Archive of Our Own

Sungwoon gets into the entire cat sitting business by accident due to a number of coincidences.

Incident 1: Taehyun signing up for the Home Away Program at the university that they are both doing masters at. The program requires you to house an exchange undergrad at your place for a stipend and to act as a Korean buddy to bridge the cultural gap or whatever – Taehyun calls it the Korean Yoda. Anyway, the point is the stipend allowed is much more generous than the allotted rent at their place, and even though Sungwoon has his own misgivings about it, Moonkyu has relocated to Bangkok for a year on his company rotation and Sungwoon and Taehyun cannot cover his share of rent for the whole year without taking in a new house mate. Taking in an exchange student is ideal because there is no contract mess involved and they (hopefully) come vetted by the university. Plus, Taehyun is excited at the idea of showing some foreigner around Seoul and improving his English. But his dream of being the Korean Yoda dies a tragic death when Jin Longguo a.k.a call-me-Kim-Yongguk showed up with fluent Korean and two cats. Leave it to Taehyun to get assigned a Chinese dude who has actually lived in Seoul for the entirety of his middle school days. Also, you know, cats. Taehyun says he is allergic but it is only when he doesn’t want to take care of them and not when he wants to play with them, and Taehyun did list about their apartment complex being pet friendly when posting on the program website so he dug his own feline grave. But Yongguk is a chill dude and mostly keeps to himself so Sungwoon couldn’t really have asked for anyone better.

Incident 2: Sungwoon quitting his part time job because it becomes too much for him to handle both his part time job at the bookstore and his master classes, and he’d rather focus on his degree that he had already spent so much money on. It, however, sadly left him with not much extra allowance. He is not dead broke or anything but things are a little tighter than usual.

Incident 3: Yongguk going back to China for 6 days last week to attend his cousin’s wedding. He looked around for any cat care center for Tolbi and Rosy but the ones within his budget range all put them in cages for the entire time and obviously, Yongguk is not up for that. Sungwoon volunteered because he was going to be indoors all week to finish up his preliminary thesis outline anyway. He might as well take care of the two cats – they are not that difficult to look after anyway since they are thankfully potty trained. He just needed to make sure their food and water bowls are filled and their sandbox is changed every three days. But then, because it is Sungwoon, Rosy caught an infection on the third day of Yongguk’s absence from some wound she got on her hind leg from climbing to god-knows-where and Sungwoon almost got a heart attack before running to the vet two blocks over in his pajamas fearing how he’d ever look Yongguk in the face if something happened to her. The vet laughed at how dramatic he was being but she did take care of Rosy well and after a few thousands wons and a lot of reassurances later, Sungwoon is back with a satisfied Rosy nipping happily on the can of tuna infused with her medicine.

Which brings us to incident 4: the return of Jin Longguo, who fusses over Rosy when Sungwoon brought him up to speed about her injury and (almost tearfully) thanks Sungwoon afterwards for taking care of her. This is probably the first time Sungwoon has seen the guy shows geniue emotions over the span of two months. After making sure Rosy has taken her medicine, Yongguk brought out the rice wine he got from the airport and that is where they are at – the three of them getting well on their way to pissed-drunk because Yongguk chooses his potent liquor well.

And that is when Yongguk suggested Sungwoon, a little tipsily, to open a cat sitting business since he is obviously very good at it after the whole of one cat sitting practice.

He did have some logical reasoning though.

1. Sungwoon mostly stays at home these days because he needs to finish his thesis outline and it is only going to get worse when he actually starts on his thesis and that gives him the ample time to look after cats.
2. No capital or resources required from their end to start the business except for maybe a few more food bowls and sandboxes.
3. Unlike dog sitting, there is no walking or regular bathing involved so it is relatively less labor intensive.
4. More cats.
5. Money

Sungwoon thinks Yongguk is mostly suggesting based on point (4) but Sungwoon is more interested in point (5). He can charge a decent rate, less than what other legit cat sitting businesses are charging which is like 100,000 won per day – ridiculous. The cheap rate will not make him rich or anything but money is money. Plus, he can limit his customers to what he can handle – maybe only 2 or 3 cats a week.

