“Noooooooooooooo!!”

“HakYeon, come on.”

“Noooooooooooooo!! I don’t wanna go!!”

“HakYeon, you’re sick again. You have a fever. If you want to get better – ”

“I don’t wanna gooooooo!!”

TaekWoon let out an exasperated sigh and rubbed his forehead, irritated. When he woke up that morning, it was the same thing as before: mild heat radiating from the body beside him. But when he reached up to feel HakYeon’s forehead, the touch woke the hybrid up, and HakYeon immediately leapt from the bed and dove into the closet, mashing himself as far into a corner as he could. TaekWoon had been trying to coax him out from behind his clothes for almost thirty minutes.

He looked over at the digital clock on his nightstand. He was going to be late for work if he didn’t leave soon. He was sure he could probably ask JaeHwan to let him come in late in consideration of HakYeon, but he didn’t want to have to go that route, especially since he was still new to the department.

Sighing again, TaekWoon crouched so he could see HakYeon’s pouting face. “Alright, look. I have to go to work soon, but you need medicine. At least let me see you so I can tell MinWoo what’s wrong so he can give you the right stuff. And I’ll pick it up on my way home so you don’t have to go there. Deal?” HakYeon eyed him suspiciously. “HakYeon, come on. I won’t even have time to take you to the vet because I have to go to work.”

It was a few seconds before HakYeon cautiously, slowly, slid out from beneath TaekWoon’s shirts. He didn’t come out any farther, though, still watching TaekWoon with a shoulder hidden in the clothes.

MinWoo burst out laughing over the phone. TaekWoon sighed. “You should know how hard it is to get a pet out from hiding from the vet. Imagine a hybrid. Imagine this hybrid.”

“I know, I know,” MinWoo wheezed. The vet gave him a quick rundown of various things to check. It didn’t seem to be another ear infection, at least. Seemingly satisfied, MinWoo directed TaekWoon to swing by the clinic on his way home. “Obviously, it would’ve been better if I could see him in person, but I’d probably have a harder time getting him out of hiding than you did.”

HakYeon had already scuttled back into the safety of the clothes. After he hung up, TaekWoon crouched again. “Don’t stay there the whole day. Stay in bed, and eat something warm. I’ll be back later.”

HakYeon snorted, but his tail thumped a few times against the ground.

“Eh? He’s sick? Did he go out playing and catch something?”

JaeHwan was leaning casually against TaekWoon’s desk, playing on his phone, as TaekWoon carefully scrutinized the pamphlet of papers in his hands. It was a new program, so of course he would need to read the details.

“I don’t know,” TaekWoon replied half-heartedly. “We always go out to walk around the park or the shops in the evening, so who knows what could’ve been floating around there? The last time he got sick, it was an ear infection, and I don’t even remember what we did that day.”

“Aw, poor kid. What did you do before? Let him ride it out?”

“No, there’s this vet I see whose clinic is close to my apartment. He gave drugs. Actually, he shot him up first.”

JaeHwan whistled. “I bet that was a party. HongBin already hates strangers, so I couldn’t even imagine trying to get him to see a vet. Good thing he doesn’t get sick. Ah.” JaeHwan finally looked up from his phone where a picture of a sleepy and disgruntled HongBin was displayed. “Wait. What are you gonna do for the trip, then?”

That stopped TaekWoon. He looked up questioningly at JaeHwan. “What trip?”

“The trip. The trip. Ah!” The supervisor smacked his head dramatically. “You’re new here! Of course, you don’t know! Our whole department goes on a quarterly trip to Hong Kong to confer with our sister company. All expenses paid except for personal shenanigans. Five-day vacation.”

“What? When is this? Am I required to go?”

“In two weeks. Oddly enough, they really want the rookies to go, more than anyone else. Something about brainwashing them for their greedy corporate desires. Yeah… I don’t know if Big Kang will let you off, especially if you are one-week new…”

Shoot. TaekWoon contemplated swiftly. “Two weeks… Well, hopefully whatever the vet gives HakYeon won’t have to be given for more than two weeks. But what do you do with HongBin when you go on these business trips?”

“Oh,” JaeHwan airily waved his hand, “I have two other roommates, and HongBin’s grown to tolerate them, so they look after him while I’m gone. I guess you don’t have a roommate?”

