Chapter Text
Working with animals was something that Jongho had wanted to do his entire life. Of course, there were plenty of options for that kind of thing, but naturally he went with an occupation that his parents were slightly more happy with. Being a veterinarian was the perfect thing for him, even though it could get emotional at times. He was just glad it paid the bills and his parents weren’t mad at him for being a dog trainer, or something to that effect.
Jongho loved working with animals, but it also wasn’t very fun when the majority of the animals brought into the clinic were frightened by thunder and it just happened to be a very stormy day.
When the thunder became far too loud for the animals to bear, he had some really close calls with several of their patients. Jorge, for example, one of their favorite fluffy huskies who had come in for a standard check-up, was suddenly startled by the booming noise. Before Jongho was able to calm him down, a massive, thankfully manicured, husky paw found a new punching bag in the vet’s face.
Usually Jongho wouldn’t mind things like that happening since it came with the job, but Wooyoung, his coworker and fellow vet, had made fun of him for having a nice red welt on his cheek for the rest of the day. Several pet owners expressed some concern, but he calmly told them what had happened and reassured them that he was fine, all while his coworker snickered behind him.
He was very happy when the last appointment of the day left the building and Wooyoung was done checking on the overnight animals (the ones who recently had surgery and whose owners couldn’t pick them up the day of).
“Dang, poor little guys,” Wooyoung started, grabbing Jongho’s attention from where he was putting away a couple files in their shared office. “The thunder hasn’t let up all day. It hasn’t even been raining the entire time,” the older complained, throwing himself into his rolling chair by his desk.
Wooyoung had already taken off his lab coat and packed all of his things, Jongho noticed. It seemed the other was waiting for something…or someone.
“You bored?” He asked, turning back to put the last file away.
Wooyoung slouched and blew some of his hair out of his face. “No, what makes you say that?”
“Yeosang isn’t ready to leave yet, is he?”
Letting out a hum that confirmed Jongho’s suspicions, Wooyoung stood up quickly and walked over to Jongho, placing his hands on the younger’s desk. Jongho glanced up at the other, eyebrow quirked in question.
“Word of advice,” Wooyoung began, sweeping his left hand through his dark hair before meeting Jongho’s gaze, “Don’t ever live with a coworker. Let alone a coworker who you would do anything for because you have the hots for them,” he finished in a harsh whisper.
Jongho snickered and stood up. “Lucky for me, I don’t plan to.”
“You’re telling me you don’t think your coworkers are cute?”
“I’m not into cute people,” Jongho deadpanned, air quoting the word “cute.”
Wooyoung’s expression morphed into one of disbelief. “You don’t think I’m cute? You don’t think Yeosang is cute?!”
“Stop acting like I just dishonored your ancestors by saying your crush wasn’t cute,” he replied, folding his arms and blowing out a puff of air, making his bangs float out of place for a moment.
“Besides, I didn’t say you weren’t cute,” Jongho clarified as he made his way out of the office, Wooyoung locking up behind him, “I said I’m not into cute.”
“How could you not be into cute?”
Jongho shrugged. “I’m just not.”
By the time the two vets made their way to the front lobby, Yeosang, one of their receptionists, was logging out of the computer in front of him.
“Sangie!” Wooyoung yelled, making the others flinch from the loud volume. Jongho watched as the other vet practically jumped into his roommate’s arms. Jongho chuckled at the surprised and confused expression on Yeosang’s face.
The two of them would be really cute together, Jongho thought to himself, if only they both weren’t so dense.
Just as he was about to tell them that he was going to head home, light flashed through the lobby with a loud boom sounding almost immediately after.
The bell chimed at the front door to announce a visitor. When Jongho turned to look, he saw a man rushing inside, soaking wet, with soft pink hair that perfectly matched his sweater. He watched the man try to catch his breath as water droplets fell off of him and onto the floor. Then he noticed the tiny kitten curled up with its face pressed into the crook of the man's elbow.
