*hover over the one chinese phrase for the translation



It has been three months since Lu Han brought Jongin home. Jongin seems to have settled in completely, no longer the jumpy catboy that he was. Lu Han has even started trusting Jongin with the kitchen again, after that last incident when Jongin couldn’t open a can of tuna and ended up clawing all the cupboards. Jongin had to go without human food for a week after that.

Aside from the small occurrences like these when Jongin succumbs to his cat instincts, it’s easy to forget that Jongin isn’t exactly human. He looks exactly like any other teenage boy, all lanky limbs and lean body, with only the added accessory of the light brown furry ears protruding from his floppy black hair and a sleek tail that Jongin hugs in his sleep and sometimes even like a pacifier.

Still, in times of panic, a catboy is always cat first, human later.




“Jongin?” Lu Han calls as he steps into his apartment, opening the wet umbrella and setting it down by the shoe rack to dry. The rain has just barely begun, but he had rushed home as fast as he could from the grocery store the minute he heard the first sound of thunder. They’re out of milk and eggs, and he came back without them. Cookies can wait; Jongin can’t.

A quick scan of the living room shows that Jongin isn’t here. He usually doesn’t hide here due to the complete lack of spaces to squeeze into. When Jongin is afraid, he likes to be completely surrounded and absolutely avoids open spaces. He’s not in the bathroom or closet either, so there’s only one other place he could be.

“Hey there,” Lu Han says quietly, padding into the laundry room. The furrow of concern in his brow melts away, replaced by a soft smile as he spots the catboy cowering beside the washing machine, laundry basket tipped over his head in an attempt to hide. Lu Han crouches down beside Jongin and removes the basket, drawing a startled yelp from Jongin. Jongin blinks pitifully at him for a second, a single pink sock (Lu Han doesn’t own pink socks. Did Jongin mix up the coloured and the whites again?) hanging off his head.

The sight is enough to make any grown man melt, and Lu Han was never known to have a heart of steel. He laughs and brushes the sock away, ruffling Jongin’s hair with the movement. “Silly little duck.”

It’s just the invitation Jongin needs, and before Lu Han knows it, Jongin has barrelled into him, tipping them both over until Jongin has Lu Han straddled under him. Jongin’s tail is swishing around rapidly and his ears are perked up, a sure sign that he’s frightened.

“As much as I’ll love to lie with you here all day-“ Lu Han begins and taps Jongin on the nose when Jongin looks up hopefully, “let’s head to somewhere more comfortable.”




A flash of lightning lights up the sky, followed by a sharp crack of thunder that rings loudly through the apartment. Lu Han drops Jongin down on the couch, the catboy insisting that he carry him, despite them both knowing that Jongin is in fact heavier than Luhan. Jongin's ears flatten against his hair and he whines until Lu Han wraps him up in his arms. "You're an adult cat," Lu Han says, too amused to feel sorry for the catboy currently shivering in his lap. “Why are you still afraid of thunder?”

Jongin nips lightly at the collar of Lu Han’s button down to show his displeasure, but all defiance disappears when the sky rumbles again. He ducks his head into the crook of Lu Han's arm and mumbles against his skin, "Sing to me."

The first time it rained after Lu Han brought Jongin home, the catboy had flown into a sheer panic. The pet store was hidden snugly in a huge mall, far away enough from the outside world that Jongin doesn’t hear thunder often. He had been in the safe haven of the pet store store so long that his tolerance of anything remotely scary had been reset, long enough that even the smallest sounds startles him.

Lu Han had left him alone at home to go to work, and he returned to find scratch marks down all the furniture and Jongin looking guilty in a heap of feathers and a destroyed pillow case. After that, he slowly learned that Jongin calms down when Lu Han sings lullabies and old folk songs to him, fire in his eyes trickling away with each note. Jongin especially likes it when Lu Han sings the songs of his hometown in China because the catboy loves the foreign tones.

