Ryeowook entered the kitchen of his new workplace on Thursday, the second of September, and his eyes widened. Maybe he was mistaken, but everything seemed to be even busier than the day he had been able to look around and get his first instructions.

One of the other employees spotted him and motioned for him to come closer. He showed him again what needed to be done and still helped him when Ryeowook didn’t know where to find something. They did all the preparations necessary before the restaurant would open up and soon enough the first orders came in and everyone became busy.

“Ryeowook?”

The cat hybrid looked up from where he was just getting changed after his shift and met one of the others’ eyes—a young man who was about his age as he had learned, the one who had helped him the most during that day. “Yes?”

“I didn’t get the chance to introduce myself properly earlier today.” The other bowed. “My name is Ok Taecyeon. I also just started working here two months ago so I can finance my studies, so both of us are still newbies here.”

“Ah, right.” Ryeowook smiled softly at the other, trying to remember the name as he bowed back towards the other.

“I think you did really good today, especially since it was your first day!”

“Are you sure?”

Taecyeon was quick to nod before Ryeowook could say anything else. “Yes, I am! On my first day here, I did a lot worse than you did. Then again, I’m also not really a cook, rather an assistant!”

The cat hybrid shook his head. “But that’s also a very important job! Without you all, I wouldn’t know how I would’ve gotten everything ready in time today.”

The other beamed. “Well, it’s your first day, so it’s understandable. You’ll get more used to it all, you’ll see!”

“What are you studying?” Ryeowook asked and started to walk out of the changing room once Taecyeon was ready as well.

The younger sighed. “I’m studying management now because that’s what my parents want me to do… But if I could have decided what I’d do, I would have become a singer and a dancer instead!” His eyes lit up. “Can you imagine all those people watching you in admiration as you make your hobby your job and are able to make others happy because of that? Isn’t that wonderful? Or modeling, that would also be really nice!”

Ryeowook couldn’t help but laugh softly at those fantasies, but he listened nevertheless. He had never before met anyone who had dreamed of becoming famous, yet it sounded like a normal dream the way Taecyeon talked about it.

“Noona!” the younger teenager suddenly interrupted himself in the middle of his rambling of the details of his dream.

Ahead of them, a young woman with pink hair who had also worked with them turned around and smiled when she spotted them. “Hey, you two!”

They walked over to the young woman and Ryeowook bowed lightly, still unsure how to act around the people he should now call his colleagues. “Hello.”

The woman laughed. “No need to be that formal with me!” She thought for a moment. “How old are you again?”

“I’m nineteen.”

“When’s your birthday?”

“It’s June 21^st.”

“Oh really?” She grinned. “That means I’m older than you! My birthday is April 27^th. You can call me ‘noona’.”

“Okay… noona.” Ryeowook smiled shyly at the woman in front of him and she nodded in approval.

“So, how was your first day?”

“It was fine. A little hectic, I guess, but I think I’ll simply have to get used to that eventually.”

“Oh, today was nothing compared to other days! It’s only a week day now.”

“But Pilkyo-hyung called in sick today,” Taecyeon remarked and the young woman nodded.

“That’s true. Because of that it has probably been a little harder on you than it should have been, Ryeowook.”

“By the way, can I call you ‘hyung’? I’m a year and a half younger than you.” Taecyeon asked the cat hybrid and laughed sheepishly. “I’m actually still only seventeen, but I’ll turn eighteen in December, so manager-nim said it was okay that I start working now so I can get used to everything already and start earning money, though I’m not yet allowed to work as much as you guys are.”

Ryeowook shrugged lightly. “Sure, I guess. If you want to call me ‘hyung’?”

Taecyeon nodded. “Yes, I do! Noona, don’t you think Ryeowook-hyung did really good today?”

The young woman who Ryeowook then remembered was called ‘Fei’ nodded. “Yes, you did well! I can clearly see why manager-nim decided to hire you. You must be a really great cook. I hope I can try your cooking someday!”

Ryeowook inclined his head at those words. “Thank you. I hope you won’t be disappointed when you do try it.”

