"Yeol, I really need to go home,"

"Nope, you're staying for another drink." 

"But―"

"No buts, Kyung. You haven't been out with us for so long. We deserve some attention too, you know.."

"... Fine."

Kyungsoo heaves another exasperated sigh, after agreeing to stay for just one more drink with his colleagues. It's not that he doesn't like any of them, on contrary, they make him happy and content, like he's been needing their company after a stressful week, but he's got to get up tomorrow really early, and those cages aren't going to clean themselves before the visitors arrive. 

But he smiles his dimpled smile when Sehun pours him another bubbly drink and clinks his glass with Baekhyun's one when the said male pushes him to drink bottoms up. Kyungsoo tries to swallow down the sour taste of alcohol, but his system is going into the over-drive slowly, and he just might vomit right there and then. 

"Have you heard we're getting a new employee tomorrow?" Luhan, their manager asks, having to yell over the boisterous music of their local nightclub. Some of them nod their heads, like Joonmyun for example, their boss and director of the Zoo, since he was the one who probably hired the new addition to their crew. 

And some of them wait to hear it 'till the end, well, everyone except Kyungsoo who slowly loses his vision in the bubbles swinging from side to side as he sloshes his drink in the crystal glass. 

"Well, he's our new bear expert, and he's coming to help out Sehun with their needs and nourishment," Joonmyun concludes with a proud smile, knowing that their new employee was the perfect candidate for the job.

"Wait, does that mean I don't have to take care of them anymore?" Sehun's head pops out somewhere off the table, looking expectedly at their boss.

"Well, not really, but if Jongin's okay with it―"

"Yes! No more bear poo for me!" Sehun cut him off, even throwing a fist in the air as a sign of celebration. He really must be hating the bear cages. 

"Hihi, poo," Kyungsoo giggles from the sides, clapping his thigh harshly, as he laughs loudly. His eyes and hands movement aren't coordinated anymore, and maybe that extra drink wasn't needed after all.

"Somebody needs to take him home, right?" Luhan asks from his seat across the flushed, still giggling boy, earning four nods in return. 

"I'm not doing it!" Chanyeol responds when everybody turns to look at him since his plan to loosen the boy up got him seconds away from Kyungsoo toppling down over the table and falling into a deep snooze afterward. 

"Well, he hates when I visit his place," Luhan says, a matter of facts, before pushing Joonmyun to say something.

"Oh, right. Well, since Baekhyun here is the closest to his place, why don't you take him home?" Their boss says, pleading his employee with his eyes, before Baekhyun exhales loudly, standing up to fetch the boy that starts doing weird hip s to a slow, sly ballad song. 

"Fine! But I'm only doing this because he's faced, and not being able to take care of himself," When he tries to pry away Kyungsoo from the next table of girls with colorful cocktail drinks with little dotted umbrellas, he doesn't budge, and instead slides a stolen paper ornament behind his ear.

"Pretty," Kyungsoo giggles at his reflection in the mirror wall, before smooching Baekhyun right across the cheek, pointing to his hair. 

"Yeah, yeah. It's cute. Come on, now." Baekhyun tries to pull him again, but Kyungsoo grabs at the umbrellas with his hands, but misses by an inch and instead spills one of the glasses over the table. 

"I'll pay for your next rounds, ladies," Chanyeol's quick to slide in the booth next to their table, already pulling out his valet, all the while ushering Baekhyun to just drag him out. 

"But my hats," Kyungsoo whines with a pout across his face, his chin trembling in his denied state. So Baekhyun pushes him back to Sehun's side on the sofa, going for the bar and snatching a glass full of umbrellas, dropping it over Kyungsoo's hair as he comes back.

"Here! Can we go now?" He asks, but gets no answer in return, as the asked male rolls around on the plush cushion of the booth, clumsily shaking his hands around, trying to make snow-angels in the fallen paper. But actually, just gets Sehun annoyed with his hits and even kicking Baekhyun when he tries to move his legs with the rest of the choreography too.

"That's it, Santa. You're coming with me!"

It's been two weeks since that little drunken rendezvous, but Kyungsoo's still ashamed to show his face at work. He wasn't the one to blame after all, since Chanyeol got a scolding from their boss for mixing three types of hard liquor that night for Kyungsoo, but the younger still felt responsible for making a fool out of himself, and their little group of friends.

