~~~

There are a few things Jongin expected to see the moment he turned around, those being pastries, books, loud, annoying teenagers, the bright pink wallpaper plastered all over the walls and chocolate.

However, there are a few things, specifically, one thing, he definitely did not expect to see, and that is none other than Sehun, which is why the rather unattractive and not so manly noise of surprise that leaves Jongin’s mouth when he locks eyes with the taller doesn’t come as a surprise, at least to him. Jessica’s hand suddenly feels awfully heavy in his own and he inwardly screams.

Come to think of it, he vaguely remembers his phone buzzing at some point during his and Jessica’s little conversation, but he’s pretty sure he dismissed it as a text from Jongdae and or, in worst case, Baekhyun, and there’s no way Jongin would’ve checked his phone for that. Although he doesn’t know if that’s a reasonable excuse, it is to him, but he seriously begins to doubt himself when he sees the unreadable look on Sehun’s face as the latter leans against the wall and casually crosses his arms over his chest.

At least now I know what she meant by ‘girly eyebrows’, Jongin thinks to himself and blinks a little when Jessica suddenly tugs on his arm.

“See? Told you he was scary,” she hisses into his ear, cowering behind the brunet. “Jesus, tell him to go away already before he ends up scaring the customers away.”

Swallowing, for different reasons, Jongin bites the inside of his cheek. He stands nailed to the floor, unable to move his left arm because Jessica is holding onto it for dear life, and tears his eyes off Sehun for a moment. Jesus Christ. If Jongdae and or Baekhyun were here, Jongin would most definitely shove them away or even throw them right out the door, but he absolutely refuses to shrug Jessica off of him for obvious reasons. Sehun his head to the side and the brunet bites his lip.

“What are you waiting for?” Jessica whispers, grabbing Jongin’s hand tighter. She nearly crushes the brunet’s hand to smithereens when Sehun suddenly walks towards them. “Damn it, Jongin, do something or I’m seriously gonna call the cops!”

Watching Sehun walk towards them, mainly him, Jongin barely manages to choke out an ‘it’s fine’ before Sehun stops three feet away. “Uh.”

Sehun looks at Jongin for a while before shoving his hands in his pockets. His hair, surprisingly, isn’t as flawlessly styled as it always is. In fact, it looks like he got out of bed three seconds ago and Jongin would laugh if it wasn’t for the current situation they’re all in. Despite that, Sehun's attire is spot on, which Jongin doesn’t find surprising, and the former is staring down both the brunet and Jessica with a foreign look in his eyes, and Jongin doesn’t know whether he should be relieved or even more alarmed about the fact that Sehun hasn’t, well, done anything yet.

“Uh,” Jongin mutters dumbly, scratching the back of his head. Even though he’s only two inches shorter than Sehun, he feels so incredibly small under the latter’s piercing gaze. Sehun sends him a look that he can only decipher as ‘what the actual is going on?’, causing Jessica to grab his hand tighter, and he swallows. “Um. Hi?” Nice one, Kim Jongin.

A bit taken aback, Sehun raises a perfectly groomed eyebrow. “Hello?”

Jongin blinks. Sehun doesn’t look or sound angry but he still feels like the taller is going to beat him to a pulp any second. “Uh,” he blurts out before proceeding to awkwardly gesture at Jessica, who is eyeing Sehun cautiously. “Could you please, uh, stop...um, staring at...her.” He mentally slaps himself. Nice.

“Yeah, ‘cause it’s getting really frikkin’ annoying,” Jessica suddenly says, taking a step forward, but still low key cowering behind Jongin. The latter inwardly screams.

Sehun is silent for a while before he smiles in confusion. “Sorry?”

“You’ve been standing over there for twenty minutes straight just...gawking at me,” Jessica says, pointing behind Sehun. “So I’d appreciate it if you’d either purchase something and sit down or mind your own business before I go get the manager,” she adds in a serious voice when Sehun falls silent for a long, long time and Jongin half heartedly expects him to walk right out of the shop and never come back.

“Sorry, miss,” Sehun says after a few seconds, much to Jongin’s (and Jessica’s) surprise, before taking a step forward and extracting his hand. “It wasn’t my intention to stare at you, my apologies,” he adds with a bright smile and Jongin blinks in surprise because what the is going on????

Jessica stares at Sehun’s hand with a great amount of caution before slowly extending her own gloved hand and gripping his hand, ever so lightly. “Uh...okay?” she mumbles, a bit weirded out. Jongin doesn’t blame her, and he wonders how on Earth Sehun managed to (somewhat) gain her trust in a couple of seconds. It’s a Sehun thing (to be specific, the latter’s smile and just, aura in general), he assumes.

“I really didn’t mean to interrupt your date,” Sehun continues, still shaking Jessica’s hand, and Jongin blinks. “I’m Se-”

“We’re not together,” Jessica says, a little creeped out. “He’s my friend,” she adds and misses the way Sehun’s eyes flash a little. Jongin notices, however.

Sehun cuts himself off before he falls silent for a little while. “Nice to meet you,” he says simply, taking his hand back. “Listen, I was wondering if you have any strawberry flavored cupcakes,” he adds with a disgustingly bright smile.

“Um,” Jongin stammers when Jessica lets go of his hand. “What’s-”

“If that’s what it takes for you to quit staring like an idiot, then yes, we do,” Jessica huffs sarcastically as she beckons for Sehun to follow her, but not before enveloping Jongin in a tight hug. “See you, J, remember to keep in touch,” she says before letting go and skipping over to the counter.

