“And that’s the end of our potty training for today. I hope you enjoyed this, and that you can go by yourself next time when nature calls.” Cue for monkeys' howl. The background behind started dimming, and he just needed to make the final punchline. “And remember, always be kind to one another, and Flurry the Penguin will see you next time!”

“Aaand~ cut!” Somebody yelled, and at the same time the lights dimmed down completely.

Kyungsoo huffed out, watching through his mesh-hole behind the big open-mouth beak of the animal costume as he waited for someone to come and get him off the main stage. 

He felt like dying inside this penguin suit, because a) it was like carrying a bag full of bricks all over your body, and b) the lights and reflectors in the studio were only adding up to the weight of the suit with glares that did nothing to ease the wear. 

But before he could trip over his feet, and plant beak first, his assistant came rushing through, carrying a bottle of water and something else in his other hand. Kyungsoo really saw little to nothing through the mesh material of the presumable beak’s mouth, so the man had to the bottle into his hands. 

“Get me out of this!” He hissed through his teeth, feeling light-headed from standing under the fierce lights for too long, but his assistant, Minseok, only pulled the zipper of his penguin head on the back of his skull and tore it off.

“No time, Kyungsoo. The producer wants to see you,” The male dabbed a paper towel over his forehead and pushed his bangs backward.

“Now? But I look hideous,” He pointed with his flipper down to his body, before downing the rest of the bottle down. Minseok only nodded.

“Yup. They’re having this emergency meeting, and they sent me to get you. You need to go. Come on,” Minseok pushed him down the two stairs that led to the main stage, before pushing the penguin's head to his hands. “And I have to do something else, so I gotta leave you alone in this one, okay?” He dashed down the rest of the stairs, leaving confused Kyungsoo to hold his penguin head in his hands. 

By the time Kyungsoo looked around, nobody paid attention to him, and the suit was starting to itch. So he did the next best thing, that being dropping down to the stairs, rolling down on his behind, because those stupid penguin legs weren’t meant for walking. 

He did, however, fall down the three stairs he was left to cross, so he ended up laying sideways and trying to stand up without looking stupid. But of course, he did look stupid, since the penguin head rolled away from him, like a tumbleweed in the desert, and his feet couldn’t even touch the ground from this position. The penguin was so damn fat!

So he just lied there, ing his legs in the air, as he huffed and puffed, trying to at least turn around on his stomach and then try to push away from the ground. But not much changed even after a couple of minutes of flapping like a bird on land.

“Do you need help?” A voice spoke from somewhere above him, and he reached out with both hands to it, not even looking up to see who it was. 

“Yes!! Help! Me!” He was out of breath already, and he seriously thought about cashing in that gym coupon that Minseok bought him for Christmas. “I fell, and I can’t stand up on my own. It’s this stupid suit.” He felt strong hands pushing him to the floor, and he was seconds away from the dirty concrete underneath him.

“Hey! Stop! It’s dirty, I don’t want to—” But just as he threw another tantrum with his legs throwing back and kicking the air—even though he couldn’t move them that much—he was being pulled off the ground, and back on his own two feet. Well, his webbed feet.

“Here you go.” The voice spoke again, this time behind him, and by the time Kyungsoo turned around, he only saw the boy close to his age, waving and going backward. 

He nodded as a thank you, even though his face was void of anything of it, and turned around on his way to the producer’s room. 

By the time he had arrived, the meeting was in a full blast, and he was late for about twenty minutes. Whoever created these sturdy penguin legs—it’s for a lifelike similarity to the species, Minseok would correct him if he had heard him—deserved to be burned on a stake. Alive. While the whole country watched the broadcast live...

“Kyungsoo, what do you have to say?” The director of the show, Suho asked him, and suddenly Kyungsoo was hyper-aware of the fact that he was too deep in thought to even realize that he entered the room without apologizing and that he sat down in the chair on the other end of the show’s director.

He looked ahead, and over the big, round table, that had all the people that were something to the show, before maintaining eye contact with Suho, who had raised eyebrows, obviously waiting for an answer. 

“Um..” He searched for his assistant, for the man was always the main connection between him and the crew, but unfamiliar and not so familiar faces faced him, and he remembered that his assistant was a piece of for leaving him. 

