Chapter Text
Meng Yao stumbled into his tiny apartment, shoulders sagging and his messenger bag smacking onto the floor with a heavy thump. Overtime, again, and once again it would barely be acknowledged besides a tight smile when they’d hand him the month’s payslip. What did it matter that Meng Yao was the hardest worker in the entire department? Nobody took him seriously, never ceasing the whispering about his father, his father’s corporation, the riches his family had. As if any of it had anything to do with Meng Yao at all.
It was common knowledge that Meng Yao had grown up poor, unacknowledged by his rich father. That he’d dragged himself through university, that he had a long list of jobs since age 15, that his father had most definitely refused him a position in both his firm and his family.
Common knowledge or not, his coworkers still treated him as if he gained his mediocre position solely through daddy’s influence, and it was infuriating.
He barely made enough to afford his cupboard of an apartment, with its landlord that was too nosy, too strict, and avoided fixing the broken lock of the downstairs entrance and the heating. The only reason it was so expensive was the location, a good part of town, right next to a large park as well as a charming neighborhood of old houses beyond. If Meng Yao hadn’t needed a post code that wasn’t questionable he’d have long moved on. But he had to keep up appearances.
Meng Yao exchanged his button up and smart slacks for soft loungewear that had belonged to his mother, and made his way to the kitchen. There was only enough space for one person to squeeze in between the wall and the counter; he’d had to buy a foot stool to reach the higher shelves.
Despite the broken appliances the apartment was at least tidy. Presentable, if Meng Yao ever ended up having another human being over, though he doubted more than one other person would fit in comfortably. The bedroom and living room were one big space, divided only by a set of shelves that he’d installed, and there wasn’t a lot of room to navigate. Even Su Minshan never got further inside than a few steps past the doorway, when they’d been out together and his colleague gave Meng Yao a ride in his dingy car.
Opening the window, Meng Yao set about preparing himself a late dinner. Rice and spiced fish, with a side of cheap beer. A soft noise outside caught his attention, and he tutted.
“Go away, you know I’ll lose this home if I’m caught,” Meng Yao muttered half heartedly. All he got in reply was a tiny meow.
Hensheng balanced between the pans Meng Yao had pulled out, looking up with his massive amber eyes. He was a handsome little cat, so small that Meng Yao had been sure he was a kitten for the first few weeks of knowing the half-stray, half-pet. As best as he could tell from researching, the handsome little fellow was a Singapura, perhaps mixed with something else. He had a few scars here and there, and his tail looked crooked, but otherwise Meng Yao couldn’t help but wonder why such a fancy cat had been left out to fend for himself. He’d checked, and there were no reports of missing kittens that matched Hensheng’s description at all. Another creature abandoned by the indifferent wealthy and left to fend for itself.
The cat sat down by the rice cooker, looking up at Meng Yao with those massive eyes. Hensheng wasn’t exactly trusting, but by now he seemed to have developed certain expectations for his chosen human. Food. Care. The permission to sleep inside, on occasion.
“Listen, you can’t keep coming by unannounced,” Meng Yao reminded the cat, aware that he would not listen. “Mr Yang likes doing that too, you know this. If he finds you I’ll be kicked out or the rent will be raised, and I can’t afford that. Even if he just thinks I have a pet…”
Mr Yang had been known to comment on the garbage outside in the bin, and would drop by unannounced despite the need to give Meng Yao a two day warning. At least Hensheng was the only possible issue the landlord could ever hope to find, with how frankly boring the rest of Meng Yao’s life was.
Meng Yao couldn’t bring himself to chase the cat away with violence though. And he did leave a small portion of his food unspiced as he cooked, always making sure to have something a cat could consume to help Hensheng out with his search for food. No toys or cans of cat food could be found in the building, just in case they were traced back to Meng Yao.