Jongin stands bolted to the floor as he watches Sehun walk over to the counter a few feet away. He swallows the lump in his throat before pulling out his phone, although he barely has a chance to turn it on before a customer walks into him, nearly making him topple over, and he apologizes profusely before scrambling towards the door.

~

Once Jongin is outside, he makes sure nobody is around before checking his phone.

iMessage

(37 minutes ago) From: Sehunnie~

I might run a little late, sorry.

Very late, Jongin thinks to himself before shoving his phone in his pocket and running a hand through his hair. His heart is racing for odd reasons and he leans against the pink painted brick wall. There are no windows to the café, well, hardly, so he has no idea what’s going on inside the shop. To be exact, he has no idea what Sehun is doing.

Why did he refuse to tell Jess his name? Jongin thinks, knitting his eyebrows together in confusion. Jessica’s words about Sehun are on loop inside his head and he can’t get them to go away no matter how hard he tries. But in the end, he decides to dismiss everything as purely a rumor, considering the fact that she did leave the school three whole years ago and things have, in fact, changed. Jongin would know.

Jongin’s pocket vibrates and he instinctively fishes it out of his pocket. His face falls upon reading the few words on the screen.

Messenger

Kim Jongdae  1 PM

dude wtf???

Deciding it’s probably best he doesn’t reply, Jongin quickly shoves his phone back in his pocket the second the door swings open next to him.

When he looks to the left, Jongin feels all his worries subside when he sees Sehun. To be precise, when he sees Sehun holding a pink paper bag in his hand, while he puts his change in his pocket. He really does have bedhead and Jongin fights the urge to walk over and mess his hair up even more, but he doesn’t because he figures Sehun will chop his arm clean off if he so much as touches a single strand.

Sehun isn’t smiling, at least so Jongin thinks, and the latter bites the inside of his cheek. He knows how bad the situation must’ve looked for him earlier but for some reason, he isn’t nervous, because he’s got nothing to hide; Jessica is his (good) friend and he’d rather things stayed that way. He prays to God Sehun will understand because in all honesty, Jongin has no clue how to explain himself if Sehun were to question him about it.

Jongin almost chokes on his own spit when he realizes that Jessica told him somebody, as in, Sehun, had been staring at her for fifteen minutes straight, and it sends a chill running down the brunet’s spine at the thought of Sehun possibly overhearing their conversation. About him, that is, and he bites the inside of his lip so hard a metallic taste soon fills his mouth.

“Here.”

Snapping his head up, Jongin blinks and looks up at the large, pink cupcake that Sehun has shoved dangerously close to his face. Strangely enough, despite having stuffed himself with a three pound chocolate cake less than twenty minutes ago, he’s absolutely starving and he reaches out and grabs the pastry with a ‘thank you’.

“No problem,” Sehun mumbles before reaching into the bag, grabbing his own cupcake and tossing the paper bag into the nearest trash can. He takes a big bite out of the pink frosted cupcake and begins walking down the path, and he nearly jumps five feet in the air when the door suddenly swings open and a high-pitched voice calling Jongin’s name rings through the air.

“Jongin!” Jessica hollers, causing almost everybody in their surroundings to stop and stare. “You forgot this." She runs towards the brunet and dumps his jacket in his hands.

Jongin stares at the garment in his arms for an embarrassingly long time before smiling sheepishly. “Silly me, dear God,” he mumbles before sliding it on and giving her a second embrace. “Thanks.” The scent of her coconut perfume briefly distracts him from Sehun’s piercing gaze from behind him, which is threatening to burn holes in his back.

“I gotta get back, but remember, text or call me!” Jessica exclaims happily before literally turning on her heel (Jongin wonders how she can possibly run so fast in stilettos) and rushing back inside the shop, the door slamming shut behind her.

Zipping his jacket, Jongin subconsciously swallows. He half expects Sehun to be standing behind him and giving him the evil eye when he turns around, which is why he blinks in surprise when he actually does turn around, a while later, only to see Sehun twenty or so feet away, and Jongin hurries to catch up with the latter’s long strides, making sure not to drop the cupcake in his hand.

When he arrives by Sehun’s side, Jongin takes a bite out of his cupcake. His heart is beating awfully fast, and not because he just ran at a considerable pace to catch up with Sehun, but because Sehun is so alarmingly silent, and Jongin wants to scream when they continue walking for another five minutes, neither of them saying a word. In the end, the brunet gets so fed up with walking in utter silence that he decides to break the ice.

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Jongin blurts out, chewing on a large chunk of strawberry frosting, and he swallows it, along with the lump in his throat, when Sehun doesn’t reply. “Sehun, have you gone deaf?”

“I hear you loud and clear,” Sehun replies, nearly making Jongin collapse in relief, before he takes another bite out of his cupcake. Jongin waits for him to say something else but he doesn’t.

Jongin bites his lip in irritation and angrily takes another bite out of his cupcake, which is, he just realized, bigger than his hand. Jesus. “Why aren’t you saying anything?” he asks, finishing said cupcake before briefly stopping by a trash can to get rid of the wrapper.

Sehun shrugs and Jongin nearly cries. “This is my breakfast,” he says absentmindedly, eyeing what’s left of his cupcake, which really isn’t much. “Isn’t it delicious?” he adds, stuffing the remainder of it in his mouth before shoving the wrapper in his pocket.

“Sehun, come on,” Jongin whines before moving to stand in front of Sehun, effectively blocking the latter’s path. “She’s not my girlfriend, she’s dating some British guy, she’s not into me and I’m not into her, you know that, don’t you?” he asks, gaze darting back and forth between Sehun’s eyes. He can feel people staring at them but he doesn’t care, all he wants is for Sehun to understand.