Fei shook her head. “I don’t think I will. What you made smelled really good, like you’ve been cooking those meals all your life!”

“I actually kind of have…”

“Ah, the others said so, too. You must know, usually there are more hybrids around. Pilkyo-oppa is one. And Eunhye-unnie always works the late shift, so we usually don’t get to work with her a lot.”

“Maybe you've already met Pilkyo-hyung,” Taecyeon replied. “He’s a dog hybrid and usually helps manager-nim with the new applicants.”

Ryeowook thought back to his job interview and nodded lightly. “Then I might have. There was a dog hybrid when I had my job interview.”

Taecyeon nodded. “That was probably him. He’s really cool! I love working with him, you’ll see what I mean.”

Ryeowook nodded in response. “I’m looking forward to meeting him properly.”

They parted ways at the subway station because Fei lived within walking distance while Taecyeon had to take one of the trains going into the opposite direction of Ryeowook’s. Once he was inside the train, he simply remained standing—not only did he just have to ride for four stations, so not too many, but he was also afraid that if he sat down he might just as well fall asleep.

Somehow he nevertheless arrived at the apartment. “I’m back,” he called out weakly, before remembering that he was actually alone. Three days earlier, Kyuhyun had started going to university again, which meant the other was busy from Monday until Friday and that he was out of the house starting at half past eight every day and he only returned at eight or nine-thirty in the evening. Thursdays and Mondays were the days when he was in university until very late in the evening. He had mentioned having off hours in between but also that he’d have to use them to study.

Ryeowook sighed, the small noise sounding incredibly loud to him in the otherwise quiet apartment. He took off his shoes without much motivation and then took out his phone. A soft smile appeared on his lips when he saw a message from Kyuhyun and one from Heechul. He unlocked his phone as he went into the kitchen to heat up some leftovers, knowing that he’d feel a little better after eating something.

While the food heated up in the microwave, he read the messages. Both men were asking how his first day at work had been, so he told both of them that it had been stressful but fine.

While eating lunch, he kept on texting with them, stifling a yawn every now and then until he decided that keeping his eyes open was too much of an effort. Without any further ado, he went into his room, only closing the door halfway, then he fell onto his bed. After a few seconds, he moved around until he could get the blanket out from underneath himself in probably the most difficult way possible and then draped it over himself. His mind kept on spinning for another while as he thought about what had happened that day until he slowly drifted off to sleep.

He woke up a few hours later, feeling a little better and at least like he was in a shape to continue the day. He sat up and checked the time, realizing it was already past seven, meaning he had slept for over three hours. He checked his phone again to see another response from Heechul and one from Kyuhyun, though the other had also added the question if Ryeowook had anything in mind for dinner—thanks to his lunch box he had decided against eating in the cafeteria, knowing Ryeowook’s meals tasted a lot better anyway. The cat hybrid blushed softly but said that he’d figure something out, that it might not be anything fancy, though.

Their weekdays continued like that—they got up early in the morning, Kyuhyun went to university, then Ryeowook left to go to work, and they met again in the evening, both of them drained from the day, but Ryeowook still almost always cooked for them since he thought it was important to get a good meal after a long day and he knew Kyuhyun was always looking forward to it. They nevertheless also ordered take-out now and then as the days became weeks and the weeks turned into a month.

As time passed by, Ryeowook came to realize that he missed something. Not the cuddling because that was something he could easily get, and apparently Kyuhyun too realized that Ryeowook was fine with their physical contact because the younger also slowly started to initiate hugs more frequently. It seemed like he had indeed been holding back in the beginning, making the cat hybrid feel bad on the one hand because he had never wanted to limit Kyuhyun in any way or make him feel like he had to act differently for him, but at the same time he was grateful the younger respected his boundaries and behaved according to them.

