Kyungsoo gulped and shifted uncomfortably under the eyes of the curious guests. Despite Kai curled in his lap, he couldn't relax. 

"You didn't tell us he was cute," one not-so-quietly whispered into Baekhyun's ear, breaking the awkward pause. His skin resembled Kyungsoo's--milky white, but their eyes were complete opposites. 

"Sehun," Baekhyun smiled through gritted teeth. Sehun then abruptly hissed, and his hand disappeared under the table. "Remember why you're here," the former scolded. 

"I can't help it!" Sehun whines. He turns towards the human, whose eyes widen. "Relax Kyungsoo; no need to be so polite. We're all around the same age, aren't we?"

Kyungsoo's eyes fluttered for a moment as an odd sensation washed through his head. It felt heavy on his neck, and he wanted to lean it back against the couch. His limbs loosened as if he were in water, lying limp against his sides. He could feel each inhalation, feel the air rush through his veins and lift him. The sloshing of waves were distant in his ears. Any previous anxieties gnawing at his brain slowly died down until there was nothing left of them. 

What was happening? How did this stranger manage to soothe him with just a few sentences? 

"Kyungsoo," Baekhyun snaps him out of his trance. He can't respond fast enough, heavy eyelids blinking away drowsiness. His housemate grins sweetly, batting his long eyelashes. "My friends, who just came back from China, have no place to stay right now. You don't mind if they crash here, do you?" 

Kyungsoo's peaceful state is shattered. His heartbeat picks up, and breathing is difficult. He wipes his clammy hands against the front of his jeans. "H-here? You mean with us?" Kai shakes his head, but it only appears as if he's shaking his fur. 

"It's just until they can find a place. You can keep your room to yourself. They'll be perfectly find in the living room." Chanyeol mirrors his boyfriend's pleading expression.

"Yixing and Luhan will stay with us," Kris adds hastely (as if that helps Kyungsoo's oncoming panic attack). It doesn't reassure the bug-eyed human, for his legs have begun to shake. 

But kind-hearted Kyungsoo couldn't say no. 

****************-

"Thanks, Kyungie! We owe you one!" Jongdae--Kyungoo rakes over the square jaw--pats him on the shoulder, grinning eyes twinkling. Kai releases a deep growl from his throat because only he is allowed to touch Kyungsoo, but the culprit is unphased by his threat. And why are you calling my owner 'Kyungie'? No one is allowed to give him nicknames but me!

As those who were staying left to help the owners of the apartment grab extra supplies, the others wished them goodnight. "We better go and get some rest. Don't bother Kyungsoo!" Kris gives his friends a stern glare. They give him a thumbs up (but Kris knows they probably will anyway). Tao pinches his cheek. "Did you find the book I asked for?" Kris retaliates with a knuckle sandwich. "Do you know how old that book is?"

"Fine, fine! Just get it to me by tomorrow!" 

"Remember what we talked about," Luhan says, a couple of feet away, pointing his gaze at Sehun. He wriggles on his jacket as the other asked, "Why do you keep reminding me?" Luhan rolled his eyes. He flicked his nose. "Because knowing you,  you'll forget everything and ruin our plan." Yixing grazed Luhan's palm.

"You ready?" Luhan nodded, then turned to Sehun once again. "Don't mess this up, Sehun," he warns, blowing the sulky male a kiss. 

"Yeah, yeah. Will you guys just stop treating me like a baby?" Minseok and Jongdae throw a pillow in his direction. "Seriously," he cries. "I know what I'm supposed to do. Baekhyun spend the two hours drilling it into my head; I can still hear him yelling..." 

Five boys tumbled through the mirror. 

"What the heck?" the shorted of them all (and also the oldest) groaned. "Zitao, of all freaking times to call us!" Minseok helped the others onto their feel. A dimpled male, Zitao's closest friend, lifted his hand a few inches above his head. Zitao and Yifan fell to their knees clutching their stomachs.

"[[Yixing!]]" Yifan croaked. 

"[[What stupid emergency is so important that you had to interrupt me during work?! I was this close to finding that damn Joo--]]" He twirled around to glare at the person responsible for diminishing his irritation in the middle of a much-needed lecture. "Oh Sehun, if you ing dare to do that weird -with-people's-minds to me again, I will impound several virulent diseases in you. You know how I despise it when you with my emotions." 

"*Calm down, Unicorn," Sehun sneered. "We're in the human world; let's enjoy it!" 

/

"You're not here to play," Zitao clarified, still rubbing his abdomen. He avoided his best friend's deadly glare. "We really do have a problem." 

"The only possible problem in this boring planet is if..."  Only one name popped in their minds: Jongin. 

"No," said Jongdae, the slim arrogant male appearing from behind the eldest. "Did he break the curse?" The last male who had not spoken yet emerged, round eyes flitting around the room anxiously. 