He hasn't been told the whole story about what he did, only snippets and funny moments, but he'd woken up the morning after it, covered in glitter and thrown around paper umbrellas. Baekhyun had explained the cause of the cocktail paper art around his bed, but he's stayed quiet about the glitter, Kyungsoo having to wash it from his body from like three showers together.

But, he apologized to everyone, and even brought their lunches the day after that night, since he felt really awkward with the whole situation. 

And his friends' teasing and reminiscing of that night didn't help.

Kyungsoo's arrived at his work around 5 AM, locking his car door at the parking lot at the back of the Zoo, before walking up to the main entrance with a viper in his step. 

It was the start of another week, and he was feeling exceptionally giddy to come back to his work, and precious animals, since the Zoo wasn't opened on Sundays, so Kyungsoo barely waited for the Monday to come. 

He went to the changing room after greeting their ticket seller Tao at the entrance, before skipping to change into his work clothes as soon as possible. There wasn't anyone in the room when he entered, and he was glad for once because he didn't like to undress in front of other people, much in front of those with tall, lean, handsome-looking bodies, contrary to his small built and narrow shoulders.

But he couldn't dwell on that any longer, as he jumped into the gumboots, picking up a metallic bucket on his way to the yard.

"Kyung, hello!" Joonmyun waved from his office as Kyungsoo passed by, going back to the phone call he was still busy with. The latter only waved back, moving further along the cubicles that were set for the workers, even though the employees spent most of their time with the animals, or tracking their every move and need.

He quickly dropped to his office to leave his satchel behind, before continuing to his final destination - a colony of penguins over at their compartment. 

Kyungsoo loved those black and white waddlers more than anything if anybody's to ask him. He even called them the charmers of Antarctica. It was really cute to see the creatures waddling on their way to the little pond they had in front of the enclosure, before hiding behind dull rocks that were placed specially for them to play around and replace the feeling of home. 

He sometimes mentioned Antarctica to them, in one of theirs everyday talks, wanting to bring closer their home to them, explaining how many of the same species still live there, and how beautiful their colonies are. 

But before he could wistful and even cry in front of his little feathery friends, he would bring snacks for them to nibble on, engrossing them all in the freshly cooked fish and peachy smooth krill fish. 

Kyungsoo greeted a bunch of others colleagues on his way but never stopping to indulge in their talks, simply because he was starting to get impatient to check upon his flightless birds in dapper tuxedos. Other than the usual check up's and feeding time, he had a special task to complete this time; that being taking care of the female Chinstrap penguin since she's built a little circular nest with stones, and been on the duty with her male companion in the incubation of the small chicks that are yet to hatch. 

Kyungsoo felt giddy to follow the nursing of the new chicks since this was the first time for him to follow the process from the beginning to its end. 

When he ducked a full basket of fish down on the concrete floor just after closing the gate of the penguin parcel, he was being smothered by their attention; almost every penguin chirping at his feet, pulling him furthermore in by the bite on the trim of his overalls. 

"Wait, guys," He tries but fails awkwardly when the laughter bubbles out of his throat at the one little whimper that he hears from the bottom of the pile. He strides over the bunch of pudgy guts and oval wings, not forgetting to fetch the bucket with goodies as well. 

"Okay, okay. There's enough for everyone." He sits down on one of the stones closest to him, holding the bucket over his head. The waddlers still nip at his feet, the smell of the raw fishes filling up the air deliciously for them, so Kyungsoo has got to give in. 

"Okay, one for you," He plucks the fresh squid off the top of the bucket, holding it to one of them to swallow around it. This is the best kind of food for them, Kyungsoo thinks, but only having enough squid to feed them all. "Hey, Taehyung, don't steal from Minho!" Kyungsoo scolds when a Gentoo penguin strolls forward and grabs at the fish that his companion ought to have. 

Kyungsoo finishes up feeding them, emptying the bucket in a record time, before checking whether everyone is okay, well-fed, and with no new scratches and cuts. They are really a clumsy species, so every worker has to make sure that the rocks are filed down and not too thin to hurt them. 

Their usual check-up is up for a couple of days, so he goes through them all as fast as he could, since they all wasp him away, wanting to go for a swim with now full tummies. Kyungsoo smiles fondly as the last one slips from his hands, and drops down on his behind unceremoniously, but quickly follows after his brothers with an adorable waddle on his way. 

