“Hold still for just a moment longer… There we go!” ZiTao’s lips curled up into a smile as the small fluff ball shook herself, causing the tag on her new collar to jingle softly. “Oppa~” the blond whined, picking up Candi and turning to face where the other was laying on the couch, causing the other’s soft snoring to immediately stop, and his eyes to slowly open. “Oppa, look at Candi’s new collar!” he said excitedly.

“I haven’t had enough coffee for you to be throwing that word around,” came the older’s response as he closed his eyes again, ZiTao giving his own a playful roll before he half crawled over to Minseok, setting Candi on his chest. Minseok jumped a little, settling when Candi padded forward, his cheek and he reached up to scratch behind one of her ears. “It’s cute, I think you picked out a nice one,” he stated, his other hand coming up to trace over the pink painted leather. “A little big, but she is only a year old, so she’ll grow into it,” he added, looking to ZiTao as the other dropped himself in the older’s lap; or at least, what would have been his lap if he had been sitting up.

“We should take her on a walk so she can show it off!” ZiTao chimed, Minseok letting out a small laugh before Candi padded over into ZiTao’s lap, making it so that Minseok was able to sit up.

“I think you’re the one who wants to show off,” he teased, ZiTao offering a small shrug before Minseok nudged him off of his lap to go get dressed.

“Want to stop in for a drink?” ZiTao asked when they rounded the corner that their favorite convince store was on. Minseok started to nod when the ‘no pets allowed sigh’ caught his attention and he looked down.

“What about Candi?” ZiTao looked to him as if the connection was slow to click for him.

“Oh…” he said before looking around, perking up when he saw a bike rack, making his way to kneel beside it. “She should be fine for just a minute,” he reasoned, tying the leash to it and returning to Minseok’s side so they could enter the convince store together.

“Candi?” Minseok shifted the bag he was holding to his other arm so he could hold ZiTao’s hand, looking to the blond who was kneeling before the bike rail that Candi’s leash was still attached to, tensing a little when he saw that Candi was nowhere in sight. “Candi!” ZiTao called, looking down one direction of the side walk, then the other before he spun around to face the older, tears lacing his eyes as he struggled to form words long enough for tears to spill over his eyelids and Minseok pulled the younger against his chest. He was about to reach up to pet the back of the younger’s head when he caught something white out of the corner of his eye and he turned, ZiTao following his gaze before bolting down the sidewalk, Minseok quick to follow.

“Candi!” ZiTao didn’t register the clatter of cans and boxes hitting the concrete as Minseok dropped the bag from the convince store, letting out a struggled cry when arms wrapped around his waist, ZiTao’s feet leaving the concrete with the sudden stop he was pulled to. He looked up to find Minseok to be the one holding onto him, attention turning back to the crosswalk he had been about to follow Candi across. “Wh-what are you doing?”

“Me? What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Minseok snapped, ZiTao looking back to him as he was released, only for the older to grab onto his arm when he started for the crosswalk again. “ZiTao! Look where you were going!” The blond stopped struggling out of the other’s hold, looking at the crosswalk to see several cars shoot past, the color draining from his face. “That’s how Jongin ended up in the hospital, by crossing traffic when he wasn’t paying attention. Kyungsoo said that he’s lucky to be alive, so don’t you dare go doing something so god damn stupid!”

“Why are you being so mean and calling me stupid? I’m trying to get Candi!”

“Oh my god kid, you’re not listening. The sign says don’t walk and there are cars going through the cross walk. How does you getting hit by a car help get Candi back?” Minseok’s voice was still raised, and ZiTao shrunk, tears filling his eyes again.

“I’m just trying to get her back,” the blond almost whimpered, Minseok pinching the bridge of his nose as he sighed.

“You have such a one track mind like a child.” Irritation flickered behind the younger’s tear laced eyes, and he yanked his arm back as his hands balled into fists.

“I’m not a child!”

“You tried to run into traffic!”

“Why are you so stuck on that, you’re making it out to be a huge deal and you’re acting like Candi going missing means nothing!”

