Jungkook had started observing the way he gave commands to Miri, when they worked and when they didn’t. Turns out Taehyung had been right about the problem being his attitude, the probability of Miri listening to a command depending largely on how firmly Jungkook would state it. He also discovered he largely couldn’t pull off the necessary firmness without summoning some negative feelings such as anger or frustration and he hated that he had to choose between Miri being disobedient and being slightly scared of Jungkook. He really didn’t want his dog to often feel like he was mad at her, but he couldn’t figure out how else to achieve the firmness he needed in his attitude and tone.

While he was walking Miri in the yard adjacent to his building, something had caught the dog’s attention and, after sniffing it, she attempted to eat it. Jungkook pulled on the leash just in time and pulled Miri away, the suspicious looking food being now just out of Miri’s reach as she was still struggling to get to it despite Jungkook saying “No” quite a few times before he got ticked off, pulled on the leash with force and said “No” to Miri again, this time with furrowed eyebrows and more volume than usual.

The dog stopped struggling and stood still looking at her owner with big, wet eyes. Jungkook felt guilty, his expression softened and he looked away from the dog. But, right after that, he felt tension in the leash again.

J: “I said no!” Jungkook said as he quickly picked Miri up before she could stick her snout into the discarded food item and walked away with her in his arms to sit down on the grass further away and think. “How should I do this?”

After thinking about it for a little bit, Jungkook decided to try enforcing his command through some other way that didn’t involve any negative feelings. He went and placed Miri on the ground not far away from the discarded food item and, after she started heading towards it, Jungkook yelled her name and got her to stop in her tracks and look at him. He maintained eye contact with her and a serious expression as he repeated the word “Stay” short and firmly once per second with his hand held out in a stopping motion towards Miri. By the fifth “Stay”, Miri turned her head back towards the food item and intended to go to it, but Jungkook repeated the whole process from yelling her name to repeatedly saying “Stay” while looking her in the eye. Miri stayed longer, but then she moved again, so Jungkook restarted the process till, finally, on the third try Miri stayed till Jungkook said the command ten times in a row. Jungkook then excitedly congratulated her, ruffled her ears and gave her a treat, Miri seeming equally as happy about the result as her owner.

Just as he was considering trying the whole thing again, Jungkook heard light applause coming from above and, when he looked up towards the source of the sound, he saw Taehyung leaning over his balcony railing with a lit cigarette in his mouth that didn’t hinder him at all as he said:

T: “Good job. Both of you.”

Taehyung then went back inside after putting out his cigarette and Jungkook clicked his tongue over what he himself decided he was going to do. Ten minutes later, Taehyung’s doorbell rang and he went to open the door, discovering Jungkook on the other side of it:

J: “Hi.”

T: “Wrong building.”

J: “Huh?”

T: “You’re home’s that way, in case you’re lost.”

J: “Funny… I came to ask a favor.”

T: “No.”

J: “My bad. I came to make a request.”

T: “Funny… Still no.”

J: “You haven’t even heard what I want yet.”

T: “Neither you nor your dog know the meaning of “no” it seems… And I can guess what you want.”

J: “Okay, then, guess.”

T: “You want me to help you train Miri.”

J: “Yup.”

T: “Nope.”

J: “Why not?”

T: “It takes time that I don’t have at my disposition. Just because I stay at home all day doesn’t mean that I don’t work from morning to evening. And often more than that.”

J: “Freelancing?”

T: “Yeah.”

J: “As what?”

T: “Graphic designer.”

J: “Oh! That explains why you were drawing that time in the park.”

T: “Mystery solved. Anymore trivia you’d like on me or can I close the door now?”

J: “What I’d like is your help with Miri.”

T: “Well I can’t offer that. And anyway, you handled it decently on your second attempt just now.”

J: “Really?”

T: “Yeah. You should be fine on your own.”

J: “I’m not fine on my own. I don’t know if I’ll manage this next time and I don’t wanna continue how I’ve been doing it up until now.”

T: “What’s wrong with how you’ve been doing it up until now?”

