"Hello, Yifan?" The crackle of static interference between phone lines tickles his ear, Baekhyun's voice rising above the noise.

"Speaking."

Yifan balances his Galaxy between his chin and shoulder, hands fumbling with the carton of milk he'd just grabbed from the fridge. He tilts his head back and takes a swig, neglecting the cabinet full of glasses to his right, and nearly drops his phone. Living that bachelor life.

"I have an offer you can't refuse!"

His friend sounds cheerful and brightly optimistic. Yifan glances at the digital clock on the microwave. It's nearly midnight.

"Great. What is it?" Yifan's tone of voice is decidedly less positive.

"The other day we got a catboy in that one of our employees found wandering the streets," Baekhyun explains. "Since I own a pet shop and we get our hybrids from breeders, we don't exactly take in strays."

"Just . . . take him to a shelter, then?" he suggests, brows furrowing. Why is Baekhyun contacting him about this, of all people? He has no experience with hybrids.

"Not a smart option, bud. I was gonna ask if you could take him off my hands."

Yifan chokes on his drink, letting it spill down his chin in milky rivulets and drip onto his night shirt.

"Are you saying I'm a 'smart option'?" he coughs into his arm, wiping his mouth.

"I think it'll be good for you," Baekhyun counters.

"Honestly, I think I'm more of a dog person," Yifan remarks, sinking into a chair at his kitchen table. He'd never even thought of owning a cat before.

"Dogs are too high maintenance for your lifestyle. Besides, after work, I know how you like to laze on the couch and watch basketball games with a glass of wine." It's true. His schedule isn't exactly ideal for a dog, who constantly craves attention. Yifan puts all his time and effort into work and leaves little for himself or anyone else once work is finished.

"Why can't you take him?"

"I've already got Chanyeol, who happens to be allergic to cats."

"A dog hybrid is allergic to cat hybrids?" Yifan asks skeptically.

"Yes. They're mostly human, you know, but the fur on their ears and tail . . . he can't handle it. Anyway, Yixing is scared of dogs."

"Yixing? Is that his name?" Yifan tries out the syllables on his tongue.

"That's what we managed to get out of him," Baekhyun says.

The only feline hybrid Yifan has ever had contact with is Junmyeon's cat, Jongdae. Jongdae is salacious, to say the least, and the reason why Yifan doesn't visit Junmyeon as often as he used to. The hybrid would always try to crawl into his lap and seduce him. Junmyeon would reprimand his cat's behavior in his soft, polite voice. "Jongdae, please leave my guest alone." However, the last few times Yifan came over, he resorted to merely shrugging and saying, "He does what he wants."

Yifan asks if all cats are like that.

"He's just a lapcat," Baekhyun assures him.

Yifan isn't sure he's convinced. If this stray is anything like that devil Jongdae . . .

"So what's Yixing's story?"

Baekhyun hesitates. "I'm not sure," he says. "We only know his name and that he's definitely a stray. He might have run away. It's more likely that his owner didn't want him anymore."

Hybrids tend to only have two places in the world: as pets, and as slaves for ual gratification. Yifan hopes this cat doesn't have a history of abuse, because he doesn't know how he'd deal with it.

"I don't think he was used for ," Baekhyun tells him, as if he'd read Yifan's mind through the frequency.

"That's a . . . relief," he says.

"So, what say you? I know you want to take care of a brand spankin' new catboy," Baekhyun offers, and Yifan can practically hear his grin.

"It sounds like a lot of responsibility," Yifan says truthfully, stalling. He already has enough responsibility as it is.

Sofiè.

"It really isn't," Baekhyun says. "He seems very well-behaved."

"I have a daughter to take care of, too," Yifan adds, feeling like he's just coming up with excuses, even if it is a viable concern.

"Pleeeeeeeeeeeease?"

When the going gets tough, resort to begging. Nice one, Baekhyun.

He sighs.

"I'll try it out. Sofiè is visiting this weekend. I'll introduce them, give him a week to get settled, but if he doesn't get along with Sofiè—"

"It'll be fine, Yifan. Your daughter will love him. Promise!"

Or bug the hell out of him, Yifan thinks.

"I'll bring him over tomorrow. Thank you thank you thank you!" Baekhyun hangs up.

Tomorrow. He looks at the clock again. Baekhyun will probably drop by after he gets home from work, which means he has next to no time to prepare. Great.

Yifan drops his head to the table with a thunk and a groan. Thank you, Byun Baekhyun.
 

