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Once upon a time, in a land far away, there lived a mob of meerkats that roamed the endless stretch of sand and grass in Hengdian. These meerkats called themselves the Siji mob.
The protagonist of this little story is not the matriarch of the mob. This story is not about the dominant male in the mob of meerkats, who has fathered countless numbers of litters for Siji.
This story centers around the meerkat called Zhehan, sibling to the matriarch of the mob and who was strong and lithe, agile and fast on his paws. He could fight and forage, find the best new burrows and dig safe hidey-holes. There was no meerkat as skilled as he was at foraging, as strong as he was at fighting. Zhehan was the only meerkat of these grasslands to have killed three snakes and lived to tell the tale, to unfailingly spot the eagles in the sky before they were close enough to be a threat.
If Zhehan had ever wanted to join another mob and mate with its matriarch, he would have easily fought his way into becoming the dominant male no other rivals could ever contend with. His bloodline would have been spread through all of Hengdian with his innumerable litters.
But Zhehan never wanted to be the dominant male. He didn’t want to lead the mob with the matriarch.
What Zhehan wanted…
…was to look after babies!
All Zhehan ever wanted was to care for the meerkittens. Zhehan was the best babysitter any matriarch could ever hope for among meerkats. He never forgot about the kittens, never wandered off to look for food or got distracted by passing females. Zhehan was there for the kittens 150%. Under his diligent, tender care, the Siji mob had the best success rates of kittens reaching adulthood, with the fewest losses due to carelessness. When it came to burrow moves, Zhehan had never left a kitten behind, would defend the kittens with shocking aggression.
The joy Zhehan got out of life was through raising the kittens. When the matriarch began lining her birthing chamber in the burrows, Zhehan would joyfully begin collecting soft grass to help make it a comfortable and safe den. When the matriarch eventually gave birth to her litter of kittens, Zhehan would never fail to marvel at how small they were, how helpless. They were as small as his paw, with only the lightest wisps of fur protecting their soft pink bodies. With their ears and eyes shut, they were completely reliant on their family to keep them safe and fed. Zhehan would never, ever let them down, he promised each and every little kitten of each and every litter.
Every time the matriarch led the mob out to forage for food or defend their territory, Zhehan would be left behind to care for kittens, and he did so with great joy. He loved the smell of the kittens, only covered in the scent of family and home, unmarred by the outside world. Their tiny squeaks as they learned to vocalize were music to his ears, their little purrs as they slept with full, rounded bellies were a balm to his heart. He could spend hours cuddled up to the kittens, waiting patiently for the mob to come back even as his belly grew empty and hungry, relying on the other adults to come back and bring him some food, or take over babysitting so he could go hunt late into the dangerous night.
It wasn’t easy being a babysitter, and often, most meerkats weren’t keen to take on the role. Among meerkats, babysitting was the least glamorous and most dangerous responsibility. The younger, energetic meerkats would rather be out there, fighting for territory or foraging for the best food, sometimes eyeing up other nearby mobs to see if they should defect to a new mob to become the leaders instead. In contrast, there were times when a meerkat babysitter would spend hours waiting for the mob to come back. On the rare occasion, when the mob was delayed by some unexpected issue or had ranged further than expected, they wouldn’t come back for more than a day. Zhehan would be left with the decision to run out for a quick forage for food, or to wait to defend the kittens against any potential predator. He always chose to stay, always chose the kittens over his own comfort.
When the kittens grew older, he would take them out of the burrow to learn about the world beyond the safety of their den. Each kitten would eventually be assigned to an adult meerkat who would mentor them, teach them what could be eaten, how to hunt, join the adults foraging, but before that time, most of them would be under Zhehan’s diligent care. When the young meerkats could take on responsibilities on their own, play their own roles as adults, Zhehan would be filled with a sense of pride and accomplishment, knowing another litter of Siji kittens had grown up so they could face the world as adults. Then he would look forward to the next litter of kittens.
It was possible that Zhehan would have lived his entire life in this way, never going beyond his love for the kittens.
And then one day, he met Gong Jun.
Gong Jun was an average meerkat. He wasn’t particularly agile or fast, ambitious or cunning. In his small mob called the Ghost Valley mob, Gong Jun was mostly a forager. The only way Gong Jun stood out was well…by literally standing out. Gong Jun was an unusually tall meerkat, so when he stood up to his full height, he was hard to ignore among the meerkats. He could always see further than the others, spot danger sooner. When the others were foraging, he often stood watch to keep an eye out for danger, so he was a very patient and sharp-eyed meerkat, probably the most alert meerkat in the grasslands when it came to picking out predators in the distance.
While there wasn’t much Gong Jun might be a genius at, he did often think to himself that he was a particularly tall and handsome meerkat, with perhaps a special skill in foraging the best food, always finding the rare delicacies. But none of those characteristics were much to boast about among meerkats. Being tall and handsome weren’t exactly important out in the wild. Sure, being taller meant he could see further, but he was also the first to be spotted by predators and had been chased furiously on several occasions, escaping by the skin of his teeth.
