Life with a cat was not exactly what Byungjoo was expecting.  When asked what he was expecting, he always replied that he wasn’t sure, but it sure as heck wasn’t this.  He found himself continuously pestering Sehyuk for advice.  It got to the point that a frustrated Sehyuk spent his own money to buy cat care books.  He proceeded to throw them at Byungjoo the next time the first-time cat owner came knocking at his apartment door.  While Byungjoo appreciated the books, he was not so happy about the slight concussion he’d acquired.

It’s not that Hansol was a bad cat--quite the contrary, in fact.  He was extremely affectionate (no surprise, considering how he had been at the animal shelter), and seemed perfectly content to simply cuddle with Byungjoo all day.  All things considered, Byungjoo was enjoying having a cat.  He was no longer all by himself in his apartment, and Hansol made a very nice little portable heater.  The only problem was that Hansol could be... well, moody.

While Byungjoo loved to pet and cuddle with Hansol, he was in fact a busy college student, and had to, on occasion, leave the apartment to go to his classes.  He also had a part time job he worked on the weekends.  Needless to say, his new kitty was not pleased with the fact that he was not available 24/7 for cuddling.  The first time Byungjoo had to go to class after he’d brought Hansol home, he thought he was going to have to call Jiho and ask for help escaping his apartment.  After finally making it past the upset cat, he had to deal with hearing Hansol’s echoing cries of distress all the way to the stairwell.  Byungjoo was definitely thankful to have nice neighbors, because any other people probably would’ve complained about his noisy cat.  Hansol’s yowling was actually what alerted the other residents to the fact that Byungjoo now had a cat, which required everyone to drop by and meet the new addition to the apartment complex.  Hansol was a good kitty and let everyone pet him.  He even allowed some of them to cuddle with him, but he didn’t cling to anyone like he did to his owner.  Everyone found it hilarious that Hansol couldn’t go more than a few minutes without being in physical contact with Byungjoo--everyone, that is, but Byungjoo himself.

Byungjoo loved his new cat--very much, in fact--but he needed his space sometimes.  It was very difficult to work on a paper for school with a cat lying on his arms or attempting to perch on his shoulders, he found.  At times he had to lay down the law and force Hansol to leave him alone for a little while so he could get some work done, but doing so had consequences.

That was where Hansol’s moodiness came in.  When the cat wasn’t allowed to cuddle with his beloved owner to his little heart’s content, he sulked.  When he was just feeling a little miffed, Hansol would slink off to a corner and turn his back to Byungjoo, making sure that his owner could see his displeasure in his flattened ears and twitching tail.  When Hansol was really upset, however, he would disappear.   After the first week or two of living with Hansol, Byungjoo had managed to find most of the cat’s hiding spots, but the first few times Hansol had gone into hiding after being “rejected” by his owner, Byungjoo had nearly had a heart attack.  After almost an hour of being unable to find his cat, Byungjoo had called Jiho and Sehyuk in a panic, badgering them to come over and help him look for Hansol.  Thankfully, Hansol didn’t get really upset very often--Byungjoo wasn’t sure his heart would be able to take it if Hansol disappeared like that every day.  Once or twice a week was more than enough.

Despite all of the drama Hansol seemed to enjoy causing, Byungjoo was very much enjoying being a cat owner--most of the time, at least.  After the first week, Byungjoo and Hansol had formed a sort of routine.

In the morning, Byungjoo would wake to find Hansol somewhere on his person.  Usually  the cat was curled up on his owner’s chest, but if Byungjoo wound up sleeping on his side, Hansol would wrap himself around Byungjoo’s head and snuggle into his owner’s slightly messy blond hair.  After finally dislodging Hansol and getting out of bed, Byungjoo would wash his face and brush his teeth with a loudly meowing Hansol weaving between his legs and rubbing against his calves.  Byungjoo would then open a can of cat food for Hansol and make himself a quick breakfast while his cat was occupied with eating.  If it was a day when Byungjoo had classes, he would try to sneakily gather up his school things and get out of the apartment without upsetting Hansol, but mission “Sneak Out Without Alerting Hansol” was almost always a failure.  The cat was always distraught whenever Byungjoo had to leave for school or work, despite the boy’s constant reassurances that he wasn’t leaving Hansol and he was going to be back in just a few hours.  

At first, Hansol’s distress made Byungjoo anxious and worried.  After a while, though, he found himself just rolling his eyes at Hansol’s dramatic nature.  It never failed that Hansol would greet him at the door the second he arrived back home, rubbing against him and purring and meowing as if he hadn’t seen his owner in years, rather than just a few hours.  Directly after that, though, Hansol returned to his sulking, letting his owner know that he was still displeased at being left behind in the apartment by himself.  Byungjoo didn’t worry too much, though.  After an hour or so, Hansol would be back in Byungjoo’s lap, purring up a storm.  

