25. Cat person (1/4)
Title: Cat person
For: neitoperhonen
Rating: NC-17
Other pairings: Suho/D.O
Warnings: Swearing, unprotected sex, unbeta’d
Summary: Jongdae is a veteranian working in an animals shelter. Minseok is cat that was found on street. Jongdae takes him home to find out the cat turns to a man during nights.
"Hey there beautiful," Jongdae says while scratching the small golden retriever's scalp. He secretly named the dog 'Kimchi' but Yixing is around. Jongdae knows that he is working in a shelter and he shouldn't give the animals names because they can always get adopted and it will just make it hard for them to learn the names that their actual owners pick for them. Yixing gave enough interventions about that. But still Jongdae can't help it. It just feels so stupid to call the animals "hey you" all the time.
Hi there pretty!
Hey handsome!
Hey... Uhm... Kitty?
Hey... You.
Jongdae can't keep finding that stuff forever. Even he is not that creative.
"Jongdae, let's go. It's getting late and i really want to eat something," Yixing says while yawning. He slowly walks to the hanger to get his coat and backpack. He looks annoyed that Jongdae is still here spending time in the halls doing nothing when it is this late and their work is over. His small hand is on the door knob, ready to open it and leave but he is secretly watching Jongdae to see if he is coming. Even if Jongdae wouldn't move and kept petting Kimchi instead, Yixing wouldn't leave. He would just grab Jongdae's arm and drag him out of the shelter. Yixing is just like that. Never wants to be alone, doesn't want to do anything without a person next to him. Yixing is defininately a dog Jongdae thinks.
Jongdae doesn't know when did this game exactly started but whenever he spends sometime with someone, Jongdae always ends up finding them similar to cats and dogs. He doesn't usually talk about that though. People can find it offensive sometimes. Not to mention it gets Jongdae weird looks. So Jongdae just does it silently, in the inside. And it makes him understand the people better. Helps him to figure out how they will react in different situations so Jongdae knows what to do and how to treat them.
~~~~~~~~~~
"You are a cat..." Jongdae mumbled dazingly. His eyes got wide as soon as he realized what he said and his hands flied up to cover his mouth in shock.
"Your, Mandarin is getting really bad lately, maybe i should stop talking to you in Korean," Luhan said, his lips curling upwards to form a smirk which both of them know that is purely sexy. "You just told me that i am a cat," Luhan said this part in his fluent Korean. The restaurant was perfect at that time. More like it was perfect with Luhan. Crimson red was covering the walls and the lights were dim. The yellow candle light was flattering Luhan's cheekbones, making it impossible for him to look real. Either that place was designed to flatter Luhan or Jongdae was madly in love.
"No... It's just... It's something that i do. it's because i spend so much time at work maybe i don't know..." Jongdae mumbled while nervously playing with his hands. He laughed awkwardly when Luhan didn't respond. "Can’t we just forget about it already?"
Jongdae shivered when he felt a warm, strong hand on his own. He raised his head up to see Luhan smiling deliciously. Like a cat that just caught a rat.
"You never fail to amaze me," Luhan said sweetly as he reached up across the table to give Jongdae a slow, capturing kiss.
Jongdae wanted to be captured like that forever.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jongdae was just about to grab his jacket before Yixing got a chance to do aegyeo when Zhoumi opens the door with a blanket wrapped around something in his arms.
"Hey guys, do you have time?" He says with a sheepish smile. Jongdae was honestly expecting a pout from Yixing but is only suprised when Yixing comes closer curiously.
"A cat!" Yixing says after taking a closer look and Jongdae comes closer to see it too.
"I found it on my way home," Zhoumi is carefully unwrapping the blanket to reveal a very skinny black cat that looks like it’s sleeping.
"He is still alive," Zhoumi says. "But i am sure it is not sleeping."
"C'mon let's take a look at it," Jongdae says while walking down the hall. He unlocks the door and Zhoumi gets in as soon as possible to lay the cat and the blanket on the table.
The cat is definitely an adult but has the smallest form ever. Even though it is naturally small, it is also deadly skinny. It doesn't have visible injuries on it’s skin or parasites but it is very clear that the only problem is this cat being way too skinny for a December in Beijing. Yixing immediately goes down stairs to get a serum bag. It's body temperature is very low but it’s ears are really warm.
"Do you think it has an infection?" Zhoumi says touching it’s ears.
"No i think it's just a fever. Must be because of the cold. He is just weak," and of course Jongdae checked it's gender. It is either he or a she. Jongdae can't go around saying it, it, it... As if he is referring to the table instead of the cat.
Yixing comes back to inject the serum and the three of them are left there to stare at each other with the questions on the tip of their tongues about who is going to stay here and who will get the rest that they all deserve.
"You guys go ahead, i will stay," Jongdae says with a smile. He doesn't really like going home actually. He loves the shelter a lot more.
"If we leave the shelter to him, we will find piles of sand when we get back here tomorrow instead of a shelter," Yixing says with a smirk.
"I am pretty aware of that but fuck, i am so tired," Zhoumi says massaging his temples.
"Guys," Jongdae upgrades his point with a wink. "YOLO right?" Yixing face palms.
"Let's just get the fuck out of here," Zhoumi drags Yixing to the door as fast as possible. Jongdae laughs happily.
when Yixing shouts at Jongdae to be careful and Jongdae hears the door click close after them Jongdae stretches and clicks every bone in his body before checking the serum bag. It is still full and is dripping torturously slowly. Jongdae sighs.
Mission disco: Begin.
"Okay guys, okay, only three dogs at a time please," Jongdae shouts over the sound of dogs that are happily barking in their cages and opens three cages starting from Kimchi.
"Kimchi, my love!" Jongdae says calling the dog for it to jump out of the cage instead of Jongdae bringing it down. The puppy was there for months now and Jongdae is worried that living in a cage will effect it's physical growth. "C'mon Kimchi, you can do it!"
The dog jumps out of the cage a bit hesitantly but then barks happily like he knows his name. And this makes Jongdae smile. Fuck the rules.
Jongdae is having so much fun wrestling with the three dogs, throwing the whatever toy they have in the shelter but now, the other dogs look so excited and jealous. Jongdae knows what it is like not being the center of the attention and left behind. So after giving it some thought, he starts opening some more cages.
He opens the fifth cage, then the sixth. God Jongdae loves this. The dogs are jumping around and the loud noise, the feeling of not being alone... Jongdae loves the days that are spent together with his friends or together with pets and the nights that he has gigs with his small loser band that has Baekhyun, Chanyeol, Kyungsoo and Yixing in it. Despite Yixing being his best friend, he loves spending time with the other three, who are just like Jongdae, living in Beijing. Away from their homes with their broken mandarin. But he hates that at the end of the day he has to go his apartment alone. His apartment looks like alone, smells like alone and surprisingly, it feels deadly alone. But Jongdae is absolutely not thinking about it while opening the seventh cage because he loves this. Jongdae is definitely a dog and he enjoys it.
This doesn't mean that he is not in trouble though.
"Cobain! For god's sake!" Jongdae rushes to part the mixed German wolf from Marilyn, a labrador. Cobain always crosses the line while playing and starts hurting the other dogs. Now Marilyn is angry and nothing can shut up an angry barking woman.
While Jongdae is trying his best to drag Cobain to his cage he jumps with surprise and accidentally lets go of Cobain because of a loud noise of something falling. He is not disappointed to see Joffery biting and breaking the hanger which is fallen and he knows that Yixing is going to kill him for this later.
"Tyrion! Go slap him!" He shouts at the toy poddle who is sitting next to a wall. Tyrion just looks at him with empty eyes. Jongdae sighs.
"Nobody gives a shit about what i say these days," he mumbles to himself while trying to get Joffery.
Even though it takes a lot of time, Jongdae's determination pays off and he takes all of the dogs to their cages, cleans up the mess which means throwing the toys to the closet and gluing up the hanger back. If he can get black nail polish early tomorrow and paint the cracks, he will save his head from decorating Yixing's walls.
The time is four fucking a.m. In the morning and Jongdae feels seriously exhausted. He drags his feet on the floor to take a look at the cat because he really has to do that before he falls asleep on the floor.
He turns the lights on in the room hesitantly. The cat looked really weak and Jongdae seriously doesn't want to find a dead cat right now but there is something strange about the cat. He is still lying on the table but Jongdae is sure that he was placed in the middle not to the left side of the corner. And the blanket that he was lying on is now in the ground. Jongdae slowly walks towards to the cat to see if he is awake. He looks like he is sleeping and doesn't move when Jongdae pets him.
Jongdae just jumps on to the couch in the corner of the room and hugs to the pillow. Sure he is creeped out, but the cat is still alive and it is four past something in the fucking morning and he really, seriously has to sleep.
He jumps awake when his phone rings. It's probably seven in the morning and jongdae feels like a real shit. His neck has a new shape now which is angled to left side and it will probably stay that way for a while and he had a really stupid nightmare about getting eaten by a zombie cat. The daylight is slowly peering in but Jongdae sees that he left the lights on last night. Actually, he had every right to do so! Thinking about the blanket and the cat…
Talking about the cat by the way... Jongdae lifts his head to look at the table only to meet with a pair of big brown eyes looking right back at him. Jongdae jumps and sits up properly. He is going to leave the cats to Yixing for him to take care of for a while after this. He takes a deep breath and looks back at the cat again.
Oh waow, he didn't realize that the cat was so beautiful. His face is like carved. Big beautiful eyes, a small nose that is curved upwards and high cheek bones like... What the fuck? Since when cats have cheek bones Jongdae, you fuck head. Well anatomically they do but Jongdae just needs a break.
"Hi!" Jongdae blurts out. Why does he feel so awkward all of a sudden? It's just a cat. Like the other cats in this shelter. This one just doesn't give response to him that's all. Now that Jongdae realizes the cat seems so calm. Normally a cat would be sniffing around everywhere, would be fitting itself to every corner of the shelter and would look confused because of all of the different smells in the shelter. Not to mention that Jongdae left the door to the hall open. But this cat is just staring at Jongdae.
Jongdae gets up and walks slowly towards the cat. The cat just continues staring at him without moving . Jongdae reaches to pet him slowly but the cat doesn’t even flinch. He must be used to being touched. Maybe he had an owner before and he escaped or got lost. That would explain why he looked so weak. Stray cats that are born in streets are usually taller and bigger. They know how to survive in the hard conditions of the cities. But this one clearly doesn’t have any idea. Jongdae can’t even imagine this one in a trash container looking for food. This cat is way too prideful for that.
Jongdae pushes down the urge to ask ‘Can I?’ before he touches it’s fur. The cat, as expected, doesn’t respond but looks at the floor. His fur is thick and healthy. Not to mention it is impossibly clean. This reminds Jongdae that he didn’t powder the cat yesterday in case of parasites. He goes to the drawers and gets the spray
For the first time the cat gives a reaction to that and quickly gets on to his feet. Jongdae hides the spray behind himself and takes one step at a time but the cat is not having any of it as he jumps down from the table.
“C’mon it’s just powder. It won’t hurt I promise,” Jongdae coos sweetly. Did the cat just rolled his eyes at him? But it looks like talking is working.
“Parasites are really bad. They are such a pain in the ass. Trust me you don’t want them,” Jongdae says. The cat just gets closer to the door. This cat looks like he is really good at communicating. He is capable of looking at Jongdae like if he could talk, he would say ‘Bullshit.’
“I know that you are clean,” Jongdae tries his chance one more time before the cat starts running away. “It is not because that I think you have parasites on. It’s because there are a lot’s of animals here and we can’t keep their disease and parasites under control all the time. You can get parasites from them.’ Jongdae is explaining. Jongdae is fucking explaining stuff to a cat in a serious way.
