"Happiness is a warm puppy."

      Sehun made a mental note to step out of the animal shelter more often. Firstly, Luhan was also taking care of strays, which he didn't know until yesterday. Again yesterday, there was another boy had a litter of puppies in his home. He had seen Tear stalking around, so he naturally brought him in.

Jongdae said his name was Minseok and 'he looks like a polar bear' quote unquote. Sehun didn't meet the Minseok guy personally as Jongdae was the one who got Tear back. Not wanting Tear or Drop to run amok again, Sehun quickly bade goodbye to Luhan and returned to the animal shelter with Jongdae.

"Oi Kieran!" was the first thing Sehun woke up to followed by a series of enraged barks. What else was new?

He yawned and his side, only to come face to face with a mewling Drop. She flopped onto the bed beside Sehun's arm after purring and walking a few bouncy steps. Sehun smiled as he the back of Drop continuously. Then he randomly remembered that tomorrow would be Christmas' Eve.

There was peace and quiet for a while, until the bedroom door swung open with a very disgruntled Jongdae standing in the middle. He huffed, "Tear she... well... Tore up the Christmas streamers."

"And?"

"Kieran toppled the tree. The lower branches are mostly broken."

Sehun groaned into his pillow. Nooooooooo. But what was new? He sat up, rubbing his eyes, "We have to-" That was when a crash sounded, loud enough to be heard two storeys up. Jongdae's face immediately turned pale. "Did they just break the-"

"That's it," Sehun said grumpily, pushing the blanket off him, almost hitting Drop in the proccess. She made a questioning miaow as Sehun walked towards the door. Together with Jongdae, they half-ran down the steps in a frenzy.

The first thing Sehun saw was Tear and Kieran snarling and biting at one another. "Tear!" Sehun shouted. He then leapt forward before Tear could do any permanent damage to Kieran. To Sehun's surprise, Tear scratched his arm in a fit of anger. Sparks of pain grazed his skin and he tried not to tear up.

Meanwhile, Kieran seemed to have calmed down and was wagging his tail again. But why was Tear so mad? Sehun could not help but use force to restraint Tear who was still struggling in his arms. "Why is she like that today-"

"Catnip. Look at Drop and the others."

Sehun turned his head towards the voice and found Luhan standing at the entrance, holding a handsome looking cat. He was suddenly aware of his topless body, which he never really cared about. He gulped and said something real sensible like, "Uhhhhhhhhh."

Luhan ignored that. He continued saying, "You should take them out. Or you clear the catnip." Then he seemed to notice for the first time that Sehun wasn't wearing a shirt. Sehun wanted to say something but the words got stuck in his throat. Fortunately, Jongdae cleared his throat, "Yeah. SEHUN we should clear the catnip."

That woke him up pretty quickly. Sehun looked around and saw Drop walking around like a drunkard. A few of the other cats were pawing at the air in their cages. Sehun got up from the floor with Tear significantly calmed down, but she was still hissing slightly.

"And did world war three just happen here?" Luhan asked in wonder. Sehun took in the calamity of the first level with surprising calmness.  "Yeah. Probably. Jongdae, did you forget to close the cabinet door last night?" he asked, glaring at his friend.

Jongdae stopped moving around and his eyes widened, "Oh crap. No wonder." 

Sehun put Tear onto the ground gently and picked at a stray pine leaf on the floor. "Looks like we have some maintenance work to do."

"What's your cat's name?" Sehun asked Luhan while picking up a broken shard of ceramic ornament. Luhan answered serenely, "Navi."

"I thought that's a girl's name."

"Oh. Really?"

Luhan stopped moving his hands and said, "Oops." Sehun rolled his eyes then Luhan exclaimed, "Hey you're bleeding!" Sehun looked down at his fingers, but there was no blood. Then he realised the cut Tear had given him was the one that was bleeding. Beads of blood had lined up in a line and a small throbbing pain came pulsing back.

