048.
http://sparklygeek.tumblr.com/post/870718686/morethanthis-chrisleben-iseahorse-veebeeseesyou-ohh
The first encounter should've sent up warning signals in Kyuhyun's head. But instead, he's just staring in horror at the bunny the customer's carrying, molting goddamn fur everywhere.
Kyuhyun springs a desperate, "Can I help you?" when the customer nears the unprotected, old Nintendo 64 cartridges, and the boy smiles brightly and trots over.
"Hi!" he says brightly, and Kyuhyun stares at the rabbit.
"Hi."
"I'd just like to introduce myself! I'm Kim Jonghyun, and I work at the pet shop next door. It's nice to meet you!"
He sticks out a hand covered in fur, and Kyuhyun tentatively shakes it. It's an unwelcome change from the strangely clean hands of most gamers, with short, neat fingernails and only slightly sweaty palms.
There's an awkward silence, and Kyuhyun doesn't help as he blatantly stares at the other boy's face, memorising his features to ban him from ever entering the store again. Or at least, he can tell the owner who might, might, if he's in a good mood, at least ban pets from the store.
"Well," Jonghyun says awkwardly, trying to be unawkward. "Just wanted to say hi. And, oh, show you the new rabbit we got. If you want one I can give you a discount!"
Kyuhyun's gaze slowly travels down to the rabbit's face. He admits it's cute. Really cute. Unbelievably adorable; he wants to squish it and hug it to his chest and sing to it at night so it can sleep while he coos at it and then dreams about the lovely, white, fluffy bunny and isn't it adorable? Isn't it the most beautiful thing ever?
"Oh, uh, thanks," he manages to say, wrenching his gaze away to stare at the cover of a used and battered version of Pokemon HeartGold. Maybe he can hack it and give it to his roommate. Yeah, wouldn't Zhou Mi love that.
Kyuhyun is half way into trying to remember one of the more awesome hacks he had seen, an unintentional smirk growing before Jonghyun coughs, and Kyuhyun looks back to his face. His very nice looking face.
"Well. Uh, I guess I'll see you around. Bye!"
Jonghyun ducks out, and when he's gone, Kyuhyun gets the Pokemon cartridge, gets his DS and Action Replay, cracking his knuckles before he gets to work.
Kyuhyun has an old Red cartridge plugged into his equally vintage GameBoy colour, the GameShark plugged in and working its magic. The code isn't too difficult (nothing like the Diamond and Pearl ones at least), but Kyuhyun doesn't want to stuff it up.
The bell tinkles as someone walks into the shop, but Kyuhyun ignores him in favour of making himself go dizzy with staring at lines of coding.
"Hello!" the person chirps, and Kyuhyun's passive mood turns sour. Him again?
"Hi," he says coolly as he straightens. Another fur-molting animal.
The boy -- was his name Jongshik? Jonghyuk? -- cradles the hamster protectively, and Kyuhyun can't help but liken them. Jonghyun with his light brown hair and bleached fringe, and the hamster, orange with white spots. He grins.
"This is Henry!" Jonghyun says brightly, holding up the hamster as it nibbled on one of his fingers. Henry looks up, sees Kyuhyun's smirk, and goes back to nibbling contently.
"Henry the hamster?"
"Exactly!"
Jonghyun is practically bristling with excitement and happiness and whatever other positive energies he has as Kyuhyun stares at the hamster. Henry stops the nibbling enough to stare back, leaning closer until it's close enough to lick Kyuhyun's nose.
He falls backwards, the little wet spot on his nose turning cool as the fan above him whirls.
"Please take it outside," he manages in his best customer voice while rubbing his nose, grimacing.
Jonghyun darts outside, calling out a sorry before the bell tinkles again and Kyuhyun slumps against the counter, his Pokemon Black-in-progress still on beside him.
The afternoon Kyuhyun finishes coding Pokemon Black is the day his humanity returns. He feels a bit guilty at how he treated Jongshik/Jonghyuk/Jonghyun and the little angelic voice in his head doesn't help.
