Step Out: Records | Stray Kids x Reader | Oneshots

Hyunjin - Dog Park

Heart almost beating out of your chest, you could do nothing but stare as Brownie take one step after another towards the person who held your fate in his slender hands. But wait, you can't afford to watch so carefully for fear of him tracing the present back to where it came from, so you urgently shuffled through your picnic basket for something to busy your hands with.

Havoc wreaked in the 8 seconds you tore your eyes away.

In that short span of time, his chihuahua had returned and somehow pounced on Brownie hard enough to steal and rip through your carefully-constructed parcel to shreds. Pieces of pink checkered fabric flew into the air as you sprung up from your cross-legged position.

He was there before you were at the sound of his little Tasmanian devil's high-pitched whine, playing (and losing) the tug of war with his dog. You lunged in before the crazed creature could run away with your care package and managed to tear it away - but not without smearing the chocolate all over your hands.

Immediately, you reached for a swath of fabric to wipe away what was left on the dog's snout. The adrenaline made you forget all about his presence behind you watching wide-eyed at what had just unfolded.

Your heart sank.

Standing there with your supposed present raggedly exposed in your chocolate-covered hands, you wanted nothing more than to sink into a gaping hole.

You didn't even notice when he'd started walking towards you, mistaking the crunching of grass for the sound of your heart shattering into pieces. A gentle tap on your shoulder was what caught your attention.

Your instinctive reaction was to profusely apologise: "I'm so sorry about this I didn't think the dogs would get to them I specifically tried to tie it up really well so they wouldn't be able to. I tried to wipe off whatever got on his snout but it looks like he didn't actually bite into or swallow the brownies he just kinda smushed his face into them anyway I'm more than willing to pay the vet bills if-"

"You made brownies?" He interrupted with a tone of pure curiosity, trying to peer into your hands.

You bashfully hid them behind your back with a nervous laugh. "Aha... you caught me."

A moment of awkward silence passed before it was broken by a "Hey! Brownie wait-" as you felt the parcel stolen from your hands by a familiar wet snout. You stared in astonishment for the second time that day as Brownie fulfilled her delivery job and plopped the shameful mess in front of its intended recipient.

"Is- Was this for me?"

"Y-Yeah, well, it was supposed to..." As much as you tried to help it, you couldn't stop your eyes from stealing glances of his mesmerising face under the sunlight. To your total surprise, a gigantic smile spread all the way from his lips to his crescent-shaped eyes.

"I know a friend who makes the best brownies," he says, so unexpectedly that it made your head snap up in curiosity as your golden retriever would. "Now I don't know if yours could have beaten his but," he paused then added with a smile, "I would've liked to be the judge of that."

You cleared your throat, wiping off the mess on your hand with the fabric you were still clutching for dear life. In an attempt to conceal the sheer excitement from your voice, you exhaled lightly, "I'd be happy to make you another batch."

"Really? I'd feel bad after all the trouble Kkami has caused today." He shot the said dog a piercing look with hands on his hips in a dramatic fashion which the latter took no notice of.

"Not at all," you said with a dismissive shake of your hands. "It's the least I could do to make you forget about this mess."

Brownie wagged her tail in a way that could equally be interpreted as apologetic or asking for head pats. He indulged her with the latter.

"The least you could do?" He raised an eyebrow. "Weren't you the one who'd been sending this big girl to send me all of those presents?"

"Oh..." There comes the heat again, clear as day and with nothing to hide it with. You shifted your weight from one foot to another. In all honesty, you never really thought it out this far when you crafted your oh so careful plan about the final delivery. "Those were all me, yeah."

The laugh he'd let out made you feel like you were being lifted on a cloud of feathers. All the embarrassment and shame washed away instantaneously.

"I never got to thank you for those. Oh yeah, and for Miss Brownie here keeping Kkami so busy recently. It seems he'd taken a liking to her. That rarely ever happens!"

Your heart nearly stopped beating. Just as you'd expected, his smile was stunning, and you couldn't help but return his sincerity with your own bewildered chuckle,

The said dogs meanwhile shook their coats in boredom, completely unaware of how this turn of events completely took you by surprise. It wasn't the last of it apparently.

"Oh! I nearly forgot." He smacked his forehead with an open palm. "I have something to show you."

After a short jog to his designated park bench, you watched as he picked up the canvas he'd been working on and held it to his chest.

"I thought I'd imagined all the times you glanced back at me while I sketched, but I guess I didn't," He said with a laugh, before pausing and handing you the painting.

Your breath hitched. In front of you was a watercoloured version of yourself in the park, complete with your sunglasses, sun hat, as well as the book you pretended to read all this time.

"After all the landscape paintings, I wanted to try my hand at something a little out of my comfort zone. Sorry if the portrait isn't exactly accurate," he said, rubbing the back of his neck bashfully.

Smiling, you held the painting to your chest as if he'd just told you his deepest secret. "I guess this means we're even now." Brownie barked triumphantly, seemingly satisfied with her own success. With newfound confidence, you surprised yourself by asking, "'Do you maybe want to go and have lunch together?' is what I think she means."

"I know a great cafe just around the corner. Shall we?" He reattached the leash onto Kkami.

You were filled with so much bliss on the walk over that you didn't realise you forgot to do something really, very basic until he said, "I can't believe it slipped my mind. My name's Hyunjin by the way."

And you were so blown away by his smile that you forgot all over again.