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Riku would say he understands the concept of branding. He gets that the company often pushes a certain image onto their idols, and he’s also experienced this first hand, of course.
Sometimes, however, the shoe fits some people better than others.
The prime example that comes to Riku’s mind is Yushi. Looking past company-assigned emojis and personas, Yushi might be the person on Earth closest to becoming a cat at any given moment.
He just doesn’t realise how plausible the situation is, until it actually happens.
🐈
Riku wakes up to the blaring sound of his alarm, eyes bleary and mind clouded with sleep. The time on his lock screen reads an incredible 5:00am — the hour of champions.
Dragging a palm down his face, he swings his legs over the edge of the bed and ungracefully plants his feet on the floor, hauling himself up. His eyes flutter closed again, and he stands, swaying, until a loud thud from across the dorm snaps him out of his daze. Any usual morning in their household comes with complimentary crashes and bangs from mysterious sources, so he sighs and ignores it.
Begrudgingly, Riku forces himself to cycle through the motions of washing up, brushing his teeth, and getting dressed to prepare for the day. All seems average until he emerges from the bathroom about 20 minutes later, to what feels like an alternate universe.
The first thing to catch his attention is the lack of a queue outside the bathroom door. Normally there would be at least 2 other members knocking like madmen, but Riku’s tired brain hadn’t even taken note of the lack of commotion.
Concerningly, none of the members seem to even be in the kitchen or living area. On a normal day around the time of promotions, the members will typically grab a small bite to eat before heading out to the music show or schedule of the day. Today, however, there doesn’t seem to be a soul in sight.
Just as Riku thinks that it might now be time to panic, he hears muffled talking from inside Yushi’s room. Curiously, he wanders over and flings the door open to find four other members of his group standing around an empty bed.
“What’s going on here?”
Sakuya turns to face Riku, face long and pale with what looks like dread.
“We can’t find Yushi.”
🐈
“What do you mean you can’t find him? He can’t have gone that far.”
Sion’s face looks weathered with stress, and Riku can’t blame him. To find out that your friend, member and co-worker has gone missing from their home at 5:30am on a Monday morning will do that to you. And it probably doesn’t help that they need to be ready for schedules in less than an hour.
“I mean that we can’t find him at all. He isn’t anywhere in the dorm.”
From Jaehee’s face, it’s clear that the younger members are still half asleep, eyes droopy with sleep dust still yet to be wiped away. They’re standing like zombies, heads hung low and pajama pants rolled halfway up their legs.
“While you were in the shower, Sion-hyung woke us up.” Sakuya explains, interrupting himself with a yawn. “He asked us if we had seen or heard from Yushi at all.”
Ryo picks at his fingernails as he chimes in. “Obviously we hadn’t. I had only just opened my eyes when hyung almost broke the door down.” He glances at Sion with a hint of annoyance.
Their leader looks up from where he had been staring at Yushi’s empty bed, face still stony with stress.
“When I came to check if Yushi was awake, his bed was empty and I couldn’t find him in any other part of the dorm. I tried to call him, but then I realised that his phone is still charging here.” Sion motions to the nightstand, where Yushi’s phone is clearly still sitting at full battery.
“I have no clue where he could’ve gone. It’s so unlike him to just vanish. And I don’t know what we’re going to tell manager-hyungs. How do we even explain that our group member has just disappeared into thin air?” Sion sighs again, pinching the space between his eyebrows.
For some reason, that’s what snaps Riku back to reality, having zoned out during their conversation.
“Are you serious, hyung? Why are you not more worried about actually finding him instead of caring about the stupid managers?”
The whole conversation up until this point has been like a pressurised container of stress for Riku, fear and worry building up until they inevitably explode back out.
“He could be anywhere, someone could’ve taken him, he could’ve been kidnapped, and you’re worried about our managers and schedules?” Riku is aware that he probably sounds frantic, and slightly insane, and also that he’s yelling at 5:30am. But that’s because he feels slightly insane right now.
The member’s faces are painted with shock, as though the severity of the situation has only just hit them. Suddenly Riku feels guilty for yelling so early in the morning, and sends a mental apology to both the members and their neighbours, who have probably heard everything.
Sion looks resigned when he replies. “Riku, I understand that you’re worried. We all are. I don’t care more about the managers or schedules, of course. You guys are always my priority. I’m just trying to think logically as a leader. We were meant to be out of the door in less than an hour.”
Riku looks down at the floor — guilt, anger, and fear all swirling through his still-tired mind.
“But we do still need to figure out what we’re doing.” Sion looks up at the members again, surveying their expressions and picking at a hangnail on his finger.
“I think it’s best we split up for now. There weren’t any signs of forced entry into the dorm, so I don’t think he was taken by anyone.” Sion leads the group out of Yushi’s bedroom, and down the corridor to the front door; which looks the exact same as it did last night when Riku locked it on their way back in.
