After Christmas, things calmed down. Ryeowook and Kyuhyun got to spend more time together again much to the cat hybrid’s delight, and when Kyuhyun needed to go to work again, they quickly adapted to a very similar daily pattern as they had in July and August.

At work, the international New Year’s became a little more busy again, but Ryeowook was joking about it with Taecyeon and Pilkyo as they left the restaurant in the afternoon, leaving the more stressful shift to the others at work.

Two weeks later, one of Ryeowook’s colleagues from the late shift called in sick and the early shift was distributed to fill in for the next week by being cut shorter in the beginning by one person who then had to stay longer that day. Their lunch break would be held during the time when the restaurant was closed while the others were cleaning up and preparing for the next shift.

It was only when Ryeowook went to write into the calendar in his and Kyuhyun's apartment on which days he got the changed shift that he noticed he had made a mistake.

“Kyuhyun?”

“Yes?”

“I think I messed up.”

Ryeowook could hear the other get up in his room and come downstairs while he himself was still standing in front of the calendar with a pen in his hand. He had already noted down one of the days with his changed shift and now blankly stared at the calendar, more specifically at a certain day.

“Why, what’s going on?”

“My boss just called. One of my colleagues from the evening shift called in sick, so the shifts for the next week have been distributed among us. We’ll start a little later than our normal early shift but still get off earlier than the actual evening shift.”

“So?”

“I agreed to that shift for the 18^th.”

For a moment, both of them stared at the calendar field for January 18^th, took in the big letters in red that said 6-month-anniversary. By the simple fact that Kyuhyun didn’t respond right away, Ryeowook knew he had let the other down. How had he not noticed that the 18^th was their anniversary, that they had made plans for that evening?

“What are your new hours for the changed shift?”

“I’ll start at 11AM and I get off at 7:30PM. I have a lunch break in between when the early shift leaves and there’s some time before the evening shift arrives.”

“There’s a time gap in between?”

Ryeowook nodded. “Is that a strange thing?”

“It does sound strange to me. Isn’t there a lot to prepare in between?”

The cat hybrid shrugged. “We prepare whatever we can. Since we all work together, not all of us have to do the cleaning, so the others can go ahead and start preparing everything for the evening shift. And then when they arrive, they’ll continue preparing everything to open the restaurant again at 5.”

“Well, if it works I guess it’s actually a pretty good system.”

Ryeowook shrugged again. He had never questioned the way everything worked. On holidays and Sundays, the system was a little different anyway, but since everything always seemed to work out, he figured it was fine.

After a couple of seconds of silence, Kyuhyun spoke up again, “I’ll see if I can change the arrangements I made, alright? Don’t feel down, it’ll work out one way or another,” he promised and gently ruffled the hybrid’s hair without coming in touch with his sensitive cat ears. “Just let me take care of everything. I’ll keep you updated, alright?”

“You said it’s a surprise.”

Kyuhyun laughed. “But I can still keep you updated on whether my plans work out or not, can’t I?”

“That’s true.” They made eye contact and Ryeowook smiled softly when he noticed that Kyuhyun really wasn’t upset with him. “Thank you, Kyuhyun.”

The younger shook his head. “Don’t thank me. Focus on your work and make sure you’ll get out in time on Tuesday, alright? Then everything will be fine.”

“Alright.” Ryeowook turned back to the calendar and wrote down the changed times. If Kyuhyun said everything would work out, then he trusted the other that it really would. He couldn’t wait to find out what Kyuhyun had planned for them!

Ryeowook quickly learned that the evening shift was in general more stressful than the early shift. More people came in to eat out at night than around noon, so everything had to be done even faster—if possible—to make sure the customers wouldn’t wait too long for their meals.

When supposedly the majority of the customers had arrived and their meals had at least been prepared to the point where they’d only have to be delivered or put on the plates once they were done, Ryeowook once again announced that he’d call it a day and, when his colleagues from the evening shift nodded to signal they understood, he went back to the changing room. The first thing he did was to take out his phone to check if Kyuhyun had texted him again. So far he had only found out that whatever plans the younger had made worked out, but he still had no idea what those plan were.

Seeing Kyuhyun had indeed texted him, the cat hybrid unlocked his phone and opened the message. “When you’re off, come meet us at table 8 ;P” it said.

Ryeowook stared at the text message for a couple of seconds. If he got the message right, that meant Kyuhyun was at the restaurant where he was working. There was no other address, after all. But who else was with Kyuhyun? Were Ara, Eunhyuk, and Donghae there? Maybe even Kyuhyun’s parents?

Unable to figure out who ‘us’ might be, Ryeowook quickly typed back that he’d be there in a couple of minutes, then he got changed and made sure he wouldn’t forget anything in the changing room. He double-checked to be sure that he really had checked out, then he left the employees only area. He went out the back door and around the restaurant, entering it again through the front doors. One of the waiters smiled at him. They had only met a few times so far, but the other apparently remembered him. “You’re expected at table eight,” the young man announced and turned around to point out that table. “Have fun tonight.”