Well, that was a bit harsh, since the man was nothing but the best assistant that Kyungsoo could ask for, and he had to remind himself that Minseok had his life too, and had obligations outside of his part-job as Kyungsoo’s assistant. 

Aaaand he tuned out again.

“Kyungsoo?” 

They were all looking at him, and he must’ve looked crazy—with his hair plastered to his forehead, not just from perspiration, but also from full-on sweat that this suit created for him. And did he mention that he was still caged in this death-grip stupid penguin costume?

“Excuse me?” He tried again, waiting for a moment to pass, and for the crew to give up on him, but that wasn’t an option as it seemed.

“We were just discussing finding you a stage colleague. Somebody to maybe freshens up the show and bring in something new.” Suho repeated, probably just chewing up the whole conversation that was being held before his arrival. 

“Well..” And Kyungsoo started seeing white spots in his vision from beginning light-headed and too long in the damn suit, as the heat was starting to get to his head.

“A partner? Why?” He looked around the room. “Am I not good enough? I have this goddamn penguin around my body still, for God's sake,” He huffed and realized that he was pretty flushed in the face too. What a nice image of a blushing penguin. “Talking about dedication...”

“We don’t think you’re not enough, Kyungsoo.” Kris, the technical director started, sitting next to inline Suho. “We just thought of finding someone to help you out with your skits, and ease off the work.”

“Yeah,” Kyungsoo snorted. “And in the next meeting I would be invited alone, and you’ll wait for me with my resignation letter.” 

Just as he prepared another speech inside his head, there was a knock on the door as a head popped in. “Am I late?” The male asked, before being invited in by none other than the traitor named Suho.

“Oh, Jongin, not at all, come in.” Suho was all smiles and crescent eyes as he led him into the room, and onto the unoccupied chair next to his own. That Jongin smiled in return, thanking silently, as he sat down next to the director, all the way on the other side where Kyungsoo was still fuming.

“Well?” He asked, tugging at the collar—a cute tuxedo cut around his neck—trying to ease up the column of his neck. He felt the droplets of sweat sliding down his back, and he hated everything about it. 

“Well, Kyungsoo, meet your new colleague—Jongin.” Suho proudly pointed to the male sitting next to him, wearing the same stupid grin as his traitor director. 

“No.” Kyungsoo was determined, crossing his flippers over his chest as far as he could—but actually just patting one over the other because of their size—as he eyed this Jongin boy. The suit had a bit of fat around his middle too, just like the kind he was playing. 

Jongin was tall—taller than Kyungsoo—and had that beach-washed hair in the platinum blond shade that everyone seemed to love nowadays—but Kyungsoo saw right through—and dimples on each side of his tanned face. Either he was starting to lose it to the scorching temperature of the suit, or Jongin was kinda handsome. 

But that didn’t justify that Kyungsoo was getting a replacement, and was probably going to die in this stuffed penguin suit since his body was slowly being immersed into it. 

“Kyungsoo, you can’t say no.” Kris tried again.

“I just did.” 

Both of their directors shared a look before Suho exhaled. “Kyungsoo, Jongin here isn’t a replacement or something to blur your eyes before we decide to fire you.”

“No, he’s just an extra in your show, something new and fresh. Something your audience will love.” Kris finished.

“My audience is kids, and they don’t care if there’s two of us on the screen or only one. They only want a show.” He spoke like he'd met all the kids that watched him every day. But this show was his, goddammit, and he had every right to defend it. Besides, any change in the setup could upset his viewers.

“That’s exactly our thought. They are so used to you that the new addition could bring them even more joy.” They were determined to butter him up to the new change, but Kyungsoo was standing his ground.

“No. I said no. I don’t want that. This is my show, and that is my audience.” He tried to stand up, but that only led him to wobble on his flippers, before dropping down on the chair again. A minute later—and a minute to calm his blushing cheeks because of that little squeaky sound that the chair made—he spoke again. “I don’t care what your professional stance on this is, but that’s my final word.”

“Kyungsoo,” Suho was like a boring mother, trying to explain everything calmly, and didn’t believe in beating up the kid, Kyungsoo in this case. Kris, on the other hand, was a different story.

