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Minho loves his boyfriend.
There’s nothing about Kim Seungmin that he would want to change. He’s smart beyond measure, is always attentive to Minho’s moods, doesn’t back down from a challenge and is hilarious in his own quiet, yet chaotic way. His hands are always warm. He's always on time. He laughs this certain way when Minho pokes his waist that never fails to make Minho’s heart skip a beat.
Nobody aside from Jisung has ever managed to match Minho’s weirdness as well as Seungmin does. With Jisung, they’re often in their own world; aliens from different planets who just so happen to inhabit Earth at the same time. By the fate of the universe they stumbled upon each other. Seungmin, with his endless patience, unshakable determination and matter-of-fact personality, keeps Minho safely rooted to the real world.
Minho is going to marry him someday. There’s a ring in his sock drawer and everything.
But first: “What the fuck is that?”
Scratch that. Rewind. Delete. Backspace backspace backspace.
Minho is going to die single and alone, in a bed all by himself. Well, and his cats. Can’t forget them.
But no Seungmin. And certainly not whatever dog-shaped thing his boyfriend is currently cradling in his arms.
“This is Bee.”
The thing in Seungmin’s arm wiggles and whines, catching the attention of the cats sprawled across the apartment. As the only one with survival instinct, Soonie wastes no time running in the direction of their room. He’ll only hide away until dinner time anyways, so Minho isn’t too worried. Doongie and Dori on the other hand both slowly creep over to investigate, making sure to keep Minho between them and whatever the hell is making that noise.
It’s a wise idea on their part given that Minho would take a bullet for them. Or fight off a rabid bear. So yeah, he figures he could probably stop the squirmy little thing in Seungmin's arms.
In front of him, Seungmin shifts and changes the foot he’s balancing his weight on. It’s only then that Minho realizes he’s still got his shoes on and not only that, but they’re covered in mud. Minho’s eye twitches, but he lets it go just as fast.
“What, are we an animal shelter now?” Minho gestures to the thing in his boyfriend's arms; all black hair, curling from the rain. Instinctively, Seungmin’s arms tighten around it.
The ball of fur settles.
“How about you ask one of your three stray cats.” Seungmin quips before he shoulders past Minho and heads towards the bathroom. “Come help me with her, will you?”
“Hey! They aren’t strays,” Minho calls out after him.
He takes a moment to scowl at nobody but himself and follows the trail of muddy shoe prints into the bathroom.
The chance to ask Seungmin where he picked up the dog doesn’t arrive until Seungmin's changed into dry clothes and they've got the bottom three inches of the shower filled with warm water and dish soap. (They use it on ducks in those commercials all the time, so surely it's safe for dogs, right?)
“She was just wandering the street. I almost tripped over her and by then it was already raining. She ran into that little patch of garden at the corner of the street when I tried to grab her–”
“Hence the muddy shoes.”
Seungmin nods.
With Seungmin kneeling beside the tub, one hand soothing Bee, the older takes a seat on the ground with his back to the wall. He assumes they’ll be here for a while.
It's hard to miss the look on Seungmin's face as he splashes some water towards Bee, catching her attention and warning her of what's to come. Thankfully, she's unbothered as Seungmin picks her up and places her in the tub. She's rewarded with head rubs and a gentle good girl.
Her tail thuds against the side of the tub and Minho watches as Seungmin's face lights up even further. Minho’s heart melts; the two of them are horribly cute together.
Which only makes what he has to say next harder. Regularly Seungmin is the voice of reason in their relationship, but Minho feels it’s important to make it known, “We can't keep her.”
“No, I know. I don't think the boys would ever forgive me.” Seungmin means the cats, Minho realizes. Not their human friends. The cats have always been Minho’s babies, so it's funny to hear about them referred to as anything else. “And they already don't like me on the best of days.”
“They tolerate you,” Minho admits. Anything more than that would be a lie and they both know it, so he doesn't bother trying.
It's fair to say Bee is enjoying the hell out of her bath. She's doing her best to follow Seungmin's hands around, keeping an eye on what he's doing, even when he's scrubbing shampoo onto her back and making cute noises all the while.
“I can bring her to the vet tomorrow. Hopefully she's microchipped.”
Nodding, Minho adds, “Yeah someone obviously cares for her quite a lot. I'm sure they're sick with worry right now.”