"It's nothing," Sehun lied but Luhan gave him a suspicious look, "You're kidding me." Without warning, Luhan grabbed a piece of tissue paper from on top of the counter and dabbed it gently on the wound. Again, Sehun felt his pulse race a little faster and was aware of Luhan's fingers wrapping around his arm. He let his arm go limp in Luhan's hold.

Damn he only met this guy for a day and he was already feeling all weird.

------

About an hour later, the three of them set off to the market square to get new decorations. Sehun decided not to take any risks so he forced himself to lock up Tear and Drop in their cages.

Sehun and Jongdae soon trailed after Luhan along the pavement. Sehun whispered to Jongdae, "Why did you unlock the glass door? Luhan wouldn't have come." Jongdae replied nonchalantly, "Kieran wanted to take a piss, so I opened the door."

"He wants to take a piss in the winter cold?"

"Yeap. That's about right."

"But why didn't you lock it up afterwards?!"

"I was lazy. Plus, you don't tell me you aren't happy to see Luhan."

Sehun stomped on Jongdae's foot in a fit. He yelped in pain and shock before glaring daggers at Sehun. "Is there anything wrong?" Luhan asked as he turned around. Both of them hurriedly went back to their normal poses and chorused, "Nothing."

Luhan blinked a few times before continuing to walk. Jongdae leaned in again, "You know, Luhan has a nice ."

"What the-"

"So if you're feeling ually frustrated-"

"I think you're the one feeling ually frustrated. Why are you looking at people's butts?"

"I was just thinking because Minseok has a- ."

"Wait you like him?"

Jongdae's red face was sufficient as an answer while they walked in silence to the market square. Sehun wasn't a bastard like Jongdae, but because of his words, Sehun couldn't stop staring at Luhan's . Truthfully, it was kinda nice. Wrong topic, Oh Sehun.

Their first stop was to replace their half-destroyed Christmas tree. Sehun was against getting a live one because he knew how annoying they were when their pine needles shed. Half-way through their bickering of whether they should get an ordinary green one or a white pined one, they heard a voice.

"Jongdae?"

Sehun instantly knew who it was judging from Jongdae's immediate reaction. Jongdae whipped around faster than Sehun had ever seen him turn and said nervously, "Hi Minseok." It was only then that Sehun got why Jongdae had compared Minseok to a polar bear. Minseok looked like a walking teddy bear with his thick winter clothings.

Minseok had a curious glitter in his eyes as he looked at each of them. After introductions, Sehun came up with a brilliant idea. He asked nicely, "Jongdae why don't you and Minseok go get some more catnip from the store?" Minseok piped up, "Why do you need catnip?"

"Because he left the cupboard open and the cats found it and ate it," Luhan supplied innocently. Sehun could feel the suppressed laughter from Luhan and he felt the same way. "That's bad," Minseok frowned, then he turned to Jongdae, "Why didn't you close the cupboard? The cats must have gone mad." 

Sehun pointed out happily, "Yeah they did. Gave me this scratch too." Then he showed Minseok the still red scar like some prize medal. Jongdae seemed to go blank, which he always did when he was caught in situations. "Well- Then- Let's go g-get the catnip," Jongdae stuttered. Sehun resisted the temptation to take a picture of Jongdae.

Minseok nodded and walked out of the store meaningfully. Jongdae stayed frozen to the ground on the contrary. "Yah. Dumbhead, don't waste your chance," Sehun chuckled, only to be replied with a sharp pinch on his arm by Jongdae before the other walked off.

When Jongdae and Minseok were out of sight, Sehun and Luhan immediately broke down into hapless laughter.

"Oh god. Did you see his face?"

"Totally did! He better not waste that chance!"

"HAHAHAHA I just can't-"

They casually looked into one another's eyes and stopped laughing. To Sehun's surprise, Luhan smiled brightly at him. He then said, "Let's continue choosing the tree."