“Thank you,” Ryeowook replied and looked into the direction where table eight was supposed to be. A moment later, he spotted Kyuhyun and the backs of two heads that he could nevertheless identify after years of living together with them.

“Ryeowook,” Kyuhyun called out when Ryeowook was almost at the table.

“Kyuhyun! Heechul-hyung, Hangeng-hyung!” The cat hybrid hurried over the past few steps and the older two men managed to stand up just in time for Ryeowook to hug them tightly.

“Wookie-baby~!” Heechul greeted him back with a full-on hug as always.

“Hey, Wookie,” Hangeng also greeted him when it was his turn.

“You’re good at keeping secrets, as it seems,” Heechul commented and sat down again.

“Thanks,” Kyuhyun replied.

Ryeowook went around the table and hugged Kyuhyun briefly as well, then he sat down with the others. “So this is the big surprise?”

“Yes, we are the big surprise,” Heechul replied with a grin.

“The restaurant was a more or less spontaneous thing after you told me you’d have to work longer today,” Kyuhyun explained.

“Thank you,” Ryeowook replied and beamed. He looked up when a young woman came to a stand beside their table.

“Hello, my name is Song Minah and I will be serving you tonight,” she introduced herself while she handed out the menus. “Would you already like to place your drinking order?”

Kyuhyun looked around the table. “Do you already know what you’d like to drink?” When everyone nodded, he turned to Minah again and nodded as well. “I’d like a coke, please.”

“A water for me, please,” Ryeowook replied with a soft smile.

“I’ll also take some coke,” Heechul said with a grin.

“I’d like some apple juice, please.”

Minah nodded and bowed towards them. “Your order will be delivered soon,” she promised. “If you have any questions or concerns, please approach me about them.” When the other four nodded, the young woman left the table again.

Ryeowook looked at the others and couldn’t help but smile happily. He was together with the people he loved the most and it had been six months since he had moved in with Kyuhyun, probably the best six months of his life. In that moment, he realized just how lucky he was.

“So how was work today?” Kyuhyun asked and looked at him curiously.

“It was as normal as it could be,” Ryeowook replied with a slight shrug.

Heechul across from him laughed softly. “Doesn’t sound too normal for today,” he commented and the younger hybrid rolled his eyes, but he was smiling as well.

“Today was fine,” he added nevertheless.

“That’s great to hear,” Kyuhyun replied with a warm smile.

“Wookie, what’s the specialty here?” Heechul asked curiously.

“People always praise our bulgogi,” he replied honestly. “But it also depends on who’s in charge for our table.”

“I’ll take the bulgogi then. Though I’m sure no one can do it as good as you can,” Heechul replied with a grin.

“Oh come on, we all have the same recipe.”

“But none of them will add a bit of love for me like you do~”

Ryeowook laughed at his best friend’s argument. “Point for you.”

“So how are you two doing in general?”

“Hyung, I’m calling you every day. You know how we’re doing.”

Without commenting on that, Heechul turned to Kyuhyun. “So how are you two doing in general?”

All three of them burst out laughing when the older cat hybrid simply repeated his question with an angelic face, obviously trying not to laugh as well. “Well, I don’t know what Ryeowook’s telling you, of course, but in my opinion, things are going really good,” Kyuhyun replied when he could speak again.

“Would you elaborate that for me?”

All three burst out laughing once again at Heechul’s secretary look and when he pushed up a pair of imaginary glasses.

“Well, what would you like to hear?” Kyuhyun replied eventually with a smirk on his lips. He leaned forward and rested one elbow on the table, leaning his head on his hand.

Heechul copied his pose. “Isn’t that obvious? I want all the dirty details.”

Ryeowook blushed lightly at that response but nevertheless watched curiously. “The dirty details?” Kyuhyun repeated with an expression of fake surprise. “I’m afraid that since Ryeowook moved in with me, there are no such things.”

“But there were before?”

“I’m a bachelor, what do you think?”

This time it was Heechul who burst out laughing. “Wookie-baby, we made an excellent choice with this one! Though I miss you at the shelter, I think I can truly entrust you in this kid’s hands.”

“Yah! You already made that decision half a year ago!” Kyuhyun protested, but Heechul only flashed him a pitying glance.

“Honey, with my little baby I’m making that decision day by day again with every call I get,” he replied in a voice that sounded like velvet while he fluttered his eyelashes at the youngest one.

“Hyung, I’m fine. You don’t need to worry that much about me,” Ryeowook defended himself and took Kyuhyun’s hand under the table, squeezing it gently because he didn’t want the other to get upset with Heechul. At the same time, the young hybrid felt like his heart was overflowing with love when he heard again how much Heechul cared about him.

Heechul shrugged. “If I don’t do it, Hannie will, and he already has too many people he worries about,” he argued matter-of-factly and the slightly younger man huffed.

“Yah! I can’t lead my shelter the way all those other people do, after all. You’d probably kill me if I did,” he complained and shot his boyfriend a hurt look.

Heechul smiled in response. “I know, my love.” He leaned in and placed a quick peck on Hangeng’s lips and just like that they had made up again.

