ki.

Not seriously, obviously. He loved his Evers. They were sweet, supportive, occasionally funny—and had a knack for teasing the absolute shit out of him whenever they got bored. He'd gotten used to it by now, for the most part. It was part of the job, really. He posted something, they made fun of him for it. He went live, they made fun of something else. He breathed incorrectly and somehow there'd be a compilation of it by the end of the day.

Unfortunately, they had apparently gotten very bored today.

It was otherwise a perfectly normal evening. Heeseung was curled up against you on the bed, one leg tangled lazily with yours beneath the blankets, his shoulder warm against yours as the two of you scrolled through your respective phones. Every so often, one of you would make some quiet noise at whatever you'd come across—a little laugh, a scoff, the occasional oh my god—but neither of you really felt the need to fill the silence. It was comfortable. Familiar. The kind of evening where absolutely nothing was happening, and neither of you minded.

Until Heeseung paused on a post and stared at his own face.

More specifically, it was a picture of himself with his cheeks puffed out mid-chew, his nose scrunched up and his eyes narrowed at whoever had dared to take a photo of him while he was eating.

Beside it was a hamster.

Heeseung stared at the two pictures for a long moment, his thumb hovering uselessly over the screen.

The hamster was doing the exact same thing.

Same puffed cheeks. Same beady little eyes. Same expression of profound irritation at having a camera shoved in its face while it was minding its own business. If anything, the hamster looked slightly less pissed off than he did.

Heeseung's mouth flattened.

The caption read:

why does heeseung look like this hamster 😭

Heeseung stared at it for a moment, his thumb hovering over the screen as he tried to understand what exactly his Evers found so fucking funny about this. Then he scrolled, only to find another one waiting for him. This time, it was a picture of him with his hair sticking up in every direction, looking particularly fluffy and particularly annoyed, next to a hamster that looked like it had just crawled out of a dryer.

same hair

Heeseung's nose wrinkled.

He scrolled again, hoping that had been the end of it. It wasn't. There was another hamster, another side-by-side comparison, and then another one after that. At this point, he was beginning to suspect his Evers had some sort of group chat dedicated specifically to finding rodents that looked like him. There was no other reasonable explanation for how they'd managed to find this many.

HE'S LITERALLY A HAMSTER same eyes same nose same face why does he keep making hamster expressions 😭 our hamster 🐹 HEESEUNG YOU'RE SO CUTE I'M SORRY

Heeseung's thumb stopped over the screen.

His mouth flattened.

“I'm not cute.”

You were still lying beside him, minding your own business and scrolling through your phone, when his voice made you glance over. “What?”

Heeseung shifted his phone a little closer to himself, which was probably answer enough, but he only shook his head.

“Nothing.”

You looked at him for a second, then at the phone he was very obviously trying to hide from you. Whatever it was, he clearly didn't want to explain it, so you gave him a small, unconvinced hum and went back to your own phone.

Heeseung did the same.

For about thirty seconds.

That should have been the end of it. It wasn't.

Heeseung scrolled again, and there it was: another hamster, this one sitting inside a tiny cardboard box with its cheeks puffed out and its eyes narrowed at the camera. He stared at it for a second before scrolling past, only to find another one—a hamster curled up beneath a blanket, looking so ridiculously cozy that he almost understood why someone had posted it in the first place.

Almost.

Another swipe brought up a hamster standing on its hind legs, staring directly into the camera with an expression that was, frankly, a little too familiar.

Heeseung's nose wrinkled.

He scrolled faster.

It didn't help. If anything, the Evers seemed to have doubled down in the thirty seconds he'd looked away. There were hamster comparisons everywhere now, some he'd seen before and others he was fairly certain had been dug up specifically for this occasion. Someone had even taken the time to make a collage.

Heeseung stopped.

There were six pictures. Six. He was beside a hamster in every single one.

He stared at the collage for a long moment before locking his phone with a little more force than necessary. “Ridiculous.”

You glanced over again. “What is?”

“Nothing.”

Your eyebrows pulled together, but Heeseung had already unlocked his phone and was scrolling again like he hadn't said anything at all. You watched him for another few seconds, trying to figure out what could possibly have him so irritated, before eventually deciding that whatever was happening on his screen wasn't your business.

So you went back to your own phone.

Heeseung kept scrolling beside you, increasingly convinced that his fans had lost their minds.

And, as far as you were concerned, that was that.

You let him have whatever weird little crisis he was apparently having with his phone and went back to your own scrolling, settling comfortably against his side again. The room fell quiet, save for the occasional sound of one of you shifting beneath the blankets or the soft tap of fingers against a screen.

Until a few minutes later, when Heeseung suddenly spoke again.

“Would you still love me if I were a hamster?”

Your thumb stopped.

For a second, you weren't even sure you'd heard him correctly. You slowly lowered your phone and turned toward him, only to find Heeseung staring straight ahead, his own phone resting loosely in his hand like he hadn't just dropped the most bizarre question you'd heard all day into the middle of a perfectly normal evening.

You stared at him until he finally looked over, apparently confused by your expression. “What?”

You blinked. There was no explanation, no context, not even the slightest indication of where the hell this had come from.

“...Is this like the worm question?”

“The what?”

“The worm question. You know, would you still love me if I were a worm?”

“No. Yes. I mean—” Heeseung frowned, apparently realizing that neither answer was helping his case. “Not exactly.”

“Heeseung.”

“Just answer the question, Y/N.”

There was something so genuinely serious about the way he said it that you had to bite the inside of your cheek to keep from laughing. You still had absolutely no idea where this had come from. One minute you'd been minding your own business, and the next your boyfriend was apparently conducting some kind of relationship stress test involving his hypothetical transformation into a hamster.

You stared at him for another second, trying and failing to make sense of it.

“Where did this even come from?”

Heeseung didn't answer right away. Instead, he held his phone out toward you with a small, distinctly pouty huff, apparently deciding that showing you was easier than explaining himself. There was something almost accusatory about the way he presented it, too, like you were supposed to look at whatever was on the screen and immediately understand why he'd been sitting there looking personally betrayed for the past ten minutes.

You took it from him.

The screen was still open to his Weverse, and it took approximately two seconds to understand.

“Oh.”

You scrolled through the posts he'd apparently been subjected to, your amusement growing with every swipe. There were enough hamster comparisons that you were beginning to wonder how long he'd been silently enduring this before finally deciding to involve you. The fact that he'd apparently been scrolling past them instead of simply closing the app made it even worse.

You pressed your lips together, but beside you, Heeseung huffed again, shifting further into the pillows until he was practically disappearing beneath them. “They keep doing this,” he complained. “Every time I open Weverse, there's another one. And they keep calling me cute.”

Your mouth twitched.

Heeseung caught it.

You immediately looked back down at his phone, suddenly very interested in whatever post happened to be in front of you. It wasn't even that funny. It was just—there were so many of them, and he was sitting there beside you genuinely offended by the entire situation, which made it significantly harder to take him seriously.

“They're so annoying,” he continued, clearly not finished. “Like, okay, one hamster. Fine. But why are there so many?”

