Title: Of Lollipops and Trafficlights
Pairing: Chanyeol/Baekhyun
Rating: G
Genre: Fluff, kid!chanbaek

Summary: Byun Baekhyun is the coolest kid in the kindergarten department until some Park Chanyeol came.

*

Byun Baekhyun already knows he's the cutest, most adorable, kindest, coolest, friendliest, and the best kindergarten student in their whole kindergarten class. Teachers love him so much because they always praise Baekhyun when he colors his house drawings perfectly, or when he helps his favorite teacher, Mr. Wu to erase the blackboard with his tiny hands, and Mr. Wu would give little Baekhyun caramel candies that he'd gratefully share with his classmates with a smile. Said classmates like to be friends with Baekhyun as well. The boys would share their snacks with him and in return, Baekhyun would let them play his complete set of superheroes and they would battle against bad people. On the other hand, the girls would pull Baekhyun to put small ribbons on his short brown hair or dress him up for a tea party and Baekhyun would laugh with them and let them pinch his cheeks or hold his hand.

Baekhyun is a very happy and perfect child, until one day, on a Monday morning, his favorite day of the week, comes a tall kid with wide eyes, curly hair, bright teeth, and nice clothes introducing himself in front of the kindergarten class. Baekhyun already knows, right then and there, that he had met his nemesis.

*

"Baekkie-yah, why are you so grumpy?" Kyungsoo, Baekhyun's bestfriend since they were two asks in a tiny voice while pouting in front of him.

"Look at that Park kid, Kyungie. He's very bad, right? Just look at him!" Baekhyun says with a huff as he stares at the unsuspecting boy playing tag with the other boys, screaming like a girl on top of his lungs when Sehun almost catches his arm.

"Uhm, why? I mean, Chanyeol's nice and he's kind! He even gave me this!" Kyungsoo lifts his arms up in the air proudly to show Baekhyun a rainbow colored lollipop caught within his chubby hands. "It's a lollipop, Baekkie!"

Baekhyun eyes the lollipop in Kyungsoo's hands as if it's the grossest thing he has ever seen, and quickly swats it away from his best friend's grasp, making the candy drop to the ground.

"Don't you ever receive things from him!" says Baekhyun, hands on his hips while his eyebrows are furrowed angrily.

"B-but... W-why... He's nice--" Kyungsoo looks down at his dusty lollipop on the floor with teary eyes. He wants to reach it but Baekhyun's foot is already stepping the candy hard.

"He's taking away things from me! He's stealing my friends and he's stealing Mr. Wu's attention from me! He's bad, Kyungsoo. He's bad!" Baekhyun stomps his feet over the pitiful candy lying on the ground as Kyungsoo breaks into a small sob, catching every kid's attention in the playground.

"W-what happened?" Chanyeol, out of pure concern walks over to Kyungsoo. "Kyungsoo, why are you crying?"

"Go away, Park!" Baekhyun shouts, making Chanyeol flinch. "Kyungsoo is my best friend, not yours, and it's none of your business to ask!"

"B-b-but I-I just want to help and I... I-I want to be your frie--"

"No! I hate you!"

Chanyeol bites his lower lip, tears threatening to fall from his eyes. But he doesn't cry. He is now a big boy. He should not cry, especially in front of Baekhyun because Baekhyun might think he's a crybaby and crybabies are not cool.

The children watching them gasp in surprise when they hear what Baekhyun said. They murmur to each other as they look between Baekhyun and Chanyeol.

"Kyungsoo, let's go. I'll buy you a better lollipop, chocolate even." Kyungsoo's face lightens and he nods, wiping his tears with the back of his hand while he follows Baekhyun to the cafeteria.

The group of kids around them disappear one by one, leaving Chanyeol alone. He doesn't move a single foot on his position as he looks at the broken lollipop on the ground, cracked on the tiniest bits of pieces and he frowns, tears streaming one by one onto his puffy cheeks.

Why does Baekhyun hate him so much? He only wants to be Baekhyun's friend the moment he first saw him looking at him in the front of the class. He can remember the day when he gave Baekhyun a box of cookies from States with a friendly smile and Baekhyun only gaped at him and walked out from his sight then their classmates went to get the neglected cookies while he sadly watched Baekhyun's back from afar. And the time when he gladly offered Baekhyun his set of 144 crayons during activity time, but Baekhyun shook his head and continued coloring his apple despite of his broken red crayon. As well as the moment when Mr. Wu asked Baekhyun to erase the board and he couldn't reach the upper part of the board, so Chanyeol went over to help him, holding his smaller hands gently with his bigger ones, sliding the eraser left to right, up and down as a guide. Baekhyun gave him a pointed look and pushed him away on the chest that time, throwing the eraser in his hands before storming out of the room.