It was also not the talking—he could still talk to Heechul and Hangeng whenever he wanted to, even though talking on the phone would never be the same as seeing them in real life. On top of that, he started to get more and more comfortable with Kyuhyun and opened up towards him more and more even about small things that happened during his days that he wouldn’t have thought of as necessary to mention but that he enjoyed to share with the other, getting stories in return of Kyuhyun’s days at university. He couldn’t help but always listen in awe when he heard about all of the situations that seemed so far away to the hybrid since he didn’t know any of the people Kyuhyun mentioned and yet he found happiness and joy in almost every story the other shared with him.

A few more days went by until he could properly put his finger on it and be sure it wasn’t just some kind of one-day-mood. He really did miss Heechul’s ear scratches… But asking Kyuhyun to take him to the shelter because of that was just as bad of an idea as asking Heechul to come over was.

It was at work when Fei mentioned she wanted to adopt a cat she had seen at a shelter but now had to save up to pay the initial fees in order to get the cat that Ryeowook realized the first step to the solution of his problem could be just that simple!

When he tried to make the call, he was almost dying of nervousness, though! Would it be weird for him to ask if they could go to a shelter just to pet some cats and not even seek to adopt any? Wasn’t that a strange thing to do? Or what if they were mean or said they couldn’t come over because he wasn’t interested in buying a pet?

Somehow, the call went alright, though, and the employee agreed to meet them on Saturday, telling him their opening hours again so Ryeowook could write them down. The rest of the afternoon, he was torn between happiness over the successful phone call and worry mixed with slight fear of how he should tell Kyuhyun about that without revealing his true sentiments behind it right away.

Luckily enough, it turned out that Kyuhyun took the first step when they sat together for dinner. “Wookie?”

“Hm?”

“Remember it’s Donghae’s birthday next week? I don’t think either one of us has a present yet,” he smiled sheepishly as he said that, “so what do you think about going to town on Saturday so we can both get something.”

Ryeowook nodded lightly. “About Saturday… I’ve been thinking about going to town anyway.”

“Oh, you have?”

The hybrid nodded once more and blushed, keeping his eyes on his food even though he could feel Kyuhyun’s gaze on him. “I thought about maybe going to the pet shelter they have there… You know, just to pet some cats… or something like that…” When he looked up, Kyuhyun was taken by surprise, but after a moment he shrugged.

“Sure, if that’s what you want to do? Do you know where to find the shelter?”

“More or less.”

“Cool! I’ve actually never been to one… Since my parents never allowed my sister or me to have any pets, reasoning that it would have to be enough for us to have a hybrid in the house and that they couldn’t also take care of ‘another’ pet, as they called it, I’ve never gone to a pet shelter either since I figured I’d want to take at least one of the pets there along…”

“But it would be okay now?”

Their eyes met for a moment and Kyuhyun nodded. “Yes. I have you here, what other company should I need?” He laughed. “And I honestly wouldn’t know how either one of us would be supposed to have the time to take care of a pet! No, if I do get a pet someday, I want to be home more so I can help raise it and so I’ll have a chance for it to like me, too.”

Ryeowook nodded, glad about the other’s words. He honestly wouldn’t have wanted to adopt a pet either. Maybe someday, like Kyuhyun had said. But definitely not anytime soon!

“How old does Donghae turn again?” Ryeowook asked. They had arrived at the mall once again right after his work, but now both of them were standing in front of the destination board with no real idea where they should go.

“He’ll turn twenty this year,” Kyuhyun revealed.

Ryeowook huffed. Out of all birthdays it was the twentieth, the most important one in a hybrid’s life. “So he’ll have a meeting in the morning, won’t he?”

“I think it’s in the afternoon because all of them have to work in the morning and Ara-noona has to be present, after all.”

“Then what is there he could possibly get that day? He has his boyfriend and Ara-sshi by his side, he has a loving home, he gives dance classes…”

“… and as far as I know noona and Eunhyuk already settled on treating him to some fancy meals,” Kyuhyun concluded.

Both of them stared at the sign listing the mall's stores and their locations once again cluelessly, studying the stores' names. “Maybe we could simply look around a little and see if there’s anything interesting-looking that’ll catch our eye?”

Kyuhyun nodded lightly. “But do we have that much time? Maybe we should go to the shelter first?”

