Dawn breaks slowly over Minseok, creeping silently over his prone body and warming his skin until he subconsciously recognizes the heat as foreign and becoming uncomfortable.

Strange, he forgot to close his curtains like he usually does, and Tan didn’t remind him. For as much as she enjoys sunbeams, she prefers to seek them out rather than be preyed upon by the irritating brightness right after settling down to sleep,

Minseok stretches lazily, bed sheets rustling, and feels them pull taut over his thighs by some weight between them. Through the haze of sleep and faint throbbing behind his eyes, he reaches down until he feels fur. Tan is always soft, her dense blue coat just begging to be brushed or pet. She must already be awake; his fingers feel a damp spot at her shoulder.

Usually, Tan will acknowledge his wakefulness with a demand for food, pets, or both. If she’s not awake yet, she’ll stretch out all four legs and arch her back with a soft purr.

Today is going to be a day he should just stay in bed, but Minseok doesn’t know it, yet.

He feels Tan arch her back and stretch her long legs, pushing into his thighs, then the careful and deliberate curl of little toes to dig clever claws into his flesh.

“Ouch!” Bolting upright, Minseok clutches his leg and scowls at Tan. “What was that for?” His stomach sluggishly catches up and rests low in his gut, begging him to slow down.

Tan removes her claws and draws herself together, tail curling over her feet with a slight twitch. “I hope you are as miserable as I feel, because I have never been so humiliated in all my life!”

“What are you talking about?” Squinting, Minseok gingerly checks his leg. No bleeding, but here are distinct pink punctures tha should still be washed. Clinging to the sheets, he leans over to tug the curtains closed, bringing much-needed shade into the room.

His daemon’s eyes flash, and she sighs harshly through her nose before twisting around to groom her back. “Think about last night. Remember anything unusual?”

Last night… The two of them stayed late at the coffee shop with some friends and had a few drinks.

Baekhun had to be carried home, but he’s always been a lightweight. His Corgi passed out beneath a table.

Yixing physically restrained his platypus to keep him from accidentally poisoning anyone.

Chanyeol’s spider monkey wouldn’t come down from the ceiling rafters unless bribed with junk food.

Han recorded everything—for posterity’s sake, of course—and made the drinks, which would explain why even Minseok got so fuzzy.

He remembers leaving—

Who locked up? Please let it be Kyungsoo. He’s the most reliable, trustworthy, and immune to peer pressure. His porcupine also adds a measure of physical security.

Tan spent the walk home draped over Minseok’s neck like a gym towel, sleepy and giggling at the moths hitting street lamps.

They came home, undressed, and crawled into bed.

“Think harder,” Tan says. “If it hurts, good.”

Sitting up makes the room spin a little; Minseok lays back down.

It wasn’t too late when they came home, but most of the people out were in cars, not walking. There was someone out tossing trash into a dumpster—the noise had scared Tan, and she knocked her head against Minseok’s jaw. There was a uniquely gorgeous spotted cat on the windowsill outside the empty apartment next door. It didn’t mind Minseok’s drunken compliments—remarks that would sound more familiar coming from a middle-aged man on a train—and eagerly accepted his deliberate, careful pets with a smile and purrs.

Cats don’t normally smile.

“Oh, no…”

“Remember now? That cat—that unfamiliar cat daemon—lives next door! I’ve just been waiting for you to wake up, so I can scold you properly. She’s probably just lying in wait, waiting to tell her human the moment you leave the house—”

“I’ll go apologize, okay?” It’s embarrassing, but it’s a mistake. They do happen, sometimes.

“No!” Tan holds her head between her paws; her heart feels like it’s trying to beat right out of her ears. “How can you even think of facing them after what you’ve done?!” Daemons touching daemons is one thing, like humans touching humans. Humans touching daemons not their own is a whole different ballpark on a completely different planet; it’s just not acceptable except under very intimate or violent circumstances.

And even then, while acceptable, it’s rare.

A daemon is a complex creature, more than a pet or a familiar. It’s a spiritual companion, a constant presence that learns and experiences along with their paired human. A manifestation of personal character. They can act as conscience or counselor, teacher and friend. It’s a very sensitive bond, and someone else touching a person’s daemon is considered an act of intimacy. Some close friends practice it, maybe family members, certainly lovers.

But not strangers. That’s more than rude; it’s downright taboo.

Yet Minseok’s drunken saw a pretty kitty and just couldn’t help himself.