So, they decide on it and Taehyun brings out his ratty old digital camera to take a profile shoot of Sungwoon that Taehyun decided is absolutely required for his business, and snaps a shot of Sungwoon grinning widely at the camera while Tolbi looks bored in his arm and Rosy is wriggling her way out of Sungwoon’s hold. The photo comes out a little strong – people who know Sungwoon will realize that Sungwoon is drunk as fuck and people who don’t know Sungwoon will probably think he is a little manic, but all three of them are past tipsy stage so Sungwoon uploads it onto one of those advertising online portal based on their drunken approval and celebrates the official opening of his business by throwing up into the cats’ sandbox.

He almost forgets about it – he did remember it while he was pouring cat food for Tolbi the next afternoon and notes himself to delete the post, but it keeps being at the back of his head until he gets a call one morning the next week from an unknown number.

“Is this Ha Sungwoon?” The unfamiliar voice asks, and Sungwoon answers with an affirmative before the voice continues.

“… from Ha Sungwoon’s …” the voice stops for a while and continues on slowly. “… Meow services?”

Oh my god. The name is one thing Sungwoon has totally forgotten.

The voice keeps talking while Sungwoon tries to face palm himself to death from this end of the phone. “I was wondering if I can drop by at your place to check it out? I am leaving for Busan for a couple of days and I want to leave my two cats here.”

Wait. A legit inquiry?

Sungwoon stops self-loathing for a minute and answers as professionally as he thinks is appropriate for a cat sitter. “Yes, sure. I am available at noon.”

“That works. I will see you at the address on your post?”

“Er. Yeah, sure.” Sungwoon says and ends the call with a goodbye.

Hah. He is actually going to make money out of looking over a couple of cats.

Not bad, drunk Yongguk. Not bad.

Sungwoon speed cleans the apartment, by which he means he basically shoves the dirty pile of clothes into his room and changes the cats’ sandbox. He thinks of giving Tolbi a bath because he has gone into the storage room again and gets cobwebs and dust all over him, but bathing Tolbi is a full three-men job and Sungwoon does not have the time or energy for that. So, he just makes himself presentable enough for his first ever customer.

What do cat sitters even wear?

He was a little out of it this morning so Sungwoon doesn’t really remember what the voice on the other end of the phone was like, but he was expecting maybe a middle-aged man dropping off his family’s cats or something similar when he opens the door on the second knock, not this tall drink of water on the other end of the door, smiling unsurely down at him.

“Ha Sungwoon?” The dude asks, holding onto the strap of the bag on his shoulder and Sungwoon tells his brain to reel it in a little.

“Yes, come in.” He says and holds open the door.

“Thanks.” The dude smiles, and ok, Sungwoon needs to stop thirsting over the dude who is here to hire him as a cat sitter. With Sungwoon’s luck, it’d be his girlfriend’s cats or something. “I am Daniel.”

“Nice to meet you.” Sungwoon says and closes the door. “And that’d be Rosy.” He says as Rosy saunters out of Yongguk’s room because she is a weird little thing that has no aversion to strangers.

“Hello!” Daniel says enthusiastically and picks her up and Sungwoon didn’t know that one of his kinks was a big dude holding a small cat. “How pretty. Is she yours? Oh, wow, there is one more?”

“The dirty dude over there is Tolbi.” Sungwoon points at Tolbi who is a little more reserved. “They are both my housemate’s actually.”

“Oh, that’s great.” Daniel says and strokes at Rosy’s chin affectionately, who, by the way, is having the time of her life, and honestly, Sungwoon can relate. “My kids are not very socialized so I’ve always wanted to leave them with some other cats.”

Oh great. He is one of those weird cat dads. He would get along with Yongguk very well.

“You have two, right?” Sungwoon asks anyway because he wants to be polite for his (very gorgeous) first customer.

“Yes, Rooney and Peter.” Daniel grins. “Both of them are around 8 or 9 months.”

“I see.” Sungwoon nods. “Erm. You can look around, I guess? They can play around the whole house except for that one room. Our other housemate can’t stand the fur so his room is off limit but anywhere else is fine.”

“No cage, right?”

“No,” Sungwoon shakes his head. “We do have some extra cushions and all, but you can bring if you have like, you know, cat beds or something. And, erm, the food is extra charge or you can just drop off whatever they are eating.”

Sungwoon just adds that clause in because he remembers two hours ago how expensive cat food is.

“That’s fine. Peter is quite difficult with food. There’s only like two brands she’d eat. I’ll drop off their food.” Daniel says and lets go of Rosy, who has deemed enough use of him, and goes off to wrestle with Tolbi. “Can I, uh, ask something?”

“Go ahead.” Sungwoon nods.