“Listen, we really want the best for this show, and we want Jongin to help you with it. That’s all.”

Kyungsoo looked to the side, watching as Jongin pouted to the table, before raising his hopeful eyes to look at their main director like the man was the God himself. So he tried, at least.

“What would his role be?” Kyungsoo asked, sharing a glance with Jongin, catching his eyes for a moment.

“A bear.” Their costume designer, Baekhyun offered.

“A bear!?” Kyungsoo asked, offended that anyone could suggest such a boring animal. He raised his brows at Baekhyun, who only shrugged, picking up the photos of the said bear costume.

“We wanted to make it something that kids can watch, you know. Put two unusual animals together, and teach children of differences, and how to overcome them,” Baekhyun said next, nodding to confirm with Suho, who beamed like a proud mama. Again.

“But where did you see penguins and bears interacting?” Kyungsoo asked, just to be sure that he was the only one normal here.

“It doesn’t matter, it’s a kids’ show.” Yup, the only normal one.

“But my audience deserves some respect, and they wouldn’t settle for something so out of lines. You can't put different animals, with different backgrounds and habitat—”

“Your audience is three-year-olds,” And he really wanted to slap Kris or something.

“Well, that’s more reason then. They’re not dumb like two-year-olds.” 

“Ok. Ok. Stop fighting!” Suho interrupted them, standing up like the other two would jump on each other. Kris might, but Kyungsoo was tied down with this suit, so couldn’t even if he tried. “We discussed this already, and it’s final. Jongin is joining you, and that’s it!”

Suho looked directly at Kyungsoo, who huffed out, rolling his eyes. But in the next second added. “...If that's okay with you Kyungsoo?”

The whole room groaned.

Minseok’s job was so goddamn difficult.

Now, he was a reasonable man, and he had his limits, but his employer and a close friend kept pushing and pushing. 

It’s not like he wanted to quit or anything like that—he was sure that Kyungsoo would cut his balls off—but he was a human too.

So after contemplating whether to even get up from his bed this morning, he decided the latter because he couldn’t stand his phone beeping and buzzing from his nightstand all morning. 

Kyungsoo was a very stubborn person, and when he didn’t like something or had a problem with someone, he could go to the extent of bothering Minseok to take care of it for him. And Minseok would often enjoy those little tasks because he could take care of problems, which was his original fuel for getting this job.

But other times, Kyungsoo was being a spoiled brat and had unreasonable reactions to simplest things; like that time when he made Minseok talk to his gardener, because he couldn’t stand the smell of flowers coming from his window, and wanted for the man to relocate the product of nature somewhere else. 

And his employer wasn’t like this usually, but he had his moments, because of some deeper reasons even Minseok couldn’t understand. He was always polite with his colleagues, and the staff working on his show, but sometimes he was a spawn of Satan himself, and Minseok was this close to ditching his sorry .

But then he remembered the times when he was having problems in his life, and how much of a help Kyungsoo was then and how he couldn’t ever repay him for it. Like that time when he and his husband, Jongdae, had a problem with the adoption agency, and Kyungsoo went there to clear the misunderstanding with them over how incompetent they seemed as future parents. 

But Kyungsoo took care of that, since the agency misplaced their file, and checked their pictures with a file of some other couple after which they refused to finish up their adoption of an adorable little boy that they named Luhan, after Minseok’s late grandfather. But eventually, after days and days of clearing their name, they adopted their son and all thanks to Kyungsoo himself.

And Kyungsoo even went further, surprising the newly made parents with a baby shower that was a couple of months late but held with their families and close friends nonetheless. Minseok remembers how their son still slept with that stuffed deer Kyungsoo bought for him that day (among many other presents that his friend liked to spoil Luhan with).

So he tried that right now, thinking of those times when Kyungsoo was actually a nice person while sitting in his car, waiting for Kyungsoo to come out of his house. 

Kyungsoo had a big problem named Kim Jongin, aka his new colleague, and he needed his assistant to take care of things.

“No can do!” Minseok drove off Kyungsoo’s lot, getting caught in the busy traffic jam, and huffing out slowly when he realized that he could be stuck with his boss for God knows how long.

