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Hojoon hauled the week’s trash out the apartment complex's front door. He winced at the winds, the hairs sticking up on his arms. Immediately, he regretted being too lazy to put on a jacket and socks.
The cloudy sky made all the colors of their driveway look dull and muted. Hojoon took a glance at the clouds above; it looked like it was about to storm. They were painted with deep grays, but looked like they were slowly but surely traveling away from Poongduck Villa.
Hojoon wasn't taking any chances with the rain. He jogged over to their trash can, opened the lid, threw the trash bag in, shut it and turned to run back inside.
Just as he took a step towards the front door, he heard a faint but audible meow. At first, he thought it might have been his mind playing tricks on him. He’d never seen any cats on their street, anyways. Why would there be one now?
Meow.
Hojoon jerked his head backwards, eyebrows raised. Then, his gaze met a tiny ball of fluff perched behind their trash can. It tilted its head and meowed again, louder.
“What are you doing here?” Hojoon walked around the trash can and crouched a good distance away from the cat. He reached his hand out in invitation, and the cat inched forward with its tiny, black nose. When its nose grazed Hojoon’s hand, he noted that it was dry.
As he let the cat inspect him, he took a good look at its features. Its bright yellow eyes, short, shiny, black fur, and long, animated tail. It had a triangle-shaped nick on its ear, and its bones were visible through its fur. Hojoon pouted.
The cat pulled its nose away from Hojoon’s hand, and Hojoon almost turned and left—he didn't want to deal with the consequences of befriending a stray cat—when he felt a soft, silky texture run across his arm. The cat rubbed against him, purring, and Hojoon reached down to pet it impulsively. Bad idea .
He could tell that the cat was malnourished before, but petting and feeling its ribs through its sides made him feel exponentially worse. Maybe there was something it could eat in the fridge…
No, Jaeyoon would never let him feed a stray cat. He would say it’d keep coming back, maybe even with friends, and then he'd get attached and want to keep it.
He wasn't wrong. Hojoon knew it.
Despite all the rational doubts in his head, Hojoon gave the cat one last head pat and ran up to his apartment to find a bowl. As he made his way back, he found that the dull colors of the driveway had been revived, the storm clouds had passed, and a small hole had emerged where a sliver of sun shone through.
ᓚᘏᗢ
“Why are you smiling? Did you flip off Seungseok’s apartment again?” Jaeyoon asked from the couch. Hojoon rushed past him to the kitchen and gave a laugh to avoid suspicion. He grabbed the first tupperware bowl he could find and filled it with water.
“What are you doing, babe?” Jaeyoon called. Hojoon stopped in his tracks, thinking of a white lie.
“Oh, just getting some water!” Hojoon tried his best to slip on his sweatshirt and warmer shoes without letting Jaeyoon see the bowl.
“Hey, why are you going back outside? I thought you just took out the trash?” Hojoon internally cursed.
“Just double-checking that I closed the lid. Be right back!” Hojoon swiftly opened and closed the door, keeping his back to Jaeyoon the whole time. He let out a relieved sigh once the door clicked shut, then quickly ran down to deliver the cat's water.
The cat started to meow as he got closer to the bin, where it still sat. Only when he placed the bowl on the pavement did it stop, immediately going to take a long drink. Hojoon found himself grinning, and knew he was in way too deep already. As he watched the cat flick its tongue inside the bowl, he came up with his best idea yet.
Hojoon left the bowl there, just in case, and returned to his apartment yet again. He stepped inside and plopped down next to his boyfriend on the couch.
“Can we make dinner tonight? I’ve really been wanting salmon bulgogi lately.” Hojoon talked while scrolling on his phone, trying to act nonchalant.
“Sure, but we'll probably need to run to the store to get ingredients.” Jaeyoon checked the time on his phone. “We should go now, it's getting late.”
“Perfect.” Hojoon gave Jaeyoon a toothy smile and pecked him on the cheek, then got up to find his car keys and put on sneakers.
Jaeyoon furrowed his eyebrows, but ultimately shrugged it off. Not like he was complaining about the affection, anyway.
ᓚᘏᗢ
When they arrived at the grocery store, Hojoon let Jaeyoon take the cart and lead the way. He needed to do research.
Is salmon good for cats?
Unsurprisingly, the internet told him it was. Just as long as it's fully cooked, of course.
