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"Boo and Jun had an appointment with vet yesterday and I forgot about it," Jihoon sulks. Minghao watches him gently lower a stack of books into the box labelled 'BOOKS' in neat characters. He stands up straight, huffing and wiping the sweat tickling down his neck. "You know I won't have cancelled on our lunch date otherwise, angel."

Minghao can't stop himself from chuckling light heartedly, his hand coming to boop at his boyfriend's nose. The nose scrunches under his touch. Cute. "I know, Ji," he assures, "and I love you for that." He plants a shy kiss on Jihoon's cheek, definitely catching the other male off guard.

It's a great honour to be witnessing Jihoon flush this adorably, the pink blooming from his chest and racing towards the tip of his ears. Before Minghao has another chance of stealing a kiss from his boyfriend, the said boyfriend escapes the room quickly, mumbling about gathering more of Minghao's books from the shelf. Jihoon almost trips over the boxes placed by the couch in his hurry. he stops to make sure that the boxes didn't contain anything delicate and then loudly swears at them and then disappears into Minghao's room.

Minghao shakes his head fondly, letting his boyfriend be and instead working on putting away his glass showpieces carefully into a thicker and more steadier box. This is the third box with showpieces and it's the only the first one containing breakables, at least two more boxes would be added to the list of breaklables. Hopefully he'll be able to distinguish these boxes amongst the other ones. Or, maybe, he should write handle with care at the top in bold letters, for his own reference. He has no doubts that his boyfriend would handle it with care because, for some reason, Jihoon has this mindset that anything that's Minghao related needs utter gentleness and care, and hence Jihoon would be the last person to break anything in these boxes.

He straightens up from where he had been bent over the box, arranging the statues and marble dolls. It looks good enough, he decides, tucking a stray strip of bubble wrap neatly at the sides. As he stretches to release the tension in the lower back, his muscles almost cramps. Suddenly, Minghao feels like he's sixty and not twenty-three, a young and healthy adult. Lord, he really should start taking better care of his back.

A brief stretch-up session later, the Chinese male moves around. Grabbing the marker pen, he begins to scribble over the top flap of the box in the most legible writing he could. Sad and depressed handle with care :( stares back at him. Huh, something went wrong. It takes him a few seconds to realise why it looks depressed. Well, sad and depressed is what it'll look for few more days before Minghao decides to free it from its trapped misery.

He had made sure to write it in hangul so that in case his friends to actually help them with their move, they'd be sure to take care of them if Minghao wouldn't be there to instruct them. The only other someone who could break things in his box—

"Gyu!" Jihoon yells loudly, the voice slightly echoing now that the house is nearly empty. It is quickly followed by  ground shaking thumps. Minghao can only hope his books were the cause of the alarmingly loud noise and not the frames that are waiting to be bubble wrapped. "Stop! I was doing something wasn't I? Go out, right now, Gyu."

Minghao looks up at the doorway of his room, amused at the one-sided verbal exchange. Jihoon and Gyu's interactions are never not amusing to Minghao, there's always a possibility of something going wrong when the two are involved. Cheol, who had been silently watching Minghao putter around this whole time, raises his head too, probably wondering what his clumsy brother had done this time to entail getting kicked out of the room.

And sure enough, Gyu walks out of the room with his tail tucked between his legs and ears drooped, looking like the perfect definition of misery. Minghao kneels down and coos softly, patting his thighs to call the pup closer. Gyu raises his head long enough to steal a glance and drags himself towards Minghao. Cheol makes a sound that sounds vaguely like a human huffing and settles back down in his bed, closing his eyes, decidedly done witnessing enough headassery for the day.

"Come here, my big baby," Minghao addresses Gyu in baby voice, gesturing his German shepherd to come to him quicker. Gyu makes it safely across the floor that's littered with boxes and tall flower vases, knocking nothing off on his short journey, coming to lick at his father's face. He isn't as excited as he was before, Jihoon yelling had visibly upset him. That draws another chuckle from Minghao, nothing new there.

Minghao rubs his ears, letting Gyu burry his face in his neck, whimpering a little as if telling his father how bad the other father was for yelling at him. He let's the pup do as he pleases, running his fingers through the healthy fur. It smooth, almost too smooth to be real. It's addicting.

"Aww," Minghao coos again, thoroughly amused, and also feeling slightly bad for his giant baby, "did Ji yell at you? Did he kick my baby out of the room? What should Papa do to make Gyu happy again?"

Gyu makes a very displeasing sound just as Minghao finishes talking, and it soars Minghao's heart a little. Cheol looks up, one ear perked up, barks once, and settles down. Probably telling Gyu to stop being a baby. Gyu whines. Minghao snorts at the exchange, reaching over to rub his other dog, running his hand over his body. Cheol thumps his tail twice in response and goes still.

"Is Cheolie also being mean to Gyu?" He kisses top of Gyu's head, patting him till he settles down near his legs, and stops whining for attention.

Minghao goes back to bubble wrapping the small photo frames, patting Gyu every now and then. Jihoon comes back in to the living room soon after with another stack of books in his arms.

Gyu paws at his own nose, dragging himself to lay his head and half of his upper torso on Minghao's lap. He feels heavy in Minghao's lap, reminding how much the pup has grown, now no longer a tiny little thing Minghao would just scoop in his arm and pepper in kisses. Minghao bends down to drop another kiss. They grow up so fast, first Cheol and now Gyu. God, he feels like an old man, sitting in his house and reminiscing about how small his kids were and how they've grown up now.

"You were just a tiny little pup, you know," Minghao starts, running his fingers through Gyu's fur, scratching behind his ear and then under his jaw. Gyu goes pliant under his fingers, panting happily at the attention.

Jihoon comes to pat Gyu as soon as his arms get freed. He gets on his knees too, cupping the pups face in his palm, leaning closer to nuzzle his face into the fur. "I was there when we got you home. Cute, excited little pup, barking at everyone that passed by. You got soo many praises as you grew up, baby. Such a good boy, you are. I'm so, so proud of you. Dada is sorry for yelling at you earlier, oh, sweet child of mine."

Happy at the attention from both his parents, Gyu rolls to lay on his side, welcoming the sudden onslaught of pats and body rubs. He looks up at Minghao, mouth open wide, tongue out and ears perked up, blissful as ever. If he was a cat, he'd probably be purring by now.

Speaking of cats. "Boo and Jun have yet to meet Gyu, Ji," Minghao reminds, looking away from his pup's happy face. "I'm not worried about Jun. But Boo and Gyu.... they will get along, right?"

Jihoon hums, still cooing at the youngest addition to the family. "I'm sure Boo will get along with Gyu. Gyu is such a likable guy, isn't he?" And then, in a baby voice, "Isn't our Gyu just the best baby boy? isn't he?"

Minghao sighs, calling for Cheol to join their affection fest. Cheol seems a little relunctanct to leave the couch just for kisses. Minghao isn't persistent for nothing and after a while, Cheol does jumps off and moves closer to Minghao. He wags his tail, panting as Minghao begins pampering him, draping himself over Cheol and running his fingers through his fur.

"Boo got along with Cheol real quick, Gyu shouldn't be a big deal." Jihoon falls on his ass when Cheol comes over to greet him, licking his face without hesitating.

"Yes, my big boy, I love you too!" Jihoon laughs loudly, not holding himself back from being obnoxious this one time.

