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"Leebit thinks you look handsome."
Seungmin blinks, looking up from the crossword he was doing on his phone, but the speaker was already gone — hightailing out of the room as if he had just committed a crime.
Okay, weird. But then again, Minho hyung has always been a little strange. This was a new one though. Seungmin could remember when they were still living together, and Minho would pass on messages about coffee that were seemingly from his three cats. What a cat would know about coffee, Seungmin wasn't sure, but apparently, Dori thinks that Seungmin makes good coffee.
Either way, Seungmin shrugs it off and returns to the game on his phone.
He doesn't think about it again, the particular encounter flying out of his brain as life gets busy with preparations for back to back albums. There's dance practices and recording sessions and outfit fittings and so much shit to cram into the miniscule twenty-four hours of the day.
Seungmin doesn't even remember it again until they're in the waiting room of one of the week's music shows. They're waiting for their turn to record Ceremony, and he's sitting beside Felix. The pink haired boy is humming along to Love Splash, currently playing on the large TV that was playing each artist's performance as they took their turns recording on stage.
Minho suddenly appears beside him, taking a seat. He doesn't say anything for a while, and Seungmin doesn't bother him. They sit like that for the next thirty minutes or so, until they're told to start getting ready for their turn to record.
"Did you get a new perfume?" Minho asks him on the way to the stage set.
"What?" Seungmin had been mentally rehearsing his lines for Ceremony in his head. "Oh, yeah, I did hyung. Eomma got it for me on sale."
"Hm." Minho nods. "Leebit thinks it smells good. You should use that new one more."
And just like that first encounter, Minho disappears in a flash. He's making a beeline towards Chan hyung, leaving Seungmin confused and strangely flattered.
Seungmin is at the gym with Jeongin and Changbin hyung a week later. He's done his run on the treadmill and is half-listening to them argue about what they should get for lunch when he receives a notification from KakaoTalk.
Cat Hyung🐱
the pics u posted on ig
leebit thinks they look pretty cool
ㅋㅋㅋ
"Leebit isn't even real!"
Seungmin didn't realize he said that out loud. He looks up to be met with the eyes of both hyung and maknae, looking at him as if he's grown another head.
"Are you okay?" Changbin asks him, setting down the weights he had been gently threatening Jeongin with. He was looking at Seungmin with genuine concern. "Should we just go and get food now, Seungmin-ah?"
"Why the hell are you talking about a fictional rabbit?" Jeongin was less subtle in his approach, but was clearly just as concerned. "What's happened between you and Minho hyung now?"
Seungmin sighs. He closes his phone, tucking in into the pocket of his sweatpants. "Nothing. Minho hyung's just being weird. He's treating Leebit like he's a sentient being."
"What." Changbin's face looks even more concerned now.
Jeongin on the other hand, snorts. "Oh. Is this like the cats thing again?"
Changbin looks confused, so Seungmin fills him in on that particular series of events. By the end of it, his hyung is trying to hide a smile, and keeps shooting Jeongin meaningful looks. Whatever that means.
Either way, the pair of them don't give Seungmin much enlightenment. He ends up replying with a "Thanks, hyung!" and a Puppym sticker, and somehow Minho ends up wrangling him into getting meat with him next weekend.
"Leebit likes it when you wear purple. Personally, you look like an eggplant."
"Leebit likes your new hair color."
"Leebit wanted you to know that he thinks your new shoes are nice. They look way too similar to mine though, so you're on thin ice, Kim Seungmin."
The Leebit compliments keep happening on and off, to the point the other members seem to catch on. Seungmin still doesn't really understand what it was all about. Why was his hyung using as a messenger a corporation produced fictional rabbit whose main intent is to promote capitalism? Is Minho hyung making fun of him? Is this all just an elaborate joke? Well, Seungmin was getting tired of waiting for the punchline.
"Leebit likes this mole."
Minho's touch on his arm is gentle. His finger presses against the exposed mole on Seungmin's forearm. The way Seungmin's stomach flipflops makes his breath catch. He's disappointed when Minho pulls away after a few seconds, called by their stylist to have his turn.
Chan coughs beside him. He looks at Seungmin, eyebrows raised.
"What?" Seungmin questions. His finger absently presses against the spot Minho touched only a few moments ago. For some reason, he wishes that Minho had left a mark, staking his claim on a sliver of skin, making his presence on Seungmin's body known.
Chan only smiles at Seungmin. "You know they made Leebit like Minho, right?"
Seungmin frowns. "Of course, hyung. It's like how I'm like Puppym, and Quokka is like Jisung, and Jiniret is like Jinnie. The fans even draw us as them."
"Exactly." Chan looks down at his phone, remaining absorbed in it until it's call time for the Gayo Daejajeon prerecording. He leaves Seungmin alone to mull over the conversation.
Leebit. Lee Know. Minho.
He's embarassed that it takes way too long for it all to click into place.
The prerecording goes on smoothly. They record their performance twice for good measure, and the remaining time left is spent talking and interacting with all the fans who came.
Seungmin walks the length of the stage, waving and smiling, greeting Stays happily, and pointing out all the Puppyms in the crowd.
"Seungmin oppa, you look so handsome!" Someone calls out to him.
Seungmin bows at the compliment, smiling shyly. He thanks the Stay, and is about to move on when he spots the little cape cover of the Stay's nachimbong.
"Ah, as expected. Leebit." He says it out loud, smiling even wider. He throws out a few more waves, smiles, and greetings before walking off to another part of the stage.
He passes by Minho, who had only been standing a few feet away from him during the exchange. Curiously, the older boy's ears are red, and he's studiously avoiding looking at Seungmin.
It's quite late that night when Minho receives a text message.
Puppy🐶
Puppym thinks hyung looks pretty today.
But I told him you look pretty every day.
Good night, hyungie ~♡