Archive of Our Own ^omega

If someone had told Chan and his boyfriends ten years ago that one day Seungmin would accidentally drink a mysterious potion which would turn him into a Real puppy, they’d have laughed. Chan would probably say something along the lines of “Really? Seungmin? Of all people?” and would earn a chorus of giggles and agreement from the others. After all, Seungmin—though playful and mischievous—was one of the most responsible members of the group. He’s definitely not the type to drink some random, glittery liquid stored in an unlabeled bottle left on their dining table.

They couldn’t have been more wrong.

And they’re certainly not laughing now. 

Not when a brown, fluffy puppy is staring at them unimpressed from where he’s sitting puppily on what seems like a bunch of clothes stacked sloppily on each other. Chan doesn’t know how a puppy was able to infiltrate their dorm since the door is always locked, so he’s guessing one of them snuck it in. The puppy’s tail is wagging steadily, the only sound in their kitchen being the muffled thud thud thud of tail hitting the bunch of clothes underneath it. Chan’s body is frozen, eyebrows furrowed in confusion and the others would’ve found his face funny if they themselves weren’t sporting the same expression. 

As if it has had enough, the puppy stands up, crouches, and barks.

“What the fuck,” someone says from beside Chan, sounding very much like Felix with the accent and all, and he agrees. Really. What the fuck.

The first one to react after the objectively adorable bark is Jeongin. Chan’s eyes track Jeongin as the he carefully approaches the pup, whose judging gaze follows Jeongin’s every step. Jeongin gently sits down in front of the puppy, extending a stretched hand for it to sniff. Chan’s heart melts as the puppy does so, even nuzzling its wet nose on Jeongin’s palm. 

“Oh,” Jeongin says in awe. And then to them, he turns. “I wonder whose puppy this is? Maybe it’s from one of our neighbors?”

Minho speaks from behind Chan. “I don’t think any of our neighbors have pets, though?”

“Right,” Jeongin nods. A beat of silence passes. “Wait, where the hell is Seungmin hyung? It’s already 11 AM and he’s still sleeping?”

With the mention of the missing boy’s name, the puppy barks again. Chan observes as the puppy climbs on Jeongin’s legs and proceeds to paw the younger’s arms. Jeongin pets it, giggling. The puppy barks louder. 

“Why is it barking so loud?”

“It’s probably hungry?” Jisung supplies, taking a seat beside Jeongin. He gingerly pats the puppy’s brown fur, making the puppy chase his hand. 

“Where is Seungmin?” Changbin reopens the inquiry and they all shrug. However, the puppy barks again upon hearing the name. “Why is it reacting to Seungmin’s name?” Another bark. 

“Maybe Seungmin was the one who took this poor puppy home,” Hyunjin says. “Hold on, I’ll wake him up.” Hyunjin retreats. 

Chan purses his lips and after contemplating whether to give in or not to, he crouches beside Jeongin. “Hello, cutie. Who’s a good puppy, hmm? Oh that’s right. It’s you!” Chan uses his voice reserved for dogs (and Seungmin), giggling when the puppy tries to lick his hand. “I have no treats, puppy.”

Hyunjin emerges from Seungmin’s room. “Uh, Seungmin’s not there.”

“What?” Minho asks. “Nobody went outside yet today. I slept here on the couch last night and I woke up early.”

“Well,” Hyunjin shrugs, forehead creasing. “He’s not in his room. I checked everywhere.”

Minho hums. “That’s odd. I’m pretty sure nobody woke up earlier than me.”

“Oh my God,” Jeongin suddenly springs up on his feet, startling everyone and the puppy as well. “Oh. My. God.” His gaze falls on an empty swirly bottle on top of their dining table. 

“What? What is it?” Changbin asks. 

Jeongin looks like he’s about to cry and shit himself at the same time, and it’s an expression Chan absolutely hates seeing in any of his boyfriends. “What happened, Innie? You okay?”

Jeongin shakes his head, eyes misty with unshed tears. “H-hyung. I think I know where Seungmin hyung is.”

Chan is starting to sweat badly right now, with how Jeongin looks very worried and guilty as he said that. Whatever happened to Seungmin that made Jeongin like this? “Calm down, Innie, and tell hyung where.”

“H-he’s,” Jeongin’s lips tremble and Hyunjin is quick to hug the youngest. Jeongin shakily points downwards. Chan follows the direction of his finger and it stops on the puppy looking at him expectantly. Chan cocks a brow. 

“Huh?”

“Listen,” Jeongin begins, still hugged by Hyunjin. “Yesterday, there was this weird lady who gave me a weird bottle while I was on my way home from my walk in the park. I asked her what that thing was for, but she just gave me a piece of paper and before I knew it, she’s already gone. I threw it away, to be honest, since I didn’t know who that person was and what’s inside of it so I really don’t know how that bottle is still here!”

Chan blinks. “Okay? And this concerns Seungmin’s current whereabouts because?”

“Because!” Jeongin breaks away from Hyunjin’s back hug. Hyunjin pouts but lets him get away. “Because I read the paper last night and it said drink this to become the animal alternate version of yourself and I thought it was bullshit—”

Minho snorts. “It is bullshit,” he mutters. 

“But that explains why we have a puppy here sitting on top of Seungmin hyung’s clothes that he was wearing yesterday.” 

Chan sighs, head throbbing in pain. “Innie, are you serious?”

“Hyung! I am! Here, look at this,” Jeongin fishes something out of his pocket and gives it to Chan. It’s a crumpled brown paper with something written on it. He eyes Jeongin briefly before he unravels it and sure enough, the words Jeongin said were found there. 

“You youngsters are so dedicated to pranking your hyungs, I swear,” Changbin says, shaking his head. “Come on out, Kim Seungmin. I know you’re hiding somewhere.”

Jeongin sputters. “Hyung—”

“Come now, puppy. The prank is over.” Changbin claps his hand twice. 

But no Kim Seungmin came out. Rather, the puppy barks yet again and this time, walks towards Changbin, who looks confused as it approaches him. The puppy sniffs Changbin’s leg before licking the hem of his pants. “What the fuck.” The puppy tugs the soft material, growling slightly.

“Chat, is this for real?” Felix asks out loud. They all pointedly ignore how Felix addressed them. 

“A-are you Seungmin?” Changbin questions the puppy. And then reality hits. “Wait, fuck, this shit is making me sound crazy! Why am I suddenly talking to a dog?” he exclaims. 

The puppy barks yet again and somehow, to their disbelief, nods as if to answer Changbin’s question. 

“I am way too sober for this,” Jisung declares. “If you’re really Seungmin, bark 8 times.” And bark eight times it did.

Hyunjin gasps. “Are we collectively losing our minds? Maybe it’s a hidden camera prank? Did we have anything scheduled like that?”

Right. Maybe it's hidden camera content. They’re idols, of course variety shows sometimes invite and prank them. But the thing is, they have no scheduled content like that for the rest of the week. Or for, like, the whole month since they’re on vacation. 

“I am telling the truth!” Jeongin insists. “This dog is Seungmin hyung!” The puppy barks, as if in agreement, before it burrows itself on the stack of what seems like human Seungmin’s clothes. After some shuffling, it emerges, but this time with a phone in its mouth. 

“Seungminnie’s phone,” Minho mumbles. “I am usually the last one to accept this kind of magical bullshit but what if that puppy is really Seungmin?” The puppy, as one might’ve guessed, barks again.

“Hyung, you can’t be serious,” Changbin says in disbelief. Minho looks at him, lips pressed into a frown. “Oh, okay. You’re serious about this.”

Hyunjin sighs. “Alright. Say that we believe Innie that somehow Seungmin turned into a real puppy overnight just by drinking a suspicious liquid, ignoring the reality that it is usually impossible to happen, how do we turn him back to being human?”

Chan feels a headache forming deep down his skull. He doesn’t want to believe it, one because it doesn’t make sense one bit, and two, of all the people in his group, out of all his boyfriends, Kim Seungmin? Really? The man is more responsible than him sometimes. And although Seungmin likes pranks, he doesn’t like getting pranked. And they all have common sense not to drink or eat weird stuff placed in unlabeled containers. 

Hyunjin speaks again. “Any suggestions?”

Felix sits down on one of their dining chairs. “Did we get high last night and just forgot?” he mumbles. Chan wants to tell him that no, they did not, because first of all, they don’t even have the necessary things to get high (e.g. weed), but decides against it. 

“Find the witch,” Jisung suggests. 

“Hey, It’s not cool to call other people a witch, man,” Changbin argues. “That’s rude.”

Jisung looks at him like he has lost his mind. “What? Then what should we call the person that concocts potions that magically turns a human into a fucking pet?”

Changbin gasps in realization. “Oh, right. Find the witch, then.”

“Dude, are you really serious? You’re not just pranking us, right?” Jisung asks Jeongin once more. The younger shakes his head.

“I’m dead serious. Like, I give you permission to throw all of my shoes away if it turns out that we’re just pranking you.”

“Woah,” Felix exclaims. Chan shares the same sentiment. If Jeongin is willing to bet his collection of shoes then this is some real shit. 

“Okay, now I believe you,” Changbin says. The puppy barks happily and yawns. “Oh, it’s sleepy.”

“Who would’ve thought that this would happen,” Chan shakes his head. “Everybody get ready. We’ll try to hunt down the lady that gave us this problem,” he declares. The puppy whines. 

From beside him, Jisung gasps. “Hyung, I think you hurt Seungmin’s feelings,” he says, petting puppy Seungmin. Chan’s eyes widen, mortified.

“I didn’t mean that he’s the problem! I’m talking about this whole situation,” he tries to explain. He reaches out a hand to pet the puppy and fortunately, it lets him. “You’ll never be a problem to me, Seungminnie.”

“Great. Now we have a plan,” Hyunjin says, clapping his hands to get everyone’s attention. 

“We do?” Felix asks, doubtful. 

“We’re going to hunt down the lady that gave Innie this thing.”

“Didn’t he say the lady magically disappeared? Where on earth will we find someone who apparently can vanish into thin air?” Chan nods in agreement to Felix. 

Hyunjin shrugs. “Yeah, but the most logical thing to do is go back to where Innie saw that person and hope for the best.” Chan isn't sure logic can be applied here.

Felix tilts his head and catches Chan’s eyes. “Hyung, do you approve of this?”

