Title: Of Mutts and Men
Rating: PG
Side Pairings: none
Length: 2576 words
Warnings: Hybrid!AU, stray!hybrid
Summary: It’s a cliché dark and stormy night when Baekhyun’s brought to Joonmyun’s clinic.
Author's Notes: i hope this little shortfic ended up being in the realm of what you wanted, recipient. writing this preface to the adventures of puppyboy!baek and veterinarian!suho melted my heart — thank you so much for giving me the chance to bring your prompt to life! sorry for the cheesy title, though...

It’s a cliché dark and stormy night when Baekhyun’s brought to Joonmyun’s clinic. Joonmyun’d already prepared himself to head home for the night, but he finds himself struggling with the morality of leaving once he catches a glimpse of the newest patient. The man who brings him in says he found him huddled up behind his house, shivering and alone, and that’s all it takes for the veterinarian’s shoulders to slump and his lips to part with a sigh.

He’s just a pup — most likely the runt of his litter; most likely rejected in some way or another, Joonmyun decides. Both the pup’s skin and fur is dirtied and ungroomed — matted chunks on both his tail and hair make the veterinarian’s heart clench, and the sight’s enough for him to give into slipping his coat and a pair of latex gloves on once more.

He looks pitiful, the doctor thinks as he carefully sets the dirtied mutt down atop the stretcher in his office. The pup remains unresponsive for the most part, even when Joonmyun begins his check-up procedure — his chin tucked down towards his chest and his fuzzy ears flattened against his head, trembling tenderly. Despite Puppyboy’s miserable disposition, he’s surprisingly cooperative, and Joonmyun remains cheerful while checking his vitals in the hopes of lifting both of their moods.

“Listen to that heartbeat!” Joonmyun hums as he removes his stethoscope, setting it aside in favor of cupping the puppyboy’s plump cheeks. “You’re healthier and stronger than you look. A real heart of a wolf—” He’s grinning now, carding latex-clad fingers through puppyboy’s mangy locks — careful not to tug on knotted tufts — and giving him a good scratch behind his floppy ears. The boy manages a small, bashful smile, and the veterinarian’s eyes crescent along with his own smiling lips.

“You don’t have to be scared. Not anymore, because I’m here; here to help and here to be your friend. As long as you’re checked into the Kim Clinic, you’ll always have a place to call home.” Joonmyun’s hand gives the pup’s pinkened cheek a little pinch, and the latter gives him the brightest smile he thinks he’s ever seen in his life.

Or maybe he’s just blinded by pure love — it’s technically not his fault that Puppyboy radiates it and he absorbs it.





“I’m no groomer,” Joonmyun grumbles, easing a whining, whimpering pup into a tub filled with warm, sudsy water. “But I think you’ll feel ten times better once you’re all squeaky-clean.”

He debated on whether or not he should cut the boy’s fur beforehand, but he ultimately figured it’d be less work all-around if he didn’t have to pick out grime from the shears and clippers. And it’d be less of a nuisance to listen to his groomer nag him for inevitably “ruining” the tools of his trade. However, calming a puppy that doesn’t seem to have taken a real bath in his life isn’t proving to be any less difficult than he originally thought.

Puppyboy might as well have been a catboy with the way he wailed and warbled, pawing away bubbles and leaning over the edge of the tub — effectively soaking both Joonmyun and the entire floor. “Stay still,” the veterinarian sighed, allowing the pup to cling onto him for dear life. “You’re not going to drown.” He waited patiently for the boy to calm himself, attempting to coax him into submission with a gentle, lazy scalp massage. “I wouldn’t let that happen.”

His small, slender hands are kneading at the doctor’s shoulders — claws tugging at the fabric of his button-up in time with Joonmyun’s own blunt nails gingerly grazing the boy’s scalp. Joonmyun almost doesn’t notice that Puppyboy’s not making a sound aside from soft, gentle breaths that fanned over his neck and caressed it in the most soothing way. A little too soothing for an exhausted man working overtime after midnight.

He’s the first to peel himself away, eyeing the boy through half-lidded, tired eyes as he lowered him down into the suds once more. Joonmyun offers a tender smile to the boy and attempts to pry his still-clenched paws off of his collar — it’s obvious that he’s still nervous, but ultimately managed to place his trust in Joonmyun. The veterinarian keeps one of his hands in his own to reinforce his reassuring words, while his free hand reached for a bottle of shampoo.

He held it up to the boy, grinning. “This is gonna make your fur all soft and clean. And make it smell like cherry blossoms.”

Puppyboy simply cocked his head to the side, an ear flickering slightly in interest. Joonmyun lets go of his hand after giving it one last squeeze, now instead squeezing the bottle of liquid. It feels almost uncomfortably cold and gooey on Puppyboy’s head, and his ears immediately flatten against his matted locks in hopes to keep the sticky substance out of them.

