Sehun stares at his phone in disbelief. Baehun and Taeyeon are coming over, and he needs to make sure everything is presentable for when they arrive, meaning,

 

"Luhan, you need to hide!" Sehun exclaims, making Luhan jump after his extended period of silence.

 

"What? Why?" he complains, looking highly offended. Sehun doesn't care at this point, already working himself into a frenzy. He'd been looking forward to a calm and relaxing weekend, just snuggling with his beautiful cat, and he ends up with this. This situation is highly problematic, and unsolvable. He slides off the sofa, bringing Luhan with him, and drags the loudly protesting man upstairs to his bedroom, holding his wrist tightly so he doesn't escape.

 

"Why do I need to hide? I've never had to hide from your friends before!" Luhan complains, trying to tear himself away from Sehun's possibly quite painful grip, but he won't let him go.

 

"You were a cat then!" Sehun shouts, "You're a human now, you have to act like one!" he drags a hand through his hair, pushing his fringe back in frustration. 

"Maybe I will, when you start treating me like one," Luhan grumbles, but stops trying to pull away from him. Sehun looks around his room, then sighs, sitting back on his bed. Even if Sehun told Luhan to stay in his room, he wouldn't. Luhan knows how the locks work, and could easily open the window or even the door if he tried, and then his cover would be blown. 

 

The best he can do, Sehun thinks, is to hide the fact that he's a cat. If Baekhyun and Taeyeon think he's just a regular person, then everything will be fine. He convinces himself of this, all the while unknowingly being observed by his pensive cat, until he suddenly stands up again, knocking the poor man in the chin.

They both cry out in pain, and Sehun apologises demurely, but then instead of petting Luhan, like he would've done if he were still a cat and he'd accidentally hurt him, he just walks in the opposite direction, rubbing the top of his head. Luhan regrets telling him to treat him like a human already, if it means he won't get as much physical attention. He wants to kiss him and hug him again, but he can't because Sehun is resolute in not touching him. Ever.

Sehun tries to remember where he put it, the thing that might cover Luhan's ears. He has several snapbacks, but the fabric of those isn't malleable enough to be comfortable for Luhan's sensitive ears. He's looking for a white beanie he's sure he has somewhere, he doesn't usually wear it because it doesn't suit him, but he's sure it will work for Luhan. It's soft, too, so he might not complain too much. 

He searches through his wardrobe and come up short, so he moves on to his chest of drawers, wondering if it somehow managed to end up in there by mistake. Finally he finds it, in the very bottom drawer, underneath a scarf his mother bought him years ago which he never wears because it's got penguins on it. He jumps up brandishing the beanie like a swords but is surprised to find Luhan staring at him with dark eyes, making Sehun freeze and flush with an emotion he refuses to identify as lust.

Red faced, he tosses the hat to Luhan and tells him to put it on, but he just sits and holds it, looking at it bemusedly. Recovering quickly, Sehun rolls his eyes and gets up to help him. He pats down Luhan's hair, ignoring the way his eyes look extra wide and glittery from this perspective, and slips the woollen hat over his head, tucking his ears in gently. 

 

"Do you think you can stay like this while my friends are here?" Sehun asks, face completely serious and leaving no room for Luhan to try and get out of it. 

"I don't see why I should have to hide, but if this is really what you want, then I suppose I can," Luhan says, eyes downcast. His tail lies despondently across Sehun's bed, and Sehun foresees that this will become another problem.

 

"Luhan, we need to hide your tail as well,"

"But-!" Luhan turns his body, so Sehun can't get to his tail, but Sehun isn't having any of it, and manhandles him so he's lying on his front, and grabs his tail (not too roughly, but Luhan yelps anyway,) and shoves it down his trouser leg. Retracting his hand quickly, because he hadn't expected Luhan's bare skin to be so warm, he examines his handiwork. Luhan could almost pass for an ordinary person, except his clothes are all far too baggy, and he has visibly pink hair. He looks like a teenager going through a rebellious phase a few years too late. Sehun shrugs; it'll have to do.

 

Leading Luhan back down to the living room, he wonders what to introduce Luhan to Baekhyun and Taeyeon as, since they both have already met his cat many times, and know he's called Luhan. It would be suspicious if he called him Luhan, so he needs to think of something that is similar but also different enough for them to not notice the similarity. Maybe Lulu? No, it's too feminine, and Luhan is definitely not girly in any sense of the word. Except for his hair.