Jongdae can’t help the big grin on his face though. Not when the cat is coming closer and sitting in front of Jongdae with a defeated look on his face. This cat is incredible.
“There you go,” Jongdae says while spraying on the powder on his fur and petting him. The cat suddenly turns back to look at the hall and after a second later Jongdae hears the door opening.
“Jongdae? Are you alive?” Comes Yixing’s voice. Jongdae laughs at that and the cat looks at him with wide eyes. Jongdae pats the cat’s head to apologize in case it scared him.
“Yes, come here!” Jongdae says and hopes Yixing doesn’t notice that something is off with the hanger. But Yixing really looks like he has no clue when he comes in with grocery bags in his hands.
“Got you breakfast,” Yixing says and then his eyes widen. “Oh, it is alive!”
“Of course he is! No one dies on my watch!” Jongdae says grabbing the grocery bag to find something to eat.
“You are welcome,” Yixing says while rolling his eyes then he looks at the cat. “Waow, now that it’s awake, it’s really beautiful,” Yixing says grabbing the cat and lifting it up. Jongdae’s eyes widen and he has the urge to stop Yixing because that will totally annoy his little prideful cat.
His? Wait no. He didn’t mean to… mean that… Oh god.
“Uhm, Jongdae?” Yixing says after a while.
“Hmm?” Jongdae murmurs with mocha bread stuffed to his mouth.
“Did we learn anything about brown eyed cats? Not like greenish brown but like really dark brown,” Yixing says. Jongdae laughs because he was just thinking that a second ago.
“Well I don’t think so. But no one said that it can’t happen?” Jongdae says trying to swallow that big bite. Yixing doesn’t seem convinced but he shrugs it off.
“Still so beautiful though,” Yixing says.
“Handsome,” Jongdae mumbles. “He is a man so he is handsome, thank you.”
“My, my. I see you claimed him too like you claimed every single dog here. But I am surprised to see that this time it is a cat,” Yixing grins.
“Wait, no intervention?” Jongdae says eyes open wide in mock surprise.
“It’s too early for me to get my intervention abilities into working. Let’s get ‘him’ a cage” Yixing says and it is just way too funny how the cat visibly tenses at the word cage. Just like he can speak mandarin. But cats do have high understanding of what people mean. They just normally don’t care. Maybe this one cares.
They walk into the hall and it is such a loud mess that the cat looks like it wants to run away from China. Dogs are barking at the unfamiliar scent, cats are mewling to be freed and Yixing finally stops in front of an empty cage in the cat section and starts opening it. The cat finally lets out a sound and mewls loudly.
He has such a unique, cute voice but Jongdae stops thinking about it when the cat literally goes crazy and tries to jump out of Yixing’s grip.
“Jongdae help! Damn it!” Yixing yelps but before Jongdae can approach the cat frees himself and runs. Jongdae is just about to have a depression when he thinks about how it will take hours to find the cat in this not so big but still big shelter but the cat suddenly stops in the dog section in front of an empty cage. Yixing and Jongdae go there as quickly as possible. The cat mewls and pawns at the cage.
“You have got to be kidding me,” Yixing mumbles, mouth agape. The cages for dogs are absolutely bigger. The cat just wants a bigger cage and Jongdae is actually speechless.
“This cat is something,” Yixing says while opening the cage to place the cat in it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“This boy is really something,” Chanyeol mumbled to Jongdae’s ear. They were sitting in the library in the campus and this whole situation was not really helping Jongdae writing his essay in Mandarin. The boy from the opposite table of them was leaning back on his chair, legs stretched out under the table and his headphones were blasting loud beats on his shoulders. Instead of paying attention to the text book before him, he was looking at Jongdae’s table, directly at Jongdae.
“God, he is not even trying to hide it,” Chanyeol tsked with a grin on his face and Jongdae pushed him away from his ear. Jongdae mouthed a ‘what?’ to the boy, though he had a really big grin on his face. This boy with his light brown hair, perfect smile and a prettier face than an average girl, just looked like a movie star or an idol. Jongdae didn’t had it in him to deny this fact.
The boy mouthed a ‘wait’ before he leaned under the table and grabbed a soccer ball. He started spinning the soccer ball on his index finger and winked at Jongdae. Jongdae couldn’t help the laugh that took over him.
‘Lame!’ he mouthed towards the boy. The boy stopped spinning the ball and placed his hand on his heart making a mock shocked face. Then the boy pulled his chair to the side of the table so Jongdae could see him from the side and mouthed a slow “Check this out” he started bouncing the ball on his feet. Jongdae let the boy show of for few seconds before he mocked a yawning.
While the boy was trying to make a heart broken face he lost his balance and the ball hit the shelf and then bumped to the table. He quickly grabbed the ball and hid it in his backpack while Jongdae silenced his laugh with the back of his hand. Library Ahjumma walked towards them angrily to look for the source of the sound. The boy smiled a charming smile and putted his index finger in front of his lips making a ‘hush’ sign to Jongdae. Jongdae just rolled his eyes and went back to writing his essay.
It took a lot of effort to finish that essay while he was also fighting back a big grin.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Did you named him yet?” Yixing asks him while he is wearing his coat. Jongdae just wanted to take one last glance at this new cat before he took his own coat from the hanger and apparently he is caught by Yixing’s sharp eyes.
“Pfft, no I didn’t!” Jongdae immediately tries to laugh it off but Yixing is already giving him Spongebob ‘s creepy face. “Okay maybe I did. But just look at him, I had to! He feels like he is a person. Besides I didn’t call him that yet so you don’t have to worry about him getting used to it.”
“Take him with you,” Jongdae’s eyes opens wide at Yixing’s words. “I am serious, take him with you.”
“What?” Jongdae says. “Why would I do that?” Why is Jongdae sweating though? Like he just caught while stealing something.
“You kept staring at him the whole day. Why not? Just because you are a vet here doesn’t mean you can’t adopt a pet from here,” Yixing shrugs.
“Don’t tell me you don’t know that I am a dog person or I will divorce you,” Jongdae says. Yixing laughs.
“Like hell someone would marry your bony ass!” Yixing says but the takes a step closer to Jongdae. “The joking aside, take him with you for tonight. If you think that you can’t handle him, just bring him back tomorrow.”
Jongdae can handle him! This cat is calm, silent and easy. It is not like Jongdae dislikes him. It is quite the opposite actually. It is just that, Jongdae was never the one for cats. Jongdae doesn’t think he can handle cats.
“Jongdae, when was the last time you saw something beautiful and took it for yourself? Just do something, show some commitment. Things did happen but it is in the past. You can’t keep being scared forever,” Yixing’s hand on Jongdae’s shoulder felt reassuring. Like his words are not actually hurting Jongdae. They hurt because they are %50 percent true.
“You are forgetting that things did happen because I always commit though,” Jongdae says but Yixing shakes his head. This makes Jongdae get angry. Like his words are not reaching yixing. It makes Jongdae feel like he is being pointless and stubborn but it is not true. Jongdae is just saying the truth.
A loud mewl interrupts their thoughts and Jongdae finds himself making eye contact with the cat. He sighs in defeat before walking over to him.
“Do you want to come with me Xiumin?” Jongdae finds himself asking. The cat responds with a mewl. Pawn trying to reach Jongdae from the cage. Jongdae is holding back an anime girl scream because god, that was cute.
“You named him Xiumin?” Yixing looks at Jongdae like Jongdae is just embarrassing.
“What’s with that look? It means handsome or something,” Jongdae shrugs.
“I know what it means but the poor cat will never learn his name if you pick a hard name like that,” Yixing says. Jongdae thinks Xiumin is way too smart for that to happen.
“I am taking him with me and you won’t give me interventions for the rest of the year. Deal?” Jongdae says. Yixing rolls his eyes but smiles anyways.
Jongdae really wants to ease Xiumin into the apartment. Make it comfortable for him, coax him, he is even planning to give him an apartment tour but the moment he lets Xiumin go, the cat runs away with all he has got and disappears.
“Xiumin?” Jongdae checks every place possible. But the cat is nowhere to be seen and doesn’t even make a sound. “Xiumin, come here kitty, kitty,” Yixing was right. It was not a good idea to name the cat Xiumin.
After getting himself all kinds of dust and dirt while checking the under of all kinds of furniture in his house, Jongdae calls it a night. The time is 11:57. It is actually pretty early for Jongdae but he spent a lot of sleepless nights lately. Being a vet at the shelter is a rough job in Beijing but he loves it anyways. He is just sleepy that’s all.
There is a little bit of guilt in his chest as he gets under the sheets. He wonders where the cat is and what is he doing. But he figures he can handle that tomorrow.
Minseok hisses as the trash can gets tighter and tighter around him. He reaches out to get out of it before he gets stuck there. He falls to the ground with the can and makes a mess but he can’t care less at the moment as his limbs are growing. He literally presses his face to the carpet. It only takes seconds before he is human again bud god, it feels like it took hours.
Minseok’s head is spinning as he tries to sit up. He gives himself a moment to get used to this body. He feels like he is more a cat than a human now. Terrible things do happen. Hopefully Jongdae looks like he didn’t heard anything. Thanks to god he went to bed early. Probably because he stayed awake till morning yesterday while taking care of him, Minseok thinks. Jongdae looks like a good person but Minseok just wishes, just a little bit, that Jongdae and the others in the shelter didn’t save him. He was just so close to dying and he was also so close to getting rid of everything. Minseok might be still alive but he probably gave up on living two years ago.
What is done can not be undone. So here Minseok is. Still alive, still cursed but at least he is not in a cage. The last time he was in a shelter, he transformed back into a human in a cage and he dislocated his arm. It was a nightmare. Minseok is thankful and he can, at least, clean up the mess he did while changing into his human form. It’s pretty disgusting though. Ramyun cups are everywhere. Doesn’t this guy eat something normal?
He figures he can’t keep staying in the kitchen in case of Jongdae getting up to drink water or to get himself a midnight snack. Actually, Minseok should probably leave this house. No he must leave this house. Jongdae won’t go to bed at eleven every night and Minseok is not a cat, he is a human and he wouldn’t be invited if Jongdae knew that.
Minseok wants to go. He really, really wants to go but he is just… He needs some rest. He is not ready yet. Living in Beijing streets as a stray cat is pretty though. How many times did people tried to kill him? How many times was he bitten by dogs?
Tomorrow… Minseok gets up and goes to the living room. I will definitely go tomorrow.
He lies down on the couch. He tries to ignore the crunching sound of potato chips under him or the spicy ramyun smell on the blanket as he pulls it over himself. He wishes he could clean this apartment really. It is a crazy mess. Sleep won’t reach him quickly when he is feeling this alarmed. He pulls the blanket over his head and hopes that Jongdae won’t get up to watch TV.
When Minseok opens his eyes again, it is still dark. It almost feels like he just closed his eyes for seconds. But he did notice that how everything seems a lot bigger now. He opens his mouth, just to make sure. A mewl comes out and finally he goes back to sleep to sleep like a man now. With snores and all.
He didn’t really know cats could have dreams at night before this incident happened. But his dreams as a cat are not different from the dream he has as a human. They are always about nostalgia, somewhere between sweet and sour. Minseok usually dreams about his life a few years ago. Remembers that he was a functioning human once and he had a promising future. He gets lost in it all the time. He believes that he is living in that moment and this ‘now’ doesn’t exist. He wishes it was true. But he always wakes up in the end.
However, today he wakes up to see a pair of large brown eyes in the level of his nose. Minseok almost falls from the couch.
