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Jeongguk was mistaken if he thought sleeping in was one of the best feelings. Given the fact that he's been living with the red panda for the past few days, Jeongguk considers cuddling with the furry animal to be one of his favourite feelings. Not to mention how it feels to wake up knowing that someone else is just as eager to see him and spend time with him.

Jeongguk dreads the thought that he'll soon have to go to practice with the band again, meaning he'll have to leave Min here. Until now, Min always made some kind of noise when Jeongguk went out the door. Now that he has bamboo in the living room and a climbing parkour, Jeongguk hopes it will get better, whereas it may have just been the fear of boredom. He tells himself that, although he has a premonition that this is not why Min makes noises when he leaves the penthouse.

Tired, Jeongguk yawns into the red fur tickling his face, his sleeved arm, decorated with tattoes wrapped around the red panda curled up beside him. A small whimper emits from the little one and makes him open his eyes, blinking rapidly at the bright light shining through his windows and blinding him.

"You do know I didn't build you a nest for nothing, right?" Jeongguk murmurs into the red fur, running his thumb gently over Min's dark brown paw. His eyes wander down to the abondened nest and then nack over the figure of Min's bodyframe. "But I can't complain if you want to lie this close to me voluntarily."

Jeongguk slowly straightens up and stretches, strands of his wavy black perm fall into his eyes and another yawn slips past his lips before he looks at the time on his phone. It's barely 7 am on the weekend and I'm already awake.

The coldness of the ground under his feet, makes him hiss softly. It's almost like feeling snow under his feet in winter. Jeongguk glimpses at Min, who continues to sleep peacefully, snoring softly on the side. Jeongguk runs one of his hands over his face to rub away the tiredness and smacks his dry lips. The urge to drink something overcomes him. His dry mouth thirsts for water and so he gets up, dressed in a big t-shirt and some pyjama pants and walks to the kitchen, opening the fridge.

Jeongguk takes a bottle of orange juice from the fridge and pours himself a glass, drinks it and puts the bottle back. With a wondering expression on his face, he looks in the fridge, not sure what to make for breakfast. Maybe some porridge or fried rice? He licks his lip with relish.

He is not the best cook, but he manages to make standard dishes. There are days, however, when he doesn't feel like cooking at all and prefers to order the delivery service. But not today. He still has some kimchi left over from yesterday and he can use it for a dish in the evening. For breakfast, he decides to make fried rice.

While the rice is cooking, he prepares the rest of the ingredients before he starts on Min's breakfast, getting Bamboos from the living room ready and making a fruit salad. Jeongguk has somehow got used to not only making breakfast for himself. It was unusual at first, but now it's like he's in a routine and he enjoys taking care of the little one. He always makes sure to put in enough food, and to ask him if he wants some more by pushing a banana or an apple to him for example.

When Min joins him in the kitchen, they eat breakfast together surrounded by a pleasant atmosphere. Jeongguk has the feeling that there is something new to learn every day, or that he discovers and experiences something new about Min every day. Just like yesterday when Min got his tail dirty after they were on the roof terrace, Jeongguk didn't think about it and wanted to clean up the mess with good intention until Min hissed at him. Apparently he is sensitive when it comes to his tail. Min had never hissed at him before but it was a sign to him that he needs to be more careful and get to know Min more.

“Anything you want to do today, little one? I looked up some private green spaces which would allow us to go out together. Seeing you stuck in here breaks my heart. I wish I would have a garden, but you see neither do I have the time for that or I am interested in gard-”

The doorbell chimes.

Jeongguk freezes. His fingers tighten around the wet plate in the sink and he looks up, shock flashes over his facial features. He gazes over to Min on the counter, eyes flickering back and forth between his. There’s no way that it would be a package delivery. It would be handed to the receptionist on the ground floor and they would notify him.

He is thinking about what to do next when the doorbell rings again. Wait a minute... shouldn't the receptionist downstairs let him know when he has a visitor too? Unless-

“Jeongguk? Are you there?”

Shit. He recognises that voice all too well.

Jeongguk panics innerly and finishes washing the dishes in record time, then walks to the door to let his bandmates in. Even though a slight smile plays across his lips at seeing them, it completely looks different inside him. How could he forget that they were coming over this weekend? 

“Let me get dressed,” he says and looks down at the clothes he’s still wearing from sleeping. It’s not like he’s embarrassed that they can see him in these clothes. They had sleepovers before. It’s rather that he feels he could have dressed better if he had remembered them coming over.

Jeongguk shakes his head, stopping his thoughts from wandering too far when Min makes a sound in the kitchen and reminds him that he is not alone here.

He is quick to close the door behind his bandmates and mumbles quickly, “I’ll get you guys something to drink when I come back. Make yourself at home.”

With quick steps, Jeongguk strides into the kitchen and grabs Min from the counter, whereupon the red panda makes a squeaking sound. "Shh... I forgot my friends were coming over." He walks with Min in his arms into his bedroom where he puts him on the bed, kneeling then in front of it.

"Sorry for grabbing you like that." Jeongguk apologises and lets his head hang down between his arms. "I was just surprised by their visit. I totally forgot that they were coming by and it made me panic because I haven't told them about you. Even though they are my bandmates, they are my closest friends. I trust them, but telling them about you is still scary. Is it too much to ask you to stay here for now?" 

Not really knowing what to do or say more, Jeongguk's lips form into a thin line, hoping Min is okay with it when there's not really a reaction from him. And so, straightening his back, Jeongguk rolls his shoulders to relax his tense muscles and stands up, heading for the wardrobe. 

Jeongguk shrugs off his pyjamas and puts on something comfortable. The fact that Min might be watching him while he changes his clothes is not on his mind, and even if it were, he would not be bothered by it. Min is not a human and Jeongguk has nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed of.

