Chapter Text
"—You to see one of the new ones, one we got from that fighting arena I was telling you guys about."
Seungmin looked up as he heard the main door open and two pairs of footsteps coming toward him. As expected, Chan's face appeared in front of his door, but unlike usual there was someone else with him. He was just a little bit taller than Chan and his hair was a little longer. He was wearing thick rimmed glasses and he looked at Seungmin with wide eyes.
"This is Seungmin," Chan said to the other man. "The doberman, remember?"
"Hyung, this is the one that bit you…"
Chan sighed. "It's more complicated than that, Jisungie. He's scared, and he's got a good reason to be. Besides, it's not like it's the first time I've been bit by a dog."
The other man just frowned.
"Still, you need to be careful, hyung."
"I'm being very careful, baby. But come on, look at him. Isn't he cute?"
"He looks dangerous."
"Well, he is. But I'm working with him, I think I can get him to trust me at some point. And then we can move on to getting him to trust other people, and maybe he could even get adopted some day. I hope so, at least."
Jisung eyed him warily.
"You dream big, hyung. Please just be careful with him. I don't want you to get bit again, you're lucky it wasn't a very bad bite."
"I'll be just fine. Trust me Sung, I'll get through to him. I'm really starting to like him, actually."
They left shortly after that and Seungmin put his head down, thinking. Was that another employee? The other humans here usually didn't pay him any attention, but he was with Chan so maybe they were talking about him.
When Chan came back later, he sat down outside his room after filling up his water. He'd started using the bathroom outside after it was made clear that Chan wouldn't treat him any differently for making a mess, so it was one less thing the human had to do throughout the day.
Seungmin watched as Chan opened up his book again. He still hadn't touched his nice bed since he bit him, still had that ugly feeling in his chest. It felt a little weird having Chan sit outside his room after he'd been sitting on the inside with him for a while now. It's not exactly that he wanted Chan to come inside, but…maybe he wouldn't hate it like he did at first.
But suddenly Chan stood up, and Seungmin was expecting him to turn and walk away but instead Chan came closer and opened his door.
"Do you think I can come in here for a little bit, buddy?"
He lifted his head as Chan stepped inside and slowly sank down to the ground. He didn't close the door all the way, he kept it slightly open as if he were wanting a way to quickly exit the room if he needed to. Almost like he was scared of Seungmin when it was supposed to be the other way around.
"Hey, buddy," Chan said. "I'm just gonna sit right here, I won't come any closer."
They sat there together in silence for a while. Chan kept his eyes on his book and Seungmin kept his eyes on Chan.
The man still hadn't hurt him. Ever. Not even when Seungmin bit him. Chan was still here, being nice to him and giving him food and sitting inside with him, keeping him company.
And Seungmin found that he didn't really mind that company, not the way he had before. He didn't feel as tense around Chan as he used to, he wasn't as scared that the human was going to hurt him because if Chan didn't lash out after getting bit then…maybe he wouldn't lash out at all? If that were possible?
He raised his head and Chan glanced over at him before quickly returning to his book. Then Seungmin got up, and Chan turned to look at him again as he walked a couple steps forward to lay down in a new spot.
Like this, his butt was just barely brushing against Chan's knee and his back was turned to the man, something he hadn't let happen before. His eyes closed as Chan's fingers brushed against his fur lightly, hesitantly, but when Seungmin didn't growl or get up he kept petting him.
Seungmin gave a large sigh and his body relaxed a little, his chin squished against one paw. Chan continued petting along his back softly and Seungmin didn't mind the touch. It was almost…soothing? His eyes stayed closed even when he heard small movements behind him as Chan occasionally readjusted.
The human stayed in his room a lot longer than he ever had before until Seungmin was close to falling asleep, but he still didn't feel quite comfortable enough to do that. He was definitely more relaxed around Chan but he didn't want to be unconscious around him.
Eventually, someone else came into their area to feed the other dogs, but they stopped in front of Seungmin's door to look inside.
