this... this is harder than i thought it would be. why does 1000w take so long to write omgggg

I woke up this morning and there was a bug on my pillow. I think it came from the leaves in my hair when I was in the garden yesterday!! I’m not sure why I’m in my bed… I only remember hiding because Sehun and Jongin said I had to take a bath.

“Joonmyun, where have you been?”

Sehun surveys the catboy’s grubby appearance when he shows up at the dinner table, dirt smudged along his cheeks and stray leaves stuck in his hair.

“Playing in the garden. It was too hot in the sun,” Joonmyun replies, plopping down in his chair. He gives his tail a flick and a small twig dislodges itself from his fur. He looks down at himself, eyebrows drawing together in disappointment. “I think I got dirty.”

“Yes, you did,” Jongin says, carrying a bowl of steamed potatoes from the kitchen. He distributes the cutlery and utensils around the table. “Eat up. Bath time after dinner, okay?”

Joonmyun’s blood runs cold.

Sehun finds Joonmyun in his room, presented as a lump under his blanket.

“No!” he yells, his voice muffled under the duvet. “I’m not going. I don’t want to have a bath!”

“I know you’re under there,” Sehun says loudly. “Come on, Joonie. You can’t go to sleep like that. How about we get you nice and clean before bed?”

“No!” The lump doesn’t move.

Sehun sighs and rips the blanket away from the bed.

Joonmyun’s hugging his pillow in a desperate death grip, his hands pale and white except for the dirt lodged under his fingernails. He trembles when Sehun picks him up and carries him to the bathroom, where Jongin’s finishing filling up the tub. Joonmyun runs to him as soon as Sehun puts him down, and clings tightly to Jongin’s waist.

“Don’t make me take a bath, Jongin,” he whimpers, squeezing his eyes shut. “I hate baths…”

Jongin reaches down and his hair gently. “You know you have to, kitten. It’ll only take ten minutes since both me and Sehun here to clean you at the same time.”

Joonmyun makes a noise of terror and sprints from the bathroom.

“Not again,” Sehun groans, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Are you going to get him or am I?”

Jongin gives him a patronizing pat on the shoulder. “You can’t just tell him to get in the bath and expect him to do it. You have to bribe him,” he says slowly, like Sehun’s having trouble understanding one plus one.

Sehun hits him with Joonmyun’s fluffy towel because the only thing Jongin ever bribes their catboy with is multiple rounds of pounding him into the mattress (and candy). “Just bring him here, .”

And so Jongin goes looking for him. ‘Look’ is somewhat of an understatement, because Joonmyun is terrible at hiding around the house. There’s always some part of him that sticks out (ears) or he’s forgotten to tuck away (tail) and he can’t even stop himself from laughing whenever the person searching for him is close by.

Jongin finds him crouched in the walk-in pantry. He’d heard what sounded like bags of potato chips being moved around, followed by a thudding noise and an “oww!”, and opened the door.

“I don’t want to take a bath!” Joonmyun squeaks, backing up and knocking a can of peaches off a shelf. He tries to look past Jongin to see if there’s anywhere he can go but his owner blocks the whole doorway with his body.

“I’ve got a proposition for you,” Jongin says. “We’re going to play a game.”

Joonmyun blinks in surprise. “A game?” he asks, perking up with interest. “What kind of game?”

Gotcha. Jongin gives himself a mental pat on the back. “Come out of there before something falls on your head, and I’ll tell you.”

A game of hide and go seek was not what Joonmyun was expecting. He’d been thinking along the lines of something more risqué, like that time Jongin said he didn’t have to have a bath if Joonmyun could make him come in less than ten minutes with his mouth, or maybe something that least involved candy.

But nevertheless, the rules of the game state that Joonmyun doesn’t have to take a bath if his owners can’t find him – so now is better time than ever to find somewhere to hide. Joonmyun scours the house up and down for the best spot he can think of. He skips all the places he’s hidden before; the couch, under his bed, behind the bathroom door.

He hears Jongin finish his countdown in the kitchen.

“I hope you regret this,” Sehun says grumpily, sneezing at all the dust he’s inhaled just by looking in the dark reaches of the wardrobe.

Jongin pokes his head into the master bedroom. “Have you found him yet?”

“Kim Jongin, what the hell.”

“It was a good idea at the time…”

They can’t find him. At all. Not a sign, not a peep. Jongin looks through all the rooms and Sehun checks all the small spots because Joonmyun is a really small kitty who likes fitting into really small places. Nope.

There’s nothing that gives the catboy away, like uncontrollable giggling or him trying to squish himself into tiny places that he can’t fit in and having various parts of his body sticking out as a result.

Sehun’s starting to become concerned for Joonmyun’s whereabouts. Quarter of an hour has already passed and the bath has probably gone lukewarm, but it seems like Joonmyun really doesn’t want to get in the tub.

“Do you think he left the house?” he says, wondering where their catboy would possibly go if he did. It’s dark outside, and none of Joonmyun’s kitty friends live close enough for him to walk to their houses. Sehun gets an image of Joonmyun huddling under a tree, cold and tired (and still dirty).

“I’ll check the yard,” Jongin says, like he’s just had the exact same vision. He takes the torch and steps outside, flashing the light everywhere.

“Joonmyun!” he calls out, heart thumping in his chest. The bath doesn’t matter anymore. Just having the kitty home safe is all he wants right now. “Joon, where are you?” He searches the front yard too just in case but it’s empty. He sighs, putting the torch back when Sehun suddenly comes charging in.

“I found him,” he panting and breathless, “when I was putting his towel away… he’s in the hallway linen cupboard!”

Jongin stares at him dumbly. They both go the linen cupboard, and stare at Joonmyun dumbly.

Joonmyun’s curled up fast asleep in his trademark shrimp position, on a shelf of clean folded towels and bed sheets. The linen cupboard also houses the hot water cylinder and it’s warm and cozy in the tight space.

“No wonder. He fell asleep in there,” Sehun says in disbelief. He wedges his arms in to extract Joonmyun from the cupboard, clicking his tongue as he hands the catboy over to Jongin. “Better put him to bed… I guess we’re just going to have to clean all the dirty sheets tomorrow.”

why is he getting a bath? why doesn’t he just have a shower? I don’t even know. what am I doing