Minghao doesn't mention how Gyu has yet to meet a cat. Who knows how's he going to react to a cat, let alone two. But hopefully, Cheol would be a great big brother to Gyu and keep an eye out for him.

To be frank, when Jihoon had proposed the idea of moving together, he had thought getting used to sharing a space with each other would be the hardest thing. They did stay over frequently, but it wasn't going to be same. They'd have to adjust to each others habits, needs and wants. There would be times where they'd need to compromise, and there would be times where they'd have to sacrifice. And growing up as the only child, compromising and sacrificing hadn't come easy to either of them.

Honestly, Minghao had thought clashing of habits would be the problem they'd need to tackle for smooth running.

Turns out that would be the least of Minghao's worry.

Gyu and Boo don't get along, they quickly find out.

Just to put Minghao's worries at rest, the couple had decided to introduce Gyu to Jihoon's cats before they moved into their new home. Jihoon is certain they'd get along, while Minghao had a voice whispering that they won't and he feared that it would be the truth.

Minghao found himself once again asking how he got this lucky with Jihoon, when the man, instead of brushing his worries off, offers a simple solution. It is so Jihoon to take every small thing that bothers Minghao this seriously.  And he'll forever be grateful for it.

("If something bothers you, then it bothers me too. Regardless of how big or small deal it is.")

Wow, Minghao really does love a certain Lee Jihoon. Spread the word.

Jihoon's place is the one they decide as their meeting point, to not put the cats in an unfamiliar environment. Cheol has been there before, so he won't be in an unfamiliar place either. Only Gyu would, but Gyu has always been better than Cheol at adjusting to unfamiliar environment, people and habits. Minghao doesn't worry about that though. In fact, it's not even in his list of worries, let alone be least of his worries.

As the elevator dings open, Minghao makes a swift decision of getting Cheol in first and then Gyu, so that the cats and the pup would have a mutual....uh, friend? Something that both sides can depend on, a familiar presence of sorts to the three pets. He runs his fingers through his hair, messing the precariously placed strands of his hair. Minghao doesn't really remember what he was thinking when he made that decision. But that won't matter.

Minghao walks in with Cheol on leash, leaving Gyu to wait out in the lobby. The Golden Retriever walks in, sniffing at the pair of shoes before pulling Minghao inside. He walks in, in confident strides, used to the space and it's architecture.

Once he spots the other human, Cheol happily walks towards where Jihoon is stood by the living room doorway. Minghao drops the leash and let's Cheol drag the red leash across the floor. Jihoon smiles at him, warm and loving, and it's enough to make Minghao forget about the clumsy pup he left out.

Eyes shifting away, Minghao finds Jun standing in the kitchen, the Bombay Cat's black fur blending in beautifully with the black marbled counter, his glowing eyes attentively watching Cheol. Jun quickly jumps off the kitchen counter though, coming to stand between Jihoon's legs, waiting for Cheol to make his way towards them. He playful swipes his paw at Cheol when the dog licks him in a greeting, purring loudly.
Boo comes strolling at the extact moment from Jihoon's room, looking rather bored, but on noticing Cheol's presence, his entire being perks up, skipping over to playfully nip at the big dog's paw. When Cheol licks at his head, Boo lowers his body against the floor, inviting the dog to play with him. He meows and Minghao's heart melts.

Jihoon sighs, Minghao watches the way he slumps into himself just a tiny bit. He's still relaxed, posture nowhere close to being as stiff as Minghao himself feels. Maybe Minghao is overreacting and everything is going to be okay. Jihoon isn't usually wrong, and he hopes it stands true today also.

Jihoon bends and unclips the leash from Cheol's collar. He pats his head affectionately, "Go, sit there." Obedient as ever, Cheol walks and slumps against the couch, letting Jun crawl all over him. Boo follows the dog still jumping around, urging his big friend to join him.

Minghao doesn't even realise he's zoned out and jumps when he feels something slide around his waist. "Okay, maybe I'm being silly and worrying over nothing." He admits sulkily.

Jihoon's laugh is nothing more than a puff of warm breath fanning across his cheek, but it works just fine in making Minghao melt in his lover's arms. "Did you leave Gyu out, love?"

He nods, pulling away from the warmth. "Let's get this show on the road, shall we?"

"Oh, absolutely. Boy, oh, boy, can't wait to put all our worries to rest."

Minghao crack a smile at the way Jihoon calls it their worries, even though it's cent percent Minghao's. It is something so insignificant but hides such a deep meaning. Minghao isn't even sure if Jihoon realised what he said, and this thought clearly has Minghao almost forgetting how to breathe.

Jihoon looks optimistic, but the Chinese male has a feeling Boo and Gyu just won't get along. And the thought saddens him immensely. He has come to love Boo and Jun as his own and the prospect of his pets not getting along makes him feel uneasy. He shakes his head, turning away to get Gyu inside.

No, he's just being silly. They'd get along. Why wouldn't they? Boo is unlike any cats, always soo social and friendly. Gyu is the cutest little thing. They'd get along.

Gyu is right where Minghao had told him to be, sitting by the big flower pot. He stands up at sight of Minghao, wagging his tail, panting and dancing in place, not moving a single inch away from his designated spot. Indeed a good boy and Minghao thinks back on the days Jihoon and he had worked hard to get their excited pup to learn small and basic instructions. Gyu, though too hyper most of the time, never failed to obey and Minghao finds himself reaching in his pocket for Gyu's favourite biscuits.

"Gyu, see what Pa got for you, see? See?" Minghao bends just enough for Gyu to gobble on to the biscuit piece with ease. A tiny piece falls from his mouth, but he tracks it down eagerly, munching on it.

He sits on his haunches, taking to running his fingers through the German Shepherd's fur, just quietly looking at him. After Gyu is done, Minghao clips his leash back on, tugging on it to get him to walk. He pauses when Gyu looks up at him, eyes looking as if he's pleading Minghao not to leash him. Minghao smiles big, patting several times to make him stop looking at him like that. He chuckles, the sound bouncing in the empty corridor. He tugs pup again, "Let's go." Gyu and his hilariously inconvenient incidents with leashes won't be stopping Minghao from putting him on leash when needed. Maybe when Jun and Boo warms up then he will unclip the leash, let Gyu play with the cats.

A short walk later, Minghao pushes the door open, letting Gyu walk in. But Gyu doesn't walk in. He just lingers by the door uncertainly, sniffing the air. Minghao urges him to move, but Gyu stands his ground, looking very suspicious of his surroundings. He turns his head to look at Minghao, tilting it to the side.

"Cheol is inside, come on, let's go," Minghao finds himself saying. He sounds desparate even to his own ears. Gyu doesn't move, continues to stare at Minghao.

Exhasparated, Minghao begins to bodily haul him in but gives up soon when all he manages to do is give the giant pup a strong, firm hug. He huffs, stupid big pup that Minghao loves. Gyu is practically smiling at him, for the failed attempt or the hug, who knows.
Plan two is Minghao pushing the bottom of the pup, hoping Gyu would get the hint of this unconventional gesture and move the fuck in. Damnit.

He sighs when Gyu just stands by the entryway, sniffing and getting a little restless. All this work and Gyu hasn't moved. At. All. When did Gyu become this heavy? Or did Minghao become weak?