Seven pairs of eyes (yes, including the puppy’s) focus on him and Chan feels like he’s on the hot seat, for some reason. Going back to Felix’s question, well, he thinks Hyunjin has a point since Chan can't think of anything else to solve their problem. Hell, he still can't even wrap his head around this very odd situation. He pinches his arm as subtly as he can, just to check if he's just dreaming (he wishes he is) but the sting on his arm felt too real for this to be just a dream. 

Chan sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose (again, it feels real). “Yeah, sure. I don't know what else we could do so might as well try that and hope the lady Innie’s talking about visits that place often.”

-----

They decided to carry out the plan as soon as possible, which is why they're scattered around a lone bench under a tree near a park. According to Jeongin, this is where he saw the lady yesterday at around 4:44 PM. It's only 4 PM now which means they're too early and they probably look suspicious since they're wearing masks, shades, and caps to hide their identities. 

“Is she here yet?” Changbin mumbles, looking around. 

Jeongin, sitting on the bench and sandwiched between Minho and Hyunjin, shakes his head. “Negative. Be patient, hyung. We still have to wait around 40 minutes.”

Changbin pouts. “The bugs are biting me.” 

Chan eyes him, stopping his gaze on Changbin’s exposed legs. “Should've worn pants, huh.” Changbin huffs at him.

“Here, take this,” Hyunjin hands Changbin a cream of some kind, probably to get rid of the itch of the bug bites. 

“Do you always carry that around?” Minho asks. Hyunjin nods.

“Yeah. The mosquitoes love me, afterall.”

Jeongin suddenly stands up, pointing behind Chan. “That's her! That's the lady yesterday!” Chan whips his head to look behind him, so fast that it makes him dizzy.

“Arrest her!” Minho exclaims. 

“Minho, we can't do that. Let's just calmly talk to her and ask if she has the antidote or something,” Chan says. Minho rolls his eyes.

They casually walk towards the lady wearing a very vibrant pink dress. She looks young, perhaps just a couple years older than Chan, and her eyes are very wide as she sees five men approach her. Maybe it's a bad decision to approach her as a group but oh well. It is what it is. 

Jeongin trips on a rock, and they all scramble to hold the youngest to prevent him from falling. Minho asks him if he's okay, to which Jeongin answers with a small ‘yes’, blushing furiously. Changbin laughs and Jeongin glares at him.

“What the hell.” They all turn their heads to Hyunjin, who looks pale as a paper, staring into the direction of the lady. Chan follows the younger’s gaze and he almost trips on air in shock.

The lady is gone. 

—--------

Turns out they didn’t need to experience all that freaky shit because as soon as they arrived back at their dorms, the puppy was nowhere to be seen. According to Jisung and Felix, five minutes after their group left, there was this sudden cloud of white smoke surrounding the puppy that scared them so much Jisung was in tears, and then boom. A naked Seungmin appears and the puppy is gone.

Chan, on a normal occasion, would celebrate. Well, how often could someone claim that one of their boyfriends got turned into a real life puppy and turned back into a human in a span of less than 10 hours? Chan is positive that little to no people experienced whatever that situation was. This really calls for a celebration since 1) their boyfriend is back in all of his glory and 2) their jobs are secured. 

Although there is a problem.

“What the fuck is happening?” A now clothed Seungmin asks. Who he’s asking, Chan isn’t really sure since he’s pacing back and forth their living room while the seven of them are sitting obediently on the couch, as if they did something wrong. Well, they didn’t. But nobody is moving since no one knows how to react to this another weird situation they have. 

To Chan’s horror, Seungmin stops walking and turns to him. ”Hyung!”

Chan, like a deer caught in headlights, stares at Seungmin. “I don’t know!” 

Seungmin looks like he’s about to cry and Chan hates that but there is nothing he can do about this whole shitshow. If he’s being honest, he’s still confused. And weirded out. 

Hyunjin stands up and gently pulls a pouting Seungmin to sit on his lap. Seungmin yelps in pain and immediately stands up, maneuvers his tail out of the way so he’s not sitting on it, and sits back on Hyunjin’s lap. Hyunjin murmurs an apology and begins stroking Seungmin’s hair. 

Yes. Seungmin’s tail. 

This is their new situation at hand. After that whole Seungmin-turning-into-a-real-puppy fiasco earlier, and the weird and lowkey creepy Pink Lady encounter, here goes another weird event — human Seungmin with floppy puppy ears and matching furry brown tail. Chan’s also positive that Seungmin’s fangs got sharper. It’s a relief that his hands and feet didn’t turn into paws because that would be too much for them to handle. 

Not that they’re handling Seungmin with literal puppy ears and tail very well. 

It’s a good thing that they’re on a month-long vacation right now because how does one even explain it to their fans let alone their boss? Chan thinks their fans might understand or appreciate it somehow (Seungmin has been compared to a puppy countless times and has been given fake puppy ears and questionable fake tails during fan signs) but who knows how their bosses will react? Hell, Chan himself isn’t sure how to react to this. 

“Did you drink anything suspicious last night, Seungmin? Perhaps a sparkling liquid contained inside a weird looking bottle?” Changbin asks. Seungmin shrugs. 

“Yeah. In my defense, I thought it was one of Sungie’s weird cocktails but in a fancy bottle so I drank it. Why?”

Jisung sighs. “I never once put cocktails inside a fancy bottle, Seungminnie. You should know that.”

Felix joins in. “Yeah. He only uses ugly glasses, remember?” 

“Hey!” Felix sticks his tongue out at a sputtering Jisung. 

“You dug your own hole.”

Chan shushes them and redirects their focus to Seungmin. “Well, apparently, that concoction was something a weird lady gave to Jeongin yesterday that said, and I quote, drink this to become the animal alternate version of yourself or some bullshit.” 

Seungmin looks unimpressed and doubtful, which Chan fully understands. “What the fuck? You believe that shit?”

Minho sighs. “How would you explain those things on your head and tailbone, then?”

“But still,” Seungmin stands up, leaving Hyunjin to pout at the loss of a cuddle buddy. “That’s some magical bullshit that is impossible to happen in real life.”

“You think that didn’t cross our minds earlier? Baby, we thought we collectively got high without us knowing while you were in your puppy form,” Changbin counters. 

“It was only Felix who thought that but okay,” Hyunjin mumbles. Felix glares at him. 

Seungmin sighs, his tail casted downwards and close to the back of his legs. Chan tries his hardest not to coo at him since he knows Seungmin feels frustrated about this whole ordeal. But Seungmin looks very cute, like a puppy. 

“So what do we do now?”

They all look at Chan and the way their heads turn in sync makes him choke on a laugh. Seungmin pouts at him. Right. This isn't a laughing matter. Chan clears his throat and furrows his brows to think of an answer. Hmm. What should they do? 

He grabs his phone and browses his phonebook. “Hold on, let me call one of our sunbaenims and see if they can help.”

Jeongin snorts. “Really funny.” Jisung boos him from the side.

Chan sighs and throws his phone back on the couch. He pinches the bridge of his nose. “I don't know what to do, Seungminnie. Hyung can't even process this right now. I'm so sorry, puppy.”

Probably sensing the wafts of stressed energy emanating from him, Seungmin stands up and places himself on Chan’s lap. He bats Chan’s hand away from his nose and motions to pat him instead. Chan coos and does as he's told. Afterall, it's not a common occasion that Seungmin willingly volunteers himself to be petted.

This is perhaps a side effect of being a half puppy? 

“It's okay, hyung. I'm sorry for dumping the responsibility on you. This is all my fault. I should've known better than drinking some unlabeled suspicious liquid,” Seungmin sighs, a whimper escaping his lips. 

Jeongin sits beside them and takes Seungmin’s hands on their own. “This is actually my fault, hyung. If only I made sure that I was able to throw that bottle away, none of this would've happened.” Seungmin's puppy ears perk up when Jeongin starts to massage his hands. Hyunjin coos at them.

“You're so adorable, Seungminnie,* Hyunjin says, his “wdyek” heart eyes on display. Chan nods, agreeing. 

Minho stands up and subtly joins Chan in petting Seungmin’s hair. From where Seungmin’s sitting on his lap, Chan feels his tail wagging from the attention. Chan’s heart melts. 

“Guess we'll be living with a real house puppy until we're able to find a solution for this whole situation,” Minho announces. Chan sighs. They need to find something that will help them in solving this case of Seungmin turning into a puppy and some sort of puppy hybrid. ASAP.

But for now, they'll need to adjust to the new dynamics introduced in their team and relationship.

————

Chan has a pet dog back home, Berry, that he misses very much. Sure, he calls his parents once or twice a week, depending on their free time, but nothing beats living with your pet. Chan has wondered a lot of times what it would be like to have the eight of them raise a pup but due to their schedule and their different ways of living, that idea is out of the question. 

Now, they have a puppy. Well, not a puppy puppy but a human puppy. Or is it more correct to call Seungmin puppy human? Either way, they now have a puppy hybrid (Jisung introduced this term to them earlier because if there's someone who knows things like this, it'll be him or Felix) in their household. Which is cool. At least that's what they like to think. 

Living with a puppy hybrid (this still feels weird to say) is not that different from living with a human version of Seungmin. It's as if the only thing that changed is Seungmin’s appearance and nothing else. He's still the same person that they all loved and love—strong and hardworking, and a menace personified. Simply put, the days passed and they lived normally.  

What they have observed that they consider objectively the cutest thing about puppy Seungmin is his inability to lie about what he's feeling deep inside. Seungmin is like Jeongin in some way, especially when it comes to receiving physical affection. They both rarely seek it and they act like they hate it when one of their boyfriends hug or even kiss them out of nowhere and they both secretly love receiving it. Human Seungmin and human Jeongin (not that there's a fox version of Jeongin, please God, no, not today) can both say that they hate Chan’s hugs. 

Puppy Seungmin on the other hand…

“Come here, puppy,” Chan says and back hugs a standing Seungmin. The younger yelps in surprise, his puppy ears perking up helplessly as Chan nuzzles Seungmin’s nape. Chan places a kiss there and then on Seungmin’s cheek. He hears Seungmin’s attempt at growling and he giggles. 

One thing new about puppy Seungmin is his growls. To be honest, Seungmin always tried to intimidate them by mimicking a growling puppy way before this whole puppy thing started, but now that he's part pup, his growls sound legit. And it spooks them sometimes, especially Changbin who is the number one receiver of those sounds. But this growl is weak, no real threat behind it, so Chan laughs. 

