When Hyunjin woke up, Felix lay tightly pressed against him and one of the kittens at his feet, the other between their heads. He felt better than the night before, at least the shock was no longer so overwhelming.

He stretched carefully to wake neither Felix nor the kittens and then crawled out of bed.

Everything in him demanded a shower, which was why he quietly tapped into the bathroom and place himself under the warm water. His muscles relaxed, even if the wound on his elbow hurt when water ran down on it.

Sighing, he leaned against the cool tiles and closed his eyes.

He would have to go to the company doctor before his shift started to report the work accident and have his arm examined.

Angry with himself, he shook his head. If he had only paid a little more attention, none of this would have happened. And above all, he wouldn't have triggered a panic attack in Chan.

Angry, he clenched a fist while his heart pounded painfully. "Damn!" he murmured and boxed against the wall. But since he had to work the next few days and couldn't afford to hurt himself even more, he left it at the one time and washed his hair instead.

When he got out of the shower a little later and had wrapped a towel around his hip and rubbed his hair dry, he heard pitiful meows in front of the door, which made him smile again. The little kittens seemed to be hungry and when he opened the door, the two rushed in.

With a gentle smile on his lips, he bent down, lifted up the balls of fur and carried them with him into the kitchen.

Even if it certainly meant some work to even have three new roommates now, all three made him somehow insanely happy.

Even before he turned on the coffee machine, he filled the bowls of the kittens and watched them rush greedily on their food.

Which almost made him forget all the misery in his life. But only until he supported himself with his elbow on the table and a burning pain twitched through his arm.

Quietly cursing, Hyunjin rubbed his arm. "Damn shit..."

"Ey... not in front of our children..."

Guilt-fully grinning, Hyunjin turned around and saw a sleepy Felix standing in the door frame. "Sorry, I didn't want to wake you..."

"It's okay. I had set an alarm clock," Felix murmured, yawned and sat down at the kitchen table.

"I was just about to make myself a coffee, do you want one too?" Even before Felix could answer, Hyunjin had already turned around again and finally turned on the coffee machine, which was his one and only pride in the apartment.

"Hmm, no thank you."

Grinning, Hyunjin took a strawberry milk out of the fridge and put it on the table in front of Felix, for which he received a grateful smile. "Much better."

"Do you take care of the crumbs? I have to go to work earlier." Hyunjin stirred impatiently in his coffee so that the caramel mixed faster with the coffee.

"Crumbs?" Felix stared at his best friend without understanding the slightest bit of what the older one could mean.

"Well, the kittens," Hyunjin giggled and lifted one of the two up to rub his little belly.

"Oh, of course. Minho will come over later anyway," Felix, smiling, drank his strawberry milk and looked happily at the older one. "I think he likes me a little more since I agreed to take care of the kittens."

Without comment, Hyunjin shook his head and drank a sip of coffee. It wasn't important that Felix could only do that because he had agreed. And it was also not important that Minho actually only came over to study. It was important that his best friend was happy for the first time in an eternity.

"Have fun studying," he just said, winked at Felix and disappeared with his coffee and the kitten in the bedroom to get dressed.

He knew that Felix would take care of the apartment and the kittens. Probably the younger one would even bake brownies or cookies just to make Minho happy.

Smiling, Hyunjin shook his head. The three had managed to push away his gloomy thoughts again. However, this didn't change the fact that he had to hurry to be at the company doctor in time.

Sighing, he dressed and tied his hair into a loose ponytail. A look in the mirror confirmed that he could go to work like this, which was why he left the bedroom in a hurry.

Felix came to meet him from the kitchen and pulled the elder into his arms without further ado. "Today will be a better day!"

With an unpleasant feeling in his stomach, Hyunjin nodded. "I hope so..." he murmured and pressed himself against his best friend for a moment. "Have a wonderful day, babe..."

Smiling, Felix looked up at him, stood on the tips of his toes and pressed a gentle kiss on the lips of the elder. "You too."

Just when Hyunjin had detached himself from Felix and wanted to open the front door, one of the kittens climbed up his pants, as if it didn't want to let him go.

Once again, a gentle smile appeared on Hyunjin's lips while he carefully detached the little one from his pants and pressed Felix into his arm. "Take good care of our children."

⍭〄⍭

Fortunately, the visit to the company doctor had been short and apart from a tetanus vaccination and painkillers, the older gentleman had only advised him not to strain his arm too much and then sent Hyunjin back to work.

Which had been quite right for the blonde, regardless of all the failures of recent times. Because he knew that if he only sat at home, he would only start to think too much and sink into self-reproaches.

What made him less happy was that Yuna was free and he was assigned to one of the other care takers. But Jin was nice and actually they got along well.

The older one had been working here for quite a while and knew a lot of anecdotes to pass the time.

Because although the station was full, there was little to do. Due to the fact that they worked in the intermediate shift, most residents were now in their individual therapy sessions and only a few in their rooms.