Minghao is seconds away from giving up and sliding down the door, when soft sound of approaching feet captures his attention. He sighs at the prospect of Gyu moving when he sees Jihoon's familiar figure. He dramatically flicks a bid of sweat off of his forehead.

"What's taking you two this long, huh?" Jihoon asks, rounding around the corner, his arms crossed over his chest.

Much to Minghao's relief, Gyu does move closer to Jihoon, rubbing his face into Jihoon's thighs, asking for head rubs. Jihoon gives him, cooing and mumbling about how well Gyu was doing in such an unfamiliar environment.

Minghao briefly wonders if it's too early to say he's tired and then proceed to call it a day.

Jihoon takes the leash Minghao offers, still rubbing top of the pup's head affectionately. Gyu, distracted with some good pats and Jihoon's voice, walks alongside his other parent when Jihoon tugs him in, letting Jihoon guide him deeper into the house. Minghao laughs at the naive baby.

Minghao then slips his sneakers off, trying to not worry too much about Gyu and Boo not getting along. Cheol hadn't caused any problem when he was introduced to the cats. On his first meet with the oldest cat, he had readily allowed Jun to walk all over him. Literally. And Jun had decided he liked Cheol just for that. And Cheol has gone on to become Jun's favourite bed to lie on. Good for him.
Cheol was there when they had gone to adopt the kitten, the tabby cat tiny and fluffy in Jihoon's palm. The tiny Boo had taken an instant liking to the animal five times his size. And Cheol, just being the fatherly dog he was, had instantly accept the cute kitten, letting the tiny little creature get away with any mischief.

But Cheol had always been a calm dog, his mannerisms gentle with a hint of carefulness. It gave the opposite party ample of time to get used to his presence, his quiet nature luring them in instead of scaring them away. Which is just so opposite of what Gyu stands for. That pup is hyper every single minute of the day, rendering both Cheol and Minghao exhausted. He doesn't wait for people or pets to get used to him, too excited to care for any formalities that dogs might have. It was fine when he was small, easy to scoop, but now that he's grown in size, he looks quite threatening.

And that's exactly what is worrying him. Minghao worries his excitement may not be welcomed by Jun and Boo, might scare the two away even before they get to know Gyu.

He's snapped out of his own head when he walks into Jihoon's back, who had stopped in the middle when Gyu had too. He mumbles an apology, dusting off Jihoon's shoulder. Peering over his lover's shoulder, Minghao gets a better understanding of Gyu's behaviour.

Gyu is stopped mid action, his front right paw still raised as if unsure if he wants to take a step further or not. In front, Boo and Jun are are in their defensive stance, hackles raised, ears perked up and head tilted.

Jun still seems like he's deciding what his reaction should be, presence of Jihoon and Minghao by Gyu's side making him relax as seconds tick by. But Boo, the animal version of the phrase 'act first, think later', takes a step closer, mouth opening to show his teeth in a threatening way and hisses, all the hair raised sky high.

"Woah," Jihoon exclaims, surprised at his pet's reaction. Minghao sighs from behind, head resting on of his boyfriend's shoulder. He knew this wasn't going to be as easy as as his lover had worded it to be. It was too good to be true.

Gyu yelps, jumping back and bumping into Jihoon's leg. Undeterred by the obstruction, that is Jihoon's legs, he continues to walk backwards, wiggling until he's between Minghao's parted legs, safely away from the tiny threatening animal that looks like he'd poke his eyes out. He sits his ass down, looks a little distressed. He yawns and then stomps his front paws, whining when Jihoon tugs at his leash.

Cheol barks a little at the angry little kitten, ears perked and eyes trained on his brother. Jun looks confused, eyes set on whatever he could see of Gyu through the gap between Jihoon's legs. Jihoon steps aside to give his cat the front row view of the cowering pup between his father's legs.

Minghao's eyes widen when Boo lurches towards Gyu, but fortunately Jihoon catches him mid-action, cradling the kitten in his arms. He shoots Minghao a very sheepish looking apologetic smile.

"And I thought moving together was going to be difficult," Minghao wonders out loud, absent mindedly patting his upset pup.

Moving in together is inevitable. Minghao doesn't let Boo and Gyu's inability to get along together (no matter how many times they get the two to spend time together) get in between his and his lover's plan. Moving in is easy, getting used to each other is easy, compromising and sacrificing is even easier. In fact everything looks easy in front of the chaos that the dog and cat duo gets up to every morning, stressing the two working males; Jihoon swore he saw a few grey hair day before yesterday. Breaking of vases, almost destroying the new couch, killing the newly planted flower plants, tearing up a mat to tiny shreds, spilling Jihoon's coffee and almost making Minghao trip on the staircase. Just the everyday things.

It's tiring.

As the days pass by, instead of getting used to Boo's presence, like the couple had expected, Gyu grows more and more terrified of the tiny feline. Jun and Gyu have become friends if the way Jun actively seeks the pup out every morning is anything to go by. Only solace is Cheol's timely interference between the two, stopping the things from escalating quickly.

Jihoon and Minghao are left wondering why exactly Gyu was that terrified of the kitten, especially since Boo hadn't scared or harmed him, at least not in front of them. If Boo would be chilling with the couple on the couch, Gyu would be found sitting by the television, refusing to come any closer when Minghao or Jihoon would call him, huffing and hiding his face under his paws. But as soon as Boo would be out of the picture, he'd be back to his hyper, attention seeking self, trailing behind either of his parents, basking in the cooing and pats.

The question that had been troubling the couple gets answered one fine evening when Minghao returns home earlier than he usually does, a little too tired from the work load.

Grumbling about his ass of a boss, he twists the key, putting extra effort in closing door without making much noise. Why, he doesn't know. He feels like he should, so he does. He was too tired to question his inner selves motives. And boy, oh boy, is he glad because he's greeted by a very unfamiliar but not completely unexpected sight.

Boo is perched on the arm of the couch like a king he knows he is, while Gyu is hiding (?) behind the arm of the recliner. Boo appears to be plotting Gyu's demise as he stares holes into the pup's soul.

Minghao whips his phone out. After a few swiping, scrolling, and clicking, he finally begins to film the antics of the two of his babies. Cheol and Jun are nowhere to be seen. He zooms just a little to get a closer and clearer view. He finds himself smiling at the innocent acts of his pup. He looks like a child waiting for his parent to yell for stealing candies late at night.

Gyu looks up at Boo, awerting his eyes every time he makes an eye contact with the kitten. He looks guilty as if he had accidentally managed to break something after a whole week of staying clear of anything that's breakable. And maybe that's why Boo is giving him a stink eye, perhaps getting upset in advance on Jihoon's behalf. Minghao wonders what Gyu broke this time. I hope it wouldn't be too important to either of us.

Having enough of the tiny creature shooting draggers, Gyu withdraws himself, cowering behind the recliner, away from Boo's eye sight.
Boo isn't Boo if he doesn't have his ways. And so he stealthily leaps off the couch's arm and onto the arm of the recliner and then landing swiftly and noiselessly on the head rest of the recliner. He settles down, his body language reading smug. He continues drilling holes into Minghao's precious baby.

A small scrapping calls Minghao's attention and he looks towards the source of the noise. There is Jun, standing between benisters looking at Minghao. Minghao waves at the cat but doesn't call him over, in hopes that he won't be the cause of the distraction.