Ryeowook shook his head. No, he didn’t want to have to concentrate on anything else when they went to the pet shelter. “Let’s look around a little first. I’m sure we’ll find something. The shelter is also open tomorrow, if I call them I’m sure they’ll let us in even outside their visiting hours. At least that’s what the lady said on Tuesday.”

“Oh, you were already in contact with them?” Kyuhyun asked in surprise.

Ryeowook blushed and nodded, but he didn’t say anything else about it. When he glanced at the other, he could tell Kyuhyun knew there was a reason why they went to the shelter—he just hadn’t figured out yet what that reason was.

“Anyway, let’s sit down a moment to brainstorm,” Kyuhyun suggested and looked around for a moment, then he went to one of the benches scattered around inside the mall. Ryeowook followed him and both of them sat down. “Let’s see… Hae likes pretty much anything connected to the ocean… But giving him the chance to go on any kind of trip is out of my budget. They might as well do that from their own money. He likes dancing, but he’s already a dance teacher, so I’m assuming that if he wants lessons, he can ask anytime, and giving him tickets for some show would most likely also be out of my budget… What else is there..?”

“About the sea, what exactly do you mean?”

Kyuhyun shrugged at that question. “Sea food, going to the beach, swimming, Sea World… Pretty much anything.”

“Sea World?”

“That’s kind of a zoo, but instead of zebras and monkeys they have all kinds of fish there.”

Ryeowook grimaced. “That sounds cruel.”

“You don’t like zoos?”

The cat hybrid shook his head. “No, I don’t,” he replied without going further into detail. All he had ever heard about zoos had been bad stories, he hadn’t heard of any hybrid so far who had managed to get through one without at least one major shock. Apparently if Sea World was about the same and if Donghae had indeed already been there at least once, he had to be the first one who managed to get through without causing a minor crisis. He himself hadn’t actually visited a zoo so far, but he also didn’t plan to change anything about that.

“Aish, maybe your plan of just walking around indeed was the best one,” Kyuhyun eventually said in frustration and rose to his feet.

Ryeowook couldn’t help the small smile that his lips formed when he heard those words and he nodded. “Then let’s go.”

Kyuhyun nodded back and flashed him a smile as well, then they started to walk again. Ryeowook made sure to stick close to Kyuhyun, both to avoid getting lost and to avoid being in the way for the many people who were in the mall once again. Would he ever not feel uncomfortable and like he didn’t belong in masses like these?

They looked around without anything really catching their eyes. When a store seemed to have potential, they went inside, but always came back out again empty-handed.

It was on the third and final floor when Ryeowook’s cat ears picked up something that sounded more promising.

“Rock at the pool?”

“Exactly. It’s at the water park just outside town, the Bubble Pop.”

“The one that just opened?”

“Yes, that one. The tickets are just 12,000 Won*.”

“Isn’t that a little expensive?”

“Not at all. You get to enter the park anytime that day and you’ll get to see the concert.”

“What band will be playing?”

“It’s a cover band. They will not only play rock music, though.”

Ryeowook stopped listening and turned to the young man walking beside him instead. “Kyuhyun?” The other turned to look at him. “Apparently there’ll be a cover band performing at the Bubble Pop water park sometime soon. I didn’t hear when exactly they’ll do it, though.”

“Oh really?”

The hybrid nodded. “Could that be something for Donghae-sshi?”

“Let’s get some more information. Did you catch any prices?”

“12,000 Won. That’s not too expensive, is it?”

“Depends on what they offer for that price. Where did you see that?”

“I didn’t. I heard it in a conversation over there,” Ryeowook replied and nodded into the direction he had overheard the conversation from.

They walked up to the stand that had been put up in the middle of the hallway. Both employees advertising the concert were currently busy, so Kyuhyun simply led the hybrid to one of them to listen to the conversation and the questions asked. Ryeowook glanced at the leaflet the employee just showed to the couple standing next to them and saw the concert would be held one week after Donghae’s birthday. Apparently, Kyuhyun had just noticed the same thing, because they looked at each other and the younger one grinned, then they continued to listen until the couple next to them left and the employee turned to them.

