soft kitty: jun & cat

idolverse. jun brings home a stray kitten.

°。°。°。°。°。°。°。゜。°。°。°。。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°

Jun was just walking back home to the dorm after a long, long day of practice. The year-end music festivals were the ones that daunted him the most, since apart from Carats, he'd be performing for the general public on national television. And this time, he'd be playing a piano solo as an introduction to their hit song Don't Wanna Cry.

Jun had been playing piano ever since he was young, but he dropped it when he started training as an idol, just because he simply didn't have the time. He didn't remember whose idea it was to throw him into the spotlight - Jihoon could've easily taken his spot, being one of the core members of their team. Hell, it probably had been Jihoon, just because he'd taken a piece of meat from the younger that one time during dinner, and this was his way of getting back at him. But they’d arranged for the vocal team leader to play drums for another segment of their set; so Junhui, who’d always been the first person onstage whenever they had a special performance, had the honour of playing the piano for this performance.

He'd been surprised at how easily his fingers found the keys; his musical senses surprisingly innate for a person who'd barely touched a piano for years. He had to craft the perfect intro to the song by himself, ad libbing his way through, but he'd found the perfect melody, and that's what he'd been practicing all day, apart from the group choreography.

Everyone else had left earlier, but Jun stayed back to practice the piano until he almost dozed off on the keyboard. That was when he knew, he'd worked hard enough. Seungcheol's voice, reminding him not to return late, echoed through his mind, so he'd packed up his things and left.

Late night walks like this soothed him - the silence of the night, apart from his own footsteps made him feel more real, more grounded. He played with the thoughts swirling in his mind, almost questioning his existence - another sign that he needed sleep - when he suddenly heard a little meow coming from his right.

Jun stopped, glancing around the empty street. He must've been hearing things. He pulled his jacket around him, trying to keep warm, and started off for a couple more steps before he heard that sorrowful sound again.

His protective instincts kicked in, and he meowed back, hoping for a response.

Silence.

"I need sleep!" Jun lightly slapped his cheek, and waited for a few more seconds, hoping that he wasn't going mad.

There was a soft, pitiful meow from his right, and he hurried over to that direction, eyes wild for a semblance of a cat. He pulled out his phone, switching on the torchlight so that he could search better in the dark. Jun did some little cat noises so that he wouldn’t scare the poor creature away; and judging from its sound, it seemed barely alive.

A pair of green eyes reflected by the light stared back at him.

"Oh, you're in the gutter." Jun was relieved that he found the little cat. But now, his predicament was how to save it? It was ensconced in such a tiny place that Jun couldn't reach inside to grab the poor thing. Its eyes were huge and sorrowful, and it let out a hoarse little meow, almost begging for Jun's help.

"Hang in there, buddy. I'll get you." Jun shrugged off his jacket despite the cold, and angled his phone so that the light would still shine on the cat.

Being a master of martial arts, and a dancer in recent years, Jun was surprisingly flexible, but those skills weren't of use now. The cat was hidden in the drain, only accessible through a tiny hole in the drain covers that the city council hadn't replaced. So all he could do was to flop on his belly, and try to reach for the cat, hoping that his hand wouldn't be too big to get through the hole.

"Here, kitty. Jun's gonna save you." He coos, and the cat meows back in response. "Work with me, and I'll get you out of there. It's no place for a cat."

Jun tentatively reaches in through the hole, and felt some fur brush past his fingertips. The cat had gone in deeper through the hole when it saw Jun's large hand, cowering in fear.

Jun grasped thin air, then flashed some light through the hole. "Don't be scared, kitty. It's gonna be fine."

The cat responded with a meow.

"You wanna get out of that dark place, don't you? I'm going to help you." Jun felt ridiculous talking to a cat, but it seemed reassuring, to himself, and hopefully, to the kitten, too. "I wonder if I can get this cover off?"

Jun got to his knees and dusted himself off, before he hunched forward to inspect the drain cover. It seemed detached from the others, so he cracked his knuckles in preparation to lift it up.

"I'm coming for you, kitty." Jun said, heaving the drain cover off. It was heavier than it looked, and he grunted as he cast it aside on the street with a resounding clang.

There it was, a trembling little kitten with green eyes and dirty orange fur.

"Come here." Jun gently took the creature - it was only about as big as his hands - and settled it on his jacket as he pushed the drain cover back into place.

"You're cold, are you?" Jun noticed the kitten shivering, meowing hoarsely. "I'll take care of you." He easily scooped the kitten into his arms, as he shrugged his jacket back on, zipping it up to his chest, where he held the squirming kitten.

"I'll take you home, it's warmer there. Just hang in there, little buddy." Jun said, hoping that the kitten wouldn't jump out of his jacket suddenly. Its squirming body was ticklish against his chest, so he hurried through the streets back to the dorm.

