Soft purring, akin to most mellifluous, dulcet songs known to man, so pleasing, so amiable to one’s ears permeated the stale air acutely, a small ball of messy fur comfily settled on Joonmyeon’s chest, trembling in utter, ethereal pleasure at the received treatment. Gently, tentatively, refined alabaster fingers teased the sensitive patch behind the sable cat’s ear, the light noise only further becoming louder in audacity as his paws stretched out in immense pleasure at the artfully done scratching.

-”What was it this time around?” Joonmyeon asked, his sonorous voice an amiable timber to the silence.

-”Mmm?” Jongdae cracked an eye open, the striking golden notch to his eyes such a bold contrast to his deep black, soft effulgent fur, before he stirred in his place, undulating on Joonmyeon’s billowing chest.
-”Ah, I was doing the dishes when... Light flickered and I...I...You know the rest...”

Joonmyeon snorted in amusement, flicking other’s ear with an evocative finger at which Jongdae shied away from the touch, hissing in complaint.

-”You know you can’t catch light.” He reprimanded the other, chiding him quietly.

-”I know that.” Wailed the cat on his chest, his voice such a high pitch in the room, “But my instincts tell a different story.” The irrate meow ensued after the pitched words, the small ball of fur Joonmyeon called cat twirling in place until it found a comfortable position again, muttering something akin to ‘stupid light’ in between settling down and kneading other’s shirt.

Merely patting his boyfriend on the head, Joonmyeon lay back against the soft pillows, body sprawled lazily over the couch.

Yes indeed, you read that correctly - boyfriend. How and why must be your unyielding questions right now, so let me quench that famished desire to know of your’s. They had met in a library for the first time, Jongdae breathing in deep inhales of breath as to calm himself when his desired book was out of reach of his slender fingers. Joonmyeon, being the obnoxiously kind person he was, dragged over the ladders and climbed up to reach for Jongdae’s book, only to slip with the book still in his grasp and end up falling down in a mass of tangled and bruised limbs. Frantically panicking and flailing his arms around, Jongdae managed to get both the man on his feet and book in his hands, profusely apologizing for being such a trouble, ending up buying both coffee and lunch as an apology. One lunch was enough of an initiator for a few more to ensue, all under the disguise of being heartfelt apologies of Jongdae’s for Joonmyeon’s bruised .

The culmination point where things started going in a wide spiral downwards was when Joonmyeon, one uneventful morning, found a hysterical, sneezing cat battling with his covers instead of Jongdae. Heart attack would be a faint explanation of how he felt at that particular moment. His screams were accompanied by high pitched cat screams and pratfalls as both him and an unknown cat leaped off the bed, both breathing heavily and hysterically.

A lot of meowing, sneezing, frantically obnoxious wailing and, in Joonmyeon’s part, crying, the latter found out his boyfriend, when extremely angered or scared, starts sneezing and turns into a cat. He would’ve easily thought it was all a dream had it not been for a quick flash of sharp claws against his cheek that certainly made him rethink his thoughts.

It took him months to cope with the fact, though.


-”Joonmyeon...” Jongdae softly snored, the syllables lost in his lush purring throat, “Jongin said in voicemail he will come around five.”

-”What time is it now?”

-”Two.”

-”Then we have time.”

Meow.



It takes Jongdae time, always, and unfortunately a lot, Joonmyeon realized in distaste, to turn back human, and it always starts with the same sneezing fit as when turning into a cat. It starts with a light sneeze and a small cloud of sable dust until the fits increase in frequency and the black dust envelops the latter whole, through thick smoke and obnoxiously loud noise a bare young man emerging minutes later.

This time, it unfortunately happened while Joonmyeon was profoundly asleep on the couch, bare Jongdae dropping onto the floor in a sudden elated leap of delight at being human again. Jumping with a start, Joonmyeon looked around in his frenzy upon being awaken, only to see limping Jongdae rubbing his on the way to their shared bedroom.

-”Couldn’t you sneeze on the bed or something?” Joonmyeon groaned in distaste.

