Chapter Text
“Saeyoung. What the hell is that thing.” Saeran said flatly.
It was difficult for Saeyoung to decipher Saeran’s tone when he spoke neutrally; in this case, it either meant “I don’t know what’s going on but I’m willing to try it out,” or “you’re a crazy bastard and I wish I was adopted so I wouldn’t have to share genes with you.” Based on the way Saeran eyed the machine Saeyoung was holding, he leaned towards the latter.
“It’s a robot dog, Saeran!” Saeyoung grinned and held it out to his brother. Saeran stared at him like he was handing him a bag of garbage.
“Why?” Saeran asked suspiciously.
“Welllll,” Saeyoung drew out the last word, mulling over how he can explain himself without getting punched by his adorable but kinda scary twin brother. “I figured you’d get bored of being cooped up in the bunker all day, and since I had some metal scraps lying around the workbench, I made you this little guy!”
He didn’t mention how he spent the last four days working on it; with Saeran, some things were better left implied.
Saeran scowled. “I don’t get bored.” He said defensively, crossing his arms. “I don’t need a hunk of metal to keep me company.”
Despite Saeran’s words, Saeyoung noticed how his eyes flickered towards the robot with a look of cautious interest. He fought back a grin. Bingo.
“Aw, too bad.” Saeyoung said, feigning sadness. “It’s okay, Sae, I get what you mean. Since you don’t want it, I guess I can—”
“W-what?!” Saeran stammered. “Hey, wait a minute! I didn’t say I didn’t want it, you moron! Give me that!”
He grabbed the robot from Saeyoung’s arms and ran off, but not before Saeyoung saw the blush on his face.
Saeyoung gave himself a mental high-five.
“I’m going to kill your brother.” Vanderwood said in complete seriousness.
If Vanderwood had been anyone else, he would’ve been dead before he even finished his sentence; as it were, Saeyoung merely blinked and looked up from his bag of Honey Buddha Chips. He tried speaking through the chips in his mouth, but since it only came out as intelligible gibberish, he swallowed and tried again.
“What’d he do?” Saeyoung asked.
Judging by the glare Vanderwood gave him, that wasn’t the question he wanted to hear.
“Oh, nothing.” Vanderwood said drily. “He just took apart my mop so he could play fetch with his damn dog.”
Saeyoung stared at him blankly. “Huh?”
Vanderwood’s eye twitched. “What part of that sentence didn’t you understand? Look, I know you’re not familiar with the concept of a mop, but some people use it to clean.”
Despite Vanderwood’s accusations, Saeyoung knew enough about cleaning to know why Vanderwood would be so pissed.
“Oh, so that’s why the bunker’s messier than usual.” He said simply.
Vanderwood’s eye twitched again. He opened his mouth to respond, but he was cut off by MC’s head poking out of the kitchen.
“I hate to say it, but I’m with Vandy on this one,” MC said. “Saeran’s dog has been stealing my shoes for the past five days. Don’t get me wrong, it was kinda funny the first time, but now it’s getting pretty annoying.”
Saeyoung gasped. “MC! You’re betraying me?!” He exclaimed, clutching his chest.
Now, MC was the type of person to roll with the punches; it was part of the reason they were a great comedy duo, and with their powers combined, they were able to pull hilarious pranks on the rest of the RFA members. That being said, MC’s only response to his dramatics was a sheepish shrug.
“I mean, I was two minutes late for an appointment with Jumin.” She said. “I didn’t get into trouble, but he kept on giving me these dirty looks—you know which ones I’m talking about, right?”
“Umm, depends. Was it his ‘I’m very disappointed in you, young man’ look, or his ‘the saints know what you did last night’ look?”
MC shook her head. “It was more like his ‘I saw what you did last night and I’m judging you very heavily right now’ look.”
“Whoa, that bad?” Saeyoung grimaced. “Okay, I’ll talk to him about it.”
“You?” Vanderwood snorted. “Please, you go easy on him as soon as he gives you puppy-dog eyes. How’re you going to make him stop?”
Saeyoung smiled mysteriously. “I have my ways.”
“Saeran, we need to have a talk.”
Saeran looked up. He was on his bed, lying on his stomach in front of his robot dog, who yipped in an obviously electronic voice. Saeyoung’s heart almost melted at the cuteness, but he sternly reminded himself that he had a duty to perform.
“What?” Saeran asked. He didn’t sound friendly, but he didn’t sound murderous either, so at least their conversation was off to a good start.
“I heard your dog was causing mischief.” Saeyoung said.
Saeran didn’t say anything for a moment, looking like a kid caught with his hands in the Honey Buddha Chip jar.
“... No, he didn’t.” He finally responded, shifting his eyes to the side.
“Saeran.” Saeyoung said in his best stern voice. “Did you reprogram your dog to perform that type of behavior?”
There was another pause.
“... Maybe.” Saeran admitted sullenly.
“Was that the only change you made?”
“None of your business.”
“Saeran.” Saeyoung said again.
“Fine.” Saeran huffed. “Maybe I reprogrammed him to act more like a normal dog. Seriously Saeyoung, why the hell was he able to breathe fire?”
“Hey, it was a good idea at the—” Saeyoung paused. “Wait, never mind. Why’d you do that in the first place?”
Saeran’s only response was more silence.
Then...
“… maybeI’vealwayswantedtohaveadogoracatorwhatever.”
It took a moment for Saeyoung to understand what Saeran mumbled; when he finally managed to piece it together, he was pretty sure his heart actually melted for real.
“Saeraaaaaaan!” Saeyoung cried as he practically pounced on his twin. Saeran responded by shrieking and flailing his arms.
“G-get off me, idiot!” Saeran successfully shook Saeyoung off him, his face as red as his hair. “Was that all you wanted to talk about?”
“Nope!” Saeyoung replied cheerfully. “I wanted to know how you did it!”
Saeran blinked. “... What?”
Saeyoung leaned in closer, a mischievous smile on his face. “If you’re willing to accept my proposal, I have a few pranks I’d like to try…”
For the next few days, MC wondered why her socks kept disappearing.
At her next meeting with Jumin (which she was fortunately on time for), he suspiciously asked if she knew anything about robotic dogs being sent through the mail.
“... What?” MC asked.
“A package with an unknown address was sent to my office,” Jumin said. “It contained a robotic dog that blew confetti out of its mouth and played… odd songs when you cranked its tail. I presume that you don’t know anything about it?”
MC laughed nervously.
“Nope. Nothing whatsoever.”