Chapter 1: Familiararity

A loud crash from upstairs alerted his attention enough to dislodge his earphones from his ears a little viciously, groaning at the very idea at having to get up for the third time in the past ten minutes that he had been spending trying to scroll through his emails. Donghae was never one to blame things on others... but for this occassion he could most definately blame his parents for eniciating his facination of animals into his brain at a young age, something that had cost him his heart from the very beggining he supposed.

Donghae lived alone... virtually alone, in the sense that everyone was always questioning when he was going to venture outside and find himself another girlfriend, but in all truth he was happy as he was, even if another thud on the floor from upstairs and a soft whimper was what cost him his previous girlfriend in the first place.

The glass beneath Donghae's small digits was beggining to grow clouded, his breath fogging up the outside of the oversized aquarium he was glued to. Big round eyes following the movements of the fish, running along after them and trailing his fingers over the surface until the tank ended and the fish turned around to loop back the other way. He could carry this on for hours, the simplest things amused him.

Tapping on the glass and waving at them, little hand a blur, blinking expectantly at the fish as they trailed past not paying him the slightest bit of notice. He didn't mind though and it didn't phase him from standing there and leaning his forehead against it until the fish were sure to see his grinning, clutching at nothing when his mother grabbed his hand to pull him on to the next thing. Donghae liked coming to the zoo, he had ever since he could remember and he didn't think it would be a ruitine he would ever break out of.

Every Summer his family brought him here, although his older brother was beggining to grow out of it, Hae enjoyed seeing some of the old animals that remained familiar to him, the turtles in the next tank along, trailing behind his parents his big dark eyes became transfixed on anything that moved, pointing at the one that was familiar to him, its shell damaged from an obvious collision with some kind of boat. "Hyung looook!" He told his older brother Donghwa, digging his heels in and beaming proudly at the turtles gliding past the glass oblivious to the outside world and the six year old clearly bouncing at the sight of them.

His hyung just smiled and grabbed his other hand. "C'mon Donghae we've been standing there for the past twenty minutes." Face breaking out into a small smile he crouched down to his level and pointed outside, the giraffe's towering well over the fencing would no doubt catch his younger siblings attention. "Look-" He was about to direct him in that direction but Hae was already off, his clumsy steps kicking up gravel behind him, bounding off to stare at another thing in wide brown eyed awe.

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Fingers knotted through just about every fence he could find, as close to every enclosure as he could get, at times sitting upon his fathers shoulders, or at times crouching himself through crowds of peoples legs just to get himself a good view at the front, smile permanantly etched onto his expression throughout the day even when the weather started taking a turn for the worst he just pushed his wet hair back away from his eyes, wiped the rain water away from some of the glass with his little fist.

Utterly fasinated by the collection of monkeys that he was greeted with on the other side. Although he was never phased by the absense of interactions from animals that saw the same thing on the other side of the glass on a daily basis, the two, greying monkeys that always sat, munching away at the back of the enclosure cast an intelligent look in his direction before turning their nose up at him, clearly disinterested by the naive look of wonder on his face. Of course a surprise arose, one that had him stumbling back away from the glass at a loud rather abrupt thump on the glass, backing into his mothers legs, earning a pitiful laugh from his whole family at his fear at the small bundle of baby monkey, new to its feet but already swinging around, bouncing off the glass of it's inside enclosure, fingers splayed on the glass in a similar fashion to how Donghae's would, but engrossed in trying to at a drop of rain water that was rolling down the outside of the surface.

Bouncing in childish joy at the sight of the baby capuchin, waving his little fist at the sign attached carlessly to the side of the enclosure. "Hyung, whats that say?" He demanded, a fiercly interested look in his eyes, although every animal he came across seemed to be his favourite, this one definately sparked an interest in him, one that seemed mirrored by the little creature watching him on the other side of the glass. His brother began reading over the notice about the type of monkey's that they were, information on them in general and then his eyes flickered with a slight disinterest towards the little brown bundle of energy that was for once, completely still with his eyes locked upon a fidgitting Donghae.

"This little guy's names Hyukjae."

---

He remembered his visit back to Seoul zoo, it was strange for him, his memories tainted by the mind of a child that could paint rainbows on a picture that perhaps hadn't been bright for a while. The zoo was run down... badly to say the least. The admission fee's were barely anything, and although he had the extra cost of paying for his girlfriend and dragging her here just for curiosities sake in the first place, it wasn't much. And so there were no complaints there, although it was verging on being a terrible waste of money. His favourite fish tank was now a murky shade of green, no fish elegible... and if they were, they were most certainly floating depressively on top of the surface. The turtles, as vast as their life span is suppose to be were long gone, the giraffe's house was shedding various layers of cheap paint, rusting more than the fences were surrounding it.

Much had changed, animals as familiar to him as distant family members had either been sold on, or old age and malnutritian had taken them before he could return back to his child hood memory. Part of him wished he had kept it as that, that he hadn't returned to see the mess this place was left in, barely days from closure, any animals that were not sold, no doubt verging on a cheap euthinasia, something beyond their own helpless decision.

Dark eyes skimming sadly over the abundant cages, unknown to him how the animals had left this place and feeling an annoying sadness in the back of his throat, knowing there was nothing he could really do about it and that he should just go home. With Sunny making an effort to try and see what he had through the same brown, but much younger eyes he sighed, looping them round past the large wasteland that had once been an elephant enclosure, eyes wandering uselessly with less enthusiasm than they had held years ago. He could probably still tell you what had belonged in this cages years ago, having had this placed maped into his head at an early age. The Capuchin enclosure was sure to be empty, the old miserable pair that had sat, almost festering in their old age at the back of the cage wouldn't be there for sure, they had been at a ripe old age before he could even properly read the signs that were now rusting and swinging in the breeze. Of course it slipped his mind, of a certain youth that they'd created, something that had slipped out of his mind easily in a mess of hundreds of other cherished animals from his childhood.

Passing past glass long scratched and dirty from use, Sunny's eyes peered uselessly inside, trying to appease Hae's long lost hopefull mood. Practically launching herself into his arms, the zoo dormant enough that the slightest of noises, never mind a hard half eaten nut bouncing off the glass, was enough to scare her half to death, the disgruntled face hidden in the dark, the culpret of the food bouncing off the glass, clearly not amused by his lack of company, lighting and all over food quality, and poised on a ledge that he had long since outgrown.

"Hyukjae." He murmured, the word rolling of his tongue with as much ease as it had done all those years ago, testing the name almost to himself.