There's barely enough time for Jungkook to register just what in the world is going on when he opens the door to Chaeyoung's apartment, expecting to see her studying in the kitchen whilst he games in her living room, when he's met with the sight of her running frantically around the house carrying pet supplies in both arms, teetering a food bowl on her head. She looks ridiculous, he would point out, but he thinks she probably already knows that.

“What's going on?” The sound of his voice startles her, causing the bowl to topple onto the ground with a clank. She didn't even hear him come in. 

“The landlord is coming over to check up on us. We need to hide Snickles!” Her eyes are blown wide, hair disheveled and pajamas wrinkled from just having woken up. She looks more distressed than the time he told her that he found a mother cockroach laying eggs behind her closet. And then he remembers that this building in particular prohibits pets - something he vaguely remembers her mother bringing up, only to have Chaeyoung pout relentlessly until she gave in and let her adopt Snickles (as long as she could keep him on the downlow).

“See, I told you you should have gotten a fish or something.”

“Can you not be a right now and help me?” she seethes at him.

“What do you want me to do?”

“Take Snickles back to your apartment,” she says as she sets down the load of pet supplies in a closet before picking the puppy up and holding it out to him. 

“What? No! My dad is allergic to dogs,” he lies, mostly because he doesn't have the motivation to walk all the way back to his apartment even though it's just a few blocks away.

Chaeyoung frowns, looking into his eyes. “Bull, your dad isn't allergic to anything.” She brings up the time the vacuum cleaner exploded right in his face and he barely bat an eye while the whole house broke out into a fit of coughs and wheezes. “C'mon, you love Snickles! Can you really imagine life without this face?” She holds the puppy up until it's at eye level with him, it's beady eyes starting to melt him from the inside. 

“But Chae, can't you just hide him in the closet with all his other stuff?”

“You know how he feels about confined spaces. He'll bark nonstop the moment I close that door and blow our cover.”

“Well why can't you-”

“Please, please, please, please,” she begs with lips puffed into a desperate pout. For a moment, her eyes seem to sparkle as she takes a step towards him. , this is worse than the dog, he thinks, starting to lose all resolve to stay here. 

“Fine, fine, but you're buying me patbingsu after this.” He takes the dog into his arms with a huff, immediately noticing that it's gotten heavier since he last held it. “What have you been feeding him?”

“The same stuff I feed you.”

“What?”

“Go, go, go, I have to clean.” She's hurriedly shoving him towards the door before he gets the chance to interrogate her, her stare suddenly threatening when their eyes meet.

He's both amazed and annoyed at how quickly she's able to just shift her expressions to manipulate him into complying, and this is the thought that sticks with him as he's riding up the elevator to his apartment with Snickles on his shoulder, receiving a few weird looks from strangers who step in on different floors. Surprisingly, Snickles doesn't smell like a typical dog, he smells exactly like Chaeyoung. Has she cuddled him so much that her scent just devoured him? Jungkook thinks he wouldn't be surprised.

The moment Jungkook brings Snickles into his new safe haven (relieved that his parents aren't home to bombard him with questions), it's as if something about this place resonated with him as a fire hydrant because that's exactly how he treats it. 

“Oh my god!” Jungkook groans when Snickles pees at the base of the desk in his room. “Of ing course you decide to pee now,” he mumbles, deciding now that he much prefers cats that know how to use litter boxes. It makes him wonder for a moment why Chaeyoung didn't get a cat. She's totally a cat person, or at least that's what he thought in the years he's known her. Or perhaps he's given into some stereotype that an intelligent, introverted person would be prone to get a cat.

The sound of his exasperated sighs can be heard echoing down the hall as he makes his way to the bathroom to begin cleaning up Snickles' mess.

When he's done, he finds himself impressed with how obedient Snickles actually is (aside from his little accident upon arrival), sitting peacefully in front of the television (on the floor, of course, he's lost couch previleges for now). They're watching Unpretty Rapstar, Jungkook mouthing along to some of the lyrics. He wonders if Snickles is enjoying the upbeat music as well - he may be a dog but it's not unheard of for them to be affected by songs. When he looks down, Snickles seems to be in some sort of trance, lightly bopping his head side to side in a way that brings an amused smile to Jungkook's face. Somehow it reminds him of the way Chaeyoung would get lost in the music when he turns the radio on in the car, except she would slightly sway instead of bop - he wonders if it's because she was aware of him watching her.

