Let's Play Wolves! (BaekYeol Oneshot)
Title: Let's Play Wolves!
Pairing: BaekYeol
Genre: Oneshot, kid!au, schoolkid!au, comedy, fluff
Rating: PG
Summary: Baekhyun doesn't understand why Chanyeol is so obsessed with playing make believe as a wolf puppy, especially since it always seems to end in Baekhyun getting scared or crying. Baekyun just wants to be friends with Chanyeol, but can he be friends with a boy who would rather be a puppy?
a/n: DEDICATED TO shayepuree BECAUSE SHE LOVES BAEKYEOL A LOT AND SHE IS GONNA LOVE THIS. ^.^ enjoy, gull!~ 00000000
When you're young, playing make believe is a right of passage.
Pretending to be a monster, a prince, a fairy, or even Count Dracula will all make their appearances in due time. Sometimes, though, it's more fun to pretend you're a super cool animal! Like a shark, or a lion, or a dragon!
Park Chanyeol, age 6, found it most interesting though to play make believe as a wolf.....or, well, what could better be described as a wolf pup by any adult he's ever yipped at and received a cookie for his cute, weird puppy habit. His parents had given him books, he wore a different shirt with a different wolf on it each day to school, toting his wolf lunch box, and making sure he had his backpack properly filled with all the toys a wolf pup could ever want to play with at school, especially with his friend, the exchange student from China named Wu Fan.
Chanyeol especially liked him because even though he was a year older, he was in his grade because he got into school late and he had a cool accent and wore cool clothes....and his name kind of sounded like "woof".
It was cool. Way cool.
The only person who didn't think Chanyeol playing wolves was really great and cute and friendly was Byun Baekhyun, his classmate and mortal enemy...not by his own choice, though. Baekhyun actually thought he and Chanyeol could be friends if they tried hard enough and Chanyeol didn't try to stuff his nose into Baekhyun's armpit while they stood in line for the bathrooms. He truly didn't hate him, but Chanyeol seemed to not like him, and well, that made things a bit more difficult for Baekhyun in the friendship department.
Baekhyun had grown to dislike Chanyeol more than anything these days, mostly because of his wolf pup antics. Bakhyun was never one for loud noises or being touched when he didn't want to be, let alone by Chanyeol who was just about as dirty as a wolf after recess. Princes don't let peons touch them. They'll stain their clothes.
Didn't Chanyeol know that the worms in the ground weren't the same as the gummy ones his mom packed in his lunch?
Either way, Baekhyun had learned to expect a daily scaring via a loud bark in his ear from Chanyeol, but that still didn't stop him from screaming like the girl in the classroom next to them when she found a worm Chanyeol had so lovingly placed in her lunchbox when he had a crush on her. It obviously didn't turn out too well for Chanyeol, as the girl now sat on the other side of the lunch room to stay as far away from Chanyeol as she could.
Anyway, it was Chanyeol's wolf antics that caused Baekhyun to occupy his current place on the ground underneath the monkey bars, which aren't nearly as nice as they are when one sits on top of them. Much less of a view underneath, but Chanyeol didn't really know the difference and how the class elite, such as Baekhyun, preferred their perch atop the metal rungs where they could show everyone their prowess and how they were too good to walk the grounds. He didn't want his tennis shoes to get scuffed his first day of wearing them. That wasn't very prince-like.
One fell swoop to the top of the jungle gym, one bark right in Baekhyun's ear, and one bloodcurdling scream as Baekhyun fell to the ground.
He stood up slowly, rubbing his backside and scowling across the yard where Chanyeol and Wu Fan were laughing with two of the kids from the class below them named Sehun and Jongin, the younger children looking like they were going to pee themselves on the spot if they laughed for much longer. Chanyeol started hopping around and yipping while Wu Fan teased a stick above him.
"Are you okay, Baekhyun?" Kyungsoo, Baekhyun's best friend and wide-eyed partner in crime, asked as he helped Baekhyun brush off the rest of the leaves off of his arms. Kyungsoo had been Baekhyun's friend since the first day of pre-school 2 years ago when Baekhyun noticed he liked his shirt tucked into his pants and vanilla pudding as opposed to chocolate, just like Baekhyun. They had to be friends now. Every prince needs a prince friend. Kyungsoo was it, even if he was a little awkward and quiet.
"Yeah, I'm fine. That dummy made me fall again." Baekhyun was examining his jeans for rips and tears. Coast was clear, for now. He'd see how things went later during arts and crafts. Maybe today Chanyeol wouldn't spill glue on the ground and Baekhyun wouldn't have to worry about stepping in it and ruining the bottoms of his new shoes. That would be cool. He liked his shoes a lot, sans glue.
"How does he always catch you when you're not looking?"
"I don't know. It's like he has this radar. And I don't like it. He does this every day!" Baekhyun stomped on the ground, shaking his arms like a mantis stuck in an electric bug trap. Have you ever seen one of those? They're not fun. Kind of scary.
"Maybe he'll stop? He's been acting like a wolf every day for the past 2 months. It has to stop sometime soon. That's not normal. What if his parents actually start to believe he's a wolf and then they start buying him dog food?" Baekhyun looked at Kyungsoo and saw his eyes grow to twice their normal size, indicating a genuine concern as he'd come to realize over the past couple years. Like when they stopped airing Chowder on television. It was really sad and made Kyungsoo super sad but also super shocked and wow, his eyes had gotten really big that day.
"What if he grows fur in his ears and forgets how to talk like a human?"
"What if he starts walking on all four legs everywhere?"
"He does that already, Kyungsoo..." Baekhyun raised an eyebrow at his friend and received a vague nod in return.
"Oh yeah. He does, doesn't he?" Kyungsoo replied, turning his head then back to Chanyeol and watching him scamper around the blacktop chasing a stick on all fours. A typical Chanyeol occurrence. It was a miracle he even remembered how to walk on two legs, he spent so much of his time running around like a puppy. Baekhyun wondered how he walked around his house and if his parents liked having a puppy/boy for a kid. Maybe it was cooler than it seemed.