The absurdity of just how far he was going for one stray cat hit him, and for a moment he considered keeping all the salmon to himself. But then he remembered the cat’s tiny, boney frame and continued on his mission. Jaeyoon had already grabbed most of the ingredients they needed, so he just followed behind him as they roamed the store. He was sure he looked a little crazy with how happy he looked just walking around a grocery store, but he couldn't help but smile when he was with his favorite person, about to make one kitty’s day a whole lot better.
Once they got back home, all the groceries in hand, Hojoon made sure to “accidentally” leave his phone in the car. Anything to use as a plausible excuse. He snuck a peek near the trash bin, and saw a familiar ball of fur tucked into a ball, sleeping next to the water bowl he left. His heart swelled.
Jaeyoon called him over, and he reluctantly left the cat to sleep. It probably needed the rest, anyway.
As per usual, Jaeyoon’s cooking was out of this world. Hojoon was pretty sure it was the best salmon bulgogi he had ever eaten in his life. He almost forgot to leave a good amount for the cat to eat, but came to his senses and left a good 5 cut-up pieces on his plate.
“Babe, this is the best salmon bulgogi of my life, but I think I'm too full to finish.” Lie. His mouth was still watering, and he might as well have been starving with how badly he wanted to scarf up those last pieces. “I think I had too many snacks today.”
“Ah, really? That's too bad,” Jaeyoon replied, picking up his last piece of salmon. “I can eat it if you don't want-”
“ No! ”
Jaeyoon stilled, mid-chew, and pouted. Hojoon punched himself in his mind.
“Sorry, I just wanted to keep it. You know I can never pass up your cooking, so I'll just eat it later.” Jaeyoon resumed chewing with furrowed brows, but didn't make a comment. Hojoon thanked God. He definitely could not have bullshit his way out of that if Jaeyoon asked more questions.
Jaeyoon swallowed his salmon and took a sip of his water, then picked up his plates to bring to the kitchen.
“I have some work to catch up on, I'll be in the bedroom,” Jaeyoon said, dropping his plates in the sink and heading to work. As he passed Hojoon at the table, he stopped and leaned down for a long, recharging kiss.
“Good luck, sweetheart.” Hojoon patted Jaeyoon’s arm and let him go, watching as the bedroom door inched, inched, inched shut and finally latched with a click . In moments he was up, plate of salmon in hand, halfway out the door.
It was nearly pitch black out, and the motion lights outside clicked on. Shit. Better be fast.
Peeking out from behind the trash bin was a pair of shining yellow eyes, wide and intrigued. The eyes got closer, the smell of salmon hitting the cat’s dainty nose. Immediately, it let out a howl-like meow, running to chase the scent.
Hojoon picked up his pace— meow —and walked with the cat at his side— meow— trying to find the best spot to set down its dinner— meow —so that Jaeyoon wouldn't find it. He settled on simply placing it behind the trash can where the cat had seemingly found its home. The sound of the cat’s tongue licking the salmon felt loud in the quiet street.
Remembering the motion light, Hojoon ran to grab his phone—so he could have an excuse for Jaeyoon—and get back into the house.
The silence of the apartment made his thoughts too loud. He knew Jaeyoon would be upset about him feeding the cat, but he also knew Jaeyoon would be upset about him keeping secrets. Hojoon sighed into his hands. He would deal with that later. At the moment, he was too tired to think rationally.
Instead, he wandered into the bedroom to put on pajamas and go to sleep. Jaeyoon was in bed, face lit up by his laptop screen, typing away. He didn’t even glance in Hojoon’s direction, but still asked, “Why were you outside again?”
Hojoon knew his excuse would come in handy. “Just getting my phone. I left it in the car.”
Jaeyoon peeked over his laptop and asked, “You’ve been really forgetful today. Feeling alright?”
Hojoon tried to ignore the blood rushing to his face. “Yeah,” he chuckled. “Just an off day, I guess.”
“Ah, well go get dressed and lay down. You’ll feel better after you sleep.”
Hojoon did just that. He cuddled up to Jaeyoon’s side and leaned his head on his shoulder. Jaeyoon tightly wrapped an arm around Hojoon’s shoulders and let his head fall down, resting on Hojoon’s hair. He kept working, just with one hand, and occasionally leaned down to give Hojoon a forehead kiss. Hojoon closed his eyes and reflected on his day: how he helped a cat in need (and may have gotten attached to it), and how the hell he was going to tell Jaeyoon about it.