J: “I have to be or show that I’m angry and I don’t want that kinda relationship with Miri. I don’t want her feeling like I’m often mad at her and I don’t want her doing things just because she’s scared. It’s not how you happily raise a dog.”

T: “And that’s why you’re not a crappy dog owner.”

Jungkook felt his mood becoming lighter with that and he felt encouraged by the faint smile on Taehyung’s face, so tried again:

J: “So will you help?”

T: “No.” Taehyung deadpanned, attempting to close the door, but Jungkook’s words stopped him.

J: “Hang on! You know that time you told me about ways to make people listen to you? You left out persuasion and bargaining.”

T: “I didn’t feel the need to include them, since they’re obvious and non-applicable to animals.”

J: “But you’re human, as far as I can tell, so I’m gonna try using them with you.”

T: “Alright… Let’s see what you’ve got.”

J: “Help me train Miri and I’ll be your personal trainer for free.”

T: “Ha?... Let me see if I got this right – You want me to invest time and energy into something you need so that you can make me invest time and energy into something I don’t need?”

J: “It’s an investment in your future, Taehyung. You’re gonna invest in your own health. Think about it – You’re at home all day and you have a sedentary life. Your work is practically a desk job and the wrist of your dominant hand is tensed for very long periods of time each day. Sooner or later, you’re gonna have back pains, neck pains, shoulder pains, arm pains and your leg muscles will atrophy. Plus you’re a smoker, so you’re likely to suffer from cardiovascular and respiratory issues. I can prescribe exercises that will help you prevent or at least delay all of that, I can make sure you do them and do them correctly, I can even help you with quitting smoking, improving your diet and choosing a more ergonomic desk chair. How’s that?”

T: “Swell. But I doubt the actual experience matches the sales copy.”

J: “You don’t think I can do a good job at being your personal trainer?”

T: “No, not really.”

J: “Why? Because I have trouble training my own dog?”

T: “That and you’re living in this kind of ty place. If you were a good personal trainer, you’d be making more money and living somewhere better.”

J: “I happen to not need more than this and I’ll have you know that, since I’ve started living here, I’ve managed to save up more than ten times the amount I’ve paid for rent. So I’m doing quite fine.”

T: “Awesome! I’m sincerely happy for you.”

J: “Sure you are…”

T: “This means you can afford a good dog trainer and get off my case.”

J: “I don’t want a stranger telling me how to raise my dog and how to act around her.”

T: “You… realize that’s pretty much what you came here asking for, right?”

J: “It’s fine if it’s you.”

T: “Why?”

J: “You put yourself at risk and went through some trouble to help Miri out even if you didn’t know me or her at that time. I can trust you.”

T: “Well thanks. But I don’t actually have any expertise in dog training.”

J: “Well you sure talk like you do.”

T: “Got it – I’ll mind my own business from now on.”

J: “No! You minded my business and I want you to keep on minding it.”

T: “There! That! Keep that unwavering attitude with no anger attached to it when giving commands to Miri and you should be able to figure the rest out by yourself. Good luck! Bye!”

J: “Wait…”

Jungkook couldn’t make any further arguments because Taehyung had closed the door in his face, leaving him to let out a sigh, shake his head and go back to his own apartment.

A few days later, however, Taehyung came to Jungkook’s door and just as he was about to ring the bell, the door opened revealing a guy giving Jungkook a peck on the lips while saying:

G: “Bye, Kookie. See yo… Oh!”

All three of them were slightly frozen in place due to the suddenness and awkwardness of the situation, but then the guy looked back at Jungkook and continued in an unaffected tone:

G: “I know you’re playing around, but don’t make it seem like your lovers are coming in an out like we’re on a conveyor belt, cause it’s kinda rude.”

J: “I’m not doing that. This is just my neighbor who probably came to complain about the noise we were making.”

G: “Did we bother you?”

T: “No, I had headphones.”

G: “Maybe you’d like to join in on the noise-making next time?”

At hearing that, Jungkook’s expression looked like someone had booked him a mandatory trip to the North Pole and Taehyung couldn’t help being amused.