Before more could be said, the school bell rang out over the yard, signaling the end of recess and a journey for the boys back into the classroom.
Over the next few days, Chanyeol was particularly imposing on prince Baekhyun's happiness. It's like he knew exactly what would make Baekhyun most mad, so of course he did just that. Why are peasants so annoying?
On Monday, Baekhyun's mom packed him his "Happy Monday" juice to start his week off just right, a big bottle of orange juice with soda water and a little bit of mango mixed in for extra sweetness. He was happily taking his first sip in the lunchroom, seated on his usual spot in the end of the bench right up by the food line, exactly where the best should sit, with Kyungsoo right at his side. The two were deep in a conversation about the importance of watching cartoons before they did their reading homework for the night when Baekhyun's daily dose of Chanyeol arrived in the mail in the form of a bark right in his ear, causing him to scream and drop his juice container right on the ground, spilling out entirely before anyone gave it any thought. He looked at Chanyeol in shock while the younger boy was gone in a flash, leaving Baekhyun to sit and wonder what the hell just happened and why the hell he had no more Happy Monday juice to enjoy. Kyungsoo came back sooner than expected and gave him paper towels to help him clean up the mess Chanyeol had made, and by the time Baekhyun looked up to ask Chanyeol why he did that, Chanyeol was gone, from Baekhyun and the lunch room itself. Baekhyun knows he saw Wu Fan walk out of the lunch room without a teacher, so he probably went to go find Chanyeol. Why was Chanyeol so dumb? This isn't how you make friends. Barking is loud and scary.
The next day, Baekhyun had on his brand new polo shirt. It was bright green with dark blue trim on the collar, which of course was buttoned up all the way. Only heathens wore their buttons unbuttoned on their collars. His polo was tucked into his jeans with a nice belt to complement it all. He looked sharp and there was no denying it. Even Baekhyun's rival Jongdae said he liked his polo, and this was super awesome and cool on its own. Baekhyun and Jongdae were known amongst their classmates for arguing over who was the greatest, coolest, most awesome prince in the whole of 1st grade, and more often than not, Baekhyun won. Everyone loved him a lot, especially when he was cute and did aegyo for the girls. The girls gave him more candy if he did aegyo. He learned this early on. Unfortunately, for Byun Baekhyun, they had a painting art project that day. They were going to paint butterflies today for their classroom, and Baekhyun had plans to paint his quite nice. A few crowns here or there, maybe a horse drawn chariot if he had the time. And definitely lots and lots of those money signs he saw on the television the other night. He liked those lots. Of course, as he should've known, Chanyeol was going to ruin his plans. This peasant.
Baekhyun had just grabbed some yellow paint and put a giant glob of it on his paper plate when he turned around and was immediately met by Chanyeol staring him straight int he face, picture held up next to his face of a wolf...or what he said was a wolf and looked more like a deranged Scooby Doo with a few broken limbs and a tail like a scared pigeon. The only thing to show it was a wolf was the "woof" written above it in big letters and Chanyeol almost screaming in Baekhyun's face, "LOOK AT THE WOLF, BAEKHYUN!" Of course, this scared Baekhyun, a scream ringing out from his mouth and scared hands flying up and flipping the yellow paint back onto his brand new polo, much to both his and his teacher's dismay, while Chanyeol just looked on, wide eyed with Kyungsoo at the emotional breakdown occurring in front of him.
If Chanyeol and Kyungsoo thought Baekhyun had a breakdown then over his polo, then the absolute loss for words Baekhyun exhibited the next day when Chanyeol jumped on Baekhyun's back, trying to nuzzle into his neck and face, and thereby sending Baekhyun's brand new black and yellow cap flying into the mud behind them, was something Chanyeol and Kyungsoo never thought they'd see in their lifetime. Kind of like humans living on Saturn or Wu Fan growing into his massive 7 yr old hands. Really, they were massive. As big as his face probably. And 7 yrs old faces aren't totally as small as you'd think. Either way, Baekhyun had to be taken to the office because he was so upset at the loss of his cap. Tears were streaming down his face and Chanyeol's for that matter, except Baekhyun didn't know. He wouldn't know because his face was buried in his hands. Why did Chanyeol always have to ruin things for him?
While he was sitting in the office, sipping his juice and snacking on a granola bar to help him get some energy back after crying so hard, he saw a familiar mop of wavy, wild light brown hair peek around the door of the office and look at him.
"Are you okay, Baekhyun?" Chanyeol asked still hiding behind the door, only his eyes visible to Baekhyun. His eyes were a bit watery too, the only remnants of his previously shed tears that only Wu Fan had knowledge of. Chanyeol's voice was a bit muffled behind the door, but Baekhyun heard him well enough. Why did he still want to be friends with this doofus?
"Mhmmm. I'll be fine. Princes are strong and don't like crying. I'll get a new cap eventually. I just really liked that one is all." Baekhyun replied, looking back down at his granola bar before taking another bite.
"Good. Okay. Bye." He heard Chanyeol say, and when he looked up to see what the rustling noise was, Baekhyun saw the door swinging shut and no Chanyeol in sight. Baekhyun sighed a bit before humming the theme song to that cartoon called Arthur. Maybe he and Chanyeol just weren't going to be friends after all. Baekhyun was disappointed, moreso than anything else, and even his chocolate dipped granola bar couldn't make him any less sad.
The rest of the morning passed by like a breeze, and Baekhyun had made his way back into class just in time to join the rest of his classmates for their daily nap.
He took his place on the carpet next to Kyungsoo and was retelling the tale of his office goodies, before Kyungsoo fell asleep, his wide eyes shut for once in his life, and Baekhyun laughing to himself at the rarity of the occasion.