Looking back and forth between the man and his coworkers, Jongho noticed Yeosang’s demeanor shift from “off the clock” back to “customer service” almost immediately.
“So sorry, but unless this is an emergency, you and your kitten will have to wait and schedule an appointment,” the blonde man said with a forced smile.
The man looked around at the three of them, wide eyes finally landing on Jongho. Jongho could tell the man was worried if not downright terrified for the poor kitten in his arms if his apparent tears welling up in his eyes were anything to go by. Jongho’s heart clenched at the sight.
“Thi-this is an emergency!” The man’s soft voice trembled.
Sharing a look with Wooyoung that said they were considering helping the man, Jongho tried to get a better look at the cat before making a decision. He couldn’t help when his eyes traveled up to meet the worried ones in front of him.
Cute.
Jongho mentally slapped himself at the thought.
“So, what’s wrong with your little pet?”
The sniffle that escaped the pink-haired man was enough to make Jongho suck in a breath in an attempt to stop himself from tearing up.
The man moved one sweater-covered arm up to wipe his before explaining what seemed to be wrong with the kitten.
“She, um, I think she got into a fight with another cat outside,” the man opened his sweater-clad arms a sliver to show more of the cat.
Noticing a couple scratches and an apparent bite mark near the cat’s ear. Jongho immediately knew it wouldn’t need surgery of any kind, but was still dangerous enough to be left untreated. He made a split-second decision.
“Wooyoung, Yeosang,” the two turned to look at him with a matching expression of confusion, “you two head home. I can take care of this myself.”
The other vet let out a huff. “You don’t need any help, my butt! What about all the paperwork?”
Jongho rolled his eyes, “I’ve worked at the clinic for a while , Woo. I started with the paperwork, don’t worry.”
“Can you help her?”
The three coworkers all turned towards the small voice of the man and Jongho gave him a reassuring smile. He knew that the most he would need to do for the cat is get it patched up with a bandage or two and send it on its way with some antibiotics to fight possible infection.
“Sure can,” Jongho reassured, earning a small squeak in surprise from Wooyoung. Yeosang stood silent and still, seemingly unsure if he should keep up the “customer service facade” or not as he glanced between the others.
“Jongho,” Wooyoung warned, “it doesn’t seem to be an emergency. ”
Letting out a sigh, Jongho made eye contact with his coworker and set his mouth in a firm line. “You know that those cuts could definitely lead to an infection. It’ll be easy, don’t worry,” he reassured.
Jongho watched Wooyoung search his face for something until he broke into a teasing smirk. “Sure, it’s totally just because of the potential infection,” he said with a wink that only confused Jongho.
“Wh-”
“We’ll leave you two alone to take care of the cat.” Wooyoung grabbed onto Yeosang’s arm, startling the receptionist, and began to make his way towards the exit with his roommate in tow.
“Wooyoung, what-”
“Don’t forget to lock up, Jongho! Let us know when you get home safely,” the veterinarian called as he and Yeosang pushed their way through the door and into the pouring rain. Jongho and the man stood, confused, staring at each other. The man blinked and Jongho couldn’t help but let out an awkward chuckle.
Breaking the frankly awkward eye contact, the vet cleared his throat and moved towards the computer that Yeosang had been working at, quickly turning it on and logging in.
“Okay, first things first, because your little buddy isn’t currently dying, have you brought your kitten here before? For vaccinations or other issues?” Jongho asked. He didn’t want to admit it, but this man was probably the softest looking human he’d ever laid eyes on.
Definitely wasn’t cute though. Nah. Jongho couldn’t give Wooyoung the satisfaction of proving him wrong about not being “into cute guys.”
“N-no,” the man responded, seemingly a lot more calm after entering the clinic, and maybe a little caught off guard by both vets’ attitudes, “We moved here only a little bit ago, so Mars’s other vet is a couple hours away and that was only for vaccinations and a check up.”