I know I would be, he thinks. Sure all his babies started as strays on the street, but there's not a chance any of them would survive out there for long these days. They’re too reliant on canned tuna, snuggles and the heated blanket Seungmin had gotten Minho for his birthday the first year they were together.
God, he'd be sick with worry if any of his babies were out in this storm.
“I'm sure someone's missing you Miss Bee,” Seungmin coos. “You're too cool for someone not to be worried sick about you. Isn't that right?”
When Minho looks back over he bursts out laughing at the visual in front of him.
Turns out Bee’s fur is long enough for Seungmin to have styled it into a mohawk on top of her head. She doesn't seem to care, only too happy to be receiving so much attention. Where she was stiff at first, now she's squirming around, making Seungmin work for it. Thank goodness they hadn't filled the tub further or Minho fears she would be splashing it all over the floor with her movement.
Using a plastic cup, Seungmin gently rinses the soap off her head, careful to not get anything in her eyes. The mohawk is flattened in seconds. Bee takes the opportunity to try and lick all the water from Seungmin’s hand.
“Good job, Bee,” Seungmin soothes as he works. “Attagirl.”
God Minho is so in love.
The sound of water splashing and excited dog noises fill the room, temporarily drowning out any of Minho’s worries.
“How'd you know her name?”
“Oh I don't,” his boyfriend admits. “I just started calling her that. She looks like a bumble bee.”
Hmm, not really. But Minho loves whatever is wrong with Seungmin's mind regardless. For being the smartest person Minho knows, he truly perplexes Minho at times.
As Seungmin removes Bee from the tub, Minho reaches out to grab the towel off the counter. “Here, let me,” he says, gathering Bee in the towel.
With Bee now out of the way, Seungmin pulls the plug and starts rinsing the dirt out of their tub. It’s gonna need a serious deep clean tomorrow.
But that's not the current issue. No, the current issue is the way that Bee is trying her very best to escape Minho’s hold. Like hell is he about to let a wet dog loose on his watch. Instead he does his best to catch her attention by making kissy noises and promising her that it will all be over soon. It takes no time at all for it to become soaking with all the water her fur was still holding onto.
Despite his best efforts, Bee manages to wrangle free and takes the opportunity to shake the water off, covering every surface in the bathroom with water, both men included. Ugh. This is Minho’s worst nightmare. Nothing smells worse than a wet dog. There’s a bemused look on Seungmin’s face, which Minho counters with a firm look of don’t, before he throws the towel back over Bee and resumes his job.
“I thought you didn't like dogs?”
It's only then that Minho realizes Seungmin has been watching him babying Bee. Done with the tub, Seungmin has taken a seat on the floor opposite Minho, stretching his stupid long legs out.
There’s a look of fondness on his boyfriend's face that has Minho’s ears lighting up.
“I'm with you,” Minho points out with a grin. Bee lets out a small bark as if to agree.
“Touché.” They both laugh before Seungmin continues, “You're really good with animals. She likes you.”
Minho shrugs in response and bops a finger to Bee’s nose. In retaliation, she follows after his finger trying to bite it.
“Well, yeah, they're a lot easier than people.”
“Guess it's a good thing I’m part dog then.”
“I'll say.” Before he overthinks it, Minho presses a quick kiss to the top of Bee’s head. She tilts her head up to lick his chin in return. “I like that about you,” Minho confesses, a bit quieter.
“Oh?”
“You’re straightforward.” He can't meet Seungmin's eyes; they've been dating for three years now and he still finds it embarrassing sometimes. Thankfully Bee provides the perfect distraction. Minho busies himself with detangling her fur now that it’s mostly dried. “Makes you really easy to get along with.”
“You think so? I feel like it usually comes across as rude. Turns people off.”
Minho smirks. “Turns me on.” A beat. Two. “No but seriously. I think it's one of the reasons we're so perfect for each other. That I know you'll be honest with me and won't just try to make yourself smaller or anything just to impress me or make me happy. I like that you aren't afraid to share your opinions, especially when they differ from my own. Or your anger and sadness and especially your happiness. It keeps me from overthinking or overanalyzing our interactions. You keep me sane.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.” Minho finally takes a glance at his boyfriend, shocked at what he sees. There’s not a universe that exists where Minho isn’t obsessed with Kim Seungmin; he’s so sure of it. “Are you tearing up?”
“What?” Seungmin glances away, trying his best to hide his reaction. “No!”
Minho’s heart squeezes. “You so are! Oh baby, what are we gonna do with you?”