Sehun blinks and opens his mouth to reply, but he doesn’t get a chance to when Jongin emits a noise of frustration.

“We’re just friends, she used to be a student at our school, she’s in college now and I haven’t seen her in forever, so we decided to catch up since you were uh, running late,” Jongin babbles, flailing his arms in all directions. “I mean, you would’ve wanted to catch up if you suddenly ran into an old friend of yours, right? You would! So please, we’re just friends, oh, and I didn’t mean to touch her hair, she had icing in her bangs and I figured she couldn’t back to work looking like that, so I did it- And holy , I touched - Sehun, I promise I didn’t want to kiss her or anything, she had icing in the corner of so I just felt the need to- Goddamn it.” He bites the inside of his cheek and nearly cries when Sehun remains silent. “I only hugged her in a friendly way, I swear, and I admit I asked her if she had my number but only because she’s a cool person and I’d love to keep in touch with her since she’s going back to England soon and-” He cuts himself off, almost jumping out of his own skin when he feels a hand on his shoulder.

“She said you were friends and that you weren’t together,” Sehun chuckles, patting Jongin’s shoulder reassuringly. “It’s fine,” he adds when he briefly worries Jongin might pass out from nervosity. He side eyes an elderly woman who walks past them while muttering something along the lines of ‘freaking kids’.

Suddenly feeling extremely foolish, Jongin feels a blush creep up his neck and he looks at the ground. “So, you’re not mad?” he asks lowly, fidgeting with his fingers behind his back. “Oh, and I only grabbed her hand because she-” His sentence ends in a small yelp when Sehun suddenly grabs his arms and the next thing he knows, he’s breathing in Sehun’s perfume, which effectively breaks his train of thought.

“I’m not mad,” Sehun mumbles into Jongin’s hair. “I trust her and I trust you,” he adds, taking a step back. “Even though she was a complete , but yeah.” He chuckles a little.

Jongin’s jaw nearly hits the floor. “She’s my friend,” he blurts out, eyes flying open in surprise. “If anything, you’re the since she told me you kept staring at her for fifteen minutes straight!” he squawks, lightly hitting Sehun in the face and huffing because having Sehun as a boyfriend means wanting to hug and strangle him at the same exact time.

“She kept flipping me off under the table!” Sehun retorts, putting his hands up in defense. “I wasn’t just gonna stand there and take it from her, I had to do something,” he adds with a low huff, kicking a pebble out of the way. “It’s true!” he squawks when Jongin pinches the bridge of his nose.

“That’s only because you wouldn’t tear your eyes off her, she got creeped out, and I don’t blame her,” Jongin mumbles before reaching out and ruffling Sehun’s velvet-y locks. “Did you like, just get out of bed, by the way? Your hair’s all...messy,” he says dumbly. He blinks because not only is this the first time he’s touched Sehun’s hair like, ever, but Sehun isn’t karate chopping his hand off for touching his hair. He exhales in relief.

Sehun nods. “Didn’t have time to, since, you know, somebody wanted me here quick,” he says smugly, shooting the brunet a less than subtle glare. “No but seriously, it feels nice not having to douse it with product all the time, saves me ton of time,” he adds with a small laugh before grabbing Jongin’s hand. “What time is it?”

“Uh,” Jongin mumbles, pulling out his phone. “Like, one,” he says, shoving it back in his pocket. “How so? Oh right, your lesson-”

“It starts in one and a half hours,” Sehun says cheerfully before dragging the brunet down the path, the latter nearly stumbling over a rock. “Jeez, watch your step!”

Regaining his composure, Jongin struggles to keep up with Sehun as the latter tugs on his arm. “Where are we going?” he asks, tripping over another rock and nearly colliding with an oncoming cyclist. “Jesus , Sehun, slow down-”

“I wanna go to the zoo,” Sehun says simply before coming to a stop at a crossing. He lets go of Jongin’s hand and cackles when the latter smacks him in the chest. “Slowpoke,” he mumbles, shaking his head in amusement.

“Shut the up,” Jongin mutters, brushing himself off. Holy , is he a fast runner, he thinks before the green light comes on and he’s extremely thankful when Sehun doesn’t grab him and drag him across the street because quite frankly, he’s already tripped and nearly fallen flat on his face twice and he doesn’t plan on doing it a third time.

Sehun bolts across the road so fast Jongin briefly forgets the question he’s been meaning to ask Sehun for the past ten minutes.

1:23 PM

“Please?” Jongin asks, a pout all over his features, as he holds a stuffed bear close to his chest. He and Sehun have been standing in the middle of the zoo’s gift shop for what feels like forever and he has no idea how many times he’s asked Sehun to buy him God knows how many stuffed animals, to which the latter has responded with a ‘no’ each time (for some reason, Jongin figures bombarding Sehun with the same question over and over will somehow make the latter cave in and finally say yes, which has yet to work).

Sehun runs a hand through his still messy hair. “That’s the fifty sixth time you’ve asked,” he huffs, ignoring the way the people behind the cashier are staring at them like they’re both out of their minds. “Come on, let’s go look at the real animals instead,” he adds and tries to beckon for Jongin to put the toy down and come over. 

“No,” Jongin says simply and Sehun almost cries. “Please? It’s not my fault I happened to leave my backpack in my locker, I promise I’ll pay you back, please.” He eyes the brown stuffed poodle in his hands with stars in his eyes before giving it a squeeze. A child pushes past him and he huffs in annoyance.