“What did we say about growling at your boyfriends, Seungminnie?” Chan scolds playfully. 

Seungmin huffs. “And what did I say about back hugging me?”

Chan hums, thinking. “Well, you never said anything about it, if I recall correctly.”

“I—”

“Do you hate it, puppy? Do you not like it when hyung hugs you?” Chan asks. Seungmin pouts and his ears twitch happily on top of his ears. His tail is also wagging excitedly against Chan’s stomach. 

“Yes, I hate it,” Seungmin answers. Chan breaks the hug, ignoring Seungmin’s whimper and turns to the younger so they're facing each other.

“Really?”

Seungmin blushes and averts his eyes, a small pout on his lips. His ears are alert, and his tail is still wagging happily behind him. “Yes.”

Chan smiles. Human Seungmin lies better. Meanwhile, puppy Seungmin gets betrayed by his own ears and tail everytime he lies. Chan coos and pulls Seungmin towards him and hugs him again. “Cute puppy,” Chan praises, kissing the top of Seungmin’s hair. The younger, contrary to his words earlier, sags his weight onto Chan and hugs him back. 

“Not a puppy,” Seungmin says. Chan smiles.

“Whatever you say, puppy.”

————

“Did anyone see my favorite plaid shirt? The yellow one? I've been trying to find it for hours now and it's still missing.”

Sunday morning finds them inside their dorms doing their own respective things in the living room. Most of them just woke up minutes ago and are sporting fabulous bed hair nests, while the early birds, such as Minho and Chan himself, are already prepared for what the day will bring. Apparently, the first thing on their list according to the universe is answering Jisung’s sudden question about his own clothes. 

Chan raises his hand. Jisung perks up. “Uh, haven't seen it,” Chan sheepishly says. Jisung frowns at him. Chan lowers his hand.

MInho shrugs in lieu of an answer. Hyunjin mumbles a sleepy ‘no’ and something along the lines of ‘maybe if your room isn’t a literal mess’ to which Jisung responds to with a pout. Felix shakes his head no while Changbin gives no answer, probably didn’t hear the question since he’s immersed in whatever he’s doing on his phone.

Jisung nudges Changbin with his shoulder. “Hyung, did you see it?”

Changbin gasps in surprise. “What?” 

Felix snorts while Jisung rolls his eyes. “My shirt, hyung. Did you see it?”

Changbin sits up and puts his phone down on the couch. “No? Oh, that reminds me that I also have one of my fluffy blankets stolen by one of you. Like days ago.”

“Well, I am not the culprit,” Jisung says defensively. 

“Neither am I since my hoodie is also missing. I never looked for it because I know some of you like stealing clothes but now that we have this conversation might as well say it,” Jeongin adds. 

Chan knits his brows together at the sudden missing clothes complaints from his boyfriends. Actually, one of Chan’s shirts is also missing but like Jeongin, he didn’t ask about it since it’s normal for them to steal or borrow clothes from everyone. But this current situation is weird since usually, someone steals those that are in the closet aka clean clothes. The missing shirt is from Chan’s laundry basket. 

“Anyone else who has any of their clothes stolen? My blue sweater I wore last time is also missing in my room,” Felix asks. All seven of them raise their hands, except for one. 

“Seungminnie?”

Their puppy averts his eyes, tail tucked between his legs. “What? My clothes are fine.”

Chan tilts his head. “So all of us have some clothes and blankets missing and somehow Seungmin is the only one who has nothing stolen from him?”

Seungmin huffs. “Maybe if you all cleaned your rooms, this wouldn’t have happened. Maybe all of you just misplaced your things or something,” Seungmin insists. 

Minho hums. “My room isn’t messy but one of my shirts got lost,” he points out. 

“And whose fault is that?” Seungmin stubbornly asks.

They all look at each other and then to Seungmin, whose human ears are starting to get red as a tomato, as well as his cheeks. Felix smiles as he shakes his head. 

“Oh puppy. You’re a terrible liar,” Felix says, smooching Seungmin’s red cheeks. Seungmin gasps, offended.

“I am not!”

Felix continues to pepper kisses to their puppy. “Sure, baby.”

After a minute or so of Felix kissing him, Seungmin cracks. “Fine,” he says, pushing Felix slightly. “I took all of your clothes. Is that not allowed?”

Hyunjin joins Felix and Seungmin on the couch. “It’s totally okay, Seungminnie. But may I ask why the used clothes? You know you can steal any of our clean clothes, yes?”

Seungmin grimaces. “Well, I like those that smell like any of you.”

A lightbulb dings inside Chan’s head. Oh. Is Seungmin—

“Are you nesting, puppy?” Jisung asks. Seungmin’s eyes widen and he tilts his head. 

“Am I?”

Jeongin nods. “I think you are, hyung. That’s very cute. You’re like a real puppy.” Seungmin blushes. 

“But wait, dogs only nest when they’re stressed, right?” Changbin asks. Oh. Good point. 

Minho snaps his fingers. “Or when they’re in heat.” Their eyes zero on Seungmin. 

“What the fuck?” Seungmin furrows his brows. “I am not in heat. I’m not a dog!”

“Partly you are,” Minho points out. 

Felix nods. “Also, you are always horny, Seungmin.’

“And all of you are horny all the time, too, but I never said that you are in heat,” Seungmin deadpans. Felix nods again. 

“Fair point.”

Jeongin interrupts them. “Okay, enough of that.” he then turns to Seungmin whose face is scrunched in a pout. “Hyung, are you stressed?"

“I wasn’t earlier but now I am,” Seungmin says, rolling his eyes. Chan regards him with a look and he sighs. “Fine. I’m not. I just like being surrounded by your scents whenever I sleep alone, okay.”

Changbin coos and walks up to him and kisses him. “That’s a cute puppy.”

Chan agrees. That is probably one of the cutest things puppy Seungmin has ever done and it is making Chan’s heart flutter knowing that their scents calms him down and are a need for his bedtime. Chan promises to himself that he’ll sleep beside Seungmin tonight. Or maybe they can all spread mattresses in their living room and sleep altogether. It’s been a while since they’ve done that. 

Hyunjin, ever the competitive one when it comes to Seungmin’s attention and approval, asks, “So whose scent do you like the most?”

All of their attention falls on Seungmin, waiting for his answer. Chan might have said that Hyunjin is competitive when it comes to Seungmin but the truth is, all of them are that way as well. Chan clears his throat. Jisung follows, then Jeongin. Minho taps the table, Changbin pets Seungmin’s hair, while Hyunjin and Felix noticeably hug Seungmin tighter. 

Seungmin sighs. “Guys, this is not a competition.”

“We’re a team!” Changbin responds, a little too loudly for this fine morning. Felix laughs and proceeds to slap and feel Changbin’s biceps up. 

“That’s actually very witty,” Jeongin sighs. “Anyway, Seungminnie hyung, just answer Hyunjin hyung’s question because you know he’ll never let this shit go.”

Hyunjin sticks his tongue out at Jeongin. “As if you’re not curious about the answer as well.”

“Didn’t say I’m not,” Jeongin retorts. 

“Come on, Seungminnie. We won’t be mad if you picked only one,” Minho coaxes. Seungmin contemplates. 

“Really?”

“Yeah, baby. Just tell us. Also I think that you being able to smell us is very cool and that your tail is very smooth to the touch,” Jisung says. Chan rolls his eyes. Flatterer. 

“Fine,” Seungmin gives in. “I like Minho hyung’s scent the most.”

Minho stands and claps in celebration of his win. Chan pouts. “I love suffering from success.”

Hyunjin scoffs. “Minho hyung looks like he smells like crap, not gonna lie.”

“I can’t hear you over the sound of Seungmin sniffing me,” Minho replies. Both Hyunjin and Seungmin gasp. 

“Hyung!” Seungmin is full-on blushing now. “I hate you.” His tail is wagging. Chan giggles at how Seungmin’s body betrays his words once again.

“You like my scent, baby. No point trying to deny what you just admitted three minutes ago,” Minho winks at him. He walks towards the couch and squeezes himself between Felix and Seungmin. Felix frowns but latches on Changbin instead. 

“Men lie,” Seungmin insists. Minho burrows his face on Seungmin’s neck, a ghost of a smile on his lips.

“I know, baby. I know.”

—-----------

The next day, Seungmin can’t help but bother everyone. Chan suspects that it's probably because Seungmin is bored as fuck, being prohibited to go outside due to his situation. Chan tries to respond to Seungmin’s pestering with some cooing and cuddles, which Seungmin quickly grows tired of (and even a bit annoyed by). Chan feels almost offended, but honestly, he’s relieved not to be the center of their puppy’s attention right now—he has work to do, after all.

It’s their day off (or month off, if you will) but Chan is still working on some tracks that he created years ago, trying his hardest to finish at least one of them. They all agreed that they won’t be stepping inside their company for the entirety of their break so they can enjoy it fully, which means Chan isn’t allowed to work in his studio there. It’s actually a miracle that no one’s trying to nag him today when he’s obviously working on some tracks. Maybe they realize that this is Chan’s way of relaxing as well, in some way. 

That’s why he’s in the living room, his entire music set-up spread out across the coffee table. His other boyfriends are in their rooms, doing who knows what, while Seungmin and Changbin are in the living room as well. Chan focuses on his work, trying to ignore the commotion between the other two in the room, but after a while of pretending he’s working, he stops and watches them instead— he needs the break anyway. 

Seungmin has apparently found a new target for his restlessness: Changbin. The two of them sit on the couch, with Changbin scrolling through his phone while Seungmin tries to capture his attention. It starts with Seungmin poking Changbin’s cheeks, eliciting only a slight twitch of Changbin’s mouth. Frustrated by the lack of response, Seungmin huffs and takes a bolder approach, using his fingers to physically shape Changbin’s mouth into a smile. Changbin finally glances at him, mildly confused, then shakes his head and returns to his phone.

Chan snickers. This is going to be good. 

One thing about Kim Seungmin, whether he’s a part puppy or just a pure human, is that he won’t give up easily. Especially if it is about bothering people. Especially if that person is Changbin. 

Chan knows that Seungmin is always extra bratty whenever he’s around Changbin. Probably because Changbin is easy to rile up and won’t hesitate to “punish” Seungmin as he sees fit. Chan is well aware of Seungmin’s not-so-subtle enjoyment of being manhandled. The puppy isn’t fooling anyone. Whether or not Changbin has figured this out, Chan isn’t sure, but it would be even funnier if he hasn’t.

