He bowed. His head was nested in the niche created by his arms; his nose touched the laminated floor.  Lay’s position reflected his sincerity and desperation.  Although he could not see, Lay sensed that Kris was staring at him in shock. Lay’s current posture was one that imposed not only on the kneeler but also on the one bowed to. Lay blinked, recalling the events that had lead to this moment.

Lay cuddled with the fluff ball that was bestowed upon him. Busy showering Orange with affection, Lay hadn’t noticed someone walking up behind him.

“What’s taking you so long, Lay?” a voice called out.

“Look!” Lay shoved Orange at Luhan, smiling.

“What’s this?” Luhan inquired. He stepped back, watching the kitten with a look of unease.

“A kitty,” Lay responded simply. His fingers continued to the kitten.

“I know,” Luhan sighed, “but why do you have one?”

“Chen gave her to me,” Lay grinned.

Luhan opened his mouth and closed it in rapid succession. Once it appeared that he gathered his wits, Luhan said, slowly, “You can’t keep her. We live in the dorms.”

“But,” Lay pouted, “look at Orange.”

He held the kitten so that Luhan had to look into her innocent green eyes. Luhan glanced elsewhere.

“Rules are rules,” Luhan stated, firmly.

Lay continued to display the kitten. In the process, Lay pinned Luhan to the brick wall. His actions relayed his opinions clearly. It was as if he was shouting, “Look at it! It’s so adorable. . . can I keep it?”

Luhan pinched the bridge of his nose, “If you get caught you’ll be expelled from the dorms.”

Lay’s arms faltered. With a frown, He brought the kitten closer to his chest. Lay wanted to keep Orange, but he was an exchange student. He had no family to live with if he was kicked out of the dorms. All the affordable off-campus locations were full at this time of the year. Perhaps it was Lay’s pitiful reaction, but Luhan sighed once more.   

“You could ask Kris,” Luhan commented, “I’ve seen other pets kept in his apartments.”

That was how they ended up in this situation: Lay kneeling in front of Kris in the middle of a nearly empty lecture room.  

“Fine,” Kris groaned, “but you’re paying to take care of it.”

Lay jumped. Wrapping one arm around Kris, he thanked the taller, older man. Then, he turned and lifted the Orange from the desk.  

“Thank him too, Orange,” Lay held the kitten in front of Kris’s face.

“Orange?” Kris questioned, “but she’s gray.”

“She’s a gray; her name is Orange,” Lay said airly.

Kris ran his fingers through his blond hair. He looked over at the only other two people in the room. Luhan shrugged, leaning farther against a desk.  Tao looked annoyed with his arms crossed over his chest.

Tao muttered, “You didn’t get the drinks.”

“Tao,” Kris warned. The youngest of the group pouted but sealed his lips.

“Ah, stop it!” Lay exclaimed.

His moved his arms to counteract Orange’s twisting. Her juvenile, thin claws dug into his sweater as she complained. Orange refused to stop her squirming as Lay struggled against her.

“She’s hungry,” Kris commented.

Pulling her from Lay’s arms, Kris cradled the striped ball of fur. He gave a pointed look towards Lay who began to dig through the paper bags given to him. He found a bottle already filled with formula and passed it to Kris. Orange quieted once a bottle was placed into her lips.  

“Oh, you need to ask Chen,” Luhan stated, “if Orange is registered or not. Tao help me figure out what papers we have to fill out to adopt a cat.”

“But,” Tao began his complains, but was hushed by Kris’s  sharp look of annoyance.

Kris nodded, “I’ll take this guy home.”

They parted ways at the building’s entrance. Kris headed west toward his apartment. Luhan and Tao headed deeper into campus to find a computer lab. Lay stared at his shoes.

“Where does Chen hang out?” he asked himself softly.

There was no response. Some of the happiness that filled him evaporated. Lay was tasked with a wild goose chase. He hadn’t spoken to Chen outside of  two interactions and had no idea where the man spent his time.

Lay shouted, scaring some of the people walking pass him. Taking a step forward, he thought about how he couldn’t help it. All he could do now was start his search and hopefully stumble onto Chen.

I don’t know him well now, Lay thought positively, but that can change.

Lay picked a direction and went with it. He wasn’t going to find anyone if he didn’t put in the effort.

“What are you doing here?” Xiumin asked.

Chen glanced up from his roost in the grass. Pushing himself off the ground, Chen settled into a sitting position. He shook the grass from his hair and clothes.

