"Jungwonie!!"

Jungwon felt a weight jump onto his back, arms wrapping around his shoulders as he quickly held onto the legs that wrapped around his waist.

"Good morning Sunnie, you're full of energy"

Jungwon turned to place Sunoo on the countertop and quickly placed a peck on his lips. The older smiled happily and swung his legs back and forth as he watched his boyfriend cook breakfast.

Sunoo is a fox hybrid. Nobody really knows how it happened but one day he just woke up with fox ears and a fluffy tail. Specifically, he is a desert fox–also known as a fennec fox–hybrid which happened to nicely match his pre-existing fox-like eyes.

He and Jungwon met back in high school, like the first year and on the first day for Jungwon. It was like fate put two and two together and BOOM! Jungwon and Sunoo became the most popular couple in school merely a year after they had met. Jungwon moved in with Sunoo's family after about a year of dating as Jungwon's parents had to go overseas for their jobs. Jungwon had been living with Sunoo's family for about 3 years but a year ago the two of them bought their own apartment with funds from both families.

Sunoo randomly woke up with the fox features 6 months ago. Jungwon was in shock for a good minute or two but quickly recomposed himself in favour of calming his very panicked boyfriend. That day went by with a lot of screaming and shouting and noises of distress from both males, you can be sure their neighbours weren't happy. Eventually, Sunoo learnt how to make the ears and tail disappear for some time though it takes up much of his energy.

"Hyung, set up the table, will you? I'm almost done and I have to finish the project that's due tomorrow."

Sunoo smiled before jumping off the counter to place a kiss on Jungwon's cheek. The older took two plates and two sets of cutlery to set out while Jungwon finished up with the pancakes he was making. Although he wasn't the best cook, lessons from his mom and second mom–Jay–helped him learn enough to supply food for the two of them.

"Hopefully the pancakes don't taste bad..."

Sunoo chuckled as he watched his boyfriend plate everything in the middle of the table. Once they both settled down, they began talking about mundane topics to fill in the time as they ate. As Jungwon was still a university student, they couldn't spend much time together. Plus Sunoo has his job at a nearby cafe so that didn't help much.

"Oh my gosh you won't believe what Jake hyung did yesterday- He literally let Riki into the backroom where he messed up all my stuff! I was so mad but you know how Riki is!! That look he gives me is too innocent and I can't stay mad at him"

Jungwon laughed at Sunoo's angry pouty face

"I'm not sure how Heeseung hyung and Jake hyung can deal with him but they treat him like their child so it's cute"

"Yeah but they spoil him too much! I can barely breathe when all he asks of me is to pet my ears and tail!! You know I only like it when you do it"

Jungwon flushes at the sudden confession and it doesn't go unnoticed by the older.

"Is Wonie getting shy?~~"

Jungwon shoves the last bit of his pancakes into his mouth before standing up and rushing to the kitchen in hopes of hiding his pink cheeks. He zoned out and began washing the dishes but was brought back to reality when he felt a pair of arms wrapping around his waist. A head fell onto his right shoulder and a fluffy ear ticked the side of his face.

"Hyung!~~ I'm trying to do the dishes!!"

Jungwon whined and he didn't really know what to do as his hands were full of soap. Sunoo giggled before letting go of Jungwon. He skipped into the living room, his tail swatting air as he jumped onto the couch. Jungwon finished up and dried his hands before settling down beside his boyfriend.

"I thought you needed to finish your project?"

Jungwon sighed and snuggled into Sunoo's side, the hybrid wrapping his tail around him.

"Ehhh I can do it later, my professor will probably be absent tomorrow anyways."

"So what do you want to do today?"

Jungwon looked up at Sunoo, who returned with a smile.

"Let's just cuddle and talk, it's been a while since we've just had a day to ourselves"

The younger smiled and nodded

"Sure, that sound like a nice plan"

~*~*~

"Yah! Nishimura Riki!!"

It was now the day after, Jungwon, Jake and Jay had just finished up with their classes at Uni early and had planned to visit their respective partners. They stood confused at the doorway when they entered Hyphen cafe and saw Riki crashing into walls. Sunghoon was chasing him down with a spatula in his hand.

"You can just waltz into the kitchen and steal the brownies!"

