When the car came to a stand in one of Seoul’s many underground garages, Ryeowook’s tears had dried, yet he still continued to look out of his window.

“Ryeowook?” Kyuhyun asked after what felt like about a minute of silence. The slightly older man looked up without saying anything. “Are you ready to go upstairs?”

Knowing it was only a question about ‘now or soon’, the cat hybrid simply nodded, not strong enough anymore to protest any further or keep up an act. They got out of the car and Kyuhyun opened the trunk, handing Ryeowook the backpack, then he grabbed the suitcase. Ryeowook held out his hand for it, but Kyuhyun shook his head with a soft smile. “Let me take it, alright? You look like you could need some rest. I’ll show you whatever you want upstairs and then I’ll leave you alone for a while, alright?”

Ryeowook looked down. There it was again, the feeling of being nothing but a failure. Of course he, too, had imagined what it would be like getting an owner, but in those fantasies they had always at least spent the first day together to get to know each other better and just do something together, yet here he was, feeling drained due to the lack of sleep and having cried for almost half an hour. “Okay,” he replied quietly in defeat, knowing there was nothing else he could say.

Kyuhyun nodded softly. “Then let’s go.” He led the way to an elevator Ryeowook hadn’t even noticed before.

“By the way, what’s in the box Heechul-sshi gave you earlier?” the younger one asked in a curious tone when they waited for the elevator to arrive.

Ryeowook had to take a few seconds to recall the box's content before he was able to answer. “I made cranberry and cinnamon swirled buns this morning, but then I forgot to eat mine… I made enough so everyone could get at least one.”

“Did you get two?” Ryeowook nodded at that question. “That’s cool! Then we could have them after lunch, what do you think? And I’ve heard you’re a great cook, but let’s order take out for now, alright? I’m not even sure if there’s anything left in my kitchen that you could properly cook with.” Kyuhyun explained and continued to ramble on about how he wasn’t much of a cook. The cat hybrid did his best to stay focused on the conversation, yet he noticed how he was losing his focus every so often. If Kyuhyun noticed, he didn’t let it show as he kept talking about various things.

They got out on the 12^th floor and Kyuhyun led the way to the left towards one of the doors. He unlocked it and waited until both of them had entered before he closed it again, locking the door from the inside.

Ryeowook took off his shoes and looked around in the meantime. There was a coat rack to his left that currently only held a college jacket, though—he wouldn’t have expected much else since it was in the middle of July. There was a flat cabinet on his right that extended all the way to the first door. Kyuhyun put his key into a bowl resting on top of the cabinet. He didn’t pay much attention to the rest because then he was done taking off his shoes and Kyuhyun motioned for him to follow further.

They went up a flight of stairs and eventually arrived in a hallway with three open doors. “The bathroom is right there,” Kyuhyun said softly, pointing to the door facing the stairs they had just taken, then he walked further along the hallway until they arrived between the other two doors. Pointing to his right side, he explained, “There’s my room. I usually spend a lot of time in there, so in case I’m home and you can’t find me anywhere else, that room will be a safe bet. I’ll probably also be in there while you rest, so whenever you wake up, please don’t hesitate to knock even if I’ll close the door. This room here will be yours.” He motioned towards the door on their left and then went ahead to enter the room, pulling the suitcase in behind himself.

Ryeowook followed after Kyuhyun, but he came to a stand right after entering the door. The room held a huge bed that the young man couldn’t even figure out right away how big it was—and yet it didn’t even take up all the space in the room, only one corner of it. There was still a lot of space left—at least that’s how it seemed to him—even though there were also a desk with a chair, a shelf near it, and a closet that was way too big for the small number of clothes he owned. He also saw a small nightstand. Everything was held in light pastel colors that made it seem like the room had been decorated quite a while ago.

“Ryeowook?”

“Huh?” The cat hybrid blinked and turned back to face Kyuhyun again, realizing he must have missed out on something the other had said. “I’m sorry.” He bowed automatically, feeling another wave of guilt rush through him.

Kyuhyun shook his head lightly. “No, no, please don’t apologize. I should’ve given you time, so the fault is mine. If there’s anything you’ll want to change, please tell me about it, alright? The lady at the furniture store recommended this set to me when I moved here… I understand that you might prefer a different design or different colors.”

Ryeowook was quick to shake his head. “Please don’t worry about it. It’s really good!” He turned back to the room. “But is this really for me?”