“This doesn’t look … very …” Daniel wavers like he is choosing his words carefully. “ … business-like? I guess? I mean, I’ve been to a couple of other centers and they have, you know, other cats and set ups and forms and stuff.”

“Oh,” Sungwoon scratches at his head guiltily. “To be completely honest with you, you are my first. Customer! I mean first customer.” Sungwoon rushes to speak. “I mean, I usually take care of those two when my housemate is away and you know, I just thought, why not do it for other people as well? I am usually at home anyway.”

“You work from home?”

“Doing my masters.” Sungwoon answers. “Kind of stuck inside until I can finish my thesis. I know that sounds like busy work but I won’t neglect your cats or anything like that. I actually won’t take any more for the week if you, you know, wants to drop off your kids here. I mean, I know this is not very professional but it is up to you.”

“No, no.” Daniel shakes his head. “I like it actually. It feels like dropping them off at a friend’s place. The usual cat centers are quite expensive and almost all of them cages the kids.”

“Yeah, my house mate hates that as well.”

“Plus, your rate is much more affordable.”

“I was hoping that’d be my main selling point.” Sungwoon grins.

“It works.” Daniel laughs, eyes crinkled. “Honestly, I checked your ad out as a last resort. I was about to bring them to Busan. I usually do but my nephew is in the terrible twos and Rooney almost scratches his face the last time he tries to pull her tail. I can’t afford to get kicked out of my family for the cats.”

“I’ll take good care of them.” Sungwoon says solemnly. “We can do the payment after you pick them up.”

“Alright.” Daniel smiles. “That’s settled then. I will drop them off tomorrow before I leave.”

Sungwoon shakes Daniel’s outstretched hand (one that is very large and encompasses Sungwoon’s own – his brain weirdly notices), and shows him the way out.

When Sungwoon gets back into his room, Tolbi is lying on the pile of clothes Sungwoon threw onto the floor of his bedroom earlier, languidly licking at his stomach and Sungwoon doesn’t even have the usual annoyance of fur on his clothes to shoo him off.

“I owe your dad a huge favor, kid.” Sungwoon says seriously to Tolbi.

Tolbi meows back uninterestedly.

Rooney and Peter are almost as cute as their owner.

But hopefully, their owner is about 200% less evil than them.

Rooney scratches at the door and meows incessantly once Daniel left with a stunning smile (and Sungwoon’s heart). Peter, the smaller one, tries to climb the book case in the living room and knocks over half of Taehyun’s photo frames before getting into a fight with Rosy, probably to establish the order of the pack. Seriously, apart from the cartoons, this is the first time Sungwoon has ever seen cats with furs raised straight, ready to pounce on each other. He froze uselessly looking at the two cats growling at each other before Yongguk comes out and yells at Rosy to come in and saves Sungwoon from getting murdered by either the cats or the cats’ owners.

He barely gets anything get done for the two days that he took in Peter and Rooney. Rooney keeps running around the house and scratching at the living room sofa – Sungwoon wonders if she thinks she is a dog, not a tiny cat. Peter climbs everywhere, including Sungwoon’s desk and it is by the pure chance of luck that Sungwoon managed to get his laptop out of the way before she knocked the glass of water onto it. He spares a second to think about what would have happened if his laptop gets fried together with all of his thesis work and that was the worst second of his life. He did, however, spend over two hours to upload everything to cloud, so, thank you, Peter, he guesses.

By the time Daniel is due to pick them back up, Sungwoon is worn out and wearing a long sleeve to hide the scratches, courtesy of Rooney. In her defense, Sungwoon was trying to see if the red thing on her neck is blood by holding her still – which probably is the thing she hates the most in the world. Turns out it was not blood, but the red paint dust from the sofa leg she is very fond of chewing on. The blood is the one oozing from Sungwoon’s arm after she gave two long scratches and jumped off.

Daniel comes to pick them up in the evening, with his trademark wide smile and illegally long body. He gave Sungwoon the due amount in cash and a Tupperware full of radish Kimchi.

“My mum made the best Kimchi in all of Busan,” he says while petting Rooney who jumps into his arms the moment Sungwoon opens the door to his house. “I asked her to pack me some.”

“Thank you.” Sungwoon says and pours the Kimchi into one of his own Tupperware container so he can wash Daniel’s and give it back. “How was your trip?”

