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They’re both nervous about this, Junmyeon knows, but he’s jittery even thinking about it. His only escape is watching Yixing play with Byul, teasing her by pretending to throw the squeaky ball. He stands in the doorway to observe, not disturb their little bubble, but Yixing notices him quickly.
“Let’s go,” he says, gathering Byul into his arms. She doesn’t need to be carried, she’s spoiled as is, but Junmyeon lets him do it because he needs this to go well. Perhaps this is their form of bribe, so she doesn’t pick a bone with either of Yixing’s cats.
“Do you plan on carrying her all the way till your apartment?” Junmyeon pockets his wallet and grabs the house keys. He kisses Byul’s head when she yips happily, and attaches the leash to her collar. She isn’t heavy but Yixing’s arms need a break. “You’ll get tired, you know.”
“I need this to go well,” is Yixing’s reply. Junmyeon’s heart aches a little, and Byul whines at him. Yixing kisses her head as well, muttering something to her.
“You’re trying to bribe her,” he accuses playfully, like he didn’t think of it as well.
Yixing gasps, equally playful, and cups Byul’s ears, turning her away from his boyfriend. “You don’t say those things.”
“Sorry,” Junmyeon mutters. He lets Yixing step out first, and prays in his head a little before he locks the door. His car is right outside, but he wants to make sure Byul isn’t too energetic in Yixing’s apartment. Lulu and Luobo won’t stay in the same room if Byul is bouncing off the walls in excitement. “I want it to go well too.”
He wants it to go well so bad that he’s jumpy, he has more energy than Byul. She’s perfectly fine in Yixing’s arms, and Junmyeon wants to scream and pray more instead of going to his boyfriend’s apartment. They’re both witches, their pets are more important than boyfriends — if Yixing’s cats and Junmyeon’s dog don’t like each other, there’s no way they can live together or continue their relationship. If a witch’s pet doesn’t like the witch’s partner, they wouldn’t continue dating. If two witches pets don’t like each other, that’s a warning.
They aren’t really ‘pets’ — they’re creatures which connect to them on a deeper level, they take care of their humans in a way. If the human is distressed, the pet feels it easily, and they’ll do anything in their power to make the negative energy disappear. If there’s any sign that the person will cause harm to their human in the future, it will be made obvious.
They’re apartments are quite far apart, too far to walk all the way, but they can take the bus halfway. Junmyeon listens to his boyfriend talk to Byul about everything random, trying to butter her up, and she responds well to him. Even when he isn’t trying to butter her up, she responds well to Yixing — because she knows Junmyeon loves Yixing. Yixing’s cats are nice to him as well, they sprawl on his lap and purr happily; but they aren’t sure if Byul and the cats will go well. That’s something they can’t guess. If they don’t mingle well and they decide to live together anyway, the pets will be fine, but they will definitely have problems.
This is basically a peek into the future of their relationship and Junmyeon sometimes wishes witches didn’t do this; didn’t depend on their pets so much to ensure or prepare for what’s to come in their future. But there’s no other way now, not this deep into the relationship. Not doing this is not an option.
“If it doesn’t go well,” Junmyeon can’t help but mutter. “What are we going to do?”
“Don’t jump to conclusions,” Yixing sulks at him. “Lulu and Luobo need patience, and Byul is a good girl. They’ll be okay.”
But that’s not the point, Junmyeon wants to point out but he shuts up. Those words give him a little hope. The first time he introduced Yixing and Byul, she was a little wary of him but warmed up pretty quickly. She’s a dog, after all. It made sense. And Lulu and Luobo are cats — they do cat stuff as well. They completely ignored Junmyeon in the beginning, it wasn’t until night they decided to give him a sniff. Yixing told him that Luobo had hissed at one of his ex-partners right when they walked through the door.
At the bus stop, Yixing finally puts Byul down and Junmyeon takes the opportunity to huddle closer and talk to his boyfriend without Byul listening. She stares at them for a while, then turns her attention somewhere else.
“I’m really worried,” he whines a little, and wiggles his toes in his shoes. “What if Byul doesn’t like them? What if Luobo hisses at her the moment he sees her?”
Yixing scowls at the footpath and drops his head on Junmyeon’s shoulder as he talks. “I wish this wasn’t a thing we did.”
“Me too,” Junmyeon’s mood lightens when Byul looks at them and barks softly, as though asking them to stop worrying. “I prayed like five times before going to bed. She was annoyed about it.”
“Ha,” Yixing giggles. “I did too — just three, because I was tired, but Lulu just fell asleep on my lap and Luobo judged me for doing it.”