His ability to find exotic food wasn’t exactly prized among his mob of meerkats. It was fun to gorge on whatever unusual delicacy Gong Jun had discovered, but it wasn’t essential to their lives. Being able to find rare quail eggs or a particularly crunchy bug was far less important than being able to forage for a lot of food. It was quantity over quality that was prized, and sometimes, Ghost Valley’s matriarch would get impatient that Gong Jun went out for longer but found less food. Daidai had tried to advise Gong Jun to change his habits, but he was stubborn in his own ways. Gong Jun just liked the experience of finding unusual food, of enjoying the finer nourishment he could dig out, and he wasn’t willing to change that, no matter how much it annoyed the matriarch.
Some days, Gong Jun thought he would pass his whole life like this; keeping watch for danger and foraging, foraging and keeping watch for danger. Some days, he wondered if that was all there was to a meerkat’s life.
Until one day, he met Zhehan.
Gong Jun stayed still in the tall grass, out of sight of the moving meerkats. He could tell they were moving burrows, a particularly vulnerable time for a mob of meerkats, and he didn’t want to instigate a fight. Although Gong Jun belonged to a mob of his own, he often got mistaken as a roving meerkat sniffing around the matriarch of other mobs because he roamed so far out alone. Despite Daidai’s constant nagging that he should stick closer to home, Gong Jun couldn’t help himself. He just liked exploring further afield and finding interesting food to eat.
So whenever Gong Jun came across a different mob of meerkats, he tried to stay low, harmless. It was too hard to explain that he wasn’t trying to push his way into a new mob, or lure away other female meerkats. Best was just to stay quiet and wait until the meerkats passed him by.
He watched as the meerkats ran past. There were three meerkats, all of them male, and they were carrying kittens in their mouths. The one in the lead was a particularly beautiful meerkat, with large glossy dark eyes and a handsome set of whiskers. Even with a kitten grasped firmly but gently between his jaws, this meerkat moved with a hypnotizing grace, his svelte figure cutting lithely through the yellowing grass on petite, agile paws, tail raised a little higher than normal on a generous rump.
What was even more amazing was that despite the kitten in his jaws, the meerkat in the lead was still calling out repeatedly, slightly muffled nagging squeaks ringing through the air.
“Hurry up, Xukai, you need to keep up. If we don’t move together, it’s easy to separate and get targeted. Xiaoyu, aiya, why are you lagging behind? Didn’t you eat breakfast? Or did you eat too much breakfast?”
His squeaks were loud and nasal with the kitten in his jaws, his commands bossy and impatient.
It was love at first sight.
Unfortunately, love at first sight ended up with a beating. Gong Jun had been so entranced by the sight of this beautiful meerkat that he had forgotten to stay hidden. He had ventured forward, moving towards the meerkats heading towards their new burrow, only to be immediately pounced upon by the other meerkat called Xukai. There were threatening snarls and bites, but fortunately, Gong Jun escaped with only a little bit of lost fur. What hurt him more than anything was the sight of the swaying tail as that beautiful meerkat he loved ran off without a glance back.
Well, not that the beautiful meerkat even knew he existed yet, Gong Jun thought to himself pragmatically.
He kept a great distance but still followed them from afar to their new burrow, happy that he now knew where this beautiful meerkat lived. Of course, he was then spotted by the other meerkat called Xiaoyu and chased off. It wasn’t that Gong Jun couldn’t fight back, of course he could. After all, he was an extra tall meerkat, so he did have some advantage of size. But Gong Jun didn’t want them to mistakenly think he was after their matriarch or one of the females, or that he was trying to snatch their territory, so he took the warning bites and fled.
But he came back again the next day.
He soon learned that the beautiful meerkat was called Zhehan, and he was what seemed to be the permanent babysitter of this mob. That was a very good thing, because it meant Zhehan would be the only adult left in the burrow for long periods of time, and Gong Jun would have the opportunity to introduce himself. Unfortunately, for some reason, Xiaoyu also stayed with Zhehan in the burrow over the next three days, and Gong Jun got beaten up every time he approached. Whenever Zhehan left the burrow in the evening to hunt, after the others came back, Xiaoyu went with him as well so Gong Jun really had no chance of approaching alone. He felt rather gloomy for a while over that, wondering about his bad luck.
Unbeknownst to Gong Jun, it didn’t really have anything to do with luck. For those three days, Xiaoyu complained non-stop to Zhehan about that unnaturally tall meerkat that kept lurking outside their burrow unsubtly and was clearly up to no good. Xiaoyu was afraid that Gong Jun was going to try to rob their territory, but Zhehan had rolled his eyes at that. What could one lone meerkat do to them anyway? He wasn’t concerned or stressed over it, and eventually, he made Xiaoyu go back to his normal routine of joining everyone else when they went foraging for food. It was too difficult to have one less adult foraging, what with so many young mouths to feed now.
The moment Gong Jun spotted Xiaoyu leaving the burrow, the last to head out to forage for food, Gong Jun immediately popped up from where he had been crouching amongst the tall grass and bounced over to the mouth of the burrow. It was terribly rude to just go nosing around someone’s burrow like that, would have likely been taken as an attempt to invade, but Gong Jun didn’t know how else to meet Zhehan alone. After all, the kittens looked too young to come out on their own so Zhehan was probably going to stay inside with them during the day. Tentatively, he poked his head into the burrow and sniffed around. There seemed to be no one else…
He made his way in.
