It took a few minutes for Chen to calm down enough to go down the stairs without Baekhyun and Kyungsoo acting like hoverboard parents, but eventually he was able to be led downstairs by Xiumin, who held onto Chen's hand with a firm grip, but still gentle enough to not suffocate Chen. He noticed that no matter what he did, Chen was still extremely stiff around people in general. 

The only reason he wasn't trying to pull his hand away from Xiumin's grip was because this man would soon be his new owner. 

Right before the duo opened the door to the front of the adoption center, Xiumin stopped and turned around, facing Chen, who suddenly took a huge interest in the white carpet beneath their feet.

"Listen Chen. I know you're still nervous around me. Anyone from a mile away can see that. I just need you to do one thing for me, okay?" Chen's shoulders were suddenly tensed, but nodded anyway, still looking at the floor. Xiumin sighed, and gently grabbed Chen's chin, forcing the catboy to look him in the face. Chen started slightly shaking, but the kind eyes in Xiumin's eyes told him to  try and calm down. 

He only stopped shaking slightly, but Xiumin knew that was huge progress for Chen, who hadn't stopped shaking since he saw the catboy for the first time. Xiumin smiled, and started talking again.

"Chen, I only really need you to try and keep Baekhyun from killing me. I have a feeling he'll know that you cried, and I really don't need that sassy little thing trying to claw my eyes out. Okay?" Chen nodded, a tiny smile on his face at the thought of his fellow catboy being protective to the point of scarring his future owner for life. Chen then nodded to Xiumin's request, but Xiumin didn't notice. 

Chen's tiny smile entranced him. That moment Xiumin silently vowed to get Chen to give him a full smile someday. 

Xiumin then scratched the base of Chen's ears again, the catboy becoming pliant in Xiumin's arms. Once he deemed Chen ready to see more people, he slowly took his hands away from Chen's ears, the catboy slowly opening his eyes again.

"We're about to go through the door. Are you ready?" Chen tensed again, but nodded nonetheless. Xiumin smiled, and took Chen's hand in his again. Xiumin slowly opened the door, every pair of eyes turning towards Xiumin, slowly pulling Chen along with him. Once Baekhyun saw Chen, all hell broke loose. Like Xiumin thought, he could tell when Chen had cried.

"YOU ER, I TOLD YOU NOT TO HURT HIM!!! LYING LITTLE , I'LL KILL YOU!!!" Baekhyun was about to run at Xiumin, his claws out and ready to cut him to pieces, unluckily for the livid catboy, Chanyeol held him back.

"You can't just do that to everyone that makes you mad, Baekhyun. I can guarantee you that I have friends that'll piss you off from time to time, and I need you to be able to hold your anger in until they leave. Can you try, for me?" Chanyeol looked at Baekhyun with puppy eyes, and even though most of the time puppy eyes disgusted Baekhyun, they were adorable on Chanyeol. So he won this round.

"Fine, I'll try. Only for you though! And Xiumin here still has to explain why Chen was crying." Chanyeol smiled, and kept on back-hugging Baekhyun while pressing tiny kisses to the side of his neck, making said catboy squeal in delight. After everyone was done hating the adorable pair in their heads, all eyes turned to Xiumin and Chen, waiting for an answer as to why Chen was crying.

Making Chen cry meant death in this establishment.

"B-B-Baek......i-it was my f-f-fault. I d-didn't believe it w-when Soo said s-someone wanted to a......adopt me. A-A-And then X-Xiumin here p-proved me w-wrong. I g-got o-o-overwhelmed. Please d-don't h-hate him. Please........" Chen started shaking again, tears forming at the corners of his eyes. He didn't want Baekhyun to hate his new owner because he couldn't hold his emotions in. When Baekhyun saw Chen about to cry, he immediately soothed his friend's worries.

"No, no, no, it's not your fault. None of my anger is your fault. I'm just worried about you. I see you as my little brother, and since I won't be seeing you as often, I'm nervous. You mean a lot to me Chen. So don't worry about me being mad at Xiumin, I do it because I care about you." Baekhyun then went up and hugged Chen, knowing that was what the sensitive catboy needed right now. Chen hugged Baekhyun right away, burying his head in Baekhyun's shoulder, trying not to let any tears fall. 

After Baekhyun let Jongdae go, one immediately went back to Chanyeol's arms, the other slowly went back to Xiumin's side, standing close enough to Xiumin, but not touching him either. Xiumin, seeing this, slowly grabbed Chen's hand. Chen tensed up, and Xiumin immediately let go.