When someone came to a stand next to their table, they looked up to see Minah had returned and now put down their drinks. When she was done, she straightened again. “Have you already decided what you’d like to order?”

Heechul nodded while Hangeng and Kyuhyun quickly looked at the menu again to figure out what they wanted to order. “Well, I’d like your bulgogi, please. My friend said it’s excellent here.” He glanced at Ryeowook with a bright smile, making the younger hybrid blush.

“Minah-sshi, who’s in charge of this table.”

“That would be Eunhye-sshi.”

“Could you ask her to make her specialty?”

“That would probably be andong jjimdak,” Minah replied and Ryeowook nodded.

“Then I’d like to take that.”

“I’ll take dolsot bibimbap, please,” Hangeng added and Minah nodded.

“I’d like to have your dubujeon,” Kyuhyun eventually said as well and closed the menu. They all handed the menus back to Minah who bowed towards them.

“If you’d like anything else, please tell me,” she said and, when no one made a move to say anything, she bowed once more and then left their table.

Once she was gone, they all turned to face each other again and when Kyuhyun raised his glass, the other three followed his example. “Thank you for coming here tonight, I’m glad you two could make time.” After that, he turned to face Ryeowook. “Thank you for coming with me six months ago. These past six months were amazing and I’m looking forward to many more months together with you.”

The cat hybrid blushed softly but bowed his head lightly in agreement. “Thank you for choosing me. Thank you for making my dreams come true.”

“To us,” Kyuhyun replied and raised his glass to the middle of the table for everyone to clink their glasses.

“To us,” the other three responded as their glasses met in the middle, then they all drank the first bit of their drinks. Ryeowook drank a little more because he was thirsty—he had forgotten to drink something after his shift because he had been too busy checking his messages and then coming to the front of the restaurant.

“By the way, Wookie, I have incredibly exciting news for you!” Heechul suddenly burst out and leaned forward a little.

“What is it?” the younger cat hybrid asked and set down his glass again.

“Sungminnie is dating someone!”

“He is?” Now Ryeowook leaned forward as well, immediately enthralled by those words.

Heechul nodded in response. “Yes. He said that he met a young woman while getting groceries a little over a month ago. She seems to be new to the neighborhood, so while helping her out a little, they got to know each other. Can you imagine Sungmin only told me about her today?”

“Chul-ah, he told you as soon as he and Saeun decided to give going out a try.”

Heechul made a dismissive gesture towards his boyfriend. “Wookie, all of my babies are growing up now. You’re out of the shelter, if things work out for Sungmin, he might also move out… What am I gonna do without you all?” He huffed in a childish manner, but Ryeowook could tell his best friend indeed felt a little bit left alone. The three of them had been together for years, it even seemed surreal to Ryeowook to think that both he and Sungmin might end up moving out of the shelter within one year.

“You’ll be fine. It’s not like we’re dead, we’re always just a phone call away, hyung. You know that, don’t you? And you have Hangeng-hyung by your side.”

“I know...” Heechul looked down and started to play with his napkin. “I guess I just… underestimated this… I thought there’d be less change when I lead a shelter… But I feel like there’s even more change now…”

Kyuhyun also leaned in a little. “Heechul-sshi?” The older man looked up and Ryeowook also turned to face Kyuhyun. “You know you can come over anytime, don’t you?” The youngest turned to the cat hybrid next to him before he continued speaking. “Ryeowook, I always assumed you’d know that, but you know you can have friends over, don’t you? If you want to invite someone from the shelter or from work, you can always do that.”

Ryeowook frowned a little and opened his mouth to argue that he had thought only family would ever come to the apartment, but then he closed it again, realizing that was probably just another thing he had missed out on all his life. Who would have been supposed to visit him if people never stayed in contact once they left a shelter? Yet the more he thought about it, he also came to the conclusion that it was probably a rather common thing for friends to come and visit. “You’ve never had anyone over either…” he eventually argued quietly.

Kyuhyun nodded. “I know. When I meet up with my friends, we usually go out or we meet in university. During vacations, they also have to work and our schedules don’t always match, but there’s a pretty high chance I’ll be going out more until university starts again.”

“Oh…” Ryeowook made, unsure what else to say. “But it’s also normal for friends to not go out together?”

A smile appeared on Kyuhyun’s lips even though the slightly older man could tell the other tried to hold it back. “Yes, it is.”

“You’ve missed out on too much during your time at the shelters,” Heechul commented in an unhappy tone.

“You also only found out about this when you moved in with me. Remember how shocked you were when a friend came over to my place for the first time?” Hangeng deadpanned and when Ryeowook glanced over at his best friend, he could see a bright blush covering his cheeks, making him laugh softly at the uncommon sight.

“Life at the shelters still seems so strange to me…” Kyuhyun mumbled.

“To me, too—and I’m leading one,” Hangeng replied with an understanding smile, but before the conversation could drift off into something negative, he changed the topic. “Do you guys have any plans for New Year’s?”

The youngest man nodded. “Yes. My grandparents will come over. They’re really fond of hybrids.” He glanced at Ryeowook and laughed softly. “They’ll be all over you. You have every permission to lock yourself in your room.”