He goes back to staring at his screen, where it is showing Boo sitting still on top of the recliner, unbothered by Jun's soft meowing in the background. Gyu hasn't yelped or made any sort of strangled sound so Minghao guesses he has yet to realise the fierce feline has moved even closer to him. Minghao feels bad for even finding this entire situation hilarious. His poor baby is scared and here is Minghao, biting back a laughter.

He wants to walk further inside to get a better look of what Gyu is doing, but then that would catch the troublemaker's attention. So he just settles with vibrating with anticipation, stood in his original spot, hoping for Gyu to come out of his hiding so Minghao could record him too.

He almost breaks the silence by bursting into chuckles, when Gyu's head appears from behind the recliner again, peering cautiously.

Minghao bites his lips, trying his absolute best to keep quiet.

When Gyu realises that Boo isn't there, he looks shocked. He slowly withdraws his head, ears flattened against his head. Boo tracks Gyu's movements like a hawk, eyes not moving away from his prey.

Something rubbing against Minghao's ankle scares him just a bit, making him jump in the place. The focus of his camera shifts tiny bit, video blurring before auto focusing on Boo's elegantly swishing tail.

Minghao looks down, Jun making deep purring sound, staring wide eyed at Minghao. He must have not liked the fact that Minghao didn't call for him like he always did when the cat would come to welcome him home. He feels bad for ignoring one of his babies like that, contemplates bending and giving Jun a well deserved head rub for being such a good boy and accepting Gyu into their small family.

He looks at the screen, looks at Boo sitting still and Gyu still not visible. A few seconds of distraction won't take the fun away, he decides. So, keeping the hand that's holding the phone as still as possible, he leans down, rubbing Jun's ears and running his hand over his body, the silky fur sliding past against his palm smoothly. He lets the cat rub his head against his palm.

Minghao had taken his eyes off the two idiots for approximately five seconds. Just a few seconds. And apparently those few seconds are enough for the disaster to strike.

For Minghao, everything happens in a split second, and leaves him with not enough time to react. Hell, Minghao doesn't even realises something is coming for him until that something rams right into him. Though everything happens in a split second, Minghao feels like he watched it all take place in a slow motion.

While he's busy appreciating Jun, Gyu comes to a sudden realisation that the doom he thought he got rid of, has actually been looming over him this entire time. And when he looks up, Boo decides it's the best time to strike and hisses at Gyu, jumping to his feet and looking more menacing than furious, but still manages to scare Gyu and successfully sends the pup flying across the living room and towards where his father is stood; bent slightly at the waist and cooing at Jun, unaware of the disaster that's catching up to him.

Gyu running into him catches Minghao completely off guard, which results in him stumbling around to find his balance. Aware of Jun between his legs has Minghao making a conscious effort to not trample the poor cat, while his brain does some weird calculation and forgets to relay that information and instructions to his body, so his body is left flailing, hands desperately trying to find something to hold on to avoid falling down.

In the midst of this, his phone has already crashed somewhere and Cheol has made an appearance at the top of staircase, hurrying down the stairs, barking all the while.

Minghao's head is spinning, everything is happening too fast, he's left fearing for his life.

Minghao doesn't just crashes down on the hard floor, he ends up hitting his head against one of the legs of the small table that Jihoon had insisted they place for aesthatic purpose. With the force he hits his head, the thunk painfully loud to his ears, has Minghao's eyesight to blurry before it focuses back on a cowering Gyu. He groans in pain, tears gathering in his eyes. He curls on himself, arms wrapping around his head as his head begins to throb and his vision begins float again, stars making an appearance when he closes his eyes. He feels faint.

Cheol comes rushing, making a distressed whine in his throat, insistently trying to get Minghao to uncurl, stuffing his snout between the bends of Minghao's arms. Jun is meowing too, pacing behind Cheol.

The pain is blinding, has his head throbbing with an intensity that has Minghao sobbing pitifully. First time in a while, presence of his pets doesn't dull down Minghao's yearning for Jihoon. He sobs freely now, scared and clueless, hurt and helpless. Minghao remains unmoving, hoping for the pain to subdue a little before deciding on his next course of action. His head is floating too much for him to even think clearly. Cheol's paw comes to rest lightly on his side, as if asking Minghao say or do anything to tell him he was fine. Besides Cheol's whining, everything else is calm.
Minghao's head hurts and he needs his dog to calm down, so he decides to put his hand out for Cheol to bump his head into it. And Cheol does, removing his paw off when Minghao gently runs his hand over his head and behind his ears.

This is more pain than what it's worth. Minghao just hopes Jihoon manages to get off work before Minghao passes out.

Jihoon had grown wary of leaving Boo and Gyu together without any supervision. Apparently even Cheol and Jun could only do soo much. Knowing Boo was a tiny hurricane waiting to cause havoc is one thing, but seeing the aftermath of the havoc is another thing all together.

Getting a very frantic call from Seokmin, telling him how Minghao was taken to the doctor because he hit his head pretty hard, might not be on top of his worst nightmares, but scared him shitless regardless. Jihoon had almost sobbed in relief when Wonwoo told him Minghao wasn't heavily injured.

So the decision was made to not have Gyu and Boo under the same roof without either of the humans. Their neighbours, a bubbly, old couple, had happily agreed to have Boo with them for a few hours; Jihoon left for work around 10 and Minghao arrived at around 4, it was perfect.

It was obvious that Boo hadn't been too happy, but he didn't tear the couch open like he did when he was just few months old and would get upset. Jihoon wonders if he understood that it was his own naughtiness that got him in to this situation or if he's grown out of that phase.
And as for Gyu, after tending to his injured boyfriend, Jihoon had him sit in a corner for twenty minutes. And Gyu did, ears drooped, eyes guilty, and head hung low. It hurt Jihoon to go through it, but it had to be done.

Minghao had given the pup and the kitten cold shoulder for two days – because he's Minghao and that's the longest he can last. Frankly, Jihoon is surprised he even lasted that long – before he began showering them in affection. Besides a painful head bump, a few days of headaches and backaches, Minghao got out relatively safe. And Jihoon can't thank the heaves enough for that.

The things had been relatively calm after the stunt between Boo and Gyu, seeing as the the troublemaker had been staying away from Gyu. But even when both were in the same room, Gyu continued to maintain the distance, staying few feet away from wherever Boo had situated himself.

Jihoon wonders every day, asks himself if he'd have to get used to this or will they ever get along. He's tired of this.

Thanking Hansol for the ride, he stumbles towards their front door. He twists the key and pushes open the door, the feeling of being home after a rough day enveloping him in a very welcoming hug. He takes a deep breath, smiling when the familiar smell of Jihoon's favourite sesame-ginger beef fills his nose. His stomach grumbles, reminding Jihoon of how he had been complaining about being hungry the whole ride home, annoying Hansol. Making a quick mental note to shoot a text to the younger producer, apologising and thanking for putting up with the drunk Jihoon, he lets the door close behind him.

He is welcomed by Minghao's voice softly singing along to Like I'm Gonna Lose You, occasionally pausing to whine at Jun to get his dirty little paws off his cutting board. Feeling truly content and nicely buzzed from cans of beer he and Soonyoung had shared, he begins to gently sway to the slow melody, rolling his shoulders and snapping at appropriate intervals. Coming home to his loved one enjoying himself is the best thing, he decides, swishing his hips from side to side to the rhythmic beat of the drum. Ten times better than coming home to a hurt and shaken boyfriend, he bitterly thinks.