"Too soon Chen?" Xiumin softly asked, looking at Chen's scared face. A few seconds later, Chen shook his head, and took Xiumin's hand again. Xiumin smiled, and looked at Kyungsoo.

"Kyungsoo, I'm ready to adopt Chen. How can I start the process?" Baekhyun smiled, happy that someone finally saw in Chen what he saw every day. Kyungsoo was also happy, he was always happy when a catboy in his care got adopted, but Chen was the special case, coming from a very dark background. Knowing someone that automatically seemed to care for Chen, made Kyungsoo feel more than okay with letting someone take Chen away from his care.

"You'll need to fill some forms out, to appease official people and me. It'll only take about fifteen minutes, then you can take Chen home with you. Okay?" Xiumin nodded, and looked at Chen to see if he was going to stay with Baekhyun, Kai, and Chanyeol, or go with him to fill out paperwork. Chen shook his head and nodded his head towards Baekhyun, deciding to stay with the others while Xiumin went and did all the boring paperwork.

Xiumin laughed, nodded, and went with Kyungsoo to do all the paperwork. 

Fifteen minutes later, Xiumin came out to see Chen sitting on the ground next to Baekhyun, mostly listening to the loud catboy as he talked about who knows what. Xiumin slightly smiled, seeing Chen so comfortable and not so tense. Sadly, Xiumin knew as soon as he called Chen's name, he would crawl back into his shell, but there was nothing he could do about that. For now, at least. 

"Chen, it's time to go." As expected, Chen tensed up when Xiumin spoke. He also looked conflicted, wanting to say something but not wanting to get punished for speaking. Xiumin, seeing Chen's internal conflict, gently put his hand on the back of Chen's neck, making him flinch, but slowly massaged his neck, making the catboy relax, but only slightly. 

"It's okay, what do you want to ask me Chen?" Chen still looked conflicted, but decided to ask, even though he was still afraid of getting punished in any way. 

"D-Do you think i-it would b-be o-o-okay if I was a-able to v-visit every n-now a-and then?" Chen asked, his eyes showing how scared he was of Xiumin's reaction to his question. Xiumin smiled, trying to show Chen that nothing bad would happen to him, while still massaging the back of his neck. 

"Yes, yes it is. I'm in college, and I'm on the college soccer team, so I won't always be home. You can visit whenever you want, or I can call to have Baekhyun over whenever." Chen's eyes widened, and once again smiled a tiny smile with tears slowly building up in his eyes. Chen still was absolutely terrified if Xiumin, but was slowly getting used to not being treated like dirt. It felt nice, but Chen was still waiting for the moment when he'd be back with his old owner, or the old shelter, or worse.

Chen was terrified of what would happen if Xiumin turned out to be like his last two nightmares. And while he was still scared, Chen decided to soak up this amazing treatment while he could.

"Okay, you ready to leave for your new home, Chen?" Xiumin slowly shook the catboy out of his reverie. Xiumin could tell he was still scared, but seeing Chen slowly nod, without having to ask him a second time, made Xiumin's heart swell with pride. 

It would take a while, but he would get Chen to feel comfortable around him. 

Xiumin slowly opened to door to his apartment, gesturing for Chen to go in first. He slowly walked in, and Xiumin followed closely behind, making sure Chen felt safe in his new home. He still couldnt tell what the catboy was thinking, so Xiumin had to make sure that Chen would eventually be able to feel at home. 

"I-It's a r-really nice a-a-apartment. H-How did y-you get it?" Chen looked around, apprehension in his eyes. It looked extremely similar to his old owner's apartment, and that made Chen nervous. He was scared his old owner would suddenly appear in the room, back just to make his new life miserable.  But he was trying not to think of that. Kyungsoo was kind enough to keep tabs on his old owner for him, so Chen knew he was still in China, but that still didn't ease Chen's thoughts. Xiumin could see this, but he didn't know what was wrong, so all he could do was gently scratch behind Chen's ears again. 

"My parents have been paying for it since I got accepted into college. Apparently, they thought that my commitment to soccer would be a hindrance in me getting a job to pay for rent and other necessities." Chen's demeanor barely changed from his tensed state, but his eyes held satisfaction from the petting, and joy from hearing such a funny story. Xiumin looked at Chen, absolutely amazed that Chen could be beautiful when he allowed himself to let go of his fears. 

Xiumin knew it would be an uphill battle to get Chen comfortable at his apartment and around him, but he vowed that no matter how long it took, Chen would feel comfortable around him and in his apartment. 

