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"What the hell are you wearing?" Baekhyun asked, a look of disgust on his face as he stared at Chanyeol's "interesting" choice of clothing.
"What do you mean?" Chanyeol replied, generally confused at what could possibly be wrong with his Christmas sweater, "It's the day after Thanksgiving, Baekhyun! It's time for Christmas!"
"It has ducks on it....." Baekhyun rolled his eyes, "....it says 'duck the halls.'"
"I know!" exclaimed Chanyeol, "It's adorable! Got it at Goodwill."
"Okay then.....but can you like not wear that when we are together in public?"
Chanyeol widened his eyes, "Of course I am wearing it! C'mon Baekhyun, get into the Christmas spirit!" Chanyeol replied, practically smacking Baekhyun on the shoulder.
"Okay, how about no," Baekhyun replied, "you need to take off that sweater so we can go to the movie theater without our public reputations to be ruined. Or at least mine. Looks like you don't really care about yours."
"I'm keeping it on," Chanyeol said, crossing his arms, "besides, what's your problem with Christmas?"
"First of all, Chanyeol, it's THE DAY AFTER THANKSGIVING. And, second of all, I've never even celebrated Christmas."
"Wait WHAT?!" Chanyeol practically yelled, mouth hanging open.
"Are your ears broken Chanyeol?" Baekhyun said, grabbing Chanyeol's ear and pulling it, "also, shut your mouth. You'll catch flies."
"No, it's just, NO CHRISTMAS?!"
"Yes, that's what I said...now are you going to take off that sweater so we can go to the movie or not?"
"I knew you were some weird used-to-be-homeschooled kid but no Christmas is practically child abuse!"
"Umm...I think I ended up just fine, Chanyeol."
"Debatable," Chanyeol said before getting smacked in the head by Baekhyun.
"Okay, Chanyeol. Sweater off. We're leaving for the theater."
"No. I changed my mind. I'm keeping the sweater on and we're going to see Santa."
"Ch-" but before Baekhyun could even reply, Chanyeol grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him towards the car.
Once they were in the car, it didn't take Baekhyun long to start protesting, "Chanyeol, I know a few things about Christmas and I'm pretty sure 19-year old college men don't go to see Santa." Chanyeol didn't reply to him, just kept driving, "Chanyeol, we're gonna miss the movie! Kyungsoo and Joonmyeon are probably waiting at the theater for us."
"I'll just text them and tell them that we went to see Santa at the mall instead. They'll understand. Santa is very important."
"Oh. My. God. You are insufferable. Why did I ever befriend you?"
"Because I actually deal with your emo ass."
"I'm not emo."
"You literally have a picture of Gerard Way on your phone, and you're trying to tell me you aren't emo?"
"When did you go through my phone?!"
"That's none of your business."
"Oh. My. Fucking. God. Chanyeol you are the WORST."
"And you're a drama queen, Baekhyun. I just find your drama tolerable." Baekhyun rolled his eyes at Chanyeol's comments, no matter how right Chanyeol was about Baekhyun being a bit dramatic.
"I cannot believe you," Baekhyun pouted.
"Okay, well, quit whining. We're here," Chanyeol said, pulling into a busy mall parking lot.
"Only if you manage to find a parking space and pull into it without hitting two other cars," Baekhyun said.
"Shut up, I have perfect driving skills," Chanyeol protested, smacking Baekhyun for his snide comment.
"I have known you for approximately 4 months and you have managed to get 5 driving tickets in that time."
"I'm just unlucky, okay?!"
"Chanyeol, unlucky is getting 2 driving tickets. 5 is being a bad driver," Chanyeol said, trying to pull into a parking space and just barely miss hitting the car next to them.
"Get out, grumpy weirdo. Santa is waiting," Chanyeol said, walking around the car and opening the passenger side door where Baekhyun was sitting.
"Yes, I'm sure Santa will be just delighted for two grown men to sit on his lap."
"Santa loves all children," Chanyeol explained.
"Ummm....Chanyeol are you aware that you have passed the age that is considered 'children'."
"Live a little, Baekhyun."