“Very rush.” Daniel answers. “You know, relatives. I hope the cats didn’t give you too much trouble. ”

Sungwoon smiles and dries Daniel’s Tupperware before handing it back to him. “They were …” little spawns of Satan’s seeds “… okay.”

“Was that Rooney?” Daniel points at Sungwoon’s bare arm. He must have rolled up his sleeve automatically when he was washing the container.

“Uh … no? It is fine.” Sungwoon says as Daniel lets Rooney go, who protests immediately by scratching up at his jeans.

“Hang on,” Daniel says, not listening to him. “She always does that so I have to clip her nails but I forgot this month.”

“What are you …” Sungwoon asks as Daniel triumphantly takes out a small plastic bag from his shoulder bag.

“She’s vaccinated and the wounds do not look that deep so this should be fine. You are not allergic to Neosporin, right?”

“Not that I know of,” Sungwoon says. “You have Neosporin in your bag?”

“Luck for you,” Daniel laughs. “I was picking up a few things for the kids, and got a new one.”

Somehow, Sungwoon is not surprised that Daniel’s cat care package includes medicinal ointment for the caretaker.

“Have you washed the scratches?” Daniel asks and goes into the kitchen sink to wash his hands like it is his own place.

“Yeah, of course,” Sungwoon answers dumbly.

“Good.” Daniel nods and beckons him over. “C’mhere.”

Sungwoon goes towards Daniel, who immediately grabs Sungwoon by the wrist and puts his arm under the running water of the tap. “You probably won’t get infections or anything but it might leave some scars.” Daniel says while tapping Sungwoon’s skin dry with some tissues before rubbing the thin ointment over the scratches.

Sungwoon does not reply anything because he is kind of speechless from how fast his heart is beating at having Daniel at this proximity and that is ridiculous because he has met the guy for a total of three days and spoken to him for a total of maybe 15 minutes. He really should get laid or something if he is this hormonal.

“All good,” Daniel says with a satisfied smile and lets Sungwoon’s hand goes. Sungwoon is partly thankful and partly remorseful.

“You seem very experienced in this.” Sungwoon says, looking over at his scratches. “Are you a medical student or something?”

Daniel laughs and shoves the small ointment bottle back into his bag. “Close. Veterinarian medicine. Final year.”

“Oh, wow.” Sungwoon replies genuinely. “That is actually not surprising at all.”

“I know right?” Daniel grins. “But treating cat scratches actually come from my own personal experience. They are a handful, aren’t they?”

“Well…” Sungwoon trails off unsurely and Daniel laughs out loud.

“It’s fine. I know how they can be.”

“They are a little handful.” Sungwoon admits and Daniel smiles ruefully.

“Sorry,” he mumbles. “But I can’t thank you enough for taking care of them so well.”

“You are welcome. You can leave them with me anytime. I can handle them.” Sungwoon replies before he can stop himself and Daniel beams.

“Yeah? Thanks, man. I do have a couple of trips coming up soon.”

Sungwoon smiles back but cringes inside. What the fuck has he gotten himself into?

Sungwoon gets a couple more customers – not so many that he cannot focus on his own work but enough to keep him busy all through the days. He even gets a few regular – the old Jinhae from the grandma who lives two blocks over, and drops him off every time she goes on a day trip to the temple. And two Tabbies from one of Yongguk’s friends from his Facebook cat group because of course, he’d be in a Facebook cat group.

And Daniel. Who keeps dropping off Rooney and Peter every ten or twelve days. Sungwoon wonders how much of a momma’s boy he has to be to be visiting Busan almost every weekend. But it is not like Sungwoon is complaining because he gets to see Daniel more and Rooney and Peter have gotten used to Sungwoon so they weren’t as horrible to handle. Peter and Rosy even seem to have formed some sort of co-alpha alliance when Peter is around.

On the fifth week of Sungwoon well-oiled cat sitting business, he gets a box of tiny week-old kitten from one of his neighbors who apparently thought Sungwoon is running some kind of cat shelter and dropped off the small kittens he found in the nearby garage. The mother is apparently nowhere to be found and the kittens had been crying for days.

Yongguk loses his fucking mind over them and coos into the shabby box before asking a grumpy Taehyun to run to a store and get some milk bottle so he can feed the kittens and Sungwoon spent a total of twenty minutes finding a clean box from their storage room and pondering how the fuck his life has gotten to this point.