“I’m making a big deal out of this because I care about you and I’m terrified of the thought of anything bad happening to you! Yes, Candi is important to me, but that doesn’t mean you need to put yourself in harm’s way like this. You say you’re not a child but when you get emotional you behave exactly like a child would and you don’t stop to think about the possible consequences.” ZiTao’s attention turning back to the crosswalk when the automated voice said it was safe to cross; he didn’t make a move though, and Minseok could feel the younger’s heart drop.

“She… I don’t see her anymore,” he said, voice just above a whisper before his mobile went off, and he fished it out of his pocket. “Ge?”

“ZiTao? What happened? Are you alright?” ZiTao sniffled, swallowing hard before he tried to answer.

“C-candi got l-loose… she’s g-gone, a-and I don’t know what to do,” the blond whimpered, leaning against Minseok when he was pulled close again.

“Got loose?” Yifan asked, ZiTao nodding even though the other couldn’t see. “Where are you right now?”

“Moi’s mini mart.”

“Did you see which direction she ran off in?”

“S-she crossed Sun street, h-headed towards down town.”

“Send me a picture of her, I’ll see what I can do to help.” ZiTao frowned at the comment.

“What can you do from an office desk?” He asked.

“Just trust me, and head home. I’ll let you know when I find her,” Yifan replied before his name was called and the call ended. ZiTao lowered the device, frowning deeper at it.

“What did he say?” Minseok asked, ZiTao shifting his gaze up to him.

“To go home and let him take care of finding her. But I don’t understand how he’s going to do that, I could tell he was at work.” The younger explained, Minseok wrapping his arm tightly around him, steering him in the direction of their apartment.

“Kid?” No response. “Kiiid?” Minseok sighed, shaking his head as the blond continued to pace. “ZiTao! Would you sit down already, you’re going to wear a path in the floor,” Minseok pleaded, a little surprised when it seemed to get through to the younger.

“How am I supposed to just sit around and wait for Ge to call saying he magically found Candi?”

“You need to calm down. Freaking out isn’t going to help anything-”

“Why do you always tell me to calm down? I’m upset! I’m allowed to be upset! You make it out like me being upset about anything is me being a child, and you end up yelling at me for it! What do you expect, you’re three years older than me, I’m not going to magically be as mature and in control of how I feel as you are just because you expect me to be.”

“You know how to be an adult, I know you do, but you’re so used to getting your way that when you don’t you throw a huge fit about it! That’s what I mean when I call you childish. I’m not trying to bully you, what I’m trying to do is help you see that the way you act alters the way people treat you. If you act like a baby, then people aren’t going to take you seriously. You say you want to raise a child, and I want to help you grow and improve so that you’re capable of doing so.”

“She is my baby, no matter if she’s just a dog. What if she was an actual baby that went missing?” ZiTao cut off the moment the last word passed his lips, eyes widening as he paled. “If… If I can’t keep track of Candi, how can I even think of wanting a child? I would lose it, and then something bad would happen to it, a-an-and-” Minseok stood as the blond started to breath heavily, grabbing him by his shoulders.

“ZiTao, no, don’t even think like that.”

“But you’ve seen it! I l-lost her, she’s gone -”

“ZiTao-”

“No! She’s gone and it’s my fault because I got her a collar that was too big for her, that she was able to s-slip out of it and-”

“ZiTao, listen to me!” Minseok cut in, finally managing to silence the other. “I’m a social worker, remember? I deal with cases where children have to be taken from their parents or their parents have to surrender them because they’re unable to take care of them for millions of different reasons. You made a mistake, and that’s something that everyone does. You’re human, I’m human, we’re a mixture of dozens of flaws, but you know what? We’re a mixture of hundreds of wonderful traits as well.”

“I have several cases where both parents have steady, successful jobs, a giant house for their children to run around in, who even have the money to hire a live in to take care of the children. And do you know why I have those cases? Because the children are miserable and their teachers noticed and got us involved. Those are the cases where the parents never go to one of their child’s school performances, where the fridge is blank and the parents can’t remember their child’s middle name. Then you have the instances where both parents have to work as hard as they can at their minimum wage job, where they fight with their boss to make it so they get off work in time to pick up their child from school while their partner works a graveyard shift half the week but is always up to make dinner for the family. The parents who never miss a performance, who are known for being proud of their child’s school projects because the fridge is covered with them.”

