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The day is blistering with heat and blue skies and sunlight beaming off of the pavement. Anything that has so much as a glint of colour to it glows vibrantly. It’d be an unmanageable kind of day – the kind where you wear your ugliest clothes because it’s the only thing that doesn’t completely stick to your body, never to be unbound again - if it wasn’t for the gentle breeze that everyone in the city was probably very grateful for.
It was a good type of day. It wasn’t Yoongi’s favourite type (he preferred the poetic gloomy drizzle of September rain – which Hoseok called him a hipster for) but it was definitely Daegu’s.
Uh, Daegu the dog – not the city.
It was a bad joke from Hoseok and Namjoon when he told them how much he missed his hometown and lo and behold, a week later on his birthday they presented him with a fluffy, pure white American Eskimo Dog conveniently named Daegu - which, honestly, Yoongi knew would be awful to keep clean and be expensive to feed and probably mess up his apartment with its shedding but it smiled at him, he swears it actually smiled at him.
And then Yoongi really, really couldn’t say no.
A year later and one season transition into the hot hell that is Seoul summer, the bounding, excitable tiny puppy that wouldn’t ever stop following Yoongi around (not that he wanted it to – despite what he said) had grown out of his fluffball ‘why does that man have a bear cub on a lead’ stage and moved onto being somehow fluffier but also sort of box-shaped.
Definitely no less excitable, though.
One time Yoongi didn’t take him out for a walk because it was basically a blizzard outside and he didn’t want either of them getting sick and the dog tore up a solid 55% of his belongings.
He couldn’t even scold him. He was covered in feathers from Yoongi's sofa cushion. It was really adorable.
After that, Yoongi bought them both coats (not matching, like Hoseok had suggested) and made sure to never not take Daegu out for a walk ever again.
Yoongi’s seen pictures of other Eskimo dogs when they were fully grown, that they’re supposed to turn out majestic and well-groomed and beautiful, but even though Daegu isn’t fully grown yet Yoongi seriously doubts he will ever look that graceful.
The dog could literally challenge Namjoon for his ‘God of Destruction’ title.
Drinking from his bowl? Spills it all over the floor, fur dripping with water. Trying to jump up onto the couch? Faceplants into it at least twice first. Sees a bird outside and wants to go chase it? Knocks over one of Yoongi’s lamps in the process and then smacks into the glass door that Yoongi makes sure is locked tight because they live on the third story.
He can’t even eat the food Yoongi throws to him begrudgingly (“Stop looking at me like that... – fine you can have some.”) without it landing clumsily on his snout first.
Yoongi feeds Daegu a lot. So much so that maybe he’s got a little bit more hip to him than most 2-year-old dogs have – but Yoongi likes that.
He doesn’t like the struggle of trying to button Daegu’s coat, but it’s okay – he’ll buy him a bigger one in the autumn.
Daegu seems happy enough, anyway.
Although that isn’t saying much because he’s literally happy about everything.
He particularly likes when Hoseok comes round because it’s someone to share his great joy with, but he also likes Namjoon – mainly because Namjoon lets him sit on his knee at any time. Jungkook and Taehyung play tug of war and fetch (also known as ‘how many things can we knock over in Yoongi-hyung’s apartment’) with him, which is good for the days that Daegu’s extra hyper.
Most of all out of Yoongi’s friends, though, Daegu likes Seokjin because Seokjin cooks him food.
Yoongi thought it was ridiculous at first: actually cooking your dog food. He liked the store bought dog treats enough, so why bother with anything else?
That was a year ago. Now, Yoongi is constantly cooking Daegu food.
Whenever he’s making himself dinner, he makes a smaller, dog-friendly version.
“When are you going to get him a chair and plate so he can eat with you at the table?” Hoseok had teased him one day, and at the time Yoongi laughed – thought that would be insane.
Daegu’s happy just to use a normal dining chair and his dog bowl it turns out.