“Ah, no… I’m really sorry,” MinWoo winced. “As much as I’d like to help, like I said before, there’s really no space for him here or at my house. Besides, did you forget what HakYeon did this morning just at the mere thought of coming here?”

“Ah… right…”

Asking the vet: fail. TaekWoon still thanked him for the bag of contraband, MinWoo waving off TaekWoon when the youth vaguely asked about the payment. “Don’t worry about it. That was a favor from one of my friends, so now I’m passing the favor down to you.”

Well, that certainly wouldn’t be a burden later on. After the third try of attempting to pay MinWoo, TaekWoon trotted off to his home. Hopefully, HakYeon wouldn’t be in a state like he was the last time.

Fortunate. HakYeon was cocooned in TaekWoon’s blanket and grumbled when TaekWoon knelt next to the bed beside him, scooting across the mattress so he could lay closer to TaekWoon. The fever had stayed about the same – maybe a little less (maybe TaekWoon should invest in a thermometer) – and the back side of the blanket rippled from the tail wiggling inside. When TaekWoon stood to fix dinner, the hybrid caterpillar wobbled after him and flopped to the sofa so he could watch his human in the kitchen. The sight made TaekWoon chuckle to himself, vague memories bubbling up, and he picked up his phone to call SangHyuk.

The course of the medication was only for three days, so after two weeks went by, SangHyuk had only barely cracked the door open when HakYeon burst through and rushed inside.

“Wow, was he even sick?” SangHyuk commented as HakYeon leapt on WonShik, the second hybrid squawking in surprise from being so rudely awakened from his nap.

“I wonder if he fakes it, sometimes,” TaekWoon admitted, hurriedly dumping a bag in SangHyuk’s arms. “Just my luck that the subway would shut down the closest exits to my apartment for maintenance. I’m late. So, uh… You don’t need any reminders on how to deal with him. If he’s too hyper, just let him run around outside.”

“I got it, hyung. I got it. Take a taxi to the airport.”

“Oh, he doesn’t eat gopchang, so eat something else for dinner.”

“Eh?!”

“HakYeon, don’t be a nuisance and be good – ” TaekWoon stopped upon seeing HakYeon pinning WonShik to the ground with a floppy ear in his mouth. “You are definitely not being good right now. I’ll be back in a few days, alright? Don’t cause trouble.”

The last thing TaekWoon saw as the door closed behind him was the unblinking, confused expression on HakYeon’s face, but the idea of being late to this sudden “business” trip overrode everything in his mind, so he hustled his way back down to the sidewalk and hailed the first taxi he saw. He arrived with time to spare, though, grateful that the taxi driver seemed to be mindful of his frazzled state. JaeHwan cheerily greeted him on the other side of customs.

TaekWoon didn’t even think of looking at his phone until it was time to turn it off for the flight. Apparently, SangHyuk had sent a picture, a selca, of himself and the two hybrids looking up at the camera. WonShik looked vaguely interested, draped over a HakYeon who looked utterly perplexed. The picture made TaekWoon feel the slightest bit regretful about his hasty departure. He thought he’d explained the trip to HakYeon well enough, making sure he understood the idea of staying with SangHyuk and WonShik for five days and four nights. By himself, without TaekWoon. He’d definitely text back after they landed.

Except, as soon as they landed, he was swept up with the rest of the group, and they were immediately herded onto an airport bus and rumbled off to whatever hotel they were to stay. En route, TaekWoon realized his phone service was not suited up for international travel. He really wanted to check in with SangHyuk, but he also didn’t want to come home to wild roaming charges.

Of course, as soon as they arrived at the hotel, the group was ushered straight to the ground-floor restaurant for a team-building dinner; their luggage would be taken care of by a few employees who had unluckily pulled the short straw during the bus-ride lotto. JaeHwan promised to help TaekWoon with an international SIM card as soon as they got the chance.

“You really should have thought of this beforehand,” JaeHwan commented.

“I literally had two weeks to prepare,” TaekWoon grumbled. “And of those two weeks, half of it was spent trying to shove drugs down HakYeon’s throat. Not even hiding it in food would work. It was almost as difficult as the ear drops.”

JaeHwan laughed. “Right, you’re right.”

It certainly was no surprise that from sunup to sundown each day, the crew was back and forth from one conference to a joint lunch and on to another gathering followed by dinner plus round two of drinks, and then round three… And TaekWoon couldn’t handle alcohol very well, so as soon as they returned to their hotel, TaekWoon had completely passed out without even changing or washing up.

