Chanyeol's put in time-out in daycare for "rough housing," which he doesn't really understand. He wasn't doing anything related to houses, but maybe he had been too close to the dollhouse, and the daycare worker was worried he'd fall through it or something. Chanyeol doesn't know; he just [sometimes] does as he's told.

He sits in a corner by himself, staring at the popcorn texture of the painted walls and tries not to cry. He just wants to play with his friends!

The daycare worker has her hands full watching nearly a dozen toddlers, so the puppy is left to his own devices, so if he was to lay on the floor with his feet on the wall, who's to know?

He sits back too fast and strikes his head on the carpeted floor. It stings; he curls up on his side and holds his aching crown. Once he stops whining and checks his fingers for blood—because it really really hurt!—he hears a thundery sort of sound and tilts his head back.

A kitten sits apart from the other children. There's a short stack of books beside him, but he's not reading. He's smoothing the fur of his tail and combing his fingers through his hair.

Chanyeol pushes himself upright and scratches an ear absently, out of habit, entranced by the kitten's repetitive movements.

"You're really demure." Chanyeol doesn't know what it means, but he's heard adults use it for pretty things, and it sounds pretty, and the kitten's really pretty, too, so that counts, right? He's kind of golden-ish and dark-ish and reminds Chanyeol of a tiny jaguar. "Your hair is so silky looking ..." he compliments in awe. "I like it!" He kind of wants to put his face in it, but he learned about 'boundaries' and that cats, even little ones, don't appreciate being touched unless they're doing the touching.

"Because I bathe a lot," the kitten replies. He looks at the dog with disinterest, pausing for three heartbeats before dipping his head again and carding his fingers through his hair.

"I do, too!" Chanyeol rolls in the mud a lot. He likes baths, though, because they're wet. That's why he likes mud, too. Chanyeol likes wet. Unless it rain-wet. Boomy rain-wet is even worse. His ears droop just thinking about it.

"You have big ears."

Said floppy ears lift. Chanyeol looks to his right, trying to see his ear without holding it. "My mom says I'll grow into them soon, but I like to do this!" He shakes his head, making his long ears flap across his face and back of his head, but they're long enough to nearly touch the base of the opposite ear.

The kitten smiles and makes a small noise behind his hand.

Chanyeol stills abruptly and beams. "You can laugh!"

"Of course I can laugh. Don't be dumb." He sounds offended. Cats are good at that.

"I can't help it. You looked so sad, sitting here by yourself, so I thought you were just always sad or didn't know how to smile."

"I ... I don't make friends easily." The kitten's tail whips to curl up over his thigh, and his glossy ears flatten to his hair. He eyes the pile of books.

"I'll be your friend!" He scoots forward on his until he's just a foot away, punishment forgotten. He rocks his toes towards one another and out again, tail wagging eagerly. "I'm Chanyeol!"

Ears twitch. "Jongin." He eyes the puppy, tail eventually uncurling. Shyly, he reaches out a hand, and Chanyeol has no qualms about shoving his head under it right away. Jongin's tail fur stands on end, but he slowly relaxes. Dogs aren't like cats. They need to be touched. As his fingers start curling and uncurling in the puppy's hair, he notices the swishy tail wagging again. The more he scratches, the faster it whips.

Chanyeol whines high in his throat, tilting his head and looking for that one really good spot ... . His leg starts to bounce.

Jongin giggles and adds his other hand to the mix, whipping Chanyeol's ears around and scratching his scalp so thoroughly Chanyeol begins to list off-balance, so the kitten gets up on his knees and makes it his mission to make Chanyeol fall over.

"Oh! Oh! Oh! Right therrrrre!" the puppy's voice drags out in a whine, and he falls to an elbow. Jongin continues his assault until Chanyeol collapses completely, and Jongin falls on top of him. They giggle until they're breathless and pink-cheeked.

"Do you really like that so much?"

"Yeah! Don't you?" Chanyeol forgets his boundaries and wriggles an arm free from beneath the kitten, reaching up to scratch between his ears.

Jongin doesn't wiggle and writhe and bounce like Chanyeol when scratched, but he's not completely still, either. His eyes fight to stay open, and his hands close into loose fists that begin to alternatively push into Chanyeol as if he was a pile of bread dough. The long tail weaves in the air behind him, falls to the floor, twitches, and weaves through the air again to fall a bit higher up and then further down.

Chanyeol, in his young and hyperactive mind, is completely amazed. Whatever Jongin is doing to his chest and tummy actually feels kind of nice. His tail tries to wag, but he's laying on it, so it kind of tics beneath his .

The kitten's utterly content in his bliss and doesn't realise he's nuzzling his face all over the puppy's chest and chin. Chanyeol isn't complaining, but the soft ears tickle his cheeks, and the weird rumbling like a car motor is making his arm tingle.

Jongin whines when Chanyeol stops petting him, and he shifts his head onto his chin, blearily seeking out the puppy's hand to put it back between his ears, and that's when Chanyeol falls in love, but he doesn't know it at the time.