"Okay Chen, I'm going to give you a brief tour of the house, because while all my classes are done for the day, I still have soccer practice to go to, okay?" As soon as the words left his mouth, Xiumin wished he could take them back. Chen's eyes snapped open, he automatically grabbed onto the front of Xiumin's shirt, not wanting the man to leave. Yes, Xiumin still scared Chen, but being alone in a place he'd never been before scared Chen even more. 

He didn't like silence at all, and to hear that he would be left alone just minutes after being adopted, scared Chen to death.

"N-N-No! P-Please, d-don't go, I-I'm s-s-sorry, I-I'll be good! J-Just don't l-leave me h-here a-a-alone!"  Xiumin's heart broke as he saw silent tears run down Chen's face, the grip on his shirt only tightening as Chen started trembling from all the emotions running rampant in the catboy's head. Xiumin immediately started to wipe the tears from Chen's face as he whispered words of comfort in the catboy's fluffy ears that sat on top of his head.

"Chen, Chen, I need you to hear me when I say I don't want to leave you here alone. That's the last thing I want to do right now, because you're obviously not in a good state right now. But this is a mandatory practice. My co-captain is mostly harmless during the season, but the closer we get to Nationals, the more rutheless he gets. And he won't go east on me if I skip for any reason. I need to be there." Chen just cried harder, trembled more, knowing Xiumin had to leave him. 

"Listen, Chen, please listen to me. I will have my cell phone on me throughtout the entire practice, and if something happens, if anything happens, call me and I'll come running, okay? I'm not going to leave you all alone, you'll have a direct line to me at all times, okay? Plus, when practice ends, I'll come right home. I'll run to you, okay? I won't stay for anything. I'll come right back...I'll come right back..." Xiumin kept whispering the same things in Chen's ear, and eventually the catboy calmed down enough to let go of Xiumin's shirt.

"I-I'm s-s-sorry..." Chen's head hung low, ashamed that he let his fears get the better of him again. He heard Xiumin walking closer to him, and Chen tensed, not knowing what Xiumin was going to do. When he felt a hand on the back of his neck, Chen flinched, but he didn't feel the harsh sting he was expecting. Instead, he felt Xiumin's hand slowly his neck, making Chen look up, tears still falling down his face like rain.

"I don't blame you, Chen. Whatever you've been through, it's had a negative effect on you. I'd probably react the same way. Don't worry, I sort-of understand. I wouldn't wanna be alone either. It's okay, you're okay." Chen was still trembling, but nodded his head at Xiumin's words, sort of okay with the situation at hand. Xiumin was still worried about leaving Chen alone, but he had no choice.

He wasn't about to let Luhan have another reason to rip his heart in half again. Even though there was no reason in the first place.

After giving Chen a brief tour of the apartment, Xiumin grabbed his practice uniform, and changed in record time to make sure he had a second to say goodbye to Chen until he got back. As he walked out of the bathroom, Xiumin saw Chen sitting on the couch. When Chen looked up, Xiumin saw how scared and lost he was. Xiumin slowly walked over, and kneeled right in front of Chen, petting his cat ears again. Xiumin had found out pretty quickly that scratching Chen's ears was the quickest way to sort-of calm him down.

"Don't worry. I'll be back. Okay?" Once again, Chen nodded, but Xiumin could still feel slight tremors in Chen's form. He cursed inside his head, regretfully taking his hand away from Chen's head and walking out the door to his university for soccer practice.

Xiumin could only hope they let out early today.

When Xiumin arrived at the soccer field, everyone was already there, Chanyeol in the bleachers and Kai on the field, practicing his goalie skills. He was starting to forget why he was so hesitant to come to practice in the first place, but then two people came out of the men's locker room. One person kind-of-but-not-really trying to hide a hickey. And then Xiumin remembered.

Luhan and Sehun weren't subtle. And seeing either of them broke his heart.

"Well, nice to see everyone showed up today! Yeah, I'm talking about you, Chanwoo! And because of you, everyone gets to run ten laps around the track! Oh, stop your groaning, just go and get it over with before I make it fifteen! There you go, stop being babies." Luhan rolled his eyes before looking at Sehun, making the younger sighed and started running with the rest of the soccer players. But not before Luhan slapped his .

Xiumin rolled his eyes and started to run with the others. He may be co-captain, but Luhan was in one of his y power trips. So that meant he had to run too. Luckily for Xiumin, he quickly caught up to Kai, meaning that running ten laps wouldn't be boring.