He only realized he had said those words out loud when Kyuhyun answered, “Yes, it is. There’s just you and me living here, there are two bedrooms in total. One is for you, the other is for me.”

The cat hybrid looked around once more, his tired mind unable to comprehend that he should have such a big room all for himself. After all the tiny rooms he had sometimes even needed to share with other hybrids, the size of this room seemed surreal to him.

“Alright, I’ll let you rest for a while now, okay? If you need anything, like I said, just knock.”

“I will.”

“Great. I’ll see you later then.” Kyuhyun flashed the slightly older man a warm smile that Ryeowook couldn’t quite respond to, then he left. Ryeowook looked around once more until his eyes fell on the bed, staying on it. It looked way too big for only him and he figured he’d feel lost in it, but knowing it was a luxury, he eventually went over to it. Without bothering to get changed first, he carefully got under the covers that smelled like they had been washed recently.

Despite how tired he was, Ryeowook couldn’t fall asleep right away. There were many new scents, new sounds, the bed felt strange to him. Eventually, sleep’s warm arms embraced him, though.

When Ryeowook woke up again, he was lacking all sense of direction and time. He woke up in a room that was too bright even for his own room. Too much light got in when his room usually faced the North. And there was too much space in the room he was in. For a split second, the thought crossed his mind that maybe he had been kidnapped, but when he realized nothing hurt and his brain realized the room looked too fancy, he knew that wasn’t what had happened.

The cat hybrid sat up slowly and the instant his eyes fell on the suitcase standing by the closet he was facing, he remembered where he was. This was Kyuhyun’s apartment, the other had picked him up earlier that day… How long ago?

Turning his head, Ryeowook spotted an alarm clock he wasn’t certain had been standing on his nightstand before, but it probably had. It was almost 1PM. If he wasn’t mistaken, they had arrived around 11AM, which meant he had slept for almost two hours.

His eyes went further through the room, passing the closet and going back to the desk he had seen before, realizing it wasn’t even empty. Instead, he found a box with pens and pencils as well as a notebook, and a small device he couldn’t quite recognize right away. Not yet bothering with those details, he looked further around to find a painting showing a flower field, trees and the sky next to the door. How had he not seen that before? The light brown of the furniture around him made everything look warm and strangely comfortable. His bed sheets were a soft yellow, the carpet in the room on the other hand was a light orange. There was a window by the desk.

Getting up curiously, Ryeowook went over to the window and looked outside, yet all he could see were the always busy streets of Seoul—from quite far up. He had never lived this far above the ground.

For a moment, Ryeowook couldn’t tear his eyes away from the glimpse of their capital, then he looked down at the small device that hadn’t caught his interest before. Now that he took a closer look at it, he realized it was a smartphone with a small note next to it. When I talked to Hangeng-sshi on the phone this past week, he told me you didn’t have a phone. I hope it’s alright for you that I got one before you arrived? I figured you’d prefer being able to make your calls in private right away—and we don’t have a landline connection. An unhappy smiley followed that sentence, making Ryeowook smile involuntarily. I charged the phone and made sure your, my, and Hangeng-sshi’s phone numbers are saved in your device, even though I was assured you know his phone number. – Kyuhyun

Ryeowook looked at the other man’s name for a moment, then at the phone before turning back to the rest of the room. He had never owned a phone, but there had also never been anyone he would have needed to stay in touch with…

Glancing at his suitcase and the backpack, he thought about unpacking, but then he decided against it, figuring that something else was more important at that very moment. Maybe he hadn’t asked to be given a new ‘home’, but now that he had one, he couldn’t turn things back, so instead he should learn how to live with this new situation and the person that came along with it.

Focusing on the other man in the apartment, Ryeowook’s sensitive hearing picked up strange sounds that didn’t make sense to him. There was some music, but also something else he couldn’t identify at that moment.

He hesitantly left his room after a couple of seconds and instead went across the hallway to knock on Kyuhyun’s door. After a moment, the strange noises stopped and only the music remained, then he could hear something that sounded like a chair being moved. A couple of seconds later, Kyuhyun opened the door to his bedroom and then smiled. “Hey there. Did you sleep well?”

Ryeowook looked down shyly, but he nodded. “Yes, I did. Thank you.”

“Are you hungry?”

The slightly older man hesitated for a moment, then he nodded again. “A little.”