“Are you two also interested in the concert?”

“Not directly, but I was thinking about getting two tickets for a friend of mine. I’m just wondering, what exactly is included in the price? Is it just the concert..?” Kyuhyun replied, trailing off with the last sentence, but the young woman in front of them instantly caught on to what he was saying.

“No, no. The ticket is for the concert, giving you permission to stay even after usual closing hours, which is when the concert will be held. But your friend can arrive earlier than that to go swimming. Swimming will also be allowed during the performance. There’s also one free drink or a free snack included in the price, everything bought after that will have to be paid for.”

“What kind of music will be played?”

“The show is called Rock at the Pool, but the band will be performing various genres, so pop music for example can also be heard.”

Kyuhyun nodded and turned back to Ryeowook again. “What do you think?”

“Me?” The hybrid’s eyes widened lightly when the other wanted to know his opinion. Why should he make the decision? He didn’t even know Donghae that well! “Well… I think it sounds good? Judging by what you told me… That he likes anything that has to do with the ocean, so also swimming… And then the music… It’s not too expensive either.”

Kyuhyun grinned. “That’s also what I was thinking,” he agreed and gave the slightly older teenager a thumps-up, making Ryeowook’s heart skip a beat. “Where can we get tickets?” Kyuhyun asked the employee.

The young woman smiled brightly and handed them one of the flyers. “There’s a website at the bottom,” she said and pointed at it, “when you visit it, you can go to ‘events’ and then you’ll find the show there.”

“Thank you very much,” Kyuhyun replied and took the leaflet from her. “Have a good day.”

“You, too.”

Ryeowook bowed lightly towards the employee, then he and Kyuhyun left again, coming to a stand at the side to take a closer look at the leaflet. After a couple of seconds, Kyuhyun nodded once again and looked up, joy making his eyes shine. “This is really great! I’ll have to call noona later to make sure Hae won’t hear about this any other way and that no one else will get the idea of getting him tickets. It’s so cool that you heard this!”

The cat hybrid blushed softly. “Ah, it’s nothing special.”

“For me it is.” Kyuhyun laughed. “Then again, I’m only human! My hearing is probably by far not as good as yours. How lucky I am to have you here with me!”

Ryeowook’s blush deepened and he looked down, unsure how to respond to that, but his thoughts were stuck on Kyuhyun’s happiness over something that seemed so normal to him and so special to the younger man. Having lived with other hybrids all his life, he had never thought of his sharper senses as anything special, but now that Kyuhyun pointed it out he realized that it was indeed something others didn’t have. And on top of that there was the fact that he had been correct when he had pointed the concert out as a possible present for Donghae. He knew this moment would definitely forever be part of the happy memories he’d think about whenever he felt sad or like he was losing direction.

“Shall we go to the shelter now?”

Ryeowook’s heart skipped another beat at Kyuhyun’s words. The shelter! Within the blink of an eye, his nervousness was back and he had to swallow against the lump forming in his throat in order to speak properly. “Sure.”

He caught the strange glance Kyuhyun was giving him, but he hastily looked away and turned back into the direction of the escalators. “Let’s go then.”

Without saying anything else, they started walking back to the subway station.

After almost getting lost and Kyuhyun introducing Ryeowook to the map function on his phone, they eventually made it to the pet shelter. They were later than the cat hybrid had initially hoped for, making him wonder if his plan would actually work out. How much time would they have left? Would they be asked to leave right at 6PM when visiting hours officially ended?

They entered the building with the ‘Information’ sign on it and went up to the counter. A young woman who seemed to be about their age looked up and smiled at them. “Hello, how can I help you?”

Ryeowook stepped up to the counter and bowed lightly. “Hello. My name is Kim Ryeowook, I called a few days ago…”

The young woman nodded. “My colleague already mentioned you and a friend coming. You’re here to pet the cats, right?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Then please go out that door,” she pointed towards the one across from the main entrance, “And keep left, then you’ll get to the cat house. My colleague there will take care of you two. Don’t hesitate to walk on the street, it’s usually rather vacant.”

