Summary: Three days can sometimes feel like three weeks or more.

“SangHyuk,” TaekWoon called from the bedroom, pinching the bridge of his nose as he hang up the phone, “come here, please.”

SangHyuk poked his head from the door, “What is it, hyung?” he slowly walked to the bed, sitting on the edge, not far from his owner.

“One of my sister’s sick,” the boy nodded, fully knowing how important family was for the older, “and I need to go see her to our hometown, which is a few hours from here.”

“It’s ok, hyung,” TaekWoon pursed his lips and the upset expression worried his kitten because he had never seen him like that, he hoped his master’s sister wasn’t in a very bad condition, “do what you have to.”

“I’ll be gone for three days, just to make sure,” SangHyuk’s ears instantly fell down along with his eyes but his expression remained calm, almost warm, the ghost of a smile still on his lips, however, TaekWoon knew better than to believe what his companion let be seen so he opened his arms and the catboy silently crawled onto his lap, hiding his face against his neck.

“It’s fine…when are you leaving?” he softly murmured, his owner caressed his back in an attempt to relax him (he hadn’t realized how tense he truly was).

“Tomorrow.”

“Oh.”

~

TaekWoon had finished packing up his suitcase, it was five in the morning, and he looked over to SangHyuk, who was playing with his tail, before he sighed, “HakYeon will come every day to make sure you eat,” he explained as he took everything to the apartment door, the boy nodded, “if you need anything, you can call him…or JaeHwan.”

“What about WonSik?” TaekWoon stopped, turning to him with narrowed eyes.

“No.” he simply stated and opened the door; SangHyuk cocked his head to the side before following him to the stairs. He couldn’t ask why since his attention went to help his owner by opening the building’s door and then the trunk, he took a few steps back just looking at his arranging everything before closing it, “Thanks,” he petted him shortly before they went back to their apartment.

TaekWoon picked his last things, such as his wallet and car keys, and finally headed out the place not to return for 36 hours, SangHyuk trailed behind until the first part of the stairs where he stopped while his owner reached the bottom, the older slowly faced the boy who only played with his fingers, lip between his teeth but eyes always on him. Neither one said anything and at some point SangHyuk thought that maybe TaekWoon expected him to go back to the apartment so turned to leave when he heard his gentle voice.

“I’ll be back in a few days, ok?”

Looking over his shoulder, he gave his owner a warm smile, “I know,” he waved at him in a silent farewell. TaekWoon heaved another sigh, he was already running kind of late to get there early, but the moment he decided to take a step towards the next set of stairs, a soft meow stopped him.

“What is it, SangHyuk?” he gazed at the other out of the corner of his eye.

“Call me when you get there, please?”

An amused smile took over his lips and he didn’t spare a glance to his kitten, “I will,” with just that, he made his way downstairs.

SangHyuk’s ears fell along with his eyes but he concentrated on the sounds of his master’s footsteps until he couldn’t hear them anymore to run back into the apartment as fast as he could, closing the door behind him, and literally jumping onto the bay window seat. His ears perked up as he watched TaekWoon check everything one last time, at any point he expected the older to look up and wave at him just before he climbed on the driver’s seat, not even giving him time to wave back. A sad mewl unintentionally escaped his lips the moment he saw the car going down the street, his whole frame slowly slumped down between the pillows as the realization of TaekWoon not being for more than a day hit him harder every passing second.

~

SangHyuk liked to think he was independent, even when he belonged to TaekWoon, he never thought being away from a person, a human, would make him feel so sad. After the first hours of shocking awareness of his absence, everything felt normal until it was lunch time since it was the usual time when TaekWoon would be back from work to eat with him. He could make himself something to eat, those years of training weren’t a complete waste, but the older always said that he was supposed to take care of him and not the other way around so he wasn’t hungry anymore.