But he didn’t get very far in at all. Just a few feet into the burrow and he saw a dark shadow barrel towards him, too fast and agile for him to avoid. He only caught a glimpse of intent dark eyes, of gleaming sleek fur, and breathed in a light musk edged with the sharp scent of a brewing storm, but he knew immediately it could only be Zhehan. Only Zhehan could look and smell so wonderful.
Zhehan bowled Gong Jun over. Quite literally.
Flying backwards tail over nose, Gong Jun found himself tossed to the ground before a heavy weight landed on top of him. At first, Gong Jun tensed, instinctively wanting to fight back, but the very attractive scent filled his nose even as dark eyes gazed down upon him, teeth bared.
It would be more romantic if Gong Jun had forced himself into pliancy, if he had fought back survival instincts and bared his throat to Zhehan in a big romantic move. But the truth was far less romantic than that.
Gong Jun froze, because he was stunned by Zhehan’s beauty.
Even with Zhehan’s teeth sinking into his fur, pressing against his bared neck, Gong Jun could not move. He was too overwhelmed by the scent and sight of Zhehan at such close proximity, with that lithe body pinning him in place.
For a moment, everything came to a standstill. It could easily be the end of Gong Jun’s life, right here in a strange burrow, by the teeth of a meerkat he had just fallen in love with. In the stillness of the dark tunnel, Gong Jun faced mortality and thought he would have no regrets if it was by this meerkat’s teeth.
This meerkat was mostly confused.
Why did this intruder invade their burrow and then immediately flop over when Zhehan pounced on him? Why didn’t the intruder struggle when Zhehan pinned him to the ground? Why did this intruder bare his neck to Zhehan?
Was this a particularly silly meerkat?
In the end, despite Zhehan’s protective instincts towards the kittens who were deeper in the burrow, he couldn’t sense any danger from the meerkat beneath his paws and he couldn’t make himself bite down when the intruder didn’t even defend himself. Slowly, cautiously, Zhehan opened his jaws and drew back, ready to attack at any unexpected moves.
But the meerkat beneath him only blinked up at him, large eyes dark and glossy.
“Hi,” Gong Jun said.
Instinctively, Zhehan replied with, “Hi.” And then wanted to paw at his own face. What a ridiculous thing to say in this situation, so he immediately asked, “What are you doing in here? Are you trying to invade our territory?”
“No, no, definitely not,” Gong Jun said quickly.
“Then why are you here?”
“Because I wanted to see you.”
That didn’t make any sense at all. “What for?”
“Because you’re very beautiful,” Gong Jun admitted, whiskers twitching with shyness.
Zhehan reared back, not expecting that response. He released Gong Jun from his hold and stepped back, looking at Gong Jun warily. Was this some kind of ploy?
He couldn’t help but ask what was foremost on his mind. “Why didn’t you fight back?”
“Because you’re very beautiful,” Gong Jun repeated, head ducking, even as he continued to look up at Zhehan.
It was only at this moment that Zhehan really examined Gong Jun. He was a particularly tall meerkat, certainly taller than any other meerkat Zhehan had ever seen. He had a very well-defined muzzle and big glossy eyes that looked up at Zhehan with soft, intent focus.
Without thinking about it, Zhehan said, “You’re quite handsome yourself.”
Then he almost bit his own tongue. He hadn’t meant to say that.
“I know,” Gong Jun replied. And almost bit his own tongue too. He hadn’t meant to say that either! He hurriedly continued, “I mean, thank you. Yes. Thank you.”
Zhehan stared at Gong Jun, at the way his whiskers drooped with embarrassment.
Oh no, he was… cute.
Letting out a bark of laughter, Zhehan asked, “Okay, what should I call you? Or should I stick with Handsome?”
“I’m Gong Jun!”
“Alright, I’m Zhehan.”
“Oh, I know. I mean, yes. I mean, hello, Zhehan,” Gong Jun said, his head lowering with increasing despair at his constant misspoken words.
But Zhehan only laughed again, a sound that was sweeter than the singing of cicadas heralding all meerkats home to their burrows.
That afternoon, Zhehan allowed Gong Jun to stay in the tunnel, but no further than that. He couldn’t allow a strange meerkat near the kittens just because that meerkat was cute. But it was nice to have someone to talk to while he occasionally went back to tend to the squeaking kittens. Gong Jun knew not to cross any boundaries, staying near the entrance to the burrow and moving no deeper.
In the evening, when it was almost time for the other meerkats to come home, Zhehan said, “You had better leave. The others will be back soon.” He didn’t have to say that if Gong Jun was caught in the burrows, as an intruding male from a different mob, the other meerkats would try to kill him.
It made Gong Jun happy to know that Zhehan at least cared about him a little bit, even if it was just enough to care that Gong Jun didn’t get attacked by other meerkats.
Gong Jun looked longingly at Zhehan. “Can I come back tomorrow?”
For a moment, Zhehan was torn. It made no sense for Gong Jun to come back again. What did he get out of visiting a strange burrow when the matriarch or other females weren’t even here? And for the safety of the mob, Zhehan should tell Gong Jun to never come back, to keep his distance and not cross any more lines.
But Zhehan couldn’t make himself bristle at Gong Jun, couldn’t make himself chase Gong Jun away forever. Zhehan had lived a life doing what he wanted, making his own choices, and this time was the same. He wanted to see Gong Jun again too, because Gong Jun really was cute and funny, so why shouldn’t he see him again?
