Kibum was waiting for Jonghyun and the others to come back patiently. They had gone out to celebrate like adults….whatever that meant but the fox wasn’t allowed to come with them so he waited at home.

It had been quite a while already and it was slowly getting late. He grew slight worried. What if Jonghyun and the others got kidnapped? Or if they got lost? No, no, no they were big guys and could take care of themselves just fine.

Kibum nodded to himself, trying not to freak out and waited for a bit more until he heard footsteps and key rattling outside. His tail picked up the pace and he looked at the entrance with big shining eyes. His Master was about to come back and they could cuddle in bed, yay!

The door was opened and banged against the wall, loud laughers and slurred words reaching the blonde’s sensitive ears.

“Aaaand then he said that he didn’ need it!”

The other guys roared with laughers and Kibum crooked his head. The four friends came stumbling into the living room and a keen scent was picked up by the fox’s nose, causing him to scrunch it up.

Taemin was half hanging off Onew shoulder while Minho and Jonghyun held hands. Kibum pouted slightly in jealousy and was about to snap at Minho to take his hands of his Master as the oldest began talking once more.

“Suuu I ma going to maa beeed,” he announced and nodded a few times, looking at the already sleeping Taemin.

“You wanna come with me? Oh yes you wanna, oh yes, yes, yes…” With that he went off and dragged the maknae with him to his room, kicking the door shut and leaving the other three behind.

Kibum didn’t understand what was going on and looked at Jonghyun questioning. Maybe he would explain it to him.

The older went to flop down on the couch next to his pet and sighed. Minho did the same and it was silent for a few moments, the fox not knowing if he should say something or not.

“We’re married,” Jonghyun suddenly blurted out and Kibum looked at him confused.

Minho giggled behind his hand and nodded. “Yes hubby and that one is our child.” He pointed at Kibum and went to pet his head…or more like hitting it with the palm of his hand.

“Aww yes you are such a cute little boy,” he said with an I-am-talking-to-a-little-puppy voice.

The fox really didn’t understand anything anymore. Since when are Jonghyun and Minho married? And since when are they his parents? He was sure that they are not his real parents….right? Or what if they really were his parents? But wait…how can two men make a child? How do people even make a child? He never thought about that but now he grew curious. Do they order them somewhere? Or are there stores where you can buy them? So many unanswered questions and he went on with thinking about that matter, ignoring Minho’s so called petting.

Jonghyun now joined the tallest and petted Kibum head too, giving him a slight headache.

“Oh yes hunny, he really is a perfect creature.”

Creature? The fox pouted and was slightly hurt by that word. He wasn’t a creature.

“Such a good little fox,” the oldest said in a childish voice.

“But fox needs a bath,” Minho said determinate and stood up, ignoring the shocked expression on Kibum’s face. 

Jonghyun nodded too and forced the blonde too his feet with a harsh tug on his wrist. “Yes you are right. Fox is filthy.”

Kibum’s eyes widened in shock and he felt like someone had shot an arrow right through his heart. Did…did Jonghyun really think he was filthy? B-But…but why hadn’t he said something? His eyes started burning but he blinked it away and swallowed the lump in his throat, letting the two guys drag him to the bathroom which too much force for his liking.

They threw him on the cold ground and he looked at them a bit scared, not knowing why they were acting like this. Had he done something wrong? Were they angry at him?

Minho searched in his pocket for something and took out his cell phone; opening the camera tool and pressing the recording button before placing it somewhere were the whole bathroom could be seen. Jonghyun meanwhile let the bathtub ran full with water, no bubbles this time.

“J-Jonghyun…” Kibum asked carefully. “What going on?” He gasped as the older approached him with a quick jump and flinched away in surprise.

“No, no, no,” he said and shook his head at the younger. “Fox is not allowed to speak without permission.”

“B-but-”

*slap*

Kibum’s head was forced to the side and his breath got caught in his throat. His cheek stung with pain and the first tears spilled over, rolling down his cheeks.