"Hey hyung. Why are you here? Did you seriously just leave Chen at home alone?" Kai looked at Xiumin, a disbelieving look on his face, making Xiumin sigh again. He knew he would get crap from Chanyeol and Kai, but not right off the bat. Xiumin wasn't in the best mood, and he didn't feel like dealing with anyone's crap. Including Kai's.

"I didn't want to. God, if I could've, I would've skipped and stayed there with him. But you know Luhan when Nationals comes closer and closer. He's a dictator. I'm already breaking many rules by having my cell phone on me, so don't give me too much crap now." Xiumin looked over at Luhan to make sure he wasn't reading his lips at that exact moment, but his co-captain was too busy staring at Sehun's .

Xiumin suddenly felt sick.

"Wait, you have your cell on you?! If Luhan finds out, he'll kill you! You must really care about Chen to do something like that..." Kai kept on talking after that, but Xiumin zoned out, thinking just a little too hard to hear what Kai was saying.

He really did care about Chen. And it worried him a little.

After Luhan broke up with him out of the blue, he closed himself off to everyone, except his closest friends. No one really understood why Xiumin broke down the way he did when they broke up, but that's because no one truly understood their relationship.

Around the time Luhan accepted his feelings, Xiumin got into a huge fight with his parents. They didn't know he was gay, and to hear that their son had a boyfriend instead of a girlfriend, was a huge shock. They didn't know what to feel, except what they were taught all their lives, which was that being gay was wrong. After an extremely tense dinner, Xiumin stormed out of the house with his parent's ultimatum buzzing around in his head.

Either break up with Luhan and be 'normal' again, or lose his apartment and never speak to his parents again.

When Xiumin had called Luhan, crying about everything that had gone down, Luhan offered Xiumin a place to stay if his parents followed through on the threat. Luhan was his boyfriend, and he couldn't stand to see Xiumin in pain. Luhan started having Xiumin spend the night almost every day to get used to his apartment if he ever lost the apartment his parents were paying for. There were nights when Luhan would just hold Xiumin as he cried about his parents and the situation he was put in. And in turn, Xiumin would let his boyfriend rant about anyone that pissed him off that day, holding his hand and rubbing circles on Luhan's knuckles. 

Eventually, his parents did follow through on their threat. Suddenly, the landlord told him to pakc up all his belongings, and leave until he had money to give him for the apartment. Xiumin's heart shattered. He knew his parents didn't approve of his uality, but he thought he meant more to his parents. 

Apparently his uaity was just a big enough factor to make him not their son. 

Xiumin immediately moved in with Luhan, and the two became closer as time went on. It was always sweet, fluffy, and disgusting if someone were to walk into their shared apartment. They were so in love, and everyone thought they were gonna stay together forever. 

Then they suddenly broke up. And no one knew why except for Luhan and Xiumin.

Afterwards, Xiumin was so cold to everyone new that he was becoming somewhat of a recluse. Only Chanyeol, Kai, and Suho could get him to open up at all. He closed off all his emotions after Luhan ended the best relationship he'd ever had. Xiumin was emotionally detatched from everything after that.

So for him to care so much about Chen right off the bat, especially after he swore to never get a catboy, scared Xiumin to death. He was out of his element, and he wasn't so sure if this situation would end up in flames or not. 

But an image of Chen popped up in his head. Chen was sitting on the floof, his eyes red and puffy, tears running down his face, his face turning to a horrified expression as he saw Xiumin's face.

"N-no, n-no g-get a-away from me! GET AWAY, NO! P-P-PLEASE!!! J-Just d-d-don't hurt m-me......" 

To Xiumin, the thought of being the reason behind Chen's fears makes him sick to his stomach. He never wanted to see that face directed at him. He never wanted to be the monster behind Chen's nightmares.

The rest of practice went like this for Xiumin. He was still able to be the best person playing for the day, even if he was distracted for the entirety of practice. Walking towards the locker room with the rest of the players, Xiumin felt someone put their arm around his shoulder. Expecting to see Kai next to him, Xiumin turned, only to see Luhan's smiling face. 

Xiumin jumped away as if he'd been burned. A brief flash of hurt crossed Luhan's eyes, but Xiumin pretended not to notice. Luhan didn't deserve to look at Xiumin like that after what happened.

"Hey, we need to have a co-captain meeting after you get changed. Meet me at the usual cafe, okay?" Luhan was about to walk off, but saw Xiumin shake his head out of the corner of his eye. Luhan turned around, an eyebrow raised.

