"Dogs have owners, Cats have staff."

      It was weird to see Jongdae so eager about something. It was even weirder for Sehun to wake up early on Christmas day. He and Jongdae would usually sleep in until afternoon, then go out for a lazy lunch. Seemed like the rituals were about to be broken.

Sehun his ear nervously, just to make sure the earring was still there as he stared out of the window. To his surprise, the windowsill was caked with a thin layer of frost. "Jongdae, it's snowing," he said with interest.

"Come on it never snows that early-" Jongdae grumbled while making his way beside Sehun, then he stopped, staring at the frost outside. Sehun clapped Jongdae's back, "Things are changing, dear friend." He stepped back into the room after the freeze of the window got to him.

Jongdae stood there, probably staring at the street, for a moment while Sehun threw on a shirt. He asked, "So, what's your plans for today?" "Minseok asked if we could walk our dogs together at the park," the other replied, moving away back into the room, "You?"

"We're going to the pet show in the square."

"How come when I asked you to go last year, you didn't so as much give me a reply?"

"Er... Because of Luhan?"

Sehun felt his cheeks burn while saying that. Now that Jongdae mentioned it, he asked a person he barely met to go with him without hesitation and he ignored the requests of a friend he'd known for ages. Jongdae scoffed but before he could taunt him, Sehun shot back, "And you don't even bother taking Kieran out during winter. Why now?"

Jongdae replied with a flying cushion in Sehun's face.

------

Since Drop was being uncooperative with Sehun by hissing at him (continuously), he only took Tear out. Bad choice, but yeah. 

Now as Sehun carried the fluffy cat down the snowy street, Tear couldn't stop pawing at any white thing, for example, his scarf. "Hey hey-" he said as Tear began to the scarf. "I just bought that!" Sehun sighed in resignation when Tear continued wetting the fabric. Fortunately, time passed quickly and Sehun reached the square in no time.

Snow had begun to fall lightly by the time he reached the pavillion and he dusted the flakes off his coat. The event was starting in about half an hour, and people were already milling around with their pets. Sehun suddenly felt appreciative of Tear's long fur which took him a great deal of effort to take care of. He had a free hand warmer.

After don't know how long, a young boy tottered up to Sehun and said, "Hyung, you cat is really pretty!" He then grinned with a set of teeth missing two teeth. Sehun wasn't really sure what to say, so he simply replied, "Thanks. You um... Want to hold her?" It was really ridiculous how short the boy was compared to him. Then he remembered randomly he was once this height too.

The boy clapped his hands enthusiatically and asked, "Can I? Thank you!" Sehun couldn't really say no to such an adorable kid so he bent down to be on eye level with the kid. "Tear, be nice," he warned the cat before placing it in the boy's arms. 

"Oooooh it's so fluffy!" I'm gonna die! Sorry, please mind him.

Surprisingly, Tear seemed to like the boy. She purred gently as she shifted around restlessly in his arms. Sehun spent the next few minutes telling the boy about cats by his request. "I want to have a cat," the boy pouted, "But Mummy says I'm too young." He turned to Sehun and blinked his eyes, "Hyung, can I have a cat?"

"You know, your mummy is right," Sehun said kindly, "Cats are not just cute things. You need to be able to take care of them, give them a nice home and lots of love." "But I can give lots of love! I hug Mummy and Daddy every night!" The boy then drew his arms in a big circle to empasize his point. Sehun chuckled, "Alright. But you must listen to mummy okay?"

"Okay..." the boy pouted again. Sehun tried hard not to pinch his adorable cheeks. The boy begged him to tell more stories about cats, so he did. He was about to start on how cats were worshipped as gods in Ancient Egypt when he heard Luhan's voice, "Hey Sehun!"

The little boy broke into a toothy smile and exclaimed, "Yay! Another kittie!" Sehun turned his head around hurriedly, almost twisting his neck. Damn, he looked cute. Luhan looked almost as fluffy as Tear in his thick jacket and he wore a bright red beanie with two puffballs dangling beside his ears. Luhan smiled warmly at the little boy while he cuddled Navi in his arms, "Hello!"