“For now, I’m going to call manager-hyung and let him know that Yushi won’t be able to make it to schedules today. It’s just some recording so we can reschedule it for him, hopefully.”
“The rest of you, start getting ready to head out. Riku, do you feel like you’ll be able to work today?”
Riku’s body language must be betraying his emotions, because one look at him is all Sion needs to sigh, and pull him into a warm hug.
“Hyung is sorry, Riku. I’m just as stressed as you are, but with the comeback so soon we can’t afford to lose any more time. I trust that you’ll know how and where to find him. We also need someone to be around if he comes back.”
When Sion releases Riku from their hug, Riku finds a new sense of determination. He needs to find out where Yushi has gone, and what happened.
“I’m sorry too hyung. I shouldn’t have shouted. I’m just worried about him.”
“I know, it’s okay Riku-yah.” Sion flashes him a slightly pinched smile, and walks off to hurry the others up.
🐈
As Riku hurriedly pulls on the closest pair of shoes, he starts to mentally list potential locations that Yushi could be at. The list is quite short, since most places aren’t open at 6am on a Monday morning, but he still has a vague idea of a search route.
Yushi hadn’t left any clues behind at all. No texts, no notes — nothing. His phone was even still charging on his bedside table, which Riku grabbed for good measure in case anyone tried to call and didn’t receive a response.
Riku left the dorm feeling relatively hopeful and optimistic. Yushi couldn’t have gone far, Riku had said that himself. He was going to find him and be home within an hour, and then they could spend the rest of the day watching movies. He’d even let Yushi pick what to watch, and what to eat. They’d order delivery.
🐈
About an hour later, the sun had fully risen yet Riku felt fully dead inside. His exhaustive mental list of three (3) locations had proven fruitless. He couldn’t find any whisper or footprint of Yushi’s whereabouts at all.
Dejectedly, Riku makes his way over to the closest store to grab a snack, stomach growling. He picks up a couple of pre-made snacks, and is just about to choose a fruit milk flavour, when he hears it.
At first, it’s quiet and barely noticeable.
The second time, it’s slightly louder and closer. Riku strains his ears to hear, holding his breath.
The third meow is the loudest yet, and the most insistent. Craning his neck upwards, Riku spots a tuft of white-orange fur, hiding behind a bottle of strawberry milk. Riku feels like he might still be asleep. Maybe this is all a super weird, messed up dream.
The cat meows again, clearly wanting his attention. Riku places his shopping basket on the floor, and carefully moves the drinks off the shelves, revealing an adult cat with soft, white-orange fur.
“Ah, Kitty cat, how did you get in there?” he whispers, gently petting the cat, before scooping it into his arms and placing it back on the floor of the store.
The cat meows at him again, now rubbing its soft body up against Riku’s legs.
“You’re super cute, kitty, but I have to get going.”
🐈
Riku pays for his shopping, and leaves the store. His full intention is to go home to the dorm and call Sion, their manager, and then the police and tell them the whole truth. But before he can even start walking, the cat from the milk aisle stops him.
It meows petulantly, its tail flicking against Riku’s ankles with quite some force behind it. It sits its body down on top of Riku’s feet, adamantly refusing to move.
Riku reaches down to remove the ball of fluff, but is promptly stopped when the cat hisses at him, baring its teeth which — there are a lot of — and causing Riku’s hand to retract.
The cat has left him with little other choice than to sit down at a nearby bench, Riku having to shuffle over with a cat sitting on his feet and a bag full of groceries. He must look a right sight, thankful for his mask and hat as well as the pretty early time of day.
Once Riku is seated, the cat starts climbing his legs. Riku can only stare in disbelief as the cat digs its untrimmed claws into his brand new jeans, dragging itself up to his lap and sitting in a loaf position.
Funnily, the cat doesn’t look as though it has a collar or a tag on it at all. Which is strange, because most street cats that Riku has encountered aren’t this friendly nor this clean. And most street cats also don’t climb into milk fridges in convenience stores.
“Do you have an owner, Kitty?” Riku asks, now scratching under the cat’s chin, to which it purrs lowly and leans into his touch. The cat only meows again in reply, before it suddenly leaps into the air as if it had been prod with a red hot iron, or a taser.
The cat immediately makes a break for it, running down the street. Riku sighs, for what feels like the millionth time that morning, collecting his groceries and starting the walk back to the dorm. He needs to focus on the problem at hand, and not cute cats on the street.
🐈
Riku’s day only continues to get weirder and weirder from that point. The cat namely being source of all the weirdness.
As Riku reaches into his bag, preparing to pull out his dorm key, he hears a suspiciously familiar sound.
The cat, now sitting in front of their dorm front door, looks Riku directly in the eye. And meows again, loudly. As though it’s mocking Riku.
