Minho had been having a nice relaxing time in his own room – for once. He shared his room with Chan - they were the ‘adult’ room, never mind the fact they chanted ‘Ole ole ole’ whenever they got overly excited over something. Typically it wasn’t too much of a hassle – both of them cleaned after themselves, they weren’t overly loud on their own. Chan was a little bit intimidating sometimes as he was the leader of the group as well as the oldest, not to mention the years of experience he had on the rest of them. Still, they were essentially brothers and they were surely and actually-not-so-slowly getting past that little barrier.

That said, the moment the rest of the boys came into the mix things got loud and a tinsy little bit hectic. Headache-inducing even, for those who weren’t used to it. But man, did they shout a lot, Minho himself included. It wasn’t just shouting. They also whooped and screamed and in some cases barked and crowed – it was all fair game really. It was normal in all honesty, considering how energetic their younger members were. Minho and Chan never stood a chance.

Regardless of how much fun they had together, it was still taxing. Dealing with it for weeks on end, the only breaks being when they were practicing or breaking down because of practicing, Minho sometimes found himself looking forward to being alone in the dorm. 

Today was one of those days. The boys had decided to go out and have some fun in a nearby arcade along with their favourite junk food – not that they would ever admit that to anyone in their company, they were all supposed to be on a healthy diet after all. They had invited Minho of course, and he would have accepted. However he had been feeling sick the past few days and the weather forecast hadn’t exactly been sunshine and rainbows – and so, he’d stayed behind in the blessedly quiet dorm.

He’d napped, finished the book he’d been reading and he was now watching ‘Bad Guys’ – he loved that drama. The episode had him on the edge of his seat, they were possibly going to show what had really happened to one of the main characters, who may or may not have been framed for murder. Minho only hoped his boys wouldn’t be too rowdy when they came in as they usually did right in the most crucial moment.

He heard the click and creak of the front door being unlocked and opened, and the boys shushing each other as they entered.

“Quiet so we don’t disturb hyung,” he heard Jisung hiss as someone, likely a hyperactive Felix, dragged their feet across the floor, making them squeak in some unknown rhythm.

As if on que, the door slammed closed with a sound loud enough to startle Minho even though he was waiting for something like that. And then there was something he couldn’t have anticipated in his wildest dreams - an inhuman screech echoed through the dorm. 

Minho shot up from his chair and turned to the door in a single motion. He stilled as there was nothing but silence and waited with bated breath and a racing heart for something else to happen – why weren’t the boys reacting? Were they ok? Was one of them hurt? Did one of them make that sound or was it something else? All that and more flew across his mind within the second that passed before a war broke out in their dorm.

The screeching was back, the boys were shouting, thuds were coming from all over the place - Minho could only assume the world was ending.

“What in the hell,” he muttered under his breath as he walked to his door, unsure of whether he really wanted to go out there or not. But what if the boys were in trouble? He couldn’t leave them to deal with it alone. Letting out a long sigh to build up some courage, he placed his hand on the door handle.

Just like that he was on the floor. That was… surprising.  Just as he’d had it halfway open, the full volume of the noise in the dorm deafening him, something small and sand-coloured zipped by him. One of the boys who’d been chasing the little thing had slammed into the door. Minho wondered if he could attribute his newly-found headache to the boys or if the door was at fault this time. At least he now knew it wasn’t some burglar trying to kill them. But what kind of animal screamed like that?

More confident than before, he stood quickly and barged out his room.

“What the heck is going on?”

The words were barely out of his mouth, when something brushed against his ankles and rushed into his room. A freight train then proceeded to slam into him. Minho was once again on the floor, his headache now twice as bad as before, with the freight train in front of him, rubbing its own temple. Said train turned out to be Changbin. How was it possible for someone that was both smaller and slimmer than him to feel like a boulder. He only hoped he never let that slip - ‘Binnie’ would probably kill him.  The screeches seemed to be quieting down at least. They were still there but the intervals between them were becoming longer and the volume was reducing, thank god.

“Oh my god, hyungs are you ok?”

Felix was the first to get to them, speaking English in his panicked worry, with the rest of the group trudging along behind him. He was pulling Changbin to his feet, while Chan came to help Minho up.