Suddenly the weight of his actions washed upon him. Sure, he'd done a good deed of saving the tiny kitten. But he was living with twelve other guys - obnoxiously, unnecessarily loud young men who'd scare the living daylights out of the poor, terrified kitten.

But right now, it was in the dead of the night, so everyone else would be asleep. Jun could take care of the kitten without Seungkwan or Seokmin singing their lungs off; or Jihoon and Wonwoo screaming at the television screen, engaged in some kind of violently loud video game.

For now, the kitten was safe, so he'll figure out what to do tomorrow.

He snuck into their dorm, kicking off his sneakers, adding them to the messy pile in the little foyer. He desperately needed a shower, then maybe he could steal some of Chan's milk to feed to the kitten. The living room was dark, with only the hallways lit up. He could hear some people snoring already, even through closed doors.

Jun held the kitten tightly to his chest, still with his jacket on, as he tiptoed around his shared room to get to his dresser. Picking out a change of clothes and his toiletries, he headed to the bathroom, glad that all of his roommates were fast asleep.

He had a quick shower, but not before bundling the kitten on his jacket, putting it on the lid of the toilet seat. The stream of hot water relaxed his tense muscles after a long day, and rejuvenated his mood - maybe he can stay up for a few more hours to take care of the little kitty.

"Should I wash you?" Jun wondered as he dried himself off, and the kitten's sad, big eyes stopped him from doing so. "Maybe it's too cold, and you're too little for a bath, so I'll just dry-clean you." Jun smiled at the kitten.

Once he was done in the bathroom, he padded over to the living room, placing the kitten on the couch, wrapping it up in his jacket. "I'll find you a blanket, 'cause my jacket is kinda dirty."

"Food, first." Jun reminded himself, and he walked over to the kitchen. Curiously, the lights were on, and he could hear some faint chatter...

"Jun-hyung! You're home!" Seungkwan smiled brightly at him.

Jun almost jumped out of his skin, but he kept his expression neutral. "I thought everyone was asleep?"

Seungkwan, Seokmin and Jihoon were standing around in the kitchen, fixing themselves a late night snack.

"Jihoon-hyung was hungry, and so were we." Seokmin explained in the midst of buttering a piece of bread. "Want a sandwich?"

"Nah, I'm good." Jun opened the refrigerator door, and grabbed a carton of milk.

"Hyung, that's Channie's milk." Seungkwan crossed his arms in confrontation, standing up for the youngest; as Jun rummaged through the cabinets for a bowl.

"I'll buy him more."

"You're gonna drink milk from a bowl." Jihoon deadpanned as Jun tried to escape from the kitchen.

"I'll be back for cereal, I don't have enough hands right now!" Jun called out, improvising, and without looking back, he rushed to the dark living room.

The kitten was all curled up in his jacket, already asleep.

"Hey, Jun, are you here?" Jihoon had followed him to the living room, and Jun tumbled towards the floor in shock. "Brought you some cereal. Why are you sitting in the dark?"

Jihoon flicked the lights on, as Jun looked at him in horror, scared that the kitten might just wake up because of the sudden brightness.

"You look like you've seen a ghost." Jihoon said. He was holding a couple of cereal boxes.

"Hey, I smelled food." Soonyoung popped out from nowhere, his hair stuck up in all directions. "I want ramen." Jun felt like he was about to have a heart attack, now that about half the dorm was waking up in the middle of the night.

"Seokmin and Seungkwannie are making sandwiches. I'm going to eat cereal." Jihoon said, pointing over to the kitchen.

Soonyoung floated over to the kitchen in search of food, calling out for the two younger boys.

"Stay there, Jihoon." Jun sounded desperate, but he didn't want anyone to see the little kitten he'd rescued, now that the creature was sound asleep.

"Don't tell me what to do." Jihoon walked over anyway, and placed the cereal on the coffee table. "What's wrong with you."

"N-nothing." Jun smiled nervously. "Just worried about my piano performance, that's all!"

Jihoon raised an eyebrow in suspicion, then returned to the kitchen. Jun was left in the living room all alone, and he let out a relieved sigh. It had been a close call; that Jihoon barely paid attention to the bundle of fur napping on his jacket on the couch. Jun peeked at the kitten, which was fast asleep, so he felt that feeding the kitten could come later when it woke up.

"Mingyu, I want ramen, pleaseeeee." Soonyoung rushed down the hallway into one of the bedrooms, mercilessly waking him up just for the benefit of his tummy. His footsteps were loud enough to wake the whole building, and Jun nervously looked over to his jacket. The kitten still seemed to be asleep, since there wasn't a peep.

Jun could hear Mingyu for five more minutes of sleep from his room. Meanwhile, Seokmin and Seungkwan were making a racket in the kitchen, even playing some music, singing along to it - and while projecting their voices were advantageous towards their singing careers, at this rate, they'd wake the whole building up with their high notes and falsettos.