-”I was asleep too, you insolent bastard. I woke up sneezing, try that sometimes!” The other responded irritably, emerging with loose track pants hanging low on his hips, a flash of boxers peeking whilst putting on Joonmyeon’s favourite sweater. “Not all that amusing, you know.”

Joonmyeon merely waved his hand in retort, dismissing the matter. “I have to clean this place before Jongin comes.”

Jongdae nodded in confirmation, going to fetch his sneakers. “I’ll be in the cafe nearby, call me when he’s gone.”

Joonmyeon looked at him with sad eyes, getting lost in the abyss of pictorial beauty his lover was before a light, clattering sound from outside snapped him from his thoughts.
-”I’ll introduce you to people as soon as we manage to control your anger and fear issues and transformation to cat.”

Jongdae snorted lightly, a bashful smile creeping up on his face, before muttering something akin to ‘hopefully’ whilst tying his shoelaces with nimble fingers diligently tying small bows.

-”Alrighty, I’m-”

Buzz.

-”Don’t tell me...” Joonmyeon hissed, looking at a clock ticking early four in the afternoon. Yet greatly to his surprise, behind his door was an exhausted looking Jongin hoisting his backpack over his shoulder and impatiently waiting for the elder to open the door.

Buzz.

-”No...” Jongdae cried out, feeling a sudden surge of fear and anxiety rushing in his blood. Trying to breathe deeply never worked out in such situations. “He was supposed to arrive in an hour!”

Achoo!

Horror filled Joonmyeon’s eyes.

-”No, no, no. Take in a deep breath, you’re not turning into a ing cat when Jongin is right in front of...”

Achoo!

-”Jongdae!”

-”I’m-achoo-sorry!”

Joonmyeon was swift on his feet to drag sneezing Jongdae now enveloped in a veil of black dust, feeling how latter’s form started significantly shrinking the more he sneezed, the fits occurring more and more frequently.

Somewhere between obnoxious achoo’s and Jongdae’s wailing complaints, Joonmyeon’s ears picked up the acute sound of lock being unlocked, presumably by a spare key whose whereabouts he informed Jongin of months prior. Not that it would be difficult to find anyways, there was only one doormat in the whole hallway. Theirs.

Between twirling lines of black dust, a writhing cat emerged, effulgent fur messy and unkempt as he desperately tried to get away form Joonmyeon’s hold, somehow ending up being held by other protectively as Jongin called for Joonmyeon from the living room, dropping off his backpack and shoes. Hearing ruckus coming from the bedroom and muffled screams of anguish caused by Jongdae’s claws digging into Joonmyeon’s tender flesh, Jongin slowly, with rigid body approached the room, finding Joonmyeon battling with an animal in his hold, seemingly only a black ball of fur from what he could see.

-”Joonmyeon?” He called with apprehension woven into his words as the latter swiftly turned his head around, watching with dread his best friend trying to see what he has in his hold.

-”Is that a cat?” Jongin inquired, eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

-”I...uh, well, yeah. You see-”

-”But you hate cats.” The other intercepted him warily.

Jongdae shot Joonmyeon a stern, disapproving look.

-”Well, not anymore. Haha...” Joonmyeon laughed awkwardly, shoulders softly shaking with creeping dread rising in his chest. “I’m just... I’ll let him out, I’ll be right back.”


What?, He heard Jongdae quietly hiss as they passed Jongin on the way to the balcony, trying to worm his way out his grasp, but to no avail, Joonmyeon was too strong.
Dropping his cat/boyfriend onto the cold balcony flooring, ignoring his wails of complaint at the slightly rougher treatment, Joonmyeon patted the latter on the head, swiftly closing the glass door before he could muster some bravery and sneak his way back in.

Not even wide, doe eyes resembling the cat from Shrek did the pleading job as Joonmyeon merely pulled the curtains, leaving his boyfriend to climb awkwardly on the balcony sofa and sleep there until Jongin leaves.

 

A/N:

written for magicalmorgz because she is fab and loves kitty!Chen