- December 8, 2017 -

“Are you sure you want to head to the shelter today?”

Minho nodded, his eyes tightly shut as he waited for the Wiggenweld Kibum made as soon as they returned from the hospital to take effect. Kibum resettled into bed, combing his fingers lightly through his hair.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to, babe.” Gradually, the throbbing ache of his thigh started to dissipate. Enough, at least, for Minho to open his eyes. Kibum smiled as he met his gaze, his expression softening ever so slightly. “We can wait until you’re feeling better.”

“I’ll be fine.”

Kibum let out an exasperated sigh, which made Minho chuckle. "I don't need to even say it, do I?"

Did Kibum need to say that Minho was a bit reckless when it came to injuries? No. That's why he was in this predicament in the first place. But, for Minho's part, he didn't really see going to an animal shelter as reckless.

"No, but really, I'll be just fine. We can apparate there and back again without making me be on my feet too much."

"As long as you use your walker -- " Minho his teeth in disdain, frowning up at Kibum. "It's that or I'm confining you to the house. You can use your crutches in a few weeks, but Healer Talpin said that it'd be best to -- "

"I know, babe, I was there," he grumbled as he tried to sit up, only for Kibum to lean across him, holding him in place. "I just look so dumb when I use it."

"Well if you see anyone making fun of you, just let me know so I can hex them." Minho sniffed a laugh, searching Kibum's blazing eyes. "Look, we're not taking any chances with your recovery, got it?" When Minho started to avert his eyes, Kibum moved his head, staying in his eye line. "What would you do if it were me?"

Well, they both knew the answer to that.

He sighed. "Okay. Walker it is."

The seriousness in Kibum's expression melted away as he smiled, his eyes becoming crescents as he leaned in for a quick kiss. "Good. What do you want to wear today?" he asked as he backed away from Minho, rolling off the bed and heading for their closet.

"Go ahead and choose for me. I trust you."

Even though most of the pain was obliterated now that the Wiggenweld had taken effect, Minho still didn't trust putting too much weight on his leg. Neither did Kibum, so he helped Minho into his jeans and gingerly put his thigh woolen socks and winter boots on while Minho fumbled with and slipped into his sweater.

"Here, can you lift your leg?"

"Mhm."

Kibum reached around, grabbing the strappy brace that Talpin had given Minho to use for a bit of extra support and held it open as he worked it up to and around Minho's thigh. "Is that too tight?" Kibum asked after he had tapped it with the tip of his wand, the straps fastening themselves.

"No, it's just fine. Thanks, sweetheart," he added as Kibum stood.

Kibum smiled down at him, his hand going up to gently cup his cheek as he kissed his forehead. Minho's heart stuttered at the tenderness. It may have been usual before their fight, but in the aftermath...in the absence of anything, the smallest gestures of affection since their reconciliation filled him with such a lingering warmth that carried him throughout the day.

He'd never take it for granted ever again.

At Minho's insistence, they stopped at Sanderson's first before they went out into the No-Maj world. He conjured up some cupholders on his walker while Kibum paid for their drinks, and as soon as they were back outside, Kibum slipped his hand around his arm, twisting on his spot.

It took nearly all of his concentration to keep a hold on his walker as the city swirled around him. When they arrived, Kibum seemed to have taken special care to appear in the alley behind Animal Haven on Centre St.

Kibum tucked his wand into his coat, then grabbed their coffees before they started for the animal shelter.

A wave of warmth greeted them, soon followed by a chorus of distant barking and meowing. "Hello!" the woman wearing a Santa hat behind the counter said, her cheeks just as rosy and her smile just as bright as Santa's himself. The cat curled up on the counter beside her looked up lazily. It deemed them not worth the trouble of getting up any further and tucked its head back into its side. "Just here to look around?" she asked as Kibum helped Minho hobble inside.

The door jingled as it fell shut behind them. The cat's tail twitched at the sound.

"Yes, I think so."

"We might adopt today."

Her eyebrows shot up in interest. "Dogs are back there." She gestured to the hallway behind her, then pointed past the ginger tabby on the counter. "And cats are that way."

"Thank you," Minho said, and Kibum started towards the dogs. He didn't have to turn back around to know that she was watching him curiously.

Kibum held the door open for him, the excited barking echoing around them. German shepherds, pit bulls, and mixes Minho never could have placed watched them as they inspected them. Some hid in the back of their cages, others jumped up on the chain-link gate, tails wagging as they whined for either Minho or Kibum to oblige them or to pass by. Minho stopped to put his hand out for one of the labrador-looking dogs to sniff, but it ended up excitedly his hand.

“I wish Jonghyun could have come with us,” Minho said, smiling down at the dog.

“Yeah, it that he had to work.” When Minho looked up, he found Kibum crouching down in front of one of the cages, sticking his fingers through the fence. It took him an annoyingly long time to reach him, but when he did, he smiled.

There were two poodles inside, a red one and a black one, both watching them curiously from the back of their cage. Since he couldn’t crouch beside Kibum, he read the little paper attached to the chain link.

Meet Comme Des (5 y/o, male, red Toy Poodle) and Garcons (2 y/o, male, black Toy Poodle), two adorable, inseparable brothers! Their owner passed away and her remaining family refused to take the boys in, so they are ready to be adopted into a loving home!

He shifted his weight off of his bad leg as he looked back at the puppies.

“The red one looks like the one Grandma used to have.”

“Yeah?”

“Mhm.”

