[B.A.P] Fight For Felines (1/1)
Title: Fight For Felines
Fandom: B.A.P
Author: chiharu
Characters/pairing: Daehyun/Jongup
Rating: PG
Wordcount: ~5k
Summary: Daehyun works at a cat café and bullies Jongup into repaying his debt with human labor. AU.
For anyone who doesn't know what a cat cafe is! Shamelessly inspired by this pic and Daehyun singing Georgia Off My Mind. Warning for complete and utter fluff.
Jongup notices the building while taking a shortcut on his way home from the dance studio. He spots the vending machine first and approaches the glass panels of the store. Jongup is busy digging through his pockets for change when something moves around his calf, and he looks down to find a white cat peering up at him.
“Kitty!” Jongup grins, kneeling down to pick it up. The cat, of course, darts away.
“That’s broken,” a boy says, appearing in the doorway as he nods at the vending machine. “Would you like to come inside for a drink? The sitting fee is 10000 won per hour.”
Jongup blinks. “There’s a sitting fee?” He pauses when the boy tsks at him, pointing at something over Jongup’s head. Jongup looks up to find the sign “CAT CAFÉ” artfully hung over the entryway with the words written over chalkboard paint.
Jongup has never owned a pet before, so he follows the boy curiously inside to find a large room decorated with pillows and furniture pushed against the wall.
“Daehyun-ah! Can I buy some catnip?” A girl asks, bouncing over to Jongup’s companion. They walk off towards the counter, leaving Jongup to his own devices. He spots a calico napping on an armchair and a black cat playing with a pretty girl in a corner. The walls are decorated with photos and homemade postcards, leading up to a shelf stocked with cat-pattern china.
Jongup is about to examine a cat shaped mug when he moves forward and steps on something soft and alive. The cat lets out an alarmed screech, quickly skittering away. In his attempt to avoid the cat, Jongup loses his balance and goes down, landing on his back and taking half of the shelf down with him.
When he looks up again, Daehyun is hovering over him, looking incredulous as he steps around the broken china. “Are you okay?” Daehyun asks, helping Jongup help. When Jongup nods, he continues. “What’s your name?”
“Um. Moon Jongup,” Jongup replies lamely, rubbing the back of his head. Jongup’s vision is still swimming, but he does spot the same cat circling around Daehyun’s leg.
“Well, Moon Jongup,” Daehyun replies, picking up the Persian as it relaxes in his arm. “This is Baby, and she wants to know how you plan to pay for everything you broke.”
Jongup opens his wallet and gulps at the sight of a few coins.
Jongup ends up shuffling from school to dance practice the next day without his student ID and bus card. For someone who spends his time playing with furry animals, Daehyun displayed a rather alarming level of distrust when Jongup promised to pay off his debt with human labor. Jongup spent the last of his pocket money on new shoes, and with the amount of money his parents put into his schooling, Jongup just can’t bring himself to ask for a larger allowance.
Baby is sitting on top of a cat pagoda when he shows up at the café that day. She jumps up at his arrival and disappears behind the counter.
“Oh good, you’re here,” Daehyun says, appearing with cans of cat food in his arms. He sets the food down and walks into the backroom. By the time he returns with plates, the cats have already congregated nearby, waiting for dinner.
“Listen up,” Daehyun says as he picks up the black cat. “Everyone gets different foods. Don’t feed Hime the chicken because she only eats the tuna flavored ones. Jello only likes dry food. And Crash here-” He thrusts the black cat at Jongup. “Crash eats everything.”
Jongup tries to pet Crash, but yelps when the cat attempts to scratch his hand. He watches as Crash jumps onto the floor and slinks away. “I don’t think he likes me.”
“That’s because you just tried to pet him in the eye,” Daehyun deadpans, kneeling down and opening a can.
Jongup watches as Daehyun carefully potions the food out on separate plates, with Jello pawing energetically at Daehyun’s elbow. He blinks when Daehyun hands him a bag, instruction him to feed Jello. “What about Baby?” Jongup asks as Jello meows excitedly at him. Baby is standing a good distance away, eyeing them with disinterest.
“Don’t worry about her,” Daehyun replies. “She’ll only let me feed her.” He goes off to greet a new customer at the door, leaving Jongup kneeling on the floor by himself.
“Let’s become good friends,” Jongup mumbles.
Jello just burps at him before trotting away.
Daehyun soon discovers that Jongup is absolutely hopeless with cats and assigns him to grunt work. Jongup stocks up cat food and cleans the litter boxes while Daehyun works the cashier and snacks counter. Daehyun is surprisingly popular with cats and customers alike, greeting their steady stream of regulars and serving them tea on the house.
“I really don’t think they like me,” Jongup admits when Hime scratches him for trying to pick her up. He looks pitifully at Daehyun.
“That’s because you try too hard,” Daehyun says, slapping a bandaid over Jongup’s cut. “You’re always trying to pet them or hug them. Cats don’t like it when you show them too much affection.”
Jongup frowns. “But I really like them.” He expects Daehyun to make a biting comment about Jongup’s inability to befriend felines, but Daehyun just laughs, looking amused.
“I can tell,” Daehyun says, patting Jongup on the shoulder, much like how he treats Crash after the cat misbehaves. “Just. Take baby steps, okay? They’ll warm up to you as long as you’re genuine.”
“Really?” Jongup asks, brightening up.
Daehyun grins. “I promise. Now go restock the juice bar.”
“Junhong-ah,” Jongup whines, lying back pressed against the floor. “How do you take care of cats?”
Junhong is busy retying his shoelaces. He pauses at the question, rolling up the sleeves of his shirt. They’ve run through the routine at least ten times already, but Junhong still shows no sign of fatigue. “I don’t know, Jonguppie-hyung. I’ve only ever taken care of Froggie, and Hyung killed him.”
“Hey!” Himchan-hyung cuts in, dropping a clean towel on top of Jongup’s face as he hands them granola bars. “That was one incidence, okay. Can we please move on already?” He proceeds to mumble something about having to babysit silly Dongsaengs’ even sillier pets.
Junhong looks down meaningfully at his bar. “Froggie would’ve enjoyed this. He loved eating my food.” He doesn’t seem to acknowledge the noise of frustration Himchan-hyung makes.
Jongup flips around until his bare stomach is touching the floor. He grins up when Himchan takes the towel and tousles it into Jongup’s hair. “I have an idea,” Jongup declares. “Why don’t you come visit me? We can all walk there together when practice ends.”
“First of all,” Himchan-hyung says. “Practice is never going to end if you keep lying on your ass. Second of all, why don’t you just take up my offer of borrowing money from me?”
Jongup frowns. “But I really like the cats. I don’t want to give up yet when I’m just starting to make progress! I want to be their friend!”
“I guess that makes sense.” Junhong replies thoughtfully, now chewing at his granola bar. “If you really want to be his friend.”
Jongup blinks at him. “Who are you talking about?” He doesn’t get a reply, because Himchan-hyung kicks lightly at him and declares that break is over.