Yoongi is ashamed of how he sort of treats Daegu better than he treats himself. But that doesn’t stop him from tying a bib around the dog to make sure he doesn’t have to bath him after every single meal time because he manages to get food everywhere if it gives him the opportunity to.
Luckily, his all-time favourite food is bacon – which really isn’t that messy at all.
Yoongi has cooked him everything from a chicken dinner to steak to ramen to every fish recipe he can think of but nothing gets Daegu so pumped as seeing Yoongi pull out the blue packaged bacon from the fridge.
Yoongi’s pretty sure that bacon isn’t exactly good for a dog – he always gives everything a quick google search before he feeds it to Daegu because ‘what if’ – but he figures that once in a while is fine.
It just makes Daegu more excited when he sees it because two weeks to a dog is what sleeping over at someone’s house for the first time and realising you have to pee at 8am but wanting to wait until the other person gets up is to humans.
An agonisingly long time.
So when Daegu sees his favourite weather and that it’s Bacon Day he looks about ready to do a flip of some kind.
Yoongi keeps a close eye on him because he’s prohibited him from attempting it ever again after last time (sprained ankle and ten years deducted from Yoongi’s life) while he fries up the bacon in his dry-fry.
Yoongi doesn’t even like bacon. Doesn’t even fry food enough to need a dry-fry. He buys bacon for Daegu, and obviously he can’t cook it in a proper fryer – that’s way too unhealthy.
So he bought a dry-fryer. Yoongi never imagined he would be whipped by a dog.
Daegu runs circles around him when Yoongi puts the bacon in the Bacon Bag (it’s got a cute little picture of a smiling dog on it) and grabs Daegu’s lead.
Getting the lead on him is worse than his coat.
“Daegu, sit.”
He never sits.
“Daegu, stay still.”
He never stays still.
“Daegu, let me put your lead on for fu-“ Yoongi catches himself before he says it. The forum he’s become a member of in recent months says it’s bad to swear around your dog; they can detect the negativity from it and it might make them think they’re doing something wrong.
Whipped.
“Daegu, sit still and let me put your lead on and you’ll get a treat.”
He sits.
Yoongi doesn’t know how he knows, but he’s pretty sure his and Daegu’s relationship is something out of an anime. He sort of expects him to start talking and to take him on an adventure any day now.
He clicks the lead on, and Daegu sits patiently for the aforementioned treat.
Yoongi wasn’t intending to give him one, but Daegu’s learnt how to beg lately from somewhere (probably Hoseok, the self-proclaimed aegyo king) and he scuffles down into a position where his head is rested pityingly on his cute little paws, butt raised in the air, tail wagging sorrowfully, looking up at Yoongi with his huge, not-so-puppy-anymore puppy eyes.
Yoongi gives him some bacon.
“You’re going to get so unfit, you know that don’t you?” He asks him as he goes to collect his shoes from the rack. Daegu, of course, follows him, bouncing happily when Yoongi asks him this, an act that says nothing more than “I know.”
“Maybe I should start taking you out twice a day.”
Daegu gives a short, chirpy bark which makes Yoongi wonder if that’s what he wanted all along.
The landlord doesn’t actually allow pets. So Yoongi always makes sure the coast is clear before he scoops Daegu up (it’s getting harder come every Bacon Day) and runs as fast as he can down the three flights of steps and out of the building.
One day when he did this the landlord was standing at the entrance, checking the stability of the locks on the apartment’s mailboxes and Yoongi almost jumped out of skin – and Daegu almost jumped out of his arms at the joy of seeing another human.
He had to hide in the cleaning store and call Namjoon to tell him when they left.
“This is your fault for getting me the thing in the first place – you owe me!”
“Don’t pretend you don’t love him.”
He did, secretly.
Now, it’s very, very obvious to everyone exactly how much Min Yoongi loves Daegu.
"Yoongi, wanna hang out tonight?"
"Ah, sorry - Daegu isn't feeling well so..."
"Yoongi did you finish your paper for class?"