He’d figure it out. Right then, all he wanted to do was fall asleep in the comfort of his boyfriend’s embrace.
ᓚᘏᗢ
Hojoon really couldn’t resist cats.
No matter how many times he told himself it would be the last time, no more sacrificing delicious meals for a street cat, he found himself in the driveway again, plate in hand and a meowing black furball at his feet.
Miraculously, Jaeyoon hadn’t found out about it—which was a shock, considering there was a whole stack of plates behind the trash bin (Hojoon couldn’t think of a way to bring them all back up without raising suspicions, so he left them to pile up).
He especially didn’t want to stop when he saw how much healthier the cat was looking; its face looked plumper, along with its chest and stomach. What kind of guy would leave a cat to go starve again?
The only time he missed a day was when he was stuck in bed, chugging medicine and desperately trying to ignore his unfading nausea. The trash can beside their bed had a noxious smell. Hojoon knew it was gross, but he couldn’t find the strength to get up and clean it. Instead, he laid under his fortress of blankets, pulled out his phone, and begged Jaeyoon to get home faster.
Thankfully, Hojoon got a break from his misery with a quick nap. That was, until Jaeyoon got home, finally . He opened the door a crack and peeked his head in. Hojoon shot him a pained smile. Jaeyoon opened the door fully and sat down on the edge of the bed beside Hojoon. Apparently, he had bought more medicine, and he placed his grocery bag next to his feet.
“Babe, it smells like something died in here.” Jaeyoon scrunched his nose. Hojoon just whined, the nausea hitting him again like a wave.
“Oh…” Jaeyoon pouted and cradled Hojoon’s face with his hand, reaching up to his forehead to check his temperature. Still very hot.
“I’m going to clean up a bit and then we can take a nap, okay?” Hojoon nodded into his pillow and shut his eyes again, praying for his stomach bug to give him a tiny break so he could get to sleep.
ᓚᘏᗢ
Jaeyoon had to plug his nose as he brought the trash bag from the bedroom out to the trash can. He held it a good foot away from his face as well, but he could still smell it regardless. As fast as physically possible, he yanked up the lid to the trash can, threw the bag in, and latched it shut. He let out a sigh of relief, then—
Meow .
Jaeyoon flicked his head around, searching for the source of the noise. He looked back at the trash can and saw two bright yellow eyes staring into his soul from beside the bin. Jaeyoon inched closer and closer, and caught a glimpse of something else behind the trash can. It better not have a kitten, he thought.
Instead of a kitten, he saw light reflecting off of a stack of plates and a bowl. His eyebrows furrowed and his mouth was slightly agape. He was mostly confused, because why was there a stack of plates, plates from his apartment, sitting behind his trash can?
All of Hojoon’s weird behavior from the past couple weeks came flooding back to him.
Oh, god.
ᓚᘏᗢ
“Hey, sweetheart…” Hojoon opened his eyes again, and Jaeyoon was back on the edge of the bed.
“Are you, by chance, feeding a stray cat?”
Hojoon’s eyes went comically wide, and he blanked so hard on any excuses that he ended up not saying anything at all.
Jaeyoon sighed. “You know I don’t like having animals around. It's going to keep coming back, and it’ll bring even more cats, and then next thing you know, I’ve got a whole community of street cats begging for food at our doorstep. Not to mention, you might get attached.”
Hojoon groaned into his pillow. “But…”
“You’re going to stop feeding it.”
Hojoon thought about arguing, but was too tired and too sick to come up with anything to say.
“...Yes, baby. I’ll stop.” He knew he’d regret those words as soon as they came out of his mouth, but there was nothing he could do about it anymore.
“Thank you. Now, go back to bed. I’ll stay with you.”
Hojoon sighed, but just closed his eyes again. He would deal with everything later, when he could actually think .
The warmth of Jaeyoon’s breath on his neck and his arms around his waist lulled him straight back to sleep.
ᓚᘏᗢ
It had been a week since Hojoon had fed the cat, and he was starting to go crazy.
He kept procrastinating on taking out the trash because he didn’t want to risk seeing it again. The trash in the kitchen had piled so high that it felt like they were playing reverse Jenga when they had to throw something away.
He kept wanting to stop eating when he started to get near finished. Jaeyoon would always pick up the rest and feed it to him himself. It always made him feel guilty to have nothing left on his plate.
