Swish.  Swish.  Swish.

Byungjoo watched the gentle swishing of the long, fluffy tail as if mesmerized.  He absently shoved a slice of pizza in his mouth, even missing a couple of times before finally managing to take a bite of it.  The owner of the long, fluffy tail was an equally fluffy cat with long red-brown fur and slanted green eyes.  Said cat was pretending to ignore Byungjoo’s intent stare, even going so far as to calmly wash its face and chew on a nail, rather than acknowledging Byungjoo’s existence.  As far as Byungjoo could tell, this was normal cat behavior, and it fascinated him.  Even food couldn’t distract him from watching the cat’s every move.

The sound of someone entering the apartment didn’t manage to draw Byungjoo away from his avid cat-watching either.  

“What are you two doing here?” the new arrival asked, taking off his coat and hanging it by the door as he glanced between Byungjoo and the other person who had invaded his personal space, “Did you come to stare at my cat again?”

Byungjoo gave a cheerful hum of agreement as he continued eating the pizza they’d found in the fridge.  Jiho, the third and final occupant of the apartment, finally spoke up, giving the actual owner of the apartment a small grin, “And eat your food, of course!”

Sehyuk, the oldest among them and the actual owner of the apartment, rolled his eyes at the two younger guys, “I gave you those spare keys for emergencies,” he said, stressing the last word to let them know that stealing his food and staring at his cat were not something he considered “emergencies.”  He tried his best to sound stern, but he couldn’t help the smile that curled the corners of his lips.  He ruffled Byungjoo’s hair as he passed by him on his way to the cat.  

“I’m home, A-tom!  Did you miss me?” Sehyuk cooed, scratching the long-haired cat behind his ears.  A-tom leaned into the petting, letting out a loud purr before standing and stretching luxuriously, as only cats can.  Byungjoo watched this with interest.

“Cats are so cool,” he decided aloud, swallowing the bite of pizza he’d been eating.  “Can we steal your cat, hyung?”

Jiho laughed at that, “I’ll fight you for him, Joo-yah,” he said, slinging an arm around Byungjoo’s neck.  Byungjoo made a face at him before attempting to wipe his greasy fingers on the other, effectively making him let go.

Sehyuk rolled his eyes as he watched, continuing to absently A-tom’s fur, “Why don’t you guys get your own cats?  Then maybe you can stop breaking into my apartment to see mine.”

“Where would we get a cat at?” Byungjoo questioned, actually giving the idea some thought.

Jiho tapped his chin thoughtfully, “Maybe the shelter?  There’s one not too far from campus, but I’ve never been in there before.”

Suddenly very excited about the thought of getting his own cat (despite the fact he’d never owned one before and thus had no idea what he was getting into), Byungjoo started bouncing excitedly on his seat, “Let’s run by there after class tomorrow!” he exclaimed, grinning at Jiho.  Sehyuk couldn’t help but smile at the younger’s enthusiasm, but he knew that if the two younger college students did get a cat, they would be coming to him for advice.  It was the price he had to pay, though, he supposed, to get a little privacy for him and A-tom.  Hopefully all would turn out well.

It was then that Sehyuk noticed what the other two were eating, “Yah, did you guys eat my pizza?!  That was supposed to be my dinner tonight!”

ooo

And so the next day, the two found themselves walking to the animal shelter that was located near their college.  Neither of them had ever been to a shelter before, so they weren’t sure what to expect when the entered the building.  The young woman behind the front desk seemed friendly enough.  When they mentioned that they were there to look at cats, she led them to a set of big glass doors labeled “The Cat Room.”  Byungjoo and Jiho were surprised to see cats running and playing and sleeping in the room, rather than being in cages, which is what they had been expecting.

