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“… So you’re telling me you just stole a dog” Namjoon incredulously concludes, watching his friend hold the animal in his arms and lovingly lean down to place loud and obnoxious kisses on top of his nose.
“No” Taehyung eventually protests, shaking his head in defense. “I didn’t steal him, I found him”
“Oh, good” Namjoon sarcastically breathes out in relief. “So that means we can go look for his owner to return him”
Taehyung frowns and squeezes the sleepy dog to his chest only slightly tighter, clearly conflicted. “Sure” he finally settles, the genuine disappointment in his voice easily detectable. “But later, not now. I mean, look at this pretty face…” he tries to argue, one hand coming up to cup the animal’s chin and tilt his head towards Namjoon, so that his friend can take a better look at the puppy eyes. “How can somebody be so careless to let a precious baby like this get away? They deserve at least a couple of days of torture looking for him. I bet it’s an old lady with one too many animals” he mumbles, his frown deepening even further.
“Or…” Namjoon begins bargaining “… maybe it’s a little boy who’s now crying because his puppy is missing. Wouldn’t you feel like an asshole if that was the case?”
Taehyung purses his lips into a thin line, shaking his head. “I’m sure it’s an old lady, I mean look at this ugly name tag collar, it has pink bows on the edges - it practically screams elderly female”
Namjoon takes a second to process the stupid words his friend is throwing at him before his eyes go wide and he places a hand on Taehyung’s shoulder “Fuck, there’s a name tag! Check the back! There’s usually the owner’s phone number on there! Or maybe an address?”
A couple of seconds of silence pass before Taehyung sighs and takes one step back, urging Namjoon’s hand to fall from his shoulder. “Fine” he grumpily agrees, one hand sneaking up so that he can gently grab a hold of the tag and then carefully turn it around. His eyes scan the little object for a few seconds before he lifts his head up and looks his friend straight in the eye “There’s nothing on here”
For a moment, Namjoon looks like he’s about to protest, but in the end his shoulders drop in defeat and he shrugs, running a hand through his locks. “This is too much stress for me” he concludes, standing up from Taehyung’s couch. “Just remember that if you get charged with theft, I don’t have enough money to bail you out. And I probably wouldn’t want to anyway”
The younger of the two watches as Namjoon makes his way out of his apartment and then he slumps even further into the couch, letting the shih-tzu rest on his knees. The dog lets out a big, sleepy yawn and then settles down onto Taehyung’s lap, chin propped up on the human’s abdomen, only looking up at him for a few seconds before closing his eyes and falling asleep. Taehyung’s heart does a small jump of fondness at the sight and he sighs, suddenly overwhelmed with how nice it felt to have somebody around.
Taehyung, self-acclaimed professional social butterfly, always enjoys company and has always played with the idea of getting a pet, yet he’d never done it out of fear of not mistreating the animal, considering how careless he is even with himself. But people can grow up, right? He’s certainly matured lately, possibly enough for him to be able to manage a pet. What if he never gives the dog away? What’s his name again? He gently reaches out to rotate the collar around the neck slightly, careful as to not wake the dog up.
His eyes squint slightly as he reads the name: ‘Mickey’. Taehyung scoffs with a roll of his eyes, the name evidently indicating that his intuitions of his owner being and old lady are correct. With an audible gulp, the tips of his fingers play with the edges of the name tag for a few moments before eventually turning it over so that the clear inscription of a phone number stares up at Taehyung mockingly. Daringly, even. But Taehyung chooses to just shrug and close his eyes, slowly slipping into unconsciousness, lulled by Mickey’s soft snores.
-
“Pup, I’m home!” Taehyung all but yells as soon as he makes it into his home, the pitter-patter of Mickey’s little feet almost instantly alerting the man of the puppy’s presence. “There’s my boy!” Taehyung lovingly says as soon as the dog turns the corner from the bedroom and appears in his line of vision. “Come here” he urges, crouching down and waiting for the dog to approach him and practically jump in his embrace. “I missed you today, big guy! Are you still sulking?”
Taehyung has had Mickey for a whole entire week so far and everything seemed to go perfectly well, except maybe for the fact that for the past couple of days, he’d been sleeping most of the day and looking up at Taehyung with pleading eyes for the rest. Taehyung figures it must have been something he fed the dog, never giving it a second thought.
“You really do need a bath” Taehyung mumbles, scrunching his nose when the distinct smell of dog hits him right in the face as soon as he leans down to place the obligatory kiss on Mickey’s forehead. He’d put it off for the longest of time, doing unnecessary research on how to safely bathe dogs, partly afraid that he’d drown the poor thing, but also too lazy to do it. “Come on, big guy! We’ll make you beautiful. I bet that old lady barely ever washed you. I mean, how could she when she probably has five other dogs and sixteen cats?”
