joshua is there as jeonghan falls in love again, again, and again. first as a child with his friend, a girl called soojung, at the age of five. she moves away when they turn ten, and jeonghan is heartbroken. he comes to joshua for a hug, and joshua gladly obliges.

as jeonghan grows older, joshua grows with him, and meets the numerous people that jeonghan dates. when jeonghan turns seventeen, the tall kid called mingyu comes over a few times alone, before he stops smelling so much like jeonghan and more like someone else called wonwoo who joshua meets when jeonghan invites both of them over.

when jeonghan is in the middle of his eighteenth year, the guy who always tries to pet him, seokmin, dates jeonghan for half a year before they break up, and jeonghan once again comes to joshua for a cuddle. two months after they break up, seokmin came over again, this time accompanied with a shorter guy called soonyoung.

when jeonghan turns nineteen, though, he meets seungcheol. and that’s when the cuddles with joshua over heartbreaks stop. joshua is sixteen, by then, and is old enough to prefer lazing around rather than climbing furniture and running around.

seungcheol becomes a permanent figure around the house, and the three of them are seen together most of the time. jeonghan and seungcheol will be lying side by side on the sofa, and joshua will be draped over both of their laps.

jeonghan loses joshua at the age of twenty, and cries heavily as he watches joshua pad his way over from his cat bed to climb his way up to jeonghan’s lap for the last time, and hears joshua purr weakly as he feels jeonghan him.

the cat smells the familiar scent of seungcheol entering the room, and raises a paw, as if gesturing for seungcheol to come over. a larger hand starts joshua as well, and surrounded by the two people he loves and whom he never wants to be alone, his eyes close and the purring stops.

he knows that he doesn’t have to be there for jeonghan any more, because seungcheol is there.

- 

jeonghan lives a life surrounded by cats. his parents own a pet shop, but have a special affection for cats. jeonghan, of course, inherits that love for cats. his favourite cat is a turkish angora, who was born a few days after his third birthday. his parents, who were in an english phase then, decided to name the kitten joshua.

even as a kitten, joshua loves jeonghan. whenever jeonghan sits down to play or watch tv, joshua would pad over and climb either onto his lap or stretch out over his shoulders, purring every once in a while.

when jeonghan is old enough for school and returns home, joshua is the first one to greet him everyday without fail, winding around and between his legs excitedly and meowing. jeonghan is also the only one who can pick him up without joshua struggling to get free.

jeonghan, when at home, is almost never seen without joshua near him, regardless of whether it is climbing on the furniture, on jeonghan himself, or just laying about near him. joshua is jeonghan’s safety blanket. whenever jeonghan is feeling upset, he would go to joshua, pick him up and cuddle with him.

joshua also seemingly has a jeonghan radar attached to him. whenever jeonghan shows signs of distress, he is always there. every person that knows jeonghan will definitely have heard of joshua before, with how often he talks about him, and those who are invited to his house will meet the feline who loves and is loved by their friend.

however, joshua tends to treat them like how any other cat would when meeting a stranger. he avoids their attempts to touch him, baring his teeth at them.

in all of jeonghan’s twenty years, the only person that joshua doesn’t do that to for more than a week is seungcheol. it’s one of the reasons jeonghan knows that seungcheol is the one, but when he loses joshua he can’t help but feel as if something is missing.

- 

when jeonghan turns twenty-two, he and seungcheol move into an apartment building a few blocks away from the university where they’re currently studying at. jeonghan has not gotten a cat again since joshua, and walks around feeling as if something is missing from him everyday.

seungcheol does his best to fill up the gaps, but there’s nothing to avoid the fact that there’s no furry feline winding through his legs the moment he steps through the door, no beast trying to climb him like a tree in the day and trying to suffocate him by lying on his face at night.

they’re shifting things around and unpacking from boxes when a knock comes on their door. jeonghan goes to answer it, and is greeted by their next door neighbour.

“hello! you guys are new here, right? i’m here to welcome you guys to this area!” he says. jeonghan greets him back, momentarily taken aback by the warm welcome that has been extended to them. seungcheol’s figure fills up the rest of the door’s width, his warmth welcome against jeonghan’s side.

the guy looks around their age, and is smiling at them both warmly. when he isn’t smiling, his lips are turned up slightly, giving jeonghan and seungcheol the impression of a cat. when he smiles, his eyes crinkle up, strengthening that impression of a feline.

jeonghan and seungcheol smile back, thanking him and introducing themselves. he gives them a big smile again, finally saying his name.

as he speaks, somewhere out there a tiny ‘click’ sound can be heard as a puzzle piece falls into place. jeonghan hears a familiar cat’s meow, carried to his ears by the wind, and for a millisecond thinks it’s joshua. as he looks back at his and seungcheol’s neighbour, making conversation with seungcheol, jeonghan smiles, knowing that it’s a sign.

"my name is jisoo. hong jisoo.“