Daniel was due to pick up Peter and Rooney (who have been confined to Yongguk’s room with Tolbi and Rosy, and the old Jinhae in case they scare the babies), but it completely skipped Sungwoon’s mind because there are tiny little meowing creatures who are so ridiculously cute that Sungwoon could cry, and he doesn’t remember about Daniel – which itself is a feat of no small effort – until Sungwoon opens the knocking door to find a smiling Daniel.

“Ohmygodkittens,” Daniel says – or more accurately, squeals – in a pitch Sungwoon would have never thought he is capable of producing, and beelines straight to where Yongguk is squatting and bottle feeding the kittens. “Where did you get them?”

“Apparently, this is a cat shelter.” Sungwoon sighs and closes the door. “Someone dropped them off. I am researching online to see where we can send them. No.” He says firmly to a Yongguk who looks up hopefully. “We are not adopting one.”

“I’d totally take one if I am not scared that Peter would eat it alive.” Daniel says regretfully. “They are so tiny. Look at it.” He says, showing off a kitten who is holding onto his hand and nibbling at his finger.

It is totally cute.

The kitten.

“Do you know any good shelter?” Sungwoon asks. “You are a vet-in-training and all that.”

“I do actually. One of my professors run one. Do you want to take them now?”

Yongguk makes some kind of whining noises.

“Yes, please.” Sungwoon nods before Yongguk ends up going back to China with six new cats.

“Great. I can take you.” Daniel shrugs.

“That’d be great.” Sungwoon says gratefully and borrows the cat bags from Yongguk and Daniel to transport the six kittens.

“Did you drive to Busan or something?” Sungwoon asks once he and Daniel get out of his apartment complex and Daniel clicks his keys at a silver Honda.

“Sorry?”

“The car. I thought you’d gone to Busan with KTX.” Sungwoon points at the car.

“Ah, right.” Daniel nods. “The car. I left it at a friend’s place so I picked it up first.”

“Lucky for us then.” Sungwoon smiles and puts the cat transporters in the back seat before climbing into the shotgun seat.

“Yeah,” Daniel laughs, almost nervously for some reason and drives off.

The shelter is not that far away and Sungwoon spent the entire car ride listening to Daniel talked about how he met this professor in his second year of vet school and how Daniel had been volunteering at the shelter ever since. It is kind of annoying how perfect he can get.

Daniel’s professor is in and the process of transferring the kittens to her is actually an easy one, but she asked for their help with the pre-adoption check up for the kittens because it is quite late and the usual staff has gone home. Sungwoon says yes without knowing that the pre check up includes drawing blood from the kittens for HIV checks since they are strays. He might have teared up when the kitten in his hand cries as the syringe penetrates its skin, but it didn’t happen if you can’t prove it!

They left after the kittens have fallen asleep from crying. Sungwoon’s favorite one is even hiccupping in its sleep and apparently, he somehow had a favorite after the four hours that he had been with them.

“Did you cry?” Daniel grins and asks as he turns the car onto the busy main street. “When the kittens got their blood drawn?”

“Nothing you can prove!” Sungwoon mumbles.

“I think it’s cute.” Daniel seems very interested in the back mirror when Sungwoon turns his head to look at him in question. “I mean, grown man crying with a small kitten in his hand? That’s some 9gag worthy meme.”

“They are so tiny I can’t help it.” Sungwoon mumbles. “Each of them is like the size of my fist.”

“I know.” Daniel says. “I find small things to be cute too.”

“Maybe I should have let Yongguk adopt one.” Sungwoon continues his stream of thoughts. “But then he’d have to go back with one more cat. Or six. He has literally zero self control when it comes to cats.”

“Go back where?”

“Oh, you don’t know?” Sungwoon turns to him and says. “Yongguk is an exchange student. I think his program is ending in like three months.”

“Huh. Really?” Daniel replies. “So, Tolbi and Rosy won’t be here after three months?”

Wow. Way to fucking break a guy’s heart.

“Should I go back and adopt a kitten?” Sungwoon bites at his nail and says. “No, wait. I can’t handle being a full time cat owner.”

“Why not?” Daniel asks. “It’s not like you are not looking after cats all days.”

“Yeah, but that’s like a part time job.” Sungwoon says. “I don’t think I’m ready to own a cat and be responsible for it.”

“If you say so.” Daniel shrugs. “Have you eaten dinner?”

“No, Mrs. Park is picking Jinhae off in like next half an hour so I’ll eat after she goes.”

“Oh,” Daniel says and drums his fingers on the steering wheel. “Never mind then.”