"Come on Kyuhyun, it isn't hard to just go next door and just say sorry, maybe offer him a game," Zhou Mi says. Kyuhyun looks down at the Pokemon Black and relishes shoving it in Zhou Mi's face.
"Because that isn't awkward at all."
"... Only because everything you do is just a little bit awkward. You worry too much! You need to see sunshine more."
"I can see sunshine from where I'm -- okay, don't worry, I'll go next door."
The moment Kyuhyun walks through the doorway of the pet shop, his senses are so heavily assaulted that he wants to just keel over and maybe give up his sense of smell forever. Through squinting, slightly watery eyes, he can make out a dark shape approaching him, dodging 10kg bags of feed and the many, many cages.
"Welcome! How may I help you?"
Jonghyun's clutching a small, Pomeranian puppy and Kyuhyun wants to bolt before he's tempted to steal it.
"Oh! Hello Kyuhyun-sshi! How may I help you?"
Kyuhyun's still staring at the puppy before he registers Jonghyun called him by name.
"How did you-"
Jonghyun's pointing to his chest, where his own nametag lies.
"Oh." Kyuhyun goes back to staring at the puppy. "You look like the dog."
He's immediately appalled at himself. Who even says that kind of thing to someone they barely know?
"I've heard that before, I take it as a compliment now." Jonghyun smiles winningly. "Like I'm cute and adorable."
"Or furry and annoying," Kyuhyun suggests, and the dam breaks. "Seriously, who comes into a video game store carrying a molting animal where there are thousands of dollars worth of games older than you and worth more than--"
"Dubu, the rabbit's name was Dubu. Are you interested in buying him, he's still available!"
Kyuhyun looks at Jonghyun's earnest smile and fur covered t-shirt.
"No, I'm not buying a pet. Anyway, those games are worth more than anything you'd be able to earn in this... establishment. I mean, no one buys pets because they want to, the majority of people who own pets were given them as presents, or are parents facilitating for their offspring."
"Hey! I own Key and I got him because I wanted to!"
"Or," Kyuhyun continues darkly. "Because they are lonely individuals whose only companionship is an animal."
"Now that's mean," Jonghyun says, wounded, clutching the Pomeranian to his chest. He gets a scratch on his neck for his trouble, before he gets covered in slobber. "I'll forgive you if you buy a pet."
"I'm not buying a pet," Kyuhyun says flatly.
"Or go on a date with me."
"That's blackmail."
Jonghyun smiles again, though he's sure to inject as much pity-enducing tearing up he can. It doesn't work.
"I would rather the bunny than going on a date with you, sorry."
He doesn't sound sorry, but Jonghyun's delighted as he lets Key down and goes to the back to get the bunny. Key sniffs at Kyuhyun's worn sneakers before it paws at the frayed hem of his jeans. Kyuhyun stands frozen incase he breaks the puppy's back.
Jonghyun returns in a few minutes, the bunny tucked safely under one arm and a cage in the other. He hands over the bunny and Kyuhyun almost drops it as it squirms in his arms, sniffing his shirt.
"Okay! So Dubu's a bit on the shy side, but--"
"Dubu? Like--" Kyuhyun makes eating motions. Jonghyun nods. "Can I rename it?"
"Would you like me to rename you to Asshole? No. So Dubu's a bit shy but once he gets settled in, you'll be able to let him out of his cage and he won't poo anywhere."
Kyuhyun looks at Jonghyun blankly as he rummages around and produces bags of feed, demonstrates how to tile the bottom of the cage with newspaper and how to change it. He takes out a timetable and Kyuhyun dismays at how much sleep he's going to lose.
"You have to be careful Dubu doesn't get near any wires or stuff since rabbits have a tendency to chew, so secure them. If you live in an apartment, it's best to have a balcony so Dubu can get some air and maybe let him out to chew on some grass if you can. Keep him company whenever you're home since he gets lonely easily and so he gets used to your presence," Jonghyun continues in a cheerful voice as Kyuhyun zones out and nods every few lines.
Jonghyun stands and Kyuhyun hastens to follow as he walks to the counter, Dubu cradled in his hand.