“Shut up!” It's been ages since he's seen Seungmin's face this red. “You just said something really nice and Bee looks so cute with you and I'm just so glad she's not out on the street anymore.”
True enough, finally dry and warm, Bee has settled into Minho’s lap and is resting with her head on his knee. Content to simply well, be.
“Guess I’ll have to start being nicer to you.”
“Don't.” If he didn’t know any better, Minho would say the speed of Seungmin’s response caught even himself off guard. He recovers quickly. “Well no, actually you can, because I’m really happy you shared that. But also please don't change. I love you exactly as you are for a reason.”
Now it’s Minho’s turn to flush. He focuses down at Bee in his lap, watching the slow rise and fall of her chest as she gives into sleep.
“Thanks.”
“Yeah well, it's true. I can get really in my head sometimes about y’know the right way to do things or about where I should be in life compared to my peers and not doing enough and all that. But thankfully I've got you to break me out of that; remind me that not everything has to be so serious.”
“You're welcome for replacing the stick up your ass with my dick.”
Seungmin wipes a fake tear away. “Where would I be without you?”
At least Minho’s pretty sure it's fake. He's in no position to either confirm or deny that fact with a sleepy dog in his lap.
“Probably on your way to be some hotshot lawyer still but just like, pathetically lonely. Maybe with a sugar baby or two.”
“You think I'd have to pay people for company?”
“Well I mean, I’m only here because of my community service obligation.”
It's been a running joke between them for a couple years now; that Minho is only here because of a minor crime he committed and the court mandated community service hours he'd been assigned. Neither of them can remember exactly how it started, only that they take great joy in making up different minor crimes for Minho to commit.
So far the best one has been the offence of creating a public disturbance and instigating a riot at the local bingo hall by convincing everyone’s granny that the balls are rigged. Never underestimate the elderly when it comes to bingo! To Minho, it's honestly the most realistic they've been able to come up with.
“Oh obviously,” Seungmin plays along. “How could I forget?”
“Lucky for you, your huge yaoi hands and nerdy charm have bewitched me.”
“Oh honey, that's the love potion I slip into your coffee every morning talking.” Minho pretends to act shocked, his sudden movement startling Bee. It takes another moment for her to settle back down, a warm and welcome weight. “If you haven't noticed I'm sorta obsessed with you,” Seungmin continues. “Did you think I'd let you get away that easily?”
Minho hums and knocks his foot that’s not tucked under a sleeping dog against Seungmin's ankle.
“Good thing I’m obsessed with you too.”
“Again: love potion.”
Minho grins lazily. “Whatever you say, baby.”
Evidently they've been locked in the bathroom long enough for the cats to begin wondering what's up. One of them (Minho would put money on it being Dori, but the paw doesn't make it far enough for him to spot the colour) claws under the door. Not expecting such a harsh noise it scares all three occupants of the bathroom.
Bee gets up to investigate the strange noise, whining as she sniffs the gap at the bottom of the door.
“Do you want me to bring her in tomorrow?”
It's a genuine question–not just Minho trying to make his partner's life easier. There's a small part of him that's already attached to the ball of fur in his lap. Realistically he knows they couldn't possibly keep three cats and a dog in this apartment. Hell, he doesn’t even know how Bee is with cats, although the fact that she’s yet to bark at them seems promising.
But chances are she’s already got a family who are maybe even out in the storm looking for her at this very moment. And plus, Minho’s already got a sizable family of his own.
Seungmin waves him off. “Nah, I should be okay. You've got that meeting with Chan anyways, no?”
“Yeah, but I’m sure it can be rescheduled if needed.”
“Don't worry about it. I’ll take her.”
As if knowing Seungmin is talking about her, Bee gives up on the mystery of what’s on the other side of the door and wanders over to her original rescuer.
“Alright. Keep me updated, yeah?”
“‘Course.” Seungmin says, pushing himself up to his feet. “Do you think she'll be okay in here overnight? With some cat food and water obviously.”
“There's only one dog allowed in bed at a time. So unless you want the bathtub–”
Seungmin rolls his eyes. “Alright, I’ll go grab her food and water then. BRB.”
At this point Minho is pretty sure Seungmin only says acronyms out loud to annoy him. Which it does, but in a way that only functions to make Minho more endeared by how ridiculous his boyfriend is.
Yeah, he wouldn’t change a single thing about Seungmin for the world.