“What time is it?” he yawned.

“Four. Why are you here?” Xiumin repeated.

Chen clicked his tongue, “Do I have to have a reason?”

Xiumin shook his head, “Usually, I cannot find you when I need to.”

“Sungmin’s place,” Chen complained, “is full of idiots today. Someone posted a blog or whatever, so hordes of giggly, brainless teenage morons have invaded.”

“I see,” Xiumin commented, lightly.

He noted that Chen kept rubbing his arm in irritation. Xiumin mentally sighed. Chen had to overcome his dislike of humanity at some point, but it seemed like today was not the day for that.

Xiumin closed his eyes. He would help Lay find Chen tomorrow. If they met now, nothing good would come of it. His plans were moving forward regardless, so there was no room to complain about this small hiccup. He had other things to deal with and Chen was roughly where Xiumin wanted him to be.

“What did you need me for?” Chen growled.

“Pardon me?” Xiumin asked.

Chen deepened his growl, “You said that you normally can’t find me when you need me, so why do you need me?”

“Oh, yes,” Xiumin responded, “Have you felt anything strange lately?”

“Strange?” Chen echoed.

Xiumin looked upward at the sky. It was clear now, but in the recent months there had been rainfall after rainfall. Monsoon season was months away; this weather was abnormal.

“Oh,” Chen stood up, “you mean the storms.”

Chen stretched, reaching his arms toward the sky. Chen seemed in a decent mood, despite the fact that his favorite drinking hole  was teeming with the humans who he despised. That was worrisome. Chen generally kept to himself. Since Xiumin had known him, Chen  did his best to avoid human and deity alike.  

“I guess,” he pondered, “they’ve been more intense?”

Xiumin kept quiet, observing Chen’s form carefully. Chen paced the area around Xiumin as he spoke.

“They’ve been supercharged,” Chen elaborated, “Some god out there must be ing pissed to generate this much energy.”

Chen clenched his fingers as though to capture this energy.

“I see,” Xiumin repeated. Concern tinted his words. The normal tired, thus irritated Chen was nowhere in sight. Perhaps he had to speed up plans.

“If you don’t need anything else,” Chen plopped back onto the ground, “I’m going to take a nap.”

“If you locate the source, tell me,” Xiumin replied.

“Sure, sure,” Chen waved Xiumin off.

“We should head out,” Luhan said.

   Tao nodded, turning off the computer screen. He had been advocating their leave since they entered.

“Lay’s a pushover,” Tao groaned loudly.

Luhan shrugged. That was Lay’s personality. He naturally trusted people. There wasn’t a way to change Lay so all he could do was keep an eye on him. Tao wasn’t actually complaining about that though. From Luhan’s experience, Tao tended to complain when he was irritated. If Luhan waited, Tao would eventually get over it or he would voice his frustrations.

“Stop complaining and I’ll treat you,” Luhan mollified Tao.

“Seriously?” Tao asked. His stood up immediately.

“To a drink,” Luhan clarified.

“Oh,” Tao’s shoulders dropped.

Luhan glared at him. One shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth.

“We can go to the cafe, I heard about,” Tao said, settling for Luhan’s peace offer.

“Heard about?” Luhan questioned.

He began to leave the room filled with rows of computers. Tao grabbed his sweater off a seat before following after.

“Yeah, a girl in our Korean class said that it was good,” Tao promoted, “she found it because an ulzzang, Sehun, likes it.”

“If that’s what you want sure,” Luhan nodded.

“It’s called Minute, I think,” Tao said.

His phone buzzed; Luhan searched through his pockets. A text message lit up the screen: We have a problem; the essay is due tomorrow by 8 A.M. not next Wednesday. -Feng

“Crap,” Luhan swore. He’d only started that essay - it would take an all nighter to finish.

“Sorry, Tao. I’m busy; I’ll take you next time,” Luhan rushed off, “I promise.”

The sky was a menacing shade of orange; Luhan checked his watch as he ran. It was eight. He forced his legs to move quicker - he had less than twelve hours to research and write. Why did his professor have to be  one the few that actually checked citation?!  If he typed through the night and skipped his first class, he should barely be able to finish the research essay. Maybe, if he was lucky, Luhan would get a C on this essay.     

A/N: Ah, I keep forgetting it's Sunday. I hope you guys enjoy this. I'm starting to hit writer's block.