Weekends were still a pain. An almost-literally physical pain. During the work week, TaekWoon could at least numb his brain out with work, and the effort of keeping that up through the day mentally exhausted him enough that by the time he got home, he could cook his lonesome dinner and go to sleep not long after. But weekends, he had too much free time. Too much free time for him to think. Too much free time for the agonizing playlist to run through his head.

TaekWoon rolled over and curled into a ball under his blanket. It felt like a boulder was crushing his insides. He could always sleep his life away, but…

Boof.

His brain jolted awake. He’d almost forgotten there was a hybrid inhabiting his sofa, eating half of his food, and did that thing seriously just bark…?

It’s not like it was incredibly loud. Maybe if he had been doing anything else, TaekWoon would have missed it or mistook the sound for something else. He froze, eyes wide open, and waited to hear if the sound would come out again, but a long time passed with not even a peep from the next room over.

TaekWoon sighed as he lethargically pushed himself up. Laying around in bed all weekend is more than likely one reason why he was getting out of shape. Who cares. Poking his head out of the bedroom, he spotted a pair of ears just peeping over the back of the sofa. One swiveled in his direction, a pair of dark eyes following soon after.

TaekWoon was starting to get used to being stared at all the time. He crossed to the kitchen and bumbled around to make coffee, only vaguely making note of the blanket on the floor again.

“You’re too cold.”

The coffee was too hot.

“I knew you were cold, but I thought you would at least warm up to me.”

TaekWoon slouched in his chair at the dining table, steam curling over the lip of the coffee mug.

“I thought I could bear it, but it’s too much.”

A sigh interrupted the agonizing playlist. TaekWoon’s eyes flicked to the pair of ears lazily turning about, reacting to the slightest noise that came from outside. Outside…

It was feeling rather stuffy, after all. TaekWoon crossed to the window right next to the table, flipping the latch and easily sliding it open a bit. He briefly caught sight of perked-up ears and glittery eyes turning in his direction, but his attention was snatched away by a text message alert ringing from his phone, still moping away on the nightstand in his bedroom. He abandoned the coffee.

< Hyung! What’s up! So what happened? Did you get eaten? >

This SangHyuk kid. If TaekWoon didn’t actually need him one way or another, he maybe would have blocked him. How did TaekWoon even manage to befriend this guy?

< Yes. I’m currently a pile of in the park. > He reclaimed his spot at the table before the cooling mug. The hybrid had perched itself in a chair that had mysteriously moved to next to the window, leaning over the windowsill with its nose just poking through to sniff at the fresh air, the tail barely swaying.

< Nice. So he’s there, right? Can I come over? Can I see him? >

In the same amount of time it took SangHyuk to arrive at his doorstep, TaekWoon had finished lethargically sipping at his coffee, and the hybrid had contentedly replaced the chair it had pulled from the dining table and flopped again to the sofa, burrowing itself under the blanket. At the sound of the doorbell, TaekWoon saw as the dog ears shot straight up and froze. TaekWoon simply stood and strode to the door. Of course, the kid stood on the other side looking energetic and hyper.

“Hey, hyung!” Why was he so loud?

“Why is the sun so bright?” TaekWoon grumbled in reply.

The kid pushed past him without invitation. “Because you didn’t pull back your curtains, and you’re old and bitter.”

“Get out.”

“Nope. Already in here.” He skipped out of his shoes and stopped just inside the apartment.

Ignoring the suddenly tense atmosphere between the hybrid and the kid, TaekWoon shrugged past. “Do you want coffee or something?”

“Ah, no. Just water would be fine.”

TaekWoon went about to make himself more coffee, only just realizing the other two still hadn’t moved from their frozen states. “Hey,” he called out to the hybrid, “relax. This is my friend.”

The hybrid only darted its eyes in TaekWoon’s direction briefly, quickly refocusing on the stranger at the door. SangHyuk slowly lowered to a crouch while keeping his hands up in surrender, but the hybrid still didn’t relax in the slightest.

“Hey, there. It’s alright,” SangHyuk called out carefully. Ugh. He was using that gross, talking-to-kids-or-animals voice.

The hybrid didn’t take kindly to being spoken to as such for it let out a sharp snarl as it pressed itself into the cushions of the sofa. With its ears pressed flat against its scalp, it was, yet again, a repeat of when TaekWoon first saw it in the alleyway.

“Yah!” TaekWoon exclaimed. “Don’t be like that! I just said he’s fine.”

As the growl slowly faded to a grumble, SangHyuk laughed nervously and rose to stand again. “It’s okay, hyung. He probably doesn’t like strangers.”

“Here.” A glass thunked on the countertop. “Your water.”

“Ah, thanks.”

SangHyuk carefully edged along the wall to where TaekWoon stood, his movements spurring another round of growling from the sofa. When he finally reached the water glass, the hybrid swiftly slid off of the sofa and slinked to the opposite side of the room, dragging the blanket with it so that it looked like an absurd, childish ghost. It shoved itself into the corner and wrapped the blanket about itself even more, keeping its wary eyes locked on the two.

“It really doesn’t like you,” TaekWoon muttered. “It didn’t take that long for it to get used to me.”

“He probably just likes you better.” SangHyuk shrugged, glancing at the swaddled-up figure in the corner. “He looks different than what I expected, seems kinda old. How’s his leg?”

