---

Whilst he pops the lid off to his lunch box, Sehun hums to himself as he prepares his chopsticks. He hears Baekhyun curse as the latter spills tea all over the table. Sehun begins eating, and it's not until he's taken the first bite that he realizes Jongin didn't try swiping his food. In fact, Jongin hasn't said anything since they started walking to the lunch room, and he sits across from Sehun, unusually silent whilst resting his head in his hands. Sehun simply brushes it off as the younger's wild antics taking a toll on him and wearing his body out, but there's still a nagging worry clinging to him whilst he continues to eat, all whilst Jongin continues to not say anything. Sehun's eyes trail over Jongin's drooped ears, the latter's glum expression and bangs covering most of his eyes. It's not until Baekhyun gets out a box of donuts for everybody to share, only for Jongin to continue sighing to himself, that Sehun finally sets his food aside.

"Hey." Sehun keeps his voice low as he reaches out and places a hand on Jongin's arm, the latter flinching in response. "Are you alright?" he asks, brows furrowed in mild concern as he eyes the younger's expression, which he barely even recognizes. Next to them, his colleagues pig out on donuts whilst Jongin only places his arms on the table and rests his chin on top of them. "You are looking a little pale...are you feeling sick?" 

Jongin is silent for a minute before he shakes his head. "No, I'm...good," he says, hoping nobody at the table hears how loud his heart is racing. When he runs a hand through his hair, he senses a faint smell of tobacco and cringes. "I'm just tired," he mumbles when Sehun doesn't stop staring. He traces invisible patterns into the plastic table cloth and it's not until he makes the mistake of sighing again that Sehun speaks.

"Are you sure?" Sehun asks, attempting to place a reassuring hand on Jongin's wrist, only for the latter to move his hand away. He isn't one bit content with the younger's reply; in fact, hearing the word 'Tired' fall from Jongin's mouth unsarcastically only makes him that much more worried. Sehun isn't much of an expert on illness symptoms in cat hybrids, but he still can't shake the feeling. He can't do much else than nod, despite not being convinced, when Jongin only nods wordlessly.

Sehun spends the remaining five hours at work occasionally sneaking glances at Jongin, who spends his five hours lying on the couch whilst digging his nails into the apples and oranges in the fruit bowl, seemingly in an attempt to peel them. He doesn't say as much as a word as his tail sways back and forth unconsciously, but Sehun braces himself in case Jongin gets another impulsive spark and goes running off, like he always does. However, Jongin remains perfectly still the entire time, and Sehun doesn't know if it's a pang of concern or utter relief that travels up his spine before he eventually stops checking on the younger and going back to focusing on his work.

As opposed to literally every other day, Sehun doesn't find himself needing to scavenge half the building in search of Jongin when it's time to go home, and neither does he need to drag Jongin away from the break room. Instead, Sehun recalls blinking in surprise when he went up to Jongin, who had fallen asleep on the couch, that it was time to head home. Instead of throwing a hyperactive fit and asking Sehun to count to ten whilst he hid, Jongin wordlessly obliged before trotting towards the door and into the hallway, where Sehun found him waiting patiently a second later.

Jongin is silent, possibly even more silent, during the car ride home, which definitely doesn't help the nervous buzzing in Sehun's veins as he pulls out of the parking lot. Sehun keeps his eyes on Jongin during most of the ride, causing him to swerve a few times, and his worry only grows when they stop at a red light and a couple of sparrows land on the hood of the car. Sehun scrambled to cover the horn with his hand, only to blink in surprise when Jongin only proceeded to send them a tired look. It's not until Jongin slumped in his seat subsequently that Sehun scrambled to pull out his phone and frantically searched the web for illness symptoms in cat hybrids. He missed the green light, which in turn caused the people in the car behind them to honk loudly. 

As it turns out, illnesses in cat hybrids tend to present themselves in a similar fashion as they do in humans, and as he pulls up on the driveway (and nearly crashes into a tree after failing to look up from the screen), Sehun deduces that Jongin most likely isn't sick, which sort of puts him at ease. Nevertheless, he watches as Jongin gets out of the car without as much as a word. Now that Sehun thinks about it, Jongin doesn't actually look sick, he's just missing that usual spring in his step, Sehun thinks and misses the keyhole twice as he unlocks the door.