"I'm not that boring..." Baekhyun muttered to himself as he rolled over, eyes vaguely shut, not realizing he'd rolled over right into Park Chanyeol's face. Baekhyun only noticed something was weird when he started to feel warm breathing on his face. Not like his cat at home breathing on his face while he sleeps on his pillow next to him, but something snarling almost, excited.
So when Baekhyun opened his eyes to see Chanyeol about 2 inches from his own face, wide eyed and breathing heavily, Baekhyun's eyes flew wide to match, and when Chanyeol decided to bark and attempt to bite Baekhyun's nose, Baekhyun practically flew back into Kyungsoo, thereby waking Kyungsoo with his body force while the rest of the class was awoken by his shrill scream. Chanyeol sat up and looked over at Baekhyun as Baekhyun sat against Kyungsoo practically in tears from the fright. Kyungsoo had a tight hold on his best friend, like he could protect him from the wolf puppy trying to eat his nose, even though he was still disoriented from his nap and didn't really know why his best friend was sitting in his lap to begin with.
"Park Chanyeol! Get up and go to your seat right now. If you cannot nap peacefully with the rest of the class, then you can sit in your chair until naptime is over." The teacher said, momentarily turning on the lights as she stood over Chanyeol.
Chanyeol whipped his head around, eyes big and looking as if he might cry at any moment. He was glued to his spot for the moment. He couldn't move, didn't want to move. Maybe he just didn't understand? It was totally possible, Baekhyun guessed, but why did he always have to scare him like that? He didn't mean to get Chanyeol in trouble. Princes don't get people in trouble. Princes make all the trouble go away! Like a superhero does to the bad guy.
Chanyeol got up and walked to his chair while the rest of the class laid back down and started to fall back asleep once the teacher turned the lights off again. Baekhyun, on the other hand, laid so he could see Chanyeol at his desk. He really didn't want him to get in trouble. He just got a little frightened. Why did he have to bite his nose? Who even does that? Baekhyun didn't think wolves did that. It was then that Baekhyun overheard Wu Fan asking the teacher if he could sit by Chanyeol and keep him company at his seat, and Baekhyun couldn't help but feel a little sad. This wasn't fair. Baekhyun watched as Wu Fan made his way to sit by Chanyeol in his chair, and he decided that he needed to do something to get closer to Chanyeol, because he didn't want him to get in trouble again or miss out on naps. Naps are the best. And puppies need lots of naps, right? Puppies don't need to cry at their seats. Especially not Chanyeol, the wolf puppy. Puppies need friends.
Baekhyun wanted to be his friend.
This is what led him to ask his mom that night if she could take him to the library this weekend.
"What do you want to get at the library, sweetie pie? Is there a book you want to check out? Maybe something on the princes of Europe again?" His mom asked as she tucked him into his bed, pulling the covers right up to his chin and brushing his hair back a little. Baekhyun liked when she brushed his hair all nice. Princes always have nice hair.
"I want a book on wolves!" Baekhyun replied plainly.
"Okay~ What do you wanna learn about wolves?"
"I wanna learn how to be friends with them." Baekhyun stated very seriously, nodding his head for emphasis.
"Sweetie, wolves are wild animals. I don't think you can be friends with them."
"But Chanyeol likes to be a wolf! And he's a human. And I wanna be his friend."
"Is this the boy who's been bothering you at school?"
"Mhmmmm."
"And you want to be his friend?"
"Mhmmmm. I do! I think I just need to learn how to be friends with wolves and then he won't scare me as much anymore."
Baekhyun's mom chuckled a little before placing a kiss atop her son's nicely brushed auburn hair. "Okay, silly goose. We will go get you a book on wolves this weekend and you and Chanyeol will be friends before you know it. Alright?"
"I like this idea, mommy."
"I do too, my little bacon bun. Sleep well, angel~ I love you."
"I love you too mom~ 'Night!" Baekhyun sing songed as his mom turned off the light, save for his fairy night light. What? It was fine. No one at school needed to know he had a fairy night light. Fairies are just as cool as princes, and they even do magic! Kyungsoo knew, but he was sworn to secrecy. If he told, then Baekhyun would tell that he secretly leaves Jongin a cookie in his lunchbox everyday when he goes to take his mid-morning allergy medicine.
Anyway, Baekhyun did end up getting a book on wolves from the library and he began to study it like he had a big spelling test to study for! The chapter with words ending in "th" kind of test. You know, the hard stuff. No one even uses those words...but yeah. Baekhyun and his book on wolves. It began to take up all of his attention. He read it at school, at home, on the playground. His nose was always buried in that wolf book, and it turned out to be quite interesting! Wolves were a lot like princes. They liked to be the best, look the best, have the best. Maybe Baekhyun liked wolves more than he thought. He wanted to be sure, most of all though, that he knew exactly what wolf puppies needed, what they liked to eat, what they were afraid of, and, most of all, how to be friends with them. His diligent studying would pay off this time. He was positive.
That was...until Park Chanyeol stopped acting like a wolf around him. It'd been 2 weeks since the naptime incident, and the wolf puppy Chanyeol was nowhere to be found. Okay, so Chanyeol was obviously in class, but he was acting like a human. A normal, 6 yr old, Chanyeol human...or, about as normal as Chanyeol could act. He still thought it was okay to eat worms, and Baekhyun was sure that that, if anything, was something he couldn't fix by learning to be friends with a wolf. Chanyeol mostly ran around these days, on his two hind limbs, as any kid would, eating lunch with his spoon instead of his face, and sleeping peacefully during naptime instead of rustling around trying to snuggle up to different people like a puppy. He didn't even bark anymore, and Baekhyun felt like it was his fault. He had nowhere else to turn, so he went to the man with the answers, Wu Fan.
It was nearing the end of their math class when Baekhyun faked his uncontrollable need to use the bathroom, even going so far as to do the potty dance in front of everyone and earning a questioning look from Kyungsoo.