Suddenly he feels bad about making Snickles sit on the floor by himself, but he still didn't want to risk his parents coming home to soaked cushions that smelled of dog urine. Instead, he joins the pup on the floor, bopping his head along too.

There's a knock on the door just when a good verse is about to come up, causing him to huff irritatedly. But then he remembers Snickles next to him, not knowing whether he should hide him somewhere in case it's his parents, but then he hears the familiar silvery voice on the other side. She's calling out - not to him, though. 

“Snickles! Are you in there?” The sound snaps the dazed dog out of his trance, and bounces back onto his little legs. Jungkook almost bursts out laughing at the little shake of his  as he walks towards the sound of his owner's voice with perked ears. Unfortunately, he bumps right into the wooden door with a high pitched yelp, not used to there not being a small dog door for him to enter. “Snickles?!” Jungkook hears the panic in Chaeyoung's voice and nearly chokes on a cackle.

When the door swings open, reuniting the two, Chaeyoung lets out an excited squeal as if she hasn't seen him in months. Snickles looks like a fluffy brown cloud in her arms, attacking her face with and kisses. He takes note of how much more put together she is now than she was this morning, hair neatly pinned back in a ponytail.

“You finally get rid of the landlord?” he asks.

“Yup, didn't suspect a thing. I mean, he almost did when he found one of Snickles' chew toys but I just passed it off as my weird taste in stuffed animals.”

“That you chew up?”

“I said it got stuck in the vacuum.”

“Smooth.” 

She's about to shoot back a cheeky remark when the commercial on his tv finally ends, the sound of chimy advertising music switching back to the uproarious audience in the show, cheering on another competitor. Instantly, Chaeyoung's eyes widen with renewed excitement, already flopping down onto his couch before he can make any mention of how she totally owes him one because Snickles turned his bedroom into a personal toilet. “Man, I love this show!” she exclaims, clapping her hands. Snickles is in her lap in a matter of seconds, nuzzling into her sweater, and Jungkook gives up trying to . 

He takes a seat on the couch as well, trying to remember the last time Chaeyoung was here. It's usually the other way around, and he would come over. He doesn't mind it though, it makes this apartment seem slightly less dull - it's partially why he's always over at her's. 

They sit through several minutes of the show before he finds himself staring longingly at her lap, now occupied by her dog. He doesn't have the heart to shoo the puppy off, though part of him feels like he should have the right because he claimed that territory first, years ago. He settles for her shoulder instead, finding it not as warm but just as comforting. He wonders if it's creepy to be this fond of her scent - of course, it's also expected given the amount of time he's around it - because every time he's around her, it's her scent that makes him feel like it's home. It's fresh, natural, and citrusy, and it's even better when he falls asleep, inhaling it like a strange aphrodisiac—wait, what? He's blushing deeply at the bizarre thought, which thank god Chaeyoung can't see because she's too immersed in the show.

Snickles suddenly sits up in her lap, turning slightly as if adjusting himself to a more comfortable position before sitting back down. She looks down at him with a smile, the fur out of his eyes before whispering, “I love you.”

“I love you, too...” Jungkook replies absentmindedly.

Chaeyoung's face flushes, looking at him with his head resting on her shoulder but eyes turned upwards to the ceiling. “I... I was talking to Snickles.”

It's only then that his eyes widen and he pulls away from her shoulder with a feigned cough. She can see his face now, mildly fazed out, a bit of sweat forming on his forehead and face beginning to flush a faint pink. “I- yeah, me too.”

She doesn't question him any further because it's a little awkward for her too, because she knows he wasn't looking at Snickles when he said it. Maybe he was in a trance, too enveloped in the music - it happens. He turns away for a moment, and then she feels the weight of the couch shift as he gets up and begins walking (limping, more like) into the kitchen, mumbling something about needing a drink and if she wants anything. 

“Yeah, get me a Sprite.”

“Alright.”

She turns her attention back to the show, not aware that in the kitchen, Jungkook is sticking his head in the fridge, mentally scolding himself.