A long gutteral sound emerging from the depths of his empty stomach has him slipping his shoe off and getting rid of the blazer and the guitar, immediately beelining towards the kitchen, passing by the living room. He can't wait to dive into the stir-fry that's just waiting for Jihoon to ravish. Lord, has Jihoon told Minghao how much he loves him today? Well, he'll have to remind Minghao of that.

He back paddles, peering into the living room, squinting his eyes. He comes across, unsurprisingly, a kitten silently bullying a pup. He sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. Really what is he going to do with this situation. He can't even threaten to punish either of them, not that poor Gyu really does anything to warrant threats.

Boo is sprawled majestically, smack in the centre of Gyu's bed, grooming himself as Gyu, sat by the coffee table, watches him probably in hopes of having his bed back. Jihoon sighs, disappointed in his kitten. Boo pauses mid grooming, looks over at the owner of the bed and hisses, making Gyu jump in surprise and let out a muffled yelp. Unbothered, Boo goes back to his grooming, one leg raised up. If he could speak, Jihoon is sure he'd tell Gyu he's nothing but the dirt on his shoes. Uh, well, on his paws.

Jihoon's left eye twitches. Oh, how done Jihoon is. He really didn't think his Boo was capable of things like these. One day, just one day, Jihoon can't have without Boo trying something. The pleasant buzz is already wearing off and Jihoon feels the exhaustion finally seeping into his bones.

Determined, he walks towards the kitten, catching both of the pets' attention in the process. Boo stretches himself on Gyu's bed, eyes meeting Jihoon's, meowing innocently at his father. On the other side of the room, Gyu looks just as happy to see him, his tail wagging widely.

He picks the kitten up by his scruff, making him meow in surprise. "Every single day you've to stir something up, don't you," he hisses light heartedly, walking towards where Boo's bed is, baby pink and with his toys spread around it. He deposits him there, tapping his nose for a good measure.

"You're becoming really naughty, Boo. Such behaviour won't be tolerated henceforth." The kitten meows, mildly shook. Jihoon twists to look at Gyu, patting the floor next to him, asking him to come closer. Gyu, excited at the attention, comes skipping only to skid to a stop a little further away from where Jihoon and Boo are. He whines, raising his paws and acting as if an invisible barrier was stopping him from obeying Jihoon. He really was adamant on maintaining that distance, huh. Jihoon breathes in, defeated and tired of Gyu's dramatics and Boo's stubbornness.

He turns back to Boo, who is where is was sat, gawking at Jihoon in disbelief, ready to tell the kitten off for his headache worthy behaviour.

"Jihoon?" Minghao calls out, screeching immediately after, already going on another spiral about how he's not going to give Jun any ear rubs if he doesn't stop with his antics.

"Yeah, love, it's me!" Jihoon replies back, not sure if Minghao even heard him over his own distressed rambling regarding Jun's habit of stealing food from right under Minghao's nose.

They're a mess. A chaos. Jihoon wonders who thought it would be a good idea to have Jihoon, a lover of cats and owner of two, fall for Minghao, a lover of dogs and owner of two. This was a lovely disaster waiting to happen. He then wonder how it would have been if they didn't have pets. Would they have been this stressed, occasionally questioning if it was a good move to live in together? He shakes his head, smiling softly. It would have been boring, sad and maybe lonely without Cheol, Gyu, Jun and Boo. Not to forget they met because Cheol thought it was a good idea to chase Jihoon around in the park on his evening walk.

He chuckles fondly, however chaotic his babies might be, Minghao and he'd love them just the same. Jihoon loves his family just as they are and doesn't wish for it to change. Overwhelmed with the new emotion, he rubs his knuckles over Boo's body, giving the offended little thing a good belly rub. Then he gets on his feet to trot towards the pup, allowing Gyu to jump over him, his paws pressed against his chest. He kisses his forehead, "Yes my baby, I missed you too and I love you too!" A happy bark and a few licks.

"Oh my fucking god, Jun! I might just chop your paw off accidently one of these days!"

Sure, it's just been three days since the bed incident, but Jihoon can say confidently that Boo has learnt his lesson and has yet to occupy Gyu's bed again. He is, time and again, found lounging in Cheol's bed though. But Cheol doesn't mind, plopping right down on the kitten whenever he wants to nap, resulting in a hissy Boo retreating to his own bed. Cheol is the solution to Boo's attitude, Jihoon concludes.

Jihoon had thought that would be the last of Boo's antics, but by the looks of it, the kitten has a few tricks up his paws. Jihoon isn't happy.

Boo seems to have found a new way of asserting his dominance on the pup. He now, instead of hissing at Gyu or sleeping in his bed, cuddles upto his human of choice, forcing Gyu to stay away from that human. It's usually Jihoon that Boo uses as his prop for the small game, Minghao too busy for Boo's games, arriving home late and leaving early. It hurts Jihoon to see Gyu watching Boo curling in Jihoon's lap wistfully.

Good lord, when is Boo going to give up and move on to actually accepting Gyu as a part of the family. Jihoon really can't wait for his rebellious phase to end soon.

Boo originally had been napping on the cushion besides Jihoon, occasionally asking for a good belly rub while the two humans watched the movie. It was their movie night and today's request had come from Minghao. "High school musical because I feel sappy," he had sleepily declared, proceeding to force Jihoon to sing along with him.

As soon as the movie had ended, and Jihoon had freed himself from his boyfriend's clutches, Boo immediately came over to Minghao to fill in the empty space on his lap that Jihoon had left.

He observes as the kitten climbed in his lap and then into Minghao's, walking in a lazy circle to find a good position. Minghao looked at Jihoon, amused that Boo actually chose to ignore Jihoon for Minghao. Jihoon immediately knew that Minghao unintentionally was going to be Boo's apprentice in the mission to annoy Gyu. Jihoon rolls his eyes. Boo might think he's being sleek, but Jihoon had already noticed that the kitten had only moved himself when Gyu had curled himself by Minghao's feet.

Hopefully, whatever prank Boo is thinking of pulling won't end with either of the humans injured.

Inspite of it all, Jihoon watches on in fond exhasparation the way Boo curls up in Minghao's lap, kneeding at Minghao's thigh and yawning, ready to continue his nap in Minghao's lap now that Jihoon's head isn't occupying it. Jun and Cheol are curled in Cheol's bed, both asleep long before the movie had even ended. Jihoon shakes his head, changing the channel to a news one. He wraps his arm around his boyfriend, pulling himself a little closer, liking the way Minghao smelled –so fresh and soft– and felt –warm and homey– in his arms.

Boo yawns again, purring deep in his chest when Minghao takes to scratching under his chin. Jihoon's other hand also finds a perch on Boo's head, abandoning the remote in favour of patting his tiny head in pure endearment. However much of a chaos the kitten was, he was still Jihoon's baby and he'll love him no matter what.

Gyu, completely unaware of the kitten's intention and presence, snores away, clueless to what is to follow soon. The kitten doesn't seem to appreciate Gyu's unawareness, and so takes to meowing. Gyu's ears do perk up, but he makes no move, still asleep. Boo meows louder this time, almost as if he's yelling at the pup to wake up. The action has immediate result. The fourth loud and stern meow is followed by Gyu scrambling to get to his feet, bolting to the other side of the room at the sight of the kitten that close to his face.

