Perched atop his cat palace, Kris surveyed his domain.

 

The dumb human hadn’t cleaned or even vacuumed in days. There were week old pizza boxes scattered around the living room, not all of which were empty. The couch seemed to have been mistaken for a laundry hamper, there was that much clothes on it. Jackets, T-shirts and- dear God- were those boxers?

 

No. This was not ok. Kris did not approve.

 

At least the dumb human hadn’t left any half full glasses of orange juice on his cat palace. That used to happen, until Kris had trained his human properly. Orange stains on his palace? Um, no thank you. That colour would not work with the place at all.

 

But what was the point of maintaining a fabulous castle when the rest of his court looked like ? Sometimes Kris wondered why he even bothered.

 

Turning his back on the disgrace, Kris gazed out the window. He had a clear view of the house across the street, which- from what he could see- was much cleaner. But Kris never really paid attention to how clean the house was.

 

Inside the house there was a cat, sleeping on the window seat, fur gleaming in the sunlight. He always napped at noon, in that spot, everyday- no exceptions.

 

Not that Kris was spying or anything.

 

Suddenly, something landed next to him. Kris almost fell off his tower.

 

“Creeping on your neighbour again?”

 

“What the hell?” Kris’s tail twitched as he tried to calm himself, “Don’t just... jump up here like that. It-”

 

“Startles you?”

 

Kris glowered, then raised his chin high, “I never startle.”

 

The other cat gave Kris an ‘are you serious?’ look, then started his paw.

 

“Excuse me, what do you think you’re doing? Did I give you permission to groom yourself up here, Xiumin?”

 

Xiumin continued his paw, slowly and pointedly now, not breaking eye contact. Kris bristled.

 

He didn’t have to ask how Xiumin got in; the dumb human had a doggie door in the kitchen. Kris wished it would just get taken out. It wasn’t like the human had a dog anymore. He did, when he first got Kris- a golden retriever almost as dumb as the human- but Kris had not been ok with that. And when Kris was not ok with something...

 

Well, there wasn’t a dog anymore.

 

“So?” Xiumin inclined his head towards the window, “Have you gone over yet? Introduced yourself to the pretty kitty?”

 

“Don’t be ridiculous. I have better things to do.”

 

“Like what, sit up here and be condescending until nap-time?”

 

“Exactly. Now get off my palace. My condescension does not need company. Besides, I don’t want your fat crushing my tower.”

 

Xiumin paused mid-. He slapped his paw down, claws curling. “I am not fat! This is fluff! Fluff! I’m fluffy!”

 

“Is that why the vet recommended Kyungsoo change your diet?”

 

“That- that has nothing to do with my weight! It was because I was eating the human food he cooked, not because... because... I’m fluffy, ok?!”

 

Kris flicked his tail leisurely back and forth, still looking out the window, “Then get your fluff off my tower.”

 

“Whatever. At least I don’t have monster paws.” Xiumin leapt down to a lower level. He paused there a moment, then said in a thoughtful voice, “Maybe I'll go introduce myself to the neighbour cat.”

 

Kris’s head whipped around.

 

“It’d be easy.” Xiumin added slyly, “Kyungsoo goes over a lot to visit the human living there. He even cooks for him. Maybe I’ll tag along next time, have a dinner date with that new cat-”

 

With a howl, Kris launched himself off the cat tower at Xiumin. The other cat’s eyes widened and he jerked out of the way. Kris flew right past and went nose first into one of the pizza boxes. Unfortunately, it was not an empty one.

 

Kris was still gathering his bearings when he heard Xiumin say behind him, “Honestly, Kris. You’re the only cat I know that never lands on its feet.”

 

Kris was just about to snap something at Xiumin, who was still on his palace, when the other cat added, “There’s some sauce on your face.”

 

Kris went rigid.

 

“It looks chunky.”

 

Kris’s body arched and he started hacking.

