It took a few minutes for Minho to stop laughing. That’s what they got for assaulting him with his own door – twice! Still, he tried to keep his shaking to a minimum, due to the small warm weight at the base of his neck and the muzzle he could feel (and hear) sniffing at his hair. He was so busy having fun and feeling fond he didn’t notice just how shocked the boys looked.

Changbin took a couple of stuttering steps forward with a lowered head and wide eyes and pointed at Minho’s face.

“What’s with your head?”

Ok, so not his face. Also kind of insulting and without honorifics! That wasn’t like Changbin at all. Besides, Minho snorted – Changbin should be the last to talk about weird heads, ‘Mr. Neon Butterfly!’ He crossed his arms and raised his brows.

“Have you looked in a mirror?”

For a moment the other boy just looked at him, confused – he had stopped pointing as his finger was down but his arm was still in the air for some reason. It must have hit him though as he blushed a vivid red and ran his hands through his hair almost furiously. Most of the butterfly clips and a few unfortunate hair bands bounced off in a shower of colour. A single clip hung onto dear life (read: a few strands of Changbin’s hair) just out of his peripheral vision. The remaining surprisingly robust hair bands had loosened and rode up from their place at the base of his skull, each one pointing in a different direction. Felix gave out an indignant squeak – how he could squeak with that absurdly deep voice of his still baffled Minho – at his hard, dedicated work being ruined.

Seungmin, having followed Felix to peek over the couch back, seemed to take pity on the older rapper.

“Hyung-“

“Not now Seungmin!”

“But your ha-”

Changbin turned to the side sharply – that poor last butterfly clip finally giving in as it was flung across the room.

“Seungmin!”

Their maknae meeped as he shrunk back into Felix’ side.

“Ok.”

Changbin turned back and this time a neon blue hair band took flight – it crashed in the solid wall that was Chan’s cheekbone. Minho could practically see smoke erupting from his ears as he glared at the back of Chanbin’s head. He briefly wondered how it looked from there – was it as priceless as the front? Speaking of ‘back of the head’, the little fox appeared to have fallen asleep with its nose pushed into the back of his own head. He had to keep movements to the minimum.

The leader murmured something under his breath and stepped up to stand next to Changbin. And once again Minho’s head was being pointed at.

“He meant the ears.”

The dancer’s hands shot to his ears, carefully tracing out their shape and trying to figure out what the heck had the others so frazzled.

“What’s wrong with my ears?”

Chan grunted in frustration.

“Not those ears. The furry ones!”

Minho froze and looked at Chan. Had he finally lost it? Sure he was young, but leading their rowdy group can’t have been easy.

“Are you ok, Chan?”

“What? Yes, I’m-” he sighed, dragging a hand over his face but didn’t continue.

Jisung, ever the dependable one, came to the rescue.

“Hyung, you have large dog ears on your head.”

Minho blinked at them before remembering the fox on his back. Was that it? The little thing was still breathing steadily on his back – obviously sleeping. Awe, poor little one must have been absolutely exhausted to be able to sleep through all this. Especially so quickly after scaring the life out of Hyunjin. He didn’t know how he stopped himself from cooing out loud.

He slowly and very awkwardly lifted his arms off to the side and to the top of his head so as to not jostle the creature. It felt silly and maybe a teensy bit embarrassing to pat the top of his own head as he was. There was nothing out of the ordinary there, except for a small cow … fox ? He moved his hands toward the back of it and ah – soft fur brushed the back of his hand. Carefully and oh so tenderly he caressed the ridge of one ear with his fingertips and ran them up to the tip where they stayed for a moment before pinching it gently.

The others were shell-shocked when a yelp came from behind his head and the ears jerked to one side. A small sandy head, a very cute one at that, was revealed as the thing chirped, unhappy, at Minho and nipped at his jaw.

10 minutes later and the only major difference was that they were all sitting on and around the couch and Minho was vehemently seeking forgiveness from his newfound furry friend by petting and making smooches at it. He and the fox were the only ones really sitting properly on the couch – everyone else too… let’s say uncomfortable at the prospect. Jisung, being the bravest soul among the rest at the moment, sat comfortably on the couch arm – so comfortably in fact that if he scooted just half a centimetre to the edge he would be standing.

Chan had dragged one of the chairs from the kitchen table over to sit in front of the couch – for Minho to feel his condemning glare all the better no doubt – while Changbin stood behind him, arms crossed and chest puffed. Minho was willing to bet they would disappear faster than lightning if he were to let the pup on the floor. He noted he couldn’t see the remaining three members – Hyunjin came as no surprise, most likely hiding away in his room, and Seungmin was probably also hiding but somewhere he could still see what was happening. Felix, on the other hand, Minho had been certain he would be the first to approach the animal, winning it over with a sunny smile and a rumbling gentle tone.