Riku can only stand there in disbelief, mouth agape and eyes blinking rapidly. He finds himself unable to conjure a single logical explanation for how the exact cat from earlier would have known where their dorm was, or how it knew that Riku would be going there. The entire situation defies any common reasoning.
His sleep deprived brain seems to refuse to care, instead accepting his new temporary pet.
Exhausted, Riku side-steps the cat on the doormat, and unlocks their door, which still doesn’t show any signs of forced entry. The cat darts into the dorm through the front door, racing down the darkened hallway and straight into Yushi’s vacant room.
Riku, now extremely tired and very resigned to the complete chaos of the day, places his bag of snacks on the kitchen table and walks off in search of the cat.
🐈
The door to Yushi’s room, which Riku has previously left slightly ajar, is now fully open as though a whirlwind has blown straight through it. Which, in a sense, it did.
At first glance, the cat is nowhere to be found. But upon further inspection, Riku finds it sat next to the bed, hidden from view, and aggressively biting Yushi’s phone charger.
Riku rushes forward, carefully prying the cat’s mouth off of the cord.
“Stupid cat, what would happen if you bit through the wire and electrocuted yourself?” Riku tuts, reprimanding the cat – which looks particularly sulky, as though it understood Riku’s words.
Scooping up the bundle of fur, Riku turns around and sets the cat down onto Yushi’s bed. Riku takes a seat next to it, staring out of the window.
“You wouldn’t know what happened to Yuu-chan, would you, Kitty?” he asks, tilting his head to glance at the cat, which is making itself comfortable on Yushi’s pillow.
The cat looks up, meowing loudly at Riku as it settles down in a loaf position.
“I’ll take that as a no.”
Riku crawls over to lay down next to the cat, which looks up at him with slight annoyance in its expression.
“I just don’t understand, kitty. I don’t know where he could have gone. And if he was at the company, Sion-hyung definitely would’ve told me by now.” Riku’s entire body flops flat onto Yushi’s bed in exhaustion.
The cat’s orange-white fur has already started to shed on Yushi’s bed. Riku is sure that Yushi won’t be too happy about that when he eventually gets back – if he even gets back – but that’s not a can of worms that Riku wants to open right now.
Riku looks over again, only to find that the cat is already staring at him. Wide, black eyes, and a stupid expression on its face. It’s a little unsettling, actually.
He waits for the cat to blink, move, or anything. But it doesn’t. Just stares at Riku, unblinking and very creepy.
Just as Riku is about to wave a hand in front of its face, it starts to meow. Very loudly. Right in Riku’s face.
The stupid expression somehow remains on the cat’s face too, even as it yowls at Riku non-stop. The sound is piercing and grating, and now Riku can officially say he’s frightened. He really hopes that he hasn’t let a skinwalker or any other malicious entity into their dorm.
Just as suddenly as the meowing had started, it stops. The cat picks itself up and jumps off the bed, waltzing out of Yushi’s bedroom and down the corridor into the kitchen, like nothing had even happened.
Sighing again, Riku walks off to follow the cat. The very weird, and possibly possessed cat that he found on the street.
🐈
Once again, this cat is testing Riku.
Its fluffy tail is sticking out of the cupboard, like it’s trying to hide. Very unsuccessfully, might Riku add.
The deafening crashing that had come from its direction about 10 seconds beforehand was enough of an indicator of the cat’s location – and the broken dishes all over the countertops, the sink, and the floor all tell Riku everything he needs to know.
The combination of the day’s stress, Yushi’s absence, and the cat’s ongoing mischief is nearly enough to send Riku to an early grave. And that’s leaving out the chronic physical exhaustion that comes with the job of being an idol.
Riku takes a deep, calming breath, and picks the cat up. The cat does not like this, and squirms in his arms, hissing and scratching.
“You need to behave yourself, kitty.” Riku grits out, wrangling the cat onto the floor, where it (hopefully) cannot shatter any more crockery.
“If I feed you something, will you stop acting like this?”
Surprisingly, the cat appears to nod in response to Riku’s question. Its head bobs up and down, eyes still slightly manic.
“Okay. Your options are…”
The fridge, helpfully, is completely devoid of anything resembling cat food when Riku opens it. All that they have is a bunch of grapes, leftovers from last night’s dinner, a singular raw egg, one bottle of cola and a squishy-looking apple. Riku doesn’t know how they’ve survived this long.
Holding up the grapes, he waves them at the cat. “How about these?”
The cat looks at him in disbelief, not moving to eat the grapes at all. Understandably.
“How about we try the cupboards then.”
The cupboards prove to be just as fruitless as the fridge at first. Until Riku reaches into the furthest corner, and pulls out a singular can of tuna.
The cat seems to perk up at the sight, eagerly running over and practically climbing Riku’s shoulders.
Riku doesn’t know which psycho put the can of tuna in their pantry, but he silently thanks them in the moment. He’ll ask questions later.