“Hyung,” Seungmin suddenly says. Chan, being one of Seungmin’s hyungs, snaps his head to look at the younger but Seungmin isn’t looking at him. Oh. He’s calling Changbin not him. Back to observing them, then. 

Changbin gives no indication that he heard Seungmin. He’s too immersed on his phone, whatever the hell he’s doing there, to even sense Seungmin’s presence. Chan would bet that Changbin isn’t aware that he’s here as well. 

“Hyung,” Seungmin repeats, this time poking Changbin’s nostrils. Changbin grunts and tries to pull away, but Seungmin’s fingers stay glued to his nose.

“Hyungie,” Seungmin calls him again, this time using his Whiny Bratty voice that Chan has heard a lot of times before. “Hyung. Hyung. Hyung.”

Changbin groans and turns to Seungmin, his nose still being invaded by Seungmin’s long appendages. “What do you want, puppy?” he asks, voice different because Seungmin is literally shoving his fingers inside Changbin’s nose. Chan winces.

“Nothing. Continue what you’re doing. Don’t mind me,” Seungmin answers, his eyes twinkling in delight. Changbin fixes him with a look that probably says ‘stop messing with me puppy.’ Seungmin nods, puppy ears flopping with the action. 

Changbin turns his attention again to his phone and continues to scroll. Seungmin winks at Chan, snickering as he wipes his fingers (that he shoved on Changbin’s nose) on his clothes. Chan gives him a thumbs up, eyes peeled open for Seungmin’s next move. 

Seungmin proceeds to kiss Changbin’s cheek. Chan pouts because he wants Seungmin’s kisses as well but he stays still, just observing. Changbin only smiles and Seungmin is not pleased. 

“Hyung,” Seungmin calls Changbin and kisses him on the cheek again. Changbin is literally locked in on his phone that he didn’t even twitch at the action. Seungmin looks at Chan and shakes his head as if to say ‘you see this shit?’ to which Chan solemnly nods as an answer. 

Seungmin then returns to poking Changbin, this time targeting his ears and comboing it with some good old Felix style of feeling Changbin’s muscle up. Changbin flinches when Seungmin pokes his side a little too strongly. He’s ticklish there, Chan recalls. Seungmin continues his ministrations and finally Changbin snaps. 

It feels illegal to be laughing at Changbin’s obviously upset demeanor but Chan is giggling. Changbin puts his phone down and fixes Seungmin who is, mind you, smiling sweetly, canines flashing and all, a disapproving look. “Puppy,” Changbin says in a warning tone. Seungmin’s tail is wagging furiously in anticipation. 

“Yes, hyung?”

Changbin squints at him. “Why are you being naughty, hmm?”

“I’m being naughty? How?” Seungmin’s jolly and way too cheerful expression is honestly scaring Chan. He really looks like he’s enjoying riling Changbin up. 

“You were poking me,” Changbin sighs. 

“I wasn’t,” Seungmin denies. And after a while of staring at each other, Seungmin quickly reaches out to poke Changbin’s chest one more time. 

Everything happens so fast. 

In a blink of an eye, Seungmin who was sitting prettily beside Changbin on the couch, is suddenly between Changbin’s bulging biceps in a headlock. Instead of panicking, however, Seungmin’s shit eating grin is stretching his whole face, while Changbin is looking slightly pissed. Chan sees Changbin tighten his arms around Seungmin’s neck but the younger smiles dopily and even has his eyes threatening to roll at the back of his head. His tail is wagging furiously, too, proving that he’s really enjoying this. 

Chan feels as if he’s witnessing something he shouldn’t. AKA Seungmin being a literal freak at 1 PM in the afternoon. 

“What’s your deal, puppy? You know I don’t like liars, yes?”

Seungmin chuckles. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Please let me go,” he begs but Chan knows he didn’t mean that. The younger is literally enjoying this right now. 

“Promise me you’ll stop bothering me,” Changbin says. Seungmin tries to nod. “Words, puppy.”

“Yeah, yeah. I promise,” he says. Changbin lets him go and Seungmin coughs, chest heaving to catch his breath. Chan shakes his head as he reaches for a water bottle on the coffee table. He throws it to Seungmin who thankfully, despite the coughing fit, catches it. Changbin sighs and rubs Seungmin’s nape to soothe the latter. 

“If only you’re well-behaved you wouldn’t be coughing your lungs out,” Changbin says disapprovingly. Seungmin wipes his mouth with the sleeve of his sweater.

“But that’s boring. You know I like bothering you.”

“You’re just an attention-seeking puppy, hmm?” Changbin says, shaking his head in disbelief. “If you wanna cuddle, just tell hyung properly instead of doing that.”

Seungmin hums, as if contemplating the suggestion but ends up rejecting it with a shake of his head, his adorable puppy ears flopping on his head. “Nope,” he finally says and sticks out a tongue towards Changbin for good measure. 

“Brat,” Changbin says, slapping Seungmin’s nape weakly. Chan chuckles a little too loudly for a bystander, making Changbin notice his presence for the first time. “Oh, hyung. You’re here?”

Chan sighs. Changbin’s inability to multitask is really astounding. “Always have been, Binnie.”

“Your puppy was bothering me,” Changbin complains. Seungmin nips Changbin’s fingers as if he’s offended that the older referred to him as Chan’s only. “Our puppy."

Chan shrugs. “Guess our puppy needs to play with one of his hyungs. Maybe we need to take him out for a walk to make him relax.”

Seungmin makes a noise of disapproval. “Walk? What am I, a fucking dog?.”

“Seungminnie, you literally have two puppy ears and a thick tail right now. You’re not proving your point,” Changbin counters. Seungmin growls at him. Changbin smirks. “See?”

Seungmin stands up and marches towards the other members’ rooms. “I’m gonna go to Hyunjinnie. At least he isn’t mean to me.”

“Baby, are you upset?” Chan quickly asks. Seungmin huffs and stops in his tracks, turns, and kisses both his and Changbin’s lips and turns around again. 

“No. I love you both,” Seungmin says and runs to Hyunjin’s room. 

Changbin’s face is adorned with the most lovesick smile Chan has ever seen. “He’s the cutest puppy ever.”

Chan nods his head, trying his hardest not to laugh at Changbin’s down bad expression. “He really is.”

—-----

Chan hears a thud and suddenly wakes up from his deep evening slumber. He groans and checks the clock on his nightstand, squinting as his brain processes the numbers flashed by his digital clock. 2:56 AM. 

Another thud is heard, this time followed by a hushed “Seungminnie! Come here!” that vaguely sounds like Hyunjin. Since he knows he cannot go back to sleep unless he knows exactly what made that sound, Chan decides to investigate what's happening outside his room at this ungodly hour, groaning as he leaves the comfort of his bed. 

Chan opens his door and steps outside, only to quickly go back and step inside when a figure comes rushing towards him. Another figure runs after the first and Chan would've been scared if he didn't catch a whiff of Hyunjin’s favorite body wash. When he thinks he's safe from bumping into any of the running figures, he reaches for the switch on his wall and turns on the lights. And oh boy.

“What the hell is happening?” Chan asks, voice gruff from sleep. He scans the room, the poor state of their living room that currently looks like a hurricane decided to hit this specific place only, his gaze then landing on Hyunjin hugging a certain human puppy. 

“Oh, hi there, hyung. Good—” Hyunjin glances at the wall clock on top of their television, “—morning. How was your sleep?”

“I got woken up by some noise. The hell happened to the room?” he asks again. Hyunjin looks around and winces as he takes on the current status of the living room.

“Puppy got the zoomies, I think,” Hyunjin solemnly says, still hugging Seungmin who, as Chan looks closely, is currently practically vibrating in excitement. Seungmin’s tail is wagging at what he estimates as 400 wags per minute, ears perked up, and mouth parted slightly. 

“Seungmin?”

Seungmin turns to him, biting his lips. “Hyung!” He says, way too cheerful for this hour. “Hi!” He's practically bouncing on his feet and Chan finds it hard to stay upset at being woken up at almost 3 AM in the morning. 

“Come here, Seungminnie,” Chan opens his arms, hands waving Seungmin over to him. Hyunjin slowly lets Seungmin go but not before he places a kiss on the puppy’s temple. 

Seungmin, on the other hand, parkours over the couches and practically dives into Chan’s open arms. Chan grunts, almost toppling over due to the sudden force but quickly steadies his feet to balance both of them. Seungmin proceeds to pepper Chan’s face with open mouthed kisses, making him giggle in delight. 

“Slow down, puppy,” Chan tries to calm Seungmin down by petting his shoulders but the younger won't budge. He's still showering Chan with kisses, this time reaching down to his neck. Chan gasps as Seungmin’s puppy ears tickle his face. 

Hyunjin walks over to them and sighs. “He's been like this since 1 AM. Sorry for waking you up, hyung.”

“Nah, it's alright,” Chan waves his apology away and reaches for Hyunjin’s hand. “I wonder what triggered this?”

Hyunjin shrugs. “He told me last night that he's bored so I tried to entertain him with some tv show but he passed out as soon as the first episode ended,” Hyunjin says, eyes trained on Seungmin who decided to just snuggle Chan’s neck. “Then I woke up to him biting my shoulder. I asked him what's up but he got startled and bolted out of the room. It was dark and he's running around, hence the mess.”

“Silly puppy,” Chan lightly scolds Seungmin, weakly flicking the younger's forehead. 

“I think we should take him out for a walk or something. Kkami gets zoomies too when he's cooped up in our house for too long, so maybe that's what happened to him?”

Chan nods. It makes sense since Berry is like that, too, sometimes. That’s why they make sure to play with it in the comfort of their own home or in the nearby park. Chan smiles fondly as he recalls happy memories from the past.

Seungmin suddenly growls. Chan pets his head to calm him down “I'm not a dog!” 

Chan doesn’t even have the heart to remind Seungmin his current situation that contradicts what he said just now. It’s too early to crush someone’s belief. Instead, he smooths down Seungmin’s hair which looks disheveled, possibly from running and doing God knows what around the dorm’s living room. 

When no one tries to refute Seungmin’s claim, the puppy flashes his teeth to Chan and Hyunjin and flexes his jaw repeatedly before settling into a pout. “You ever feel like barking sometimes? Because I do,” Seungmin suddenly confesses. 