"Hi hyung!" the boy chorused happily. Luhan knelt beside Sehun and placed Navi on the cobblestone ground. The boy then held out a tentative hand in front of Navi but withdrew it nervously. Tear purred at his side. 

Luhan told him, "Don't be scared. He won't scratch. Just a little rough looking, that's all." Navi raised a paw curiously and placed it on the boy's lap. As if encouraged by that, the boy began Navi's back. Luhan smiled and Sehun felt his heart flutter simultaneously. After a while, the boy said he had to return home before his mother got worried and he left, promising that he would visit the animal shelter one day.

"He's pretty cute," Luhan whistled as he picked up Navi. Sehun nodded, not really sure why also. Tear pawed restlessly at his legs. Fortunately, the pet show had already started and Sehun stood up, suddenly thinking of an idea, "Let's go get presents for the pets."

Their shopping turned out much more fun than he thought. Sehun bought a bag full of bone treats for the dogs and a set of new assorted toys for the cats. Luhan decided to get two new rugs for his own animals and a mini-scratching post. Then they went to other stalls to get presents for their own pets. 

Sehun bought a rhinestone collar for Kieran, then he got stumped at what to get for Tear and Drop. "Get them a scratching post," Luhan suggested as he pointed to a small one at the stall, "You said they like playing and scratching, right?" Sehun thought about that while Tear mewed noisily on his shoulder.

"You sure about this?" he asked, just to make sure. Luhan snorted, raising his own cat post, "Dude, cats love to run and jump. Just get them one. They'll love it." Sehun ended up buying one that had two sleeping cots for Tear and Drop which Luhan thought was nice.

Afterwards, the two of them moved on to other stalls to just browse through. Sehun pointed out blandly as he saw a cushion with the troll meme printed on it, "Jongdae would love that." "Then get it for him," Luhan said, staring at Sehun. 

"If I buy it for him, that would be my first Christmas present for him in three years-"

"You mean you never buy presents for your best friend?!"

"...Yeah."

"I demand you buy that for Jongdae or I'm setting my dogs on you."

"Luhan, I have more pets than you at the shelter. Anyway, fine, I'll get it for him. That bastard."

------

Tear and Drop seemed very enthusiatic about their new scratching post when Sehun set it up in his and Jongdae's shared room. They immediately clambered up the post and began playing tag. Luhan chuckled behind him, "They're so fluffy."

Luhan helped him feed the dogs the doggy treats downstairs and they talked while doing that. Sehun threw a biscuit to the poodle as he asked, "So... Where are your parents?"

"In China. They sent me here last year."

"Oh why?"

"They said it was to make me more independent. I think they were just trying to get rid of me."

Sehun wondered why Luhan sounded so bitter about it. Luhan gave him a side way look before continuing, "They're business people, you see. I never really liked it since I was young." "Business? They own a company?" Sehun asked in surprise. Luhan didn't seem like those snotty rich people who came from Seoul to see land here once in a while.

Luhan pulled an ugly face and nodded. "Yeah, they own a company. But I still like it here better than those big cities. You?"

Sehun took out another treat from the bag and slumped against the foot of the wall. He observed the treat while saying, "Not much. My parents never really spent time with me. They're working in San Fransico now, in their restaurant."

"Was that how you learnt how to cook?" Luhan asked, moving to sit beside him. Sehun shrugged in reply, "Sort of." 

Both of them continued feeding the dogs until the bag was empty. As Sehun was throwing away the bag, Luhan asked from the counter, "Do you want to come to my house tonight for dinner?"

Sehun closed the lid of the bin and looked back at Luhan. The other hurriedly said, "You cooked for me the other day. I should return the favour." Sehun leaned against the door post and asked back playfully, "Are you sure I won't have a stomachache?"

"YAH!"