T: “I’ll skip. But if you ever wanna check out the other building, let me know.”

G: “I’ll keep that in mind. Well, I’ll gotta go now. Bye again, Kookie. Bye, handsome nameless neighbor.”

T: “Bye.” Taehyung said smiling as he watched the guy go down the stairs before he turned to Jungkook with a sour expression and tone as he said: “Not on a conveyor belt my … Wasn’t that chick you’re dating, or not dating according to you, here just last night? And two or three other people the night before?”

J: “I should start charging you for audio .”

T: “Then I’ll charge you for my future therapy sessions. And why does everyone who finds me at your door think I’m seeking a different kind of entering experience with you?”

J: “Cause many people know my tastes and you’re exactly my type… Well, physically you’re my type. PHYSICALLY!”

T: “Oh, yay… I should call my parents and thank them for the genes.”

J: “Ask them if any lemon DNA was injected along the way to account for that sour personality.”

T: “You’re also not exactly as sweet as your nickname would imply, Kookie.”

J: “What exactly did you come here for, Taehyung?”

T: “Nothing. Bye.” Taehyung said, turning to leave.

J: “You came here for nothing?” Jungkook said, almost yelling after Taehyung. “Boy, you sure have more time to waste than you claim you do…”

At that not so subtle stab, Taehyung stopped, turned around and marched back to Jungkook’s door where he said:

T: “I came here to say that I’ll help you train Miri.”

All of Jungkook’s hostility dissipated as he shook his head in hopes of better processing what he had just heard.

J: “You will? How? Why? What worked? What part of what I did or said convinced you?”

T: “Nothing. But I saw Miri almost run in front of a car the other day at the park when you left her without a leash and my conscience couldn’t handle it if I didn’t do anything.”

Apparently, Jungkook’s conscience wasn’t handling the incident that well either, as he turned his gaze to the floor and started biting his lip. Despite the fact that he had let Miri loose in a designated dog area, that he called out to her repeatedly and, when he saw what was about to happen, ran at an abnormal speed to catch up to her, pick her up and keep her out of harm’s way, Jungkook still felt guilty about it.

T: “Don’t worry.” Taehyung started, crouching down to play with the dog that had been curiously trying to follow what was going on between the humans. “Training’s gonna decrease the likelihood of further such incidents. And Miri’s still young. Dogs are more mischievous at this age, but they’re also more receptive to learning rules and forming habits. Things will get better with time and you’ll get even more used to looking out for her.”

Jungkook blinked in disbelief and also crouched down to ask:

J: “Taehyung… Are you comforting me?”

It was visible on Taehyung’s face when realization hit him and he turned his gaze to the side shortly and clicked his tongue before he got back up into standing position and avoided answering while sternly saying:

T: “This is what we’ll do – You’ll drop Miri off at my place after you take her for her morning walk and before you go to work tomorrow. This way, I’ll get to observe how she acts and, if I’ll play with her a bit throughout the day, she’ll be less hyperactive than after a regular day in which she was lonely and bored. You’ll let me know in advance when you’ll get home tomorrow and we can start then.”

J: “Got it. What about the other part?”

T: “What other part?”

J: “Me starting off as your personal trainer.”

T: “Oh, that… That’s still a no.”

J: “But…”

T: “On second thought, I might have to go somewhere tomorrow and…”

J: “I’ll bring over Miri and Miri’s things in the morning. See you then.”

The next morning, at not even half past six, Taehyung got out of bed without opening his eyes and went over to the door, bumping into every piece of furniture he could along the way, to open it after the incessant ringing had woken him up. His eyes weren’t fully open even after unlocking the door and he could barely make out Jungkook, Miri and a bunch of stuff that was placed inside his apartment, next to the door.

J: “Morning! I brought Miri’s dog food, food bowl, water bowl, leash, favorite toys and a few other things. Please don’t give her anything else to eat other than the dog food and no more than one full bowl of it. I left my number on a sticker on the dog food package in case you deleted it from before. Call me anytime in case of anything, okay?”