Joonmyun just chuckles at the way the boy scrunches himself up in distaste, quickly remedying the situation by working the goop into a thick, foamy lather. “See? It’s not so bad. It’s just like the bubbles already floating around in the water.” He resumes his previous ministrations when he’d tried calming Puppyboy down — his fingers curled and uncurled slowly as they drew circles into the boy’s scalp, slowly but surely working in the lather.

The boy also slowly but surely falls into the other’s rhythm himself, his eyes closed and his head tilted back, occasionally nudging itself into Joonmyun’s touch. The latter thinks it’s the cutest thing he’s ever seen — chuckling occasionally when the boy’s jaw falls slack and his little pink tongue peeks out from the corner of his parted lips.

“You know,” the veterinarian starts, voice slightly gruff with the strain of reaching over the tub for the handheld showerhead. “I never caught your name. You have one, right?”

The boy blinks his eyes open to stare up towards Joonmyun, his brows nearly raising to his soapy hairline. He takes a moment to answer, as if he’s hesitant; as if Joonmyun would punish him for an answer he deemed incorrect, before ultimately shaking his head. Joonmyun’s own brows raise in silent objection to such a response, and as his hands carefully massage out the lather, he takes a moment of silence to think of a proper name.

“We can’t have that,” Joonmyun hums, gently brushing back the other’s damp hair. Puppyboy’s ears twitch uncontrollably as water runoff finds its way far too close to the inside of them. He then decides he can’t resist — he shakes his head wildly, sending bullets of water spewing in all directions. The veterinarian yelped, lifting a hand up to fruitlessly shield his face from the pellets of liquid. His hands fall down to rest at his sides once again when the only water he can feel on himself is whatever’s dripping down from the ceiling. And whatever’s got him beyond soaked, of course.

His first instinct is to shoot Puppyboy a glare, but once he catches sight of the other, another emotional reflex kicks in. His expression softens with every soft pant of the boy with his lips parted and tongue peeking out just like before; with every gentle heave of his small chest. And especially with the way he gives Joonmyun a cheekily “apologetic” smile, his eyes crescenting. It’s the first time Joonmyun notices just how rectangular the boy’s smile is, and he can’t help but laugh a little at the precious trait.

“Baekhyun,” he decides with a snicker, hand finding its way behind Puppyboy’s fluffy, alert ears once more. The latter lets out a yip of appreciation, jutting his chin out towards Joonmyun to urge him to give him a good scratch underneath that as well. Joonmyun’s more than happy to oblige, gaze overflowing with love when the boy nuzzles the palm of his hand. “You’ll be my Baekhyun.”





“Baekhyun, stay still,” Joonmyun scolds with a grunt. One hand is gripping a buzzing clipper, the other is fervently attempting to trap Baekhyun’s tail. Just as his hand reaches out towards the extremity, it twitches away, leaving his hand slapping down against the countertop. It’s gone on for a good few minutes, and though he initially gave his pup the benefit of the doubt, he’s starting to think Baekhyun’s purposefully messing with him.

“We’re almost done, I just—” he huffs, hand colliding against the table once more. “I just need to shave your tail!”

“I don’t want to be bald,” Baekhyun whinges under his breath, almost drowned out by the sound of the clippers. “You’ve already cut my hair so short—”

“You definitely wouldn’t have liked me trying to brush it out,” Joonmyun sighs, finally settling on gripping the base of Baekhyun’s tail instead. He briefly wonders why he didn’t just do that in the first place, until Puppyboy lets out a rather ear-piercing yip. He jerks suddenly, and Joonmyun releases his grip, worried he’d hurt the other.

Baekhyun curls into himself stubbornly, tail coiling around his arms and midsection, and Joonmyun breathes out yet another sigh — a mixture of relief and exasperation. Puppyboy tucks his chin down towards his chest while watching Joonmyun pinch the bridge of his nose, tail tapping and twitching against his thigh idly.

“Sorry,” he murmurs, turning his head away from the kind doctor. Joonmyun’s tired eyes fall unto the mutt, lips parting to reassure the other that it’s not his fault he’s scared; finicky. But Baekhyun shifts onto his knees, facing away from the doctor to present his tail. Joonmyun’s eyebrows are cued to raise in time with his widened eyes, but he makes a quick recovery.

His lips quirk into a barely-there smile when his expression softens considerably, as it had numerous times throughout the night. Though Joonmyun’d always been a caring, patient man, he wasted no time in calling out troublesome pups and kittens. Baekhyun, though — Baekhyun always found a special little niche in his heart to burrow himself into.