"Oh, I totally forgot, I was taking Daegu for a walk, so..."
He never needs to finish the sentence. He could honestly reply with "Daegu" and his friends would understand exactly what he meant.
Yoongi never had a pet growing up - didn't want a pet growing up. Actually, he still didn't want a pet until he got Daegu.
He doesn't know where his obsession with his dog came from but he's pretty sure it wouldn't have happened if they got him a normal dog.
Because there is literally nothing normal about his dog.
Daegu immediately tugs on the lead as soon as they’re out of the building (he seems to have caught on that he has to be quiet when they’re on their way out and in) and it doesn’t phase Yoongi anymore: the brute strength of the small dog – it kind of reminds him of Jungkook, actually.
He lets Daegu pull him along, and they never really have a plan of where they go, just wherever the dog decides to turn until they both tire out and decide to head back.
Well, until Yoongi tires out. Daegu never tires.
On this particular day, Daegu seems extra enthusiastic about the walk as if he wants to show Yoongi something while he’s dragging him along the street, somehow knowing to stop at the traffic lights and look up to Yoongi to press the crossing button.
Some days Yoongi wonders if his dog is really a dog and not some super-intelligent robotic creation.
He figures that his own intelligence must’ve just rubbed off onto him.
His friends laughed at him when he said that.
Daegu doesn’t usually like the park – there’s not enough space to run around on days like this when it’s basically full – but today that’s where he takes Yoongi, to his surprise.
There're dogs and kids and people everywhere and everything that Daegu sees that he finds interesting he has to bark at for a minimum of 20 seconds, no exceptions.
And Daegu finds a lot of things interesting.
They only get about a quarter through the park before Yoongi sees a free bench and basically has to coax Daegu with bacon to get him to come and sit down because his feet are aching.
He leaps up beside him, lurching for the bacon, snaps it straight out of Yoongi’s fingertips before he gets a chance to break it up and puts his big old dog nose in his face, practically whining for another piece.
“No, no more. You’ll have none left for later.”
Daegu doesn’t seem to care.
“Fine.” Yoongi grumbles, pulling out another piece from the bag strapped around his waist to Daegu’s extreme elevation. He licks around his own mouth before planting a lick on Yoongi’s face as well.
“You’re gross.” He declares with a less than pleased scowl, but he pats Daegu’s head anyway – who barks in apparent agreement.
Yoongi settles into the bench with a sigh of satisfaction at the small gust of wind that comes suddenly. It’s hot. And Daegu must be wanting to get back at him for calling him gross because he plants himself into Yoongi’s lap, fur very warm and general body heat even warmer and Yoongi scowls again, but it dissolves into a fond smile when Daegu makes a noise that kind of sounds like an “um” as if he’s trying to get Yoongi to pay attention to him.
“What do you want, asshole?” Yoongi says, eyes still closed, petting Daegu lazily.
“Did you just call me an asshole?”
Yoongi jumps so violently that Daegu’s looking up at him with the epitome of pure shock displayed on his face after Yoongi's eyes basically pop open.
Did… did his dog just talk?
“What the fuck, Daegu?“
“Um.” The sound from before repeats itself, only Yoongi’s looking at Daegu now. And he didn’t make that noise.
Then, he notices someone standing in front of him, with a, very calm in contrast to his own dog, Golden Labrador that amusingly matches the hair colour of its owner.
“That… that was you, wasn’t it?”
The person looks as if he’s regretting all of his life decisions up until that point – but also sort of like he’s trying not to laugh.
“Yeah.”
It’s a weird situation for them both.
“I’m sorry.” Yoongi straightens up, thankful that it’s hot and his face was probably already completely red because wow, he’s embarrassed.
“That’s alright… Mind if I sit here?” The stranger asks, but he doesn’t really sound so sure if he wants to sit there anymore because Yoongi might’ve come off as a little strange, to put it lightly.
This is all Daegu’s fault for bringing him to the park.