Baekhyun didn't uncross his arms or smile, but he willingly followed a skipping Chanyeol into the mall. However, Chanyeol decided that Baekhyun wasn't moving fast enough and grabbed Baekhyun's hand, practically pulling him over in the process.
When they walked up to the set-up in the middle of the mall where Santa was located, they were greeted by a not-so-delighted looking elf, "Aren't you two a little old to be visiting Santa?" she asked.
"Yes," "Never," Chanyeol and Baekhyun said at the same time.
"Why? Is there an age limit? Please say yes. Please say yes," Baekhyun begged, thoroughly confusing the elf.
"Nope. No age limit," she replied, smirking a little when Baekhyun sighed with disappointment.
"Good," Chanyeol said, pulling Baekhyun's wrist towards the surprisingly short line to see Santa.
Chanyeol was practically jumping up and down while waiting in line, "So what are you going to ask for, Baek?"
"Is that supposed to be secret?"
"Maybe, I don't know. I'm asking for a puppy."
"Chanyeol, you live in a dorm."
"And?"
"You can't have a puppy in the dorms," Baekhyun explained.
"That's just a suggestion."
"So help me god, Chanyeol, if you get a puppy I'm telling our RA."
"I'm still asking Santa for a puppy. You can't stop me." Baekhyun rolled his eyes. Of course Chanyeol wanted a puppy, he was practically a puppy himself.
When their turn in line came, Chanyeol ran up to Santa first, Baekhyun happily staying behind waiting, glad he wasn't the one sitting on a weird bearded old man's lap. Chanyeol talked the poor man's ear off, and Baekhyun had to walk up to pull Chanyeol off of him, "Chanyeol, children are waiting!" Baekhyun said, pulling Chanyeol's heavy body off of Santa.
"Not before you sit here and tell Santa what you want," Chanyeol explained, pushing Baekhyun onto Santa's lap, almost knocking both of them over.
"Uh, hi...." Baekhyun said, leaning as far away from Santa as possible. Baekhyun really did not understand this tradition.
"Baekhyun tell him what you want!"
"Uhh...world peace???"
"Baekhyun, something more original!" Chanyeol almost shouted, lightly pushing Baekhyun closer to the old man.
"Okay...umm....I want..."
"Baekhyun, hurry up, 'children are waiting'," Chanyeol mocked.
"Okay, how about.....I want Chanyeol to get his dumb puppy for Christmas," Baekhyun said, standing up immediately, "good enough for you Chanyeol?"
"Not until we get a picture with Santa," Chanyeol smiled, pulling out his phone and dragging Baekhyun back to Santa's lap before quickly snapping a picture, before Baekhyun even had a chance to smile. Not that he planned on smiling anyways.
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The next morning found the selfie with Santa posted on Instagram with the caption: 'With my bae. You figure out which one he is.'
WHAT?!
Baekhyun's face blushed immediately despite the fact that he was alone. 'Bae'? First of all, Baekhyun thought that bae was a terrible word choice and second of all, Baekhyun sincerely hoped Chanyeol was talking about Santa. Or did he?
"Baekhyun got up, put on his glasses and a sweatshirt, walking down the hall to Chanyeol's room, the picture up on his phone, not caring if it was 5:00 am on a Friday morning when he knew for sure Chanyeol didn't have class.
Baekhyun hesitated a bit before knocking on Chanyeol's door. He heard a groan coming from inside, obviously coming from a very tired Chanyeol. Baekhyun only knocked again.
"Go awayyyyy," Chanyeol whined, "I'm tireeeeedddd."
"Chanyeol, it's Baekhyun. Get your ass up and come to the door."
He heard some shuffling around and then the door finally opened, revealing a messy-haired, shirtless Chanyeol. Baekhyun kept his eyes on Chanyeol's face, not daring to look down.
Baekhyun cleared his throat before lifting up his phone to show Chanyeol the picture, "What is this?" Baekhyun said, pointing to his phone.
"Uh..It looks like the selfie we took yesterday with Santa?"
"Yeah, but what is this caption supposed to mean?"
"Whatever you want it to, I guess," he said, "can I go back to bed now?"