"Looks like you're making some progress, hyung."
"He moved here all by himself," Chan responded quietly. "Can you believe it? We went from biting to this in just two days."
"Maybe he was just having a bad day earlier," the other person shrugged. "Or maybe he's realized you're not going to hurt him."
"Maybe."
The other man moved on and Seungmin heard the excited barks of the other dogs as they got fed. He sort of needed the bathroom but he didn't really want to get up. Over time he'd moved backwards a little bit while adjusting so that his butt was pushed up a little firmer against Chan's knee.
When Chan finally got up Seungmin lifted his head and looked over his shoulder at him.
"I'm gonna go get you your dinner now, buddy," Chan told him. "Thanks for letting me sit with you."
Then he reached out a hesitant hand and pet Seungmin a little higher up on his body, in between his shoulder bones. Seungmin let him do it and Chan smiled before backing out of the room and going to get his little plastic cup which he used to fill up his food bowl.
Then he left for good, closing the door firmly behind him. Seungmin watched the door for a little bit (he wasn't sure why, but he thought maybe he was hoping Chan would come back and that thought scared him) and when Chan didn't come back he got up and used the bathroom outside before coming in to lay on his dog bed.
It felt nice after being on the floor for a while, and he sunk into the softness of it to settle down for the night. Maybe Chan would come sit inside his room again tomorrow instead of staying outside of it, and maybe Seungmin would let him pet him some more. Maybe.
🐾🐾🐾
Two days went past, and during both of them Chan came to sit inside his room. He always sat down in the corner closest to the door even though Seungmin had wondered if he would start trying to sit closer to him.
But he didn't, and he always waited for Seungmin to decide he wanted to be closer. Because shockingly, he did. It always took him a couple minutes, but both days he would crawl out of his dog bed (that he'd started using more regularly now) and go lay down near Chan's feet.
Then a hand would brush along his back and he'd tense for a couple seconds before allowing Chan to pet him. It was strange, because he wouldn't say that he felt comfortable around Chan, not exactly. But…he was no longer growling at him each time the human came into his space. His hackles no longer raised when he touched his back. He couldn't sleep while Chan was in the room but he could tilt his head away so that the human wasn't in his line of sight without panicking over it.
He still didn't like it when other people came past his door, since he always woke up to the sound of the main door opening and it was always unpleasant to see someone other than Chan. Just because this one human hadn't hurt him, that didn't mean his hate and mistrust of the rest of them had dimmed.
So he was very on edge when the next day Chan appeared to give him breakfast and there was someone else accompanying him. They even stepped inside with Chan and Seungmin couldn't stop himself from growling as the stranger entered his space.
"It's okay, Seungminnie. We're trying to see if we can get you used to having different people come in here, cause you can't just see me exclusively for the rest of your life."
Seungmin kept growling, not paying any attention to whatever Chan was saying. His eyes were locked on the second man as he filled up his food bowl (it looked like the same amount that Chan gave him but he was suspicious) and then quickly stepped outside again.
"See? That was it, all done."
Chan was the one to fill up his water and then the two of them left. His growling tapered off and he watched the door for a couple minutes more than he usually did before getting up to eat. From either side he could hear the dogs next to him barking and whining and Chan speaking to them. Doors were opening and he thought he could make out the second man speaking too because it didn't sound like Chan, and he waited until they walked past him again and left through the main door before going to his food bowl.
He sniffed it suspiciously before taking a small bite. It did taste the same as usual and even if it hadn't he would never give up food when it was placed in front of him so he finished his bowl as usual, licking it clean and then having some water.
He was not happy when Chan brought the other man back again later on in the day, especially when they both stepped inside again. Seungmin stood up and the person took a step back. They had the door open and Chan was standing a little bit in front of the new person.
"Can we come inside, buddy? Can we sit down with you?"
Seungmin was tense, and he growled louder when both men tried to lower themselves to the floor as if they wanted to sit with him, but it was a big enough deal to him that he could let Chan be in his space, he did not want anyone else in here.
