Jinki walks in the door with a huff, dropping his bags and kicking off his shoes.  “Taemin, I’m home.”  He walks in the kitchen where Taemin is fussing over something on the stove.  “Sorry I’m late, traffic was awful.” He walked over giving him a hug.

Taemin smiled and returned the gesture.  “It’s okay, babe.  Are you hungry?”  

Jinki nodded enthusiastically, “very.  I’m going to get washed up.”  

Taemin watched him walk out of the kitchen and listened to his footsteps heading towards their bedroom.  

He waited…waited…

“AHHHHHH!  What the?!  LEE TAEMIN!”  Jinki yelled.

There it was.  

Taemin let out a heavy sigh and put the lid on the stew pot, turning it down to simmer.  

“YAH TAEMIN!”  

“I’m coming.”  the younger mumbled.

Taemin slowly made his way into their bedroom and crossed his arms in annoyance.  “What’s the CATastrophe?”  

Jinki peeled his eyes away from the small ball of fur on the bed and glared at Taemin,  “How long did it take you to come up with that one?”

Taemin rolled his eyes and walked over to the calico kitten.  “A while…”  He flopped on the bed next to the animal and it immediately came up to him and purred.  “I found her outside when I was on my lunch break.  I was walking past the cafe and I heard a meowing sound from the dumpster on the corner.” He looked up at Jinki and pouted.  

Jinki watched Taemin on the bed, make cute faces petting the animal.  “We can’t keep it…”  he tried to sound stern, but found it hard to do seeing Taemin act so adorable with the tiny kitten.  

“Why not?”  Taemin kept playing with her, smiling when she gently swatted at his finger.  

“She’s a stray, we’d need to get her checked at the vet.  It’s a lot of responsibility Taemin, and they can be expensive, what if she gets sick?   And I don’t even know if this building allows pets.”  Jinki reasoned.  

Taemin nodded and sat up, they were all valid points, but…he picked up the kitten and he stood next to Jinki.  “She’s so cute, and I think she likes me.”  He cradled the animal gently.  “Don’t you ?”  He cooed.

“How do you know it’s even a girl?”  Jinki .  

Taemin looked at Jinki, “seriously?  I’m not a moron hyung.  I know the difference between boys and girls.”  

Jinki sighed and stood behind Taemin with his head on the youngers shoulder looking down at the kitten.  “You can’t always tell so easy when they are that young, smart .”

Taemin turned and grinned at him.  

“It is cute.”  Jinki looked at it falling asleep in Taemin’s arms.

“She.”  Taemin corrected him.

“She is cute.”  Jinki made his first attempt to pet the animal and heard her purring get louder.  .  he thought.  “Okay.”

Taemin looked at him, “yeah?”

“Let me check to make sure there’s nothing in our lease against it first.  The people below us have that obnoxious dog that barks all the time, so I don’t think there will be a problem.”

Taemin set down the kitten gently on the bed and gave Jinki a big hug.  “I’m so happy you’re okay with this, I was pretty nervous all day about how you’d react.  I just couldn’t ignore her out there, and she was so sweet…”

Jinki hugged him back and couldn’t help smiling because Taemin was so happy about it.  

“I’m going to go finish dinner.  Thanks hyung.”  Taemin pulled away and went back to the kitchen.

Jinki shook his head, “I let him get away with too much.”  He knelt down next to the bed and the kitten picked her head up.  Jinki petted her a few times, and she leaned into his touch.  He felt his heart melt much the same way Taemin’s did.  “I guess you won’t be so bad, huh?”  He scooped her up gently to hold her, when something sour invaded his nose.  

Sniff sniff.

“Ugh Taemin.  She smells awful,” he held her away from his body.

“I told you I found her in the dumpster!”  Taemin yelled back from the kitchen, heavy with sarcasm.  “How else would she smell?”

The kitten mewled in his hands and he set her down gingerly on the floor.  “We’ll get better acquainted after you’ve had a bath.