Baekhyun had woken up really early. He was used to waking up around 6am to help the staff at the shelter prepare the breakfast. He really loved helping as much as he could. He was the oldest hybrid in the shelter, and as such, he felt some kind of responsibility on trying to diminish the work for the others. He heard some noises on the kitchen so he padded quietly over, the view of Kyungsoo cooking something on the stove quietly welcomed him.

“Baekhyun? I’m sorry, did I wake you up?” Kyungsoo asked serving three plates with what looked like pancakes and fruits. “I guess you’re a really light sleeper?”

“Don’t worry, I’m kind of used to waking up around this hour. Blame my biological clock” the puppy said taking two of the plates and putting them on the small table in the kitchen. Kyungsoo covered the remaining plate with foil and put it over the stove so Jongdae could grab it later.

Both of them took a seat after serving the drinks and started eating.

“It actually feels really nice having breakfast with someone. Jongdae wakes up so late I have to leave his breakfast prepared so he can eat it when he wakes up” Baekhyun laughed at this, because he could totally imagine Jongdae being a lazy house cat, sleeping probably 80% of the day.

“But you don’t have to wake up so early, I can leave breakfast for you too. I will try to be quieter tomorrow” Baekhyun perked up at the word tomorrow. Because tomorrow meant there were possibilities. And tomorrow could turn into more tomorrows.

He was quiet for a while, and Kyungsoo dismissed the topic trying to make small talk. “I like it. Waking up earlier and having breakfast with you, I mean. I feel refreshed if I wake up earlier so don’t worry about it. Maybe I can try cooking breakfast sometimes too” Baekhyun said picking up his dirty dishes and washing them.

“Oh? Do you cook? That’s good, maybe you can teach Jongdae a thing or two later. He’s been trying to learn since a couple of months ago” Kyungsoo started picking up his dishes but Baekhyun stopped him, taking them from his hands and finishing to wash them. “Actually my job is related to food, I own a restaurant chain so my schedules vary a lot. Anyways, you can find a lot of ingredients and cooking utensils. If there’s something you need just ask me or Jongdae to buy it for you” Baekhyun nodded at this. Probably everything he would need and dream of needing was already there. The shelter only had the necessities. He would definitely look around after Kyungsoo left. 

“At what time do you have work today?” Kyungsoo glanced at his clock before moving around and picking up some keys and his wallet from over the microwave. 

“I start at 9 but I will try to get there earlier and do a small checkup of the restaurant, so I’ll be leaving now” He went to the main door, putting on his shoes and picking up his briefcase and an umbrella, Baekhyun following close behind. “You can watch the TV or use my computer that is over the coffee table. Don’t hesitate to go around the house and use whatever you want, nothing is off limits” Kyungsoo scratched lightly Baekhyun’s ears and kissed his temple. “Be good, and if Jongdae is annoying just ignore him, goodbye!” and with that he was out of the door, leaving Baekhyun standing there with his waving tail.

Baekhyun decided to just watch TV. Watching the news was prohibited in the shelter, so he was curious of what had happened on the last weeks. Often Chanyeol, the kindest among the caretakers, brought him newspapers. But when the other staff saw them they would get mad and nag him. He also was afraid of making too much noise and waking up Jongdae, but if what Kyungsoo said was true he was probably a really heavy sleeper. 

He had been watching TV for almost 4 hours and dozing off when he heard the door to the bedroom open, and then heavy steps coming in his direction. The footsteps stopped just at the side of the TV, and Baekhyun didn’t know where to look at. The cat was wearing the shortest pair of shorts Baekhyun had ever seen, combined with a sleeveless shirt that was loose on the neck area. The excessive show of skin was making his cheeks burn red with embarrassment. And then Baekhyun looked at the lost expression Jongdae had while rubbing his eyes and looking in Baekhyun’s direction as if figuring out what was a strange hybrid doing in his house so early.

“Dog” and with that single syllable he was gone in the direction of the kitchen. No hissing, no shouting. It looks like he was soft and confused after waking up, Baekhyun mentally added it to his list of things to remember about Jongdae. 

He probably dozed off for a while, because the next time he woke up he was lying on his side over the tiny couch and with a cover thrown messily over his body. He was pretty sure he had been sitting on the largest couch earlier, the one which now had a smug looking Jongdae lying over it. It looks like the other had taken a bath while he was sleeping, since he was wearing thankfully normal clothes now and there was a fruity smell coming from him. 