“Kitty, I can’t feed you if you’re up there. Get down and let me find an intact bowl for you.”
Thankfully, the cat seems to be hungry enough to actually listen to Riku this time. It sits at Riku’s feet, waiting for him to empty the can into one of the few remaining, intact bowls.
Side-stepping all of the ceramic shards on the floor, Riku places the bowl of tuna in front of the cat, watching as it devours the fish. He pulls out his phone, leaning against the counter as he checks for any text updates from Sion, their managers, or even Yushi.
However, his phone is dry. The only text is a selfie of the members, sent from Sion’s contact. No updates about Yushi. Riku assumes that if he had been at the company, the members would’ve found him by now. Mentally, Riku crosses another location off of his list.
🐈
This cat, Riku thinks, is borderline insane. Like most orange cats are, actually. But this one is worse – more unhinged, but also cuter than most cats.
After Riku had fed it an entire bowl of tuna, he had expected that it might calm down, and stop acting so erratically. What actually happens is the complete opposite of Riku’s expectations.
Riku emerges from the kitchen, covered in a thin sheen of sweat and grime. The sheer amount of broken glass and ceramic on the floor was troublesome to say the least, and hazardous for both cats and humans. It had taken a lot of sweeping, vacuuming, and careful tiptoeing, but Riku was mostly sure that he had gotten all of the small pieces. Their dishes were about 60% broken – a hefty price tag was going to come with replacing them all.
Just as he heads towards the bathroom to wash his hands, Riku hears rapid thudding from a room down the corridor. A surge of panic jolts through him, understandable given his current circumstances, their missing member, and Riku’s theory of kidnapping.
Armed with the closest thing he could grab – which was, helpfully, a bottle of spray cleaner – Riku carefully makes his way to the source of the noise.
Thankfully, no robber or kidnapper has broken into their dorm in the thirty minutes he had spent cleaning. The thudding seems to be caused by none other than the cat. The cat, which is jumping up and down like a kangaroo.
Just as Riku thinks that it cannot get weirder, the cat suddenly stops. It stares at the wall for a good five seconds, before it breaks into a sprint, similarly to earlier that morning in the street, and starts running in circles around the room.
Watching the cat spin in circles is beginning to make Riku feel dizzy. He is also quite sick and tired, thank you, of this cat acting out. Especially while Riku should be focusing on finding Yushi.
The cat turns, runs head-first directly into the wall, gets up as though nothing had happened, and sprints back out of the room, into the bathroom.
Riku quickly follows in its stead, the possibility of their other worldly possessions breaking is not one that he wants to entertain right now.
Thankfully, the cat has stilled in the bathroom. It sits on the countertop, one paw reaching into the sink. Riku watches as it smacks the faucet, water gushing out and splashing all over the cat. The poor thing shrieks, hissing and jumping backwards.
Riku giggles as he moves to turn the faucet off. The cat, now soaked and looking very pathetic, meows pitifully up at him. Its face is so stupid that Riku can’t help but feel bad, wrapping the cat up in a spare towel and taking it to his bedroom to dry off.
Gently, Riku towels the cat’s wet fur off, removing the traces of water slowly. Soon enough, the cat is fully dry and purring calmly in Riku’s lap.
Just as Riku is about to be lulled to sleep by the rhythmic purring and warmth of the cat, he feels it begin to climb up his body again.
The cat is perched on top of his chest, the tip of its nose nuzzling Riku’s cheek. The soft brush of whiskers against his face is so ticklish, so cute.
Riku brushes the cat’s fur fondly, closing his eyes for a quick minute.
🐈
Riku wakes up to the sunset filtering in through the open curtains, the cat asleep on his chest just where it had been however long ago.
Cautiously, Riku brings a hand up to the cat’s body to stroke it. The cat stirs, activation noise escaping its mouth.
Riku and the cat lay there for a while, basking in the evening glow of golden sunlight, warmth spreading deep into their bones.
It’s only as Riku is reaching under the cat's chin to gently scratch it, that he notices the marking. Small, and easily missable. It’s a tiny little thing on a face already so small, just slightly off to the side below its left eye. The marking is very slightly orange tinted on an otherwise fluffy white cheek, covered by long whiskers and hidden from view. Riku is immediately reminded of someone else who has a very suspiciously familiar scar in the exact same spot on his face – the only difference being that Yushi is clearly a human, while this cat is clearly not.
Actually, when he looks even closer, Riku notices more and more features identical to those that Yushi possesses – and he would know, having stared (not so subtly) at Yushi’s face for many an hour at a time.
Riku’s hand meets the cat’s chin, gently scratching and petting it. The cat starts to purr, and its face even breaks into a smile that looks so painfully familiar, approximately 682 teeth and all. Riku thinks that if Yushi were a cat, this would be him.
Wait a minute.
