Chanyeol's stomach growls as he watches Sehun sprinkle the last bit of dirt onto their makeshift grave. It's the middle of the night, and they are standing outside in their yard under glow of the moon. Chanyeol doesn't know where he should be looking, so he fixates on an uprooted dandelion on the dirt pile.

He jolts upright when he feels a sharp nudge to his side. Kyungsoo's elbow is still jammed in Chanyeol's ribs. This is his way of urging him to say something, anything. On the other side of him is Sehun looking at him expectantly through watery eyes.

Chanyeol clears his throat, stifling a shiver caused by the cool night breeze.

"Mr. Snuffles was a great cat..." He pauses. Kyungsoo and Sehun have their heads bowed in silence.

Kyungsoo peeks up at him again with a warning look. He's just woken up and Chanyeol can see in his eyes that he looks like he wants to return to his bed as soon as possible.

"He will be missed." Chanyeol finally finishes with as solemn of a head nod as he could muster.

Truthfully, Chanyeol wouldn't miss him. He knew for a fact that cat hated him and he had the scratch marks to prove it. Still, he felt like he should at least show that he was mourning for Sehun's sake.

Sehun sniffles a bit and rubs his eyes on his pajama sleeve. He admittedly loved that cat more than he liked either of his roommates. Running his hands through his messy hair, he takes a deep breath in an attempt to maintain his usual level of nonchalance and detachedness. He fails, of course, and it shows. 

Kyungsoo remains silent. He was always the one to inflict pain, never to console it away. Interestingly enough, his quiet and unassuming presence seems to be the one thing keeping Sehun from completely from falling apart.

"Come on" Sehun says finally, "Let's go back inside."

He takes the first step towards the front door of the house, eyes downcast. Kyungsoo shuffles shortly after him, leaving Chanyeol to stare blankly at the pile of dirt before him.

He swallows the saliva welling in in his mouth. The more Chanyeol looks at the grave, the more it feels like someone is squeezing his heart through his chest, pumping the adrenaline through his system. His vision blurs, creating a filter of soft edges over the world around him.

"Chanyeol?"

Kyungsoo's voice snaps him out of his thoughts. He already is halfway through the front door, looking back over his shoulder.

"Is everything ok?" his voice is incredulous.

Chanyeol's heart beat slows down, leaving him breathless. He looks up slowly to meet Kyungsoo's wide eyes.

"I was just...saying goodbye"

Chanyeol wipes away the drool from the corner of his mouth and tries to give Kyungsoo a convincing smile. He knows he would never buy it, but uncharacteristically Kyungsoo decides to let him off anyway.

He is safe...for now.

The next morning, Chanyeol wakes up, sick to his stomach. Chanyeol assures himself that it must have been the stomach bug that was going around. He chooses to ignore the dirt underneath his fingernails.