Chapter Text
Truthfully, Yeosang hadn’t actually read through his employment contract fully before signing it all those months ago. Hongjoong had, after all, seemed like a nice enough guy who probably wasn’t out to cheat his employees, and as it turned out he was indeed a wonderful boss. Nevertheless, it was an oversight Yeosang was currently regretting.
One particular clause that might have made him rethink his current employment went something like this:
The Company will not be held liable if occasions arise wherein an employee is subjected to serious injury or death arising from a hazardous condition at the workplace.
Limping into the shadow of a nearby alley, his chest burning with every breath after what probably qualified as multiple hazardous experiences, Yeosang quite seriously gave some thought to finding a new job for the first time. Hongjoong was nice and all, but after the fourth month or so of being sent out on ridiculous ingredient runs, sometimes enough was enough.
Seriously, ‘cinnamon powder obtained from the kitchen of a human household of six’? Witches were just so strange sometimes. Cinnamon powder wasn’t worth a late-night confrontation with an aggressive family of raccoons and then a speeding car.
Yeosang’s ears twitched nervously as he considered his next move. He didn’t much like being so far from home – even now, the air around him felt sticky and mundane, with no trace of the perpetual buzz of magic that naturally infused every inch of a town populated solely by magical races.
It was all fine and dandy for witches like Hongjoong to venture among the humans every now and then. Even the Nephilim could come and go as they pleased, but not shifters. They were too feral in their two-legged shape, a little too animalistic for humans not to inevitably realise that something wasn’t quite right about them.
Anti-human sentiment ran deep in his community, and Yeosang had heard enough horror stories over the years. The beatings, the murders, the burnings – all atrocities that humans, disgusting species that they were, committed against anything they didn’t understand.
No, Yeosang really didn’t like humans at all, and now here he was stuck deep in enemy territory, probably with a fractured rib or two that was going to trap him in his four-legged form for the rest of the week.
As if even the universe itself was laughing at his misery, a soft drizzle began to fall, soaking slowly into his thick coat as he huddled closer against the overflowing trash bin that was doing very little to shelter him. He considered beginning his slow journey home, but the mere thought of hobbling the whole way in pain – out of the city and through the woods – was daunting.
Before he could make up his mind, a guttural, rumbling engine roared into earshot, making him jump. A single headlight swept a long, blinding beam across Yeosang as some sort of monster bike swerved carelessly into the alley before skidding to a stop. The engine quieted, and then a pair of heavy boots thudded onto the pavement.
“Hello, kitty,” came a delighted-sounding voice, instantly destroying Yeosang’s vain hope that he had somehow managed to go unnoticed. Whoever he was, the man smelled like sweat, with a whiff of something plasticky that was probably courtesy of his faux leather jacket.
Yeosang hissed as the boots stepped closer, but the human seemed completely unfazed. “You’re getting all wet in this rain,” he cooed in a grating babyish voice as he sank into a squat. “Wanna come home with me for the night?” He put one hand on Yeosang’s damp neck and stroked his thumb gently along the base of his ear, and all of a sudden Yeosang felt less inclined to take a finger off at the knuckle.
He might not have a particularly high opinion of humans, but he certainly wasn’t self-sacrificing enough to pass up a roof over his head in this dreary weather.
All the same, it was a somewhat unpleasant shock to be suddenly hoisted into the air, and a growl of surprise escaped his throat when his injured ribs shrieked with pain at the movement. The human winced and fumbled with his grip, and Yeosang couldn’t help wondering how many times this strange man had stopped to ‘rescue’ some poor animal he had accidentally stumbled across.
Picking a wild animal up unprotected and bare-handed? It was a wonder he hadn’t been scratched or bitten and died of an infection already.
“Wow, you’re kind of heavy, aren’t you?” the young man huffed. He stepped out of the alley and rounded the building, one of those common high-rise towers that most humans seemed to reside in. Yeosang peered around suspiciously as they entered the elevator, hoping that his eventual escape wouldn’t be more trouble than it was worth.
