It’s late, the clock above the stove blinking 3:04, but Chanyeol sits at the kitchen table, papers spread out in front of him as he scribbles notes into a notebook for his case tomorrow. It’s a tough one, and his client isn’t helping herself when all she does is get angry at the judge and accuse the defendant of doing things she hasn’t told him about. It’s hard to back her up if she keeps changing the story. But it’s his job to defend her, and if he loses this case he’ll get a bad rep.

  He’s the best lawyer, but if he loses a case, his reps will go down and people will start coming to him. They come to him because he’s not as expensive as the others are and he knows how to convince the courts to believe the truth. Or, at least, what his client says is the truth.

  He’s only had one really tough case, where he had to defend the woman who stabbed her neighbor. He personally thought she should be in jail, but he pleaded for her to get tests done and was then sent to a mental hospital instead of jail.

  Chanyeol is about to flip the paper in his file when he hears a faint noise coming from his room as blankets shift. He goes back to work, reading over the problem and searching his brain for a solution that can get this man out of the money he owes back to the lady who apparently stole his lawnmower. It’s one of the stupid cases he gets, one of the easy, boring ones that he wins within an hour instead of it having to last for three or four.

  Another page into the file and there’s noise, but after listening for it again, he goes back his work, deciding on the method he’ll use and getting a head start on his next case, one he’ll plead insanity over because that’s the only logical explanation for why a man would burn his own house down when his children are in there. They’re okay, a little burned, but after Chanyeol went to visit them in the hospital and got stories out of them, they confirmed that it wasn’t the first time he’s tried something like that. He’ll get him into the mental hospital in two hours, tops.

  The noise comes again, and this time Chanyeol can recognize it: Jongin.

  His kitty only makes those noises when he’s having nightmares.

  He pushes himself up from the table and goes to his room, flicking on the room. Jongin is sitting up on their bed, Chanyeol’s pillow clutched in his arms and tears streaking down his face, hair a mess from sleeping on it. Upon seeing him, Jongin reaches out, hands making grabby motions at him as he cries.

  Chanyeol goes to him, scooping him into his arms on the bed. Jongin clutches to his shirt, grip tight as he sobs. It’s not something new, just something sad.

  Jongin gets nightmares often, waking up crying and searching for Chanyeol right away for comfort. Most of the time Chanyeol is within arms’ reach, but sometimes he’s still at the office or in a different room, and Jongin will cry by himself until he comes back.

  “Hey,” Chanyeol breathes into his ear as one of Jongin’s arms wraps around his neck and the other encircles his fist in a tight grip. “It’s okay. You’re okay,” he tells him, rubbing a hand down his back and scratching behind his ear with the other. The gesture causes Jongin to relax into his arms, but the tears don’t stop. “I’m right here, Jongin. You’re okay.”

  His shoulders are still shaking when Jongin finally looks up at him, tear’s still stuck to his eyelashes and cheeks still flushed a light red. His nose is runny and Chanyeol reaches out for the box of tissues on their nightstand. He cleans him off, wiping his nose and eyes before pressing a kiss to his forehead. Jongin’s tail wraps around his leg and Chanyeol pets behind his ear.  Slowly, Jongin gains his breathing back.

  “You’re okay,” Chanyeol comforts, down his jaw. “We can keep the lights on tonight.”

  Jongin shakes his head, wiping his eyes with the baggy sleeve of Chanyeol’s sweater he’s wearing. “No, you have work tomorrow.” He tells him, pushing his arms away and unwrapping his tail from him. “Lights off, it’s okay. I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay,” Chanyeol replies, pushing Jongin on his back with a hand on his chest. “It’s an easy case.” He kisses his nose, pulling the covers over both of them. He won’t mention the new case he has until after tomorrow’s case. “What was wrong?”

  Jongin’s nightmares are mainly of when he lived on the streets, barley surviving with the occasional piece of bread and gutter water. He dreams of the kicks he received from strangers when he was a kitten, of the way he was exiled out of his own den with his mother before he could see properly.

  Chanyeol found him in an alley way five months ago, shivering as rain pelted down from the sky. He was dressed in only a thin t-shirt with holes ripped around the neck line, and very worn pants, stained with mud and blood. Underneath the clothes were bruises and scrapes, bony ribs. Chanyeol asked if he had an owner, if he was lost, but Jongin just stared at him until Chanyeol carried him to his car to take him home.

  It took a week to get Jongin to talk, and even after five months, he’s still quiet and scared about talking to him.

  “Some guy used to throw sticks at me,” Jongin tells him, cuddling into his side as Chanyeol wraps an extra blanket around them. “And this group of kids used to throw stones at me and this one time, this o-one kid thr-threatened to... kill me.” He in a sharp breath, swallowing down tears. “It’s all good, though. I’m not out there anymore.”

  “And you’ll never go back,” Chanyeol squeezes him, pressing a kiss to his temple. “You’ll always be here and nothing bad will ever happen. You’re okay.”

  Jongin nods, breathing deeply through his nose until his heart settles to a more calm pace. “You really need to sleep with the lights off tonight.”

  Chanyeol shrugs, pulling him closer. “The case will be an hour and then I’ll come home.” He scratches behind his ear, “I know you hate being alone after having nightmares.”

  Chanyeol also knows that Jongin feels like he’s a burden to him, even after how many times he’s told him he’s not, that he really loves him. Jongin loves him back, but he pulls away a lot.

  He about to kiss him on the cheek and tell him it’s okay again when he realizes Jongin is already asleep, soft breaths puffing against his neck and tail twitching under the blankets. He presses a quick kiss to him and pulls them into a more comfortable position.