The bath turns out to be a piece of cake, Mickey clearly enjoying the feeling and comfort of warm water. At the end, Taehyung swipes the back of his hand over his sweaty forehead and he smiles down at the pet, who playfully wags his tail in the bathtub, awaiting for Taehyung to pick him up and dry him. Which he also successfully achieves, albeit with many complains whenever the dog would shake the excess water from his fur, turning Taehyung into a drenched mess.
It’s only once he’d settled Mickey on the bed that he hears it. It’s quite faint, but Taehyung still freezes on the spot, fingers hovering over the phone keyboard, stopping his conversation with Namjoon so that he can listen. The sounds of evident crying and hiccups coming from the other side of the wall make Taehyung gulp, the intensity of them giving the man goose bumps. After a few more minutes of hesitantly listening, Taehyung decides to put on a jacket on top of his pajamas, urge Mickey to stay put and then leave his apartment, feet taking him to the local shop, from where he purchases two cartons of flavoured milk: one banana and the other strawberry.
Upon returning to his building, instead of going back to his apartment, he stops in front of another door, hand hesitantly coming up to knock on it. As he waits for somebody to answer, he fidgets with the two milk cartons, wondering if he should’ve bought some snacks too. He’s completely caught off guard when the door does open slowly, a slender figure appearing in the frame. Taehyung’s eyes widen, taking in the other man, who looks roughly the same age as him, albeit slightly shorter and definitely smaller frame-wise. His brown hair is a disheveled mess, brown eyes puffy and decorated with angry red veins from crying, slender nose a pretty pink colour and heart-shaped lips red from possibly biting down on them. Taehyung can most definitely say that never in his life had he wanted to engulf a stranger in a tight hug more than he does now. But he’s also aware that that’s not socially acceptable to do to complete strangers, so he stays rooted in his spot, blinking a few times and putting on a friendly and compassionate smile.
“Hi” he begins. “I’m your next door neighbour. I just… heard you crying and thought I’d give you these” he reaches out, offering the two cartons of milk to the man.
The other stares at the items currently being offered to him for a few moments, sniffling once before questioningly looking back up into Taehyung’s eyes. “... Why?”
“I… uhm, whenever I’m sad, I have banana milk, but I didn’t know whether you preferred that or strawberry, so I got you both” he explains, suddenly feeling stupid thinking that the man would take something from a stranger.
But his train of thought is cut short when his neighbour reaches out and takes the two milk cartons from him, their fingers softly brushing together. “Thank you” the man says, the sadness in his voice urging Taehyung to want to just murder the person who had made him upset.
“Well, I’m ... going back to my apartment” he awkwardly concludes, afraid that if he stayed any longer, the man might think that he’s expecting to be invited inside. “If you ever need a shoulder to cry on, I’m literally next door. Oh and also, I’m Taehyung, by the way”
“Hoseok”
-
“Maybe he’s going through a break-up” Namjoon says the next day, settling further into the café chair and taking a sip out of his steaming hot Americano.
Taehyung hums, eyebrows knitted together and hands wrapped around his own drink, a latte. “You didn’t see him though. He looked like the world collapsed on him. Plus, I’ve never heard sobs like that in my life”
“So you’ve never seen the guy before even though he lives next door to you?”
“I think he recently moved in, if I can remember correctly there used to be a family living in that apartment a little over a month ago”
It’s Namjoon’s turn to hum this time, taking his time mulling the information over as his cup of coffee quickly runs empty. “You should invite him over some time. Maybe find out what’s upsetting him? What if a member of his family passed away and he needs consolation? After all, he did move into a new place and he may not have any friends to talk to”
The possibility of that being true makes Taehyung’s throat tighten painfully, a tinge of concern hanging heavy into his gut. It’s with that unpleasant feeling that he says his goodbyes to his friend and slowly begins his walk towards his apartment building, mind attempting to come up with a strategy on how he could approach his neighbour without coming off as creepy.
His mother had always said that luck runs in their family. He’d always brushed the comment off, shaking his head in genuine disbelief and amusement, but as he currently enters his apartment building and sees his neighbour Hoseok dumbly looking down at a bunch of groceries scattered on the floor, Taehyung begins thinking that his mother had been correct the whole time. He hurries on over to the other man, breath caught in his throat as he reaches him “Need some help?”
“I… no, don’t worry, I can do it by myself” Hoseok assures and Taehyung watches in fascination how the other’s cheeks turn a pretty shade of pink as he looks away in embarrassment.
