Mark had cornered Youngjae one night after Youngjae had gotten out of the shower. Youngjae was in the bathroom wearing his pyjamas and blow-drying his hair. Their parents were out on a date and Jackson, BamBam, and Yugyeom were downstairs in an intense game of Monopoly. Youngjae had decided to take his shower early and Mark was in his room.

“I need to talk to you.” Mark said.

Youngjae shut off his blow-dryer. Mark was quiet and to outsiders it could look like he was always serious as well but Youngjae knew him well enough to know when Mark was quiet and when Mark was quiet and serious. “What's the matter?”

“It's something serious. Something that's going to affect our family forever.”

“Are you OK? Are you going to propose to the noona you met at the park?” Wait. It was a reach but what if? 'No, Youngjae tried to reason to himself, 'it can't be that. That's impossible for Mark' But then again auality meant you didn't want to have it never said anything about not being able to have it. “Is the noona you met at the park pregnant?”

Mark sighed. “I honestly think this family needs help when it comes to pregnancy. And I'm not going to propose to her. Why would I even propose to her? Proposing is the woman's job.”

Right, Youngjae had forgotten that aspect of Mark's relationship with his noona.

“Remember how we always wanted a pet?”

Youngjae nodded. There were always talks about getting a pet. They never had one growing up. Their dad was always so busy with work and Youngjae had piano classes and study groups and Mark had whatever Mark did.

“And Dad never let us get one because of your allergies?”

That was another factor. Youngjae did have quite a lot of allergies and for that reason, Nora had to be kept as far as possible from him most days. Not that Nora seemed to mind. She did have the comfiest bed out of everyone in the house. Jinyoung could have always gotten them a lizard or something but Mark and Youngjae weren't reptile pet types of people. They were dog people through and through.

“I was talking to noona about dogs obviously and she pulled up this list of dogs that are allergy-friendly. How do you feel about after class tomorrow you could come to the adoption center that she volunteers at and looking at the dogs?”

Having a dog would be nice. Youngjae always wanted a dog despite his allergies. It seemed like the household dream. “Alright, it'll be nice to have a dog. Do you think Mom and Dad would be OK with it. Especially Mom, he still thinks all of my allergies are deadly even with medication.”

“You weren't adopted yet but my life in the Park Jinyoung household was tough in the beginning. Even with my documents saying I wasn't allergic to it, he still refused to give me eggs, dairy, soy, or wheat during the first three months just to make sure.”

******

“What's your brother's girlfriend like?” Angel asked Youngjae. Youngjae had asked Angel if she wanted to come along and they ended up getting a ride from Trucker. Back during their third date when Angel had arrived in a car with a personal driver, Youngjae thought he was dating some chaebol. Until, of course, he realized Trucker was a personal driver in the sense that he drove the getaway car after someone had been murdered.

Youngjae thought about it for a moment. How do you explain the noona that Mark met at the park with the cute dog? “She likes dogs. She's really controlling but not in the bad way like Mark-hyung loves it so I guess it's a good thing? She takes charge of things. Knows what she wants.”

Angel nodded. “What does she look like?”

“I don't think that it matters.” Youngjae said.

“But I want to know! I don't want to walk up to the wrong woman.”

Trucker spoke up from the front. “Isn't it also going to be like a double date? You've never really spent much time with Youngjae's family. You don't want to mess up and then have his family tell you to your face that you're a horrible person.”

“That's why Trucker makes more money than any of us.” Angel said.

“Mark-hyung's girlfriend looks like the type of girl that Mark-hyung would like.”

“I only met him once! I don't know what kind of girls he likes. Is she really short? Does she have both arms?”

“Angel, trust me when you see her, you're going to understand. There aren't words to describe her but she has at least one arm.”

Angel looked like she wanted to say something but instead took a sip of her mason jar that today read 'Sweet like tea' in pink English letters. “ Promise?” She asked in English.

“Promise.” Youngjae answered back also in English.

Trucker pulled up to the adoption center and Angel swiped on some glitter clear lip gloss. “OK, I'm ready.”

“You didn't need to do that.” Youngjae said.

“I don't know what I'm dealing with. I need to try and be prepared for as much as I can.”

Angel and Youngjae got out of the car and waved goodbye to Trucker. “Before we go in, I need to give you this.” Angel handed Youngjae a small bottle of antihistamines.

“I'm going to be fine, we're getting a dog that's good for my allergies. I don't need this but thank you.”

“Even dogs that are good for allergies still carry a risk. And there are also going to be other dogs there, I don't want you getting sick. You don't even have to worry about the pills, I got them from my team's doctor and made sure that my team's drug dealer stayed far away from them.”

Youngjae took the bottle from Angel and put them in the pocket of his coat. When your girlfriend goes to such lengths in order to make sure you're OK, taking them is the least you can do.

“Hey! Was traffic too bad?” Mark asked once they reached the entrance. Mark was there along with his girlfriend waiting for them, their fingers intertwined with one another.

“No. It was fine. It's nice to see you again, Mark-oppa and it's very nice to meet you too unnie.” Angel said. Youngjae was right the unnie that Mark had met at the park fit him perfectly. Did it matter what she looked like? Humanity has existed for so long and we were still caught up in things like weight or height.

Mark's girlfriend seemed shocked. “How young are you?”