Riku may be the first person in the world to have ever done a double take on a thought. If Yushi were a cat, this would be him. The cat smiles up at Riku again, its pearly teeth on display, familiar smile and facial markings – they all give him away.
The cat is so obviously Yushi. It’s so clear that it’s painful – how had he not noticed before?
By some twisted magical spell, Yushi has transformed into a cat. It explains so much – the uncharacteristic disappearing without a trace, the lack of clues or signs of forced entry, the borderline insane behaviour.
Riku doesn’t really know what to do now. He looks at Yushi-cat, who is staring dumbly at Riku’s face. Riku can only stare dumbly back, before speaking.
Breath catching in his throat, Riku asks. “Are you really Yushi?”
It’s like a switch has been flipped. Yushi-cat’s eyes widen, and he looks as though he’s contemplating running away upon being discovered.
He carefully pads towards Riku’s face, hesitating before placing a paw on Riku’s collarbone. Riku blinks, and Yushi-cat is rubbing a cheek against his own, before climbing back down into Riku’s arms, settling into a comfortable position in the crook of his elbow.
“Is that a yes?” Riku can only ask, arms full of fluffy Yushi-cat.
Yushi-cat lets out a loud meow in response. Riku can only assume that’s a yes.
He breathes out a sigh of relief – Yushi had truly not been kidnapped by aliens, or sasaengs. Thank fuck for that.
Now he needs to figure out where to go from here.
🐈
After a lot of deliberation and brainstorming, Riku is pretty certain he’s got their story straight. He sits down, Yushi-cat hanging off his shoulders, and runs it through again.
“Yuu-chan, if anyone asks, we tell them that you – the human version – sleepwalked out of the dorms, and you forgot your key and your phone.” Yushi-cat, now sitting in Riku’s lap, blinks at him, looking up at him with such wide, round eyes that Riku has now lost his train of thought. Riku coughs a little, before continuing.
“And then I found you at the store down the road, and nobody else saw you because it was early. Okay?”
Yushi-cat blinks again, starry eyes twinkling up at Riku, and Riku can only smile back, feeling cuteness aggression take over.
“Now that you’ve got that, we need to order more dishes. Since you so kindly broke the others.”
🐈
Unsurprisingly, the total cost of the replacement dishes is not cheap.
Riku clicks confirm on the order, directing an affectionate, yet annoyed, glare at Yushi-cat.
Yushi-cat is now sat on top of the dining table, next to Riku’s laptop. He shifts, adjusting his loaf position, and lets out a small mrrp noise. By now, Riku has deciphered that Yushi-cat is quite needy, and very touchy. It’s as though Yushi is magnetically attached to Riku, complaining in every moment that he’s not receiving Riku’s affection.
Riku reaches out a hand to gently stroke Yushi-cat’s head, his feline eyes closing. Behind them, the sun has almost fully set for the day, final rays of muted orange light fading into a midnight blue.
Stomach rumbling, Riku realises that he hasn’t eaten dinner yet. The depleted bag of snacks still sits on the counter, and he makes his way over to see how dire his food situation is.
The only thing left in the bag is a packet of Pocky – which definitely is not substantial enough to last Riku until the next day. It’ll have to be leftovers.
The microwave whirs as Riku begins to heat up last night’s takeout, and Riku looks over at Yushi-cat. The ball of fluff is curled into a croissant shape on the dining table, chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm. He must be asleep.
As he leans against the kitchen counter, Riku can only think about how grateful he is that Yushi is safe and sound. Even if it’s as a cat. The anxiety is slowly fading from his body, but Riku doesn’t think that he’ll be fully relaxed until Yushi shows up as a human again. Which will hopefully happen sooner rather than later.
Briefly, he entertains the idea of sending Yushi-cat to their schedules. It’s such a stupid mental image – an orange cat propped up on a high chair in the recording booth, meowing into the microphone. Or a cat running around the practice room, looping in and around the member’s ankles as they try to practice. It’s such a ridiculous train of thought, which Riku is quickly snapped out of as the microwave pings in completion.
The beeping of the microwave seems to wake Yushi-cat up, orange-white body flinching in surprise. Riku makes his way over with the hot food, sitting at the table.
Yushi-cat eyes up the leftovers, eyes showing suspicion and mischief. Riku can only sigh in defeat, placing a small piece of meat on the lid of the takeaway container for Yushi-cat to eat.
They eat in relaxed quiet, sounds of chewing and Yushi-cat licking his lips just barely audible over the whir of the ceiling fan.
As Riku finishes his food, Yushi-cat disappears again. He leaps off the dining table so elegantly, barely making a noise as he lands. Quite the contradiction to his earlier dish-destroying rampage.
The dorm is only blessed with a few fleeting moments of silence before Yushi-cat comes bounding back into the room. He stops at the window, staring at his reflection for a brief second before he’s running around – jumping on the couch, the shelves, the table, all in rapid succession.