TaekWoon didn’t forget about HakYeon. Promise.

It wasn’t until the end of the third day when they finally had free time to wander through the city that the first thing TaekWoon did was bring JaeHwan to a phone store so they could reconnect TaekWoon to the outside world. The transaction got a bit confusing when TaekWoon found that JaeHwan’s Chinese was rather limited, and they ended up buying the wrong card at first, having to go back to return it for the proper one. Then, even after following the directions on how to activate it, the service still wouldn’t work, and TaekWoon spent even more agonizing hours at a group dinner, watching his new coworkers get drunk all over again. He made the wise decision to stay away from the alcohol this time, dodging their outstretched arms when they sang loudly for round two. Why didn’t he think of escaping by himself the first time?

He collapsed onto the bed back in his hotel room, glad noisy JaeHwan wasn’t around to be a nuisance. Trying the directions on activating the SIM card, it finally worked, and TaekWoon immediately made to send a message to SangHyuk when a notification from an online messenger popped up. From SangHyuk.

< hyung seriosuly you need to call or smth >

TaekWoon dialed SangHyuk’s number immediately. It rang a few times, but as soon as it was picked up, SangHyuk’s voice spoke quickly, “Hey, hyung! Hang on! I’ll call you back!” And he ended the call before TaekWoon could even get a word in.

TaekWoon stared at his phone screen, bewildered. But before the end-call display could fade out, it was replaced by another call, requesting his permission for a Facetime. His finger hovered over what he thought was the button to pick up the call; the technological dinosaur had never Facetimed before.

It worked, in any case. As soon as he pressed the button, there was a bit of a delay, and SangHyuk’s giant nose suddenly appeared on his phone screen.

“Oh! Finally!” SangHyuk exclaimed. “Hey, hyung! What took you so long? Wait, you’re not on screen.”

TaekWoon sat up. “What am I doing? What do you mean I’m not on screen?”

“You don’t see yourself in the corner? Look over here.” SangHyuk gestured to some general spot, and TaekWoon finally found a square in the bottom where only the crown of his hair was poking up from the bottom. He quickly swiveled the phone around until his face was properly centered. “Ah, there you are!”

“I’ve never done this sort of phone call,” TaekWoon admitted. “Anyway, I never had free time until today, and I couldn’t figure out how to get my phone to work until just now. What was your text about?”

“Ah, right. HakYeon! Look, HakYeon!” The screen bounced as SangHyuk traveled from the kitchen to the main room where the sofa was. TaekWoon spotted the two hybrids perched on the sofa, WonShik watching SangHyuk with ears perked in interest. HakYeon, however, was immobile, staring where the front door was. “HakYeon, look! It’s TaekWoonie-hyung! Hyung, say hi!”

He didn’t know why, but a flood of relief flew through TaekWoon at the sight of HakYeon. He called out a bit louder, “HakYeon! Hey!”

He saw the pointed ears twitch, and HakYeon spun around so quickly, it was a blur on the phone screen. What came next was even more of a blur. TaekWoon was only able to make out HakYeon lunging towards the phone before the camera spun away. Was that the ceiling? A table? It landed with a muffled thud, pointing upwards at the ceiling, and TaekWoon saw shadows swiftly moving back and forth, an odd rustling and thumping noise coming from the speaker with SangHyuk shouting beneath it all. Suddenly, the screen went dark, but the thumping noise continued, then more noises of heavy footsteps, a loud, sharp whine, and finally light showed on the screen again. It seemed, in the confusion, the camera had switched from the front to the back. TaekWoon watched as the phone switched back to the front camera. SangHyuk was holding the phone up high, angled down so TaekWoon could see that HakYeon was grappling with the giant kid, trying to get at the phone.

“It’s a phone call, HakYeon!” SangHyuk explained, a bit breathless. “TaekWoonie-hyung’s still in China, but you can see him here, see?”

“HakYeon,” TaekWoon chided softly, “don’t break Hyukkie’s phone, okay? How are you?”

The devastated expression on HakYeon’s face was crushing. TaekWoon realized what SangHyuk’s last message was about.

“It’s been terrible, hyung,” SangHyuk replied. “He was kind of alright the first night, but as soon as we woke up, he wouldn’t move and would just keep looking at the door even when WonShik tried to bother him. I think I’ve gotten him to eat maybe once.”