So he barked and bared his teeth and moved forward like he was threatening to bite. Both men straightened up quickly and the stranger backed out his room but Chan hesitated by the door.
"Can I stay with you, Seungminnie?"
He was still tense when Chan tried to sit down again but he let it happen, keeping his eyes on the man standing outside his door.
"We'll try again some other time," Chan said, though he was looking upwards at the other human as he said it. "I think it's too early, he's clearly not ready yet."
The other person left and Seungmin relaxed a little as Chan settled down on the floor.
"That's okay, Seungminnie. We can keep going slowly with you. Actually, I brought you something."
Chan reached behind him into one of the pockets of his pants.
"I keep trying to think of different toys you might like. I've seen you sniffing your chew toys a couple times so I'm still hopeful you'll grow to like those eventually, but I wanted to try this as well."
From behind him he pulled out a stuffed animal. It was a little blue and white penguin that Chan placed on the floor in front of him.
"Maybe you want something a little softer? Please don't rip it up, though, cause I won't give you any more if you do that."
Seungmin was staring at the small penguin. There was a strange feeling in him that had arisen the moment Chan had pulled it out of his pocket, and something about it seemed strange but he couldn't put his finger on what it was.
He leaned his head forward and gently bit one of the wings of the penguin so he could drag it closer to him. It was soft in his mouth but he didn't bite down very hard, just enough to move it. He pulled it between his front legs and then looked back up at Chan, one wing still hanging from his mouth.
Chan was smiling brightly.
"You like it? I'll leave it here with you, then. Please don't ruin it, I don't want you eating its insides."
Then Chan was quiet, and he pulled his phone out like he often did when he sat with him. Seungmin didn't move any closer this time because he was still a little wary of someone else coming in but he didn't mind having Chan in here with him as long as he wasn't trying something stupid.
So he sat there staring at the penguin, trying to decide why it made him feel weird…it almost looked familiar? But he'd never had any toys at the fighting arena so he didn't know where he could've seen something like this before. Unless…
There was a sort of itch at the back of his brain as he continued staring at the penguin. Of course, he hadn't been born in the fighting arena. He'd had a whole life before he arrived at that place but—but…he didn't know what that life was. There had been no point in remembering his past as soon as he got to the fighting arena, it was almost easier to forget it because remembering a better life only made the one he was living more painful.
But there must have been something in that past life that was tugging at him, and he strained to remember what it was. Had he had a toy like this before? Back when he was a puppy, maybe?
He didn't have any memories of being a puppy, not that he could think of. When he really wracked his brain there were a couple flashes of images of someone laughing and the inside of a house and running around on—on…two feet. He used to run around on two feet.
Oh.
He didn't have any memories of being a puppy because he'd never been a puppy. He'd been a child. A human.
The realization—the remembering—freaked him out and suddenly he didn't want Chan in here. He didn't want to be around the man. So he stood up (still holding his penguin) and went outside.
For once there weren't any other dogs out in their own pens, maybe because it was hotter today than he remembered it ever being. He took his penguin to the far side of the fence and laid down with the stuffed animal between his feet again. If he hadn't been a puppy when he was younger, then that must mean he had some kind of similar stuffed animal when he was a boy. Something someone had given to him, maybe? A present?
He didn't know. All he did know was that once, he'd been a human. Maybe he'd even been a man, just like the ones he hated. It left a gross feeling in his stomach as he imagined being like one of them.
So he tried not to think about it. He was a dog now, he'd been a dog for years, and even if he knew how to be a human again he didn't want to. Because why would he want to be like them? Like the people who hurt him? Like…Chan.
Maybe years ago he'd been like Chan: nicer than most people. He wanted to believe that, so it was the last thing he thought about before he banished any thought of being human from his mind. Instead he stared blankly at the opening to his room wondering how long he should wait before going back inside.
It was hot out, so he didn't last much longer before getting up but when he slipped back in through the flap Chan was gone. Good.