Ryeowook nodded, frowning a little because of the extra information, but he thanked her anyway and bowed once more, then he and Kyuhyun left through the door they had been shown. Even before opening the door, the cat hybrid understood why the young woman had told them it would be okay to walk on the street.

The moment they stepped outside, the dogs started barking and Ryeowook saw one of them approaching quickly form the corners of his eyes. He jumped to the side still before turning his head to see that the dog was hindered from going any further due to a fence built around the small animal enclosure. He let out a soft whine, but then tore his gaze away, trying to ignore the dogs’ presence as good as he could. For a moment, it seemed strange to him that hybrids of all kinds usually got along really well, but then he realized that also not all cats and dogs didn’t get along. There were enough examples of those two animals becoming good friends. On top of that, hybrids were also part human, which usually ensured a basic and civilized getting along, even if it might never go deeper than that.

The cat house was marked unmistakably right behind the dog run and the two young men entered, looking around for a moment. Soon enough, a woman who seemed to be about in her 50s approached them. “Hello, how can I help you?”

Both Kyuhyun an Ryeowook bowed lightly, then the latter spoke up again nervously, “My name is Kim Ryeowook, I—“

“Right, right. I remember you. We don’t have many people who are as kindly engaged as you are.” The woman smiled at them warmly. “Please follow me. If you don’t mind, I’ll lead you to the second room, that one usually gets less visitors. We also have fewer cats in there. If I got you right, you don’t even mind that, do you?”

“No, I don’t,” Ryeowook replied and followed after the woman when she started walking.

“The four in there haven’t had an easy life, you must know. Two of them come from a hoarding family, one has lost his owner when the woman passed away and the last one couldn’t be kept because when the couple got a child, it had a strong allergic reaction to the cat.” The woman sighed. “All four of them are so lovely…”

“So there are no cats that have simply been abandoned?”

“Not in there. We have a few in the first room. But we generally don’t have many cats at the moment.”

“Do you only have two rooms?”

“No. But we don’t have all that much time right now, so I think you’ll be fine if I just introduce you to the second one. The others are reserved for our sick cases and the new ones that we can’t set up for adoption yet. And I’m not sure to which extend it would affect you as a hybrid, Mr. Kim Ryeowook, but one of our sick cases has cat AIDS. I wouldn’t want to risk anything, if you understand what I mean.”

No, Ryeowook didn’t fully understand what the woman meant, but the tiny bits he had heard about AIDS were terrifying enough. He didn’t know to which part cat AIDS might be different or even affect him as a hybrid, but he too didn’t want to risk anything.

The employee opened a door and entered the room behind it, closing the door when all three of them were inside. She looked around for a moment and then motioned towards one rather fat cat that immediately approached them. “That one is Charlie. He’s the one whose owner passed away. Yara is the tiger in the box over there.” She nodded towards a smaller cat glancing over the brim of a cardboard box, watching them curiously but with too much shyness to come up to them right away. Ryeowook crouched down to start petting Charlie who had been strolling around his legs, begging for attention. “The two black ones in the dens up on the board are Micky and Minzy. They’re the ones from the hoarding family.”

The woman looked around once more, then she nodded. “Alright, I’ll leave the two of you alone for now. I’ll tell you when we’re fixing to close the shelter, alright?”

Ryeowook nodded. “Thank you, ma’am.”

“Call me if you need anything.”

Both young men nodded and watched the woman leave, then Ryeowook straightened again. He curiously went over to Yara and held out a hand, then he petted her a little to vaguely figure out what she might like. Reading cats seemed like an incredibly easy thing to do to him as a hybrid—very much unlike reading humans most of the time! After he had greeted Yara, he did the same procedure with Micky and Minzy. When he looked back over his shoulder again, he found Kyuhyun crouched down, petting Charlie who was gladly accepting the attention he was given, rubbing his head against Kyuhyun’s legs and hand, purring. Eventually, he also managed to attract Yara’s attention like that and the small tiger cat left her box to get some cuddles from Kyuhyun while Ryeowook remained standing to pet the other two cats occasionally, not overdoing it since he sensed neither one of the black cats would enjoy that. Instead he focused on what Kyuhyun was doing and how the cats reacted to it, how Kyuhyun tried out different ways of petting the two cats until they seemed satisfied and happy with what he was doing.