It was a miracle that the kitten slept throughout the commotion, and Jihoon returned to the living room with bowls and spoons - he'd been serious about eating cereal, but does he have to do it in the living room? Wasn't that what the kitchen was for?

Jun barely moved as he watched the younger make himself a bowl of cornflakes, then flopped onto the couch dangerously close to his jacket, almost squishing the kitten under his backside. Jun's heart skipped a beat, and he was ready to pass out. Jihoon would murder him if he found the sleeping creature.

"What's good on the TV?" Jihoon casually picked the remote and switched the television on, as a loud cheer from a volleyball game filled the living room. "Tsk. Seungkwan and his volleyball." He flicked through the channels, trying to find something else to watch.

"Hyung, I wanna sleep more." Mingyu complained, as Soonyoung dragged him past the living room into the kitchen. Jun's heart was beating erratically, since about half the dorm was awake, yet none of them knew that he'd brought home a kitten; which might just wake up any second now.

Any second now, the cat was going to be let out of the bag, or to be more accurate, Jun's jacket.

No pun intended. 

Jun was paralysed; his brain frozen. He had absolutely no idea what to do. There were so many things happening at once that his muscles locked down, and he stood there awkwardly in the middle of the living room.

"Aren't you gonna eat your cereal?" Jihoon asked Jun, shovelling a mouthful of soggy cornflakes into his mouth; which shook Jun out of his funk.

"I'm going to!" Jun said in a high-pitched voice, quickly making himself a bowl, spilling milk all over the coffee table in his haste. "Move over, I wanna sit here." Jun pointed to the tiny space between Jihoon and his jacket, the one with a snoozing little kitten hidden in it.

"Move your jacket." Jihoon said, barely looking at Jun. Jun squeezed himself between the tiny space anyway, spilling some milk onto his pants; as Jihoon gave him an annoyed look, but he didn't say anything else, focusing onto the television instead.

Jun heard the little patter of footsteps in the hallway, and swivelled his head to see who it was now.

"Minghao! Why are you up?" Jun noticed the other Chinese boy appear, eyes still shrouded in sleep. He was recuperating from a back problem, taking a short hiatus from group activities, so Jun hadn't seen him all day, thanks to practice.

"I just need a glass of water." Minghao croaked, and went to the kitchen as Seungkwan waltzed out with a plate of sandwiches.

"Jihoon-hyung, can we watch volleyball, pleaaaaase?" Seungkwan flopped right next to Jihoon, planting his onto the armrest of the couch.

"No." Jihoon ignored Seungkwan pointedly, his eyes glued to the television screen.

"I smell ramen." Wonwoo alighted from his room, yawning, joining the midnight snack party. 

Jun could only hold his bowl of cereal in trepidation as he felt the kitten in his jacket squirm against his thigh. Of course, everyone else in the kitchen had to convene in the living room at that moment, following Mingyu, who was carrying steaming pot of ramen.

Seungkwan and Jihoon were arguing over the remote control, while Seokmin playfully tried to feed Minghao some sandwiches. Wonwoo and Soonyoung were waiting for Mingyu to ladle out some ramen, bickering about who would get more.

What a typical night in the Seventeen dorm.

"Meow."

Everyone froze, especially Jun. It had been soft; barely audible.

The kitten was awake.

"Did you hear that?" Soonyoung whispered.

Two more heartbeats, then everyone were back to what they were doing before, as Jun let out a relieved sigh. He knew that he could act fast, and escape to his room with the kitten, but not without jostling Jihoon roughly in the process. That was a risk he'd have to take, rather than the others finding out that he'd brought a cat back.

Jun carefully set his cereal bowl on the coffee table, preparing for the great escape. He planned his movements carefully, grabbing his jacket firmly but gently - conscious of the squirming kitten trapped between the fabric - and made his getaway almost perfectly; heading for the bathroom at the end of the hallway. He'd rather spend the night inside the cold bathroom rather that being found out for being a kitten home. He wasn't sure how the others would react if they saw the kitten, but Jun didn't want to know - it'd probably involve lots of screaming.

Chan suddenly appeared from his bedroom right in front of Jun, still half asleep. "Hyung, what's going on? Why is everyone so loud?"

Jun ignored Chan's questions and made a detour to the kitchen instead, as the youngest member joined the rest in the living room, asking them the same questions.

Setting his jacket down onto the kitchen counter, Jun gently extricates the kitten from the suffocating garment; which started mewling loudly, probably alerting everyone in the living room. Jun panicked, reaching for the nearest thing that he can reach - a black mug inscribed with the caption 'World's Best Dad' - and quickly put the kitten inside, where it fit snugly. And just in time, too.

Soonyoung appeared out of nowhere, holding out a ladle as a weapon; Mingyu and Minghao right behind him, followed by everyone else.