Business is slow on Thursday night, so Jongup takes a seat at an empty table and pulls out his homework. Daehyun doesn’t seem to mind as Jongup frowns intensely at his notes. Jongup’s only consolation is the fact that Hime has decided to grace him with her presence by curling up on the chair opposite his. She purrs while the space heater lures them both to sleep. Jongup wakes up with his face planted in his notebook to find the ragdoll cat breathing over his head. Hime jumps off the table when Jongup moves, her tail swaying behind her.
A few feet away, Daehyun is singing to the radio as he sweeps the floor. It’s a jazzy song Jongup has heard before in old English movies, and he listens as Daehyun hits the high notes. There’s something nostalgic about Daehyun’s voice as he moves under the string of Christmas lights taped to the ceiling. Baby seems to have noticed Jongup, but she makes no notion of moving from her spot on top of the counter. Together, they watch Daehyun until he turns around and finds Jongup staring.
“Um,” Jongup says, caught off guard. “You have a really nice voice!”
Daehyun stares strangely at him for a moment before relaxing. “Thanks.” When he finds Jongup grinning contently at him, Daehyun smiles back. “Baby used to hate me and hide in the crack behind the refrigerator. I used to sing to lure her out.” He seems uncertain about sharing this new piece of information.
Jongup considers this. “You used to not get along with Baby? And she used to fit in the space behind the fridge?” Jongup has seen how closely the refrigerator in the back room is pressed against the wall. He spends a lot of time in that room, from organizing cat food to washing the dishes in the sink.
Daehyun turns a chair around and takes a seat near Jongup, his elbows leaning against the back of the chair. “She used to be really tiny.”
The idea of Daehyun’s friendship with Baby gives Jongup some hope. “Maybe she’ll like me more if I sing too,” Jongup suggests, singing the chorus to the pop song currently playing on the radio. He stops when Daehyun bursts into soft laughter. “Maybe not.”
Later, when Jongup is about to leave, he turns to Daehyun and asks, “Will you teach me how to get along with the cats?”
Daehyun stops from wiping down the table. He looks around the semi-empty café. Most of the cats are asleep, sans Jello, who is being entertained by a couple on the sofa. “I think you’re doing fine, honestly. Now run home before it gets too late.”
Jongup grins and obeys.
Classes are a bore. Jongup spends most of his time squinting at the board during lectures and jotting nonsensical things into his notebook. The highlight of his days is still dance practice with the crew, when everything makes sense and Jongup can measure his success in a more tangible way-by the smoothness of his movements and the satisfied way Himchan-hyung nods at him.
Jongup falls into a pattern of coming in to work twice a week. The cat café is relatively empty during dinner hours, when Daehyun dusts cat hair off chairs and sits by the table with Jongup as they munch on snacks. When Daehyun is feeling particularly kind, he evens lets Jongup steal drinks from the juice bar. On those days, Jongup always returns home to find leftovers set out on the table for him. Jongup eats his mother’s cooking and wonders if Daehyun is hungry again too.
On days that he doesn’t go to the café, Jongup naps on top of his textbooks, dreaming about high tops and hairballs.
On a Tuesday, he finds Daehyun taking a break and reading his own book behind the counter. Jongup joins him. However, upon closer inspection Jongup finds confusing music symbols on the pages of Daehyun’s book.
“It’s all music theory,” Daehyun explains when Jongup comments on the complexities of eighth notes. “What about you? What are you studying?” Daehyun snatches the notebook out of Jongup’s hand and flips to the latest pages. He pauses upon finding messy scribbles and an empty page with I’M SO CONFUSED written in large handwriting.
Daehyun’s laughter floats through the air like a melody. “You’re really… You’re really something.”
Jongup is about to reply when the doorbell chimes. His eyes instantly fly to the entry way to find Himchan and Junhong. “Hyung!”
Himchan laughs when Jongup scurries over excitedly. While Junhong wanders off to play with the cats, Himchan lets Jongup take him on a mini tour of the café. He pauses upon finding Daehyun. “I’ve seen you before,” he decides.
Daehyun nods. “We go to the same school.” He quickly moves over to Junhong, who is about to wake Hime from her slumber.
“Daehyun-hyung is a really good singer,” Jongup says a moment too late, thinking of Himchan-hyung’s music conservatory.
“Really?” Himchan raises an eyebrow. “What is he studying?”
Jongup honestly has no clue. Sometimes he has a hard time imagining Daehyun outside of the café, doing anything besides feeding the cats. Then he realizes that Daehyun has friends Jongup has never met and hobbies Jongup doesn’t know of.
Junhong returns with an armful of Jello, who purrs happily at the attention. “Can I keep him?” Junhong asks, scratching Jello’s cheek. “Can I take him home?”
“I don’t think so,” Jongup says. His eyes are on Daehyun, who is setting out another box of toys.
“Where did they find so many cats anyway?” Himchan wants to know.
Jongup scratches his head. “I don’t know.”
“Did your boss adopt them?” Junhong continues, now scratching Jello behind the ears. “Or did he breed them?”
“Eh,” Jongup says.
“Do you know anything?” Himchan presses. “Do you even know how much of your debt you’ve paid off?”
“Please stop asking questions,” Jongup says, gesturing lamely around the room. “Just play with the cats, Hyung.” Thankfully, Hime chooses that moment to rub her cheeks against Himchan’s calf, successfully distracting the older man from continuing his interrogation.
Some of Jongup’s questions are answered when he shows up at the café after his classes are canceled. He greets some of the customers and wanders around, calling for Daehyun. The boy who greets him in the back room, however, is someone he’s never met before.
“I’m Youngjae!” The stranger explains, his smile friendly. “Daehyun told me you work in the afternoon sometimes!”
“Oh,” Jongup says. “Is Daehyun-hyung... Not here?”
Youngjae laughs. “Daehyun has morning classes, so he works in the afternoon and evenings. I have afternoon classes, so I’m usually here during the earlier shift. Did you seriously think Daehyun spent all his time here, spoiling Baby and bullying you?”
“It’s not bullying!” Daehyun protests from the doorway, crossing the room with his messenger bag in tow. With his sleeves rolled up and jacket buttoned, Daehyun actually looks like a student.
“It took you long enough! I’m peacing out!” Youngjae huffs, grabbing his own bag. He’s halfway out the door before turning to Daehyun. “So! Dinner! Where do you want to eat?”
Daehyun responds by shoving Youngjae out of the room. “Anywhere. Just go already! Weren’t you late for class? I didn’t run back here just so you can loiter around.”
Youngjae makes a face. “See ya!” Then he’s gone.
“Um,” Jongup says.
“He’s also my roommate,” Daehyun explains, running a hand through his bangs. Daehyun looks neater today, perhaps more presentable. Not like someone who spends a lot of time vacuuming cat hair. “We were planning to eat out tonight to celebrate our extended weekend. The owner is back and gave us a mini break.”