Chuckling at that is inevitable for Jihoon, as he continues to thoroughly enjoy the show their pets were putting on. A feeling of amusement bubbles up when his eyes find Gyu's confused ones.

Minghao carries on with his patting session, staring a little confused at the off behaviour of his pup. He adjusts Boo in his lap, running his hand down his entire body once. Boo purrs rather loudly, too loud for a simple gesture of smoothing out his fur, flicking his tail and glancing at the utterly confused pup. Jihoon almost laughs loudly, is he really trying to make Gyu jealous?

Jihoon has yet to see Gyu get overly upset over Boo's antics, he'd just sit and watch Boo mess around, asserting his dominance, all the while either cowering in fear, or yelping to get either of his parent's attention or even just sitting absolutely defeated. But he has yet to to see Gyu act aggressively or even return the favour of walking like the baddest bitch (well, technically, dog) in town.

But the funnier part was that Boo's faulty kitty plan was working. The more Minghao cooed at Boo, the more restless Gyu got, whining and chuffing to make Minghao stop treating the spawn of Satan like something precious.

Jihoon raises his eyebrow curiously, is Minghao really not realising the show of affection he was putting on was the cause of Gyu's rather agitated actions? Gyu chuffs again. A glance at Minghao let's Jihoon know that Minghao knew what he was doing, understood that Minghao just wanted to see how long it would take Gyu to retaliate, that is if he ever retaliated.

And, boy, did he retaliate.

A short scoff at his boyfriend and kitten's plan, Jihoon turns his head to continue watching the evening news, something about robbers leaving their license behind while hauling their asses to safety. Idiots. Even before the reporter on the crime sight got back to the reporter in the studio, Gyu let out a bark. Not his usually playful bark, not the one he uses to get Cheol to play with him, Jihoon observes in slight apprehension, not the kind he does when he wants to go out. Not even the one he does to tell Jihoon he wants attention. This one is more of a warning. A promise of repercussion for invading his territory, for trying to steal his favourite human.

Jihoon's observations must be true because even Boo looks alarmed and that's the last kind of reaction he has in a situation that involves Gyu.

Jihoon barely has enough time to tear his eyes from a very alarmed Boo to the growling Gyu because next thing he knows Gyu is already charging towards Minghao. And even before Jihoon realises what is happening, the thought of Gyu actually harming Minghao just surfacing to the front of his mind, Gyu is eye-to-eye with Minghao.

He does a mini pounce and lands with his back paws on the floor and front ones on Minghao's knees, growling threateningly right in Boo's face, his mouth pulled back in a snarl, terrifying canines glinting under the dim lights, the sight of which honestly would've sent Jihoon scurrying away if he didn't really know Gyu, didn't know that the pup could never intentionally harm him or Minghao under any circumstances.

It has the desired effect; Boo launches off Minghao's lap under a second, practically flying halfway across the room. And Jihoon is left wondering if he just saw a cat fly.
Boo lands somewhere behind, Jihoon isn't sure where exactly, too busy dying to bother with such pointless and irrelevant detail. In Jihoon's, and maybe even in Cheol and Jun's (if their unbothered, lazy reaction has anything to say), humble opinion Boo had it coming. Everybody has their limits and guess Boo parading all over Gyu's favourite person was Gyu's last straw. Deserved.

All through the craziness, Minghao just sits through it looking aghast, frozen, his hands still raised up in the air in defence when Gyu had pounced on him. He blinks at the overgrown pup in his lap. Gyu blinks back, leans forward and licks the side of his father's face. Satisfied, he pulls back, panting happily now, glad to have his human's attention on him and not on that creature who thinks he owns everything.

Unable to hold himself back any longer, Jihoon finally rolls off the couch, stomach aching from laughing hard, tears streaming down. The thud shocks everyone, Minghao's worried voice asking if he was okay. Jihoon's only response is laughing even harder.

Lord, he loves his disfunctional family.

"Impatient little brat," he mutters. Even to his ears it sounds fond, much too fond for a kitten who had jumped right out of his arm, scratching his wrist in the process, as soon as the door had closed behind them. Brat indeed. Putting away his keys and backpack, he calls out to Gyu, expecting a wild pup to make an appearance, ready to be showered in attention after being left home alone for few hours. That's was just how Gyu was. Always excited. Cute.

Confused when Gyu didn't make an appearance soon enough, he whistles. It is strange that Gyu hadn't come to greet him at the front door itself. He calls out to the pup again, standing very still and listening to any sound that would indicate where the pup had vanished to. The familiar creaking of the backdoor has Jihoon sprinting out of the living room and towards their kitchen, already dreading what was to come.

As expected, he finds Gyu in the backyard, the door swinging gently in the breeze, creaking with each movement. Gyu, as Jihoon finds him, is busy digging into their flower bed, completely distroying the relatively new flower plants they had planted only a few weeks ago. The tiny plants lay buried in the pile of soil, looking as hopeless as Jihoon felt in that moment, petals are spread all around, the buds of the flowers barely hanging onto the branches. The soil is sprinkled all around the bed, the greens of the lawn hardly visible through the thick pile of brown. The carefully trimmed bushes barely have any leaves on them, the leaves fallen in a sad excuse of a circle of protection around the leafless bushes.

Jihoon almost sobs, distressed at the sight.

Not only is Minghao's hard work ruined, even the lawn they had spent time on grooming looked worse for wear. To add to that, Gyu was covered in soil, his paws definitely caked with dirt from how vigorously and deep he's been digging.

The delicate plant of Jasmine tilts with every added digging that the German shepherd does, uprooting a few of the plants that had just began to flower as well. Panicked, Jihoon yells with all his might, his voice loud and stern, "Gyu!"

The pup jumps back, eyes immediately darting to Jihoon. The jasmine plant stops tilting, not in the danger of getting uprooted. Jihoon can now see the roots of the plant and how they're slightly damaged. He doesn't much about plants, but he hopes that won't kill the flower plants. It's also Minghao's favourite one, affectionately named, Eisa.

He sighs, tired and frustrated at how his day is shaping to be. Dropping his jacket on the chair, he stomps out the door, pushing the sleeves of his white shirt up to his elbow on the way. "You stupid child, what are you doing?"

He isn't angry, not yet. He's just disappointed, frustrated, tired, hungry and doesn't want to think about Minghao's reaction. They're always unpredictable. Frankly, maybe Jihoon is just mildly pissed to see Gyu re-enact the exact same thing he had done a month ago, distroying the plants again.

Jihoon was right when he had predicted the disgusting state Gyu's paws would be in; they really are caked with the damp soil, pieces of grass stuck to them and his snout is sprinkled with brown of the soil. Judging by the way he avoids Jihoon's eyes, head hung low, tail wedged between his legs, he knows he's is in big trouble.

Gyu tries to escape Jihoon's clutches, but the human is faster and Jihoon manages to grab him by his collar, dragging a (weakly) protesting German shepherd towards the the tiny tap by the backdoor. A single stern behave is enough to have Gyu stop all his movements obediently and stand still, letting Jihoon wash his paws and snout.

Jihoon watches the muddy water flow across the stone and into the lawn. The soil gets easily washed having not yet dried, but some still stubbornly stick between the fur and onto his skin.