He was vaguely surprised to see that the apartment he was set down in looked significantly less messy than he might have expected from, well, a young male who lived alone. There wasn’t any trash lying around and it smelled decent, at the very least. As another young male who lived alone, Yeosang’s home certainly looked pretty from the outside, but it was in a perpetually unmanageable state of mess on the inside.
“Home sweet home,” the human cooed, plopping his ass down in front of Yeosang and making obnoxious clucking noises with his tongue. Yeosang stared at him doubtfully, at the dark hair hanging messily in his eyes and the hint of blonde curling at the nape of his neck. He tried to pull back just a little too late when his face was quite suddenly cradled between two large, warm hands and a loud, smacking kiss pressed against the top of his head, right between his ears. Horrified, he squirmed out of the man’s grip and dashed off, looking for the nearest piece of furniture he could fit under.
No one had tried to hug him, let alone bring their mouths anywhere near his face, since he’d moved halfway across the country away from his parents years ago. Yeosang dived under the nearest bed he could find and blinked wide-eyed in the darkness, still reeling at the sheer brazenness of the human.
This guy might be an animal lover, but there was no way he had any sort of practical experience with them. What kind of clueless idiot tried to stick their face near an animal they’d met for the first time that day? Any self-respecting cat would’ve scratched him to ribbons by now.
“I’m sorry, kitty,” came the plaintive apology as the human followed him into the bedroom, immediately crouching down to peer under the bed. “Did I scare you? Come out and I’ll get you a nice blanket to sleep on, okay?”
Yeosang hissed, lashing out threateningly with a paw, and the face quickly withdrew. He heard the quiet slosh of water in a bowl as it was set down nearby, and then the shower started to run a moment later. He sighed, every tense muscle relaxing at once in the sudden solitude. It was dark and cool under the bed, if a little dusty, and his fur was already beginning to dry off.
Groggy with pain and exhaustion, Yeosang tucked himself up so that his tail was just barely brushing his nose, and was fast asleep even before he heard the water stop running.
It was the fragrant smell of frying ham that finally lured Yeosang out from beneath the bed the next morning, his tail flicking eagerly as he followed his nose into the small, neat kitchen. He came to a stop by his questionable saviour’s knee and then froze, his eyes fixing on the unexpected stranger sitting at the table across the room.
“Wooyoung…” the stranger said slowly, looking utterly stunned as he continued his impromptu stare-down with Yeosang. “When you mentioned a cat, I thought you meant a domestic cat. A pet cat.”
Yeosang finally let out a low growl, his tail beginning to puff up, and Wooyoung jumped slightly before looking down. “Kitty!” he exclaimed, sounding strangely delighted considering the hostile situation. Switching off the stove, he bent and scooped Yeosang into his arms before Yeosang could even begin to think of protesting.
“Kitty, this is Yunho,” Wooyoung said cheerfully, giving him a small kiss on the nose and carrying him over to the flabbergasted stranger. “He’s a very professional vet and he’s going to make sure you’re nice and healthy.”
“You shouldn’t – Wooyoung, please. It could claw you right in the face if you hold it upside down like that.” Yunho half-stood from his chair, reaching out as if to snatch Yeosang out of Wooyoung’s hands before he promptly remembered that Yeosang was about three times the size of a regular domestic cat.
Honestly, all Yeosang cared about right then was the fact that he could feel his dignity slipping further away with every passing second that he was being cradled like a baby. With a disgruntled hiss, he twisted abruptly in Wooyoung’s arms and leapt down to the ground, shaking each leg out in annoyance. The impact sent a bolt of pain lancing through his chest, but he ignored it with barely a wince.
“Wooyoung,” Yunho repeated, looking a second away from throwing his arms into the air in despair, “you do realise that that’s some kind of wild cat, right? Look at those face markings, not to mention it’s huge! Didn’t it attack you or anything?”
Wooyoung shook his head, looking comically confused. “I guess it is kind of big,” he admitted uncertainly, “but some cats grow to this size, right? I thought it was just fat.”