"Yes, Baekhyun. Go, go sweetie! But come right back!" The teacher said with a wave of her hand and a slightly frantic look on her face. Baekhyun smiled as he exited the classroom, winking at Kyungsoo as he rushed past him and out the door to the hallway. No sooner did he round the corner to the bathrooms, he ran smack into Wu Fan and fell back onto the ground with a small yelp.
"Ah! Sorry, Baekhyun. Here." Wu Fan reached out his giant hand, which to be honest intimidated Baekhyun more than he cared to admit, but Baekhyun took it and stood up once more, looking up at Wu Fan as he brushed himself off.
"It's fine. Wu Fan. I have a question." Baekhyun said, head tilted a little.
Wu Fan gave him a hesitant look in return. When Baekhyun asked him something, it usually had to do with him getting piggybacks across the schoolyard so he didn't have to walk in the mud or trading his strawberry gummy snacks for Baekhyun's less than appetizing grape ones.
"What?"
"What's wrong with Chanyeol?"
"What?"
"What's wrong with Chanyeol? Why is he not a wolf anymore?" Baekhyun looked down at the ground a bit, kicking the heel of his shiny new converse on the front of his left foot.
"He doesn't play wolves anymore because you got him in trouble. And you don't want to play wolves with him anyway, so he stopped."
"Why can't he just play without me? He likes to play with Jongin and you lots more than me."
"But he wants you to be his friend too. That's why he played wolves. So you would think he was cool."
"I do think he's cool."
"Really?"
"Well, he smells a little funny, but he's cool. I wanna be his friend. I even got a book on wolves so I could see what kind of friends wolves want! Do you think that will work?"
Wu Fan laughed a little and placed his hand on Baekhyun's shoulder, causing Baekhyun to shrink away from it slightly like it was a big beetle on his shirt. Beetles are scary. Just like Wu Fan's hands.
"I think it'll work fine. At recess today you should see if he will play wolves with you again. I bet he will. He likes you a lot."
"Mkayy, thanks Wu Fan." Baekhyun replied, brushing the hand off his shoulder and turning to go back to class.
"Wait, don't you have to go to the bathroom?"
"No, I faked it."
"You're good at it." Wu Fan said as they made their way back to the classroom.
"I am, aren't I? Princes have to know how to get what they want!" Baekhyun replied with a giggle, as he skipped back into the classroom and returned to his seat next to Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo looked at him, all confused once more. So Baekhyun leaned over and whispered, as quietly as a 6 yr old could, "I'm gonna play wolves today at recess. Chanyeol and I are gonna be friends now!"
Kyungsoo gasped and Baekhyun leant back to his own seat, smiling as wide as the sun.
Today was the day.
Recess finally made its way into the lives of the children around 12pm, and everyone was more than a little excited. Recess was the best part of the day! All the running around, and playing with bouncy balls and jump ropes and chalk. Chalk was so great. Baekhyun liked to write his name all over the playground to let others know of his kingdom and how they were all peasants in it, except for Kyungsoo, but today was different.
Today, Baekhyun was going to play wolves. And he had just the prop to help him play his best game of wolves ever.
"Good luck! Don't get your hand bitten off by the rabid wolf boy!" Kyungsoo said with a hug for good luck, as his best friend saluted and made his way over to the patch of grass next to the basketball hoops where Jongin, Wu Fan, and Chanyeol were sitting and arranging piles of leaves according to color. Jongin and Wu Fan looked confused, and Chanyeol looked a little sad.
Maybe Baekhyun could help them all feel better? He sure hoped so.
Baekhyun took a deep breath, trying to remember everything he'd read about in the wolf book he got from the library. Why did he have to give it back yesterday? He should've probably read it one more time before doing this. What if he offended Chanyeol and didn't know how to properly make puppy friends? What if Chanyeol didn't want to be his friend and Wu Fan was being a meanie and making him look silly? Wu Fan would do that. People with large hands are evil and scary.
Before he knew it, Baekhyun was standing in front of Chanyeol, Wu Fan, and Jongin, Chanyeol looking up at him first before standing up, towering over the smaller boy. He still looked sad and Baekhyun still felt bad about it. But this was his chance to make it right! He could do this.
"What do you want, Baekhyun?" Chanyeol asked softly. He looked a little afraid to talk to Baekhyun, probably because every time he tried before the smaller boy just ended up in tears and running away from him. He had to stop being a puppy if he wanted to be friends, or so he thought...until Baekhyun barked at him.
Yes. Baekhyun barked at Chanyeol. It was a small bark, more of a joyful yip if anything, and Chanyeol's eyes flew wide, almost unable to process what he'd just heard.
That was, until Baekhyun barked again, smiling and holding a cookie out in his hand toward Chanyeol.
Yep. Baekhyun definitely barked at him, and was giving him a cookie. Chanyeol wasn't going crazy.
Baekhyun just kept smiling while he shoved the cookie into Chanyeol's hands.
"Let's play wolves, Chanyeol! I'm sorry about before. I wanna play wolves with you and be your wolf friend. Is that okay?" Baekhyun asked, still looking at Chanyeol, eyes almost pleading a bit in contrast to the smile on his face. But when Chanyeol barked back, Baekhyun knew he had a new puppy friend.
Chanyeol smiled soon after the bark left his mouth, and then, before Baekhyun even had time to think, he felt Park Chanyeol lick the side of his face.
Baekhyun looked up at him in surprise, about ready to shriek from the mass amount of germs probably now infecting his skin, but then he remembered, wolves and puppies lick you if they like you.
But while Chanyeol may like Baekhyun, that didn't excuse the absolute disgustingness of it all! Princes do not get licked...even if they are friends with a puppy. So the playful slaps to Chanyeol's arm just sent the two into even brighter smiles before getting down onto all fours and running around, chasing each other by the basketball hoop, Chanyeol's cookie hanging out of his mouth.
Now with two wolf puppy barks gracing the ears of the kids and teachers on the playground, and the sight of Baekhyun running around and jumping with Chanyeol hot on his trail, everyone would know that the once lone wolf puppy had now found another puppy friend. One that would last a lifetime.