He kept wanting to run outside with a water bottle to fill the water bowl. He kept wanting to check on it before they left the house. He kept wanting to pet it again.
But he didn’t, because he told Jaeyoon he wouldn’t.
Until he did.
Jaeyoon had been bugging him about taking the trash out even before it was overflowing, but now he was outright making him do it.
“You have to take it out. It’s going to topple over any minute now. Go.” Hojoon stared at his monstrous trash pile, and reluctantly agreed.
When he got outside, though, it was pouring rain. Hojoon cursed to himself and walked out, umbrella-less, to throw out the trash. His hair was immediately dripping wet, his slippers squeaked and absorbed more water with every step, and his shirt clung to his chest.
As he reached the trash can, his single biggest fear came true.
The cat was still sitting behind it, meowing, but drenched head to toe in water. Its meows turned to cries, and Hojoon almost started crying himself. He threw the garbage in the bin carelessly and picked up the now soaking wet black cat, and, against his best interests, carried it all the way back with him.
“What are you doing?!” Jaeyoon screeched. “I told you no more street cat! And now it’s in my building!”
“It’s pouring outside! I’m not going to leave it alone and drenched!”
“What’s it going to do in here?! We don’t have anything for it!”
“I’ll go get stuff right now, I don’t care, but it’s better to stay in here than out there in the rain.” Hojoon walked in long strides to the bathroom, and wrapped the cat in a small towel. Jaeyoon followed him.
“Well, I’m not staying alone with it, so I’ll go get stuff. Don’t let it sit on my couch and don’t let it eat my food!” Jaeyoon slipped on his shoes, grabbed his keys and was out the door in seconds. Hojoon let out a relieved (?) sigh.
The cat squirmed in his arms a little, and he held it tighter, using the towel to try to dry it a little bit. When it looked back up at him and meowed in his face, he knew he was way too far gone.
Jaeyoon returned with a small litter box, a small bag of litter and a can of cat food.
“You’re welcome.” Jaeyoon set down everything on the kitchen counter and then grabbed a bowl from the cabinet, emptying the cat food into it. He held it out for Hojoon to take, so Hojoon put the cat down, grabbed the bowl, and set it down. The cat immediately started chowing down, and Hojoon caught Jaeyoon staring down at it with a contemplative look. He hoped it meant what he thought it meant.
Hojoon took the responsibility of setting up the litter box, and put it in the bathroom in an empty corner. He picked up the cat and showed it the litter box in hopes that it would understand it had to use it. Jaeyoon would kick him out of the building if a cat pooped on his floor.
Thankfully, the cat stepped in on its own and used it. Hojoon left it be, wandering to see what Jaeyoon was doing. He found him on the couch, scrolling on his phone. He slowly sat down next to him, laying his head on his shoulder. He heard Jaeyoon sigh, but nothing else.
There was a warning meow before the cat hopped onto the couch and into Hojoon’s lap. He smiled down at it, petting its, now mostly dry, fur. The vibrations against his palm let him know that the cat was purring, and Hojoon felt himself melting from cuteness.
“I told you, don’t let it on the—” Jaeyoon was interrupted by the cat crawling over to his lap and rubbing against him. He put his phone down, hesitated, then slowly reached his hand down to pat its head. It started purring again.
They all sat in silence (minus a few meows) for a while, enjoying each other’s company.
Eventually, Jaeyoon asked, “You want to keep it, right?”
Hojoon felt the tips of his ears get hot, and he nodded into Jaeyoon’s shoulder.
“Told you so.” Hojoon continued to bury his face in his shoulder, but felt a sliver of hope at the fact that Jaeyoon didn’t say no.
“...Only if you pay for it," Jaeyoon said after a brief silence.
Hojoon jerked his head up and stared at Jaeyoon with raised brows. “Really?!”
Jaeyoon fought a smile and stroked the cat’s forehead. “You seem too happy. I can’t say no to you.”
Hojoon squeezed Jaeyoon in the tightest hug of his life, squealing thanks into his ear.
“Okay, I think you’re going to kill me.” Jaeyoon chuckled, and when Hojoon pulled away, he planted a soft kiss on his lips. “You’re lucky I love you so much.”
ᓚᘏᗢ
“How about Alley?”
“No, that’s too on the nose.”
“Hm…Buddy?”
“No, that’s boring.”
“How about…Bingo! Because I got lucky meeting him!”
“I guess that one’s fine.”