You nodded solemnly, still staring at the screen. “Yeah.”

“And they keep saying I look like them.”

You bit the inside of your cheek.

“And then they call me cute.”

That nearly got you. You ducked your head, pretending to be particularly interested in the next post as your shoulders threatened to give you away. Heeseung went quiet beside you.

“Don't laugh.”

“I'm not.”

Heeseung gave you a look. “You're smiling.”

“I'm literally not laughing.”

“That's not what I said.”

Your mouth twitched again, and this time a tiny sound escaped before you could swallow it down. Heeseung's entire expression fell.

“See?” he said, looking genuinely betrayed. “You're laughing at me.”

“I'm sorry.” You bit your lip and tried to focus on his phone again, scrolling a little faster in the hopes that you'd somehow regain your composure. “I don't think it's funny.”

“You do.”

“I don't.”

“You are literally laughing at me.”

“I'm trying not to!”

“That's not helping.”

There was a genuine note of betrayal in his voice now, like he'd spent the last ten minutes being relentlessly bullied by his own fandom only to finally seek refuge beside his girlfriend and discover that she was apparently no better.

You looked at him then, and that was a mistake too.

He was sulking properly now, sinking further into the pillows with his arms folded loosely across his chest, his mouth pulled into a deep pout. His brows were still pinched together, and somehow the more offended he looked, the harder it became to take him seriously—especially when he was making the exact same expression as half the hamsters currently plastered across his Weverse.

You immediately looked back down at his phone, your shoulders shaking as you tried not to laugh.

“Y/N.”

“I’m sorry,” you said, barely holding it together. “I'm trying.”

“You're supposed to be on my side,” Heeseung murmured, crossing his arms with a tiny indignant huff.

“I am on your side.”

“Then why are you laughing?”

“Because—” You had to stop and press your lips together, fighting to get yourself under control. “Because you're being cute.”

His face scrunched even further, his pout becoming almost comically pronounced. “I don't want to be cute. They're calling me cute, you're calling me cute, everyone's calling me cute.” He sounded genuinely aggrieved now, like this had somehow become a coordinated attack against him and you were supposed to be helping him defend himself.

You finally looked at him again. He looked miserable.

It was almost sweet.

Almost.

“Baby,” you said, fighting another smile, “you're being bullied by hamsters.”

Heeseung's eyes widened in immediate offense. “I'm being bullied by my fans. And now you're joining them.”

“Right. Sorry. I said I'm sorry.”

“You're still laughing.”

“I can't help it!” You tried to get yourself together, but the more wounded he looked, the harder it became. “I'm not laughing because you're upset. It's just—”

“It's just what?”

You pressed your lips together. Heeseung stared at you, waiting.

“Nothing.”

“No, say it.”

“I don't think you want me to say it.”

“Y/N.”

You looked at him.

“You really do look like the hamsters.”

He gave you one last deeply wounded look before turning away, shifting down into the pillows until his back was to you. He pulled the blanket higher over himself with another quiet huff, the whole thing so deliberately sulky that you had to wonder if he was actually expecting you to believe he wasn't.

You stared at the back of his head, your smile creeping back despite yourself.

“Are you sulking?”

“No.”

The answer came so quickly that you almost laughed again. “You are.”

“I'm not.” He tugged the blanket a little higher, leaving only the top of his head visible. “I'm not talking to you.”

You bit your lip, trying to give him the dignity he clearly believed he'd lost somewhere between the hamster comparisons and your laughter.

“Okay.”

He stayed quiet. You looked down at his phone still sitting in your hand, then back at him. His shoulders were perfectly still, which might have been more convincing if you couldn't see the tiny bit of his pouty cheek sticking out above the blanket.

You were just starting to scroll again when his muffled voice came from beneath the covers.

“Or my Evers.”

That did it.

You folded over with a laugh, and Heeseung immediately groaned into the pillow.

“Y/N.”

“I’m sorry!” You could barely get the words out. “I'm sorry, I'm sorry—”

“Give me my phone.”

That only made you laugh harder. You couldn't help yourself.

You shifted closer, peering over his shoulder at the little bit of his face he'd left uncovered. He was still stubbornly turned away from you, the blanket pulled nearly to his chin, but there was something about the way his cheek was all puffed up in a pout that made resisting impossible.

“Awwww,” you cooed, dragging the word out just to make it worse. “Is my little Ham-hee sad because I said he looks cute?”

Heeseung made a low, miserable sound into the pillow.

That only encouraged you. You nudged yourself closer, smiling when he refused to look at you. “Does my little hamster boyfriend need some reassurance? Maybe a little kiss?”

“I’m waiting for an answer.”

You paused, then laughed under your breath. “Oh my God. You’re still on that?”

“You haven’t answered me yet.”

“I thought you were mad at me.”

“I am.”

“And you’re still asking me if I’d love you as a hamster?”

He finally turned his head enough to glare at you, his hair all mussed from the pillows and the blanket still tucked stubbornly beneath his chin. “Those things aren’t related.”

“They feel pretty related.”

“Y/N.”

You laughed again, reaching over to tug the blanket down just enough to uncover his mouth. “Okay, okay. What was the question again?”

Heeseung eyed you suspiciously, already looking like he regretted giving you another opportunity to make fun of him.

“Would you still love me if I were a hamster?”

You made a show of thinking about it.

His eyes narrowed. “Don’t.”

“What? I’m thinking.”

“You’re smiling.”

“Because you’re cute.”

His entire face scrunched up again, and you immediately broke into another grin. “See?” You reached over and poked his cheek. “My whittle Ham-hee is sad.”

“Stop calling me that.”

“Ham-hee.”

“Y/N.”

“Ham-hee.”

Heeseung caught your hand before you could poke him again, trapping it against his chest as he gave you a long-suffering look. He was still sulking, still visibly offended, and somehow still more concerned about getting an answer to his ridiculous question than anything else that had happened in the last ten minutes. “Can you just answer the fucking question?”

You finally gave in, because apparently this was something he genuinely needed to hear before he could let the matter go.

“Yes, Heeseung. Obviously I'd still love you if you were a hamster.”

His expression softened almost immediately, though he tried very hard to hide it behind the remnants of his pout. “Obviously?”

“Yes, obviously.” You squeezed the hand he'd still been holding against his chest, smiling when his fingers finally loosened around yours. “I'd love you if you were a hamster. I'd love you if you were a worm. I'd probably even love you if you were one of those ugly hairless cats you hate.”

“I don't hate them.”

“You said they look like they've been through something.”

“Because they do!”

You laughed, giving his hand another little squeeze before settling back against him. “There. You have your answer. Can you stop sulking now?”

Heeseung tried to hold onto his pout for another second, like he wasn't quite ready to let you off the hook just because you'd finally given him the answer he'd been fishing for. He still looked vaguely offended, his brows drawn together and his mouth turned down, but there was already something softer underneath it now that he'd gotten the reassurance he wanted.

“Still mean,” he muttered, though there wasn't much conviction behind it anymore.

You smiled, unable to take him seriously when he was looking at you like that. “Oh, are you?”

“Yeah.”

