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Step One: Make sure your bun is comfy
Jongho has been stealing their shirts for days now. Truly, only the older noticed that his larger sweaters and anything fuzzy was stolen from his closet. Mingi was oblivious, per usual, until his pastel green sweater disappeared.
“Hwa, have you seen my sweater?” The cow hybrid asked, meandering into the kitchen from their shared bedroom. The eldest grinned over his coffee cup, resting his hip against the countertop.
“Why don’t you go ask our bun over there?” He suggested, causing the cow to furrow his eyebrows, head tilting and ears flicking as he turned to look at the dozing bunny on the edge of their couch.
Jonghos long, fluffy ears were covering his face, body sprawled out on their gray couch, feet twitching every so often as he dreamed. Mingi turned to look back at the cat hybrid, eyebrows raised. “Why ask him?”
“He’s been stealing our comfy clothes for the past three weeks, I’m surprised it took you this long to notice our lack of throw blankets around.” At the oldest words, Mingi’s eyes widened. The younger does a quick scan of the area and sees that yes, they are lacking their usual pile of throw blankets Jongho uses to hastily build small nests for the throuple to lay on.
Jongho loved nesting, and blanket forts. They had to avoid the home section in stores so the youngest wouldn’t spot any fuzzy blankets or pillows to add to his collection. Seonghwa already had to give up their higher shelving in their closet just for the bunny’s blankets.
The older two shared a knowing smile and let the bunny sleep until he was satisfied, Seonghwa had to go to work anyway and Mingi had plans to meet up with San and Yunho to go gaming. They left notes on the coffee table for Jongho to read once he woke up, cooing at how cozy he looked before they departed.
Once they both had returned, Jongho was no longer lounging in the living room. Kicking off their shoes, Mingi followed Seonghwa as he moved down the hallway towards their bedroom.
“Jongho baby, where are you?” Seonghwa called, eyebrows raised at their bed. It looked like a mountain, You couldn’t see over the top of the blanket pile, it covered the window on the other side of the room. Slowly, the pile shifted in parts until Jongho’s light brown ears and hair poked out of the pile, near the bottom from an opening neither had spotted.
The bunny scrunched his nose before sheepishly smiling, one of his ears falling into his face which he swatted away with a huff.
“Sorry, nesting wasn’t enough today… I needed to burrow,” The blonde mumbled, slowly backing into his mountain den again. Seonghwa chuckled and shook his head while Mingi raced over to the foot of their bed where the entrance and their baby was.
“Is there room for me?” The cow asked, ears flicking and tails wiggling ever so slightly. The bun let out a squeak before giggling when Mingi moved to kiss his nose.
“Give me a few seconds… I’ll make some room.” And he disappeared into the pile again. They watched as the mountain seemed to grow even taller, Seonghwa was sure you could actually sit up in there from how high it was getting.
Soon his head popped out again and the youngers shared a grin. Seonghwa hoped nobody fell off the bed this time.
“Okay so go slow and please keep your head down! It took me hours to construct this Min.” Jongho warned and Mingi nodded, carefully following the bunny inside the den.
“Woah! Hwa-hyung it’s so big in here! I bet you could fit too!” Mingi’s voice spoke after the rustling stopped. Seonghwa smiled at the blanket mass, shaking his head before he too joined his boyfriends in the blankets.
There was enough space, Jongho had used all their pillows and most of his blankets as walls, stacked on top of eachother and a few over their heads for a roof. It was stuffy, but nobody seemed to mind as they curled up against each other, dozing for a few hours until Jongho grew restless and Seonghwa made him clean it up so they could properly sleep.
Step Two: Feed your growing Bun
“Yah! Choi Jongho! Quit snacking right before dinner!” Seonghwa called as he watched the hybrid take yet another carrot from their drawer in the fridge. Jongho grinned sheepishly, floppy ears raising ever so slightly before he bolted out of the kitchen for the fourth time in the past half hour.
The human rolled his eyes and shook his head as Mingi slowly entered the kitchen, moving to back hug the shorter until he was done cooking. Seonghwa had noticed the younger’s appetite growing the longer they were together and smiled to himself. Jongho used to be so food shy around him and Mingi, now he was stealing from their fridge every chance he could get.
He made sure to give the youngest twice the amount of food Mingi and him got, with hopes that it would settle Jongho’s stomach enough until his classes tomorrow (it didn’t, much to the humans' exasperation and the poor pantry).
