What happened to you?

Shortly thereafter, Myungsoo had to force his boyfriend into the bath. He stripped the restless elder , who seemed to appreciate the freedom from his tight, constricting wear. He climbed into the tub unknowingly and excitedly, curiously watching the figure as he went about the cubicle. 

"Please just take a bath. We can talk later."

No response. Just happy, idiotic and creepy stares.

Impatient, Myungsoo the water for him with a scowl. The water noisily splashed and started to fill the tub; Dongwoo was obviously quite upset by it. He started yelping, whining, and trying to climb his way out of the tub anxiously. Myungsoo knelt down and pressed Dongwoo firmly down by the shoulders, trying to get him to behave. Dongwoo refused to stay still and looked up at Myungsoo with eyes filled with fright. 

"No! You're dirty. You have to bathe. What's gotten into you..?!" 

There was no negotiating with the blond. He splashed water, letting out throaty cries, scratching and tugging at Myungsoo's sleeves.

"H-Hey, stop! That hurts, Dongwoo... Please, just stop!" 

And that did it. The firmness in Myungsoo's voice had Dongwoo frozen. It seemed as if that was the only word the male understood, as he let go of Myungsoo's stretched out clothing, sitting unhappily in his bath as it quickly filled to the brim with warm water. Myungsoo had pulled up a bath stool next to the tub in the meantime, making sure Dongwoo cleaned himself off instead of trying to escape and track more mud all over their apartment. Minutes passed, however, and neither of them moved. Dongwoo seemed contrite, once or twice looking at Myungsoo and turning his gaze away when he stared back. 

"Am I seriously going to have to do it for you?" 

Rolling up his sleeves, he reached over for the shampoo and squeezed a generous amount atop Dongwoo's head. Dongwoo flinched, disliking the thick liquid dripping off the tips of his hair. He watched Myungsoo, who sat back and watched Dongwoo in return. 

Amazing. He's either ing around with me, or he's come back home missing half a brain, he thought.

"Do it like this..." Myungsoo mumbled, reaching over and lathering up the shampoo sitting in Dongwoo's hair. Dongwoo seemed to enjoy this a little bit more than the water. He smiled toothily, trying to playfully fight off Myungsoo's gentle touch. 

Sighing, Myungsoo tugged up Dongwoo's hands to his head. "Now you try it." 

He did. Dongwoo began to move his fingers about his hair, lathering up the rest. Good. Dongwoo removed his sud-coated fingers from his hair, staring at the marvelous sight as Myungsoo was busy rinsing the shampoo out with the water. Dongwoo at his hands, covering his face with foam, coughing and continuing to fight through the bad taste as he away. 

The other male caught him lapping up at his hands. "... Hey, what the hell are you doing?!" Myungsoo quickly the faucet again, rinsing Dongwoo's bubbly face and cleaning what he could off his tongue. 

"Don't eat that, okay?" 

If Dongwoo was going to keep this up, it was going to be hell, and Myungsoo knew it. He wanted — no, needed — to find out what was wrong with him. He wouldn't go so far as to teasing Myungsoo enough to eat soap, would he? Obviously. He was sick. Something happened. Something.

***

Over the next few days, similar odd occurrences continued to happen between the two males. Dongwoo messily ate his meals without utensils and drank out of cups with difficulty as his tongue wouldn’t collect the liquid well enough. He wanted to play catch and constantly whined in Myungsoo’s direction when they wouldn’t go outside (and Myungsoo refused to until his search engine taught him what was going on with his boyfriend). That obviously meant Dongwoo didn’t know how to use the goddamn toilet either, which made Myungsoo furious when he woke up to a very warm and very wet mattress.

He studied Dongwoo, hour after hour. He watched his behavior, the kind of cravings he had, and even the kind of noises he made or things he did to draw Myungsoo’s attention.

And so, though it took days to understand what happened, and why — though he never did find out why — Myungsoo had come to the conclusion that Dongwoo had turned into a dog during that storm. Probably some Freaky Friday kind of . He believed in zombies and vampires, so why not body switches? In fact, after Dongwoo stopped being able to talk he became a lot more interesting through his actions, albeit still quite annoying. He wondered if his boyfriend was trapped in a dog’s body, then. He’d make one giant of a dog, he thought.

“Dongwoo, no,” Myungsoo would say firmly, every time he found Dongwoo trying to chew up another arm of the couch. Dongwoo would get mildly upset at Myungsoo and go off to ignore him, then, lying on the hard floor clutching the flat basketball he (probably) sniffed out of a dusty corner under their previously shared bed. But that wouldn’t last very long and he’d stumble back up excitedly every time Myungsoo got up from his seat to enter another room.

He wasn’t a bad dog, but he wasn’t a good one either, Myungsoo realized. Dongwoo was tolerable and quick to learn, but prone to misbehaving as much as he could, and more often than not Myungsoo found himself waking up to a clutter of a house that he remembered being clean just before sunrise. He had quickly taught Dongwoo how to use the toilet, at least, since Myungsoo had neither the time nor the patience to clean up after his mess every few hours. And though his “aim” wasn’t that perfect, it was better than having him piss outdoors in the privacy of their balcony, let alone their own mattress.