“Poor baby.”

“Don't.”

You leaned in before he could come up with anything else, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek.

It was almost embarrassing how quickly it worked.

The pout disappeared like you'd wiped it away yourself. His eyes crinkled, and despite his very obvious attempt to keep looking offended, the corners of his mouth betrayed him almost immediately. Heeseung tried to hold it back, but there was only so much he could do when you were already smiling at him like you'd caught him in the act.

You pulled back just enough to see it. “Awwww, there we go.”

Heeseung's smile widened before he could stop it, his cheeks lifting as he looked at you. “What?”

“You're not sulking anymore.”

“I am.”

“You're literally smiling, Hee.”

“I am not.”

You laughed softly, reaching up to smooth down the hair you'd mussed up when you'd kissed him. “Sure.”

Heeseung tried to flatten his mouth again, but it was already too late. He was cheesing now, cheeks lifted and eyes bright as he looked at you, though he still had the audacity to look mildly offended about being caught, like his own face had betrayed him without permission.

“Can I have another one?” he asked, the question coming with absolutely no shame now that he'd gotten the first one.

You stared at him, and his smile only widened beneath the attention.

“Wow,” you murmured, looking at the very same boyfriend who had been acting like his life was over approximately thirty seconds ago. “So much for being upset.”

“I'm still upset.”

“Of course you are.”

“Y/NNN,” he whined, looking at you with those big, pleading eyes that he seemed to know worked far too well on you. “I'm being bullied.”

You rolled your eyes, but you were smiling as you leaned in to kiss him again. He met you halfway this time, apparently having abandoned whatever dignity he'd been defending in favor of getting exactly what he wanted.

You pulled back just enough to smile at him. “There you go, my little Ham-hee.”

Heeseung's smile immediately faltered. “Don't.”

You laughed, already knowing you were going to do it again. “Ham-hee.”

“Y/N.”

“Ham-hee.”

“I swear to God, I'm going to start sulking again.”

That only made you laugh harder, and Heeseung gave you a deeply unimpressed look before finally giving up on pretending he was actually annoyed. He shifted closer instead, tucking himself against your side and pulling the blanket back over both of you.

“Mean,” he mumbled, though there was no bite behind it anymore.

You smiled, wrapping an arm around him and letting him settle comfortably against your chest. “My poor Ham-hee.”

“I'm actually going to sulk.”

“Okay.”

“And I'm not going to talk to you.”

“Okay.”

“And you won't get another kiss.”

You laughed quietly, smoothing a hand over his hair. “Go to sleep, Hee.”

He grumbled something under his breath that you couldn't quite make out, but he didn't move away. If anything, he tucked himself closer, one arm slipping around your waist as you both settled beneath the blankets.

Within minutes, the room was quiet again.

And just before you drifted off, you felt his fingers give your waist a sleepy little squeeze.

“...Still mean,” he murmured.

You smiled into his hair.

“Goodnight, Ham-hee.”

Heeseung woke up to white.

Not the ceiling, not the walls—just white. It was everywhere, filling his entire field of vision, and for several long seconds he lay there in a foggy half-sleep trying to figure out why the hell his bedroom had apparently been replaced by a blank sheet of paper.

He shifted beneath it, or at least tried to. Something was covering him, and he frowned, still too sleepy to properly process the sheer weight of it. The comforter had never felt this heavy before. Usually, he could kick it off without even thinking about it, but now it seemed to have settled over him like some enormous fucking blanket fortress, pressing down from above and trapping him beneath its warmth.

What the hell?

He tried to move again, pushing against the fabric with what should have been an easy shove, but nothing happened. The blanket barely moved. Heeseung's brow furrowed as he tried to convince himself that maybe he was still half asleep, then pushed harder just to be sure.

The comforter shifted a fraction, dragging heavily over him before settling right back into place. Heeseung huffed internally, already beginning to feel irritated, and tried to wriggle his way out instead. It was awkward. Everything felt awkward. He couldn't seem to get enough leverage to properly sit up, and the more he struggled, the more the blanket seemed to weigh him down.

And where the hell was his pillow?

That was the next thing he noticed. He couldn't feel it beneath his head at all, which was strange enough to pull him a little further out of his sleep-fog. His pillow was gone, his comforter was apparently trying to kill him, and—

Where was Y/N?

He couldn't feel you beside him.

That finally made him go still.

The sleepiness was beginning to peel away now, replaced by a slow, creeping confusion that made absolutely no sense. He couldn't feel the mattress beneath him properly, either. Everything around him felt strange—too soft, too warm, too—

Big?

Heeseung blinked beneath the white expanse, suddenly much more awake than he'd been a moment ago. Where were you? Where was his pillow? And, more importantly, where the hell was he?

He tried again, putting more effort into it this time, and finally managed to shove his way forward. Whatever was covering him shifted with him, dragging heavily over his body and making the whole process significantly more difficult than it had any right to be.

What the hell was happening?

He pushed harder, wriggling and shoving until, with one last desperate effort, he finally broke through. The sudden lack of resistance sent him tumbling forward, and he landed unceremoniously on something soft.

He stayed there for a moment, breathing heavily, his mind still trying to catch up with what his body had apparently just accomplished. Okay. That had definitely woken him up.

Heeseung slowly lifted his hands, then frowned.

Something was wrong.

He stared at them for a moment, waiting for his sleep-addled brain to correct whatever it was seeing, but they remained exactly the same. They were tiny. Not slightly smaller than usual, not wow, I must still be half asleep smaller.

Tiny.

His fingers were gone. In their place were little paws.

Heeseung stared at them, his brain seemingly stalling somewhere between confusion and outright refusal to process what was happening.

No.

That wasn't—

He scrambled backward on instinct, immediately discovering that four tiny legs were significantly less useful than two human ones when you're having what could reasonably be described as a full-blown existential crisis. His paws slipped against the surface beneath him, sending him stumbling sideways before he managed to catch himself.

Heeseung froze.

For a few seconds, he didn't move at all. He just stared down at himself, his tiny paws planted against the surface beneath him as his brain desperately tried to make sense of what he was seeing.

There was fur where there absolutely should not have been fur.

Orange fur covered his little body, broken up by patches of white along his belly and chest. His limbs were short. His paws were tiny. Even his entire body looked wrong—round and compact in a way that made something cold settle in the pit of his stomach.

His gaze dropped to his paws again, as if looking at them a second time might somehow make them human.

They didn't.

He turned one over, then the other, his breathing growing faster as he stared at the tiny little pads underneath. His eyes darted over the rest of his body, taking in the fur, the stubby limbs, the ridiculous roundness of his stomach.

No, no, no.

This wasn't happening.

He scrambled backward, nearly tripping over himself in the process, then looked down again as if sheer desperation might somehow force everything back into place. It didn't.

His heart was pounding now.

He tried to remember the last thing he had done before going to sleep. His room. His bed. Y/N beside him. Everything had been normal. Completely, painfully normal.

So why the fuck did he have paws?

Heeseung's head snapped from side to side, searching the room for something—anything—that could explain this. Maybe he was dreaming. Maybe he had hit his head. Maybe—

His gaze dropped back to his tiny body.