“Those are the kinds of traits we look for when screening adoption applications. Not the perfect house that’s so clean it could be considered sterile and the parents that think they can buy their child’s happiness. But the one who cares that they’ve done something wrong and works hard to find a way to fix things. You are full of the traits we look for. You are the type of person that we would approve.” Minseok’s breathing was slightly labored, ZiTao rendered speechless as he tried to remember any time that the older had even spoken that much while the weight of his words settled.

“Do… you really think that?”

“Of course I do,” Minseok sighed, closing the distance between them and wrapping his arms around the younger, pulling him close. ZiTao’s forehead came down on his shoulder before pressing into the side of his neck, Minseok feeling him finally start to relax. “I’m sorry if it seems like I’m coming off as harsh or mean, hun. But these are things that you need to hear, that you need to learn if you want to be able to do the things that you say you want to do.” ZiTao snuggled a little closer to him.

“Okay… But you need to learn to be nicer about teaching me things,” he replied, tone laced with a slight pout that caused a smile to cross Minseok’s lips.

“Deal. Now, come with me.”

“Where are we going? We should stay here until we hear from Ge.”
    
“I didn’t say we were leaving, come on,” Minseok replied, the younger dragging his feet as he followed the other into their room, giving him a confused look when he saw Minseok was headed for the bathroom.

“What are you…?”

“Taking a shower.” ZiTao stared at the other for a long moment, watching Minseok undo the buttons of his shirt.

“But it’s the middle of the day, you never take showers at this time,” he replied, Minseok slipping off his shirt, neatly folding it and setting it on the counter.

“And you’re really stressed out right now, and I happen to remember you mentioning how you always wanted to take a shower with me, but I take them too early,” Minseok explained once he turned the shower on, looking over at the blond as he ed and slid down his pants. “Are you going to join me?” he asked, checking the temperature of the shower before turning back to ZiTao. The younger’s cheeks were tinted a little, causing Minseok to laugh. “You’re getting flustered over something like this, kid?”

“No,” ZiTao replied, cheeks darkening before he struggled with yanking his shirt over his head.

The two were still towel drying their hair when a knock caught their attention, ZiTao padding over to open it. His eyes locked on the squirming brown and white ball, a garbled noise escaping him before he swiped the muddy dog from Yifan’s hands, hugging her tightly to his chest. Tears spilt over his eyes once again as he looked up at the other.

“How… how did you find her?”

“I’ve got connections,” Yifan replied crossing his arms loosely over his chest as he leaned against the door frame, Minseok appearing behind ZiTao.

“Connections, huh?” he asked, cocking an eyebrow at the other.

“Look! He found her!” ZiTao exclaimed, turning to the copper haired male, who offered a smile as he took her from the younger.

“I’ll get a bath started for her,” he replied, leaving the two as he headed to the bathroom, ZiTao watching after him. He slowly turned back to Yifan, who offered a small smile.

“You look like you want to ask something,” he pointed out, ZiTao nodding once. “What is it?”

“Do… Do you have connections… in China?” Yifan’s eyebrows knit together for a moment before he gave a slow nod.

“Yes… What makes you ask that?”

“You… you found Candi with a picture and a street name… Can you find LuHan?” Yifan’s eyes widened. “Minseok-Hyung… he hasn’t been alright… I know what it’s like to be separated from your platonic soul mate… LuHan-Ge’s already been gone for almost as long as you were… and Hyung is really torn up about it. I know he doesn’t think I know, but I see it. I see how sad he is when he doesn’t think I’m looking, I feel how hurt he is when he stops long enough that he starts to think about him. If there’s anything you can do to try to find him… can you? Please? Not just for Minseok-Hyung, but for Sehun too. They’re both lost without LuHan-Ge, and none of us know why he left.” Yifan opened his mouth, then closed it, taking a deep breath before letting it out as a small sigh, pulling ZiTao into a hug.

“I’ll do everything I can.”