A/N: Wow its been forever please forgive. I found like, half of this chapter while cleaning out old emails and it made me laugh. I forgot about this chapter. I loved it so much. So here it is. Just kind of a cute fun chapter showing her progressing friendships with a couple of the boys.

“Mari you can’t have animal crackers and iced coffee for breakfast.” Junmyeon said as he walked through the living room, straightening his tie getting ready for the work day.

Mari was sitting on the couch watching cartoons with Chanyeol and Chen as it had become routine. “Why not?” she asked.

“Because that’s not breakfast food.” Junmyeon said matter of factly.

“Who says?” Mari kept her eyes on the TV screen as she fired her questions in rapid succession. She was watching as Chanyeol flicked through the channels in search of Peppa Pig as per Chen's demand.

“Everyone in the world agrees animal crackers and iced coffee are not breakfast foods.” Junmyeon was getting a bit flustered now by Mari’s child like innocent questions.

“Why?” She heard a deep sigh and then a chuckle from the tall man a couple of cushions over.

“Because they just do.”

“Well I say what everyone says. I like animal crackers and iced coffee.”

Chen lifted his head from her lap roaring in laughter causing the bag of animal crackers residing on his chest to rustle, nearly spilling the contents onto the floor. “That’s my girl!” he exclaimed proudly while wiping away a tear.

Junmyeon just pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. “And here I thought you were going to be my golden child. The beagles have infiltrated your well being. I can only hope Yixing is enough to counter act that.” He gave one last final sigh before grabbing his car keys. “Have a good day children.”

“Bye mom.” The three chorused as they were now all munching on animal crackers and being engrossed in Peppa Pig.

“Do you think that was a little harsh? I was just playing around.” Mari asked now feeling a bit bad. “Should I apologize later?”

Chanyeol shook his head. “Nahhh. That’s nothing compared to the hell we have put that man through for years. I thought you were being funny. It’s nice to see you warming up and showing your true self.”

The two went back to their cartoon watching, when they heard water running from upstairs.

“Yixing must be awake finally. He never sleeps this late. What did you do to wear him out last night?” Chanyeol asked prodding Mari in the ribs with his elbow. Jongdae snickered below her.

She swatted away Chanyeol’s limb and flicked Jongdae on the forehead. “Oh grow up you two. Nothing like that. We just went on our first date together after he got off work so it was late when we got home.”

Jongdae rubbed the reddening spot on his forehead. “You do seem really happy today though.”

Mari hummed in agreement. “Well…” she began. “We did kiss last night. That was nice.”  She watched as Chanyeol did a happy shimmy in his seat while wearing a eating grin.

“Yi-xing and Ma-ri sittin’ in a tree.”

“Jongdae don’t.”

“K-I-S-S-I-N-G!!” Chanyeol had joined Jongdae in his teasing, and now both boys were making kissy faces and noises in her face.

“WHY DO I EVEN TRUST EITHER OF YOU?” She shouted in exasperation. She folded herself into the corner of the couch trying to escape the advancing teasing.

“Because you love us and we’re your family now.”

“That’s what family does. Especially brothers.”

They had settled back onto the couch and no sooner did Yixing run into the living room, hair still soaking wet, while struggling with his bowtie.

“Oh, you have work so soon?” Mari asked standing up to help the ever so frantic Yixing fix his bowtie.

“Not originally no. But they called me saying we have some sort of like meeting all afternoon and I have a wedding directly after so I’m going to be gone all day. It’s in like 15 minutes.”

Mari finished tying his bowtie with skilled fingers. “There. Now calm down. You’ll make it.”

Yixing took a deep breath and gave her a smile. “Thank you.” He leaned in and gave her a quick kiss. A mixture of an “aww” and an “eww” could be heard from the peanut gallery still sitting on the couch. Yixing just rolled his eyes.

“You two. Since I’m going to be gone all day, I need your help. I was originally going to take Mari to get a cell phone since she’ll be needing one for work soon, but I need the both of you to take her to get one. Any one she wants. I’ll pay you back when I get home because I don’t have cash and I need my card today. Can you do that for me?”

Chen stood up giving a salute. “Yes sir! Captain Beagle Jongdae ready for duty sir!” Chanyeol mimicked him afterwards, though a bit clumsier. How he managed to stay on two solid feet most days was beyond anyone’s guess.

Yixing grimaced a bit. “Maybe I should call out of this meeting today.”

Mari just shook her head. “It’ll be fine. I promise. They’re just, a little extra today. Probably from all the animal crackers.”