“Actually, it is your fault,” Sehun mumbles under his breath before pointing to the ‘ENTRANCE’ sign a few feet away. “Come on,” he pries, and it’s not until one of the people behind the counter walk over, probably to shoo them both out for good, that he sighs and walks over, grabbing Jongin’s hand and dragging him towards the sign.

Yanking his hand away, Jongin points to the bear. “Is that a yes?”

“No!” Sehun exclaims in exasperation, mouthing an apology to the store worker who is standing a few feet away with a freaked out look on her face. He doesn’t blame her, though, because he knows for a fact that if he had an eighteen year old man in his store throwing a tantrum over a stuffed bear, he’d probably call the police. “Jongin, come on!”

“But I want it,” Jongin pouts, apparently unfazed by the fact that almost everybody in the store has stopped what they’re doing to look at him in surprise. “Please?” he adds when Sehun bites his lip in irritation.

Sehun curses the zoo for choosing to place the gift shop right by the entrance instead of the exit, mouthing another ‘sorry’ to the woman, who is backing away slowly, probably in fear. “You already have a ton of those at home,” he tries, tugging on Jongin’s sleeve. He doesn’t know if it’s true or not, it most likely is, but he’ll do anything to escape the mortification he’s feeling right now. “Now let’s go.”

Jongin shakes his head. “They’re not as cute as this one, so it doesn’t count,” he says simply before placing the toy in Sehun’s hands. “Please?”

Realizing Jongin most definitely isn’t taking no for an answer, Sehun curses under his breath before reaching into his pocket and retrieving his wallet. He hasn’t checked the price but he doesn’t care, he’ll do whatever it takes to get Jongin out of the gift shop, away from the stuffed animals and into the actual zoo, where the live animals are, even if it means being broke for the rest of his life.

“Here,” Sehun mumbles to the woman, handing her a fifty dollar bill. He’s about to scold Jongin for causing so much drama (seriously, he doesn’t know how many kids are pointing at them both right now) but his words quickly die in his throat when he sees the brunet hugging the bear with hearts in his eyes. I wonder if he looks like that when he hugs Monggu, he thinks before clearing his throat and walking over. “Jongin, let’s go.”

“ThanksSehunyou’rethebest,” Jongin says so fast it’s nearly incoherent, practically throwing himself at Sehun and nearly squeezing the life out of the latter.

“I didn't hear a word of what you just said, but you’re welcome,” Sehun chuckles and he wastes no time in grabbing Jongin’s sleeve, the latter following after him like a lost puppy as he guides the shorter towards the entrance. As much as he’d love to stay back and watch Jongin fawn over stuffed bears, dogs, rabbits and cats, the glares coming from all around them is seriously starting to get on his nerves and he practically shoves the brunet in the door.

~

“What should I name him? How about Jjanggu?”

“Jongin, for the fourth time, put your jacket inside the locker!”

“How about Monggu? That sounds cute!”

“Isn’t that your dog’s name?”

“Yeah! How about it?”

“Jongin, put your jacket inside the locker already!”

“Would you be mad if I named it Sehun? Since, you know, it’s sort of chubby and-”

“Put your jacket inside!”

“Fine,” Jongin huffs before sliding his jacket off and handing it to Sehun, who places it in a locker marked 77. The locker room is relatively empty save for an old man in the corner and a hyperactive child in the bathroom (much to Sehun’s relief). He blinks when Sehun extracts his hand. “Huh?”

“Come on now,” Sehun says, eyeing Jongin intently.

Jongin blinks again. “I already gave you my-”

“The toy,” Sehun deadpans, pointing to the stuffed bear in Jongin’s hands without breaking eye contact.

Emitting a squawk of protest, Jongin shakes his head. “No way,” he retorts, hiding the bear behind his back before Sehun has a chance to grab (or rather, according to Jongin, kidnap) it and put it inside the locker along with their jackets. “No!”

“Jongin, please,” Sehun huffs but he quickly gives in, not wanting a repeat of what happened ten minutes ago in the gift shop, and he puts his hands up in defeat. “Suit yourself, you might lose it,” he mumbles, closing the locker and putting the key in his pocket.

“I won’t,” Jongin says as a matter-of-factly, pulling the bear out from behind his back and patting its head. His eyes light up when he lays his eyes on a sign marked ‘PETTING STATION’, and he nearly beats Sehun to death trying to get the latter’s attention. “Look!”

“I probably saw that before you did,” Sehun groans, rubbing his bicep. “And are you sure? I mean, you won’t find baby chicks and goats and cows there if that’s what you’re exp-” He doesn’t get to finish his sentence when Jongin turns on his heel and skips towards the door, inevitably ignoring the word ‘TERRARIUM’ written in big, black letters below ‘PETTING STATION’, and Sehun sighs in exasperation before rushing after the brunet.

~

As soon as he opens the doors, a blast of cold air hits him in the face and Jongin blinks at the change in lighting; the room he’s currently in is ice cold and darker than the darkest of nights and he momentarily wonders if he’s followed the wrong sign when Sehun places a hand on his shoulder, nearly making him jump out of his own skin. “What the f-”

“Here’s the petting place,” Sehun chuckles sarcastically, gesturing at the rows of glass cases lining the walls, including the large container which is illuminated by a bright light. His eyes briefly light up because he’s always loved spiders, lizards and snakes and, based on his gut feeling, he figures Jongin most certainly hasn't.

