“So, have you figured out what you’re going to do with it yet?” Seunghoon asks around a mouthful of noodles. Mino hums noncommittally, his head resting in his hand as he watches Jinwoo gently toss a tennis ball for the puppy to fetch. “Mino!” Seunghoon snaps his fingers in his friend’s face.

“Wha?” Mino blinks, turning to face the other man at last.

Seunghoon rolls his eyes before he speaks again. “Are you keeping the dog or not?” he asks bluntly.

Before Mino can even open his mouth, Jinwoo chimes in with, “Keep it! From the way you’ve described Taehyun, he’d probably be really hurt and retreat back into his shell if he ever found you gave away the present he went to the trouble of getting for you.” Mino chews on his lip; that’s exactly what he was afraid of. “Plus, Chocolate is just too cute to give away,” the older man coos while rubbing his hands down its sides.

“Chocolate? Really?” Seunghoon blinks, his nose scrunched up.

“You gave it a name already?” Mino groans, running his hand down his face.

“Her; I gave her a name,” Jinwoo says, looking slightly offended on it–her behalf. “Your allergy isn’t too bad, right? You can manage it with medicine, right?” The older man looks up at Mino with an equal mix of concern and appeal on his face.

Mino heaves a sigh, “It looks like I’ll have to.”

A bright grin lights up Jinwoo’s face as he clutches the puppy to his chest and then lifts her up to his face. “You hear that, Chocolate? You’re home!” Her little tail swishes from side to side as her pink tongue wets Jinwoo’s cheek. Mino finds himself smiling despite himself.

“I’ll play with her and take her out on walks, but I refuse to clean up any poos or wees,” Seunghoon declares as he trots over to where Jinwoo is sprawled out on the floor.

“As her official dad, that’s Mino’s job,” Jinwoo says as he hands Chocolate over to Seunghoon. Mino opens his mouth to complain, but shuts it almost immediately with a shake of his head. “Well, I’ve got to get to a study group and Seunghoon has a class, so we’ll be leaving now. Have fun bonding with Chocolate,” Jinwoo chirps as he grabs his bag and heads out the front door.

“Make sure she doesn’t leave any ‘surprises’ in my room,” Seunghoon calls out as he deposits Chocolate into Mino’s lap and follows Jinwoo out the door.

“Great,” Mino sniffs to the empty room as Chocolate nibbles on his fingers. “Well, I guess I better get you food and some bowls, a leash, maybe some shampoo and have you had your injections yet?” he mutters to himself, holding her up and peering into her eyes as if that will answer his question. His questioning gets him no response save a head tilt and a on the nose, so Mino pulls out his phone and sends a text to Taehyun. ‘Hey, has Chocolate had all her shots yet?’ The response comes almost instantly.

‘Chocolate???’

Mino slaps his forehead. ‘I mean the dog you gave me. Her name is Chocolate.’

‘That’s what you named her???’ Mino can practically feel the judgement oozing out of his phone.

‘/i/ didn’t but my housemate…well anyway has she had her shots or not?’

‘Of course, what do you take me for?’ Mino can practically see the younger man bristle.  

‘I thought you might have but I just wanted to make sure’ Mino holds up a hand in a pacifying manner even though Taehyun can’t see it.

‘Oh, okay.’ Mino puts down his phone and sets Chocolate on the floor. He’s in the middle of drawing up a list of the things he needs to get for her when his phone vibrates on the table. ‘So you didn’t give it away?’

Mino smiles despite himself. He scoops up Chocolate into his arms and holds her right against his face with a big grin. Ignoring the itching in his nose, he snaps a selfie with his phone and sends it off to Taheyun. ‘My new background :D’

The response takes a bit longer to come, but when it does it brings a smile to Mino’s face. ‘Okay, cool. Good thing too, I’d stop speaking to you if you gave away the present I went out of my way to get for you’. He chuckles to himself, not bothering to point out how that contradicts what Taehyun previously said.

‘Well Chocolate and I are going to get some shopping done. Later~’

‘Yeah, later.’

Mino gets up to gather his wallet and his keys. When he comes back to retrieve his phone, there’s a new message. ‘By the way, just throwing this out there, but my uncle owns a pet shop. I got the dog through him and he gives me a bonus everytime I bring him business. Do me a favour and do your shopping there, preferably while I’m on shift?’ He grins.

‘Sure just tell me the time and place’