It’s dangerous, Joonmyun thinks. He doesn’t even want to begin to imagine what he’ll inevitably let his little mongrel get away with in the future if he’s already taking advantage of his lenient nature. But just as if Baekhyun manned his heartstrings like a marionette, he unconsciously abandons the job at hand to scoop a furled Puppyboy into his arms.

It’s the only way to handle the uncooperative pup, of course. Just as he’d held the boy so tightly; so securely moments before in the tub, Baekhyun’s hands found their way back to his shoulders. They give them that familiar little squeeze-and-knead, and Joonmyun again somewhat expects Puppyboy to begin rumbling with purrs.

Cheeks are nuzzled and knobby knees bump against Joonmyun’s hips as his hands trail their way down Baekhyun’s back slowly, fingers seamlessly mapping out every dip and arch of the frail boy’s spine. By the time he makes it down to the base of Baekhyun’s tail, the latter’s breathing has fallen so silent that the doctor wonders if he’s dozed off.

Joonmyun fancies the idea of allowing himself to do the same, the little runt radiating too much warmth for comfort — especially after a steaming bath. His skin felt soft, and his tail feels even softer. The doctor’s eyes droop shut momentarily before a twitching movement underneath his hand stirs him and his tired gaze flickers over towards the clock. It’s only a few hours until his clinic’s set to be open to the public again, so Joonmyun decides to finish off settling in the new adoptee with a deflating flourish.

Using a pair of shears, he simply snips away at only the biggest matted tufts. He can’t help but grimace at his work — Puppyboy’s tail looking more mangy than ever. But he supposed it’d do for the night; ridding him of the heavy knots would have to be a relief.

When he peels himself away from the snoozy pup, he briefly imagines just how much more adorable the little guy will be once his groomer’s had his way with him and he’s plumped up a bit. Baekhyun’s drooping eyes meet his own, and Joonmyun can’t help but smile — picturing the boy looking at him like that with a pretty ribbon tied around his neck in lieu of a collar, ready to begin his new life in a loving home.

And that’s why Joonmyun’s smile fades as he scoops up his Puppyboy into his arms; heart’s heavy as Baekhyun nuzzles his cheek against his shoulder. He noses at the junction of where his jaw meets his neck, and the doctor can’t bring himself to leave him be, even just for the remainder of the night.

So he settles down atop Baekhyun’s designated cushion, mutt eagerly snuggled to his side. He idly wonders just how long it’ll take until Baekhyun’s giving that pretty rectangle smile to someone else, his arms instinctively tighten their coil. But Joonmyun decides that he shouldn’t worry about that just yet as Puppyboy’s small frame stills, reveling in the familiar sensation of soft breath fanning over his clavicle. He decides to seize moment, leaving his own mark of love and possession with the most innocent of kisses to Baekhyun’s forehead.

It’s angled awkwardly, and his lips are a bit chapped, but his tired eyes catch the slightest of lip twitches; the slightest of smiles just as his eyelids gave up and slipped shut.





Joonmyun can’t help feeling anything but regret and annoyance when he’s awoken by his receptionist the next day. His back aches and he’s got a crick in his neck, made all the more worse by his disorientation and dishevelation; made infinitely worse by the absence of a certain puppy he’d contorted himself around just a few hours prior.

But before he can painstakingly ease himself up, he’s tackled back down by a yipping Puppyboy clambering onto his lap. The whole situation only adds to the doctor’s disorientation, barely unable to compute everything that’s flowing from the yapping pup’s mouth. However, the only thing he feels he needs to understand is this pup’s voice. His eyes manage to focus on Baekhyun hovering over him, still-mangy tail flailing wildly in every direction.

Joonmyun can’t help but laugh despite his all-over-aches, and he laughs even harder when Puppyboy’s ears perk straight up in attention. He lifts a hand up to curiously graze his fingers along the haphazardly-tied bow wrapped around Baekhyun’s neck. It’s already coming loose, and Joonmyun thinks that one too-excited jerk of Puppyboy’s head would send it to the floor, unraveled completely.

“He wouldn’t let me fix up your horrific t.”

Joonmyun spares the briefest of glances towards his groomer, offering him a lopsided grin before returning his attention back to giving Baekhyun’s fuzzy ears a good scratch with every reciprocated nuzzle. “Why’d you put a ribbon on him, then?”

Jongin folds his arms over his chest, offering his boss a slight shrug before quirking his thick lips into an amused smile. “Baekhyun said you’d adopted him.”

Joonmyun sputters in response, lips floundering as they attempted to belt out any and every excuse for why that was certainly not true. “That’s—” he starts, pausing abruptly when Puppyboy begins to nose at his cheek with a whimper, ears flopped down over his droopy eyes. The doctor can’t help but sigh, nose scrunching up at the feeling of a wet, playful to his five o’clock shadow. “Yeah, actually. I guess you could say that.”