He had been expecting something hideous. Maybe something a little like the aliens from the Alien/Predator movies his Canadian tutor used to put on after he finished his derivatives. Even knowing Chanyeol had called it a “catboy” doesn’t prepare Kris for what he sees crouching in the cage.

Inky black hair falls over even darker eyes. He’s mostly covered in hairless human skin, a thin sheen of sweater makes its body look slick and overheated. Kris can see the spot where its hairy black tail connects to its body and it’s so bizarre.

Equally black clumps, ears he soon realizes when he notes it doesn’t have human ones, stand at attention, turned a little in Chanyeol’s direction. The thing has a human face -- sharp eyes, full lips -- and there isn’t even a hint of whiskers on its smooth cheeks. Without the ears, and the addition of human ones, and without the tail, it would could walk the streets of Seoul no one would ever know its an alien.

It hisses when Chanyeol gets too close.

“Well,” says Chanyeol, stepping back. “Here he is. Isn’t he cute?”

It turns its black eyes on Kris, questioning and wary, and its tail wraps around its tapered waist. It’s , Kris notices then, completely. Too . Veins stand up through its skin on its tight muscles, tension lingering in every sinewy inch of its body.

Disgust and something deeper bubbles in his throat. “Chanyeol...”

“He doesn’t speak,” says Chanyeol. “Or, at least, he hasn’t. He understands things, though, so we think his kind are quite intelligent. But he’s not too friendly. An intern almost lost his fingers when he tried to coo at him. Watch out for those.” Chanyeol points to the thing’s hands. They’re human hands but his nails are long and sharp. They clang against the medal of his cage when he uses them to shift his position.

He’s watching Kris now, completely ignoring Chanyeol. The lines of his shoulders are tense and his mouth twitches, as if emitting a quiet growl.

“I’ll sedate him for you and then one of the interns can take him to your place. Is that okay?”

It’s so human looking. That’s what keep throwing Kris off. He wants to be repulsed by it, but it’s a cat person, these things aren’t supposed to exist on Earth. But here it is. There are probably more cat people up there on Mars and puny humans like Kris don’t know anything about them.

He’s not into animal behavior -- he likes working with things that can’t stare at him and cause goosebumps to break out along the back of his neck -- but a paper on this could really catapult him somewhere, wouldn't it? Not every scientist could have the opportunity to write about an alien.

Yes, he had only initially agreed because of the promise of a raise but as he stands there, staring at the thing, the implications of what he’s about to do hit him square on. This is his chance to know things about a creature no one outside of this lab knows even exists. He’s going to be the first to document it, to know about its actions, and even though he dislikes animals with a passion, he knows how much of a big deal this is.

“Kris?”

Kris looks over; Chanyeol is standing closer to the cage now, a tranquilizer blow dart behind his back.

The thing in the cage is watching him, eyes narrowed and wary. His claws click on the floor of the cage as he slowly moves back and presses himself to the other end of the cage, putting distance between him and Chanyeol.

“See ya in a bit, little guy,” says Chanyeol and quickly pulls the dart to his lips. He blows and catches the thing in its leg with the dart.

The cat boy looks as if he’s frowning and reaches out a hand to pull the dart out when the medication hits and it slumps forward. But it’s still awake and Kris can see his eyes, confused and scared, as the drugs take over and then it closes his eyes.

He can hear it breathe from across the lab.




It’s still passed out when the interns drop it off at Kris’ apartment that night, lugging it through his living room. Kris can see right away that the cat boy is anything but tiny. It looks as if it can easily stand shoulder to shoulder with Kris when awake and the thought is a little unnerving. After the interns have left and a thick packet of known information sent from Chanyeol’s lap sits on Kris’ coffee table, Kris gets to work.

Most of the packet Chanyeol sent isn’t only information about the cat boy, but Kris would care less about the miscellaneous Martian rock commentary. Chanyeol’s yellow legal pad notes start off talking about the Martian landscape and the mission objectives, but then, there on the second page, is the first sighting of the cat boy.

He had on aboard the spacecraft and, due to careless checking, no one had noticed him until they were approaching the Earth’s atmosphere. By then, it had been too late to turn back, even if the cat boy, upon waking up in a new environment, almost tore the entire ship apart. The head captain of the ship had needed stitches to close the gash in his cheek given to him by its claws. One of the astronauts onboard, fearing for their lives against alien rabies, had struck it across the face, sending it sprawling back. It fell on its tail and screamed, and something wholly human about that scream had given the other scientists on the ship pause.

“We believe this creature to be human,” their reported had said. “Perhaps a mutant or a hybrid, but it is human. We request a full genome sequence.”

And from Chanyeol’s incomplete notes, that’s what he’s currently working on, but even Kris knows that won’t be an easy process considering he’s dealing with alien DNA. He has tested the cat boy’s hearing, eye sight, critical thinking skills, cerebral reward pathways. He has ordered X-rays, MRIs, numerous blood orders to test for known diseases or extraterrestrial diseases that are similar to Earth ones.

So far, cat boy has not tested possible for any known Earth diseases. Kris is about to read up more on cat boy’s physiology when he hears a thump coming from his guest room. He freezes. It’s awake.

He’s awake, he mentally corrects. Cat boy. It’s a person. Sort of. It’s not the kind of person Kris is, but he’s still a person.

Kris stands, leaving his notes on the table, goes into his room for clothes he think will fit, and, slowly, opens the door to the guest room.

It’s dark and a bit too quiet for the noise he’s just heard. Feeling a bit paranoid the cat boy’s going to jump out at him, Kris flicks on the light, holding the clothes to his chest. Then something launches at him, knocking him flat on his back. He lands on his elbows and then there’s sharp pain, his neurons singing, and he fights to take a breath. His chest feels like it’s going to cave in at any second and, he’s realizing with increasing panic, he can’t breathe. Did the bed fall on me? But he hadn’t been standing anywhere near the bed!

Then there’s a hissing sound, close to his face, and Kris opens his eyes. It’s the cat boy, a mere centimeters away from his face and, boy, does he look angry. He hisses again, baring his larger than human canine, and his breath his hot on Kris’ sweating face. His claws dig into the front of Kris’ shirt, tearing at the fabric. He’s still and every press of his skin against Kris’ clothes feels like he’s too close to an overheating lamp. Pure power nestles in the defintion of his arm muscles, in the legs he uses to pin Kris down to the floor.

He’s heavy. Kris’ throat closes up in fear, wondering how many stitches and plastic surgeons it’ll take to put his face together after this. Will his mother even recognize him when he goes home for Christmas? He wonders how the government will try to cover this up.

The cat boy’s claws shred so completely through Kris’ shirt he swears he can feel them against his skin, and he remembers he’s only a sack of meat and cats are predators. This is what they do. This thing is almost as huge as he is! If it can knock him down, it can easily tear him to pieces.

kitty kai please be nice T______T thank you to all the new subscribers!!! i hope you enjoy this story!!!