“When Yara lies down again, I think you could try to pet her belly.”

“Huh?” Kyuhyun looked up from where he was trying to simultaneously satisfy two cats.

“I’m not entirely sure, but I think she’d like you to pet her belly.”

“How can you be so sure that she’ll lie down again to give it a try?”

“I’m part cat, remember?”

Kyuhyun rolled his eyes. “And I’m entirely a human, yet I still don’t understand this species and most of its actions and ways of thinking.”

Ryeowook couldn’t help but laugh softly at that remark. “I too have to admit cats are usually easier to understand.”

“That fact alone usually doesn’t help me with you, though.”

They were quiet for a moment. Ryeowook watched how Yara let herself fall onto her side again just like he had predicted and Kyuhyun indeed carefully tried petting her belly. Yara started to purr a little louder as well, rolling all the way to lie on her back and enjoying the love she was showered with.

After a few more minutes, Ryeowook sat down with Kyuhyun so he could pet Charlie in the meantime since neither one of the black cats really wanted to be petted any further.

Yara stood up again, still too restless to remain in one position for too long, and Kyuhyun went back to scratching a little behind her ears. The little cat rubbed her head against Kyuhyun’s hand, climbing on his lap to get closer and probably also in hopes to get even more cuddles.

Eventually, Kyuhyun looked up again. “So what’s the real reason why you wanted to come here?” he asked and held Ryeowook’s gaze.

The cat hybrid squirmed a little under Kyuhyun’s eyes but also felt unable to look away. “Well… You see… The other day…” he started but then shook his head. No, this was not the right way to start this conversation! He thought a little longer about it and then started to speak slowly, still searching for the right words every now and then, “Back when Heechul slowly got me used to his hugs… he also introduced me to ear scratches. As far as I can remember, I have never gotten any before, so that day is still a very important one for me. Somehow it seems to come natural to hybrids how to do it or how to interpret the reactions we get correctly. Heechul has at least always been really good at it and he says I haven’t been too bad either.

“When we were at the shelter again to help me practice cooking the restaurant’s dishes, Heechul-hyung, Hangeng-hyung, and I had a conversation about that. Heechul mentioned how he had never felt comfortable with allowing Hangeng-hyung to touch his cat parts until I was around. He even had me show Hangeng a few tricks that probably only work on Heechul-hyung.

“But eventually, it got me thinking about ear scratches again and how I start to miss them and… well… I didn’t really know how to approach this, so I thought going to a shelter and just watching you interact with cats might help.” He opened his mouth again, but realized there was nothing else to add and that he had probably already said enough to end up with misery, so he looked down. He had shown again that he still didn’t really trust Kyuhyun, that he was still afraid, that he wasn’t able to fully relax. What would the other say? Would he be upset? He’d have every right to be. Or maybe disappointed? Sad? How would anyone not be disappointed or sad after having heard that they weren’t trusted or relied on properly?

“I don’t think I would have come up with an idea like that… I think if I were you, I would have ended up asking Heechul to help out…” Kyuhyun mused in the end, causing Ryeowook to quickly look up again, slightly shocked to hear something that didn’t fit the reaction he had imagined at all.

“How could I have done that? I figured you’d be embarrassed if I just… did it like that. If I had made a big fuzz about your inexperience…” He looked down again. “I’m sorry. This here isn’t exactly any better, is it? I’m sorry, this was a bad idea.”

“No, Ryeowook, no. Not at all. Please don’t think that way,” Kyuhyun argued at his first chance. “You’re not like Heechul, you neither have other hybrids around you at all times nor the assurance that there will be any soon. I already told you I’m inexperienced with both cats and hybrids in general, so I can understand that you’d be insecure and hesitant about letting me do something like ear scratches when so far Heechul has been the only one to touch you there.”