He gathers Byul in his arms when the bus arrives. No pets are allowed to roam in the bus, and all the witches’ pets are well-behaved in public buses for some reason. There are four dogs and three cats and a croaking lizard in its glass terrarium — none of them make a noise. The humans whisper to each other, but not a single pet makes any sound until they get off the bus.
Yixing wraps his arms around Junmyeon and talks to him about his family traditions to get their minds off the meeting. He talks about the boring ones first, then about the little feast which always goes wrong somehow. Junmyeon giggles into his hand, enjoying the dramatic explanation of the feast. Byul doesn’t yip but she wags her tail excitedly whenever Junmyeon giggles, and Junmyeon giggles more because she’s so cute. She sticks her tongue out and wags her tail, and Junmyeon feels a little in love with her.
When he glances at Yixing, he finds his boyfriend staring at him with a fond expression. Junmyeon cups his cheek and teases, “You look whipped, Yixing.”
“I love you,” Yixing whispers, and scratches Junmyeon’s chin like he would with Byul. “You’re adorable.”
He’s reminded of what they have to do in an hour or so, and he can’t help the sad noise escaping his lips. “I hope it goes well.”
Their pets will try their best, he knows — they know how desperate both of them are. But if they aren’t meant to live together, no matter how much Junmyeon prays or how much the pets try, they’ll end up fighting anyway. The worst case scenario is if the pets injure each other, and that’s a thought Junmyeon doesn’t even want to consider. Injuring each other could mean countless things; causing serious harm sooner or later, or their relationship could end up becoming toxic from either side, or there could be actual abuse. Junmyeon doesn’t want to think of it.
The closer they get to Yixing’s apartment, the more nervous they both get. Byul skips out of their arms to walk by herself and they cling onto each other for support. If it weren’t for Byul’s leash shaking, Junmyeon wouldn’t notice his hands trembling.
“I wish it wasn’t a big deal,” Junmyeon rubs his sweaty palms on his pants and squeezes Yixing’s cold hands. “I feel like I’m going to cry.”
Especially since they’re witches — this meeting is a chance to change a bad future, they should feel blessed, for getting such a chance. It’s such a big deal but there’s nothing they can do to improve their chances of getting a positive result. Praying is just for their comfort, it doesn’t work for or against these situations.
“If this doesn’t go well,” Yixing starts. They stop a few steps away from Yixing’s apartment door, in a corner where it’s difficult for anyone to spot them. Byul runs up and down the hallway while they talk.
Junmyeon’s heart twists painfully. He’s being nice by sugar-coating his words.
“We’ll figure something else out, right? We don’t have to live together to continue this.”
“Yeah,” Junmyeon sighs a little. They can pretend like it isn’t the future of their relationship for a while. “We can figure something out.”
Frankly, Junmyeon doesn’t believe in his own words, and it’s clear that Yixing doesn’t either. He cups Yixing’s cheeks and brings his face closer. “I love you.”
He kisses Yixing deeply. He finally realises what’s the problem. The problem is that they love each other; instead of getting so close, so attached, if they had done this before they fell in love, everything would be a thousand times easier. They shouldn’t have waited so long for this meeting, so long to even introduce each other to their pets. They should’ve gotten over this the moment Junmyeon told his friends he has a boyfriend, and if the result was bad they could’ve parted ways without it hurting them so much. God damn it.
He pulls away, a bit breathless, and smiles nervously at Yixing’s frowning face. Yixing holds him closer this time, his arms around Junmyeon’s waist, and pressing their bodies flush together. This time when they kiss, Junmyeon lets himself shut his brain off for the duration of it.
He kisses Yixing back, desperate because this could possibly be their last kiss, but also it feels like Yixing is slipping away from him for some reason. Like in a few hours they no longer will be a part of each other’s life, even though nothing has happened yet. He grabs onto Yixing’s shirt as if that will change everything which is to come next, and whines in the back of his throat when Yixing pulls away this time.
“I love you.” Yixing mutters and pulls his bottom lip between his teeth.
“I don’t want to do this,” Junmyeon whispers. “What if we don’t do this?”
Yixing’s eyes widen, a little surprised. “Junmyeon.”
“I don’t want to know,” he replies, balling his hands into fists and wrapping his arms around Yixing’s shoulders. “I don’t, honestly.”
He gets silence in response, and that’s a clear answer: you’re lying to yourself. Junmyeon hugs Yixing tighter. He’s tried that once — not introducing the pets at all. But that turned out to be a huge mistake on his part; the relationship turned toxic in no time, and it took him four years to recover from it. He regrets not knowing about it, for deciding against the most sensible thing to do, and he swore to himself he’d never do that again. Yixing escaped two possibly bad relationships with this.