HakYeon came half an hour later, alone unlike what SangHyuk would imagine, “I came here right after I finished with JaeHwan so I couldn’t pick HongBin up, sorry; he wanted to see you.” no matter how used he was to HakYeon’s presence, the times he had been alone with him could be counted with one hand and fingers to spare, “Have you eaten? If not, I can make you something, I’m not as good as TaekWoon but I’m not that bad,” the red haired offered a kind smile.

“I’m ok, hyung, thanks,” he mumbled, walking back to the couch where he lazily stretched, “I already ate,” he knew TaekWoon would kill him (and HakYeon) if he knew he skipped a meal because he told him how thin he was on a daily basis.

HakYeon might not be SangHyuk’s owner but he could clearly tell when he was being lied to, at least for the day, he didn’t put a fight. He understood how the younger felt; he probably would be the same if he were to be away from HongBin.

“Make sure to eat dinner, ok, Hyukkie?”

“Yes, hyung, thanks for coming.”

~

TaekWoon called around seven, it was almost completely dark outside and everything was awfully quiet, so the phone ringing actually made him jump a little. He snatched his phone from the nightstand, unlocking it to answer, his voice a little too excited, “Hello?”

“Hey,” that sweet voice made his inner cat purr but he was able to control it from coming out, “sorry for not calling before, my sister’s condition seemed to get better but suddenly the fever went up again.”

“It’s ok, hyung, how is she now?”

“She’s…stable, asleep, for now,” even without being able to see him, SangHyuk could see his pursed lips, “anyway, how are you? Did HakYeon go?”

“I’m fine and he came,” TaekWoon hummed in approval, it was weird to be away from him because he was used to not get proper answers but being able to just be close to him, from afar he didn’t know what the other was thinking.

Silence was common between the two when they felt no need to talk but over the phone it was the only thing to do and keeping a conversation wasn’t something either did often. SangHyuk heard the other yawning after a while of only listening to each other’s breathing, “SangHyuk, it’s late, I’m going to get some rest. You should go to sleep too,” it wasn’t a suggestion, he noticed.

“I will.”

“Goodnight then.”

“Night, hyung.”

And the line went off.

~

SangHyuk woke up buried in the sheets on TaekWoon’s side, his hair was messed up and his eyes were swollen from the little amount of sleep he got. It had been so hard for to fall asleep, he used to spent days without sleeping but none after he was adopted for the last time.

He needed to stop thinking about TaekWoon for a while so he spent the whole day just wandering around the streets, collar loose around his neck as he stared at a few kids playing around at a park nearby.

~

“Hyung, where do I put the bags…?” his owner put a finger to his lips, quietly shushing him before pointing to the bay window where his best friend was sleeping soundly. His head was head against the glass; a hand barely holding onto the frame and his collar still on, HongBin gave HakYeon the bags and a nod before he walked to pick the younger up in his arms to carry him to the bedroom.

When HakYeon came from leaving the things in the kitchen, HongBin was covering his friend’s body with the blanket, the older smiled when the kitten rolled asleep to TaekWoon’s side of the bed. HongBin asked him a few minutes later if he could stay to make sure SangHyuk would at least eat and get enough sleep for that night, HakYeon called TaekWoon as soon as he was out the building complex.

“Mmh?” the annoyed voice on the other side of the line made him scowl.

“You could at least pretend to be nice since I’m taking care of your pet.”

“He’s not a pet and you know it,” he rolled his eyes, it was true but he was truly annoyed too, “how is he?”

“Sad?” he didn’t mean to scoff but sometimes he couldn’t help himself when it came to TaekWoon, “He misses you and it’s only been a day.”

“I know.”

“Have you called him?”

“Not today, I’ve been busy,” he heard another soft voice on the background, probably owned by one of his best friend’s sisters, “my sister’s better though.”

“HongBin’s going to spend the night with him, make sure to call him,” he turned around to look at the window where SangHyuk had been earlier, “and to come back soon.”

“I’ll try, see you later,” he was about to hang up when his last words made a slight smile appear, “Thanks.”

“Don’t worry.”