Yeosang glanced from one man to the other and wondered how he could ever have been afraid of humans when they were so wonderfully stupid. How anyone ever got anything done was a mystery. How they had ever managed to harm a shifter was certainly beyond his imagination.
Poor Yunho seemed understandably leery of Yeosang’s very presence – “Be careful,” he kept saying anxiously as Wooyoung set Yeosang down on the table before him. “Keep your hands away from its mouth.” – but he eventually got over himself enough to start his examination and diagnose at least two fractured ribs.
“Fractured ribs?” Wooyoung shrieked, sounding on the verge of panic before he slapped his hand over his mouth with an apologetic look at Yeosang.
“Calm down, he’s going to be fine,” Yunho said soothingly. “You’ll see he’s not really showing signs of it because cats in particular are very good at hiding their injuries. That doesn’t mean he’s not hurting though, so you’ll have to be especially careful when carrying him. Other than that, he should mend on his own in a couple of weeks.”
Wooyoung’s bottom lip trembled dramatically at that, looking far more miserable than even Yeosang himself was feeling. “Oh no, poor kitty,” he murmured sympathetically, and Yeosang only blinked lazily as Wooyoung scratched him lightly between the ears.
Fractured ribs as a cat were far more bearable than fractured ribs as a human, so he wasn’t about to complain – or shift back anytime soon.
Yunho looked at the two of them appraisingly for a moment. “You know, I’m starting to think that you might actually have picked up an illegal pet of some sort,” he said slowly. “No wild animal acts like this around humans. I’m guessing there was some sort of car accident and he just ran off.”
Wooyoung hesitated. “So he probably has an owner?”
Yunho raised a brow, faint amusement suffusing his features at Wooyoung’s obvious disappointment. “An owner who won’t be able to look for him because he’s most likely an illegal breed,” he pointed out, “which also means that you shouldn’t be keeping him at all, of course.”
“Yunho!” Wooyoung protested immediately, his fingers curling protectively into the thick fur at Yeosang’s neck.
“I’m serious though,” Yunho said, his expression turning surprisingly stern. “Tame or not, these wild breeds can still be unpredictable. You can’t just treat them like domestic cats. They have different needs, different diets…” Yunho’s words trailed off and he sighed heavily at the look on Wooyoung’s face, fixed and stubborn.
“I’ll do lots of research, I promise,” Wooyoung said earnestly, clasping his hands together. “Tell me what to read up on and I’ll do it.”
Yeosang turned his head to stare at Wooyoung, his eyes large and unblinking as the gears turned slowly in his head. Sure, he hadn’t originally intended to stay for more than a night, but suddenly it didn’t sound like the worst idea to wait until he had healed enough to run easily all the way home. It certainly seemed like a better option than trekking through the woods in his current condition.
Besides, Hongjoong was far too nice to fire him even if he did go missing for a week or so, and it would do his boss some good to get out of his cottage every now and then anyway.
As for Wooyoung – well, he seemed like an acceptable enough human. A little weak-willed and easily manipulated by a bundle of fur, perhaps, but Yeosang was all too happy to take advantage of those failings while he could.
Letting out a soft meow, he reached up and bumped his nose against Wooyoung’s palm, half-slitting his eyes in satisfaction when the human began to pat long strokes down the length of his back.
This was already shaping up to be a very promising vacation.
“Kitty!” Wooyoung yelled, fumbling around the house in what Yeosang had come to learn was his usual morning panic. Most of the time, it involved grabbing his half-packed bag and dashing for the front door, before running back multiple times for his change of clothes, towel, and often his wallet.
As it turned out, Wooyoung was a dance instructor. Yeosang learned this because, with the complete lack of caution he had been consistently displaying since their first meeting, Wooyoung had brought Yeosang to work with him right after seeing Yunho out the door that very first morning, warnings about illegal cat breeds be damned.
“Can’t let you be bored all by yourself at home, right?” he’d cooed as he tucked a confused Yeosang into the large polyester bag set on the back of his motorcycle. Yeosang poked his head out cautiously, only to be pushed back down as Wooyoung zipped the bag up partially, just enough to make it hard for Yeosang to get more than his nose out of the bag.