After returning home from school or work, their routine continued with cuddling on the couch while watching TV, or sometimes having a playdate with Jiho and Jenny or Sehyuk and A-tom.  Sehyuk really liked Hansol and loved to pick him up and pet him, which Hansol tolerated pretty well.  The little Siamese mix really liked Jiho, though, and would sometimes leave his owner to curl up in Jiho’s lap.  Whenever that happened, Byungjoo found himself strangely jealous.  Hansol was his cat after all, not Jiho’s.  Jiho had his own cat, so he had no reason to steal Hansol’s attention too.  Jiho noticed Byungjoo’s jealousy, of course, and for some reason felt the need to relentlessly tease Byungjoo about it.  It wasn’t pleasant.

Once playtime was over, Byungjoo would feed Hansol and then attempt to eat his own dinner.  Hansol had a habit of scarfing down his cat food and then begging for whatever Byungjoo was eating, trying to appear as adorable and cute as possible to improve his chances of getting scraps.  Byungjoo was ashamed to say that he gave in to his kitty’s begging more often than not.  After dinner was the aforementioned attempts at doing school work and after that the two got ready for bed.  Once Byungjoo was all warm under his covers and Hansol had found where he wanted to sleep that night, they both drifted off into comfortable sleep, only to wake again the next day and begin the routine all over again, with slight variation from day to day, of course.

It was a nice routine, and Byungjoo thoroughly enjoyed each day with Hansol there, despite his kitty’s moments of moodiness.  If he was honest with himself, he wouldn’t even know what to do if Hansol weren’t there anymore--he’d become that used to the cat’s presence.  It wasn’t exactly what he’d been expecting when he and Jiho went to the shelter to look at cats, but everything had turned out all right in the end.

If only he knew.

ooo

Meanwhile, in the apartment next door, life for Jiho and his new cat was going much more calmly, though a little bit awkward at times.  It took a couple of days for Jenny to become accustomed to the new space.  Jiho mostly left Jenny to “her” own devices, allowing the cat to check everything out around the apartment.  Jenny was friendly enough, purring quietly whenever Jiho would scratch behind “her” ears or under “her” chin.  They got along great despite the lingering awkwardness, but there were a few odd things that Jiho noticed as the days went by.

First of all, every time Jiho called Jenny a girl, he got very affronted or confused looks from his new cat.  

“Why is she looking at me like that?” he asked Sehyuk once, trying to reach out and pet Jenny only to be very determinedly avoided.  Jenny practically bent in half to keep from being petted.

Sehyuk seemed to find this very amusing for some reason, “I don’t know--maybe you offended Jenny somehow?  You should make it up to ‘her.’”

Jiho wasn’t sure why Sehyuk said “her” so oddly, but he was willing to try to amend things with his cat--he wanted them to have a good relationship after all.  It didn’t even occur to him that Jenny might not be a girl.  The people at the shelter had called the cat “Jenny”, and surely that was a girl’s name?  Jiho, not being used to cats or animals in general, didn’t think to look and check what Jenny was.  Sehyuk knew, but he thought it was too hilarious and decided to let Jiho live in ignorance a bit longer.  Jiho would find out eventually.

Other than that, Jenny sometimes acted kind of... odd, for a cat.  Sehyuk had told Jiho that cats could be finicky and didn’t like things to be dirty, but Jenny took it to a whole new level.  The cat would fuss and meow at Jiho if there was any sort of dirt on his food bowls, or if his litter box got too cluttered and needed to be cleaned.  Jiho was fairly patient and cleaned up as best he could whenever Jenny insisted something was too dirty for him to use.  Once Jenny got used to living in the apartment with Jiho, though, the cat started taking it to a whole new level.  

At first it was just small things.  Jiho would return home from school to find that all of the dirty clothes that had been on his bed or draped over his desk chair were now in a fairly neat pile in front of the dirty clothes hamper.  It didn’t even occur to Jiho that it might be the work of one very tidy cat--his mind immediately jumped to somewhat outlandish reasons, such as paranormal activity.  Things just kept getting stranger.  Jiho would come home and everything on his desk had been organized, or the clean dishes he had left in the rack to dry were put away, and not by him.  He did notice that Jenny was sleeping more when his owner was home, as if he were tired.

