Today’s Christmas Day! I opened my present this morning and we had a big dinner at Baekhyun’s house. I think I ate too much and I’m still full but Jongin says he and Sehun will help me work it all off tonight if I’m a good kitty.

Joonmyun stares up at Sehun and Jongin with an expression of utmost adoration on his face.

“You guys got me a sweater!” he yells, barrelling into their arms to deliver the biggest hug he can give. “I’m going to wear it right now.”

He shakes off the last of the wrapping paper clinging to his present and holds it up against himself so his owners can see what it looks like on him. It’s red and woolly and Christmas-themed, with little white reindeers across the chest.

“I’m glad you like it,” Sehun laughs, ruffling the catboy’s hair.

Joonmyun gets a new Christmas sweater every year and he loves them to bits, wearing them all year round and on his birthday and on summer days until they get holey and it’s Christmas time again, when he gets presented with a new one.

He wears with pride to Chanyeol’s house, where it’s kind of become a tradition for the three of them to spend their Christmas. It’s just supposed to be a hearty roast dinner and hours of catching up with friends and letting their kitties play together but Chanyeol’s house is the biggest and it always looks like half the street have turned up for some sort of party. Old Mr. Lee down the road pops by to say he’ll be coming later for the food and the catgirl from next door is already there and playing with Baekhyun’s cat and her litter of kittens when Joonmyun shows up. All the catboys are in the lounge hogging the beanbags and the couch, watching TV. The house smells like food being prepared.

“’Sup, Joonkitty. Dude, what the hell’s that supposed to be?” Jongdae points at the smaller catboy’s Christmas sweater.

“It’s my present!” Joonmyun says, offended. Just because Jongdae didn’t get one. Or maybe he’s jealous.

Jongdae zips his lips when Jongin and Sehun follow Joonmyun into the lounge with Minseok, who’d let them in at the door, brushing traces of snow from their clothes and hair as they traipse through. Jongin sets down Joonmyun’s collection of badly-wrapped presents and they leave the catboys (and Baekhyun) in the lounge to go and greet their friends and lend a hand in the kitchen.

“Are these for us?” Baekhyun gasps, staring at the wrapped lumps with wide eyes. His tail’s already wagging excitedly, thumping loudly against Zitao’s leg, and the black-haired catboy politely extends a hand and holds Baekhyun’s fluffy tail in place. Everyone else in the lounge scrambles closer and they sit in a circle of anticipation.

“I got one for everybody!” Joonmyun announces, his grin stretching proudly across his face as he picks up the first present and reads the gift tag. “This one’s for Baekhyun… and this is Tao’s…” He hands them out to their respective recipients until there’s one leftover.

“Where’s Yixing?” he asks.

“Here!” Kris’s catboy calls from the kitchen, his ears picking up their conversation. Joonmyun finds him decorating a strawberry shortcake with Kris and holds up the gift-wrapped bucket of candy for him.

“I got you a Christmas present,” Joonmyun says shyly, and squeals when Yixing puts down the strawberries to pick him up in a big hug.

“You’re the cutest,” he smiles, bopping Joonmyun on the nose. “I’ll open it later when my hands aren’t so dirty, okay?” He wiggles his sticky fingers and Sehun laughs from where he’s chopping carrots.

“Okay!” For anyone else Joonmyun might’ve egged him on to open his gift right there, but he knows it’s not because Yixing doesn’t want to open it, he just can’t at the moment. He’s also very understanding and always makes Joonmyun’s favourite dishes for him when they see each other at Kris’s café, so it’s no wonder that Joonmyun worships the ground Yixing walks on and follows him around everywhere he goes.

Baekhyun bowls him over the second the catboy sets foot in the lounge.

“Candy,” he sobs, sniffling into Joonmyun’s sweater. “Candy, oh my god thank you so much, you’re the best ever, how am I gonna eat it by myself? I already ate like ten–”

“Share with Chanyeol?” Joonmyun suggests weakly from where his face is being suffocated by Baekhyun’s arm.

Jongdae saves him by dragging the puppy away and shoving him into Luhan, knocking over the blond catboy’s candy bucket in the process and making the colourful mix of lollies spill out onto the carpet.  Luhan screeches until Baekhyun apologizes profusely and picks them all up with his tail between his legs and Minseok pops his head in to make sure everyone’s behaving.