“Never mind what?” Sungwoon asks but Daniel just shakes his head with a smile and turns into Sungwoon’s road.

Yongguk looks at Sungwoon strangely when they reach back and Sungwoon goes straight to hug Rosy into his chest. Rosy lovingly kicks him in the nipple and jumps off. Tolbi runs off once Sungwoon turns to him.

God, he is going to miss those two little assholes so much.

“I’ll walk you out to the lift.” Sungwoon says to Daniel, who finishes putting a resisting Peter into the bag. “Thank you, really, by the way. For driving me to the shelter.”

“You are welcome.” Daniel says as Sungwoon follows him out to the corridor. “Also, I really do think you’d be a good cat owner.”

“Yeah?”

“I mean, I don’t really trust my kids with anyone, but I trust them with you. That basically means I trust you with my life.”

“Oh,” Sungwoon says, not sure how to respond to that. “Thank you?”

“Good night.” Daniel smiles and steps into the opening lift. “I’ll probably drop them off again next week.”

“Anytime.” Sungwoon says as the lift door slowly closes.

He kind of wants to look up what it takes to adopt a cat.

And how to ask a customer out without being awkward with preferably a 100% success rate.

“Yo,” Taehyun opens the bedroom door with no prior warning because he has no concept of privacy. “Your food awaits.”

“Thanks, man.” Sungwoon makes sure to save his latest work and stretches. Taehyun went out to one of the ramen shops for dinner that Sungwoon really likes but he has Rooney and Peter over so Sungwoon didn’t want to leave them alone. Thankfully, Taehyun is in a good enough mood to bring home one for him.

“Peter is here?” Taehyun asks, nodding at Peter who is sleeping soundly in the living room corner.

“And Rooney.” Sungwoon says and vaguely waves his hands around. “Somewhere. Why?”

“Oh,” Taehyun says. “I just saw Daniel at the ramen shop. I thought he’d be in Busan if the cats are here.”

Huh.

“He is supposed to.” Sungwoon says and takes a sip of the ramen. “He said he’d pick them up tomorrow.”

“Hmm.” Taehyun shrugs. “Looked like he was on a date. Maybe he just wants his place pussy free, you know, the kind with fur.”

The ramen soup suddenly turns very tasteless.

“You are disgusting.” Sungwoon says to Taehyun anyway, who just laughs and lies down on the sofa, turning the TV on.

Sungwoon stirs his chopsticks into the noodles, his appetite rapidly disappearing.

Daniel asked last week when he picked up the kids about what kind of food Sungwoon would like on a date and Sungwoon let his hope flared up, and told him about his favorite ramen shop, cheap enough to not put a dent into your wallet but expensive enough to look good for a date, plus the atmosphere is cozy and the food is amazing.

It is not amazing now though, since Sungwoon can almost imagine Daniel sipping on the same ramen that he is eating while smiling and laughing at some pretty girl who will probably go back to Daniel’s place later. Sungwoon does not even know where Daniel lives.

And Daniel even lied to him about going to Busan instead of just telling him that he had a date. Maybe he thought it’d be awkward or that it is not something Sungwoon needs to know since they are not that kind of friend or even acquaintances.

Sungwoon throws the hardly eaten ramen into the fridge, and drowns an entire bottle of water.

“You are done?” Taehyun asks when Sungwoon walks past him.

“Not hungry anymore.” Sungwoon answers and goes into his room to go back onto working on his thesis. He is probably gonna die alone, sad and solitary, surrounded by cats anyway. He might as well get his master so he can at least make money for his future cats. Cats are the only good things in life since no man is to be trusted, including himself because who the fuck goes and falls for someone who has only ever met you so you can pet sit his cats.

Daniel comes in the next day, looking as cheerful as ever, and Sungwoon tries to decipher if he is having some kind of post-coital glow but Daniel is always smiling and shining so it is hard to tell.

“How was Busan?” Sungwoon asks because he can’t help that he is sometimes a petty bitch.

“Same old.” Daniel says smoothly and pulls up Tolbi onto his lap to pet him. He has been staying a big longer lately, playing around with Tolbi and Rosy. One of the reason why Sungwoon has gotten his irrational hopes up. “Hey, I tried that ramen shop you recommended the other week by the way. It was pretty good.”

“I bet.” Sungwoon mumbles and opens the cat bag that Daniel carried over so he can put Peter and Rooney inside.