“The owner of the café?”
Daehyun drops his stuff off, heading back into the main room with Jongup on his heel. “Yep. She’s always out of town or on vacation. She’s an interesting lady. You’ll be lucky to run into her.” Daehyun adds. “Actually, when she comes back, you can discuss the terms of your employment with her.”
“Oh,” Jongup says.
Daehyun looks at him carefully. “Do you…. Want to come to dinner with us? Me and Younjae? We can celebrate. The three lonely cat boys.”
Jongup agrees and follows Daehyun to the metro station after locking up that day, making sure to leave out enough dry food for everyone. When Youngjae sends word that his lab has been extended, Daehyun suggests they cook instead and takes Jongup to the nearest grocery store. They roam the aisles aimlessly, Daehyun picking up random packets of ramyun and sausages.
“Isn’t this a celebratory dinner?” Jongup asks. “Should we buy something less… generic?” He’s about to suggest something when they stumble across a row of ahjummas handing out free samples. Daehyun looks like he just found heaven on earth.
Jongup’s suggestion dies on the tip of his tongue when Daehyun solves a piece of fishcake into Jongup’s mouth.
“This is on sale!” The ahjumma says, waving the frozen package in their face.
“This is on sale too!” The lady from the soondubu table shouts.
This sends them on a zigzag tour from table to table, sampling products and dumping it into their cart in excitement. Jongup grabs a melon from the produce section on their way out and attempts to balance it on his head, narrowly avoiding a cleanup call when it rolls off and is caught deftly by Daehyun. They laugh at the ridiculousness of it all while Daehyun assigns Jongup to cart-pushing duty.
“Isn’t this too much food?” Youngjae asks when he returns to the apartment to find Daehyun and Jongup sitting cross-legged around the portable stove. They’ve constructed a tower of food to protect themselves from Youngjae’s invasion, but Youngjae steps around it and plants himself on the opposite side of Jongup anyways.
They dump everything into the ramyun pot, Youngjae commanding them to stop only when Daehyun gets too squeeze-happy with the sauce bottles. Daehyun drops half a dozen eggs into their soup-like concoction and slaps Youngjae’s hand with chopsticks when Yongjae tries to maneuver the eggs away from him.
The hosts are so kind that they even give Jongup the only clean spoon. That’s the extent of their hospitality, because Daehyun is the first one to dig in before the food is done. In the background, the television plays drama reruns while they sip banana milk.
After dinner, Jongup rolls onto his back in his food coma state and listens as Daehyun and Youngjae discuss classes. The ceiling is bumpy and reminds Jongup of the playground pavement he used to dance on. When Jongup zones in on the conversation again, Daehyun is talking about transposing scales. Jongup loses in rock-paper-scissors and is assigned to dish cleaning duty while he listens to Daehyun and Youngjae’s friendly squabbling. By the time he finishes, Youngjae has retired to his room and Daehyun is flipping lazily through their small selection of channels.
“Do you want to stay for the night?” Daehyun asks, pointing to the futon.
Jongup spent the day moving inventory around the store, then dashing off to dance rehearsal where Himchan worked everyone to an inhumane degree, even after Jongup made sad faces at him. He had rushed back to the café at closing time and followed Daehyun home, but now his muscles ached. His mother wasn’t expecting him to be home early, anyways.
Daehyun laughs when Jongup throws himself on the futon. When Jongup curls up into a happy position, eyes on the television, Daehyun pets him on the head and sits on the edge of the futon.
“Do you think Baby is starting to like me more?” Jongup asks, yawning.
Daehyun hums and changes the channel again without looking at Jongup. “I think she already likes you. She’s just bad at showing her affection.”
“Okay,” Jongup replies, slowly closing his eyes. The television is now broadcasting a late night music show. It’s another jazzy song, and Jongup smiles to himself when he hears Daehyun singing faintly along. His hands curl up around something warm, and Jongup opens his eyes to find his hand accidentally holding onto Daehyun’s.
Daehyun just laughs. The same string of LED lights from the café is taped to the back of the apartment walls. Youngjae has turned the main lamp off, and Jongup thinks Daehyun looks different illuminated by only the dim glow of the lights. Daehyun’s voice is soothing as he sings Jongup to sleep.
Winter comes faster than Jongup expects. He’s greeted by an unexpected rainstorm after getting off the bus one day, Jongup dashing under the nearest store front and shaking rain out of his hair. He thinks about waiting the storm out and checks his phone for the time.
It’s then that Jongup hears a faint meowing. It’s unmistakable, Jongup thinks, after spending months humoring Jello and trying to appease Hime. He looks around the sidewalk and is greeted with an array of uninterested pedestrians, distracted in their own world.
Jongup follows the sound until he’s crouched behind a bicycle rack in the rain, pulling an orange kitten out from under the back wheel of a bike. One of its front paws is bent at an awkward angle, and when Jongup picks it up, the kitten sneezes but barely stirs in his arm. Oh, Jongup thinks, as he ducks back under the awning and pats his jeans for his phone. He’s only a few blocks away from the conservatory campus, and when the kitten stirs a little, Jongup pulls up Daehyun’s number.
Daehyun comes running fifteen minutes later, just when Jongup’s jacket is starting to dry. He takes the kitten from Jongup and checks its breathing. Daehyun hands it back to a wide eyed Jongup and pulls his red hoodie off, making a nest and wrapping it around the kitten. “There’s a vet’s office a few blocks away,” he says, heading off in the direction opposite of where he came from.
Jongup follows dumbly as they sprint in the rain. “Hyung!” He shouts when Daehyun disappears into a crowd. He finds Daehyun a second later, about to cross the street. “Hyung!” He grabs Daehyun’s elbow and tugs him back, just in time to avoid a van which splashes puddle water onto their feet.
Daehyun comes tumbling back as Jongup pulls him into a protective hug, Daehyun’s arm digging into Jongup’s ribcage. “Thanks,” Daehyun manages to breathe out with wide eyes, tightening the grip around his hoodie. He then wiggles out of Jongup’s grip, breaking into a run towards their destination as Jongup follows.
The receptionist is surprised to see them, but she lets the kitten through as Jongup and Daehyun sit in the waiting room. Daehyun’s shirt is completely drenched by now, so he squeeze water out of his hoodie and lies it flat to dry on top of the heater in the room. He accepts the towel that the receptionist hands them and offers it to Jongup first.
“You’re stupid, Hyung,” Jongup says, flipping the towel over and mussing it into Daehyun’s hair. Jongup’s sweater is relatively dry, so he takes it off and tunnels it over Daehyun’s head.
“Did you just call me stupid?” Daehyun asks, incredulous. Daehyun’s face is impossibly close that Jongup can see the water that drips from Daehyun’s hair and onto his cheeks. Daehyun just peers up at him, his eyelashes long under wet bangs.
Jongup does the only sensible thing that comes to mind and kisses him.