Oh, God.

He was a fucking hamster.

His mouth fell open in horror.

"Squeak!"

Heeseung recoiled, staring into the empty space in front of him. That came out of him.

He had just—

Slowly, he raised one paw to his mouth.

No.

Absolutely not.

He tried again, quieter this time, as though there was any chance that would somehow make a difference.

“...Squeak?”

His ears flattened.

Oh, this was humiliating.

Heeseung clamped both paws over his mouth, as if that could somehow undo the sound he'd just made. His heart was still hammering, but now there was an entirely different kind of horror creeping in beneath the panic.

He couldn't talk. He couldn't even scream. He could only fucking squeak, and somehow that was humiliating enough to cut through the panic for a second. Heeseung slowly lowered his paws and looked around, only to realize something else was horribly, horribly wrong.

The room was enormous.

The bed stretched around him like a landscape, the edge of the mattress suddenly impossibly far away, while the nightstand and everything sitting on it towered above him. Nothing had changed. The room was exactly the same as it had always been.

He was just tiny.

And then, somewhere behind him, the mattress shifted.

Heeseung whipped around.

A sleepy groan came from beneath the comforter, as you stirred in your sleep.

His entire body went rigid as your arm slipped out from beneath the blanket, your hand wandering sleepily across the sheets in search of him. Your fingers brushed over the empty space where he'd been lying only minutes ago, then kept moving, feeling around for him as you mumbled his name under your breath.

“Hee...?”

Your voice was thick with sleep, and something in Heeseung's chest clenched at the sound. You were looking for him. You had no idea where he was, and somehow that was enough to send him scrambling toward you, his tiny paws slipping against the sheets as he desperately tried to get closer.

“Squeak! Squeak-squeak!”

The sound came out high and frantic, nothing like his voice and yet somehow the only way he could tell her I'm right here.

Your hand stopped, and Heeseung froze with it, staring up at you as the silence stretched between the both of you. Your fingers slowly curled into the sheets, and for one horrible second he couldn't tell if you'd heard him at all. He squeaked again, louder this time, scrambling a little closer as if sheer volume could somehow make up for the fact that he no longer had a human voice.

“Squeak!”

Y/N. It's me. I'm right here. Please don't fucking crush me.

You slowly pushed yourself upright.

Your hair was a mess, your eyes barely open, and for several seconds you looked like you were still somewhere between sleep and consciousness. You rubbed at one eye with the heel of your palm, blinking blearily into the dim room.

Then your gaze drifted toward the other side of the bed.

You stopped.

There was a little furry creature sitting exactly where Heeseung should have been.

You stared at it.

The creature stared back.

It was small. Ridiculously small, actually. Orange fur covered its round little body, with white patches around its face and chest. Its ears were perked up, its tiny paws planted anxiously against the sheets, and its dark eyes were wide with what looked suspiciously like absolute fucking terror.

You blinked sleepily at the little orange hamster sitting on Heeseung's side of the bed.

The hamster blinked back.

Something about that face looked familiar.

You tilted your head, and after a second, the hamster tilted his right back at you. Your brows pulled together as you squinted at him, taking in the tiny ears, the round little face, and the unmistakable expression of someone who looked like he was about three seconds away from losing his fucking mind.

“Hee...?”

The hamster went completely still.

You leaned forward, eyes narrowing as you studied him through the last remnants of sleep. He stared back at you, ears twitching nervously, and somehow the longer you looked, the more obvious it became. There was something familiar about the way it was looking at her. You studied the little face more closely, squinting as you tried to figure out why those dark eyes seemed so strangely recognizable. It wasn't just the face, either. It was the way it stared at you, the way his ears twitched whenever you moved, and that increasingly desperate expression that somehow felt so familiar.

You frowned, leaning a little closer as the pieces slowly started falling into place.

That expression.

Those eyes.

And the way he was looking at you like you were supposed to know exactly who he was.

Oh.

“Heeseung?”

His mouth fell open.

“Squeak!”

Your sleepy face immediately lit up.

“Oh my God.”

Heeseung scrambled toward you, squeaking frantically as if he'd been waiting his entire life to hear those words.

“Squeak! Squeak-squeak!”

“I knew it was you.”

Heeseung stopped, staring up at you in genuine disbelief. Of all the possible reactions he'd been desperately preparing himself for, that had not been one of them. When you reached toward him, he instinctively shuffled backward, his tiny paws slipping against the sheets until your hand paused between you.

You looked at him, and he stared right back.

“...It's really you, isn't it?”

Heeseung gave you the most deeply offended look his tiny hamster face could possibly manage before

answering with a small, indignant “squeak.”

Your mouth fell open.

“Oh my God. It is you.”

“SQUEAK!”

“Okay, okay!” You immediately lifted both hands, suddenly much more awake. “I'm sorry. I'm sorry.”

Heeseung's tiny chest heaved as he glared up at you, and for a moment, you seemed to genuinely be trying to compose yourself. You really did. Unfortunately, the corners of your mouth started twitching again.

“No way,” you whispered, staring at him.

Heeseung's eyes narrowed, his tiny furry body sizing up as if to say, Don't.

“You're a hamster.”

“Squeak!”

“You're actually a hamster.”

“SQUEAK!”

That finally broke you. You slapped a hand over your mouth, shoulders shaking as you tried—and failed—to hold back your laughter, while Heeseung's ears flattened in growing offense.

You finally managed to get your laughter under control, though the grin on your face was still unmistakable as you carefully scooped him up between both hands.

Heeseung immediately stiffened.

“Okay, come here and let me look at you.”

You brought him closer, turning him slightly between your palms as you examined his tiny face. Heeseung squirmed, but your hands were gentle enough that he couldn't really get away, leaving him to sit there and endure the humiliation of being inspected like some particularly interesting pet.

Then your eyes widened, and the grin on your face only grew as you brought him closer for another look. “Oh my God. You actually do look like those hamsters Evers were comparing you to.”

Heeseung's ears twitched.

You were already laughing again as you turned him slightly in your hands, examining his little face from every angle. “Remember last night? You showed me all those posts on Weverse because you were so offended? I thought they were exaggerating, but—” You broke off with another laugh, staring at him. “They really weren't.”

Heeseung's expression darkened.

You were still smiling when he leaned forward and nipped your finger.

“Ow!”

You recoiled on instinct, and your hands opened before you could stop them.

Heeseung dropped onto the mattress with a tiny, startled “SQUEAK!” before rolling onto his side. His little legs kicked uselessly for a second as he struggled to right himself, finally managing to flip back onto his paws with what little dignity he had left.

You stared down at him as he finally managed to right himself, his little paws planted firmly against the mattress while he looked back at you with absolutely no trace of remorse. Your eyes narrowed as the realization slowly settled in.

“Did you just bite me?”

Heeseung's nose twitched, but he made no attempt to look apologetic. If anything, the way he sat there staring up at you made it painfully obvious that he would do it again.

You kept glaring at him for another second before your expression shifted into something closer to disbelief.

“You're really still you.”

Heeseung's ears only twitched in response.