The roar of the monster bike’s engine coming to life right beneath him almost gave him heart failure.
It only took another two days for Yeosang to become intimately familiar with Wooyoung’s morning routine.
“Kitty, come on, we’re going to be late!” He heard Wooyoung’s shout from somewhere down the hall once more, before he emerged in his usual faux leather jacket and shiny leather pants, his water bottle in one hand and his keys in the other. “Oh, there you are. How are you faster than me?” He beamed to see Yeosang already sitting by the front door, not seeming to notice the cat’s obvious exasperation.
“Come on, come on,” he chanted, opening the door so that Yeosang could pad calmly out into the corridor, all the while staring up at Wooyoung in disbelief. Had it really never occurred to him that his cat could simply escape off down the corridor on a whim? Did he really assume that all cats, domestic or not, acted like Yeosang?
Once Wooyoung had stuffed all his things into his bag where they belonged, he scooped Yeosang up with a grunt of effort and kissed him all over his face, yet another routine that Yeosang was slowly beginning to get used to.
It wasn’t so much a morning routine as a whenever-Wooyoung-felt-like-it routine.
And then they were off, down the elevator and onto Wooyoung’s bike, before the twenty-minute journey to the dance studio he worked at.
Quite against his better judgement, Yeosang enjoyed spending his days at the dance studio. Most of the time, he stretched out beside Wooyoung’s bag in the corner as he dozed, but sometimes he would curl his tail over his paws and watch the ongoing lessons with interest.
Wooyoung at the dance studio was a different person all together from the excitable fool he was at home. Wooyoung at the dance studio was fun but focused, sharp but encouraging, and he clearly adored the kids he worked with. His expressions shifted between smiling and stern in a heartbeat, his instructions thoughtful and precise.
But it was Wooyoung alone in the studio who fascinated Yeosang the most, when he freestyled or worked on his existing choreography.
Dance wasn’t exactly a concept that existed in magical society, but something about Wooyoung’s dance reminded Yeosang of home anyway. At times he moved with the light steps of a dryad and the grace of an elemental; other times he twisted with the viciousness of an enraged were and the spite of a spurned witch.
In those moments, Wooyoung almost seemed at one with nature itself, magnetic and entrancing, a display of raw artistry that Yeosang couldn’t tear his eyes away from.
He liked the endings the most, the dramatic, elegant poses that Wooyoung always concluded with, his gaze faraway as if chasing the fading notes of the song – and then the way his expression would clear, his smile returning to his face as he wiped the sweat from his brow. It was odd – the kind of beauty he would never have expected from a species that seemed to specialise in wanton destruction – but also almost…endearing.
When Wooyoung looked over at him, Yeosang cocked his head in response, his tail curled and still. “You’ve been so patient, kitty,” Wooyoung said sweetly, less boisterous than Yeosang was accustomed to seeing after the morning’s activities. He dropped to the ground and lifted Yeosang onto his lap, fingers sinking into thick fur as he pressed a kiss to one furry cheek.
Mingi peeked in a moment later, a curious look on his face. “Are you coming for lunch?” he asked, raising a brow at the sight of Yeosang. “Hey, you brought your big-ass cat again. Are you still calling it ‘kitty’?”
Wooyoung rolled his eyes, scratching absently at Yeosang’s sides. “Yunho said if I name him I’ll get attached,” he complained. “Said I might not be able to keep him or whatever.”
The other instructor laughed, loud and chesty. “You probably got attached the moment you saw him,” he said knowingly, and then with a tad more urgency, “Hurry up or we won’t be able to get seats.”
“I’ll meet you at the entrance,” Wooyoung said with a smile, shooing Mingi away as he slid Yeosang off his lap. “I gotta settle his lunch first.”
Some days that was it – Wooyoung would return to the studio after lunch to pick Yeosang up and back home they went. Other days he had afternoon lessons to teach, and he would have to hurry to clean up the bloody remnants in Yeosang’s bowl before the kids started arriving, all bright-eyed and eager.