 

“Oh god. Ok, please don’t do that while I’m still here. If that’s possible, please.”

 

Kris tried but... nope.

 

“Ugh. Ew. Thanks Kris.”

 

“Your... fault.” Kris hacked.

 

“Whatever.” Xiumin jumped down. “Look, just go introduce yourself to that new cat, ok? His human leaves one of the back windows open, in case he wants to go outside. You can get in that way.”

 

“How do you know about the window?”

 

“Huh? Oh, Kyungsoo mentioned it. He told me a lot about the new cat. I think he wants me to make friends with it so he can visit that human even more.”

 

Kris’s ears perked up. “What else did he say?”

 

Xiumin thought a moment, “Uh, he likes to nap and... nap. And sometimes he has trouble locating his food dish. Oh, and whenever his human puts on any music, apparently he looks really startled.”

 

Kris’s tail twitched anxiously, “And? Anything else?”

 

“Hm, not really... except his name.”

 

“You’re only mentioning that now?!”

 

Xiumin seemed unconcerned, “You insulted my fluff.”

 

“Xiumin! What’s his name?! Tell me this instant!”

 

“Eh, maybe I won’t...”

 

“Xiumin!”

 

“Fine. But you have to promise you’ll go introduce yourself. All you’ve done since he moved in is spy on him while he’s sleeping. It’s getting to the point where it’s not even sad anymore, just really creepy.”

 

Kris glared.

 

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes, fluffy Xiumin, I’ll go over tonight’. Just clean up first. Your face. It’s a mess.”

 

“My face is beautiful.”

 

“Yeah. I don’t know if he’ll like your face more or your personality.” Xiumin started strolling away before Kris could snap at him. “His name’s Lay. Don’t forget; tonight, the window at the back of the house. Clean your face.”

 

About to say something to that, Kris paused. Lay. That... that was an ok name. Better than ok.

 

 

 

 

Kris was above many things. He was above using the doggie door, like Xiumin (who had left some of his ‘fluff’ behind, Kris noted. That was not ok). He was above prowling around at night, like that young cat- Tao- who claimed to enjoy mood-lit walks. He was above creeping from house to house, like Luhan used to before his human had him neutered to prevent siring more kittens. And he was especially above getting kidnapped at the dead of night and winding up on a missing poster, like that black cat- Chen.

 

Yet here he was, doing all of that, at the risk of his gorgeous face being plastered around the neighbourhood and captioned: return if found.

 

There would be a reward for his safe return, of course. A high one. Unlike the one being offered for Chen. Really, did Suho even want his cat back?

 

Kris found the window, which was cracked open, as Xiumin had said. There was even a ledge for him to land on.

 

Crouching, Kris launched himself onto the ledge... and instead smacked right into the window. His weight sent the window flying inwards- Kris wasn’t even sure it was supposed to open that way- and he tumbled inside.

 

Right into the kitchen sink.

 

This, Kris angrily thought as he dragged himself out of the sink, was not ok.

 

Kris took a moment to survey the conjoined kitchen and living room. It was clean. And there was no cat palace. That was all Kris really noticed.

 

Well, that and the fact that Lay wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

 

Kris leapt down from the kitchen counter. Just about to congratulate himself for landing on his feet and proving Xiumin wrong, Kris skid on the tiles and toppled over.

 

That was in no way ok.

 

On his feet again, Kris quickly glanced around. Nope, no witnesses. Good.

 

Kris pranced over to the window-seat, where Lay usually slept. Crouching, he took a long moment to aim, then leapt.

 

Still, he managed to miss.

 

Kris dug his claws into the cushion on the seat before he fell and scrambled up, hating everything. Once he was on the seat, he circled, pawing at the cushion until it was comfortable, then curled up like he often saw Lay do. Facing the window, he squinted, trying to see into his own house. He couldn’t see much, because his dumb owner had pulled the blinds across. Idiot. Didn’t he know by now Kris didn’t like that?