He hides a fish or two at the bottom of the bucket, though, grabbing one of the last squid from it, as well as one krill, before going around to the pile of stones in the crevice on the side the big skerry. 

A brush-tailed female waits for him as he rounds the corner, holding the squid only for her to see. She doesn't budge or springs up when he sits next to her, holding the fish down for her to gulp down instead. Kyungsoo smiles proudly when another male approaches them, sitting down on the pile of stones beside her, warming up his nearly-hatched chicks with his natural heat. 

This feels closest to being a parent, as far as Kyungsoo has ever felt, but he tries not to happy-cry when the birds huddle up together, like affirming the other one that they are there for each other. 

Sure, he can get a little emotional and get carried away with the name giving or seeing individual personalities in each one of them (he knows every single name of the bunch because they allowed him to name them), but when he speaks to them, Kyungsoo knows that they could understand him. 

He knows it, even after the colony spread around their little pond after being fed, or hiding from him when he wants to play with them. They all do it because Kyungsoo care, and because Kyungsoo gives the best neck massages once he finds them in the end. 

But they allow only him to feed them, to brush them, or even to clean their pond once it gets dirty, so he had to give back their respect. After all, he's to spend his life doing the most amazing job in the world, to him, with the most amazing clique there is. 

(Secretly, he coos to them in small, bubbly voices, but not before making sure they all recognize him and give them a time of their day.)

Kyungsoo pets the female Chinstrap, before leaving the couple to be, going back to pick up the bucket and wash away everything. 

But just as he steps outside the ring area of their habitat, a tall, lean figure waits for him, obviously stealing glances at his buddies. 

"Can I help you?" Kyungsoo politely asks but drops his gaze down when the figure turns around, looking him straight in the eyes. 

"K-Kyungsoo-hyung. Hi!" Jongin, their new colleague raises his hand in a quick wave, before dropping it down in a sweater paw of his jumper; so fast that Kyungsoo barely misses it. 

"Jongin, hey. How are you?" They somehow start walking back to their offices together, Jongin keeping a safe distance from his hyung, almost too far from each other. 

But Kyungsoo glances at him from time to time, seeing his eyes downcast, and teeth worrying over his bottom lip like the male contemplates what to say. 

"Are you―" But before he could ask anything, Jongin's whispering a small 'see you later' and bolting to the other direction from the one they're on currently, almost running away from Kyungsoo himself.

The latter only stands there dumbfounded, checking if Jongin's still in his sight, before glancing around. He doesn't smell his fish when he sniffs his work clothes, and he doesn't have anything on his face, as he checks his reflection in the washed-away grey hue of the bucket, but Jongin still bolted. 

Kyungsoo decides in his mind that his colleague probably left something at the bear cages on the other side of the Zoo, and that's the reason for his sudden leave. 

"It's so boring," Baekhyun wails from his seat, spinning around in his seat with wheels at the bottom of plastic rods. His computer showcases his diary entry for today, about the recovery of the particular Cheetah that has had some stitches on her hind leg from playing with one of the males back in her cage. 

Baekhyun says that's the way wild cats flirt with each other, but Kyungsoo doubts it. 

His feline-looking colleague is in charge of the feline species, along with Sehun and Minseok, so that's why he got the nickname feline trouble. 

To be honest, he wrote it himself on the back of his nameplate on top of his desk, turning to the backside more than to the side that has his name written in bold letters. And most of the people here don't even call him that; well, except for Chanyeol, the male mostly drooling after the petit male. He even helped him find a permanent marker for the crime done on his nameplate.

"Why don't you do anything for a change," Yixing, his fellow penguin-lover, grunts over his pile of work from the Petting Zoo they have at the back of the building. The older male is in charge of the smaller-sized animals, such as reptiles, and baby goatlings, but actually loves to spend time nuzzling in the soft fur of bunnies and little lambs. Nobody points that out.

"Well, why don't you go and Myun off, the man has been bugging me with a ton of work the whole morning," Baekhyun throws back, making Chanyeol chuckle at his desk. Yixing only mockingly repeats everything that his colleague said, before getting back to the paperwork. 