“Is that your way of asking me to leave?” Daniel laughs and asks as Sungwoon zips up the bag.

“No, I am just getting them ready.” Sungwoon shrugs. “How was your date?”

As he said before, petty.

“What date?” Daniel blinks blankly at him.

“Taehyun, my other housemate – you guys met once – saw you at that ramen shop last night.”

“Oh,” is the only thing Daniel says.

“Look, man, you could have just said you had a date and drop them off. It’s not like I am gonna refuse you. I mean, you are paying me and I know I don’t really have to question your reasons but you know, I thought we are kind of friends.”

“It wasn’t a date. It was my sister.” Daniel says. “She comes up to Seoul for business.”

Well.

Shit.

Sungwoon stares at Tolbi on Daniel’s lap. Tolbi stares back, and if he could only speak, he would probably say ‘lol you fucked up bro’. It’s a good thing he can’t.

“I mean, it is none of my business.” Sungwoon says like a complete idiot. “Sorry, I just thought you were in Busan.”

“Yeah well,” Daniel says awkwardly and puts Tolbi down. “Some things came up. I should go.”

“Ok,” Sungwoon nods, wondering how much he had royally fucked up by accusing Daniel of being a bad friend and unknowingly insinuating incest. In his defense though, Daniel did say he was going to Busan. But then again, Sungwoon really has no right to be knowing Daniel’s whereabouts or who he is having dinner with.

“Sorry,” he mumbles again as Daniel leaves with an unsure smile, and bangs his head on the closed door a couple of times before letting out a frustrated groan. And then bang his head once more just for good measure.

Someone knocks on the door and Sungwoon briefly wonders if he has made too much noise for the neighbors to hear, but it is Daniel at the other end of the door.

“Look, man.” Daniel says. He is without the cat bag, meaning he made a trip up here after dropping the cats off in the car. “You were right. I lied to you about being in Busan. I haven’t been to Busan for the past two months.”

“But you said you were helping out with a new shelter in your neighborhood.” Sungwoon frowns.

“I am helping out with the new shelter, but with getting them their license. I mostly do it on the phone.”

“And you left your kids here every week.”

“Yes, I have spent approximately 500,000 wons paying you.” Daniel laughs. “Might as well just come clean before I clean out my account paying you to unnecessarily pet sit.”

“Come clean about what?”

“I keep dropping the cats off because I want to see you and I don’t know how else to.”

“You want to …” Sungwoon repeats slowly. “… see me?”

“And spend time with you. What I am saying is,” Daniel sighs. “I wanted to ask you out but I was being a coward and didn’t know how to bring it up.”

Oh.

“Oh.”

“Yeah,” Daniel gives a nervous laugh. “I could have taken you on like three dates with all the money I spent on paying you.”

“So, when you ask me about where I think is a good place for a date …”

“That was me planting the seed, or trying to, whatever. Then Peter fell into the washing machine and we both got distracted and I didn’t know how to bring it back up.”

Daniel has his fingers twisted in the string of his hoodie for the entirety of this conversation and for some reason, it makes Sungwoon a little more confident because Daniel is nervous and if he is as nervous as Sungwoon is, it must mean that he likes Sungwoon as much as Sungwoon likes him, right? Logic, you know.

“And I thought I’d never bring it up if I keep being like this, so you know,” Daniel shrugs. “Here we are. I am sorry about lying to you.”

“Where are the cats?” Sungwoon asks.

“In the car.” Daniel answers uncertainly.

“Do you want to bring them back up?” Sungwoon looks up at Daniel who is staring at him a little wide-eyed. “I still have the Tabby twins here so I can’t leave but I know good delivery places, and I am not really picky about where I have my dates.”

“Yeah, yeah, ok.” Daniel nods a little too enthusiastically and almost trips over his own long legs running towards the lift. But he turns around half way, sprints towards Sungwoon and gives him a quick peck on the lips.

Sungwoon freezes.

So does Daniel. “Erm, this is ok, right?” He asks after a couple of silent beats. “I mean, sorry, should I have waited until like third or fourth dates or …”

“No, no.” Sungwoon shakes his head. The only regret he has is Daniel did it so quickly that he doesn’t even remember what or how it felt like. “I’ve been wanting you to do that for like weeks. You definitely don’t have to wait.”

“That’s good then.” Daniel grins, puts his hands back onto Sungwoon’s jaws and kisses him carefully and slowly this time, and Sungwoon does get the chance to remember what or how it feels like after all.