The sun finishes lowering itself behind the horizon just as Sehun s his briefcase and slumps into his chair. He's got Jongdae's report to do, as well as his own report, and he takes a sip of coffee before cracking his knuckles and opening his laptop. Jongin is lying on the bed a few feet away and kneading a pillow, so Sehun hopes that he'll be able to finish everything tonight so he can get a good night's rest for a change. Figuring it won't be a problem, Sehun rummages through his briefcase and pulls out his earphones. He's always been a faster worker with music in his ears, and he figures if he finishes early, he might just be able to squeeze in a movie session with Jongin. Next to him, Jongin sighs deeply, and Sehun bites his lip. He also hates himself for being so caught up with work, and he wonders if the universe will be kind enough to grant him an even balance in which he can work uninterrupted and spend time with Jongin. 

--

Jongin's fingers have practically gone numb from kneading at this point, and he tosses the pillow aside before resting his cheek against the mattress. Chanyeol's words are pinballing around inside his head and Jongin exhales loudly, finger tracing invisible patterns into the blanket. He barely has the energy to move, feeling a lot like a rock at the bottom of the ocean as he rolls onto his side. Jongin then sees that Sehun is listening to music whilst typing away at his computer, and Jongin feels his tail buzzing in anxiousness at the constant clicking noises. 

Honestly, Jongin has zero idea what to make of anything as he anxiously picks up the pillow and starts kneading it again; it feels like his head is being split down the middle every time he tries putting two and two together. On the other hand, Jongin is kind of thankful for that, because he doesn't think he wants to put two and two together, either. He's craving a glass of milk but doesn't his legs refuse to move, so Jongin sighs again before closing his eyes. He regrets touching Chanyeol earlier, because his entire palm reeks of tobacco, something Sehun seemignly hasn't noticed. One thought quickly leads to another, and before he knows it, Jongin's ears are trembling as Chanyeol's words fill his head. Jongin honestly doesn't think Sehun would be willing to bring him into the house if he really was wearing the latter out, but then again, it's not like Jongin is going to ask, so he groans into the mattress. A raindrop lands on the window, which is closely followed by a strong breeze.

From experience, every time he's worn one of his family members out, Jongin has been given the boot less than an hour later. Jongin isn't sure, but he figures Sehun is no different, even though there's a nagging voice at the back of Jongin's head that is telling him Chanyeol is right. Jongin briefly remembers one of his foster mothers telling him not to always take information at face value, and he quickly shoves the thought away before coming to the conclusion that Chanyeol is simply trying to trick him. Or so Jongin hopes as he hugs the practically torn pillow close to his chest and looks up at Sehun, who's humming to himself and tapping his foot to the beat in his ears. Sehun is kind, Sehun is nice, Sehun does care about me, Jongin repeats the words in his head like a mantra, ignoring the knot in his throat as he wraps his tail around his thigh. He spots the discarded, red cape on the floor and picks it up, feeling a little better as he proceeds to knead it. Nevertheless, the knots in just about every part of Jongin's body make it impossible for him to enjoy himself, much less purr, and he quickly springs off the bed.

Sehun nearly jumps right out of his chair when Jongin pokes his shoulder. "What--" He yanks his earphones out of his ears before staring up at Jongin. "Are you feeling better now?" he asks, reaching up and scratching Jongin's ear. His previous worries and concerns quickly disappear when Jongin immediately purrs, the loud noise nearly getting drowned out by the wind howling outside. "Why don't you go watch TV, I'm still in the middle of-- Hey!" He tries and fails to grab the printed version of Jongdae's report in front of him when Jongin suddenly swipes it. "Gimme that, Jongin--"

"What are you writing?" Jongin asks, eyes scanning over the paper in his hands. He honestly doesn't understand anything of what he's reading, especially not the long, advanced and scary looking words scattered everywhere, and he bites back a hiss when he sees the words 'JONGDAE, KIM' in the top left corner. The paper falls to the floor and he runs his hands through Sehun's hair, which is surprisingly soft given the amount of product on the strands.