"That's not nice, Baek!" Luhan enters the room, setting down on Sehun's desk, and immediately picking a loose strand from the latter's turf of hair; playing with the softest strand he could find. Sehun doesn't mind it, on contrary, actually purrs under his breath, making Luhan giggle. 

"It's not my fault that he's been sleeping with the boss," Baekhyun retorts back, sharing an incredulous look from Yixing with a feigned mockery with Chanyeol, who hides his laugh behind his palm. 

"Well, if you can get some, you wouldn't be bothering the rest of us with your frigidity." That even makes Kyungsoo chuckle lightly. 

"How dare you―" Baekhyun presses a palm over his heart, holding his forehead with his free hand, ready to faint over the comment. "I thought you were my friend, my brother―"

"All's fair in love and war," Yixing comments dryly, picking his done pile from the desk and throwing it in the corner of his workstation. Baekhyun still hasn't recovered from the attack on his personality. 

"Well, consider us being in war then," 

"Okay, okay, drama queens," Luhan finally pays attention to the bickering males, getting up from Sehun's desk, missing his disappointed pout. "Let's get back to work so that Myun doesn't need to have my balls in a grip. Okay?"

When the whole room - and I mean the whole room, even Yixing and Baekhyun having to - confirms that they were about to get back to work, Luhan smiles proudly for still having it, going back to his office just across this, bigger one. 

Baekhyun sends a mock smile to Yixing in the corner, even sticking his tongue out childishly, before glancing back at Kyungsoo who hisses that Luhan could still hear them. 

"What's that?" Baekhyun suddenly asks, standing up from his seat with his joints cracking satisfactorily, going up to Kyungsoo's desk on his left, and instead points to the blackboard that Kyungsoo has hooked up on the wall next to his desk. "It says 'Have a nice day!'," Baekhyun reads it out loud the line scribbled down in cursive letters, following the line with his forefinger. 

"I don't know," Kyungsoo shrugs, but stands up to see the message himself. And there, at the bottom of the square board, it's written just that, with a small smile next to the exclamation mark, just below his weekly planning for this week. 

"Are you leaving inspirational quotes for yourself now?" 

"What? No!? Why would I do that?" Kyungsoo asks confused, looking back to the board, and the little chalk doodle at the bottom. "Maybe somebody has something to say to me, but didn't know how..." He turns to the room, but is met with a shake of heads, and even more confused looks of who the author of the note could be. 

"Looks like somebody has a little crush on you, Kyung." Baekhyun winks at him, before going back to his desk, finally picking up his report as he starts entering it in his daily log. 

Kyungsoo splutters at that, standing there dumbfounded, repeating Baekhyun's words in his mind. But when he looks back at the message, something doesn't make sense; somebody of his colleagues couldn't be liking him like that.

Nope, that must be some kind of a mistake. 

The next day finds Kyungsoo lazing around the park of the different animals, neither of them dangerous enough to be locked away just yet. Besides, the Sun just peaked over the fluffy clouds, so everyone is out and enjoying the warm rays, barely anyone covered in the shadows. 

He follows Chanyeol as he cracks some jokes to some monkeys - the man calling them Mandrills to get their attention - before basically laughing all by himself, not seeing when the two small primates hang on to the other branch, and easily escape him to the higher ground, away from still laughing Chanyeol. 

Kyungsoo stifles a laugh under his palm when the latter sees that his companions abandoned him for some better company of two ladies that hang from two different branches, slowly cradling each other from side to side. 

Chanyeol's been responsible for primates, as well as some of the other domesticated mammals, like ferrets and marsupials. He even had a pet ferret back at his family home when he was a kid, the little black and brown polecat encouraging him to become what he was today. 

As Chanyeol struggles to feed the two Mandrills that keep escaping him, Kyungsoo feels somebody else standing next to him, but still too far away for him to understand whether the male was there for him or for watching the scene before them too. 

"Hello, hyung," Jongin whispers into the thin air, making Kyungsoo smile softly before turning around to greet him. 

"Hello, Jongin. How are you?" This all feels like a déjà vu since they already had a conversation like this yesterday, but this time Kyungsoo really doesn't want to see Jongin's retracting figure again. 

"I-I'm fine. You?" The latter only glances up to him, before dropping his gaze down to the ground, lifting his eyes only a couple of times to catch bits of the scene of Chanyeol running around with a monkey on his shoulder. He missed the scene developing.