“There’s no key to my room,” the cat hybrid reminded Kyuhyun.

“Ah, true. Then the bathroom?” the younger opted with an apologetic smile. “Don’t worry, I’ll try to remember to tell them ahead of time that you’re not comfortable with skinship, they’ll respect it,” he added then and, somewhat in contrast to his words, took the cat hybrid’s hand to gently squeeze it before letting go again.

“They sound wonderful,” Heechul replied with a sigh. “I wish I could also meet Hannie’s grandparents… At least once…”

“Why can’t you?” Kyuhyun asked him in slight confusion.

“Because in China… people aren’t as open-minded about hybrids as they are here. Don’t laugh! I accompanied Hannie to China once and almost got kidnapped twice while we were trying to take a walk. I have a feeling that even his parents wanted to make an announcement on the internet to sell me…”

“They did not,” Hangeng interfered.

“I know. But it’s scary being a hybrid in China.”

“So it’s true that hybrids are mainly present here in South Korea?” Kyuhyun asked further.

This time it was Hangeng moved his head from side to side, apparently torn about his answer. “I'm not entirely sure about that, but the system here in South Korea is better than the one in China. I think that's one of the reasons why there might also be more hybrids here—percentage-wise speaking. I can only follow the media on how things are in other places around the world.”

Ryeowook shook his head lightly. With one hand, he felt out the key chain in the pocket of his pants, quickly feeling the globe between his fingers. “This concept is still strange to me… All I’ve ever known is Seoul… South Korea alone already appears to be endless to me and now you all speak about other countries…” he said quietly.

“I know. It actually still frightens and amazes me, too,” Heechul admitted and when Ryeowook looked up, their eyes met, both filled with understanding and slight wonder about all the things they were only experiencing now that there was someone else to take care of them and to show them the world that had been hidden from them before.

“I’ll show you one day,” Kyuhyun promised and Ryeowook looked over at him. “I’ll make sure to research beforehand which countries will be good for us to travel to and then I’ll take you travelling. There are a lot of places I also haven’t seen yet, so let’s explore them together, alright?”

Ryeowook’s lips formed a smile again and he nodded in response. “Yes. I can’t wait to see more,” he replied and joy and excitement blossomed inside him at that promise.

“You’re on winter break now, aren’t you, Kyuhyun?” Hangeng asked further and the youngest one nodded.

“Yes, I am. Finally I have some more time again,” he replied and when Ryeowook glanced over at him, their eyes met and both of them smiled. Yes, it would be good to be able to spend more time together again!

“Are you two gonna do anything exciting?” Heechul continued.

Kyuhyun shrugged, his eyes still on Ryeowook. “I don’t know… I haven’t really thought of anything yet except for today.”

Ryeowook raised an eyebrow. “Are we gonna do anything else today?”

Kyuhyun grinned. “You’ll see~”

“I guess that means yes.” The young cat hybrid couldn’t help but smile at the thought of the evening not being over after dinner.

“We are, too, actually,” Heechul revealed. “Hannie’s taking me to watch a movie.”

“Oh really? What are you seeing?” Kyuhyun asked further.

“We’ll watch Bridge to Terabithia,” Heechul revealed with a soft blush. “And yes, that is a children’s movie. But I really wanted to watch it.”

“I think my sister will also go to that movie with some of her friends,” Kyuhyun replied thoughtfully.

“Tell me how you like it, okay?” Ryeowook asked with a soft smile and Heechul nodded in response.

“Of course I will!” Heechul said enthusiastically and looked up suddenly. Ryeowook did the same to find Minah return to their table. The young cat hybrid’s stomach grumbled when the scent of the delicious food hit his nose and he quickly covered his stomach, looking down while he felt his cheeks heat up in a blush. Heechul laughed. “Good thing we’re finally getting something to eat. After someone here already agreed to work late… You deserve to starve a little!”

“Yah!” Ryeowook instantly protested and looked up to see his best friend grin at him. “You’re being unfair…” He pouted unhappily and felt an arm wrap around him, but he lightly shook it off, not feeling like being hugged.

The young woman arrived at their table and put the plates down in the right order, a task that still amazed Ryeowook a little after he had already seen it a couple of times. He wasn’t sure if he could simply remember who had ordered which dish when there were many tables to wait. He thanked Minah when she put down the food in front of him and waited until she had left before he looked at his friends again.

“Let’s eat well,” Kyuhyun cheered and the others repeated his words joyfully before everyone grabbed their chopsticks and started to eat.

After they had finished eating, they weren’t able to stay for too long because otherwise Heechul and Hangeng would have ended up being late for their movie. Ryeowook nevertheless couldn’t have been happier because he had seen his two best friends again and Kyuhyun still had plans for them. They left the restaurant and bid each other goodbye, then Ryeowook watched the couple leave for a few seconds, smiling when he saw the other two holding hands and Heechul looking up at Hangeng attentively and then with soft laughter at something the younger said. Eventually, he turned to Kyuhyun again to see the other had in turn been watching him. “Are you ready to get going?”