Daehyun relaxes into the kiss at first, but then pushes Jongup away, looking bewildered in Jongup’s sweater. His grip on Jongup’s shirt loosens when the hallway door opens, and they both spin around to see the vet gesturing at them to go in.
“He sprained his front paw and is a little sick from the cold,” the vet explains. “We fed him some sedatives. I also put a protective brace on his paw, so you should be able to take him home today. Have you considered getting him vaccinated?”
“Eh,” Jongup says, turning around only to find Daehyun avoiding his eye. “He’s not actually my cat. He’s just a stray I found.”
The vet considers this. “Do you want him to be your cat?”
“Yes,” Jongup says, surprising himself at the lack of hesitation. Daehyun, too, is looking at him in amazement. “Can we adopt him? For the café? Is there room for him?”
Daehyun nods slowly.
“Alright,” the vet says. “I’ll have the release forms ready for you. Just give him a lot of rest and lay off that sprained paw. I’ll also prescribe some liquid antibiotics.” She’s gone before either of them can reply.
“Do you want a cat carrier?” The receptionist asks when Jongup finishes filling out forms.
“We have extra ones,” Daehyun says from Jongup’s side. It’s the only thing he supplies on their walk back to the café with the sleeping stray in Jongup’s arm.
Youngjae greets them at the door, finding a cat bed for the kitten as he fumbles around for extra supplies. A few customers gather around the sleeping kitten, ooh-ing and ah-ing. This leaves Daehyun and Jongup by themselves in the backroom, with the dripping sink as their only companion.
“Um,” Jongup starts to say. “About that-”
“You should go,” Daehyun cuts in, taking Jongup’s sweater off and handing it back.
Jongup frowns. “Do you… not like me? I really like you and-”
“You don’t know anything about me,” Daehyun says, turning around so his back is facing Jongup. “And it doesn’t matter. You like everybody. You just think you like me, probably because you’re too attached to the cats.”
Jongup considers this. He thinks about Daehyun-singing to an empty room, petting Baby, leaving unopened juice boxes sitting around for Jongup while pretending that he left them out by accident. Daehyun is just like a cat, backing away when Jongup shows him too much affection, running off to be by himself when he’s confused, and pretending that he doesn’t care.
Jongup closes the space between them and hugs Daehyun from the back. “I like you more than the cats,” he hums.
Unlike Baby, Daehyun doesn’t break away or try to scratch him. He turns around, voice soft. “Really?”
“Yes!” Jongup insists happily.
Daehyun laughs, pushing Jongup’s head back. “You’re just like a puppy. So overeager. We’ll make a terrible pair.”
“Cats and dogs can make great friends,” Jongup says, nodding. “I’ve seen it on t.v.”
Daehyun laughs even harder, turning around and pulling Jongup into a full hug. Daehyun smells like rain and uncertainty: things that Jongup used to hate but now finds exciting. They only break apart when Youngjae pokes his head in.
“When you two are done being emotional,” Youngjae says, pointing his thumb out of the backroom. “The customers wanted to know what our new friend’s name is.”
Jongup thinks about the orange tortoiseshell kitten and how easily he fit into Jongup’s palms. “Let’s call him Cheeto,” Jongup decides, bouncing forward. He turns to Daehyun for approval, but Daehyun just grins at him.
“You’re the cat mom here,” Daehyun says. “It’s your call.”
“Don’t be stupid,” Youngjae says, slapping both Jongup and Daehyun on the back as he pushes them towards the main room, where a group of girls have crowded around Cheeto. “We’re all cat moms.”
Dating Daehyun is surprisingly natural, and everything falls into a comfortable pattern once Cheeto is well enough to move around. Baby and Hime ignore his existence, but Jello and Crash seems to have taken a liking to the kitten.
“They’ll get around to liking him,” Daehyun promises, laughing into Jongup’s shoulder.
“All you talk about are your cats, even your dancing has taken a hit,” Himchan says one day, in the middle of running through their choreography one last time. When Jongup and Junhong look at him curiously, Himchan amends, “okay, that’s a lie. But all the cat talk is getting ridiculous.”
“We can talk about how you killed Froggie instead?” Junhong suggests, to which Himchan just groans. Justice is dealt to them in an even longer rehearsal than usual, leaving Jongup with sore muscles but a sense of accomplishment. The long hours are forgotten when they win the district dance competition.
“I’m so happy right now, I may even buy you a new frog,” Himchan tells Junhong when the crew goes out to celebrate. The night ends with Jongup stumbling into Daehyun’s apartment in excitement, cheeks flushed. He performs his routine over again with Daehyun as his own audience.
Daehyun claps madly and gives him a trophy made out of water bottles and Youngjae’s highlighters.
They’re kissing in the backroom of the café one day when an unfamiliar girl comes bursting through the door. “Yoohoo, Daehyun! I need more catnip for Crash!” She stops to examine them when Jongup retracts his hand from under Daehyun’s shirt.
Daehyun looks equally bewildered, his cheeks flushed.
“Only employees are allowed in here” is the first thing that comes to Jongup’s mind.
The girl blinks at them, stray purple locks framing her happy face. “You’re cute, but I own this place.” She tilts her head as a smile appears on her face. “Daehyun told me that he adopted a puppy, but I didn’t think he meant it like this!”
“Hyosung-Noona!” Daehyun protests. He buries his face in his hands when Hyosung gestures for Jongup to come over.
“I heard Daehyun bullied you into settling a debt?” Hyosung asks knowingly, beaming at Jongup. “Don’t worry, he wasn’t graceful in the beginning either. Daehyun-ah used to press his face to the store window every day and make pitiful faces at Hime.”
“Noona!” Daehyun screeches.
Hyosung continues without missing a beat. “Daehyun was so broke that I made him work before he could play with the cats. Then he brought Youngjae in and they were both suckered into cleaning the litter boxes. When we first found Baby hiding behind the trash can, he even shed a tear and-”
“Noona, please.”
“Catnip, Daehyun,” Hyosung reminds him, extending her palm out and smirking when Daehyun goes digging through a box to procure said catnip. When Daehyun hands her a bag, she pets him on the shoulder. “Good kitty.” Then she’s gone.
“Stop!” Daehyun whines when Jongup bursts into laughter. He pushes Jongup against the wall when the laughing only escalates.
“Bad kitty!” Jongup manages to say, now wheezing in hysteria as his back slides down against the wall.
“If you don’t shut up,” Daehyun says, kneeling down in front of Jongup very non-threateningly. “I’m going to kiss you again.”
Jongup complies, but Daehyun kisses him anyway.
end
A/N:
I blame Kendra, Connie, and Erica for getting me into B.A.P. I used to add "not that I like them or anything" at the end of all B.A.P. related tweets. Now I'm happily camped out under the Daehyun tumblr tag. I can't believe it's come to this.... TT.TT
As always, ty parametre for beta-ing!!
♥ Want to talk B.A.P? Meta? B.A.P. Meta?? Talk to me on twitter!