Huffing, Sehun bends down and picks up the paper before placing it back on the desk. Whilst he's overjoyed that Jongin isn't suffering from some hidden disease, he can't help but groan when Jongin accidentally tugs a little too hard on his hair. "It's getting late, why don't you head to bed." Even though he knows it's useless, he turns his attention back to his work and attempts to type a sentence, but he barely gets past four words when Jongin nuzzles his face in his neck. "Listen, I know you're bored, but I'm sort of behind right now and really need to finish this," he sighs before crossing his legs.

"Am I wearing you out?" Jongin blurts out and actually smacks a hand on his forehead when Sehun stills. He remembers his foster mother teaching him a valuable lesson, but all he can remember is that it had something to do with 'good manners'. Well, then. The rain is coming down so hard he briefly worries it might shatter and burst through the window pane. Jongin moves aside ever so slightly. 

Sehun is silent for a minute. As much as he wants to say yes, he finds himself shaking his head. He figures that as long as he finishes Jongdae's report, he'll be back on track. Hopefully. "As soon as I finish this in a few days, we can watch that nature documentary, the one you said you'd watch a couple of years ago," he says, brushing a few strands of hair out of Jongin's face. Afterwards, he stretches his legs and reaches for his mug. The stone cold coffee makes him grimace. "Why don't you change and get ready for be--"

"What's in there?" Jongin asks, ears perking up as he eyes the orange mug. The strong, musky aroma makes his tail sway above his head. When Sehun only sighs, he pokes his cheek over and over. He remembers basically all his foster fathers drink something that smelled just like it for breakfast every morning. For some reason, when asked, they would never let Jongin drink it, not even a sip, which piqued his curiosity since day one.  "Pleasepleaseplease--"

"It's coffee," Sehun hums, managing to type out another two sentences with his left hand as he holds the mug in his right. He sighs, not even bothering to protest when Jongin grabs it subsequently. "Just one sip, okay? I don't want you bouncing off the wa--" He barely registers what happens next, but he does hear Jongin mutter a low 'Oops' before a loud crashing noise makes Sehun flinch and jump out of his chair. A second later, Sehun immediately sees not only the brown stains all over his blouse, but all over his laptop keyboard, along with a handful of sharp, orange shards scattered all across the desk. The room falls into silence, Sehun only staring wide eyed as coffee trickles between the keys before dripping off the edge of the table.

Soon, the screen goes pitch black, and before he knows it, Sehun is rushing forward in a blind panic and repeatedly pressing down on the power key. Much to his horror, the liquid seems to have burned out his laptop entirely, and it takes every fiber in Sehun's being not to think about how he's going to have to redo Jongdae's entire report as he puts his hands on his hips and runs a hand through his hair in frustration, all whilst exhaling as slowly as he possibly can. . Silence fills the room yet again until he hears Jongin's voice from behind him.

"Is...is it okay?" Jongin asks in a low voice, tail still puffed up as a result of the unexpected loud noise, as he eyes the keys to the laptop, which look like they're drowning in the dark brown liquid. He looks at the taller, who is staring at the floor and shaking his head in exasperation. "Your tie's dirty," he mumbles, and is about to touch Sehun's tie when the colorful, orange shards grab his attention. Ears perking up, Jongin starts walking towards the table, and he barely registers Sehun's panicked squawk of 'Stop, you'll cut yourself!' when he suddenly slips in the puddle on the floor, which has grown quite large in just a few seconds, and Sehun can only watch in pure horror as Jongin tries saving himself by blindly scrambling to cling onto the edge of the desk.

Whilst Sehun's college quality desk might be suitable for holding a regular cat's weight, it certainly wasn't built to support the weight of a fully grown male hybrid, and it gives in and comes crashing down subsequently. Sehun can't bare to watch as books, stationery, papers and, even worse, his laptop, hit the floor one by one. The loud noise caused by the top of the desk hitting the floor causes Jongin to scramble away and hide behind Sehun's bed. Sehun finds him standing amidst the mess on the floor and, even though he's utterly relieved that Jongin didn't end up injuring himself, Sehun can't hold back the irritated growl that escapes his lips when Jongin peeks his head out from behind the bed.

