Chapter 3
Yeah Yeah

Minseok got up from his kitchen table, shakily making his way to the bathroom, he'd just eaten the sad excuse for food he'd made earlier and like the other attempts this week it wasn't staying down, just like every other meal he'd forced himself to eat. 

As he fell to his knees in front of the porcelain bowl, barely making it in time as his stomach heaved and let loose all of its contents, he registered the sound of his phone ringing from the other room, but couldn't drag himself away from the toilet long enough to answer it. he rested his forehead on the seat, vision beginning to blur and not even caring where his face was at the moment. he just hoped if he ended up sick-well, sicker than he was- from his proximity to the toilet, that it would be with something that would make the pain in his heart stop... 

he sat up and heaved into the bowl one more time, letting a whimper escape as his vision went away altogether.

Seconds later, he hit the bathroom floor with a dull thump, phone ringing insistently one room away.

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Kyungsoo was rolling his bottom lip between his teeth as the phone continued to ring on the other end, each missed call that piled onto another making him worry. Minseok never ignored phone calls these days, hoping that someone would call him and tell him where Luhan was, why he'd left without saying anything. he looked up at Jongin who was pacing the room and running his hand through his hair nervously. 

"Minnie's not answering." he said, catching Jongin's attention long enough to make him stop.

"Still?" he questioned, pausing his hand and letting it drop to his side. "How many times have you tried to get through, Soo?"

Kyungsoo bit his lip harder and checked. "that was attempt number twelve"

"... I'll text Tao and let him know we're going over there."

Kyungsoo just nodded and stared at his phone, mind running through every unpleasant scenario possible for what they'd find when they arrived. 

                                                                                                                -♡-

As it turned out the siamese cat was a giant pain in the , and wouldn't stop yowling whenever Tao tried to talk to it, however, the one time he mentioned Minseok to it, it seemed - to him-  to get excited and purr loudly before returning to it's high pitched meowing . had his phone not vibrated when Jongin texted him he was sure he would have missed it. 

To: My Panda <3 
From : Kai baby <3 <3 

'babe we can't get ahold of Minnie :( Heading to his place right now.'

he panicked slightly and texted back quickly, hoping they weren't too far away.

To: Kai baby <3 <3 
From :  My Panda <3 

'NO! Don't leave me! saw Yifan,  stole mi pepero, think i stole his cat. wait 4 me!! >:O ' 

Jongin growled and gripped his hair, the urge to throw his phone growing by the minute. was it really this hard to have a normal night?

To: My Panda <3 
From : Kai baby <3 <3 

'. fine, we'll stay until you get back. hurry up.'

Tao didn't take the time to reply and ran back to his apartment much to the displeasure of the siamese cat in his jacket.

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Yifan was walking towards his house, giving up for the night after the incident with Tao, and then the cats. he was starting to think he just wasn't cut out for all of this magic , there was just too much to it.  he sighed and stopped for a second, giving himself a small mental pep talk. 'you can do this... you are powerful... you up half your symbols, but you're working on i-' his thoughts were cut off when he heard a small, almost unsure sounding meow and opened his eyes to look down. the black cat had followed him.

"what, you hungry? need a place to stay? why am I even asking you... you're just a stupid cat... " he frowned and picked the cat up, not noticing the odd way it was looking at him.

 "you can come home with me, on one condition.  you  have to go to the bathroom like a civilized being." the cat mewed at him and tilted it's head. 

"it means don't pee on my things, please... I don't have a litter box for you." it just made a weird noise and stared at him. he shook his head and walked the rest of the way to his house carrying the cat.

It took all of twenty minutes before Yifan was setting the cat down and pulling his keys out to unlock and open the door, letting the cat wander in and look around while he headed back to his bedroom to change. the place was a pig sty, in the cat's opinion. maybe he'd come back later on two legs and offer cleaning services. though just as the thought passed through the cat's mind , he stepped in something that he thought might have once been pizza, but he couldn't tell and honestly didn't want to know at the moment. he just wanted the congealed ball of disgusting off his foot. so he lifted it into the air and screeched at the top of his lungs, causing Yifan to come running out of the  bedroom in only a pair of joggers, afraid the cat had hurt itself.  he was half relieved and half annoyed to find the problem, but quickly picked the cat up and cleaned it's foot off, causing the cat to purr quietly for a second before catching itself as he set it on the counter.