"I'm fine. Thank you for asking. And you?" Kyungsoo winces when he realizes that he's already asked the other about his wellbeing, making a fool out of himself in the end. 

"I'm sorry for―" But Kyungsoo cuts himself off when Jongin giggles under his breath, hiding his blushing face under his long bangs. Something swells in Kyungsoo's chest when another bubbling laugh leaves Jongin's lips; sweater paws still pressing into each other. He has such a cute laugh, the one that makes you laugh as well, and Kyungsoo cracks a tiny satisfied smile too.

"Well, how do you like your stay here up until now?" Kyungsoo feels lighter when Jongin tries to stifle another wave of laughter washing his frame, going in another direction instead, actually wanting to hear it from the younger. 

"G-Good, I guess," Jongin shrugs a laconic line, before glancing through his bangs at Kyungsoo. "I've been staying in the lounge for the past two weeks, but... I get to come to you― I mean to you all, to all of you guys now, be-because my desk is being ready and... and don't get me wrong, I liked the lounge, but I always wanted to have my own desk― Oh, no. Not just my own desk, of course, since I'm here for the animals― I mean, bears! Bears! I'm here for the bears since I love them so much― But only platonically, because you can't have a relationship with a bear... Or-or you can! If you want... I mean, you can do whatever you want, you know, but―"

"That must be the longest time anybody has ever heard you talk," Kyungsoo breaks him off, sharing a look with the furiously blushing boy in front, before the said male drops his gaze back to the concrete bellow their feet, taking big gulps of air. 

"It's okay. Everything you said, I mean, I wanted that too." Kyungsoo nods to him, trying to ease up the atmosphere, but only getting wide eyes boring into his in return.

"You wanted to have a relationship with a bear?!" Jongin suddenly bolts out, rather loudly, even bringing Chanyeol's attention, who only now gets aware that he's not alone anymore, and that there's a high chance somebody else witnessed him being chased down by his own, favorite species. 

"What?! No!?" Kyungsoo yells back but quiets down when Jongin flinches back from him. "I'm sorry for that." He apologizes just to be sure that he didn't fright Jongin in any way, before explaining himself better.

"I meant that it's okay to want to have your own desk since the paperwork here could pile up fast, and sharing a table with other people in the office could be a hassle," He throws a small smile in the process, but that only gets him a spluttering Jongin in return. 

"Hey, it's okay." His hands wing up in defense like he's approaching one of his penguin buddies when they are throwing tantrums, before speaking again. "And not that it counts, but I find bears to be cute enough for one to be in a relationship with them. I mean..." 

Jongin looks up this time properly, giving him a wide, and honest look, before muttering something under his breath, glancing around them two. 

"Are you―" Kyungsoo starts to ask, but just like the previous time, Jongin escapes to the other end of the park, this time actually running and stumbling over his feet, but not falling. 

Kyungsoo winches when the boy grabs at his hair and pulls harshly even from this distance of them being apart, before turning around to share a confused look with his friend in the monkeys' cage. 

An hour later, when he comes back to his office after checking the penguins and feeding them with yet another treat (Joonmyun actually scolds him for spoiling the birds, but Kyungsoo just can't help it), he finds another scribbled note in cursive at the top of the previous one, saying 'Thank you for being so awesome! ^.^'.

Their free weekend approaches faster than Kyungsoo would like. Sure, he's tired every night when he falls over his bed, and barely finds enough strength to take a shower when sleep invades his mind. 

But he misses his penguin buddies so much, and after yesterday's hatch of two big and healthy chicks of Chinstraps penguins, a beautiful addition to their ever-growing family, he misses them even more.

He snapped some photos of the little ones when Joonmyun and Luhan weren't looking, saving the pics to his phone, and getting them ready for later, to show it to his French bulldog, Adelie, who shares a similarity with his favorite breed of penguins - Adelie penguins, of course - because of the black strap of thin fur that goes from the bulldog's head, down to his tail.

And Adelie is always welcoming him when he comes home, and even more when he cuddles with her after dinner, showing yet another batch of penguin pictures, a collection overgrowing a folder of 2k+ snaps of his little family back at the Zoo.

He stretches around the bed upon waking up, checking the bedroom window that allows Sun to openly fill up space with its warmth and rays, as the addition to him forgetting to close the blinds the night before. 