Next question: why is he here? They both know Sehun is a social hermit and wouldn't willingly host anyone that he doesn't know, so he needs a believable excuse for his presence. Sehun sits Luhan on the sofa, and stands back as he curls up into a comfortable ball and tries to stretch, getting annoyed when his tail can't escape the confines of his trousers.

 

Sehun sits down next to Luhan, trying to mentally prepare him for the impending disaster,

 

"Luhan? Your new name is Hannie, and you're my mum's friend's son, and you're staying here because your mum thinks you need a good influence or something, ok?" He knows this is probably a little insulting, to say that he looks like he's younger than he really is, but Luhan doesn't seem to mind that. And his feline behaviour seems slightly childish when compared to human behaviour.

 

"And you think you're a good influence? But you're mean." Luhan looks at him sceptically, but doesn't object other than that, to Sehun's relief. They sit in silence, waiting for Sehun's friends to arrive, Luhan attempting only once to lean against Sehun. He doesn't get pushed away, but Sehun also doesn't try to pet him or hug him or anything else that Luhan wants, so he scowls at him, thinking he probably looks like he plays the part of 'needing a good influence' quite well.

 Sehun is trying not to let the anxiety get to him, but it's not working very well. He's sweating already, and they haven't even arrived yet.

 

The doorbell rings, followed by Baekhyun's shout of, "Sehun, open up!" 

 

Sehun robotically rises to his feet and walks to the door, stiffly opening it and greeting his best friend and his girlfriend.

 

"Sehun, it's been a while," Taeyeon is the sort of person who looks soft spoken at first glance, but when she's comfortable with you, is one of the most outgoing and generally strangest people you will ever meet.

 

"Yeah," he replies, trying futilely to keep them standing in the doorway, but Baekhyun having very little in the way of manners, barges past him and removes his shoes. Leaning against the wall, he starts chatting, as he usually does, partly to fill the silence and partly because he just loves the sound of his own voice.

 

"We were going to try and convince you to come one a double date with us later," he says, "but then we thought that you would hate our guts if we did that to you again. So we decided it would be better if we just came over and have you make us dinner- look, we even brought ingredients for you!" he gestures to the bag in Taeyeon's hand, and she smiles and raises her eyebrows innocently, telling Sehun that she'd had nothing to do with this idea.

 

Sehun's shoulders slump, and he nods his head, reluctantly accepting Baekhyun's proposal. He stands there for a moment, seeing how long he can push it before the pair of them suspect something. 

 

"Just so you know, I've got a guest at the moment," Sehun says, quietly, half hoping no one will hear him.

"You? Have a guest?" Baekhyun asks, tipping his head back as if he can't believe what he's hearing. Sehun is offended,

"Yes, I have a guest. He's my mum's friend's son, and he's going to be staying here for an indefinite amount of time. So be nice to him."

 

"Oh, so he's not your guest, it's more of a favour," Baekhyun nods as if this makes more sense. Sehun wonders if he's so solitary that the idea of him having someone at his house other than them willingly is really that shocking. He knew he was a little bit of a hermit, but he's friendly enough, right? He shakes his head and calls for Luhan as he finally opens the door to the living room after dawdling so long, hand hovering over the doorknob.

 

"Hannie?" 

 

"Yeah?" He's curled up on the sofa, looking cozy in his hat and doing a good job of keeping his tail hidden.

 

"This is Baekhyun and Taeyeon," he points to each one as he says their names and Luhan looks on politely, pretending to memorise their names- he's already met them several times after all.

 

They reorganise the seating arrangements, Luhan moving to the armchair so Baekhyun and Taeyeon can sit together, and Sehun next to them, and make small talk about where Luhan came from and why he's here. Mostly Sehun answers for Luhan, under the pretence that Luhan is shy, Luhan playing along by pulling his hat down sweetly and and sitting with his legs curled up to his chest, but it doesn't work for long. Taeyeon has always had this need to get people to open up to her- and she's good at it too. She's a brilliant mood maker, able to be funny or serious depending on the situation, but getting Luhan to open up to her about his childhood is the last thing he wants right now

"How long are you going to stay here, then, Hannie?" She asks, and Sehun knows that this isn't going to end unless he gets him out of there, so when Luhan turns to him and shrugs, unsure what to say, Sehun rescues him

