My Furry Destiny (A KaiSoo Fanfic)

Chapter 22 | The Bad Man

Jongin let Minho and Taemin stay for a while after that, but he was still trying to figure out this new mystery that had been brought to him courtesy of Kyungsoo's unexpected, and very apparent, fear of Minho. 

If this was truly their first time meeting properly as it seemed to be, why did Kyungsoo seem to already know him? More importantly, why was Kyungsoo identifying him as the bad man that seemed to be haunting his dreams? 

Jongin wanted to believe both Minho and Kyungsoo. He had known Minho for longer and he never came off as a bad person, but then again, Kyungsoo would never be legitimately scared of someone unless he had a good, honest reason. Whatever was going on, Jongin couldn't figure it out.

"Are you sure he's okay?" asked Minho as he looked at Kyungsoo, who had decided to go back into the bedroom instead of joining them for breakfast. "I feel like I scared him or something." 

"He'll be okay, I think," Jongin responded as he shook his head. "You probably just looked like someone from his nightmares and he got confused."

"Okay, well, tell him I'm sorry anyway," the elder male replied. 

"I will, thanks," he said. "Oh, yeah, did you ever find a new job. I heard the police station laid you off." He desperately just wanted to change the subject.

"Yeah, I did," Minho said, nodding and taking his back off the kitchen chair. "I work as a security guard type person at the pound in the city." 

Jongin tensed up at the word. Pound. That was why Kyungsoo was so scared of him because he worked at the one place he was most scared of.

"Ah, really?" Jongin said. "So are you taking care of the animals are just guarding them?"

"A little bit of both depending on my shift," Minho replied. "I make sure they stay fed and hydrated and what not, and then at night I make sure all the cages are locked up so none of them get out. It's kind of sad really, seeing all those poor animals there. Sometimes, people come in and claim them, but not very often, so a lot of get put down after so long."

"Do you put them down?" he questioned next.

"Oh, no, that's not in my job description," Minho explained, shaking his head and creasing his eyebrows. "That's my boss's job. He takes care of catching the dogs and putting them down when the time comes. I don't think I could do that. I think I'd rescue them all if I could, but then Taemin wouldn't get all the attention." Taemin glared at him from across the table. "Anyway, all in all, it's an okay job until I can find something else. Helps pay the bills."

"You say that as if I don't contribute," Taemin said, sounding and looking offended as he looked at him.

"The only thing you contribute to is my credit card debt," Minho said, earning himself another glare.

"Speaking of debt," Taemin said, holding up a finger and looking at the time on his phone, "we need to go to shopping. There's a sale at the store that sells my favorite brand of jeans. That's why we stopped by. Your place on the way."

Minho groaned and rolled his eyes. "But you already have like ten million pairs of those jeans?Why do you need more?" he asked as he took his last sip of coffee.

"No, I do not," Taemin retaliated as he stood up, pausing to look at him with another offended look. "I only have like 10 pairs." Jongin couldn't help but snicker at that as Minho rolled his eyes for a second time. "And even if you think I have too many, they're on sale, therefore I must buy more while they are cheap. Does that make sense to you or do you need me to write it down?"

Minho's eyes narrowed. "Just go," he said as he stood up from the table as well, picking up his feet and following Taemin to the door. "Let's just go get this over with."

"Fine, let me just go say bye to Soo first," Taemin said, shooing him away with his hand. "I'll be right down." Minho just nodded and proceeded out to the car after saying goodbye to Jongin. "Jongin," he said, motioning for the younger to come closer. "What the hell happened to Kyungsoo?"

"He got scared, that's all," Jongin said, glancing down at him as he felt his body finally begin to relax.

"I noticed that," Taemin said, his eyes briefly moving to the boy of subject. "But why? Does he know Minho or something?" 

Jongin paused for a moment; he knew this was a cautious moment. If he told him the real reason why, he would eventually have to tell him the whole truth and he didn't know if Taemin could handle that. But he also knew that if he didn't and kept the truth from him, he would find out at some point and somehow and then he would really be in for it. And honestly, he feared Taemin's wrath more than he did his reaction to him telling that his boyfriend also turned into a puppy.

"Okay, look," he whispered, stepping closer to him, "I'll tell you, but you have to promise that you won't tell anyone else, especially not Minho."

"I never tell him anything anyway, so you're good." Taemin batted his hand. "What's up, tell me, tell me." Jongin sighed and glanced toward the bedroom. Then, he looked back at Taemin and leaned toward him more.

"Kyungsoo is part dog."

*******************

After Jongin got him to calm down, the news settled well with Taemin--that is, as well as it could. Once he finally left the apartment, he was still trying to make sense of it all, but he didn't make as much of a scene about it as Jongin expected him to. 

But Kyungsoo still seemed traumatized by the whole situation. He could understand it, though; if he saw some figure that reminded him of his past he would feel the same way. He didn't want to invalidate his feelings, but from the way Minho described his job, Jongin was fairly certain he wasn't the bad man that had taken him before, especially considering that Minho probably wasn't even working for the pound when he was last taken.

"I'm sure he won't hurt you," he said, holding Kyungsoo in his arms and attempting to get rid of the tears that were falling from his eyes. "He only works as a guard, he doesn't drive the truck or anything. He won't hurt you and he most certainly won't take you away."

"You do not understand, Jongin," Kyungsoo said as he sniffled and took his head off of Jongin's chest, looking up at Jongin with red, puffy eyes. "All the men there are bad men. They do not treat dogs nice at all. They are mean to us and they yell and they even hit us sometimes. They are scary and bad men, Jongin, all of them." Jongin sighed in sympathy and pressed his head back against his chest. "I do not want to go back there, Jongin," Kyungsoo said incoherently through small cries and whimpers. "Please do not let me go back there."

"I won't, baby," Jongin said, petting his head gently and kissing his forehead. "You're staying right here with me where you belong." Despite sniffling again, Kyungsoo stifled out a small smile and cuddled deeper into Jongin's body warmth.

"Thank you, Jongin," he said meekly. "You are a very nice man." 

Jongin smiled into Kyungsoo's head before kissing it again, and then in the next minute he saw a bright flash of light appear and felt Kyungsoo's body shrink in his arms, the light revealing the puppy after it faded. He brushed his fingertips against his fur and allowed him to curl into Jongin's side, covering up his little body with a blanket and laying down completely after that.

Jongin intended to keep his promise and if that meant finally facing his past experiences with directly, that's what he would do.

A/N

Thank you so much for commenting and showing support! It really helps me out! That will be it for now! Much love xoxoxo