“I'm the same age as Youngjae. I know I look older. It's because I have really sharp facial features.” Angel said. Youngjae had confessed that along with her tattoos, it was her actual face that also scared him a bit.

The noona Mark met at the park laughed. “Isn't it funny how life is? You spend the first half of it wishing you looked older and the second half wishing you looked younger.”

Angel wanted to make a comment about how youthful unnie looked for her age but Angel couldn't decide if she did or not.

“Come right this way. We have plenty of dogs to meet.” Mark's noona pulled him along with a harsh tug of his hand and Mark's smile seemed to grow even wider.

“See? I told you she was nice.” Youngjae said. Angel knew from the tone of his voice he had no idea what that was about anyways.

Once inside the shelter, Youngjae was glad that Angel had brought the antihistamines. He could feel his eyes start to water up and Angel was wearing a smug grin. Youngjae gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and internally screamed at the realization of what he had done.

“Now, did the two of you have an idea about what breed you wanted?” Mark's girlfriend was in her element her as much as she probably was at her restaurant.

“We were thinking about getting a pug.” Youngjae said.

“I wouldn't recommend it. They shed too much.” Mark's noona said.

“We had a feeling it would be like that. Our other options are Maltese or poodles.” Mark said.

“You also have to keep in mind Nora.” Mark's noona added.

“Nora isn't much of a problem.” Youngjae said. “She practically has her own house that's bigger than ours.”

“I personally think Malteses are cuter.” Angel chimed in.

Mark's noona nodded. “Yes and the both of you are giving me very Maltese vibes.”

Mark nodded along with her. Youngjae didn't know that people gave out dog vibes and from Angel's face she didn't know either. Mark and his girlfriend soon began a series of head tilts and eyes subtly moving from left to right.

“Are they OK?” Angel whispered to Youngjae as Mark and his girlfriend made soft and small hand motions.

“Yeah, they're just talking.”

“Without speaking?”

“Mark-hyung is the quiet type you know that. The noona he met at the park understands that. They've developed their own way of communicating with each other.”

“Oh.” Angel said. “That's very sweet of them.” she took a long sip from her Mason jar.

After Mark and his girlfriend finished their conversation, she brought them over to where the Malteses were. Youngjae burst out laughing as one of them began to run circles around itself and jump almost humanly when they walked in.

“I see you like Heart.” Mark's noona pronounced 'Heart' in perfect English.

“I like the English name.” Mark said.

“Is it a boy or girl?”

“A .” Mark's noona replied.

“She's cute.” Mark said simply.

“I like the fact that's she hyper. Gloomy dogs make me sad.”Youngjae said.

“With a hyper dog you don't have to worry about them getting sad if you're not around all the time.” Angel said.

Mark's noona bent down and made her way to the cage and picked up Heart and brought her over to them. Mark gave a gentle pat on her head. Heart made happy dog sounds.

“Aw,” Youngjae cooed. “We should take her home immediately.”

Mark's noona placed a kissed atop of Heart's head. “Do you want to change her name? She's smart enough to understand what her new name would be.”

“I sort of like Heart.” Mark said.

“What about Rice Cake?” Youngjae said pronouncing it in Korean. “She's so white but at the same time, I almost feel like Rice Cake sounds like a countryside girl.”

“You need a name that is easy to pronounce in Korean and English.” Angel said.

“Coco could work. It's a nice name for a dog.” Mark said.

Heart gave a bark signifying her approval of the name.

“I think we have a winner.” Mark's noona said.

“I just thought of this but what about Joseph? Is Coco good around children?” Angel asked.

“Don't worry about it.” Mark said. “Shinyoung-noona has been pregnant forever. She's not going to be giving birth anytime soon. And even if she does, we'll train Coco and if that doesn't work, we'll keep Coco in her doghouse.”

Mark and Youngjae went to go fill out the appropriate paperwork while Angel and Mark's girlfriend waited outside.

“Thank you for helping with choosing a dog. Youngjae and Mark-oppa were stressing about finding a breed that could go with Youngjae's allergies.” Angel said.

The unnie Mark met at the park with the cute dog laughed. “It's not a problem. Me and Mark are dog people. I could spend all day looking at them. Do you have any pets?”

“No. Me and my roommate work strange hours for work.” Correct answer: Pets are too dangerous for criminals.

“What do you work as?”

“I take care of the stock inventory at an electronics store.”

Mark's unnie girlfriend gave Angel the once-over. “I wouldn't have thought of you as the type. But I can see it now.”

Angel had been in a lot of dangerous situations. She had had her life put at risk time and time again but there was something about the about the way this unnie was that made Angel scared. “What is your job again?”

“I work as the manager of a restaurant. Before BamBam discovered cooking, Mark would always take any leftovers to his house. When I offer him guacamole or something to take home, he still does. He's so obedient, it's adorable.”

Angel took a step back. “Mark-oppa always seems to be such a nice guy.”

Mark's unnie sighed. “He is. He's a good boy.”

Inside the adoption shelter, Mark held onto Coco while Youngjae signed his name. The shelter worker took away the papers. “Thank you both for adopting her. She needs a good home and I'm sure your family will be excellent in taking care of her. Sometimes we get real weirdos adopting but you guys seem like normal and upstanding citizens.”

Mark and Youngjae gave matching awkward grins.

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I couldn't have Nora in this story without having Coco now could I? And yes, I know Shinyoung forever. Next chapter she is going to give birth, I swear.

<3 Smooches <3