That day after, Seonghwa made sure to pack Jongho lunches and stuff different snacks in all the pouches of his backpack for his college classes. He had even started packing small snack boxes for whenever they all were out together and Jongho would start to complain about being hungry.
It didn’t go unnoticed by either of his boyfriends. Mingi insisted on getting his own ‘Hwa love lunches’ to which the human happily complied. He loved being able to care for his boyfriends even when they were away from each other, it was also a treat for him to come home from work to see all the empty lunch and snack boxes they had gone through piled neatly by the sink.
Jongho had whined about it for the first week after he noticed, but gave up once the older insisted and threatened to not give him any food at all until he got home. He knew Jongho loved the boxes, Wooyoung had mentioned how much the bunny had bragged about his ‘amazing human boyfriend’ and his delicious food to his friends when they ate in between classes.
He didn’t mind that the youngest never thanked him outright, he knew Jongho loved him. He ate all the food Seonghwa packed, and sometimes left notes of specific snacks he was craving so Seonghwa could get them the next time he went grocery shopping. It was cute really, the way he tried to hide it from Seonghwa.
Step Three: Don’t forget to play with your bun - they have energy!
“What the hell! How are you even that strong?! All you do is go to school and then come home!” Mingi whined, flexing his hand once the younger released it. Jongho let out a happy rumble at the cow's distress, little bushy tail wriggling in excitement.
“Don’t be a sore loser! Plus I won so we’re playing Mario cart.” Jongho giggled, placing a kiss on Mingi’s cheek before moving over to the TV and setting up their wii. Mingi sulked, letting his silver bangs fall into his eyes until the bunny ruffled his hair, handed him a remote, and gave him a proper smooch on the lips.
Jongho went with Toad and Mingi as Princess Daisy. The younger got to choose their first course since he won the arm wrestle and the cow let out a low groan once Jongho selected the first map.
“MooMoo Meadows? I always get stuck on this one!” The cow whined, throwing his head back as Jongho snickered.
“You'd think you’d be good at this once, they’re your brethren afterall -ow!” Jongho screeched when Mingi kicked him in the thigh. They fell into focus once the match started, Mingi getting stuck behind some cows as per usual, and Jongho fighting the Wario AI for first place.
“Fuck you Wario! Hah!” Jongho yelled as a blue shell slammed into him, giving the blond enough time to zoom ahead. By now Mingi had learned to avoid the cows, slowly crawling up into the top five.
The round ended with Jongho in first and Mingi in fourth, much to the older's dismay.
“I hate cows,” He mumbled angrily, glaring at the screen as he waited for the map selection to come up. They played eight more rounds, Jongho winning every single round and Mingi getting between second and sixth place, growing more and more exasperated at the AI.
On their last round, they always played rainbow road. It was tradition to end Mario Cart with rainbow road simply because it was the most difficult for the trio. Which meant both parties were screaming expletives every time they fell off, throwing themselves and kicking the air while being escorted back on the track.
Wario did end up beating both of them, but their problem lied with each other. Jongho pushed Mingi off at the last second while they battled for fifth place.
“WH- JONGHO!” Mingi bellowed, whipping his head towards the grinning bun pretending to be focused as he crossed the finish line. Mingi got twelfth.
“You traitor!” Not giving the younger time to react, Mingi pounced on him.
“Get off me! You shouldn’t have fallen then!” Jongho mocked, wiggling out from under Mingi where the cow was trying to pin him. He escaped, dodging the tallers long arms as he scrambled up and ran into the kitchen. Admist their chase, they failed to notice Seonghwa punching in their apartment code and coming back from his outing with Hongjoong and Wooyoung.
Mingi followed suit, and chased the bunny around the entire apartment, almost capturing the smaller one by the bathroom and the front door, but Jongho was quicker than him every time. They kept going until they heard the front door slam followed by a “What the hell?!”
They both froze, Jongho holding onto their bedroom door frame and Mingi’s arm freezing mid-grab at the youngers (Seonghwa’s) grey sweater. They forgot Seonghwa wasn’t at work, meaning he came home hours earlier.
“Hyung! I- We- uh, oh,” Jongho stuttered out as he spotted the chaos they had created. Jongho’s blankets and the couch cushions were strewn all over the living room from when Jongho threw them at Mingi so he could escape the cow’s long reach. There were open food containers littering every surface of their table from the duo’s pantry raid, and there were even brooms from the end closet strewn about from where they used them as mock swords when Mingi had cornered Jongho in the bathroom.