Taehyung heard bits and pieces of that message and couldn’t trust his voice to come out right at that kind of hour, so he only nodded once and slowly.

J: “You’re… kinda cute when you’re quiet... We’ll, I’m off. Bye, Miri! Be a good girl, okay? Take care. I’ll text you later when I’ll know what time I get back. Bye.”

As soon as Taehyung locked the door after Jungkook, he forgot everything about his surroundings and situation and went back to his bed, falling asleep instantly. When he woke up a few hours later, he discovered that the package of dog food had been ripped, the dog food had been scattered all over the floor and there was some commotion in the bathroom. Getting closer to the said room, Taehyung saw a massive amount of unrolled toiled paper and a small, four-legged mummy that was merrily coming towards him while wagging her tail and looking up with big, dark eyes.

Taehyung froze. Then face-palmed. He crouched down to untangle the toilet paper around Miri while softly saying:

T: “I had a dream that a hurricane passed through my place. Turns out… you and your owner are very much real…” Taehyung trailed off before sighing deeply and asking himself: “What have I gotten myself into…”

Later on, Jungkook texted Taehyung that he’d be back around 7 p.m., which was when Taehyung expected him to return. Jungkook was punctual and Taehyung barely managed to slightly open the front door before Miri jumped on her owner, then started running in circles around him.

J: “How’s today been?”

T: “I found a wrist watch I never thought I owned.”

J: “O…kay…”

T: “Well, Miri found it. I have no idea where though.”

J: “It’s still better to find something than to lose something.”

T: “Are you going for polite conversation again or are you just a fan of truisms?”

J: “The former.”

T: “Also, I almost lost a lot of things, including files I’m still working on and the time it took to get them back.”

J: “I’m… sorry. Are you mad?”

T: “No.”

J: “You sure? Cause you look like you’re mad.”

T: “I have a default -face. And I won’t get mad at a young dog for acting like a young dog, especially when I, myself, invited said young dog into my apartment and life.”

Jungkook believed Taehyung, but he still found it somewhat hard to believe. He knew from past experiences of leaving Miri in other people’s care that many people, who weren’t dog owners themselves, don’t have that kind of patience and calmness when a hurricane in the form of a small ball of white fluff passes through their living spaces, so Jungkook was somewhat impressed with Taehyung.

J: “So what now?”

T: “Well I was about to have dinner. You can join me if you want and if you’re hungry or you can go home and we’ll meet in the back yard in twenty minutes.”

J: “I’ll join if you don’t mind. I’m also kind of hungry.”

After stepping into Taehyung’s apartment, Jungkook realized it was basically a mirrored version of his own. From the narrow hallway, you could immediately access the room to the left, the kitchen was in front and the bathroom was to the right end of the hallway. The door to Taehyung’s room was open and, although Jungkook knew he should follow Taehyung straight into the kitchen, he stopped and peeked into the room.

It was the complete opposite of Jungkook’s room. While his was very minimalistic in design and decorations, with only some workout equipment and books besides what was needed for raising a dog, and had a bright and clean feel to it, Taehyung’s room was packed with ornamental and mood creating items, like colorful electric candles, incense burners and pin boards, it had a huge desk with two monitors, a graphic tablet, large headphones and other equipment alongside a pile of sketchbooks and drawing utensils, and with the dark curtains closed it had a messy yet mystic and comfortable vibe to it.

T: “The museum is open for visitors, admission is free, but you can’t touch any of the items on display.”

J: “It’s the complete opposite of my room, so it’s kinda mesmerizing.”

T: “I’ve only seen your room after a hurricane passed through it, so I wouldn’t know.”

J: “You should drop by sometime.”

T: “What for?”

J: “Just a regular visit.”

T: “Doesn’t that room get enough visitors as it is?”

Jungkook decided to ignore that remark and stir the conversation in a more positive direction.

J: “Hey, is that bong just for show or can you actually use it.”

T: “It can be used.”

J: “Wanna use it sometime?”

