It had been a long day. The clock on the wall stared back at them mercilessly, the angry red numbers reading out 4:30 AM, letting the 13 exhausted boys know that they had once again practiced till morning. "Good practice today, guys. Let's all just get some sleep. We'll talk about everything else in the morning." Seungcheol yawned, stretching his arms over his head. "I think Hoshi-hyung's way ahead of you, Coups-hyung." Dino laughed tiredly, tilting his head to Hoshi now face-planted on their sofa, much to Jihoon's dismay. "He's going to smell the entire night." He groaned, running a hand through his hair. Seungcheol laughed before calling for Hansol to help him haul Hoshi up from the couch and to his bedroom. 

Jeonghan entered their dorm after everyone else had, closing the door behind him before leaning against it, eyes closed and practically dead on his feet. He was just so happy to be home, so excited to scrub the sweat and grime off of him and slip into-

Meow... 

"Ah! And can someone please feed Danggeun?" Jeonghan's eyes immediately opened at the mention of the cat, before it narrowed dangerously, eyes meeting the bright yellow eyes of Coups' demon feline. The orange tabby sat before the remaining ten members, though Jeonghan felt that it only had eyes for him, almost challenging him to make a wrong move. "Someone feed Danggeun, I'm going to bed." Seungkwan moaned, sloppily petting the cat on the head and walking past it. Member after member followed, claiming that they had fed the damn cat the last time, till only Jihoon and Jeonghan were left. 

Jeonghan watched the cat for another moment before turning to Jihoon, who was busy fiddling with his phone, his pink hair sticking to his forehead and his eyes drooping sleepily from not only practice, but having had worked on their new album the whole day before. Jeonghan sighed before moving to the kitchen to get some food for the damn thing, jumping slightly when Danggeun attempted to have a swipe at his ankles. 

"Little devil..." Jeonghan muttered, glaring at the cat and searching their kitchen for the food Seungcheol kept for their '14th member' as he so fondly called it. Danggeun had been a permanent fixture in their dorm for about a month now, after Seungcheol had come home with the old cat in his arms and a large smile on his face. 

"I saved him, Jeonghan! He was cold and hungry and would have died if I hadn't picked him up!" Seungcheol exclaimed after Jeonghan asked him if keeping a cat was the best idea. Their production team had been wary about it for a while as well but after days of Coups assuring them that it wouldn't affect their performance, they agreed, only with the condition that he would shoulder all the extra expenses on his own. 

Jeonghan would have been fine with the idea of the cat, truly he would've... If it hadn't been for the fact that Danggeun absolutely despised him. The cat got on well with everyone else leaving the rest of the members (mostly) alone, but for some reason, he just couldn't stand Jeonghan. No matter how much Jeonghan attempted to be nice to it, it would not budge. 

"I have your food you little shi-" 

"Ah, Jeonghan-hyung, you're back." Jihoon smiled crookedly, running his hand through the tabby's fur as Danggeun lounged on the pink haired boy's lap. It lifted his head lazily and Jeonghan swore the look that blasted cat gave him was one of pure smugness. Jihoon yawned as Danggeun rubbed his head against the boy's stomach affectionately. 

This was another, albeit shallow, reason why Jeonghan didn't like Seungcheol's cat. As mentioned, Danggeun only liked a select number of people. Seungcheol... And Jihoon. It was irrational for him to be feel this way, but the jealousy had nipped against his chest as Jihoon continued to pet the cat with no resistance from Danggeun. "You should get some rest, Jihoonie." Jeonghan said after a while, setting the bowl down on the floor, eyeing Danggeun as the cat approached the bowl warily. 

"I have to wash up." Jihoon said between a few stifled yawns. Jeonghan couldn't help but smile as Jihoon's eyes drooped shut, almost as if he had fallen asleep sitting up. To be honest, Jeonghan wouldn't have been surprised. He waited for a few more seconds before gently moving Jihoon to a more comfortable position, resting his head against the pillows and pulling the covers over him. 

Meow...

Of course, that only meant he was now virtually alone with the demon-cat so lovingly named after a carrot. 

"You really have no reason to hate me you know." Jeonghan muttered as he sat in front of Danggeun with a frown, pulling his legs to his chest as he continued to stare the cat down. "I love them both too. We have something in common." Jeonghan continued as Danggeun stared back at him with those ugly piss colored eyes. 

"I think he's just jealous." Jeonghan jumped before whipping his head to find Jihoon looking up at him with a small smirk on his lips. "If anyone takes Coups-hyung's attention away from him, it'd be you." Jihoon rubbed his eyes before curling deeper into the mattress next to the couch Seungcheol had volunteered to take that night. "Don't take it too personally, Hyung." He added before reaching over to pet Jeonghan's hand lightly. "Night, hyung. Love you too." Jihoon muttered sleepily, and Jeonghan knew it was probably just because their little producer was just drunk on fatigue and was slightly delusional and not himself, but it didn't stop the find smile that graced his lips. 

"Were you just talking to my cat?" 

Jeonghan frowned as Seungcheol strode in with an amused smile on his face. Jeonghan huffed before watching him settle down beside Jihoon, fixing the covers that were tucked neatly under Jihoon's chin. Truthfully, even if Jeonghan did know better, he wasn't going to deny that there was that small spark of doubt that ran through him every now and again whenever he would watch Seungcheol and Jihoon interact. He knew how far their history ran and he knew how deep their friendship was. It was obvious. 

But a larger part of him knew Seungcheol more, knew that he should trust him and look past all of that. Their history, their obvious familiarity, that damn cat that liked Jihoon better... 

"You know he doesn't like me, right?" 

"I had a feeling he wasn't particularly fond of you." 

"He hates me." 

"He hates a lot of people." 

Jeonghan pressed his lips together before looking pointedly at Jihoon's sleeping figure. "Not Jihoonie. He loves you and Jihoon." He muttered sourly and Seungcheol couldn't help but chuckle. 

"Jihoon's right you know. He's just jealous." Seungcheol said in comfort, tugging Jeonghan up and smiling cheekily at him. 

Jeonghan stood glumly before Seungcheol for a while before Seungcheol rolled his eyes and smacked a loud kiss on Jeonghan's lips. "Don't look so down, Jeonghan, he's just a cat." Seungcheol said before pulling Jeonghan to the kitchen to get some food for them. Jeonghan couldn't help the smile that bloomed on his face, the pink tinting his cheeks and the giddiness that blossomed in his chest. He turned back to check on Jihoon to make sure they hadn't woken him before his eyes landed on Danggeun, the cat watching them with more than displeased eyes. 

Jeonghan couldn't help but smirk in victory. 

Jeonghan - 1 
Ugly demon cat - 0