“Yes, let’s go,” Ryeowook replied and happily let Kyuhyun lead the way to one of the bus stations nearby.

They changed busses twice and then also had to walk a little, but still Kyuhyun refused to tell him where they were going but they nevertheless kept up a cheerful conversation.

The path took another turn and suddenly he knew what their destination was. The tall Namsan Tower was standing there in front of them, still very far up and rather distant, but lit in a beautiful light blue which was slowly changing colors to a soft green. The cat hybrid came to a stand, he could only stare at the beautiful image in front of him, the slim tower pointing into the sky like a needle and illuminating its entire surroundings. He couldn’t remember ever having seen anything comparably stunning and breathtaking in his life.

“Do you like it?” Kyuhyun asked quietly after a while.

Ryeowook glanced at the other and then back at the tower, nodding in awe. “It’s so beautiful,” he replied while his eyes were still glued to the enormous building in front of them.

“Just wait until you see the city from the viewing platform at the top of the tower.”

“We can go all the way up there?” the cat hybrid asked excitedly and beamed when Kyuhyun nodded. “Then let’s hurry and go up there! Have you been there already?”

“A few times, yes, but never during the night. I heard it’s the most beautiful when you can see all the city lights sparkling down here while you are up there,” the younger replied.

“So it’ll be the first time for both of us,” Ryeowook replied happily and continued to walk, his eyes on the dazzling tower ahead of them most of the time but also wandering around to take in their surroundings occasionally. It was beautiful to see the partially untouched snow change colors depending on the light shining on it directly, there was even a snowman that smiled at the people passing by. Since it was a normal week day, only few people were outside, but Ryeowook felt a lot more comfortable like this.

“You know, when Ara first took Eunhyuk and Donghae here it was during daylight. Not much later, Hyukkie took Hae to this tower again at night time and confessed to him,” Kyuhyun revealed with a slightly nostalgic expression on his face after they had been walking for a bit.

“Oh really?” When the younger nodded, Ryeowook looked ahead again, imagining the scene to have been incredibly cute and adorable. “That must have been a really magical moment.”

“It was. You’ll see part of the reason soon,” Kyuhyun replied and the nostalgia had been replaced by joy and excitement.

The cat hybrid nodded in excitement and continued to walk, paying more attention to his surroundings now as well, admiring the things he saw.

When they arrived at Namsan Tower, Ryeowook was happy to be able to go inside again where it was much warmer than on the snowy outside. There was still a surprisingly long queue in front of the entrance and Ryeowook wondered if none of them had somewhere to be early the next day—university, maybe, or work, school… Or maybe all the people around just didn’t need a lot of sleep.

He scanned the room routinely and found out that as always there weren’t a lot of hybrids around, mainly humans. “Kyuhyun?” The younger hummed in response. “Do you think that one day it will be normal for hybrids to be everywhere? What I mean is… Look around the room and you’ll almost only see humans. It is this way in pretty much every place where people go to enjoy themselves that we’ve been to and even openly on the street, the only place where you can see many hybrids is in the supermarkets and then maybe those who go grocery shopping or return from grocery shopping, hybrids who will walk around in small groups usually and who will mostly try not to catch anyone’s eye. Do you think that one day it’ll be normal for hybrids to also walk around with as little care and worry as humans do?”

Kyuhyun was quiet for a while and Ryeowook patiently allowed him the time he needed to think about this question. When their eyes met again, Kyuhyun’s were more curious than Ryeowook had expected. “You tell me. Can you walk around without worry, can you feel free among us, do you think it’s right for you to be here even though the majority of the other visitors are humans?”

The cat hybrid couldn’t help but smile lightly when he noticed how strange Kyuhyun obviously felt speaking about humans as a race like any other. “Yes, I can walk around without worry and I can feel free and like I belong even though I’m usually only surrounded by humans.”

The younger nodded in response and his expression revealed that this was exactly the answer he had thought he would hear. “Then the answer to your question is ‘yes.’ The view on hybrids has changed quickly in our society. I’m sure it will take a long time for everyone to share the views my sister and I have on hybrids. Remind me when we get home that I’ll show you a few examples of how the view of society on certain groups of people is gradually changing, alright?”

Ryeowook nodded in excitement, looking forward to learning more about the world Kyuhyun had grown up in, a knowledge that could probably be considered common but was not as wide-spread within shelters. “I’ll definitely remind you! But I have one more question: Is it normal for different countries to treat minority groups differently?” he asked further, remembering the way Hangeng and Heechul had talked about their visit to China.

“Yes, that is also very normal. I’ll show it to you when we get home. And let’s also try to follow the news together from now on, then you can learn more about the world as well as what’s common and what’s not.”

“I like that idea!” the older one immediately agreed happily, wondering what he would find out while watching the news. So far, he had hardly ever really followed them. Sure, when he had had the chance to watch or listen to the news at the shelters, he had used those chances, but that hadn’t happened all too often. Other than that, the basic knowledge they were expected to know had always been passed on among the hybrids as well as whatever else they had heard of before coming to a new shelter.