Love it? Hate it? Please leave some feedback, even if it may be a little late. You can also join the community, since I'll be locking up NC17 fics.
Fandom: B.A.P
Author: chiharu
Characters/pairing: Daehyun/Jongup
Rating: PG
Wordcount: ~5k
Summary: Daehyun works at a cat café and bullies Jongup into repaying his debt with human labor. AU.
For anyone who doesn't know what a cat cafe is! Shamelessly inspired by this pic and Daehyun singing Georgia Off My Mind. Warning for complete and utter fluff.
Jongup notices the building while taking a shortcut on his way home from the dance studio. He spots the vending machine first and approaches the glass panels of the store. Jongup is busy digging through his pockets for change when something moves around his calf, and he looks down to find a white cat peering up at him.
“Kitty!” Jongup grins, kneeling down to pick it up. The cat, of course, darts away.
“That’s broken,” a boy says, appearing in the doorway as he nods at the vending machine. “Would you like to come inside for a drink? The sitting fee is 10000 won per hour.”
Jongup blinks. “There’s a sitting fee?” He pauses when the boy tsks at him, pointing at something over Jongup’s head. Jongup looks up to find the sign “CAT CAFÉ” artfully hung over the entryway with the words written over chalkboard paint.
Jongup has never owned a pet before, so he follows the boy curiously inside to find a large room decorated with pillows and furniture pushed against the wall.
“Daehyun-ah! Can I buy some catnip?” A girl asks, bouncing over to Jongup’s companion. They walk off towards the counter, leaving Jongup to his own devices. He spots a calico napping on an armchair and a black cat playing with a pretty girl in a corner. The walls are decorated with photos and homemade postcards, leading up to a shelf stocked with cat-pattern china.
Jongup is about to examine a cat shaped mug when he moves forward and steps on something soft and alive. The cat lets out an alarmed screech, quickly skittering away. In his attempt to avoid the cat, Jongup loses his balance and goes down, landing on his back and taking half of the shelf down with him.
When he looks up again, Daehyun is hovering over him, looking incredulous as he steps around the broken china. “Are you okay?” Daehyun asks, helping Jongup help. When Jongup nods, he continues. “What’s your name?”
“Um. Moon Jongup,” Jongup replies lamely, rubbing the back of his head. Jongup’s vision is still swimming, but he does spot the same cat circling around Daehyun’s leg.
“Well, Moon Jongup,” Daehyun replies, picking up the Persian as it relaxes in his arm. “This is Baby, and she wants to know how you plan to pay for everything you broke.”
Jongup opens his wallet and gulps at the sight of a few coins.
Jongup ends up shuffling from school to dance practice the next day without his student ID and bus card. For someone who spends his time playing with furry animals, Daehyun displayed a rather alarming level of distrust when Jongup promised to pay off his debt with human labor. Jongup spent the last of his pocket money on new shoes, and with the amount of money his parents put into his schooling, Jongup just can’t bring himself to ask for a larger allowance.
Baby is sitting on top of a cat pagoda when he shows up at the café that day. She jumps up at his arrival and disappears behind the counter.
“Oh good, you’re here,” Daehyun says, appearing with cans of cat food in his arms. He sets the food down and walks into the backroom. By the time he returns with plates, the cats have already congregated nearby, waiting for dinner.
“Listen up,” Daehyun says as he picks up the black cat. “Everyone gets different foods. Don’t feed Hime the chicken because she only eats the tuna flavored ones. Jello only likes dry food. And Crash here-” He thrusts the black cat at Jongup. “Crash eats everything.”
Jongup tries to pet Crash, but yelps when the cat attempts to scratch his hand. He watches as Crash jumps onto the floor and slinks away. “I don’t think he likes me.”
“That’s because you just tried to pet him in the eye,” Daehyun deadpans, kneeling down and opening a can.
Jongup watches as Daehyun carefully potions the food out on separate plates, with Jello pawing energetically at Daehyun’s elbow. He blinks when Daehyun hands him a bag, instruction him to feed Jello. “What about Baby?” Jongup asks as Jello meows excitedly at him. Baby is standing a good distance away, eyeing them with disinterest.
“Don’t worry about her,” Daehyun replies. “She’ll only let me feed her.” He goes off to greet a new customer at the door, leaving Jongup kneeling on the floor by himself.
“Let’s become good friends,” Jongup mumbles.
Jello just burps at him before trotting away.
Daehyun soon discovers that Jongup is absolutely hopeless with cats and assigns him to grunt work. Jongup stocks up cat food and cleans the litter boxes while Daehyun works the cashier and snacks counter. Daehyun is surprisingly popular with cats and customers alike, greeting their steady stream of regulars and serving them tea on the house.
“I really don’t think they like me,” Jongup admits when Hime scratches him for trying to pick her up. He looks pitifully at Daehyun.
“That’s because you try too hard,” Daehyun says, slapping a bandaid over Jongup’s cut. “You’re always trying to pet them or hug them. Cats don’t like it when you show them too much affection.”
Jongup frowns. “But I really like them.” He expects Daehyun to make a biting comment about Jongup’s inability to befriend felines, but Daehyun just laughs, looking amused.
“I can tell,” Daehyun says, patting Jongup on the shoulder, much like how he treats Crash after the cat misbehaves. “Just. Take baby steps, okay? They’ll warm up to you as long as you’re genuine.”
“Really?” Jongup asks, brightening up.
Daehyun grins. “I promise. Now go restock the juice bar.”
“Junhong-ah,” Jongup whines, lying back pressed against the floor. “How do you take care of cats?”
Junhong is busy retying his shoelaces. He pauses at the question, rolling up the sleeves of his shirt. They’ve run through the routine at least ten times already, but Junhong still shows no sign of fatigue. “I don’t know, Jonguppie-hyung. I’ve only ever taken care of Froggie, and Hyung killed him.”
“Hey!” Himchan-hyung cuts in, dropping a clean towel on top of Jongup’s face as he hands them granola bars. “That was one incidence, okay. Can we please move on already?” He proceeds to mumble something about having to babysit silly Dongsaengs’ even sillier pets.
Junhong looks down meaningfully at his bar. “Froggie would’ve enjoyed this. He loved eating my food.” He doesn’t seem to acknowledge the noise of frustration Himchan-hyung makes.
Jongup flips around until his bare stomach is touching the floor. He grins up when Himchan takes the towel and tousles it into Jongup’s hair. “I have an idea,” Jongup declares. “Why don’t you come visit me? We can all walk there together when practice ends.”
“First of all,” Himchan-hyung says. “Practice is never going to end if you keep lying on your ass. Second of all, why don’t you just take up my offer of borrowing money from me?”
Jongup frowns. “But I really like the cats. I don’t want to give up yet when I’m just starting to make progress! I want to be their friend!”
“I guess that makes sense.” Junhong replies thoughtfully, now chewing at his granola bar. “If you really want to be his friend.”