“Why are you always so tired?” Jiho had questioned his cat, poking Jenny’s face gently.  The cat had merely opened one hazel eye to stare sleepily at him before snuggling back down and ignoring Jiho.  The first-time cat owner had just shrugged it off, deciding it was another mysterious cat thing.

It wasn’t until one day when Jiho didn’t have class that he found out what was really going on.

On days when Jiho didn’t have to get up and go to class, he liked to sleep in and wake up when he wanted.  Call him lazy, but a college student will take sleep wherever they can get it.  It was on one such day that Jiho woke up late, his eyes blinking open blearily.  He wasn’t entirely coherent yet, but movement caught his attention.  He stared for a long time before his half awake brain caught up with what he was seeing.  Once he realized what he was looking at, his brows furrowed and he rubbed at his eyes, thinking he was seeing things.

Why in the world was Jenny trying to organize his bookcase?

“Jenny?” he murmured, sitting up and scratching at his scalp, making his hair stand up even more than it already was, “What are you doing?”

Jenny froze, caught red handed--or pawed--and blinked up at his owner, as if trying to think of how to explain what he was up to without seeming odd.  Owner and cat stared at each other for a long time before Jenny dropped what he was doing and took off down the hall, disappearing into the main room.  Jiho stared after his cat, a bit befuddled over what had just happened.  After a moment, he decided to just shrug it off.  So his cat was a little weird, and kind of a neat freak.  His apartment could use some tidying, so he supposed Jenny could make himself useful and clean up while Jiho was at school.  And with that, the mystery of who had been moving things around in Jiho’s apartment was solved.

ooo

Things went on calmly after that, for the most part.  Both boys and their cats were happy with their routines, and life was good.  Byungjoo and Jiho were finally used to having cats.  After all the reading on cat care Byungjoo had done (thanks to Sehyuk), he kind of considered himself a bit of a cat expert.  Sehyuk always laughed hysterically whenever Byungjoo referred to himself as such, but Byungjoo decided it was best to ignore him.

They grew complacent with their everyday life, but one day, Byungjoo received a big scare.

He was hanging out in one of the student lounges at his college, waiting for his next class to start, when his cellphone started ringing.  Startled, he checked to see who was calling, surprised to see Jiho’s name on the screen.  It took him a moment to remember that Jiho didn’t have any classes today, which meant that he would be taking Jenny over to check on Hansol and keep him company.  The fact that Jiho was calling him meant that something must be wrong with Hansol.

Byungjoo felt like his heart was lodged in his throat when he finally answered his phone, “Jiho?  What’s wrong?” he asked, worried.

On the other line, Jiho sounded very upset, “Byungjoo, it’s Hansol!”  At that, Byungjoo was already standing and shoving all of his school things in his bag, heading for the nearest exit with his phone clamped between his shoulder and ear.  Whatever had happened to Hansol, it couldn’t be good.  Jiho proved him right as he continued, “I opened the door to check on him and he ran out!  When he got to the stairwell door, Yooncheol was coming up, so he got out!  I’m so sorry, Joo-yah... I tried to catch him, but he got outside and now I can’t find him.”

“Where are you now?” Byungjoo asked, his voice tight.  He wasn’t mad at Jiho--he knew better than anyone that there was no stopping Hansol when the cat wanted something, and he knew exactly what Hansol had been wanting when he darted out of the apartment.  There was only one person Hansol would run after, and that’s Byungjoo.  The distraught cat owner couldn’t help but blame himself for his cat’s escape, even though there was nothing either of them could’ve done to prevent it.  They would just have to hope for the best, and hope to find Hansol unhurt.

“I’m by the park a block or so down from our apartment... I think I saw him head into the park, but I’m not sure.  I left Jenny with Sehyuk-hyung, so if you can get here, we’ll split up and try to look for him, all right?” Byungjoo could tell that Jiho was feeling really bad, and was willing to do everything he could to help Byungjoo find his cat, safe and sound.

Byungjoo decided to forgo the bus, which is usually what he took to get to and from school, when he didn’t feel like walking.  Their apartment wasn’t very far from the campus, and the park that Jiho was talking about was even closer.  Hansol must’ve been running in the direction Byungjoo went every day, trying to find his owner who so meanly abandoned him every time he went to school or work.  Picking up the pace till he was almost flat-out running, Byungjoo grunted at Jiho, “I’m on my way.”

Upon reaching the park and locating Jiho, the two split up and searched through the entire park, calling and calling for Hansol.  They disturbed some ducks and a few squirrels, but there was no sign of the cuddly cat.  They searched and they searched, even branching out away from the park and looking along the street.  Byungjoo almost dreaded to search the streets, his mind making up horrible images of Hansol’s little body, broken and bleeding after being hit by a car.  Wiping frustrated tears from his eyes, Byungjoo called Jiho, who was checking on the other side of the park.

