“Could you pass me the shampoo?” Sehun asks, holding out a wet hand, and Kai grabs it from the side of the tub, opening the top and catching a whiff of coconut along the way.

            “Thanks,” Sehun murmurs, squeezing out a bit into his hand and passing it back to Kai, who sets it on the floor and sits back on his heels.

            The two of them are currently bent over Kai’s tub, warm water running down the drain, and a very drenched, very unhappy kitten mewling up at them every time Sehun or Kai makes eye contact with it.

            Sehun had immediately grabbed the kitten from Kai earlier, cooing over it as if it were his first-born child.

            And, to the kitten’s displeasure, Sehun had decided two minutes later to give it a bath, to which Kai had agreed, because the kitten’s fur had been matted with dirt and oil and who knows what else it had picked up off of the streets of New York City.

            So now here they are, trying to keep the cat from jumping from the tub, Sehun’s sleeves rolled up to his elbows and his homework forgotten in the living room, his rainbow-colored hair sticking to his forehead from the steam that has slowly accumulated on the mirror.

            Sehun rubs the glop of shampoo between his hands before he reaches down and works it through the kitten’s short fur, the first layer of grime already gone from the first wash he had done a few minutes earlier.

            Everything smells pleasantly of coconut, the heat in the small room making the scent that much stronger, leaving a heady fog behind in Sehun’s head, and he yawns, blinking sleepily.

            Kai nudges his shoulder with his own.

            “I can take over you know,” he offers, running a hand briefly across Sehun’s back, fingers even warmer than the steam. “You should get some sleep.”

            But Sehun shakes his head, fingers still lathering the kitten up gently, white foam coating every inch of its tiny frame.

            “I’m pretty much done,” he replies, grabbing the shower head to rinse the cat off, Kai’s hand still lingering near his shoulder blades. “I’ll just dry him off and then we can go to bed.”

            Kai doesn’t miss the fluttery jump his heart does at Sehun’s words, still not used to being able to fall asleep beside the younger boy every night.

            Kai’s not sure if he’ll ever get used to it, but he’s sure he never wants to.

            He sits back on the floor again, and Sehun turns the water off, grabbing the spare towel from the toilet seat and wrapping the cat in it.

            A disgruntled yowl emits from the towel, but Sehun just rubs the kitten until its fur is dry and fluffy, ignoring the small sniff the kitten gives afterwards in disdain.

            “There,” Sehun says proudly, examining his work. “You’re all clean.”

            Kai grabs the kitten from Sehun’s lap, cuddling it in his lap and peering down at it inquisitively.

            “What do you plan on doing with it?” Sehun asks, breaking Kai from his thoughts on good cat names, and Kai looks up to see Sehun staring at him.

            “Ummm,” Kai hums, not having really decided yet.

            He could drop the kitten off at the nearest animal shelter in the morning before work, but for some reason, that idea is beginning to be less and less appealing the more he thinks about it.

            Sehun leans back on his palms, waiting for Kai to answer, and Kai chews on his bottom lip thoughtfully.

            There is always the option of keeping the kitten, the issue of money not really a problem because Kai may not work a high-paying job, but he has some money kept away, money he had before he left South Korea.

            Space isn’t an issue either, and neither Kai nor Sehun is allergic.

Besides, as Kai looks up and peeks a glance at Sehun’s face, he can tell that Sehun is already attached to the cat, his mouth curving up softly at the corners as he watches it where it has already fallen asleep in Kai’s lap.

“I think I might keep it,” Kai finally says, fingers running lightly over the kitten’s back, and he looks up in time to see Sehun give him a blinding smile, hair still sticking to his forehead with the heat, cheeks flushed and water dotting the front of his t-shirt.

Sehun stands up, brushing off his pants and opening the bathroom door because they had closed it to keep the kitten from running out earlier. Slowly, the steam starts to dissipate, a gust of cold air rushing in.

Kai gets up too, still holding the kitten carefully and trying not to wake it.

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