“It’s okay, I have nothing better to do. Plus, your bag ripped and I have two strong arms to help you carry these upstairs. I mean, look at these guns!” he jokes, flexing his arms and watching as Hoseok follows the movement with his eyes and a soft smile appears on his face.
“Thanks” he eventually murmurs, leaning down to pick up as many products as he can in his scrawny arms.
Taehyung does the exact same, pride bubbling in his gut when he manages to pick up almost twice the amount Hoseok does. There can only be two explanations: one, either his guns really are that powerful; or two, Hoseok is an incredibly weak individual. Either way, the pleasant buzzing in head doesn’t stop, especially not when Hoseok appreciatively checks him out. They make their way up the stairs in silence and when they reach Hoseok’s apartment door, they both come to a full stop.
“Uhm… come in?” the shorter man shyly asks as soon as he manages to unlock the door and enter the apartment, stepping to the side to make way for Taehyung. “The kitchen is on your right” he continues, watching as Taehyung carefully places everything on the counter and does a dramatic swipe of his forehead, removing imaginary sweat. Hoseok smiles once again and the other finds himself absolutely lost in the way Hoseok’s cheeks puff out slightly and a pair of cute dimples make an appearance.
Well, fuck his heart, then.
He snaps out of it eventually, blinking a couple of times and clearing his throat before looking away, aware that if he kept staring like that he’d probably get caught. From the corner of his eyes, he sees a dog bowl on the floor, placed right next to a dog bed and almost instantly, his mind starts fantasizing about Mickey and Hoseok’s dog meeting up, falling in love and then him having an excuse to just hang out with Hoseok as much as he wants to.
“Thank you, Taehyung” Hoseok pulls him out of his day dream. “I owe you. Oh, and also” he continues, starting to rummage through the groceries that they brought upstairs. “These are for you” he softly says, placing two cartons of flavoured milk into Taehyung’s hands. “They were really nice and they calmed me down, so thank you”
Taehyung looks down at them and barely represses a smile, opting for pushing the items back into Hoseok’s hands. “If you liked them, then you can have these too. Don’t worry about me”. Hoseok nods in gratitude and Taehyung takes it as his cue to leave. “I need to go, my dog’s probably hungry” he explains, but stops in his tracks when Hoseok’s smile instantly drops and is replaced with a look of genuine sadness and anguish. “… Hoseok, are you okay?”
“Yes, I just had a long day. Thank you again for your help, Taehyung” he says, turning his back to the man and starting to place the groceries to their rightful places, obviously urging Taehyung to leave.
“Oh. Okay, please make sure to rest and don’t forget that banana milk always helps”
-
That night, Taehyung doesn’t sleep. For one, Mickey seems incredibly agitated, not able to find a comfortable position and continuously changing spots and pathetically whining in the meantime. And Taehyung? Taehyung can’t stop thinking about the crying neighbour, especially after the sobs start once again around 3am. It takes a whole half an hour to decide whether he wants to go over to him once more or just leave him be. He opts for the former when a particularly broken sob reaches the very depths of his being and practically rips his heart out. Sue him for being an overly-compassionate human being!
With tired, sleepy eyes and puffy slippers on his feet, Taehyung is getting ready to head over to his neighbour’s apartment when a soft knock on his door interrupts him.
“Is your shoulder still available for me to cry on?” Hoseok asks as soon as the door opens, his tear-stained cheeks glistening in the faint light of the hallway.
“Oh. I was just about to come over to yours because I heard you” Taehyung says, grabbing a hold of Hoseok’s dainty wrist and directing him towards the couch, where the man plops down. Taehyung hurries on over and sits down next to him, but afraid Hoseok didn’t mean ‘crying on his shoulder’ literally, he settles on comfortingly patting his back.
“My dog ran away!” Hoseok bursts, fresh tears beginning to make their way down his cheeks and soaking his shirt. “I just moved in and I have nobody and I miss him, he’s been my pet for over seven years and now I lost him, I’m such a fucking idiot, my poor Mickey, I don’t deserve him, what if a car ran over him, what if h…”
The blabbering mess that is Hoseok’s voice is suddenly tuned out of Taehyung’s ears the second realization dawns on him. With wide eyes and a trembling bottom lip, he stops patting Hoseok’s back and goes stiff, cheeks beginning to burn with the fire of a thousand suns. He’d stolen Hoseok’s dog. He’d fucking stolen Hoseok’s dog.