Seeing their shock, the girl explained that the cats were free to roam about the room for the most part.  They did have some cages for cats with health problems or issues interacting with other cats, but the others were allowed to do as they liked.  It was a lot less stressful for the cats, she told them, which made sense.  It was also a lot more fun to play with them, Byungjoo and Jiho found out after stepping inside the room and being swarmed by curious furballs with legs.  Byungjoo was almost overwhelmed by the amount of cats flocking around him.  He briefly wondered if they would cover him like a living cat blanket if he were to lie down on the floor.

After they got over their initial shock, Byungjoo and Jiho started interacting with the cats.  They petted and played with cats of all shapes and sizes and colors.  The kittens were probably the most fun, but Byungjoo wasn’t sure he wanted a kitten.  They seemed like a lot of work, especially for a first-time cat owner.  All of the cats were amazing in their own way, he concluded, but it seemed as if the choice for who we would take home had been decided for him.

While Byungjoo had been petting and playing with all the other cats, one cat in particular had decided to attach itself to him, begging for attention the entire time.  Byungjoo was forced to repeatedly remove the cat from his leg, where it was clinging and rubbing against him.  The cat was certainly very pretty, with short, creamy white fur and blue-gray points on its face, legs, and tail.  Its eyes were even a stunning blue color.  It seemed to almost be smiling as it blinked up at him.  After the fifth time detaching the cat from his leg, Byungjoo figured he was probably going to have to take this one home.  He decided to find Jiho and see if the other boy had had any luck finding a cat.  Spotting the other boy across the room, Byungjoo began to carefully wade his way through the cats to get to him.  Byungjoo grinned when he saw that Jiho was staring somewhat nervously at a cat that was perched precariously on his shoulder, sniffing at his face.  Both cat and human seemed awkward but somewhat curious about the other.

“I see you found a friend,” Byungjoo teased, reaching over to let the cat sniff his hand.  The slender, gray-brown cat blinked at him with its dark hazel eyes before leaning forward to sniff the proffered hand, almost falling off Jiho’s shoulder in the process.

Jiho chuckled, helping the cat find its balance again, “Yeah, I think I like this one--it’s cute.”  As he glanced down at Byungjoo’s legs, his face broke into its own teasing grin, “Looks like you have a hitchhiker, Joo-yah.”

Byungjoo followed Jiho’s pointing finger down to his leg, where the pretty blue-eyed cat was clinging to his leg again, rubbing its face against him and purring loud enough to be heard over all the other cat noises in the room.  Byungjoo’s brow furrowed as he grumbled something along the lines of “haven’t these cats ever heard of personal space?”  He begrudgingly bent down to pat the cat on the head, to which the cat responded as if that single (somewhat rough) pat was the best thing it had ever experienced in its entire life.  Byungjoo rolled his eyes at the overly dramatic reaction.

Jiho practially guffawed, nearly knocking his feline passenger off its perch, “I’m pretty sure that one’s in love with you, Joo-yah,” he giggled.

Just then, the girl from before came back to check on them.  She grinned at the sight of them and the cats they had chosen (or in Byungjoo’s case, the cat that had chosen him), “I see Jenny and Hansol have taken a liking to you two.”  Jiho nodded enthusiastically, while Byungjoo let out a longsuffering sigh.

“I think these are the ones we’re going to adopt,” Byungjoo said, “Is there a form we need to fill out, or something?” he asked, getting distracted by the cat weaving between his legs, winding around him gracefully and letting out the occasional plaintive meow.

With a nod, the girl motioned for them to follow her, “This way--you can fill out the paperwork in the lobby.  If everything checks out, we’ll get your new kitties loaded up for you.”  Byungjoo and Jiho trailed after her to the door, not realizing they had their own tagalong.  A loud, heartbroken yowl was the only warning Byungjoo had before there were claws in his leg, clinging for all the little cat was worth.  

The boy whose leg was being assaulted let out a pained yelp, glaring down at the clinging furball, “Yah!  Let go, you silly cat,” he muttered, reluctantly reaching down to pet the cat and try to ease the claws out of his leg, “I’m not leaving you, calm down...”