“Is this the right room?” Jongin asks, shivering when the cold air hits his bare arms. It’s so dark he can barely see his own hand in front of his face and he looks up, squinting his eyes as he walks towards one of the glass cases, choosing to ignore the label of ‘Theraphosidae’ above the case.

“This is a weird petting z-” Jongin's sentence ends in a loud squawk and he flinches like he’s been burned, scrambling away from the case for dear life and colliding with Sehun in the process. “Oh my G-”

That confirms it, Sehun thinks to himself before placing a hand on Jongin’s shoulder to steady him. “Isn’t it beautiful?” he chuckles, ruffling Jongin’s hair as he makes his way towards the same case. “Come on, don’t be scared,” he adds in amusement when he looks behind him and sees Jongin bolted to the floor.

“I hate spiders,” Jongin groans, a hint of panic in his voice and he squawks when he walks backwards and nearly topples over a bench. Who the thought it would be a good idea to put a bench in the dark, he thinks angrily before gingerly sitting down, ignoring the sense of uneasiness that crawls up his spine.

“Come on, don’t be like that,” Sehun says in fascination as his eyes trail over the black and orange tarantula before him. He briefly wonders what it must feel like to pet one before a thought hits him. “Let’s cross your fingers this place doesn’t have spiders and cockroaches crawling freely around the room,” he says as casually as possible and he has to stifle a laugh when Jongin squawks behind him.

“What?” Jongin asks, eyes wide. He can’t see anything at all, but the thought of hundreds of creepy crawlies roaming freely around the room without any form of restraint makes his head tickle with uncomfort and he subconsciously hugs the stuffed bear closer to his chest. “No way- Really?” He bites his lip, gaze darting around in the darkness.

God, is he adorable. “Yup,” Sehun says casually, reading the label next to the case. “Not every place does it, obviously, but in most cases, some zoos choose to let some of their animals roam around due to a lack of cases, so if you feel something crawling up your leg-” He doesn’t even get to utter another word when he hears footsteps scurrying towards him and before he knows it, Jongin is holding onto his sleeve for dear life. “Good idea.”

“I wanna look at the other animals, y’know, the fluffy ones", Jongin mumbles, wincing when he lays his eyes on the biggest, hairiest and fuzziest spider he’s ever seen in his life. He seriously wonders how Sehun can find these sorts of things fascinating and he tugs on the latter’s sleeve. “Sehun.”

Standing upright, Sehun mutters a ‘hold your horses’ and he’s about to walk over to the other cases, which are probably also filled with spiders and other insects, when his eyes land on the illuminated container to the right and an idea hits him.

“I’m gonna keep looking, it’ll only take a minute,” Sehun says as neutrally as he can, guiding Jongin to the bench, and he blinks in confusion when the brunet absolutely refuses to sit down. “What’s the problem?”

“I don’t want cockroaches running up my legs,” Jongin pouts, gripping his stuffed bear.

Man, he’s such a child, Sehun thinks in adoration before pressing his lips together. “Only some places are like that, I haven’t felt anything so I’m positive they’ve got all their creepy crawlies safely stored in these cases,” he says reassuringly, bending down and pressing a kiss on Jongin’s forehead (he’s surprised he’s able to locate the brunet’s face on the first try given the darkness) and patting his head.

Huffing to himself, Jongin sits glued to the bench and places the bear next to him. He listens as Sehun’s footsteps draw farther away and he swallows, shivering a little, and not because of the cold. He hates the idea of something with a thousand legs crawling up his leg and he subconsciously brings his legs closer together at the thought. He doesn’t know if Sehun is fibbing or not, but he decides it’s probably best to be on the safe side.

Jongin taps his foot impatiently, waiting for Sehun to finish inspecting the few cases inside the room so they can leave this godforsaken dark place and look at the more convenient animals, such as monkeys and bears.

He’s halfway through picking a name for his stuffed bear when he hears something right by his hear, something that closely reminds him of the sound a balloon makes when you slowly let air out of it, and he quickly dismisses it as his brain acting up. However, the sound refuses to go away and he huffs in irritation.

“Sehun, there’s this weird sound in here, can we get o-” Jongin’s sentence abruptly ends in a shrill, definitely not manly shriek when he feels something brush against and tickle his ear and before he has a chance to process what’s going on, he’s off the bench and on the floor, scrambling away on all fours for dear life in the dark. In his adrenaline filled state, he briefly forgets where the exit is so he opts to cower in what he assumes is a corner while trying to control his racing heart. What the fuc-

Eyes darting around the room, Jongin tries looking for Sehun and he’s about to call the latter’s name when he hears a string of loud guffaws, causing him to blink in surprise. Ahead of him, he can see a brightly illuminated...box of some sort and upon closer inspection, he can clearly make out Sehun’s silhouette. “What the-”

“Oh my God,” Sehun wheezes and he has to remind himself not to double over in laughter in order not to drop or end up injuring the four pound snake in his hands. “You scream, holy , I didn’t even know your voice could go that high, oh my God, holy , Jesus.” He sniggers before walking over to the corner where Jongin is. “Hey, give me your hand.”

Still cowering in the corner, Jongin blinks. He can smell Sehun and he instinctively reaches out to grab the latter’s hand, and he flinches like he’s stuck his hand in a volcano when his palm comes in contact with something hard, glossy and scaly, which does nothing to calm his buzzing nerves. “OhmyGodohmyGodwhattheisthatSehun-”

“You were half right, this is sort of like a petting zoo,” Sehun chuckles, bringing the snake closer to Jongin’s face. He feels (sort of) bad, he does, especially since he can hear the brunet practically hyperventilating, but then again, he did just spend fifty bucks on a stuffed bear so he figures taunting the brunet with a snake is the kindest thing he can do. “Don’t worry, it’s not venomous.”