“What? Why not?” He could see Kyungsoo crossing his arms over his chest—the usual sulky expression, with a pout that worked in cracking even the toughest of them all—but he checked the line of cars before them, silently praying for some kind of extra lane to drop down from the sky, and bless them all.

“Because the chief already made the decision, and I can’t go over him.” Minseok explained, checking his phone next, just if they said what the reason for mayhem might be and if there was the easiest solution to it. But there was nothing, so he concluded that it had to be just too many cars in the morning jam. Curse him and his luck.

“I don’t care what he says, this is my show, and they can’t take it away from me!” Kyungsoo stomped his foot down, and shook the car slightly, but didn’t care about that now. He seemed as if he wasn't affected by their sudden stop, only bothered with his problems. 

“They’re not taking it from you, they’re only adding a refreshment of the sort... Something to add a new layer.”

“I’m layered enough, goddamn!” Kyungsoo picked his phone—presumably for playing games—when Minseok ignored him and called his husband instead.

“Minnie, what’s up?” Jongdae answered in a heartbeat.

“Well, I’m driving with the biggest baby ever—” A glance to Kyungsoo and his roll of eyes. “And I thought of calling you instead of dealing with his annoying .” 

Jongdae chuckled into the receiver when Kyungsoo’s ‘hey!’ reached his ears as well. “Stop dragging his , help the man, baby.”

“I wish, but I can’t because he’s being unreasonable again,” Minseok huffed, checking his wristwatch and seeing that only ten minutes passed. 

“What’s the problem now? The new addition to the show?” Minseok only hummed. “Well, you really can’t do anything with that.” His husband concluded too, getting a soft ‘I know’ from Minseok.

“Try to explain that to the annoying baby. I swear, if it wasn’t for this traffic jam, I’d ditch his on the side of the road, and come home.” Kyungsoo looked offended, holding a hand over his heart, before crossing his arms again, and looking out the window.

“Is he sulking?” Jongdae tried to contain his laughter, when Minseok snickered in the phone, checking with his husband. 

“Yeah... A big baby, I told you..”

“Speaking of babies... Lulu wanted to talk to you,” Jongdae said, and before Minseok could say ‘Give me my baby on the phone he heard some rustling before somebody wailed into the phone.

“Baby? Baby, what’s wrong? Lulu, it’s appa, talk to me,” Minseok jumped off his seat, even bringing Kyungsoo’s attention. 

“Appaaaa~~” Luhan wailed into the receiver again, before quieting down, and then laughing loudly with his dad in the background. 

“Lulu? Are you messing with your appa?” Minseok settled down, sharing a confused look with Kyungsoo, before getting an earful of his son’s whining. Like father, like son.

“Okay, I’m hanging up now—” 

“Appa! No!!!” Luhan laughed again before both his and his dad started whining again, this time singing Minseok’s name. Minseok found it endearing, really, how much his son resembled his husband, even without the blood relation.

“Okay, okay. What are you two doing? Do you miss me, baby? Because appa misses you so much.” 

“Appa! Lulu miss appa so much!” Luhan really kissed that receiver, because Minseok had to bring the phone out of his ear from the loudness in which his son wailed into the phone. Kyungsoo, on the other hand, only chuckled softly.

“Oh, baby. I’ll come back home faster than you think, okay? Say hello to uncle Soo,” Minseok took the phone from his ear again, cooing at his baby, and the speakerphone instead, so that Kyungsoo could hear it too.

“Uncle Soo!!” Apparently, little Luhan was excited today for everybody, and the elders couldn’t help but chuckle at his innocence. Even Jongdae was heard from the other end, laughing with his son, before tackling him for more.

“Beautiful Lulu, what are you doing? Is daddy tickling you, hm?” Kyungsoo asked, totally immersed in the talk, same as Minseok. 

“Daddy is mean, appa! Uncle Soo! Help Lulu!” Luhan was obviously pouting on the other end, laughing out loud some more, before they heard a quick peck and a soft ‘Sorry, baby’ coming from Jongdae. 

“Baby, listen, uncle Soo and I need to go, okay baby? I miss you, and I love you, and I can’t wait to see you again, okay? Baby, send me a kiss, will you?” Minseok spoke directly to the receiver, still keeping his husband on the speakerphone, but watching the cars clearing up the line before them.