Jihoon has had a stressful day at work; uninspired, unsatisfactory songs, approaching deadlines and empty music sheets. And coming home to find his pup destroying the flower bed and bushes that Jihoon and Minghao had worked hard to grow and groom was the last straw.

He closes his eyes; breathe in, breathe out. Relax. It's not the end of the world.

He really hopes Minghao wouldn't be disheartened by Gyu's acts. He had been upset the last this had happened, but he hadn't put as much work as he had put in these days. God, Jihoon just wanted to have a peaceful evening.

Done getting rid of as much of soil he could, Jihoon ushers Gyu to the bath, making sure he didn't trail dirt the entire way. He'd hate to add mopping on his list of 'things I originally didn't plan on doing, but here we're anyway'. He gets the pup in to the shower, instructing him to stay where he was while Jihoon goes to retrieve Gyu's stuff.

Jun is standing right outside the bathroom, swishing his tail, confused why his father hadn't called for him or come to greet him. "I'll be back with lost of cuddles," Jihoon promises, patting the cat and hurrying away to start on the daunting task. All he wanted was to come home, warm up his food and nap until Minghao and Cheol got home.

…

After the tiring bath time –full of Jihoon swearing at the littlest inconvenience, Gyu letting him bath him without any resistance, obediently moving his body to allow his father to wash him properly, Gyu emptying half the bottle of soap by accidentally knocking it out of Jihoon's hold, Jihoon's hair getting wet and suffering through the remaining bath time– Jihoon sighs, collapsing heavily against the glass wall of the shower. It's done, he thinks, smiling weakly at the wet and sad pup.

What Jihoon had missed due to the fogged glasses of the shower was Boo sneaking into the bathroom, lazying around, waiting for Gyu to be done.

So it's understandable that he almost jumps out his skin when the first thing he sees after opening the glass door is his tabby cat, sprawled across the soft, pale purple mat, his tail swishing high in the air. He meows, acknowledging Jihoon, getting up to rub his face against the human's legs, purring. Jihoon pats him, ignoring his heart thudding wildly in his chest after the small scare.

He retrieves Gyu's towels from the cabinet under the sink. He gently runs his fingers over the 'Gyu' that's sewed into one of its corner. He kicks Boo out when he tries to lick the water off of a damp pup.

The ticked off feeling that had been sitting heavily under Jihoon's skin, melts away when Gyu nuzzles into his palm, happily accepting the head rubs. He dries him much more gently, all the while alternating between softly scolding Gyu and telling him how he was a good boy for being soo obedient. It's near impossible to be angry at Gyu.

Hopefully Minghao also won't be too heart broken at the state of his precious garden. They've a lot more years to grow another garden together, Jihoon thinks sappily. He can't help but think about the blush that would be blooming on the apples of Minghao's cheeks when Jihoon tells him that. His sweet, sweet baby.

Done drying Gyu, he lets Gyu free after making sure all the doors were securely locked and Gyu had no way of yeeting himself into yet another problem that would only guarantee more headaches for Jihoon.

…

Surprisingly, Minghao and Cheol aren't home by the time Jihoon is done taking a bath. And he briefly mourns the fact that he won't get to cuddle Minghao after a long, exhausting day. Such a shame, Jihoon was in a mood for some hugs and kisses.

He looks at the garden through the balcony in their room, wincing at the reminder of the destroyed state of it. From up there, he notes, it doesn't look as bad as it does from up close. He doesn't know if that's a good thing, or bad. Well, no point crying over the spilled milk.

A towel around his neck, damp hair hanging in his eyes, he descends the steps, his stomach growling at the prospect of some real food. He isn't a picky eater but he's craving some egg rolls. But he's also too hungry to actually make anything from scratch, so those dumplings they ordered yesterday should do. They weren't even half as good as the restaurant was bragging to be. But a beggar can't be a chooser, so Jihoon will have to settle for those mediocre dumplings.

In the last three months he has moved into their new home, he's hardly ever come home to a silence this thick. A silence of this kind is almost unheard for him, especially with Boo and Gyu always off to something or the other. If not them then there's his boyfriend puttering around their house, occasionally singing loudly or scolding one of their troublemakers.

This silence is unsettling. So he makes a quick detour to the living room, peeking his head to find Jun sitting stiffly onto the couch, stare unwavering. So he looks at whatever that has Jun's attention.

And what he sees, takes him by surprise, makes him almost wonder if he had fallen asleep while showering. On instinct, he rubs at his eyes, not completely believing what he sees; his eyes could be deceiving him. Jihoon can't comprehend the scene in front of him. Doesn't know how to process the sight.

Is Boo really licking at a very upset Gyu's head? Is Boo cuddled upto Gyu on his own will? Is Gyu letting Boo come that close to him? Is Gyu not scared of Boo anymore? Is Mr. I-fucking-hate-this-disgusting-creature-they-call-Gyu Boo grooming the pup he was so adamant on not accepting as part of their new family? Has Lee Jihoon lost it, finally? Has Boo lost it? Is the world coming to an end? Can someone please fill Jihoon on what he missed?

Dear lord, he was gone for half an hour and suddenly the world had begun to rotate on a whole different axis.

He blinks rapidly in disbelief, looking back at Jun. Jun is perched on the couch, watching the duo in slight apprehension.

He pinches himself, biting back a pained whine. Holy shit, this is really and not a drill. Jihoon unlocks his phone, beginning to record it all to make sure this isn't just a fever dream. He makes sure to stay closer to the wall in case Boo pulls another of his death pranks and scares Gyu, making him run wildly into Jihoon and knocks him down too. Basically, he doesn't want another episode of what happened two months ago.

Even his phone doesn't lie, the screen showing exactly how carefully Boo treats Gyu; licking at his nose, at his ears, nuzzling into Gyu's warm fur and purring. Jihoon can't believe this. Were the two friends all along and were just putting on a show when their humans were home? To fool the couple and entertain themselves? He wishes the two traitors could talk because Jihoon has some serious questions that needs answering. ASAP.

Gyu is calm and that makes Jihoon relax, his shoulders loosing their tension. (when were they even this tensed? Jihoon didn't notice it.) He let's Boo do whatever the kitten decides necessary, simply lying and dozing in and out of sleep. His ears don't perk up even though Jihoon knows he heard him come down. Maybe he is upset at Jihoon. Well, Gyu, too bad, Jihoon wasn't the one digging up a hole in the beautiful garden.

Jun though, unlike Gyu, on noticing Jihoon's presence, jumps off the couch and trots towards him, rubbing his head against his human's legs. But Jihoon is too busy filming a once in a million year event. Boo comforting Gyu? Now, that's a cause Jihoon can get behind.

Boo continues to groom a freshly showered Gyu, curled against the pup, until he manages to falls asleep, probably tired from doing unnecessary digging, getting yelled, and then taking a bath with a very upset and angry Dad. It sounds tiring. And Jihoon hopes he doesn't repeat it. Like ever.

Jun meows a little aggressively this time, headbutting Jihoon's ankle, and then proceeding to try and climb Jihoon's legs, his nails digging through his sweatpants. Cooing, he picks the cat up, pausing the recording and already getting ready to send it to Minghao.

Oh, Jihoon can't wait for Minghao to see this.

Jihoon is lounging on the bed, scrolling through his Instagram, liking and commenting on his friends' posts and stories. He raises his head when the door opens, showing him the outline of his boyfriend, messy hair and swimming in too big of a shirt.