“Then let’s order take-out!”

“I could cook,” Ryeowook offered in an instant, but he frowned when the other laughed.

“I don’t think you can. Did you forget? My fridge is kind of empty. But if you’d like, we can go grocery shopping later so we can get some ingredients for you to work with,” Kyuhyun offered and his eyes were kind at all times.

Realizing he was right, that they had talked about that earlier, Ryeowook lowered his head. “Ah, right… okay.”

“What would you like to eat?”

“Eh?”

“You know… There’s a Korean restaurant nearby that does take-out, there’s also a Chinese one not too far away, an Italian one…” When their eyes met, Kyuhyun seemed to realize Ryeowook was lost with the options. “Alright, since I guess you can easily make proper Chinese and Korean dishes yourself, do you like Italian food? You know, pizza, a lot of pasta…”

“I think so..?” He hadn’t had foreign food except for Chinese very often in the past, but as far as he remembered, he had always liked it.

“Good then. Do you want me to order some pizza?”

“If that’s what you want?”

“What kind of pizza would you like?” Ryeowook raised his eyebrows helplessly at the question. “Okay, is there any kind of food you don’t like?” The cat hybrid shook his head. “Then I’ll just order two kinds of pizzas and you’ll get to try both, alright?”

The young man nodded, relieved that Kyuhyun didn’t pressure him to make a decision he didn’t know much about.

“Do you want to come in while I call the restaurant? If you’d like, I can show you the rest of the apartment afterwards.” Ryeowook nodded softly and shyly entered the room when Kyuhyun stepped back and went further into the room and to his desk.

The cat hybrid looked around curiously. The desk was by the window, so that was the same as it was in his room. He couldn’t spot a closet, but he figured it was behind the corner next to Kyuhyun’s big desk. There were two shelves in the room, each on one side of the desk that held the speakers and a computer that was currently . Ryeowook didn’t know the song that was playing at that moment, but he figured he liked it. He looked to his right and found the bed right across from the door and a small nightstand next to it. This room held darker furniture and a couple of posters that seemed to belong to bands and video games, but Ryeowook didn’t recognize any of them. All in all, the sensation that Kyuhyun felt comfortable in that room radiated off of it, somehow making the slightly older man wonder if the room across the hallway would ever feel the same way to him.

“Do you like it?”

Ryeowook looked up when Kyuhyun stepped closer, smiling at him. He nodded softly. “It looks like you feel comfortable here.”

“I do.” The younger laughed softly. “Then again, I’ve been living here for about four months now, so I guess I also should feel comfortable here by now.”

“You didn’t at first?”

Kyuhyun shrugged softly. “Once the excitement about living alone wore off, it was a little strange to live on my own and suddenly be in charge for all the finances, that there’s enough food here, that I obviously can’t always eat out but had to find ways to make something to eat for myself, and that there was no one else around. I’ve never been too much of a cook, you know? Everything seemed strange all of a sudden. It’s better now that I’ve gotten somewhat of a routine.”

“And now I am here…”

“I know. And I’m glad about it. Living alone all the time isn’t for me.”

“But your routine—"

“—was only to be a temporary thing from the very beginning. I told you my parents took me to several shelters every weekend except for those when I was really busy, didn’t I? They even took me to a few in China and Japan in hopes that I would be luckier there. They only rediscovered Hangeng-sshi’s shelter a few weeks ago.”

“Is it that hard to find?”

“I guess not, but you see they were only looking at really big shelters with a lot of reviews, shelters that are very well known in our society. They’ve only started looking up smaller shelters recently.”

Ryeowook nodded softly when he heard those words. Of course he, too, knew that Hangeng’s shelter was pretty much a no-name shelter. There were others out there which everyone knew about. He had been in two of them, but he had to admit he definitely preferred smaller shelters!

“Do you want me to show you around downstairs?” Kyuhyun interrupted his thoughts.

“Downstairs?” For a moment, Ryeowook was confused, but then he remembered they had walked up a set of stairs and on the floor they were on, there were only their bedrooms and a bathroom, so of course there had to be a downstairs area. He nodded softly.

“Alright, then let’s go!”

“Umm… I kind of need to use the restroom first…” he mumbled shyly and looked down in slight embarrassment.

Kyuhyun nodded. “Sure, no problem. If you’d like, I can quickly show you where you can find everything in there.”