T: “I only have tobacco for it.”

J: “I have something more interesting.” Jungkook informed, wiggling his eyebrows.

T: “Good to know. Meanwhile, is macaroni and cheese interesting enough for you?”

J: “You’re eating macaroni and cheese for dinner?”

T: “I suppose this goes against your principles as a personal trainer.”

J: “I’m not big on making people restrain themselves from things they wanna eat. In the long run it creates frustration and increases the likelihood for them to give up on achieving what goals they initially set. I’d rather find workarounds and ways to balance things according to each person’s needs and goals.”

T: “You almost sound like a good personal trainer.”

J: “I AM a good personal trainer.”

T: “Yet you’re also eating macaroni and cheese for dinner.”

J: “Yeah, but I’ll be running another 5k later on tonight. You, however, most likely won’t and this, like all fatty foods, will lower the quality of your sleep because your body will still be working on digesting it.”

T: “So what do you recommend for better sleep quality?”

J: “Whole grain products, sweet potatoes, bananas, cherries, valerian and chamomile tea, avoid fatty foods, spicy foods, alcohol, sugar and of course caffeine. This is just general advice though. It takes some experimenting to see how each person’s body reacts… Did you just ask for my advice?”

T: “So you run 5k every evening?”

J: “Dodging the question again…”

T: “Do you take Miri with you?”

J: “Yeah. I run slower at first so she can keep up. Then, when she gets tired, I put her in a harness and run faster the rest of the distance. It’s almost like the backseat window experience for her and she seems to enjoy it. Plus she sleeps soundly till morning since she consumes all her energy.”

T: “I see… And that way she also works off all the extra human food she makes you give her.”

Jungkook looked like he had been caught red handed and looked to the side without saying a word.

T: “You told me not to give her anything besides the dog food, so I didn’t. But she wanted whatever I was eating, regardless of whether she was hungry or not, and she begged, whined, caused a commotion and even tried stealing it. I have a feeling you usually cave in at the first two stages, am I right?”

Jungkook continued to look everywhere else in the kitchen besides in Taehyung’s direction and answered with:

J: “You know, that socket looks burnt and dangerous. You should replace it.”

Taehyung laughed at the obvious guilt on Jungkook’s face and the way he also dodged a question after complaining about such a tactic. Meanwhile, Jungkook felt unsettled for all kinds of reasons, one of them being the fact that Taehyung laughed when Jungkook didn’t think Taehyung was even capable of laughing and another being the strange heat that had appeared under the skin of his face.

T: “I agreed to helping you train Miri, but it looks like a lot of the training’s focus will have to be on you.”

And that just made Jungkook feel even more unsettled.

Once they were done eating, Taehyung instructed Jungkook to take Miri to his apartment, get some of her favorite treats and bring them along in the back yard. This was a strange request, since Jungkook had already brought some of Miri’s favorite treats to Taehyung’s apartment in the morning, but he fulfilled it anyway. Taehyung came to the back yard with some plastic plates and some plastic bags with unidentifiable stuff inside it.

T: “Alright, do you want the lecture first or the practical exercise?”

J: “I was never a fan of lectures and I feel like a lecture from you will be soul-crushing, so I’ll go with practical exercise first.”

T: “Thought so.”

J: “Because I’m a stereotypical jock?”

T: “Because most humans internalize a lesson more if they look back on an experience they had than if they hear about something they can’t tie any personal past experience to.”

J: “I swear you sound like a teacher.”

Taehyung just smirked as he placed the contents of the bags on the plastic plates standing at a great distance from Jungkook and Miri so that Miri couldn’t reach him even if she was pulling Jungkook by the leash, trying to get to the plates.

T: “Okay. This is regular canned tuna.” Taehyung clarified what was on the first plate he placed on the ground three meters to the right from where he initially stood. “And this is crushed candy with dark chocolate.” he said, placing the second plate five meters to the left side from where he initially stood. “Your mission will be to take Miri’s leash off and not let her eat from either one of the plates.”