He curled up on his dog bed with the penguin pressed against his side and didn't get up for the rest of the night, even though he had a very hard time falling asleep. His brain seemed more active than usual, more awake. Usually he didn't think about much, just when his next meal would be and when Chan would come back, but it was like his mind wouldn't shut off or shut up. He just kept thinking.
He thought he was trying to subconsciously remember anything he could. Memories that had been deeply suppressed even though he didn't want to remember him. But his brain was still trying to.
It was a restless sleep that he finally slipped into. There were different flashes of things he couldn't make sense of, images that passed by that seemed familiar but he couldn't quite remember. Somewhere in there was a penguin stuffed animal, though it was bigger and a different color to the one pressed to his side.
He woke several times during the night to pace around his enclosure, trying to shake off the funny feeling. He just wanted to forget again, to be blissfully unaware of the fact that somewhere hidden deep in his brain were the memories of someone he'd been before his life turned upside down. But now that he'd remembered again, it was very hard to forget.
🐾🐾🐾
He was tired the next day, so much that he was still half asleep when Chan came in to give him breakfast. Luckily he was alone today, no one else was trying to come into his space.
"Good morning, Seungminnie. Sleep well?"
No, he didn't. And he also didn't know how he knew that that's what Chan was asking him. The man didn't say much as he went about filling up his food and water bowls, just working in silence before leaving him. Chan didn't typically stay long in the mornings, he usually came to sit with him in the middle of the day or before he gave him his dinner so he wasn't expecting him to come back.
And he definitely wasn't expecting to hear noise coming from outside the rubber flap leading to his outside area and he rushed out there expecting to fight off another dog that had somehow found their way inside, but he stopped in surprise when he saw Chan standing out there.
"Hi, buddy," the man said cheerfully. He was holding a whole armful of what looked like large wooden planks and Seungmin watched him wearily. He didn't even know Chan was able to get in here…though now that he thought about it his poop seemed to mysteriously disappear each morning, so had Chan been coming in every day to clean up after him and he just hadn't noticed? Or was he doing it while he slept at night?
Either way, he was in here now and Seungmin sat down to watch him.
"I've been meaning to do this for a little while now," Chan told him. "I know you don't like other dogs very much and I noticed you don't really spend much time out here, probably because of your neighbors. So I came up with a little solution."
Chan started going about placing the wood planks against the fence separating him from the dogs on either side of him. At some point the dog on the left (the annoying yapper that was always trying to jump up) came out and Chan spoke to him for a little bit, sticking his fingers through the fence so the dog could lick at them but then he got back to work and when he placed the next plank up the dog was completely hidden from view. Even when it jumped up—and Seungmin could hear it doing just that—he couldn't see it.
Chan did the same thing along his whole fence, securing the planks with some kind of tie so that they wouldn't get knocked down. When he was done it was almost like he could pretend he was alone out here. The only place not covered by the planks was the door (that he hadn't even noticed before) but there weren't any dogs that he could see on the other side of it, just more grass.
He was a bit surprised when Chan sat down, mostly because he still wasn't used to having him in this outdoor space. And the fact that he'd put all this wood up and blocked him from the other dogs…it was nice of him. He was trying to figure out some reason he would, other than just wanting Seungmin to be more comfortable. But why would he want that?
But now Chan was sitting with him just like he did inside, and so after another minute of sitting and looking at him Seungmin laid down in the grass. He could go back inside to his dog bed (and now his penguin) but…he didn't mind being out here with Chan.
It was actually pretty nice sitting out in the sun. Especially without having to worry about the other dogs getting on his nerves and making him nervous, now that they were blocked from view he could relax a little more. He could enjoy the light breeze going through his fur and the warm grass under his chin.
Chan was talking to him. He did that sometimes instead of reading a book or going on his phone, just rambled out loud but Seungmin usually didn't give it much thought. He couldn't understand what he was saying so he usually let Chan's voice fade into the background and let him talk to himself.
Except today, he kept catching on to a couple words. He still didn't really know what Chan was talking about but sometimes he would say a word or two that was familiar, that he did know the meaning of.
