Jongin stood still, holding his breath, listening. He thought he had heard the shrill sounds of the keypad on the front door, like someone was trying to get in, but it was impossible. Kyungsoo was at work. And better yet, even if he was trying to get in, he still didn't know the code.

A few minutes passed and nothing happened.

There was a reason why Jongin was so on edge. He stood in the middle of Kyungsoo's room, with criminal intent. Intent to snoop. He was going to get to the bottom of who this mystery guy was that Kyungsoo was so in love with. He couldn't take it anymore. He had been obsessing about it ever since Suho spilled the beans.

Jongin swallowed with difficulty, pearls of cold sweat sprouting on his forehead. He knew he shouldn't be doing this, he knew he should trust Kyungsoo, but this not knowing was driving him crazy. And even Kyungsoo had admitted that he was in love with someone else. But it was not like they had promised each other love, they had only promised loyalty. So technically Kyungsoo wasn't doing anything wrong. Still, it was tearing Jongin's heart in two.

He looked under the bed. Nothing but dust bunnies. Which spoke louder than words, since Kyungsoo was a pretty neat and tidy guy, so the fact that he had so many dust bunnies as pets testified that he hadn't been here in a long time. Kyungsoo hadn't slept in his own bed ever since he had fallen asleep on Jongin's, reading to him. Yet, it wasn't enough. Jongin not only wanted Kyungsoo's voice, Kyungsoo's time and Kyungsoo's body to himself. He also wanted his heart, mind and soul. He wanted all of him, the good and the bad. And he was not willing to share him with anyone, least of all that charity ball guy.

He opened Kyungsoo's closet, rummaging through the bottom, finding a small box in the corner under a bunch of shoes, that looked an awful lot like an ex-boyfriend box. Jongin took it out and placed it on the floor in front of him. He challenged it to a staring duel, but it was in a whole other league than him. It just stood there, not budging, guarding the secrets that were hiding inside it. Jongin's heart started going off tune, loosing all rhythm.

This felt wrong. He didn't want to be this guy. He didn't want to go behind Kyungsoo's back. And maybe, just maybe, he was scared less of what he would find inside that box. No, not today. He placed the box back where he had found it. But its existence pestered him. He considered confronting Kyungsoo head on, but it was too risky. What if he chose the mystery guy? He didn't have the confidence to win over him. Not yet.

Jongin preferred the sneaky way. Kyungsoo was already a fan of Jongin the dancer, he just had to somehow make him a fan of Jongin the person too.

That night, as Kyungsoo's velvet voice caressed the inside of Jongin's ears, he couldn't help but admire Kyungsoo's gorgeous face. He couldn't take his eyes off him. He was so beautiful. Those lips. Those perfectly drawn lips, that had so much character, they could make or break Jongin's day. Those frustratingly somber lips, whose shy, subtle movements had the power to drive Jongin insane.

“What?” Kyungsoo peered his eyes.

Jongin realized Kyungsoo had stopped reading and was staring back at him. He wasn't sure for how long.

“Eh... nothing.” Jongin bit his lower lip, his heart wanting to escape this awkward situation.

Kyungsoo snorted.

“If you're not going to concentrate, then I'm not reading.” he pursed his perfect lips. He was not helping.

“I'm concentrating! I am!” Jongin objected feebly.

“Mmkay. So what happened?” Kyungsoo crossed his arms, gluing a devilish smirk on those impeccable lips of his. Still, not helping. It was just making Jongin want to kiss that smirk away.

“Uuuuhm... eh.. thing is... I'm just... uh... hehh... there's this choreography that's been bothering me, and I've been trying to figure it out...” Jongin was making it up as he went along.

“Can I show you?” he asked Kyungsoo ever so softly.

Kyungsoo's eyes doubled. “Eh, okay.” he nodded.

Oh yes, Jongin thought, his impromptu master plan was working already. He jumped out of bed and chose a very sensual song on his phone. He had no idea what he was going to do, but he trusted himself on the dance floor so he was just going to let the music guide him.

And then he danced. His body followed with the tones of the music in an enticing way, becoming a snake which purpose was to cast a spell on its audience, to mesmerize them and lure them in until it struck, its venomous bite making sure they were its forever.

“So... what did you think?” Jongin grinned, out of breath. The song had ended.

Kyungsoo swallowed. He looked like he had just seen a ghost. Maybe Jongin had miscalculated, maybe the routine he made up on the spot had been plehh. After all, Kyungsoo was his fan, so he could probably tell a good performance from a shoddy one.

“G..go.. good. Ve-veh-very good.” Kyungsoo nodded, stammering. “I ..uh.. go... eh... thirsty!” he said and ran out of the room.