J: “But if she eats from the second plate, it’ll be bad. Dark chocolate and chocolate in general can cause diarrhea and vomiting if dogs eat it.”

T: “So you’re aware of things like this. Good.”

J: “Your practical exercise is too cruel and risky, Taehyung. I’m not doing it.” Jungkook said, picking Miri up and making sure she won’t go near the plates.

T: “It’ll be fine. You said you trust me, right?”

Jungkook struggled for a bit and set Miri back down, ready to take off her leash, as he asked:

J: “What should I do?”

T: “Anything you think is best other than restraining her physically or coming closer than you are right now. I’ll be here, so don’t panic.”

Jungkook took a deep breath and took the leash off. As soon as Miri started heading in the direction of the plate with tuna on it, Jungkook started calling out to her, telling her to stop and come back. On one try, Miri looked back at Jungkook, but eventually she kept on heading towards the plate with the tuna till she finally reached it and started eating.

T: “Fail.” Taehyung deadpanned as Jungkook exhaled disappointed.

After she was done with the first plate, Miri started heading towards the second plate and Jungkook yelled at her to stop, which she did. Then Jungkook started patting the ground next to him in an animated manner and calling Miri back to him with a sweet voice. Miri turned to go to him, then stopped and looked back at the plate. Jungkook became even livelier in calling her back to him. Miri kept running back and forth between her owner and the plate, but eventually she decided to keep on going towards the plate, sticking her snout into the composition on it. Jungkook ran like a bullet to her, picked her up and frantically tried getting her to spit what she had eaten.

T: “Don’t panic.”

J: “You ! How could…”

T: “It’s minced meat with regular dog food.”

J: “…”

T: “Look at it. You couldn’t tell from a distance, but I promise there’s nothing in the mix that would make a dog ill.”

Jungkook was speechless and his arms went limp, dropping Miri back on the ground and letting her get back to the plate to continue eating.

J: “What was the purpose of this?”

T: “Let me ask you this instead – Did you notice how differently you acted in the two cases?”

J: “Yeah… So?”

T: “So the way you’re acting shouldn’t depend on the case. It’s not that bad if Miri doesn’t listen to you and she ends up eating tuna, but it’s bad if she doesn’t listen to you and she ends up eating something that could make her ill. It’s not that bad if Miri doesn’t come back when you call her and she runs up to me in the park, but it’s bad if she doesn’t come back when you call her and she runs in front of a car. You should be giving commands like every situation is important because she should learn that following your commands is important in every situation. Up until now, she’s learned that it’s fine to not follow your commands and she also came to a few other troublesome conclusions based on your behavior. Have you ever raised any other pet?”

J: “No.”

T: “Do you have siblings?”

J: “No.”

T: “Did you ever take care of children?”

J: “Not really.”

T: “So you don’t have any experience in being in charge of living beings that don’t really know what’s good or bad for them. How do you get your clients to do things they may find unpleasant at times?”

J: “It’s different with clients. They come to me with a specific desire or need and I just make sure they achieve what they want even if at times they stop caring about what they initially wanted because the process is tiring or frustrating.”

T: “But it’s different with Miri because what she wants is to play and eat, it doesn’t always align with your goals for her and you can’t really ignore her wishes.”

J: “…”

T: “Start thinking like this – Doing what you say will ALWAYS be best for Miri, REGARDLESS of what she wants. The two experiences I mentioned earlier prove that. You’re not a selfish or lazy pet owner. You did your research, you adjust your schedule to accommodate her, you make sure her needs are met and you care a lot. You’re fit to be in charge of her and make the decisions, so start having confidence in the fact that you know what’s best and start acting like Miri following your commands is a vital need for her because you’ve seen what can happen if she doesn’t. Any questions?”

J: “Around a hundred.”

T: “We’ll cover them in the next session. Meanwhile, here’s your homework.” Taehyung said, giving Jungkook a printed set of instructions with illustrations included.

J: “Seriously?”