Pairing: BaekYeol
Genre: Oneshot, kid!au, schoolkid!au, comedy, fluff
Rating: PG
Summary: Baekhyun doesn't understand why Chanyeol is so obsessed with playing make believe as a wolf puppy, especially since it always seems to end in Baekhyun getting scared or crying. Baekyun just wants to be friends with Chanyeol, but can he be friends with a boy who would rather be a puppy?
a/n: DEDICATED TO shayepuree BECAUSE SHE LOVES BAEKYEOL A LOT AND SHE IS GONNA LOVE THIS. ^.^ enjoy, gull!~ 00000000
When you're young, playing make believe is a right of passage.
Pretending to be a monster, a prince, a fairy, or even Count Dracula will all make their appearances in due time. Sometimes, though, it's more fun to pretend you're a super cool animal! Like a shark, or a lion, or a dragon!
Park Chanyeol, age 6, found it most interesting though to play make believe as a wolf.....or, well, what could better be described as a wolf pup by any adult he's ever yipped at and received a cookie for his cute, weird puppy habit. His parents had given him books, he wore a different shirt with a different wolf on it each day to school, toting his wolf lunch box, and making sure he had his backpack properly filled with all the toys a wolf pup could ever want to play with at school, especially with his friend, the exchange student from China named Wu Fan.
Chanyeol especially liked him because even though he was a year older, he was in his grade because he got into school late and he had a cool accent and wore cool clothes....and his name kind of sounded like "woof".
It was cool. Way cool.
The only person who didn't think Chanyeol playing wolves was really great and cute and friendly was Byun Baekhyun, his classmate and mortal enemy...not by his own choice, though. Baekhyun actually thought he and Chanyeol could be friends if they tried hard enough and Chanyeol didn't try to stuff his nose into Baekhyun's armpit while they stood in line for the bathrooms. He truly didn't hate him, but Chanyeol seemed to not like him, and well, that made things a bit more difficult for Baekhyun in the friendship department.
Baekhyun had grown to dislike Chanyeol more than anything these days, mostly because of his wolf pup antics. Bakhyun was never one for loud noises or being touched when he didn't want to be, let alone by Chanyeol who was just about as dirty as a wolf after recess. Princes don't let peons touch them. They'll stain their clothes.
Didn't Chanyeol know that the worms in the ground weren't the same as the gummy ones his mom packed in his lunch?
Either way, Baekhyun had learned to expect a daily scaring via a loud bark in his ear from Chanyeol, but that still didn't stop him from screaming like the girl in the classroom next to them when she found a worm Chanyeol had so lovingly placed in her lunchbox when he had a crush on her. It obviously didn't turn out too well for Chanyeol, as the girl now sat on the other side of the lunch room to stay as far away from Chanyeol as she could.
Anyway, it was Chanyeol's wolf antics that caused Baekhyun to occupy his current place on the ground underneath the monkey bars, which aren't nearly as nice as they are when one sits on top of them. Much less of a view underneath, but Chanyeol didn't really know the difference and how the class elite, such as Baekhyun, preferred their perch atop the metal rungs where they could show everyone their prowess and how they were too good to walk the grounds. He didn't want his tennis shoes to get scuffed his first day of wearing them. That wasn't very prince-like.
One fell swoop to the top of the jungle gym, one bark right in Baekhyun's ear, and one bloodcurdling scream as Baekhyun fell to the ground.
He stood up slowly, rubbing his backside and scowling across the yard where Chanyeol and Wu Fan were laughing with two of the kids from the class below them named Sehun and Jongin, the younger children looking like they were going to pee themselves on the spot if they laughed for much longer. Chanyeol started hopping around and yipping while Wu Fan teased a stick above him.
"Are you okay, Baekhyun?" Kyungsoo, Baekhyun's best friend and wide-eyed partner in crime, asked as he helped Baekhyun brush off the rest of the leaves off of his arms. Kyungsoo had been Baekhyun's friend since the first day of pre-school 2 years ago when Baekhyun noticed he liked his shirt tucked into his pants and vanilla pudding as opposed to chocolate, just like Baekhyun. They had to be friends now. Every prince needs a prince friend. Kyungsoo was it, even if he was a little awkward and quiet.
"Yeah, I'm fine. That dummy made me fall again." Baekhyun was examining his jeans for rips and tears. Coast was clear, for now. He'd see how things went later during arts and crafts. Maybe today Chanyeol wouldn't spill glue on the ground and Baekhyun wouldn't have to worry about stepping in it and ruining the bottoms of his new shoes. That would be cool. He liked his shoes a lot, sans glue.
"How does he always catch you when you're not looking?"
"I don't know. It's like he has this radar. And I don't like it. He does this every day!" Baekhyun stomped on the ground, shaking his arms like a mantis stuck in an electric bug trap. Have you ever seen one of those? They're not fun. Kind of scary.
"Maybe he'll stop? He's been acting like a wolf every day for the past 2 months. It has to stop sometime soon. That's not normal. What if his parents actually start to believe he's a wolf and then they start buying him dog food?" Baekhyun looked at Kyungsoo and saw his eyes grow to twice their normal size, indicating a genuine concern as he'd come to realize over the past couple years. Like when they stopped airing Chowder on television. It was really sad and made Kyungsoo super sad but also super shocked and wow, his eyes had gotten really big that day.
"What if he grows fur in his ears and forgets how to talk like a human?"
"What if he starts walking on all four legs everywhere?"
"He does that already, Kyungsoo..." Baekhyun raised an eyebrow at his friend and received a vague nod in return.
"Oh yeah. He does, doesn't he?" Kyungsoo replied, turning his head then back to Chanyeol and watching him scamper around the blacktop chasing a stick on all fours. A typical Chanyeol occurrence. It was a miracle he even remembered how to walk on two legs, he spent so much of his time running around like a puppy. Baekhyun wondered how he walked around his house and if his parents liked having a puppy/boy for a kid. Maybe it was cooler than it seemed.