 

He’d have to teach his human a lesson when he got home; those blinds were getting shredded.

 

“Um, hello? Do I know you?”

 

Kris jumped in surprise. He was so close to the window that he smacked his head off the glass.

 

NOT OK.

 

Kris whirled around. On the floor below him, peering up questioningly, was the new cat himself.

 

Lay tilted his head to the side, and one of his ears twitched, “I didn’t know Kai got another cat. Are you his new cat?”

 

“Uh...” What was Kris supposed to say? He couldn’t remember. Lay had nice eyes. And a really cute face up close. And far away. Even from across the street, Kris had thought the new cat had a cute face. And eyes. Even thought they were always closed when Kris stared at him because Lay was always napping. But still cute. Really cute.

 

Wait, Lay had just said something else. And now Lay was crouching, like he was about to-

 

Lay landed gracefully next to Kris.

 

“I’m Lay.” The cat said, “Has Kai given you your name yet?”

 

“Uh...” Lay’s eyes were even nicer this close. And his face. That was nicer too. And cuter. And ok.

 

“How about Wu fan?” Lay was saying, “That could be your name. Or Kevin. How about Kevin? I’ve always liked the name Kevin. I can’t remember where I first heard it. Maybe one of my littermates was named Kevin? I don’t know. I can’t even remember my littermates.”

 

“Uh...”

 

“Maybe it was a cat from the shelter. Or one of the workers at the shelter. Did you come from the shelter? I don’t remember seeing you there. I think I would. You have a pretty face. I would probably remember that-”

 

Pretty. Holy , Lay had just called him pretty. Had just called his face pretty.

 

If any other cat had called him pretty, Kris would have taken it as an insult- anything less than beautiful or gorgeous or breath-taking was an insult- and clawed them across the face. But coming from Lay it made his tail tingly.

 

“-fur was a really off yellow colour, and that cat could actually sit up. Like a human. It crossed its’ legs and everything. It stared right at the people in the shelter whenever they passed the cage. They looked really frightened of the cat. Its name began with an S, I think. S something. They put it down.”

 

Kris blinked at Lay. How long had he been rambling about the shelter?

 

“I’m hungry.” Lay said, “I can’t remember the last time I ate. I think it was a few minutes ago, but I’m hungry again, so that might be wrong. Come on, I’ll show you where the food dish is.”

 

Lay nimbly leapt off the seat and headed for the hall. Stealing himself, Kris jumped down. The thud that followed caused Lay to halt, ears perking. “What was that?!”

 

Kris shook himself off and caught up with Lay, “Uh... what was what?”

 

“I don’t know.” Lay said, half to himself, then turned his wide eyes on Kris, “What were we doing?”

 

“You were, uh, going to show me the food dish?”

 

“Oh!” Lay’s eyes went even wider in realization, “Right!” He turned back to the hall but didn’t move. After a moment, he said, “I don’t remember where it is.”

 

“That’s ok. I’m not hungry anyway.”

 

“No? Oh, ok. I’m not really hungry either. I don’t think...” Lay suddenly spun around, “Let’s go to the window seat. I like the window seat. I can see a lot of things from up there. Like the cat across the street.”

 

Kris’s step faltered, “The... the cat across the street?”

 

“Yes. And a lot of other things.” Lay leapt onto the seat, then turned to Kris, “Are you coming up?”

 

“Uh... yeah... Just... What can you see from the window right now?”

 

While Lay turned his attention to the window, Kris launched himself at the seat, with even worse results than before. Finally Kris managed to drag himself up, having ripped a section of the cushion open in the process. It now leaked bits of cotton.

 

Kris carefully positioned himself over the tear.

 

“Did you see anything outside?”

 

Lay was still peering out the window, “I saw the neighbour human go into his house with a shorter human wearing lots of eyeliner. The neighbour human was carrying a couple of boxes of pizza.”

 

Ugh. More? Not ok.

