Next day was Monday. That meant Kyungsoo had to get up early and go to work. During their daily breakfast routine, he had promised Baekhyun to go out next Saturday to the park, since the puppy had been closed indoors for quite a while. The weather was a bit cold but thanks to Jongdae and Kyungsoo his wardrobe had been slowly growing, now full of cardigans and sweaters he could use comfortably outside. 

As usual, Jongdae got out of the room later. Baekhyun was dozing off watching some news on the TV when he heard the door opening and the light steps coming his way. He saw Jongdae’s dazed expression looking his way, and Baekhyun raised an eyebrow straightening his back on the couch. Finally Jongdae seemed to remember what he was doing there and cleared his throat while rubbing his eyes with his long sleeves.

“I’m going to have lunch with one of my friends. He’s a cat like me but he wants to meet you” Jongdae’s voice came out deeper than usual, probably because he just woke up. Baekhyun rarely talked to him earlier than lunch time. 

“Me?” He asked pointing at himself. Still trying to understand if the cat was inviting him out today. With his friends. To have lunch. With Jongdae. Baekhyun’s brain was going overdrive and he didn’t know if he was getting excited at the prospect of finally going out or at the fact that Jongdae was willingly inviting him to hang out together.

“Of course I’m talking to you, . Do you see anyone else here?” Jongdae groaned going towards the kitchen. Baekhyun stood up, following the other hybrid who was now reheating his breakfast. 

“I’m just surprised you’re actually asking me out” Baekhyun said resting on the doorframe with crossed arms and a smirk slowly forming on his face.

Jongdae’s face went red at this, looking back to Baekhyun and sputtering. “I-It’s not like that! My friend just wants to meet you that’s all! I would never invite you just like that!” He said, taking a seat at the table and filling his mouth with pancakes.

“Yeah, sure. Your friend. Alright I’ll go! I want to meet this friend of yours. What time should we go? I’ll take a bath first” Jongdae took a long sip of water before saying 2 hours from then, still not meeting Baekhyun’s eyes. But right before the puppy entered the bathroom he heard the other one shouting.

“I will leave your clothes on the bed! I can’t have you going dressed like a lazy bum” Baekhyun sighed smiling slightly. “Sure mom!” He called back, closing the door behind himself so he didn’t hear Jongdae’s retort. He actually didn’t mind the cat choosing his outfits. The cat dressed quite nicely even if he didn’t plan on going out during the day. And Baekhyun didn’t know much about style anyways, since all his clothes back at the shelter were usually mismatched and weird fitting. One part of his mind felt giddy at the hybrid choosing his clothes. ‘He’s acting like my wife or something’. Baekhyun snorted at his thoughts. Probably if the cat could read his mind he would strangle Baekhyun. He decided to just take a quick shower.

Baekhyun made a mental note to send Kyungsoo a message and inform him he was going to go out with Jongdae. Kyungsoo told him he could start going out now that he had a tag, but advised him to go only to places close to the apartment since he didn’t want the puppy to get lost. Baekhyun still didn’t have a phone and Kyungsoo said to wait until he could buy one to start going to farther places. 

He actually was really shocked that Jongdae had invited him out, friend’s orders or not. He was planning on just laying around today and maybe going later to the grocery store on the main floor for a snack or something. 

He got out of the shower and started drying his hair, extremely careful with his ears since a couple of days ago he had had the unpleasant feeling of hot air going inside his ear canal. Jongdae had laughed at the shriek he had let out, taking the drier from his hands and finishing the job.

Baekhyun secured the towel around his waist and went towards his room. He found Jongdae still going through his clothes, his back towards the door where Baekhyun was resting. After some minutes he seemed to find what he was looking for, holding a fluffy white sweater and turning around, almost dropping it when his eyes found Baekhyun. The puppy laughed when he saw Jongdae’s flinch accompanied with a small whimper.

“You scared me! How long have you been there?” Jongdae said in his whiny voice. He quickly looked at Baekhyun’s bare chest, immediately looking down and arranging the sweater over the bed, hiding his flushed face with his bangs. Baekhyun hummed, going closer and taking a look at the outfit. 

“Anyways, I’m taking a bath now. We’re leaving in an hour so be ready! I’m not waiting for you” Jongdae said going out of the room and slamming it on his way out. 

After changing into his clothes, he decided to give Kyungsoo a quick call since he knew it was the time the other usually had lunch and was probably free. After a couple of rings he heard Kyungsoo’s deep voice greeting him.

“Hi Kyungsoo! Just wanted to let you know I will be going out for a while. Jongdae invited me for lunch with a friend or something” Kyungsoo was probably eating while calling since Baekhyun heard the other one choke over the line.

“Jongdae invited you? Where to? When are you leaving?” Baekhyun chuckled, Kyungsoo usually got annoyed when the others asked multiple questions expecting answers and now he was doing it probably because of the shock.

“Weird right?” Kyungsoo hummed on the other side of the line. “He said his friend wanted to meet me, I don’t really know where but we’re leaving in an hour”

“His friend? Uh, alright. Have fun I guess? And make sure your tag is visible at all times!” Baekhyun chatted a bit more before hanging up. He heard the shower going off and the footsteps going from the bathroom to the bedroom. They still had one hour, but Jongdae usually took a long time choosing his clothes. They were just going to be on time. 

He decided to surf the Tv channels while waiting for the other to come out. Baekhyun was actually quite nervous. He kept thinking about how to behave on the outside. Also about Jongdae’s mysterious friend. What if the other hybrid disliked him? Would Jongdae care about what his friend thinks of Baekhyun? He kept fidgeting with his tag, putting his fingers in between the leather and his neck. 

To be honest he always thought that if he was to get a tag he would prefer it in bracelet form. He felt weird having something around his neck at all times, like it was constricting his throat or something. But now that he had it it was probably more the nervousness of actually having a tag and the heaviness of what it meant than the actual discomfort of his throat feeling too tight. He also felt special having something that Jongdae had chosen for him. The cat had specifically bought the collar thinking about how it would look like in Baekhyun, and this made the pup treasure it more. Jongdae himself had his tag clipped on one of his ears. Baekhyun sometimes felt like it may be uncomfortable to have something with a weight pulling at his ear all day, but the other didn’t seem to mind. Even adding a small bell so it would jingle everytime his ears moved. 

A couple of minutes later Jongdae came out all dressed up, carrying with him two pairs of long jackets and a bag in one of his arms.

“It’s snowing quite heavily today so you will have to take Kyungsoo’s long coat with you. He won’t mind. It will be a bit short on your sleeves since you’re a bit taller probably, but not by much” Baekhyun took the jacket putting it on. Just like Jongdae had said the sleeves where a bit shorter but nothing to worry about. “Also, here!” the cat said, handing him the paper bag. “I got this a couple of days ago, but it didn’t fit me. It’s not a gift or anything, I just couldn’t use it” he said turning around and putting on his own jacket.

Baekhyun opened the bag finding a soft looking scarf. It was nice to the touch and looked really warm. “Are you sure this doesn’t fit? It’s a scarf. It’s one size fits all…”

“Just take it idiot. It’s too big for me!” The cat said picking up his pouch and going towards the main door. Baekhyun smiled, going after him. He picked up the gloves Chanyeol had gifted him, noticing that Jongdae was also wearing the matching pair.

“Let’s go outside then”

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Ok, i decided to just add all the chapters at the same time so both archiveofourown and here are now updated on the same chapter :)