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“Ah, Chovy, play nice please,” Sanghyeok calls out from the kitchen, watching Jihoon bat playfully at Hyunjoon.
Wooje fawns over the little orange cat even as he assaults his boyfriend, endeared by Chovy’s antics. Jihoon meows loudly as Hyunjoon reaches for one of the caramel brownies on the table, and pounces for his outstretched hand.
“Hyung, your cat hates me,” Hyunjoon whines out pitifully, looking longingly at the brownies Jihoon is standing guard over. “He won’t let me eat anything.”
Sanghyeok wanders back to the table, snacks in hand, and scoops Jihoon up. “He doesn’t hate you. He’s a sweetheart.”
Wooje nods in agreement. “He’s so cute.”
Jihoon preens in Sanghyeok’s arms, tail swishing back and forth. He was cute.
Hyunjoon throws a mildly betrayed look at Wooje. “Wooje, didn’t you see how he attacked me?”
“Hyung, he’s a cat. He just wants to play,” Wooje says matter of factly.
Hyunjoon eyes up the fluffy cat suspiciously, and Jihoon pokes his tongue out, eyes squinting.
“He’s making faces,” Hyunjoon groans. “Sanghyeok hyung, your cat is sentient, and feral, and hates me.”
Jihoon was indeed sentient. He could be feral, too. He certainly had been in some of his past lives. He definitely didn’t hate Hyunjoon, to be clear, he just didn’t like when Sanghyeok was busy with his friends. Wooje was just cute enough that Jihoon never bullied him, possessing an innocent charm that Jihoon appreciated. It also helped that he also always brought him treats.
Sanghyeok scratches between Jihoon’s ears fondly, and the cat purrs at the gentle touch. “He’s not feral, Hyunjoon-ah. I keep telling you to bring him treats.”
“That’s Wooje’s job,” Hyunjoon sulks. “And Minseok’s. I’m not giving him anything. He’s mean to me and Minhyung.”
“He’s a cat,” Sanghyeok sighs. “If you and Minhyungie would just bring him snacks, he’d love you.”
Jihoon meows. That is completely untrue, and Sanghyeok-hyung knows it.
“See? He agrees.”
Jihoon goes to bare his fangs and hiss in clear disagreement, but Sanghyeok tightens his arms around the aggrieved cat and squishes his face before he can make his move.
Sanghyeok is silencing him. Jihoon will get him back for this.
~ ~ ~
Jihoon sprawls out over Sanghyeok, wrapping his long limbs around the smaller man and offering a delighted grin to a shell-shocked Hyunjoon. “Hey, kid.”
“What the fuck ,” Hyunjoon rubs his eyes frantically. “You… but you’re a cat?”
Jihoon nods seriously. “Meow.”
“Please stop bullying him,” Sanhyeok deadpans, and Hyunjoon coughs furiously.
“So you have been bullying me!”
“Oh, come on,” Jihoon gives him an unimpressed look. “I’m just a cat!”
“What is going on,” Hyunjoon whispers frantically. “Hyung, am I dreaming?”
Jihoon yawns into Sanghyeok’s shoulder. “Sanghyeok hyung, when will he leave again?”
“I’m right here!” Hyunjoon yelps out.
“Yes,” Jihoon groans. “You are. This is supposed to be my time with Sanghyeokie hyung. Please go away.”
Sanghyeok presses his lips together firmly, trying–and failing–to hide his smile. “I apologize, Hyunjoon-ah. Maybe you should come back tomorrow?”
Jihoon shakes his head empathetically but yelps when Sanghyeok pinches his arm.
“Ok, yeah. I can’t do this. I gotta go,” Hyunjoon stammers out, scrambling to gather his things and rush out the door, before pausing. “Can I tell Wooje?”
“Yes,” Jihoon calls out. “Tell him to bring more of those beef jerky snacks when he comes around next. Wooje is so nice~”
~ ~ ~
Jihoon dangles his legs over the top of the couch, staring at Sanghyeok from upside down. “A favorite? I don’t play favorites.”
“Yes, you do,” Sanghyeok tilts his head. “You like Minseok. And Wooje.”
Jihoon rolls his eyes. “Well, obviously. They give me gifts. You know, back when I was in Egypt, they treated me like a God. I mean, I understand jewels and silks aren’t really trendy for cats these days, but come on . I’m not asking for much here.”
“So Egypt was your favorite life?”
“Egypt was nice,” Jihoon hums dreamily, rolling to the floor with a thump, and landing on his feet as a cat. He yawns, teeth sharp. “They let me sit at their tables. I ate so much fish . Hyung, we should get sushi.”
“We can order in tonight,” Sanghyeok stoops down to lift the little orange cat and sets him back on the couch. Jihoon promptly turns back human, snagging Sanghyeok’s sweater and pulling him down to sit with him.
~ ~ ~
“You were a cheetah? I don’t remember that one,” Sanghyeok muses.
Jihoon nods sagely. “That one was fun. I was a little sad this time around when I woke up as a house cat. I’ve been a small cat six times! Six ! Then again, I didn’t exactly make it very long in the savanna. No opportunity to be human. Cheetahs have short lifespans, you know.”
Sanghyeok contemplates him. “You’re over twenty now.”
“..Yeah?”