“Good morning Xiumin! Did you sleep well?” now that Minseok’s brain is functioning again, he realizes that it is Jongdae, the guy who bought him here last night.
“Where did you go last night? It was like you disappeared.” Jongdae says. Minseok just stares at him. What would a cat do? It would just stare right? But even if Minseok would be a human now, he would stare like he is retarded.
Minseok stiffens as he suddenly feels Jongdae’s hand on his head. It is unexpected, but not unpleasant. Jongdae gently scratches behind his ears before giving him a full body stroke till the base of his tail and Minseok holds his breath to not to purr. Damn, Jongdae knows how to pet a cat.
“Don’t run away like that again, okay?” Jongdae says pulling back his hand. “Actually talking about rules, I do have some rules,” Minseok rolls his eyes at that accidentally and he wants to take it back as Jongdae’s eyes open wide and he laughs. Minseok saw it back at the shelter too. Jongdae always notices those gestures.
“No drugs, no smoking and no crazy girlfriends in this house,” Jongdae says with a wink. Minseok wants to smile at that but cat lips don’t help him so he settles for staring again.
“I am just kidding. The actual rules are, you know, poo and pee to the litter box, no destroying the furniture and most importantly,” Jongdae leans in to pat Minseok’s head more gently, almost weak. “No running away because I heard that cats do that all the time.” There is something in Jongdae’s voice. The bubbly tone gone away and it is like he actually wants to mean something else by saying it.
They don’t really run away if they are fed and have a warm house Minseok wants to say. He would stay really. But he is not a cat and that’s why he has to go. Jongdae would want him to leave too, if he knew Minseok’s little secret.
“I don’t really like Sundays you know?” Jongdae says as he gets the remote to open the TV. “Maybe it’s because I don’t really know what to do with them.” Oh, Minseok thinks. He is still talking.
“I like being in the shelter. Working keeps you alive you know? Keeps the troubles out of your mind,” Jongdae says and settles on a music channel. Something slow like R&B. “And I love my job. I love dogs really! I always wanted to get one but they need so much care and I come home really late sometimes,” Jongdae walks out of the living room.
Now that Minseok is left alone in the living room, it feels oddly silent.
“Xiumin come here! I can’t talk to you with yelling from here can I?” Jongdae’s voice fills the silence again and Minseok rolls his eyes as he starts walking to the kitchen. He only realizes what a big mistake he did when Jongdae stares at him with wide eyes like he is not the one who called him here in the first place.
“Well,” Jongdae says grinning wide. “I wasn’t really expecting that,” and Minseok wants to do a face palm with his small pawns. He was supposed to be a stupid cat but there he is, absent mindedly listening to Jongdae and proving that he can understand what Jongdae is talking about. Minseok just turns his back and tries to go back like his actually just wandering around the house but Jongdae catches him.
“What an amazing cat I have here,” He says before hugging Minseok and patting his head. Up close Minseok has a chance to look at Jongdae’s face. He has nice, big eyes and Minseok didn’t really know that cheek bones could be that high. Oh, the corners of his lips are naturally turned upwards, giving him that mischievous smile.
Minseok’s face smashes into Jongdae’s chest when Jongdae makes a really high pitched squealing kind of thing and hugs Minseok. “so cuteee,” a sound that could belong to a girl comes out of Jongdae’s mouth and Minseok is having a hard time breathing.
Cat ears, cat nose and cat instincts are all working at the same time. Only thing Minseok can smell is the scent of Jongdae’s skin and his heart beat is just too loud in his ears. Intimate. So intimate… Minseok tries to push Jongdae away with his pawns, trying to not to use his nails.
“Awww” another sound comes from Jongdae as he presses Minseok even closer before letting go suddenly. Minseok lands on his feet and finds himself on the ground, feeling dizzy and his fur is such a mess now. Just like this apartment. He looks at Jongdae who is grinning playfully. Minseok really wishes he could give Jongdae ‘the look’ right now.
“Aw, don’t give me that look now,” Jongdae grins. “You will get used to my charming ways and I will try to get used to hold back the urge to smash you,” and Jongdae is giving his signature mischievous smile again. Minseok is afraid that he will give Jongdae an another look accidentally so he just leaves the kitchen. That doesn’t mean Jongdae is done interacting with him though.
Minseok learns for sure that there is no end to Jongdae’s chattering. Even though Minseok can’t give any responses Jongdae just keeps talking like Minseok is a human. Well technically he is a human but Jongdae doesn’t know that. Even if Minseok was a human though, he would have stopped listening to Jongdae two hours ago or something like he is doing now. It’s like three p.m now and Minseok thought Jongdae would get over the ‘hey I just got a pet’ syndrome and would drop the cute owner act. But it seems like Jongdae is this kind of person naturally. Always out loud.
“I wonder how their hair is still on their heads.” Jongdae says as he is watching an idol group on the TV. “I swear this guy had green hair last week,”
Jongdae is very interesting to watch though. He is always doing gestures that he is probably not aware of. He pouts when he prepares his ramyun but realizes that he didn’t turn on the kettle so he has to wait. Mumbles to himself all the time and he sings. He has a really nice voice Minseok thinks. A voice that is gentle and soothing while he is singing.
Jongdae actually is a funny looking guy at first. His arms are short, hands and feet ridiculously small. Actually all of his body is really small. Not his head though. His head is in the normal size which kind of looks pretty big on his body. But there is something in Jongdae. He just makes you keep looking at him. Maybe it’s his face… Or his charming voice? Minseok doesn’t know why. Maybe Jongdae is, after all, cute.
“This is Sunday, this is the day that people actually has time to watch TV and there is nothing on the fucking TV,” Jongdae says turning off the tv. “I am getting my laptop,” he says than gets up and walks out of the living room. For a guy who likes to state everything out loud, Jongdae seems alone. Jongdae is a Korean living in Beijing after all. Minseok was like that too when he first came to Beijing. But Minseok saw a lot of people in the shelter that was pretty interested in Jongdae. The tall guy that bought him looked like a close friend and the dimple guy… Yixing? Yixing seemed like he really cares about Jongdae. And that volunteer girl what was her name… Li something was totally into Jongdae. She was so cute while giggling at every joke Jongdae made and she actually continued the songs whenever Jongdae absent mindedly started mumbling one. She had a beautiful voice and she was really pretty. They looked like they had a lot in common but Jongdae was being friendly. He was clearly not interested.
Now that Minseok thinks about, he realizes that he had been watching Jongdae a lot. And what the heck is he even thinking about? It is none of his business If Jongdae is lonely or not. Minseok is leaving tonight. He is going to miss here though. A warm place to stay, free food, and even though it is messy, he kind of liked this apartment. Jongdae has a good taste in decoration. Furniture and carpets are usually red and the other things are mostly yellow. It is just like Beijing nights. More like temples in Beijing nights. It really looks like Jongdae’s own temple though. Minseok’s eye catches on a framed photo standing on the dresser next to Iron man figures. He had seen Jongdae stopping in his tracks to look at the picture every now and then. Without realizing Minseok gets off from the couch to go and look at it. Since Jongdae is probably looking for his laptop in the big mess that he created, Minseok can jump on the dresser to take a better look.
It is a picture of Jongdae and… Wait a second. Is that Luhan? Oh god, years have passed but still seeing this guy gives Minseok Goosebumps. Jongdae’s eyes are shining in the picture. He looks bubbly and he is grinning widely. At the other hand Luhan looks like the miserable creature that he is. Smiling in a way that he knows he looks handsome and he looks very smug with a hand around Jongdae’s waist. It looks like the thousands of other photos of Luhan and Luhan was very unsuccessful about throwing them out Minseok remembers. He always found one of them under the couches or between the cushions in their flat room back at the dorms.
“Curiosity killed the cat,” Minseok gets down from the dresser when he hears Jongdae’s voice. Jongdae is there, standing in the doorframe with laptop in his hands. Jongdae laughs. He walks towards the dresser and places the laptop on it. “It is okay, come here. Take a look,” Jongdae says but Minseok is bussy pretending he can’t understand Korean.
“He is my ex,” Jongdae says. He is smiling but it is a sour smile. At the other hand, that kind of explains why Jongdae was not interested in that girl back at the shelter.
“He is handsome, isn’t he?” Jongdae says. Handsome? Luhan? Minseok is going to cry. He is sure he is making a humanly face again but Jongdae is not looking at him. His gaze is fixated on the picture. He has a longing expression on his face. Isn’t Luhan Jongdae’s ex-boyfriend? Than why is Jongdae still keeping that picture, Minseok wonders.
“I met him in the college here,” Jongdae says and for the first time Minseok feel eager to listen. It is probably because he is a fucking cat and he has nothing interesting in his life.
“Well, I came here for the college. I am from a small town near Seoul. I actually wanted to go to an university in Seoul but I was sick at the day of the college entrance exams and I wasn’t the brightest student ever to begin with,” Jongdae says with a chuckle. Minseok can relate.
“I was just so bored back there. I needed a change. Something childish like an adventure and I found out about this program here in Beijing. So I came here though it was a bit expensive. I met Luhan in my second year. His name is Luhan by the way,” Jongdae says and smiles. Minseok want’s give him a ‘oh really?’ face but he has to hold it back.
“Luhan was someone who was overly confident and easy going. He just suited that adventure I was having. Yixing warned me about it. He knew that we were not meant for each other. He said that I quickly get attached and I commit with my all while Luhan just looked like the opposite. But back then I wasn’t serious about Luhan too. I thought we would have fun for a while, enjoy the Beijing together and stuff,” That sounds something like Luhan would enjoy doing but Jongdae doesn’t really seem like he is cut out for that stuff and Minseok knows Jongdae for less than two days.
“At some point, I just felt like we shared something. And I failed to understand it was just me, not Luhan and I fell in too deep,” Jongdae suddenly stops telling the story and looks at Minseok like he forgot Minseok was there. He laughs. “Waow what a drama I have here,” Minseok mewls. He really wants to hear the end. Because he knew all of Luhan’s boyfriends and girlfriends but Minseok has never seen Jongdae before even though they probably went to the same college.
“So the point is my dear Xiumin,” Jongdae says and Minseok almost sighs in relief. “ While I was trying to find the courage to ask him to move in with me, he acted faster and said that he was accepted in an exchange program and was going to Seoul in two weeks. He had only one semester left back then so he was going to finish the college there. He said that it was his dream to live there and that pretty much stated that he was not coming back. I thought of going there with him but he never asked and I never had the courage to bring it up. Not that I had a chance to,” Jongdae goes to sit on the couch with his laptop. Oh Minseok thinks. He can connect things now.
“That sucker successfully managed to avoid me for two weeks and only texted a ‘good bye’ before he disappeared. I never heard anything from him after that. I don’t know where he is now and what he is doing but he is probably living his dream while I’m here pretty much doing the same,” Minseok can relate now. Jongdae is the boyfriend that Luhan had before going to Seoul. He was the boyfriend that Luhan kept like a secret and hid from everyone unlike he did with the other ones. Luhan was known for going out with best looking people and making a show out of it. But Luhan wanted to keep Jongdae to himself probably.
Luhan did deserve everything bad. It was probably his shit to begin with. But Jongdae didn’t have any fault at this and he doesn’t deserve being sad like this because of a total loser. Something stirs inside of Minseok and he finds himself back on the dresser again. He just wants to do something for Jongdae, to show him that it is not that much of a big deal or something.
Minseok shrieks and wakes up from his trance when the frame meets the ground and the glass shatters. Jongdae yelps and get up from the couch.
“God!” He says and rushes to there. Minseok is getting ready to be yelled at when Jongdae kneels next to the fallen picture. But Jongdae looks like he is not aware that Minseok is actually there.