Luhan humfed from the other side, splotching a big, wet kiss into the phone, before the friends in the car could hear soft thuds of feet over the wooden parquet, and Luhan’s loud ‘Daddy, end! The end!’ afterward.

“Thank you, baby. Okay, what time are you coming home today?” Jongdae took the phone from his son, and Minseok changed back to the normal line. 

“I don’t know,” He huffed out, eyeing Kyungsoo from the side since the man was still smiling while surfing online. “We have this problem with the show, and I’ll try to get out at the usual time, I guess..” Minseok trailed off, but Kyungsoo butted in.

“He’ll come home earlier today, but don’t say it to Lulu, okay, Dae?” 

“You heard the man,” Minseok chuckled when his husband said bye to Kyungsoo and stopped for a second to hear why was Luhan pulling at his pants pocket.

“Honey, Lulu said that he wants to send you another kiss, because the last one was for Kyungsoo, and he wants to kiss you too,” Minseok just cooed at his son and his sloppy kiss over the phone, before Kyungsoo pinched him to drive and not cry on the road like he started to.

They arrived at the studio about half an hour later, with cheeks hurting from all that smiling over Luhan’s adorableness, and with nothing of problems lingering in their minds.

Even Kyungsoo seemed to be fine with his current situation, and he was bubbling out how he’s found the perfect bouncing castle for Luhan’s approaching birthday, and how he’s gonna take care of everything they needed for the celebration party.

Minseok assured him that Jongdae and he already made some plans considering their son’s birthday party, but Kyungsoo was typing away with the organizing people, calling some others over the phone. 

They were still discussing the patterns for the appropriate birthday theme, when they entered Kyungsoo’s changing room, and found Jongin already sitting there.

“Oh, hell no!” The minute Kyungsoo was through the door, he was out of it, going around to the director’s office, and entering without knocking. Minseok tried to keep up with him, but he came back to his changing room, only to smile a little at Jongin’s confused face. It was just to ease his nerves, and the assistant was out of the door as well. 

“Suho? What the hell man?!” Kyungsoo stood in front of Suho’s big desk, crossing his arms, and not looking around to the others that were currently in his office too, probably in some sort of a meeting. 

“Kyungsoo? What’s now?” Suho dismissed the others, only Kris staying behind.

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes, dropping down with his palms flat over the surface of the table. “What now? What now?! What is that... bear doing in my changing room?”

“Aha! So you accept him as the bear—” When Kyungsoo only banged his hands over the wood, Suho quickly composed himself, and sat down again. “Sit down, let’s talk..”

Kris scowled at their main star but said nothing. Minseok had come in too, but sat down next to the door, grabbing the today’s papers that were on the coffee table for guests, and started reading without being bothered by anything. Which he wasn’t if you think about what he had to deal with every day. 

“I don’t want to talk! I want you to kick him out! That’s my changing room, and he can’t be there!” Kyungsoo banged again, looking on a verge of breaking the desk in two. Kris checked his cuticles. 

“Listen, we don’t have more rooms for him to take, and besides, your room is big enough for—”

“No, no, no! No!” Kyungsoo turned around, waiting for Kris to say something, but when the man only shrugged, he turned around and left with a bang. Literally, because he closed the door with so much force that Suho’s degree in film and theater fell from the wall. 

Kyungsoo came back to his changing room, opening the door with a loud bang, again, plastering the wooden plank to the opposite wall and looking Jongin dead in the eyes.

“Hi, hyung!” Jongin waved a little, craning his neck to the side to see Kyungsoo standing at the door-frame, with Minseok in tow, before he turned back to the other vanity table with a big mirror that was brought to stand next to the Kyungsoo’s one. 

“Get out!” Kyungsoo spoke to his new colleague, but the makeup artist thought he was talking to her, so she dropped the brush down, before scampering out. 

Kyungsoo huffed out when she left, crossing the room in three long steps, and sitting down at his usual place. He didn’t need that much makeup, after all, he was wearing a smoldering head of a penguin over his head, and his face wasn’t even seen. But he grabbed his brush off the table and started brushing his long locks back. Jongin only watched.

