“Arf! Arf!”

Jinyoung looked up from where he was reading a book at the library check-out desk when he heard the loud barking.

It was a slow day in the library, the beginning of the semester and only one or two people were actually there studying, three people browsing on their laptops or phones, and at least four people taking a nap.  Nobody was checking out books, so Jinyoung was using this as free reading time.

It wasn’t every day someone brought their dog to the library (it had happened before, unfortunately) and Jinyoung was ready to tell someone off but when he looked up there was not a dog in sight.

There was some more barking and some cute whining before he found the source of the noise.  Someone was watching videos, specifically videos of cute dogs, with their laptop volume on full blast.

He could see that they did have their earbuds in, but they must not have plugged them in properly.

He was about to go over there and yell but he was in the middle of a particularly cute video, three puppies asleep rolling around until they reached a comfortable position.  Their little legs wiggling and the little noses twitching, Jinyoung was entranced.  He forgot about his original goal as his eyes were glued to the monitor, taking in the cuteness.

The video ended and he clicked another, this time, there was a kitten along with a dog, the kitten playing with the dog which seemed slightly annoyed but he couldn’t do anything but let the kitten play with him lovingly.

Jinyoung didn’t even realize that he had sat there staring at the screen for countless minutes, watching cute dog after cute kitten and even one video of some dangerously cute penguins before the videos suddenly stopped and the laptop owner turned around.

“I can feel you staring at my laptop.  If you wanted to join me you could’ve just asked, Jinyoung-ah.”

Jinyoung’s eyes widened when he turned around.  “Mark?  When did you dye your hair brown?  I thought…”  Now he was just embarrassed.

“I dyed it yesterday, you really didn’t recognize me?  I’m offended.”  He put a hand on his chest to feign hurt but then he just started giggling.

“I’m sorry.”  Jinyoung was putting unconsciously.

“I’m kidding, you like cute animal videos too, I’m guessing?”  Mark pulled out the chair next to him and motioned for him to sit down next to him.

“Actually, I came over here to tell you that your earbuds aren’t plugged in, you’re playing your sound out loud.”  Jinyoung sat down next to him awkwardly.

“What?!”  Mark took the wire between his fingertips and traced it down until he realized it wasn’t plugged in.  “Shoot, sorry.”  He pushed it into the socket properly.

“It’s fine, really.”  Jinyoung’s original plan had been to come over here and nag, but he couldn’t find it in himself to yell at Mark.

“Okay- wait,” Mark reached out and literally pulled Jinyoung’s chair closer to him until their shoulders were touching and Jinyoung could feel his palms start to get sweaty.  “There.”  Mark took one of his earbuds and put it into Jinyoung’s ear and smiled.  “We can watch videos together now.”

“Okay.”  Mark slid his laptop over so it sat in the middle of two of them before he pulled up another playlist filled with cute animal videos and hit play.

There were puppies, tons of them, happily jumping around playing together, tripping over their own feet and Jinyoung didn’t know how he could concentrate on the video when Mark was smiling so brightly next to him he could power three cities with the energy radiating from the pure joy on his face.

“I wish we could keep pets in the dorm, I’ve always wanted a dog,” Mark said as the next video auto-played.  “Jackson likes dogs too.”

“I like dogs too!”  Jinyoung said, too eagerly.

“Oh, really?  Okay then Jinyoungie, once we graduate we can move out and adopt some puppies together.”  Mark was completely joking but Jinyoung was having a little too fun imagining that scenario.  “Jinyoungie, earth to Jinyoungie!”  Mark snapped his fingers and Jinyoung realized he had stared into space for too long.

“What, oh yeah.  Puppies sound like a great idea.”  Jinyoung was flushed and Mark just laughed cutely.

“I can be the puppy dad and you can be the…”

“Puppy mom?”

“I was going to say other puppy dad, but whatever floats your boat.”   

Jinyoung covered his mouth because he was giggling too much and soon Mark joined in, their giggles somehow escalating into full-blown laughter because the situation was just so ridiculous.

“Um, excuse me, does anyone work here?”   They weren’t yelling, but they were talking loudly enough to echo throughout the library.

“Oh, oops.”  Jinyoung pulled his earbud out and got out of his chair.  “Sorry, coming!”  He called back and shot an apologetic look at Mark. “Gotta go.”

“Hey, are you free tomorrow morning?”

“I don’t have class until two, so I’m free before then, why?”

“I was going to go down to the shelter to look at some puppies… for research purposes only of course.  You can come with me if you want since you like dogs too.  We can hone our skills for our future puppy endeavors.” 

Jinyoung couldn’t help but smile from ear to ear.

“It’s a date.”