Jonghyun had just slapped him.

The blonde turned his head slowly and looked at his Master with big tearful eyes, not believing what just happened. He was just slapped by the one that had promised to never hurt him in any way.

The oldest didn’t seem to mind and turned away to look at the water in the tub once more with was almost completely full by now.

“Come on, fox still needs a bath,” he said towards Minho and the younger went over to the paralyzed fox and lifted him up without much difficulties.

Kibum didn’t know what was going on but noticed that he was close to the water, too close. He started squirming in Minho’s hold, wanting to escape and hide under to couch but the brunette wouldn’t let him. He carried him to the bathtub and ignored the fox’s whimpers and pleads. He waited a few seconds before he smirked evilly and threw the blonde into the water.

Kibum probably screamed but soon he hit something very cold and banged his head against the ground of the tub. He got some of the icy water in his mouth and nose and struggled to come back to the surface, carving for oxygen. He gasped for air once his head wasn’t under water anymore and tried to climb out of the tub only to be shoved back in. He struggled and squirmed around, slipping away over and over again which only lead to hurting himself. But he ignored it since the cold was creeping into his body, letting him shiver and tremble.

Suddenly he was gripped by his neck and froze, looking at the two boys next to him with a fearful expression and his heart pounding in his chest like crazy. They only grinned devilishly and forced his head under water, preventing him from coming up again. He tried to fight it, to come back to the surface but the grip was too strong for him.

He gasped for air and coughed but it wasn’t long until he was dived under again. He begged them to stop but they didn’t. This went on for god knows how long and Kibum was not far from passing out. He didn’t struggle anymore, didn’t try to fight it because he was just too weak and just prayed it would be over soon. He asked himself what he had done wrong to deserve this but nothing came to his mind. Maybe the cake hadn’t been good or Jonghyun didn’t like it.

Several time later the two boys stopped and left the room without a word. Kibum was half floating in the water, coughing and trying to collect his energy and push himself out of the tub. He fell on the ground with a thud and whimpered softly, too tired to do anything else. He was trembling like a leaf and cold, goosebumps crawling up his arms and his soaked cloths didn’t make it any better.

Tears were rolling down his cheeks and he felt a harsh pain in his chest, right there where his heart was. He sat up carefully and looked to the door, afraid that Minho and Jonghyun might come back but he didn’t hear anything.

After some minutes he stood up and only succeeded after the second or third try because his legs were shaking so much. He wobbled to the door and opened it quietly, sneaking out of the room and went to hide in the corner next to the couch. The blonde curled up into a ball and tried to shield himself from the cold but he was still soaked to the bone and around him was already building a little puddle. But he didn’t want to move away, he was scared and wanted nothing more than to hide. He once again asked himself what he had done wrong, blaming himself for everything that had happened.

The fox cried himself to sleep that night silently, cold, scared and left alone.

Jonghyun woke up the next morning in a weird position on his bed, his clothes from the previous day and a handover on top of that. He groaned and rolled over, hoping to get rid of the headache but it stayed. He stood up with a sigh and decided to go and eat something because his stomach grumbled like a grizzly.

After arriving in the kitchen he noticed that he wasn’t the only one who felt this ty. The other three were also sitting around the table a worn out look on the face and the atmosphere was simply depressing.

“I’m never going to celebrate your birthday ever again,” Taemin mumbled and rubbed his temples.

Onew agreed with a nod. “Yeah that was the last time.”

The dino just shook his head at them and made himself a glass of water. No one said anything for a while before they heard light footsteps and Kibum appeared in the doorframe, looking just as tired as them. He looked up at the little gathering and his eyes widened, taking some small steps back again.

Jonghyun frowned as his saw the younger’s swollen eyes and that one of his cheeks was redder that the other. He wanted to approach him and asked him what was wrong but before he even said something the fox had already dashed out of the room again.

“What’s up with him?” Minho asked with a tired voice.

