The last thing Kai wants to be doing this morning is cleaning up sticky, sweet coffee off of the kitchen floor.

    But Sparrow is blinking at him with large, innocent eyes from his perch on the counter as if to say, “I didn’t do it,”, and Sehun is laughing too hard to be much help, which leaves Kai wielding the dishtowel.

    “That’s the third time this week,” Kai complains out loud, even as his mouth twitches up at the corners because Sehun’s laugh is infectious and Sparrow is giving it his all at melting Kai’s heart with his little paws and glittering gold eyes.

    “We’ll just have to watch him more closely next time,” Sehun says, still smiling broadly.

    Kai straightens up, moving past Sehun to get to the sink and whipping him with the dishtowel on the way, smirking at the startled yelp that follows.

    “You say that every time,” Kai reminds him, rinsing the dishtowel out under the faucet and ringing it dry before he throws it in a corner of the kitchen.

    Sehun grumbles something under his breath that Kai doesn’t catch, but he’s too busy looking out the window right above the sink, which is cracked open because the weather is beautiful today, warm and breezy, spring covering everything in new green grass and fresh air and the sun making the city sparkle.

    People and cars swoop by outside, everyone hurrying to get to work, to that hair appointment that can’t be rescheduled, to the park for that routine morning jog.

    Everyone moving fast, fast, fast.

    So caught up in their own lives that they don’t take the time to slow down and admire the way a breeze makes a dress ripple and flutter, the way people move around each other like they’re in a synchronized dance, the way the sounds of the city tell stories if you’re willing to stop and listen.

    Flushed cheeks, bright eyes, neon pink writing on a café blackboard, yellow taxis, a drop of perspiration sliding down the side of an iced tea, peeling paint on the side of a building, a smile, a shout, a glittering ear piercing, the swirling black lines of a tattoo. All of these little things form a masterpiece that takes Kai by surprise every time, even though he’s lived in New York City for close to three years now.

    The city is a cacophony of life, everyone struggling to find a place among the chaos.

    It’s beautiful and terrifying at the same time.

    And Kai loves it.

    He loves how every day brings a new set of stories, just waiting to be read.

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