Chan’s forehead creases. “Can’t say that I feel that urge on a normal basis, no.”

“I also don’t,” Hyunjin answers. Seungmin sighs. 

“I really wanna bark right now. Is that weird?” 

Chan shakes his head. Under normal circumstances, Chan would say that, yes, barking out of nowhere is kinda weird, but seeing Seungmin’s current hybrid situation, wanting to bark makes sense. Perhaps the puppy urges are hitting Seungmin more strongly right now, which also explains the zoomies incident just mere minutes ago. 

Chan sighs. “A puppy wanting to bark isn’t weird,” he offers. Seungmin’s eyes light up, as if he just realized that oh yeah he’s been a real puppy since 3 weeks ago and smiles. 

“Oh. You make so much sense, hyung.” Chan wants to point out that earlier Seungmin was claiming that he isn’t a dog but he shuts his mouth to not ruin this moment of realization. “Damn, I really wanna bark and howl right now but it’s literally 3 AM.”

It seems like even though the puppy urges are trying to win him over, Seungmin is still considerate of the people in their dorms. If that’s not real love, Chan doesn’t know what is. 

“Good puppy,” Chan praises, scratching the back of Seungmin’s puppy ears. Seungmin shivers at both the praise and the feeling of Chan’s fingers. “You can maybe bark freely later when everyone’s awake,” Chan suggests. 

For Seungmin, that suggestion is enough. “Okay, I guess,” he replies. His head turns around to examine the crime scene AKA the living room that he ruined while under the influence of Zoomies and he winces. 

Hyunjin chuckles seeing how Seungmin’s eyes widen at the damage he’s committed.. “Look at the mess you made. Minho hyung’s gonna beat your ass later for sure.”

Seungmin gasps and looks up at Chan pleadingly. “No, he won't. Right, hyung?”

Chan smiles. “I can practically hear him nagging you, baby,” he teases. Seungmin gets out of his embrace, pouting. 

“You're so mean,” Seungmin says. He turns to Hyunjin and points a finger at him. “You too, Hyunjinnie. I thought you loved me.”

“Oh, baby, I love you so much but I'd rather sit this one out,” Hyunjin says, chuckling. Seungmin frowns and crosses his arms “I say let's try to fix the mess before he wakes up,” Hyunjin suggests, looking around the room once again. 

“Okay.”

“And emphasis on try because some of the casualties are kinda irreversible,” Hyunjin says, walking over to the couch. He picks up a pillow that has the filling bursting at the seams. “Damn, are you teething? What did the poor pillow do to you Seungminnie?”

Seungmin blushes. “Shut up. That wasn't me.”

“You literally have feathers around your mouth,” Hyunjin deadpans. Seungmin quickly wipes his mouth and groans when he finds a little feather stuck to his bottom lip. 

“Goddammit.”

Hyunjin laughs loudly and Chan applauds the other members’ ability to literally sleep despite the noise they're making here. “Come now, Minnie. Help me clean this mess.”

“I'll help. It'll be hard for me to continue sleeping anyway,” Chan volunteers. Seungmin looks at him. 

“I'm sorry, hyung.”

Chan shakes his head, smiling as Seungmin comes back to his embrace. Give him the Whipped Boyfriend of the Year Award right now. With an exasperated sigh, he tells Seungmin, “nah, it's alright, baby. Anything for you.” And he means every word. 

—----------------------

The next morning, Chan sleepily rubs his eyes as he walks towards Felix’s room. He was sleeping soundly when a little gremlin (Jisung) woke him up with kisses. He was so disoriented earlier to even process what Jisung told him. All that he remembered was “Chan hyung”, “Felix’s room”, and “puppy”. After a minute or so of contemplating whether he wants to get up or be with his bed a little longer, his body moves in auto-pilot and suddenly he’s out and about. 

He wonders what’s something important that Jisung personally went to his room and peppered him with featherlight kisses at 6 AM in the morning. Jisung, as far as Chan knows (and he knows him pretty well), isn’t someone who wakes up voluntarily within this time. Chan wouldn’t be intrigued if it was Minho who woke him up at this hour since the younger is the earliest bird in their group. But Jisung? Nah. Something tells Chan that he’s up to no good. 

Chan knocks on Felix’s closed door 3 times and leans his forehead against it. Some shuffling is heard and then the door opens, making Chan stumble since he’s glued to it. He quickly composes himself, ignoring the way Felix laughed at his misfortune, before glancing around. 

“Jisung told me to go here. What’s wrong?”

Felix beckons him to sit on the bed. “Sungie is in his room right now but he’ll come back la—oh there they are,” Felix answers as he points to the doorway. Chan follows where he’s pointing at and he sees Jisung and Seungmin. 

“Morning, puppy.”

Seungmin frowns at him. “Morning, hyung. What’s happening?”

Chan shrugs. He’s as lost as Seungmin is as of the moment. “I don’t know.”

Jisung then appears behind Seungmin, clapping his hand in excitement. “This morning, we’re going to the park!”

Seungmin looks unamused, tail swishing slowly behind him. Chan coos at his puppy’s adorable tail. “Who told you I want to go there with you? Not to mention in this ungodly hour?” Chan wants to argue that 6 AM is not that “ungodly” but decides against it. To each their own, he guesses. 

“Well,” Jisung pouts. “I thought you might want to go outside of the dorms for a change? I know that you’ve been staying here inside for weeks now and I think you’re getting stressed from seeing the same thing over and over again so maybe a walk outside can help?”

Seungmin stares at Jisung longer than necessary. Chan sleepily looks at his three boyfriends—Seungmin with his unreadable expression, Jisung smiling so widely that Chan bets it hurts, and Felix observing the two of them amusedly while sipping milk. The awkward tension in the air is palpable that one could cut it with a knife and it’s honestly waking Chan up from his sleepy stupor. He wonders how this will end. 

Chan knows that Seungmin isn’t really pissed when they treat him like a puppy especially now that he’s some sort of a hybrid but sometimes he worries that someone will offend Seungmin to the point where he’ll actually get mad at them. Although Chan also knows that Seungmin will tell them if they’re going too far since he excels in communicating, especially if it’s something that makes him feel uncomfortable. 

“Hmm,” Seungmin finally hums, tail stopping between his legs. “I guess we could do that.”

Jisung gasps in delight, hugging Seungmin and lifting the latter off the ground. Seungmin squeals, hitting Jisung on the shoulders and telling him to put him down. “Great! Get ready now because we’re leaving in five minutes.”

Seungmin glances at his outfit which consists of a hoodie that suspiciously looks like Jeongin’s and some matching sweatpants customized for Seungmin’s situation (aka they cut a hole on some of his pants since Seungmin complains about his normal clothes being too restrictive on his tail). He blinks at Jisung.

“I think my fit’s okay,” Seungmin shrugs. “I already brushed my teeth, and I want you to treat me to breakfast later as payment for attending your impromptu walking session.”

Felix nods. “Yeah, Seungmin’s drip be drippin’.”

Jisung ignores Felix’s side comment. “How about your shoes?”

“I wanna walk barefoot.” Chan opens his mouth to complain but Seungmin beats him to it. “I’m just kidding, hyung. Calm your tits.”

Chan absentmindedly touches his chest. “They’re calm.”

Seungmin looks at Chan’s chest and smirks. “Damn right they are.” Chan blushes.

“Hyung, wanna join us?” Jisung asks. “I asked Yongbok here earlier and he said he’s going to sleep instead.”

Chan turns to Felix. “Did you play games all night long again, Lix?”

Felix gives him a thumbs up. “Had to grind my game since all of you are shitting me and my rank.”

“Did you rank up?” Seungmin inquires. Felix drinks the content of his mug in one go. There’s the answer to Seungmin’s question, he guesses. 

“So will my question get answered?” 

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll walk the puppy with you,” Chan answers. 

“I’m not a dog.”

“Yeah, you’re a puppy not a dog. Those are different,” Jisung shoots back. Seungmin glares daggers at him. 

“If you’re going to walk the puppy, won’t he need a leash?” Felix asks. 

Silence envelopes the four of them. Seungmin blushes as he stutters a response. “What?”

Felix grins at him. “What? I was just asking a question.”

“As much as I want to see Seungmin with a leash, that’s for us and our eyes only, preferably in the bedroom,” Jisung says, earning a slap on his tummy from Seungmin. Chan nods in agreement. Jisung, for the first time in a while, has a point. And a good one at that.

“Pervert,” Seungmin hisses, face red. 

“Alright. Leash stays in the bedroom, I respect that,” Felix says, nodding his head in agreement. “If all is settled, kindly get out of my room and do your thing because I need to sleep. Desperately. As soon as possible,” he continues. 

“Why are we even in your room in the first place?” Chan wonders. 

“Sungie was here all night doing things that I’d rather not share unless y’all really wanna know,” Felix winks at him, grinning widely. Chan swears he shivers at the way Felix smiled. For sure they did nasty things while Felix was “gaming.” Gay man gaming truly is different.

“Bunch of perverts, all of you,” Seungmin declares, sighing.

“That includes you too, little gremlin,” Jisung tells him, patting his shoulders. Seungmin scowls at him. 

“At least I keep it to myself.”

Felix grins. “I literally heard you begging for Changbin hyung’s cock yesterday.” Seungmin blushes. 

“Stop lying, Yongboks,” Seungmin responds. He then turns to a giggling Jisung. “Are we going or not?”

Jisung immediately stops laughing and hugs Seungmin. It didn’t escape Chan how easily Seungmin melts between Jisung’s arms. Their puppy really loves hugs. “We’re going, baby. Chan hyung?”

Luckily Chan had a mind to put on decent shorts and matching hoodie earlier before he went here. Chan nods and gently pushes the two out of Felix’s room. “Grab your face masks and sunglasses then we’ll go.” Chan instructs. Seungmin fishes out something from the pocket of his hoodie and shows it to Chan.”

“Here.” Seungmin says and gives them the stuff Chan mentioned. Chan pats his head as thanks. 

“Bye Lix.” Felix, who is already lying down on his bed with his eyes threatening to close at any moment, salutes at them. 

“Bye my dudes.” Chan rolls his eyes fondly and closes the door. 

They meet a zombie version of Minho on their way out. They all hugged and kissed him and told him where they were going, earning them a response of grunts from the zombie. Chan decides to give him extra kisses before finally walking out the dorm. 