Jongin's heart sank. Was it so bad that he had to run away just to avoid telling him the truth? Jongin had really tried his best. He didn't think it had been all that bad.

“I've got to pee, open the door. Quickly!” Kyungsoo growled at him. He was still mad about the whole changing the passcode thing. But he had invited Jongin to the restaurant for dinner, making him stay until he was finished so they could go home together. He couldn't be that mad.

Jongin opened the keypad and stared at the numbers.

Uh oh!

He turned to face Kyungsoo with his head hung.

“I forgot...” he grinned sheepishly.

“You forgot the passcode?!?!?” Kyungsoo's jaw dropped. “See! It doesn't matter what the code is, you'll just forget it anyway! It's best to let me handle it.”.

“Hang on, let's think about this... Don't tell me you just chose some random numbers? You must have chosen something memorable so you wouldn't forget?” Kyungsoo added in disbelief.

“Hmm...” Jongin tried thinking, but his brain was not in the mood for thinking and just returned a busy signal.

“Think! Was it an important date? Birthday maybe? Anniversary? Favorite numbers? The number of your locker at school?” Kyungsoo tried guessing.

“Oh! Taemin's birthday! That's the only date I can never forget. Woah, thanks! You guessed it!” Jongin's frown turned upside down in under a second, smiling from ear to ear.

“Taemin?” Kyungsoo growled.

“Yeah!” Jongin nodded happily as he punched in the numbers.

“Taemin's birthday?!?!?!” steam started coming out Kyungsoo's ears. “And you were upset that I used a date related to my crush?!?! Seriously??”.

“Haha! Taemin and I are just friends.” Jongin chuckled, thinking it was ridiculous to imagine otherwise.

“And when's my birthday then?” Kyungsoo asked, furious.

“Uh.. uh... uh...”. Think, brain, think! But Jongin's brain came up empty. “Did you ever tell me when your birthday was?”.

“I'm changing the code.” Kyungsoo said in such a cold voice, the temperature in the whole hallway dropped, icicles forming on the ceiling.

“Okay fine, but can you change it to something else than...”.

“No.” Kyungsoo cut Jongin's words in half with his icy sword.

And that was how the passcode to their apartment once again became 1217.

Kyungsoo gave Jongin the silent treatment for days. But still he read to him every night, because that was a promise he had made him and he was not the breaker of promises, or so he had dryly stated. But outside of that, he didn't utter a single word to him.

Jongin had tried apologizing, he had tried explaining that Taemin was nothing more than a close friend. The closest. But that didn't help. He tried to have Taemin call Kyungsoo, to explain, but Kyungsoo refused to pick up. He didn't even read the messages neither Jongin, nor Taemin sent him.

It had come. The time for desperate measures.

Jongin begged Suho to help him out of this mess he had accidentally created. And together they formed a plan.

“Suho invited us over tomorrow night. He'll bug me forever if he notices something's off with us, so let's just pretend everything is okay for one night.” Kyungsoo informed Jongin when he got home.

Jongin swallowed a snicker. Their plan was working.

The next day Jongin messaged Kyungsoo that he was running late, so he would just meet him at Suho's. The thing was, he was already at Suho's.

“SURPRISE!” Jongin, Suho and Sehun yelled the moment Kyungsoo enter Suho's apartment, detonating a truckload of confetti bombs. “Happy birthday!”.

For a moment, Kyungsoo just stood there, staring at them. Aww, was he so moved he didn't know how to express it, Jongin wondered.

“It's not my birthday!” Kyungsoo looked livid. “How can you not know when my birthday is?! It's on our marriage certificate!! And if you're too lazy to check that, then it takes about a second to google me... Suho, you know when it is!” he growled, hurt.

“I know, I know...” Jongin took a step closer, sequestering one of Kyungsoo's hands, it. “...but this is for all the birthdays that I missed.” he said sweetly as he looked earnestly into Kyungsoo's eyes.

For a second, they just looked into each other's eyes.

And then the frost thawed and Kyungsoo let himself fall into Jongin's welcoming arms.

“Your birthday is the 12^th of January. I'll remember it from now on. I promise.” Jongin whispered into his ear, and felt as Kyungsoo's arms tightened around him. It was the best feeling in the world.

Something warm and furry interrupted their intimate moment, jumping on Jongin's leg, whining. Jongin wasn't ready to let go of Kyungsoo just yet, but he couldn't resist peeking at the furball that was making that awfully cute whining sound. And he instantly fell in love. It was the cutest little puppy.