“He’s not,” the cat hybrid interrupted the other right away, still looking down. “I let Hangeng touch me there, too, when I felt comfortable enough with him.”

“Oh really? He must have felt honored that you allowed him to touch your cat ears!” When Ryeowook looked up, he saw nothing but sincerity and warmth in the other’s eyes.

“Why are you like this?” The words were out before Ryeowook could do anything against that and he quickly clasped one hand on his mouth when he realized he had actually said them out loud, staring at Kyuhyun in shock at his own mistake.

“Like what?” Ryeowook quickly shook his head, but Kyuhyun didn’t let it go that easily. “I mean it, like what? Ryeowook, I’m trying to understand you, okay? Maybe we’ve been living together for a few months now already, but that doesn’t mean that I suddenly stop wanting to find out more about you.”

The cat hybrid contemplated the other’s words for a couple of seconds and eventually came to the conclusion that leaving his words hanging between them just like that would sound too rude when they hadn’t been meant like that, so he eventually uncovered his mouth but still looked down as he spoke, “But that’s exactly what I mean. Even when I’m not doing anything to deserve it, you’re giving me your attention, you’re trying to understand me and stay within my comfort zone without making me overstep my boundaries. You’re always so nice and even when I say something degrading you won’t get mad at me.”

“I don’t understand. When did you ever say anything degrading? Why should you not deserve me giving you my full attention?”

Ryeowook looked up helplessly. “But I just did! I said that I’m not comfortable enough with you yet to let you touch my cat ears before more or less testing you.”

“That’s not degrading, Ryeowook, that’s a fact. And I have to admit that you’re right about me preferring this method here over having Heechul teach me, though I might still get back to that if I keep on messing up.”

The cat hybrid looked down again, torn between wanting to believe the man who had been nothing but kind to him and the way he had been brought up. It had always been one thing to see Heechul and Hangeng interact, but knowing that was also the way Kyuhyun was treating him, like an equal person, was still strange to him. “But when I am so distant towards you, why are you still always so kind and… mindful towards me?”

“Would you really prefer it any other way?” Kyuhyun asked back, but before Ryeowook had the chance to answer, the younger man continued to speak, “That’s just who I am and you are just who you are. You take more time growing comfortable with others than I do. And from what I’ve heard, Heechul is quite like you, if he didn’t even let Hangeng touch his cat ears until you had moved in with them. He wanted security, just like you do. Both of you had been looking for a constant factor in life and you found it in each other.”

“I’m not like hyung. He’s a lot more outgoing and open towards others, he’s not as socially awkward as I am, he likes being around people and getting touchy with them.”

“Yes, but only to a certain degree. And admit it, you and Heechul probably have entirely different conversations than he and let’s say Sungmin ever will. Because you’re his best friend and he trusts you all the way. And yes, the few times I’ve seen the two of you together are enough for me to be able to tell that.” He shook his head. “But all of that is not even the point here. The point is that you took a huge step today by bringing me here and it’s been a long day for you in general. What do you think about going home and relaxing for the rest of the evening? I think we still have some leftovers, don’t we? Then you won’t need to cook today. And I’m sure you’ll feel less on edge already by tomorrow. What do you think?”

Ryeowook looked at Kyuhyun again, but eventually he nodded, figuring that was indeed the best solution either one of them would be able to come up with.

As the evening progressed, the nervousness remained, though. After all, the one thing he was truly anxious about hadn’t even started yet—he still hadn’t allowed Kyuhyun to touch his cat ears. Now that the topic had been mentioned, though, he occasionally caught the other stealing glances at his cat ears, probably wondering what they felt like and what it would be like to touch them, maybe even wondering about the same thing Ryeowook was—how would it go? In the hybrid’s eyes, Kyuhyun had done really good with the cats, so why not also him? Would it make that much of a difference?

He squeezed his eyes shut when he lay in bed with those same thoughts running through his mind on replay. If only he could tell the answer without having to try it first…

* about 11 US$/9,20€, checked on 21.01.2018