After safely crossing over to the other side, Baekhyun walked over to a bench and took out Nugget along with the dog's leash from one of the bag's pockets. Once he was done latching it to the pup's collar, Baekhyun set him on the ground and lead the way back to the group.
Scrutinizing the dog and his dumb father, Chanyeol narrowed his eyes. "Shouldn't you be a little more discrete?" he asked, drawing his eyes to Nugget, who was walking excited circles around Baekhyun's feet.
Confused, Baekhyun looked down at his pup. Then something dawned on him and he clicked his tongue. Crouching down on the ground, Baekhyun reopened his backpack, pulling out a few materials. In complete defeat, Chanyeol then watched as Baekhyun straddled a vest on the dog and whip out a retractable walking stick as well as a pair of very dark glasses.
"They can't take away a blind man's Seeing Eye Dog."
Kris was the only one who laughed. The others were anticipating Chanyeol's reaction, which turned out to be less reactive that they had thought it would be. After biting down his tongue to try and restrain himself from saying anything harshly about Baekhyun intelligence, Chanyeol stepped forward and took the glasses off. Then he pried Nugget's leash from Baekhyun's hand.
As Baekhyun was about to object, Chanyeol held up a hand silence him. Turning around, he directed himself towards Sehun, pulling Nugget along, who was confused and reluctant to move away from his dad. After being given a small smile from Baekhyun and a gentle hand encouraging him to move on, Nugget hung his head and kept up with Chanyeol.
Handing the leash over to Sehun, Chanyeol placed the glasses on Sehun's face. "Congratulations. You're now blind." Turning his head to Baekhyun, Chanyeol crooked a finger. "Come over here and give him that stick."
Baekhyun looked down at his retractable stick and sighed. He proceeded to walk over and surrender the item. "I don't understand..." he mumbled, giving Chanyeol a look.
"What don't you get?" Chanyeol asked, turning his body to face the frowning male. "Sehun's going to take the dog."
"But why?"
Chanyeol looked towards the sky for a moment before rubbing his eyes. "Baek, a date's a date. It's between you and me. We're not going to drag around an entire circus. It's not what I intended when I asked you to come here with me."
"But..." Baekhyun's voice trailed off as he dropped his eyes down to Nugget who was using the full length of his leash to try and distance himself away from Sehun. "Nugget—"
Taking Baekhyun's face and gently forcing him to look back up, Chanyeol gave him a reassuring look. "Your overweight dog's going to be fine."
"But he wants me," Baekhyun pointed out.
"Well, guess who wants you more?" Chanyeol said in a low voice. "Me. So just leave the dog in Sehun's hands for now. I swear to you, when we get back home, your dog will still be intact."
Baekhyun opened his mouth to argue once more, but the look in Chanyeol's eyes made him stop. He conceded and nodded, releasing himself from Chanyeol's touch. Then he crouched down and scratched the back of Nugget's head. "Dad's gonna give you over to Sehun for now, okay? Tall man wants me all to himself for today."
Nugget looked up at his dad, appearing to look sad. It only made Baekhyun grimace. Knowing that one more second of Nugget trying to guilt Baekhyun into changing his mind would end badly for him, Chanyeol took hold of Baekhyun's arm and pulled him back up. Looking at the others, Chanyeol proceeded to clarify the plan.
"Baekhyun and I will go off on our own. You can split into your own groups if you'd like. I don't care." Then, reaching into his back pocket, Chanyeol took out a thick, folded piece of paper. "Everyone should have a map."
Kyungsoo took out his map and nodded. Kai glanced around to see if he was the only one who hadn't gotten one at the gate. Once he judged the look on Sehun's face, he felt some sort of relief over him. "I don't have one," he proclaimed.
Pointing to a small stand, Chanyeol nodded. "You can get them over there—that or all four of you share with Kyungsoo." Reaching and taking Baekhyun's hand, Chanyeol gave the smaller male a look. "As for us, we'll definitely be sharing one."
"What's mine is yours," Baekhyun recited. Then he laughed. "Sounds like something a married person would say."
"Then you'll be saying the same thing a few months down the road," Chanyeol scoffed.
Creasing his brows, Baekhyun made a face. "Are you implying what I think you're implying?" he questioned.
Chanyeol shrugged. "Maybe." Before Baekhyun could continue on, Chanyeol resumed to setting out the plan. "We'll meet up for lunch at the picnic area. Around twelve o'clock would be reasonable. Does everyone have their cellphones?" Once everyone confirmed that they had some sort of cellular device, Chanyeol nodded. "Good—Don't call me." Looking at Baekhyun, Chanyeol narrowed his eyes. "Unless it's you and you're lost."