To be fair, he reasons, the cat hadn’t responded like a daemon, and the alcohol made him fuzzy enough to not recognize her as a daemon.

“That’s just it—” Minseok holds his head as he carefully shifts out of bed and stands. Hopefully, no brains leak out. “It’s an honest, stupid mistake. I don’t want them to think it was intentional or me being rude.”

Tan holds her tail down with both forepaws and drags her tongue over the fur in short, anxious jerks. “I can’t believe this is happening. It’s all Han’s fault. That lush and his snarky shorthair are in for a whole world of pain, next time I see them, so help me…”

A shower helps Minseok feel more human. He cleans the fresh hairball Tan left in the doorway to the bathroom—he feels he deserves it—and dresses comfortably but not lazily. He doesn’t want to present a bad second impression.

Breakfast is light—neither human nor daemon feel much like eating. Tan sits in the window and hunkers down with a sharp gasp. “They’re outside!”

Minseok stands beside the window, peering through the partly lowered blinds. Sure enough, the spotted cat is stalking butterflies in the flowerbed near the FOR RENT sign, which is slowly being worked out of the ground by a man wearing an unusual suit. Minseok’s only seen such bold red in fashion magazines.

He has to bribe Tan to come with him. The distance wouldn’t be excruciating, but it would definitely be more uncomfortable than the embarrassment.

Tail low, Tan slinks behind Minseok, taking her time to rub her cheek over the doorframe of their apartment, the potted plants in the hall, then the door to outside. Minseok waits patiently, accepting that she’s being intentionally difficult due to nerves and probably a little bit of residual hangover.

Honestly, Minseok isn’t faring much better. He’s very willing to face his mistakes—he has a lot of practice, since starting his own business—but this is a big big mistake, and the more he thinks about it, the more he feels like he’d rather be in bed with a worse hangover. Maybe it would be different if the other daemon was another species, or a child, but they’re an adult cat, and cats have an additional code all their own.

The building should have a revolving door, with how often tenants come and go. It’s not a bad looking building. Vines crawl up the exterior, nearly covering some lower windows. Juliet balconies allow foliage enthusiasts an area to set up plants and maybe fairy lights for holidays. Rent isn’t super expensive, and it’s located within walking distance of stores and parks.

For about three months, a FOR RENT sign with a plastic holder for brochures—which has been empty since their couple weeks of rain—sat on the apartment lawn. The young man finally wiggles it out of the ground and leans against it to catch his breath.

Ears rotating back, the spotted daemon trills and rubs along the man’s legs, pointing Minseok’s way with her dark-tipped tail.

Minseok blushes scarlet.

He’s cute.

The daemon is a gorgeous cat, too. Even better in the daylight without the fog of alcohol. Her fur is bronzy and covered in spots like a wildcat’s that stretch into rings down a dark-tipped tail. A single stripe runs down her spine, like a bold mark of the prime spot to pet. While the body is sleek and muscular, the wedge-shaped head is soft and sports rather large ears.

The cutest feature is her face. A Latin “M” sits in the middle of her forehead, and dark lines like mascara decorate her cheeks and make for a politely pleasant expression.

When he approaches, she watches with a small smile and stands when he’s near, tail high. “Hello!”

Tan pulls her tail around her when she sits at Minseok’s feet. “May as well apologize and get it over with,” she mutters, pointedly ignoring the other daemon’s friendly expression.

The stranger has an expression of something like wonder, and he bows. “Hello...”

“Hi—Good morning.” Tan offers no support, looking cool and regal until the other daemon approaches her and leans close to sniff her. “I am so sorry about last night. My name’s Kim Minseok; this is Tan. We live next door. Last night was… Well, I—” was drunk as a skunk. “I pet your daemon.” There’s some stuttering and slurring, which he doesn’t usually do, but the stranger seems to understand him perfectly, because he laughs and hides a smile behind his hand.

“I’d wondered… It’s alright; don’t worry about it. She was alright with it, so it’s okay.” He fiddles with the swinging sign. “We just moved here. Last night, actually.”

Just in time for Minseok to make a lasting first impression. He bows, and Tan lowers her head, as well, leaning into Minseok’s leg as the other daemon steps even closer. Her striped tail quivers, as though vibrating.

The man continues, watching them with no sign of any sort of negativity, as if Minseok had merely bumped into the duo rather than executed one of the gravest social taboos. “Chen is very friendly. Almost to a fault, sometimes. She probably knew you didn’t mean anything by it.”