“Wow, hyung! Our first show together! I’m so excited!” He was talking like Kyungsoo asked for his opinion—which he most certainly didn’t—so Kyungsoo turned to his assistant, asking the man to go and get the makeup girl back. 

When they were left alone, Jongin spun on his chair in the full circle, before stopping to look at Kyungsoo, excitement overflowing his eyes. 

“Hyung? How was your first time?” Now, Jongin was clearly asking for the show, since this was Kyungsoo’s fourth year of being on this television, and creating creative content for the viewers of the country. But Kyungsoo had a different answer.

“Painful and quick.” He cut him off, standing up from his chair and walking out. He found Minseok at the other end of the long hall where all the rooms and offices were, but he was chatting with the makeup lady, drinking coffee casually. 

“Where have you been?” Kyungsoo hissed, stopping their conversation.

“Oh, Soo. Have you heard that Chaelin and Sandara adopted too?” He gestured to the woman standing next to him, but Kyungsoo didn’t listen to it. 

“I need you to find a way to kick Jongin out of my room, or find some shoebox for him to use as his office, okay?” Kyungsoo pointed to him, before looking at the petite girl next to him. “I need make-up, so come with me!” 

He walked back to his room, seeing Jongin still in it, but this time sitting on his couch, eating his complimentary fruit. “Oh, hyung—”

“Save it!” He sat down in his seat, Sandara following closely behind him, before grabbing all the necessary brushes. Jongin’s face fell at that, and he swallowed thickly, so loudly that even Sandara saw it, and sent him an apologetic look. 

But before Kyungsoo could open up his eyes, and say something mean again, Jongin was called to the set for some last-minute rehearsal, so he bolted out, leaving the room in complete silence. 

“You should be nicer to him,” Sandara whispered while putting on some light cream under his eyes. His eyebrow just twitched. 

“He didn’t steal your job,” Sometimes, he wasn’t really nice, to begin with, but even then, he could bite even more, and push people away. Just like now, as he huffed out, and his brows dipped down in the middle. His arms were like born to cross over his chest, and Sandara giggled.

“What's funny?” Kyungsoo cracked an eye open because she was currently laughing instead of fixing up his face, and she just ruined his zen mode before the filming. 

“It’s just you remind of my daughter, you know... She’s only three, but she has this frown between her brows, it’s so adorable.” Sandara put down the cream, leaning on the vanity table instead, watching for his reaction. “And Chaelin says that she reminds her of you, often, and— Oh! Did you know that Minji loves your show? She likes when you have guest animals, and when you play with them. I swear, she’s in love with you or something..” Sandara smiled softly, obviously happy with her little family, and went back to work.

“I’m sorry,” Kyungsoo didn’t close his eyes this time, even when Sandara asked him to, but did look down. 

“Oh, why?” 

“Because I was so rude towards you, and I didn’t even ask about your daughter, I’m sorry.” He nodded to hear what Sandara had to say, but the door of the room opened up, showing a tall and lanky bear with his head missing. 

“Hi!” Jongin waved again, before going for his chair, and waiting for some other make-up artist to come and finish him up.

Kyungsoo only glanced at him from the corner of his eye and saw that ridiculous bear costume that was too yellow at the edges for his taste. If the studio wanted Jongin to look like Winnie the Pooh, then they were doing a lousy job at it. But Jongin smiled nonetheless, stretching out his hands, and wiggling his fingers, probably getting used to having bear paws over his hands. 

“I think you should apologize to someone else instead,” Sandara whispered when she caught him gazing solemnly at Jongin, but he quickly scoffed, sitting up straight instead.

“Okay! Take five!” The stage manager yelled and snapped their clapboard before everyone started talking and checking the equipment. 

Minseok ran towards Kyungsoo, taking his penguin head off, before handing him the cold water, and a napkin to dab at his face. Kyungsoo thanked him, and slowly wobbled to the side of the stage where he could sit down and take a minute to catch his breath. He wasn’t moving too much on the stage, but after carrying a suit weighing the same as a five-year-old child, he was exhausted. 

Just as he sat down, Jongin was approached by a running man, who took his bear head and gave him a bottle of water too. Kyungsoo concluded that it was his assistant as well, but didn’t ponder over it too much.