The shelter employee giggled at the scene, “Wow, Hansol must really like you.  He’s pretty affectionate and vocal, since he has some Siamese in him, but I’ve never seen him latch on to someone like that--literally, haha!”  Both she and Jiho were giggling at poor Byungjoo, who was trying to calm down the frantically meowing cat who was clinging to him for dear life.  The girl glanced up and noticed a pair of curious hazel eyes watching their every move--or, to be more specific, Jiho’s every move.  She smiled, thinking to herself that the cats had had more to do with the decision than the humans had.  She elbowed Jiho, nodding her head towards the cat she’d called “Jenny.”

Unlike Hansol, Jenny hadn’t followed them.  The cat was still sitting where Jiho had been before, watching them with curiosity and a bit of longing in those dark hazel eyes.  Jiho smiled and waved to the cat, laughing when Jenny just blinked and continued watching, a very cat thing to do.  Jiho was secretly happy that the cat he was adopting wasn’t as clingy and needy as Hansol appeared to be.  It took all three of them to pry the Siamese mix off of Byungjoo’s leg, and the girl had to fend the distraught cat off while the two boys made a break for the lobby.  They were all panting a little from the exertion when they finally escaped.  Heartbroken yowls could be heard from the cat room, muffled by the glass doors but audible across the length of the lobby.  Hansol certainly had a good set of lungs on him.

The paperwork was simple enough, and there was a small adoption fee to pay.  The shelter employee was surprised that Byungjoo and Jiho were adopting separately.  She confessed that she’d at first thought them to be boyfriends, or at least roommates.  This caused Jiho to wink suggestively at Byungjoo, who could only roll his eyes at his friend’s antics.  He was used to Jiho and his playful ways.  The younger boy had been that way since Byungjoo had moved into the apartment complex.  Jiho had been the first to introduce himself to the new neighbor, and had then proceeded to drag Byungjoo all over the apartment complex, introducing him to everybody else who lived there.  They’d been close ever since.  It was no surprise that the girl had mistaken them for roommates or boyfriends or whatever.  

Once their paperwork was checked and declared sufficient, the girl (whose name, Byungjoo finally took the time to notice, was Amber) sent someone to fetch their new cats.  Byungjoo fidgeted excitedly, but was surprised when the cardboard cat-carriers were brought out and the boxes’ occupants were silent as the grave.  He’d expected Hansol to still be putting up a fuss.  Curious, Byungjoo opened the top of the box enough for him to see inside, wondering to himself if the cat was even in there.

Hansol was definitely in there, but the little mostly-white cat was lying almost despondently, shoulders hunched unhappily and ears twisted back.  Byungjoo was shocked--the cat seemed so different from the lively creature that had been rubbing against him and clinging to him in the cat room.  He tentatively reached into the box to scratch the top of Hansol’s sleek head, crooning out a quiet, “Hansolie~”

The result was almost instant.  Hansol sat up so fast he almost knocked the box over, and a surprised mrow? squeaked out of his throat.  Wide blue eyes stared up at Byungjoo in shock for all of three seconds before Hansol sprang straight out of the box and latched on to his new owner’s shoulder, causing Byungjoo to yet again yelp in pain, this time falling flat on his .

As Jiho and Amber laughed at him and Hansol tried to merge their faces together with his insistent rubbing and purring, Byungjoo couldn’t help thinking that having a cat might be a little more difficult than he’d first thought.

A/N:  So, how did it sound? I debated with myself whether to cut it off there for the first chapter or continue into B-joo and Xero's adventures with their new cats... 8'D  I apologize for any mistakes with Korean terms, as I am 100% American and trying my best to use Korean terms and honorifics correctly OTL  Most stuff is probably going to sound very American anyways, because I'm more comfortable writing what I'm familiar with pfft!  The next chapter should hopefully be done sometime next week c:  I'm excited to write more <3

Comments, subs, and upvotes are all greatly appreciated! <3