You were still glaring at him when your gaze dropped to his tiny body, lingering for a second before flicking back up to his face. Heeseung followed your eyes, then slowly looked down at himself as the same realization seemed to dawn on him.

There were no clothes.

He stared at his little furry body for a long moment before looking back up at you.

Your lips twitched. “Wait. You don't have clothes.”

“Squeak.”

The sound came out noticeably quieter, and you had to press your lips together to keep from laughing. “Oh my God.”

Heeseung immediately turned away from you, apparently deciding that if he couldn't see the problem, the problem didn't exist. That only made you laugh harder as you reached toward him.

“I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but—”

He scrambled away, his tiny paws skittering uselessly against the sheets as you followed.

“Come here.”

Heeseung immediately shuffled backward, his tiny paws pressing into the sheets as he eyed your approaching hand with deep suspicion. When you reached for him again, he let out an indignant “squeak!”

“No, I'm not going to do anything. I just want to look at you.”

The look he gave you suggested he didn't believe a single word of that, which only made you grin. “Okay, maybe I want to take a picture.”

His ears shot straight up.

The second your hand moved toward your phone, Heeseung bolted. “Hey!”

He tore across the mattress as fast as his tiny legs could carry him, disappearing behind a fold in the blanket while you scrambled after him with your phone already in hand. “You cannot seriously be running away from me right now.”

“SQUEAK!”

You were laughing too hard to sound remotely apologetic as you followed him across the sheets. “I'm sorry, but Evers are never going to believe me.”

Heeseung stopped so abruptly that his little paws slipped beneath him, and he had to scramble to catch himself before slowly turning around to face you. You lowered your phone, and the look on his tiny face made you smile.

“Oh.”

He stared at you, eyes wide and wary, already seeming to know exactly where this was going.

“You know what I'm thinking.”

His ears twitched as he gave you a suspicious look.

“Squeak.”

“Exactly.” You smiled wider. “You're going on Weverse.”

“SQUEAK!”

He took off again, tearing across the mattress in a frantic blur of orange and white as you burst out laughing and scrambled after him.

“HEESEUNG, COME BACK!”

“Squeak! Squeak-squeak! Squeak!”

“I'm not even going to say anything!” you called after him, barely managing to keep your phone steady. “I'm just posting the picture!”

He whipped around so quickly that he nearly rolled onto his side, staring at you in absolute horror. You were crying laughing by then, barely able to get the words out when you finally managed, “You're so dramatic.”

“SQUEAK!”

“You're literally a hamster. What are you going to do about it?”

Heeseung stared at you, his tiny chest rising and falling as though he were genuinely trying to come up with a solution. Unfortunately, there was only so much he could do when he'd been reduced to a hamster with no opposable thumbs.

His nose twitched before he gave you one last, deeply offended “squeak.”

You stared at him for another second, his tiny chest still rising and falling from his little hamster sprint. Then you sighed. “Welp. I'm gonna make breakfast now.”

You started climbing out of bed, and Heeseung immediately perked up. The second your feet touched the floor, he scrambled after you, tiny paws skittering across the sheets as he let out a frantic, “Squeak! Squeak-squeak!” You turned back just in time to see him reach the edge of the mattress and stop dead. He looked down at the floor.

Then he looked back at you, his tiny paws planted firmly at the edge of the mattress.

Oh.

Right.

You were beginning to understand the problem.

“You can't get down, can you?”

“Squeak!”

“Yeah. Thought so.” You bit back a smile as you stepped closer and crouched in front of the bed. “Okay, okay. Don't look at me like that.”

He immediately squeaked again, louder this time, and you held out your hands. “I know. I know. Come on.”

Heeseung stared at your palms with deep suspicion.

You stared back. “What?”

His nose twitched.

“Heeseung.”

Another squeak.

You wiggled your fingers encouragingly. “You literally have no other way down.”

That seemed to offend him more than it should have. His ears flattened as he shuffled backward, like he was genuinely considering whether there might be another solution you'd somehow overlooked.

You raised an eyebrow. “Yes, I know you have legs.”

“Squeak!”

“Four, actually. Very impressive. Congratulations.”

You held both hands out toward him, palms up. “Okay. Come here.”

Heeseung stared at them, then at you, then back at your hands. His little nose twitched as he shifted from one paw to the other, clearly having absolutely no intention of making this easy for either of you.

You narrowed your eyes. “Hee.”

“Squeak.”

“I'm not gonna hurt you. Just get in.”

He hesitated before finally inching forward, one tiny paw at a time. The second his front paws touched your palm, though, he started fidgeting again, turning in a nervous little circle as if he couldn't figure out where he was supposed to put himself.

“Hey, hey. Keep still.” You brought your other hand around him, trying to make a little cradle out of your palms. “You're gonna make me drop you.”

That was apparently the worst thing you could have said.

Heeseung's entire body went rigid before he immediately started squirming twice as hard, tiny paws scrambling against your skin as he tried to find some kind of escape route.

“Wait—no, no, no.” You tightened your hands instinctively, careful not to squeeze him. “I didn't mean—Heeseung, stop moving!”

“Squeak! Squeak-squeak!”

“I'm trying to hold you!”

He only wriggled harder.

You stared down at the tiny rodent currently fighting for his life in your hands, and a very specific kind of frustration settled over you.

This was your boyfriend.

Your boyfriend, who had spent last night whining about being compared to hamsters, and who was now quite literally a hamster and apparently incapable of sitting still for five fucking seconds.

“Why are you being so fussy?” you demanded, trying to adjust your grip without accidentally squishing him. “I'm trying to help you!”

“Squeak!”

“I know you're scared, but you're making this worse.”

Another frantic squeak.

You closed your eyes for a second.

“Oh my God.”

You finally started lowering him, already mentally preparing yourself for the world's most ridiculous morning commute. Sure, he could follow you to the kitchen, but he was tiny. You'd probably make it halfway there before realizing you'd left him somewhere around the bedroom door, his little legs working overtime just to keep up with you. And frankly, after watching him squirm around in your hands for the past five minutes, you weren't sure you had the patience for that.

Then you spotted his hoodie hanging from one of the wall pegs.

The huge, oversized thing he'd thrown there the night before had slipped slightly off the hook, leaving the front pocket sagging open near the chest. You stared at it for a second.

Then you looked down at Heeseung.

The pocket.

Back at Heeseung.

Oh?

You walked over and held him up beside it, his tiny furry body practically disappearing against the oversized hoodie. The pocket sat at exactly the right height, and when you brought him a little closer, you realized it was more than big enough to fit him.

You grinned.

“Go on,” you murmured, holding him a little closer to the opening. Heeseung gave the pocket a suspicious look, his nose twitching as he leaned forward to sniff at the fabric. You waited, watching him inspect it like he was deciding whether you were about to shove him into some kind of hamster prison. Apparently satisfied, he finally wriggled forward, his little paws catching on the edge before he disappeared almost completely inside. “Get in there.”

You adjusted the hoodie slightly, making sure he was settled comfortably in the pocket before letting go. For a second, there was nothing but a tiny rustle of fabric.