“Alright, but you should only come when the others aren’t here,” Zhehan said, before adding a word of warning, “And you had better not step a paw out of line or I’ll bite you!”
“I would never, not with you,” Gong Jun promised, eyes wide and bright.
That warmed Zhehan inside for some reason, and made Zhehan feel guilty for even doubting Gong Jun in the first place. He poked Gong Jun’s side with his muzzle and said, “You had better go, they’ll be back soon.”
Casting one last longing look back, Gong Jun slipped out of the tunnel and away from the burrow, obedient to Zhehan’s requests.
That was the beginning of Gong Jun’s visits.
Gong Jun visited every day, and always brought with him all kinds of food, ensuring that Zhehan wouldn’t be hungry anymore when he was babysitting. Every day, Gong Jun went out hunting earlier than any other meerkat, just so he could bring over a lot of food once the other adult meerkats left Siji’s burrow for the day. He carried in a range of delicacies, from the crunchiest insects to the sweetest fruits, even carefully carrying in eggs when he could. His efforts were not in vain as Zhehan was always impressed, digging into the food and exclaiming in surprise at how tasty whatever it was that he was eating.
When it came to kittens in general, Gong Jun felt the same biological urge as the other meerkats in his mob to protect the kittens of his mob, to care for them and feed them. But the same instinct shouldn’t drive him when it came to kittens of another mob, except…that it somehow did. Perhaps knowing that Zhehan cared and loved these kittens was enough to ensure that Gong Jun felt the same as well.
As such, Gong Jun was very sweet with the kittens once Zhehan allowed him to venture further into the burrow. He helped Zhehan check over the kittens from time to time and lay down patiently for the kittens to climb all over him when they were being excitable. Even when they carelessly chewed on his fur or played chase with his tail, Gong Jun took it all in stride and only nipped them very lightly to teach them to be polite.
Zhehan found this terribly irresistible. How was he supposed to turn away a meerkat that was so good with kittens? Watching the kittens pile on top of Gong Jun, the way Gong Jun patiently answered their chirping questions, it was hard not to melt over it. Zhehan was always very weak when it came to meerkats who were good with babies and Gong Jun was proving to be very good with them.
They didn’t spend all their time in the burrow only. In the evenings, once Gong Jun had snuck away and the rest of the mob had come home as well, Zhehan would leave the burrow on the pretext of going on a night hunt. It was what he always did in the past since he usually spent all day hungry while staying in with the kittens, but which he didn’t really need to do now since Gong Jun brought him food. But he left the burrow every evening as well, turning down Xiaoyu’s offer to accompany him every time.
The evenings and nights were when he could roam the grasslands with Gong Jun by his side, their paws flying swiftly over the ground as they ran free under the glittering night sky. Sometimes, they would chase each other, just for fun. They would leap over fallen tree trunks, dive into abandoned burrows, taking turns to chase and pounce on each other until they tumbled snout over tail through the tall grass. When they were breathless with laughter, they would talk, chirping softly to each other about everything, about nothing, about life before they met and the future they would have together.
Zhehan learned about the struggles Gong Jun faced when his mob had been ousted from their territory in a distant valley by a much larger mob, and how Gong Jun had trekked far, far away just to find new territory for his mob. When Gong Jun had first arrived on his own, he had been treated like a roving male looking to invade other mobs, constantly attacked and shunned, almost killed more than once. Even once Gong Jun found a new burrow for his own mob and they moved over, a strange habit developed in Gong Jun’s overly large but steady paws. He always felt the urge to roam further and further, searching for something, even though he didn’t know what.
For the longest time, Gong Jun didn’t feel like he fit in. He wasn’t good at following the mob hierarchy, tended to go off on his own for days on end. What he found interesting, like the different food he could forage, or the interesting sights he found, seemed to be worthless to most of the mob. His best friend Daidai would often go along with him, but that didn’t mean Daidai really understood him. All this while, Gong Jun was constantly searching, even though he had no idea what he was searching for, until he found Zhehan.
On his end, Gong Jun learned all about the dangers Zhehan had faced as his mob’s primary babysitter. He had fought off predators, taken the kittens into hiding, chased off rival mobs. One time, he single-meerkatly fought off a snake that had invaded their burrow. With a litter of kittens behind him, too young to run, Zhehan had snarled and attacked the cobra until it gave up and slithered away. But he had been bitten on his leg in the process, fallen very, very ill soon after. He could hardly get up, and the mob had needed to move burrows once they found out that a snake had discovered their den. For the safety of all, they had no choice but to pick up the kittens and go, leaving Zhehan behind.
Heartbroken, Xiaoyu said he would be back once he had moved the kittens with the other meerkats, but Zhehan had assured him weakly that he would follow after, that Xiaoyu didn’t have to waste time trekking back.
And Zhehan did follow after. Even though he had been very sick, he had crawled his way after them, alone in the night and vulnerable to predators. Because that was just the way Zhehan was, always independent, always feeling like had to do it on his own. Halfway through the excruciating trip, when it was morning again, Xiaoyu came back and stood guard over him while he rested, bringing him food until Zhehan could slowly move once again. In the end, they made it safely to their new burrow, but Zhehan was left with a slight limp to his hindleg after that, which didn’t slow him down one bit.
Then Zhehan found Gong Jun.