He’d found Hensheng in the garbage, quite literally, just two weeks after moving into the place. It was dusk, he’d been tired and barely paid attention as he took the trash outside, only to find that tiny creature, searching through the bins on a quest for food. After being cautiously offered some charity sausages by Meng Yao, the cat decided that the human was now a provider of food.
And now here Meng Yao was, with a semi-regular visitor, whom he’d named Hensheng for his standoffish attitude, and who he even brushed and cleaned outside the house (lest cat hairs accumulated inside the flat).
Meng Yao finished cooking his food, placed the leftovers in the fridge, and then set out two bowls. As they ate, Meng Yao observed that Hensheng seemed polite for a cat, taking dainty little bites and making sure food didn’t fall out onto the table.
When they were done Meng Yao threw a look at his work bag. He sometimes worked at home, though he had no real desk and placing the laptop on his knees ended up with him sitting in a cramped up position for too long. But today he’d already spent way too much time trying to organize catering for an event in the city hall, and frankly, he couldn’t be bothered.
“How about we watch a movie?” he asked Hensheng, who responded by making his way to Meng Yao’s bed and curling up on the pillow. Meng Yao smiled faintly, and set up his laptop at the end of his bed, making himself as comfortable as he could with the cat snuggled up against him.
The gentle purring started up as soon as the opening credits of the latest critically acclaimed drama started rolling on screen. It was, Meng Yao felt, one of the main reasons he couldn’t bring himself to kick the cat out for good.
*
The trouble started when Meng Yao returned from a mercifully short day at work. Approaching his couch with the throw blanket, Meng Yao was about to settle down, when he heard the tiniest squeak. Nearly dropping his laptop he stepped away from the couch, staring at the folds of his blanket. A mouse? A rat even? It wouldn’t even be surprising with his damn luck.
Cautiously and ready to jump back, Meng Yao reached out to tug at the blanket. When he lifted it however, the sight was more shocking than any rodent could possibly be.
There, on his well loved blanket on his not very good couch, were two kittens. They looked no bigger than Meng Yao’s palm, with closed eyes and little stumpy tails. They squirmed and flexed their tiny toes, ruffling each other’s wild grey fur.
“Shit,” Meng Yao cursed, looking around in a panic. He had no idea how the things had gotten into his house, or who to turn to in order to find their owners. He didn’t even have milk in his fridge, he’d run out, and he had no idea what a kitten could eat. Come to think of it, didn’t he read somewhere that cats aren’t even supposed to drink cow’s milk, or was that a myth-
Before he could work himself into a real state he heard the familiar thump of something hitting his half-open window. He rushed over just in time to see Hensheng hop down onto the floor and-
“What the fuck, Hensheng?” Meng Yao cried out, feeling like he was close to hysteria by now. Because Hensheng was carrying yet another grey kitten by the scruff.
He watched helplessly as Hensheng ignored him and dumped the kitten with its siblings, where it was welcomed by pathetic little cries and uncoordinated snuggles.
“You can’t just steal kittens!” Meng Yao snapped hysterically, running his hands through his hair and watching as Hensheng looked up at him expectantly. “I can’t have cats in this house. You can’t be kidnapping babies! What is wrong with you?”
Hensheng had nothing to say for himself, except a meow up at Meng Yao as he flicked his crooked tail.
“Don’t give me that, you need to put these back immediately!”
Before either of them could do anything Meng Yao heard a much louder thump against his window. The kittens mewled again and Hensheng’s ears flicked forward at the noise. Meng Yao’s legs very nearly gave out at the sight of yet another cat entering his no-cats-allowed home.
And this one wasn’t as tiny and unobtrusive as Hensheng, or as cute as the kittens.
It was a massive creature, bigger than any cat Meng Yao had ever seen. Hell, bigger than most dogs he’d had the chance to meet. The size of a lynx, with thick dark grey fur and a long tail this cat walked into Meng Yao’s home as if it owned the place, carrying a fourth kitten. Meng Yao quickly scurried to the side to let the creature pass, where this fourth kitten also joined its siblings.