Ryeowook nodded as well, so Kyuhyun went ahead, out of the room and into the bathroom. Just like in the hybrid’s room, light colors dominated and made the room look friendly even though it didn’t have any windows, shutting natural light out completely. Kyuhyun pointed to the towels hung up in various places in the room. “Those are the places where I usually put the towels I’m using,” he explained and then grabbed another set of white towels that had been resting on the cabinet next to the door. “I have several sets, I took out this one here for now since it was on top. But in here,” he patted on the cabinet, “you can also find more sets of towels in case you’d prefer a different color. They all consist of a big and two small towels.” He looked around, seemingly unsure what else there was to explain. “Umm… I guess if you need anything else, you can either ask me or explore on your own, whichever you prefer. I don’t really have anything to hide… If you need a cup for your tooth brush, there’s one in here,” he added and went to the mirror cabinet above the basin, opening it to demonstrate one side that was filled with all kinds of stuff and one that was still empty. “You can put your things in here, too, if you’d like.”

Ryeowook nodded softly. “Thank you.”

Kyuhyun looked around once more, then he nodded and handed the towels to the hybrid. “Alright. I’ll be in my room until you’re done,” he said and left the bathroom, closing the door behind himself.

Ryeowook looked after him, then he turned back to the room he was standing in, taking in more details like the white furniture and the beige and brown tiles going halfway up the wall. After a couple of seconds, he moved to hang one of the small towels he was holding up next to the sink, then he put the remaining two on the free hangers near the shower.

When he was done in the bathroom a bit later, he left it again, leaving the door slightly ajar, just like it had been before. He went back to Kyuhyun’s room, but unlike the time before, the door was open and the other man looked up even before he could knock. The music and the computer had been turned off.

Kyuhyun stood up again. “Ready?”

Ryeowook nodded softly and let the owner of the apartment go ahead down the curved stairs until they arrived at the front door on their right side and another hallway with two doors and a simple opening towards what seemed to be the living room on their left.

“Obviously, that’s the front door,” Kyuhyun began and pointed to their right, then he walked a bit into the hallway until he stood between the two doors. He pointed towards the side of the stair case. “Here’s the storage room. I’m not sure how soon you’ll need it, but all kinds of cleaning utensils, the washing machine, and the drier are in there. If there’s any laundry that can’t go into the drier, there’s also a bit of space to hang the clothes, but I usually hope everything will be fine in the drier, even if it says it doesn’t want to be dried like that. So far, it has worked out for pretty much everything.” He shrugged lightly.

“On the other side is the kitchen.” He opened the door and motioned for Ryeowook to go in first. The cat hybrid took a few hesitant steps past Kyuhyun and into the room. Similar to Kyuhyun’s bedroom, the furniture in this room was dark while the walls, ceiling and floor were kept in light colors. The counters were white, making Ryeowook question the designer a little since every tiny stain would immediately be visible on these countertops, yet he didn’t say anything about it. Turning to face the other side of the room, he could see a doorway—that lacked a door. He frowned a little, needing a moment to fully comprehend that the hinges were missing as well, indicating that the architect had probably intended it to be that way. Light was flowing in from the room on the other side, but he turned back to focus on the kitchen again.

He spotted a small table and a couple of books on top of it with two chairs standing on either side of it, making him think that Kyuhyun used that table to study and most likely also to eat. “It looks nice,” he said quietly in the end and looked back at the young man standing behind him.

Kyuhyun smiled, but he scratched the back of his head in what seemed to be slight embarrassment. “Thank you. I didn’t have the chance to decide a lot in here, but since I liked the design as well, I decided to keep it. I’ll show you where you can find things in here later when the pizza arrives, okay?” When Ryeowook nodded, the younger man lowered his arm again to point towards the next room instead. “That is the living room,” he added more confidently and turned his hand with the palm facing up. Getting the hint that he should walk first, Ryeowook slowly went into the next room.

The colors changed into warm red and orange tones as well as dark wood again, yet the room looked very welcoming. Ryeowook could see a big table that could probably be used for family dinners or when friends came over to have dinner or play games. Turning his head to the left, Ryeowook could see the opening towards the hallway as well as a comfortable looking area with armchairs, a sofa, and a small table as well as a shelf with many empty boards while others were filled with some books and some movies. A TV took up the place in the middle of the big, wooden shelf. Two big windows let in sunlight, proving again that this apartment was facing South.