“I see,” Jongdae murmurs while grabbing the picture with bare hands. “I am not even allowed to keep this? You asshole,” jongdae says quietly to Luhan’s smiling face. His eyes are getting watery. God, Minseok feels awful. Why did he even do that? Why does he even care?
Jongdae gets up quickly with the picture and throws the picture to the trash can and rubs his face.
Jongdae can’t cry now. He was over with the crying phase. It’s been three fucking years since he broke up with Luhan and fuck he is over it. He knows that he is. He is just bad at believing to the lies he tells to himself. He goes back to clean the bigger pieces of glass before vacuuming it. Xiumin is there sitting and mewling. He looks guilty. Jongdae doesn’t feel angry at Xiumin. At least not because he destroyed the picture. He feels just a little flustered. Maybe because Xiumin’s way of dropping the picture felt exactly like Yixing’s interventions.
His phone rings suddenly. He considers not picking it up for a second but then takes a deep breath and goes to fins his phone. He clears his voice before answering. He can’t make it obvious that he has been upset. His friends are already treating him like a suicidal case so he needs to get himself together. But he feels relaxed when he sees that it is Chanyeol.
“Yes sir! How can I help you?” Jongdae says trying to gain his bubbly tone back. It is not hard to do that. Chanyeol is pretty much a fellow to him. Sharing the depression makes it smaller and they usually do that together.
“Hey, I composed tons of songs last night,” Chanyeol says. His voice is hoarse.
“Woah, tons of songs just in one night?” Jongdae says smiling.
“Yeah… I was just thinking that it would be perfect if you can come over and listen to them because you write the best lyrics ever,” Chanyeol says laughing weakly. Something is totally wrong but it is common between them. Usually spending alone time together when something is wrong.
“And I got booze,” Chanyeol says. The way he says it feels like an excited teen so Jongdae laughs.
“Seems like you really want me to come. I mean the complimentary and the booze,” Jongdae wants to tease a little to see if it will bring live back in Chanyeol’s tone but Chanyeol stays silent for a while.
“Chanyeol are you there?” Jongdae feels worried now.
“Joonmyun proposed to Kyungsoo,” Chanyeol says and Jongdae holds back a gasp.
“Did Kyungsoo accepted?” Jongdae asks instantly but he doesn’t even care at the moment.
“Yeah… Kind of asked me to be his best man because he thinks he can’t trust Baekhyun,” Chanyeol says.
“I am coming Chanyeol. Just wait for me okay?” Jongdae says. Chanyeol mumbles something like ‘yeah’ and Jongdae flies to get his jacket. Xiumin is watching him with a confused look from where he is standing.
“I will be back okay? Be careful and don’t step into the pieces of glass,” Jongdae says than he realizes he is talking to a cat started and he goes back to the living room to grab Xiumin and closes the door of the Living room.
Jongdae met Kyungsoo, Chanyeol and Baekhyun in Bejing. Being from the same country and actually understanding each other’s language was what tied them together though Jongdae was an addition to the group. Kyungsoo, Chanyeol and Baekhyun are childhood friends and they came to Beiijing together. It was the first time Jongdae saw friends so close to each toher like them.
They are like the Three Musketeers. They are always together and they always take care of each other. The only thing is, Chanyeol is in love with Kyungsoo since their high school days but he can’t bring himself to confess because Kyungsoo clearly shows no interest in him like that. Everyone knows that Kyungsoo loves Chanyeol but just not in that way. Kyungsoo started dating Joonmyun, another Korean student at the campus in the first year of college.
Kyungsoo and Joonmyun pretty much had a really serious relationship going on between them and neither Chanyeol nor Jongdae had the heart to hate Joonmyun because he was such a good guy. Whenever Kyungsoo and Joonmyun fought Chanyeol and Jongdae got their hopes up but at the end of the day, Joonmyun and Kyungsoo found a way to get together.
Baekhyun, in the other hand, knew that Chanyeol was in love with Kyungsoo but never wanted to get involved with that. He never made a comment or wanted to tell his opinion. He just watches Chanyeol from afar to make sure that Chanyeol is not hurting himself. Jongdae respects that since Baekhyun loves Chanyeol as much as he also loves Kyungsoo.
Chanyeol and Jongdae didn’t do anything special today. It was mostly like their usual hang outs. They started singing and playing songs while drinking and then they started to dance to Girl’s Generation songs. Something around like six p.m. Chanyeol finally started crying. After Chanyeol cried for almost an hour and got snot all over Jongdae’s shirt, they started drinking more and then started swearing at everything that happened in their lives out loud and cheered on each other like the drunk fucks that they are.
“It was the bravest moment of my entire college life. Because I got up and said ‘Shut up you poor excuse of a professor!’ to his face,”
“There you go!”
“I said ‘You are a piece of shit! Did you get your degree from the Walmart?’ because you know, they sell everything in Walmart.”
“They definitely do!”
“And then I got closer to him and said ‘I saw a lot of disgusting things in the Beijing Walmart but your degree is the most disgusting because sir, YOU KNOW NOTHING-”
“JON SHOW!”
And finally when they were done with that too, they battled with each other for the title of ‘The Most Unlucky Guy That Ever Lived’ for almost two hours. Now it is ten p.m. and Jongdae is kind of regretting starting to drink in the middle of the day because Chanyeol is totally gone and the remains of him is a puking mess.
Jongdae watched out for his liquor, foreseeing that this was going to happen to Chanyeol but still Jongdae is so fucking messed up. He goes to the kitchen to make some herbal tea that he hopes will make things easier for Chanyeol even though he really can’t explain how it will work while Chanyeol is puking like crazy. After breaking two mugs in the processes, Jongdae gives up and calls Yixing.
It tooks only ten seconds for Yixing and Baekhyun to slam the door open and rush in like the crazy mothers that they are. Chanyeol is now on the couch with a blanket wrapped tightly around him like a cocoon and Jongdae is trying to clean the dried puke on his face with a sponge. This scene must be so touching because Jongdae can literally see the fires coming out of Yixing and Baekhyun’s eyes.
“What the fuck is going on here?” Yixing says. He is not smiling but still his dimple is showing. That says something.
“Things just went a little bit out of controll,” Jongdae smiles. Yixing opens his mouth to respond to Jongdae with fireballs but they see Baekhyun walking towards Chanyeol and they just stop on their tracks.
“I have been calling you since morning,” Baekhyun says. Chanyeol looks kind of scared and guilty but before that, he looks totally relieved to see Baekhyun.
“Baek, i…” Chanyeol tries to say something but he just stops. Baekhyun takes a deep breath.
“Dude!” Yixing and Jongdae rushes over to Baekhyun when he just slaps Chanyeol unexpectedly but then they stop on their tracks and Jongdae’s eyes open wide as Baekhyun gives Chanyeol the most caring, heartwarming hug ever by pressing chanyeol’s head to his chest and wrapping his arms around him. Both Jongdae and Yixing just looks at them speechless.
“Baek,” Chanyeol says grabbing fistful of Baekhyun’s shirt and pressing his face to it even more. “He is getting married.”
Baekhyun leans down and kisses Chanyeol’s hair. “I’m sorry,” he whispers. Chanyeol looks like he is on the edge of crying and Baekhyun looks like he will gladly join him if he starts doing that.
“Let’s go,” Jongdae finds himself tugging at Yixing’s arm. Baekhyun gives Jongdae a little smile. “I feel like shit I need someone to drive me,”
“Yeah sure. I’m your personal driver aren’t I?” Yixing says while walking to the door.
There is an awkward silence going on in the car and Jongdae wants to get out already.
“You know it don’t you?” Yixing finally breaks the silence. Jongdae was hoping that the silence would go on forever.
“I know what?” Jongdae says looking out of the window.
“That Baekhyun loves Chanyeol,” Yixing says effortlessly.
“Of course he does. They are childhood friends,” Jongdae says but he knows that he is just saying things just to say things.
“You know what I meant.” Jongdae probably knew it even back in college. He just didn’t spend a moment to stop and think about it. Maybe be it was because he actually didn’t wanted to do that. Maybe because he wanted believe someone was as lonely as him. Maybe it’s because Jongdae sucks.
“You are in the mood for gossip I see,” Jongdae says with a playful smile as Yixing pulls over in front of Jongdae’s apartment.
“Hey,” Yixing says. “You can come over to me if you want. Or I can come with you. You look like a mess,” Jongdae sees it in Yixing’s eyes. The ‘you don’t have to be alone’ look. He can see the pity.
“I will see you tomorrow,” Jongdae smiles before getting off.
Jongdae is kind of regretting not accepting Yixing’s offer as he is opening the door because fuck, he really feels drunk and alone now. He gets in and closes the door and while he is taking off his shoes, he hears a loud mewl and sees a small cat running towards him. Jongdae finds himself smiling.
“Hey, long time no see,” Jongdae says. Xiumin mewls. It feels nice having someone- something- saying ‘welcome’ when you come home Jongdae thinks though Xiumin more looks like ‘where have you been? Are you okay? You look like a mess!’ instead of ‘welcome home!’
Xiumin follow Jongdae to the living room and actually jumps next to him on the couch. Jongdae feels suddenly bubbly inside. He didn’t really know that cats were able to make people happy as much as dogs did with less action. Jongdae suddenly feels good and he knows he is good when his mouth opens and he starts talking with Xiumin because that’s what Jongdae does when he feels normal. He just talks about everything.
It is only 11.50 or something but after telling Xiumin the whole day and then performing Beyonce’s ‘Single Ladies’ together with the dance -because Jongdae is fabulous like that- he decides that he is shit drunk and needs go to bed before performing ‘Like a Virgin’ or something. He says goodnight to Xiumin and puts more cat food on Xiumin’s bowl after seeing it nearly empty. It is good news that Xiumin has appetite. Jongdae goes to his bedroom and changes to his pajamas. He gets his bed ready but it just feels so boring to go to bed like this so early. Then Jongdae has an idea like the five year old boy that he is.
“Xiumin~” Jongdae grabs the poor cat on the couch. Xiumin’s eyes are wide open and he looks confused as Jongdae carries him to the bedroom. “Trust me, you will love my bed!”
Xiumin immediately cries out as soon as he realizes what is going on but Jongdae just closes the door and traps Xiumin in. Xiumin runs away when Jongdae tries to get him.
“Oh c’mon,” Jongdae corners Xiumin with a big grin. There is not a lot of furniture in Jongdae’s room and they don’t have gaps underneath them so Xiumin can’t really get away. “You hurting my feelings,” Xiumin hisses at him but he has none of it.
“Give up already!” Jongdae says as he gets under the sheets with a squirming Xiumin in his hands. He just presses him closer as Xiumin tries to get away and after a while Xiumin stops. Jongdae thinks he had won the battle and he feels proud about destroying the cat laws but then Xiumin get’s impossibly heavy in Jongdae’s arms and something shines very brightly that Jongdae can’t see anything for a good ten seconds and he is sure Xiumin got away from him. Is that some sort of cat trick?
Jongdae pushes himself up to a sitting position and rubs his eyes. His vision comes back to him slowly and now he can make out the naked form of a man sitting in front of him. Jongdae blinks a few times. There is a boy -Jongdae can’t quite tell- on his bed, he is naked and he is a sight to see actually.
“If this is not a dream, I am going to freak out and you will be in trouble,” Jongdae says. God, the boy has such a pretty face. “But if this is a dream, please don’t wake me up.”
Something funny happens in Jongdae’s stomach as the boy smiles, white teeth and gums and all.
“It is a dream,” the boy says and fuck, he has a nice voice too.