"Fine, don't explain it to me," Baekhyun said, sighing and walking away. Maybe he was reading more into this than he should be. It was probably just a silly caption about Chanyeol's joyful attitude toward Christmas. Nevertheless, it didn't fail to confuse Baekhyun. Did it mean something?
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Over the next few weeks, finals took up most of both Baekhyun's and Chanyeol's time. Their group of friends didn't have time to get together or even talk. Baekhyun and Chanyeol didn't even send each other a simple text message. Though busy lives might've been part of that, both of their confusion and reluctance probably played a bigger role in the fact that they hadn't spoken. Winter vacation was quickly approaching. Baekhyun had just finished his last final and was packing up to drive back home to his family. He wondered if he should say goodbye to Chanyeol. He didn't know what was up with him. Chanyeol was usually jumping at every chance to bother Baekhyun. And because it was the Christmas season, Chanyeol should've been more cheery than usual. Baekhyun hadn't even seen Chanyeol. They didn't have any of the same classes and they weren't at the same time. Chanyeol and Baekhyun never came out of their rooms, as they were spending too much time studying instead of hanging out with friends. The oddness of Chanyeol's recent behavior made Baekhyun wonder if Chanyeol even wanted to hang out with him. Did Chanyeol even want to be his friend? If not, a goodbye wasn't needed. However, Baekhyun did care about Chanyeol and he suddenly found himself regretting not being cheerier to Chanyeol. The truth was, as annoying as Baekhyun claimed Chanyeol was, he missed the tall puppy of a boy. He missed him maybe a little too much.
He decided he wasn't going to leave Chanyeol without a goodbye. So, he headed over to Chanyeol's dorm room. It was 6:00 pm and Chanyeol was usually in his dorm at that time. He knocked on the door but heard nothing. He didn't want to try knocking again, for fear he would wake Chanyeol or his roommate Jongdae. Without a reply from anyone, he started walking back to his own dorm to finish packing for home when he ran into a tired looking Chanyeol.
"Oh, sorry," Chanyeol said for bumping into Baekhyun, passing Baekhyun without another word or even a smile.
"Wait, Chanyeol," Baekhyun said, reaching to grab Chanyeol's shoulder.
"Hm?" Chanyeol replied, turning around and looking down into Baekhyun's eyes.
"Is something wrong?" Baekhyun asked.
"No, just finals. Stressful. I think I might've failed that last one."
"Understandable..." Baekhyun replied, and Chanyeol turned to keep walking to his room.
"Chanyeol," Baekhyun stopped him again.
"Yeah?"
"I just wanted to say bye. I'm heading home to see my family. Even though I don't celebrate Christmas, I wanted to wish you one. Merry Christmas, Chanyeol," Baekhyun smiled.
And Chanyeol actually smiled back, "You can smile, Baek?"
"Shut up," Baekhyun smacked him, "of course I can smile. Everyone can smile. Also, I hope you get that puppy you asked for."
"Yeah, I wish. I don't get to leave for another two days, unfortunately, but have a good break Baekhyun." And then Chanyeol went to unlock his door.
Baekhyun had to admit that wasn't one of their best encounters but it could've gone worse. He still was confused about the picture caption, but at least he was pretty sure Chanyeol wasn't super angry at him or anything.
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When Baekhyun got back to his dorm to finish packing, he saw his roommate, Kyungsoo was also there, seemingly packing to go home, as well.
"Packing too?" Baekhyun asked.
"Yeah," Kyungsoo said, "my least favorite time of the year. Christmas."
"I get you. My family doesn't celebrate it and I am sure glad about it. You should hear Chanyeol go on about how great Christmas is. I just don't get it."
"Oh trust me, I have heard him squeal about Christmas plenty of times. By the way, what is up with you two?"
"What do you mean?" Baekhyun questioned, turning away from Kyungsoo to try and hide the fact that his face may have been turning slightly red.
"I mean, you two haven't been hanging out lately and he is acting all depressed. I don't know if you had anything to do with making him act this way, but you've been acting jumpy lately. So, I assumed that something is going on between you two. So, tell me what it is."