“Hyung we’re so sorry,” Mingi mumbled, letting go of Jongho and shuffling closer to start picking up their mess. Seonghwa pinched the bridge of his nose before breathing out heavily.
“How about you two go blow off steam at the gym instead of our home, hmm? Y'know the thing I’ve suggested like five times now?” The eldest spoke, making the hybrids nod and shrink under his gaze (He ended up taking over cleaning, muttering about how they didn't know where to properly put things).
Jongho listened to their human boyfriend’s wishes at least, texting Yeosang and San if they wanted to work out together at the gym a few blocks away from the couple’s apartment.
The cat showed up first, waving cutely at Jongho from where he was warming up.
“Jongho! Sangie will be here soon, he was finishing up at the shop with Woo,” San spoke, moving to copy Jongho as he stretched. Sure enough, ten minutes later they spotted Yeosang’s signature bushy tail as the squirrel hybrid signed in and looked around the gym for them.
After quick hellos and hugs, the trio began their actual workout, moving from one side of the gym to the other, acting as each others gym coaches and spotting each other. It felt great to Jongho, letting his energy out like this. Plus working out meant getting stronger, and getting stronger meant he’d win every arm wrestle against Mingi.
Seonghwa was definitely onto something with this gym thing, that’s for sure.
Step Four: Make sure your bun knows they’re loved
“Baby bun?” Seonghwa called out softly, Jongho’s ears twitched at the name from where he sat curled up in his makeshift nest on their living room floor. He faintly heard Mingi move to sit on the other side of him from where Seonghwa’s voice had come from.
The cow hybrid and human exchanged looks of concern. Normally Jongho would spring out to greet them or even pull them to nest with him. But the bunny just buried his face deeper in the blanket, his fluffy ears getting smooshed into the fabric.
Mingi picked up one of the blankets’ sides, frowning.
“Can I snuggle?” The cow hybrid asked, waiting for a slow nod to properly pull it over the both of them. Once he was under the blanket, Mingi pulled Jongho to his chest, grabbing an ear rubbing it knowing the gesture soothed the youngest. As Mingi focused on smoothing out Jongho’s fluffy ears, Seonghwa laid down on the opposite side, throwing an arm around Jongho’s waist.
The human pressed a kiss to Jongho’s head, hand rubbing circles on Jongho’s tummy while Mingi mumbled compliments to the younger trying to gauge a reaction.
“What’s wrong hun?” Seonghwa asked after a few minutes, Mingi had gone silent by then after no reaction other than Jongho nosing against his neck and then settling.
“..led maf tesht,” was all he could make out when Jongho spoke into Mingi’s skin.
“You failed your math test? Oh jjong darling it’s okay. Sometimes things are harder than we anticipated and that’s okay. Failing this doesn’t mean you’ve failed the class love. You’ll be okay.” Seonghwa cooed, pulling himself as close as he could to the bunny’s back and snuggling in as much as possible.
“Yeah, you’re still our super smart, strong witty bun that we love so much.” Mingi spoke, kissing Jongho’s temple and grinning as the youngest squirmed under all the attention.
He pulled himself from Mingi’s neck and looked at them, eyes having slight redness to them making the eldest frown.
“No tears jongie, you did amazing. You are amazing and we love you very much.” Seonghwa mumbled, moving his fringe around and gently pushing his ears from his face and Mingi’s grip.
Jongho looked at him, eyes shining and lips pulled in a pout. “Really? You guys love me?”
“Of course! I love you so much. Even when you’re mean to me in Mario cart.” Mingi spoke, nosing against the side of his face making Jongho’s nose wrinkle at the feeling.
“That’s cause you suck,” he sniffle-huffed causing the older duo to grin.
“I love you so very much jongie. You are so amazing and sweet. No more tears, okay? How about we have a movie night hmm?” The human proposed, looking between the two hybrids.
At their nods, Seonghwa kissed them both before removing himself to grab snacks he knew Jongho would love, coming back and turning on Netflix, handing the food over to the now eager boys.
They spent the rest of their day like that, snuggling Jongho in between them and munching on food, giving the youngest small pecks and all the tummy and ear rubs a bunny could wish for.