“I did. He was too cute to correct, anyway,” Chen purrs. She circles Tan, seemingly sizing her up. Tan turns her head to follow the other cat and nearly falls over; her neck only rotates so far.

And then she sits—close—with her tail over her adorably petite feet, and smiles her kitty smile that Tan pointedly ignores.

If she wasn’t covered in fur, Minseok is sure he’d see a blush over her cheeks.

Watching the daemons with a more relaxed smile, the man lets the sign fall against a nearby tree. “My name is Kim Jongdae, by the way. Sorry for causing you trouble.”

“No trouble!” Lies. His heart may never beat normally again. “I just—I didn’t know who she was, sitting by herself, although I guess she was sitting on her own windowsill... She’s a beautiful cat.” Chen smiles wider and purrs, fully understanding the weakness of Man and accepting it.

“She is.” Jongdae nods. “She knows it, too.”

“Of course,” Chen responds modestly, “but don’t let that stop the compliments. There’s someone even prettier than I am right here.”

Tan scoffs and stands, tail haughtily high. “There’s a fine line between friendly and sleazy, and you have crossed it.”

“Tan!” Minseok hisses.

Jongdae laughs and waves Chen back to him. She deliberately walks so her tail drags along Tan’s throat.

“Don’t worry about it. She’s still getting used to your social norms.”

Minseok frowns. What an odd thing to say.

Chen stands on her hind legs, forepaws on Jongdae’s knee, and he lifts her to his shoulder. She curls over his nape with a hind foot hooked in the lapel of his suit jacket. “Would you like to come over? I don’t have much, yet, but I can at least offer some coffee.”

Tan wants to go home. She’s still anxious and embarrassed and would like nothing more than to go home and regain whatever dignity she can find.

Minseok, on the other hand, is a little too charmed and still a little too muddled to not accept the friendly invitation, and Tan has no choice but to follow.

Their apartments are only separated by a hall. Even then, Minseok wonders how he couldn’t have heard or noticed anyone moving in. Regardless of how drunk he is, he’s certain he would have heard a moving company stomping around.

Once he sees the interior, however, he understands.

“It’s very...utilitarian.”

Jongdae laughs. Chen leaps from his shoulder to the unfolded card table against the wall. It shakes but stays upright. “Very diplomatic. It’s empty, but I don’t have anything to fill it with and didn’t plan on staying long.” He shuts the door and gestures to one of the few pieces of furniture, a folding metal chair.

“Where are you from?” Minseok sits and keeps an eye on Tan as she cautiously explores under the amused supervision of Chen.

The layout of rooms matches Minseok’s and most of the other apartments in the building. The front door opens to a living area, which opens to a kitchen and a hall with doors to a bedroom, bathroom, and closets. Walking up and down the hall, Tan leaves little footprints in the dust and dirt, and her whiskers collect cobwebs she hurriedly tries to wipe off after peering into an open doorway.

Jongdae pulls the cover off of a can of instant coffee and opens a box of plastic spoons. The mugs he has are different sizes. “Somewhere very close,” he says, “but also far away.”

“You’re not from this area?” His daemon returns, finding nothing interesting or inviting. Minseok picks the rest of the cobwebs from her face and ears, and she settles over her feet beside his chair, a little beneath it.

“I’m not from this world. I don’t mind telling you—it’ll save time, for someone to know, anway, that I am not from this world. Rather—this dimension? My home is parallel to this, similar but not exact, and they don’t normally meet except at certain times and places.

“Chen and I only just met. My world doesn’t have daemons.”

“That’s impossible!” Tan shifts to sit between his feet.

“It’s true,” Chen supplies softly. “I may have always been a part of him, inside, but I had no physical form of my own.”

“Say I believe you…” It’s possible anyone who acts strangely or says weird things is from another world, Minseok supposes. Scientists have always been interested in the possibility of life on other planets. Why not other dimensions? People from those places could think similarly. “Why are you here? Like, why this world or dimension or whatever?”

“There’s a legend in my world…” Jongdae sighs, pushing his dark hair off his face and rubbing his neck. It falls over his forehead again. “Twelve particular people with powers were chosen to protect an artifact, which was divided and hidden to keep it from being misused. Those people are being attacked, putting that artifact in danger.”

He turns from the counter, eyes bright. “However, within these parallel worlds, there are parallel people. Same bodies and souls but different lives.

“If these people, or their counterparts, if they’re already dead in their world, are found before they’re erased from all existence permanently--if just one can be saved, and brought to my world, then everything can be reversed. Everyone can be saved.”