"Oh no, I have to tell the King right now! Zitao, take me back. This is so bad..." 

"No, wait!" Zitao held out his arms to call their attention (and effectively prevent Luhan from jumping into the mirror). "Jongin hasn't broken the curse... yet." 

"'Yet'?" Minseok and Jongdae shouted at the same time. The older of the two stepped forward. "What do you mean by 'yet'? You said it was impossible for him to break it." 

"Again, I said it is nearly impossible," Zitao sighed. "I didn't take it into consideration that the Jokester would fall in love." 

"HE WHAT?!" 

Zitao turned away from the five horror-struck faces and began to rub his temples. "I know, I know. He can't, but he did. Follow me." 

The seven boys knocked onto Baekhyun's door, ignoring Chanyeol's flustered greeting. ("What where you two doing?" Jongdae asked, smirking. "N-n-nothing!" Chanyeol hollered.) There, in the living room, Baekhyung spilled the timeline of events that happened when the Jokester returned--with a human. 

"This is really really bad. The King wi--"

"You can't tell him!" Zitao hurriedly cried, exasperately launching himself onto Luhan's arm. "[[Please, Lu ge!]]"

"Talking in Chinese does not make you any cuter." 

"He's right," Yifan said. "The King trusted Zitao to keep Jongin out of trouble. Baekhyun, Chanyeol, and I were also trusted to watch over him. If you tell the King, not only Zitao, but all of us will be exterminated. Do you want that?" Luhan bit his lip and sighed as an internal battle roared on. 

"I think we should stay here," Jongdae announced. He grinned wickedly when all eyes are on him. "Why not? Minseok and I can help watch over the Jokester, Luhan can run the King's 'human' errands, and Yixing can find Mr. My-name-is-now-Suho-because-I'm-a-badass. Right?"

"He has a point," Yixing agreed. 

"That's 'hyung' to you," Minseok chided the pleased male. 

"That's human talk."

"It's called RESPECT."

"So what do you guys think?" Jongdae asked the others, ignoring Minseok's cry of distress. 

"You're crazy. Now I know why you and Jongin got along so well." Luhan shook his head, but he didn't object. 

"What do I get to do?" Sehun piped, bouncing in his seat. 

"You can..." Jongdae's eyebrows knitted together as he thought about it. 

"You can join us!" Chanyeol excitedly hollered. "We're on operation 'Protect Kyungsoo from Jongin no matter what'." Color drained from Baekhyun's cheeks, but no one noticed. Sehun started chatted animatedly with his boyfriend about what ridiculous things they could do to make the dog jealous. 

"On one condition!" Baekhyun shaky voice rose over Sehun's victory jig. "Do not even DARE flirt with my baby." 

"Me? Flirt?" Sehun scoffed. "C'mon, why do you think I'd hit on a human?"

"Because Kyungsoo is no ordinary human. We're children faeries, Sehun. Cute, cuddly things are our weaknesses."

"Who says they're mine?!" Sehun stammered, placing a hand on his chest at the accusation. Baekhyun his head towards Luhan. "He's attractive. I can't help it."

"My point exactly." 

Sehun locks his ankles around the body pillow and buries his face into the soft cushion. He hears the two others settle into the sheets behind him. Just out of plain curiousity, he asks, "Do you really think Jongin will break the curse?" 

A few minutes pass before anyone replies. 

"I don't know," Minseok says. "I never thought he would fall in love in the first place. Now my thinking's all messed up. The information we knew before is now useless." 

"What do you think will happen if he does?" 

Minseok pulls the body pillow from Sehun's clutch and hugs it himself. "We all die." 

"Really?!" 

"I'm just kidding! I don't know. Maybe. For now, we just have to worry about separating Kyungsoo and Jongin. What's our game plan, Jongdae?"

"..."

"Jongdae?" Sehun and Minseok crane their necks to see said male already snoring away in dreamland. They chuckle under their breaths and proceed to do the same. 

_____________________________________________________

It's been a long time, huh? I've been feeling a little better, so I decided to update. I wrote half of it in class, so it was much easier. The story is still sort of on hiatus. Updates won't be frequent, but I will try to write as much as I can. It's just difficult to juggle life with only so much hours in a day. Again, sorry for making you guys wait so long for the next chapter. And it's pretty short too. xc 

Tell me what you think! I love seeing your comments! 

And to @a95959: I haven't decided what breed Jongin is, and I sort of described his fur to be the same color as his hair? Just know that he's a petite dog. xP You can think of him like the dog in the story's bg picture. Sometimes I picture him as a Jack Russell Terrier (like when they're walking/playing), but other times I see him as a baby eskimo dog (like when they're cuddling).