It was late at night and the heavy downpour seemed to be endless. Kyungsoo found himself staring at a pair of puppy eyes inside the wet cardbox at the park near his apartment complex. Those round eyes stared at him back, unblinking, unnerving. he almost could hear the silent plea from it. 

"I can’t take you home," Kyungsoo said, not even sure that the puppy could hear them in between the thundering noise of the rain. "Ahjumma will kill me if I brought a dog to her apartment."

The puppy whined as if it knew it was rejected.

The next thing Kyungsoo knew, he was already standing outside his apartment door with a bundle of jacket in his arms, and a bushy brown tail appeared beneath his loose hold. 

Kyungsoo’s classes finished late again and he ran down the street like a mad man. He forgot to prepare food for Jongin - that’s the puppy’s new name now. His classes took nine hours and he didn’t quite sure if Jongin was still alive by then. After frantically searching for his keys, Kyungsoo slammed the door open in a heartbeat. He breathed his sigh of relief when he heard the usual short, cheerful bark from his puppy.

Jongin ran towards him with its never-ending vigor and climbed up to his hold immediately. Finally came up to Kyungsoo’s eye level, Jongin let out a canine-grin, which earned it a smile back from his owner. 

"Cute!" Kyungsoo said to it for the twentieth time on the last two days.

Jongin replied back with another bark. 

"Shh! Ahjumma can’t find out you’re here."

It let out a whine instead, feeling sad and rejected. 

"No, i’m not angry with you." Jongin yelped when kyungsoo cradled it on his arms, nuzzling his head to its brown fur before bringing it with him to the kitchen. "Now let’s get you to eat."

It was already seven in the morning, and Kyungsoo didn’t even stirred in his sleep. His class started at eight and he was supposed to be up since fifteen minutes ago according to the alarm that he had set last night.

Jongin had woke up at the same time the alarm started to blast off. It wiggled itself from his owner hold which had become loose when he slept. 

Yes, they slept together.

They didn’t know when did it started but Kyungsoo thought it was nice to sleep while holding Jongin in his arms. He slept while soft brown fur of Jongin, hearing its satisfied purrs as his lullaby. Jongin radiated the warmth that even his comforter couldn’t afford, and Jongin smelled even better than all of his detergent combined. There was no particular stench that a normal dog have, which usually Kyungsoo thought as repulsive. Jongin smelled of vanilla, cinnamon and some other things that Kyungsoo didn’t know but liked. 

Jongin nipped at Kyungsoo arm, lightly bit him on the skin without hurting him. Jongin didn’t know what time was it, but it knew when the loud noise from the alarm was off, its owner needed to get up.

Kyungsoo was unusually hard to wake up that day. The report that he had to finish was finally done at three in the morning. He needed sleep more.

Jongin’s light bites now turned into hard tugs. It carefully avoided his sharp fangs to hurt Kyungsoo but the bites became more urgent, insistent. His owner needed to wake up. Jongin wanted to bark loudly on Kyungsoo’s ears, but it remembered that Kyungsoo had forbid the loud noise. something involving ahjumma and getting kicked out.

"Mmh, Jongin?"

Jongin yipped happily as his owner finally woke up. It a trail from Kyungsoo’s nose to his lips, and kept at the soft, plump lips of his owner.

"Oh my god. did you just kiss me?" Kyungsoo’s laughs cracked in the middle, having sore throat in the morning. He squeezed Jongin’s face with his hands, laughing again when the puppy whined softly. "Thank you for the wake up call, Jonginnie."

Kyungsoo wanted to stay in the bed longer with Jongin but one glance at his clock had made him jumped off, reaching for the shower before taking off to his campus.

But he didn’t forget Jongin’s food this time.

"Kyungsoo-yah! Let’s have a drink after this!"

"I can’t today, Yeol." Kyungsoo answered without looking, increasing the speed of his hands to pack his things back in his bag. "I need to look after Jongin."

"Aw come on! It’s been a while since you join us." The giant peered closer to Kyungsoo and the latter only slapped him lightly on his forehead. "Baek said he missed you too."

"But i just met him for lunch!" Kyungsoo zipped his bag close and swung it to his back. "I’d love to drink with you guys, but Jongin really needs me." He shot an apologetic look.