“Whattheiswrongwithyou,” Jongin croak-garbles, backing away until his back collides with the wall. “Whattheareyoudoinggetthatthingawayfromme,” he babbles, flailing his hands around and letting out another shriek when he accidentally whacks the snake in the face. Not that he feels remorse, it’s just that he figures slapping a snake in the face is bound to make it angry, and coming face to face with a pissed off reptile is at the bottom of his list of things he wanted to do today. “SeriouslySehungetitawayIsweartoGod!”

“You’re boring,” Sehun groans, but he stands up and walks over to the container in fear giving Jongin a heart attack, before gently putting the long, slithery reptile back inside. He brushes his hands together and trots back to the corner where Jongin is. “Okay, we can go now!”

Jongin covers his face. Not that he knows what good that will do him against a snake, but still. “I swear to ing God, Sehun, if you stuff that...thing in my pants or whatever, I swear I’ll break every bone in your body,” he says. What on Earth have I done to deserve this.

Talk about a trouser snake in that case, Sehun thinks before chuckling a little. “I put it back, don’t worry,” he says and sighs when Jongin doesn’t say anything. Bending down, he reaches out and places a reassuring hand on what he thinks is Jongin’s shoulder, hoping the latter will understand it is, in fact, him. The brunet doesn’t, however, which Sehun learns the hard way when Jongin lets out a shriek of terror and kicks him square in the stomach, and Sehun is thankful for the fact that five year’s worth of intense football training has decided to bless him with abdominal muscles of pure steel because otherwise he’s at least a hundred percent sure he’d end up getting the wind knocked out of him. Even so, he still collapses onto the floor in a fit of mild pain, making sure to back away from Jongin who is kicking in all directions.

“Jongin, you , it’s just me,” Sehun coughs before getting to his feet. It’s pretty apparent Jongin doesn’t believe him and he sort of understands, but he huffs in irritation anyway. “I promise, dude.”

When Jongin still doesn’t get up, Sehun suddenly gets an idea. He walks (or rather, limps) over to the bench on which Jongin had been sitting on earlier and manages to locate the stuffed bear that Jongin had chosen to leave behind when he scrambled for his life, grabbing it and casually strolling towards the exit and out the door, blinking at the change in lighting when he steps out.

“Guess I’ll have to enjoy looking at the cute, fuzzy animals without you, then,” Sehun says in false hurt as he stands behind the door. He waits for a minute and when Jongin still doesn’t come out, he eyes the toy in his hands and immediately gets another idea. 

“Oh, and I’ve got your bear, by the way,” he adds and cackles when Jongin is out the door and by his side less than two seconds later.

~

“Which one’s your favorite? I like that one,” Jongin squeals, pointing to a fuzzy red panda, the one that is busy stuffing its face with fruit. He grabs Sehun’s hand before hugging the bear closer to his chest.

“Yeah, it’s cute, it kind of looks like you,” Sehun hums, resting his head against Jongin’s. They’ve been standing by the red panda enclosure for what feels like a century and quite honestly, his legs are beginning to grow exhausted, but the stars in Jongin’s eyes as he watches the animals before him makes it all worth it. “I like that one,” he adds, pointing to another red panda, the one that’s asleep.

Leaning closer to the glass, Jongin smiles. “It’s cute, but mine’s cuter,” he says before blinking a little. “And it does? Like me?” He raises an eyebrow before looking back at the red panda he chose as his favorite. “I guess, it’s got my enormous appetite.”

“In the face,” Sehun says, backing away when Jongin tries to slap him. “I meant it looks like you in the face,” he adds, grabbing Jongin’s hand and kissing the latter’s temple. “In a good way, though, I mean, it’s awfully cute, isn’t it?”

Jongin huffs. He doesn’t know if he should slap or hug Sehun for that remark. “I...guess,” he mumbles before turning around and spotting a sign for a restaurant. “Look! Can we eat? I’m starving?”

Speaking of enormous appetite. Sehun shrugs before nodding. Come to think of it, he’s actually starving, too, and he feels his mouth water when he watches the red panda in front of him stuff its face with a papaya. He’s about to walk towards the direction of said restaurant when his eyes light up. “Hey, give me your phone!”

Sighing, Jongin automatically pulls out his phone and hands it to Sehun. “Don’t use the filter app thingy, it totally destroys the quality of the picture,” he says before moving to stand in front of the glass and shoving a hand in his pocket. “Make it quick, I hear people coming.”

Sehun lifts the phone in front of Jongin’s face and blinks when something catches his eye. “What’s with those weird doodles on the glass?” 

Turning around, Jongin also blinks when he sees the handful of white doodles scattered across the entire glass. He has no idea what it is, but he figures it’ll make the picture look that much more artsy. Not that he cares. “No clue,” he shrugs before shoving his hand in his pocket again. He raises an eyebrow when Sehun just stares at him. “What?”

“Are you sure you want that,” Sehun says, pointing to the bear in Jongin’s hand, “in the picture, as well?” He chuckles when the brunet nods. “Okay, fine, fine,” he mumbles and takes the picture when Jongin curls his lips into a smile.

Skipping away from the enclosure, Jongin stands beside Sehun and looks at the picture. He blinks when he notices something.

“The pandas aren’t in the goddamn picture,” Jongin groans, running a hand down his face.

Sehun shrugs. “So?”

“But they were cute! I wanted them in the picture!” Jongin huffs and pouts a little.