“Find anything?” he asked, trying not to sniffle too loudly into the phone.  

Jiho sighed, his own frustration evident, “No, I haven’t seen him, and no one I’ve asked has either.”  There was a long pause, in which Byungjoo couldn’t tell what his friend was thinking, “Joo-yah... It’s getting dark.”

Byungjoo felt his bottom lip quiver but determinedly stilled it, “So?”

His friend seemed hesitant to say anything at first, but finally said what Byungjoo really didn’t want to hear, “I don’t think we can keep looking after dark.  If we can’t find him in the daylight, I don’t know how we’ll be able to spot him after the sun’s gone down.  We may have to wait till the morning and look some more.  Maybe we can put up flyers with his picture on them?  Joo-yah?  Are you still there?”

Byungjoo had gone quiet while Jiho was talking, fighting with himself and trying not to yell at his friend.  What Jiho was saying made sense, or it would’ve normally made sense, but Byungjoo was too desperate to want to listen to the sound advice coming out of Jiho’s mouth.  He wanted to keep searching all night, or however long it took to find his kitty and bring him home.  He had to finally agree with Jiho, though.  There was no point in running around in the dark.

He finally conceded defeat for the night.  He and Jiho returned home, where Sehyuk met them in the hallway, “Any luck?” he asked, though he knew from their empty hands that they hadn’t found Hansol.  

Byungjoo shook his head, looking downtrodden and worn out.  He shuffled past Sehyuk and went to his own apartment, saying a quiet goodnight to the other two before going inside and softly closing the door behind him.

That night, Byungjoo got very little sleep.  He was cold, and the bed felt empty without that warm little furball curled up with him.  What little sleep Byungjoo managed to get was fitful and full of nightmares of different things that could’ve happened to Hansol.  By the time the sun was rising, Byungjoo was staring blankly at his ceiling.  That morning when he brushed his teeth and made breakfast, there was no yowling cat to distract him or beg for food.  The whole apartment seemed empty, which was strange, since Hansol had only been there for a little over a month.  The little cat had wiggled and shoved his way into Byungjoo’s life, and now that he was gone, there was a gaping hole.

Byungjoo sat and watched TV for a while, waiting for Jiho to wake up so they could go out and search again.  He didn’t really notice what was going on, but he did hear something about a meteor shower that was supposed to happen that night.  He didn’t pay it much thought, his mind too caught up in how much he missed Hansol.  Maybe he shouldn’t have gotten a cat.  He probably should’ve gotten a fish instead, but fish didn’t cuddle.  Hansol was good at cuddling.

Before Byungjoo could work himself into a pit of depression, Jiho let himself into the apartment, “I figured you would already be up, Joo-yah.  Did you get any sleep at all?” he asked, giving Byungjoo a sympathetic look.

Byungjoo shrugged, “A little,” he mumbled, getting creakily to his feet, “Let’s go.  I don’t want to waste any time.”

With a nod, Jiho followed him downstairs.  The plan was that they would search for a while, and if they still didn’t have any luck, they would make fliers to post around the neighborhood.  They didn’t get very far, though, before the door at the bottom of the stairwell opened and Dongsung, another resident, entered, holding something small and white in his arms.

Byungjoo froze and his jaw dropped open, staring in disbelief at the little bundle of dirty white fur being held like a baby, allowing Dongsung to scratch under his furry little chin, “Hansol?!” he gasped, causing both Dongsung and Hansol to look up in surprise.  

After Byungjoo’s initial relief of seeing Hansol mostly unhurt, he couldn’t help but feel a little miffed.  Here he had been fretting himself to death over the cat, but what had Hansol been doing?  Hanging out with Dongsung?  Sure, Dongsung was a cool guy, but that didn’t explain where Hansol had been all this time.

Thankfully, Jiho was more coherent than Byungjoo, “Hyung?  Where did you find him?”

Dongsung didn’t get a chance to answer, because Hansol was busy using his chest as a springboard to rocket in Byungjoo’s direction.  The overjoyed cat practically climbed his owner, trying to reach his face.  Byungjoo had to quickly scoop the cat up before his leg got shredded.  Hansol was purring so hard that every little mrow he made came out sounding trilled.  He rubbed his face almost frantically against his owner’s, despite Byungjoo’s half-hearted protests that Hansol was dirty.

The two onlookers couldn’t help but laugh at the dramatic reunion.  Dongsung stuck his hands in his pockets, smiling up at them, “I was coming back from getting coffee when I heard him.  He was in front of the apartments yowling up a storm.  Did he get out?”