------

It turned out that Luhan's cooking wasn't that bad. The few dogs and cats sat around their feet contentedly at the sofa as they watched the television. Sehun took in a mouthful of dumpling and sighed inwardly in happiness. He hadn't felt this relaxed in ages.

Sehun didn't know whether Luhan placed the blanket over both of them on purpose, but he still felt over the moon, nevertheless. 

Halfway through the movie, Sehun felt his heart skip a beat when Luhan placed his head on his shoulder. All he could think of for the next few minutes was something like, afksxneqwjksxkksyl. Don't ask him how, he just felt comfortable and wrapped an arm around Luhan's shoulders, then he leaned his head onto Luhan's.

Another hour past and they watched the movie without any comments. Sehun ran through his mind on how to tell Luhan that he liked him. Seriously speaking, he was never this attracted to someone before. It was like his heart itched impatiently between shutting up and confessing. 

"Luhan," he finally said.

"Hmm?"

"Can I tell you something?" Then Sehun felt Luhan's body stiffen beside his. Not a good sign... He continued nervously, "I-I need to tell you something." Luhan remained silent, which made Sehun even more worried. 

"I like you," he forced himself to speak out. But the moment the words left his mouth, it was as if everything slipped into another muted dimension. Luhan askedplainly without any emotion, "Really?"

"Yes. It's like you just grew on me. I never liked you at first. T-Then I began noticing you, the way you speak, the way you pat Navi, e-everything."

His heart pumped wildly. Luhan still showed no sign of a reaction. It was weird that one moment you can be so relaxed, the next so nervous that you can black out. Just when Sehun was contemplating whether to come up with a lame excuse, the other broke into a laugh which threw him into a moment of confusion.

Sehun asked dumbly, "Why are you laughing?" "You're so cute," Luhan replied with his eyes twinkling, which wasn't really the answer Sehun was looking for.  When Luhan stopped laughing, he took out his arm from below the blanket and clasped his hand together with Sehun's. He said after that zestily, "I like you too."

His mind stopped working for a second. W-wait what?! Then he couldn't stop grinning madly and held onto Luhan's hand. "You really scared me for a moment, you idiot," Sehun said in a faux hurt tone.

"I was just playing. I remember telling you I'm like a cat," Luhan replied as he grinned. He lowered his head onto Sehun's shoulder once again and sighed contentedly. Sehun ruffled Luhan's hair before relaxing into the cushion. He asked, "Am I your first?"

"No." Sehun felt his heart dip a little but the other continued, "But you're the first one to also like animals."

"Is that a good thing?"

"Of course not. We'll have to wake up early in the morning to stop the cats from fighting and dogs from barking."

"But we'll do it together."

"That's the good thing."

Then the two of them watched the movie in a pleasant silence until Luhan broke it. "You know," he said, "Minseok was the one who wrote that note." Sehun lifted his head up and looked at Luhan, "Seriously?"

The other nodded his head, "Minseok told me. But nevermind, he thinks you're a nice person now." Sehun snorted, "That's good." 

"Sehun, do you think the four of us can open some business to do with pets?"

"We have the pet shelter."

"I mean something better. Maybe a vet and shelter. Minseok studied veterinary when he was schooling."

"That's cool. If that's the case, we could do that."

"Then we'll track down all of those animal traffickers and save the animals."

Sehun laughed at Luhan's determined voice, "You dream too big, my boy." "Well," Luhan replied defiantly, "Every dream needs to start somewhere." Just then, the clock in Luhan's living room chimed, signalling midnight.

Sehun drew Luhan into his embrace again then said thoughtfully, "You know, you're right. My dream was to love. It's come true now." He then leaned down and kissed the other on the lips. Sehun breathed deeply and closed his eyes, feeling Luhan's breath on his neck.

"Merry Christmas, Lu."

A/N: 
Here's the last chapter! Hope you liked it :)
I'm planning to write a full fledged sequel on this, which I've planned since the previous chapter. All the EXO members will appear in the sequel! Do look out for it ^^

Thank you and have a Merry Christmas~