“I have no idea…” Jonghyun said slowly and wondered what was wrong with his pet. He had looked like he was terrified of him.

“I’m gonna look after him.” With that he left the kitchen and went to the living room where Kibum surely was either under the couch or on top of it. He found the younger doing the latter in his fox form and walked towards him.

Kibum lifted hip head to see who was coming and backed away from his Master as he wanted to sit next to him. Jonghyun looked slightly hurt by this but right now be didn’t care, he was too scared that the same thing from yesterday might happen again.

Jonghyun still sat down and extended one hand, wanting to pet the fox but the animal started to growl lowly as he got closer to him. He frowned, not knowing what was going on and tried to reach the fox’s head but Kibum only hissed at him, his ears bending back in an aggressive manner although his tail was in between his legs.

“What’s wrong?” the dino asked, concern shown in his tone but Kibum didn’t care. His poor heart was pounding too fast for his own good and his blood rushed in his ears. He was really, really tense, almost shaking and just didn’t want to be touched by anyone. Jonghyun still tried again and the fox clawed at his hand in despair and self-defense, jumping off the couch and quickly crawling under it to become one with the wall. Hopefully no one would try to get him out from there.

The brunette stared at his hand in disbelieve and watched some blood running down to his wrist. Kibum had never ever done something like that, especially not towards him. What had happened to make him like that? He really looked like he was just scared but why? Jonghyun didn’t remember doing something to make him scared.

His hand started to hurt so he got up and walked to the kitchen to wash the blood off and see the damage. The others (minus Minho) looked up and blinked in surprise as they saw his injury.

“What happened?” Onew asked and Jonghyun sighed sadly.

“Kibum scratched me. He doesn’t want to be touched or someone even near him.” He looked at the two cuts on the back of his hand. “I have no idea why but it seems like he’s really afraid of me.”

Before anyone else could have said something Minho’s voice echoed through the dorm.

“Has anyone seen my phone?” he asked.

“No!” they called back and he sighed.

It was quiet again and Jonghyun was having a conversation in his head, trying to figure out what to do about Kibum as Minho came almost running into the kitchen.

“Jonghyun…” he said slowly and the older looked up. Minho had his phone in his hand and looked at him with a very strange expression.

“What?”

“You have to see this but I’m sure you’re not going to like it,” he said and gave the older his phone and pressed the play button of a video.

“J-Jonghyun…”

The dino recognized Kibum voice immediately and was worried by the slightly scared tone. He looked down at the screen of the younger’s phone and was surprised by what he saw.

The video had been made in their bathroom and he spotted himself letting water run into the bathtub while Minho stood next to him. Kibum was on the floor in a huddled position and he wondered what the heck was going on there. He didn’t remember this scenery but there still was a video of it.

“What’s going on?” Kibum asked again and flinched away as his double on the screen jumped towards him.

“No, no, no,” He said in the video and shook his head at his pet. “Fox is not allowed to speak without permission.”

What? What the heck was that? He would never say something like that. Why shouldn’t Kibum be allowed to speak.  

“B-but-”

*slap*

Jonghyun flinched at the slapping sound and stared at the screen wide eyed. Did he just……….s-slap K-Kibum?

The blonde in the video turned his head to look at him and although the quality wasn’t the best he could still see his tears running down his cheek and his expression hurt him so much. It was a mixture of disbelieve, shock, fright, disappointment and so much else.

“Come on, fox still needs a bath.”

He just stared at the screen and looked how video-Minho lifted the fox and threw him in the bathtub without any care in the world. Kibum’s scream echoed in his ears and he saw him gasping for air and desperately trying to get out of the tub but they always shoved him back in. He probably hurt himself several times when he had slipped back once again.

His double in the video suddenly grabbed the blonde’s neck and he would never ever forget Kibum’s frightened expression. What happened next tore his heart into pieces. He forced the fox’s head under water and wouldn’t let him come up again.

