Ch. 1

            Sundays are the best days.  Jongdae likes to sleep in on Sundays, letting his usual alarms have the day off and only waking when the sun finally hits his face.  He likes to take his time in the shower on Sundays too, crooning rhythm and blues into his bar of soap and dancing around under the water.   By the time he’s done, it’s usually around noon.  If he doesn’t have plans already, he likes to sit outside in the tiny courtyard of his apartment complex with some coffee and music, and sometimes some work too.  The sunlight always does wonders for his creativity, and he’s written some of his best songs on Sunday afternoons. 

            This particular Sunday starts out like any other – until Jongdae opens his front door.  It takes him a second to notice it, but once he does, the cup of iced coffee goes flying as he stumbles back with a startled yelp.  His feet tangle beneath him, and the floor comes rushing up to meet his backside with a hard thwack.  The sticky chill sets in a second later, and he groans as he realizes his delicious caramel coffee is now splattered all over his shirt.  I literally just showered, he gripes to himself, peeling the now-brown t-shirt away from his skin. 

            Then he freezes, as he remembers exactly why he’s on his and covered in coffee in the first place.  Jongdae releases his shirt and peeks over his knees.  His eyes widen, and he blinks hard to make sure he’s not imagining things. 

            Nope, not imagining.  There is definitely a girl curled up on his doorstep.  

            A girl with a ing tail. 

            “Holy .”  Jongdae’s mind goes into frantic overdrive, and he scrambles up onto his knees.  The girl has her back to him, so he can’t see her face or anything.  He can see the slight rise and fall of her chest, though, so at least she’s alive.  Thank god for small miracles, he thinks deliriously – a dead girl on his doorstep would’ve been infinitely worse. 

            He edges closer.  That tail looks freakishly real.  It looks like it belongs on a cat.  It’s thin, maybe about as long as his forearm, and covered in light gray fur, with black stripes running down the length of it.  He doesn’t see any straps or ties holding it to her body, and so he leans in to see just how she’s managed to stick a tail on herself.  And then he realizes he’s hovering right over the girl’s . 

            “!”  He hisses, and jerks backward.  Jongdae glances furtively around the hallway of his floor.  Luckily, none of his neighbors are out.  All of them are old couples, which is awesome for when he wants to be spoiled rotten with food and affection, but not so awesome when there is a girl in front of his door.  He can already feel the judgment and disapproval radiating from their closed doors. 

            A little motion out of the corner of his eye catches his attention.  Jongdae looks back at the girl, and nearly chokes. 

            The tail is moving. 

-----

            “Chanyeol.  Chanyeol, oh my ing god, pick up the damn phone,” Jongdae whines, clutching his cell phone with both hands.  His gaze darts over to the still sleeping girl – catgirl? – who is now currently occupying his couch.  He decided to bring her inside when he heard the radio turn on in the apartment next to his.  Mrs. Kim is a sweet old lady, but she’s also notoriously conservative, and she has the ear of the landlord to boot.  The last thing Jongdae wants right now is an eviction notice for indecency. 

            The phone keeps ringing.  Catgirl shifts a little on the sofa, and Jongdae freaks out a little, flinching back with wide eyes.  But she only sighs, and one of the ears on her head twitches. 

            Oh, that’s the other thing he’s discovered about catgirl.  She also has cat ears.  Little fuzzy triangles on her head that match the gray of her cat tail, and move like her cat tail too.  He can't believe he's actually seeing it.  He wants desperately to wake up in his bed and realize this is all just a dream, but his arm is almost bruised from the number of times he’s pinched himself already. 

            Finally, there’s a click on the line.  “Dude, what the hell?”  Chanyeol’s deep voice is made even deeper by sleep.  Jongdae’s best friend is not a morning person, or an afternoon person.  And he’s always grouchy when he’s forced to be either.

            Jongdae’s willing to risk the grouch for this.  “I need you to come over right now.  This is an emergency.”  He hopes that the urgency is coming through loud and clear.

            There is a loud groan on the other side.  “What?  Why?  Did that weird Chinese guy somehow get into your house?” 

            “What?”  It takes Jongdae a second to realize Chanyeol is referring to Luhan, Jongdae’s extremely flamboyant secretary, who also happens to have a major crush on Jongdae.  “No, not that,” he says quickly.  “Dude, I think there’s a ing catgirl in my house.”

            There is silence on Chanyeol’s end for a long minute.  Jongdae bites nervously on his fingernail, glancing periodically at the girl.  Finally, Chanyeol speaks.  “Jongdae, man, are you on something right now?  Like, did weird Chinese guy slip you something last night at the club?”

            Jongdae nearly cries in frustration, running a hand haphazardly through his hair.  “Park Chanyeol.  I seriously wish I was making this up.  But there is literally a girl with a tail and cat ears sleeping on my sofa right now, and I am about to lose my .  Get. Over. Here.” 

            Chanyeol releases a long, drawn out sigh.  “I ing hate you, Kim Jongdae.”  And then the phone line goes dead.  Jongdae doesn’t panic though, because he’s fluent in Chanyeol-ese.  When the manchild says he hates you, it means he’s pissed, but he’s going to do what you say.  Luckily, Chanyeol only lives a few minutes away. 