Rubbing at his poor abused head – his forehead would probably be blue the next day – he gave them all a stern look. To say he was glaring might be accurate but it would also insinuate he was mad at them. He wasn’t. Really. Not yet.

“I repeat, what the heck is going on?”

Ok, good. He was still actively making an effort not to swear in front of (or at) them. He was not mad at all.

The boys, not sure how to answer, all turned to Chan. He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, looking apologetically at Minho.

“I’m not entirely sure to be honest. We walked in, the dorm slammed and then this thing screeched.”

“So actually I know exactly what’s going on,” the dancer deadpanned – ok, so maybe he was a little mad. The tone didn’t seem to sit well with Chan as he crossed his arms and furrowed his brows – he was getting defensive.

“I said I wasn’t sure, didn’t I.”

“Come on guys, don’t fight,” Seungmin pleaded with them. “It will only make things worse.”

Chan and Minho both softened under the puppy eyes of their youngest member, as the urge to pat him on the head grew too great to resist.

“Speaking of fights,” Jisung cut in. “Where did our screechy problem go?”

They all turned in place trying to find the speedy menace. Minho watched as they naturally stood back to back, arms up and knees bent ever so slightly. They looked like they were ready for an ambush by a jaguar or some other silent, deadly animal – odd considering their little problem could possibly be used as the single fire alarm for an entire six floor office building.

Remembering the brush against his ankle, he turned to his room. Why did it suddenly look so ominous? Sure there was something alive and possibly dangerous in there and he didn’t know what it was but he was certain it didn’t even come up halfway to his knee. Yeah, it was definitely small. Maybe it was a puppy. Or a bunny!

“I like bunnies.”

The boys looked at him as if he’d gone insane. Felix being ever the tactful one leaned forward, almost conspiratorially.

“... Hyung,” he paused, “are you sure you’re ok?”

Minho blinked. Right, it would be a hell of a bunny if it made sounds like this. He didn’t realize he’d left 90% of his thought process unsaid. Ah well, either way they’d laugh at this later.

He inhaled deeply, “I’m going in.”

All the rest gasped. He may or may not have imagined that bit but when he turned to them – one last time before he jumped in the bunny-lion den – they were definitely looking at him with something stuck between awe, worry and a little bit of panic in their eyes. He wasn’t 100% certain when he’d become such an expert in reading emotions from eyes but the point still stood.

Changbin, the solid little bastard, realized they had to actually, possibly, maybe do something about the situation within the next few hours. He stepped forward, grabbed Minho by the shoulders and nodded as if he were about to send him off to a battlefield. He then promptly spun him round and gave him a very decisive push toward the room, closing the door as Minho stumbled in.

Minho himself could barely stop himself from swearing – he was the hyung in that relationship god damn it! He held back, however, with the thought he might get eaten otherwise. Right, eaten by the thing that was hardly larger than his ankle.

‘Get yourself together, man,’ he scoffed at himself, shaking his head.

He stepped forward cautiously and as quietly as possible. The room was still dark from when he’d been watching his drama. Coming in from the very brightly lit living room it was like he was stranded in a dark abyss where he could collide with something with every little movement. That said, something could also collide with him as well. He wasn’t sure if he shivered from the thought of it or from the draft coming in from the slightly opened window. The situation was not at all helped by the lightning flashes that made otherwise harmless objects project monstrous shadows. It was official, he was in a horror movie.

A sudden skittering and a blur in his peripheral startled him enough to jump to the side and hit his desk. There was that colliding he’d been worried about. On another note:

“Now you decide to be quiet? What, did you come here just to torment me?”

There was something akin to a whistling noise coming from somewhere in his abyss. What the heck was this thing? He’d have thought it was a bird but those don’t really run across rooms with quite this level of proficiency. A cat could maybe screech but they didn’t whistle. A dog neither whistled nor screeched. Squirrels were smaller and so were rats.

While mulling over all the different options Minho kept moving carefully – firstly as to not add to his bruising and secondly to try and not scare the animal into running around. Or jumping. Oh god, how high could this thing jump? Could it reach his eyes? What about his throat?

He gulped as he closed in on his bed. Then he felt something odd beneath his foot and almost fell on his bottom when the loudest screech so far came from right in front of him. He hissed and pulled his leg back sharply when he felt small but very sharp teeth scrape against his shin through his sweatpants – his very thick sweatpants. 

