December 01, 2013

T'was the first of December and all through the dorm, the members of EXO were snuggly and warm. Snow swirled from the sky, gentle and bright, as it had long ago since the start of the night. Kris opened his eyes, groaned, felt his brow furrow, and then nuzzled in deeper like a mouse in its burrow.

It's very nice, thought the dancer, to kick back and relax, without having to dance or record some more tracks.

Luhan was above him, still swimming in dreams, and Xiumin was thoroughly checking that everything was clean. Chen was ordering their favourite food, and Lay lay on Luhan, content with the mood.

Kris dozed for a while listening to Lay read before extracting from Luhan, unsettled by need. He took care of it quietly and as he went back he noticed the front door opened a slight crack. Tao reversed in and kicked it shut behind him, shivering, cold and looking quite grim. He'd been out for five minutes and Kris had to note how white his skin looked when exposed by his coat.

“Thanks for going,” Kris said, reaching forward to pick up a bag. Tao pulls down his hood and his shoulders both sag.

Xiumin fetched some bowls as Tao went to warm up, but he didn't get far before;

Mew.

“The ?”

Tao had started moving towards his room, but at that conversation stopping noise, he'd stopped just like the rest of them. He looked like he'd been tiptoeing over a series of very small stepping stones, and cringed as though he'd just discovered one was not a stepping stone.

Xiumin stopped. The bags in Kris's hands rustled and lowered as his arms loosened. Kris blinked. Tao stared him straight in the eyes, cleared his throat importantly and went, “Mew.”

Kris narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “What was that?”

“My cat impression. I've been practising.”

Mew—

“Mew,” Tao echoed quickly.

A little bit too late.

Kris set the bags down and studied the martial artist knowingly, crossing his arms over his chest. “Feeling a bit like a today?” Tao remained expressionless, though he knew the jibe would not go unavenged. Motioning to Tao's coat, which was sealed up tight, he said, “Open it.”

Tao's hand moved defensively to the buttons that lined his front. “It's freezing.”

“No, it's warm in here,” Kris argued. “Take it off.”

“I'm telling you it's cold.”

Mew.

“What was that?” Xiumin padded closer, peering at the dancer as if to try and find some new deformity. Tao cradled his front like one might expect of a heavily pregnant woman, looking unusually nervous. When Xiumin moved too close he took a small step back and rubbed his stomach reassuringly. “Are you hiding something?”

“No?”

“Tao.”

“Maybe.”

“Tao!”

“Absolutely not. What would I be hiding?”

xoxo about twenty seconds later xoxo

“Tao, what are you doing with a kitten?”

“I don't know what you're talking about. The only here is you.”

“There is a kitten clinging to the front of your trousers. You just dropped it.”

“Ohhh. That kitten.”

“Yes, Tao, that kitten,” Kris said slowly, punctuating each word. “What is it doing?”

“Well, if you must know, Kris, it's clinging to the front of my trousers.”

Granted it was a very small and incredibly endearing little kitten. A fluffy, very hungry little kitten, with fur as black as the night and wide, glowing green eyes that scanned them all as it mewed pitifully up at them. There was no denying the deep, bridled awww that vibrated their very bones, not just at the mere sight of the bundle of fur, but also at its attempts to return to Tao's body heat.

Tao picked the kitten up from the floor and settled it under his chin, folding his arms over his chest. Luhan reached up and rubbed its shoulder, looking just about ready to burst.

Mew.

“I found it wandering the streets in the snow,” Tao confessed. “It was on its own. I couldn't just leave it out there.”

They followed them into the kitchen like the cat's personal parade of entourage, which is pretty much what they had become. A blubbering, obsessed slaves all falling over themselves and each other. Luhan went to fetch a warm dishcloth from the sink and Chen tried to peer over Lay's shoulder to see what was going on. “It doesn't have a collar,” he observed. “It's not fat either.”

“It probably escaped and got lost,” Lay put in. “How young is it?”

“A month?” Xiumin surmised. “I don't know. Give me a minute, I'll check and see if I can figure out what we can give it.”

The closest age they could come to was over five weeks but under ten. They put out a little bit of fish to see if it would eat, and the kitten tucked in, purring appreciatively as it gulped down each juicy mouthful.

When it was finished and they had all eaten, Luhan and Xiumin grabbed a mixing bowl, filled it with lukewarm water and carefully bathed it. Kris nudged a drink mat into alignment as he thought about what they would do. Undoubtedly if they went straight out and asked if someone had lost a kitten, a thousand eager fans would leap up and start claiming it as their own. It was also too late for them to call SM.

They all went for their early night about three hours late. The kitten slept with its face pressed into Tao's neck, settled atop his chest, purring quietly. Kris gazed at them for a long while, taking in Tao's unconscious, soft smile and the kitten's … fluffiness. Because damn it he was a man and he would not stoop to deeming the furball cute.

Did SM really need to know?