"I'm twenty-two," Baekhyun said, holding up two fingers. Chanyeol didn't bother to tell him that two fingers did not represent twenty-two. "I won't get lost. Grown men don't do that. Being lost is for children."
"Exactly," Chanyeol muttered. "Children, the plural word for child, which is exactly what you are." Looking back at the group, Chanyeol waved a hand. "We're going now. Don't bother us unless someone dies."
"What if someone's dying?" Sehun called out as Chanyeol began to move them off to a path.
"Like I said," Chanyeol repeated. "Don't bother us unless someone dies."
-
-
With hands linked together, the first thing that Baekhyun wanted to see were the tigers. They strode over to the exhibit, but the moment Baekhyun saw the exotic animals, he let go of Chanyeol's hand and ran toward the railings. Surprised, it took Chanyeol a few seconds to react before he ran after him. As Chanyeol approached closer, Baekhyun set one foot on the railing. Alarmed, Chanyeol cursed and hurriedly jogged forward and held Baekhyun by his waist.
"You fucking idiot!" he growled. "What the hell are you doing!?"
Chanyeol tried to pull Baekhyun off, but Baekhyun's stance was resolute. He kept his feet on the railing while holding on to the railing above that one. Frustrated, Chanyeol gave up and settled to holding Baekhyun by his waist. The position was awkward, and in the back of his mind, Chanyeol knew that people were wondering what the hell he was doing with Baekhyun's bum inches away from being in front of his face.
"Baekhyun, step off the railing," Chanyeol sighed. "You're going to fall over—"
"Chanyeol," Baekhyun said, "I wanna get a picture..."
Glancing around, Chanyeol frowned. "Baek, other people are taking pictures, but they're not on the safety railing like you are," he pointed out.
"Everyone's taking pictures of the normal tigers," Baekhyun argued. "I'm trying to take a photo of the white one. You can't see it unless you're high enough—oh! Like here! Hold on, Yeol."
Chanyeol was confused for a second, but when Baekhyun began to scoot a little to the right, he had to hurry and catch up to the crazy nut job he had tied himself to. "Baekhyun," he said in a pleading voice. "For the love of god, get down before you fall and crack your head open."
Messing around with his phone for a moment, Baekhyun tried to get to the camera feature quickly. "Hold on—tighter, giant. Hold me tighter."
"Hurry up and take the damn photo!"
Baekhyun frowned and rose higher—just high enough to hit Chanyeol's face with his butt. "Shut up and don't rush me," he huffed.
Chanyeol glared at the ass in front of his face. If they weren't in public, he wouldn't have hesitated to hit them—or bite them, though biting them was for another time and place. "Fine. Take your time, honey," he said sarcastically.
Ignoring the mockery in Chanyeol's voice, Baekhyun took his time in taking the photo before slowly getting down. Then, he turned the phone's screen to Chanyeol's stoic face. "She's such a pretty tiger, Yeol," he said, laughing.
Looking at the photo, Chanyeol groaned. "Yes, it's a pretty tiger, but you're still a fucking idiot. If you get on any type of rail again, I'm not holding onto you."
"But sometimes I'm too short to see and I can't take photos," Baekhyun said quietly, looking down.
Giving Baekhyun a soft expression, Chanyeol made him look up once again. "Then ask me to do it for you."
A smile crept on Baekhyun's face as he leaned in towards Chanyeol, pressing his chest against him. "You're just being nice because you want something nice in return," he teased.
Chanyeol fought the urge to smirk as he stepped back and spaced himself from the advancing male. "Normally, I'd say yes, but for now, I just want you to have a nice day."
Taking a shy glance down, Baekhyun smiled as he shrugged. Then he looked up back, tilting his head slightly to the side. "Thanks, Yeol." Holding out his hand, Baekhyun waited for Chanyeol to take it before leading them to the next animal exhibit. "You've gotten corny—like candy corn, because candy corn's sweet."
Chanyeol was about to take the end remark as a compliment, but then Baekhyun shrugged and confessed: "I don't really like candy corn though..."
With a look on his face that demanded for an explanation, Chanyeol said, "So you compare me to candy corn, which you don't even like..."
"Don't take the comparison seriously," Baekhyun said as he looked at the trees as they passed by them. "I like you a lot. I just don't like the candy. But you—yeah, I like you." Giving Chanyeol a grin, Baekhyun asked, "Do you wanna hear my reasons?"
Slightly embarrassed just by anticipating what Baekhyun might say, Chanyeol looked away. "Whatever. Go ahead."
Swinging their hands as they walked, Baekhyun began. "I like the way your hair is in the morning. It's nice—sexy, too! I think you're pretty smart, though you could polish your math up a bit..." Looking up at the sky, Baekhyun tried to think of more. "I like how you pretend like you don't like Nugget, which I know you do. You care about his body weight so that counts as caring. I like the way you care even when you try to be all macho bitchacho."
