dog days.
@fmdxnana a late night walk in seoul january ‘18
taehwa had been allergic to dogs for as long as he could remember. the very first time he’d come in contact with the animal, it had been a small one; barely out of its puppy years with big blue eyes and a spotted coat. his sisters had encouraged him to pet it and it had licked him on the cheek. hours later, he had woke up in the hospital with his small tearful family surrounding his bed. they’d explained how his throat had closed up before he’d passed out, how his sisters had rushed into the store to grab their mother, how a bystander had called the ambulance as soon as he’d begun scratching at his neck. luckily, the ugly rash that lingered for a few weeks afterwards hadn’t left any scarring… but that and the hospital visit had been enough to convince his mom to get an epipen prescribed. he carried at least one around with him ever since. as well as a soul-deep fear of all things canine.
which is why, when a small unleashed pup came bounding towards him during his late night walk around the city, taehwa yelled.
❝ y-YAH!!! ❞ if the hoarse sound of his voice as it cracked mid-yell didn’t properly portray his terror, his quick scramble baclwards probably did. he lost his footing and hit the pavement hard, hands scraping painfully against the sidewalk as he threw them backwards in a desperate attempt to catch himself. he didn’t have time to even wince at the pain, because the dog still moved towards him. slower, now. more hesitant. but still moving. taehwa cursed. it wasn’t something he usually did, but he couldn’t help it. fear and adrenaline had taken over.
the dog sniffed at the toe of his white shoe and taehwa made a strangled noise. he dove his hand into the pocket of his sweatpants and when he pulled it out, he was wielding an epipen. he gripped the damn thing so hard, his knuckles were white with the force of it. there had been no skin contact yet, though taehwa had scooted back as far as he could and was now trapped at an alley that, unfortunately, happened to dead-end. the dog was sniffing the edge of his pants now. he could feel the skin of his ankle begin to tingle and it frightened him even more.
❝ Y-Y-Y-YAH! ❞ he yelled again, the sound of it a sputtering mess. he waved the epipen around wildly, trying to nudge the dog away with his foot. he didn’t want to hurt the animal, nor did he want to risk further contact. ❝ s-someone help me! p-please! ❞ later, he’d have time to reflect on what a useless idiot he probably looked like (and be happy he was wearing his usual idol disguise) but right then he could only think about how cornered he was.