Riku doesn’t quite know where these random bursts of energy are coming from, but they don’t seem to stop. Yushi-cat is now hopping from one leg to another, almost like he’s dancing. He isn’t called ‘Dancing Neko’ for no reason, apparently.
Just as Riku feels like he should intervene, his phone buzzes with a call from Sion. Silently, Riku hopes that Yushi will calm down enough to not be audible on the call, but the loud banging and crashing might be quite hard to talk over.
Riku sends Yushi-cat a glare, holding a finger to his lips as he presses the accept call button.
Yushi-cat only looks at him for a split second, before he resumes his rampage. Little gremlin.
“Hello, hyung?”
“Riku-ya, we were just about to head back to the dorms, but we found out that we’ve got dance practice for the next few hours. I just wanted to let you know.” Sion speaks, sounding as tired as Riku feels. It’s been a long day for all of them. “Also, anything from Yushi?”
Riku feels like this is one of those few times in which it’s best to lie. At the very least until he’s 100% sure that the cat is Yushi. Right now, he’s at 98% certainty.
“No hyung. I’ve been keeping an eye out but I haven’t seen or heard anything. You’re sure he’s not at the company?”
“No, I think we would’ve run into him by now.” Riku can hear Sion sigh through the phone. “Well, if anything comes up just call me.”
“I will, hyung. Good luck at practice.”
“Bye, Riku.”
The line cuts off, and Riku places his phone down on the dining table.
Across the room, Yushi-cat is finally standing still, staring at Riku with those big, black boba eyes. It’s very unnerving, as though Yushi-cat had been listening in on Riku’s whole conversation. Riku knows that to be untrue though, considering Yushi-cat had spent most of the short phone call bouncing off the walls.
🐈
When Riku eventually moves to rinse the takeaway container, Yushi-cat comes sprinting across the room again. Like it’s happening in slow motion, Riku can only watch as Yushi-cat almost levitates up onto the countertop, and leaps straight into the sink full of water.
Riku can only stand there, speechless, still holding the container, as he watches Yushi-cat resurface from below the bubbles, fur drenched in foam and suds. Honestly, it’s like Yushi-cat is trying to make Riku’s life harder for him.
From inside the water-filled sink, Yushi-cat meows sadly. Anyone would think that he had been dropped into the sink and not jumped in there of his own accord. This cat is really an idiot.
Riku huffs, pout forming across his face for the hundredth time that day. He fishes the drenched cat out, and grabs the nearest towel to wrap him in. The dishes will have to wait.
Just like earlier that day, Riku tenderly dries Yushi-cat off, taking extra care when he pats down his little face. However, Yushi-cat still shivers once Riku is done towelling him down. He also smells a bit funky. The cloying scent of leftover food and damp is stuck to his fur.
Riku decides that it might be best to just give him a bath, and fully commit to being victimised by Yushi-cat.
🐈
And that’s how he finds himself wrangling a very upset Yushi-cat in the bathroom sink.
The scent of shower gel is strong as Riku scrubs at Yushi-cat’s fur, with just enough gentle pressure to make the cat purr.
At the sight of water, Yushi-cat had frozen up, before scratching the hell out of Riku’s arms and chest. Riku really hopes that his stage outfits this comeback period will cover the state of his upper body, because it looks more like he got mauled by a bear than a cat.
Thankfully, Yushi-cat had mellowed out once Riku had started cleaning him.
Now dry and fully cleaned, smelling much better, Yushi-cat stretches across Riku’s bed. It’s impressive how long he becomes, limbs seemingly elongating and claws flexing. He lets out another mrrp noise as his back stretches, and Riku can’t help but coo.
Riku moves to join Yushi-cat on the bed, pulling up the covers as Yushi-cat situates himself on top of Riku’s chest again. Another nap never hurts, especially when you’re a cat.
Riku takes the opportunity to catch up on social media, scrolling through his phone until Yushi-cat wakes back up.
Some time later, Yushi-cat lets out a big yawn, full set of pearly teeth on show. Riku is so sure that this cat is the Yushi he knows and loves. They’re too similar in mannerisms and behaviour to not be one and the same.
Yushi-cat peels himself off Riku’s chest, crawling up Riku’s body until they’re at eye level with each other. Curiously, Yushi-cat leans in and rubs his face against Riku’s cheek, who giggles happily.
🐈
When Riku kisses Yushi-cat on the forehead, he is definitely not expecting a fully clothed, human Yushi to magically appear in a cloud of smoke. But that is in fact what happens.
One second, Yushi-cat is nuzzling his face, very much a cat. The next, a very human, life-sized Yushi is collapsing on top of Riku and pinning him to his bed.