"Macho bitchacho..."
"I also like your eyes—you have pretty eyes, Chanyeol," Baekhyun said, admiring the feature. "How're you not married yet? I wanna know," he asked, laughing. "Also, I like the way you snore. Is that weird—yeah, okay, but it brings me joy."
Chanyeol creased his brows. "My snoring brings you joy."
"Because it lets me know you're still beside me and that you didn't leave in the middle of the night," Baekhyun said, adding a smile. "Also, your snoring makes your body vibrate so sometimes when my foot is cramping, I'll move around and put my foot against the crook of your neck. You don't know it, but yeah, I've been using your body as a vibrating massager."
Slapping his forehead, Chanyeol groaned. "Baek—"
"And you wanna know what else I do?"
"Tell me while we're walking," Chanyeol said, heaving a sigh as he laced his fingers with Baekhyun's once again.
"When you snore too loudly," Baekhyun started as Chanyeol led them to the butterfly exhibit, "sometimes I'll cover your nose and mouth and watch you struggle." When Chanyeol gave him an incredulous look, Baekhyun quickly explained. "See, because after you struggle, you stop snoring for a while! I'm not doing it because I wanna kill you or anything."
Baekhyun cackled and Chanyeol began to wonder what other activities Baekhyun did to his body when he slept at night.
-
-
In the dome filled with butterflies, Baekhyun watched in giddy amazement as the small critters flew around and about them. Chanyeol watched from behind as Baekhyun took photos. At one point, Chanyeol turned his back for a few seconds only to turn back around and see that Baekhyun was not where he was before. A panic attack slowly started, but then, it was quickly gone when Chanyeol accidentally bumped into him.
Hoisting the phone up for Chanyeol to see, Baekhyun explained the photo as he rubbed his aching nose that throbbed from the hit of Chanyeol's elbow. "Look at it, Yeol. I found them under a leaf."
Squinting his eyes, Chanyeol tried to make out the photo. "What the hell am I supposed to be seeing?"
Fanning his face from the humidity of the controlled dome environment, Baekhyun tried to hint. "What does it look like?"
With no answer in mind, Chanyeol gave up. "I don't know. It looks like a clusterfuck of butterflies."
Baekhyun hummed and cocked his head. "That's because they're mating. So it's literally a clusterfuck."
"You found two butterflies mating under a leaf..."
"Yeah," Baekhyun said, exiting out of the gallery of his phone. "I just lifted up the leaf and saw them."
"And you took a photo of it." Chanyeol sighed. "Baek, what if we were having sex and Sehun just walked in and took a photo?"
Thinking about it for a short minute, Baekhyun bobbled his head. "I'd be slightly turned on."
Rubbing his eyes, Chanyeol shook his head in defeat. "Of course you would."
"I'd ask him for a copy," Baekhyun said as he started moving down the path again, heading for the exhibits exit.
As Chanyeol followed him, his eyes dropped down to Baekhyun's swaying ass. Then he frowned as he confessed to himself that if the situation ever happened, he'd ask for a copy as well—and then burn Sehun's original photo.
-
-
The apes were Baekhyun's soul mates. As Chanyeol observed Baekhyun trying to entertain the animals from behind the thick, clear barrier, he couldn't help but pull out his cellphone and take a photo of the idiot sticking his forehead against the glass.
As they moved on to another place, Baekhyun suddenly jerked his head up. "Yeol, I forgot to take a photo."
"Oh, I got one for you," Chanyeol assured. "Don't worry about it."
"Did they look pretty?"
Glancing down at Baekhyun's face, Chanyeol smirked a little bit and nodded. "Yep. Beautiful."
-
-
The aquarium had a pleasant surprise. Cloaked in the darkness of the environment, Baekhyun backed Chanyeol against a small corner and kissed him with no witnesses, but the fish floating by them. Sliding his hands on Baekhyun's waist, Chanyeol pulled him closer as he responded back with his tongue. After a short minute passed, Baekhyun's lips were free and Chanyeol's eyes were watching him carefully.
"What was that for?" he whispered in a raspy voice.
Baekhyun smiled. The light radiating from the dim lights of the aquarium made his eyes light up in a way that Chanyeol swore that it was one of the better highlights of his day. Then, lightly patting Chanyeol on the chest, Baekhyun answered. "I had the sudden urge to kiss you. That's all."
"Have these urges more."
Smirking, Baekhyun stood on his toes and wrapped his arms around the giant's neck. "Like right now?" he asked brushing his lips against Chanyeol's.
"Like right now," Chanyeol replied. Then he placed his lips over Baekhyun's and took him once again.