"I'm so tired, Jihoon," he whines, waddling towards Jihoon's side of bed. "But I'm not sleepy."

Jihoon locks his phone and unceremoniously dumps it on the nightstand, welcoming the love of his life in his arms. He helps the younger climb over him, gently guiding his uncoordinated limbs under the covers, moving to adjust Minghao's head in the crook of his neck.

"Is my angel feeling restless?" He takes to running his fingers through his hair. It always helps ease Minghao's thoughts.

He feels Minghao nod. "It's done. And yet my mind won't quit." Jihoon's hand stills for a split second when Minghao's cold hands creep under his sweatshirt.

"How was it?" Jihoon doesn't particularly mind the wandering hands so he doesn't reign them in. In fact, he hopes it leads somewhere. It's been a long time anything has happened between them, Gyu and Boo always doing something to strip away the sexually charged atmosphere. And now that their conflict has resolved, he hopes for some relief after having suffered blue balls one too many times.

"They were all impressed. Shua and Chan readily joined my team, so there's that. The budget they've given isn't very impressive. Neither is the deadline. But I've the best of bests on my team, so can't exactly complain, you know?"

Jihoon hums, his own fingers trailing from Minghao's nape to his jaw. He tips his chip up to drop a chaste kiss on his lips. He feels Minghao smile. "I'm sure you'll do well," he whispers against his lips. Reassuring comes easy since he knows Minghao's strengths will be coming out to play during this project. He knows Minghao's strength is managing the money, investing the limited cash in things without compromising the quality in his haste for quantity.

Minghao giggles, burying his face in Jihoon's neck. Shaking his head, Jihoon drops a kiss on top of Minghao's still damp hair, the soothing smell of green apples and cinnamon evading his senses.

The fingers don't linger too long in the safer territory, the blunt nails dragging across his chest, getting closer to where Jihoon would really appreciate them to be.

It gets quiet then, Minghao breathing shallowly into his ears, making Jihoon gulp in anticipation. It really must have been a long time, because they haven't even started and Jihoon already feels his stomach roll in excitement of what is to follow, feels himself grow at mere prospect of getting to devour his lover at a pace he'd set later on. Usually he's all about taking time to push Minghao closer and closer to the edge, but today he's too sexually frustrated for the pace Minghao is moving at. He only breathes in and out, lets Minghao lead the game of give and take, even though he very much would appreciate if Minghao hurried the hell up.

Jihoon's fingers tighten around Minghao nape, eyes fluttering shut at the feeling of Minghao nibbling under his jaw, fingers sliding over his lower abdomen at a snail's pace. Not being able to control himself any longer, within a blink of an eye, Jihoon has Minghao naked under him, his shirt and pjs discarded somewhere at the foot of the bed. Jihoon has a sudden urge to ruin him watching him smile all too innocent for someone whose hand is wrapped around someone's dick.

Letting out a chuckle in disbelief, Jihoon dips low, pulling Minghao in a heated kiss. Minghao's free hand flies to his hair, tugging at them everytime Jihoon's bites at his lips. His other hand works Jihoon to a full length, the arousal tainting every of his thoughts. Jihoon coaxes his lover's mouth open, licking into it, not relenting even when Minghao whimpers and moans. He swallows it all like a starved animal.

He sits up on his knees, pulls his own shirt off. Moonlight shines beautifully on Minghao, bathing his lean body in the silver. He groans, palming himself though his short. "Fuck, baby, you look soo good spread out like this for me." Groaning, he kicks his shorts off too, moving to cage the younger under him. Minghao spreads his legs to fit Jihoon better between them.

Just as he makes a move to put the plan of wrecking his sweet, little Minghao into oblivion, the darkness of the room gets slightly illuminated as the hallway light seeps into the bedroom. Annoyed, Jihoon pulls away to peer over his shoulder. Minghao also gets on his elbow to see who had taken a free ticket to their private show.

Jihoon looks at the culprits, a certain overgrown pup and a certain badbitch kitten, both looking at their humans curiously. He feels Minghao move a little frantically under him and something warm and smooth slides up the back of his legs, up his ass and then over his back.

Bedcover.

Minghao was covering them from their pets' eyes, who, should Jihoon remind, roam naked. Expect Boo probably, because he is always happy to wear the tiny sweaters Minghao knits for him.

"Go, be a nuisance somewhere else." He makes a shooing gesture, sheets sliding down a little due to the movement. But no worries, Minghao fixes it hurriedly, worried Jihoon might flash something. "I'm about to have a sexy time."

They don't move, both adamantly staring at Jihoon, as if challenging him to have his sexy time with them there. Stubborn little brats. He narrows his eyes at them, if they want, they can stay. Not like they'll understand what would conspire between the two humans, wouldn't understand Minghao's gargled pleas to go faster and harder. It's fine, Jihoon finds himself thinking, they won't be defiling them.

With that thought in mind and decision made, the Korean swoops down to continue the ministration he had began, bruising the skin around Minghao's neck, knowing that his lover would be reminded of them everytime it'll sting.

But Minghao is pushing at his chest, shaking his head. "No, no, we're not doing this with the two here."

"Why— are you serious?" Jihoon stares at Minghao, unimpressed.

And much to Jihoon's chagrin, Boo and Gyu walk further into the room, Boo already climbing up their bed and curling by Minghao feet. While, Gyu walks towards Minghao's side of the bed, plopping by the nightstand, staring at Jihoon. He looks too happy to be here right now and Jihoon doesn't appreciate it.

He finds himself observing his lover, who's still spread out under him prettily. Minghao seriously isn't going to leave Jihoon hanging like this again, is he? That's just not fair, it isn't even Jihoon's mistake this time (like many other times) that the two decided it was perfect time to spend some quality family time! No one ever told him that having pets is going to take a toll on his sexual life.

Minghao blushes, the pinks of ears prominent against his sprayed black hair under the moonlight. "I'm sorry, Ji, but I just—"

Sighing, Jihoon kisses his nose, bringing a hand to brush away his hair and then caressing his cheek. Will Jihoon be able to hold anything against Minghao, ever? "Hey, hey, it's fine. Don't get worked up, it's fine if you don't want to continue."

He nods, running his nails over Jihoon's chest. Minghao looking at him with hooded eyes, his lips red and swollen has Jihoon's cock coming to life and he bites his tongue. God, just how desparate is he?

"It's that... I won't be able to look them in the eye, you know. But! I promise I'll make it up to you tomorrow. I'll ask Seok to take them in for a few hours, I'm sure he or Wonwoo won't mind," he rambles, avoiding Jihoon's eyes, instead staring at his own hands as they maps out Jihoon's upper body.

He sighs. "What is I kicked them o—"

Jun meows into the dark of the room, and Jihoon gives up, his head burying into Minghao's neck. He had been thinking of kicking Boo and Gyu out, but looks like the other two have also come to join their family time. Jihoon can't believe these are his babies. 

On a second thought, Jihoon's babies? More like bunch of cockblocks.

Immediately Minghao wraps his arms around him, kissing his bare shoulder in an apology. He giggles, pressing another one to his neck. "I'll make it up to you, I promise."

He hums, "You better." He doesn't move and Minghao doesn't push him.

And Jihoon thought that all the problem would settle down after the two made up.