Black Cat //Ateez

°8°

Hongjoong watched as the moon illuminated the night sky, small stars twinkling.

He had just put San to bed. The small boy was sleeping soundly, hugging his dog tightly.

The older smiled sadly at the sight, and placing a soft kiss on the boy's head, he exited the house. His mind was filled with thoughts, and he didn't know what he should do.

He didn't went far from the house, wanting to be able to hear what would happen. He found a tree, close by, and went and sat down.

He enjoyed the few moments of silence. Everything seemed peaceful.

He heard rustling of leaves from beside him, and turned to look at the black cat. He was watching him warily, his doey eyes getting bigger.

Hongjoong let out a sigh. What was he supposed to do now. He stayed quiet and watched as the cat got closer, almost sitting beside him.

"When you see Seonghwa, tell him that I'm grateful for what he did"

At first he was mad at the witch. He didn't know why, he just did. He felt so protective that moment and he wasn't thinking straight.

But this time, he was the one irresponsible for his brother. He was the one that let him wandering around. He was the one to blame and noone else.

The cat meowed at his words, moving a little closer again. Hongjoong watched amazed the creature, it was like he had forgotten that he had to take the key from his collar.

Hongjoong seeing the cat sitting peacefully close to him, did a brave move to touch it. The cat backed away, but only a little, and eventually let the boy pet softly its fur.

Hongjoong smiled at that. The cat was slowly warming up to him. Maybe with this rate, it would be easier to take the key.

The fur of the animal felt soft under his fingertips, getting lost in his movements, he didn't want to stop. A calm aura was engulfing him, and he was even more relaxed. The cat was doing something to him.

~~~~~

The sun had just started to become visible behind the trees, when Hongjoong started waking up. The sun rays went directly to his eyes, making his groan due to annoyance.

The first thing he noticed was the hard soil underneath him. His back and neck were in pain, due to the weird position he was sleeping.

But wait, had he actually slept outside, on the ground? No wonder he was cold and in pain.

He rubbed his eyes, getting the sleep away. Small yawns left his mouth, and started standing up to get inside the house.

He searched for a moment to see if the cat was around, but he found no trace of it. Sighing softly, he went to check on his brothers.

They both were sleeping, each in his room. San was cuddled up on his blankets, while Jongho seemed to have thrown them away.

Going to Jongho's room, he saw that the boy was sweaty, his clothes drenched. Maybe the fever had gone down.

He started shaking him, making him wake up after some time.

"Good morning"

"Morning Hongjoong. What happened?"

"You need to take a bath. Your fever went down and you're sweaty. I'll go prepare the water, just take off your clothes OK?" He said quietly, kissing his forehead.

Jongho hummed weakly and with the help of his brother, he stood up.

Hongjoong didn't waste time, and went to retrieve water from outside. Walking again in the cellar, he took with him a big basin they had, which was used for taking baths.