T: “Yup. Your dog wants a lot of attention. When she doesn’t get attention, she causes a commotion. In those moments, you most likely give her attention and the message she internalizes is that causing a commotion is an efficient method of getting attention. You should work on that in your own time. Also on refusing to give her food outside the diet you set for her. I’ll be quizzing you on it randomly during the following period. Meanwhile, I’ll be teaching her basic commands like Sit, Stay, Wait, Come and so on, so she’ll start associating the words with actions she needs to perform and with the fact that she’ll get a reward if she performs them well. That will save us time. With you, I’ll focus on your mindset when you give commands. I’ll prepare something for tomorrow and we’re gonna continue with that for a while. Alright?”

Jungkook was somewhat mind-blown and couldn’t speak, so he only nodded in response, which made Taehyung briefly ruffle his hair and say “Good boy!” before walking away.

The next morning before seven, Taehyung answered the door with his head clouded by the sleepiness and again he felt like he had opened the door to a hurricane.

J: “Morning! Look who I brought.” Jungkook said cheerfully, holding Miri up so Taehyung could see and take her.

T: “When the hell do you ever sleep, Jungkook? And could you please tell that not-so-girlfriend girlfriend of yours to scream at you quietly?”

J: “I tell everyone to scream quietly, but I can’t help what everyone does all the time. However, I hope you noticed I’ve been keeping it down with the video games.”

T: “I’ve noticed. Thanks.”

J: “Anything for my kind-hearted neighbor with the sour face and sensitive ears.” Jungkook said, putting his hand on Taehyung’s shoulder.

Taehyung flicked Jungkook’s hand away and closed the door in his face, but Jungkook still merrily skipped on his way to work.

When he came back in the evening, Taehyung could tell by the way Miri got excited and ran to the door, before he picked her up and opened it.

J: “Hi.”

Taehyung slammed the door back shut and remained staring at it.

J: “Why’d you slam the door in my face now?”

T: “I just don’t feel like seeing your face.”

A few seconds later, Taehyung heard Jungkook talk to him from behind the door again.

J: “Alright. I took care of it. You can open the door now.”

Taehyung opened the door and saw that Jungkook had covered the lower side of his face, all the way up till under his eyes, with the hem of his sweatshirt and Taehyung almost burst into laughter, but caught himself half a second later.

J: “Made you laugh. Where’s my reward?”

Jungkook was solemnly handed a frantic fluffbal that was very glad he was home again and Jungkook was pretty pleased with what he had received.

T: “Hang on while a get a few things. And bring some more treats next time you come over.”

J: “Sure. But didn’t I bring you quite a few yesterday morning?”

T: “I told you I was gonna start teaching her the basics, right? She’s pretty obedient, so I ended up giving her a lot of treats. You might have to make her work out a bit more than usual.”

J: “No way! She’s already learned the basics?!”

T: “Well not all of them and we’re only just starting. Wanna see t…”

J: “Yes, I wanna! Yes!”

For a second, Jungkook looked like an exited puppy to Taehyung, frantically wagging its tail.

T: “Okay. Put her down.”

Jungkook put Miri down and the dog started running around him and jumping at his legs till Taehyung called for her attention:

T: “Miri! Sit!”

Miri didn’t listen the first time, so Taehyung repeated the command and made a hand gesture to get his message across more effectively. This time the dog sat and Taehyung was just about to praise her and give her a treat when Jungkook jumped at her and got overly excited.

J: “Oh my God! Oh my God, Miri! You actually sat! You actually sat! Could you be a genius? You’re a genius, aren’t you, Miri? You smart and wonderful rascal…”

Taehyung’s mind shut down for a bit at such an exuberant display of emotion, so he just waited for Jungkook to calm down before he continued. He caught Miri’s attention again and showed her the treat in his hand as he backed away a few meters and told her to stay. Miri was squirming in place and her snout, but Taehyung reinforced his command each time he thought Miri was going to start running towards him and, after nearly a minute of that, be crouched down and said “Come!”. Miri ran to him and got the treat from his hand, plus some ruffling of the fur on her head and a few praises from Taehyung. When he got back up, Jungkook suddenly slammed himself into Taehyung and squeezed him in a hug while saying:

J: “Taehyung… you’re amazing…”

T: “And you’re in my personal space smelling way too fresh for how tired I am.”