"You're prissy for a homeless cat..."

said cat narrowed its eyes at him. 'and you're incompetent for someone able to manipulate energy... even the novices can tell I'm a familiar nine times out of ten.' it huffed at him after mentally berating him, causing Yifan to raise an eyebrow. why did the cat seem angry?

"okay ,okay...Jesus.. no need to glare.. damn cat.' he leaned against the counter and crossed his arms,frowning when he noticed how the cat now seemed to be almost checking him out as its eyes traveled up his body.

"That's enough creeper cat... no free show for you." he walked into the living room and pulled a shirt off the couch before slipping it on.

The cat, had Yifan been paying attention , looked disgusted.' was that shirt even clean!?  the boss had better pay me extra for this job...oh god wait, was I actually checking him out?!?' the cat lost itself in its thoughts for the moment, while his target sat down on the couch, flipping through channels on the T.V but never lingering on one thing long enough to actually see what it was. 

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By the time Tao entered the apartment, Kyungsoo had already chewed his lip to the point it was bleeding slightly, while Jongin's hair was sticking up in random directions, both taking their nervous habits to new extremes with each second that had passed.

"So, babe... this is the cat Yifan was after..." Tao said, reaching into his jacket and pulling out the small siamese cat.  

Kyungsoo looked up and immediately released his lip from between his teeth. "THAT'S LUHAN!" he ran to the cat, but it hissed and swung its claws at him. 

Tao raised an eyebrow. "It does sort of act like Lu... you should have seen it when I mentioned Minseok."  the cat immediately purred loudly and climbed onto Tao's shoulder, bumping its head straight into its face. "see?"

what the actual is going on? I believed Soo..but..this...this...  And with that, Jongin laughed though it held no humor. it was more the type of sound you make if you were on the edge of a mental breakdown. 

Kyungsoo cleared his throat. "bring the cat, we still have to go make sure Min's okay..."  the cat stopped purring and mewed quietly, tilting its head as it looked at Kyungsoo, who only shook his head. "Sorry Lu, I couldn't bring myself to tell him.." Cat-Lu pounced on Kyungsoo without hesitation,  clawing at him until Jongin picked him up, handing him back to Tao and giving him the short explanation of what happened. 

", that's definitely Luhan then... " Tao sighed, what the hell was Yifan's problem. cursing him, turning Lu into a cat, and then acting like a normal person the next time he runs into him. he shook his head and wandered out the door a little ahead of the other two, gently rubbing cat- Lu's ear.

"I hope Min's okay..." Tao whispers.  Luhan just lets out a small meow that sounds like he's agreeing and looks forward as Tao walks down to the road to catch a cab. 

Forty-five minutes and the worst cab ride any of them has ever taken later, and they get to Minseok and Luhan's apartment, Kyungsoo covered in scratches, Jongin's sanity badly frayed, and Tao just confused, while a small siamese anxiously mewed and meowed, hoping his boyfriend was alright, and wondering how this was going to go...
 

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Minseok came to on the bathroom floor, his head pounding as he slowly woke up. He could hear someone knocking on his front door, and some muffled yelling that caused him to jump up a little too quickly. grabbing the sink he steadied himself and made his way to the front door, surprised when he opened it and a small siamese flung itself at his face. 

Tao had tried to keep a hold on Lu when the door opened but the ball of fur had other plans, jumping as soon as the door was opened and landing on a startled Minseok's face. 

"What the ?!? " Minseok had tried to yell but his voice came out a raspy whisper as he tried to get the cat off of his head and stay standing, landing flat on his on the floor instead.

Kyungsoo moved forward to get the cat but it just hissed and swiped his claws at him, causing Kyungsoo to sigh and rub his face.

"Sorry Minnie... but uh. I can explain?... that's Lu." he pointed to the cat, giving Minseok an unsure smile.

"Soo, I swear to god, I will kill you... That isn't something you joke about.. you know he..he..." Minseok couldn't finish his sentence as he broke down in sobs.he couldn't bring himself to admit out loud that Luhan had left him.

Kyungsoo bit his lip. "Minnie... no... he.. he didn't leave, he just... I need to tell you what happened..." 

