Two weeks later when Hongbin lies in Sanghyuk’s bed, almost drifting off while watching some cheap horror film on Sanghyuk’s laptop, his phone rings in the pocket of his jeans that are thrown onto the floor. He reaches for it and fishes it out, seeing Wonshik’s name on the screen.

“Yeah?”

“Hey, Hongbin-ah, um… so I was thinking that maybe… I don’t know…”

“Could you spit it out already?” Hongbin sighs.

“Right, do you… possibly, well, want a dog?”

“A dog?”

Sanghyuk casts him a questioning look, leaning closer to the phone in Hongbin’s hand to be able to hear what Wonshik has to say.

“Yeeeah, I kind of have one to spare.”

Hongbin takes a few moments to let the information sink in. When he finally comprehends his friend’s words, he blinks at a very surprised Sanghyuk and asks from Wonshik: “Why exactly do you have a dog to spare?”

Hongbin hears a careworn sigh from the other end of the line.

“Okay, look,” Wonshik mumbles, and Hongbin imagines him rubbing his face with his palm as he always does when something bothers him too much. “Taekwoon showed up an hour ago in dirty clothes and his face full of scratches and bruises and he brought along a puppy. He refuses to tell me where he was for almost three weeks or why he looks the way he does or why he suddenly has a dog, for that matter. He just… he just went to take a shower and told me to watch the puppy and he wants to keep it but we live in a dorm, for God’s sake!”

“Wonshik, I don’t want to deal with a prank like this now, so–“

“This is not a prank!” Wonshik exclaims and both Hongbin and Sanghyuk flinch at the harsh tone. “You know how scary Taekwoon can be; he said he wasn’t going to take the dog to a shelter and would only give up on it if someone he knows adopted it. So please? Please? We’re friends.”

“I…” Hongbin sees Sanghyuk nodding his head vigorously next to him, and he doesn’t understand why he’s doing it, but he figures he will have time to deal with his boyfriend’s unexplainable actions later. “I don’t know what you should do, but I can’t have a dog, Wonshik. I can barely keep myself alive. I’m sorry, but… I don’t know, try to talk to Taekwoon? He can’t be so stupid that he doesn’t see the situation you guys are in.”

There’s silence for a few seconds. Hongbin hears a high-pitched bark in the background, and then Wonshik’s voice again: “I’m going to move from this room. I’m going to move and Taekwoon’s going to kill me. It’s okay. It’s okay.”

“Wonshik?” Hongbin asks worriedly.

“It’s okay,” Wonshik repeats. “I just… I have to give water to the little guy. Bye.”

And with that, Wonshik hangs up.

Hongbin stares at his phone like he has never seen a device like that before, but then Sanghyuk’s head occupies his vision; big, shiny eyes, unruly hair, creases left by the pillow on his face and all.

“How could you turn that offer down?” he asks, furrowing his brow judgingly.

“Are you mad?” Hongbin asks, and suddenly thinks that as much of a train wreck he is, he might be the only sane person around. “It’s a real, living, breathing dog. I can’t deal with a dog, I never had one.”

“I would’ve helped you!” Sanghyuk says indignantly.

“I’m not having a dog with you for a good while yet,” Hongbin replies, thinking that this time he might have won this battle.

But the corners of Sanghyuk’s lips slowly curl up until he’s smirking down at Hongbin with his eyes shaped like tiny crescents, making the latter feel like the ever-present butterflies in his stomach have gone crazy. And also a little bit like he wants to punch Sanghyuk.

“How long is that ‘good while’ exactly?” Sanghyuk asks.

“Remind me to enlighten your parents how big of a mistake they made when they taught you how to talk,” Hongbin grumbles, kicking Sanghyuk’s shin under the blanket.

“Oh, so you want to meet my parents now?”

Hongbin blushes deep red and lifts his arm to flick Sanghyuk on the forehead, but Sanghyuk catches his wrist and pins it over his head, bending lower to be able to kiss him.

And when he feels the soft pecks on the corner of his mouth a few minutes and some intense snogging later, Hongbin, for about the millionth time since he first kissed Sanghyuk, thinks that this time he made the right decision when he decided not to run away from falling in love.

But, to be quite honest, that’s all thanks to the boy with the black plastic framed glasses and cute nose who grinned at him on his first day at the language school.