------

The four of them rendezvoused at the animal shelter about two hours later and began redecorating the first storey. Jongdae switched on the radio and Christmast-ssy pop songs from Seoul began playing.

"I've never been to Seoul," Luhan suddenly admitted. Jongdae replied from the other corner, "I've only gone there like once. It was hectic. I prefer here, nice and quiet." "Really?" Sehun asked. Because he was born here and raised in this community, he never really gave thoughts about Seoul, or the other major cities. "But it would be nice to go there someday..." Luhan continued in a dreamy voice.

The animals were being quite helpful, thankfully. The dogs helped to drag over boxes and the cats helped by staying silent. As time passed, Sehun began to notice every single detail on Luhan. His curly hair, the tiny mole on his pinky and the way he smiled lopsidedly.

This is love, he thought. But then why was he so hesitant to agree with that? Sehun thought about that for as long as he could recall. When they were done with putting up the decorations, Sehun and Jongdae decided to introduce their furry friends to Minseok and Luhan.

"This... Is Kieran. Jongdae's personal sidekick," Sehun told Minseok. The guy looked entralled by the golden retriever as he reached out and smoothened out the yellow fur sticking out on Kieran's head. Kieran curiously followed Minseok's hand, trying to it. When Minseok laughed, Sehun secretly saw Jongdae smiling discreetly. It was nice to see him genuinely happy.

They moved on to the rest of the animals until Jongdae's stomach growled. He then gave Sehun an overly sweet smile, "Dinner." Sehun's smile faded from his face as he stared at Jongdae. He told Jongdae flatly, "It's supposed to be your turn today." As usual, Jongdae ignored him and went back to grooming Kieran with Minseok.

"Idiot," he muttered under his breath. Nonetheless, Sehun still got up with a sigh and sauntered towards the kitchen. Luhan tottered after him, "You know how to cook?" Sehun snorted as he opened the refridgerator, "Don't underestimate me."

"Ramyun or glass noodles?"

"Glass noodles."

Sehun nodded as he took out the dry noodle from the fridge, followed by the other ingredients. It was distracting enough when the animals came in and out, sniffing out the food. It was even more distracting with Luhan touching his hand very few minutes or so when he handed Sehun the ingredients.

After having dinner, the four of them retired to the second floor to watch television where it was showing Inkheart. Sehun had released Tear and Drop from their cages and now they were doing a very good job of ignoring him. Yeah I love you guys too.

Minseok left halfway during the movie because according to him, he needed to take care of his grandmother in case she forgot to take her medication. Sehun wanted to point out that Jongdae wasn't hiding his disappointment but he decided not to say it. But Jongdae insisted on walking Minseok back, leaving Sehun and Luhan alone.

They stayed silent until nearing the end of the movie, Sehun plucked up his courage and took out a necklace from his jeans pocket. It wasn't much, really. He had seen it on a pop-up store earlier on and bought it because. 

"Luhan, this is um, for you," Sehun said as calmly as he could. He then poured the silver chain into Luhan's palm. "A crescent moon?" Luhan asked, observing the charm. Sehun nodded. Just like your eyes when they smile.

He watched Luhan fiddle with the necklace for a while, the television casting a soft glow on them. Then Luhan rested his hands on the cushion on his lap, "Actually... I've got something for you too." Sehun felt his ears prick up with interest and looked at Luhan.

Luhan took in a breath before slipping his hands into his own pocket, and he came up with a single star ear ring. "This just reminded me of you somehow," Luhan said, as if trying to find the right words. Sehun wordlessly picked up the star carefully. "Thanks." He couldn't help but smile at it.

"You know, there's a pet show tomorrow."

"Uh huh?"

"So... I was thinking... If you could go wi-"

"Yes."

A/N:
I think that progressed a litle too quickly. Oh well...
Anyway, this is an extra long update for my absence.
(Christmas is coming~)