Things like 'cooking' and 'mess' and 'funny'. Was Chan telling him a story? The more he listened and tried to pay a little attention more he realized that there were a couple words that Chan kept repeating. Like 'Felix', for example. Was Felix a thing? Another person, maybe? Someone Chan knew who was involved in whatever story he was telling?
There were a couple other names too but he struggled to hang on to them. They slipped his mind as soon as they entered it and it hurt his brain to try and understand more words so he stopped trying. He just let himself listen to Chan's voice without worrying about making sense of them and it was nice. So nice that he lifted his head in surprise when Chan suddenly stood up and he realized that the man had actually stopped talking a minute or so ago but he'd been so relaxed he hadn't even noticed. He almost felt close to sleep.
But he got up when Chan reached into his pocket and pulled out a treat. His hand extended hopefully towards him and Seungmin gathered his courage to go take it from him. His tongue brushed against Chan's palm as he took the treat gently and then accepted the second one that came right after.
It was a little scary like this because all the other times Chan had fed him treats it was while he was sitting and on the same level as him, but now the man was standing and he towered over him even though Seungmin was pretty big for a dog.
He glanced up nervously at Chan but the man was still wearing a big, broad smile on his face as he offered up a third treat. But then Chan's hand noticeably hesitated before reaching out slowly, and Seungmin didn't know what he was trying to do until his fingers brushed against the side of his head.
Seungmin took a couple steps back and grumbled (not a full growl, something a little quieter) and Chan didn't try to go after him. Letting the man touch his back and his butt and accepting treats from his hand was a little different from having his hand reaching for his face and he didn't want to allow that. Not yet, at least.
"That's okay, Seungminnie," Chan said. He was still smiling for some reason even though Seungmin had rejected his touch. "I'll come back later with dinner, alright? Maybe now you can start enjoying the outdoors since you won't be bothered by the others so much."
Then he left out the door and Seungmin took a couple steps forward to press his nose against it and watched Chan walk away until he was out of sight. He hesitated on going back inside, but it wasn't half bad out here now that it was more private so he decided to lay in the grass a little more and enjoy the sun until it started to set. He was outside long enough that his ears perked up and the sound of food being put in his bowl and Chan was indeed inside when he peeked his head through.
The human just smiled and waved before stepping out again and Seungmin barely waited any time to go eat but he paused when instead of turning away Chan crouched down to look at him through the door.
"I'm so proud of your progress, Seungminnie. You're doing really well, did you know that? It would just be nice if we could get you comfortable with a couple other people. And maybe we'll try going to the yard another time soon. Would you like that?"
Seungmin just cocked his head, one ear flopping to the side. He could tell Chan was asking him a question—he recognized the inflection in his tone—but he couldn't quite latch on to the words to know what he was asking.
Chan giggled when he cocked his head the other way.
"I'll take that as a 'maybe'. I wanna see if I can get you to run around a little, it would be good for you."
Then the human stood up and gave him one more smile before he left.
🐾🐾🐾
A couple more days went by as usual. He got breakfast, Chan came to sit with him, and he got dinner. The only difference was that now sometimes he would go lay outside instead of in his dog bed. There was still the occasional barking from dogs around him but it was definitely more peaceful out there now that he couldn't see them, and they couldn't see him.
The other day Chan had come back with a second person again—the same strange man from before—but like last time Seungmin growled at him when he tried to sit down in his enclosure with Chan and he left quickly. He was glad he could still intimidate people.
But one day Chan showed up with someone new. Someone blond, someone he hadn't seen before. And he was holding Chan's hand.
"Hi, handsome," the blond guy said, going right up to his door and crouching down in front of it. "I've heard a lot about you."
Seungmin watched him warily, but he stood up and when the door was opened only Chan stepped inside. He let go of the blond's hand and in his other hand Seungmin noticed a leash.
"We're gonna go back out to the yard, Seungminnie. But I thought maybe we could bring a friend with us. This is Felix, remember him? I've talked about him a bunch."