It's still not too late for staying in bed some more, so he turns around from the windows, getting ready to sleep some more. But then hears something dull hitting on his door that he left too ajar before the hinges warn him that the door's fully open now. Sharp, too-long nails scrape over the lacquered floor before a mop of the soft, blackhead comes to sniff his face. He really needs to cut her nails shorter.

Kyungsoo chuckles when Adelie him for a good morning, scooping her up and under his arm, as she digs her forepaws in the duvet, getting comfortable. She leans against him, trying to kiss him some more, before Kyungsoo really burst out laughing, pressing her close to him. 

"You pretty girl, wanting me just for you, huh." He chuckles when the dog barks as she agrees with everything he just said. 

Kyungsoo closes his eyes, the sleep still lingering behind his eyelids, as he softly starts petting her soft fur under her chin, going up and to her snout, pecking the slobbering mess he finds there. 

"You need to wash, don't you." He dares to peek one of his eyes open, his girl getting it as a signal to attack again and him all over his face. 

Kyungsoo giggles on her sharp tongue, but soft , as decides that he's not having any more sleep after all. 

"So you did this on purpose, huh." Kyungsoo gets up from the bed, with Adelie in his hands, going around to his kitchen, giving her a big bowl of dog granules, before fixing him a cup of freshly brewed coffee. 

The dog barks softly when she the bowl clean, like she alarms him that she was being good, and eating all of her given food. Kyungsoo scoops her up again, nuzzling in the soft fur on top of her head, going for the bathroom next. 

"Let's have a quick bath, and then let me tell you about Daehyun and Youngjae that was born yesterday," He heats the water that pours in the bathtub, getting a little, excited yelp in return.

The rest of the day passes in a hurry, almost, with him washing his bulldog, and then proceeding to take a quick bath himself. The lunch comes next quickly, Kyungsoo spending a diligent time preparing everything, craving for some home-cooked meal, that he luckily learned to make from his mother. 

After eating everything in one sitting, with Adelie nosing at his feet, dragging her cooked meal out too, Kyungsoo washes the dishes, opting for some comedy movie to relax for a bit. 

But when he cleans everything, and finally finds some movie online, the doorbell rings, making his little girl bark at the newcomer. 

Kyungsoo wonders who that might be, since it's rarely for him to have some guest over, but he cradles Adelie close to his chest, sitting up and going for the door. 

He opens the door, petting her softly, afraid that she might jump up on whoever on the other side of the door is, but is met not with only one person, but a bunch of them, all smiling widely at him.

"What are you―" He dares to utter, but a strong frame pushes past him, leading all of them into the apartment, leaving a still confused Kyungsoo by the door. 

"We came to celebrate the new chicks that were hatched into your little family," Baekhyun says, as he goes for the kitchen, probably to find glasses for the wine he's been holding, balancing three bottles easily in his arms. 

"And because you haven't been picking up your phone, we came to you." Luhan finishes as he follows his colleague close to the kitchen, dropping some snacks and a loaf of bread on the kitchen island. 

Kyungsoo follows after them, seeing Chanyeol picking up his forgotten laptop from the sofa, scrolling to find some other movie than the one Kyungsoo planned to watch with a soft smile. Next to him, Joonmyun picks up the remote control, pointing the end to Yixing by his side, the latter seemingly tired, and just ready to cuddle up with his... boyfriend?

On the opposite side, Sehun sits down on the armchair, plucking a Cheeto from the bowl of snacks that Luhan dropped down on the coffee table in front of them all, pulling the elder to sit down on the armrest, next to him. 

Kyungsoo sees them all getting comfortable around his living room, and just as he wanted to sit down as well, still confused about their visit, he sees a lean figure from the corner of his eyes. 

Kyungsoo turns around and is met with warm eyes boring holes into his own, the owner of them waiting patiently for Kyungsoo to see him. 

Jongin stands there, looking out of place, and totally uncomfortable to be there in the first place, whilst everyone else is already seated with a movie already playing on Kyungsoo's TV set. 

"Jongin, hi! Why don't you sit down?" Kyungsoo dumbly asks, pointing to the free space on the love seat on the left side of the room, but instead gets a small shake of Jongin's head in return. 