“Fine enough. It got up to sit at the window earlier. Hey, do these things talk?”

“Of course, they do. Usually not right away, though.”

“So it has a name, right?”

“Of course, he does! Geez, hyung, don’t be so daft.”

“What the hell does that even mean? I already told you, I don’t know about any of this stuff.”

“It’ll take some time.” SangHyuk finally turned to face TaekWoon completely. “But… what about you, hyung? You still look like you wanna drown yourself in your coffee.”

TaekWoon avoided the kid’s eyes, sullenly stirring milk into the mug. “Maybe I do.”

“Two weeks, right? You’ll survive, hyung. I have faith in you.”

“Please get out of my apartment.”

SangHyuk finally did, obviously not right away. The hybrid stayed shoved in its corner, never relaxing. Even after the kid left, it stayed in its spot, this time glaring at TaekWoon. Even after TaekWoon set a plate of food on its usual spot at the coffee table, it didn’t even glance away.

Of course, overnight, the food was eaten and the plate put away, but the hybrid had retreated back to its pile of blanket in the corner. When TaekWoon emerged from his room the next morning, he spotted the hybrid lightly dozing against the wall. It jolted awake from the slightest sound TaekWoon made, though, and tensed, watching with owlish eyes. The bags under its eyes were a clear indication that it probably kept itself up through the night.

He avoided the glare and robotically went about his usual coffee routine. TaekWoon got halfway through his mug before he was fed up with the scrutiny.

“Would you just go to sleep?” he demanded. “Your face is gonna haunt my nightmares.”

It promptly snorted – TaekWoon could almost make out a scowl from beneath the blanket. Although it kept its gaze for a bit, just to be sure, it finally minutely relaxed against the corner and drifted off.

He didn't know how long he let it sleep – probably about as long as he spent with the heel of his hand holding up his cheekbone as he stared blankly into his empty coffee mug. After a while, TaekWoon finally started pulling himself out of his braindead reverie. He slowly stood up, letting his eyes refocus at their own pace. The hybrid’s ears swiveled at the sound, the rest of its body stirring awake.

It was already late in the afternoon. He’d completely forgone breakfast and lunch, and the work week was too quickly approaching. More wasted days, but what else would he do?

TaekWoon cleared his throat to find his voice, instantly catching the attention of the hybrid which made it tense up again as it snapped awake. “Yah… Aren’t you tired of sitting around? Let’s go outside.”

Of course it didn’t respond but just stared back at TaekWoon. Both were frozen still.

Sighing, TaekWoon spoke up again. “You’ve been sitting inside with your nose sticking out the window the whole week. Don’t tell me you don’t want to go outside. Let’s go.”

He said. The hybrid still didn’t move, but briefly, it seemed to ponder. TaekWoon could see the racing thoughts passing behind its eyes before it looked up at him again. Slowly, it wobbled to its feet, still protectively wrapped in the throw with its ears and tail hidden.

At least it didn’t decide to bring along the blanket for a walk. It was discarded as soon as TaekWoon opened the door, and the two were slowly strolling down the sidewalk towards the general direction of the park across the street. Just from a quick glance, the lope in the hybrid’s steps was almost invisible, but it still made no hints at changing its leisurely pace. However, rather than sniffing about and observing their surroundings, it kept glancing at TaekWoon as if it was watching him, waiting for something to happen.

TaekWoon, on the other hand, had nothing to show. Moping outdoors proved about as useless as moping indoors, and he was well past lost in thought as they walked. The people around him annoyed him. Happy people enjoying the nice weather on a late, Sunday afternoon. Who cares if they’re happy? Who let them?

Suddenly, the hybrid flew past him, bolting forward at full speed.

“Ah--!!!”

He hadn’t even processed what was going on before the hybrid was almost all the way across the park. Should he chase after it? Was it running from something?

Or was it running away?

Of course. Being with TaekWoon was about as exciting as running one’s face on a brick wall. Of course it wanted to leave. Anyone would want to leave…

It took a while of TaekWoon’s wallowing in self-pity to realize the speck of the hybrid had stopped. It was hard to tell, but it seemed like the creature had completely stopped in its tracks and turned to look back at TaekWoon. Was it running from something, after all? TaekWoon glanced behind himself just to be sure. Nothing special; just a few people here and there minding their own business. He looked back to see the hybrid had plopped itself to the ground and crossed its legs beneath itself.

“Why did you run off like that?” TaekWoon asked. He had trotted across the park to meet with the hybrid again. It stayed put, only casually scratching itself behind a dog ear. “What about your leg?”

No reply. It stared up at TaekWoon from the ground, the suspicious glare completely replaced with the glittering curiosity in its eyes.

“Are you ever gonna talk? How am I supposed to call you?”

Birds tweeted nearby.

He heaved a deep sigh. “Whatever. Let’s just go home and eat.” At that, the hybrid’s tail swished on the ground, its eyes glittering even more. TaekWoon stared. “What, of course you’re hungry. We haven’t eaten all day. Get up, and let’s go.”

It obediently jumped to its feet and followed after TaekWoon, the tail still upright and waving happily.

A/N: Sorry for the long delay m(_ _)m So much work. Sorry for any mistakes?? It's 2:11AM, and I'm hungry.