Chapter Thirty-One
You Tuck Me in Just Like a Child Now,
Others Can’t Go on if it isn’t Me

“Ddalgi~” Kyungsoo called, pulling the gray and white ball of fluff from where she had already attached herself to Jongin’s thigh, nuzzling her as she began to purr. There was a stampede of pitter patters before Monggu, Jjangu and Jjangah were seen running down the hall, tripping over each other as they made their way to the pair. Jongin dropped down to his knees and the three of them were a mess of climbing over each other to cover him in their slobber, Ddalgi wrapping herself around Kyungsoo’s neck and rubbing his cheek with her own. Once the mutt trip finally calmed down Jongin was able to retrieve their leashed and get them on before they made their way out of Jongin’s house - for once without Ddalgi trying to escape and Jongin tried to offer Kyungsoo Jjangu like usual.

“I know, Jjangu pulls the least, but I think I can handle one of the others,” Kyungsoo said when Jongin opened his mouth and reached to take Jjangah’s leash instead. “Besides, I don’t think it’s fair to make you hold two leashes and me only have to hold the one when you give me the easiest of the three,” He added, hooking his arm around Jongin’s and allowing Jjangah to pull them to start their walk. The two boys didn’t seem as excited about the snow as she was, and Kyungsoo was having second thoughts about taking her by the time they had gotten to the dog park a few blocks away.

“Do they allow unleashed dogs at this one?” Kyungsoo asked as Jongin went up to the giant rules sign, nodding.

“Looks like they decided to make things easier on dog owners at this one,” He said, making sure that the fence gate was closed before he knelt down to unfasten the leashed from each of the mutt trio. Jjangu and Monggu kept close to the pair as they made their way over to one of the benches, Jongin taking the initiative to brush the snow off of it and gestured for Kyungsoo to sit while he cleared a place for himself next. Kyungsoo noticed that Jjangah was busy rolling around in the snow as he sat down, smiling softly, and Jongin scooted closer to the older, laying his head on his shoulder.

“Thank you for always coming with me when I have the day to spend with them. I know you miss seeing Ddalgi, but you could always just stay at my parent’s home and play with her. Instead you come out with me, even in the snow,” he said and Kyungsoo looked at him, leaning down to place a kiss against his forehead.

“I like your dogs, and I wasn’t around much during break since my family wanted me to come and stay with them. I missed you, so it doesn’t matter what we do, I don’t want to miss a chance to spend the day with you,” He replied and Jongin nodded, snuggling closer. Eventually Jjangu and Monggu joined Jjangah in the snow adventures and they were all soaked an hour later when they came back over to Kyungsoo and Jongin, trying to climb up onto their laps and Jongin’s sleepy face. The younger laughed and nudged them off, standing from the bench and stretching.

“I guess they’re ready to head home,” He said and Kyungsoo nodded, pulling his hands out of his coat pockets to help put the leashes back on. He took Monggu this time, even though Jjangah had calmed down a lot in their hour of exercise, holding the gate open for Jongin to step through with the other two first. Kyungsoo followed after, closing the gate and looping his arm through Jongin’s as usual, leading the way back towards Jongin’s parent’s house.

His arm slipped from Jongin’s when Monggu started barking, and then started chasing, a stray black cat, pulling Kyungsoo along for the ride as Jongin called out their names. Monggu turned around a corner sharply after the other, and with the depth of the snow Kyungsoo didn’t see the curb that he knew was in front of him, so he tried to step out of the way and now stub his toe against it. While he managed to avoid the curb, his foot found its way into a pot hole and the dark haired male was sent to the snow covered ground, pain shooting up his leg and Monggu’s leash slipping from his fingers.

“Hyung!” Jongin exclaimed, and Kyungsoo winced when he tried to move his right leg and his ankle throbbed.

“G-go get Monggu, I’m not going anywhere,” he said through a clenched jaw, and Jongin’s eyebrows knitted together before Kyungsoo shooed him off and he hurried after Monggu to retrieve him. He found the poodle at the base of a tree that the black cat had scaled, pulling the leash out of the snow and dragging the barking dog from the tree and back down the block to Kyungsoo. The older was sitting up now, hands wrapped tightly around his ankle and Jongin dropped down in front of him.

“H-hyung, you’re hurt,” Jongin said and Kyungsoo shook his head.

“I’ll be fine. I think I sprained it.”

“Let me help you up,” Jongin said and Kyungsoo shook his head before he looked down the road towards the house, and then back to Jongin.

“Get the three of them home first. There’s no way you’ll be able to get me back to the house while walking all three of them,” he ordered, Jongin opening his mouth to argue. “I can wait. Go.” His tone left no room for debate and Jongin frowned before standing back up and dragging the mutt trio down the road. He shoved them into the house, shutting the door before Ddalgi could realize he was home and was running back down the road to Kyungsoo in record time.