"This is the first time for me to be in your house, and I was..." Jongin trails off but dismisses the rest of the sentence when Adelie squirms in Kyungsoo's hold, wanting to be let down to the floor. 

Jongin approaches slowly, not wanting to scare the little, pudgy creature in the other's hands, and instead of saying anything, plucks her up and to his chest instead.

"Oh my Gosh, aren't you the cutest?" Kyungsoo watches the scene from the side, watching as his girl nuzzles in Jongin's sweater-clothed chest, almost purring when Jongin kisses her head, caressing her sides. 

Something in his heart swells, when the male coos at the dog, laughing when Adelie starts nipping playfully at his nose. Kyungsoo hasn't seen his little girl behaving like this ever before, even with Baekhyun, who's unwearyingly persistent to spoil her with dog treats and chew toys. 

But Jongin's natural, apparently, because he even pets her stomach when the bulldog turns around on her back; Kyungsoo knowing that it's her most sensitive part, that even he's not always allowed to touch.

"She's so cute," Jongin's brought from the puppy-love when Kyungsoo comes closer to him, on intention to take a better look. His smile slips to a smaller one, as he still pets the dog in his hands, but keeping his eyes up and on Kyungsoo instead.

"She is!" Kyungsoo repeats, feeling somehow hurt that his girl chooses Jongin over him for her cuddle, but still warm and fuzzy because she chooses Jongin over the rest of them. "But she's never been like this," 

"Like what?" Jongin giggles again when the dog his face, obviously knowing that they're talking about her.

"This friendly with guests," And Kyungsoo's right, because his puppy doesn't like some of his friends, or even his father when his parents visit, his girl showing it openly. 

"Really?" Jongin asks, full of hopeful gleam coloring his brown irises, glancing up through his bangs. "Well, she must like me then." He concludes, and Kyungsoo agrees with it. 

"I guess she does."

"Hey, lovebirds, the movie's already on." Somebody breaks their little bubble, making Jongin yelp when he realizes just how close the two males were standing next to each other, and quickly (but carefully) drops the dog back in Kyungsoo's hands, going for the love seat next. 

Kyungsoo opts to stifle a laugh on the pink hue that swallowed Jongin's cheeks in a matter of moments, before following behind him, sitting next to him on a narrow seat.

"This is the only free space left," Kyungsoo whispers closely to the younger's ear and imagines Jongin shivering from it. 

They soon fall in comfortable silence, as the movie rolls on the TV, neither of them talking. Unless something big happens and they need to clarify it for someone, because Chanyeol has put up a horror movie actually, being the self-made expert on the genre. 

Kyungsoo Adelie's soft fur, his little girl cutely dozing off for about half an hour already, too comfortable and warm to move. He watches the movie, glancing around a couple of times to see the rest of the room. 

Joonmyun has his arm dropped tightly around Yixing's shoulders, pulling the sleepy male closer to his sides. They are so focused on the movie, that they both miss the way Kyungsoo smiles fondly to see them cuddling together. On the other end of the sofa, Chanyeol has his tall figure almost bent in two, from the way his head lays across Baekhyun's chest, which slowly rises up and down. Baekhyun's pushed all the way to the crook of the sofa but having a hand in Chanyeol's unruly locks, casually the soft strands. 

Kyungsoo actually keeps a promise to talk to them tomorrow about whatever that's been happening between them but stays silent for now. And on the other end of the room, Sehun and Luhan somehow fitted in the one-seat armchair, both of them sitting down on the cushion by now. 

Luhan must've slipped from the armrest somewhere into the movie, and now's sitting half on the younger's thigh, and the rest on the free space of the seat. 

Kyungsoo could see Sehun's dusted cheeks from here, but doesn't look at them for too long, afraid that he could get caught. 

Instead, he turns to the last person in the room, Jongin, sitting on his left side, watching the movie. But instead of watching at the screen fully, his eyes are somehow cast downwards, almost as he was watching the rim of the TV screen, too afraid to look up. 

And Kyungsoo smiles fondly at his antics, before tapping him softly on his right shoulder to get his attention. 

Jongin yelps silently at that, turning around to look at his colleague on his right side, big brown eyes boring into Kyungsoo's ones. He looks sheepishly for a moment after being caught in his little mind-game of not watching the horror movie still rolling in the background, before he glances at the floor, not meeting Kyungsoo's eyes anymore.