Before more could be said, the school bell rang out over the yard, signaling the end of recess and a journey for the boys back into the classroom.
Over the next few days, Chanyeol was particularly imposing on prince Baekhyun's happiness. It's like he knew exactly what would make Baekhyun most mad, so of course he did just that. Why are peasants so annoying?
On Monday, Baekhyun's mom packed him his "Happy Monday" juice to start his week off just right, a big bottle of orange juice with soda water and a little bit of mango mixed in for extra sweetness. He was happily taking his first sip in the lunchroom, seated on his usual spot in the end of the bench right up by the food line, exactly where the best should sit, with Kyungsoo right at his side. The two were deep in a conversation about the importance of watching cartoons before they did their reading homework for the night when Baekhyun's daily dose of Chanyeol arrived in the mail in the form of a bark right in his ear, causing him to scream and drop his juice container right on the ground, spilling out entirely before anyone gave it any thought. He looked at Chanyeol in shock while the younger boy was gone in a flash, leaving Baekhyun to sit and wonder what the hell just happened and why the hell he had no more Happy Monday juice to enjoy. Kyungsoo came back sooner than expected and gave him paper towels to help him clean up the mess Chanyeol had made, and by the time Baekhyun looked up to ask Chanyeol why he did that, Chanyeol was gone, from Baekhyun and the lunch room itself. Baekhyun knows he saw Wu Fan walk out of the lunch room without a teacher, so he probably went to go find Chanyeol. Why was Chanyeol so dumb? This isn't how you make friends. Barking is loud and scary.
The next day, Baekhyun had on his brand new polo shirt. It was bright green with dark blue trim on the collar, which of course was buttoned up all the way. Only heathens wore their buttons unbuttoned on their collars. His polo was tucked into his jeans with a nice belt to complement it all. He looked sharp and there was no denying it. Even Baekhyun's rival Jongdae said he liked his polo, and this was super awesome and cool on its own. Baekhyun and Jongdae were known amongst their classmates for arguing over who was the greatest, coolest, most awesome prince in the whole of 1st grade, and more often than not, Baekhyun won. Everyone loved him a lot, especially when he was cute and did aegyo for the girls. The girls gave him more candy if he did aegyo. He learned this early on. Unfortunately, for Byun Baekhyun, they had a painting art project that day. They were going to paint butterflies today for their classroom, and Baekhyun had plans to paint his quite nice. A few crowns here or there, maybe a horse drawn chariot if he had the time. And definitely lots and lots of those money signs he saw on the television the other night. He liked those lots. Of course, as he should've known, Chanyeol was going to ruin his plans. This peasant.
Baekhyun had just grabbed some yellow paint and put a giant glob of it on his paper plate when he turned around and was immediately met by Chanyeol staring him straight int he face, picture held up next to his face of a wolf...or what he said was a wolf and looked more like a deranged Scooby Doo with a few broken limbs and a tail like a scared pigeon. The only thing to show it was a wolf was the "woof" written above it in big letters and Chanyeol almost screaming in Baekhyun's face, "LOOK AT THE WOLF, BAEKHYUN!" Of course, this scared Baekhyun, a scream ringing out from his mouth and scared hands flying up and flipping the yellow paint back onto his brand new polo, much to both his and his teacher's dismay, while Chanyeol just looked on, wide eyed with Kyungsoo at the emotional breakdown occurring in front of him.
If Chanyeol and Kyungsoo thought Baekhyun had a breakdown then over his polo, then the absolute loss for words Baekhyun exhibited the next day when Chanyeol jumped on Baekhyun's back, trying to nuzzle into his neck and face, and thereby sending Baekhyun's brand new black and yellow cap flying into the mud behind them, was something Chanyeol and Kyungsoo never thought they'd see in their lifetime. Kind of like humans living on Saturn or Wu Fan growing into his massive 7 yr old hands. Really, they were massive. As big as his face probably. And 7 yrs old faces aren't totally as small as you'd think. Either way, Baekhyun had to be taken to the office because he was so upset at the loss of his cap. Tears were streaming down his face and Chanyeol's for that matter, except Baekhyun didn't know. He wouldn't know because his face was buried in his hands. Why did Chanyeol always have to ruin things for him?
While he was sitting in the office, sipping his juice and snacking on a granola bar to help him get some energy back after crying so hard, he saw a familiar mop of wavy, wild light brown hair peek around the door of the office and look at him.
"Are you okay, Baekhyun?" Chanyeol asked still hiding behind the door, only his eyes visible to Baekhyun. His eyes were a bit watery too, the only remnants of his previously shed tears that only Wu Fan had knowledge of. Chanyeol's voice was a bit muffled behind the door, but Baekhyun heard him well enough. Why did he still want to be friends with this doofus?
"Mhmmm. I'll be fine. Princes are strong and don't like crying. I'll get a new cap eventually. I just really liked that one is all." Baekhyun replied, looking back down at his granola bar before taking another bite.
"Good. Okay. Bye." He heard Chanyeol say, and when he looked up to see what the rustling noise was, Baekhyun saw the door swinging shut and no Chanyeol in sight. Baekhyun sighed a bit before humming the theme song to that cartoon called Arthur. Maybe he and Chanyeol just weren't going to be friends after all. Baekhyun was disappointed, moreso than anything else, and even his chocolate dipped granola bar couldn't make him any less sad.
The rest of the morning passed by like a breeze, and Baekhyun had made his way back into class just in time to join the rest of his classmates for their daily nap.
He took his place on the carpet next to Kyungsoo and was retelling the tale of his office goodies, before Kyungsoo fell asleep, his wide eyes shut for once in his life, and Baekhyun laughing to himself at the rarity of the occasion.
"I'm not that boring..." Baekhyun muttered to himself as he rolled over, eyes vaguely shut, not realizing he'd rolled over right into Park Chanyeol's face. Baekhyun only noticed something was weird when he started to feel warm breathing on his face. Not like his cat at home breathing on his face while he sleeps on his pillow next to him, but something snarling almost, excited.