Even though the line hadn’t seemed short, it was moving rather quickly and it didn’t take too long until they, too, were allowed to go upstairs. They rode the gondola up and Kyuhyun somehow managed to make them stand right by the doors, enabling them to get out of the small cabin filled with people quickly when they arrived. Ryeowook was grateful to have more space to himself again even though he had also enjoyed the view he had had over the city and the mountains on their way up.

They came onto a resting area with a few small food booths. Ryeowook took in the beautiful, snow covered surroundings, loving how it was sparkling in the light cast onto the area and suddenly wondering what this place would look like in summer when the trees were green and there were certainly also flowers blooming and bringing color into this small, white paradise, when Kyuhyun spoke up excitedly, “Ryeowook, look, they sell waffles here! It’s usually an ice cream parlor, but now they sell waffles!”

The cat hybrid turned around to take a look at the small booth Kyuhyun was talking about and he couldn’t help but laugh at the younger man’s excitement. “We’ve just had dinner,” he pointed out.

“But we didn’t have desert,” Kyuhyun argued, obviously intending to still eat a waffle.

“I’m not even hungry.”

“You don’t have to be hungry to eat something sweet,” the younger pointed out and held Ryeowook’s gaze until the hybrid huffed.

“You know you don’t need my approval to eat something, don’t you?”

“But I bet they’re so good that I’d feel bad to have you miss out on the experience.”

“I could take some of yours?”

“No, they smell so good that I want my own!”

Ryeowook couldn’t help but laugh and shake his head. “You’re such a handful, has anyone ever told you that?”

“All the time,” Kyuhyun replied and grinned, taking the older’s hand and leading him over to the booth. “So which one would you like?”

Ryeowook read through the options advertised on a sign next to the booth and tried to figure out what he wanted. There were so many options: they had chocolate toppings, hot cherries, vanilla sauce, powdered sugar, vanilla ice cream, a chocolate sauce… “I think I’ll take the one with powdered sugar,” he said eventually, knowing from the few times that Hangeng had made waffles with them that powdered sugar always fit well. Plus, all the other options were likely to leave a mess!

“Me too,” Kyuhyun next to him replied and laughed softly.

“Will you order for both of us?”

“Of course.”

Ryeowook smiled and continued to look around, trusting Kyuhyun to move forward with him whenever the line was moving. He let his gaze wander a little further and suddenly realized something that seemed a little off to him. “Kyuhyun?” he spoke up once he was sure his eyes weren’t playing some kind of trick on him. “Why are there so many locks on the railing?” he asked while still taking in the kind of bizarre scene. The railing itself was hardly recognizable with all the locks around it, confusing him because he had learned that locks usually belonged on doors. The way they were hanging there almost seemed useless to him.

“Those?” Kyuhyun motioned towards the railing and Ryeowook nodded. “There are a several places around the world where people do this a lot, but I think you can also see some lonely locks on ordinary railings. People say that when you carve your initials or your entire names into locks and then put them on the railings of certain bridges or other special places like this one, your love will last for as long as the lock will. And because tradition says you then have to throw the key as far away as possible so it can never be found again, it is assumed that your love will last forever when you put a lock on one of these railings.”

“That sounds cheesy,” Ryeowook replied but smiled warmly, wondering if Heechul would do this, but eventually he came to the conclusion that the other wouldn’t because he would also claim that it was too cheesy. Maybe Hangeng would like the idea, though.

“But you seem to like it nevertheless,” Kyuhyun observed.

“I do. I think it’s really sweet.”

“Then should we get one?”

Ryeowook looked at the other. “We? You and I? But… isn’t this for boyfriends and girlfriends..?”

The younger man shrugged. “It’s for people who love each other. Don’t friends and family members love each other, too?”

Ryeowook could only stare at the other in a mix of disbelief and surprise, wondering both if Kyuhyun was actually serious with him and why he hadn’t thought of that as well.

“I mean, we don’t have to do it if you think it’s stupid,” Kyuhyun said eventually, seeming to be a little hesitant and unsure what to make of this silence, and suddenly something inside Ryeowook snapped and he quickly moved to hug the other tightly. Happiness and that warm feeling spread through him like a wildfire until he was certain he was overflowing with both of them. Maybe this was what having a family felt like?

“No, let’s do it. I really want to do it!” The cat hybrid let go again to flash Kyuhyun a bright smile, receiving a wide grin in return.

“Great! Then I’ll definitely get us a lock so we can do this!” Kyuhyun agreed enthusiastically.

The line moved forward and he turned to the front when he realized it was their turn. Kyuhyun ordered their waffles and Ryeowook happily waited for their order at the side, taking the waffles once they were ready. After Kyuhyun had paid, he handed one of the waffles to the younger man and they went a bit further to a calmer spot.

“Thank you, Kyuhyun~” Ryeowook said with a happy smile and the other nodded.

“You’re welcome.”

They ate the waffles mostly in silence and Ryeowook continued to watch the beautiful, white scenery around them, absolutely content with the moment as it was. The sky was clear and when he looked up, he could even see a few stars even though the lights around them still mostly whited out the beautiful picture beyond their atmosphere.