 

“Also, that cat with the leopard print collar that likes to walk around at night hacked up a hairball on Kai’s lawn. There, by the driveway. I think. Actually, it might have been by the bush. Maybe. Somewhere.”

 

“Uh... great. So, um, that cat you can see from here. What’s he like?”

 

Lay blinked at him, “What cat?”

 

“The one in the house over there.”

 

“Oh.” Lay still looked kind of lost, then his eyes widened, “Oh! That cat! He... well, I don’t really know what he looks like. It’s hard to see from here.”

 

Kris could see every detail of Lay from his window. And had memorized them.

 

“I only got a good look at him once.” Lay went on, “When Kai and I moved in. He was sleeping on top of the cat palace in the window, and he looked really cute. Then his human came over and picked him up for a hug. He wasn’t very happy. I didn’t see what happened next, but I remember there was screaming. Or maybe it was crying... I don’t know. I just felt really bad for the cat, because I wouldn’t want to be woken up like that. I only like waking up to music. Kai has some really nice music. Mostly jazz-”

 

Kris had stopped listening the moment Lay had called him ‘really cute’, words which were now playing on loop in his head.

 

Lay was still rambling- something about Kai’s clothing habits and how they didn’t involve much actual clothing- when Kris broke in, “So this other cat- the one that was really cute sleeping- you don’t know what he looks like normally?”

 

Lay seemed puzzled. “No... not really. I’ve tried to get another look at him, but the only place to do that is here, at noon. He’s always on his cat palace at noon. But it’s so comfy and warm here I always fall asleep before I can see him.”

 

Kris was shocked. “You... you’re here at noon, everyday, because of him?”

 

Lay’s tail flicked lazily back and forth. His previously wide eyes were now half-lidded, “Yeah, but I never get to see him...” He turned to Kris, “I’m sleepy now, because we were talking about naps. I’m going to go to bed. Here. It’s very comfy.”

 

“Oh... Uh, ok. Goodnight, then, I guess...”

 

“Goodnight.”

 

Swallowing his disappointment- they’d finally been getting somewhere!- Kris turned and got ready to jump down.

 

“What are you doing?” Lay asked, “There’s room for both of us.”

 

Kris froze, then slowly turned back to Lay, “Both... of us?”

 

Lay was already patting the cushion down around him, “We might have to squish together a bit, but it’s cozier with two anyway.”

 

Kris felt like his brain had short-circuited. He didn’t even think to pat down his own spot- he was that out of it.

 

Lay, now curled up on the cushion, gave Kris a sleepy look, “Are you going to lie down?”

 

Yes. Yes Kris was. He just needed to remember what that meant. And how to do it.

 

By the time Kris moved, Lay was asleep. At least, Kris thought he was asleep. As he eased down beside to the other cat, their faces right next to each other, Lay started purring.

 

Kris suddenly felt the urge to throw up. He did that, when he was stressed. Like when he got goopy pizza sauce on his fur. Or when the cat of his dreams was happily purring inches from his face.

 

This was even more stressful than the pizza.

 

But throwing up right now would not be ok. And this moment was completely, 100% ok.

 

Kris shut his eyes and tried not to hack up a lung when Lay’s tail lazily wound around his.

 

 

 

 

Kris woke up, feeling groggy. It was still night; he could tell because Lay’s human wasn’t dumb and didn’t have dumb blinds.

 

Feeling someone’s gaze on him, Kris’s eyes lazily found Lay’s. The other cat was more alert, head raised, watching Kris with a curious, almost pleased look on his face.

 

Kris blinked, then closed his eyes again. He was so comfortable and warm with Lay curled up next to him, that as much as he wanted to talk to the other cat, he couldn’t help falling back asleep.

 

 

 

 

“Hey Kai, you only have one cat, right?”

 

“Yeah. Why...?”

 

Kris cracked an eye open, instantly annoyed. Why was the dumb human always so noisy when he was trying to sleep?