Three steps in and Seungmin suddenly stops. “Oh,” he says, reaching for his tail. “I need to tuck this in.”

Jisung goes behind Seungmin to shield him while he does his business. “Will you be okay walking while your tail is tucked? I know it’s not the most comfortable feeling for you, Minnie.”

Seungmin looks at his ass to see if his tail is bulging weirdly outside. “Yeah, I’ll be fine, Sung. it’s not like we’re going to walk forever,” he responds. He hums before deciding to pull the hem of his shirt to further cover his butt. Chan gives him a thumbs up when he looks up at him for approval. “Plus I really wanna go outside. I miss touching grass and inhaling fresh air.”

Jisung smiles and reaches to fix Seungmin’s bangs and make sure that the hood of his hoodie fully covers his puppy ears. “Alright, if you say so. Just tell me if you’re tired, okay? Chan hyung will carry you,” Jisung says. Chan frowns. 

“What?”

Jisung bats his eyelashes at him. “You don’t expect me to carry our puppy, do you, hyung?”

“What’s wrong with you carrying Seungmin?” Chan asks. Jisung literally can carry heavy dumbbells so what is he on? 

“I don’t trust my arm strength just yet,” Jisung solemnly answers. “I know those big biceps can hold and carry both of us if you try,” he continues. 

Chan rolls his eyes at Jisung’s excuse. Oh well. It’s not like he’s opposed to carrying Seungmin and, fine. Jisung’s compliment to his biceps makes him feel like he can carry anything in this world. Words are powerful, indeed. 

“Fine,” Chan concedes and then they continue walking. Seungmin is sandwiched between them with Chan on the right side near the road. They all walked quietly, talking about random things here and there until they reached the nearby park. 

Fortunately the park isn’t packed with people today. Chan thinks it’s because today’s Monday so children who are frequent visitors of this place are in their schools. There are a few people which make Chan feel a little nervous if he’s being honest (not to mention he’s on the edge since the weird lady from before might appear here somewhere) but as soon as he sees Seungmin with his eyes closed and feeling the fresh gust of wind hit his face, Chan relaxes. 

Beside him, Chan sees Jisung take out his phone and snaps a bunch of photos of Seungmin. Chan smiles at them fondly and gently tells Jisung to send the picture to their group chat. Jisung agrees and does as he’s told. 

Chan sits on the bench near them, eyes subtly darting around to see if someone recognized them already. He releases the breath he didn’t know he’s holding as soon as he confirms that nobody is paying them any attention. Good. That's very nice. He’s not usually this anxious whenever they go out but now that Seungmin is in a weird situation, they need to be more careful. He doesn’t want Seungmin to be harmed, after all. 

“Sungie!” Seungmin shouts, giggling. “Wanna bet who can reach that big tree over there first?”

Jisung scoffs, pride clearly being challenged. “We don’t need to bet on anything, puppy. We all know I am faster than you.”

Seungmin grins, all of his teeth on display. “I don’t know about that, baby. I think you’re wrong and scared,” he says, riling Jisung up. Chan shakes his head. Jisung and Seungmin are really a pair—one likes riling people up while the other always falls for the former’s tricks. 

Jisung marches towards Chan and gives him his phone. “Hold this, hyung. I have a reputation to maintain.”

Chan raises a brow. “What reputation?”

“Hyung,” he chides. Chan giggles. 

“Fine, fine. Just don’t go crying to me when you lose to Seungmin, okay?” Jisung frowns at him. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding. Go beat his ass.”

“That’s what I’m talking about,” Jisung says, pleased. He then salutes at Chan as he walks away. “This one’s for you, hyung.”

Chan knows where this is going but he still plays the part of a loyal lover that he is. “Good luck.” He pulls out his phone and decides to film the sudden race the two will have. 

Jisung and Seungmin are talking but Chan can’t hear anything. He assumes they’re discussing the rules and rewards for this race. Seungmin waves him over and Chan walks towards them. 

“Need anything?”

“You count for us, hyung.” Chan nods and steps back. He does a quick survey of the surroundings—everyone’s still minding their own business, thank God—before he plays the part of being a race starter. 

“Alright,” Chan whispers, phone in hand ready to film the two. Jisung waves at the camera while Seungmin sticks his tongue out. “3, 2, 1, GO!”

And off the two of them go. Chan giggles as the Jisung falls behind Seungmin, almost tripping on the mess of leaves on the ground, before catching up to Seungmin with a scream of what sounds like desperation. Seungmin looks very excited, screaming, too, as he runs really fast, furthering the gap between him and Jisung. 

“I’m faster than you,” Jisung exclaims as he struggles to close the gap. Seungmin, on the other hand, laughs maniacally as he finally touches the finish line. He hugs the tree and boos the still running Jisung. 

“LOSER!”

Chan’s face hurts from how wide his smile is. He laughs as Jisung trips centimeters away from the tree. Seungmin collapses from laughing, clutching his stomach. Jisung is still planted on the ground, face down. Chan stops recording and jogs to the two, helping Jisung up. 

Jisung pouts at him, a stray leaf clinging on his hair. “Hyung.”

Chan can’t stop laughing as he brushes off dust from Jisung’s clothes. “It’s okay, baby. You did well.”

“You’re laughing at me!”

“I’m not!” Nope. Chan is still dying with laughter. Seungmin joins them and takes the leaf off of Jisung’s mess of a hair. 

“Guess we know who the winner is.”

Jisung scowls. “Not fair. You had a head start. You cheated.”

Seungmin shakes his head. “Whatever floats your boat, Sungie. Remember to give me my reward later, okay? And also, you owe me breakfast.”

“Fine,” Jisung gives in. “Wanna run around more? Maybe race against Chan hyung?”

Chan doesn’t know why Jisung keeps roping him on things but when Seungmin gives him the puppy eyes, Chan can’t say no. 

“Fine. Whatever my babies want.” Jisung and Seungmin both make disgusted faces at him. 

“Suddenly I wanna go home,” Seungmin teases. Chan engulfs him in a hug, ignoring Seungmin’s giggles of protest. “No, I’m kidding! Hyung!”

“I believe in you, hyung. I know you can avenge me and my honor,” Jisung says, patting his shoulders. Chan sighs as he lets a squirming Seungmin go so he can stretch. He plans to give his 100% in this race. 

“Alright. Get ready, Seungminnie. I’m not gonna go easy on you.”

Seungmin rolls his eyes. “Be careful, hyung. We don’t want you to overexert yourself. Think about your age.”

Chan chuckles, already used to this old card Seungmin loves using on him. If he’s being honest, he kinda likes it when Seungmin is like this to him. Makes him feel giddy for some reason. 

Maybe the 8 of them are all weird, after all. 

—------------------------

Chan yawns and rubs his eyes as he closes his laptop. It’s only 1 PM but he’s already tired and sleepy. Guess that’s what you get when you have a sleep schedule as fucked-up as Chans. Though in his defense, staying up all night to grind for a game and not because of your work makes the sleep deprivation worth it. 

He groans as he stands up and stretches his upper body for a minute before deciding to venture outside to look for food or anything interesting that will wake him up. He finds Jisung and Hyunjin cuddling on the couch, watching some drama that he can’t quite recognize. Minho is sitting on the other couch, scrolling his phone, while Changbin is napping, head on Minho’s thighs. Minho notices Chan, puckering his lips. Chan smiles and gives Minho a quick kiss, before kissing Changbin on the cheek. Jisung beckons him over and silently asks for a peck that he gladly gives to both him and Hyunjin. 

“Wanna watch with us, hyung?” Hyunjin asks, voice low, to not wake Changbin up. Chan shakes his head and points to the kitchen.

“Kinda hungry, Jinnie. Where are the others?”

Hyunjin shrugs. “I saw Seungmin enter Felix’s room earlier. Innie went outside to buy something,” 

“Thanks, baby,” Chan says, pecking Hyunjin’s forehead once more before finally trudging to the kitchen. There he finds some kimchi stew that he reheats and rice from their rice cooker. He hums as he prepares his food and nearly screams when he finds Seungmin standing in front of the fridge. 

“Jesus Christ, Seungmin! You startled me!” Chan clutches his chest, heart beating loudly. Seungmin just stares at him then at the food on the table. “Do you need anything, puppy?”

Seungmin’s voice is low as he speaks. “Bokkie’s sick. I need to feed him.”

Chan’s eyes widened. “Sick? What happened?”

“I don’t know. He has a fever and I need him to eat before he drinks his meds,” Seungmin answers. He jerks his head towards Chan’s food. “Are those yours?”

“Yeah. I was gonna go to my room to eat,” Chan explains. He gets another bowl from the dish rack and fills it with the stew. He places it into a tray alongside his food and carries it. “Come on, Seungminnie. Let’s go feed Lixie, yes?”

Seungmin frowns at him. “I can take care of him myself,” he says. 

“I know you can, baby. I just want to check on him as well. Is that okay?” Chan observes as the gears inside Seungmin’s head move as thinks about his request. He eventually nods.

“I guess,” Seungmin agrees, the slight hesitation evident in his voice. Chan wonders why. 

“You okay, Seung? What’s wrong, honey?”

Seungmin pouts. “I don’t know, hyung. I just feel sad because someone is sick.”

Chan smiles, kissing Seungmin’s temple. “My cute puppy. Are you worried, baby? Don’t worry, Felix is one tough guy. He’ll get over this soon.”

“Okay, if you say so,” Seungmin says but it's obvious that he's still not convinced. Chan can't blame him, honestly. It's rare for Felix to get sick. Also, Seungmin might be blaming himself for this situation since yesterday Felix and him played outside while it was raining. Chan knows how much Seungmi hates being the reason for someone's discomfort, be it intentional or not.

Seungmin opens the door to Felix’s room. The first thing Chan notices is the temperature of the room—it’s warm. Next is Felix who's currently lying down on his bed, wrapped around several blankets that makes him look like he's cosplaying a burrito, sweating furiously and unable to move a finger. Chan gently sets down the tray he's holding and goes to Felix. 

“What happened?”

Felix smiles at him. “Seungminnie here panicked and turned me into a burrito. He thinks I'm one of those cats on TikTok or something.”

Chan’s forehead creases in confusion. “Huh?”

Felix sighs. “Cat burrito?” Chan blinks at him, confused. “Purrito?” Chan grows even more confused. “You know what, nevermind. Help me get out of this,” Felix says, rolling his eyes. 