Regardless of how well Zhehan’s leg had healed, Gong Jun made sure to always guard Zhehan’s once-injured side. From time-to-time, Gong Jun would nuzzle that hindleg and the scar left behind, even though there was no injury anymore.
Now that they had found each other, they would face all these challenges together. From here on, Gong Jun would never leave Zhehan’s side unguarded, and Zhehan would never let Gong Jun roam afar into dangerous territory on his own.
But life wasn’t all frolicking through the grass and curling up underneath the shooting stars for the two meerkats. It was hard for Zhehan’s mob not to notice that there was a regular intruder in their burrow, what with the strange scent being left inside their den. If Zhehan hadn’t been such a loyal babysitter, the best anyone could ask for, they would have thought that he had turned traitor. There were a few close calls but Zhehan’s sharp hearing ensured that Gong Jun always escaped out of the burrows before the other meerkats came back.
Xiaoyu had his suspicions about what was actually going on. Sure, the scent around the burrow and all over Zhehan was that of a male meerkat, but all other signs pointed to the obvious. Nowadays, Zhehan looked well-fed, his fur particularly glossy and well-groomed even in places that were usually hard to reach on his own. Even the kittens seemed to have learned how to handle specific prey like scorpions, as if someone had been bringing in prey into the burrow to help teach them. It couldn’t be Zhehan, because unlike other babysitters, Zhehan never left the kittens on their own.
So Xiaoyu had his strong suspicions, and one day, he decided to confirm it. He hung back as everyone rushed forward, fell behind until he could quietly turn around and go back to their burrow. On quiet paws, he kept close to the ground as he slinked into the narrow tunnel and crept his way towards the depths of their den.
That’s when he saw it.
His poor eyes.
There was his best friend Zhehan and some overly tall meerkat, and they were…cuddling. Right there in their den! That was the spot where Xiaoyu slept sometimes! Gross!
Xiaoyu didn’t interrupt this little rendezvous, because he knew Zhehan would get all grumpy and whiny, so he had merely retreated out of the burrow. Later that night, when Zhehan slipped out of the burrow, heading towards the little pile of rocks by the hillock east of the burrow, Xiaoyu followed quietly after him. Obviously, Zhehan noticed him following, but hadn’t tried to stop him.
This was a conversation that had been long coming.
“Do you know what you’re doing?” Xiaoyu asked, walking quietly beside Zhehan. “He’s a roving male from a different mob. How do you know he won’t be a threat to us eventually?”
Zhehan was so offended by the question that he came to a stop and gave Xiaoyu an incredulous stare. “Junjun is a tall, handsome, earnest and good meerkat who would never harm any of us.”
“What does being tall and handsome have to do with—”
“And also, kind meerkats will definitely make the right choices, so I know he’s completely trustworthy.”
It was nonsensical logic, but it was enough for Xiaoyu to see that Zhehan wasn’t going to budge on this, that he had made up his mind, set his heart on this one Gong Jun.
Xiaoyu sighed internally. There was nothing for it. Who made Zhehan his best friend? Xiaoyu would just have to help guard these two idiots.
Sensing Xiaoyu’s capitulation, Zhehan chirped in happiness and bumped Xiaoyu on the shoulder as he turned and began walking again. Now that he knew Xiaoyu accepted his relationship with Gong Jun, he could finally talk about all the things he wanted to talk about but had been keeping quiet all these days!
“You’ll like Junjun, you just need to spend some time with him. He’s so funny. He was telling me this hilarious story about falling into a puddle of mud the other day, I’ll ask him to re-tell it, you’ll laugh for sure. He’s just so cute. Do you know he lets the kittens bite onto his tail and he’ll drag them gently around the burrow? It’s such an adorable game! Oh, and the other day, he managed to drag a whole nest of eggs into the burrow just for me, hehehe. Yeah, he spoils me so much~”
Xiaoyu groaned and wondered if it was too late to feign disapproval about Gong Jun so he wouldn’t have to listen to all this.
However, even though Xiaoyu accepted Gong Jun with relative ease, the other meerkats were nowhere as accepting of them and unfortunately, their trend of good luck ran out. One day, the mob came back early and Gong Jun and Zhehan had fallen asleep with the kittens, hadn’t heard the others coming back until it was too late. It was only Zhehan waking up and jumping in front of Gong Jun that saved Gong Jun’s life. With Zhehan blocking the way, it bought enough time for Gong Jun to slip around the sudden confusion of meerkats to make a dash out of one of the tunnels, running towards the surface.
Even then, one of the meerkats caught up with him and bit him on his back and leg before he finally kicked the meerkat off and ran for safety. His long limbs got him out of reach of the pursuing mob, and he finally found a hollow in a tree to curl up and lick his wounds.
When the defensive meerkats returned to the burrow and Zhehan saw blood on Xukai’s jaw, he was horrified. Xiaoyu, who had followed the defending males, whispered to Zhehan that Gong Jun was fine, that he had gotten away, and Zhehan’s whiskers drooped in sheer relief. He tried to talk to their matriarch about Gong Jun, tried to explain that Gong Jun wasn’t a threat, wasn’t there for anyone else but to see Zhehan, but he received a snarling rejection. The mob was angry, stirred up at finally catching the intruder and upset that their once trusted babysitter had let this strange meerkat into their burrow.