 

Except the human looking down at him wasn’t his. He was frowning, which Kris’s human would never do. No, that dumb human smiled so much his eyes had started twitching. This human was also wearing a bathrobe. Kris’s human didn’t even own a bathrobe.

 

Then another human came over- Lay’s, Kris realized. He was wearing even less clothing than Kris had expected after Lay’s description.

 

Kai stared at Kris, “What’s going on? I only have one cat, Sehun.”

 

The human next to Kai didn’t reply right away, still scrutinizing Kris. “I’m pretty sure that’s Chanyeol’s cat.”

 

“The giant who lives across the street? How do you know it’s his?”

 

“When you have a cat like Luhan, you get to know everyone else who owns a cat in the neighbourhood. I can’t tell you how many angry owners I’ve had to deal with, and how much I’ve had to spend on kitten food. Little bastards.”

 

Kai’s eyes widened and he gestured to Kris, “So your cat knocked up this cat?”

 

Sehun sighed, “No. Thankfully, it’s a guy.”

 

Kris felt Lay stir next to him. Glancing over, Kris realized for the first time they were completely tangled up in each other- legs, tails, everything. He could even feel Lay’s whiskers brush his face as the other cat woke up.

 

Kris didn’t like purring. He saw it as a sign of weakness. He never purred for his dumb human, or any other human or cat.

 

But just this once was ok.

 

That’s when he heard Sehun saying, “We should bring him back. Chanyeol freaks out whenever Kris isn’t around.”

 

Kris hated Luhan’s human.

 

“Yeah, ok, but how about we do that later? They look pretty comfortable.”

 

Kris liked Lay’s human.

 

“Besides, I’m hungry.” Kai headed for the kitchen, “Want something? There’s still a bunch of leftovers from the food Kyungsoo brought me.”

 

Sehun scowled. “He’s still bringing you stuff? Don’t you think it’s time you told him you already have a boyfriend?”

 

“Hm? Oh, yeah, I guess. But his cooking’s just so good, and my boyfriend can’t cook at all...”

 

“I resent that-”

 

Kris went back to ignoring the humans in favour of Lay. The other cat was blinking sleepily at the window in front of him. Then- suddenly- Lay’s head snapped up, eyes wide.

 

“What time is it?! Is it noon?! Did I fall asleep again?!” Lay’s eyes darted around until they came to focus on Kris’s house. The blinds were pulled back now, revealing the empty cat palace.

 

Lay’s ears drooped, “I missed him again.”

 

“No you didn’t.”

 

Lay perked up, startled. His head whipped towards Kris.

 

“I’m not Kai’s new cat.” Kris said, “I don’t live here. I live across the street, with my dumb human. I... I snuck in last night, through your window, so I could introduce myself. My name’s Kris, and I’ve been watching you sleep everyday at noon for the past three weeks.”

 

For a moment, Lay only stared at him. Then, slowly, the other cat’s eyes crinkled, as if he were smiling.

 

“I woke up last night,” Lay said, “And I saw you sleeping here. I thought I was just remembering the first time I saw you, because sometimes I do that. Actually, I do that a lot. And I’m always thinking about how nice it would be to take a nap with you. So I thought I was just thinking that again, when I woke up and you were here. I didn’t realize it was actually you. But it was. And... and that was the nicest nap I’ve had in a long time.”

 

Kris’s throat tightened- the result of his effort to keep from throwing up- and his voice came out choked, “Me too.”

 

Lay’s very nice eyes twinkled. “Can we nap together again?”

 

“Uh...”

 

“Now?”

 

“Uh...”

 

Lay cuddled up next to Kris, even closer than before. After a moment of suppressed hacking, Kris curled around Lay, entwining their tails. Just as Kris started to drift off again, Lay nuzzled his face.

 

“Let’s nap together a lot in the future, Kris.” Lay said.

 

Damn it. Kris couldn’t help it. He started purring again.

 

This was the most ok moment of his life.