Baekhyun stood up and stretched his back, his shirt rising up a little bit, and the side look Jongdae gave his abs didn’t escape him. “I will cook something for lunch, do you want anything?” he said gaining a pair of orbs looking into his own.

Jongdae stared without blinking for what felt like hours after replying “You know how to cook? How do I know if you won’t poison my food?”

“If there is any poisoning going on in this house it would probably be you poisoning me” he stated crossing his arms defensively over his chest.

The cat stood up with an indignant expression on his face, putting his hand on his waist. “Ok, well, you can cook my lunch but I will observe you just to make sure” he said as if he was doing Baekhyun a favor, not the other way around.

Baekhyun just sighed, going towards the kitchen. He was starting to get used to the cat’s behavior. He started gathering the ingredients and pots he would use to cook a simple dish. It was 2 already, so he was a bit hungry by now. Jongdae in turn sat himself on one of the tall chairs, crossing his hands over the table and lying over them. Baekhyun glanced at him, letting a small laugh out at the cute sight of the cat with his squished cheeks and pouty lips. 

The kitchen started smelling really nice, and Jongdae stood up to hover around Baekhyun’s shoulder trying to peek inside the pot.

“What is that?” Baekhyun glanced at the cat whose eyes were piercing the pot as if he would decipher every ingredient just by staring at it.

He hummed a little bit while stirring the pot before replying “They are just glass noodles with some vegetables and seasoning, it’s pretty simple to do” Jongdae seemed to consider his answer before going to take a seat again. When the food was done, Baekhyun served two plates and covered the remains, taking the food over to the table.

Jongdae immediately started eating, which made Baekhyun grin. Who was worried of food poisoning now? 

“This is decent, dog. You will tell me how to make this later!” Jongdae said pointing to him with his chopsticks. Baekhyun ignored the offending term, to be honest it sounded  like a pet-name coming from Jongdae, and he smiled at the rest of his sentence. The approval of his cooking and the promise of there being a next time. And now he understood Kyungsoo’s comment about Jongdae learning how to cook. That maybe Baekhyun could take advantage of it to get nearer to Jongdae.

The rest of the lunch went in silence. Baekhyun finished before the kitty, but he decided to wait for the other one not really sure why. It was endearing to see Jongdae trying to decipher all the ingredients while poking his food and tasting it separately. When he was finished, Jongdae took both his plate and Baekhyun’s to the sink, probably as his own version of a thank you. 

Baekhyun decided to laze around the TV some more. He was surfing the channels when he felt the cushion next to him sink with the added weight of Jongdae. He was about to protest that he was not on the largest couch when he saw Jongdae was carrying the laptop with him.

“Kyungsoo asked me to help you buy some clothes online. We can’t go outside since you don’t have a tag yet” Jongdae said while opening some pages on the computer. Baekhyun knew how to use a laptop well. Afterall back at the shelter he helped sometimes with the database for the hybrid’s webpage. But he saw Jongdae’s determined stance, this was probably because he felt indebted for the lunch or something. Baekhyun smiled and got closer to the other hybrid. Jongdae seemed to tense a little bit, but when no further movement was made he relaxed gradually.

“These are some brands that I like. They are hybrid friendly and have a lot of styles. I will just advise not to pick colors too bright. Kyungsoo would be ok with anything really, but whenever i wear my bright pink clothes he usually cringes and tries to convince me to change. Also don’t worry about the price, Kyungsoo can afford it”

Baekhyun started looking around. He still looked at the cheaper options but it looked like everything in this pages were designer clothing or something. No wonder Jongdae always looked well dressed, well, except for his night clothes. He noticed that whenever he hovered the mouse over something the cat liked he would receive an excited hum, so he decided to add things to the cart depending on Jongdae’s reactions. He didn’t know much about clothing so he followed the other hybrid’s instincts. By the end of his small shopping spree he had 2 jeans, 4 shirts and 2 hoodies. Jongdae took the laptop from him and after adding some underwear and shoes he began to fill the address and payment information. Baekhyun didn’t want to look at the grand total, he would probably regret it and try to delete everything, so he just left it to the cat hybrid. 

“Done! They should arrive by tomorrow evening” Jongdae said closing the laptop and standing up. Baekhyun nodded giving him a smile. Jongdae seemed to think about saying something, but just left to his room with the laptop afterwards. Baekhyun sighed and just continued watching some random movie on TV.