"Oh you three are here earlier than usual, you came perfectly when there are no customers here"

Heeseung greeted them with a nod as his hands were full of a tray of freshly baked cookies. Jay went straight to his boyfriend to prevent him from smacking the youngest of the friend group with the spatula. Jake helped Heeseung with the cookies while simultaneously exchanging sweet words and short kisses. As for Sunghoon and Jay...

"You need to be nicer with him, he's just playful-"

"Well, his playfulness is going to make me lose my job!"

"Come on Hoon it's not so bad"

"Hmph, I'd like to be able to keep my job thank you very much"

Jay sighed and Sunghoon walked away with a huff while Jungwon helped Riki off the ground

"Riki, you should apologize. Jay hyung, go cheer him up. Sunoo hyung said he's been having a bad day because of a few annoying customers this morning"

The second eldest looked at his boyfriend who was wiping down some tables at the far end of the cafe.

Hyphen cafe was a small cafe at the heart of town, right next to the most popular malls. Heeseung, Sunghoon and Sunoo have been working at the cafe since it opened, Heeseung helps out with everything, Sunghoon is a waiter and Sunoo is a barista. The three of them took turns in the kitchen but it was mostly Heeseung because Sunghoon and Sunoo can't be trusted in the kitchen. Riki went over sometimes to help out, though Heeseung had to keep a close eye on him. Jungwon, Jake and Jay would visit the cafe after classes if time allows it.

Jay went to Sunghoon while Jake and Jungwon settled at a table in front of the cash register. Once Heeseung put everything away, he walked toward them with a small notepad in hand.

"So what would you both like today?"

"Just the usual please!"

Jake happily responded with his bright puppy smile. Jungwon chuckled as he watched the two older males staring at each other with hearts in their eyes. Heeseung turned to Jungwon and the younger quickly shook his head.

"I don't need anything, where's Sunoo hyung?"

"He's at the back resting!!"

Sunghoon shouted from behind Jay, the two were happily chatting as they (lovingly) smacked each other a few times. Jungwon smiled and signalled Riki to take his seat as he got up to run into the backroom. He was met with Sunoo pouting, sitting on the couch as his tail curled around him to rest on his lap. His ears flattened and Jungwon just found his boyfriend adorable.

"Sunnie~~ What's wrong?"

Jungwon sat beside Sunoo and the hybrid immediately wrapped his tail around Jungwon's waist protectively. The younger took this as a sign to be more clingy and quickly latched onto Sunoo's arm. Jungwon felt Sunoo relax and the two of them looked at each other, getting lost in the other's eyes. Sunoo lifted his hand to cup Jungwon's cheek with a smile before leaning in to initiate a small kiss. Their lips parted and Sunoo leaned in just enough so the tips of their noses touched.

"How was Uni?"

"Horrible."

Sunoo giggled and pulled Jungwon impossibly closer.

"Well, how can I make your day better, your highness?"

Jungwon rolled his eyes at the hybrid but decided to play along anyways.

"Oh, I don't know... why don't you make a few guesses?"

Sunoo sighed and feigned his distress, a hand holding his chin as if he was deep in thought.

"Hmmm... I'm afraid it's too hard to guess. Mind giving me a hint? Your highness~"

Jungwon snorted as Sunoo leaned in with a smirk on his face. The younger male gently pushed Sunoo away and stood up, back facing Sunoo.

"I just need you to be happy, that's all"

Sunoo giggled softly and engulfed Jungwon in a back hug, nuzzling into his cheek.

"You're so sweet Wonie~"

Jungwon turned around to face Sunoo and was about to say something when a noise of disgust came from behind them.

"Seriously??! I can't ever hang out here, I'm third wheeling everywhere I go!"

The couple burst out laughing as Riki glared at them.

"Sorry Riki-ah, you're just gonna have to live with it~"

Jungwon teased while Riki slumped onto a chair and grabbed his phone from his pocket. Sunoo then closed his eyes and Jungwon watched as his fox features faded away. He opened his eyes and caught Jungwon's sparkly doe-eyes with a smile.

"Come on babe, I've rested enough. I should get back to work."

The younger frowned and stopped Sunoo before he could walk too far. The fox hybrid turned to look back at Jungwon just to be met with his boyfriend's pouty face

"Awhhh what's wrong?"

"I want to spend more time with you..."

Sunoo smiled and hugged Jungwon tightly

"I do too Wonie... I do too..."