Jongin eyes the mess of bent books, pencils and pens, loose keys, coffee, soaked papers (as well as the silver laptop, which is lying face down) on the floor, mouth agape as he scratches his ear. His ears are still ringing from the deafening bang and he walks over to Sehun, who isn't saying a word. Jongin is about to ask if Sehun is okay when the latter suddenly holds out an arm in front of him, and Jongin doesn't even need to ask to know that Sehun doesn't want him to come any closer. "Uh, are you o--" The taller's eyes flash and Jongin blinks.

"Let this be a lesson," Sehun says through gritted teeth as he clenches his jaw, whilst trying not to let the fury erupting in his chest seep into his voice. "Let this be a lesson as to why you should leave people who are working and ask to be left alone, alone, no matter how bored you may be." He exhales in frustration before running a hand through his hair. This is definitely going to take a while to clean up, and he suddenly thinks about his (as well as Jongdae's) lost reports, and the balled up irritation causes Sehun to grab Jongin perhaps a little too hard when the latter blindly rushes forward after a bird flies into the window. "Stop it-- Don't step on the shards, you !" he exclaims, trying not to step on the shards himself as he attempts to shove Jongin away from the desk (or, whatever's left of it, anyway). The younger apparently isn't at all fazed by possibly slicing his foot open and continues to thrash in Sehun's grip. "Are you crazy-- Get away, you'll cut yourself, you goddamn-- Christ, Jongin, for God's sake-- Out! Out!" Grabbing the back of Jongin's shirt, Sehun quickly ushers Jongin towards the door, the latter tripping twice, until he shoves the younger out of the bedroom and closes the door.

--

Jongin stumbles as the door slams shut behind him and he barely manages to break his fall with his hands as he hits the floor. He curses under his breath, moving into a sitting position and staring up at the door. Jongin feels his ears drooping slightly when the sound of the lock clicking into place fills the silence shortly after, and he grimaces when he feels the wet patch on the bottom of his sock. The eerie silence filling Sehun's house hits Jongin like a bag of bricks and he crawls up to the door before listening. He hears the sound of feet shuffling across the floorboards, closely followed by papers rustling, and possibly even Sehun mumbling to himself, but other than that, nothing, and Jongin pouts before sitting cross legged on the floor.

Feeling his head spin, Jongin figures it's probably best to leave Sehun alone for a few minutes, so he decides to use said minutes to grab something to eat. He slowly gets up, ignoring the mushy feeling in his sock, before trudging towards the stairs. Soundlessly, Jongin makes his down the steps and skips over to the fridge. Earlier this week, Sehun taught Jongin how to retreive a glass from the cupboard 'without killing himself', so Jongin grabs a chair from the table and presses it against the edge of the counter, just like Sehun taught him to. Jongin grabs a glass, nearly dropping it as he jumps straight from the counter down to the floor. He drinks half the glass before grimacing; the milk tasted better before, for some reason, and Jongin leaves it on the counter, forgetting to put the chair back as he scampers up the stairs.

Jongin approaches Sehun's room, before sitting cross legged right outside the door (if Sehun were to open the door, Jongin might suffer a concussion, but he doesn't care) after realizing that it's still locked. Leaning against the hard wood, Jongin closes his eyes as he tries to get his head to stop spinning. Amidst Chanyeol's words, which have plastered themselves in every nook and cranny of his brain, and the feeling of Sehun's hand on his shoulder as he shoved him out the door, Jongin has trouble squeezing in any other thoughts. And before he knows it, he hears Chanyeol's voice echo in his head on repeat, but a part of Jongin attempts to ignore it, because he knows he isn't wearing Sehun out, since he asked and Sehun said no. The thought that Sehun wouldn't lie to him somewhat comforts Jongin as he brings his knees closer to his chest.

Jongin sits outside Sehun's bedroom door until his tail goes numb and the entire house is nearly pitch black. Jongin slowly gets to his feet and presses his right ear up against the door, only to hear nothing, so he figures Sehun has gone back to working on his computer. Except Jongin soon remembers the coffee all over the keyboards, as well as the keys that soon came flying off, and he's no expert on coffee, but he figures he'll ask Sehun if he can help put the keys back to make it easier for the latter to work. Tomorrow, of course, since Jongin worries he'll die if he doesn't get to crawl into bed and sleep soon. So he raises a fist and knocks on the door. 

