It took them half an hour to prepare, and Junho backed up to stare at his work with crossed arms.

In his knapsack, a cat poked his head out of the main compartment, zipper pulled to only allow space on the right side. If you looked closely, you could spot a bird’s head from the front pouch, zipper pulled to the opposite side, to allow freedom on the left. On the same side, a chipmunk replaced the pouch a water bottle would have originally been found.

Junho gently slipped through the straps of the bag and the small monkey hopped onto his shoulder. In his hand the young man held a leash to an adorable brown puppy .

“Are you guys sure about this?” Junho asked hesitantly before opening the door. No one answered him. No one really knew what to say. Taking a deep breath, Junho opened the door and stepped outside.

This is ridiculous.

Junho was getting strange looks from the people he passed by. Normally, no one recognized him, and he could usually take walks like any other normal person if he stayed inconspicuous. But today, he had an assortment of animals and there was no doubt that they were attracting a lot of attention.

“Junho-oppa! Is that a monkey?”

“Oppa! Are you taking someone’s pets out for a walk?” Two girls approached him, giggling.

“Junho-ah, they recognize you!” barked Nichkhun, mouth open, tongue out and tail wagging.

“Awwww. Oppa, you’re puppy is so cute!!” the girls cooed over Nichkhun.

Junho sighed. Even as a dog, Nichkhun attracted more attention than the rest of them did. “Do you by any chance know where the Zycannah show is taking place?” he asked.

“That magic show? I think it’s thatta way. Oppa, you like magic? That’s so cool.” The girls were giggling again.

“Uhhh… Thanks.” Junho quickly excused himself, picking up Nichkhun and heading in the indicated direction.

“Thank goodness the place is nearby. People keep looking at us,” chirped Junsu.

“But this is kinda fun,” Wooyoung squeaked, his eyes darting back and forth.

“How can you have fun from a side pocket?” Chansung commented, now standing up on Junho’s shoulder.

“Chansung sit down,” Junho muttered from the corner of his mouth. Eventually a camera was going to find them, and he was going to be the only recognizable one. If that wasn't already bad enough, he really didn’t want additional rumors about him talking to animals.

Junho entered a carnival type scenery. Spotting the Zycannah sign, he quickly made his way over to the tent.  

“How may I help…” The lady’s eyes fell upon the assortment of animals Junho was carrying. “...you. What do we have here?” A sweet smile found her lips.

“Are you Zycannah?” She nodded as Junho continued, “I think this card belongs to you.” he pulled it out of his pocket and handed it over to her.

She inspected the card and smirked. “Indeed it does. So then I believe this is the idol group 2PM?”

“What did you do to my group members?” Junho asked as he eyed her cautiously.

He put Chansung down and took off his bag slowly, setting it on the table. He opened the zippers, and picked up Wooyoung from the side pocket. 

Zycannah narrowed her eyes in question. “Your group? So you’re a member? I guess you weren’t present when the magic did its work then.” She grinned. “Don’t be so tense young man. It was a bet that I thought I had lost. Plus, I didn’t think it’d work in the first place. The incantation needs to be read a certain way, at a certain speed…” 

All the animals turned to the monkey, who had lowered its head and was playing with its tail. “Sorry…”

“Seriously Chansung.” Taecyeon looked up the woman. “Can you change us back?” he practically meowed.

She didn’t respond. “Well can you?” repeated Junho.

She raised an eyebrow at his question. “I can't understand him. But I can see that you can. Probably since the spell was meant for you as well.”

“No wonder those girls didn’t respond…” muttered Nichkhun.

“So can you change them back?” interrupted Junho, looking back at woman.

She was smiling again. “Well I dunno about that. The fact that I successfully turned an idol group into a bunch of animals will make me quite famous, don’t you agree?” 

Junho’s eyes widened. “Wait, what? You can’t just…” he stuttered, his voice drowned out by the cries of alarm from his band members. Zycannah was already walking off, through a flap to another closed off area in the tent. Junho followed her in, leaving the others behind. 

“I travel a lot; the show in Seoul is about a week long. I perform here and there. I actually prefer the smaller crowds, as long as they’re consistent …”

“Please,” interrupted Junho, “You have to turn them back. They can’t stay as animals like some freak show. You just…” He was practically begging. “I’ll do anything.” He looked up and met her gaze. “Please.”

She smiled again, but softer this time. “Anything?” 

Junho was already regretting those words that had just come out of his mouth, but he didn’t take them back. 

A few days later, 2PM was back to their busy schedules. Someone had posted a few close-ups of their adventure outside, and Junho could be seen with that monkey on his shoulder. One of the pictures also caught the puppy Junho had had in his arms in addition to the furry creature that sat on his shoulder. Luckily, all the shots were taken somewhere from the front, and the rest of the gang was successfully hidden in the knapsack. On seeing an even messier dorm, pet hair everywhere, and running across the pictures online, their manager had assigned all the cleaning to Junho, thinking that the boy had been the only 1 who had stayed there during their break. Because of their busy schedule, none of them had had a chance to clean their own rooms, let alone the mess in the shared areas, and Junho was missing again, for the third night in a row.   

Nichkhun and Wooyoung relaxed on the couch together, flipping through channels on TV. Taecyeon sat on the floor, using the couch as a backrest as he surfed the net. Beside him sat Chansung, chomping on the last of his dried mango stash, peering over his hyung’s shoulder and reading the latest news online. Junsu walked over, hair still damp from his shower. 

“Junho’s gone again?”

Wooyoung nodded. “Yeah. He keeps coming home really late.”

Junsu sighed and sat on one of the arms of the couch. “Anything on?”

“Nope.”

“Woah Wooyoungie, go back. Isn’t that Zycannah?” 

Five pairs of eyes fell upon the TV screen as they watched her show.

“She’s good.”

“She turned us into animals. She better be good.”

They all watched her go through complex magic tricks, and some old traditional ones.  

“Hey. Is that…?” 

Nichkhun suddenly pulled himself up and walked over to the fridge. “We don’t have any meat. At all.” He went to his room, and came back out, coat on and wallet in hand. “I’m going out to buy some.”

“Hyung, I’ll come too! Plus, I think you’ll need help with picking out what he likes,” Chansung called as he darted to his room.

Wooyoung pulled himself off the couch and walked to the kitchen, opening the fridge. “Guess I’ll start with the vegetables," he commented with a sigh.

Junsu got up. “That leaves us with clean up," he said as he threw a folded pair of socks at Taecyeon’s head. “Come on.”

Taecyeon sighed and shut his laptop. "He better appreciate this," he muttered, looking over at the TV; the show was ending. 

“Thank you everyone! Smile at the audience Mr.Rabbit!” 

If a rabbit could smile, and this one probably could, you would have sworn its smile reached its tiny eyes. 
 

Epilogue 

Junho checked his email before leaving to another photoshoot. He spotted a message, and opened it. It was email sent from Jaebum.

“Junho are you crazy?? Do you want Chansung to hate you for life? Why on earth would you get a monkey?!?” 

The End.

Thanks for reading! =)