“Please don’t let me die, here.”

There was that whistling again, accompanied by some whimpers and almost barks. It dawned on Minho that the animal was possibly just as afraid, if not more, as they were. In a similar bout of brilliance he remembered he could switch his lights on - a true genius.

Looking around with the light on certainly made things feel like less of a nightmare. 

The small out-of-place shape below his bed caught his attention. His knee-jerk reaction was to lie down on the floor and shove his face under the bed. It was only halfway there that he realized it was not the brightest idea what with dealing with a frightened, possibly aggressive animal. He jerked back and settled on his knees instead. He watched the little form intently, looking for any clues on how to proceed from here. He could make out a pair of giant ears and a tail as large as the body it was attached to. So not a bunny.

“How did a desert fox get to Seoul,” he asked the little thing. Now, he wasn’t actually expecting an answer and it honestly surprised him when the ball under his bed unfurled ever so slightly – just enough to peek up at him. He couldn’t help himself – baby voice and all.

“Aww, but you’re so cute!”

The fox flinched when he moved closer and looked up at him with big wet black eyes. It was quivering as well. Mud caked its paws and belly, and splattered across its face, sides and back. The fox must have been completely soaked before this whole adventure commenced. Even having spent only up to 20 very active minutes in their warm dorm, its fur was almost completely dried and sticking up in odd angles – mini cow . Muddy mini cow . He might freak out about the mess later.

“You must be terrified,” Minho continued – baby voice softer with the hopes to calm the little one. He shuffled forward on his knees, braced one hand against the top of the bed and extended the other for the fox to sniff. Perhaps he’d moved too quickly or he was being too forward as the fox recoiled and threw itself backward. Minho froze in place when the small body hit the wall the bed was braced against. A relieved sigh escaped him when it stood as if nothing had happened, only foundering slightly and shaking its head. It was absolutely adorable and Minho found himself cooing.

The sound seemed to calm it down – it stopped moving and stared at the weird human. Taking advantage of this small victory, Minho even went as far as adding a melody to it. The fox tilted its head and oh so carefully put one paw in front of the other.

Minho tapped lightly on the floor to attract the fox even further. He was over the moon when it worked without the fight he’d expected. No getting scratched up and bit, and forcing the critter out with a broom or in a blanket or something. Unbelievably, things were actually going well.

The fox carefully made its way toward him, occasionally stopping to sniff at the floor with its ears pointed forward. Minho wondered how strong its hearing was. Could it hear the others in the dorm? 

He cheered internally, just barely keeping himself from throwing his arms in the air, when the little one cautiously sniffed at his knuckles before a small pink tongue poked out to lap at them. He would forever deny the squeal that escaped him as he, without thinking even for a second, ran his hand between the fox’ ears and gently scratched the top of its head. Fortunately it only leaned into the touch before it laid on its side and curled its paws toward its body. Minho along its side – short as its dry fur looked, it was incredibly soft. The fox chirped a few times before it closed its eyes and went still. Minho himself also stopped his petting, unsure if he’d somehow knocked the poor thing out. It cracked its eyes open and nudged at his palm to make him continue. 

Minho would have sworn he’d gone to heaven if it didn’t nibble at the side of his thumb as well. Naturally he yelped, startling the animal. It shrunk back a little and looked up at him with those large eyes again. It made his heart ache.

“No, it’s ok pup. You just surprised me. And even if it hurt, you didn’t hurt me on purpose, did you? You’re a good pup, aren’t you?”

He kept petting and murmuring lovingly to the little fox and completely lost track of time. He couldn’t even guess how long it’d been when there was a very hesitant knock on the door.

“Hyung~,” Hyunjin’s voice carried through the door. “It’s been silent in there for a while…”

He trailed off uncertainly. In the meantime, Minho used the opportunity to take in his surroundings again. It had stopped raining – he had even forgotten about the storm outside.

“We thought we had to check if you were still ok. So are you?”

Minho had also forgotten the boys all thought he was in here dealing with some ferocious beast. An idea lit a mischievous glint in his gaze as he turned to the door. Looking down at the pup he smiled and rubbed at its cheeks.

“Let’s introduce you to the boys.”