Part 2 →
For: neitoperhonen
Rating: NC-17
Other pairings: Suho/D.O
Warnings: Swearing, unprotected sex, unbeta’d
Summary: Jongdae is a veteranian working in an animals shelter. Minseok is cat that was found on street. Jongdae takes him home to find out the cat turns to a man during nights.
"Hey there beautiful," Jongdae says while scratching the small golden retriever's scalp. He secretly named the dog 'Kimchi' but Yixing is around. Jongdae knows that he is working in a shelter and he shouldn't give the animals names because they can always get adopted and it will just make it hard for them to learn the names that their actual owners pick for them. Yixing gave enough interventions about that. But still Jongdae can't help it. It just feels so stupid to call the animals "hey you" all the time.
Hi there pretty!
Hey handsome!
Hey... Uhm... Kitty?
Hey... You.
Jongdae can't keep finding that stuff forever. Even he is not that creative.
"Jongdae, let's go. It's getting late and i really want to eat something," Yixing says while yawning. He slowly walks to the hanger to get his coat and backpack. He looks annoyed that Jongdae is still here spending time in the halls doing nothing when it is this late and their work is over. His small hand is on the door knob, ready to open it and leave but he is secretly watching Jongdae to see if he is coming. Even if Jongdae wouldn't move and kept petting Kimchi instead, Yixing wouldn't leave. He would just grab Jongdae's arm and drag him out of the shelter. Yixing is just like that. Never wants to be alone, doesn't want to do anything without a person next to him. Yixing is defininately a dog Jongdae thinks.
Jongdae doesn't know when did this game exactly started but whenever he spends sometime with someone, Jongdae always ends up finding them similar to cats and dogs. He doesn't usually talk about that though. People can find it offensive sometimes. Not to mention it gets Jongdae weird looks. So Jongdae just does it silently, in the inside. And it makes him understand the people better. Helps him to figure out how they will react in different situations so Jongdae knows what to do and how to treat them.
~~~~~~~~~~
"You are a cat..." Jongdae mumbled dazingly. His eyes got wide as soon as he realized what he said and his hands flied up to cover his mouth in shock.
"Your, Mandarin is getting really bad lately, maybe i should stop talking to you in Korean," Luhan said, his lips curling upwards to form a smirk which both of them know that is purely sexy. "You just told me that i am a cat," Luhan said this part in his fluent Korean. The restaurant was perfect at that time. More like it was perfect with Luhan. Crimson red was covering the walls and the lights were dim. The yellow candle light was flattering Luhan's cheekbones, making it impossible for him to look real. Either that place was designed to flatter Luhan or Jongdae was madly in love.
"No... It's just... It's something that i do. it's because i spend so much time at work maybe i don't know..." Jongdae mumbled while nervously playing with his hands. He laughed awkwardly when Luhan didn't respond. "Can’t we just forget about it already?"
Jongdae shivered when he felt a warm, strong hand on his own. He raised his head up to see Luhan smiling deliciously. Like a cat that just caught a rat.
"You never fail to amaze me," Luhan said sweetly as he reached up across the table to give Jongdae a slow, capturing kiss.
Jongdae wanted to be captured like that forever.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jongdae was just about to grab his jacket before Yixing got a chance to do aegyeo when Zhoumi opens the door with a blanket wrapped around something in his arms.
"Hey guys, do you have time?" He says with a sheepish smile. Jongdae was honestly expecting a pout from Yixing but is only suprised when Yixing comes closer curiously.
"A cat!" Yixing says after taking a closer look and Jongdae comes closer to see it too.
"I found it on my way home," Zhoumi is carefully unwrapping the blanket to reveal a very skinny black cat that looks like it’s sleeping.
"He is still alive," Zhoumi says. "But i am sure it is not sleeping."
"C'mon let's take a look at it," Jongdae says while walking down the hall. He unlocks the door and Zhoumi gets in as soon as possible to lay the cat and the blanket on the table.
The cat is definitely an adult but has the smallest form ever. Even though it is naturally small, it is also deadly skinny. It doesn't have visible injuries on it’s skin or parasites but it is very clear that the only problem is this cat being way too skinny for a December in Beijing. Yixing immediately goes down stairs to get a serum bag. It's body temperature is very low but it’s ears are really warm.
"Do you think it has an infection?" Zhoumi says touching it’s ears.
"No i think it's just a fever. Must be because of the cold. He is just weak," and of course Jongdae checked it's gender. It is either he or a she. Jongdae can't go around saying it, it, it... As if he is referring to the table instead of the cat.
Yixing comes back to inject the serum and the three of them are left there to stare at each other with the questions on the tip of their tongues about who is going to stay here and who will get the rest that they all deserve.
"You guys go ahead, i will stay," Jongdae says with a smile. He doesn't really like going home actually. He loves the shelter a lot more.
"If we leave the shelter to him, we will find piles of sand when we get back here tomorrow instead of a shelter," Yixing says with a smirk.
"I am pretty aware of that but fuck, i am so tired," Zhoumi says massaging his temples.
"Guys," Jongdae upgrades his point with a wink. "YOLO right?" Yixing face palms.
"Let's just get the fuck out of here," Zhoumi drags Yixing to the door as fast as possible. Jongdae laughs happily.
when Yixing shouts at Jongdae to be careful and Jongdae hears the door click close after them Jongdae stretches and clicks every bone in his body before checking the serum bag. It is still full and is dripping torturously slowly. Jongdae sighs.
Mission disco: Begin.
"Okay guys, okay, only three dogs at a time please," Jongdae shouts over the sound of dogs that are happily barking in their cages and opens three cages starting from Kimchi.
"Kimchi, my love!" Jongdae says calling the dog for it to jump out of the cage instead of Jongdae bringing it down. The puppy was there for months now and Jongdae is worried that living in a cage will effect it's physical growth. "C'mon Kimchi, you can do it!"
The dog jumps out of the cage a bit hesitantly but then barks happily like he knows his name. And this makes Jongdae smile. Fuck the rules.
Jongdae is having so much fun wrestling with the three dogs, throwing the whatever toy they have in the shelter but now, the other dogs look so excited and jealous. Jongdae knows what it is like not being the center of the attention and left behind. So after giving it some thought, he starts opening some more cages.
He opens the fifth cage, then the sixth. God Jongdae loves this. The dogs are jumping around and the loud noise, the feeling of not being alone... Jongdae loves the days that are spent together with his friends or together with pets and the nights that he has gigs with his small loser band that has Baekhyun, Chanyeol, Kyungsoo and Yixing in it. Despite Yixing being his best friend, he loves spending time with the other three, who are just like Jongdae, living in Beijing. Away from their homes with their broken mandarin. But he hates that at the end of the day he has to go his apartment alone. His apartment looks like alone, smells like alone and surprisingly, it feels deadly alone. But Jongdae is absolutely not thinking about it while opening the seventh cage because he loves this. Jongdae is definitely a dog and he enjoys it.
This doesn't mean that he is not in trouble though.
"Cobain! For god's sake!" Jongdae rushes to part the mixed German wolf from Marilyn, a labrador. Cobain always crosses the line while playing and starts hurting the other dogs. Now Marilyn is angry and nothing can shut up an angry barking woman.
While Jongdae is trying his best to drag Cobain to his cage he jumps with surprise and accidentally lets go of Cobain because of a loud noise of something falling. He is not disappointed to see Joffery biting and breaking the hanger which is fallen and he knows that Yixing is going to kill him for this later.
"Tyrion! Go slap him!" He shouts at the toy poddle who is sitting next to a wall. Tyrion just looks at him with empty eyes. Jongdae sighs.
"Nobody gives a shit about what i say these days," he mumbles to himself while trying to get Joffery.
Even though it takes a lot of time, Jongdae's determination pays off and he takes all of the dogs to their cages, cleans up the mess which means throwing the toys to the closet and gluing up the hanger back. If he can get black nail polish early tomorrow and paint the cracks, he will save his head from decorating Yixing's walls.
The time is four fucking a.m. In the morning and Jongdae feels seriously exhausted. He drags his feet on the floor to take a look at the cat because he really has to do that before he falls asleep on the floor.
He turns the lights on in the room hesitantly. The cat looked really weak and Jongdae seriously doesn't want to find a dead cat right now but there is something strange about the cat. He is still lying on the table but Jongdae is sure that he was placed in the middle not to the left side of the corner. And the blanket that he was lying on is now in the ground. Jongdae slowly walks towards to the cat to see if he is awake. He looks like he is sleeping and doesn't move when Jongdae pets him.
Jongdae just jumps on to the couch in the corner of the room and hugs to the pillow. Sure he is creeped out, but the cat is still alive and it is four past something in the fucking morning and he really, seriously has to sleep.
He jumps awake when his phone rings. It's probably seven in the morning and jongdae feels like a real shit. His neck has a new shape now which is angled to left side and it will probably stay that way for a while and he had a really stupid nightmare about getting eaten by a zombie cat. The daylight is slowly peering in but Jongdae sees that he left the lights on last night. Actually, he had every right to do so! Thinking about the blanket and the cat…
Talking about the cat by the way... Jongdae lifts his head to look at the table only to meet with a pair of big brown eyes looking right back at him. Jongdae jumps and sits up properly. He is going to leave the cats to Yixing for him to take care of for a while after this. He takes a deep breath and looks back at the cat again.
Oh waow, he didn't realize that the cat was so beautiful. His face is like carved. Big beautiful eyes, a small nose that is curved upwards and high cheek bones like... What the fuck? Since when cats have cheek bones Jongdae, you fuck head. Well anatomically they do but Jongdae just needs a break.
"Hi!" Jongdae blurts out. Why does he feel so awkward all of a sudden? It's just a cat. Like the other cats in this shelter. This one just doesn't give response to him that's all. Now that Jongdae realizes the cat seems so calm. Normally a cat would be sniffing around everywhere, would be fitting itself to every corner of the shelter and would look confused because of all of the different smells in the shelter. Not to mention that Jongdae left the door to the hall open. But this cat is just staring at Jongdae.
Jongdae gets up and walks slowly towards the cat. The cat just continues staring at him without moving . Jongdae reaches to pet him slowly but the cat doesn’t even flinch. He must be used to being touched. Maybe he had an owner before and he escaped or got lost. That would explain why he looked so weak. Stray cats that are born in streets are usually taller and bigger. They know how to survive in the hard conditions of the cities. But this one clearly doesn’t have any idea. Jongdae can’t even imagine this one in a trash container looking for food. This cat is way too prideful for that.
Jongdae pushes down the urge to ask ‘Can I?’ before he touches it’s fur. The cat, as expected, doesn’t respond but looks at the floor. His fur is thick and healthy. Not to mention it is impossibly clean. This reminds Jongdae that he didn’t powder the cat yesterday in case of parasites. He goes to the drawers and gets the spray
For the first time the cat gives a reaction to that and quickly gets on to his feet. Jongdae hides the spray behind himself and takes one step at a time but the cat is not having any of it as he jumps down from the table.
“C’mon it’s just powder. It won’t hurt I promise,” Jongdae coos sweetly. Did the cat just rolled his eyes at him? But it looks like talking is working.
“Parasites are really bad. They are such a pain in the ass. Trust me you don’t want them,” Jongdae says. The cat just gets closer to the door. This cat looks like he is really good at communicating. He is capable of looking at Jongdae like if he could talk, he would say ‘Bullshit.’
“I know that you are clean,” Jongdae tries his chance one more time before the cat starts running away. “It is not because that I think you have parasites on. It’s because there are a lot’s of animals here and we can’t keep their disease and parasites under control all the time. You can get parasites from them.’ Jongdae is explaining. Jongdae is fucking explaining stuff to a cat in a serious way.