After they had finished eating and thrown away their trash, they went across a plaza and to the actual tower. There were several stores inside the building and many LED plays above their heads and on the walls, but they didn’t really catch Ryeowook’s eyes for more than a few seconds at best until they reached something like a tunnel. Inside, the city at night was shown and red and orange flower petals crossed the screen, making the view appear realistic and magical at the same time, almost like they were in a movie. The cat hybrid came to a stand to just watch in awe for a few seconds.

“This is so beautiful,” he said eventually.

“It really is,” Kyuhyun agreed quietly next to him and Ryeowook looked at him in surprise.

“You haven’t seen it either?”

“Not quite like this, no. I guess they adjust the screens to the weather outside—or at least to the time of the day.”

Ryeowook nodded lightly. “That makes sense.”

He continued to watch the beautiful images for a few seconds until Kyuhyun spoke up again. “I have an idea,” he said suddenly and pulled out his phone before he went further into the hallway. Ryeowook followed him curiously until they were more or less in the middle, then Kyuhyun leaned against the railing and patted the spot next to him. Ryeowook smiled brightly when he understood the younger one’s intention and he leaned against the railing next to him, standing close to the other. Kyuhyun went to the camera setting on his phone and then held it away by an arm’s length. The cat hybrid smiled brightly into the camera as Kyuhyun took several pictures of them, then he pushed off the railing again.

“Great, now we’ll have even more wonderful memories of this place!”

The slightly older man couldn’t help but laugh softly. “That’s true! Taking pictures is such a wonderful thing.”

“We need to take a lot more pictures, we’ve hardly taken any so far! I think the first one that both of us are on is actually the picture we took on Christmas with my family.”

“Is it?” Ryeowook thought about it for a moment, then he nodded in agreement. “Now that you say it… Yes, we definitely should take more pictures together.”

Kyuhyun grinned at him and they continued to walk, this time following the elevator signs. They waited in line for a small while until an elevator arrived that they also still managed to fit into. They rode upstairs, standing near the door once again, and left the small cabin the moment they arrived.

Once they arrived at the top, Ryeowook went to the ceiling-to-floor windows excitedly, his eyes immediately drawn in by the sight of the many twinkling lights of the city below them. His breath caught in his throat while he tried to take in everything at once, the majority of white and slightly yellow lights but also the red and blue ones that advertised hotel and company names that he could still in part identify even from so far away. The sight was breathtaking. It seemed like the night had woven a black, velvet background that was only meant to highlight the city’s dazzling and sparkling beauty. Standing so far away, Ryeowook almost felt detached from it, like his life couldn’t possibly take place in such a marvelous place, like his life was way too simple to fit into the exquisite magnificence of such a glittering and bright city like Seoul.

“What do you think?” Kyuhyun next to him asked and when Ryeowook glanced to his side, he blushed as he realized that Kyuhyun had been watching him instead of the city and he hoped that Kyuhyun hadn’t been watching him all this time.

“It’s incredibly beautiful. I can’t even put it in words, it’s just so…” He looked over to Seoul again and smiled. “I’ve never seen anything like this. It’s amazing.” Turning to Kyuhyun again for real, his smile deepened a little more. “Thank you so much for taking me here!”

“You’re welcome,” Kyuhyun replied and this time it was him who faced the city again. “You’re right, it really is beautiful.

“I can totally understand why Eunhyuk confessed to Donghae up here. This is such a beautiful place for a love confession.”

“I think Eunhyuk confessed downstairs where the locks are. I'm pretty sure they even put a lock up somewhere,” Kyuhyun mused before he shrugged. “But I wouldn’t know where exactly to find it.”

“I wonder if they still know where it is.”

The younger man laughed in response. “Knowing Eunhyuk, he actually might still know where it is!”

Ryeowook hummed in response and thought about it for a moment. “I think when we come back to put a lock here, I also won’t forget where we hang it,” he admitted.

“Me neither. But that still doesn’t mean we’ll be able to find it again easily.”

Ryeowook nodded and stepped away from the glass, ready to continue exploring their surroundings and soon Kyuhyun followed his example and they continued to walk around the top of the Namsan Tower.

After finishing the rountrip at the top, they rode the elevator back down. Ryeowook took the lead and went outside again, the cold January air hitting him like a wall of ice, but he ignored it and continued to walk towards the railings that were full of locks from all ages, as it seemed. Suddenly, the cat hybrid couldn’t help but wonder how many locks had been put up on the railing and how much space there was even left. “Kyuhyun?”

“Mhm?”

“What happens when there’s no space for locks anymore?”

There was a short break before the younger answered. “I don’t know, actually. But I sincerely hope they don’t take any off. That would appear to me like they would break those people up, you know?”

Ryeowook hummed in response. “Those things over there have been built because the railings were full, haven’t they?” he asked as he pointed towards the metallic structures ahead of them.

“Yes, they have. Let’s just hope that’s all they do.”

“Yes, let’s agree on that.” The thought that simply more place was made for all the lovers who wanted to manifest their love like this was calming and made him happy, so he decided not to think about what other alternatives they might use to allow every couple to put up a lock.