“So, yeah, well, that’s it…” Kyuhyun said eventually and when Ryeowook turned around, he saw the other leaning in the doorway. “This is my home. Our home.”

“Yes…” The cat hybrid looked back outside again and subconsciously wrapped his arms around himself. To him, it still seemed strangely surreal that he was really supposed to live in that place, to call it his home at some point… That he would be sharing it with someone whom he had only met once before and who would now be by his side day and night.

When the silence dragged on and became uncomfortable, he looked down again until he could hear the soft rustling of clothes as Kyuhyun moved and walked over to him, coming to a stand in front of him, yet keeping a safe distance. “Usually throughout the days I’m afraid I won’t be able to keep you a lot of company. I’ve started going to university this year, but I work during the time I don’t need to go to university. I was able to take this week off so we could get to know each other better and you can become more comfortable here before I’ll need to leave you alone throughout the days. Maybe we can also come up with ideas of what you could do all day in the meantime.”

Ryeowook nodded softly and looked up again. “I guess that would be a good idea.”

“You said you like reading, didn’t you? And singing and cooking?” The slightly older man nodded again and Kyuhyun puffed out his cheeks. “Maybe we should go to a book store then to get some books for you… What kinds of books do you like?”

The cat hybrid shrugged lightly. “I’ve always read whatever I could find in the places I came to and whatever people allowed me to read.”

“That doesn’t exactly make things easy… But I guess we’ll find something you’ll like! What kind of music do you like?”

The slightly older man shrugged again. “I don’t own any music. At Hangeng-hyung’s place, we would leave the radio on often… I don’t know much else than what’s playing on the radio.”

Kyuhyun let out a frustrated sound that made Ryeowook flinch. He had disappointed the other again… How was it even possible to disappoint someone that often within just one day?

“I don’t know which channel you’ve been listening to, but you’ll probably get some different music here. Just tell me if you like anything, we can put it on your phone if you want to.”

“Really?”

“Ah right, you’ve never had a phone before…” Kyuhyun remembered and sighed softly before he asked, “Do you know how to work with one?”

“Not really… I’ve seen others operate their cell phones occasionally…”

Kyuhyun nodded. “Get your phone, alright? We’ll go through the basics.”

The cat hybrid bit his bottom lip and looked down. With a soft nod and a light bow, he left the room and went back upstairs to the bedroom that would belong to him from that point on. Entering it, he still felt strange, so he hurried to get the cell phone that had been placed on the desk and to go back downstairs. When he re-entered the living room, he spotted Kyuhyun sitting on the sofa and patting the spot next to himself. Ryeowook went over to sit beside the other, making sure to leave some distance between them, though.

“Turn it on,” Kyuhyun said and nodded towards the device in Ryeowook’s hands. The hybrid stared at the device for a moment and then turned it around in his hands, unsure how to follow the order he had received. The slightly younger man quickly jumped in and turned the phone around in his hands. “To start with the very beginning: on the right side as you see the phone now will be the button to turn it on. You can also put it into energy savings mode with that button or get it out of that exact mode. On the left side, you can regulate the volume of music you’ll play with your phone or videos you’ll watch.”

“I can even watch videos with it?” Ryeowook asked and looked up at the other in surprise.

Kyuhyun laughed softly and nodded. “I’ll show it to you soon. Now press the button on the right side for a second or two until the screen lights up, then we’ll just have to wait for the phone to turn on.”

The cat hybrid nodded and did as he was told, curiously watching as the device did just like Kyuhyun had said it would. Afterwards, Kyuhyun gave Ryeowook instructions and explanations of the most important features of his phone and even though the slightly older man could tell he was just scratching on the surface of how to use his new phone, he was already getting confused by all of the things he’d be able to do with it.

Kyuhyun was still in the middle of one of his explanations when the doorbell rang, interrupting him. Both of them looked up for a moment, then Kyuhyun stood up. “Alright, enough theory for now. I’ll go get our lunch. Do you want to come with me?”

Ryeowook frowned. “Where exactly are you going?” he asked. Though the concept of ordering take-out wasn’t unknown to him, Kyuhyun’s words confused him.

The younger man laughed softly once again. “I’ll just go downstairs where the delivery man will be waiting,” he replied and first went into the hallway where he stopped once to use another device Ryeowook hadn’t even noticed before. After a short conversation with the pizza delivery man, as the hybrid learned, Kyuhyun went back to the entrance area, so Ryeowook simply followed after him.