Yixing couldn’t help but chuckle. “Alright. Text me as soon as you get your phone so I can save your number. Get everyone’s number from those two dorks in there. Okay?”

Mari nodded.

“Also, are you three watching Peppa Pig?”

Slight embarrassment flushed over Mari’s cheeks. “It…it’s actually pretty funny.”

“Their heads look like es!” Jongdae chimed from the back.

“On that note, I’m leaving.” And Yixing gave Mari one last kiss on the forehead before stepping out of the door.

“Wow! You’re car is really nice too!” Mari exclaimed as the trio made their way into the garage. She sat down in the passenger seat as Chanyeol climbed into the drivers.

“It’s my baby. Better than Yixing’s huh?”

Mari shrugged her shoulders. “It’s definitely nice, but I like Yixing’s because it suits him well.”

“Well, he could have a car as nice as Chanyeol’s but he refuses to join us working at the studio. The guy is a musical mastermind.” Jongdae explained from the backseat.

“Why won’t he work with you all?”

“He says he really enjoys what he’s doing now. He loves seeing people happy and in love. That’s been his biggest dream since we’ve known him in high school. Wants to find the one, get married, and have a family.”

Mari nodded her head silently. A family, huh? 

"Mari! Look at this one!" Chanyeol pressed his hands on to the glass case, smucking it up with his giant finger prints. He pointed excitedly to the newest phone model on display. "You should get it!"

Mari looked at the price card. "It's like $600. Yixing would kill me." 

Jongdae appeared on the other side of her and grinned. "He DID say ANY phone you wanted was on him. I'm sure if he were here, he'd insist you get this one if it's what you really wanted. We know how he spoils you rotten." 

Mari playfully smacked Jongdae on the chest. "Stop that. You're going to embarass me." 

"Ohhh, look. Mari is embarassed about having a sugar daddy." 

"Oh my god Chanyeol shut UP!" Mari hid her face with her hands. "He is not my sugar daddy. He's my boyfriend. He just...takes care of me well." 

"So then let him, and get this phone! Imagine all the cute selfies we could take!" Chanyeol's puppy pout appeared on his face in 0.2 seconds. He walked over to a sales representative, and asked to play with the display phone. 

After the phone was unlocked and handed to Chanyeol, he immediately opened the camera app and turned it to selfie mode. He made a cute face above Mari's head and Jongdae leaned in with a smile, and he snapped the memory. 

"See look. Look how cute we are. You can't tell me you don't want this phone's amazing camera." 

Mari sighed. "Chanyeol, there will probably be more selfies of you on it than me." She looked at it once more. "I don't know guys. I'd feel really guilty. It's a lot of money." 

Jongdae took a second to read the information card. "It comes in rose gold." 

"I'll take it."

Mari's new phone sat pretty in her cupped hands. "I'm so afraid I'm going to break it." 

She heard the engine of Chanyeol's car roar to life. "That's why we're going to the mall to get you a case, and some pretty charms for it."

"Oh no no no. I'm not spending any more of Yixing's money."

"We know!" Jongdae piped up from the back seat."That's why these are on us!" 

"I can't let you two do-"

"We want to."

Mari turned around and gave Jongdae a genuine smile. "Thank you." She said. 

"Anything for an honorary beagle." 

Mari looked surprised. "Oh I'm a beagle now too? How flattering." 

"We don't just choose ANYONE to live the beagle life. The beagle life chooses them. And you just so happen to be born in the correct year too." Chanyeol explained. 

"I see." Mari started. "What else does it take to be a beagle?" 

"Get on Junmyeon's last ever loving nerve." 

Jongdae's laughter rang loudly from the backseat. "You have to be cute, too."

Mari turned back around in her seat. "You think I'm cute?"

Jongdae just gave an over exagerated wink and an equally so air kiss."Captain beagle approved!" 

Mari just giggled at the gesture. "Ew."


The bag of various phone charms and cases tinkled lightly as they walked through the mall. What was supposed to be a quick stop to the chell phone accessory kiosk for ONE case and ONE charm, turned in to an all afternoon trip to the mall with too many cases and charms for one person. But Mari was sure the alpaca charm hanging off the corner of her phone right now was her favorite. 

They quietly on bubble teas as the continued their trek through long walks of stores. Jongdae stopped dead in his tracks, causing Mari to bump in to him slightly. 

"Jongdae what in the-"

"PHOTOBOOOOOTH!" he yelled as he took off. Mari could hardly process what just happened before the two boys were already clambering inside of it. 

