving Sehun the card he made. There is a spaceship instead of anything Christmassy, and the inside is decorated with yellow stars. It’s simple, because he was tired after making the cupcakes, but when Sehun smiles and says thank you, Chanyeol thinks that sometimes simple is better.
They fail to get cleaned up on time and both Junmyeon and Sehun’s mother are scandalized at the sight of their icing-covered sons. They help Teacher Byun clean up the room and manage to clean up their sons the best that they can, while they’re talking nineteen to the dozen about what they can do in the Christmas holidays. Junmyeon and Chanyeol immediately get invited to Christmas dinner at Sehun’s house.
“You can make the cupcakes for Christmas again!” Sehun suggests and it doesn’t take Chanyeol long to jump onto that idea. “Just don’t drop them this time,” Sehun teases as Chanyeol turns red.
But it’s ok, Chanyeol thinks with a smile, washing his hands in the basin. He dropped them, so what? He can always make new ones, because Sehun could come over to eat them whenever he wanted.
Because Sehun was still his bestestestest friend.