The newcomer cat lay down on Meng Yao’s blanket, and immediately nudged at the kittens, who made a valiant effort to reach what he now assumed was their… mother cat? He watched as the babies found their way to the belly of the monster truck of a cat, and immediately started nursing once they found a nipple. The cat purred at the kittens, her big orange eyes observing her babies as Hensheng approached and started grooming her fur, which she allowed.
Meng Yao finally sank down onto his armchair, staring at the scene in defeat. The final kitten was pale grey with brown patches, similar in colour to Hensheng. That at least explained why he’d suddenly dragged in the babies into what he considered his safe nest. But looking at them?
This new cat was positively massive. Her tail alone looked to have more mass than Hensheng had in his entire body. She looked as if she’d gobble Hensheng up for breakfast and then still feel a little peckish. She looked as if she might consider Meng Yao an appropriate meal.
“I guess I should offer my congratulations, my friend,” Meng Yao muttered, trying in vain to imagine how the hell Hensheng could have managed the feat of having kittens with such a monster. The mere physical possibility of these two cats mating was already ridiculous, let alone the sheer audacity it must have taken Hensheng to approach such a creature.
Hensheng and Monster Cat looked up at Meng Yao for a moment, and then returned their attention to grooming the kittens and each other.
Meng Yao sighed, closed his eyes, and accepted his fate. He would try to kick them out the next morning, he wasn’t heartless enough to put kittens outside at night. Not to mention that he was sure Monster Cat would maul him alive if he tried anything.
With a defeated look at the cats Meng Yao got up and went to search for his lint rollers.
*
The cats would not leave now that the kittens were there, contributing greatly to Meng Yao’s stress levels. It would be just his luck for his landlord to show up right when there was an entire family of cats in the living room. At least Hensheng was tiny and inconspicuous, easily tossed into some corner or out the window, should it come to that. But there was no way Meng Yao could ever hide Monster Cat if she wasn’t feeling up to it. She had hissed at him when he approached to shift her on the blanket, so he hadn’t tried again.
“I’m going to work,” Meng Yao announced the next morning after a restless night. “Since none of you are providing for this damn family.”
The cats didn’t pay attention to him. With a deep sigh Meng Yao ventured outside and walked around the building, where his windows pointed towards the park. Monster Cat was sitting on the windowsill for all the world to see, and only after Meng Yao smacked the glass a few times did she let herself be shooed out of view.
Work, thankfully, was finished on time today. The very real threat of being evicted kept looming over Meng Yao all day and he could barely focus on his tasks. He popped into a store on his way back, buying more chicken for the cats than he himself could have eaten. He had no idea how much the Monster Cat ate, but he couldn’t let her go hungry as she had kittens to feed. Besides, she might decide to nibble on Meng Yao for dinner instead.
The cats were still there by the time he finally made it home. If they had escaped through the bedroom window through the day, they had returned without any remorse. Hensheng greeted him with tiny meows, rubbing himself against Meng Yao’s leg.
“Stop trying to suck up to me, I’ll be mad at you anyway,” Meng Yao muttered. He changed into his comfortable clothes and started preparing the chicken for both cats, neglecting his own dinner. That could wait until after he’d figured out how to explain to the cats that they couldn’t turn his house into a kindergarten.
Hensheng and Monster Cat ate the chicken quickly while Meng Yao sat on his shitty little armchair and stared at the blanket nest of kittens. All four of them were probably napping, though it was hard to tell with their eyes still shut.
They were kind of cute, actually, those fluffy little balls with tiny tails and too large ears. Perhaps, if he was living anywhere else and actually had the time and space to deal with kittens, Meng Yao might have liked to keep them.