HakYeon whined again, such a sorrowful noise that SangHyuk slowly brought the phone back to eye level, and HakYeon reached out to grab at it.

“Ah-ah,” TaekWoon warned, and HakYeon froze. “Don’t steal SangHyuk’s phone. Be nice.”

HakYeon didn’t break his gaze from looking at TaekWoon’s face on the screen, but he didn’t make any further move to take the phone from SangHyuk’s hand, and the kid finally placed it in HakYeon’s hands. The hybrid flopped to the floor, his ears drooped, and he softly whined again. WonShik appeared behind him and rested his chin on HakYeon’s shoulder, watching TaekWoon’s face on the screen, as well.

TaekWoon smiled. “Don’t worry, puppy. I’m sorry. I’ll be back soon, okay? Just be good. And eat whatever SangHyuk is offering you, even if it looks inedible.”

SangHyuk made a noise of protest nearby, but HakYeon just continued to morosely stare back at TaekWoon. HakYeon looking so distraught at TaekWoon’s absence pulled at his heart, and he sincerely wished he could just stay on the phone with him, but the prepaid SIM card only had so many minutes, so TaekWoon had to bid farewell, repeatedly convincing a horrified HakYeon that he would definitely be back the day after tomorrow, and he finally, reluctantly ended the call.

Luckily, the next day was another whirlwind of activity that made the time go by swiftly. It also helped that TaekWoon was finally able to give live updates of his goings-on to SangHyuk who sent replies with pictures of his own time spent featuring the hybrids looking up into the camera, anticipation embedded deep in HakYeon’s eyes. TaekWoon really couldn’t wait to go home.

TaekWoon didn’t spare JaeHwan a second glance, only shouting over his shoulder that he’d see him at work the next week as he hustled his way out of the airport to catch the closest taxi. He was well out of breath by the time he was buzzing SangHyuk’s door, and a hybrid vaulting all of his weight onto TaekWoon before the door had properly opened almost broke the human’s legs from the force.

“Wow—Hey, HakYeon—Hang on!”

No chance. HakYeon had already wrapped his arms tightly around TaekWoon’s waist, pushing his nose into TaekWoon’s jacket, muffled whines emerging from beneath. The tail flailed back and forth with impressive strength.

WonShik bounded out as well, followed by SangHyuk, and the floppy-eared hybrid latched on to HakYeon’s back because why was his friend acting this way? SangHyuk heaved out a tired laugh. “Sorry, hyung. I don’t think I’ll be able to babysit for you, anymore.”

HakYeon’s motions stopped, his ears standing straight up, and he immediately pushed back to look incredulously into TaekWoon’s eyes. The accusation was clear: You’re gonna do this to me AGAIN?!

TaekWoon smiled and ruffled the hair between HakYeon’s ears. “I’m so not doing this again. JaeHwan and the corporate bigwigs can fight me. Let’s go home.”

HakYeon refused to let go of TaekWoon’s arm, all the way from SangHyuk’s apartment, in another taxi, and up the elevator to their apartment. Even after the door shut behind them, HakYeon still danced around TaekWoon as he dumped his suitcase to the side and moved to the bathroom to wash up. Just this once, he conceded with leaving the door open a crack to accommodate HakYeon’s separation anxiety. At least the hybrid didn’t take up peeking through the crack.

It was still early in the evening, but TaekWoon was exhausted as he flopped onto the bed. HakYeon wiggled his way across the space to press his nose into TaekWoon’s shirt, clearly invading into TaekWoon’s space, but TaekWoon didn’t bother objecting.

“Are you hungry?” he asked. “Do you want dinner?”

HakYeon shook his head. “Aren’t you tired?”

Next thing he knew, TaekWoon woke up. The heavy sound of night surrounded him, but the room light shone brightly. He glanced over to the digital clock and saw it was just past midnight. Whoops.

He turned his attention back to the bed. As usual, HakYeon and his over-warm self had pushed himself back to his own side of the bed but not without holding TaekWoon’s arms captive. Just as before, one hand was sandwiched between the pillow and HakYeon’s cheek. However, both of HakYeon’s hands held on to TaekWoon’s forearm, as if he was afraid of TaekWoon running away again. A small smile quirked up the corners of TaekWoon’s lips, and he reached out to push back HakYeon’s hair. A dog ear twitched, and HakYeon sighed as he pushed his cheek against TaekWoon’s palm.