“Baby, you have to step back more!” you laugh, holding a bowl of grapes in one hand.

Minghao smacks his chest and his head up. Squatting a bit, he hollers back, “No, just toss it up! I got it this time! I got it!”

Mingyu, who’s standing beside you with his own bowl, scoffs, “I don’t know why you try, Minghao. It’s over after this!”

“Hey! We’re tied, it’s anyone’s game!” he argues.

All you can do is laugh at your boyfriend, as well as roll your eyes. “Ready?” you ask both Minghao and Woozi, who’s next to him.

“Ready!” they both shout.

Simultaneously, you and Mingyu toss up a grape aimed at your appropriate partners. But while both are midair, Minghao abruptly shoves Woozi to the ground and dives back to catch his projectile. Laughing hysterically, you throw your arms up. “YES, BABY!”

Smiling and chewing at the same time, he rushes over, hugs you around your waist, and spins you around. “WE WIN! WE WIN!”

“HEY!” Woozi screams, jumping back to his feet and coming over to break you two up. “YOU CHEATED!”

“YEAH! THAT DOESN’T COUNT!” Mingyu complains.

“OF COURSE IT COUNTS!” you both yell at the same time.

Woozi rolls his eyes. “WAHH! I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU, MINGHAO! YOU SHOVED ME! YOU SHOVED ME!”

Minghao swallows hard and suddenly gets nervous. “Sorry, hyung, please don’t hurt me…”

“I can’t make any promises,” Woozi scoffs, rolling up his sleeves. “REDO!”

“NO!” Minghao shouts back, regaining his composure. “THERE WAS NO CHEATING!”

“WHAT?!”

Your boyfriend quickly turns his head to Seungcheol who’s sitting on the couch, scrolling through his phone. “Coups-hyung! Was there any cheating?”

Without looking up, Seungcheol calmly replies, “I didn’t see anything.”

“OH COME ON!” Mingyu exclaims. But you all only get to continue your bickering for a little bit longer before the front door opens.

“GUYS! GUYS!” Vernon hollers as he and Hoshi walk in. “LOOK WHO I BROUGHT?!”

“Who?” Minghao questions as you all turn. Immediately after seeing “who”, a flood of “AWWWWWWWWW!” fills the dorm. You all rush over to the visitor that Vernon’s bringing in.

In his arms, Vernon has a puppy wrapped up in a blanket. A pug puppy. An adorable, tiny, little, pug puppy. You can hardly contain yourself as the rest of the members come out of their rooms to bask in the cuteness. “AWWWW!”

Vernon chuckles and slowly moves with the mob to sit in the middle of the floor. “Okay, okay, guys, give him some room!”

“HE’S SO CUTE!” Jeonghan screams from over your shoulder as you sit between Vernon and Minghao.

“What’s his name?” you eagerly ask, just staring at the cutest puppy you’ve ever seen.

“And whose is he?” Minghao adds.

Vernon smiles and bounces the baby a little. “This is Jojo. And he’s my sister’s. Yeah, my family’s going on vacation but this guy’s so little, he couldn’t stay home alone. So they asked me to hold onto him for a few days.”

“CAN WE KEEP HIM!?” DK shouts.

“No, I JUST said it’s a few…”

But Mingyu interrupts. “CAN WE KEEP HIM?!”

“Guys, no, we…”

“LET’S KEEP HIM!” Wonwoo yells.

As poor Vernon sighs and tries to lay some ground rules about how to play with the puppy, Minghao rests his chin on your shoulder. “I want one.”

You kiss him on the cheek as you ruffle his hair. “You are one.”

After twenty minutes, you, your boyfriend, Mingyu, DK, Vernon, and Jun are the only ones left with Jojo. None of you can handle yourselves as he scampers across the floor and chews on people’s socks. But when it’s finally your turn to hold the cutie, your boyfriend stands up and grins down at you. “Come on, (Y/N), let’s go watch that movie we talked about.”