She stepped inside the brightly colored booth where they were already fighting over what border to use. "How does this work?" She asked innocently, poking her head inbetween Chanyeol and Jongdae's bodies. The two just stopped and looked down at her. 

"You've never been in a photobooth before?" Chanyeol looked as if his eyes were about to pop out of his head in bewilderment, but then again, Mari thinks maybe he's had too much caffeine already. 

She shook her head no. 

Jongdae let out a sound of disbelief. "Well we're going to have to do lots of rounds of photos so we can show you everything then. He inserted a couple more bills. "You pick a main border first. Some are colors, patterns, some have words. Then we get to take a few round of photos. The best part is getting to decorate the photos after that. Then it prints them out! It's a lot of fun!" 

"Mari, you pick our first border then!" Chanyeol said scooting a bit out of the way so she could look. She ran her finger across the screen until she settled on one decorated with pink hearts and stars with the word 'cute' all over it. 

"Okay, step back now so the camera can see us all!" Jongdae grabbed her shoulders and pulled her back agsinst them so the camer wasn't cutting off her head. "Now, it's going to countdown from five, and we just make poses! Get ready!"

The booth began to beep and countdown in the corner of the screen. Mari observed Jongdae and Chanyeol's faces before pulling a wide smile like they were. The camera sound clicked and soon the countdown started over. They posed with bunny ears, puppy poses, pouts, smiles, and even one with them hugging tightly on to each side of Mari capturing her most lovely laughter smile. 

After they finished a few rounds, they stepped out of the booth to collect their photo collages. Mari flipped through them with the two taller peeking over her shoulder to see. 

"We really turned out nicely!" Chanyeol said with a grin, down the last of his forgotten bubble tea. 

Mari stopped at the first collage they took where they were hugging her tightly, with genuine smiles plastered on everyone's faces. "Guys, can I keep this one?"

Jongdae nodded. "Of course. We'll come back some other time and take more." 

Mari thought for a moment where she would put her photo, before she had a great idea. "Guys, can you all send me the photos we took together that night we all went out for dinner? And then can we make one last stop before we go home?" 

Mari was busy at Yixing's desk, gluing craft foam hearts of various pinks and reds on to the tops of clothes pins, while Chanyeol and Jongdae strung some clear fishing line on to the wall above her vanity. She gathered the clothes pins in her hand and walked over to where the boys had finished hanging up the line. 

She stretched on her tippy toes but wasn't able to reach the line. Her lips formed a small pout as she went to stand on her vanity chair. 

"Don't do that. You might fall." Chanyeol squatted down in front of her. "Get on my shoulders. It's a lot more steady." 

Mari threw her legs over Chanyeol's shoulders and wrapped her arms around his neck to steady herself, as he securely grabbed her legs. Jongdae handed her the first clothes pin and photo and she pinned it securely to the line. She smiled as she looked over each picture of her and all the boys.

There was a picture of her and Jongin and Sehun from head to toe because they all accidentally matched that night. There was the picture of her and Tao when he tricked her in to making a funny face. The one of her sitting in Chanyeol's lap because he was pouting because she was taller than him when she was standing and him sitting. The one of her and Kyungsoo made her laugh because they both had on a wide eyed expression. There was one of her caught off guard laughing with Jongdae and Baekhyun, an elegant one of her Minseok, and Junmyeon that looked like it belonged in a magazine, and her most favorite one of all; the one of her and Yixing with their heads close together smiling so sincerly. 

She gave them one last look over before Chanyeol sat her down. "Can't forget this one!" he added as he pinned their photobooth photo from the day on to the end. 

They all stepped back and admired their work, Mari admiring the memories. She took in a deep breath before she began to tear up without warning. A sudden sniffle brough Chanyeol's attention back to her. 

"No no no! why are you crying?" She immediately felt two pairs of arms warp securely around her, surrounding her in warmth and comfort. 

"I just...I'm so happy. I don't know what I did to deserve you all in my life, but I couldn't be more thankful. Thank you guys." 

"You don't have to thank us. It's what family does. We all care about you, especially Yixing, and we want to see you happy. We will definitely all make so many more happy memories with you. So many, that all your bad ones will seem like just a bad dream." Jongdae was surprisingly serious for once. 

Mari looked up at him with watery eyes. She was so glad to have friends, especially ones who cared for her. "Promise?" she asked quietly. 

"Beagles honor." 

A/N: I think Mari fits in well with those two beagles the most. Sorry there wasn't a lot of Yixing in this chapter. There will be more later, but right now, I needed to focus more on the dynamic of friendship since that's something Mari never had. I hope you enjoyed this cute little tidbit.