Zhehan bristled in anger at their refusal to listen, at the thought that they had hurt Junjun, but he forced himself to slink away. He wouldn’t be able to convince them that Gong Jun wasn’t dangerous if he fought the matriarch over him.
The next day, Gong Jun snuck back into Zhehan’s burrow like nothing had happened, beaming as he dragged a leaf-wrapped bundle of food he had collected early in the morning. But Zhehan had no appetite, was in no mood to pretend nothing was wrong. He couldn’t, not with Gong Jun right in front of him, injured from the actions of his own mob.
Zhehan nosed at the open bite wound on Gong Jun’s shoulder, heart aching.
“It’s fine, it was just a warning nip,” Gong Jun said, shifting away and turning, as if Zhehan wouldn’t worry if he couldn’t see it.
But Zhehan knew it wasn’t just a warning nip. How many more bites should Gong Jun bear?
“Let’s leave,” Zhehan said abruptly, determined.
Gong Jun’s head reared back in his surprise. “Do you have somewhere to go? I can look after the kittens while you—”
And Zhehan’s love for this tall, silly meerkat nearly overflowed his heart, gave him enough strength to say, “No, I mean, let’s leave together. Let’s go. Let’s be roving males together.”
He nudged Gong Jun back, further from the kittens so they wouldn’t hear his whispered but determined proposal.
To his surprise, Gong Jun immediately refused. “No, we can’t.”
“We can. Let’s wait until dark, when the others are back, and we can go.”
“No, I mean, we can’t because you won’t be happy.”
Zhehan stared at him. “I would be happy.”
“You love being the babysitter. You love kittens. We can’t leave that,” Gong Jun said, leaning forward to nuzzle Zhehan, as if to soften the refusal.
“I love you. I’m happy with you. And I can’t be happy when you’re hurt like this,” Zhehan said, helplessly moved by Gong Jun’s care for him, but aching at the idea of Gong Jun thinking that Zhehan would be okay to stay in a situation like this, where Gong Jun would face danger and harm from Zhehan’s own mob.
But Gong Jun tipped his head up in that way of his that Zhehan knew all too well was a sign of his stubbornness, that he wasn’t going to budge on this. “We’ll figure something out. We don’t have to give up your family to make the two of us work.”
Despite Gong Jun’s confidence and determination, Zhehan wasn’t certain at all. For the first time in a very long time, Zhehan didn’t know what to do.
Zhehan woke up to the mob initiating a sudden burrow move. It was very early in the morning, and he hadn’t been told beforehand, hadn’t made any preparations. He had to scamper around with the kittens, waking up the muzzy babies and nudging them around so they were lined up neatly for the adults to pick them up.
“What’s going on?” Zhehan whispered to Xiaoyu as he darted by.
“They smelled your Gong Jun in here again and thought it was better to move,” Xiaoyu admitted, grimacing in sympathy at Zhehan.
It broke Zhehan’s heart. Could they live like this? It was impossible to hide Gong Jun’s scent from the others. Would they move every time Gong Jun came over? It wasn’t fair to Gong Jun or Zhehan’s mob. A burrow move was dangerous, usually one of the most vulnerable times for a mob of meerkats. It wasn’t something that was done lightly. But now, here they were, moving from a safe den to the outside world, towards unknown territory where they would have to find a new home and settle down once more. All because of Zhehan’s actions.
And Gong Jun… His poor Junjun, the way he had come back, injured but still chirping cheerfully, still bringing food to Zhehan and fearlessly ready to face the consequences of their actions. But maybe Zhehan wasn’t ready to face the consequences, couldn’t bear to see Gong Jun get hurt over and over again just for him.
Maybe it would be better if Gong Jun couldn’t find them again, after their move.
So Zhehan threw himself into the burrow move, trying to empty his mind of all thoughts as he circled the kittens, ensuring every kitten was assigned to an adult and herding anyone that fell behind as they left the burrow. He would rather be busy than to think that maybe yesterday was the last time he would see Gong Jun again…
The mob of meerkats ran through the tall grass, careful to keep low to the ground as they ran slowly, most of them carrying a kitten by their nape. The kittens had only experienced a couple cursory trips out of the burrows and weren’t sure-footed enough to run on their own, so they could only be carried around by the other meerkats, their bodies hanging limply in the adults’ jaws, tails curled up between their legs. It wasn’t a good time to move now, but they had no choice, not once the matriarch had made up her mind.
Then, there was a sharp warning cry from Xukai who was standing on watch as they moved through the grasslands. A large, intimidating shadow passed over them from above.
An eagle…
They were too far from their old burrow to run back, and there was nowhere good to hide. All of them scampered through the grass, fleeing as fast as they could until finally, to their relief, they saw a fallen dried-up tree up ahead. Zhehan surged forward, kitten clutched between his aching jaws as he shot towards a dark gap he spotted in the tree, squeezing his way into a hole within the brittle bark and bringing the kitten with him. In a flurry of furry bodies, the other meerkats ducked into the holes in the trunk or under tiny spaces beneath the withered tree. But there were too many of them with not enough hiding spots and some of them could only huddle in the tall grass near the fallen tree, trying to stay out of view.
But the eagle had already spotted them and knew where they were. It started circling.