“Yeah, yeah of course.” He shuffles along the bench to leave room for him, just in case he decides to bring his dog up with him or something, but instead, the guy sits down and whistles, to which his dog immediately responds to by lying down at his feet.
He gives it a treat.
Daegu paws at Yoongi’s thigh, upon witnessing this.
“You want a treat too? Again? Daegu, you’re-“ He stops himself when he sees the stranger staring at him out from the corner of his eye and Yoongi realises that maybe he talks to his dog a little bit too much.
He opens the bag and pulls out a piece of bacon.
“You feed your dog bacon, as a treat?”
Yoongi’s hand freezes in the air, not that that stops Daegu, who eats the entire slice in less than two seconds.
“Only once a fortnight…” Yoongi says hesitantly, not having been questioned on his habit before. The guy gapes at him painfully condescendingly.
“Yeah, but how many pieces once a fortnight?”
Yoongi swallows, “Well, so far he’s had three.” He doesn’t add that he only means three since they left the apartment.
“That’s like half a packet of bacon, do you know how bad that is for them? Please, at least tell me you didn’t fry it.”
“Dry fry! I bought a dry fry!” Yoongi doesn’t mean to say it so loudly but he can’t help but let himself get pretty defensive because of some random guy questioning how he looks after his dog. You can’t just feed Daegu dog stuff, it’s not fair.
The stranger looks at him with a puzzled expression, mouth forming a thin line before it quivers and his entire face contorts into one of complete amusement.
“You bought a dry fry just to cook your dog bacon?”
It sounds even more absurd when someone else says it. And Yoongi already knew it was pretty absurd.
He nods, looking down at Daegu who’s beaming up at him a way similar to a spoiled child.
Yoongi does kind of spoil him, actually.
The stranger laughs, condescending tone completely evaporated and Yoongi observes the change with vague wonder and a sudden tight feeling in his chest when his eyes flicker to him.
“I’m Jimin. And this,” He gestures to the Labrador at his feet who looks up with a gleeful aura also similar to its owner’s, “Is Suja.”
“I’m-“ Daegu interrupts Yoongi with a demanding bark, pawing at his thigh again.
“Sorry, this is Daegu. And I’m Yoongi.”
Jimin giggles this time, tilting his head to match the way Daegu’s staring at him. “This is what happens when you feed them bacon.” He lifts his eyes to Yoongi in a taunting way, but he can’t really argue with him. It probably is why he’s like this.
Daegu settles down eventually, after seeing a few more things he felt was absolutely essential to bark at. He never growls, at least, not even at other dogs – just barks.
“You ever wonder what dogs think they’re doing when they bark at something?” Jimin asks Yoongi, as Daegu ends his latest session and curls back up into Yoongi’s lap.
Yoongi studies Daegu, trying to think what would be going on in his head, but simply shrugs and replies “He’s probably just being an asshole.”
Jimin hums thoughtfully and says “Ah, that’s why Suja never barks then. Isn’t that right, Sujee?”
Just like Jimin foretold, Suja doesn’t bark. Just pants at him, happily.
“Guess that’s what happens when you feed them bacon,” Yoongi says in a mocking, but totally light-hearted (but also kind of not), tone – the sheer mentioning of bacon making Daegu’s ears perk up.
“Exactly.” Jimin chuckles and doesn’t seem to mind the teasing which Yoongi’s glad for because Seokjin does, Hoseok, Taehyung and Jungkook never give him a chance because they’re constantly teasing him, and Namjoon always just glares at him without a response.
Having someone laugh and play along with is refreshing. Jimin, in general, is kind of refreshing.
“Of course, they say that dog’s behaviour is often based off of their owner’s.” Jimin hints in a nonchalant tone, not meeting Yoongi’s eye as a corner of his mouth quirks up.
Yoongi’s about to defend himself when Daegu literally springs out of his lap (deducting another ten years off of Yoongi’s quickly shortening life) and his hands scramble in the air to catch the end of his lead.