“Thanks for these,” Jongdae says, rattling his bucket by the handle. “I guess I’ll let you off and not stick bubblegum in your hair. But just for today though.”

Joonmyun vaguely wishes he had worn a hoodie instead of his sweater.

Luhan and Zitao express their thanks too, the former promising to get more chocolate fish and the latter patting him on the head and promising to take him shopping some time. Joonmyun is secretly pleased because Zitao’s like one of the coolest kitties he’s ever met, with on-point fashion sense and kung fu and this kind of aura that made people want to be his friend because he was just that cool.

Joonmyun had been a little apprehensive when Sehun had told him Zitao was the kind of kitty bred to be a bedroom companion but it made sense when Joonmyun looked at the way Zitao carried himself – head high, his elegant poise perfect, eyes alluring with seduction. The rich, glossy black fur of his ears and tail clearly showed he took care of himself often and after thinking about all the times Joonmyun himself had come to the breakfast table with his hair looking like tumbleweed, the tiny catboy had wondered how he could ever match the grace and sophistication Zitao exuded with so much ease.

Fortunately for him, Joonmyun had discovered Zitao didn’t really have as much grace and sophistication as he’d thought. He’d seen a bug on the floor one day in the café and screamed; Zitao had screamed too and while Luhan had laughed his off behind the coffee machine, it was the start of a solid friendship.

He’s like my idol, he’d tried to tell Sehun and Jongin once, and they’d just chuckled and said they’d still like him no matter how he was.

“So what did everyone get for Christmas?” Baekhyun yips, tail starting to wag again. Nobody sits particularly close to him this time but Baekhyun’s oblivious, rambling on without noticing.

“This,” Zitao replies, holding out his arm to show them. There’s a shiny silver bracelet around his wrist and the light reflects off it as he lets them all see.

“Is that Cartier?” Jongdae asks with a hint of envy.

“It is,” Zitao smiles, lips turning up at the corners with amusement. “Kris and Yixing have a matching one each.”

Jongdae grumbles. “He spoils you too much,” he complains, folding his arms. “I ask for something nice and all I get is premium cat food.”

“That’s because you ask every single day,” Luhan points out with a snicker. “I’d get tired of your too and put you outside or something.”

Joonmyun doesn’t see what’s wrong with cat food (especially of the nice premium variety). The only reason why he doesn’t eat it all the time is because it gives him cat food breath and Jongin or Sehun are always, well, kissing him. He suspects the cat food is actually a punishment for Jongdae because Joonmyun knows how much the other catboy abhors it.

“My owner would never put me outside,” Jongdae huffs. “I might get sick and die and then where will she be without an awesome kitty like me?”

Luhan rolls his eyes. “Moving on. Baek?”

Baekhyun his head, his pointy white ears flicking back and forth. “Our cat had kittens a few months ago,” he says. “We’re re-homing them once they get old enough, but Chanyeol said I can keep one as a Christmas present and give the others away.”

Joonmyun nods along with the others as Baekhyun explains how next door’s catgirl is adopting as many as she wants since she volunteers her time to play with them so often, and how the girl several houses down wants a kitten for her birthday. He doesn’t have a clue what Baekhyun’s relationships are like with cats and he wonders if they’re anything like his own relationship with Donut.     

“Cool,” Luhan says. “Minseok got me a football t-shirt. Manchester United,” he adds, instantly zoning out into his starry world of soccer. Zitao pokes at him worriedly.

Jongdae observes Luhan’s state for a total of two seconds. “Yeah, he’s gone,” he confirms. “So what did you get, Joonkitty?”

“My sweater!” Joonmyun beams, indicating to it. He brushes off some white fluff from Baekhyun’s ears. “Do you like it?” He glances at Zitao for some stylist advice but the catboy is coughing into his hands and very conveniently unable to answer him.

“Tacky,” Jongdae comments, and Joonmyun’s kitty ears wilt. “But since you’re tacky too, it suits you.”