Byungjoo left it to Jiho to explain what had happened, quickly thanking Dongsung before dragging Hansol back up to their apartment.  His kitty needed a bath, whether he liked it or not.

ooo

One bath and a lecture on never leaving the apartment later, Byungjoo and Jiho were lounging around Byungjoo’s apartment with their cats, who were both sleeping.  Jenny had curled up on the couch next to Jiho, while Hansol had forced Byungjoo to hold him against his shoulder like a baby.  The cat’s little wet nose was buried in his owner’s neck as he snoozed away.  They were watching TV, and again they were talking about the meteor shower.  This time, Byungjoo was coherent enough to pay attention.

“Meteor shower, huh?” he murmured, absently Hansol’s back, “Can you make a wish on a meteor?  Isn’t that technically a falling star?”

Jiho glanced up from where he’d been playing with Jenny’s whiskers, “Huh?  I guess so?  I don’t see why not.”  He looked up at the TV, “It’s supposed to be happing just a couple hours from now, apparently.  Did you want to go outside and watch them?”

Byungjoo crinkled his nose.  He was too comfortable to go outside, and besides, he didn’t want to let Hansol out of his sight for the rest of the night.  He also didn’t want to take Hansol outside and risk him getting lost again.  He told Jiho as much, and the other agreed.  They continued channel surfing for a while before Jiho scooped up Jenny and headed back to his apartment, waving goodbye to Byungjoo and Hansol, who was beginning to stir.  Once he was gone, it was just Byungjoo and Hansol.  They continued vegetating on the couch until Byungjoo decided they might as well go to bed.  As he got up to close the blinds, he saw the first meteor streak across the sky.

“Hansolie, come here,” he crooned, calling his kitty over to look at the meteor shower.  Hansol meowed at him, pawing and asking to be picked up.  Byungjoo scooped him up and let him look out the window.  Hansol seemed to really be studying the meteors jumping across the sky, reaching out to tap at the window with his little soft cat paws.  Byungjoo snorted, scratching the side of his cat’s face and smiling when Hansol leaned into his touch, purring loud enough for Jiho to hear next door.

“Sometimes I wonder what you’re thinking...” he murmured, before finally closing the blinds and getting ready for bed.

ooo

The next day was business as usual, for the most part.  Hansol seemed a little subdued, but Byungjoo didn’t think much about it.  He just chalked it up to Hansol’s little adventure the day before.  When he left to go to school, everything was normal.

When he returned home, though, he found out that nothing was going to be normal again.

After a long and tiring day of classes, Byungjoo was glad to return home to lie on the couch and do nothing but cuddle with Hansol.  He stopped in front of his apartment door, digging around for his keys before finally getting the door open.  At this point, he was used to Hansol greeting him very enthusiastically at the door.  He was not, however, used to a boy suddenly appearing and slamming into him, pinning him to the door and knocking the wind out of him.

“Oof!” Byungjoo grunted, disoriented for a moment.  When his head stopped spinning from hitting the door, he looked down to see a very boy rubbing his face into his chest.  Byungjoo could only blink in shock for a few moments before forcefully shoving the stranger away, “Yah!”

He stared fearfully at the boy, who stared right back with an affronted look on his (admittedly attractive) face.  The boy pouted, immediately reaching for Byungjoo and trying to latch onto him again.  Byungjoo held his hands up to ward him off, causing the other boy’s pout to deepen.  Byungjoo tried to keep his eyes on the stranger’s face, which was surprisingly easy, because the other boy’s hair was shockingly white, and his eyes were a very startling blue.  

Byungjoo was starting to have a very bad feeling about this, “Wh-who are you?!” he asked, sounding out of breath.  Probably still winded from when the stranger had tackled him.

The other boy tilted his head to the side, still pouting, and made pitiful grabby hands at Byungjoo, “Master?  What’s wrong?  I’m Hansolie--don’t you recognize me?”

Though he’d thought he couldn’t be more shocked than when the (attractive) stranger had tackled him to the wall, Byungjoo found that he was very, very wrong.

“Hansol?!”

A/N: ...do you all hate me now? LOL!  Now watch me take 2934734 years to upload the next chapter 8'D jk, jk, I would never do that to you guys! 

Thank you all so much for all of the nice comments and for subscribing and upvoting ;u; It really made my week!  I was going to update yesterday, but I ended up being kind of sickly most of the day ;o; so to make up for it, I wrote double what I did last time, haha <3  Look forward to catboy fun in the next chapter!

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