It would be more honest of him if he said he wouldn’t know what to do with himself if the result is something bad. If their pets don’t get along, then what? They break up and move on, just like that? He loves Yixing, loves him a lot, it’s not even easy to imagine such a thing.
Yixing’s hands are shaking when he tries to put the key in, and when it finally goes in, both of them suck in a deep breath. When the door click opens, Byul is startled by a loud meow from inside. Junmyeon holds her closer, and when they enter, Luobo runs to greet Yixing.
“Hey baby,” Yixing removes his shoes and pets Luobo. “Did you miss me?”
Luobo meows a little, and turns his attention to Junmyeon, staring at him and Byul.
“Hey Luobo,” Junmyeon removes his shoes and squats down. He lets Byul down on the floor, and Luobo scrambles behind Yixing’s leg. “This is Byul.”
Byul takes a step forward and Luobo runs away. Junmyeon tells himself this doesn’t mean anything. They’re cats and a dog, of course they won’t like each other. It’s after they’ve gotten used to each other, and that is going to take a long time.
They walk further into the apartment, Byul sticks to his side, and Lulu comes out of the bedroom to investigate the new member in the house. He’s just as wary of Byul as Luobo, but he’s more bold with his movements. He comes closer to Byul, his tail flicking curiously. Junmyeon and Yixing watch them, a little amused because Lulu is usually very loud when something unfamiliar is around him. He meows like he’s a big cat, roaring instead of meowing, and Junmyeon always laughs when Lulu meows with his paws on Junmyeon’s lap, demanding attention.
“Lulu,” Yixing calls, watching them from the couch. The cat jumps, startled, and Byul startles with him.
Junmyeon can’t help but laugh. “They’re cute.”
“He’s being so careful,” Yixing smiles a little. He snaps his fingers to get Lulu’s attention, and pats his lap. “Come here, baby.”
With Lulu no longer in front of her, Byul begins looking around the apartment, sniffing everything and nudging things with her nose. Junmyeon pets Lulu while keeping an eye out for Byul, and splitting his attention between the two actually helps with his nerves. He feels a little better that they’re ready to be in the same room as each other, even though Luobo clearly isn’t ready yet. Byul stands at the doorframe of the kitchen, and Luobo comes out from the otherside of the kitchen. He sits between Junmyeon and Yixing, and hides behind Yixing’s arm.
“She doesn’t bite,” Junmyeon tells Luobo, scratching under his chin and smiling when the cat purrs in response. “Why are you so scared of her, hm? Silly cat.”
Despite his nervousness, it’s hard not to be endlessly fond of these two cats and Byul. They’re all so adorable, in their own ways, and Junmyeon momentarily forgets the scary side of all of this. He coaxes Luobo onto his lap and presses a kiss on the cat’s head, right between his ears.
“You’re so cute, Luobo-yah, should I kidnap you away from Yixing? I’ll bring Lulu a few days after, so he doesn’t suspect a thing.”
Yixing snorts beside him. “You’re talking like I can’t kidnap Byul.”
“She’s a fierce little thing, you don’t know,” Junmyeon beams, proud. He lets Luobo chew his forefinger as he talks. “She won’t let you near if she knows you have bad intentions.”
Just as he says that, Byul comes near the couch and jumps onto it, sitting with her head in Yixing’s lap.
“Byul-ah, I was saving your honour, and you do this,” Junmyeon fakes a sigh. “Why would—”
He shuts up in favour of observing. Lulu is very confused about Byul’s presence, about why she has her head on Yixing’s lap, and how Yixing is petting her all the same. He holds his breath when Lulu moves forward, alert, and places her paw on Byul’s nose. Byul sneezes, and Lulu jumps backwards.
“Silly cat,” Yixing laughs, holding him from running away. “Why would you keep your paw on her nose? Of course she’s going to sneeze.”
Junmyeon looks down at his lap, and finds Luobo alert as well, staring at Byul. He hasn’t ran away, so that’s good. Byul barks, and Luobo runs away. Lulu jumps down the couch, staring at Byul like she’s offended him, and meows at her before walking away.
“They haven’t hissed at each other,” Yixing says after a beat. “That’s good, right?”
“I hope so,” Junmyeon scoots closer and wraps his arms around his boyfriend’s waist. “I’ll take anything at this point.”