Minseok sits, dumbfounded.

Other worlds…

Humans wielding unnatural powers and living without daemons…

The same people in each world inhabiting a different course of life, sharing the same soul…

“And that’s why you’re here? You’re looking for these people. To protect them…” He sighs and slouches in his seat. His problem that morning seems so trivial compared to traveling worlds and navigating cultures to save humanity. “I don’t even know what to say.”

“Please—” Chen sits at his feet, tail curled but ticing. “Help him. He’s telling the truth, and this is a danger to all worlds, including yours. Trust he’s doing all he can to save a lot of people.”

The spotted daemon sits still, communicating without words, and hops onto Minseok’s lap. Tan tries to have faith in her human. He’s rarely impulsive, although she’s tried telling him that it’s okay to do things differently, sometimes. This seems to be a bit of an extreme, but they’re in private, at least, so her discomfort won’t be spread around.

She drops lightly to the floor, hooking her tail around Minseok’s calf before approaching Jongdae’s extended hand. They’re gentle against her face and ears, but she’s only mildly embarrassed when her rear pops up against his curled fingers. She allows herself to be lifted and settled against his shoulder.

Minseok can’t bring himself to look at Jongdae’s face. Somehow, he knows just the smile that’s curling his mouth. His skin looks more tanned against Tan’s silvery blue fur, and his motions are slow and deliberate.

He can’t remember the last time he touched someone else’s daemons. His little sister’s, maybe; their daemons loved to play together, when they were kids, and Tan had her paws full when they still hadn’t settled and would change into a dragon or a horse or something equally difficult to keep housed. Minseok did his best to look after his sister and still does, welcoming her any time she needs him.

Jongdae doesn’t have anyone. He was alone until entering this world and meeting Chen.

“But what can I do? I run a coffee shop.” He hasn’t been going to the gym as often as he’d like. He’s no dummy, but he’s certainly no genius, either. The most he can offer is emotional support. Atta boy, for saving the world!

“I’ve already found one of those counterparts. Turns out he’s my neighbor.” Minseok blinks stupidly and points to himself. Jongdae nods, sadly. “In my world, Minseok and I were...very close.” Tan bumps her forehead against chin but pushes to be let down.

“What happened to him?” His daemon leaps onto his lap, nudging Chen aside, and he runs his hand over her back. It’s familiar and calming.

“He was murdered.” Both Tan and Minseok shudder, as though ice had fallen down their backs. “The Red Force—we still don’t know who they truly are or what their goal is—sent an agent on a search and destroy mission.

“Our intelligence found out only after one of us was attacked. He died, but another used a power to reverse time, and they could fight back, but...he still died.”

“Couldn’t time be returned to before all this happened?”

Jongdae shakes his head. “No, there’s a limit. That user is dead, anyway. If I can find him in another world, we may have a chance, but we’ll need everyone, if we hope to stand a chance defeating this plot.”

“Even if I was to help you...and leave this world…? What about Tan?” She nuzzles her face into his palm, purring softly. The world feels too big, now. She wants to go back to their normal apartment. Their normal routine. Minseok should just call the shop and find out who closed and if the place is even intact after last night’s drinking.

But Minseok is hooked. He’s charmed and curious by this strange man with his strange red suit and strange, new daemon.

“...I honestly don’t know. However, there’s a chance that your bond wouldn’t change. In my world, I wield lightning, electricity. I still carry that power, now.” Unplugging a lamp from the wall, he holds the metal prongs between his thumb and forefinger—

—and the bulb lights up.

“I also don’t know if I can take Chen, because we’re not from the same world.”

Minseok leans forward without realizing. Tan sits at attention, as well, whiskers stiff and ears forward. “You said our worlds are parallel, though. She is a part of you, regardless; daemons are like the soul, or conscience. You can’t leave that behind so easily.” Chen pushes her face into his belly, welcoming the uncertain hand down her back with noisy purrs.

There have been whispers of experiments, but no one has proven anything.

“No, you can’t…” Minseok looks up and meets Jongdae’s gaze, fighting the blush that heats his ears.

“If I can help, I’d like to.”

Jongdae lets the lamp cord fall to the floor and walks towards him, bending at the waist so they’re eye-level. Chen hops down and spins around her human’s ankles. Tan’s fur stands up with the static in the air.

So close, Minseok notices the tiny scars beneath Jongdae’s lip and in his ears, like old piercings.