"Is that a problem, Xiumin? I only call these once a month, so there should never be a problem." Xiumin sighed. Luhan never did care about what other people had to do. It was his way or the highway. Xiumin wondered how he never saw this when they were dating.

"I have stuff to do after this, Luhan. And I didn't bring a change of clothes, I planned on going straight home. So yes, there is a problem here. I can't make it." Xiumin rolled his eyes, and was about to walk off, when a hand grabbed his arm. Knowing who it was, Xiumin didn't turn around. He was going to get yelled at anyway, and he didn't feel like getting a ton of breath in his face.

"No Xiumin, I need to talk to you. Today. This is not negotiable. You're coming to the cafe, no questions asked." Xiumin laughed, but it was bitter, resentful. Shocked, Luhan let go of Xiumin's arm, and when Xiumin turned around, Luhan was even more shocked to see how emotionless Xiumin looked when staring him in the face.

"Okay then, your majesty. I'll come to your asinine meeting. I'll also buy your favorite coffe, shine your shoes, make you a ing turkey dinner! Because, apparently, whatever the spoiled prince wants, the spoiled prince gets." Xiumin bowed, mockingly, and sauntered into the locker room, leaving a shell-shocked Luhan standing in place.

Xiumin rolled his eyes, sitting in the locker room. Holding his cell phone, he dialed his home's number, not wanting to deliver the news to Chen. But he had no choice. Luhan was bring unreasonable, and there was no arguing with him right now.

"H-Hello? Uh......w-who is this?" Xiumin's heart wavered, hearing Chen's nervous tone. He didn't want to do this to Chen. Xiumin wanted to go home right now and never look at Luhan's stupid face again. But life wasn't working like that righ now. 

"Hey Chen, I have some bad news..." Xiumin could hear Chen's breath hitch over the phone, and he closed his eyes, knowing Chen was trembling again. And this time, he wasn't there to hold him and tell him everything would be okay.

"......y-you......you can't c-come b-back right a-away anymore?" Chen's voice cracked at the end of his sentence, and Xiumin cursed Luhan in his head. This was his fault, and Xiumin was paying for it.

"I'm so so so sorry Chen. Luhan called a surprise co-captain meeting, and he won't let me out of it. I'm pretty sure if the city was suddenly overrun by zombies, he'd still make me go." Xiumin heard Chen laugh, but it was humourless, and strangely wavered in tone. Xiumin knew he was crying, and he didn't know what to do to calm the catboy down.

"I-I...I understand......j-just......can y-you t-t-try to c-come b-back fast?" Xiumin clenched his fist, his eyes tightly shut, knowing that if he opened them, some tears would fall down his face. Chen was slowly chipping his heart away, and he was not happy with Luhan at the moment.

"I'll get out of there as soon as I can. I'm gonna run back home, okay? I do need to stay there for a few minutes, but I'm leaving as soon as I can. Don't worry Chen, I'll be home soon. Okay?" Xiumin heard silence on the end of the line. He was starting to get worried that Chen wouldn't answer, but soon heard a quiet whisper.

"......o-okay......just, t-try and b-b-be quick......p-please." Xiumin nodded, then realized Chen couldn't see his head nod through a phone, so he quietly agreed and hung up. Xiumin sighed, trying to think of ways to get out of this meeting as fast as possible as he made his way to meet Luhan at the cafe. While walking to the cafe, he realized he was moving in the opposite direction of his apartment. With every step, Xiumin was walking closer to his past, and farther away from his present slash future.

Xiumin suddenly felt queasy.

Chen had stuffed himself in a corner of the living room, trying to block everything out. All the nasty, evil thoughts, all the terrified words floating in his head, all the emotions running through his body, and the deafening silence. He was scared of everything right now, and not having Xiumin to help chase away some of the nerves made him shut down.

Chen was on his own again, and he didn't know what to do.

"Just don't mess this up, you . This one actually seems nice, but knowing you, he'll soon see that you're not worth it, and then you'll be right back where you started. Back at the shelter, being your normal, worthless self." The mean voice in his head spit out, making Chen unconsciously flinch. He didn't like when the mean voice yelled at him, he just got even more scared the more he was yelled at.

"No, it will be okay this time around. Let's just be quiet, and not make a mess. We don't wanna get punishe again. Kevin was never nice about that......" Chen flinched again, this time at the reminder of his old owner, and his cruel was of 'civilizing him.' Or whatever it was.