As expected, Yifan has barely enough time to change out of his work clothes before the doorbell rings. It's followed by a loud and impatient knocking on the door as he hobbles out of his dress slacks.

"Hey, okay, I'm coming," he calls from the bedroom, pulling on some sweats and still absentmindedly gripping his tie loosely in one hand.

Baekhyun invites himself inside almost as soon as the door swings open. He brushes past Yifan, who stands aside awkwardly. Behind him stands a boy with angular features and calico colouring, feline ears and tail splashed with white, black and orange. His hair is black as jet with shocks of muted orange mixed into his bangs. The cat's eyes are a warm amber brown, avoiding Yifan's gaze immediately after they briefly make contact.

"Hi," Yifan says after a moment of staring. "Please, come in," he adds, still a little out of breath from his race to get dressed.

"Thank you," Yixing replies quietly, dipping his head and training his eyes to the ground. He shuffles inside to wait with Baekhyun, who has already made himself comfortable on the couch.

"So!" The man slaps his hands on his thighs. "I'll let you two introduce yourselves. I can already feel the positive vibrations in the air."

"Baekhyun," Yifan warns, discomfort in his voice. He can sense the cat's timid aura, assuming Baekhyun is just making the boy even more uncomfortable than he already is.

"I've honestly gotta go, sorry Yifan. Chanyeol has an appointment that I couldn't reschedule. I just wanted to drop Yixing off and skedaddle." Baekhyun gives said catboy a lecherous wink. "I'll stop by with the adoption papers next week, all righty?"

"We still haven't agreed to . . ." Yifan struggles to keep his annoyance and feelings of helplessness contained. He takes a deep breath.

"Fine. I'll be seeing you," Yifan says. The pet shop owner is gone within thirty seconds, waving his hand and blowing a kiss. Yifan rolls his eyes.

Now he's stuck with him. The cat. Yifan adjusts his composure, careful not to startle the catboy any further. This whole situation must be even stranger to him than it is to Yifan.

"I'm Yifan," he says, holding out his hand after a moment's debate. "I'm really sorry about Baekhyun. He's a lot to deal with." He rubs the back of his neck with his other hand, slightly embarrassed by his friend's behavior.

"Hello, I'm Yixing," the catboy says shyly, ears tilted downward. He doesn't comment on Baekhyun, nor does he take Yifan's hand.

That's fine, Yifan thinks. He probably just needs space.

"Are you hungry? Do you want anything to eat or drink?"

Yixing shakes his head.

"Okay. Is this all your stuff?" Yifan asks, motioning to the small beaten-up bag at Yixing's feet. Yixing nods.

It seems as though Yixing only has one or two changes of clothes, and they all look like they've been thoroughly used. It's possible that was all he took from his former residence, or it was a collection of what Baekhyun gathered from the shop, or the boxes in his closet.

"Let's go shopping for some extra clothes tomorrow," Yifan finalizes. "How about it?"

Yixing's eyes widen slightly. "That's . . ." He appears to think twice before protesting, and instead resolves to incline his head as a sign of gratefulness. "Thank you."

"C'mon, I'll show you to your room."

The taller man leads him down the hall, entering a room with pastel pink walls and a small bed of white floral eyelet fabric and scalloped Venetian lace. "This is where you'll be sleeping. It's is my daughter's room, but she won't be here until Friday." Yifan figured he'd just sleep with Sofiè in his bed and figure out permanent sleeping arrangements later. He hasn't planned that far ahead. "If you need anything, my room is just next door."

Yixing's splotched tail swishes with curiosity. "Thank you."

He leaves the catboy to get settled and starts fixing dinner. His fridge doesn't have many options at the moment – he should probably learn what Yixing likes and take him to the grocery store tomorrow after they go shopping – so he puts rice in the cooker and mixes some vegetables and eggs into it to make fried rice. Yixing picks at it initially, probably hesitant to show his more voracious side, but ends up scarfing the rest down and asking for seconds. It makes Yifan smile, wondering when he'd last eaten a proper meal.

Before bed, Yifan taps on the doorframe to his daughter's room, noticing that the door is mostly open. Yixing nearly drops the picture of him and Sofiè that he'd been examining.

"Y-Yes?"

"Would you like some tea?"

"I . . . yes," the catboy says, carefully placing the picture frame back on the dresser.

"In the kitchen," Yifan says, ducking out of the doorway.

Yixing curls up in the chair opposite of Yifan at the kitchen table, cradling a steaming mug of green tea. He takes a sip, closing his eyes.