After lunch and finding out that Ryeowook liked both Hawaiian pizza and pizza margarita, Kyuhyun made him go upstairs again to get the cranberry and cinnamon swirled buns. The cat hybrid handed the first one to the other, waiting anxiously to see his reaction, feeling too full and too afraid to try his own yet even though he knew himself well enough to know he’d eat his own anyway once he knew Kyuhyun liked it.

After a couple of seconds, the slightly younger man gave him a thumbs-up. “They’re really good!” he complimented, sounding surprised.

“Thank you,” Ryeowook replied shyly and looked down. He took his own bun and slowly started to eat it, hoping that it was true what people said, that sweet things would even fit into your stomach when you felt entirely full. Miraculously, the bun did fit.

That evening when he was lying in bed, ready to sleep, he grabbed his phone once more. It took him a couple of seconds to remember how to make a call with it, but then it worked out and he could hear the constant beeping as he was waiting for someone to pick up on the other line.

“Yeoboseyo?” Hangeng eventually answered his own cell phone.

“No need to be so polite when someone calls at this very moment!” Ryeowook could hear Heechul protest in the background.

For the first time in what already felt like forever, he couldn’t help but smile. “Hey, hyung. It’s Ryeowook.”

“Wookie!” Hangeng exclaimed, sounding a lot more attentive than before.

“Wookie-baby?” Heechul repeated. A moment later, the cat hybrid who had moved that day could hear his friend protest before his best friend answered the phone. “Yah, you! Why didn’t you call before now!? How dare you just leave us alone like that without knowing whether you arrived safely or how you like it or if you two even get along now or if you just hate it all!?”

Ryeowook laughed at the outburst. It felt so good to hear his best friend’s voice and his usual nagging that showed him how much Heechul really cared and how worried he had truly been. “I’m doing fine, hyung.”

“You are? Are you sure?”

“Yah! At least put my phone on speaker!” Hangeng exclaimed in the background.

“Fine. Hang on, Wookie.” It was quiet for a moment, then Heechul spoke up again, “Are you still there?”

“Yup.”

“Good. So, tell me everything! How is it? This is a cell phone you’re calling us with, isn’t it?” Heechul continued his questions without bothering to give Ryeowook time to even answer the first questions.

“Yes, this is a cell phone. Kyuhyun prepared it for me here and already saved your landline phone number and his cell phone number as well as mine on it.”

“Really? That’s so generous!” Heechul commented and sighed softly.

“So how are you doing? I take it as a good sign that you haven’t called until now?” Hangeng spoke up again.

“I’m doing fine, I think. But it’s strange. There’s only Kyuhyun and me living here, no one else. I have so much space… I think my bed will swallow me whole tonight…”

“Well, that’s not all too difficult! You’re so tiny, after all,” Heechul replied with a scoff.

“Hyung~! You’re not helping!” Ryeowook replied in a whiny tone and rolled onto his side to face the room. “But really, it’s very weird to me… There have always been so many people around, now it’s just the two of us…”

“Is he still good to you?”

“He bought him a phone, and gave him his own room with quite a lot of space and a big bed as it seems. So do you really think that question’s necessary?” Hangeng replied before Ryeowook could.

“Yes, this is necessary! Maybe my Wookie-baby doesn’t like him!” Heechul defended himself.

“No, no, please don’t worry about me. I’m doing fine. Really. He’s very nice to me and explains everything I don’t understand. I feel like I’ve missed out on everything during my time at the shelters… There’s so much that seems normal to him but that’s still more or less new to me…” Ryeowook sighed. This day alone had already brought along so many new aspects, he couldn’t even imagine what the rest of the week would bring!

“What did you guys do all day?”

“We mainly talked and watched a movie now before going to bed… He took the next week off so we can get to know each other better.”

“What does he do again?” Heechul interrupted.

“He goes to university and works during his vacation,” Hangeng explained.

“Ah, okay. Please go on.”

“We really didn’t do a lot… We went grocery shopping… He had to order take-out for lunch because he really didn’t have a lot of food here, but I cooked for dinner. I made too much, though…”

“That means you won’t have to cook tomorrow, so that’s good, isn’t it?” Hangeng opted.