"You deserved every second of it though. Every time he would come home drunk, it was because you were being selfish and asking for stuff you don't need, like food and a bed. You would always mess up, and he would put you in your place. Kevin had the right idea. Too bad you're still a waste of space. Poor Chen, never enough, he'll never be good enough......" 

The voices just kept getting louder and louder in his head, and even thought the silence terrified him, he wanted it so bad. Anything to make the voices stop.

"No......n-no......s-stop it...S-Stop...JUST SHUT UP!!! Just shut up, j-just shut up, j-j-just shut u-up......" Chen broke down sobbing, he didn't know how to make it stop. All the voices, the fear, the tiny bit of excitement, and the apprehension of reliving his nightmare had finally gotten to him. 

Even though he couldn't admit this to himself right now, Chen really wanted Xiumin to hold him and tell him everything would be okay.

Instead, he got a loud banging on the door. Chen jumped, and was now staring at the door, complete and utter fear in his eyes. Chen knew it wasn't Xiumin, he had a key and would come in quietly just to make sure and not scare him. And even though he was scared, that fact caused a little bit of warmth to creep into his heart.

While thinking, the banging stopped for a minute, which made Chen relax for a split second, but then it started again. Chen was tensed again, then the person on the other side spoke, and Chen just didn't know what to do.

"Xiumin, I know you're there! I need to talk to you!" Chen froze. The person that he or she is looking for isn't here, and he's too terrified to even try and stand up. Chen once again had tears streaming down his face, stuck in the same place. 

The banging just kept on going, getting louder and louder with each passing second. Whoever was at the door wasn't going away any time soon, because the person he or she was looking for wasn't even the house.

Chen had completely smushed himself in his corner of the living room, trying to block out the banging of the door, and everything else going on in his head. He covered the cat ears, but the voices kept yelling at him, and the incessant banging just kept getting louder and louder. He was aleady crying, but the tears just fell harder when everything just became too much.

When this had happened in the past, the night always ended with Chen crying on the floof, along with all kinds of pain.

"Xiumin, I swear, if you don't open this door right now, I'm going to break it down just to yell at your stupid face!" When the voice had shouted that, Chen basically curled into a tiny ball, and started sobbing uncontrollably. He couldn't even think properly, almost every emotion slamming into him at once, and he didn't like it at all.

As Chen was staring at his hand, he saw the phone that he was clutching with a death grip. It took him about two minutes for it to click in his head, but then he remembered what Xiumin said. 

"I will have my cell phone on me throughout the entire practice, and if something happens, if anything happens, call me and I'll come running, okay?"

Chen immediately took up the phone, and dialed Xiumin's number with shaky fingers. With the dial tone ringing in his ears, and the person behind the door not leaving any time soon, Chen's only hope was just a call away. If he picked up.

"P-Please pick u-up Xiumin...............p-p-please................."

Xiumin knew he was going to regret going to this last minute meeting, but he didn't know he'd hate himself for going. He'd been sitting for about five minutes, waiting for Luhan to shower so he didn't smell like sweat and freshman tears, and when he finally walked in, Xiumin's heart sank.

Of course he brought Sehun.

Xiumin sighed, not sure why he expected anything less. Seeing their interlocked hands still stung, heartbreak and bitterness coursing through his veins almost immediately. Luhan sat down across from Xiumin, smiling at him as if nothing in their past had ever happened. Sehun grabbed a random seat and scooted closer to Luhan, making Xiumin roll his eyes at how clingy the human noodle was. He had to know Luhan hated people being overly clingy, so he wondered what Luhan was thinking right now.

"Okay, what do you want Luhan? I have places to be. So hurry up." Xiumin's voice was detatched and business-like, making the smile fall off of Luhan's face. Sehun immediately glared at Xiumin, but he didn't even notice, as he was staring at the level of Angry Birds he was extremely close to finishing. Xiumin was trying to not look at either of their faces, knowing he would break if he saw Luhan's expression of hurt, or would just walk out if he had to look at Sehun's face for longer than he needed to.

"I just wanted to see how you were. I heard that Chanyeol and Kai dragged you off campus as soon as all your classes were finished..." Luhan sounded unsure of himself, as if he was scared of Xiumin's response. And he should've been, because Xiumin's head snapped up, the fury he was feeling barely concealed in his gaze. 

"Excuse me? You just wanted to see how I was doing? Since when were we on good terms Luhan?!" Luhan flinched, looking down in his lap. Sehun put his arm around Luhan, now outright sneering at Xiumin.

