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Meow.
Oh?
Jeonghan walked out of the bathroom, following the tiny mewl, confused. Had he left his television on?
But what met him was the tiniest of cats seated in the middle of his living room, just a white tiny thing with a grey spot on its back and ears round and cute.
It meowed again, a confused little sound and eyes trained on the third occupant in his room.
“Oh, Bear. You big coward.”
Jeonghan muffled a laugh, smiling fondly at the Saint Bernard pressed against the wall, shivering and staring at the tiny kitten. Such a big dog, but Bear was scared of his own shadow even on his best days. “It’s just a tiny baby, Bear. You’ll be okay.” He carefully walked towards the cat, hoping it wasn’t skittish, but the kitten just looked towards him and meowed again, didn’t even flinch as he slowly bent down and gathered the small thing in his arms.
It immediately cuddled against him, purring loudly.
“And where did you come from, cutie?”
The cat meowed again.
“Oh, you’re a talkative one,” Jeonghan giggled and looked towards his poor dog. “See, Bear, it's harmless.”
Bear just gave him a dubious look, still pressed against the wall and shaking slightly. Jeonghan wanted to go calm his big baby down, but first he had to find out where this little cat came from.
Ah.
“So that’s where, huh.”
His apartment door was wide open, Jeonghan had rushed inside because he had badly needed too pee and must have accidentally left the door open.
“Now we just gotta find out who owns you, hmm?”
The little kitten mewled and purred even louder, butting its head against his chest where it rested.
Cute.
An affectionate little thing.
“Pearl! There you are!”
Two men ran into his apartment and Jeonghan instinctively held the kitten out, letting a pretty man with a natural curl to his lips take the cat from him. The other man pressed close, both pairs of eyes on the small cat. “You little gremlin, you can’t just run away like that!” The man spoke in a soft tone, nuzzling the cat.
Jeonghan licked his lips, shamelessly admiring the sexy, buff men before him, while his heart constricted at how cute their obvious adoration for their cat was.
He knew the couple who had moved in recently were hot, but he didn’t know they had the cutest of cats as a pet. Made them more attractive in his eyes. Like yeah, they’re taken, but it’s okay to look a little, right?
The man who wasn’t holding Pearl finally seemed to realise where they were, a pretty flush settling on his cheek. “Uh, sorry for bursting in here.”
“It’s okay,” Jeonghan assured. “I get you were worried.”
“Hope she didn’t cause trouble?” The man with the curled lips stared at him with sharp eyes, the cat pressed against his cheek.
“Nope, an absolute angel,” he cast a glance at Bear, who finally had stopped shaking, but looked at the strangers with wary eyes. “Scared my puppy though, but that’s on him for being a coward.”
"Oh no,” the man with plump lips and round doe eyes looked at the dog. “Poor thing, I’m sorry for inconveniencing you and your puppy.”
“Told you, it’s fine,” Jeonghan smiled warmly. “Bear baby, come here.” The dog hesitated, but listened well and pressed up against Jeonghan’s legs, seeking affection and security while he kept his eyes on the the strangers and the tiny sleepy cat. “See, he’s fine. He’s just a little dramatic,” Jeonghan gently pet the top of the brown haired dog, scratching behind a fluffy ear
“Can I pet him?” The plump lipped man asked.
“Of course, he’s a coward but also loves anyone who gives him scratches.”
That was all the man needed to know before he sat down and began petting and scratching the dog, making Bear’s tail wag as he fell on the floor, immediately baring his stomach for more scratches.
How his dog could both be a coward and too trusting of strangers was such a fascinating contradiction.
“Such a pretty dog, huh?” The man murmured with affection.
“I think we lost him,” the man holding the cat said, chuckling softly. He adjusted the cat, cradling it, the cat’s head sleepily resting on a veiny arm. “I’m Joshua,” he extended his free hand. A big, sexy hand with long, thick fingers. Fuck. Jeonghan accepted it, stomach curling at how small his own hand looked in comparison. “We moved here a few days ago.”
“I’m Jeonghan,” he smiled softly. “Welcome to the apartment building I guess.”
“Thanks,” Joshua glanced down at the man cuddling with the excited dog. “That’s my boyfriend Seungcheol. He loves dogs, wanted us to have one, but then we ended up with little Pearl here after we found her in a dumpster a few months back.”
What bastard could be cruel to abandon such a sweet kitten? Jeonghan’s heart sank and he felt the wish to press his face into the soft fur.
“Bear is also a rescue,” Jeonghan shared. “Nothing dramatic, just a family who didn’t want him when he got too big for them.”
“Is he a Saint Bernard?”
“Yup.”
“He’s cute,” Joshua complimented, smiling sweetly before he looked down at his boyfriend. “Cheol, we should get going. We still have stuff to unpack and we need to feed Pearl her dinner.”
“Huh,” Seungcheol looked up, hands stilling in the fur. “Oh right.” He gave the dog a final pat. “Next time, champ. I’ll give you all the cuddles.” He got up, wiping his hands on his pants to get rid of the hairs that probably got onto his hand. “If your dog ever needs a walking partner, me and Shua go running on the weekends. He could tag along,” Seungcheol seemed excited at the prospect, it was clear this man had dreamt of being a dog owner. “You too of course!" He reddened, looking embarrassed. "We can all go running together.”
Jeonghan laughed.. “I don’t like running, but Bear would love too. Maybe I could keep your little Pearl company in return?”
Joshua’s lips curled cutely. “That would be perfect, we haven’t been able to go hiking as she can’t be alone for too long while she’s still so small. Would Bear be fine with hours of hiking?”
Honestly, ever since Jeonghan had adopted Bear, he had felt a little guilty as he hadn’t been able to take him out on long, tiring nature walks, although he made sure Bear stayed in shape. This gorgeous, and apparently extremely physically fit, couple would surely be able to tire out Bear in the way he deserves. His baby deserved to play in nature.
And in return he can laze around with the cute little kitten? A win win.
“Definitely. He’s a coward though, so I need you to have patience if he gets spooked.”
“No problem! My family dog is the same, we’ll be fine,” Seungcheol was nearly glowing and if this man had a tail, it would be wagging as excitedly as Bear's.
“Let’s exchange numbers, Jeonghan-ssi,” Joshua spoke softly. “We have to go back and finish our chores, but we are planning on going on a forest run tomorrow morning,
so I’ll text you the time and if Bear wants to come along you just bring him to our apartment.”
“Sounds good,” Jeonghan replied. He followed them out of the door as soon as numbers had been exchanged, Bear trailing after them and pressing against Jeonghan’s legs. “Good luck with the unpacking.”
“Thank you,” the couple said at the same time, both smiling kindly and saying good bye as Jeonghan closed the door.
With a quiet laugh to himself he dropped down on the couch, making room for Bear to half lie on his lap. “Seems you got yourself some new friends, baby.”
Bear’s tail was thumping against the couch.
Thinking about it, maybe Bear wasn’t the only one who trusted strangers too easily, but Jeonghan refused to believe that anyone who adored their cat this much could be bad people. The kitten looked happy, healthy, and safe. Jeonghan was sure his baby boy would be safe in their hands as well.
His heart though.
Yeah, Jeonghan’s heart was hammering as he thought about the pretty couple and he had a feeling there was no way his heart would be safe being around them.
Oh well, that’s a problem for the future him.
Today he just wanted to cuddle his dog and giggle into the soft fur as he thought about buff sexy men being cute cat dads.