Yeosang didn’t usually watch the afternoon classes. He liked to burrow into Wooyoung’s large duffle bag instead, squeezing himself into the narrow space and curling up beneath the plastic stink of Wooyoung’s jacket. There, nursing his mildly aching ribs, he would settle in for a nice, warm nap until Wooyoung returned to poke him recklessly into wakefulness once more.
It was still odd to Yeosang sometimes, how utterly mundane Wooyoung’s life was. He had expected something more from a human, something that would explain why the magical races had been consigned to secrecy for longer than even Seonghwa could remember – but all Wooyoung had was a home and a job and, it seemed to Yeosang, not an ounce of hatred or violence in him at all.
It was that, then, that made Yeosang respond every time Wooyoung called for him, taking his sweet time to meander over to wherever Wooyoung was clucking his tongue as if to lure Yeosang over quicker. He tolerated the frequent grabs and kisses in return for the intermittent, absent-minded head scratches that Wooyoung would give at night, when he was deep into whatever Korean philosophy book was in his hands right then. He deigned to sleep on the extra pillow on Wooyoung’s bed that had been given to him, and when he awoke in the early dawn hours he would take a moment to look over the sleeping human before hopping off the bed.
Wooyoung might not be a particularly reliable cat caretaker, but he was undeniably good, and in Yeosang’s opinion, that already made him the very best of humans.
Yeosang’s head shot up at the sound of the doorbell, his ears twitching curiously as he watched Wooyoung emerge from the kitchen, wiping his hands on his apron.
They had a neighbour coming over for lunch, but Yeosang had no idea who it was. All he knew was that Wooyoung had been nattering about it all morning while labouring over the food in a flurry of excitement. The excitement wasn’t anything new, and Yeosang had spent most of the morning lounging on the couch in a bright patch of sunlight, the heat sinking through his fur and into his bones as his front paws dangled over the edge.
“San!” Wooyoung exclaimed as he flung the door open, leaning forward to hug someone who was still out of sight.
The fur along Yeosang’s back rippled, standing on end as a pink-haired man stepped indoors, bringing with him an unmistakable blast of magical energy. It crackled all around Yeosang, a familiar tingle that he had almost started getting used to lacking over the past week. It should have been comforting, but all Yeosang felt was a deep wariness.
Whatever San was, he felt powerful, and Yeosang didn’t trust any rogue who chose to live apart from magical society.
San’s eyes widened when he caught sight of Yeosang, stiff as a board and bristling furiously at him from the couch. “Seriously, in the two weeks we don’t see each other, you go and get a cat?” he asked, with a surprised look back at Wooyoung. “Is that even…I mean, it’s kind of big, isn’t it?”
Wooyoung let out a distracted half-laugh even as he bent over to kiss Yeosang on the nose. “I found him as a stray, actually,” he said, his voice trailing off as he looked at Yeosang with a frown. “I don’t know why he’s being like this. He’s usually really chill. Right, kitty?” His hands scratched at the sides of Yeosang’s neck, and Yeosang couldn’t help dipping his head slightly, a deep, rumbling purr thrumming through the air.
San stepped nearer, craning his neck to get a better look over Wooyoung’s shoulder. “He’s cute,” he whispered, only to leap backwards in a hurry when Yeosang let out a warning snarl.
“Hey!” Wooyoung said sharply, looking appalled. “Be nice. San’s a really good friend of mine, okay?” He kissed Yeosang’s forehead, squishing his ears and forcing him to squinch his eyes shut in the process.
“Come on, let’s go and eat. Maybe he’ll be in a better mood after lunch,” San said with a smile, although the look he directed back at Yeosang over his shoulder was quizzical.
With a growl of annoyance, Yeosang leapt off the couch and hurried after Wooyoung, twining around his feet and settling his belly on the human’s toes when he sat down at the table. If San had any anti-human sentiments or nefarious plans up his sleeve at all, he’d picked the wrong household to express them in.
“How was the trip?” Wooyoung asked, sounding like he was speaking around a mouthful of food.