Jongup blinks at him. “Who are you talking about?” He doesn’t get a reply, because Himchan-hyung kicks lightly at him and declares that break is over.
Business is slow on Thursday night, so Jongup takes a seat at an empty table and pulls out his homework. Daehyun doesn’t seem to mind as Jongup frowns intensely at his notes. Jongup’s only consolation is the fact that Hime has decided to grace him with her presence by curling up on the chair opposite his. She purrs while the space heater lures them both to sleep. Jongup wakes up with his face planted in his notebook to find the ragdoll cat breathing over his head. Hime jumps off the table when Jongup moves, her tail swaying behind her.
A few feet away, Daehyun is singing to the radio as he sweeps the floor. It’s a jazzy song Jongup has heard before in old English movies, and he listens as Daehyun hits the high notes. There’s something nostalgic about Daehyun’s voice as he moves under the string of Christmas lights taped to the ceiling. Baby seems to have noticed Jongup, but she makes no notion of moving from her spot on top of the counter. Together, they watch Daehyun until he turns around and finds Jongup staring.
“Um,” Jongup says, caught off guard. “You have a really nice voice!”
Daehyun stares strangely at him for a moment before relaxing. “Thanks.” When he finds Jongup grinning contently at him, Daehyun smiles back. “Baby used to hate me and hide in the crack behind the refrigerator. I used to sing to lure her out.” He seems uncertain about sharing this new piece of information.
Jongup considers this. “You used to not get along with Baby? And she used to fit in the space behind the fridge?” Jongup has seen how closely the refrigerator in the back room is pressed against the wall. He spends a lot of time in that room, from organizing cat food to washing the dishes in the sink.
Daehyun turns a chair around and takes a seat near Jongup, his elbows leaning against the back of the chair. “She used to be really tiny.”
The idea of Daehyun’s friendship with Baby gives Jongup some hope. “Maybe she’ll like me more if I sing too,” Jongup suggests, singing the chorus to the pop song currently playing on the radio. He stops when Daehyun bursts into soft laughter. “Maybe not.”
Later, when Jongup is about to leave, he turns to Daehyun and asks, “Will you teach me how to get along with the cats?”
Daehyun stops from wiping down the table. He looks around the semi-empty café. Most of the cats are asleep, sans Jello, who is being entertained by a couple on the sofa. “I think you’re doing fine, honestly. Now run home before it gets too late.”
Jongup grins and obeys.
Classes are a bore. Jongup spends most of his time squinting at the board during lectures and jotting nonsensical things into his notebook. The highlight of his days is still dance practice with the crew, when everything makes sense and Jongup can measure his success in a more tangible way-by the smoothness of his movements and the satisfied way Himchan-hyung nods at him.
Jongup falls into a pattern of coming in to work twice a week. The cat café is relatively empty during dinner hours, when Daehyun dusts cat hair off chairs and sits by the table with Jongup as they munch on snacks. When Daehyun is feeling particularly kind, he evens lets Jongup steal drinks from the juice bar. On those days, Jongup always returns home to find leftovers set out on the table for him. Jongup eats his mother’s cooking and wonders if Daehyun is hungry again too.
On days that he doesn’t go to the café, Jongup naps on top of his textbooks, dreaming about high tops and hairballs.
On a Tuesday, he finds Daehyun taking a break and reading his own book behind the counter. Jongup joins him. However, upon closer inspection Jongup finds confusing music symbols on the pages of Daehyun’s book.
“It’s all music theory,” Daehyun explains when Jongup comments on the complexities of eighth notes. “What about you? What are you studying?” Daehyun snatches the notebook out of Jongup’s hand and flips to the latest pages. He pauses upon finding messy scribbles and an empty page with I’M SO CONFUSED written in large handwriting.
Daehyun’s laughter floats through the air like a melody. “You’re really… You’re really something.”
Jongup is about to reply when the doorbell chimes. His eyes instantly fly to the entry way to find Himchan and Junhong. “Hyung!”
Himchan laughs when Jongup scurries over excitedly. While Junhong wanders off to play with the cats, Himchan lets Jongup take him on a mini tour of the café. He pauses upon finding Daehyun. “I’ve seen you before,” he decides.
Daehyun nods. “We go to the same school.” He quickly moves over to Junhong, who is about to wake Hime from her slumber.
“Daehyun-hyung is a really good singer,” Jongup says a moment too late, thinking of Himchan-hyung’s music conservatory.
“Really?” Himchan raises an eyebrow. “What is he studying?”
Jongup honestly has no clue. Sometimes he has a hard time imagining Daehyun outside of the café, doing anything besides feeding the cats. Then he realizes that Daehyun has friends Jongup has never met and hobbies Jongup doesn’t know of.
Junhong returns with an armful of Jello, who purrs happily at the attention. “Can I keep him?” Junhong asks, scratching Jello’s cheek. “Can I take him home?”
“I don’t think so,” Jongup says. His eyes are on Daehyun, who is setting out another box of toys.
“Where did they find so many cats anyway?” Himchan wants to know.
Jongup scratches his head. “I don’t know.”
“Did your boss adopt them?” Junhong continues, now scratching Jello behind the ears. “Or did he breed them?”
“Eh,” Jongup says.
“Do you know anything?” Himchan presses. “Do you even know how much of your debt you’ve paid off?”
“Please stop asking questions,” Jongup says, gesturing lamely around the room. “Just play with the cats, Hyung.” Thankfully, Hime chooses that moment to rub her cheeks against Himchan’s calf, successfully distracting the older man from continuing his interrogation.
Some of Jongup’s questions are answered when he shows up at the café after his classes are canceled. He greets some of the customers and wanders around, calling for Daehyun. The boy who greets him in the back room, however, is someone he’s never met before.
“I’m Youngjae!” The stranger explains, his smile friendly. “Daehyun told me you work in the afternoon sometimes!”
“Oh,” Jongup says. “Is Daehyun-hyung... Not here?”
Youngjae laughs. “Daehyun has morning classes, so he works in the afternoon and evenings. I have afternoon classes, so I’m usually here during the earlier shift. Did you seriously think Daehyun spent all his time here, spoiling Baby and bullying you?”
“It’s not bullying!” Daehyun protests from the doorway, crossing the room with his messenger bag in tow. With his sleeves rolled up and jacket buttoned, Daehyun actually looks like a student.
“It took you long enough! I’m peacing out!” Youngjae huffs, grabbing his own bag. He’s halfway out the door before turning to Daehyun. “So! Dinner! Where do you want to eat?”
Daehyun responds by shoving Youngjae out of the room. “Anywhere. Just go already! Weren’t you late for class? I didn’t run back here just so you can loiter around.”
Youngjae makes a face. “See ya!” Then he’s gone.
“Um,” Jongup says.
“He’s also my roommate,” Daehyun explains, running a hand through his bangs. Daehyun looks neater today, perhaps more presentable. Not like someone who spends a lot of time vacuuming cat hair. “We were planning to eat out tonight to celebrate our extended weekend. The owner is back and gave us a mini break.”