Riku feels his face heating up into what is surely a bright pink blush that reaches the tips of his ears, and slowly spreads throughout the rest of his body. Yushi’s arms — which were literally just soft paws and sharp claws — are bracketing Riku’s head, and his flushed face is peering down at Riku. Even with a curtain of black human hair tickling Riku’s nose, Yushi still looks so much like a cat despite having four limbs and a human body.
Yushi is obviously just as shocked as Riku at the sudden transformation. His eyes are wide, just as they were in his cat form, glittering with surprise. His gaze, still on Riku, falters, as his ears become even redder with what could be embarrassment or any 5 other emotions.
“I can’t believe I was right.” Riku whispers softly, not daring to sever their eye contact, and break the trance that they both seem to be under.
Yushi grins, whisker dimples making themselves known. “I did try quite hard to tell you. It took you a little while in the end.”
“And by trying to tell me, you mean destroying most of our dorm and wreaking havoc. You’re helping me clean again later, you know. And you’re also paying me back for those dishes.”
Yushi has the audacity to giggle at that, as though his shenanigans haven’t severely inconvenienced Riku. It’s fine though, just because it’s him. And because Riku may or may not love him.
“In fact, how did you even get out of the dorm?” Riku asks, “The door was still locked when the others left this morning.”
“Eh… when I woke up, I kind of freaked out.” Yushi looks toward the window, blinking slowly. “It’s hard to explain.”
“There’s some sort of instinct that takes over, I guess.” He looks back at Riku, who nods, prompting Yushi to continue his explanation.
“I wasn’t thinking like a human, because I wasn’t in a human body. I knew I was me, but not a lot else. Cat brains don’t really seem to have a lot of thoughts.”
“So you wake up as a cat, and your first instinct is to climb out of the window?” Riku feels like he should grab Yushi, bundle him up like a burrito, and refuse to let him go until he’s completely certain that there won’t be anymore climbing out of windows, or other ridiculous situations.
The only response Riku gets to that is a shy nod from Yushi.
“And then what did you do once you got out of the window?” Riku is starting to become extremely concerned. Their dorm is quite high up, certainly not on the ground floor. Even for a cat, it’s a long way to the ground.
“Well…” Yushi trails off, turning his gaze to the window again. ”I don’t really know. I was just on the ground.”
Riku thinks that he might need to take more extreme measures if this ever happens again. Maybe he should buy a cage. Or just lock the windows. And triple bolt them.
“But then how did you get stuck in the fridge at the convenience store?”
Yushi has the cheek to laugh at that, which Riku decides is a privilege reserved only for him. He’s more than allowed to be fond of Yushi and laugh at him (bully him). But Yushi cannot be laughing about getting himself stuck in a fridge at six in the morning. He is an idiot. Riku’s idiot.
“Stop laughing! I was so worried about you. I thought you had been kidnapped by sasaengs or something. I obviously did not think that you were stuck in a fridge as a cat.”
Thankfully, that seems to sober Yushi up a little. His expression turns from mischievous to guilty, cheeky smile falling off his face. He looks down, not meeting Riku’s eyes.
“Sorry.”
Seeing Yushi look so forlorn makes Riku feel guilty too. What a pair they are.
“No, it’s okay. It’s not your fault at all. This entire day has been so weird, and I’m just glad that you’re safe and okay.” Riku says, bringing a hand up to Yushi’s face, cupping his cheek with so much gentle care that Yushi feels as though he might melt into a puddle right on this bed. He looks up, his gaze meeting Riku’s once again.
“So tell me more about how you got in the fridge.” Riku is giggling again now, and Yushi feels his face begin to flush again just looking at Riku’s smile.
“I don’t really know. I don’t remember a lot of anything. I just remember smelling food.”
“Maybe it was the milk you smelled? And that’s why I found you in that specific fridge.”
Yushi can only nod, feeling the exhaustion of the whole chaotic day crashing down on him. Now that he can finally relax, his body has started to shut down.
His eyes begin to droop, face nuzzling into Riku’s shoulder as he makes himself comfortable in his lap.
Riku is frozen, not daring to move as Yushi settles into position on top of him – as though moving will cause Yushi to have a realization and run away. Once Yushi has stilled, Riku carefully adjusts himself to a more comfortable position for the both of them, curled up on their sides. He pulls a soft blanket over them both and tucks Yushi’s head further into his own body, sharing warmth.
Yushi is asleep, and practically purring into Riku’s chest as his hair is gently stroked.
It’s funny, Riku thinks, that human-Yushi is just as much a cat in personality as he was an actual cat in form.
Riku also realises in that moment, that he hasn’t had any of his usual cat-allergy symptoms the entire day. No sneezing, no watery and itchy eyes. Maybe that can be chalked down to Yushi not being an actual cat. He is, of course, primarily human.
Yeah. That makes sense.
Somehow, Yushi is always an exception for Riku. Yushi jumps right over every boundary he has, inserts himself into Riku’s space. Yushi makes him feel things that nobody else does. And that’s the whole thing, isn’t it. Yushi is special. Yushi is different.