"You have five minutes before I kick your out..." Minseok choked back another sob as he gave up on removing the cat from his body as it purred loudly, headbutting him and every bit of his face, causing him to scrunch his nose as he stood up and let everyone into his apartment, Jongin and Tao settling on the couch as Kyungsoo stayed standing in front of him while he rushed through his explanation.

Minseok looked angrier by the second until he reached the part where Yifan had said Minseok was free from his debt. his shoulders dropped and he shook his head sadly, sobbing hard as he clutched the small cat to his chest, whispering that he was sorry. no one else knew what he'd done... Soo had to be telling the truth. he felt like he might faint again.

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Yifan sighed and set the remote down, television settled on a music channel just for the background noise.  he grabbed a book off the coffee table and opened it, frowning when papers fell out of it. as he picked them up, one caught his eye and he let out a loud sigh that caught the black cat's attention and caused him to wander into the living room out of curiosity.  

However, when he jumped onto the back of the couch, he looked over Yifan's shoulder at the paper he was holding and had to run from the room quickly, darting into the bathroom and pushing his weight into the door as he suddenly changed shape, turning into a small, overly shocked man. he had to bite his fist to keep from making noise, and quickly locked the door. he was lucky he didn't gasp in his cat form and give himself away. That was a very bad curse. when Yifan let his guard down he had to get out and let His boss know just what Yifan had done.

Yifan didn't even notice the cat or its weird behavior as he stared blankly at the sketch in his hands. this was one of the finished designs for Tao's curse. but there was only one problem. He couldn't bring himself to curse Tao like that.

                                                                                                                        -♡-

Baekhyun looked around the bathroom, he couldn't risk Yifan finding him like this, but freaking out in his cat form would have given everything up. maybe. Yifan did seem kind of ...lacking, in the magic department...  he bit his lip slightly... he just couldn't believe Yifan was capable of this.

Baekhyun took a deep breath, trying to calm down. it was now no wonder he had been sent to keep an eye on the magic user.  

As soon as Baekhyun composed himself and was sure he freak out again and blow his cover, he unlocked the door and opened it slightly, quickly regaining his cat form and slinking back into the living room. However, when he did he regretted leaving in the first place.  

Yifan was leaning forward, head in his hands and shoulders shaking with quiet sobs.  When Baekhyun crept closer and mewed, Yifan raised his head and picked him up, leaning back as he sat Baekhyun on his chest and sniffled as he started running his fingers through the silky black fur. 

"You know, Cat, I'm probably the biggest up on the face of the planet. " he smiled sadly "you'll listen to my story, right?" the cat just meowed.

"First, I hurt my boyfriend... and it just kept getting worse.. and you know, it's stupid.. because I loved him... and I.. I just ... I was still hurting him.. and I'd get jealous over stupid things...but I realized I needed help.. so I left him... and I got help, and I thought I could come back and everything would be okay... but then I saw him and all the old insecurities came back... all the fights, all the old feelings... it was horrible." he stopped and stared at the cat for a minute. 

"I waited to catch him alone... and then I find out he's meeting his best friend...and.. and I carved this ing symbol, into his chest, over his heart." he laughs as more tears spill out of his eyes. "And you know what? I that up. because I couldn't stand the thought of actually killing him." he snorts a bit and sighs. 

"As soon as he tells Jongin that he loves him, this will be over...  at least for me... maybe that's for the best, yeah?" he gives the small cat a sad smile as he rubs its head. 

"And now I'm talking to a cat because Tao was the only person who has ever given me the time of day." he set the cat beside him on the couch and closed his eyes in an attempt to stop the tears that were rolling down his cheeks again.  

Baekhyun mewed sadly and nuzzled his hand. he realized he should probably have snuck out while Yifan was distracted, he should have reported back to his boss, let him know Yifan wasn't really a threat now.  

However, seeing him like this, and after he'd saved his furry from being roadkill... And well.. he didn't want to just leave, even if he wasn't sure of his reasons yet

Purring quietly and climbed back onto Yifan, causing the man to sit up smile slightly. "you won't leave me while I'm still here, will you cat?" Baekhyun's purr stuttered for a moment. He would have to leave him eventually, even if the thought didn't sit well with him.

Chapters have been combined / edited and this has been rewritten to fit the new plot twist. :) 

-Miki