Chanyeol only pouted harder.

"You only spent time with Jongin these days. We need our Kyungsoo too"

Kyungsoo gave a snort. “You only want me to pay for the drinks, don’t you?” 

Chanyeol grinned widely.

"Thought so. next week, okay? I promise."

Running towards his apartment as usual, Kyungsoo thought about his conversation with Chanyeol earlier. Since he brought Jongin to his apartment weeks ago, he found himself going straight home after class. He met his friends on regular basis, but not for a long time. There was this urge to come home, this part of him that couldn’t stand being away from his puppy for long. 

Is this feeling even normal?

Doubting his love for Jongin for the first time, Kyungsoo opened his apartment door with a heavy heart. But it soon vanished when Jongin came running towards him, yelping and whining for a hug. Kyungsoo gave in with a smile, taking Jongin in his arms to plant an eskimo kiss to Jongin’s nose. Jongin seemed to know the gesture as it started to shake his head left and right, along with the same full-teeth grin that Kyungsoo loved very much. 

Baekhyun said, he seemed to be smile a lot more these days. 

It wasn’t only from Baekhyun. his classmate and teachers also took notice that he seemed to be always in a good mood since weeks ago. 

Was it because of Jongin?

Kyungsoo loved it whenever he came home to Jongin, hearing its playful bark as his usual greeting. He had come to an empty home for years, and now having someone (or in this case, a dog) greeted him when he came home felt like heaven. Having Jongin bothered him when he was cooking, or typing his assignment was also did good for him. It made him felt happy that he wasn’t alone in his apartment anymore.

Kyungsoo felt a nip on his lips. 

He smiled as Jongin continued to bite and his lips lightly. It was Jongin’s new habit these days ever since it did that for the first time to wake Kyungsoo up. Chanyeol had said that it looked gross, but Kyungsoo didn’t mind it at all. It was just Jongin’s way to say his love towards him.

"Cute," Kyungsoo said as he nuzzled to Jongin’s hazel fur. "What do you want for dinner, Jongin? Chicken?"

The dog barked happily.

"I can’t believe you really bit him, Jongin." Kyungsoo shut the door behind him, ignoring how Jongin let out an angry growl again which never stopped since Hyunsik came over earlier.

It had been months since Jongin became a permanent hidden resident in Kyungsoo’s apartment room, and this was the first time Jongin showed some violence towards his guest. Jongin was okay with Baekhyun and Chanyeol who visited Kyungsoo regularly since they were already hopeless to ask him to go out and drink with them. (“So we decided to bring the drinks to you!” they had said)

Kyungsoo followed the dog to his couch and plopped down with a sigh. Jongin took a seat beside him, knowing his own weight now so he didn’t try to jump to Kyungsoo’s lap anymore. Jongin had grown so big within months. It had reached Kyungsoo’s waist in height and when they slept together, Kyungsoo found that he didn’t actually need a pillow anymore. Jongin was more than enough. 

"Why did you do that, Jongin?" When he didn’t get any response, Kyungsoo reached his hand to pat Pongin’s head. The dog only whined slightly before leaning closer to its owner. "Come here, you." Kyungsoo smiled as he brought Jongin’s head to rest on his lap. He the fur gently, loving how it curled around his fingers.

Come to think about it, Hyunsik wasn’t particularly a nice man. 

He was a friend from different class and just recently they became closer. Kyungsoo had the bad feeling from the start when Hyunsik had tried to hold his hands, or hug him out of nowhere. It made him felt uncomfortable. He had heard the guy’s reputation, and it wasn’t a good one.

Which had proven to be true when he tried to strip Kyungsoo earlier without his permission, before being stopped by Jongin’s bite. The dog bit him right on the shin, digging his fangs hard that they drew blood from deep within the flesh. Right after Kyungsoo did a good wrap on his wounds, the annoyed Hyunsik finally went home. 

Kyungsoo breathed a sigh of relief. 

"Thank you for earlier, Jongin." Kyungsoo brought Jongin to his hold, nuzzling his nose to the soft fur. "I wouldn’t know what to do without you."

Jongin growled at that. It gave a light nip on Kyungsoo’s nape. 

Don’t worry, I’ll protect you, Kyungsoo.

You are mine.