He grasps the end of it right before it flies out of reach and he has to chase after his dog like an idiot.
That’d be kind of embarrassing.
Daegu’s lead has a strange warmth to it, and Yoongi wonders what temperature it is right now to make light blue leather get that heated and-
Oh.
The heat isn’t coming from the lead.
Not unless the lead is smooth and fits strangely perfectly in Yoongi’s hand and is attached to Jimin’s arm.
Both of them tense up.
Jimin got the lead first. Yoongi’s hand is neatly holding his.
It takes them a hot minute to register what just happened before Yoongi’s cheeks flare up considerably and he removes his hand from Jimin’s, who gives him the end of Daegu’s lead.
Yoongi mumbles an awkward apology, to which Jimin simply laughs at.
“If you wanted to hold my hand so badly you could’ve just asked.”
Yoongi kind of wants to melt in the sun.
They talk for a while, the sun that apparently refuses to put Yoongi out of his misery high in the sky as he learns that Jimin’s just about to start his first year of university at the same one he goes to (he’s studying biology at his parents request, but he really wants to be a singer) and Yoongi tells him about Daegu (the dog) and Daegu (his hometown) because Jimin hadn’t ever been, but he’d always wanted to visit it one day.
Yoongi bit back an ‘I’ll show you around’ because that’s a weird thing to say to someone you’ve just met.
Jimin tells him he’s from Busan which Yoongi laughs at because “aren’t Busan boys supposed to be tough?” and Jimin tells him that he is very tough, actually, but his giggle and the eye smile he has while he says it isn’t very convincing.
Yoongi talks about music and how he wants to be a producer and Jimin says he can produce his songs for him once he becomes famous – to which Yoongi promises he will, laughing awkwardly afterwards when he thinks it sounds a little heavy for the casual tone of the conversation.
Jimin doesn’t seem to notice or mind, though, and has a certain glint in his eyes when he thanks him.
When they’re finally made aware of the time (by Daegu jumping down off of the bench and tugging at the lead Yoongi has securely in his hand again) the sun's much lower, threatening to delve into a red glow if they give it another hour or two.
Yoongi stands up with a start, Daegu having almost pulled him to his feet, and stretches out his arms to hear a small pop.
Jimin also stands up, but Suja follows his lead as opposed to Daegu who bosses Yoongi around, and they maintain eye contact for a few seconds of silence in which Yoongi thinks that with the sleepy state he’s in and the diluted filter the sun starting to go down’s put on the world, Jimin looks kind of nice.
Pretty, even.
“Well,” Jimin says, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Yoongi blinks at him in utter confusion. “Tomorrow?” He echoes.
“You take Daegu out every day, don’t you?”
Yoongi nods, remembering having mentioned it to him earlier in the middle of explaining Daegu’s exhausting hyperactivity.
“Then, why don’t we meet up here, same time tomorrow? I know a café not too far away that allows pets. There’s food for them and everything.”
Daegu howls with excitement, Suja outright stares at him as if she’s never seen such a weird dog. Yoongi’s never seen such a weird dog either.
Daegu looks at him with an odd sort of smug look and he’s not really sure if dogs can even have these kinds of emotions never mind display them so obviously, but he takes it to mean just that anyway.
For a moment, Yoongi queries if Daegu planned all of this, and then decides that he should probably be worrying more about the fact he’s maybe gone insane if all of his theories about his perfectly normal, if not a little misbehaved, dog are anything to go by.
Yoongi agrees because he kind of sort of does really want to see Jimin again – but blames that on his sleepy state as well.
Jimin waves goodbye to him and Daegu, Suja wagging her tail in a similar gesture, and turns to leave as Yoongi says “See you tomorrow.”
Jimin glances back at him with a twinkle in his eyes and says, “Yup – it’s a date!”
As he walks away, Yoongi questions whether he meant it literally or not.
Daegu starts barking at something again.
It’s cheesy, but Yoongi thinks it might just be at the flurry of butterflies in his stomach.