surprise, i guess?^^ this chapter i dedicate to my beautiful friend♥ once again, congrats for passing that exam!♥

for my precious readers: don't get this story (especially this chapter, really) seriously, it's a pure FWP (fluff without plot) here~ hope you'll still enjoy it^^

______

-11.28-

Sometimes problems appear when you don’t expect them to. Okay, wrong, who in the world expects problems to appear?

Anyway.

Me and Donghae are dating for a while already, and I’d love to think everything’s going pretty good between us. He stopped turning into kitty (let's pretend that 'kitty' also is his codename or something; even though I keep calling him Donghae as well someotimes I'm sure it wasn't Donghae) every time I want some affection, so it’s a good sign already. We are seeing each other pretty often and he stays at mine from time to time, so you can tell we’re enjoying living in our own world. And the most important thing about it – he makes me unbelievably happy, so I’m more than content.

Everything was going pretty well – close to ‘perfect’ – until we faced one huge problem.

Kitty Donghae stinks.

A lot of people could ask how is it even possible, since cats clean themselves so often and easily; they’re not dogs, after all. Well, the thing is, Donghae didn’t. He didn’t clean himself when he turned into kitty. When I asked him why, the answer was, “Because whenever I do it, my human form ends up with fur all over my mouth, and it makes my stomach hurt so much!”

And apparently the fact that human Donghae was showering literally every day (we almost reached that level of our relationship when I accompanied him, by the way, and that’s so y heartwarming) didn’t help his kitty form to not get dirty and not stink. And I honestly wonder how does it work. I mean, if human Donghae ends up with fur in his mouth after kitty Donghae cleans himself, why in the world kitty Donghae is so dirty when human Donghae washes himself every day?

All these shapeshifters are so mysterious.

Anyway.

How often do I even repeat ‘anyway’?

Anyway!

You see, there wouldn’t be any problem if kitty Donghae allowed me to clean him. The thing is, he didn’t. Being that savage cat he is, kitty Donghae scratched me badly every time I tried to bring him to the bathroom. Some days weren’t that bad. Some days were like today, and I felt the need to share my misery with someone, not only my diary.

“Seems like you and Donghae fought?” our friend – Heechul – asked when he saw me.

Oh, important note. Remember how Donghae used to be shy about turning into kitten and kept hiding it from others? Well, slowly, but surely we tried to make some progress regarding this issue, and now our best friend Heechul was the one who also was aware of Donghae’s abilities. Not much, but hey, it’s still a progress. At least I had someone beside my dairy to talk about it (Donghae’s parents really weren’t much of help, I mean, I couldn’t break it to them that their son stinks, couldn’t I?).

“How did you guess?” I mumbled sarcastically, being perfectly aware that my face is scratched. Heechul chuckled. I kept sulking. I miss nice and cute Donghae whenever he turns into kitten and his character changes so much. I mean I know every shapeshifter behaves more like an animal they turn into whenever they, well, shapeshift, but I really missed my cute shy Donghae sometimes (every time). And I always wanted to throw that kitten out of my house. Forever. I sighed. “He still refuses to take a bath.”

“Well, he’s a cat,” Heechul shrugged. “Don’t tell me you expected him to wear a shower cap and sing while taking a bath.”

“No, but I didn’t expect him to end up sitting on a chandelier again when I threw him into water.”

An awkward silence.

“You what?” Heechul asked eventually.

“Took an advantage on him and, pretending I was caressing him, threw him into water?”

“And he got mad.”

“Of course he did.”

“And hid on the chandelier.”

“Uh, yeah?”

“And you came to me while leaving your scared kitten hanging on the chandelier in your house?”

Well. Maybe it was time to admit that kitty wasn’t the only one who kept screwing up in our human-shapeshifter relationship.

I didn’t reply. Because I was so mad when that cat scratched me badly, I didn’t think much when I left the house while, yes, leaving Donghae on the chandelier. Alone. Wet. In a kitty form. Alone.

“No wonder kitty Donghae hates you,” Heechul said eventually, and we made it to my house.