“Hyung!”

Minho jerked in his place on the couch as the little fox gave out a sharp squeak, twirled and then jumped in his lap. Speak of the devil and he shall appear – and nearly give you a heart attack. On the bright side, he knew Felix was behind the couch and almost on top of him.

The Australian boy shrunk down a little at the reaction he got, only his fingers and half his face visible over the top of the couch. He hadn’t meant to startle them.

His hyung sighed and turned sideways as best he could with the fur ball in his lap.

“What is it Felix?”

He lifted his head so his mouth showed and grinned.

“Can I pet it too?”

Minho smiled at him, relieved there was no problem, and poked at the fox’ head.

“It’s ok little guy. He’s harmless. Loud-”

“Hey!”

“- but harmless.”

Again, as if it understood every word, the fox looked up at Felix (who grinned like a maniac) like it wanted to assess him on its own. It was pawing at the back of the couch within seconds, emitting short cheery chirps – it seemed Felix was approved.

They both cooed down at it. Minho reached to scratch at its side and back while Felix immediately began to pet it between its ears. In the meantime the boys in front of them were stunned, looking on with slack jaws and raised brows. Changbin in particular appeared petrified when the fox got playful – jumping and spinning in the limited space between the edge and the back of the couch all the while making a variety of noises, from adorable little chirps and yelps to jolting screams. In all honesty, even Minho had to admit it would definitely take a while to get used to that, and he was already heavily biased – fully prepared to lynch anyone and anything that tried to hurt the little one.

Unlike their dark loving member, Chan tried to keep a stern face. It wasn’t working. Chan flinched in his seat whenever the fox dashed to the edge. Of course, their leader might have just been worried it might fall off and hurt itself but then again, thought Minho, when had things ever gone his way?

“Yah!”

Naturally it was Chan who lost it as the fur ball eventually misjudged the distance and tumbled onto the floor. Changbin immediately scurried off, jumping on one foot over to Jisung to use him as a shield.

Minho’s heart broke watching his little friend back-up into the couch only to curl up tighter than it had when it’d been hiding under his bed. It looked up at Chan with flat ears, a lowered head and wet large eyes like it was apologising, scared of being hurt. 

“You,” Chan pointed at the poor thing and it took all Minho had not to tackle him when it recoiled.

“You are getting tied to the kitchen table and you will not move until we decide what to do with you in the morning!” 

It whistled with regret and pushed its small muzzle forward to try and sniff at Chan’s foot in an attempt to calm him or show how sorry it was. Unfortunately the action went unnoticed and the high pitched noise only agitated Chan further. He stomped one foot, almost catching the little nose with the tip. Minho could only hope it was unintentional. Even so, it was the last straw.

“And you will not make any loud noises until then or-”

“Or what, Bang Chan?”

Everyone froze at Minho’s ice cold tone, even the fox looked up at him though it didn’t unfurl. Chan stared at him, startled at first. It took a lot for Minho to voice his anger, especially at Chan who he respected as a leader. Not to mention dropping the honorifics. He had to truly be at breaking point.

A couple of deathly silent minutes passed with the boys sharing uncertain glances and the two oldest of the group staring each other down. Minho planted his feet on either side of the fox’ small body and stood only to loom over their leader.

“You will not harm a hair on this furry little head, Chan, or I will make you regret it,” he threatened as he picked the fox up and cradled it to his chest. He glared at the silver haired boy one more time for good measure and pushed past Jisung and Changbin.

This broke Chan out of whatever stupor he’d been stuck in.

“Where are you going?”

“My room,” Minho scoffed without as much as a hitch in his stride.

“No you’re not.”

This however made him still – that cold aura from before rising up once more. He forced himself to let his arms relax when the fox squirmed against his chest.

“How so?”

Chan stopped in his tracks almost afraid to finish his thought as he observed Minho’s wide, brooding back. He’d have found it amusing that he could even describe someone’s back as brooding if it weren’t for the circumstances.

“That’s my room, too,” he gulped.

“So room with someone else for tonight.”

“You’d kick me out because of that rodent?”

He cursed his choice of words just as they came out of his mouth. It may or may not have had something to do with Minho whirling around with an expression he’d never seen on his face and scowling at him. He needed to do something to calm him down. Raising his hands came as a reflex.

“Ok, so rodent’s too far.”

Well, Minho was still glaring at him but hey, the intent to murder was gone. That counted as a win.

“But Minho, come on. You can’t truly shove me out of my own room.”