"Just sign here, and here's our card so you can call if you have any questions! Dubu will need to get some shots later and make sure he gets checked up if he starts scratching, since he might have fleas. If he starts throwing up, bring him back straight away."
Kyuhyun misses the intense glare Jonghyun shoots him as he scribbles something onto the receipt and pushes it back across the counter.
"Um, okay. So, I'll just take the rabbit and go. Now. Right?"
Jonghyun looks at Dubu worriedly before he gathers it in his arms, hugs it tight and drops a kiss onto its foreheard.
"Dubu, if Kyuhyun-sshi mistreats you, tell me, okay? Come back straight away and I will protect you from the animal hater."
Dubu regards Jonghyun seriously before wriggling a bit, trying to get comfortable before it's handed back over.
"Take care of him!"
Kyuhyun and Dubu are having an intense stare off through the bars of the cage when the front door opens and Zhou Mi toes off his shoes. He freezes as he sniffs the air, wrinkling his nose. Then he sees the cage and the stare-off.
"Am I in the wrong apartment?" he asks slowly, backing away and slipping his shoes back on. "Because either this is a dream or you got a rabbit."
"I got a rabbit," Kyuhyun says. He blinks and so does the rabbit before creeping over to its water dish to have a sip.
"Oh my god, you got a rabbit?"
"I got a rabbit," Kyuhyun repeats flatly.
"Oh my god, you got a rabbit. You got a rabbit."
Kyuhyun sits back on the floor, his expression hopeless.
"I got a rabbit, I can't believe I got a rabbit."
Zhou Mi crawls closer and sticks one of his fingers into the cage. Dubu creeps over and sniffs at it tentatively, Zhou Mi giggling.
"It's so cute." He coos. "Does it have a name?"
"Dubu." Kyuhyun sounds like he's announcing the end of the world.
Zhou Mi half turns and makes eating motions with his free hand. "That dubu?"
"Yes."
"Oh." He goes back to staring at the rabbit, wriggling his fingers. "It's so cute."
Kyuhyun watches Zhou Mi for a few minutes before he opens the cage and deposits Dubu into Zhou Mi's arms.
"Take care of it, I'm not going to be responsible for it."
"Not that I don't appreciate it," Zhou Mi says as he strokes it. "But why'd you get it? You hate animals. I mean, you refused to talk to Sungmin when he got that kitten."
"Circumstances beyond my control," Kyuhyun starts to say before his mobile rings. "Hello?"
"You didn't sign the receipt properly! Unless your name consists of numbers, Kyuhyun-sshi."
"Oh." Zhou Mi starts staring at Kyuhyun, still stroking Dubu. It's falling asleep, the eyes falling shut, and Kyuhyun strengthens his heart. "Does that mean you'll take it back?"
"Kyuhyun-sshi! My boss just yelled at me and is going to take it out of my paycheck! You know what, for all the mental anguish you just caused me, you should take me out for dinner." Jonghyun pauses before adding a sniff.
"Dinner, what?"
Zhou Mi's staring intently at Kyuhyun now. "Who're you talking to?"
"No one," Kyuhyun says hurriedly.
"Is someone there, Kyuhyun-sshi?"
Kyuhyun wants to keel over and die, again. Instead, he mouths an, I'll be back, and locks himself in the bathroom.
"Dinner?" he repeats.
"Dinner," Jonghyun says firmly. "Oh, and you need to sign the receipt properly, of course."
Kyuhyun knocks his head lightly against the sink, the porcelain making his head ring.
"Okay, fine."
"Great! I'll see you at work tomorrow, then!"
With that cheerful note, Jonghyun hangs up and Zhou Mi takes the opportunity to pound on the door.
"THAT WAS PET SHOP BOY, WASN'T IT? YOU'RE HAVING DINNER WITH HIM! Did you hear that, Dubu, Kyuhyun's going on a date with pet shop boy!"
Kyuhyun feels dread at the thought of Jonghyun and Zhou Mi ever meeting. If he has to kill Jonghyun tomorrow and let Henry the hamster and Key the Pomeranian maul him to death, then so be it.