A few moments of silence went by and neither of them wanted to break the hug. That was until they heard Jay's voice yelling for Jungwon

"Yah Yang Jungwon! We should go before people start flooding in"

Jungwon sighed and reluctantly broke the hug. Sunoo gently touched his cheek before leaning in for a kiss which Jungwon gladly accepted. Once they parted, Jungwon dashed out and just perfectly stopped himself from crashing into Jay. Jake was standing beside him with a drink in hand, lovingly brewed by Heeseung. Sunghoon stood right behind the counter and waved goodbye to the three of them. Right as they were about to exit the cafe, a voice called out for Jungwon and his eyes lit up when he saw Sunoo running to him with a paper bag.

"Here! I made these this morning, it's a batch of macarons specially made for you. Hope you like them!"

Jungwon took the bag and ruffled Sunoo's dirty blonde hair, which had been dyed ever since he graduated a little over a year ago.

"I'll try one when I get home, I'm sure they'll taste great~"

Sunoo giggled and waved goodbye before slipping back into the cafe. Jungwon turned around to see Jay and Jake giving him large goofy smiles

"What??"

"You two are cute together, like really cute"

Jay hummed in agreement

"Sickeningly cute. I guess it comes with dating since you were teenagers"

Jungwon scoffed and crossed his arms

"Not my fault you were both so stupidly shy about your crushes. I'll have you know Heeseungie hyung's been whipped for Jake hyung ever since he saw the picture of the three of us together on my lock screen picture."

Jungwon huffed as he recalled the memory of Heeseung questioning him about the picture on the phone screen 4 years ago.

"As for Jay hyung and Sunghoon hyung... it was way too obvious. You both are just oblivious"

(For context, Heejake have been dating for 3ish years and Jayhoon only started dating 1 year ago)

"Hey, we're still your hyungs y'know! Respect us!"

Jungwon just stuck out his tongue and blew a raspberry while he was at it. After that, you can be sure Jay chased him down until he apologized... well until Jungwon threatened to kick him that is.

~*~*~

"Whoo! Thank god I took leave today, the cafe was packed full yesterday and I'm exhausted!!"

Jungwon smiled as he walked beside Sunoo, fingers intertwined as their arms swung back and forth. A few days had passed since Jungwon went with Jake and Jay to visit Hyphen cafe. Those few days have been well spent as Jungwon had been preparing something for their 5th anniversary. Nothing big but Jungwon put a lot of care into making it so he hopes Sunoo likes it.

"Well, you had to take off since today marks our fifth year together. I can't have you working your tail off on our anniversary!"

Sunoo giggled and pulled Jungwon into the park they had been walking to.

"Come on! I wanna go see if our initials are still visible!!"

Jungwon couldn't stop his smile as he remembered the day they had come to this exact park together.

It was their third anniversary and neither of them knew what to do. They had time to kill before having a nice dinner prepared by Sunoo's mother so they followed her suggestion to go take a walk together. Chatting about mundane topics was something they always did during recess and lunch breaks in school, not to mention Jungwon also stayed in Sunoo's room during his time at Sunoo's place. They had decided to wander into an empty park and found a tree which seemed pretty young. It wasn't too large, and definitely had decades of growth ahead of it. Jungwon had found a few carving tools and they had carved their initials into the bark surrounded by a heart. They didn't go last year as Jungwon was stressing about exams but now they were dying to go back to check.

So here they stood, in front of a tree that was almost unrecognizable from when they had first seen it. Just barely, Jungwon could see the mark they left on the bark exactly two years ago. k.sn & y.jw engraved just below the first branch. It was too high for them to reach now but seeing it made both boys smile at the memories they'd had together.

"It's weird to see it so high up. It only seems like yesterday that we carved it in..."

Jungwon hummed in response, enjoying the peaceful atmosphere. In more ways than one, Sunoo and Jungwon were very different. Sunoo was outgoing, with a fully charged battery that never died out and he followed his heart more than anything. On the other hand, Jungwon was shyer, keeping to himself most of the time and trusting only explainable thoughts and rational decisions. Their relationship was the classic "extrovert adopting introvert" and the perfect example of opposites attract. Truly a match made in heaven.

"You okay Won? You seem spaced out... are you not feeling well?"

Sunoo's attention was fully on Jungwon, cupping the younger's cheeks and eyes glazed with worry and concern.

"I'm fine Sun, just enjoying the breeze. It's wonderful weather today and I'm just loving it"

"Hmm... didn't you have a project due today?"