Jongin stared at the sleeping human beneath him. Having to go through that incident with Hyunsik had drained his energy more than he expected. Kyungsoo fell deep into slumber as soon as Jongin started to purr in his hold. 

Kyungsoo looked so pure, so beautiful. 

I want to protect him.

But with his hands that were paws and his words that were only barks and whines, Jongin didn’t know how to protect Kyungsoo properly. 

Jongin wanted more.

Jongin wanted human hands to hold Kyungsoo safely in his hold, wanted human words to speak loving and reassuring words to Kyungsoo’s ears, wanted human legs to walk beside him and make sure there were nothing that could harm Kyungsoo on his way home.

But more than anything, Jongin wanted human lips. 

Jongin wanted to kiss Kyungsoo so badly that it hurt. He wanted more than just a to Kyungsoo’s lips, or a shake to his nose-to-nose kiss. He wanted a human kiss, where he could give Kyungsoo all his love through his lips. 

Basically, Jongin wanted to become human, Kyungsoo’s human.

I love you, Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo woke up on his bed in the morning. A pillow was below his head and a blanket was covering his body safely from the cold. He vaguely remembered that he was sleeping on his couch last night with Jongin in his hold.

But then he also vaguely remembered that someone had carried him up to his bed last night. 

Who?

He was trying to get up when two hands were tightening their hold around his waist. Kyungsoo froze at that. The hands were now pulling him back to the bed, tugging him more to the side before his back touched a firm, warm skin that felt like a chest. 

Someone was on his bed. 

By then, kyungsoo was already struggling to release the hold on his waist. But the hands seemed to be as stubborn as he was and kept the hold tight and still. Kyungsoo gave in after the fifth attempt. He proceeded to turned his back instead, deciding to at least see the face of the owner of those hands. Knowing that he had stopped to let them go, the hands loosened his hold a bit to let Kyungsoo moved.

Tanned skin with firm, sculpted chest hit Kyungsoo right on his face when he finally turned himself around. He didn’t recognize this body from anywhere in his memories but when he looked up to the face, with toned jawline and messy brown hair, Kyungsoo had a feeling that he was going insane when he thought that he knew that person.

Strangely, he reminded Kyungsoo of Jongin.

The alarm suddenly went off with a blast and the man let out a groan. Kyungsoo felt the heat rose up to the tip of his ears as it sounded so inappropriate to his ears. 

"Ngg… Kyungsoo?"

The heat on kyungsoo’s ears stayed in place at the deep husk of the man’s voice. He calmed his racing heartbeat down, preparing himself to lash out and give the unknown man a beating. But nothing would prepare him for what the man did next. 

He a trail from Kyungsoo’s nose to his lips, nipping his bottom lip playfully with his teeth.

"Wake up, Kyungsoo." The man his own lips before grinning, but then his eyes widened in surprise. "Oh, you’re already up? That’s unusual."

Kyungsoo could feel the heat now colored his entire face in red and pink. “Wh-who are you?”

The man’s eyes narrowed, and Kyungsoo almost wanted to apologize when he saw the man’s expression was filled with hurt. “It’s me, Jongin. Wha-you don’t know me anymore Kyungsoo?”

Kyungsoo didn’t know what to say.

"What’s wrong? Did I do something?"

This man-Jongin, leaned even closer to Kyungsoo’s face. The hold on his waist was again tightened to the point it almost painful. He nuzzled his nose to Kyungsoo’s neck, nipping and his skin there with some degree of innocence that left Kyungsoo frustrated.

"Jongin, you-you talked." Kyungsoo took a look at Jongin once again from head to down before he stopped around the waist when he realized that Jongin didn’t even wear a single cloth on him. "Uh.. and you-you look like human."

"Oh.." Jongin stared at his ‘human’ hand. "You can understand my words?" 

"Y-yeah." Kyungsoo bit his bottom lip. Jongin was looking straight at his eyes with such heated intensity that made Kyungsoo’s knees grew weak even though he was already laid down on his bed.

What’s happening to him?

"There’s something that I wanted to say to you for a long time." Jongin took Kyungsoo hand on his, giving it a proper kiss rather than his usual dog-nibbles and . His eyes never waver from Kyungsoo’s, and the latter felt like his chest would burst from his loud heartbeats.

"I love you Kyungsoo."