Not wanting Jongin to throw a fit, since he’s certain it’ll scare the pandas, Sehun shoots the brunet a smile. “It’s okay, the picture hasn’t lost its cuteness,” he says and chuckles when Jongin blinks. “You and the bear, of course,” he adds, ruffling the brunet’s hair and patting the bear’s head. “Have you decided on a name yet, by the way?”

Blushing furiously, Jongin shakes his head. “I wanted to name it Monggu, but that’s my dog’s name and it’s a little weird to me, so I thought I could name it Jongin Jr., but that’s also kinda weird, I don’t know,” he huffs in annoyance. “What do you think?” he asks, holding the bear in front of Sehun’s face.

“Uh,” Sehun says, leaning away a little, “don’t you have a nickname or something?” He scratches the back of his neck. “What’s the matter?” he asks when Jongin visibly blushes.

. “I...yeah, I do, but,” Jongin mutters, clearing his throat. “But uh. It’s really embarrassing.”

Sehun chuckles. “It can’t be that embarrassing,” he says and laughs a little. “It’s probably not nearly as embarrassing as mine,” he adds, clearing his throat in embarrassment when Jongin’s eyes, inevitably, light up.

“What is it?” Jongin asks, practically bouncing up and down. “Tell me!”

“Promise not to tell anybody, or else you’re dead meat,” Sehun says in a serious voice.

Jongin smiles widely. “I promise!”

Making sure nobody is around, Sehun exhales. “It’s 'Hunnie',” he says after a while and nearly cries when Jongin bursts into laughter. As much as he adores the sound of Jongin’s laughter, it takes every fiber in his being not to walk over and slap the brunet’s mouth off of his face. “Okay, I said mine, now it’s your turn!”

Wiping his eyes, Jongin chuckles. “Hunnie?” he exclaims way, way too loudly for Sehun’s liking. “That’s adorable!” he adds before breaking out into laughter once again. “It’s so...not scary, you know?”

Dragging a hand down his face, Sehun puts his hands in the air. “Your turn!”

“-Since you look tend to look scary as hell but that nickname totally destroyed that-”

“Jongin, it’s your goddamn turn,” Sehun exclaims, grabbing the brunet’s hand. “Seriously, if you don’t tell me, I’m gonna take it back,” he adds, pointing to the bear in Jongin’s hands.

Jongin squawks before hiding the bear behind his back. “No, it’s mine!”

“Then tell me or you’re toast,” Sehun says sternly.

“Fine,” Jongin huffs, blushing again. “It’s...uh, it’s 'Nini',” he finally says and he’s surprised when he doesn’t hear Sehun laughing his chin off. He looks up and stills when he sees the adoring in the taller’s eyes. “Um-”

“That,” Sehun says before promptly walking over and squishing Jongin’s cheeks together, “is so ing cute, oh my God.” He leans in and kisses the brunet’s already puckered lips. “You should definitely name it that,” he adds and backs away before Jongin has a chance to whack him in the face.

Rubbing his face, Jongin winces in pain. “Isn’t it weird to name your toy after yourself?”

“Not necessarily,” Sehun says with a shrug. “Where does it come from, by the way?” he adds, ruffling Jongin’s hair.

Clearing his throat, Jongin turns his face away and keeps his gaze fixated on the two red pandas, which are fighting over a piece of apple. “Uh, Jungah made it up when she was like, three and couldn’t say my name properly,” he says. “She still calls me that even though I keep telling her to stop.”

“Tell her to keep going, ‘cause I like it,” Sehun chuckles before patting the stuffed bear’s head. “Please tell me you’re naming it Nini because I’ll be so freaking happy if you do.” He steps out of the way when the door opens and an entire group of kindergarteners swarm the enclosure. He watches as said children continue to come through the door, one by one, in an endless swarm of lime green vests and adorably sized clothes.

One child in particular catches Sehun’s eye; a little boy wearing almost all brown. His eyes are big and doe-like and he’s got a mop of curly brown hair on top of his head. He’s definitely the most energetic one of the group and Sehun watches in adoration as the little boy proceeds to jump up and down in excitement as soon as his eyes land on the fuzzy, red acrobatic animals before him. Sehun figures that if he and Jongin were to combine their looks and transfer them into a small child, said child would look just like the little boy in front of him and he smiles.

Speaking of Jongin, Sehun is quickly out of his trance when a high-pitched ‘gimme that, it’s mine!’ fills the air and he whirls around, jaw nearly hitting the floor when he sees Jongin seemingly playing tug of war with his stuffed bear, with one of the children, a young girl. Sehun watches in absolute astonishment as Jongin tugs on the bear to try to pry it out of the girl’s iron grip, with no success. It’s so comical Sehun has to let out a cackle disguised as a cough before walking over when he sees a certain hostile glint in the brunet’s eyes and seriously, Sehun does not want to testify in court later after Jongin possibly ends up doing something closely related to child abuse.

“Hey, what on Earth’s going on,” Sehun says, raising an eyebrow in confusion, even though he knows very, very well what’s going on.

Jongin takes a step back and bites his lip in annoyance. “She stole my bear.”

Jesus Christ, Sehun thinks, looking behind him to make sure the teacher isn’t looking in their direction because honestly, he has absolutely no idea how he’ll able to explain taking a teddy bear from a three year old girl, only to give it back to his eighteen year-old boyfriend without the teacher fainting in surprise. Jesus in’ Christ.

“Hey, darling,” Sehun says softly, squatting down and smiling at the little girl, who only hugs the bear closer. “He,” he points to the brunet, “isn’t very happy about you taking this from him, and you’d make him very happy if you gave it back to him.”