Jongdae can’t help the big grin on his face though. Not when the cat is coming closer and sitting in front of Jongdae with a defeated look on his face. This cat is incredible.
“There you go,” Jongdae says while spraying on the powder on his fur and petting him. The cat suddenly turns back to look at the hall and after a second later Jongdae hears the door opening.
“Jongdae? Are you alive?” Comes Yixing’s voice. Jongdae laughs at that and the cat looks at him with wide eyes. Jongdae pats the cat’s head to apologize in case it scared him.
“Yes, come here!” Jongdae says and hopes Yixing doesn’t notice that something is off with the hanger. But Yixing really looks like he has no clue when he comes in with grocery bags in his hands.
“Got you breakfast,” Yixing says and then his eyes widen. “Oh, it is alive!”
“Of course he is! No one dies on my watch!” Jongdae says grabbing the grocery bag to find something to eat.
“You are welcome,” Yixing says while rolling his eyes then he looks at the cat. “Waow, now that it’s awake, it’s really beautiful,” Yixing says grabbing the cat and lifting it up. Jongdae’s eyes widen and he has the urge to stop Yixing because that will totally annoy his little prideful cat.
His? Wait no. He didn’t mean to… mean that… Oh god.
“Uhm, Jongdae?” Yixing says after a while.
“Hmm?” Jongdae murmurs with mocha bread stuffed to his mouth.
“Did we learn anything about brown eyed cats? Not like greenish brown but like really dark brown,” Yixing says. Jongdae laughs because he was just thinking that a second ago.
“Well I don’t think so. But no one said that it can’t happen?” Jongdae says trying to swallow that big bite. Yixing doesn’t seem convinced but he shrugs it off.
“Still so beautiful though,” Yixing says.
“Handsome,” Jongdae mumbles. “He is a man so he is handsome, thank you.”
“My, my. I see you claimed him too like you claimed every single dog here. But I am surprised to see that this time it is a cat,” Yixing grins.
“Wait, no intervention?” Jongdae says eyes open wide in mock surprise.
“It’s too early for me to get my intervention abilities into working. Let’s get ‘him’ a cage” Yixing says and it is just way too funny how the cat visibly tenses at the word cage. Just like he can speak mandarin. But cats do have high understanding of what people mean. They just normally don’t care. Maybe this one cares.
They walk into the hall and it is such a loud mess that the cat looks like it wants to run away from China. Dogs are barking at the unfamiliar scent, cats are mewling to be freed and Yixing finally stops in front of an empty cage in the cat section and starts opening it. The cat finally lets out a sound and mewls loudly.
He has such a unique, cute voice but Jongdae stops thinking about it when the cat literally goes crazy and tries to jump out of Yixing’s grip.
“Jongdae help! Damn it!” Yixing yelps but before Jongdae can approach the cat frees himself and runs. Jongdae is just about to have a depression when he thinks about how it will take hours to find the cat in this not so big but still big shelter but the cat suddenly stops in the dog section in front of an empty cage. Yixing and Jongdae go there as quickly as possible. The cat mewls and pawns at the cage.
“You have got to be kidding me,” Yixing mumbles, mouth agape. The cages for dogs are absolutely bigger. The cat just wants a bigger cage and Jongdae is actually speechless.
“This cat is something,” Yixing says while opening the cage to place the cat in it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“This boy is really something,” Chanyeol mumbled to Jongdae’s ear. They were sitting in the library in the campus and this whole situation was not really helping Jongdae writing his essay in Mandarin. The boy from the opposite table of them was leaning back on his chair, legs stretched out under the table and his headphones were blasting loud beats on his shoulders. Instead of paying attention to the text book before him, he was looking at Jongdae’s table, directly at Jongdae.
“God, he is not even trying to hide it,” Chanyeol tsked with a grin on his face and Jongdae pushed him away from his ear. Jongdae mouthed a ‘what?’ to the boy, though he had a really big grin on his face. This boy with his light brown hair, perfect smile and a prettier face than an average girl, just looked like a movie star or an idol. Jongdae didn’t had it in him to deny this fact.
The boy mouthed a ‘wait’ before he leaned under the table and grabbed a soccer ball. He started spinning the soccer ball on his index finger and winked at Jongdae. Jongdae couldn’t help the laugh that took over him.
‘Lame!’ he mouthed towards the boy. The boy stopped spinning the ball and placed his hand on his heart making a mock shocked face. Then the boy pulled his chair to the side of the table so Jongdae could see him from the side and mouthed a slow “Check this out” he started bouncing the ball on his feet. Jongdae let the boy show of for few seconds before he mocked a yawning.
While the boy was trying to make a heart broken face he lost his balance and the ball hit the shelf and then bumped to the table. He quickly grabbed the ball and hid it in his backpack while Jongdae silenced his laugh with the back of his hand. Library Ahjumma walked towards them angrily to look for the source of the sound. The boy smiled a charming smile and putted his index finger in front of his lips making a ‘hush’ sign to Jongdae. Jongdae just rolled his eyes and went back to writing his essay.
It took a lot of effort to finish that essay while he was also fighting back a big grin.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Did you named him yet?” Yixing asks him while he is wearing his coat. Jongdae just wanted to take one last glance at this new cat before he took his own coat from the hanger and apparently he is caught by Yixing’s sharp eyes.
“Pfft, no I didn’t!” Jongdae immediately tries to laugh it off but Yixing is already giving him Spongebob ‘s creepy face. “Okay maybe I did. But just look at him, I had to! He feels like he is a person. Besides I didn’t call him that yet so you don’t have to worry about him getting used to it.”
“Take him with you,” Jongdae’s eyes opens wide at Yixing’s words. “I am serious, take him with you.”
“What?” Jongdae says. “Why would I do that?” Why is Jongdae sweating though? Like he just caught while stealing something.
“You kept staring at him the whole day. Why not? Just because you are a vet here doesn’t mean you can’t adopt a pet from here,” Yixing shrugs.
“Don’t tell me you don’t know that I am a dog person or I will divorce you,” Jongdae says. Yixing laughs.
“Like hell someone would marry your bony ass!” Yixing says but the takes a step closer to Jongdae. “The joking aside, take him with you for tonight. If you think that you can’t handle him, just bring him back tomorrow.”
Jongdae can handle him! This cat is calm, silent and easy. It is not like Jongdae dislikes him. It is quite the opposite actually. It is just that, Jongdae was never the one for cats. Jongdae doesn’t think he can handle cats.
“Jongdae, when was the last time you saw something beautiful and took it for yourself? Just do something, show some commitment. Things did happen but it is in the past. You can’t keep being scared forever,” Yixing’s hand on Jongdae’s shoulder felt reassuring. Like his words are not actually hurting Jongdae. They hurt because they are %50 percent true.
“You are forgetting that things did happen because I always commit though,” Jongdae says but Yixing shakes his head. This makes Jongdae get angry. Like his words are not reaching yixing. It makes Jongdae feel like he is being pointless and stubborn but it is not true. Jongdae is just saying the truth.
A loud mewl interrupts their thoughts and Jongdae finds himself making eye contact with the cat. He sighs in defeat before walking over to him.
“Do you want to come with me Xiumin?” Jongdae finds himself asking. The cat responds with a mewl. Pawn trying to reach Jongdae from the cage. Jongdae is holding back an anime girl scream because god, that was cute.
“You named him Xiumin?” Yixing looks at Jongdae like Jongdae is just embarrassing.
“What’s with that look? It means handsome or something,” Jongdae shrugs.
“I know what it means but the poor cat will never learn his name if you pick a hard name like that,” Yixing says. Jongdae thinks Xiumin is way too smart for that to happen.
“I am taking him with me and you won’t give me interventions for the rest of the year. Deal?” Jongdae says. Yixing rolls his eyes but smiles anyways.
Jongdae really wants to ease Xiumin into the apartment. Make it comfortable for him, coax him, he is even planning to give him an apartment tour but the moment he lets Xiumin go, the cat runs away with all he has got and disappears.
“Xiumin?” Jongdae checks every place possible. But the cat is nowhere to be seen and doesn’t even make a sound. “Xiumin, come here kitty, kitty,” Yixing was right. It was not a good idea to name the cat Xiumin.
After getting himself all kinds of dust and dirt while checking the under of all kinds of furniture in his house, Jongdae calls it a night. The time is 11:57. It is actually pretty early for Jongdae but he spent a lot of sleepless nights lately. Being a vet at the shelter is a rough job in Beijing but he loves it anyways. He is just sleepy that’s all.
There is a little bit of guilt in his chest as he gets under the sheets. He wonders where the cat is and what is he doing. But he figures he can handle that tomorrow.
Minseok hisses as the trash can gets tighter and tighter around him. He reaches out to get out of it before he gets stuck there. He falls to the ground with the can and makes a mess but he can’t care less at the moment as his limbs are growing. He literally presses his face to the carpet. It only takes seconds before he is human again bud god, it feels like it took hours.
Minseok’s head is spinning as he tries to sit up. He gives himself a moment to get used to this body. He feels like he is more a cat than a human now. Terrible things do happen. Hopefully Jongdae looks like he didn’t heard anything. Thanks to god he went to bed early. Probably because he stayed awake till morning yesterday while taking care of him, Minseok thinks. Jongdae looks like a good person but Minseok just wishes, just a little bit, that Jongdae and the others in the shelter didn’t save him. He was just so close to dying and he was also so close to getting rid of everything. Minseok might be still alive but he probably gave up on living two years ago.
What is done can not be undone. So here Minseok is. Still alive, still cursed but at least he is not in a cage. The last time he was in a shelter, he transformed back into a human in a cage and he dislocated his arm. It was a nightmare. Minseok is thankful and he can, at least, clean up the mess he did while changing into his human form. It’s pretty disgusting though. Ramyun cups are everywhere. Doesn’t this guy eat something normal?
He figures he can’t keep staying in the kitchen in case of Jongdae getting up to drink water or to get himself a midnight snack. Actually, Minseok should probably leave this house. No he must leave this house. Jongdae won’t go to bed at eleven every night and Minseok is not a cat, he is a human and he wouldn’t be invited if Jongdae knew that.
Minseok wants to go. He really, really wants to go but he is just… He needs some rest. He is not ready yet. Living in Beijing streets as a stray cat is pretty though. How many times did people tried to kill him? How many times was he bitten by dogs?
Tomorrow… Minseok gets up and goes to the living room. I will definitely go tomorrow.
He lies down on the couch. He tries to ignore the crunching sound of potato chips under him or the spicy ramyun smell on the blanket as he pulls it over himself. He wishes he could clean this apartment really. It is a crazy mess. Sleep won’t reach him quickly when he is feeling this alarmed. He pulls the blanket over his head and hopes that Jongdae won’t get up to watch TV.
When Minseok opens his eyes again, it is still dark. It almost feels like he just closed his eyes for seconds. But he did notice that how everything seems a lot bigger now. He opens his mouth, just to make sure. A mewl comes out and finally he goes back to sleep to sleep like a man now. With snores and all.
He didn’t really know cats could have dreams at night before this incident happened. But his dreams as a cat are not different from the dream he has as a human. They are always about nostalgia, somewhere between sweet and sour. Minseok usually dreams about his life a few years ago. Remembers that he was a functioning human once and he had a promising future. He gets lost in it all the time. He believes that he is living in that moment and this ‘now’ doesn’t exist. He wishes it was true. But he always wakes up in the end.
However, today he wakes up to see a pair of large brown eyes in the level of his nose. Minseok almost falls from the couch.