Yeosang half-closed his eyes, his tail sweeping gently against the ground as he listened to San’s reply. “About as bad as I expected,” their mysterious neighbour said with a small, wry laugh. “I didn’t actually speak to my family. I mean, I saw them, but I didn’t think they’d be happy to see me so I just...didn’t.”
“It’s that bad, huh,” Wooyoung said pityingly.
San sighed. “We have different opinions on many things,” he said simply, and the conversation moved on to less interesting topics after that.
The magical energy bubbling in the air spiked for a moment when Wooyoung left to use the bathroom, and Yeosang backed out from underneath the table carefully, his haunches tensed to spring at the first sign of aggression.
San, on the other hand, seemed relaxed, his chair pushed back so as to get a better view of Yeosang. “Shifter?” he asked simply, with a tilt of his pink brows. “You’re rather far from home, cat.”
Yeosang only hissed at him in response, which seemed to amuse San.
“Ah, it’s been a long time. I’d forgotten how territorial you shifters can be,” he said with a crooked smile. “Don’t worry, cat. I’ve been Wooyoung’s neighbour for months. I don’t mean him any harm, although I’m surprised you care. I’ll admit that you lot certainly had the hardest time with humans back in the day.”
Yeosang stared at San uncertainly, searching for any sign of his true nature in the darkness of his smiling eyes. The cadence of speech that San had naturally slipped into reminded him a little of Seonghwa, and Seonghwa was very old indeed.
Besides, it wasn’t that he particularly cared about Wooyoung, or even knew Wooyoung very well – he was just being a decent creature who didn’t want to see an innocent person get hurt.
Right?
Suddenly, Yeosang felt very uneasy about the entire situation. True, his ribs weren’t fully healed yet, but the week he had given himself to mend was up. He hadn’t started making plans to leave, hadn’t tried to shift at all, hadn’t given even the most fleeting thought to his journey back home.
San’s smile deepened at Yeosang’s sudden stillness, dimples appearing in his cheeks. “So you’re like me,” he said, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his thighs. “So what if there’s nothing for you back home? There’s nothing to feel bad about. Humans – they’re just another species. Some are good, some are bad, and all of them are fascinating. It’s okay to want to stay.”
Yeosang flattened his ears against his head with a spitting hiss as he backed away from San. He didn’t want to stay. Of all the ridiculous ideas.
Not a moment too soon, the soft sound of Wooyoung’s bare feet on tile announced his return, and he paused for a moment at the scene before him. “Are you talking to my cat?” he asked, a slow grin spreading on his face as he stared at San.
San straightened and rocked his chair backwards for a moment. “He’s a nice cat. He just needed time to get used to a new person,” he replied airily, his accent once again very similar to Wooyoung’s own.
Wooyoung laughed, heaving Yeosang up into his arms as he walked past. Yeosang stayed limp where he was being cradled against Wooyoung’s chest, trying to ignore San’s enigmatic gaze on him even as his mind was racing a mile a minute.
He had his own lovely little house. He had a job. He had Jongho, who popped by whenever he remembered to, and a multitude of acquaintances. They were all his – his home, his life. His family had been far away, but he had been happy then. Surely that beat being some guy’s pet cat?
He let out a little mew of surprise when Wooyoung suddenly pressed his face into the side of Yeosang’s neck, letting out loud, exaggerated kissy sounds in response to some part of the conversation he had clearly missed. Wooyoung’s hands were rubbing lightly against Yeosang’s belly, and his hindlegs twitched just a little in response, a gentle purr vibrating through his chest.
“It’s cute how much you love him,” San commented, ostensibly to Wooyoung, although Yeosang narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the ambiguous statement.
He turned to look at Wooyoung, who only took that as yet another cue to kiss him on the nose. Was that all he was missing from his life? Was he really so pathetic and desperate for attention that he would stay with a human just to get some kisses and pats?
San caught his eye and smirked faintly, but Yeosang resolutely turned away and tilted his head more firmly against Wooyoung’s hand. He was going to leave soon – of course he was – and he wasn’t going to let anything or anyone ruin his time here while it lasted.