His train of thought was interrupted by the shrill ringing of his bell, followed by someone pounding at the door so hard Meng Yao was sure the wood might break. He stared towards the door and then at the cats who looked back at him unfazed. That didn’t sound like the landlord at all, especially since the man would just let himself in rather than make such a noise, but who else could it be? Nobody visited Meng Yao, and the neighbors in this building were content to ignore one another.
Glancing back nervously at the clutter of cats, Meng Yao rose to his feet and carefully made his way to the front door. His fingers twitched over the handle as he once again wished that the door didn’t look as flimsy as it was, or that it had a lock he could actually trust to endure an onslaught. The wood shook again as the knocking picked back up, more insistent than before. Meng Yao took a steadying breath, put on his best pacifying smile, and opened the door.
“What can I do for you?” he asked, right before the ability to speak was knocked away by a mild shock.
The man at his door was filling out the frame, tall, broad shouldered, very obviously jacked under the layers of his shirt and jacket. His face sported a sharp jawline and strong chin to match, along with an expression Meng Yao could only categorize as absolute murderous intent.
The newcomer’s eyes twitched, wide with rage.
“You!” he snapped, giving Meng Yao a once over. Possibly assessing whether it would take him three or five seconds to absolutely snap him in half. “You’re the one who’s responsible for what happened to her!”
“Excuse me?” Meng Yao managed to say with some calm remaining in his voice. He was certain this man was seconds from exploding.
“My girl of course! You’re the reason she got pregnant, you take responsibility!”
Meng Yao’s face slipped, and he let out a helpless stammer as he tried to think of what he could possibly have done to make anybody come to that conclusion. Briefly he wanted to laugh as the thought “well, at least I pass” crossed his frantic mind.
“You might have the wrong guy here?” he tried, and the man’s nostrils flared in anger.
They were saved from any further discussion by a loud meow coming from inside the flat. Meng Yao froze upon hearing Monster Cat make such a noise. Oddly enough the man’s expression relaxed into one of softness immediately, as he leaned forward into Meng Yao’s flat.
“Baxia, sweet girl! Why did you run away?” he called, his voice a gentle rumble that really shouldn’t sound as pleasing to Meng Yao as it did, coming from someone who just a second ago had scared him shitless. But then, could anyone who looked at a cat like this be truly dangerous?
Monster Cat meowed again and made her way back into the living room.
The man frowned, standing straight again. He glared at Meng Yao, though some of the heat was gone from that gaze. Meng Yao stared back, realizing that this tall man was the owner of the enormous cat in his house.
“Ah,” he said, at a loss. “Would you like to come in?”
*
Nie Mingjue seemed too massive for the little couch, cramped as it was with six cats, and frankly too massive for Meng Yao’s flat. They had already needed to step around each other awkwardly as Meng Yao prepared tea for them both before they settled.
Monster Cat - Baxia, as Nie Mingjue had introduced her - sat on Nie Mignjue’s lap, kneading his thigh with a content purr. The kittens were curled up next to him on a tea towel, sleeping as he ran his fingers through their fur. Hensheng sat on the armrest, sharply observing this human with the kittens, but seemingly content to let him be, since Baxia hadn’t protested.
He’d given Meng Yao a business card, with his phone number on and very little information, though it was clear it belonged to someone used to people just being aware of him regardless. The logo of Qinghe Corps was embossed into the cardboard, and Meng Yao could tell that Nie Mingjue was likely fairly high up in the company. That made having him over in his humble home even worse.
“Baxia rarely leaves the garden,” Nie Mingjue explained. He had mellowed out completely after reassuring himself that his own cat and the kittens were healthy and unharmed. He’d even apologized to Meng Yao for his outburst, admitting that he was beside himself with worry and that he’d been looking for Baxia ever since she and the babies had disappeared. He’d seen her in Meng Yao’s window and then spent some time trying to figure out what door corresponded to his flat.
“I wasn’t aware of her being pregnant at all until one day I found her in my brother’s laundry pile, with… well. These fluffballs.”
Nie Mingjue looked at the kittens with exasperated fondness.