"It doesn't matter. We are leaving for break. I'll come back and things will be good as new."
"Baek."
"Okay fine, but I don't honestly know what happened. He posted and Instagram possibly calling me his bae in the caption and I freaked out and we haven't talked since I confronted him about the caption."
"You are both acting strange because of an Instagram and the fact that you have a crush on him?"
"Hey! I never sai-" Baekhyun protested.
"Oh, c'mon Baekhyun. You definitely have a crush on him. Now, I will be leaving. Have a nice non-Christmas. See you next semester. I suggest you admit your dying love for Chanyeol before the semester is over."
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That night, Baekhyun left for his home. It wasn't too far and it didn't take him too long despite there being some snowfall. He was happy to see his family and especially his dog, Penny. He missed Penny most of all in college. It just wasn't the same without his golden retriever sleeping at his feet every night. He understood why Chanyeol wanted a puppy from Santa now that he remembered how much he hated living without one. And suddenly he got an idea.
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The next day, Baekhyun told his parents he was taken Penny somewhere and he would be back that night.
"C'mon Penny, we're going to go visit a friend," Baekhyun said, luring his dog into the car with a treat. Penny didn't love car rides but she was a good dog and would follow Baekhyun wherever he went.
Baekhyun then drove all the way back to campus. When he pulled into his dorm parking lot, he suddenly realized that he hadn't thought about actually getting Penny into the dorms. Although, he knew the RA's probably weren't watching to closely at this time, since at least half of the students had already left for home. Baekhyun decided to break the rules for once in his life and sneak Penny into the dorm building.
He texted Chanyeol: 'hey are you in your dorm'
Chanyeol replied: 'yeah why'
Baekhyun didn't send anything back, just simply got out of his car with Penny and brought her into the dorm building, sneaking up to Chanyeol's dorm room. He knocked on the door and a few seconds later, Chanyeol opened up. His tired face soon turning into a smile of joy when seeing Penny.
"AWWWWWWWWWWWW" Chanyeol yelled, hugging and petting the puppy right there in the doorway, "What his name?" he questioned.
"Her. Penny," Baekhyun replied, smiling at the puddle of stupidity that Chanyeol turned into when petting the dog, "she's mine. I didn't actually get you a dog. I don't break the dorm rules. But you can pet her for today."
"This is the best Christmas present EVER!" Chanyeol exclaimed, "Thankyouthankyouthankyou Baekhyunnie!" Chanyeol stopped petting the dog to hug Baekhyun.
"First of all, 'Baekhyunnie' is not my name. Second of all, I'm just letting you pet my dog. Calm down."
"I know but I didn't think you actually were thinking about me. You are always so cold," Chaneyeol said, looking down a bit.
"I'm sorry. I don't mean to be that way. I don't know why. But I can be happy, too, Chanyeol. I can be happy, too."
"Good, because I like you when you're happy. And when you're emo too."
"I told you I'm not emo!" Baekhyun protested.
"You're wearing a t-shirt from Hot Topic, Baekhyun. Not emo my ass. And look, about that post on Instagram, I changed the caption. I'm sorry that it made you uncomfortable. I should've just asked you before assuming."
"Wait, what? Assuming what?"
"That you liked me that way, too."
"Wait, that's what that was supposed to mean?"
"Well, yeah, what else would it mean?"
"I don't know, some weird obsession you have with Santa or something?"
"Oh...well...it meant that I thought we were something. Or that we could be something. I should've asked you first, though."
"No, Chanyeol. I like you that way, too. Goddamn it Chanyeol, you should have told me!" Baekhyun complained, smacking Chanyeol on the chest.
"Will this show you how much I like you?" Chanyeol asked.
"Wha-" but before Baekhyun could get any words out, Chanyeol's lips were on his, his arms around Baekhyun's back. Baekhyun felt like he was dreaming. Chanyeol? Kissing him? That would never happen. But it was happening. And it felt better than he imagined it ever would. Then Chanyeol pulled away, searching for an answer in Baekhyun's eyes.
Baekhyun's answer was simple, "Merry Christmas Chanyeol," Baekhyun said before pulling Chanyeol's head down into another kiss.