"It's good, thank you," Yixing says softly, putting the mug down.

"It's my grandmother's special tea," he tells him, fingers curled around the stem of his own mug. "I drink it whenever I need to relax."

"Your daughter . . ." Yixing begins uncertainly, not sure if it's his place to inquire about the man's personal life.

"Sofiè," he says. "She's three. She stays with her grandma – my mother. She comes over about every other weekend."

"Your . . . mate?" Yixing winces, searching for another word. "Wife? Her mother?"

Yifan shakes his head, a faint smile on his lips. "She's not around." He drums his fingers on the tabletop. "It's just me and my mom and Sofiè."

"Oh." The catboy looks down at his drink. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to . . . to pry," he says.

"You aren't prying," Yifan tells him honestly.

Once Yixing finishes his tea, Yifan gets up from his chair. "You should head to bed," he says. "Big day tomorrow. Get some rest."
 

Yifan takes a vacation from work for the rest of the week and tacks on the following week as well. Without work in the way, he can keep an eye on Yixing. He wants to make sure he feels at home; he also doesn't trust him well enough yet to stay at the house by himself. It's not as though he feels the catboy will do anything bad: he just wants to be there in case he needs help with anything.

Yixing acts rather passive when Yifan takes him to the department store. He isn't choosy – maybe because he'd never been granted much choice before now – but he does seem interested in which fabric is the softest, feeling the material between his thumb and forefinger with a slightly dazed expression on his face. Yifan catches him rubbing his cheek against a cashmere top as they walk past the women's department, holding the fabric as though it's something precious. It earns a chuckle out of Yifan, who stops momentarily to let Yixing catch up.

At the end of the day Yixing has three new shirts and an extra pair of pants to add to his modest collection. Yifan's refrigerator is nearly overflowing with seafood: Yixing's favourite. He prepares shrimp, clam and mussel linguine for supper and Yixing naturally asks for seconds. The catboy heads to bed early, worn out from the shopping trip.

Yifan knows he should probably retire soon as well, since Sofiè will be coming over in the morning, and a deal of energy is required to look after a toddler. He wakes up in the middle of the night, however, due to the soft sobs slipping through the thin wall between his and his daughter's room.

He lies in bed for several minutes, silently praying that the crying will stop. He's used to comforting Sofiè after she wakes up from nightmares, but he's not sure how to deal with a catboy that he hardly knows. Three minutes turn into five minutes and the weeping doesn't let up any, each pitiful sound wringing at his heart and conscience. Yifan finally gets out of bed and heads next door, reserve in each of his quiet footsteps. He's feeling anxious, uncertain about how he can placate Yixing, and if he'll just make things worse.

Yifan knocks on the closed door gently, entering the bedroom with caution.

"Yixing? Is everything okay?"

He keeps his voice down, not wanting to agitate the crying boy any further. The sounds cease abruptly, save for a little sniffling. After some hesitation, he very slowly sits down on the edge of the bed next to Yixing, who is curled up on his side and facing away from him. To Yifan's astonishment, Yixing feels for his hand in the dark, grabbing it and not letting go. Yifan's other hand goes to the boy's head, carefully his hair like he does when he tries to lull Sofiè to sleep.

"Everything will be all right, Yixing," he tells the boy when he starts weeping again, squeezing into the bed next to him. It's a tight fit: he's managed to sleep in it with someone as tiny as Sofiè, but Yixing is considerably larger. The catboy appreciates his effort, however, and shifts onto his other side, curling into Yifan and wrapping his arms around him. His sobs are stifled by Yifan's night shirt and his breathing eventually evens out as he falls asleep.

Yixing, Yifan ponders to himself, fingers carding through the boy's hair, what happened to you?

Yifan decides it isn't his right to know. He only hopes he can treat Yixing better and give him a chance to start anew.
 

Sofiè is a whirlwind the second she flies through the door.

"Bàba!"

She runs into his waiting arms and he picks her up, enveloping her in a hug and kissing her on the cheek.

"Hey babe, I missed you."

His mother walks into the house less extravagantly and immediately spots Yixing, who is standing a ways away and watching the father and daughter interact.

"Who is this?" she inquires curtly. "You got a cat, Yifan?"

Yifan glances over his shoulder and puts Sofiè down, who runs up to the catboy to investigate.

"Ma, it's okay. This is Yixing."

"Xing Xing?" Sofiè echoes, wide-eyed as she looks up at the exciting new specimen. She reaches out and lightly tugs at the tip of his tail.