“Huaisang hadn’t put away his laundry in days so who even knows how long they were in there. Then this ruffian here showed up, and it’s not too hard to figure out that he’s the father.”
He threw a glare at Hensheng that was exactly on brand for a new grandfather staring at his son in law at a shotgun wedding. It would have been hilarious if Meng Yao wasn’t at the end of his nerves.
“I am sorry about that,” Meng Yao said. “I genuinely don’t know what he’s up to when he’s not with me. Which is most of the time really.”
Nie Mingjue frowned in disapproval at Meng Yao. He’d already said Meng Yao should take responsibility for his “son’s” actions, and after laughing in response Meng Yao had realized that Nie Mingjue wasn’t joking, probably.
“He’s not mine! Really, I can be kicked out of this house if my landlord finds any kind of pet here,” Meng Yao went on, hoping Nie Mingjue would understand. “I would have kept Hensheng otherwise. I only feed him if he visits, I can’t even have a cat bed or cans of food here. If it’s money you need for the kittens, I can chip in, but I can’t keep them.”
Nie Mingjue scoffed.
“Money isn’t the issue here, I have no problem providing more food for these cats.”
“Then what is it you want?”
Mingjue was quiet for a moment, no doubt trying to find a way to phrase his demands. Meng Yao supposed that Nie Mingjue had expected a more difficult time getting the cats back from the “thief”, and hadn’t come with backup conditions. The man brightened suddenly with an idea, and adjusted his posture with more confidence.
“I want,” he said decisively, to assert that this was a demand that he had thought up before visiting, “for you to pull your weight helping me take them home.”
“I...sure?” Meng Yao blinked in puzzlement. “As long as we’re careful my landlord doesn’t see.”
Which was how he ended up with an armful of cardboard box plucked out of his recycling, accompanied by an intimidating man cradling a gigantic purring ball of fluff. Baxia seemed content to snuggle into Mingje’s embrace, leaving thick grey hairs over the front of his shirt. Meng Yao walked stiffly, trying to jostle the box of kittens as little as possible lest they cry out in protest and cause their monstrous mother to maul him. Hensheng made himself scarce somewhere along the way after trotting beside Meng Yao for a while, likely because Mingjue radiated disapproval in his direction. The walk was blessedly short, just crossing the nearby park, and before long his companion stopped to fish out his keys. Rather than put Baxia down, he shifted her weight to hold her with only one arm, and Meng Yao had to bite back a laugh. He did, however, appreciatively make note of Mingjue’s flexing muscles.
The house with Nie Mingjue’s family name had a tall gate and a low dark stone wall. Once the door was open Mingjue deposited Baxia into the front hall, and turned back to Meng Yao for the box, looking like he was about to say something. Meng Yao happily relinquished custody of the troublesome creatures and stepped back, customer service smile in place, just as Mingjue started to say “would you like to-”
“I am sorry again, Mr. Nie, for causing you so much trouble. If you can take care of them from here, I will be on my way and out of your hair. I will try to control the stray from now on so he won’t bother Baxia or the kittens,” he said politely, hands behind his back. Mingjue blinked at him and looked conflicted for a moment, glancing in the direction of the door without turning away. He seemed reluctant when he replied “ah yes...if you have to be on your way then I won’t keep you, I appreciate your cooperation today.” He looked down at Baxia, who was trying to dodge the leg he was using to keep her inside, chirping up at the box of kittens. “Thank you for the tea.”
Unable to shake hands, they nodded at each other and Meng Yao hurried off, back home to thoroughly clean his home of cat hair lest he be subject to an impromptu flat inspection.
*
Meng Yao was glad he was sitting down when he looked up the name on the business card Nie Mingjue had given him, because he was sure he might have fainted. He lay face-down in the blanket and began to cackle uncontrollably.
There was a fucking CEO in my apartment, he thought. And I got his goddamn cat pregnant.