Kibum coughed and gasped for air once he was lifted but it wasn’t long before he was dived under once again.

“P-p-please *cough* *cough* s-stop *gasp*!”

He didn’t know how long he stared at the screen of the horrible video until he and Minho vanished from the scene and left Kibum alone in the tub. The blonde coughed violently and tried to stable his breath before he climbed out of the tub and fell on the ground. A soft whimper reached Jonghyun’s ears and his blank mind just couldn’t take this anymore.

The video broke off abruptly probably because of a low battery and the screen faded to black. He stared at the phone in his hand in disbelieve and just couldn’t take in what just happened there.

He wanted to throw the phone out of the window and rip his hair out but instead he just dropped it on the table and took a deep breath, rubbing his face and ruffling his hair.  The others were shocked too and didn’t know what to say.

“I’m never going to drink this much ever again,” Jonghyun said quietly and swore to hold his word. What he had just seen was more than enough to let him make that decision.

“No surprise he’s so scared,” Taemin said quietly, still shocked from the video.

Jonghyun went to the living room although he knew Kibum wanted to be left alone but he just couldn’t. He needed to hold him, to tell him that everything was alright and that he was sorry. He didn’t care if he got a lot more scratches or not but he just wanted to cuddle with his precious little fox and didn’t want him to be scared of him.

He took out a package with Kibum’s favorite cookies and quietly crouched down in front of the couch. He spotted the fox and carefully reached out to grab him around his waist, knowing that he’d probably freak out. It’s what he did.

Kibum screeched and clawed at the ground, scared out of his mind and desperately tried to get out of the strong hold around his waist.

“Hey it’s okay, I won’t hurt you,” Jonghyun tried to calm him but Kibum didn’t seem to listen.

The dino dragged him out from under the couch and sat the squirming and hissing fox in his lap, holding him down gently. The animal growled dangerously and every normal sane person would have let him go already but not Jonghyun. He wanted his old pet back.

“Shh calm down, I’m not going to do anything,” he reassured and took a cookie, laying it down on his knee so that Kibum could take it if he wanted. He got a few more scratched and bites but managed to hold the scared fox close. He wouldn’t be angry at him, of course not because it was his way of defending himself. He tired petting his head carefully and scratched behind his ears, hoping it would help.

It took quite a while but Kibum calmed down eventually and carefully nibbled on the cookie, ears always on attention. He was still afraid to be thrown in the bathtub once again and flinched at every move.

Jonghyun had never felt so guilty in his entire life. It was his fault that Kibum was so jumpy now and it surely would take some time before he didn’t flinch at every move or loud noise anymore. He went on with petting his soft fur and talking to him in a calm voice.

“I’m so, so sorry,” he finally said. “You can scratch and bite me all you want and still won’t be enough to apologize.”

Kibum looked at him from the corner of his eyes, waiting for him to go on.

“I didn’t know what I was doing yesterday and I’m really so, so sorry. It’s never going to happen ever again, I swear.”

The fox turned around and sat down on the elder’s leg, lifting one paw and placing it above Jonghyun’s heart before changing into a human, his hand still in the same place.

Jonghyun looked at him and his gaze fell onto his cheek with was bruised. “I so sorry for breaking my word,” he said and carefully over the soft skin.

“So sorry…”

He pulled the younger close and pressed him against his chest, on hand the back of his head.

“Don’t hurt me again,” Kibum whispered and gripped onto his shirt tightly.

“Never.”

Hurray I managed to update on time...or earlier. I don't know but it's a pretty long chapter anyway.

I hope there aren't too many typos because I read over it a few times (which I normally don't do) and tried to correct as much as possible.

Poor Bummie but he just can't stay away from his Master. And stupid Jonghyun for drinking so much *shakes head*

Okay tell me what you think and like always I'm open to suggestions for the next chapters~ Tell me what you want to see and I'll try do fulfil your wished the best I can

Thanks to all my lovely Skys and everyone who voted or commented <3

Bye bye