“Good morning Xiumin! Did you sleep well?” now that Minseok’s brain is functioning again, he realizes that it is Jongdae, the guy who bought him here last night.
“Where did you go last night? It was like you disappeared.” Jongdae says. Minseok just stares at him. What would a cat do? It would just stare right? But even if Minseok would be a human now, he would stare like he is retarded.
Minseok stiffens as he suddenly feels Jongdae’s hand on his head. It is unexpected, but not unpleasant. Jongdae gently scratches behind his ears before giving him a full body stroke till the base of his tail and Minseok holds his breath to not to purr. Damn, Jongdae knows how to pet a cat.
“Don’t run away like that again, okay?” Jongdae says pulling back his hand. “Actually talking about rules, I do have some rules,” Minseok rolls his eyes at that accidentally and he wants to take it back as Jongdae’s eyes open wide and he laughs. Minseok saw it back at the shelter too. Jongdae always notices those gestures.
“No drugs, no smoking and no crazy girlfriends in this house,” Jongdae says with a wink. Minseok wants to smile at that but cat lips don’t help him so he settles for staring again.
“I am just kidding. The actual rules are, you know, poo and pee to the litter box, no destroying the furniture and most importantly,” Jongdae leans in to pat Minseok’s head more gently, almost weak. “No running away because I heard that cats do that all the time.” There is something in Jongdae’s voice. The bubbly tone gone away and it is like he actually wants to mean something else by saying it.
They don’t really run away if they are fed and have a warm house Minseok wants to say. He would stay really. But he is not a cat and that’s why he has to go. Jongdae would want him to leave too, if he knew Minseok’s little secret.
“I don’t really like Sundays you know?” Jongdae says as he gets the remote to open the TV. “Maybe it’s because I don’t really know what to do with them.” Oh, Minseok thinks. He is still talking.
“I like being in the shelter. Working keeps you alive you know? Keeps the troubles out of your mind,” Jongdae says and settles on a music channel. Something slow like R&B. “And I love my job. I love dogs really! I always wanted to get one but they need so much care and I come home really late sometimes,” Jongdae walks out of the living room.
Now that Minseok is left alone in the living room, it feels oddly silent.
“Xiumin come here! I can’t talk to you with yelling from here can I?” Jongdae’s voice fills the silence again and Minseok rolls his eyes as he starts walking to the kitchen. He only realizes what a big mistake he did when Jongdae stares at him with wide eyes like he is not the one who called him here in the first place.
“Well,” Jongdae says grinning wide. “I wasn’t really expecting that,” and Minseok wants to do a face palm with his small pawns. He was supposed to be a stupid cat but there he is, absent mindedly listening to Jongdae and proving that he can understand what Jongdae is talking about. Minseok just turns his back and tries to go back like his actually just wandering around the house but Jongdae catches him.
“What an amazing cat I have here,” He says before hugging Minseok and patting his head. Up close Minseok has a chance to look at Jongdae’s face. He has nice, big eyes and Minseok didn’t really know that cheek bones could be that high. Oh, the corners of his lips are naturally turned upwards, giving him that mischievous smile.
Minseok’s face smashes into Jongdae’s chest when Jongdae makes a really high pitched squealing kind of thing and hugs Minseok. “so cuteee,” a sound that could belong to a girl comes out of Jongdae’s mouth and Minseok is having a hard time breathing.
Cat ears, cat nose and cat instincts are all working at the same time. Only thing Minseok can smell is the scent of Jongdae’s skin and his heart beat is just too loud in his ears. Intimate. So intimate… Minseok tries to push Jongdae away with his pawns, trying to not to use his nails.
“Awww” another sound comes from Jongdae as he presses Minseok even closer before letting go suddenly. Minseok lands on his feet and finds himself on the ground, feeling dizzy and his fur is such a mess now. Just like this apartment. He looks at Jongdae who is grinning playfully. Minseok really wishes he could give Jongdae ‘the look’ right now.
“Aw, don’t give me that look now,” Jongdae grins. “You will get used to my charming ways and I will try to get used to hold back the urge to smash you,” and Jongdae is giving his signature mischievous smile again. Minseok is afraid that he will give Jongdae an another look accidentally so he just leaves the kitchen. That doesn’t mean Jongdae is done interacting with him though.
Minseok learns for sure that there is no end to Jongdae’s chattering. Even though Minseok can’t give any responses Jongdae just keeps talking like Minseok is a human. Well technically he is a human but Jongdae doesn’t know that. Even if Minseok was a human though, he would have stopped listening to Jongdae two hours ago or something like he is doing now. It’s like three p.m now and Minseok thought Jongdae would get over the ‘hey I just got a pet’ syndrome and would drop the cute owner act. But it seems like Jongdae is this kind of person naturally. Always out loud.
“I wonder how their hair is still on their heads.” Jongdae says as he is watching an idol group on the TV. “I swear this guy had green hair last week,”
Jongdae is very interesting to watch though. He is always doing gestures that he is probably not aware of. He pouts when he prepares his ramyun but realizes that he didn’t turn on the kettle so he has to wait. Mumbles to himself all the time and he sings. He has a really nice voice Minseok thinks. A voice that is gentle and soothing while he is singing.
Jongdae actually is a funny looking guy at first. His arms are short, hands and feet ridiculously small. Actually all of his body is really small. Not his head though. His head is in the normal size which kind of looks pretty big on his body. But there is something in Jongdae. He just makes you keep looking at him. Maybe it’s his face… Or his charming voice? Minseok doesn’t know why. Maybe Jongdae is, after all, cute.
“This is Sunday, this is the day that people actually has time to watch TV and there is nothing on the fucking TV,” Jongdae says turning off the tv. “I am getting my laptop,” he says than gets up and walks out of the living room. For a guy who likes to state everything out loud, Jongdae seems alone. Jongdae is a Korean living in Beijing after all. Minseok was like that too when he first came to Beijing. But Minseok saw a lot of people in the shelter that was pretty interested in Jongdae. The tall guy that bought him looked like a close friend and the dimple guy… Yixing? Yixing seemed like he really cares about Jongdae. And that volunteer girl what was her name… Li something was totally into Jongdae. She was so cute while giggling at every joke Jongdae made and she actually continued the songs whenever Jongdae absent mindedly started mumbling one. She had a beautiful voice and she was really pretty. They looked like they had a lot in common but Jongdae was being friendly. He was clearly not interested.
Now that Minseok thinks about, he realizes that he had been watching Jongdae a lot. And what the heck is he even thinking about? It is none of his business If Jongdae is lonely or not. Minseok is leaving tonight. He is going to miss here though. A warm place to stay, free food, and even though it is messy, he kind of liked this apartment. Jongdae has a good taste in decoration. Furniture and carpets are usually red and the other things are mostly yellow. It is just like Beijing nights. More like temples in Beijing nights. It really looks like Jongdae’s own temple though. Minseok’s eye catches on a framed photo standing on the dresser next to Iron man figures. He had seen Jongdae stopping in his tracks to look at the picture every now and then. Without realizing Minseok gets off from the couch to go and look at it. Since Jongdae is probably looking for his laptop in the big mess that he created, Minseok can jump on the dresser to take a better look.
It is a picture of Jongdae and… Wait a second. Is that Luhan? Oh god, years have passed but still seeing this guy gives Minseok Goosebumps. Jongdae’s eyes are shining in the picture. He looks bubbly and he is grinning widely. At the other hand Luhan looks like the miserable creature that he is. Smiling in a way that he knows he looks handsome and he looks very smug with a hand around Jongdae’s waist. It looks like the thousands of other photos of Luhan and Luhan was very unsuccessful about throwing them out Minseok remembers. He always found one of them under the couches or between the cushions in their flat room back at the dorms.
“Curiosity killed the cat,” Minseok gets down from the dresser when he hears Jongdae’s voice. Jongdae is there, standing in the doorframe with laptop in his hands. Jongdae laughs. He walks towards the dresser and places the laptop on it. “It is okay, come here. Take a look,” Jongdae says but Minseok is bussy pretending he can’t understand Korean.
“He is my ex,” Jongdae says. He is smiling but it is a sour smile. At the other hand, that kind of explains why Jongdae was not interested in that girl back at the shelter.
“He is handsome, isn’t he?” Jongdae says. Handsome? Luhan? Minseok is going to cry. He is sure he is making a humanly face again but Jongdae is not looking at him. His gaze is fixated on the picture. He has a longing expression on his face. Isn’t Luhan Jongdae’s ex-boyfriend? Than why is Jongdae still keeping that picture, Minseok wonders.
“I met him in the college here,” Jongdae says and for the first time Minseok feel eager to listen. It is probably because he is a fucking cat and he has nothing interesting in his life.
“Well, I came here for the college. I am from a small town near Seoul. I actually wanted to go to an university in Seoul but I was sick at the day of the college entrance exams and I wasn’t the brightest student ever to begin with,” Jongdae says with a chuckle. Minseok can relate.
“I was just so bored back there. I needed a change. Something childish like an adventure and I found out about this program here in Beijing. So I came here though it was a bit expensive. I met Luhan in my second year. His name is Luhan by the way,” Jongdae says and smiles. Minseok want’s give him a ‘oh really?’ face but he has to hold it back.
“Luhan was someone who was overly confident and easy going. He just suited that adventure I was having. Yixing warned me about it. He knew that we were not meant for each other. He said that I quickly get attached and I commit with my all while Luhan just looked like the opposite. But back then I wasn’t serious about Luhan too. I thought we would have fun for a while, enjoy the Beijing together and stuff,” That sounds something like Luhan would enjoy doing but Jongdae doesn’t really seem like he is cut out for that stuff and Minseok knows Jongdae for less than two days.
“At some point, I just felt like we shared something. And I failed to understand it was just me, not Luhan and I fell in too deep,” Jongdae suddenly stops telling the story and looks at Minseok like he forgot Minseok was there. He laughs. “Waow what a drama I have here,” Minseok mewls. He really wants to hear the end. Because he knew all of Luhan’s boyfriends and girlfriends but Minseok has never seen Jongdae before even though they probably went to the same college.
“So the point is my dear Xiumin,” Jongdae says and Minseok almost sighs in relief. “ While I was trying to find the courage to ask him to move in with me, he acted faster and said that he was accepted in an exchange program and was going to Seoul in two weeks. He had only one semester left back then so he was going to finish the college there. He said that it was his dream to live there and that pretty much stated that he was not coming back. I thought of going there with him but he never asked and I never had the courage to bring it up. Not that I had a chance to,” Jongdae goes to sit on the couch with his laptop. Oh Minseok thinks. He can connect things now.
“That sucker successfully managed to avoid me for two weeks and only texted a ‘good bye’ before he disappeared. I never heard anything from him after that. I don’t know where he is now and what he is doing but he is probably living his dream while I’m here pretty much doing the same,” Minseok can relate now. Jongdae is the boyfriend that Luhan had before going to Seoul. He was the boyfriend that Luhan kept like a secret and hid from everyone unlike he did with the other ones. Luhan was known for going out with best looking people and making a show out of it. But Luhan wanted to keep Jongdae to himself probably.
Luhan did deserve everything bad. It was probably his shit to begin with. But Jongdae didn’t have any fault at this and he doesn’t deserve being sad like this because of a total loser. Something stirs inside of Minseok and he finds himself back on the dresser again. He just wants to do something for Jongdae, to show him that it is not that much of a big deal or something.
Minseok shrieks and wakes up from his trance when the frame meets the ground and the glass shatters. Jongdae yelps and get up from the couch.
“God!” He says and rushes to there. Minseok is getting ready to be yelled at when Jongdae kneels next to the fallen picture. But Jongdae looks like he is not aware that Minseok is actually there.