To Hyunjin's delight, Jeongin had joined the group that worked in the garden in the morning and Jin had generously allowed him to go into the garden.

"Hey Innie."

"Hyunjin," smiling, the younger one turned around and rubbed the sweat from his forehead with the glove, leaving a trace of earth on his nose and forehead.

Giggling, Hyunjin handed the younger one a tissue. "You've got dirt on your nose by the way... did you know?"

Jeongin's eyes grew big as he tried to wipe the dirt off his face. "Are you a Harry Potter fan?"

Nodding, Hyunjin knelt down next to the younger one and plucked weeds from the dark, cool earth.

"Uh a dream comes true... finally a reasonable person in this dump," grinning, he put a hand on his forehead and pretended to lose consciousness.

For quite a while, the two squatted next to each other and plucked weeds from the ground while talking about movies.

"You... may I ask you something..." Hyunjin asked at some point when he had finally gathered enough courage.

"Sure..."

"Have you seen Chan today?"

"Chan?" Jeongin looked thoughtfully at the elder.

"Room 0325..."

Jeongin shook his head. "No, I don't think so. And I only know who you mean, because our rooms are in the same hallway. He's not out often..."

The stitches in Hyunjin's heart were hard to bear. He just wanted Chan to get better. "I know... I..." he exhaled deeply and did something he knew it might be better to don't do it. "I think he needs a friend..."

Now the younger one looked rather surprised and smiled cautiously. "Do you think... I should make friends with him...?"

"Honestly, Innie...? I don't know if anyone could manage to make friends with him... But you could both use a friend. You could just try..."

Jeongin nodded hesitantly. "True..."

Hyunjin was just about to say something when he was called back into the building by Jin.

⍭〄⍭

When Chan woke up, he felt like he was run over by something. His back and shoulders hurt and somehow it was difficult for him to open his eyes.

A look at the clock on the wall showed him that it was almost time for lunch and he immediately wondered why they had let him sleep. Because he knew very well that he had another annoying hour of individual therapy on the plan.

Yawning, he dragged himself out of bed, which made the book he had read for half the night fall on the floor.

Sighing, he picked it up and put it on the bedside table. It was already a miracle that he was allowed to take the book with him. If he broke it now, they would certainly handle him strictly again.

Only now did he realize that he was actually hungry. But his body hurt so much that he quickly went into the warm shower, hoping that his cramped muscles would at least loosen a little.

His second way led to the infirmary to have his bandages changed, because he knew that accurate records were also made of this.

"Well, you already look much better today," said the nurse with a smile while wrapping fresh, blossom-white bandages around Chan's arms.

"Thank you..." he muttered, but made himself disappear as soon as possible and go to lunch.

Just when he wanted to turn into the dining room, a laugh from an adjacent hallway caused him to stop abruptly.

His heart beat faster and he was sure that sweat was gathering on his hands, even if he couldn't quite understand why he reacted like that.

The next moment, Hyunjin came around the corner with another caregiver, whom Chan hadn't yet seen that often. And somehow the sight annoyed him, even if he related the feeling to Hyunjin at the first moment.

But when the blonde looked up and looked directly into his eyes, Chan's heart fluttered like a imprisoned hummingbird and he blushed.

"Hi Hyunjin..." he murmured softly and a smile sneaked onto his lips. He just couldn't do anything about it. Even if a part of his brain panicked when he saw the younger one, the larger part reacted almost joyfully and somehow shyly.

"Hello Chan..." Uncertainly, Hyunjin smiled at the elder and didn't even notice that Jin was watching them both with a grin.

"If you still want to have lunch, Chan, you should hurry," Jin finally said, with a mischievous grin on his lips.

Chan nodded and looked like a poured poodle. He suppressed a sigh and turned around, causing him to no longer notice how Hyunjin rammed his elbow into the older care taker's ribs.

Giggling, Jin took the younger one to the dining room, where Chan was already standing at the food distribution.

"What was that supposed to be?"

"I just wanted Chan to get something to eat... not that you have to feed him again with browni-," Jin didn't get any further. Hyunjin had pressed a hand on his mouth.

"That is nobody's business ," Hyunjin hissed and moved into an observation spot a little away from the older.

With his teeth clenched, he pondered how Jin could knew about it. Chan would hardly have talked to anyone about it and Hyunjin had been so sure that no one had seen him.

Sighing, he shook his head and let his gaze wander over the residents when a very specific resident caught his attention by running into the dining room panting.

Jeongin still had slightly wet hair, as if he had just showered. He ran to the food distribution and grinned when he saw Hyunjin.

But instead of going in Hyunjin's direction, he shyly pulled up his shoulders and headed for the table where Chan was sitting.

"May I sit down?" Hyunjin heard him ask quietly.

Chan looked up annoyed, but when he saw the younger one, something changed in his gaze. "If you really need to..."

Satisfied grinning, Hyunjin bit his lower lip. It almost couldn't have worked out better.

꧁⟢ ⍭〄⍭ ⟣꧂