Jongho nodded at the explanation, cooing internally at the cat’s name. He couldn’t help but love most of the pet names he heard in his time working at the clinic. There were some strange ones, like “Sir Pants Painter The Third” (he was even more weirded out that there were actually two others with that name in their system), but for the most part the names were adorable. The name Mars made him smile more than normal though. Maybe it was just the way the man said it, but it was a good one.
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t ask for either of your names,” Jongho blurted out in realization, eyes widening as he lifted his head from the computer screen to meet the other’s gaze. “The little one is Mars, and you are?”
The man tilted his head and gave a small smile that made Jongho feel something warm and fuzzy inside. “My name’s Seonghwa, and yes, her name is Mars,” he paused for a second as Jongho straightened from the computer and moved back towards the entrance to the other rooms. “It’s…it’s sort of a play on words. A lot of people don’t really get that…”
The veterinarian tilted his head as Seonghwa trailed off on his explanation.
Mars.
Seonghwa.
“Oh!”
The pink-haired man flinched at the sudden exclamation from Jongho. The vet noticed the slight panic and put up his hands to calm the other down.
“Sorry, sorry, I just figured it’s because your name flipped is Mars in Korean, right?”
Seonghwa nodded and smiled, “Yeah! That’s exactly it!”
“It’s cute,” Jongho stated. He figured Seonghwa’s smile was contagious because an involuntary smile formed on his own face.
After hearing the other’s mumbled thanks, Jongho glazed at Mars and decided it was time to get down to business. He motioned for Seonghwa to follow him and led him through the hallway of rooms to their cat room.
It almost looked exactly like a normal doctor’s office besides the fact that the examination bed was actually a metal table for the cats to sit on. He moved around the room, grabbing the necessary equipment from the cabinets as Seonghwa just stood awkwardly in the doorway.
Once everything was ready, the vet pulled his white latex gloves on and made eye contact with the pink-haired man.
Jongho was usually really good in these types of situations, but seeing how desperately Seonghwa clung to his kitten made him question if he should separate the two or not. Of course he needed to, but his stupid human brain was telling him to please the other man as much as he possibly could.
What am I thinking, mentally slapped himself.
“Seonghwa, I hate to do this, but I need to get Mars on the table,” he explained as calmly as he could, “May I hold her for a moment?”
The pink-haired man nodded quickly and slowly opened his arms to allow Jongho to grab hold of the tiny kitten easier.
Jongho couldn’t help but smile as his fingers touched the extremely soft hair. He gently wrapped his fingers around the small pet and slowly moved her towards the table. She mewled softly and the vet couldn’t help but let out a soft chuckle at Seonghwa’s reaction.
The man was whipped for Mars and it was quite obvious. He wouldn’t stop cooing and patting her head gently as Jongho moved to give her a little check-up to make sure everything was alright aside from the obvious.
There were a couple little claw marks running along her left side and it seemed as though whatever she fought liked aiming at her cute little ears. There was one bite mark that was bleeding more than the others, but it was a simple fix.
Jongho’s eyes softened as he looked over at Seonghwa once more and saw the pout on his face. He was crouched on the other side of the table with one arm folded on the metal surface with his chin resting on it and the other outstretched towards his cat. It was truly a tender sight to behold in the vet’s “professional” opinion.
Refocusing on the task at hand, Jongho grabbed some tweezers and picked up a cotton ball that he dipped in some alcohol. He knew that the cat would not have the best time while cleaning her wounds, but the risk of getting a few cat scratches was part of the job description.
“Seonghwa,” the other looked up at him in surprise, “Would you like to hold her still while I clean these? If not, don’t worry,” I can do it myself, he wanted to add on.
The vet knew exactly how animal owners were. They needed to feel like they were helping their little buddies in some way, so allowing Seonghwa to at least hold Mars down a bit would hopefully give the other some feeling of responsibility.