“I see,” Jongdae murmurs while grabbing the picture with bare hands. “I am not even allowed to keep this? You asshole,” jongdae says quietly to Luhan’s smiling face. His eyes are getting watery. God, Minseok feels awful. Why did he even do that? Why does he even care?
Jongdae gets up quickly with the picture and throws the picture to the trash can and rubs his face.
Jongdae can’t cry now. He was over with the crying phase. It’s been three fucking years since he broke up with Luhan and fuck he is over it. He knows that he is. He is just bad at believing to the lies he tells to himself. He goes back to clean the bigger pieces of glass before vacuuming it. Xiumin is there sitting and mewling. He looks guilty. Jongdae doesn’t feel angry at Xiumin. At least not because he destroyed the picture. He feels just a little flustered. Maybe because Xiumin’s way of dropping the picture felt exactly like Yixing’s interventions.
His phone rings suddenly. He considers not picking it up for a second but then takes a deep breath and goes to fins his phone. He clears his voice before answering. He can’t make it obvious that he has been upset. His friends are already treating him like a suicidal case so he needs to get himself together. But he feels relaxed when he sees that it is Chanyeol.
“Yes sir! How can I help you?” Jongdae says trying to gain his bubbly tone back. It is not hard to do that. Chanyeol is pretty much a fellow to him. Sharing the depression makes it smaller and they usually do that together.
“Hey, I composed tons of songs last night,” Chanyeol says. His voice is hoarse.
“Woah, tons of songs just in one night?” Jongdae says smiling.
“Yeah… I was just thinking that it would be perfect if you can come over and listen to them because you write the best lyrics ever,” Chanyeol says laughing weakly. Something is totally wrong but it is common between them. Usually spending alone time together when something is wrong.
“And I got booze,” Chanyeol says. The way he says it feels like an excited teen so Jongdae laughs.
“Seems like you really want me to come. I mean the complimentary and the booze,” Jongdae wants to tease a little to see if it will bring live back in Chanyeol’s tone but Chanyeol stays silent for a while.
“Chanyeol are you there?” Jongdae feels worried now.
“Joonmyun proposed to Kyungsoo,” Chanyeol says and Jongdae holds back a gasp.
“Did Kyungsoo accepted?” Jongdae asks instantly but he doesn’t even care at the moment.
“Yeah… Kind of asked me to be his best man because he thinks he can’t trust Baekhyun,” Chanyeol says.
“I am coming Chanyeol. Just wait for me okay?” Jongdae says. Chanyeol mumbles something like ‘yeah’ and Jongdae flies to get his jacket. Xiumin is watching him with a confused look from where he is standing.
“I will be back okay? Be careful and don’t step into the pieces of glass,” Jongdae says than he realizes he is talking to a cat started and he goes back to the living room to grab Xiumin and closes the door of the Living room.
Jongdae met Kyungsoo, Chanyeol and Baekhyun in Bejing. Being from the same country and actually understanding each other’s language was what tied them together though Jongdae was an addition to the group. Kyungsoo, Chanyeol and Baekhyun are childhood friends and they came to Beiijing together. It was the first time Jongdae saw friends so close to each toher like them.
They are like the Three Musketeers. They are always together and they always take care of each other. The only thing is, Chanyeol is in love with Kyungsoo since their high school days but he can’t bring himself to confess because Kyungsoo clearly shows no interest in him like that. Everyone knows that Kyungsoo loves Chanyeol but just not in that way. Kyungsoo started dating Joonmyun, another Korean student at the campus in the first year of college.
Kyungsoo and Joonmyun pretty much had a really serious relationship going on between them and neither Chanyeol nor Jongdae had the heart to hate Joonmyun because he was such a good guy. Whenever Kyungsoo and Joonmyun fought Chanyeol and Jongdae got their hopes up but at the end of the day, Joonmyun and Kyungsoo found a way to get together.
Baekhyun, in the other hand, knew that Chanyeol was in love with Kyungsoo but never wanted to get involved with that. He never made a comment or wanted to tell his opinion. He just watches Chanyeol from afar to make sure that Chanyeol is not hurting himself. Jongdae respects that since Baekhyun loves Chanyeol as much as he also loves Kyungsoo.
Chanyeol and Jongdae didn’t do anything special today. It was mostly like their usual hang outs. They started singing and playing songs while drinking and then they started to dance to Girl’s Generation songs. Something around like six p.m. Chanyeol finally started crying. After Chanyeol cried for almost an hour and got snot all over Jongdae’s shirt, they started drinking more and then started swearing at everything that happened in their lives out loud and cheered on each other like the drunk fucks that they are.
“It was the bravest moment of my entire college life. Because I got up and said ‘Shut up you poor excuse of a professor!’ to his face,”
“There you go!”
“I said ‘You are a piece of shit! Did you get your degree from the Walmart?’ because you know, they sell everything in Walmart.”
“They definitely do!”
“And then I got closer to him and said ‘I saw a lot of disgusting things in the Beijing Walmart but your degree is the most disgusting because sir, YOU KNOW NOTHING-”
“JON SHOW!”
And finally when they were done with that too, they battled with each other for the title of ‘The Most Unlucky Guy That Ever Lived’ for almost two hours. Now it is ten p.m. and Jongdae is kind of regretting starting to drink in the middle of the day because Chanyeol is totally gone and the remains of him is a puking mess.
Jongdae watched out for his liquor, foreseeing that this was going to happen to Chanyeol but still Jongdae is so fucking messed up. He goes to the kitchen to make some herbal tea that he hopes will make things easier for Chanyeol even though he really can’t explain how it will work while Chanyeol is puking like crazy. After breaking two mugs in the processes, Jongdae gives up and calls Yixing.
It tooks only ten seconds for Yixing and Baekhyun to slam the door open and rush in like the crazy mothers that they are. Chanyeol is now on the couch with a blanket wrapped tightly around him like a cocoon and Jongdae is trying to clean the dried puke on his face with a sponge. This scene must be so touching because Jongdae can literally see the fires coming out of Yixing and Baekhyun’s eyes.
“What the fuck is going on here?” Yixing says. He is not smiling but still his dimple is showing. That says something.
“Things just went a little bit out of controll,” Jongdae smiles. Yixing opens his mouth to respond to Jongdae with fireballs but they see Baekhyun walking towards Chanyeol and they just stop on their tracks.
“I have been calling you since morning,” Baekhyun says. Chanyeol looks kind of scared and guilty but before that, he looks totally relieved to see Baekhyun.
“Baek, i…” Chanyeol tries to say something but he just stops. Baekhyun takes a deep breath.
“Dude!” Yixing and Jongdae rushes over to Baekhyun when he just slaps Chanyeol unexpectedly but then they stop on their tracks and Jongdae’s eyes open wide as Baekhyun gives Chanyeol the most caring, heartwarming hug ever by pressing chanyeol’s head to his chest and wrapping his arms around him. Both Jongdae and Yixing just looks at them speechless.
“Baek,” Chanyeol says grabbing fistful of Baekhyun’s shirt and pressing his face to it even more. “He is getting married.”
Baekhyun leans down and kisses Chanyeol’s hair. “I’m sorry,” he whispers. Chanyeol looks like he is on the edge of crying and Baekhyun looks like he will gladly join him if he starts doing that.
“Let’s go,” Jongdae finds himself tugging at Yixing’s arm. Baekhyun gives Jongdae a little smile. “I feel like shit I need someone to drive me,”
“Yeah sure. I’m your personal driver aren’t I?” Yixing says while walking to the door.
There is an awkward silence going on in the car and Jongdae wants to get out already.
“You know it don’t you?” Yixing finally breaks the silence. Jongdae was hoping that the silence would go on forever.
“I know what?” Jongdae says looking out of the window.
“That Baekhyun loves Chanyeol,” Yixing says effortlessly.
“Of course he does. They are childhood friends,” Jongdae says but he knows that he is just saying things just to say things.
“You know what I meant.” Jongdae probably knew it even back in college. He just didn’t spend a moment to stop and think about it. Maybe be it was because he actually didn’t wanted to do that. Maybe because he wanted believe someone was as lonely as him. Maybe it’s because Jongdae sucks.
“You are in the mood for gossip I see,” Jongdae says with a playful smile as Yixing pulls over in front of Jongdae’s apartment.
“Hey,” Yixing says. “You can come over to me if you want. Or I can come with you. You look like a mess,” Jongdae sees it in Yixing’s eyes. The ‘you don’t have to be alone’ look. He can see the pity.
“I will see you tomorrow,” Jongdae smiles before getting off.
Jongdae is kind of regretting not accepting Yixing’s offer as he is opening the door because fuck, he really feels drunk and alone now. He gets in and closes the door and while he is taking off his shoes, he hears a loud mewl and sees a small cat running towards him. Jongdae finds himself smiling.
“Hey, long time no see,” Jongdae says. Xiumin mewls. It feels nice having someone- something- saying ‘welcome’ when you come home Jongdae thinks though Xiumin more looks like ‘where have you been? Are you okay? You look like a mess!’ instead of ‘welcome home!’
Xiumin follow Jongdae to the living room and actually jumps next to him on the couch. Jongdae feels suddenly bubbly inside. He didn’t really know that cats were able to make people happy as much as dogs did with less action. Jongdae suddenly feels good and he knows he is good when his mouth opens and he starts talking with Xiumin because that’s what Jongdae does when he feels normal. He just talks about everything.
It is only 11.50 or something but after telling Xiumin the whole day and then performing Beyonce’s ‘Single Ladies’ together with the dance -because Jongdae is fabulous like that- he decides that he is shit drunk and needs go to bed before performing ‘Like a Virgin’ or something. He says goodnight to Xiumin and puts more cat food on Xiumin’s bowl after seeing it nearly empty. It is good news that Xiumin has appetite. Jongdae goes to his bedroom and changes to his pajamas. He gets his bed ready but it just feels so boring to go to bed like this so early. Then Jongdae has an idea like the five year old boy that he is.
“Xiumin~” Jongdae grabs the poor cat on the couch. Xiumin’s eyes are wide open and he looks confused as Jongdae carries him to the bedroom. “Trust me, you will love my bed!”
Xiumin immediately cries out as soon as he realizes what is going on but Jongdae just closes the door and traps Xiumin in. Xiumin runs away when Jongdae tries to get him.
“Oh c’mon,” Jongdae corners Xiumin with a big grin. There is not a lot of furniture in Jongdae’s room and they don’t have gaps underneath them so Xiumin can’t really get away. “You hurting my feelings,” Xiumin hisses at him but he has none of it.
“Give up already!” Jongdae says as he gets under the sheets with a squirming Xiumin in his hands. He just presses him closer as Xiumin tries to get away and after a while Xiumin stops. Jongdae thinks he had won the battle and he feels proud about destroying the cat laws but then Xiumin get’s impossibly heavy in Jongdae’s arms and something shines very brightly that Jongdae can’t see anything for a good ten seconds and he is sure Xiumin got away from him. Is that some sort of cat trick?
Jongdae pushes himself up to a sitting position and rubs his eyes. His vision comes back to him slowly and now he can make out the naked form of a man sitting in front of him. Jongdae blinks a few times. There is a boy -Jongdae can’t quite tell- on his bed, he is naked and he is a sight to see actually.
“If this is not a dream, I am going to freak out and you will be in trouble,” Jongdae says. God, the boy has such a pretty face. “But if this is a dream, please don’t wake me up.”
Something funny happens in Jongdae’s stomach as the boy smiles, white teeth and gums and all.
“It is a dream,” the boy says and fuck, he has a nice voice too.
Part 2 →