“Vivi! Come back here. Vivi!” Sehun came running. The puppy paid him absolutely no attention whatsoever.

“Isn't he cute.” Sehun beamed, taking him into his arms. He? Wasn't Vivi a girl's name? But cute he was!

“Aigoooo.” Jongin got distracted and momentarily forgot all about Kyungsoo, getting lost in the cloudy fluffiness that was Vivi. Kyungsoo chuckled, not seeming mad at all, and went to sit with Suho on the sofa while Jongin and Sehun lost themselves playing with the dog on the floor.

“You got a dog then?” Kyungsoo snorted.

Suho sighed deeply. “It couldn't be helped.” he threw his arms in the air in an 'I give up' kind of way. “Sehun cried himself to sleep for a week because I wouldn't let him have a dog. A week!” he added incredulously.

“I don't know what I'm going to do with him...” Suho sighed.

“The dog?” Kyungsoo asked.

“No, the dog's easy, he's the least of my problems.” Suho chuckled. “You just feed him and give him what he wants and he's happy. Hmm, although... Sehun's like that too, I guess.” he let out an awkward laugh.

They all watched as Sehun put up an obstacle course for the dog, He used empty soju bottles as cones and made a wall out of tissue boxes at the end. Vivi was supposed to zigzag between the soju bottles and then as the grand finale, jump over the wall of tissue boxes.

“Come on Vivi-ya, you can do it.” Sehun encouraged Vivi in a soft, cutsie voice.

The dog just stood there, watching Sehun like he had lost his mind.

“Hyung, can I have a treat for Vivi?” Sehun came running to Suho, who dug a small bag with doggy treats out of his pocket.

“But only one, you have to use it wisely!” Suho reminded him sternly.

“Why doesn't Sehun just have his own bag of treats?” Kyungsoo chuckled.

“Ugh, yeah no. He did at first, but he just ended up giving the dog the whole thing in like under an hour. So he's not allowed anymore.” Suho shook his head.

“Vivi-ya! Vivi-ya! See, a treat... come on!” Sehun traced the zigzag course himself, holding the treat, showing Vivi what to do, dramatically jumping over the tiny wall of tissues. The dog looked at him barely interested.

“Okay, okay. You can do it, you cutie you.” Sehun chuckled and petted Vivi on his fluffy head. “Let's go again!”.

Sehun did the course himself three times before he just gave Vivi the treat for being a great audience.

“I think Vivi is making Sehun do it on purpose.” Kyungsoo snorted.

“I know. The dog is way smarter.” Suho chuckled heartily. “They're both cute though.” he added, warmth in his eyes. Jongin was pretty sure Suho was falling for Sehun, even though he pretended not to.

“Time for treats!” Suho exclaimed, and both the dog and Sehun came running.

“Sit!” Suho commanded, and both Vivi and Sehun sat down on the floor in front of him.

“Shake!” Suho instructed, and Vivi and Sehun put their hands in each of Suho's hands. It was the cutest, most hilarious thing Jongin had ever seen.

“Aigoo, good boys!” Suho complemented them, giving the dog a treat from the same bag as earlier, and from his other pocket he dug up a bag of candies, giving Sehun one. And then both of them went back to happily playing on the ground. Jongin joined them, having a blast rolling around with that fluffball.

“I want one!” Jongin beamed at Kyungsoo as they got into the car.

Kyungsoo just ignored him.

A few days later, Kyungsoo came home extra early. And he wasn't alone. He opened his jacket and out popped a curly, little head with the cutest little nose Jongin had ever seen. It was a tiny, little brown poodle puppy. Jongin was so over the moon, he couldn't control his emotions. The tears just squeezed out on their own, dripping down like a broken shower head.

Kyungsoo very carefully transferred the dog into Jongin's shaking arms. Jongin used the chance and planted a short, extremely thankful kiss on Kyungsoo's cheek, that instantly turned red. And then Jongin just stood there, petting the cutest creature on the planet, bawling his eyes out.

This was the happiest day of his life.

Kyungsoo had put Monggu, as Jongin had named him, in his cage for the night, but he kept whimpering. That poor little thing. Kyungsoo said he had to get used to sleeping in his cage, but Jongin couldn't take it. He went and got him and crawled into bed, cuddling him.

“No! He's not sleeping with us!” Kyungsoo objected the moment he entered the bedroom. “If you let him spend the night now, he'll get used to it and do it forever.”.

Monggu looked at Kyungsoo with pleading puppy eyes, and so did Jongin.

“Agh, whatever!” Kyungsoo giggled.

“Why are you two so cute!” he shook his head and got into bed.

And that was how Jongin's bed welcomed another permanent guest.