Full House

Chapter 1

Y/N POV

Another uneventful day.
I guess I couldn't complain too much - my job was stable, the pay was pretty decent, and the work wasn't awful. I had come to accept that this was a good job because of those reasons. Too many people were stuck in jobs that they truly hated, that sucked the life out of them. This one was not too bad, the people were lovely, and the work itself was pretty easy.

The pay was decent too, it wasn't a lavish paycheck by any means, but it was enough that enabled me to live on my own. I had always wanted to move out of home and live on my own. Living with friends sounded like a lot of fun, but I also wanted to spend at least a few years being independent.

"Wanna get dinner?" a chirpy voice asked.

I turned to my coworker Lisa, trying to remember if I had anything else on tonight. Thursday nights weren't usually super busy for me.

"Sure!" I replied, after deciding there was nothing important stopping me from going.

"Let's go to that new BBQ place near the train station, I heard it's really good" she suggested, and I nodded in response.

"Aww can I come too?"

I looked at the source of the voice, Lucas, and jokingly scoffed.

"No. Girl's night" Lisa bluntly replied, and Lucas dramatically held his chest as if he'd been stabbed.

We started packing up our desk, logging off and turning off the desk phones. Another thing I like about this place - overtime was not a common occurrence. No pressure to stay late, to keep working after hours.

We slowly started making our way to the BBQ place, walking slowly and enjoying the scenery, chatting about whatever had come up during the day. The city was busy and bustling this time of day. It was a Thursday evening and many people had just finished work, like us, and were making their way home, or to a store, or going out somewhere to eat. I liked when the city was busy like this and full of life.

After a few more minutes of walking, a familiar face came into view.

"Hi Jin!" I waved to him, coming up closer to have a quick chat.

"Hey! Y/N!" he replied with a big smile.

Jin has been busking around the city for a while now. I would see him most days while I was walking in to work, and sometimes as I was leaving as well. I honestly wasn't sure about his situation, and I was scared to ask. He is always very friendly, and has a big smile, and many people have become used to seeing him around. I wasn't sure about his living situation, but his clothes always seemed to be in good shape so surely things couldn't be too rough for him.

The only thing that concerned me was that he was out busking almost every day, he had a small guitar that he would bring out and play while singing, sometimes being out the entire day. Did this mean he didn't have a regular job? Was this his only source of income? Maybe he was looking for a job, and in the meantime needed some kind of way to make money? I wasn't sure, but I didn't want to sound rude by asking.

"Good day today?" I asked, taking a quick glance at his money box, feeling slightly relieved seeing that there was a decent amount in there.

"Today was pretty good, I think I could treat myself to a nice bottle of Dom Perignon!"

I chuckled at his joke. No matter what situation he was in, it made me feel better that he could at least be light hearted and joke around. Surely that meant that things couldn't be that bad for him, right?

"Go home soon ok? It's going to start getting dark" I lightly scolded.

His smile faltered for a split second, "Aww you care about me! But don't worry, I'm packing up soon."

We said our goodbyes and Lisa and I continued on our way to the restaurant. Luckily there was a table available for us and we immediately started scouring the menu. We settled on a regular beef platter with side dishes - I loved KBBQ, it made me feel less lazy about eating out because technically I was still cooking my own food.

"Do you talk to that guy a lot?" Lisa suddenly asked, bringing up our meeting with Jin.

"I like to say hi whenever I see him, he's really nice and he's a good singer"

"Mhmm" she replied with a smirk. "So you're telling me that you're not just trying to talk to him because he's good looking?"

I feigned shock, hand over my heart as if I had been betrayed.

"Of course not! I'm not as shallow as you" I shot back at her with a grin.

It was her turn to act shocked now, and we giggled at each other.

The reminder of Jin, however, had made me remember the look on his face when I had told him to go home. His smile fading for just a moment, before he plastered it back on again. I felt bad. What if he didn't have a home? What if he was living out of a motel, or couch surfing? And I had just been insensitive and reminded him of that? What if he didn't even have a roof over his head? My thoughts were becoming more and more depressing until they were interrupted by the waiter bringing our food over.

He placed the tray of raw meat on our table as well as some side dishes and Lisa grabbed the pair of tongs, starting to place some of the meat slices on the hot grill.

"Hey I was thinking... " she started.

"Uh oh, this can't be good." I interrupted.

"Hey!" she pouted, and I couldn't help but chuckle.

"I was thinking about getting a pet, maybe a cat or something. I'm lonely in my apartment and it would be nice to have someone to come home to"

I responded with an "Oh" as I pushed the meat around on the bbq.

"Are you listening to me??" Lisa waved her chopsticks in front of my face.

"Haha yes, I was just distracted by the delicious looking food in front of us" I said as I gestured to the meat that was almost done cooking.

"Well, what are you doing tomorrow after work? Would you come with me to the shelter to have a look around?" she asked.

I kept pushing the meat around, making thinking noises as I tried to remember if I had any plans.

"I think I'm free... I'm pretty sure" I quickly pulled out my phone to check my calendar. "Yep I'm free" I confirmed.

"Yay! I'll bring my car to work tomorrow then, and I can drive us to the shelter and home after work"

We finalised our plan for tomorrow afternoon as we started eating the selection of meats. I guess the rumours were true, this place was really good. A blur of orange caught my attention and I looked up to see a fluffy orange tail. It belonged to a hybrid, I assumed a fox, who looked very excited to be here. He was gripping his person's arm, bouncing slightly on his feet. I saw them talk to a waiter and then get led to a table.

"Do you reckon you'd get a hybrid, or just a regular animal?" I voiced my thoughts as I nodded towards the cute pair.

Lisa looked towards the hybrid and awed.

"I think a hybrid would be nice, you'd get a cute pet, but also a person to talk to. But obviously they'd end up being more expensive" she started. "You have to buy them clothes, they eat more food, you need to buy things to entertain them" listing things off on her fingers.

"True, but you make more than me, you could afford a hybrid easy"

"Yeah, I probably could," she agreed, "Well we'll just have to see what we find tomorrow!"

We will see indeed, I thought to myself, as we continued our dinner date.