[036] Finding your Inner Animal

theme: o36. bathroom tiles
pair: Hankyung/Shiwon
rate:G
words: 1128
#: 3/100


Ryeowook wasn’t sure how it happened, or why it happened, all that he knew was that he woke up at four in the morning to use the bathroom, only to find himself in some type of menagerie. After quickly doing his business and a quick glance in the mirror, he stalked off towards the other bedrooms in the dorm. He stormed into the room Donghae and Kyuhyun shared.

“Kyuhyun - explain yourself!” he exclaimed, deciding on to scold the dongsaeng rather than the hyung.

“Eh?” Kyuhyun blinked at the sudden rush of light coming from the hallway into his dark room.

“The bathroom!” Ryeowook explained.

“Eh…” Kyuhyun muttered before digging his head beneath his pillow and promptly ignoring Ryeowook

Put off by the other’s attitude, he went off to the leader‘s room, knocking on it violently before entering,

“Hankyung - Kyuhyun did something to the bathroom!”

“Ni hao- rook.” Hankyung slurred as he weakly raised his head from his pillow.

“The bathroom!” Ryeowook exclaimed, “Kyuhyun did something, he must’ve of, he’s not answering me.”

Hankyung’s eyes widened as he remember what had occurred just twelve hours ago…

“I don’t understand why we can’t be like normal people and have white bathroom tiles,” Shiwon muttered as he crossed his arms, standing aside as Hankyung walked up and down the aisle, looking at various tile designs and colours. “I like white - clean, simple - doesn’t lead me to be dragged to a hardware store.”

Hankyung waved off his companion’s grumblings, “The entire dorm is white - we need some colour in there; besides an all-guys’ bathroom that’s completely white? That’s just asking for a huge cleaning bill.”

“How about this then?” Shiwon inquired, gesturing with flourish towards the coloured tiles behind him,

Hankyung paused and looked at them once before turning back and continuing his musings, “Solid colours are too plain - something with a design, give the dorm more character.”

“We’re looking at tiles for the BATHROOM - how much character do we need there?” Shiwon asked.

“Sometimes, you talk too much,” Hankyung said absent-mindedly as he walked over to a selection of tiles and gave them closer inspection as Shiwon expressed his reply with gestures rather than words. Hankyung sighed before stepping back again and pacing the isle the umpteenth time, “I’m close to calling Heechul and asking for his advice.”

Startled, Shiwon’s eyes widened, “Hyung, don’t ask Heechul - he’ll have us cover the bathroom in leopard-print tiles.”

Hankyung nodded, “You’re right, we can decide this on our own,” he looked at the tiles with cartoon animals beside him, “This one’s nice,” he said pointing to one with a mouse on it,

“For a nursery,” Shiwon stated,

“They’re cute, though,” Hankyung defended, “This?” He pointed to one with a pink bunny.

Shiwon shook his head, “No. But why did I think of Sungmin-hyung when I saw that?”

Hankyung shrugged as he pointed to another one, “This?” That time, he pointed to one with a cartoon drawing of a raccoon,

“A raccoon? Like Kangin-hyung?” Shiwon asked. They looked at each other for a moment before unanimously deciding ‘no’.

“How come we don’t have animal counter-parts?” Hankyung inquired as they moved on from the forgotten raccoon,

“You’d be a panda,” Shiwon said decisively,

“Because I’m Chinese?” Hankyung asked slightly defensively,

Shiwon raised an eyebrow towards him, “If that’s how you feel about it.”

“Who would want panda-themed tiles anyway?” Hankyung pondered as he looked through the animals to find his supposed counterpart. “See, there’s not even one for panda here.”

Shiwon perused the selection and then picked one off from the wall, “There’s this one. And I’d want panda-themed tiles,” he held the tile beside Hankyung’s face, “Perfect match.”

Hankyung blinked a moment before turning away, knowing that his cheeks had pinked from his friend's words.

“Hmm… hyung, how about we pick one each and then decide from there?” Shiwon finally suggested,

Hankyung nodded affirmatively, giving him a smile, “That’s why I asked you to come Shiwon, I know I can always trust your decisions,” he confided, patting him on the shoulder before beginning another pace about the aisle.

So for ten minutes both chose a tile to their liking and presented it to the other.

“I like this duck one,” Hankyung said, “Reminds me of Eeteuk.”

Shiwon shook his head, “I like this one with the goldfish, it’s like Donghae!”

“Duck!” Hankyung shook his head,

Shiwon’s eyebrows narrowed, “Fishy!”

“I’m the hyung - Duck!” Hankyung exclaimed,

“You said you trusted my decisions - Fishy!” Shiwon argued.

It wasn’t until an hour later they had finally calmed down and rationally decided which tiles to buy to decorate their bathroom with…

“Er-ah… Ryeowook, Kyuhyun didn’t do anything to the bathroom - that was Shiwon and I,” Hankyung admitted as he slipped out of his bed and headed to the bathroom, gesturing for Ryeowook to follow. Opening the door so they both could stand inside the door, Hankyung pointed to the various tiles in the bathroom, “A rabbit for Sungminnie, a duck for Teukie, a fish for Donghae, a raccoon for Kangin.”

“And a panda for Hankyung. We decided to choose animals that represent the other members,” a voice said behind them. The turned around to find Shiwon leaning against the doorframe yawning, a fish-shaped pillow in his arms as he opened his eyes sleepily, “Can you step out please so I can use the facilities?” Shiwon yawned, waving his arm towards the hallway for them.

After they complied and Shiwon firmly closed the door behind him, Hankyung headed back to his room, “Goodnight Ryeowook.”

“Ah - hyung, one more question,” Ryeowook said.

Hankyung looked back, “Hmm?”

“The tiles for the bathroom, to cover all of the walls you bought several each of the different animals,” Ryeowook said, “But how come I only saw one of the raccoon?”

“The raccoon is for Kangin; think about it,” Hankyung replied before disappearing into his room and noticeably locking it from intruders.

Ryeowook did think about it as he stood outside his bedroom. He thought about it even after Shiwon came out of the bathroom, retreating to his room while clutching his fish-shaped pillow. He even thought about it when Henry came home late from the dance studio, making a beeline for his bed, or as Zhoumi woke up to get a drink of juice, or Donghae came out of his room dressed in fish-print pajamas break dancing in his sleep until he collapsed onto the couch, or when Kyuhyun came out of his room, picked up Donghae and brought him back to his bed. He never did figure out the answer he sought, but he did come to the conclusion of never sending both Hankyung and Shiwon to pick out home furnishings