Zhehan shoved the kitten behind him in the hole, giving Xilun a comforting nuzzle. In this moment of danger, Xilun’s eyes were wide with fear but he kept silent instinctively. Good boy. Turning around, Zhehan edged to the opening of the hole and peered out, trying to see if there were other meerkats nearby who could squeeze in here too. But he knew as well the best move at this point was to stay quiet. To lay low. To hope the eagle didn’t see them.
Then, to his horror, he spotted one of the kittens shivering in the grass, not nearly well hidden enough. Even from where he was, he could see the conspicuous brown fur, the wide, terrified dark eyes.
When Zhehan looked up into the sky, he saw the eagle diving.
Zhehan wasn’t going to stand for it. The kittens were under his protection! He wasn’t going to let one die under his watch! He climbed out of the hole in the trunk, planning to dash out and grab the kitten. It would be him versus the eagle in terms of speed, and it would be suicidal, but he had to try.
Then, there was a sudden disturbance in the grass, and Zhehan saw a familiar, long meerkat dashing out in wide open view, even leaping above the tall grass as if to attract as much attention as possible. All eyes were immediately pulled to that large disturbance instead, and the eagle swerved instantly towards the more obvious target.
Zhehan was horrified but he ran out anyway and grabbed the kitten before dashing back quickly to the hole in the trunk, stuffing the kitten in. He turned back, ready to go help Gong Jun, and if they both had to fight this eagle to the death, then he would at least be by Gong Jun’s side for that. But Gong Jun was nowhere near, had headed away from their group, and Zhehan knew he wasn’t going to make it in time. He could see the eagle swooping down and down towards that fleeing dark figure…
Zhehan began to run, ready to go anyway. He didn’t know what he was running towards, and he didn’t know what he would do, but he had to try.
Except suddenly, a heavy weight pounced onto him, sending him tumbling back. The scent and bulk was familiar. It was Xiaoyu, and Zhehan was taken off-guard. Xiaoyu was bigger than him, and with the element of surprise on his side, he managed to clamp his jaws on Zhehan’s nape and drag him towards the tree, trying to shove him back under the trunk. Zhehan went wild, hissing and biting and trying to get away, but Xiaoyu pinned him down, ignoring how Zhehan was thrashing under him.
“Junjun wouldn’t want you to do this,” Xiaoyu said, soft, miserable.
It was too late anyway… Xiaoyu had distracted him for long enough that Zhehan knew that it was over. Whatever had happened…had happened. He let out a mournful chirp, covering his eyes with his paws until finally, Xiaoyu let him up. Zhehan crawled out from under the trunk and Xiaoyu’s body. He was the first to stand up tall, to crane his neck towards where he had last seen that fleeing figure and that eagle swooping down.
There was no one there. The yellow grass was devoid of movement. The sky was empty.
Zhehan stared and stared… Waiting. Hoping.
But he knew. If the eagle had gotten what it wanted…then there would be no sign left, not on the ground.
All around Zhehan, meerkat heads popped up over the yellowing grass as they tentatively stood up, looking around for the eagle and for their unexpected savior.
Xiaoyu said he was sorry.
Xiaoyu said they should wait, said they would go over and check together. Maybe…just maybe…
But Zhehan wasn’t waiting anymore. He didn’t want to imagine his Junjun’s last seconds, as he ran through the grass, maybe waiting for Zhehan to join him, to help somehow, but in the end, facing cruel talons and curved beaks on his own.
(Even as he knew, deep down, that his Junjun would never think that. That all Junjun would have wanted was for Zhehan to be safe.)
He started running towards where he last saw Gong Jun. Even if there was nothing left to see, even if it was too late, he wanted to be where Gong Jun was last breathing and alive.
Xiaoyu let out an alarmed cry, because it might not be safe yet, but Zhehan was gone and this time, he was too fast to be held back. He pelted across the long grass, running as fast as he could, running hard so he didn’t have to think about Gong Jun and his big soft paws, and his gentle grooming and the happiness in Gong Jun’s scent when Zhehan ate the food he brought… He tried to run away from it all, even as he ran towards where he last saw Gong Jun frantically fleeing.
He caught Gong Jun’s scent in the air and slowed down. He ran a few more steps forward before stopping, turning back, because he couldn’t smell Gong Jun anymore past this point… He circled, a wide circle, instinctively afraid to go directly to the place where Gong Jun’s scent disappeared completely, balking now that he had to face reality.
His Junjun must have been so scared…facing his last moments alone when those large talons closed in…
Zhehan let out a broken chirp, head hung low in despair.
Then he heard a very quiet returning chirp.
He looked up in shock and all of a sudden, a familiar, beloved meerkat popped up through the grass, looking a little dusty and confused, staring directly at him.
"Zhehan!" Gong Jun called out in surprise but before he could say another word, he was bowled over by Zhehan flinging himself onto him.
They rolled on the grass from the momentum until they came to a stop with Zhehan on top of Gong Jun, sniffing him all over for any injuries, frantically pawing over him to be sure he was completely alright. Gong Jun tried to soothe him, telling him, ‘I'm okay, I'm okay, it's all okay.’ And Zhehan nipped him on the muzzle because how dare Gong Jun scare him like that! How dare Gong Jun risk his life like that! What would Zhehan do if something had happened to his Junjun! How could he?