Then his little head popped back up over the edge.

You snorted softly and slipped your arms into the sleeves, careful not to jostle him too much as you pulled the hoodie on. Heeseung's head bobbed with the movement, his little paws gripping the edge of the pocket as you tugged the fabric into place. Once you were settled, you reached down and zipped the hoodie up, leaving the pocket open enough for him to peek out.

Heeseung blinked up at you from where he'd been tucked against your chest.

You looked down, starring down at his beady little eyes, acting all innocent as if he hadn't bitten your finger, and thrown two hamster-sized tantrums in the past 20 minutes.

“Well, there we go, much better, isn't it?”

Your furry little boyfriend disappeared into the depths of the pocket.

Rolling your eyes, you finally got up and made your way out to the kitchen. Walking past the rest of your shared apartment, it felt almost like any other day, the same normalcy you'd gotten used to ever since moving in with Heeseung—except that the aforementioned boyfriend was currently a tiny poof of fur in your pocket.

You barely made it halfway down the hall before you felt him shift.

You glanced down, expecting to see his little head poking out again, but there was nothing. Just the faintest rustle of fabric before he settled back down.

“Huh.”

You kept walking.

As you turned into the kitchen, you finally set your phone down on the counter as you started figuring out breakfast. It took you a moment to remember what you'd actually planned to make, your brain still half stuck on the fact that you'd woken up beside a hamster who was apparently your boyfriend.

Oatmeal, you decided. Warm, comforting and homey. Easy enough.

It wasn't until you reached for the saucepan that you realized you couldn't feel him moving anymore.

You looked down.

“Hee?”

Nothing.

Your hand instinctively covered the pocket, fingers pressing gently against the fabric.

There he was.

Warm and impossibly small, curled up inside the pocket with his little body tucked against you. Apparently, somewhere between the bedroom and the kitchen, he'd decided that being carried around against your chest wasn't so bad after all.

You could feel the faint rise and fall of his breathing beneath your palm, completely relaxed against the fabric. It was almost stupidly cute, especially considering how he'd been scrambling around the bed only minutes ago.

Then again, this was Heeseung. The man could fall asleep practically anywhere—on the couch, in the car, on the floor, even under a fucking table. Apparently, a hoodie pocket was just another perfectly acceptable addition to the list.

You smiled to yourself and turned back toward the counter, letting him sleep.

At least, you tried to.

A few seconds later, something shifted against your chest.

You glanced down just as a tiny, sleepy head emerged from the pocket.

Heeseung blinked up at you, clearly still halfway asleep. His fur was completely messed up, sticking up around his ears and puffed out along his cheeks, making him look like he'd spent the last ten minutes fighting for his life in there instead of taking a nap.

You stared at him.

He blinked.

“...Did I wake you?”

His eyes narrowed sleepily, followed by the tiniest, most pathetic little “Squeak.”

You snorted. “Sorry.”

He yawned, his tiny mouth stretching open before he slowly sank back down into the pocket, apparently deciding he'd had enough of being awake for one morning.

You stared down at him.

“Okay, then.”

And you went back to making breakfast.

You left the saucepan on the stove to come up to a boil, keeping the heat low enough that you wouldn't have to worry about it while you gathered everything else. The oats came first, the glass jar making a soft thunk against the counter as you set it down. Then the milk from the fridge, followed by the honey you had to reach toward the back of the cupboard for. You pulled out a banana, a handful of strawberries, and a few blueberries too, setting each one beside the bowl until the counter slowly filled with everything you'd need.

You were reaching for the oats again when something shifted against your chest. As you glanced down, the pocket moved slightly. “Hee?”

A tiny rustle came from inside.

You smiled, turning the jar in your hands before twisting the lid open. The second the seal gave with a soft pop, there was another little movement against you. By the time you glanced down again, two tiny ears had appeared over the edge of the pocket.

Heeseung blinked up at you, still looking thoroughly sleep-drunk. For a second, he seemed to have no idea what had woken him up. Then his nose twitched. Once. Twice. And somewhere in that tiny hamster brain of his, something clicked.

Oats.

His head lifted, and Heeseung slowly pulled himself higher out of the pocket, his sleepy eyes landing on the open jar in your hand. He stopped.

You didn't notice at first, still reaching for the bowl as you started measuring out the oats. It was only when you felt him go completely still against your chest that you looked down.

He was staring.

Not at you. Not at the saucepan.

The oats.

His little nose twitched again, and you watched the realization settle over his face with growing disbelief. You followed his gaze to the jar, then back to him.

“Hee.”

Nothing.

His eyes remained fixed on the oats.

Your eyebrows slowly rose. “Don't you dare—”

The orange furball went flying, launched himself straight out of the pocket. You barely had time to register the flash of orange before he landed directly in the bowl of uncooked oats with a tiny fwump, sending a few flakes skittering across the counter.

“Heeseung!”

He didn't even look up. He was already eating.

Not just eating, either. Inhaling. His tiny head disappeared into the oats as his little paws dug through the bowl, shoving mouthful after mouthful into his cheeks like he'd been waiting his entire life for this exact moment.

You stared at him in disbelief. “Hee.”

Nothing.

His cheeks puffed a little further.

You leaned closer, watching him happily stuff his face. “Are you seriously eating those?”

Heeseung's only response was to shove his face even deeper into the bowl, little paws scrambling through the oats as if he hadn't heard a word you'd said.

“Oh my God.” You reached toward him, but he immediately scrambled away from your hand, kicking oats everywhere in his apparent desperation to get back to eating. “Those are dry. You're supposed to let me cook them first!”

He did not care.

If anything, the scolding seemed to make him more determined. His little nose twitched furiously as he rooted through the bowl, tiny paws shuffling oats aside in search of another mouthful. He looked ridiculously happy. You'd never seen anyone this excited about breakfast, and you certainly hadn't expected that person to be your boyfriend in hamster form.

“Heeseung.” Another mouthful disappeared. “Hee.” Another. “Baby, what are you doing?” Nothing. He just kept going, apparently far too invested in his little breakfast heist to acknowledge you. You watched him for another second, your eyes slowly narrowing as you noticed the way his cheeks were getting progressively rounder.

Then it clicked.

You stopped, gaze dropping to his cheeks before flicking down to the oats and back again. “Wait.”

Heeseung froze, his little paws still buried in the bowl.

You stared at him. He stared back, looking like a deer caught in headlights — which was ironic, considering the creature he currently was.

Your eyes narrowed. “Oh, you little shit.”

He was pocketing them.

“Heeseung!” You reached toward him, and he immediately ducked his head back into the bowl, apparently deciding that the best course of action was to keep eating until the evidence was no longer visible. “Don't you dare. You're not taking those with you!”

His ears perked at that, but Heeseung remained firmly planted in the oats, apparently having decided that your complaints were nothing more than background noise. You watched him dig around for another mouthful, his little body practically disappearing into the bowl, and slowly lowered your hand.

Okay.

This was a problem.

Not the oats. The oats were arguably the least concerning part of this situation.

The problem was that you currently had a hamster for a boyfriend, and absolutely no idea how to turn him back.