So when Baekhyun opened his eyes to see Chanyeol about 2 inches from his own face, wide eyed and breathing heavily, Baekhyun's eyes flew wide to match, and when Chanyeol decided to bark and attempt to bite Baekhyun's nose, Baekhyun practically flew back into Kyungsoo, thereby waking Kyungsoo with his body force while the rest of the class was awoken by his shrill scream. Chanyeol sat up and looked over at Baekhyun as Baekhyun sat against Kyungsoo practically in tears from the fright. Kyungsoo had a tight hold on his best friend, like he could protect him from the wolf puppy trying to eat his nose, even though he was still disoriented from his nap and didn't really know why his best friend was sitting in his lap to begin with.
"Park Chanyeol! Get up and go to your seat right now. If you cannot nap peacefully with the rest of the class, then you can sit in your chair until naptime is over." The teacher said, momentarily turning on the lights as she stood over Chanyeol.
Chanyeol whipped his head around, eyes big and looking as if he might cry at any moment. He was glued to his spot for the moment. He couldn't move, didn't want to move. Maybe he just didn't understand? It was totally possible, Baekhyun guessed, but why did he always have to scare him like that? He didn't mean to get Chanyeol in trouble. Princes don't get people in trouble. Princes make all the trouble go away! Like a superhero does to the bad guy.
Chanyeol got up and walked to his chair while the rest of the class laid back down and started to fall back asleep once the teacher turned the lights off again. Baekhyun, on the other hand, laid so he could see Chanyeol at his desk. He really didn't want him to get in trouble. He just got a little frightened. Why did he have to bite his nose? Who even does that? Baekhyun didn't think wolves did that. It was then that Baekhyun overheard Wu Fan asking the teacher if he could sit by Chanyeol and keep him company at his seat, and Baekhyun couldn't help but feel a little sad. This wasn't fair. Baekhyun watched as Wu Fan made his way to sit by Chanyeol in his chair, and he decided that he needed to do something to get closer to Chanyeol, because he didn't want him to get in trouble again or miss out on naps. Naps are the best. And puppies need lots of naps, right? Puppies don't need to cry at their seats. Especially not Chanyeol, the wolf puppy. Puppies need friends.
Baekhyun wanted to be his friend.
This is what led him to ask his mom that night if she could take him to the library this weekend.
"What do you want to get at the library, sweetie pie? Is there a book you want to check out? Maybe something on the princes of Europe again?" His mom asked as she tucked him into his bed, pulling the covers right up to his chin and brushing his hair back a little. Baekhyun liked when she brushed his hair all nice. Princes always have nice hair.
"I want a book on wolves!" Baekhyun replied plainly.
"Okay~ What do you wanna learn about wolves?"
"I wanna learn how to be friends with them." Baekhyun stated very seriously, nodding his head for emphasis.
"Sweetie, wolves are wild animals. I don't think you can be friends with them."
"But Chanyeol likes to be a wolf! And he's a human. And I wanna be his friend."
"Is this the boy who's been bothering you at school?"
"Mhmmmm."
"And you want to be his friend?"
"Mhmmmm. I do! I think I just need to learn how to be friends with wolves and then he won't scare me as much anymore."
Baekhyun's mom chuckled a little before placing a kiss atop her son's nicely brushed auburn hair. "Okay, silly goose. We will go get you a book on wolves this weekend and you and Chanyeol will be friends before you know it. Alright?"
"I like this idea, mommy."
"I do too, my little bacon bun. Sleep well, angel~ I love you."
"I love you too mom~ 'Night!" Baekhyun sing songed as his mom turned off the light, save for his fairy night light. What? It was fine. No one at school needed to know he had a fairy night light. Fairies are just as cool as princes, and they even do magic! Kyungsoo knew, but he was sworn to secrecy. If he told, then Baekhyun would tell that he secretly leaves Jongin a cookie in his lunchbox everyday when he goes to take his mid-morning allergy medicine.
Anyway, Baekhyun did end up getting a book on wolves from the library and he began to study it like he had a big spelling test to study for! The chapter with words ending in "th" kind of test. You know, the hard stuff. No one even uses those words...but yeah. Baekhyun and his book on wolves. It began to take up all of his attention. He read it at school, at home, on the playground. His nose was always buried in that wolf book, and it turned out to be quite interesting! Wolves were a lot like princes. They liked to be the best, look the best, have the best. Maybe Baekhyun liked wolves more than he thought. He wanted to be sure, most of all though, that he knew exactly what wolf puppies needed, what they liked to eat, what they were afraid of, and, most of all, how to be friends with them. His diligent studying would pay off this time. He was positive.
That was...until Park Chanyeol stopped acting like a wolf around him. It'd been 2 weeks since the naptime incident, and the wolf puppy Chanyeol was nowhere to be found. Okay, so Chanyeol was obviously in class, but he was acting like a human. A normal, 6 yr old, Chanyeol human...or, about as normal as Chanyeol could act. He still thought it was okay to eat worms, and Baekhyun was sure that that, if anything, was something he couldn't fix by learning to be friends with a wolf. Chanyeol mostly ran around these days, on his two hind limbs, as any kid would, eating lunch with his spoon instead of his face, and sleeping peacefully during naptime instead of rustling around trying to snuggle up to different people like a puppy. He didn't even bark anymore, and Baekhyun felt like it was his fault. He had nowhere else to turn, so he went to the man with the answers, Wu Fan.
It was nearing the end of their math class when Baekhyun faked his uncontrollable need to use the bathroom, even going so far as to do the potty dance in front of everyone and earning a questioning look from Kyungsoo.