Felix, Seungmin thought, glancing over Chan's shoulder at the other man. He remembered hearing about Felix, or hearing his name a couple times at least. There were other names that Chan mentioned a lot but he couldn't think of what they were.
He let Chan come forward and slip the leash around his neck and tighten it.
"Come on, buddy. Let's try the yard again."
Seungmin was nervous as Chan guided him out of his room because the last time Chan had taken him somewhere on a leash it had been to a fight. It was surprising how much time they gave the dogs here between each fight because he'd only been in one and he'd been here a while now, but he wasn't complaining.
Still, this caught him by surprise and he quickly tried to get in the fighting mindset. They passed another dog on a leash and Chan stopped him, made his leash really short and stood slightly in front of him. He could tell the human was tense as the dog passed but Seungmin wasn't sure why. Did he think the dog was going to hurt him? But they weren't allowed to fight each other outside the arena so Seungmin wasn't sure why he'd be worried about that.
Chan opened the door right away and walked him in a little way without taking his leash off. He noticed that Felix had come into the yard behind them and he watched the man closely out of the corner of his eye.
"Go sit on the bench over there," Chan said while looking at Felix. "I'll join you in a second, I'm just gonna walk him around for a little bit."
"And you're sure he's not gonna just charge me or anything?"
"No," Chan said confidently. "He's never been aggressive out of the blue, only if you get in his space or with another dog."
"But he bit you…," Felix said nervously.
"He bit me because I tried to pet him a little higher up than I usually do," Chan said patiently. "But this is neutral ground, you'll be okay. He's probably gonna just sit on the other side of the yard though I hope he moves around a bit."
Chan walked him in a few circles around the yard while he was on the leash and Seungmin was a little confused about what they were doing but he followed along next to Chan. They passed Felix on the bench a couple times and Seungmin locked eyes with him each time before quickly looking away.
And then Chan stopped them in the middle, took off his leash, and went to go sit with Felix. Seungmin tensed up, watching the door very carefully waiting for the other dog to come out so they could start the fight.
But he waited…and waited…and no other person or dog came out of the door. He glanced back at Chan and Felix, confused, but the two of them weren't even looking at him. They were talking to each other and looking very engaged in their conversation, not paying him any attention.
Slowly he got up and he noticed Chan glancing at him before turning back to Felix, but when neither of them did anything else he started walking. He sniffed nervously around the perimeter feeling restless and tense. He slowed down when he got a little closer to the two humans, wary approaching them but when Chan noticed him looking he stuck a hand in his pocket and pulled out a treat.
"Treat, Seungminnie? You want it?"
Chan threw it to him instead of making him come over and Seungmin took the couple steps forward he needed to reach it. He was still on hyper alert, his ears pricked and waiting to hear the sound of the door open, but he took another few steps towards the humans when Chan threw another treat.
And then Chan handed one to Felix. He was a little more suspicious of that treat but Felix threw it a good ways away from him so Seungmin crept forward and ate it after a little sniff.
Felix did the same tactic that Chan often used on him. He threw a couple more treats each closer than the last one until he was standing just two feet or so away from the bench they were sitting on.
"Do you want another one?" Felix asked, holding a treat out in his flat palm. Seungmin thought he could see a slight tremble of his hand.
Chan straightened up when he took a step closer and Seungmin paused, but Chan only moved a little closer to Felix and one of his hands slid onto his thigh. He was watching Seungmin very intensely, more intense than he'd ever seen Chan look.
Chan almost seemed protective of Felix. Like he was watching Seungmin to make sure he wouldn't hurt the other man. It made him feel strange, because he didn't want to hurt them. He didn't want to hurt anyone, really. And he knew now that hurting Chan upset him (even if he was still a little reluctant to admit to himself that he maybe liked Chan better than other humans) and it was clear that Chan cared about Felix, so…he didn't want to hurt Felix either. He would if Felix hurt him first, or if he did something that scared him, but as long as Felix was only offering him yummy treats then he would behave himself.
