Heechul wasn’t sure how he got himself into this situation, but he was sure ducks were not supposed to be cute. He arched his back in caution and slowly approached, keeping his eyes fixed on the bird sitting near the pond in his garden.

"Quack," Jungsu said. Their eyes met for the first time and Heechul could just feel his whiskers shiver under the intensity of the stare.

He was whipped.

-

“Me,” Heechul said carefully, using his paw to point at himself. “Heechul.”

Jungsu tilted his head.

“Me,” Heechul tried again, jabbing his paw into his chest impatiently. “Heechul.”

Something like recognition flashed in the duck’s eyes and for a split moment, Heechul felt hopeful-

“Quack.” Jungsu pointed at himself with his wing. “Quack.”

-

The next time Heechul saw Jungsu, he was not alone. And there were 13 ducks too many.

Well, ducklings, really.

Jungsu was calmly sitting in the same spot where Heechul found him the last time, keeping an eye on the little birds that were currently scattered all over the grass.

“Quack!” Jungsu called after him excitedly after his eyes landed on his form, still crouched somewhere near the bushes. Maybe Heechul wasn’t being as stealthy and graceful as he assumed he was. (Or maybe his duck was just simply too smitten to overlook him. Yeah , Heechul thought, his paw and smoothing the fur on top of his head. Probably the latter .)

The cat promptly stood up and meowed his greeting, trying to look as alluring as possible. First impressions were important.

By the time he reached the pond, Jungsu already had his ducklings standing in a straight line, looking at him expectedly. (Except for one, but after his mother smacked him upside the head, he quickly straightened himself.) Jungsu then used his wing to point at each of his kids, who bowed to him respectfully and quacked out their… name ? Heechul could only guess. Damn the language barrier, interspecies relationships .

-

“He has 13 ducklings, I’m not ready for that sort of commitment,” Heechul mewled in pure despair. Gunhee stopped his nether regions and levelled him with a look full of judgement.

“You could always eat them.”

Heechul hissed in pure outrage. “Don’t even joke about that, you bastard! He’d never speak to me again.”

Gunhee snorted. “As if you could understand what he’s saying anyway.”

Well, Heechul cringed internally. That was true. For a brief moment, he wondered if there was such a thing as language courses in Duck.

“I think two of the ducklings quack Chinese,” he tried again. “I could learn Chinese.”

-

“Here, uh,” Heechul said a bit awkwardly, using his paw to push a half dead (or, like, quarter dead, maybe) mouse closer to Jungsu. “This is for you.”

Mouse’s hind leg twitched. So did Jungsu’s left eye.

“Quack!” he exclaimed angrily, flapping his wings. “Quack quack!”

Heechul winced and swiftly used his paw to put the mouse out of its misery. He might seriously need to start working on his hunting skills, instead of relying on Gunhee to feed him all the time.

“There, all better?” he asked, his meows laced with hope, looking up at Jungsu with his best kitty eyes.

If ducks could sigh, Jungsu would’ve done exactly that.

-

Jungsu wasn’t just any duck, he was the prettiest duck Heechul has ever seen. With his beautiful, shiny feathers, lean neck, and cutest little beak, Heechul finally understood why he thought no other cat was good enough for him - because only his duck was.

He snuggled closer to the feathery warmth and when Jungsu’s beak went back to gently nipping at the fur behind his ear, he found himself purring in pure bliss.