Yifan winces. "Honey, don't."

Yixing doesn't seem to mind; he squats down to the toddler's height and smiles. "Hi Sofiè, I'm Yixing."

"Xing Xing!"

His mother pulls him aside as she's about to leave, fortunately keeping her voice low enough so that Yixing and Sofiè can't hear.

"You think you can take care of him, huh? Just like you take care of your daughter?"

Yifan narrows his eyes. "Ma."

His mother purses her lips. "I'll be back for her Sunday night."

"Don't be," Yifan says. "I'm on vacation. I'll call you when she's ready to leave."

"Monday," his mother concludes, ignoring him.

The tension Yifan feels dissipates as he closes the door behind her and turns back to see Yixing and Sofiè talking. Sofiè is animatedly telling him about her daycare and all the friends she's made, saying she can't wait to tell them about him. Yixing listens to her patiently with a gentle smile on his face.

Thank god for Yixing.

"D'you wanna go to the park, Sofiè?" Yifan asks once they reach a break in their conversation.

"Yes!!"

"Okay, give Bàba fifteen minutes to get ready," he says, grabbing her backpack so he can put it in her room.

"Xing Xing comes too!"

Yifan chuckles. "Of course, sweetheart." He hesitates, moving his eyes to Yixing. "Yixing, would you like to come too?"

"Of course," Yixing says.

Sofiè's eyes light up.

"Yay! We're going to the park!"

Despite the nice weather, they have the park mostly to themselves. First they head down to the pond to feed the ducks, Sofiè in the middle and holding either of their hands. The toddler giggles loudly as the ducks crowd around them, tossing pieces of white bread that Yifan passes to her and Yixing. Once they're all out of food for the birds, they climb the hill to reach the playground at the top.

Sofiè goes straight for the swings.

"Xing Xing, push me, push me!"

Yixing happily complies, giving her a gentle push to get her going.

"Higher, Xing Xing, higher!"

Yifan takes a seat on the swing next to his daughter, kicking his long legs out. Sofiè halts her delighted screeching and trills of laughter when she notices.

"Bà you're too big! You're gonna break the swing!"

Her dad laughs, jiggling the metal chains that hold the swing in place. Sofiè screams in alarm.

"Bàba it's not funny!"

Yifan stops teasing his daughter and instead watches the two play. When they get tired, Yifan takes them out for ice cream. Yixing helps Sofiè choose her flavours – strawberry and bubblegum – and Sofiè offers her cone to him once she receives it.

"Wanna try Xing Xing's ice cream too," she says, and the catboy allows her a generous of his vanilla and chocolate swirl.

"Do you want to try my ice cream too?" Yifan asks her.

Sofiè nods and takes a playful bite out of his cone. "Raaar!"

"Babe, your teeth with freeze!"

Sofiè giggles, snapping at the dessert again.

That night Sofiè demands to sleep with both her father and Yixing. Yifan accommodates the change, making room in his bed for his guests. Sofiè sleeps in the middle, sandwiched between the two adults. She doesn't have any nightmares.

Neither does Yixing.
 

The weekend nears a close and Sofiè doesn't leave Yixing's side.

It honestly warms Yifan's heart seeing her like that, trailing after the cat like a puppy. Sometimes she takes to dragging him around by the hand, showing him various things around the house. Yixing never gets angry with her; not even the least bit irritated when she pulls on his tail to get his attention. He's truly a gift.

After Yixing is finished putting her hair up (he does a much better job than Yifan), Sofiè runs into the living room in tears.

"Bàba, you're keeping Xing Xing, right? Please keep Xing Xing, Bàba! I love Xing Xing!"

"Honey? What did Yixing tell you?" He lets her climb into his lap, burying her face in his shirt.

"Xing Xing said Bàba isn't sure about keeping Xing Xing . . . Bàba . . . please keep Xing Xing, okay?" she bawls. "Xing Xing loves Sofiè, too."

"I'm definitely keeping him," Yifan tells her, her hair to soothe her crying. "Yixing isn't going anywhere. Shh, honey, it's okay."

He's thought about it a lot the past few days. Sofiè merely confirmed his decision.

After he quells Sofiè's distress, he shooes her back to where Yixing is waiting and digs for his phone. He selects Baekhyun's number and leaves a message.

"Yeah, Baekhyun? Go ahead and bring the adoption papers earlier if you can. I'm keeping Yixing."

Yifan hangs up and goes to join his daughter and Yixing. He looks forward to where the week will take them, knowing that it's only the start of something wonderful.