The first encounter should've sent up warning signals in Kyuhyun's head. But instead, he's just staring in horror at the bunny the customer's carrying, molting goddamn fur everywhere.
Kyuhyun springs a desperate, "Can I help you?" when the customer nears the unprotected, old Nintendo 64 cartridges, and the boy smiles brightly and trots over.
"Hi!" he says brightly, and Kyuhyun stares at the rabbit.
"Hi."
"I'd just like to introduce myself! I'm Kim Jonghyun, and I work at the pet shop next door. It's nice to meet you!"
He sticks out a hand covered in fur, and Kyuhyun tentatively shakes it. It's an unwelcome change from the strangely clean hands of most gamers, with short, neat fingernails and only slightly sweaty palms.
There's an awkward silence, and Kyuhyun doesn't help as he blatantly stares at the other boy's face, memorising his features to ban him from ever entering the store again. Or at least, he can tell the owner who might, might, if he's in a good mood, at least ban pets from the store.
"Well," Jonghyun says awkwardly, trying to be unawkward. "Just wanted to say hi. And, oh, show you the new rabbit we got. If you want one I can give you a discount!"
Kyuhyun's gaze slowly travels down to the rabbit's face. He admits it's cute. Really cute. Unbelievably adorable; he wants to squish it and hug it to his chest and sing to it at night so it can sleep while he coos at it and then dreams about the lovely, white, fluffy bunny and isn't it adorable? Isn't it the most beautiful thing ever?
"Oh, uh, thanks," he manages to say, wrenching his gaze away to stare at the cover of a used and battered version of Pokemon HeartGold. Maybe he can hack it and give it to his roommate. Yeah, wouldn't Zhou Mi love that.
Kyuhyun is half way into trying to remember one of the more awesome hacks he had seen, an unintentional smirk growing before Jonghyun coughs, and Kyuhyun looks back to his face. His very nice looking face.
"Well. Uh, I guess I'll see you around. Bye!"
Jonghyun ducks out, and when he's gone, Kyuhyun gets the Pokemon cartridge, gets his DS and Action Replay, cracking his knuckles before he gets to work.
Kyuhyun has an old Red cartridge plugged into his equally vintage GameBoy colour, the GameShark plugged in and working its magic. The code isn't too difficult (nothing like the Diamond and Pearl ones at least), but Kyuhyun doesn't want to stuff it up.
The bell tinkles as someone walks into the shop, but Kyuhyun ignores him in favour of making himself go dizzy with staring at lines of coding.
"Hello!" the person chirps, and Kyuhyun's passive mood turns sour. Him again?
"Hi," he says coolly as he straightens. Another fur-molting animal.
The boy -- was his name Jongshik? Jonghyuk? -- cradles the hamster protectively, and Kyuhyun can't help but liken them. Jonghyun with his light brown hair and bleached fringe, and the hamster, orange with white spots. He grins.
"This is Henry!" Jonghyun says brightly, holding up the hamster as it nibbled on one of his fingers. Henry looks up, sees Kyuhyun's smirk, and goes back to nibbling contently.
"Henry the hamster?"
"Exactly!"
Jonghyun is practically bristling with excitement and happiness and whatever other positive energies he has as Kyuhyun stares at the hamster. Henry stops the nibbling enough to stare back, leaning closer until it's close enough to lick Kyuhyun's nose.
He falls backwards, the little wet spot on his nose turning cool as the fan above him whirls.
"Please take it outside," he manages in his best customer voice while rubbing his nose, grimacing.
Jonghyun darts outside, calling out a sorry before the bell tinkles again and Kyuhyun slumps against the counter, his Pokemon Black-in-progress still on beside him.
The afternoon Kyuhyun finishes coding Pokemon Black is the day his humanity returns. He feels a bit guilty at how he treated Jongshik/Jonghyuk/Jonghyun and the little angelic voice in his head doesn't help.