"I heard the meow again!" Soonyoung yelled, followed by a murmur of agreement from the rest. "Did you see it or hear it, Jun?"

Jun pretended to know nothing, holding the mug close. The kitten was looking up at him with wide confused eyes, scrabbling to get out from the captivity of the mug. "I didn't hear anything. I was just making tea!"

Soonyoung weighed the Chinese boy's words and led everyone into the kitchen, ready for their hunt. "Onward! Search for the creature."

Jun looked down to the kitten, which was already too scared to even meow, trembling with fear.

"Whoo, this tea is hot, 'scuse me, coming through, be careful!" Jun slipped out of the kitchen, holding the mug high above his head, as everyone trooped in.

"Mew!" The kitten meowed in fear, and Jun pretended that the mug was a rocket, closing his hand over the mouth of the mug to protect the kitten from falling out. 

"Mewwwwww. The rocket goes mewwwwwwwww."

Jihoon frowned at him, fully knowing that something wasn’t right - Jun had been acting all secretive and jittery ever since he got back to the dorm. Jun smiled nervously at Jihoon, nudging him twice with the mug as if inviting Jihoon to play along, but of course he didn’t, and rolled his eyes instead.

Meanwhile, Soonyoung started yelling war cries from the kitchen, probably turning the place upside down as Mingyu and Minghao tried to stop him from making a mess,  while Seungkwan and Seokmin screamed in fear, thinking that the cat was running amok around the kitchen. Chan and Wonwoo were opening cabinets at random, helping Soonyoung in his ill-timed quest.

This scene was the exact definition of chaos.

"Boys." Seungcheol had been awakened by the racket in the kitchen, and boy, he looked like he was ready to murder someone. Jihoon stood by the leader with his cereal bowl, munching on his cornflakes, ready for the whole thing to unfold.

"Hyung, there's a ghost in the house!" Seungkwan cried, rushing over to cling to their leader. Seungcheol immediately shrugged him off, giving his a death look - Seungcheol wasn’t very receptive if he didn't get enough sleep.

"No, there's a cat in the house." Minghao clarified.

Mingyu nodded fervently. "We heard it meowing. Like a few times. We all did."

"So did you find it?" Seungcheol crossed his arms over his chest, thinking that the whole thing was fabricated.

"Mew."

Everyone froze again, and Seungcheol was immediately wide awake - the members were looking around for the source of the sound, while Jun tried to blend into the background, hoping that everyone would forget about him…

“Mewwww.”

"As in ah-CHOO!" Jun rubbed his nose, faking a sneeze, trying to cover up the kitten. "Huh, must've gotten a cold."

"Jun's acting weird." Jihoon pointed to the Chinese boy, who was sweating bullets, and looked like he was going to faint anytime; clutching the mug close.

"That's my mug." Seungcheol nodded at the mug that Jun was holding.

"Give it to him." Jihoon piped up, a scary grin on his face. Jun returned the mug to its rightful owner, kitten and all, in defeat, knowing that there was no other way out of this. Seungcheol didn't immediately look inside the mug, unsuspecting as ever, when the kitten mewed again. The leader jumped out of his skin, almost dropping the mug.

Soonyoung scuttled over to Seungcheol, peered inside the mug and saw the scared little kitten looking back at him; and he shouted. "There's a kitten!"

Everyone scrambled over for a look, ooh-ahhing over the small creature. 

"Guys, you're scaring it." Jun said, snatching the mug back. He gently took the kitten out of the mug and cuddled it against his chest, and he could hear its contented purr.

Seungcheol rubbed his tired face, used to the trouble he'd been through raising twelve boys. "We're taking it to the animal shelter tomorrow. Everyone else, go back to sleep." The leader said with an air of finality.

There was a moment of silence as Seungcheol’s words sunk into everyone’s heads, while Jun let out a relieved sigh -

Then everyone started up another ruckus like excited little kids on Christmas night, bombarding Seungcheol with too many questions.

"Can we play with the kitten?"

"Do you want ramen, hyung?"

"We made sandwiches!"

Seungcheol shook his head and turned back to his bedroom. "Just be quiet and let me sleep."

Jihoon exhaled. "Huh, that was anticlimactic. Seungkwan, can I have your sandwiches instead?"

"My ramen's getting cold." Wonwoo drifted off, distracted by the prospect of food.

While everyone else were preoccupied by their abandoned snacks, Jun took the chance to tiptoe back to his room. He was tired, and he needed some sleep. Cradling the kitten close to his chest, he hoped that the others would forget about its existence. The little thing was already falling back asleep after all the excitement as Jun snuggled into his warm bed.

He let it sleep in the crook of his arm, as he laid on his side in bed. A little bundle of warmth, purring as he its soft orange fur.

"Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur..."

°。°。°。°。°。°。°。゜。°。°。°。。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°