“Okay, now if you take my hand and pull me up, I should be about to-” Kyungsoo was cut off when Jongin squatted down, hooking one arm underneath his knees and looping the other around his waist, standing so he was carrying the older bridal style. “Jongin, I can walk,” Kyungsoo stated and Jongin shook his head, starting for the house.

“You’re hurt; I don’t want to risk you making it worse Hyung. Knowing you, you wouldn’t let me help you walk back, you would try to take all the weight,” Jongin stated, and Kyungsoo frowned.

“You don’t know that.”

“I know you, Hyung,” Jongin said, and the older pouted, but realized that arguing was most likely in vain at this point. He only set Kyungsoo down when they got to the front door, and Kyungsoo tried to step towards the door, his knee trying to give out in the process and Jongin’s hands were back on him to keep him steady. The younger opened the door, tensing when he saw Ddalgi sitting at the bottom of the stairs and expecting her to make a run for the door. Her tail flipped around to the other side of her body as she watched them slowly get inside, and Jongin shut the door long before she got up and made her way over to them, rubbing herself against Kyungsoo’s good leg.

Jongin helped Kyungsoo limp over to the couch, propping his ankle up on a couple of pillows before he hurried into the bathroom and returned with a first aid kit. He sat beside the other, hands hesitant as they hovered over Kyungsoo’s shoe, and he frowned when he heard the older laugh.

“It’s okay, I know it’s not going to feel nice, but you don’t have to worry. I’ll be fine,” He assured the other who nodded and looked down at his shoe. He was still very careful as he untied Kyungsoo’s shoe as much as he could without completely unlacing it, pulling it off and trying not to flinch at the wince he caught out of the corner of his eye. He pulled Kyungsoo’s sock off just as slowly, then opened the first aid kit and pulled out the ace bandage inside, pulling up something on his mobile to check what the best way to wrap a sprained ankle was.

“This says that it’s best to switch between icing it and having it elevated. Ten to twenty minutes every one to two hours,” Jongin rattled off and Kyungsoo nodded. “We can stay here until my mom comes home and can take us back to the dorms. It shouldn’t be too long, she usually gets off work around now,” Jongin added, looking over at the clock. “So I’ll go get something frozen and we can ice your ankle while we wait for her to get home,” He finished, standing and closing the first aid kit, putting it back into the bathroom before making his way into the kitchen.

He was back after a few minutes, carefully draping a package of frozen peas over Kyungsoo’s ankle before Kyungsoo reached out to pull him to sit on the couch by his torso. Jongin was right about his mother getting home soon, and she was shocked when she walked in to see Kyungsoo on the couch, Jongin quick to explain what happened.

“Of course I can take you two back to the dorms,” She said, not bothering to get out of her shoes. Kyungsoo barely sat up before Jongin picked him back up, the older huffing as his cheeks burned, Jongin’s mother hiding a smile with her hand. Jongin slid into his shoes and carried Kyungsoo out of the house, setting him down in the back seat after his mother had opened the door for him, and he hurried back into the house for Kyungsoo’s other shoe before he joined Kyungsoo in the back seat.

Kyungsoo unlocked the dorm door when Jongin tried to, shaking his head at how the other thought that he would have an easy time unlocking it with Kyungsoo in his arms. He turned the handle and pushed the door open, frowning a little at the scene before them

“You’ve got Minseok-Hyung barking up your tree, and you just sit there whining on Weibo about how no one is paying attention to you,” Sehun accused with a sigh, crossing his arms over his chest. ZiTao frowned, looking up from his mobile and staring at the younger from his spot on the couch for a moment.

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about the old man who’s been bringing you all those sweets for almost a month. Kim Minseok? Does that ring any bells?”

“I have no idea who that is,” ZiTao stated and Sehun rubbed his face with one of his hands.

“Minseok-Hyung, that guy who bought us that fancy juice so we don’t get sick.”

“I thought that was LuHan-Ge,” ZiTao replied and Sehun let out a loud sigh.

“LuHan-Hyung introduced him to you for crying out loud!”

“Uh… What did we walk in on?” Kyungsoo asked, Jongin shrugging the best he could with Kyungsoo in his arms still, backing up to push the door closed.

“Maybe going back to your dorm would have been better,” Jongin said and Kyungsoo made a face.

“Not unless dumb and dumber are gone for the day, who knows what Chanyeol would do if he saw me,” Kyungsoo said before he struggled once he noticed that the two blonds were looking over at them. “And like I said again and again, I am capable of walking on my own, put me down!” He demanded, and Jongin set him down carefully, keeping an arm around his waist to support him and keep weight off his sprained ankle.