"Come on Kyuhyun, it isn't hard to just go next door and just say sorry, maybe offer him a game," Zhou Mi says. Kyuhyun looks down at the Pokemon Black and relishes shoving it in Zhou Mi's face.
"Because that isn't awkward at all."
"... Only because everything you do is just a little bit awkward. You worry too much! You need to see sunshine more."
"I can see sunshine from where I'm -- okay, don't worry, I'll go next door."
The moment Kyuhyun walks through the doorway of the pet shop, his senses are so heavily assaulted that he wants to just keel over and maybe give up his sense of smell forever. Through squinting, slightly watery eyes, he can make out a dark shape approaching him, dodging 10kg bags of feed and the many, many cages.
"Welcome! How may I help you?"
Jonghyun's clutching a small, Pomeranian puppy and Kyuhyun wants to bolt before he's tempted to steal it.
"Oh! Hello Kyuhyun-sshi! How may I help you?"
Kyuhyun's still staring at the puppy before he registers Jonghyun called him by name.
"How did you-"
Jonghyun's pointing to his chest, where his own nametag lies.
"Oh." Kyuhyun goes back to staring at the puppy. "You look like the dog."
He's immediately appalled at himself. Who even says that kind of thing to someone they barely know?
"I've heard that before, I take it as a compliment now." Jonghyun smiles winningly. "Like I'm cute and adorable."
"Or furry and annoying," Kyuhyun suggests, and the dam breaks. "Seriously, who comes into a video game store carrying a molting animal where there are thousands of dollars worth of games older than you and worth more than--"
"Dubu, the rabbit's name was Dubu. Are you interested in buying him, he's still available!"
Kyuhyun looks at Jonghyun's earnest smile and fur covered t-shirt.
"No, I'm not buying a pet. Anyway, those games are worth more than anything you'd be able to earn in this... establishment. I mean, no one buys pets because they want to, the majority of people who own pets were given them as presents, or are parents facilitating for their offspring."
"Hey! I own Key and I got him because I wanted to!"
"Or," Kyuhyun continues darkly. "Because they are lonely individuals whose only companionship is an animal."
"Now that's mean," Jonghyun says, wounded, clutching the Pomeranian to his chest. He gets a scratch on his neck for his trouble, before he gets covered in slobber. "I'll forgive you if you buy a pet."
"I'm not buying a pet," Kyuhyun says flatly.
"Or go on a date with me."
"That's blackmail."
Jonghyun smiles again, though he's sure to inject as much pity-enducing tearing up he can. It doesn't work.
"I would rather the bunny than going on a date with you, sorry."
He doesn't sound sorry, but Jonghyun's delighted as he lets Key down and goes to the back to get the bunny. Key sniffs at Kyuhyun's worn sneakers before it paws at the frayed hem of his jeans. Kyuhyun stands frozen incase he breaks the puppy's back.
Jonghyun returns in a few minutes, the bunny tucked safely under one arm and a cage in the other. He hands over the bunny and Kyuhyun almost drops it as it squirms in his arms, sniffing his shirt.
"Okay! So Dubu's a bit on the shy side, but--"
"Dubu? Like--" Kyuhyun makes eating motions. Jonghyun nods. "Can I rename it?"
"Would you like me to rename you to Asshole? No. So Dubu's a bit shy but once he gets settled in, you'll be able to let him out of his cage and he won't poo anywhere."
Kyuhyun looks at Jonghyun blankly as he rummages around and produces bags of feed, demonstrates how to tile the bottom of the cage with newspaper and how to change it. He takes out a timetable and Kyuhyun dismays at how much sleep he's going to lose.
"You have to be careful Dubu doesn't get near any wires or stuff since rabbits have a tendency to chew, so secure them. If you live in an apartment, it's best to have a balcony so Dubu can get some air and maybe let him out to chew on some grass if you can. Keep him company whenever you're home since he gets lonely easily and so he gets used to your presence," Jonghyun continues in a cheerful voice as Kyuhyun zones out and nods every few lines.
Jonghyun stands and Kyuhyun hastens to follow as he walks to the counter, Dubu cradled in his hand.
