“Tobi, please calm down and cooperate with me,” Yeonjun pleaded as he looked at the golden retriever puppy that was furiously pulling him towards the direction of the Han river.
It was one of those rare days where the sun was out, skies were clear, and a slight breeze from the river was quite refreshing. It was also Yeonjun’s day off. He didn’t need to report to the HQ nor did he have a shift at the flower shop. Thus, he took his overexcited puppy out for a walk. The arachne let himself be pulled by the golden retriever to the direction that he wanted, sniffing at the grass and barking at the birds that were nearby.
Yeonjun could only smile and shake his head. Sometimes he wondered why he adopted Tobi out of all the dogs in the shelter. Looking back on it, it was a very random decision. One he clearly didn’t think through. After all, he was living alone in a dilapidated studio apartment. He works several jobs just to pay off the debts of his mother. He clearly didn’t have the means to care for the puppy. Then Tobi met the cuddle pile. It was that moment when Taeyong was playing with golden retriever, that Yeonjun realized why he felt the sudden need to adopt Tobi.
Tobi reminded him of Taeyong.
“Tobi, stop scaring the birds,” Yeonjun laughed.
As he watched Tobi play some more, his phone suddenly chimed. Still holding on to Tobi’s leash, Yeonjun took his phone out to read the text.
[Yongie Bear: hyung, i need help. jeongin is missing.]
“Oh no,” was all the arachne muttered before picking his puppy up and running back to his apartment. “Sorry for cutting our trip short Tobi but Yongie needs help.” Yeonjun greeted the old couple that ran the tteokbokki stand underneath his apartment. They usually dogsit for him while he was at work and were happy to take care of Tobi for him. Leaving Tobi’s snacks, food, and toys to them, he quickly ran off again.
Yeonjun biked as fast as he could towards Taeyong’s place. He knew how much the cat meant to the mermaid and he was sure that his dongsaeng was probably filled with worry over his missing cat. Yeonjun hated seeing the people closes to this heart, sad or suffering. He was determined to find Taeyong’s cat even if it takes the whole day. “Taeyongie!” Yeonjun greeted, wrapping the younger man in a hug. “Where did you last see Jeongin?” Still holding Tae in his arms, he moved them to sit first. “Don’t worry. I promise that we will find him, okay?”
for all his faults, taeyong thought he made a decently responsible adult. he paid rent, showed up to work on time, and ate three square meals a day. in his opinion, those were all the hallmarks of a responsible adult. however, despite his responsible adulting and his unconditional love for the chubby cat he found by a dumpster last year, jeongin the cat loved the wander off. taeyong had no idea how the cat consistently left his apartment or where he went on his misadventures.
he wish he were part cat rather than part fish. at least then, when he held jeongin up and stared into his dark eyes, he could probably understand the grumpy meow he always got in response to asking why he kept running away.
he was lucky to live on the first floor, if only because of the gargantuan size of the bathtub he brought to be able to spread his finds in. he didn’t want to imagine jeongin jumping from a fifth floor apartment. cats always landed on their feet but that was dangerous! while he knew his adorable cat was more intelligent than most people gave cats credit for, taeyong still couldn’t help the unsettled worry he felt whenever he realized he couldn’t find jeongin in the apartment.
the cat was in the apartment when he got up this morning. he remembered giving jeongin a good morning kiss and cuddle before making breakfast. however, he couldn’t remember the last time he saw him since then, or the last place he saw him. he hoped to find the cat in a nest of clothes in his closet, or hidden underneath his bed. neither of his neighbors had seen the cat either, so tae turned to the only person he could think of.
yeonjun was the most responsible of taeyong’s friends, and never failed to help the young mermaid out of a bind since he joined venor and managed to work his way into the arachne’s good graces. he waited for the arachne to respond to his text, frantically searching through his apartment once more in hopes of finding the cat.
when the arachne finally arrived, tae hugged him tightly, burying his face in his shoulder. even with the worry of losing jeongin, yeonjun’s presence managed to calm taeyong down. it grounded him, made his anxious nerves settle just a little bit. “i-i don’t remember.” he frowned, trying to piece together his morning. “i think in the kitchen? i was making some food and he kept bumping into my legs.” what if jeongin was hungry? he knew many people fed stray cats they found on the streets, but jeongin was a picky eater! what if he was hungry because no one had the food he liked. “hyung, i don’t know how he got out.”