~

SangHyuk woke up to find HongBin staring at him, letting out a surprised cry because he had no idea how he got to the bed and why was his friend there. HongBin laughed too hard at his expression, trying to explain everything between giggles, before he pulled him to eat something. A few hours later, the two kittens fell asleep on the couch watching SangHyuk’s favorite anime, totally unaware of the phone going off in the bedroom at an unholy hour of the morning.

~

HongBin left the next morning, not before offering to use the other catboy as a model for his photo-taking session around the city but the younger shook his head with a smile, more than thankful for his company during the night. The handsome boy was out the door with a last playful bite to his ear and again, the apartment felt much bigger than it really was, so he decided to waste some time cleaning up, it wasn’t like he had anything better to do (and he felt so bad about that).

Only after he had eaten some of the food left by his friends, he checked his phone to notice the missed call, his ears flatted to his head but he didn’t dial back, slightly angry at TaekWoon for not trying again at least one more time. In a rush of displeasure, he searched on the contact list, tapping on WonSik’s number.

Later that day, he was with WonSik at the cinema when he felt his phone vibrate, an incoming message showing on his screen, snorting he opened it without reading it and closed the app again, knowing well that his owner would see he ignored him. Once he was back at the apartment, it dawned on him how childish he had acted, he went through several scenarios in his head of a way to fix things up when he decided to go for the easiest one, pretending nothing ever happened.

From: SangHyuk (20:45).

Sorry, hyung, I was out. You coming back tomorrow, right?

From: J. TaekWoon (4:03am).

I don’t know.

He jumped from his slumber at the sound of the notification, it took him a few minutes to be able to read and actually understand what was written in the text but when it did, his heart felt heavier.

~

A pair of brown fluffy ears jerked up abruptly, he almost whiplashed at how fast he turned his head, at the sound of the front door clicking open. HakYeon had left hours ago so that couldn’t be him or HongBin, which only left one person with the key to the apartment. SangHyuk tripped as he jumped off the bed, gripping the doorframe to keep his balance, and he looked up to find his owner standing frozen there, the catboy took a nervous step forward while TaekWoon’s eyes went down his front.

“Welcome back,” he broke the awkward silence, not that it made anything better.

“I thought I told you to never do that again,” TaekWoon seemed to relax, taking a deep breath at the same time he left his suitcase aside along with his jacket, “that reminds me; by any chance, did you do the laundry?”

“No,” the kitten frowned, kind of annoyed at his master’s absentmindedness, he had just came back from being three days away from him and he couldn’t even say hello. He huffed, “how’s your sister?”

“She’s much better now,” the black haired took off his shoes to move straight towards the comfortable couch, laying down on it, not really caring about what SangHyuk was wearing anymore. It was the second time he had used his clothes, well, one of his white shirts, and he remembered the first time very clearly, “did you…Oh!” he complained at the sudden weight on his chest.

SangHyuk had ignored his words completely and just strolled until he was by his side, ears half way down in an angry manner with his tail very still, before he let himself fall on top of TaekWoon. After his initial annoyance, the older sighed and ran his hand between his kitten’s ears, mildly scratching his scalp until he felt the tension in his muscles give out. A little hesitantly, he wrapped his arms around the boy’s middle back, his lips twitching upwards at his whisper, “I missed you.”

“I know.”

SangHyuk scoffed, of course, he always knew everything, “At least you could lie to me, you know?”

“Why? I thought it was obvious that I missed you too.”

“Oh,” his head rested on other’s chest again, a low purring making its way out of his throat.

“Cute,” TaekWoon mumbled to himself a few minutes later, expecting his companion to be sleeping.

“Ah,” SangHyuk sounded half asleep, “I went out with WonSik.”

“What?!”

Note: Omg, this is like a one shot, it's so long, sorry not sorry, I rushed the end but I wanted to post it before my exam week started. I hope you like it!

All mistakes are mine, I really did this so fast, like I should be sleeping right now, it's so late.