And so for several minutes, Gong Jun had to apologize profusely and groom Zhehan in comfort. By the time the rest of the mob caught up, Zhehan was aggressively grooming Gong Jun in turn while scolding him the whole time in loud outraged chirps about how Gong Jun should never risk his life like that ever again or, or...Zhehan would ignore him! For a whole week! The other meerkats awkwardly stood beside them, some pretending to be on lookout so they didn't have to watch this embarrassing open display of affection.
Finally, when it didn’t seem like Zhehan and Gong Jun would stop any time soon, the other meerkats interjected to ask what had happened? How did Gong Jun manage to survive? When Zhehan reluctantly stopped his frenetic grooming, Gong Jun took them a few steps away to the very hidden, very deep, abandoned tunnel that Gong Jun had jumped into right as the eagle was almost on him. He swore he felt the talons brush by his fur, it had been such a close call!
Xiaoyu was rather impressed that Gong Jun had risked his life to distract the eagle and actually had a plan, an escape hidden in the grass. But at that point, Gong Jun admitted that there had been no clever scheme, no back-up plans at all. He had just run into the fray, leaping around to get the eagle’s attention because all he knew was that Zhehan and the kittens were in danger, and even though he didn’t know exactly what he could do against an eagle, he would just have to try his best to lure it away.
He had been fleeing for his life, expecting to be caught at any moment as he pelted at full speed and fell right into the tunnel, completely by accident. At the speed he was going, he had tumbled quite a long way and even jammed himself into a narrow tunnel, being such a tall meerkat. He had only managed to struggle free and rushed to the surface when he had heard Zhehan’s sad, much too forlorn chirp, because who would dare make Zhehan so upset!
Turned out, he had been the one to make Zhehan so upset.
Xiaoyu was less impressed at this point by Gong Jun's genius, but was still impressed by Gong Jun's courage. They all were.
Except for Zhehan who was outraged all over again and pinned Gong Jun down once more to check him for any injuries.
(But also, he was reluctantly charmed that Gong Jun was so honest about this. He really could have just accepted their admiration and pretended he had planned it all, but of course, his Junjun was too honest to accept credit for something he didn't plan for... Why was he so cute and silly, aiya…)
After that display of heroism, the Siji mob accepted Gong Jun into their fold, especially after Zhehan finally laid down the ultimatum that he was going to be with Gong Jun no matter what and if they didn't want Gong Jun, then Zhehan was going to leave too, and he really was the best babysitter they could ever want. Any mob would love to have a babysitter like him! Not to mention, Gong Jun helped save at least one kitten, maybe more, at the risk of his own life so how could they even doubt Gong Jun's sincerity towards Zhehan and their mob?
So slowly but surely, they accepted Gong Jun as an honorary member of the mob. Gong Jun still returned to his own smaller mob from time to time, and eventually, the two mobs of meerkats started interacting, mainly to complain about Zhehan and Gong Jun.
It was just that the two of them together were just… So Much. For example, it was normal for meerkats to huddle together, perform mutual grooming and roll around when playing. But Zhehan and Gong Jun just took their cuddling to a ridiculous level. They would curl up so close together that it was like they were a single meerkat sometimes, all the while making soft chirping sounds as they nosed at each other, for no good reason! They would groom one another carefully, lovingly, looking and smelling so annoyingly satisfied and happy with life. All the other meerkats had no choice but to complain to each other that they were there too and would like to feel less like a spectator in their own burrow please!
Also, Zhehan never stopped telling the story of that time Gong Jun fended off an eagle. Yes, fended off an eagle. With each retelling, it got more and more impressive, and even though Gong Jun would protest weakly, Zhehan could not be stopped, the world had to know about Gong Jun’s bravery and amazingness.
Once, in the middle of a fight over territory with another mob of meerkats, the half-grown kittens shouted out, 'We're not afraid of you, we've got Junjun the Eagle Defeater on our side!!!' and Zhehan chimed in with a loud cry going, 'Yeah!! Haven't you heard the story of Junjun who fought off and killed that eagle on his own?!' He even started narrating some of that story while he was fighting other meerkats because Zhehan was just very talented that way. Gong Jun tried to interject, but it was too late, no one (not even Gong Jun) could slow Zhehan's roll when he was boasting about his meerkat husband in every possible situation.
Which was how there was now a myth about an eagle-killing meerkat going around all the meerkat mobs, and even the nearby snakes and jackals avoided the Siji and Ghost Valley mobs out of fear.
(Except for that one time another suffering mob was being attacked daily by a meerkat-obsessed eagle and they came begging for the Eagle Destroyer’s help, which led to Gong Jun crying out in panic, “Zhehaaaan, look what you did! Oh no, I can’t fight an eagle!” but the two of them eventually put their active minds together and laid out some traps to tackle the eagle and genuinely earn the title of Eagle Destroyer…
But that was a story for another day.)
The main point was that both mobs, under the duress of dealing with Zhehan and Gong Jun’s combined… everything, ended up joining together and becoming one big mob. They had two permanent babysitters, who would cuddle all the time in front of everyone's insect salad, and it was really gross, but what could you do? The mob was stronger together, and together meant accepting that these two courageous, caring and annoying meerkats loved each other very much and had chosen each other as meerkat mates for life. In their own strange little cute way, they were undeniably perfect together and the other meerkats wouldn’t have them any other way.
The End