Title: Kitty

Characters/Pairings: N and Leo/Neo

Author's Note: Omg I'm so sorry for not updating in so long!!!!! I've written so many little bits of fics over the past two months but never really got down to finish them TT.TT I started this sometime at the end of last year and I'm only finishing it now OTL. Thought of it because I had just visited my cousin's house and her cat was in heat and it was pretty annoying >< Hope it doesn't disappoint! Because this seems pretty bad to me >< 

Of course Hakyeon didn’t hate going to Taekwoon’s house. How could he hate it? He was visiting his friend after all. The only thing he hated about visiting the younger’s house was how Taekwoon’s black tabby, Heukkie, would keep running up to him every time he visited. It didn’t help that he always happened to be so unfortunate to visit when Heukkie was in heat.

“Taekwoon-ah! Is Heukkie in heat?” Hakyeon asked when Taekwoon had opened the pale beige door for him.

“Unfortunately, yes,” Taekwoon replied, using one leg to restrict Heukkie from running up to Hakyeon. “Seriously Hakyeon, why are you so unlucky that you always visit her when she’s in heat?” Taekwoon chuckled, picking up the purring cat and cradling her like a little child. As soon as Hakyeon laid eyes on the tabby, his left hand unconsciously reached up to trace the faded light brown line marring his tanned skin. When Hakyeon was younger, he had never hated cats. On the contrary, he’d always run up to those little kitties innocently lying around in the corners of coffee shops and would always kneel down to pat them on the head. However, he was only a young child then, and did not understand the concept on a feline’s mother’s love. The eight-year-old had happily picked up a black kitten, joking about how its fur matched his skin, only to be viciously attacked by the kitten’s mother who thought that Hakyeon was out to cause harm to the little furball. Hakyeon had a lot more scars for that cat, but only one remained as he grew up. Ever since that incident, he had been terrified of cats. It didn’t help that his best friend was a cat lover and had recently adopted a black cat.

“Heukkie, stop it,” Taekwoon scolded, using his leg to lead the cat away from Hakyeon who had subtly backed up against the wall in fear.

“Mianhe. She gets so excited whenever someone visits,” Taekwoon explained, trying to push his cat away from Hakyeon. Heukkie only meowed in discontent, still trying to dodge Taekwoon’s quick legs.

“It… It’s fine, Taekwoonie,” Hakyeon stuttered out. He wasn’t sure if he was trying to reassure Taekwoon, or if he was trying to reassure himself. Taekwoon could only sigh as he noticed how Hakyeon kept tracing the scar on his hand.

“Heukkie, I’m gonna put you in your cage if you still keep trying to get to our visitor,” Taekwoon tried again. “I’m really doing it this time, girl.”

On normal days, Heukkie would’ve been able to sense the authority in Taekwoon’s voice. But when she’s in heat, it’s as if the sensitive ears of hers have suddenly stopped working. Still insisting that she’d be able to cuddle next to Hakyeon, Taekwoon sighed and picked up the one-year-old kitten and brought her to her cage.

“Mianhe,” Taekwoon apologised again, noticing how Hakyeon’s eyes were glazed over. It was as if he would cry if he looked at the black cat even longer.

“I-I’m fine. It’s ohkay,” Hakyeon mumbled, closing his eyes and taking deep breaths. “So… How’s life?” He tried to start out casually, as if Heukkie hadn’t just scared the out him.

Taekwoon only hummed, signalling that nothing new had been going on. Like usual, the two friends often sat side by side, enjoying some snacks whilst watching a drama that they didn’t really care about. They didn’t know why they still followed such a tradition from their high school days, but they figured that it was because they were in different universities now, and weren’t able to meet up much. They never really had much to say, but being in each other’s presence after a long ridiculous day in school was enough.

“Oh, there isn’t any popcorn left,” Taekwoon informed, when his fingers only felt the oiliness of the plastic bowl.

“I’ll get some,” Hakyeon smiled, pushing himself off the dark grey leather couch and made his way into the small kitchen. Taekwoon merely nodded, focusing on the drama for once. Knowing Hakyeon, he’d take a long time to find the food since he wasn’t too used to Taekwoon’s new apartment just yet.

“You don’t have to do this,” the American girl sighed, trying to move the scissors away from her friend’s long dark hair.

“I gotta do this,” the Korean girl replied with a broken voice.

Just as she was about to snip off her locks, a scream resonated from the kitchen.

“AHHHHHH!!!!!” Taekwoon jumped from the loud and rather high-pitched scream, running into the kitchen.