“House cats don’t typically live much past twenty.”
Jihoon turns his head from where it’s been resting in Sanghyeok’s lap and grins up at him. “Hyung, are you worried about me?”
“I’m just pointing out the facts,” Sanghyeok states firmly.
“I’ve spent so much time being human this life. I’ll end up with a human lifespan,” Jihoon explains.
Sanghyeok scratches through Jihoon’s hair, considering. “Why were your other lives so short, then?”
“Hyung, seriously, you think it’s that easy to just shift around all the time? My last life was two hundred years ago! They would have called me a witch. Then my lifespan would have really been short,” Jihoon complains. “I’m still born a cat. If I turn human, I’m basically just homeless. And poor. And I can't hunt properly.”
“Two hundred years is quite some time.”
“I know . Here I am, though.”
~ ~ ~
“What’s this about Schrödinger, then?”
Jihoon’s eyes gleam as he stares up from the floor, fluffy paws batting at the air as Sanghyeok dangles a feather toy above him. With a movement too fast for Sanghyeok to react to, he snatches it out of the air and lets a purr rumble up through his chest as he tugs it to his mouth, gnawing gently on the end. Sanghyeok has to pry his fangs off of it. Jihoon’s been eating every single toy–Sanghyeok fears for his health.
Jihoon rolls back upright and leaps to the couch, paws neatly tucked underneath him.
“I was a cat, of course.”
“Naturally,” Sanghyeok agrees.
“Schrödinger’s cat, to be precise.”
“Jihoonie,” Sanghyeok starts, looking critically at his little orange cat. “That’s a concept, not an actual living being. Plus, they didn’t even come up with the idea until the thirties–that’s barely forty years ago.”
Jihoon stares back at him, unimpressed. It’s a bit hard for Sanghyeok to argue with a literal talking animal.
“Hyung, it was my fifth life. I think I know it a little better than you.” Jihoon licks a paw, sniffing haughtily as he tosses his head to look away from Sanghyeok.
“I’m sorry, Jihoonie,” Sanghyeok coughs politely and smooths the grin from his face. “Please continue.”
“There’s nothing else to say, really,” Cat Jihoon shrugs, ears twitching. “I was there, sort of. Curiosity kills the cat, doesn’t it? Of course, nothing could kill me. Nothing could keep me alive, either.”
“I don’t think I know what you mean.”
Jihoon bares his fangs, lets out a little chuffing laugh, and his eyes shine impossibly brighter. “Imagine, hyung. A little kitty cat in a box, thinking about the outside world–about people that are maybe alive, maybe dead, maybe both at the same time. I couldn’t leave, Sanghyeok hyung! If I left and if I looked , the world would probably end.”
“You’re really just making up stories, now,” Sanghyeok counters, fighting to keep the smile from spreading across his face.
Jihoon’s eyes scrunch into little crescents and he lets out an airy laugh, tail swishing as he shifts human and pounces on Sanghyeok. “You like my stories, hyung. Don’t you?
Sanghyeok sinks further down into the couch under Jihoon’s weight, sighing dramatically, and lets his arms wrap around his cat.
“I’m glad you’re not just a concept, Jihoonie.”
~ ~ ~
“What will happen to you next?”
Jihoon tugs his knees into his chest and shuffles his chair to face Sanghyeok. He’s occupied Sanghyeok’s whole desk. He’s taken up painting, lately, and bright colors are splattered across every blank page he can find. Sanghyeok doesn’t question his “art”.
“I don’t know,” Jihoon shrugs, swiveling the chair back and forth. “I don’t choose where I end up. Or when. I’m just there, and eventually, I remember everything that came before.”
Sanghyeok shouldn’t feel upset. He’s twenty eight, sure, and all his friends jokingly call him an old man, but he has a long life ahead of him. Jihoon does too–Sanghyeok feels a bit selfish thinking about it, but he almost wishes he could have spent Jihoon’s ninth life with him. The cat will move on from Sanghyeok in his final life. He’ll find someone else to spend the years with. It’s modern times, after all–everyone loves a house cat.
“It would be nice to be a big cat again, but I think that time has passed. It’s 1978. Cheetah print is still in,” Jihoon says mournfully. “Much easier living this life.”
Sanghyeok plasters a smile onto his face. “It’s a good life.”
“Don’t be sad, hyung,” Jihoon muses. Sanghyeok can never hide anything from him. Jihoon, for all his antics, possesses a wisdom that only comes with time–and he has lived eight lives worth of time. “We have this whole life ahead of us.”
Sanghyeok will be happy with what he’s been given.
“Plus, I’ll just find you again, Sanghyeokie hyung. Trust me,” the cat happily chirps, spinning back to pick up another paint brush. Sanghyeok doesn’t question him. Jihoon says strange things sometimes.
He tells himself that they still have time.
~ ~ ~
They don’t have enough time. They both die in a tragic car accident eight years later.
This is a good thing.
This means that ten years after that, Lee Sanghyeok is (re)born, five more years, Jeong Jihoon is (re)born, and another six years–video games are all the rage.
~ ~ ~
Lee 'Faker' Sanghyeok stares at the little midlaner, freshly eighteen years old, mouth parted in a little feline grin, tiger fangs poking into his lip, and all he can think of are cats .