“The owner of the café?”
Daehyun drops his stuff off, heading back into the main room with Jongup on his heel. “Yep. She’s always out of town or on vacation. She’s an interesting lady. You’ll be lucky to run into her.” Daehyun adds. “Actually, when she comes back, you can discuss the terms of your employment with her.”
“Oh,” Jongup says.
Daehyun looks at him carefully. “Do you…. Want to come to dinner with us? Me and Younjae? We can celebrate. The three lonely cat boys.”
Jongup agrees and follows Daehyun to the metro station after locking up that day, making sure to leave out enough dry food for everyone. When Youngjae sends word that his lab has been extended, Daehyun suggests they cook instead and takes Jongup to the nearest grocery store. They roam the aisles aimlessly, Daehyun picking up random packets of ramyun and sausages.
“Isn’t this a celebratory dinner?” Jongup asks. “Should we buy something less… generic?” He’s about to suggest something when they stumble across a row of ahjummas handing out free samples. Daehyun looks like he just found heaven on earth.
Jongup’s suggestion dies on the tip of his tongue when Daehyun solves a piece of fishcake into Jongup’s mouth.
“This is on sale!” The ahjumma says, waving the frozen package in their face.
“This is on sale too!” The lady from the soondubu table shouts.
This sends them on a zigzag tour from table to table, sampling products and dumping it into their cart in excitement. Jongup grabs a melon from the produce section on their way out and attempts to balance it on his head, narrowly avoiding a cleanup call when it rolls off and is caught deftly by Daehyun. They laugh at the ridiculousness of it all while Daehyun assigns Jongup to cart-pushing duty.
“Isn’t this too much food?” Youngjae asks when he returns to the apartment to find Daehyun and Jongup sitting cross-legged around the portable stove. They’ve constructed a tower of food to protect themselves from Youngjae’s invasion, but Youngjae steps around it and plants himself on the opposite side of Jongup anyways.
They dump everything into the ramyun pot, Youngjae commanding them to stop only when Daehyun gets too squeeze-happy with the sauce bottles. Daehyun drops half a dozen eggs into their soup-like concoction and slaps Youngjae’s hand with chopsticks when Yongjae tries to maneuver the eggs away from him.
The hosts are so kind that they even give Jongup the only clean spoon. That’s the extent of their hospitality, because Daehyun is the first one to dig in before the food is done. In the background, the television plays drama reruns while they sip banana milk.
After dinner, Jongup rolls onto his back in his food coma state and listens as Daehyun and Youngjae discuss classes. The ceiling is bumpy and reminds Jongup of the playground pavement he used to dance on. When Jongup zones in on the conversation again, Daehyun is talking about transposing scales. Jongup loses in rock-paper-scissors and is assigned to dish cleaning duty while he listens to Daehyun and Youngjae’s friendly squabbling. By the time he finishes, Youngjae has retired to his room and Daehyun is flipping lazily through their small selection of channels.
“Do you want to stay for the night?” Daehyun asks, pointing to the futon.
Jongup spent the day moving inventory around the store, then dashing off to dance rehearsal where Himchan worked everyone to an inhumane degree, even after Jongup made sad faces at him. He had rushed back to the café at closing time and followed Daehyun home, but now his muscles ached. His mother wasn’t expecting him to be home early, anyways.
Daehyun laughs when Jongup throws himself on the futon. When Jongup curls up into a happy position, eyes on the television, Daehyun pets him on the head and sits on the edge of the futon.
“Do you think Baby is starting to like me more?” Jongup asks, yawning.
Daehyun hums and changes the channel again without looking at Jongup. “I think she already likes you. She’s just bad at showing her affection.”
“Okay,” Jongup replies, slowly closing his eyes. The television is now broadcasting a late night music show. It’s another jazzy song, and Jongup smiles to himself when he hears Daehyun singing faintly along. His hands curl up around something warm, and Jongup opens his eyes to find his hand accidentally holding onto Daehyun’s.
Daehyun just laughs. The same string of LED lights from the café is taped to the back of the apartment walls. Youngjae has turned the main lamp off, and Jongup thinks Daehyun looks different illuminated by only the dim glow of the lights. Daehyun’s voice is soothing as he sings Jongup to sleep.
Winter comes faster than Jongup expects. He’s greeted by an unexpected rainstorm after getting off the bus one day, Jongup dashing under the nearest store front and shaking rain out of his hair. He thinks about waiting the storm out and checks his phone for the time.
It’s then that Jongup hears a faint meowing. It’s unmistakable, Jongup thinks, after spending months humoring Jello and trying to appease Hime. He looks around the sidewalk and is greeted with an array of uninterested pedestrians, distracted in their own world.
Jongup follows the sound until he’s crouched behind a bicycle rack in the rain, pulling an orange kitten out from under the back wheel of a bike. One of its front paws is bent at an awkward angle, and when Jongup picks it up, the kitten sneezes but barely stirs in his arm. Oh, Jongup thinks, as he ducks back under the awning and pats his jeans for his phone. He’s only a few blocks away from the conservatory campus, and when the kitten stirs a little, Jongup pulls up Daehyun’s number.
Daehyun comes running fifteen minutes later, just when Jongup’s jacket is starting to dry. He takes the kitten from Jongup and checks its breathing. Daehyun hands it back to a wide eyed Jongup and pulls his red hoodie off, making a nest and wrapping it around the kitten. “There’s a vet’s office a few blocks away,” he says, heading off in the direction opposite of where he came from.
Jongup follows dumbly as they sprint in the rain. “Hyung!” He shouts when Daehyun disappears into a crowd. He finds Daehyun a second later, about to cross the street. “Hyung!” He grabs Daehyun’s elbow and tugs him back, just in time to avoid a van which splashes puddle water onto their feet.
Daehyun comes tumbling back as Jongup pulls him into a protective hug, Daehyun’s arm digging into Jongup’s ribcage. “Thanks,” Daehyun manages to breathe out with wide eyes, tightening the grip around his hoodie. He then wiggles out of Jongup’s grip, breaking into a run towards their destination as Jongup follows.
The receptionist is surprised to see them, but she lets the kitten through as Jongup and Daehyun sit in the waiting room. Daehyun’s shirt is completely drenched by now, so he squeeze water out of his hoodie and lies it flat to dry on top of the heater in the room. He accepts the towel that the receptionist hands them and offers it to Jongup first.
“You’re stupid, Hyung,” Jongup says, flipping the towel over and mussing it into Daehyun’s hair. Jongup’s sweater is relatively dry, so he takes it off and tunnels it over Daehyun’s head.
“Did you just call me stupid?” Daehyun asks, incredulous. Daehyun’s face is impossibly close that Jongup can see the water that drips from Daehyun’s hair and onto his cheeks. Daehyun just peers up at him, his eyelashes long under wet bangs.
Jongup does the only sensible thing that comes to mind and kisses him.