Joonmyun’s not entirely sure what to make of that. Zitao pats him on the back in consolation. “I don’t think it’s tacky,” he pouts. “I like it!”

“Ah yes, playing the good little boy. How was the Christmas ?”

Luhan smirks at the sound of Jongdae’s owner yelling at him from the kitchen to stop being a little because she can hear him.

Joonmyun flushes to the roots of his hair. “I haven’t had any,” he mumbles at the floor.

“I have,” Baekhyun says, putting up his hand like he’s in class.

“Wasn’t asking you.”

Zitao pats Baekhyun on the back consolingly too.

 “What did you get then?” Zitao inquires. “Did you make your owner buy you something again?”

“Well,” Jongdae grins manically. “I got her to buy me a toy.” He crosses the room to get his bag and before Joonmyun can cover his eyes with his hands Jongdae pulls out a in the starkest shade of fuchsia possible, its surface ribbed the whole length of the shaft down to the bulbous mushroom head. He flicks the switch and the familiar humming of a can be heard.

All the catboys peer at it curiously (except for Joonmyun) and Baekhyun inhales a breath of surprise.

“Oh, you got it!” he exclaims, pointing at the toy. “I saw it was gone from the shelf and Chanyeol said he sold it as a gift but he wouldn’t tell me who bought it! Have you tried it out yet? I’m betting it’s good since all the other colours have gone, you have to review it and tell me how it goes, okay, okay?”

“I’ll be sure to ring you the minute it enters my ,” Jongdae says sarcastically.

“Has he put it away yet?” Joonmyun whispers desperately to Zitao, who shakes his head and puts his arm around him.

Eventually Luhan makes Jongdae put it back into his bag and they spend an hour playing Monopoly in teams of two and Luhan by himself. They give up when Luhan their banks dry with his army of hotels and apartments and play Twister instead, in which Zitao wipes them all out with his flexibility.

By evening Joonmyun can smell the enticing aromas wafting from the kitchen and wanders out to see if he can be of any help. Jongin and Sehun say ‘no’ in unison but Joonmyun stays anyway, leaving the other kitties to play on the xbox in the lounge while he sits on a barstool on the other side of the kitchen bench and watches Yixing make cheesecake.

“You’ve got to put down the base first,” he explains, compressing the crushed biscuits into the bottom of the cake pan. “The butter will keep it together once you chill it so it doesn’t crumble.” He fills the pan with the cream cheese mixture and slathers the top with passionfruit sauce. The edges get lined with whipped cream and Yixing lets Joonmyun the spoon when he’s done.

Kyungsoo and some person Joonmyun hasn’t met before set out the plates and cutlery on the table, with a separate lot for the catboys so they can fill up their plates and eat in the lounge.

Joonmyun watches Chanyeol put on oven mitts and pull out trays of potatoes, pumpkin and sweet potato, followed by chicken drumsticks, the Christmas ham and a big roasted bird. Kris puts plates of steamed vegetables on the table while Sehun makes up bowls of gravy. Minseok fetches the hybrids and they all troop into the kitchen with rumbling stomachs and watering mouths.

They eat until they can’t move and there’s a collective groan from every one of them when Jongin comes to let them know dessert is ready. Joonmyun thinks he’s going to burst but the ice cream and Yixing’s cheesecake and strawberry shortcake and mini donuts call to him and the last person he wants to disappoint is Yixing so he scoops himself something of everything, and has to lie down for fifteen minutes on the floor before he can even think about getting up. The other kitties appear to be in the same state of mind so they all snuggle up in a pile in front of the fire next to him, ready for a nap curled up in each other’s warmth.              

yayyyy 33,607 words later and I have finally finished all 25 drabbles! sorry i went away on vacation for a while but I made sure today’s drabble was 2000+ words c: so much for an advent challenge that was supposed to happen in december lmfao

a lovely thank you to all those who upvoted, left me wonderful comments and gave me ideas when I got stuck!! and hello to new subs, silent subs, uh, goodbye to like the 20 people who unsubbed im sorry the fluff destroyed you

i'm not sure when I’ll update this next because university starts soon and I have a fic to write for the seho exchange, but since I owe the sukai and probably a continuation of the anniversary one too I promise u that I’ll be back!! \0/