“What?” The lanky male asked as he entered his kitchen, only to notice how tears were streaming down Hakyeon’s face. As his eyes followed Hakyeon’s he noticed that Heukkie was now right beside Hakyeon, and constantly walked between the latter’s legs, purring contentedly.

Instantly scooping his cat up, ignoring how she was resisting, and gently placing her back in her cage – making sure the lock was in place this time – he immediately looked back at Hakyeon who looked like he was in the midst of a mental breakdown.

“Hakyeon, Hakyeon, calm down,” Taekwoon began, walking back towards said male. “She’s in her cage now, she won’t harm you.”

However, it was as if Hakyeon’s brain did not register a single thing Taekwoon had uttered, tears threatening to spill over as he look like a leaf, legs about to give way. Taekwoon knew what was going through Hakyeon’s mind; Hakyeon was replaying that moment so many years ago when that black mother cat had attacked him. He knew most of the story, from how Hakyeon got attacked and how his parents had to yank the furious feline away from the crying child. But the cat had already done its damage. The scars on his arms and lower neck were miniscule compared to the scars that she had imprinted in Hakyeon’s memory. The fear that cats would attack him; the paranoia of having to experience the same painful experience once again whenever he saw cats, regardless of age.

Hakyeon was starting to feel faint as the memory started to fuse with reality. He swore that he could once again feel the mother cat’s sharp claws digging into his skin and dragging them along the length of his arm while his screamed, cried, and dropped the poor kitten. Before he knew it, his eyes were starting to roll to the back of his head, knees buckling as his mind tormented him with his trauma.

The moment Taekwoon saw the elder’s knees starting to shake; he dashed over just in time to catch the poor traumatised male just before he could hit the ground.

“Yeon! Hakyeon!” Taekwoon exclaimed, shaking the shorter a little, reminding himself not to be too aggressive. In all his years of knowing Hakyeon, he’d never seen him succumb to his trauma like that, actually fainting on the spot. He didn’t know if it was the dam breaking from all the times the elder had had encounters with the felines or it had been triggered because of how close Heukkie had been to him and because Heukkie was also black, just like the cat that had attacked him. But it wasn’t the time to think of things like that. Taekwoon didn’t know if he should call for an ambulance, or wait it out. He had taken Hakyeon’s phone to look for an emergency contact but was pleasantly surprised when the latter had saved him as his emergency contact. Since he didn’t know the password to Hakyeon’s phone, he also didn’t know who else he could call. At a loss, all he could do was to carry Hakyeon to his bed and wait for the older to come to.

“Taekwoonie! Is Heukkie in heat again? I don’t hear crazy yowling this time, am I finally so lucky that she’s not in heat? Or did you sterilise her?” Hakyeon called when he finally visited Taekwoon’s house again after the last time where Heukkie had nearly given him a heart attack. When he awoke, he’d panicked a little, asking Taekwoon where the cat had gone to and if either of them had sustained any new injuries. Heukkie’s attack had seemed to reopen old scars because he had stopped visiting Taekwoon’s house for about a month or so, before finally deciding that he shouldn’t avoid his best friend’s house just because there was a tiny animal there that scared him to no end.

“She’s not here,” Taekwoon replied as he opened the door, stepping away to let Hakyeon in.

“Not here? What do you mean?” Hakyeon looked around, trying to catch a glimpse of the feline not because he wanted her to be around, but because he wanted to make sure that she wouldn’t be in his path or vice versa.

“I gave her away to Wonsik,” Taekwoon answered plainly, proving to Hakyeon the kitten was nowhere to be seen by showing him the now-empty corner that used to be the kitten’s corner in his house.

“Why?” Hakyeon asked. He didn’t want to sound like an egoistic jerk, but he couldn’t help but think that maybe Taekwoon had given his pet away because he care about Hakyeon more than he did for Heukkie.

“You were too scared of her,” Taekwoon explained, “I’d rather send her to Wonsik than have you not visit my house and accompany me. Sure, I miss her. But Wonsik’s house isn’t too far from here anyway.”

“Awww that’s so sweet Taekwoonie! I didn’t know you’d put me before your cat!” Hakyeon gushed, both genuinely touched and also just wanting to tease Taekwoon.

“Shut up. I’m thinking of getting a dog instead.” 

Ohkay yeah so this is pretty bad,,, I know ): but I didn't really know how to improve it and what I should improve on so..... Anyways, I'm uploading another one tomorrow for Hakyeon's birthday so... x) It's called Mute Button, by the way!! ^~^ please ignore my shameless self-advertising ack