“Thank you, Minseok.” The kiss is electric and zips down Minseok’s spine, punching his flesh with goosebumps and fizzling out the legs of the metal chair into the little rubber feet. Tan falls limp on his lap. Jongdae holds his knees, so he doesn’t slouch off his seat.

“Is he alright?” Chen sniffs Minseok’s ankle, eyeing Tan worriedly.

“They’re fine,” Jongdae sighs. He’s tired; he really could use that coffee. It’s convenient that this world has an instant variety.

His daemon eyes him curiously. “Why did you lie to him?”

“Few people are sympathetic to ideas that seem to go against the ‘greater good.’ Fewer would support a confessed murderer, no matter their motives.”

“He believed you, though. Maybe you could have convinced him…”

Jongdae crouches down to look at Minseok’s slack face. “Maybe. But there’s no time.” He cautiously draws a finger over Tan’s head. She doesn’t move. “In this world, humans and daemons are connected. One can’t live without the other. This is a great opportunity.” Lifting the cat from her human’s shoulder, he cradles her in his arm. Chen hunkers nearer the floor, ears flat. “What?”

“What are you going to do?”

“With Tan, I can draw Minseok to me in other worlds. The sooner we kill all of the guardians of the Tree of Life, the sooner we gain that power and create our own world.”

Chen can’t help but follow Jongdae out of the vacant apartment. Few people are out; the grounds are mostly dark except for lights in other apartments.

They return to where they first met, a spot in the garden where two trees grew together until they got too big and began to branch apart. Between the ‘V’ of their trunks, the air seems to shimmer, like a soapy bubble is clinging to the bark.

Jongdae climbs between the trunks and disappears. Chen’s breath catches in .

Her human leans into her world again. “Are you coming, Chen?” Tan is starting to move in his hold.

“Wait for me!” Chen clambors over the low trunk and leaps after Jongdae, landing in a whole new world.

It doesn’t feel any different, but it looks different.

They’re in some sort of pit. The buildings cling to the face of a sheer cliff. The only plantlife grows from cracks in the ground, although the horizon above them is dark with jagged shapes like an evergreen forest.

“Hey!” They both turn at the shout, facing a familiar figure wearing dirty coveralls tied around his waist and smears of black over a cheek. “Where did you come from? You’re not allowed here— What’s wrong with your cat?”

“It’s really turning into my week,” Jongdae murmurs. Chen backs behind his feet and flinches when lifted. “She’s alright. She’s the least of your worries, anyway.”

Minseok frowns, holding the hammer tighter in his fist. “What are you—” White blazes from the ground, running up Minseok’s clothes and melting the metal fasteners. He falls, and Jongdae tucks his hand into his pocket.

Tapping the ground with his heel, he remarks, “Graphite.”

Tan is struggling more, pushing against Chen weakly.

Jongdae’s almost merry as he turns back to face the way they came. Instead of a tree or some sort of structure to hold the window to another world, it simply hangs midair, invisible unless someone knows what they’re looking for. “We’ll go back for now. Find another windows.” He pets Tan’s head fondly. “Now that we know this works, our job will be a lot easier.”

“Is this really necessary, Jongdae?” Chen’s ears sit flat as someone spots Minseok’s prone corpse and starts shouting.

“There can only be one, Chen, and it has to be my Minseok.”

a/n: Written for Snow Spark fest 2019. (prompt no.107 Minseok considers himself a smart, sensible person. Of course, everyone has the occasional bad day at work, but that’s nothing a few drinks with friends won’t fix. And if he stumbles home afterwards without incident, only stopping to pet the unfamiliar cat that’s dozing on the windowsill of the empty apartment next door, what’s the harm?

It’s only the next morning when he’s rudely awoken by the sharp pain of claws in his thigh, and his own still-mildly-tipsy feline daemon berating him for being so /thoughtless/, that the memories piece themselves back together. And when he eventually leaves his apartment to see his new neighbour taking down the "For Rent" sign outside—a dark-haired, feline-lipped young man with an all-too-familiar cat daemon in tow—he finds that he’s not the only one whose face is flushed at the realisation. )

This is probably unlike what the prompter had in mind, but I was hit with an idea and just ran with it. They did specify cat breeds, a Russian Blue and Egyptian Mau, but I still used obvious names because they were convenient.

This is also only lightly inspired by His Dark Materials. The daemons and different worlds. That plus Obsession-era X-EXO and the plotline from MAMA make for whatever this became.