            While he waits, Jongdae debates the merits of staring vigilantly at catgirl versus making himself another cup of coffee.  Because, really, he needs caffeine to properly deal with this situation.  Catgirl still looks like she’s soundly asleep, so he decides to chance it.  The kitchen has a partial view of the living room anyways, so he’ll still be able to keep an eye on her.

            He ends up making another iced caramel coffee, taking his time with it to try to sort out what exactly is going on.  He’s not exactly sure how she could’ve gotten up to his floor.  The apartment complex has a 24-hour guard duty, and he’s pretty sure she wouldn’t have made it past Sooro, the burly night watchman, especially if she was .  The fire escape is the only way that makes sense, but that still doesn’t explain why she’s here – or why she’s . 

            Jongdae shakes his head a little. He’s got to stop focusing on that part.  Admittedly, he did check catgirl out a little as he brought her into his apartment.  It’s not like he could help it.  He’s a heteroual male, and she’s a girl.  A very pretty girl.  It probably doesn’t help that it’s been a while since he’s had any action beyond his hand.  At least he can be proud that he didn’t pop a the minute he saw her.  Score one for being an evolved male, Jongdae, he thinks. 

            But he really does need to redirect his thought process.  She probably is in some kind of trouble.  Maybe she’s a kidnapping victim.  Or an escaped convict.  Two totally different ends of the spectrum, but Jongdae reminds himself that he needs to be open-minded.  He’s hoping that she’s the former, though.  His self-defense skills are pretty pathetic. 

            The other thing he needs to consider is the whole cat business.  He hasn’t dared touch the tail or ears yet.  Mostly, it’s because he’s a little afraid of what he’s going to discover when he touches them, and so he’s generously decided to let Chanyeol handle that part.  He hopes she’s not mixed up in some weird , because that’s going to be all kinds of awkward when she wakes up.  Okay, maybe not that awkward, he admits to himself as the thought of kitty runs through his head.  Jesus, I need to get laid. 

            He sighs heavily, and turns around to head back to the living room – and proceeds to spill his coffee all over himself again.

            “!” 

            Catgirl is awake, and standing about a foot away from him.  Jongdae’s heart pounds painfully hard as fear ripples through him, and it’s difficult to breathe for a minute.  He stumbles backwards into the counter, and irrationally, he holds the empty cup to defend himself.

            She doesn’t move, only watches him back, as if they’re having a little Western standoff.  As Jongdae’s initial shock slides away, he finally starts to notice that catgirl actually looks just as scared as he feels.  Her face is parchment-white, and her breath is coming in short, fast bursts.  She looks like she’s going to pass out, and that spurs him into action. 

            “Hi,” Jongdae says cautiously, straightening up from the counter. 

            She doesn’t answer.

            He puts the cup down on the counter behind him.  “You were asleep in front of my apartment door,” he explains slowly.  “I brought you inside to try to help.”  He’s mildly impressed with how even his voice sounds, as if he’s a lot more put-together than he feels inside. 

            Although he’s calmed down a little, he can’t say the same for her.  If anything, she looks even tenser, her fists curling tightly.  Jongdae eases forward with a reassuring hand.  “Hey, I really do just want to help,” he says gently.  “How about we start with how you got here?” 

            Catgirl steps backwards, her eyes almost ridiculously wide.  He tries taking another step forward, and that launches her into action.   With a hairpin spin on her heel, she’s darting towards the front door, with something that sounds suspiciously like a yowl trailing after her.  Instinct – and the desire not to get evicted – has Jongdae lunging after her with a shout.  He manages to snag an arm around her waist just as her fingers graze the door.   He pulls her back into the living room, marveling for a second at just how light and small she is.  He’s not a big guy himself, but he feels like the Hulk carting her around.   

            The next second, he’s yelling in pain, as ten sharp little nails latch into his arm.  He spins the two of them around and throws the girl towards the couch, wincing as some of her nails scrape along his skin.  Catgirl regains her footing quickly, and this time when she looks at him, her eyes almost look angry. 

            Jongdae takes a deep breath, trying to ignore his stinging arm.  “Hey.  Listen to me.  You’re .  .”  He gestures at her body, and does his utter best not to look at her s.  He’s an man, personally, but he can definitely appreciate a nice set of .  And his surprise guest just happens to have such a set, much to his chagrin.  “You can’t just go running outside like that.”

            She does that weird wide-eyed stare again.  Jongdae sees it and instinctively plants his feet, using his body to block the entryway to the apartment.  If she rushes again, he’ll be ready for her. 

            “Look, can you just say something?”  He asks with a touch of irritation.  As much as he likes the sound of his own voice, the fact that she has yet to say anything is a little unnerving.  But just like before, silence stretches out between them. 

            A loud thud on his door makes both of them jump.  “Jongdae, it’s me.”  Chanyeol’s grumpy voice is only slightly muffled by the door. 

            Jongdae breathes a little sigh of relief, even as he wonders how it’s possible that Park freaking Chanyeol is making him feel reassured.  The kid’s a walking disaster most days.  But it’s not like Chanyeol can make this situation any worse than it already is.

            Well, at least Jongdae hopes he can’t.