“You need to sweat to get rid of the fever, Lix,” Seungmin says, nipping Chan’s hand to stop him from getting rid of the blankets around Felix. Chan lets go of the cloth with a startled gasp. 

“No biting, Seungminnie,” he scolds. Seungmin’s ears droop. 

“I'm gonna be honest with you, Seungmin, but I feel like you're expediting my death with this method. I think I'll be able to sweat like crazy even without these blankets since you already turned off my AC,” Felix responds, a fond smile on his lips. “Actually, just you being here with me makes me sweat since you're so hot, baby.”

Seungmin rolls his eyes but it doesn't escape Chan how his tail wags happily and his face flushes from Felix’s last sentence. “Shut up, I'm not in the mood for jokes.”

“I'm not joking, puppy,” Felix retorts. Chan, on the other hand, begins unwrapping Ferrito (yep, he came up with that one just now) when Seungmin lets go of his hand. 

After enduring Seungmin’s frown directed solely at him, Chan frees Felix from the fluffy constraints. Felix stretches his whole body like a cat. “Freedom.”

Seungmin pouts. Felix notices it and pats the space beside him. Seungmin didn't hesitate to accept the offer and went to his designated place. Chan coos at them.

“Chan hyung can you get one of my shirts and give it to Lixie? He's sweating very much,” Seungmin asks as he wraps his arms around Felix. Smiling, Felix leans into Seungmin’s arms, pleased that for once, Seungmin is the one who initiated physical contact with him. 

Chan, not bothering to question why Seungmin decided to give his own shirt instead of Felix’s to Felix, goes to Seungmin’s room and rummages through the younger's closet. He chooses the black shirt Seungmin always wears inside the dorms and goes back to Felix’s room. 

“Here, Lix,” Chan says, throwing the shirt to the younger. Felix mutters his thanks and undresses in front of them. Seungmin’s eyes roam around Felix’s naked torso, making the latter smirk at him. 

“Like what you see?” Felix teases. Seungmin frowns and rolls his eyes. 

“And what if I do? I'm not the only one who’s enjoying the view, right Chan hyung?” They both turn to him so suddenly that he's not able to even pretend he's not ogling at the younger. 

Chan shrugs. “I am but a weak man,” he simply says. Felix blushes and Chan winks at him for good measure. Seungmin gives him a thumbs up. Pleased, Chan brings the tray of food to Felix’s bed and gestures for him to eat. 

“I'm not really hungry.”

Seungmin picks up the bowl and spoon and proceeds to feed Felix. “Yes you are.”

Felix keeps his mouth closed and shakes his head. Seungmin sighs and places the bowl back on the tray. His ears droop and his tail stops wagging, eyes in full puppy mode. 

Chan grins, silently challenging Felix to resist Seungmin’s full puppy charm. In his almost three weeks of living with puppy Seungmin, there was never a time that Seungmin was refused by any of them whenever he pulled this stunt. Chan is grateful that Seungmin didn't use this ability of his very often because that would be a very unfair advantage. Although he's also convinced that no one can really resist Seungmin when he asks for something, puppy mode or not. 

Yep. That's how whipped they are when it comes to Seungmin. Or each other, to be honest.

Felix closes his eyes in defeat as Seungmin’s lips begin to tremble and tears threaten to fall from his eyes. “God,” Felix whispers, voice obviously pained. “You're so unfair, Seungmin,” he says and opens his mouth as he eats the stew. 

Seungmin chuckles in delight and victory. “Well, I gotta use whatever I have to make you eat.”

Chan joins Felix in eating and grabs his food from the tray. He taps Seungmin’s shoulder and hovers a spoonful of rice on his mouth. “You eat as well, Seung.”

Seungmin obediently opens his mouth and accepts the food. Chan scratches his puppy ears in praise, the younger shivering in delight. Seungmin smiles adorably at him while Chan tries his hardest not to kiss him senseless right then and there. 

They all eat in silence with Chan alternating on feeding himself and Seungmin. It’s a good thing he bought enough food for two, as he’d suspected earlier that Seungmin hadn’t eaten yet. At one point, Seungmin wipes something from Chan’s lips—possibly smeared kimchi or a stray grain of rice—shaking his head fondly. Chan blushes when Felix wolf whistles at the interaction. 

Finally, they all finish eating and Chan volunteers to clear their plates and get medicine for Felix. He dumps the dirty plates on the sink and decides to wash it later since he wants to observe Felix’s situation further to make sure his fever goes down immediately. He brings two bottled waters then returns to Felix’s room.

Chan smiles at the cute picture Seungmin and Felix create as the two of them cuddle each other. Felix is using Seungmin’s arm as a pillow, his own arms wrapped around Seungmin’s waist. Meanwhile, Seungmin absentmindedly combs his fingers through Felix’s soft hair, his face nestled in the crook of Felix’s neck.

“Drink this first before you sleep, Lix,” Chan says gently, rubbing Felix’s shoulder and motioning for him to sit up. Felix slowly lifts his head up, causing Seungmin to whine at the sudden movement, clutching Felix’s shoulder to bring him back to his lying position. 

Chan hushes him, removing his hand from Felix to let the other take his medicine. “He's not going anywhere, puppy. Felix is just drinking his meds.” Seungmin peeks up and relaxes, assured. Felix pets Seungmin’s hair as he drinks his meds, calming the younger further.

Felix thanks Chan with a quick kiss and hands him the half-empty water bottle. Seungmin whines again, unhappy that Felix is taking too long to cuddle him properly. Chan sighs fondly. Seungmin can be quite stubborn sometimes, especially when it comes to Felix. It’s impressive how Felix seems to have the two youngest wrapped around his fingers that they give him a free pass to cuddle them whenever he wants with little to no resistance. 

Chan adjusts the blanket to cover the two of them completely and pulls down the blinds to dim the room. He casts them one last look and smiles as he sees the two of them already asleep. Quietly, he leaves the room, closing the door gently behind him and letting the others know not to disturb them until further notice.

It looks like Seungmin will be Felix’s personal puppy for the day, at least until he gets better.

—---------

“Do you think Seungmin hyung can speak to other dogs, hyung?” 

Chan furrows his brows at the random question from Jeongin as they both sit on their couch doing stuff. Chan is finally surfing the internet, particularly TikTok, watching tons of videos of cats to keep up with Felix’s terms last time. Apparently, Purrito is a term for cats that are wrapped in various colors of blankets that resembles a burrito. Chan admits that it’s cute and he’s been in the rabbit hole ever since. 

No one told him that watching short videos would be this addicting. 

Anyway, back to Jeongin’s sudden question, Chan tilts his head to think about it. Hmm. If Seungmin is a part puppy now, it makes sense that he acquires other puppy traits alongside his puppy body parts. It would be cool if Seungmin really can communicate with dogs. Maybe he’ll call Berry and make Seungmin talk to him or something. 

“No, I can’t.” Chan gasps, startled at the new presence as a yawning Seungmin enters the living room. He’s holding something that Chan assumes to be iced americano, and plops down the couch between him and Jeongin. 

“Oh, hi hyung,” Jeongin greets the newcomer, and reaches for Seungmin’s hand. Jeongin takes the cup Seungmin is holding and takes a sip from it. “How did you know?”

Chan leans to Seungmin as he waits for his answer. He’s quite bummed to discover that Seungmin didn’t become an animal whisperer or even a dog whisperer, but he’s also intrigued how Seungmin seems to be so sure of his answer. 

“Hyunjinnie made me talk to Kkami. The little guy almost bit me when I tried to bark at him. Unfortunately, I think Kkami can only understand my tone and not what I was saying. He barked at me so I barked back,” Seungmin informs them. Chan nods. Hyunjin is quite a fast-thinker and he admires that. 

“I’m imagining how the encounter might’ve went and—” Jeongin bursts out laughing, slapping Seungmin’s shoulder repeatedly. Seungmin grins at him, amused, his puppy ears twitching in delight. Chan pictures the barking competition between a real dog and a half-dog and yeah, it’s really funny if you think about it. 

“Kkami lost, by the way. He wasn’t able to handle my barking skills and even Hyunjin was impressed that I made Kkami speechless,” Seungmin smugly says, brushing off imaginary dust on his shoulder. Jeongin gives him a standing ovation, urging Chan to clap as well. 

Real Puppy - 0

Kim Seungmin - 1

“Damn, I was planning on making you talk to Berry. Too bad you can't understand each other,” Chan says, disappointed. Seungmin makes a face at him. 

“Jisung also said that to me. What's with people with pets wanting to talk to their pets? It's not like I will agree if you ever ask me to talk to your dogs.”

Chan pouts. “Well.”

“I actually think you will, Seungmin hyung, since you're nosy as hell,” Jeongin points out. Seungmin gives him a weak glare.

“Pretty sure Chan hyung would make me tell Berry sappy shit,” Seungmin deadpans. Chan sputters, unable to deny it. He definitely did not think of a 3 pages long message for Berry in his head just now. Totally not.

“Oh, yeah. You have a point there,” Jeongin agrees.

Chan opens his mouth to defend his honor when Changbin runs in front of their window excitedly. The younger opens the blinds, gasps, and points giddily outside. 

“Snow! It's snowing!” he announces, clapping his hands while giggling. Chan coos. Their Binnie is so cute.

“Snow?” Seungmin asks, standing up and joining Changbin in the window. “Oh my God!” he exclaims, intertwining his hand with Changbin’s and jumping up and down. Jeongin looks at them like he’s embarrassed that he’s witnessing this, but soon bursts into a fond smile. 

It's funny how men in their late 20s get so excited at the sight of snow. Even funnier since it's not like it's their first time seeing and experiencing this kind of weather. Honestly, Chan doesn't care if people find them funny or weird. They all love snow and what about it?

After ten minutes of gushing about the snow, Changbin regretfully bids goodbye, saying that he has a prior engagement with his older sister. Seungmin is all pouty when Changbin leaves but after the latter promises to bring back some kimchi his mom made for Seungmin to consume, the puppy brightens. 

“Hey, hyung. Do you want to go outside and play in the snow?” Jeongin asks, observing how the snow quickly paints the pavements and whole streets white. Seungmin visibly perks up at the mention of “play” and “outside” like those puppies on TikTok Chan watched the other day. 

“Yes!” Seungmin replies, a little too excitedly. His tail is wagging at a speed Chan’s human mind cannot fathom, ears perked up, bouncing slightly on his feet. Then, as if he realizes this, Seungmin clears his throat and tries his best to calm himself down, especially his tail, to no avail. “I-I mean, yeah. Sure. If you wanna.”