Just in time to make Taehyung’s life even harder, he hears the familiar pitter-patter of little feet on the floor and not even a second later, as soon as Mickey’s eyes land on Hoseok, the dog lets out a soul-ripping whine and lunges forward, jumping into Hoseok’s lap and desperately starting to lick at his face, a never-ending concert of whines and barks making Taehyung wince.
Taehyung wants nothing more than having the couch swallow him whole so that he didn’t have to suffer the pain and embarrassment of having his neighbour completely ignore his dog’s pathetic attempts at requesting his attention, in favour of staring at Taehyung with a gaze so fierce that the latter physically feels his skin burn.
“You stole my fucking dog” he concludes, chin lifted slightly. Taehyung doesn’t get the chance to defend himself, because Hoseok slowly grabs a wiggly Mickey, lifts him off his lap and gently places him down, taking a deep breath in.
And then he attacks.
“Hoseok! I’m sorry!” Taehyung whines, trying his hardest to dodge all the slaps and punches directed at his shoulders and arms, albeit not hard enough to actually leave bruises, but certainly hard enough to sting. “I didn’t know he was yours, I swear! I’m so sorry!” he shrieks when a particularly sharp hit gets him in the chest. Afraid Hoseok himself would get hurt from these ‘vicious’ punches, Taehyung puts a stop to the show by grabbing both Hoseok’s wrists into his hands.
“How can you steal a damn dog when you know he has an owner? My fucking phone number is on the back of his name tag!”
“I just like dogs and I thought you were an old lady!”
Hoseok frowns, shaking Taehyung’s hands off of his wrists and taking a few steps back. “You thought I was what?”
“I…”
“Come on, Mickey, we’re going” Hoseok interrupts, crouching down just enough for Mickey to finally snap out of his confused state from watching the two fight and to jump into Hoseok’s embrace.
When Taehyung finds himself alone in the apartment, a deep blush spreading across his cheeks and down his neck, he can’t help but smile despite the stinging sensation from where he’d been slapped and punched. Hoseok truly was something else.
-
“I mean, I told you it probably wasn’t an old lady” Namjoon shrugs in nonchalance. “But one thing I cannot understand: why is that shit-eating grin glued to your face? You just had your ass kicked last night”
Taehyung sighs dreamily and places both his elbows on the table and chin in his palms. “I’m going to marry him”
“Did you not hear me? You stole his dog and he kicked your ass, he probably doesn’t want anything to do with you”
“How many kids do you think he wants?”
“Taeh-…”
“Do you think he has anything against morning breath? My mouth smells like Satan’s asshole when I wake up, but morning kisses are important for one’s well-being”
“…”
"Also, his ass i..."
"Goodbye, Taehyung"
-
Taehyung insists on knocking on Hoseok’s door daily, never discouraged by the fact that he can clearly hear the man inside, going on with his day and ignoring Taehyung. It would be a lie to say that it doesn’t hurt, but he refuses to give up, always coming back.
A week passes by without the two meeting eye to eye before one day Taehyung walks down the busy path leading to his apartment building and eventually finds himself being hit in the chest with the force of a million gods and tackled to the ground, only for a familiar tongue to start happily lapping at his earlobe almost instantly. “Holy shit, big guy! I missed you too!” he laughs as soon as he recognizes the dog and he catches his breath, reaching up to run his fingers through Mickey’s fur.
“Mickey, no!” a voice joins them, panting and completely out of breath. “Get off of him!” he urges, leaning down to grab the dog.
“It’s cool!” Taehyung protests, caging the animal to his chest in an attempt to prevent Hoseok from taking him away and then sitting up and lifting his chin so he could look at Hoseok from where he was still situated on the ground.
“I’m sorry” the other mumbles, crossing arms over his chest and frowning as he watches the dog happily wag his tail and lick Taehyung’s chin. “He saw you and started running and I couldn’t catch up to him before he tackled you”
“Really?” he smiles, directing his attention back to Mickey. “I know I call you big guy a lot, but seriously, you don’t have to torture Hoseok like that, hmmm?” he asks, leaning down to kiss Mickey’s floppy ear.