Daehyun relaxes into the kiss at first, but then pushes Jongup away, looking bewildered in Jongup’s sweater. His grip on Jongup’s shirt loosens when the hallway door opens, and they both spin around to see the vet gesturing at them to go in.
“He sprained his front paw and is a little sick from the cold,” the vet explains. “We fed him some sedatives. I also put a protective brace on his paw, so you should be able to take him home today. Have you considered getting him vaccinated?”
“Eh,” Jongup says, turning around only to find Daehyun avoiding his eye. “He’s not actually my cat. He’s just a stray I found.”
The vet considers this. “Do you want him to be your cat?”
“Yes,” Jongup says, surprising himself at the lack of hesitation. Daehyun, too, is looking at him in amazement. “Can we adopt him? For the café? Is there room for him?”
Daehyun nods slowly.
“Alright,” the vet says. “I’ll have the release forms ready for you. Just give him a lot of rest and lay off that sprained paw. I’ll also prescribe some liquid antibiotics.” She’s gone before either of them can reply.
“Do you want a cat carrier?” The receptionist asks when Jongup finishes filling out forms.
“We have extra ones,” Daehyun says from Jongup’s side. It’s the only thing he supplies on their walk back to the café with the sleeping stray in Jongup’s arm.
Youngjae greets them at the door, finding a cat bed for the kitten as he fumbles around for extra supplies. A few customers gather around the sleeping kitten, ooh-ing and ah-ing. This leaves Daehyun and Jongup by themselves in the backroom, with the dripping sink as their only companion.
“Um,” Jongup starts to say. “About that-”
“You should go,” Daehyun cuts in, taking Jongup’s sweater off and handing it back.
Jongup frowns. “Do you… not like me? I really like you and-”
“You don’t know anything about me,” Daehyun says, turning around so his back is facing Jongup. “And it doesn’t matter. You like everybody. You just think you like me, probably because you’re too attached to the cats.”
Jongup considers this. He thinks about Daehyun-singing to an empty room, petting Baby, leaving unopened juice boxes sitting around for Jongup while pretending that he left them out by accident. Daehyun is just like a cat, backing away when Jongup shows him too much affection, running off to be by himself when he’s confused, and pretending that he doesn’t care.
Jongup closes the space between them and hugs Daehyun from the back. “I like you more than the cats,” he hums.
Unlike Baby, Daehyun doesn’t break away or try to scratch him. He turns around, voice soft. “Really?”
“Yes!” Jongup insists happily.
Daehyun laughs, pushing Jongup’s head back. “You’re just like a puppy. So overeager. We’ll make a terrible pair.”
“Cats and dogs can make great friends,” Jongup says, nodding. “I’ve seen it on t.v.”
Daehyun laughs even harder, turning around and pulling Jongup into a full hug. Daehyun smells like rain and uncertainty: things that Jongup used to hate but now finds exciting. They only break apart when Youngjae pokes his head in.
“When you two are done being emotional,” Youngjae says, pointing his thumb out of the backroom. “The customers wanted to know what our new friend’s name is.”
Jongup thinks about the orange tortoiseshell kitten and how easily he fit into Jongup’s palms. “Let’s call him Cheeto,” Jongup decides, bouncing forward. He turns to Daehyun for approval, but Daehyun just grins at him.
“You’re the cat mom here,” Daehyun says. “It’s your call.”
“Don’t be stupid,” Youngjae says, slapping both Jongup and Daehyun on the back as he pushes them towards the main room, where a group of girls have crowded around Cheeto. “We’re all cat moms.”
Dating Daehyun is surprisingly natural, and everything falls into a comfortable pattern once Cheeto is well enough to move around. Baby and Hime ignore his existence, but Jello and Crash seems to have taken a liking to the kitten.
“They’ll get around to liking him,” Daehyun promises, laughing into Jongup’s shoulder.
“All you talk about are your cats, even your dancing has taken a hit,” Himchan says one day, in the middle of running through their choreography one last time. When Jongup and Junhong look at him curiously, Himchan amends, “okay, that’s a lie. But all the cat talk is getting ridiculous.”
“We can talk about how you killed Froggie instead?” Junhong suggests, to which Himchan just groans. Justice is dealt to them in an even longer rehearsal than usual, leaving Jongup with sore muscles but a sense of accomplishment. The long hours are forgotten when they win the district dance competition.
“I’m so happy right now, I may even buy you a new frog,” Himchan tells Junhong when the crew goes out to celebrate. The night ends with Jongup stumbling into Daehyun’s apartment in excitement, cheeks flushed. He performs his routine over again with Daehyun as his own audience.
Daehyun claps madly and gives him a trophy made out of water bottles and Youngjae’s highlighters.
They’re kissing in the backroom of the café one day when an unfamiliar girl comes bursting through the door. “Yoohoo, Daehyun! I need more catnip for Crash!” She stops to examine them when Jongup retracts his hand from under Daehyun’s shirt.
Daehyun looks equally bewildered, his cheeks flushed.
“Only employees are allowed in here” is the first thing that comes to Jongup’s mind.
The girl blinks at them, stray purple locks framing her happy face. “You’re cute, but I own this place.” She tilts her head as a smile appears on her face. “Daehyun told me that he adopted a puppy, but I didn’t think he meant it like this!”
“Hyosung-Noona!” Daehyun protests. He buries his face in his hands when Hyosung gestures for Jongup to come over.
“I heard Daehyun bullied you into settling a debt?” Hyosung asks knowingly, beaming at Jongup. “Don’t worry, he wasn’t graceful in the beginning either. Daehyun-ah used to press his face to the store window every day and make pitiful faces at Hime.”
“Noona!” Daehyun screeches.
Hyosung continues without missing a beat. “Daehyun was so broke that I made him work before he could play with the cats. Then he brought Youngjae in and they were both suckered into cleaning the litter boxes. When we first found Baby hiding behind the trash can, he even shed a tear and-”
“Noona, please.”
“Catnip, Daehyun,” Hyosung reminds him, extending her palm out and smirking when Daehyun goes digging through a box to procure said catnip. When Daehyun hands her a bag, she pets him on the shoulder. “Good kitty.” Then she’s gone.
“Stop!” Daehyun whines when Jongup bursts into laughter. He pushes Jongup against the wall when the laughing only escalates.
“Bad kitty!” Jongup manages to say, now wheezing in hysteria as his back slides down against the wall.
“If you don’t shut up,” Daehyun says, kneeling down in front of Jongup very non-threateningly. “I’m going to kiss you again.”
Jongup complies, but Daehyun kisses him anyway.
end
A/N:
I blame Kendra, Connie, and Erica for getting me into B.A.P. I used to add "not that I like them or anything" at the end of all B.A.P. related tweets. Now I'm happily camped out under the Daehyun tumblr tag. I can't believe it's come to this.... TT.TT
As always, ty parametre for beta-ing!!
♥ Want to talk B.A.P? Meta? B.A.P. Meta?? Talk to me on twitter!
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