I kind of felt bad, I mean, really bad the moment I found Donghae, still wet and trembling while being on the chandelier in the bathroom. The moment we entered he stiffened and literally hissed when he saw me. However, he didn’t react this way when Heechul entered. That’s how I understood I’m screwed.

“Wow, you’ve made it pretty high, buddy,” our friend said tenderly and smiled gently. “Don’t like baths that much?”

Donghae hissed again while looking at me; his still wet fur raised a bit.

“Of course you don’t. That was pretty stupid of Hyukjae to think you would like it,” I scowled at these words. He wouldn’t say this if he smelled that kitten. “Listen, how about you coming down and let me dry your fur? Must feel awful sitting here like this, right?”

“He won’t listen to you,” I mumbled. “You came in with me, and…”

But that kitty decided to act y, and the moment I said those words he jumped onto Heechul’s shoulder (he didn’t even scratch him! That kitten always does it whenever he jumps on me!) and curled up on it; the man let out a chuckle.

“Good kitty,” he said and then looked at me. “I’ll take him to my place, I guess it’s better for you to have a small rest from each other, how does it sound?”

Without waiting for my answer, Heechul left. He was a neighbor of mine, so it’s not like I couldn’t come into his apartment any second and take Donghae back, but…

I just spent good 20 minutes trying to figure out what the hell happened that day.

-11.29-

“I’m sorry, sorry! Oh my God, really sorry, I’m so sorry, Hyukjae!” Donghae stormed into my apartment the very next day, and kept repeating those words over and over again, even though I told him it’s okay. Just in case: it wasn’t. “I really don’t know what’s happening to me whenever I turn into kitten! It’s like… It’s me, but at the same time it’s not me? I feel like watching a movie while sitting in the first row, but absolutely don’t feel like I am the one who’s doing all the things! Does it make sense? It wasn’t like that before though…”

Donghae looked so genuinely panicked, I really felt bad for him that moment. I squeezed his shoulder sympathetically while Heechul (who came right after Donghae, even though no one, literally no one asked him to) seemed to be deep in thoughts.

“I’ve had enough time to think about it, and I guess I heard about this issue,” he said eventually. “Sometimes when people can’t really control their shapeshifting, their animal form takes the lead once they shapeshift. It already happened before, right? Well, it can get worse with time. Considering the fact that Donghae is really, I mean really bad at this, I guess it might be the case here? It might’ve happened before, but he never noticed, since he never been around people much, but now you’re glued to each other, and whenever Donghae acts weird you can easily see it. Perhaps he simply loses control over the cat he turns into, and so the cat just acts the way kitty wants.”

“And apparently that cat hates me,” I scoffed. “What should we do then? It’s not like Donghae can become better in one day.”

“I-I… I’ll try really hard,” my boyfriend said, and Heechul smiled at him.

“We know you will, sweetie, but there’s no any guarantee you’ll succeed, sorry.”

Donghae pouted.

“I hate that cat,” he said.

Both mine and Heechul’s eyes widened.

“You what?” our friend asked.

“Hey,” I tried to reassure him and moved closer to hug Donghae’s shoulders. “It’s you. Smaller, angrier, with a worse scent, but still you. How can you say you hate that kitty when it’s basically you?”

“It’s not!” Donghae protested, and looked at me, his eyes teary. Ah, it was quite endearing that he was that sensitive, but I still didn’t enjoy seeing his eyes being teary a tiny bit. “I never want to act this way in front of you, and I’d never scratch you, especially that bad! I hate the fact it keeps happening, and I hate that I can do nothing about it because I’m not smart enough to gain some control over my inner kitty!”

Let’s pretend no one saw me cooing at ‘My inner kitty’. But that was adorable.

“Maybe you can’t control your inner kitty yet,” Heechul said, and I could tell, judging by his face, he also enjoyed saying ‘inner kitty’ way too much. “But eventually you will be able to. We just need to wait. What about now… Well, Hyukjae could try to made up it with that kitty?”

“Me?”

“Kitty Donghae pretty much loves me and hates you, so yes, you,” our friend said. “Try to think about it… what can you do to make the cat love you? Befriending him is the best option while Donghae’s learning how to control himself.”

And that’s when the hell began.

-12.05-

It’s been quite a while si