Taehyung can see from the corner of his eye how Hoseok’s full and undivided attention is set on the two of them and he immediately decides to put on a show in a desperate attempt at regaining the other’s trust. “Hey, Mickey!” he calls, waiting until the dog stops licking him and looks him in the eye, head cocked to the side curiously. “Paw!” he orders, offering his hand. Mickey enthusiastically wags his tail three times before placing one of his front paws in Taehyung’s hand. “Good boy!” he laughs, congratulatory petting his head. “Now, fist bump!” he commands, curling his fingers into a fist and watching Mickey immediately touch it with his paw. “Careful! There’s a gun!” Taehyung continues playing, pretending his fingers are a weapon “Boom!” he shouts, hysterically starting to laugh when the dog lets out a heart breaking whine and dramatically falls to the ground. “What a good boy you are! The best boy! I don’t have treats though…”
“I do” Hoseok intervenes and when Taehyung looks up and sees a soft smile playing around the corners of Hoseok’s lips, his heart swells with happiness. He watches as the other man starts looking for something in his backpack, pulls out a small bag of treats and gives Mickey two. “How… did you do that? I’ve always tried to teach him tricks and he’s always refused to do them” he eventually says, refusing to look Taehyung in the eye.
The man in question shrugs “I’d be more than happy to tell you over coffee. There’s a café right around the corner. Pet-friendly”. When Hoseok hesitates, Taehyung feels the need to intervene “Please, Hoseok, I want to make it up to you. I genuinely didn’t mean to steal your dog. I would say that I regret doing it, but at the same time, I’m aware that if I hadn’t taken him in, who knows who else might’ve done it. I also needed company and he helped me a lot, I’m just… really thankful for him and also sorry towards you. Please let me buy you a coffee. Plus, I might have stolen your dog, but you stole my heart”
There's a moment of silence, Hoseok pursing his lips into a thin line and squinting his eyes down at Taehyung. “Fine” he accepts with a roll of his eyes. “… fine”
Taehyung radiates pure rays of sunshine as he finally stands up and in a state of momentary bravery heavily influenced by the way the other's cheeks had turned bright pink, he offers his hand for Hoseok to take.
“Don’t even dream about it”
“… okay. But I’m letting you know now that my morning breath fucking stinks”
“???”
-
-BONUS-
Taehyung is completely caught by surprise when Hoseok’s hand hesitantly finds its way on his knee, resting there for a full minute packed with tension before slowly sliding up the clothed thigh, a shiver running down Taehyung’s spine and making him hold his breath in anticipation. The touch is so gentle and tentative that Taehyung barely manages to keep his cool, the urge to yank the man by his hips and pull him in his lap hardly repressed. It’s truly not his fault that they’d been dating for three months at this point and the furthest they’d gone intimate-wise was sharing heated kisses. A man has needs and those needs start with 'H' and end with 'oseok's ass'.
When Hoseok’s hand suddenly cups Taehyung through his jeans, the younger of the two shamelessly groans in pleasure, throwing his head back only for a moment before returning to look at Hoseok, now surprised to see the man staring back at him, the lust in his eyes not so easy to miss. Hoseok rubs his heated palm over the awakening length only a few seconds before retreating his hand and sliding off the sofa and onto the floor on his knees, gently nudging Taehyung’s legs apart so he could fit in between them.
Hoseok’s slender fingers only fumble with the belt and zipper for a little while before he softly taps on Taehyung’s thigh, urging him to lift himself off the couch so he could easily remove the two offensive pieces of clothing. When Taehyung finds himself naked as the day he was born and Hoseok dips down to taste him, something catches his attention in the corner of the room. His train of thought is cut short when Hoseok envelops the head of his length into the wet warmth of his mouth, but not even a moment later, his attention is back on the previously distracting element in the corner of the room.
“Seok” he groans, a pleasuring tremble caused by a particularly good suck rendering him to a shaking mess before he can continue his protest “… Seok, stop please”
Hoseok’s eyes snap back open and he carefully removes Taehyung from his mouth, concern and confusion both painting his expression as he looks up at him.
“He’s… looking at us” Taehyung mumbles, pointing an accusing finger to the culprit of the situation.
The other twists around in order to assess the issue and then turns back to face Taehyung with the biggest and most condescending smile he’d ever worn on his lips. “It’s just a dog Tae, he doesn’t understand. I didn’t take you for a wuss, but that’s fine” Hoseok says, the tinge of fake disappointment in his tone making Taehyung want to growl his frustration.
Before he can do just that, Hoseok abruptly stands up and then proceeds to plop down onto Taehyung’s lap, straddling his thighs and ignoring the hiss when his clothed ass rubs on Taehyung’s red and swollen naked cock. “Take me to the bedroom, then” the older of the two orders, a challenging glint in his eyes prompting Taehyung to easily snake both arms around the other man’s back and then stand up, satisfied with how smoothly Hoseok wraps his legs around his waist. He makes sure to slam the door closed behind him, looking smug as fuck when he sees Mickey watch them disappear into the depths of the bedroom, Hoseok’s arms holding on to Taehyung’s shoulders for dear life.
Fucking. Finally.
Finally fucking.