Minho hummed in thought, glancing up at the sheet of paper again. “Well, I’m good with adopting two puppies if you are.”

“Both?” Kibum asked, a hint of incredulity in his voice. Minho nodded and pointed at the paper, and Kibum stood quickly to read it for himself. “Oh, poor things...Love the names, though.”

“I thought you might.” Kibum sniffed a laugh, patting Minho’s shoulder as he shook his head. “Do we want to head back to the front desk to see if we can adopt them?” Kibum looked up at him, his eyes alight with excitement, and he nodded.

They didn’t leave the shelter with the puppies in tow for another hour, and even then, they debated whether they should disapparate or not, in the end, Minho opted on disapparating alone so he wouldn’t have to be on his feet that much longer and Kibum would take a Magi-Cab home instead of the subway.

He appeared in their room, first, so he could sit while he took off his shoes and coat. Then he fell back, knocking a sigh out of him as he looked up at the starry ceiling. Was this just gonna be his life now? Playing Quidditch and getting injured? Not that it happened often since he started playing professionally, but it happened quite a bit during school. He just...put his all into the game and sometimes that came back to bite him.

Hm…

Maybe Kibum had a point.

Minho pushed himself up, his gaze falling on the drawer of his nightstand. He pulled it open, revealing the Snitches within -- the one with Kibum’s ring, and the one from the last game.

He leaned forward, touching it, setting it aflutter around the room. It zoomed around lazily, Minho's gaze following it.

How many more years did he have, anyway? He just shaved a few off with this injury, but really, how long did he have left? Kibum was right, of course. He did get too passionate sometimes. Too into the game. Minho glanced down at his ankle, the one which -- just like his leg -- had been broken by a Bludger. It still twinged when the weather changed.

Come to think of it, it was aching right now.

What would his next Quidditch injury be? There was bound to be more, with how he went about it. Could he put Kibum through another scare like that?

He had told him the night before they left the hospital after the last of Minho's visitors had left him, that in his worry, he panicked and thought that Minho could have died.

Kibum had brushed off Minho's concern with a laugh, then changed the subject once again to the puppies they were going to adopt.

Speaking of, where was he? He glanced at the empty stairwell as if the thought of Kibum would make him appear.

Wincing, he gingerly swung his leg up onto the bed, sitting back against his pillows. The Snitch came over to inspect him before it flitted away again. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he watched it.

"No," he whispered aloud to the empty room. "I can't."

If they were going be married -- which, of course, they were. As soon as he could kneel again, he was going to propose -- would it be fair or kind to Kibum to put him through that stress every time he played a game? It wouldn't. Especially not with his history of lost loved ones.

No.

He couldn't do that to him.

He reached for his phone and pulled up his and Mercy's texts.

Actually, he should wait a bit, think it through a bit longer. He was almost sure that he was going to go with this decision, but it was better to be absolutely positive. Nodding to himself, he set aside his phone.

As soon as he drew his hand back, the front door cracked open. "Babe?"

"I'm upstairs!" Kibum was accompanied by some high-pitched, probably nervous whining and the rustle of plastic bags. The Snitch drifted over to the stairwell, hovering over it. Possibly to see what the commotion was. Minho pushed himself up. "Do you want my help?"

"No, no, I'm fine." Their little cages were unhinged, and soon the sound of their scurrying on the hardwood floor floated up to him. “Come on, boys,” Kibum said, his voice very high-pitched. “Let’s go outside, yeah?”

Minho sighed, smiling as he listened to Kibum continue to talk to them until the back door swung closed. He resettled on the bed, not feeling all that inclined to get up. He hadn’t realized he had started to drift off until Kibum slid into bed beside him, rousing him.

“Was I asleep?” he asked.

“You were well on your way.” Kibum leaned in, Minho tipping his chin up so Kibum could kiss him. “I’m sorry for waking you.”

“You’re a nice thing to wake up to, so it’s okay.”

Kibum’s smile grew. “You’re so sappy.”

“What? You love it.”

“So what if I do?”

Minho had been about to answer, but he held his tongue when Kibum turned around. “Where’s your brother?” he asked, and Minho peered around to see Garcons watching them from the top step. At Kibum’s question, Garcons turned around and hurried back downstairs. “Why do I feel like he understood me?”

And, sure enough, a moment later Garcons returned with Comme Des, who immediately ran in and hopped on their bed, bounding up to Kibum. Garcons was soon to follow, except he directed his attention to Minho, half-standing on his chest, his head cocking to the side as he looked down at Minho.

“Do you think they’ll nap with us?”

“Is that what we were doing?”

“It’s what you were doing and I felt inclined to join you.”

Minho sniffed a laugh. “I guess there’s only one way to find out.”

Kibum hummed in thought, then slipped down, resting his head on Minho’s shoulder like usual. It only took a few minutes for Garcons to curl up between them and for Comme Des to flop down in the curve of Kibum’s knees. “I think if we’re really still, they’ll fall asleep.”

“That’s usually how it works, yeah.”

Kibum his teeth, and Minho started to laugh quietly. “Don’t make me get some of that extra strength Wiggenweld.”

Minho grinned, meeting Kibum’s eye when he lifted his head. “Oh, sweetheart, I don’t need that to wax eloquent about how amazing you are.”

His dimples appeared as he pursed his lips together in an attempt not to smile, and he rested his head back down on Minho’s shoulder, snuggling a bit closer to him. Minho lifted his head from his pillow to kiss the crown of his head, then let it fall back against his pillow again, his eyes drooping closed once more.