You glanced toward Heeseung again. He was still happily stuffing his cheeks, completely occupied with his little breakfast crime spree.

Good enough.

You quietly backed away from the counter, grabbing your phone on the way. He didn't even notice. Of course he didn't. Apparently being transformed into a rodent had done absolutely nothing to diminish his ability to sleep anywhere, eat anything, or completely ignore you when he was busy.

You slipped out of the kitchen and into the living room, lowering your voice as you unlocked your phone.

how to turn my boyfriend back from a hamster

The results were, unsurprisingly, useless.

You tried again. boyfriend turned into hamster how to turn him back. Then how to reverse hamster transformation. Then, after staring at the screen for a moment, how to un-hamster my boyfriend.

Nothing.

You scrolled through a mess of pet forums, Reddit posts, and articles that seemed increasingly convinced you were asking about an actual hamster rather than your very real, very stupid boyfriend. Then one result caught your eye.

How to Break a Curse: True Love's Kiss and Other Fairy Tale Remedies.

You stopped.

“...Oh, come on.”

You opened it anyway.

It was exactly the kind of bullshit you'd expected. Enchanted princes. Cursed animals. Princesses kissing frogs. True love somehow being powerful enough to override whatever magical nonsense had turned some poor bastard into a woodland creature in the first place.

You kept scrolling, mostly out of morbid curiosity.

Then you saw it.

True love's kiss.

Your thumb stopped mid-scroll. You stared at the words for a moment before slowly lowering your phone, your gaze drifting toward the kitchen. You could still hear the faint rustling of oats from where Heeseung was apparently still helping himself to breakfast.

You imagined walking back in there, scooping up your tiny furry boyfriend, and pressing a kiss to his little hamster face. Except, unfortunately, the mental image came complete with Heeseung's cheeks stuffed to the absolute brim with uncooked oats, a few flakes stuck to the fur around his mouth as he stared up at you with those beady little eyes.

You physically recoiled.

“Ew. No.”

You grimaced at the thought for another second before forcing yourself to calm down. That's your boyfriend, you reminded yourself. That's literally Heeseung.

He just happened to be a hamster right now.

A hamster with orange fur, tiny paws, a twitchy little nose, and, apparently, an alarming enthusiasm for dry oats.

“Okay,” you muttered, staring at the screen again. “He's still my boyfriend.”

Even if he looked like a rodent right now.

You scrolled back up to the picture of the princess kissing the cursed animal, and because apparently your brain had decided to make this as humiliating as possible, you. again tried to picture yourself doing the same thing to Heeseung in his current hamster state. “Yuck.”

You stared at the screen for another second before sighing and rubbing a hand over your face. “Fine. Whatever.”

You finally lowered your phone and headed back into the kitchen, already bracing yourself for whatever fresh nonsense Heeseung had managed to get into while you'd been gone.

At least the oats were untouched.

You slowed.

No, wait.

They weren't untouched. They were just no longer actively being assaulted by a hamster.

The bowl sat on the counter looking slightly worse for wear, oats scattered around the rim and across the countertop, but Heeseung was nowhere near it anymore. You looked around, confused, until you spotted a little flash of orange beside the fruit you'd set out earlier.

“Oh, you've got to be kidding me.”

Heeseung was sitting beside the blueberries. More specifically, he was currently trying to stuff an entire blueberry into his cheek.

You stared at him.

Heeseung stared back, the blueberry only halfway into his mouth. For a second, neither of you moved. Then his little paws came up around the fruit and, with a determined little wiggle, he shoved the rest inside.

You blinked. “Are you serious?”

His cheeks were already beginning to round around the blueberry, and somehow he looked ridiculously pleased with himself. You slowly approached the counter, staring at the tiny creature who had apparently decided your kitchen was now an all-you-can-eat buffet. “You left the oats alone for two minutes and immediately found something else to eat?”

Heeseung blinked at you, one side of his face now noticeably fuller than the other.

You pointed at his cheek. “And don't tell me you're pocketing that one, too.”

His nose twitched.

You narrowed your eyes. “Heeseung.”

He slowly turned his head away from you, like that would somehow make the enormous blueberry bulging from his cheek any less obvious.

You stared at the back of his tiny orange head, then at the suspicious lump in his cheek.

“Oh my God.” You pressed a hand over your face, already feeling the beginnings of a headache. “I have a food-hoarding hamster for a boyfriend.”

You shook your head, already deciding that this had gone on long enough. “Nope. We're not living with that.” You pointed at him, the tiny blueberry still visibly bulging from his cheek. “We're fixing this. Right now.”

Heeseung's ears twitched.

The second your hands moved toward him, he seemed to understand exactly what you meant. He scrambled backward, little paws skittering against the counter as he attempted to make a run for it, but the heroic escape lasted approximately two seconds. His cheeks were stuffed to the brim, his tiny body weighed down by whatever food he'd managed to hoard, and he barely made it past the blueberries before you scooped him up.

Heeseung squeaked in protest, squirming furiously between your hands.

“Oh, absolutely not.” You adjusted your grip as he wriggled, his little paws pushing uselessly against your fingers. “You're not getting away with this.”

You held him up in front of you, both hands carefully supporting his tiny body as he continued to squirm in your grip. Heeseung looked thoroughly unimpressed by the whole situation, his cheeks still slightly puffed from his stolen blueberry, a few bits of oat caught in the fur around his face. There was even a tiny smear of purple near his mouth, and one oat had somehow gotten stuck to his whiskers. You stared at him for a long moment, taking in the ridiculous little creature you'd somehow ended up holding at eight in the morning.

This was your boyfriend.

Your boyfriend, who you were apparently supposed to kiss.

Your gaze dropped to his tiny face, lingering on the blueberry stain smeared around his mouth before flicking toward the oat stubbornly clinging to one of his whiskers. Heeseung, blissfully unaware of the crisis you were having, simply stared back at you with those beady little eyes, his cheeks still slightly puffed from whatever he'd managed to cram into them.

You grimaced.

“Oh, this is disgusting.”

Heeseung's ears immediately flattened.

“I know, I know.” You adjusted your grip when he started squirming again, giving him a look. “I'm not saying you're disgusting. Well—” You paused, looking him over. “You're currently a little disgusting.”

He gave you an offended squeak.

“Don't start. You did this to yourself.” You adjusted your grip as he squirmed, giving him a pointed look. “You dove headfirst into a bowl of dry oats, then went after the fruit like you hadn't eaten in a week. Don't you dare sit there and act innocent now.”

Heeseung's nose twitched.

You looked at him again, and the annoyance slowly gave way to the actual problem.

You had to kiss this.

Your eyes drifted back toward his tiny face, and for one horrible second you actually pictured it: leaning down, pressing your lips against soft hamster fur, probably getting a mouthful of oat dust for your trouble. You recoiled so violently that Heeseung nearly slipped in your hands.

Nope. You shook your head hard, as though you could physically fling the thought out of your brain. Absolutely not. Whoever wrote this fairy-tale shit clearly never had to kiss an actual animal.