“I think I’ll still cook tomorrow. I don’t think the leftovers will last for another two meals. But he likes my cooking, so that makes me happy.”

“If he didn’t, I would have come over right now to take you back!” Heechul argued.

Ryeowook couldn’t help but laugh because he was certain Heechul would have certainly at least tried to do exactly that. “Please don’t worry! He really does like it.”

“Did you two already make plans for the next week?” the Chinese man asked further.

“No… Wait, yes! On the way here he said his sister and her two hybrids would come over next weekend because they’re curious about me.”

“What are they like?” Heechul wanted to know.

“Who? All of them?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t know about his sister, but Kyuhyun said the other two are quite hyper… He also said that since I don’t like skinship, he’ll try to stay with me while the other three come over and that I should simply try and get back to him in case we should get separated and the other two hybrids are getting too much for me.”

“I’m curious: did he say whether the rumors about them are true? His sister’s hybrids are Eunhyuk and Donghae, aren’t they?” the older cat hybrid asked curiously.

“Yes, they are. But he didn’t mention the rumors. He really only said that they like skinship a lot,” Ryeowook replied with a slight shrug even though he knew the older wouldn’t be able to see it.

“What a shame… Tell me what you think after the weekend, okay?”

“I’ll tell you in case I’ll know anything for sure. I won’t inform you about assumptions.”

“Yah! You’re my dongsaeng, you should report everything to me as soon as possible.”

“Exactly: I’m your dongsaeng, not your spy. I think you got those two things messed up.”

“Whatever.”

“Aren’t you tired, Wookie?” Hangeng spoke up again.

“Not really. I’m not sure if I can sleep tonight.”

“But you already didn’t sleep a lot last night.” The older sounded very worried, making Ryeowook smile.

“I slept a little when we got here, so I’ll be fine,” the younger cat hybrid ensured his two friends.

“Anyway, I still have plans for tonight! So we gotta say goodbye, Wookie~” Heechul chimed in happily. “Love you, kiddo!”

“Love you, too, hyung,” Ryeowook replied quietly but with a smile.

“Good night. Try to sleep, okay?” Hangeng advised in a soft voice.

“And if you can’t, maybe you should think about getting something to hug. Stuffed animals, pillows, anything like that can work for you.”

“Hyung, I’m not a child anymore,” Ryeowook protested.

“I know, that’s why I’m being serious.”

“When he moved in with me, the bed he got was also too big for him. At some point I noticed a stuffed animal I had gotten when I had been a child was missing. I found it in Heechul’s roo—“ The rest of the sentence was muffled and drowned by Heechul’s belated protest

Ryeowook smiled as he could imagine both scenes—the one Hangeng had described and the one happening on the other end of the line—clearly. “Good night.”

“If you spill a word, I’ll have to kill you, Kim Ryeowook!” Heechul exclaimed.

“You’re waking up the others, hyung,” the younger cat hybrid protested. “I’ll try to sleep now. I’ll call you again tomorrow, alright?”

“Alright,” Hangeng replied, seeming to have gotten his mouth free again. “Sleep well and have a nice day tomorrow.”

“You too.”

“Good night, Wookie~” Heechul said as well.

With a smile, Ryeowook took the phone away from his ear, but he just stared at the display for a couple of seconds. By the time he had figured out which button to press, the call had already been ended by the other two.

The cat hybrid put the phone on his nightstand and pulled the blanket more tightly around himself. He didn’t care that it was July and thus way too warm to sleep with a blanket, he felt lost and needed some kind of barrier—even if that was only a blanket he could feel all around himself. The thought of getting a stuffed animal crossed his mind again and at least in that very moment, the idea sounded very tempting.

And all of a sudden, reality hit him. Heechul and Hangeng weren’t there with him. None of the others were. The only person he could talk to was the one just across the hallway—a place that seemed like the end of the world at that moment, a place that was impossible to be reached since it was too far away. He felt lonely in his big room with the huge bed. The sounds around him were even clearer than before, as if they only came into existence to be heard by him. His heart ached as he thought about how unfamiliar this place was, how strange, how surreal, and he wished himself back to the shelter, back to the home he had had until that day, back to a place where he knew everything and everyone.

Slowly, he cried himself to sleep.

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Hey guys~ I hope you liked this chapter :) First days are always tough... But cheers for best friends!

Please leave a comment again, your feedback makes me really happy :* <3