"He's your friend, Xiumin-hyung! I've respected you since you two used to be together, but if you keep acting like this, then I'll make your life a living hell!" Sehun expected Xiumin to sit down and shut up, but all he got was a bitter laugh, full of malice and self-hatred. Sehun's face never changed, but on the inside he was shocked. Luhan outwardly looked shocked, knowing what was happening, the rift between him and Xiumin was all his fault.

He had been selfish, and Luhan didn't know what to do to fix what he'd done.

"He hasn't been my friend for a long time, Sehun. You of all people should've seen that. Now, if you excuse me, I have other people to see, and other things to do. I have better things to do with my life. Don't talk to me again, Luhan. You've already done enough." Xiumin immediately stood up, and was about to walk out of the door, when he stopped and turned around.

"You really should learn the whole story, Sehun. Because I can guarantee you, if you knew everything, you wouldn't be so adament in defending your precious boyfriend. He's not as innocent as you think." And then he left the cafe, the little bell jingling on top of the door serving as the only source of sound in the now silent cafe.

Xiumin had too many emotions close to anger running through his body, and with that knowledge, Xiumin knew he couldn't go see Chen like this. Chen was already scared of him, he didn't need to destory the little bit of progress he's made with the catboy.

Soon, Xiumin found himself in a park, the park his parents used to bring him to when he was still a little kid. He sat down on his favorite bench, and just stared at his hands, thinking of how everything between Luhan and him ended. Everything blew up in one second, his heart was shattered, and it was all very messy. 

And yet, no one ever really knew why they broke up. Not even Sehun, Luhan's new boyfriend knew.

Xiumin smiled at the irony of it all. Luhan really did know how to deflect everything onto other people. Nothing was ever his fault, Luhan was too sweet, too kind, everyone loved him. He had the face of an angel, and everyone just seemed to believe he was. 

Even though he was anything but.

Xiumin cried into his lap, wondering how he still loved him though. To Luhan's credit, he probably didn't know what he did half the time. He practically had the whole world wrapped around his finger, and he never seemed to know why everyone was always worshipping him. And maybe Xiumin's judgement was clouded over by what had happened, the anger he felt towards Luhan for doing what he did, and towards himself for still being head over heels for him.

As time went on, tears just kept falling down his face. The emotions were beginning to be too much for Xiumin to handle, and he couldn't scream right in the middle of the park, so he just let the tears fall, knowing that he wouldn't get a chance like this for some time.

Once Xiumin resurfaced, taking a deep breath, he opened his eyes only to feel his phone vibrating in his back pocket. When Xiumin saw that Chen was calling, his eyes widened, and imediately took the call. His heart was now beating erratically, worried as to why Chen was calling.

"Hey Chen, what's happening? Are you okay? Tell me something." Xiumin tried to keep his voice as calm as possible, but a little bit of worry edged into his voice. He heard Chen hiccuping on the line, making Xiumin even more worried than before. Chen had been crying for who knows how long.

"X-Xiumin? I-Is that y-you?" Chen's voice was shaky voice, making Xiumin curse himself in his head. Chen had probably been trying to reach him for a while, and he'd been stuck in his own thoughts for a pretty long time.

"Yes, it's me Chen. What's wrong? You called me for a reason, tell me what's going on." Xiumin had already started walking home, and he kept on speeding up every time he heard Chen hiccup into the phone.

"S-Someone is...is l-looking f-f-for you. A-And they k-keep b-b-banging on the d-door, screaming f-for you......I......I-I'm scared, Xiumin......p-please, c-come back, I'm s-scared..." Chen started sobbing into the phone, not even able to speak words any longer. Hearing how broken Chen sounded, Xiumin started running. Running towards his apartment to save his catboy from whoever was scaring him into a sobbing fit.

It took Xiumin about five minutes to reach his apartment, even with him running at full speed. His lungs burned, sweat dripped into his eyes, and he was breathing erratically, but that didn't matter to Xiumin right now. All that mattered right now was getting inside his apartment and making sure Chen was okay.

Xiumin immediately ran up to the person banging on his door, and roughly turned them around. When he saw who it was, his eyes widened.

"Suho?! What the hell are you doing here!" Suho's eyes widened when he saw Xiumin behind him, and not hiding out in his apartment like he originally thought. Suho was sure he heard someone shuffling around in the apartment, but that thought quickly left him seeing how angry Xiumin looked. 

"Um....I cam over to talk about the project we go for Sociology. But, I can leave if you have other stuff to do..." Xiumin rolled his eyes and slumped over. Of course Suho would make this big of a stink over a project Mr. Zhang gave them.