He moved slowly as he approached Felix's hand and gave it a tentative sniff. He smelled a little bit like Chan, as if they spent a long time together. His tongue brushed against Felix's hand as he grabbed the treat quickly and then took a step or two backwards to put some space between them.
It was a little less scary getting close to him because he had so much open space behind him to run off to if Felix did something he didn't like. But Felix just sat back and smiled.
"He's cute, hyung."
"Very cute," Chan agreed. "When he's not growling, that is. But he doesn't do that too often now."
Cute. Seungmin picked up on the word, the human part of his brain recognizing it. They thought he was cute? Him? He definitely hadn't been called that in a long, long time, if at all. He was scary, he was intimidating, he was dangerous. That or he was a nuisance, something to be used for money.
There still hadn't been another dog let out through the door for him to fight. At his old place the fights were quick, and the dogs were almost always let out at the same time so it made him anxious that this was taking so long.
"He keeps looking at the door," Felix noted.
"Yeah, I'm not sure exactly what he's thinking about. Either he wants to go through it and go back to his room or he's scared another dog will come in like last time. God, that was such a disaster. Can't blame him though, he thought we were making him fight."
"Poor thing," Felix muttered. "I'm glad you found him, hyung. You're good for him."
"I just want him to trust me," Chan mumbled. He pulled a treat out of his pocket and offered it to Seungmin. It was easier to take it from Chan's hand.
"Go run around, Seungminnie," Chan urged him. "Stretch those legs a little."
Seungmin just looked at him. He wanted another treat.
Chan sighed and gave him one while Felix giggled.
"He's manipulating you already, look at those puppy eyes."
Chan grumbled something he couldn't pick up, and he only gave him two more treats before he held his empty hands up.
"No more, buddy. I'm all out."
No more, Seungmin thought. That meant Chan wasn't going to give him any more treats, right? He was pretty sure that's what those words meant so he stood up and walked away from the humans. He picked a spot in the middle and laid down facing the door.
But still, it didn't open. And he startled when he heard footsteps behind him and looked over his shoulder to see Chan approaching him with Felix trailing a couple steps behind.
"Let's go back, Seungminnie," Chan said. "I was hoping you'd move around some more but it seems like you're just gonna lay here and other dogs are gonna need to use this space soon."
Chan slipped the leash around his neck and Seungmin stood up, but he was surprised when Chan handed the leash to Felix who had come forward to stand next to them.
He tensed briefly, images flying through his brain of his leash being tugged and pulled so harshly that it choked him but Felix only took a small step forward and Seungmin moved with him so the leash didn't pull.
There was a gentleness to Felix that Seungmin could feel from the man. Not enough that he wasn't on his guard around him but the fact that Felix seemed to be a friend of Chan made it a little easier to believe that maybe he wouldn't hurt him. Because while Chan hadn't hurt him, he also hadn't let anyone else hurt him yet and for the moment he wanted to believe that would also apply to Felix.
He still tensed when they got back to his enclosure, wondering if Felix would try and come inside but the leash was handed back over to Chan and Felix stepped back against the wall while Chan took him in. The human brushed a hand against his back which Seungmin allowed and then produced one more treat from his pocket (so he'd been lying when he'd said he was all out before, Seungmin thought grumpily) and let Seungmin take it from his palm before stepping out.
"Good boy, Seungminnie," Chan told him.
Good boy. He knew what those words meant as well. They were the opposite of bad dog, which is what he was usually called. Mostly when he lost a fight, or had an accident in his kennel, or did anything else to upset the humans.
But Chan called him a good boy. So he'd done something right, but what? Was he calling him a good boy because he didn't hurt Felix? Or because he hadn't growled? He couldn't think of anything he'd done in the yard that would earn him praise simply because he hadn't done anything. They'd brought him back before he could even fight anyone.
He was still thinking about it when Chan and Felix walked away, those two words ringing in his head for several hours after they'd been said to him.