Chanyeol wipes his tears from the memory with his curled balled hands and sits on the swing alone, staring at his shoes as he thinks of his favorite classmate.

Baekhyun comes back in his classroom that time with a smiling Kyungsoo in tow, eating his strawberry-flavored jellybeans and chocolate wafers. He sits on his chair beside Kyungsoo when he suddenly finds a rainbow colored lollipop, the same as Kyungsoo's but slightly bigger, placed under his desk with a note that reads in a scrawly handwriting:

I'm soRry baekHyunnie :(

From ChanyeoL

Baekhyun stares at the paper for a while but he then crumples it, throwing it to the ground like what he did with the lollipop.

*

Baekhyun is sitting impatiently at the parent's waiting area while looking around the room for Junmyeon hyung's face, his service driver. He huffs when he doesn't find the kind face of his hyung. It's already afternoon and he wants to go home because he already misses his mommy. He's afraid to go home by his own, with all the strangers around him, very unfamiliar and scary. He wishes Kyungsoo is with him right now though, but he had to say goodbye when his mom picked him up.

Baekhyun can't read the time yet but he can see the long hand of the clock pointing at six, while the shorter pointing at four. He should be watching Spongebob right now for his daily afternoon cartoon marathon but no, he's still at the school looking lost like an abandoned puppy. He knows it's already late because there are no kinder students like him at the halls, only the elementary kids who's big with loud laughs and looks very scary. His heart beats fast with panic and worry. He doesn't know what to do, who to call, how to go home so he silently cries, hugging his knees against his chest as he thinks of mommy and his warm hug and smile.

He feels a gentle hand on his arm, rubbing it soothingly so he looks up to see who it is. He stares at Chanyeol with his red eyes and the other boy looks at him worriedly.

"W-why are you crying?" Chanyeol asks while wiping Baekhyun's cheeks with his little thumb and Baekhyun follows Chanyeol's hand with his eyes.

It feels warm and comfy, Baekhyun thinks so he lets Chanyeol wipe his cheeks with his thumb.

"I... I-I want to go home," Baekhyun replies for the first time when Chanyeol talks to him and Chanyeol feels happy because Baekhyun never push him this time, nor shout at him, nor walk away from him.

"I will take you home," Chanyeol firmly says, his face is determined and serious and Baekhyun opens his mouth a little, amazed of Chanyeol's courage. Chanyeol is not afraid of the strangers, Baekhyun thinks, so he nods at Chanyeol, trusting the other boy.

"Okay," Baekhyun quietly says and the taller gives him a warm smile.

They walk side by side out of the school, two little kids in uniform wearing blue backpacks, walking beside the street among the busy adults and loud moving cars.

Baekhyun remembers his house. It's only three blocks away from school but it's already far for him because of his short steps. He looks at Chanyeol beside him who's eyebrows are furrowed in concentration as he guides Baekhyun the way. He glances left and right and holds Baekhyun protectively against big people and noisy buses. Baekhyun thinks that Chanyeol looks really cool and he wants to be cool like Chanyeol, too.

"Baekhyun?" Chanyeol calls when they reach the pedestrian lane, different cars moving and loudly honking that it frightens Baekhyun, but he's thankful that Chanyeol holds his hand tightly.

"Don't let go of my hand. We are going to cross the street, okay?" Chanyeol says like an adult if not for his tiny voice and six year old face. "When the lights there," he points upward to the traffic lights and Baekhyun looks up to see where Chanyeol is pointing, "When the light up goes red, it means we're ready to cross."

Baekhyun swallows the lump in his throat, his heart beating fast. "M-mkay, Chanyeol," he assures nervously.

The taller boy lets go of their hands and Baekhyun quickly looks at him in fear when suddenly, Chanyeol's hand is back with his, now fingers tightly entwined with Baekhyun's. Chanyeol sways their linked hands and Baekhyun sighs in relief.

"Come on!" Chanyeol says excitedly and he squeezes Baekhyun's hand when the trafficlight goes red. They step the pedestrian lane together with other people crossing.