Lu Han chooses to hum a lullaby that his mother used to sing him, thumb rubbing Jongin’s ears tenderly. The lyrics has long escaped him, and the title forgotten, but the melody stays with him, so he recreates the song the best he can, trying to transfer some of the affection and warmth he felt then as a small child to Jongin.

Jongin sighs with content, wrapping his legs tighter around Lu Han’s torso and wriggling his toes. “Best master.” The storm is still raging outside but Jongin barely notices now, too lost in the embrace of his owner.




"One day I'll teach you Mandarin," Lu Han says absentmindedly. He keeps meaning to, but the opportunity never came up.

“I know all the Mandarin that I need to know,” Jongin says, voice muffled by Lu Han’s shirt.

“Show me then.” Lu Han tugs playfully on Jongin’s right ear, never missing the opportunity to tease his pet.

Jongin removes his arms from where they were locked around Lu Han’s neck and clambers upright. His lips are set in a determined line, and there’s that usual uncertainty dancing in his eyes. Confidence is something that Jongin lacked, a result of going too long without being adopted. With each passing year in the pet store, the self-doubt grew and grew, gnawing its way through his insides like a parasite, until he is hollow and vulnerable, too wrapped up in insecurities to allow himself to open up. But he’s better now. He can learn to be brave, can learn to feel love, and be wanted, because he has Lu Han, so he gathers up his nerves and whispers, so soft the rain almost drowns him out, “我爱你.”

As soon as he says the three words, he jolts away from Lu Han, too mortified to even think straight. Before Lu Han can even react, Jongin is gone from his lap.

Lu Han just sits there, stunned. All these months, Lu Han hasn’t been sure if Jongin had been happy with him because Jongin was always a little too sensitive. Some days he clung to Lu Han like glue, and others he kept to himself, tail curled protectively around his body. Lu Han understands that he needed some time to break out of his shell, and the confession catches him by surprise. This is a big thing for Jongin, he knows, because it means that Jongin finally trusts Lu Han enough to bare his soul. He feels like a teenager again, giggling to himself after his first kiss stolen behind the shelves of the library, except she had been then, and Jongin is now, Jongin is his. He can’t stamp down the bubble of laughter that escapes, his smile splitting his face so widely that he’s sure all his crows feet are out to play. It’s worth it, those extra jars of eye cream, if he can hear Jongin say it again, and again, and again.

A loud bump and pained mewl catches his attention and finally he sees where Jongin went.

Jongin will be Jongin after all, always overestimating his size and trying to squeeze into small spaces. Lu Han plops down cross-legged on the floor and taps on the coffee table. “Hey, don’t hide under here, you won’t fit. Come out, Jonginnie.”

Jongin peers out hesitantly, still sticking out in the air because he only managed to mush half his body under the table. Lu Han grabs him and pulls him forward, sitting him down in his lap again. He’s really much too big to be cradled in his lap like this, the catboy having a good inch or two on his owner, but they’ve always managed to make it work.

Jongin drops his face into his hands, too embarrassed to even look at Lu Han.

“It’s alright, baby, I love you too.”

Jongin peeks out from between his fingers. “Yeah?” His voice is small but hopeful, like he still has trouble believing that Lu Han would even entertain the thought of liking Jongin.

Lu Han presses a light kiss to Jongin’s forehead, then to the tip of his fingers still covering his face, and finally, to Jongin’s nose as Jongin drops his hands to put them around Lu Han’s waist.

Jongin is so open with his emotions, and anyone can tell that Jongin is bursting with joy right now, like a five year old who has just learned that he hit the candy jackpot- a lifetime supply of Willy Wonka chocolate and his own chocolate factory. The grin takes over his face, so wide he’s almost maniacal and he purrs when Lu Han reaches behind his ears for a scratch.

“Good kitty.”

Maybe Lu Han is the one who hit the jackpot after all.




end.