When he's done, he runs his fingers along his black jumper to smooth out the wrinkles and looks down at himself. The black jeans hug his toned thighs, which he got from walking to the gym regularly. He is glad to have one in the house that is accessible to everyone living there. There he has no problems with privacy or it being too crowded to work out. Jeongguk can be just himself.

His eyes briefly wander over the made-up bed where Min is sitting with his tail wrapped around him, looking back at him with his small eyes. The drummer sighs slightly and strides towards the little creature, stroking its head and then leaves the bedroom with an apologetic but gentle expression on his face. He pulls the door slightly close, however, does not close it completely.

In the kitchen, he takes two glasses from the cupboard, fills them with water and places them on the oak-coloured coffee table in the living room for his friends, who are sitting on the spacious sofa. Taking a seat on the arm rest, a jittery feeling surges through him as he glimpses at Youngjin and Minsu, their eyes directed to the wooden parkour hanging from the ceiling.

"Jeongguk, what fancy thing did you build in your living room? It wasn't there the last time we visited..." Jeongguk nibbles his lip nervously as soon as both of their eyes are on him. Sure, he didn't have to let it get this far by saying he didn't have time today, but these are his friends and he trusts both of them. The truth would come out eventually anyway.

“Oh… you know…”

"No, we don't know...explain," Minsu says, averting his gaze from the parkour and looking at Jeongguk with mixed feelings. Jeongguk sees curiosity, but also expectations gleaming in his friend's eyes. Jeongguk has to swallow hard as Youngjin now focuses on him too and he has to admit to himself that this makes him quite nervous. Such a scenario had not yet crossed his mind, with which he could have prepared himself for a conversation like this.

"Hmm, well... There is something I need to tell you, but please listen to me properly before you say anything. It might sound a little crazy, but I trust you, so-"

Clang.

The sound of glass shattering into a thousand pieces resounds through the kitchen, making Jeongguk flinch. His widened-eyes, radiating panic, but focus on his hands in his lap, fumbling with the hem of his t-shirt. He knows exactly that this wasn't a glass falling just like that from the kitchen island.

An awkward smile makes its way onto his face as he looks into the startled faces of his friends, while Youngjin raises an eyebrow, the lines between Minsu's eyebrows deepen. Sideways, he points his hand towards the kitchen and then stands up, ignoring the formal question marks written on their faces.

"I'm going to take a quick look and see what's broken."

As he walks to the kitchen, he worries about how to admonish Min and stop him from doing it again. Then it occurs to him: hadn't he closed the door?

When he gets to the kitchen, a glass is lying on the floor, broken into shards. But there is no apparent trace of Min. His gaze darts around, head tilting with a frown, until it lands on the broken glass parts on the floor. Grabbing the hand brush, he squats in front of the piles of broken glass and carefully removes them. Later, he prefers to go over it again with a hoover.

Turning towards the bin, he misses completely the dark small shadow in the hallway moving towards the living room. Just as he closes the lid of the bin again, he hears them both mumbling something and stuttering. He doesn't know what they are saying until Minsu's voice is loud enough for him to understand.

"Jeongguk what- Jeongguk why's there a red panda?"

"Hm?" he hums more out of habit than that he didn't understand, body comes to a halt and he wets his lips. There is a very small chance that he misunderstood Minsu. Min was in the kitchen earlier and threw down a glass. Min surely isn’t going to be-

Goddamnit.

He feels slightly dizzy and his body sways at the quick movement he walks to the living room. A knot forms deep in Jeongguk's stomach as panic rises in him. Yes, he trusts his friends, but that doesn't mean he knows how they will react. Various scenes play through his mind until he puts his focus on the scene in front of him in the living room. As Jeongguk stands still to look at the scene unfolding in front of him, he notices how Youngjin must have tied his blond hair into a small pony tail after they sat down. 

Minsu and Youngjin look as if they've seen a ghost, both their faces drained of colour, sitting tensed on one end of the sofa and shooting glances at each other with Min sitting at the opposite end of the sofa. While Min looks more curious rather than unbothered by them, the bandmates wear a shocked expression, eyes widened and lips parted. In any other situation Jeongguk might have chuckled. But, seeing his friends like this just reminds him of Min's and his first encounter. For that reason, he understands their way of reacting.

Before he can concoct a proper sentence in his head, however, Min climbs off the sofa and up his trousers until he is proudly holding onto his shoulder, causing the other two men to gasp as they are too stunned to speak. Jeongguk clears his throat awkwardly and wrinkles his nose, eyes falling to the little fellow and slmost instantly the panic simmers down. He raises his tattooed arm upwards and brushes one of his fingers over Min's orange fur, briefly blending out his friends’ tense figures in the background.

"Min, didn't I ask you to stay in the other room? I wanted to avoid exactly this kind of thing." He sighs and licks his dry lips. He can't suppress a groan as Min mimics him. "You just can't help but be cheeky and a little troublemaker, can you? I should scold you for the glass you threw to the floor in the kitchen and not pet you...yet, here I am. Maybe I'll just have to scold you later."

He whispers the last sentence in a serious voice close to Min's ear, afraid that his friends might hear. Somehow he can't bring himself to scold Min in front of his friends.

Carefully, Jeongguk sets Min down from his shoulder on the ladder, which the red panda climbs up like proud as a cat to the parcour Jeongguk has built for him. This is like a different kind of species. Min is so much more different than what he has read on the internet so far. Almost the complete opposite of how red pandas are. It doesn't bother him the slightest though. Observing Min, Jeongguk can't help but shake his head and grin, unable to avert his eyes.

"I guess... I have a lot of explaining to do, huh?"