Heeseung held your gaze, his tiny face still carrying that same stubbornly offended expression. You stared back at him, and despite yourself, something in your chest softened. Because underneath all the fur, the tiny paws, and the ridiculous blueberry-stuffed cheeks, you could still see him.

Your boyfriend.

Your very, very stupid boyfriend.

He just happened to be approximately the size of a tennis ball.

You sighed through your nose. “Okay. Fine. You're my boyfriend.”

Heeseung's ears perked slightly.

“Which means I love you.” You paused, eyeing the mess around his mouth. “Even if you're currently making this extremely difficult for me.”

His nose twitched.

“Don't look so smug. I'm still not happy about this.”

You took one last breath, tightened your hold around his tiny body, and before you could give yourself another second to think about the fact that you were about to kiss your hamster boyfriend, you squeezed your eyes shut and leaned in.

Your lips pressed against his fur.

For one glorious second, absolutely nothing happened.

Then the entire kitchen exploded with light.

You barely had time to jerk your head back before a blinding white POOF! swallowed your vision, forcing your eyes shut as something warm and considerably heavier suddenly dropped into your arms.

You yelped.

Your arms instinctively tightened around whatever the hell had just appeared there, and when the light finally faded enough for you to see again, you nearly dropped him all over again.

Heeseung.

Human. Very much human.

Somehow, you were still holding him bridal-style in your arms like you'd just carried him out of a burning building, except now there was an actual grown man where your tiny hamster had been moments ago. His hair was a complete mess, sticking up in every direction, his face still slightly flushed from the sudden transformation, and his eyes were wide with the same bewildered panic he'd had as a hamster—only now he had a very human face to go with it.

You stared down at him.

Heeseung stared back, equally stunned. His gaze flicked over your face, then down at your arms around him, as though he was only just realizing that you were currently holding him off the floor.

Neither of you had quite managed to process it.

Then Heeseung suddenly folded forward with a violent cough, his whole body jolting against you. “HEE—”

PFFT.

A spray of dry oats flew straight out of his mouth.

You recoiled on pure instinct, your arms flying open as you jerked backward. “EWWWW!”

Heeseung hit the floor with a startled thud, catching himself on his hands before immediately looking up at you in absolute disbelief. His hair was still sticking up in every direction, his face flushed from the transformation, and now there were a few sad pieces of oats scattered across his shirt. “Did you just drop me?”

“You coughed oats at me!”

“I was coughing!” Heeseung pushed himself upright, still trying to clear his throat as another few pieces of oats tumbled onto his lap. “What the—” cough “—fuck—”

“Oh my God!” You backed away, staring at him in pure disgust. “You had those in your mouth?!”

“I was a hamster!” Heeseung protested, still coughing between words as he tried brushing the oats off his shirt.

“That does not make it better!” You stared at him in horror.

“It literally explains the oats!”

“Why are there so many?!” You pointed at the growing collection scattered across his shirt and lap. “How much food did you have in there?!”

Heeseung coughed again, rubbing at his throat before finally managing, “I think I choked on the blueberry.”

You blinked. “The blueberry?”

He nodded, still trying to catch his breath. “I think so.”

You looked at the oats covering him, then at the tiny smear of blueberry still stuck near the corner of his mouth. “You almost died because you were trying to eat a blueberry with a mouth the size of a fucking coin?”

“I didn't know I was going to turn back into a human!”

You stared at him. “That somehow makes this worse.”

Heeseung was still coughing, though it had thankfully settled into something less dramatic as he tried brushing the oats off his shirt. Most of them only rolled down into his lap, and the more he tried to wipe them away, the more he seemed to spread them around. You were about to tell him to stop making an even bigger mess when your eyes caught on something else.

His pajamas.

They were a little too big on him, soft-looking and slightly rumpled from the transformation, the top hanging loosely over his frame while the matching pants bunched around his ankles. And scattered all over the fabric were tiny cartoon hamsters, each one drawn in a different ridiculous pose—some holding little pieces of food, others sitting with their cheeks puffed out.

You stared.

Then you looked at Heeseung, who was still completely oblivious as he picked another oat from his shirt.

“...Heeseung.”

“What?” he mumbled, still brushing the oats from his shirt.

You pointed at his pajamas. “Where did you get those?”

He finally followed your gaze, his hand stopping mid-motion as he looked down at the tiny hamster printed across his chest. His eyes traveled over the rest of the matching set, taking in the ridiculous little rodents scattered across the fabric.

“I... don't know.”

You raised an eyebrow. “You don't know?”

He shook his head, still staring down at them. “I've never seen these before.”

You looked him over again, taking in the absurdly fitting pattern, and then glanced toward the kitchen where his hamster self had just spent the last several minutes committing crimes against your breakfast.

A laugh escaped you.

“Well.” You shook your head, grinning. “That's one hell of a souvenir.”

You looked him over again, from his messy hair to the oat-covered shirt and finally the ridiculous hamster pajamas he apparently hadn't owned until this morning. The longer you stared, the harder it became to keep a straight face.

“So,” you said slowly, folding your arms. “Let me get this straight. You woke up as a hamster, destroyed my breakfast, stuffed your cheeks with oats and a blueberry, nearly choked yourself, and then magically turned back into a human wearing hamster pajamas.”

Heeseung's expression tightened. “When you put it like that—”

“I am absolutely putting it like that.”

He groaned, dragging a hand down his face. “Can we please never talk about this again?”

You grinned. “Oh, no. We're talking about this forever.”

Heeseung looked at you suspiciously. “What do you mean, forever?”

“You know how people have embarrassing childhood stories?” You gestured vaguely at him, already struggling not to laugh again. “This is yours now.”

“Y/N.”

“‘Remember when Heeseung turned into a hamster and got caught stealing oats?’”

“Stop.”

“‘Remember when he stuffed so much food into his cheeks that he nearly choked when he turned back into a human?’”

“I said stop.”

You were already laughing by the time you got to the next one. “Or my personal favorite—”

Heeseung narrowed his eyes at you, immediately suspicious. “Don't.”

“‘Remember when my boyfriend got turned into a hamster and had to be saved by true love's kiss?’”

His entire face went red.

“You are never telling anyone that.”

You smiled sweetly. “Of course not.” He visibly relaxed, only for your expression to turn mischievous again. “Unless I need to win an argument.”

His jaw dropped. “You're evil.”

“You're the one who ate my uncooked oats.”

“I was a hamster!”

“And now you're a human wearing hamster pajamas.”

Heeseung glanced down at himself, seemingly remembering the ridiculous little rodents scattered across the fabric. You caught the look and grinned. “Honestly, I think the universe is trying to tell you something.”

He groaned, dragging a hand down his face. “Can we please just move on?”

You laughed, reaching over to pluck a stray oat from his hair. “Come on, Ham-hee. Let's get you cleaned up.”

“Don't call me that.”

“Okay, Ham-hee.”

“Y/N.”

Still laughing, you turned toward the kitchen, leaving him to begrudgingly follow behind you in his mysterious hamster pajamas. At least breakfast was still salvageable.

Mostly.

author's note (2) : this was so fucking stupid i had the time of my life writing this shit

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