But you’re not really listening. Too occupied with kissing Jojo, you don’t even look up. “Oh, that’s okay Minghao. We can watch it some other time.” You lift up Jojo to your face and say to him, in baby talk, “Isn’t that right? We can do that later! Right now, I just wanna play with YOU!”

"Are you sure?" Minghao asks, "We can just go in the room and watch on my laptop."

"Maybe later, dear."

Minghao frowns a little and nods. “Okay, baby.” You don’t even notice him head over to the couch.

“Okay, it’s my turn to hold him!” Jun insists, lunging forward with his hands out.

“NUH UH!” you yell back, twisting your body to shield Jojo from Jun’s greedy paws. “I just got him!”

“Hansol!” Jun screams.

“It’s still (Y/N)’s turn,” Vernon calmly says.

You smile, satisfied. Rocking him back and forth, you talk to Jojo again. “No one can take you away from me!”

For a few more minutes, you and the others pet and coo at him in your arms.

“Uh, (Y/N)?” you hear Minghao call.

But you ignore him. “You’re just the cutest thing in the world, aren’t you!?”

“Baby?” he calls, again.

You touch your forehead to Jojo’s as he your face. “Oh! Don’t you give the best kisses?!”

“Sweetie?” Minghao calls one last time. This time, you notice, only because he’s come back over and has his hand on your shoulder.

“Yeah?” you utter, breaking your trance of cuteness and turning to face him.

He looks slightly...annoyed? “Can you come with me for a second?”

“Aww, but Jojo…”

“Please?” he interjects. You look at him for a second, his eyes are just as irresistible as the puppy’s.

You quickly nod. “Okay...uh, okay. Jun…” you reluctantly, but gently, hand over Jojo.

“Thank you!” Jun exclaims, hugging him tightly.

You and Minghao stand up and you ask him, “What is it, baby?”

“Come on,” he says, a flat look on his face as he takes you by the hand and pulls you into the bathroom. Probably because it’s the only place in the house that isn’t occupied by other people. He sighs as he leans against the back of the door.

You can’t help but smile as you raise an eyebrow at him. “Are you okay?”

But Minghao doesn’t answer. He just straightens himself up and crosses his arms. “I thought you wanted to watch a movie today,” he states, looking at you with his eyebrows furrow.

“What?” you chuckle out of confusion.

He rolls his eyes and sighs again, throwing his hands on his hips. “Didn’t you say you wanted to hang out with me?”

“Of course, I do, sweetie! What are you…”

“Then why do you go and put all your attention into Jojo?!” Minghao utters, throwing his hand out. “All you see is that puppy!”

“What are you talking about?” you ask, again.

He slowly sighs and drops his shoulders, looking down and taking your hands, swinging them back and forth. “I just want to spend time with you while you’re here. I want to have your attention,” he pouts.

“Aww, baby.” But for a second, you’re still thrown off. But then it all makes sense. A smug look crawls on your face as you lean back slightly. “Wait...is that what this is about? The puppy?”

“You’re not paying attention to me,” he whines.

You laugh as you step closer to him, furrowing your eyebrows. “Are you...jealous, Minghao?”

He tenses up a bit after you say that. He looks nervous as his eyes look everywhere but at you. “I’m not…”

“Of a puppy?!” you as you come up right under his chin.

He still refuses to make eye contact. “I’m not jealous...I just...wanted your attention.”

“But the puppy had all of it?” You smile as you come in even closer.

You feel Minghao’s body tighten a bit as you wrap your arms around his waist. “I am not jealous of a puppy…I-I-...I’m not jealous…,” he stammers.

You chuckle and smile up at him. “You are way too cute.” Tilting his head down, you softly press your lips to his, giving him your full attention. In that moment, the rest of his tension fades away as he kisses you back. Every kiss with Minghao leaves you smiling and feeling in places you didn’t know could smile or feel.

And while his arms help him return your embrace, mid-kiss, he pushes you away slightly. Looking straight into your eyes, he smiles and asks, “But not as cute as that puppy, right?”

Laughing, you softly pinch his cheek and go back to kissing him. Through his lips, you respond, “You are a puppy. The cutest puppy I’ve ever seen.”