Suho's humongous crush on the slightly older man made him an absolute insane person. Whenever an opportunity came to impress the man, Suho went waaaaaay overboard. And Xiumin didn't have time to appease Suho's need to finish the project as soon as possible.

"Yeah, I have other stuff to do right now. But we'll talk about it later. Okay?" Suho immediately smiled, and skipped off down the road, probably thinking about his favorite teachers someday feeding him chocolate-covered strawberries at a picnic. Xiumin rolled his eyes, staring at his strange friend, when he heard a whimper through the door.

"Xiumin?"

Xiumin immediately got the door unlocked, and quickly, yet quietly, opened the door, and looked around, only to see Chen huddled in the corner of the living room. He felt relieved that Chen hadn't seriouslyhurt himself while he was gone, but was still worried because of how badly Suho had inadvertently scared Chen. When he saw his catboy crying again, he quickly went up and knelt in front of Chen, hoping to not scare him.

"Hey Chen, it's me, it's Xiumin. I'm here, I'm finally here, you're okay. It's okay..." Xiumin had cautiously started wiping the tears falling down Chen's face, when the catboy suddenly lept into his arms, sobbing into his neck and trembling. Xiumin felt his heart break as he softly Chen's head making sure to gently scratch the base of his ears every now and then. 

It took about five minutes for Chen to stop crying, but he still didn't move his head from Xiumin's neck. Hiccups still popped out of his mouth, and as time went on, Xiumin just felt guiltier and guiltier.

"I'm so sorry, Chen. I dodn't know Suho would go insane and try to kidnap me to work on a project today. Had I known, I would've skipped practice, regardless of Luhan. I'm so sorry Chen, forgive me, please." After Xiumin's apology, Chen moved out of Xiumin's lap, and stared a the floof for a few seconds. When he looked at Xiumin, his eyes were puffy and red, tear tracks visible on his face, but he didn't look mad. Chen still looked scared, but Xiumin could see a bit of understanding and forgiveness under all that fear.

"I-It's o-okay, I g-guess. B-B-But c-can we j-just stay in f-f-for dinner n-now?" Xiumin nodded immediately, even though he had been planning on ordering take-out anyway. He didn't know how to cook, so there was no food in the refrigerator. And restaurants were expensive, so that was out of the question as well.

"Yeah, we can order food and stay here Chen. But from now on, we need to make sure this doesn't happen again. I feel so bad. I mean, you're my catboy now, and I'm supposed to make sure you're always comfortable and safe." Chen started crying again, but because he knew Xiumin was telling the truth. No one had truly taken care of him, and to know that someone legitimately cared for him was new and exciting and terrifying all at the same time. Chen was drowning in his feelings and he wasn't sure what to hold onto, expect for the constant fear he'd been clinging to most of his life.

Xiumin saw his tears, and started wiping them away again.

"I know today was a pretty big show, but tomorrow's gonna be better. I'm gonna keep you safe. Okay?" Chen nodded,  luckily he stopped crying. Xiumin smiled, and pressed a gentle kiss to Chen's head. Chen looked up, shock evident in his eyes. No one had truly showed him any affection besides Baekhyun and Kyungsoo, and their affection was always friendly or, parent-like. 

With Xiumin, it felt different. He couldn't tell what, but feeling Xiumin's lips pressed against his head made his stomach flip.

"How about, you go take a shower, and I'll order some Korean Barbeque, okay? Then, when you're done, I'll take a shower, and we'll watch some shows while eating, okay?" Chen nodded again, still in shock of the kiss Xiumin planted on his head. Xiumin just shook his head, chuckling to himself at Chen's facial expression. 

As Chen was taking a shower, Xiumin sat down on the couch and thought about how his day went. He remembered how awful he felt after leaving the cafe, and how worried he'd been when Chen called him.

Xiumin also realized Luhan hadn't crossed his mind since Chen called him. And he didn't know what to think of that.

So yeah. this got updated first, even though I said there were other stories I needed to update first. But I have friends on this site, and this is for one of them.

badblood, I'm sorry you had the worst week ever last week. I'm also sorry that I can't update on time to save my life. So, I made it extra long just for you. So, here you go.

Now, I actually need to write for my other stories. 

So, please subscribe, comment, and upvote!!! I'm such an attention , but appease me and maybe I'll tone it down a little bit.

Okay, I'm getting my hair dyed now. Bye!!!

~~~~~~~bubble1765