"I thought you will let go of my hand! I was so scared!" Baekhyun shouts at Chanyeol while running across the road like his life depends on it. He pants heavily when they reach the other side, smiling ear to ear because he did it. He really did it. He crossed the street at the age of six and he's still alive.

"Are you alright?" Chanyeol asks, catching for his breath while worriedly looking at his favorite classmate. "Baekkie--"

"That was fun! I ran as fast as I could! Did you see that!? I was cool right? And I never stop running until we reach here and I never let go of your hand! I crossed the street, Chanyeol! I crossed the street!" Baekhyun proudly exclaims, his eyes shining and he's smiling so bright that Chanyeol just stares at him fondly as he finds himself smiling too, because Baekhyun is smiling at him, and they're still holding each others hands.

"Mm," Chanyeol mumbles shyly. "You're super cool, Baekhyun!" he adds while scratching the back of his neck.

"Really? You think I'm cool?" Baekhyun happily says, he's looking straight at Chanyeol's eyes while walking down the street to his house. Chanyeol finds Baekhyun's eyes really adorable and pretty and he gasps slightly.

"Y-yes, uhm.. You are the coolest person I know, Baekkie!" Chanyeol says, still looking at their linked hands and not at his favorite classmate's face. Baekhyun seems like he doesn't mind though, Chanyeol holding his hand like this.

"You're cool too, Chanyeol." Baekhyun leans closer as he whispers to Chanyeol's ear like he's saying a very important secret.

"Thank you, Baekkie," Chanyeol answers, the tip of his ears going red at the compliment, and also because Baekhyun's breath tickles his ears.

"Kyungsoo is the only one who calls me Baekkie."

"I'm uhm, sorry! I didn't mean to--"

"But you can also call me Baekkie if you want!"

Chanyeol smiles widely for the thirteenth time (he's secretly counting by his fingers on his back) since he's with Baekhyun today and it feels nice and good.

Baekhyun proudly tells stories about school when Chanyeol's not there yet, like how he plays lego with Kyungsoo during recess time and how he teaches Sehun sing 'Row Row Row Your Boat'.

"--gently down the stream! Meerrimeerrimeerily Life is but a dreaammm!" Baekhyun sings while skipping. "Like that, Chanyeol and Sehun can't sing it properly. Hmm,I wonder why."

"You sing very well, wow," Chanyeol says. He thinks he likes Baekhyun's voice, and he also likes the warmth radiating from the boy's hands.

"Thanks!"

"Uhm, Baekhyun?"

"Hmm?"

"Uhm, I thought you hate me. You know, uhm, I really like you and you're my favorite classmate but you said that... you said that you hate me," whispers Chanyeol, afraid of Baekhyun's answer so he hides his face low.

"Uhm, I-- uhm..." Baekhyun bites his lower lip while blushing slightly. "I don't hate you now!I think I like to be friends with you. I'm sorry, Chanyeol because I'm mean and I've been a bad kid to you, and I-- uhm, will you let me be your friend? If you still want..." Baekhyun can feel his cheeks going redder, like when his mommy kisses him in front of people or when the girls in class looks at him when he's changing his P.E uniform.

"Yes! I want to be your friend. Thank you, Baekhyun!" Chanyeol hugs him while Baekhyun pats his back affectionately.

"Great! We're friends now!"

They reach Baekhyun's house and Chanyeol walks him to the gate with a smile.

"See you tomorrow, Chanyeol!" Baekhyun says to his new friend. "Thanks for today!" He quicky plants a soft kiss to Chanyeol's left cheek and he backs away with a grin like what he does with Kyungsoo everytime they part ways. ("Don't kiss me on the cheek! I'm not your boyfriend, Baekkie! Kyungsoo would say, pushing him away with a pout but Baekhyun would only ignore him.)

Chanyeol is different though, Baekhyun thinks, by the way the taller is smiling dreamily at him while holding his kissed cheek.

"Bye, Chanyeol!" Baekhyun waves before going inside and Chanyeol waves back at him while smiling widely, hand still on his cheek.

When he's pretty far from Baekhyun's house, he looks around before he brings his hand to his mouth that was in contact with his cheek that was Baekhyun-kissed, and secretly brushes it to his lips, kissing it. He smiles to himself when he thinks he had just kissed Baekhyun indirectly.

His house is four blocks away from Baekhyun's but he doesn't care if it's a long walk, at least he's now friends with Baekhyun, his most favorite classmate-- no scratch that, his most favorite person in the world.

END