At first, nothing happens, and Jongin doesn't hear anything on the other side, either, so he assumes Sehun is listening to music. Huffing, he knocks a little louder, only to be met with silence again, and Jongin pouts before knocking louder. For good measure, he calls Sehun's name, and after a minute's worth of silence, Jongin finds himself practically banging on the door in hopes of Sehun hearing him over the music. After two whole minutes of silence, Jongin is in the middle of contemplating whether he should break the door down like they do in the movies, only for a sound to make his ears straighten.

"Jongin, cut it out, I'm trying to sleep," Sehun calls from the other side of the door.  His voice sounds muffled and Jongin can practically see him lying under the covers. The thought makes the younger scratch on the door lightly. "Jongin, stop it!"

Jongin blinks. "But I'm tired," he whines, and it's not until he hears nothing but silence that his ears droop. He figures it might have been bad of him to cause Sehun's desk to collapse, but in his defense, Jongin doesn't exactly blame himself for the mug slipping out of his hands. His stomach coils at the idea of making Sehun angry, and Jongin leans in until the fur tufts on top of his ears graze the door. "I'm sorry for dropping it," he says, a lump forming in his throat when he's met with silence again. "Are you mad? Please don't be angry, I don't like it when you're angry." He scratches at the door for a minute before pouting and turning on his heel. His stomach growls with what he assumes is hunger, so he makes his way downstairs again.

Barely remembering to close the fridge afterwards, Jongin removes the lid to the box of leftover pizza slices from last week. He skips off to the living room, plopping himself down on the couch before biting down on a slice. Nobody has taught him how to use a microwave, and he doesn't have the courage to attempt to figure out Sehun's, so Jongin figures eating the pizza cold is the only way to go. The cheesy flavor cheers him up somewhat, but he finds himself unable to enjoy it for very long before placing the box on the table (he knows Sehun will be happy when he realizes Jongin has left him a slice and a half). The sound of branches scraping against the windows behind the couch makes Jongin's tail puff up, and it's not until the wind howls loudly that Jongin scrambles to grab a cushion in the dark. He proceeds to knead it anxiously in an attempt at calming himself down. It doesn't work, so Jongin places it on top of his head to drown out the storm outside.

Jongin closes his eyes and tries falling asleep, which is soon proven to be impossible when a bolt of lightning soon lights up the entire room. Every object in the room casts a dark shadow on the wall across from the couch and Jongin jumps five feet in the air, feeling his tail muscle ache when it straightens out fully in surprise. He brings it closer until it's hugging his legs, but it brings Jongin little comfort when a second lightning bolt strikes, his whimper getting drowned out by the loud crackling and booming noises that follow. Jongin remembers the horrible storm that took place on the day Sehun first took him in, and Jongin wishes Sehun was lying next to him. As if the lump in his throat wasn't bad enough, a loud clap of thunder nearly has Jongin falling off the couch in surprise subsequently.

Before Jongin can process what he's doing, he's rushing up the stairs, nearly tripping and falling on his face more than once before he stops outside Sehun's door. It's still locked, just like Jongin expected, and the latter jumps when another clap of thunder booms through the air. "Sehun?" He knocks softly and feels his lower lip quiver when all he hears is the sound of rain pouring outside. "I-I'm scared, I- Could you please let m--" He flinches at the sound of thunder that seems to shake the entire house. "Sehun, please, I--" A clap of thunder illuminates the entire upper floor and Jongin nearly trips and breaks his neck as he scrambles back down the stairs.

Climbing back onto the couch, Jongin does his best to block out the wet sounds of rain outside as he covers his head with his hands. As he lies curled up on the cushions, Jongin knows for a fact that being able to fall asleep in his constant state of alertness is a mere fantasy, especially not with his head reeling and heart threatening to crumble in his chest. In his current on edge state, thoughts and voices pinball around inside Jongin's head to the point that he can eventually only focus on one voice. 

No matter how much he tries distracting himself, Jongin finds himself coming back to Chanyeol's godforsaken question. Soon, it threatens to make his head explode and Jongin has to grab a slice of pizza and nibble on it to distract himself. It does little to comfort him, and realization hits Jongin in the same second a loud clap of thunder breaks the silence and makes the floor shake. Jongin feels his heart tremble painfully as he grabs a cushion and presses it against his ears.

He's beginning to sense the pattern.

---