"Do you want me to show you something?" Kyungsoo whispers in his ear, too close to feel the warmth from the boy's body, but still too far to actually touch him. Jongin only nods, not daring to look up, and instead stands up after Kyungsoo, following closely behind him.

Neither of their friends noticed when they sneaked out of the living room - or didn't say anything - and slipped inside of Kyungsoo's bedroom instead. Adelie is still pretty much sleeping, so Kyungsoo lowers her slowly into her dog bed by his bed, turning around to see Jongin.

But the boy's still standing at the door, clawing at the rim of his sleeves, looking everywhere but Kyungsoo. And Kyungsoo just might die from the cuteness. 

"You can sit down, I won't bite," Where that came from, Kyungsoo didn't know, but he still said it, watching as Jongin's perplexed eyes grazed him for a moment. 

So he sits down on his bed, waiting for Jongin to move and take any seat in the room, whether it's the armchair next to the closet or his desk chair beside the windows. 

But Jongin surprises even himself when he strolls over, sitting on the other end of Kyungsoo's bed instead.

"So.." Kyungsoo starts, suddenly very aware that they are both sitting on his bed, with nothing better to do. He wanted to pull the other out of that room, and away from the movie still playing since Jongin looked uncomfortable watching the gore scenes of the horror. 

But now that they're here, he might think that this was a bad idea since he didn't think this through quite well. 

"You have a nice flat," Jongin offers instead, breaking their little tight bubble, but quickly dismissing anything, as he stares at the floor still. 

"Thank you..." Kyungsoo whispers, watching for anything else that Jongin might add but seeing him nervous just as he is. So he allows himself to watch the younger some more, following his profile, and the soft curls falling over his forehead.

Kyungsoo agrees mentally with himself that Jongin looks younger than he probably is with his coffee shade hair, that's borderline burgundy in a different light. He swears his nose is the cutest part of him, as he follows the slope to the tip of the button-like curves with his eyes until he stops to look at his pouty lips. 

Jongin's lips are so full and soft looking, that Kyungsoo finds it not fair that they're also so full of pink color too. He follows as Jongin exhales through his nose, making the pair of his lips protrude out also, looking as the male is pouting unconsciously.

Just as he gets immersed in the other, the said boy turns around to watch him instead, and their eyes behold a contact. Kyungsoo feels his insides turning mushy, as his skin prickles with a new sensation when Jongin doesn't utter a single word, but still doesn't break eye contact.

He watches as the rich, mocha color in the middle moves to the black in the corners, giving his eyes the deepness Kyungsoo feels himself getting lost in.

"Umm.." Jongin mutters slowly, looking around the room before sharing another look with Kyungsoo across the bed.

"Hmm?" Kyungsoo hums back, too afraid to break the contact, and too immersed not to. Instead, he watches as Jongin stays quiet, mulling over his bottom lip, watching him under his thick lashes. 

"Do-do you― Um.." Jongin tries, and he really tries, but Kyungsoo's watching him so closely, that his mouth might as well be cotton by now.

"Yes, Jonginnie?" Kyungsoo's not aware of how much everything of this affects Jongin, as the latter mewls under his breath over the nickname. 

"Soo..." He wines cutely, almost like he's stomping his foot down on the laminated floor, but Kyungsoo dares to stare a bit longer.

They feel as if something is pulling them in, shortening the free space between them, and making Jongin sit a little bit closer, meanwhile, Kyungsoo's sliding over the soft duvet over his bed. 

They're suddenly sitting too close, just inches away for their knees to bump, and for them to share the same air. Neither breaks their eye contact, only blinking from time to time, reminding themselves to do that. Kyungsoo sees pink hue dusting Jongin's cheeks from here, and Jongin hears a hitched breath that Kyungsoo inhales through his mouth. 

But a sudden yelp breaks their little stare-down, as Adelie barks wake from her little purple dog-bed by the side. 

Kyungsoo only glances at his little girl, seeing her stretching her paws cutely, before dropping down in a deep slumber in a minute. 

He doesn't dare to look up, already feeling Jongin's eyes boring into his side-profile, but instead stands up and walks through the door. 

Later that night, when he lays across his bed like a starfish, Adelie snuggling up to his side, Kyungsoo thinks about