If Choi Seungcheol had to describe himself, he would use the word 'average'. Average height, average built, average looks (well, maybe a little bit above average, but he was a humble person), average job.

Being an accountant wasn't the most interesting job in the world but he liked his colleagues and it was enough to afford a small flat and pay his bills, and really, what else was there to want? Nothing, clearly.

Or, well, maybe a relationship.

His friends had tried multiple times to set him up on blind dates and all sorts of other gatherings but, somehow, Seungcheol had the tendency to lose the ability to form coherent sentences as soon as a woman came near him which didn't exactly help his case. And after the last date had resulted in miserable failure (his friends still joked about it), he had decided that he would just wait it out since, obviously, dating wasn't for him.

Apart from his abysmal luck with women, Seungcheol had another character trait that stood out. Although he didn't exactly look like it with his mop of dark hair and somewhat brooding eyes, he was a er for everything cute and fuzzy. He was the type of person who squealed at the sight of squirrels, crossed the street to pet stray cats and baby-talked random dogs while ignoring their owners. Therefore it was all the more surprising that he didn't own a pet himself.

"I don't think I'm ready for this kind of responsibility," he explained whenever he got asked, dark eyebrows furrowed sombrely, and his friends could only shake their heads at his weirdness.

This week had not started well. Seungcheol had been chosen (not entirely out of free will, mind you) to hold a presentation under the judging eyes of the chairman of another company and the deep wrinkles creasing his boss' forehead had made it crystal clear that it was important to impress. No pressure, alright.

That in itself wouldn't have been all that much of a problem if the date of the presentation had not been set to Wednesday, 10am - which was in exactly 44 hours. The thought alone made Seungcheol break out in cold sweat even before he threw himself into the preparations.

Like every other person, Seungcheol sometimes had nightmares. A recurring one featured him and a particularly embarrassing piece of underwear in front of his team after he had forgotten to wear pants to work.

Unfortunately, this was pretty much exactly how he felt while holding the dreaded presentation, high on caffeine and tired out of his mind after two days of almost no sleep. The lines on his boss' face deepened with every passing minute and Seungcheol wished with his whole being for the ground to open up and swallow him whole.

Seungcheol's face was still pressed into the soft cushion of his couch when the doorbell rang. He groaned at the disturbance. Stupid bell. Stupid person who was ringing the bell. Couldn't he at least suffer in peace?

The option to simply play dead was tempting but after the fifth time he groaned again and slowly sat up. The pillow he had used earlier to hide from the last rays of afternoon sun flopped onto the floor, but he was too lazy to pick it up and stepped over it to get to the small hallway of his flat. He made sure that the frown that darkened his face was threatening enough to scare off any potential salesmen/Jehovah's witnesses/annoying neighbours and opened the door with as little motivation as he could possibly muster.

The frown remained on his face even after he had recognized his best friend, although it softened slightly. Nobody could stay angry with Jisoo around.

"I don't want to play today." They had their regular Mario Kart tournaments on Wednesdays and, to be honest, he had forgotten about it completely.

"Thought so, Jeonghan called me earlier."

Seungcheol's frown deepened once again. That nosy tattletale.

Jisoo kept smiling nonetheless. "But I brought something to cheer you up."

Seungcheol eyed his empty hands and wondered whether his friend was pulling a prank on him when the other bent down and pulled an old sports bag into sight. It was moving slightly and a bad feeling began to spread in the pit of Seungcheol's stomach.

"Jisoo, what...?" he began but his voice died as soon as a small head poked through the open zipper, round amber eyes curiously looking around.
It took everything in Seungcheol not to squeal.

"She's so cute," he whispered instead, gaze locked onto the white cat that warily sniffed the air and, after a moment of hesitation, tried to climb out of the bag. Jisoo hastily picked it up to prevent its escape.

"It's a he, actually. He looks young since he's so tiny but I think he's probably around two already. His name is Woozi."

They were seated on Seungcheol's couch with Woozi exploring the flat while Jisoo explained how the little cat had gotten brought into his vet office after someone had found him sitting in the rain. He wasn't chipped nor had he been wearing a collar and they had decided to call the shelter when Jisoo had the glorious idea to ask Seungcheol if he would take him in.

Seungcheol was still hesitant about the whole idea though. Sure, he loved animals regardless which species, but he couldn't even prevent his cacti from dying on a regular basis and he had to work during the day. What if Woozi wasn't house trained? Nobody knew if he was a stray cat or had belonged to someone before although Jisoo pointed out that he at least wasn't feral. Wasn't it necessary to spend time with a new pet so they could bond?

It was almost possible to see the cogs turning in Seungcheol's head but just when he came to the conclusion that Woozi would probably die in his care, Jisoo interrupted him.

"Just try it," he insisted, "if it's too much of a burden you can still give him to a shelter. Also you can always drop by for free examinations, isn't that a good deal?"

Seungcheol's fondness for cute things didn't only include animals and he had always been rather weak when it came to resisting Jisoo's puppy eyes (a fact the other had shamelessly exploited throughout high school and when it came to getting the phone number of a certain long haired accountant). With a low sigh and after a long look at the little bundle of fur that had curled up on his fallen pillow, Seungcheol reluctantly agreed.

Jisoo had went his own way and had left behind copious amounts of cat food, a few toys, a mat to sleep on, a bag of litter, a small cat and an almost panicking human.

Seungcheol was fighting the overwhelming feeling that nothing in his life had prepared him for the sudden responsibility of owning a pet and his sleep deprivation wasn't exactly helping him to keep calm. Woozi was staring him down with judging eyes from the other end of the couch and Seungcheol wanted nothing more than to hide in his bedroom. He rubbed his eyes with a sigh. "What do we do now, hm? I don't know how to take care of a cat."

Woozi remained silent in his spot. With slight hesitation, Seungcheol reached out for him, hoping to be able to feel the soft fur but when the cat's ears lowered dangerously, he quickly pulled back. It only took a few seconds for Woozi to vanish under the couch.

"Okay, okay, I'm not touching you, you don't have to hide!" Predictably, nothing changed at his words, and Seungcheol got up with a quiet groan, his body aching from the strain of the last few days. "Are you hungry, ki