"Just sign here, and here's our card so you can call if you have any questions! Dubu will need to get some shots later and make sure he gets checked up if he starts scratching, since he might have fleas. If he starts throwing up, bring him back straight away."
Kyuhyun misses the intense glare Jonghyun shoots him as he scribbles something onto the receipt and pushes it back across the counter.
"Um, okay. So, I'll just take the rabbit and go. Now. Right?"
Jonghyun looks at Dubu worriedly before he gathers it in his arms, hugs it tight and drops a kiss onto its foreheard.
"Dubu, if Kyuhyun-sshi mistreats you, tell me, okay? Come back straight away and I will protect you from the animal hater."
Dubu regards Jonghyun seriously before wriggling a bit, trying to get comfortable before it's handed back over.
"Take care of him!"
Kyuhyun and Dubu are having an intense stare off through the bars of the cage when the front door opens and Zhou Mi toes off his shoes. He freezes as he sniffs the air, wrinkling his nose. Then he sees the cage and the stare-off.
"Am I in the wrong apartment?" he asks slowly, backing away and slipping his shoes back on. "Because either this is a dream or you got a rabbit."
"I got a rabbit," Kyuhyun says. He blinks and so does the rabbit before creeping over to its water dish to have a sip.
"Oh my god, you got a rabbit?"
"I got a rabbit," Kyuhyun repeats flatly.
"Oh my god, you got a rabbit. You got a rabbit."
Kyuhyun sits back on the floor, his expression hopeless.
"I got a rabbit, I can't believe I got a rabbit."
Zhou Mi crawls closer and sticks one of his fingers into the cage. Dubu creeps over and sniffs at it tentatively, Zhou Mi giggling.
"It's so cute." He coos. "Does it have a name?"
"Dubu." Kyuhyun sounds like he's announcing the end of the world.
Zhou Mi half turns and makes eating motions with his free hand. "That dubu?"
"Yes."
"Oh." He goes back to staring at the rabbit, wriggling his fingers. "It's so cute."
Kyuhyun watches Zhou Mi for a few minutes before he opens the cage and deposits Dubu into Zhou Mi's arms.
"Take care of it, I'm not going to be responsible for it."
"Not that I don't appreciate it," Zhou Mi says as he strokes it. "But why'd you get it? You hate animals. I mean, you refused to talk to Sungmin when he got that kitten."
"Circumstances beyond my control," Kyuhyun starts to say before his mobile rings. "Hello?"
"You didn't sign the receipt properly! Unless your name consists of numbers, Kyuhyun-sshi."
"Oh." Zhou Mi starts staring at Kyuhyun, still stroking Dubu. It's falling asleep, the eyes falling shut, and Kyuhyun strengthens his heart. "Does that mean you'll take it back?"
"Kyuhyun-sshi! My boss just yelled at me and is going to take it out of my paycheck! You know what, for all the mental anguish you just caused me, you should take me out for dinner." Jonghyun pauses before adding a sniff.
"Dinner, what?"
Zhou Mi's staring intently at Kyuhyun now. "Who're you talking to?"
"No one," Kyuhyun says hurriedly.
"Is someone there, Kyuhyun-sshi?"
Kyuhyun wants to keel over and die, again. Instead, he mouths an, I'll be back, and locks himself in the bathroom.
"Dinner?" he repeats.
"Dinner," Jonghyun says firmly. "Oh, and you need to sign the receipt properly, of course."
Kyuhyun knocks his head lightly against the sink, the porcelain making his head ring.
"Okay, fine."
"Great! I'll see you at work tomorrow, then!"
With that cheerful note, Jonghyun hangs up and Zhou Mi takes the opportunity to pound on the door.
"THAT WAS PET SHOP BOY, WASN'T IT? YOU'RE HAVING DINNER WITH HIM! Did you hear that, Dubu, Kyuhyun's going on a date with pet shop boy!"
Kyuhyun feels dread at the thought of Jonghyun and Zhou Mi ever meeting. If he has to kill Jonghyun tomorrow and let Henry the hamster and Key the Pomeranian maul him to death, then so be it.