“We need two more scenes for the next episodes, and an ending speech, and we’re done,” Chanyeol, the stage manager, said, before getting nods from both Kyungsoo and Jongin. “Great, then don’t forget to thank Baekhyun for facilitating your suits,” Chanyeol beamed at the blushing boy at the edge of the stage, before patting his back for a job well done. That only earned him a gushing Baekhyun who couldn't be more obvious in containing his feelings.

“But he didn’t do anything to my suit!” Kyungsoo whined but growled when Jongin thanked him in his usual sweet voice.

“I swear to God, I hate him!” 

“Who? Baek?” Minseok sat down next to him, going through the program for the next episode. 

“No! Jongin!” Kyungsoo looked over to see Jongin in a light conversation with his presumably assistant, before ducking his head down when their eyes met. 

“Oh, please. He’s been doing really well, and you can’t deny that he knows how to behave when it comes to children.” Minseok concluded, waving at Jongin’s assistant. “And his assistant is really cute.”

“Yes, I’m sure he has a special touch for children—”

“Ew! Kyungsoo! I didn’t mean it like that!”

“—and you’re married, or do I need to release Luhan onto your ?” 

“First of all, don’t say Luhan and in the same sentence ever again, and second, I didn’t think like that, geez. Taemin is really cute in the way you are cute to me—like a wild animal that I see in the Zoo, but have no intentions of petting it.”

“Am I an animal to you?! And you already know his name?!”

“Yes. Some kind of rabies-infected rabbit, or a mouse..” Minseok shrugged, before standing up and going around behind the camera. 

“Minseok!” But Kyungsoo was cut off when Chanyeol came back, shushing down everyone and standing behind the camera. He wasn’t the cameraman, but his job was to look at the scene enrolling before the camera, and give directions so they could follow up their plan for each episode of Fluffy the Penguin. 

Kyungsoo took the penguin's head, slipping it over his own, before going over to where Jongin stood, waiting for him. The younger had that dumb smile all over his face, and Kyungsoo hated that he was shorter, so he could easily see his face through the mash part of his mask. 

“And action!” Chanyeol yelled, breaking off their staredown. Well, Jongin’s calm, excited smile, and Kyungsoo’s daggers-throwing sneer.

“Welcome back, our lovely flurries!” And just like that, he was back in the role. “We don’t have anything else to play with you today—” Cue for wailing cries in the background. “—But we promise that we’ll come back tomorrow with more exciting games, and puzzles for you. And a little something more..”

“Yes!” Jongin’s voice was sugar-sweet. “We have special guests tomorrow, and I can’t wait to meet them too!” 

“Yes, Nini Bear—” Kyungsoo cringed at the name the studio wanted Jongin to be named. “—we have exciting guests, so don’t forget to tell your parents to tune in! And let’s all give a big hug to Nini the Bear for joining us from now on, as my best friend!” Kyungsoo hated the teleprompter and wanted their screenwriter, Yixing, dead. 

“Thank you Flurry! And don’t forget to love, laugh, and play as long as you can! Flurry the Penguin and Nini the Bear will see you tomorrow! Bye~~” Jongin waved enthusiastically, before Kyungsoo joined him as well, waving at the camera, and even jumping up and down slightly.

When the lights downed, and Chanyeol yelled ‘cut’, Kyungsoo threw the head off his shoulders, stomping around. 

“Why the hell would you steal my final line? It was always mine to say goodbye at the end of the show, and you just strolled in and stole it!” Kyungsoo pointed at Jongin, who by now took of his bear head as well.

“I just read the lines and—”

“And what?” By this point, Kyungsoo was yelling and everybody around them stopped to stare. “Listen here!” Jongin shivered visibly when Kyungsoo got into his face and lowered his voice down drastically. “I don’t know who you are, and what gives you the right to come in and steal my show, but I don’t want to see you here, and I’m sick of it!” 

With that, Kyungsoo stomped off the stage—well, as fast as his suit allowed him—leaving Jongin on a verge of tears.

“That was harsh! Even for you, Soo!” Minseok was currently driving both of them home, with exception of dropping Kyungsoo first, since they came with his car instead. 