The rough scowl softened to a slight furrow of his brows.

“Alright,” Chan sighed in relief. “I’ll sleep on the couch.”

And it was gone.

“What?”

He gawked at Minho as he went to pass by him, and grabbed him when he was close enough.

“I’m going to sleep on the couch.”

The dancer repeated through a clenched jaw.

“No.”

“What do you mean no? You don’t want to go to another room, you don’t want to sleep in the same room as me and the fox. What else am I supposed to do?”

“Why does it,” Chan pointed to the fur ball in his arms. “- have to stay with you?”

“What would you have me do? Let it loose in the dorm?”

“Tie it up.”

“We are not tying it up.”

“Why not?”

“You didn’t see it flinch when I tried to touch it, Chan-hyung. It’s obviously been hurt before.”

“Tying it up is not hurting it!”

They’d worked themselves into yelling by this point, though neither was fully aware of it even with the small whimpering body that had gone still in Minho’s hold. 

They talked in circles for a while, their tone never once dropping.

“Um, hyungs?”

They barely registered Felix’ timid albeit deep voice from the end of the hall and kept arguing.

“Guys.”

“YAH!”

It was Changbin’s rough shout that finally grabbed their attention. The three boys they’d left in the living room stood in front of them.

“What?”

“We had a talk,” Felix answered “and we decided what to do.”

The two eldest turned to him in confusion.

“What to do with what?”

“With sleeping arrangements,” Jisung took up.

“Minho hyung, Felix and I can go together in Felix’ room, while Hyunjin can go to Chan hyung since he’s still scared.”

Chan and Minho considered it for a minute.

“What about Changbin?”

“He rooms with Seungmin,” came the prompt reply to Chan’s question. Still the leader did not look convinced.

“You’re all ok with that?”

“Yes,” Changbin responded this time. “We just have to make sure we have little foxy here behind a closed door before Hyunjin goes anywhere.”

Said fox chirped affirmatively as best it could with Minho squeezing it like no tomorrow. Chan sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Alright. Let’s go with that for tonight.”

The rest of the boys cheered and Minho gathered with his over-night roommates. 

Changbin, though he’d warmed up to the idea of having the animal inside, couldn’t help but shy away from the actual physical thing. Jisung, on the other hand, managed to trace the little one’s soft check with the back of his index finger. A lot of hesitation was involved but he managed it. It leaned into the touch with closed eyes and just like that, it didn’t seem so scary anymore.

Changbin gripped Felix’ side when the boy went to scratch below the fox’ chin. Though the boy didn’t even notice, too busy cooing at the critter.

“It’s ok now little fella. You get to sleep in a nice, warm bed tonight. And you’ll get cuddled too,” he went on in a cutesy voice. Also very much in English but everyone could guess what he’d been on about. The fox in particular seemed satisfied. Chan stared at it somehow entranced – it really was an adorable little thing. Wait, no. That was ridiculous. He shook his head to clear it.

“Right. So let’s get moving,” he ushered the boys.

Jisung clapped his hands.

“Ok. First, someone takes Foxy to the bathroom.”

“What? Why?”

“Hyunjin’s hiding in our room,” Changbin motioned to Felix and himself.

“To the bathroom we go.”

Felix placed a hand on Minho’s wrist to stop him with fluttering eyelashes.

“Hyung can I take him? Please, please, oh please. I want to cuddle him some more.”

“Him?”

Jisung cut in before Minho could answer.

“Why him? It could be a girl.”

The Australian blinked at him a few times before taking the fox from his hyung and holding it up by the armpits. Did animals have armpits? Pawpits? Legpits. That didn’t sound right. Armpits.

All except Chan came to take a peek. The pup seemed to grow self-conscious as it curled its hind paws and tail inward to cover as much as it could.

“It is a boy. I win.”

Felix stuck his tongue out, to which Jisung responded by smacking him upside the head.

“Alright already,” Minho chuckled. “Take him to the bathroom.”

“Yay! Let’s go puppy.”

“It’s not a dog, Felix!”

Changbin shouted after the quickly retreating boy.

“Let’s go get Hyunjin,” Minho grabbed Jisung and, as they walked off, commanded: “Hyung, you find Seungmin.”

The remaining two boys looked at each other.

“Was he talking to you or me?”

“We both go?”

“Ok.”

 

---

 

Half an hour later found two thirds of the finding-Hyunjin squad and the Bathroom team in their newly-assigned room. Thankfully Felix had had the foresight to wash the mud off their furry friend so they didn’t track any of it in. The fox had dried off somewhat by now and was almost back to its fluffy glory but Felix swore it looked like a giant rat when wet. A very sad, mopey giant rat. 