But Jeongin sees through his tricks and fortunately, as if sensing Seungmin’s unnecessary embarrassment, doesn’t comment about it and just shrugs. “Yeah, I’d like that,” Jeongin responds, dimples showing at how big his smile is. Then he nods towards Chan. “Chan hyung, wanna come?”

Seungmin’s eyes are too bright and expectant for Chan to even think of refusing the offer. Also, although he likes summer more than the cold weather, he wouldn’t miss a chance to spend time with his boyfriends, especially the two youngest. With a smile way too fond for Seungmin to handle, Chan nods.

“Of course. Go get dressed and I’ll meet you in five,” he says, patting both of them on their backs. Seungmin practically zooms past them while Jeongin sighs exasperatedly at his hyung’s cuteness. Their eyes meet and Chan looks at him way too knowingly. Jeongin frowns. 

“What?”

Chan can’t stop the laugh from escaping him. “Nothing, Innie.” Jeongin rolls his eyes at him, a pout forming on his lips. Chan kisses it away and urges him to go on. Jeongin finally breaks into a smile and walks away. 

As for Chan, he makes his way to his bedroom to grab his thickest hoodie and some black shorts. It's not new for him to wear clothes that make everyone guess what truly is the weather in that place. If only he’s not worried that Seungmin would make a fuss about him not wearing something thick enough, he’d wear some simple T-shirt or even a tank top. But oh well, he doesn’t want to stress his puppy so this will do. 

Jeongin’s head peeks on Chan’s doorway. “You ready?”

Chan checks his appearance in the mirror one last time before exiting his room. “Yeah, let’s go. Where’s Seung?”

“He’s already at the door all bundled up,” Jeongin informs him. “He’s wearing mittens and he looks so adorable,” he confesses. 

“Oh yeah? Our little Innie finds our puppy adorable?” Chan teases. Jeongin’s cheeks redden and he slaps Chan’s chest weakly, hand lingering a little longer than necessary. Chan pays it no mind and honestly he enjoys it. 

“Hyung! Jeongin! You’re both so slow the snow is melting already,” Seungmin complains, frowning. Jeongin rolls his eyes and speeds up, leaving Chan to catch up to him. 

“You’re being overdramatic, hyung,” Jeongin says disapprovingly. Seungmin sticks his tongue out at him and Chan just laughs at the childish response. Finally after informing Jisung (who walked in the living room and catched the commotion between Seungmin and Jeongin) about their plan, they all go outside. 

Seungmin, the excited puppy that he is, suddenly runs away from them, ignoring Jeongin’s attempt to calm him down. Chan, on the other hand, is just grateful that nobody except them is outside which lessens the chances of someone catching them. It would be a big issue if news of their impromptu excursion leaks on the Internet, not to mention Seungmin has his tail and puppy ears out as per his request. Chan is hesitant at first but figured Seungmin requested that because he’ll be uncomfortable tucking his tail in just like last time. 

“Seungminnie, be careful. It’s slippery,” Chan gently reminds him, sprinting to be with Seungmin. Jeongin heaves a deep breath before running as well, not wanting to be left behind. 

“It’s so cold!” Seungmin exclaims, suddenly stopping in his tracks. He looks up and relishes the bits of snow falling on his face. His tail wags happily, ears twitching when snow falls on it as well. 

Both Chan and Jeongin stop to observe him, unable to stop the smile from creeping up their lips. Personally, Chan lives for moments like this where his boyfriends look so calm and happy and enjoy themselves. As sappy as it may sound, he feels an immeasurable happiness whenever they, of all people, are happy. He’s glad that none of them are mind readers because he’ll surely won’t hear the end of teasing for thinking that thought. 

Seungmin turns to face them, eyes sparkling in pure unadulterated joy and contentment. He smiles his billion-watt smile, blinding and beautiful. Chan feels like he’s falling in love all over again. 

Beside him, he hears Jeongin gasp slightly, and he assumes that the youngest share the same sentiments as him. “So pretty,” Jeongin whispers, as if in trance. Chan can’t blame him for that because he fully agrees. 

“What?” Seungmin asks, voice muffled by the scarf wrapped securely around his neck. His puppy ears perk up to hear Jeongin properly. “I’m sorry I didn’t hear you.”

Chan expects Jeongin to tell Seungmin that it was nothing, like he usually does. He knows that Jeongin has a different way of telling them that he loves and cherishes them, not through words nor contact but through actions. And that’s okay, everyone has their own way of showing love. But to his surprise, Jeongin walks towards Seungmin and yanks the latter towards him and gives him a peck on the lips. 

“I said,” Jeongin says, a hand on Seungmin’s shocked face. “You’re so pretty, hyung.”

Seungmin blushes and Chan knows it’s not from the cold but because of Jeongin’s sudden forwardness. Chan stares at them fondly. “O-oh,” Seungmin manages to stutter out. “Cool. Thanks, I guess.”

Jeongin giggles and kisses Seungmin again. “Are you shy, hyung?” 

“I’m literally not,” Seungmin denies. 

Jeongin hums. “Alright if you say so.”

“You don’t sound convinced,” Seungmin notes. 

Jeongin shrugs and suddenly tackles the puppy on the ground. They both drop to the ground with a little ‘oof’, Seungmin sounding surprised. Jeongin hovers on top of him before rolling to his side. He raises his head a little and meets Chan’s eyes. “Hyung! Come lay here with us.”

Chan dives on the big patch of snow without second thoughts, lying on Seungmin’s other side. They stay like that for a little while, letting the comfortable silence wash over them. Chan feels all of his muscles relax, the tension leaving his body and bleeding into the snowy road underneath him. The calmness didn’t last long, though, because Seungmin started to squirm and roll around the cold ground. 

“What’s wrong, hyung?” Jeongin, ever the perceptive one especially when it comes to Seungmin, asks. 

“The vibes call for snow angels, don’t you think?” Seungmin asks in lieu of an answer. Both Jeongin and Chan hum, contemplating. 

“You act like the youngest sometimes, hyung,” Jeongin sighs, shaking his head. He rolls away from Seungmin, stopping at a good distance to permit the creation of cool snow angels. Chan copies him, feeling silly as his face hit the fluffy snow below him multiple times. 

Chan winces at how cold the snow is against his bare calves. Seungmin, noticing his discomfort, laughs. 

“That’s what you get for dressing up for two different seasons at the same time,” Seungmin playfully scolds. Chan pouts at him. 

“You’re being mean. How about you cuddle with me so I can feel the warmth of another body?” Chan shoots back. Seungmin rolls his eyes. 

“Shut up, hyung.”

“Less yapping, more creating,” Jeongin says. Seungmin and Chan both stick their tongues at each other, giggling, and finally move to create their snow angels. 

Chan spreads his body and proceeds to move his arms and feet as if he’s doing jumping jacks. He hears Seungmin squeal excitedly while Jeongin giggles in sheer excitement. Chan finishes first, gasping for air at the intense and unplanned workout in the cold. He carefully stands up to examine his work and decides to give it a little halo on top to make it resemble an angel more. 

“I won,” Chan announces, smirking. Seungmin and Jeongin stand up as well, admiring their works.

“Nobody won and nobody lost, hyung,” Jeongin tells him. 

“Nope. That’s not true. There’s a winner and that person is me,” Seungmin replies. 

“Why?” Chan challenges. 

“Why not?” Seungmin snaps back. Chan shakes his head at the silly response and decides to hug his puppy instead. “Ah! Hyung! Stop!"

Jeongin joins them, turning it into a group hug with Seungmin sandwiched between the two of them. Seungmin stops fighting, realizing that he can’t do anything to stop the two of them from doing this to him, Chan assumes, and just accepts his fate. 

“I’m only letting the both of you hug me because it’s cold,” Seungmin says, clearly lying. 

Chan nods at him. “If that makes you sleep soundly at night, then sure, baby.”

—-------

Fortunately (or unfortunately) for them, Seungmin returns to his full human version a day before their month-long vacation ends. No one, including Seungmin— especially Seungmin—knows how his puppy ears and puppy tail disappeared but they’re gone. Jisung’s first reaction is to mourn over the loss of their “real” puppy, seconded by Hyunjin, until they realize that they’re silly for even thinking that. They’re all spooked, if they’re being honest, at the whole ordeal and once again Felix wondered if they all collectively just dreamed about it, but the photos from Minho’s phone says otherwise. 

“This is so weird, I swear. It’s like we’re being pranked by the universe,” Changbin says. Everyone nods in agreement. 

“At least it’s over, right?” Chan says hesitantly. They all fall silent, Seungmin included. 

Finally, Seungmin sighs. “It’s a shame. I was kinda nailing my puppy life, amazingly mind you,  and now I have to practice being human again,” he says, pouting. “I miss my tail, not gonna lie.”

“Oh, I miss it, too,” Minho blurts out, earning a round of stares as his ears fo red. “What? I can’t be the only one!” 

Jeongin pats Minho’s shoulder. “I understand you, hyung. Seungminnie hyung’s tail was so soft.”

“And strong,” Hyunjin sighs dreamily. Seungmin cocks a brow at him. “What? Minho hyung’s the only one who can admit freaky shit?”

“Hey!” Minho protests. 

“I don’t even wanna know the context behind Hyunjin’s previous statement,” Jisung says, shaking his head. 

“Okay, loser.”

Chan shushes them. “Seungmin, are you okay?” Chan wants to know how Seungmin feels about this situation since he was the one who experienced the weirdest things among them. Being a human and turning into a puppy in a glimpse is hard, but Chan argues that turning back into a human out of the blue after being subjected to that weird experience, is harder. 

Seungmin crosses his arms, contemplating. “I mean, it definitely feels weird not having my tail and puppy ears since I got used to them already but I realized that I love being a regular human more,” he calmly says.“And honestly, I’m just glad we don’t have to worry about explaining any of this to management.”

“Well, if you want to experience having puppy ears and a matching tail again you know what to do,” Felix says with a wink, raising his eyebrows suggestively. Seungmin weakly slaps his arm, earning a pained “ow” from Felix. 

“I hate you,” Seungmin declares, blushing. 

They all laugh, seeing through Seungmin’s words. It doesn’t escape them how Seungmin’s face flushed from what Felix has said.  “Whatever you say, Seungminnie.”