He watched as the kittens happily munched at the food he'd set out for them.

"Mow!" The little blonde-colored kitten meowed at Chanwoo again. He smiled and carefully extended a hand for the tiny thing to smell.

The kitten did so, and then happily rubbed himself against his fingers, chest rumbling with a purr. Chanwoo gently picked up the kitten and held its small form against his chest.

"I need to name you," he murmured, watching as the other five slowly finished eating and clambered over to sleepily climb onto his lap.

Chanwoo sat down the kitten he was holding and watched as he- all the kittens were he's- settled with his brothers in a colored mass of fluff.

They were warm, and all seemed content to peer up at him sleepily as he rubbed behind their tiny ears and at the bases of their tails.

"JinJin," he called softly as he pet the kitten he'd been holding.

"MJ," a small brown kitten with orange smudges.

"Eunwoo," the prettiest one, with creamy colored fur and light grey tips. A lilac point, Chanwoo vaguely remembered the coat type being called.

"Rocky," a solid reddish-brown kitten with a tad bit thicker build. He seemed endearingly stocky for a kitten.

"Sanha," the peachy colored kitten, on the other hand, had the lankiest build.

He paused at the last kitten. He was a lighter brown than Rocky, but there was something wrong with this one's ears. They were folded over funny. But still, as he hesitated, the kitten looked up expectantly and stretched a paw out with a small crackly "Rouw!"

"Moonbin." Chanwoo smiled and reached out to give the needy kitten the attention he wanted.

~

When the kittens had tired themselves out, Chanwoo carefully put them into a small box with a pillow he'd brought to serve as a cat bed. He then refilled the cat bowls (which hadn't really been completely empty anyways) and set them over to the side.

Today was Friday. He thought he'd brought enough food to last the weekend, but he couldn't stop himself from looking worriedly over at them as he went back inside.

He made his way to the lunch table the other boys liked. Bobby saw him heading over first and raised his arm to wave excitedly. Chanwoo grinned and went to sit in between Bobby and Jinhwan.

"Hi hyungs," Chanwoo grinned happily.

Jinhwan's small hand came up to ruffle his hair as he smiled softly at Chanwoo. "Did you finish running all your errands?"

Chanwoo blinked at the mathyung, realizing that something was off with the oldest boy's voice that he hadn't noticed that morning. "Are you okay hyung?"

He carefully laid his hand against Jinhwan's forehead. "Are you sick?"

Jinhwan laughed. "It's probably just allergies. I always get sniffly during the changing of the seasons. Thank you for your concern though."

The sentence was punctuated with a sneeze. Junhoe looked worried and quickly handed the shorter boy a tissue.

"If you're not feeling good, you should stay home." It was stronger to hear the edge of concern in Junhoe's voice. Even though he realized that Junhoe was their friend, after yesterday's fight with the eldest boy he expecting things to be more awkward between the two.

Jinhwan shrugged. "It's fine. I'm really too busy to be sick anyways."

"Promise you'll be careful though?" Junhoe seemed to insist.

"Yeah hyung." Chanwoo nodded. "You can never be too careful."

"Seconded!" Bobby added cheerfully.

"Well, technically Chanwoo was second. You're third." Yunhyeong corrected with a smirk.

"Yah! What, are you some kinda math nerd?"

"You know it!"

Donghyuk burst into laughter at his boyfriend's proud expression, the rest of the table soon following suite.

~

Chanwoo followed Jinhwan to their fourth hour. As he walked with the shorter boy, he couldn't stop the question that bubbled up in his throat. "What kind of person is Junhoe-hyung?"

For a moment it seemed like Jinhwan had t heard him. Then, as they settled into their seats the older said quietly, I suppose it depends on who you ask."

"Oh." The younger one sat down and slumped forwards, leaning down so that he could lay his head on his arms. Jinhwan smiled softly and reached over to rub circles on his back.

"Junhoe isn't a bad person. He's complicated, but who here isn't?"

The younger boy looked up at the older. Jinhwan seemed to be very far away in that moment, even as his hand slowly stilled against Chanwoo's back.

~

There was a kind of quiet hush as school got out for the weekend. Not at all like his past schools, where children ran like herds of buffalo to escape until Monday. Students here sort of lingered behind, as if reluctant the leave.

Chanwoo jumped a bit as a hand slapped against his back.

"Hey kid, waiting for your ride?" Bobby flashed a gummy smile at him.

Chanwoo nodded. "Sometimes she gets caught up at work and takes a while to get here though. What about you?"

"I'm catching a ride with my cousin. He goes to school not far from here, but they don't get out till late."

"Oh." Chanwoo nodded. "Then, maybe, if it doesn't bother you, can you wait with me?"

Bobby smiled and ruffled his hair. "It doesn't bother me. I'd love that, actually."

There was a comfortable quiet between them as other students played in the front lawn. "It's so busy here."

"Most kids here don't want to go home. This is the one place they can be themselves," Bobby explained. "Many kids and teachers here are more accepting of people's differences."

"People like Yunhyeong and Donghyuk?" Chanwoo had wondered how the two were able to be so open about their relationship.

"Well, yeah but those two still get in trouble," Bobby grinned mischievously. "Too much PDA."

The younger boy burst into laughter, followed immediately by his bunny-looking hyung as his mother's car rolled into view.

"I have to go. You gonna be ok hyung?" Chanwoo turned to the boy besides him.

"Yeah kid. Have a good weekend, ok? I'll see you next week." Bobby swiftly wrapped his arm around Chanwoo's shoulders and squeezed before pushing the younger towards the car.

"See you next week." Chanwoo was slightly breathless as he slid into the car.

"A friend?" His mother asked, sounding excited.

"Something like that." He grinned, looking forward to Monday.

Guess who isn't dead?! 

Sorry for being gone for so long. The end of the school year was really hard for me and I didn't have much extra time to sleep, let alone write. I can't promise summer will be a ton better since I have work, but I will be able to write more and I'm finally going to get a laptop at some point so writing will be easier. So there's hope. 

Thanks to all of you who commented, I've tried my best to get back to all of you. Thank you for your patience. But no matter how long it takes me to write, know I'll never abandon my story. 

Thanks again for waiting. 

Ink