Jungwon's eyes widened as he sort of forgot about it. With all the preparations for the anniversary, he forgot all about the project he had meant to finish almost a whole week ago.

"Yang Jungwon I hope you aren't going to fail any classes because of me-"

"Nonono of course not hyung!!"

Jungwon quickly grabbed both of Sunoo's hands and locked eyes, their brown orbs focusing solely on the other.

"I... I-I was just distracted! Not because of you don't worry, anyways I've almost finished it! Just have to do a bit more writing and I'll hand it in. Besides, I called in sick today so my prof won't ask for it until next week!"

Sunoo sighed and pulled Jungwon in for a tight hug. The younger melted into the hug and buried his face into Sunoo's neck. The hug was broken and Jungwon traced down Sunoo's arms to hold his hand and gave it a little squeeze.

"Let's head home before our dinner at the restaurant my mom booked for us, I have something to give you"

Sunoo chuckled softly as he let Jungwon lightly tug him away. They reached their apartment and Jungwon sat Sunoo down on the couch.

"I'll go get it so just wait here-"

"Bold of you to assume I didn't prepare something for you"

Sunoo interrupted Jungwon mid-sentence and the younger was stunned as Sunoo's fox features began to reappear. If Jungwon had learnt anything about Sunoo being a hybrid it's that his emotions were quite easy to read, not that Jungwon couldn't read his expressions before but sometimes made it clearer to him.

For example, if the tip of Sunoo's tail was flicking back and forth then he was either irritated or really bored to the point he began counting time. As for the current situation, his furrowed eyebrows and crossed arms over his chest told Jungwon that his boyfriend was quite irritated. Probably and most definitely because Jungwon had assumed Sunoo was careless enough not to gift his boyfriend something for their fifth anniversary together.

"Alright then let's go into our room then"

They both went into their shared bedroom and reached for the gift they had prepared. Both lovers were equally as nervous as they were excited. Nervous if the other would not like the gift but excited for the reaction.

They settled down at the edge of the bed, eying the wrapped presents each of them held. Jungwon's box was wrapped delicately in mint-coloured paper tied with a rich green ribbon. Sunoo's gift was very carefully wrapped in light blue tissue paper to preserve the odd-looking shape topped with a fancy blue ribbon to seal the look.

"So... you want to go first?"

"Mm sure, I'm quite curious as to what a box that small could hold"

Sunoo placed his gift beside him, laying it gently on the plush mattress. Jungwon handed him the box and the fox hybrid could not stop his instinct to sniff at it. The younger held back his laughter in favour of letting Sunoo enjoy the unwrapping.

The fox hybrid pulled the ribbon apart, peeling it away for the paper before revealing what the pretty paper was hiding. Sunoo's head tilted to one side as he gazed curiously at what he had just unwrapped. It was a small wooden box made of pine and it was obvious to Sunoo that Jungwon had worked on this for a long time. He set the paper aside and carefully opened the lid of the box, the contents making a small gasp escape his lips.

The reaction worried Jungwon. Did he like it? What if Sunoo decided it was too bad for him? Would he rather have Jungwon buy something instead? Questions rushed through Jungwon's mind and he could barely register anything as he looked down at his lap. Little did he know that Sunoo was on the verge of tears.

"Wonie!! You didn't tell me you've been learning how to make music boxes!"

Jungwon snapped his head up and finally realized that Sunoo was more than happy with the gift. The aforementioned music box was made by Jungwon using materials from his Uni's construction department as well as some aid from Jay and Jake who both study design. Jungwon himself studies music and arts so designing the box, making decorations and composing something was right up his alley. The actual construction of the box, however, needed to come from Jay and Jake.

"I had some help from hyungs of course... I've been working on it for a few months and I hope you like it"

That did it.

Sunoo looked absolutely offended.

"Like it? Jungwon, I love it!! Thank you Jungwonie I love you so much~~"

Jungwon chuckled at his boyfriend's dramatic response, amused and not surprised in the slightest. He knew his habit of under-appreciating his own work pissed Sunoo off and the older has told him to value his hard work more times than he can remember.

"Hmph, now I feel like my gift is not good enough!"

Well, that's not to say Sunoo didn't have that habit either...

"Don't say that hyung, I know you've been preparing this for as long as I have. I don't think I haven't noticed your disappearances from the cafe for the past month or two"

"It was only a few days