Peter and Rooney scratches the shit out of the inside of Daniel’s cat bag because they become a little too antsy if they were left alone for long and they were definitely left alone for a while before Daniel manages to take himself away from Sungwoon to run downstairs and get them. Sungwoon lifts some of Yongguk’s special treat tuna (sorry Rosy and Tolbi) and gives to Peter and Rooney to make up for stealing their owner so it is hopefully all good though.

But, unfortunately, the special tuna has made them coming back for more to Sungwoon, and it is so damn difficult to make out with someone when there are two cats trying to climb onto your lap.

Sungwoon did manage though because he is nothing if not persistent.

Sungwoon cries his heart out when Yongguk flies back with Tolbi and Rosy, although he only did it in front of Daniel, who gives him ice cream and tissues (for now; Sungwoon is pretty sure he was taking a sneaky video).

He had stopped his cat sitting business because he had finished his thesis and it is back to classes and finding jobs with no much time spent around the house.

But it is not like he is free of the cats. Mrs. Park still drops the old Jinhae off sometimes, but Sungwoon does it for free now because he loves the old ladies – the both of them.

Plus, Daniel got a new kitten because he thinks Rooney and Peter has gotten old enough to be calm and settled. He is very wrong and blinded by paternal love, but Sungwoon isn’t about to tell him that because Daniel is very adorable when he is adoring cats. But it also means that Sungwoon has to help him look after three fucking cats, which in itself is a full-time business.

“See, I am dating you only because you’ll help out with the cats.” Daniel says after they wrestled Rooney back into the bag and onto the car after her regular vaccinations. It was an uphill battle, one that they had won but not without scars.

“I figure.” Sungwoon snorts and opens the car door to get in but Daniel pulls at his hand from behind.

“Let me look at your scratches.”

“They are fine.” Sungwoon shows him the shallow scratches – gifts from Miss Rooney. “I’ve already washed them with soap. We still have Neosporin at your place, right?”

“Should have.” Daniel nods and examines at Sungwoon’s hand until he is satisfied even though the scratches are not even bleeding.

“Hey, remember when she scratched you for the first time and I had to put Neosporin on you?” Daniel asks out of the blue.

“Yeah.” Sungwoon nods.

“I think I liked you since back then.” Daniel grins.

“That was two days after we first met.” Sungwoon raises an eyebrow. “You are so easy.”

“Didn’t you say that you loved me from the moment you set your eyes on me?” Daniel rolls his eyes.

“No,” Sungwoon points at him and says with finality. “I never said that. Don’t misinterpret my words. I said I was horny and you were hot the first time I saw you. There was no love involved.”

Daniel laughs lightly. “Understood. What about now, then?”

“I don’t know.” Sungwoon shrugs. “Do you love me or your cats more?”

“Hey, that’s the one question we agree to not ask each other.” Daniel replies.

Sungwoon just shakes his head and laughs. Daniel gets a little too serious when it comes to cats and love. And Sungwoon. That’s a good thing, Sungwoon guesses.

“I know. I am kidding.” Sungwoon says and leans up to give the idiot a kiss. “You already know the answer to your question anyway.”

Daniel smiles at him and intertwines their fingers. “So, you know, I was thinking. Kai is still …”

“We are not naming the kitten after an EXO member, Daniel.” Sungwoon says, and Daniel pouts.

“Fine. The kitten , as I was saying, is too young to play with Peter and Rooney, so you know, I was thinking it might get lonely and …”

“No.”

“You don’t know what I was gonna say.” Daniel pouts.

“We are not adopting another one.” Sungwoon says firmly.

“C’mon.” Daniel whines. “If you love me ..”

“I will break up with you right here, Kang Daniel.” Sungwoon threatens and Daniel lets out a petulant sigh.

“You are so heartless.” Daniel says sulkily before going around the car to get into the driver’s seat.

Sungwoon just snorts to himself and climbs into the back seat. Rooney has been whining for some time now, probably still sore from the injection so he opens some dry treats and gives them to her for being a marginally good girl.

“Heartless,” Daniel repeats but he is turning his head around from the driver seat and staring at Sungwoon like Sungwoon is one of his cats, and while it is probably weird for other people, it means the epitome of adoration when it comes from Kang Daniel so Sungwoon just smiles to himself and leans across to kiss Daniel again.

Maybe he'll let Daniel adopt another one as a birthday present later.

It is so gross how much Sungwoon loves him.