Her eyes immediately soften at Sehun’s words, much to Jongin’s surprise and envy, and she bites her lip in contemplation. “Give somefing else.”

Sehun blinks before reaching into his pocket and retrieving a couple of coins from earlier and a few pieces of bubblegum and two candies. He looks up and chuckles when he sees her bored expression. “You know what you can get for these?” he asks, holding up the seven coins in front of her face.

“Nope,” she says, blowing Jongin a raspberry when the latter eyes the bear in her arms. “Mine.”

“You can buy another one of these,” Sehun says, ignoring Jongin’s angry mumbles of ‘darn kid’, before gesturing at the bear. “Imagine, for these, you can get a brand new, even better and nicer looking one, isn’t that cool?” he asks, cocking his head to the side.

“Weally?”

Sehun nods. “Yes. Isn’t that better?” He holds up the two pieces of candy when she hesitates. He decides not to offer her bubblegum in fear of her possibly swallowing it. “Hey, I’ll give you these too, darling, look,” he says and chuckles when her eyes light up. “But because I love candy, I will be very sad if I give these to you without getting this.” He points to the bear.

She eyes the bear in her arms. “Sad not good.”

Sehun shakes his head. “No, not good. But this,” he says, pointing to the bear again, “will make me very happy. So what do you say?”

She seems to eye the candy in Sehun’s hand for years before muttering ‘I like candy’ and grabbing them out of Sehun’s hand, practically throwing the bear, which has apparently lost its value to her, right in Sehun’s face, much to the latter’s dismay and Jongin’s amusement, before running over to join her friends.

Standing up, Sehun turns to face Jongin. “You majesty’s toy,” he says sarcastically, dumping the bear in Jongin’s hands. He pats the latter on the head when he gives the bear a squeeze. “You’re cute as hell, you know that? Even though you seem to have an extreme hatred for children,” he adds with a laugh as he ushers the brunet towards the exit.

“Shut it, just ‘cause I’m not as good with kids as you are doesn’t mean I hate them,” Jongin grumbles before grabbing Sehun’s hand. Sehun calling the little girl ‘darling’ just now reminds him of how he called the other little girl at the cinema the same pet name, which in turn reminds him of how good Sehun is with children. It makes his heart tremble. “Hey, Sehun?”

Stopping by the door, Sehun turns around. “Yeah?”

“How, uh, how are you so good with children? Little girls, specifically?” Jongin asks, hoping his question doesn’t sound as creepy to Sehun as it does to him.

Sehun is silent for a minute. “I grew up with four sisters, it comes naturally,” he says simply before ruffling Jongin’s hair and swinging the door open.

2:21 PM

“There’s no way you’ll make it to your lesson in ten minutes,” Jongin says, swinging his legs back and forth as he sits on the bench. The bus is running late, very late and he’s sort of happy because it means he’ll get to spend more time with Sehun.

Sehun shrugs. “It’s my only lesson today, so I don’t really mind,” he replies before patting the stuffed bear in Jongin’s lap on the head. “So, Nini, is it?”

Blushing, Jongin nods. “I guess,” he says and winces when his stomach constricts a little.

“I like it, it’s as cute as you,” Sehun says before leaning in and kissing Jongin’s nose. The latter whacks him away.

Hugging the bear close to his chest, Jongin leans back against the backrest of the bench and closes his eyes, trying to distract himself from the pain in his gut. He hates that Sehun has to go back to school, but Jongin figures it’s fair because he has to fetch his backpack, anyway. He prays to God he won’t run into somebody he’d rather not run into in the process.

His eyes fly open when he suddenly thinks of something. “Hey, Sehun?”

“Hm?”

“You know uh, earlier,” Jongin says, scratching the back of his neck. He places the bear in his lap, hoping it won’t fall over and land on the dirty ground. “You know, when you were saying hi to Jess, the girl I was talking to?”

Sehun is silent for a few seconds. “Yeah?”

“Call me stupid if you want, but, I’ve been kinda...curious,” Jongin continues, avoiding Sehun’s eyes. “Why did you, well, refuse to tell her your name? Like, right after she told you she was my friend?” he asks and hopes what he’s saying makes sense. He’s probably overreacting but all in all, he’s been wondering for a good hour now. “I mean.”

Clearing his throat, Sehun shrugs and because Jongin is looking in the opposite direction he misses the way the taller’s eyes flash a little. “I uh...I must’ve lost my train of thought,” he says after a while, crossing and uncrossing his legs and turning his face away.

Jongin mentally slaps himself in the face. “Of course, sorry,” he murmurs, feeling himself blush in embarrassment. “Sorry, nevermind, forget it,” he adds, resting his head on Sehun’s shoulder. “Jeez, my goddamn stomach hurts like hell,” he moans.

When the bus comes into view, Sehun stands up. “Serves you freaking right, I’ve never seen anyone eat so many fries in one sitting, I really hope you’ve learned a lesson,” he chuckles when Jongin moans in pain again, pulling the latter to his feet. “I’ve got a meeting with Coach and the rest of the team today, so I won’t be able to stay over, I’m afraid,” he adds. “Don’t forget Nini on the bench, by the way.”

“Oh, okay,” Jongin mumbles lowly, the pain in his stomach quickly being replaced by a feeling of sadness. “It’s fine, I need to catch up with studying, anyway,” he adds and attempts his best smile, which is a little difficult considering the fact that his stomach feels like it’s going to explode any second, before grabbing the bear off the bench and retrieving his bus card.

~~~