"Hannie, would you help me make dinner?" He suggests, hoping that Baekhyun won't try to offer assistance. Luhan gets up immediately, happy to help, though Sehun doesn't know exactly how helpful he'll be. He'll probably just make a mess, so he'll give him the easier tasks, he muses. Luhan walks out ahead of him, heading straight to the kitchen

"The TV remote is there, I'll go make dinner. Is noodles with chicken soup ok with you guys?" he asks, leaning around the doorway. They both nod and Baekhyun sends him a thumbs up

"Anything you make is delicious. You have, like, godly hands or something." Baekhyun curls his fist dramatically, and Taeyeon wrinkles her nose in disgust. Sehun can tell they're about to start bickering, so he darts away to stop Luhan from wrecking the kitchen in his abscence. 

Luckily, when he gets there, all Luhan is doing is rifling through the bags of food the happy couple in his living room brought, so nothing too disastrous. Sehun sorts out the things he needs, and give Luhan a few vegetables to chop, having to teach him how to hold the knife. It'll probably be a slow process, but Sehun can just say that he hasn't ever cooked before, and Baekhyun and Taeyeon will probably understand. Just before he starts, Luhan  starts squirming uncomfortably

"Sehun, can I take the hat off? Please? And my tail out? It's really annoying, and they won't see me in here, so please?" He somehow manages to look pitiful while holding a knife, so Sehun agrees, eyes darting nervously to the hallwaay. Hopefully neither of them will come and investigate

The hat comes off quickly, and a pleased smile spreads across Luhan's face, ears twitching occasionally. The tail follows swiftly, sitting almost horizontally in the air, and flicking up just slightly at the end. He looks so at home here, and it gives Sehun a weird feeling, one that he doesn't recognise. It's a slow feeling, not a rush, but it feels homely. Shaking his head to rid him of these thoughts, he joins Luhan in chopping chicken, and puts it on the stove to start cooking it. 

He really wants to scratch Luhan's head, between hs ears, but that wouldn't be a good thing to do. Staring down at the half cooked chicken in the pan, he feels so conflicted: he already misses his cat Luhan, but then Luhan is right next to him, and perfectly willing to do all the things they used to do together, like petting, sleeping together, cuddling- more than willing in fact! So why is he so against letting him do it? What is he afraid of? It's not like he's had any traumatic experiences, no abusive relationships of any sort

He gathers the vegetables Luhan's chopped up -a little haphazard, but by no means inedible- and pours them into the same pot so they can cook too, and boils some water for the noodles

Maybe it's just because he doesn't know how to? He hasn't been intimate with anyone apart from Luhan in years, and he's even hesitant to hug Baekhyun and Taeyeon. Perhaps it's because he's just not used to Luhan in his human form yet. But it's just such a strange concept, hugging someone who was a cat. Who even would think of that? And what if he turns back? His life is in shambles, Sehun concludes, stabbing a particularly stubborn lump of chicken, to split it in half and cook it quicker

 

A sudden cry of, "Oh my god!"  makes him jump and turn around in shock to see Taeyeon standing in the doorway with wide eyes. He looks sharply at Luhan, who is sat with his shoulders hunched,ears lying almost flat aross his head, and the hair on his tail spiking out. Sehun, on instinct, reaches out and puts his arm across Luhan's body, protective. Taeyeon just looks on, trying to process the situation before her, her face pale. Sehun can understand; he'd been shocked too.

"I-I just came to see if either of you needed help. I'll just go-" She runs away before Sehun can tell her to sit down. Sehun crouches and presses his face into his hands, kneading his eyes in frustration. What now?

Luhan crouches next to him, and slings an arm across his shoulders,

 

 

"It's not your fault," Sehun sighs. He's about to get to his feet and try to make sense of what's going when Baekhyun comes barrelling in,

 

"What are you guys doing in here?" He shouts, looking very worried, then he catches sight of Luhan on the floor and his face turns sardonic, "oh yeah, funny. Let's prank my friends. I suppose these are fake ears?" He reaches out to grab them and pull them off, but they flatten back across his hair, and he retreats like he's been burned,

 

"What the ?!" He cries, eyes so wide they risk falling out of his skull, "Sehun you better explain this right now!" 

 

 

 

 

-

 

i know i know crappy ending im sorry

spent ages agonising over this fic so send me some love please T_T

ill try to update soonish...aahh