They were currently coming down from the minor freak-out they’d gone through when Hyunjin had tried to walk into the bathroom. He’d been sitting in his room for over an hour after the arcade, walking through the rain and being scared half to death by a supposed monster – certain things built up. Minho had never thought he’d scold someone for wanting to pee.

Hearing yelling and a few bangs on the door, poor Felix had slipped in his panic and fell bum first into soapy water, slowly sliding down the side of the bathtub. Oddly enough, it – he – the fox had stayed silent and only skittered into his lap and nuzzled into his neck once Felix sat up, at his chin and jaw (as if he wasn’t wet enough already). This was also what they’d been discussing for the past few minutes. Rather, it was what Felix had been trying to discuss while the other two just to be ignored in favour of playing with the pup – apparently ‘kit’ was more accurate but ‘pup’ worked too. He’d googled it after Changbin’s correction.

“Do you think he can actually understand us,” he poked at Jisung earnestly. All three of them were on their stomachs on Felix’ bed with their legs hanging off the edge. The kit in question was jumping at and chasing after their fingers.

“Lix, don’t be ridiculous. He’s a fox-”

“A fennec fox.”

“- He’s a fennec fox. He can’t understand us. Not really.”

“He probably just hears our tones and scents our emotions,” Minho added. He didn’t expect Felix to cling to his arm and gawk at him.

“They can smell emotions,” he whispered, lest their little fox hear him. Those large ears were large for a reason though – Minho was fairly certain he’d heard somewhere that fennec foxes could even hear bugs buried in the sand.

The fox seemed to know what they were talking about. It darted over to Felix and bumped his nose with its own.

Jisung chuckled: “Boop!”

Minho pinched at Felix’s cheeks before rubbing and squishing the fox’ face. They were both so cute! Once he let go, however, Felix was back to his line of questioning, this time directing it at the fox. He wrapped his hands around its tiny chest and brought his face in, once again nose to nose with the little one, going cross-eyed in his attempt to maintain eye contact.

“You can smell emotions?”

Both older boys burst out giggling – actual legitimate giggles – when the fox the freckled nose in front of it. Felix jerked back with a scrunched up face, rubbed his nose with one hand and tapped the fox on the head with the other in reprimand. It retaliated with a dignified yip before rushing back to jump on Jisung’s hands and nip at his thumb.

“I didn’t mean it literally, Lix. Different emotions make us emit different hormones and animals can pick up on those through their sense of smell.”

“Oooh, right.”

They continued to play with the kit for a few more minutes before another thought struck Felix.

“Hey, hyungs. Shouldn’t we name him?”

“I agree,” Jisung hummed “It’s weird to keep calling him foxy or pup-“

“Or kit,” Felix provided.

“-or that.”

“That would be nice. But I think we should put it off for tomorrow.”

“But hyung~”

“He’s right, Felix. It’s getting late now.”

“And,” Minho butted in again “I think the others would have something to say about it.”

Felix pouted.

“Unless it’s to suggest a name for him, I don’t want to hear it.”

“I know how you feel, Lix,” Minho sighed. He really honestly did and he didn’t know what to do because of it. He felt so protective over this little fox and he wanted to grab hold of him and never let go. At the same time, he’d seen Chan’s adverse reaction to it as well as how scared Hyunjin still was – he should have guessed that using the pup to scare him was going to backfire – and while he wanted to keep the fox, he couldn’t let their group and everything they’d worked for fall apart because of an animal he hadn’t even had for more than 3 hours. But it was such a cute animal!

Seeming to sense the tense atmosphere, Jisung bounced off the bed, making the fox yelp and effectively breaking the two other boys from their trance.

“Whelp, I think it’s time we go to sleep. Tomorrow is going to be an interesting day.”

“Yeah, that’s one way of putting it,” Minho chuckled.

With some shuffling and a short almost-argument of who got the fox they each went to a bed. Minho, having won the (almost) argument, went in Felix’ bed while Felix went to Changbin’s. It was only to keep the fox ‘cooties’ contained to one spot. They would omit minor details like ‘Foxy ran around the room and snuggled into all the pillows it could find before settling on Felix’ when retelling these events to the rest of their members.

After a chorus of goodnights they were all settled under the blankets. Minho laid on his side with the fox curled into his stomach. He couldn’t help but smile fondly at the warm ball and rested a hand on top of it, watching as it flicked one ear before nuzzling into his palm.

“What am I going to do with you,” he whispered lowly, the only answer coming in the form of a muffled whine and steady breathing. He fell asleep with a smile on his face.