They play with Byul first, because she starts barking for their attention, and Luobo keeps stealing her ball away. They don’t fight over it much, though. Luobo gets bored with it in a second, and Byul immediately takes it in her mouth and trots back to them. When they play with Lulu and Luobo, Byul is uninterested in their toys until Yixing brings out the fake yarn ball. She chases the ball with the cats, wagging her tail excitedly even when the cats have the ball and they play with it. She barks when the ball is in the air, and that makes Luobo run away into a different room, but Lulu tolerates it. He moves a little farther from the dog, but doesn’t run away like his friend.
All three of them are tired after playing, and while Lulu and Luobo take their respective beds, Byul falls asleep on a couch cushion that had fallen down while playing. She wags her tail whenever they walk around her, and it’s honestly such a cute sight.
“Let’s have a little date here,” Junmyeon mutters, staring at Byul for a while before he turns to his boyfriend. “While they nap.”
Their date is just making snacks from the leftovers and munching them while they talk. It’s nice, though. Yixing lets Junmyeon use the matching glasses for the juice, the snacks turn out amazing, and they have a fun time talking. They always have a lot to talk about, to discuss, and they steer clear of talking about a couple things. Yixing mentions his newly found interest in learning traditional instruments, and Junmyeon talks about the cute dog toys he found for Byul. He doesn’t mention the couple shoes he saw yesterday on his way home, and Yixing doesn’t mention the promise rings they talked about two weeks ago.
They’re distracted when Luobo jumps in front of Yixing, on the table, and demands attention loudly.
“Hey,” Yixing laughs softly, bumping foreheads with the cat. “Did you sleep well, Luobo?”
His cat purrs in response, and moves to Junmyeon and meows loudly.
“Yes sir,” Junmyeon chuckles, petting Luobo’s head. “So demanding, aren’t you?”
Luobo’s only response is purring, and when he’s had enough attention, he jumps off the table and goes to the couch. They hear Byul bark sleepily, and Junmyeon notices Luobo run away once again. Lulu, though, walks into the living room and meows loudly. Byul responds loudly to it. Junmyeon’s stomach flips nervously.
Please be a good thing, he prays silently, staring at Lulu. From here, he can see the scratch Yixing’s ex-partner’s cat has left on him. They had to stitch it back together, but the fur growth in that little section is slow. It stands out, amongst his beautiful fur. Junmyeon looks at his forearm, where there used to be bruises because of fingers gripping him too tight.
It’s them or us, he thinks, and that thought makes him feel worse. He doesn’t want to put Byul through such a thing, and he doesn’t want Lulu or Luobo getting hurt either.
Lulu’s tail swishes once, and Junmyeon stands up immediately. He registers Yixing standing up with him, but all he can hear, see, and think of Lulu and Byul. Lulu makes a run towards Byul, and Junmyeon has to take only a few steps forward to watch Byul continue barking as Lulu runs to her. Lulu goes past her, though, and catches onto the fake yarn ball.
“I’m going to die early because of this,” Junmyeon sighs, lowering himself onto the carpet. He lays on his back, tears escaping his eyes, and he can hear Byul whining a little in the background. “I’ll just leave. I can’t put Byul through this, Yixing. I can’t put Lulu through this. Or Luobo, the poor thing is so scared of Byul.”
Junmyeon’s vision is blurred by tears, and he has to let a few roll down the sides of his face to figure out where Yixing is looking. He beckons Junmyeon up, and nods at something behind the couch. Junmyeon can’t make out his expression just yet, so he obeys his instructions. He blinks a few tears away and places his arms on the couch, resting his head on them.
When his vision clears, he finds Lulu circling Byul, who has laid down once again, and finally, he flops next to Byul, his face near her tail. Byul wags her tail, and Lulu tries to catch it with his paws. When he does catch it, Byul just barks softly, and Lulu lets it go.
“Oh thank God,” Junmyeon whimpers, going back to laying on the carpet. His legs are so weak, and the relief is unfathomable. If Lulu is letting Byul lay next to him, and if Byul isn’t annoyed about having her tail held, they’ll be fine. Luobo will come around. He covers his eyes with his forearm, and lets out a sob he’s been holding back for so long. “I was so worried.”
He feels Yixing lying next to him, and wraps an arm around his waist. “Don’t cry.”
“I’m trying,” Junmyeon whimpers. He shifts and burrows against Yixing’s chest. “I was too wound up about it, that’s why I’m crying.”
“I know,” Yixing soothes, rubbing his boyfriend’s back. “We’ll be okay, Junmyeon.”
“We’ll be okay,” Junmyeon repeats, nodding. “Yeah.”