"Yes, Baekhyun. Go, go sweetie! But come right back!" The teacher said with a wave of her hand and a slightly frantic look on her face. Baekhyun smiled as he exited the classroom, winking at Kyungsoo as he rushed past him and out the door to the hallway. No sooner did he round the corner to the bathrooms, he ran smack into Wu Fan and fell back onto the ground with a small yelp.
"Ah! Sorry, Baekhyun. Here." Wu Fan reached out his giant hand, which to be honest intimidated Baekhyun more than he cared to admit, but Baekhyun took it and stood up once more, looking up at Wu Fan as he brushed himself off.
"It's fine. Wu Fan. I have a question." Baekhyun said, head tilted a little.
Wu Fan gave him a hesitant look in return. When Baekhyun asked him something, it usually had to do with him getting piggybacks across the schoolyard so he didn't have to walk in the mud or trading his strawberry gummy snacks for Baekhyun's less than appetizing grape ones.
"What?"
"What's wrong with Chanyeol?"
"What?"
"What's wrong with Chanyeol? Why is he not a wolf anymore?" Baekhyun looked down at the ground a bit, kicking the heel of his shiny new converse on the front of his left foot.
"He doesn't play wolves anymore because you got him in trouble. And you don't want to play wolves with him anyway, so he stopped."
"Why can't he just play without me? He likes to play with Jongin and you lots more than me."
"But he wants you to be his friend too. That's why he played wolves. So you would think he was cool."
"I do think he's cool."
"Really?"
"Well, he smells a little funny, but he's cool. I wanna be his friend. I even got a book on wolves so I could see what kind of friends wolves want! Do you think that will work?"
Wu Fan laughed a little and placed his hand on Baekhyun's shoulder, causing Baekhyun to shrink away from it slightly like it was a big beetle on his shirt. Beetles are scary. Just like Wu Fan's hands.
"I think it'll work fine. At recess today you should see if he will play wolves with you again. I bet he will. He likes you a lot."
"Mkayy, thanks Wu Fan." Baekhyun replied, brushing the hand off his shoulder and turning to go back to class.
"Wait, don't you have to go to the bathroom?"
"No, I faked it."
"You're good at it." Wu Fan said as they made their way back to the classroom.
"I am, aren't I? Princes have to know how to get what they want!" Baekhyun replied with a giggle, as he skipped back into the classroom and returned to his seat next to Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo looked at him, all confused once more. So Baekhyun leaned over and whispered, as quietly as a 6 yr old could, "I'm gonna play wolves today at recess. Chanyeol and I are gonna be friends now!"
Kyungsoo gasped and Baekhyun leant back to his own seat, smiling as wide as the sun.
Today was the day.
Recess finally made its way into the lives of the children around 12pm, and everyone was more than a little excited. Recess was the best part of the day! All the running around, and playing with bouncy balls and jump ropes and chalk. Chalk was so great. Baekhyun liked to write his name all over the playground to let others know of his kingdom and how they were all peasants in it, except for Kyungsoo, but today was different.
Today, Baekhyun was going to play wolves. And he had just the prop to help him play his best game of wolves ever.
"Good luck! Don't get your hand bitten off by the rabid wolf boy!" Kyungsoo said with a hug for good luck, as his best friend saluted and made his way over to the patch of grass next to the basketball hoops where Jongin, Wu Fan, and Chanyeol were sitting and arranging piles of leaves according to color. Jongin and Wu Fan looked confused, and Chanyeol looked a little sad.
Maybe Baekhyun could help them all feel better? He sure hoped so.
Baekhyun took a deep breath, trying to remember everything he'd read about in the wolf book he got from the library. Why did he have to give it back yesterday? He should've probably read it one more time before doing this. What if he offended Chanyeol and didn't know how to properly make puppy friends? What if Chanyeol didn't want to be his friend and Wu Fan was being a meanie and making him look silly? Wu Fan would do that. People with large hands are evil and scary.
Before he knew it, Baekhyun was standing in front of Chanyeol, Wu Fan, and Jongin, Chanyeol looking up at him first before standing up, towering over the smaller boy. He still looked sad and Baekhyun still felt bad about it. But this was his chance to make it right! He could do this.
"What do you want, Baekhyun?" Chanyeol asked softly. He looked a little afraid to talk to Baekhyun, probably because every time he tried before the smaller boy just ended up in tears and running away from him. He had to stop being a puppy if he wanted to be friends, or so he thought...until Baekhyun barked at him.
Yes. Baekhyun barked at Chanyeol. It was a small bark, more of a joyful yip if anything, and Chanyeol's eyes flew wide, almost unable to process what he'd just heard.
That was, until Baekhyun barked again, smiling and holding a cookie out in his hand toward Chanyeol.
Yep. Baekhyun definitely barked at him, and was giving him a cookie. Chanyeol wasn't going crazy.
Baekhyun just kept smiling while he shoved the cookie into Chanyeol's hands.
"Let's play wolves, Chanyeol! I'm sorry about before. I wanna play wolves with you and be your wolf friend. Is that okay?" Baekhyun asked, still looking at Chanyeol, eyes almost pleading a bit in contrast to the smile on his face. But when Chanyeol barked back, Baekhyun knew he had a new puppy friend.
Chanyeol smiled soon after the bark left his mouth, and then, before Baekhyun even had time to think, he felt Park Chanyeol lick the side of his face.
Baekhyun looked up at him in surprise, about ready to shriek from the mass amount of germs probably now infecting his skin, but then he remembered, wolves and puppies lick you if they like you.
But while Chanyeol may like Baekhyun, that didn't excuse the absolute disgustingness of it all! Princes do not get licked...even if they are friends with a puppy. So the playful slaps to Chanyeol's arm just sent the two into even brighter smiles before getting down onto all fours and running around, chasing each other by the basketball hoop, Chanyeol's cookie hanging out of his mouth.
Now with two wolf puppy barks gracing the ears of the kids and teachers on the playground, and the sight of Baekhyun running around and jumping with Chanyeol hot on his trail, everyone would know that the once lone wolf puppy had now found another puppy friend. One that would last a lifetime.