They continued to walk around and Ryeowook took in the beautiful place that was so colorful and bright and seemed to hold so much love. He thought about Kyuhyun having promised him to put up a lock someday, too, and he couldn’t help but smile like a fool because it made him feel incredibly special and like that would be another proof that they were family, one more affirmation of his new home.

They eventually arrived at the front again and came to a stand to watch the sparkling city beneath them once more—or so Ryeowook thought because when he looked at Kyuhyun again, he realized the other’s eyes had again been on him.

“What?”

“Nothing.” The cat hybrid raised an eyebrow to make obvious that he didn’t believe Kyuhyun and the younger one laughed. “It just makes me happy to see you in such a good mood.”

“Well, tonight is a really great night. We went out with Hangeng-hyung and Heechul-hyung and had really delicious food and you took me here because we’re family now and we’ve spent the past six months together… This is amazing. Thank you, Kyuhyun.”

“You’re welcome,” said man replied with an honest smile. “I had been hoping that you’d like tonight. I had wanted to do something special for our six-month-anniversary. I mean, you’ve been with me for half a year now and I can tell how happy you are about that and how much you’ve grown and become comfortable in this time… You deserve so many special days.”

Ryeowook shook his head. “You still haven’t changed when it’s about that.”

“Of course not!”

Ryeowook grinned and looked towards Seoul again. “Can we come here again in summer for our one year anniversary?”

“It’ll be quite full when we come here during a summer night.”

“I don’t mind. I’d love to have a certain place that I can connect with really special moments.”

“So you wouldn’t like to travel for anniversaries?”

Ryeowook thought about for a moment, then he shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. Maybe it’s strange, but I kind of like having certain places that I can return to and that I can connect with really beautiful things. You know, this here is a place that I can also go to on my own, if necessary, when you’re in university or at work… I can come here on a bad day and then I can let all the beautiful memories I connect with this place influence my mood and then I can continue happily.”

“Shouldn’t our apartment be a place like that, too?”

The cat hybrid took some time to try and put his feelings into words before he started to speak slowly. “It… it kind of is, but it’s still different. At the apartment I also have the memories of just having arrived and still being frightened of everything. I have boring Wednesday mornings spent on my own, trying to figure out what to do with myself while you’re gone. But this is a place that I don’t have any negative memories with at all, so far there’s only today. I’d love to make more memories here so it can kind of become a tank of positive energy for me.” He glanced at Kyuhyun and then down at his feet, scratching over the floor with one of them awkwardly. “I’m sorry, that probably doesn’t even make sense. I guess I’m just—”

“No, no, don’t justify yourself! I think it actually makes perfect sense. You’re the type of guy to want something stable, something you can return to, something that won’t waver even when time passes. You’ve had so many changes in your life until now that I guess having something clear to hold on to, something you can rely on, has a greater importance to you than it does to me. In Hangeng-sshi’s shelter, you knew your position and you knew exactly what you were in charge of and how to handle which situation, and you had Heechul-sshi as a constant factor right by your side.

"Now I am the constant factor by your side, there’s the apartment even though there’s not as much stuff to do for you as there was in the shelter, and you have your work, I guess that also helps. There are people around who rely on you, you have a certain order of things and even though you don’t oppose of trying new things, I can also tell that it sometimes costs you a lot of effort and courage to step out of your comfort zone and allow a new element into your life.” Kyuhyun made a break and then started to laugh. “I’m sorry, you obviously already know all of that! But I want you to know that I’m fine with that, I can understand why having something like a routine would be important to you. So yes, in short: Let’s make it a thing and come here for future anniversaries as well!”

Ryeowook looked up hesitantly. “And that won’t be a bother to you?”

Kyuhyun shook his head and again there was that warm smile that he seemed to regard the cat hybrid with most of the time. “No, not at all.”

“But we wanted to travel...”

“I can still show you the world bit by bit, but I actually also like the thought of having certain places that we will periodically return to. So let’s make sure to always celebrate our anniversaries here on Namsan Tower!” he declared solemnly and reached out his hand with his pinky extended.

Ryeowook just stared at the hand for a moment, then a smile appeared on his lips. “Okay,” he agreed and linked their pinkies, looking into Kyuhyun’s eyes again with a bright smile.

It felt like a miracle to him that Kyuhyun always understood him and never needed lengthy explanations and would also never judge him for what he wanted or the ways he felt.

His eyes drifted over the city lights again and he smiled, already looking forward to all the nights he hoped to spend like that, far above the city he had grown up in, seeing only its most beautiful sides, and with the man who gave him a family right by his side.

Hey guys~ Happy anniversary to these two <3 I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter?

I know that those locks are usually rather a couple thing, but I figured it would be really sweet to pick up the idea for Kyuhyun and Ryeowook as well :)

I know that things aren’t quite portrayed in here as they really are (regarding the Namsan Tower), but I had first written this and only later actually got to see Namsan Tower. So even though there are some inconsistencies with what a trip to Namsan Tower is really like, in the end I didn’t want to change it anymore… So please forgive me my mistake!

I wish you all a nice day and a wonderful weekend~ <3