“Who cares..” Kyungsoo was still fuming from before, still having his arms crossed, and watching the scenery outside. He was frankly just so pissed at the whole situation and the fact that he couldn’t do anything about it. That show was everything that he loved about working at the TV station, and it was his baby from the start. His idea, his passion, and his God-awful penguin costume. But the network had to ruin that for him too, and hire a replacement for his character, that was so much better than even Kyungsoo couldn’t deny it.

Jongin was sweet, and soft-spoken and didn’t have a problem with jumping around the stage, making fun of himself, if it meant the laughs for the kids. He was everything that Kyungsoo used to be, and he was so much better at everything, that it was only a matter of time when the heads fired him. 

So he hated the idea of getting laid off just because Jongin was younger (only by three years), much better looking (which he could deny, though), and with a desire to grow and find himself in this business. 

Maybe he was jealous that his time had passed, and that he was starting to look like a bitter old man that got nothing out of the war he went through, but so be it. He was jealous of Jongin, and his height, and his blinding perfect smile, and his toned arms and legs, and that hair that didn’t need gel because it stayed looking perfect even after wearing the bear head for half the day—while he looked like a cow liked him over and thoroughly—and his contagious positivism. Well, everyone except Kyungsoo, who only fake-barfed and left the room whenever the crew invited him to hear the newest joke that Jongin made up.

“You need to apologize to him, you know?” Minseok was going on and on with the same stuff as he was in a previous couple of weeks, ever since Jongin joined them. 

But every day was different verbal torture of his assistant, being the time when Minseok scolded him for hiding Jongin’s lunch and made the boy wander around the studio in a search for his precious chicken that went cold by the time he’d found it. In Kyungsoo’s defense, the fridge was a good place to store any kind of food.

Or that time when he scared Jongin with some picture of Demon dog, or something like that, that was hanging from the ceiling of their changing room—oh, did he mention that he couldn’t kick him out and that Jongin was still using his room as his own?! 

Truth be told, the idea of turning the lights off and hanging the photo that even made Kyungsoo look behind his back wasn’t the smartest idea ever, but he needed some ways to scare Jongin away, or to frighten him enough that he wanted to run away by himself. 

But a crying Jongin wasn’t a beautiful sight, and Kyungsoo felt something pulling at his heartstrings at the scene. 

He didn’t apologize for it, though, but Jongin forgave him nonetheless.

But this time, Kyungsoo outdid himself.

“I still don’t get it how did you think of that..” Minseok was pissed at him and didn’t spare him a glance ever since he found out about the scheme that Kyungsoo had in plan for his next prank on Jongin. 

It was too late to stop it, though, because Kyungsoo had already set the plan in motion and when he really thought about it, it wasn’t very proud of him. Minseok only scoffed, drawing the car up to Kyungsoo’s alleyway. “I just hope you’re proud of yourself because the boy is sure gonna quit after this!” 

And with that, Minseok drove off. 

Kyungsoo huffed out, unlocking his front door, and walking in without much vigor in his step. He should’ve been happy about what Minseok said, but something was off, and he didn’t want to think about it that much. So he went to prepare dinner for one and went silently to eat in front of the TV.

But his usual soap operas did nothing to entertain him, and it only made it all worse when they had a massive fight over some petty thing. 

He was a petty thing; Kyungsoo realized because for once he thought about someone else—other than the close people in his life—and felt sorry for the younger.

Jongin was nothing more than the Sun itself blessing them all with his humor and innocent personality, that Kyungsoo had to tarnish. He wanted to see the boy yelling and being mad for once, but Jongin was always smiling after his curse words, and his bad behavior, that Kyungsoo really thought something was wrong with him. 

But Minseok always reminded him that that was just Jongin’s personality. He was kind and bubbly, and he loved animals and popcorn. Why Minseok thought that Kyungsoo could use that last information, he didn’t know. 

But all was going well for him inside the Network, and they even got higher ratings for their show, because more people started tuning in, and there were even meet-and-greets with the stars of the show, where parents could bring in their kids to watch a live show and then play with Flurry and Nini. 

Jongin was a nice addition to their crew, and almost everyone agreed on that one. Even Kyungsoo sometimes doubted his hatred towards the boy and his antics. B