J: “You’re tired? How come?”

Jungkook should’ve known to back away when he saw Taehyung’s face turn ten times sourer than it already was, but he didn’t and got pinched really hard as a result.

J: “Auch!”

T: “I’m rearranging my sleeping and working schedules to help you out with Miri and it’s taking a toll on me. Please refrain from poking the bear during this time.”

J: “Got it. Sorry.”

Taehyung moved to get what he intended to take outside and, when Jungkook saw him, he expressed his concern:

J: “O-oh… You’re gonna use plates again?”

T: “It won’t be like yesterday.”

And it wasn’t quite like the day before. Taehyung told Jungkook that he would put some of Miri’s treats on the plates and call her attention to them. Meanwhile, Jungkook would have to call Miri back to him without moving from his spot or making gestures. Every time Miri would come to Jungkook, she would get her favorite kind of treat from him. Every time she would reach one of the plastic plates, Taehyung would take it out of her reach and Jungkook would have to put an X-shaped token over one of the nine illustrations of a dog face Taehyung had made on a piece of paper he put into a clipboard.

T: “If there are tokens on the illustrations, you can take one off each time Miri comes to you. The game will be over if there will be no tokens on the paper after nine rounds or when Miri loses all nine lives.”

J: “Do we really have to keep count in a sinister way like that?”

T: “Yes and I want you to think of Miri running in front of the car each time you place a token.”

J: “You’re really cruel, Taehyung.”

T: “I’m not. I’m just a bit Machiavellian.”

J: “Even worse!”

They started and it didn’t take long before Jungkook had to place the seventh token. He stopped to rub his face with his hands and think about everything Taehyung had said about the mindset he should employ and why that was important. He took a deep breath, got back up and gestured for Taehyung to call Miri over to one of the plates with a snack. After she started heading in that direction, Jungkook said:

J: “Miri! Come here.”

And Miri did. Jungkook was almost in shock at seeing Miri at his feet, but he still did his job of giving the dog praises and her favorite treat. He was still trying to figure out how he had done it when he suddenly felt a hand ruffle his hair and heard Taehyung saying:

T: “Good job, Jungkook! You weren’t wavering at all. Here.”

Taehyung looked like he wanted to give Jungkook something, so the latter held out his hand to receive it.

J: “A sunflower seed?”

T: “I have nothing else on me.”

J: “Are you treating me like a dog now because you’re trying to teach me about positive reinforcement through the power of personal example?”

T: “No. I’m assuming you already know how positive reinforcement works. I just think this will help keep your morale up and that you shouldn’t be doing this motivated strictly by the fear of a negative consequence. Training your dog is a bonding experience and both of you should enjoy it.”

J: “Isn’t that a bit like the opposite of what you’ve kept telling me until now?”

T: “I couldn’t have started with this. Anyway, if you’re gonna keep questioning my methods, this will take forever. Now get back up. The game’s still ongoing.” Taehyung informed, taking his hand out of Jungkook’s hair and patting his back twice before going back to his position.

In the end, all nine illustrations had tokens on them, Jungkook was disappointed and wanted to try again even though it had gotten dark outside.

T: “That’s enough for today. We’ll do the same thing tomorrow anyway.”

J: “But… I feel like I’ll do better if we try one more time.”

T: “You didn’t do that bad this time either. Miri came to you quite a few times strictly based on how you called her.”

J: “Speaking of that, what should I do with all these nuts and seeds you’ve given me?”

T: “Whatever you want. And here’s your final reward.”

J: “A protein bar?”

T: “If you’re unsatisfied, I’ll bring a bacon cheeseburger next time.” Taehyung joked, making Jungkook smile back at him before he ruffled his hair one more time and said: “You did good. See you tomorrow.”

J: “See’ya. Rest well.”

And Taehyung did rest well. Right up until his doorbell rang the next morning at not even 7 a.m.