Thankfully, the other nodded, but before he could move to grab the kitten, Jongho motioned his head towards the box of gloves on the counter.
“Make sure you wear the proper safety stuff.”
“Makes sense,” Seonghwa nodded, standing up to reach the gloves. Once they were on and he was ready, Jongho nodded, letting the other know that he could grab hold of the cat. Once he did so, Jongho took a steadying breath and gently pressed the cotton ball onto Mars’ wounds.
The small cat mewled in pain a couple times, struggling a tiny bit in Seonghwa’s grasp, but after a minute she calmed down. Jongho was glad she didn’t go crazy and claw out her owner’s eyes or something.
Examining the wounds again, the vet noted to himself that it would be a little more difficult to wrap or bandage any of the wounds. The good thing was they were insignificant enough to heal without being covered as long as Seonghwa took care of her and gave her the infection-fighting medicine.
“So,” Jongho started, clearing his throat and grabbing Seonghwa’s attention, “She’s all good now, just needs a good cat nap and some medicine.”
“That’s it?”
Jongho smiled and nodded. “Yep, easy peasy, right?”
A small smile graced Seonghwa’s lips, making Jongho’s brain short-circuit for some reason.
“I’m glad,” he paused, “Thank you so much!”
The vet could tell that the other truly was thankful. Something warm stirred in his stomach as they met each other’s gaze. Jongho’s mind kept providing one word and one word only:
Cute.
.
.
.
.
.
He had no idea why his brain was being mean to him. He never thought about these kinds of things at work, yet here he was, attempting to finish the supposedly quick paperwork for Seonghwa and Mars, while his brain could only provide the words soft and cute to his brain every time he looked at the other man.
Maybe I do like pink .
“Jongho, are you okay?”
The vet snapped his head up in response. Seonghwa looked confused more than anything.
“Yeah, why?”
“Well…you just seemed,” he paused looking for the right word, his expression turning pensive for a moment, “Distracted?”
“Oh, sorry about that,” Jongho replied sheepishly, cheeks burning in embarrassment. “Um, I just need your number to complete this and-”
“What about payment?” Seonghwa interrupted.
Blinking at the other man, he couldn’t figure out how to tell the man that he honestly didn’t care about receiving payment for such a simple thing. He did have to pay for the antibiotics, but that was already done and over with.
“Don’t worry about it. It was really simple,” he explained.
“But we took up your time and it’s dark out now.”
The two were silent for a moment as Jongho thought about how his Roommate, Mingi, might be worried he hasn’t come home yet, but that problem could wait. He sat there for a moment more until he realized something. “Well hey, at least it stopped thundering.”
Seonghwa rolled his eyes and crossed his arms a little tighter around his kitten. He looked as though he was internally debating something serious.
“I’ll feel guilty of stealing from you though-”
Nice, Seonghwa.
“-I don’t want to steal from such a nice person.”
If Jongho didn’t think he could blush anymore, he was wrong. “You’re totally fine, don’t worry. You already paid for the medicine and I honestly couldn’t care less about such a small treatment.”
Seonghwa held his gaze and Jongho tried his best to figure something out in his Seonghwa-filled brain.
“Okay, okay, then next time you come in, for a check-up or whatever, you can pay then.”
“Fine,” the man pouted, relenting, “Next time.”
“Let’s hope it’s just for a check-up though. Nothing bad,” Jongho said, giving him a reassuring smile.
The pink-haired man chuckled. “Yeah, let’s hope.”
The two said their goodbyes and Jongho watched Seonghwa exit through the same doors he came through just an hour prior. Something in his chest flipped and filled with warmth. If he didn’t know what it was, he would be very concerned and debate about seeing a doctor.
He didn't know if it was lucky for him or not, but he definitely knew what the cause was.
Park Seonghwa totally wasn’t cute.
Only because Jongho didn't do “cute.”
He let out a sigh after the door closed behind the pink-haired man. “I’m in a lot of trouble, aren’t I?”