🐈
Yushi is still sleeping in Riku’s arms when Riku’s phone buzzes with another call from Sion.
“Hi hyung.” Riku whispers, trying his best not to wake Yushi.
“Riku, we’re on the way back from the company now. Have you found any clues or anything since we last spoke?” Sion asks, sounding just as tired as Riku feels.
“Don’t worry, hyung. I found him and he’s asleep right now. I’ll explain the rest to you later.” Riku’s hushed tone must convince Sion that he’s telling the truth, because Riku can hear him breathe an audible sigh of relief down the phoneline.
“I knew he’d show up eventually. It’s not like our Yushi to go very far alone.” Sion giggles a little, and Riku can hear shuffling in the background. The younger members must be listening in, judging from the light chatter he’s picking up.
“Are you okay though Riku? You sound tired.”
And honestly, Riku really feels tired. He could use another nap. Maybe he should join Yushi.
“I’m fine, hyung. Don’t worry about me. I’ll see you in a bit?”
“See you soon, Riku.”
Riku brings his phone down from his ear to his lap, ending the call. He’s going to have to wake Yushi up soon, and explain the whole situation again. Who knows if anything actually went into Yushi’s head as a cat – he probably doesn’t remember the excuse Riku had come up with earlier.
Before he shakes Yushi awake, Riku takes a few moments to admire his sleeping face.
Yushi’s hair falls like silk over his face, soft strands laid perfectly over his sharp nose, like flowers carefully arranged by a florist. His long, pretty eyelashes flutter as he breathes, chest moving up and down against Riku’s side. The grounding warmth of Yushi’s body seems to cancel out the severe pins and needles in Riku’s left arm, which is currently being gripped tightly by Yushi’s entire body.
A few moments of still calm pass before Riku decides it’s time to wake Yushi.
Gently, he places his free hand on Yushi’s shoulder, nudging him to consciousness.
Yushi stirs, eyelids slowly opening and eyelashes batting. Riku doesn’t think he’s ever seen a cuter sight than this moment. Poor Yushi looks so confused, and almost annoyed, at being woken from his nap.
“Morning, Yuu-chan.” Riku’s voice is hushed and soft-spoken as he brushes strands of hair out of Yushi’s eyes.
“Morning Riku-chan.” Something shifts in Yushi’s expression, as though having a realisation of sorts.
He now just looks far too pleased with himself, waking up and being held by Riku. He smiles, lifting his head and adjusting so that his face is slotted into the gap between Riku’s head and his shoulder. In doing so, he loosens his grip on Riku’s arm, which comes up to rub at the broad expanse of Yushi’s back.
“The members will be home soon. Do you remember anything from the cover story I told you earlier?”
That one particular, Yushi-specific brand of bewilderment paints his face again, lips slightly parted in confusion, and brow furrowed.
“I don’t think so..” He pouts.
“It’s okay Yuu-chan. We can just say that you sleepwalked all the store, I found you there, and brought you back. Then you slept. Okay?”
“I guess…” Yushi trails off, before suddenly realising that he has no clue how the other members of their group reacted to this absence. How did they take it? Who realised he was gone first?
Yushi is curious, so he asks. He expects Riku to be paying attention, to give him the answers to the many questions he has. He looks up at Riku expectantly, waiting for a response.
Instead, Riku is staring blankly at Yushi’s lips – gaze fixated on the pink of his mouth, the shine of his teeth, the peeking of his tongue as he speaks. Riku knows logically that he should indulge Yushi and answer his questions. Instead, he’s enraptured. He couldn’t break his gaze if he tried.
In this moment, the only thing on his mind is the sudden and overwhelming urge to kiss Yushi again. To kiss him again, but this time to feel Yushi’s lips on his, not the soft fur of his feline forehead.
His eyes flicker down to Yushi’s lips, and back up to his face, speckled with blush and a few remnant strands of white-orange cat fur. One of Riku’s hands finds its way to the side of human-Yushi’s face, cupping it gently.
To both of their surprise, Yushi immediately nuzzles his face further into Riku’s touch, speech suddenly halted. A moment of charged silence passes as they just stare at each other, eyes locked, until Yushi speaks.
“It’s like in The Princess and The Frog.”
“What?” Riku’s mind is so full of Yushi, rendering him unable to process anything that requires use of his brain.
“That movie. The one where she kisses the frog and he turns back into the prince.”
“So does that make you my prince?” Riku asks, a cheeky smile emerging, spreading across his reddening face.
Yushi pauses before he replies, a slight tilt in his head, and a smirk on his lips.
“Do you want me to be?”
Riku thinks that may be the dumbest question he has ever heard in his 21 years of living. So in lieu of a response, he grabs Yushi by his very human, and wow, very small waist, and flips them around on the bed, pressing Yushi down into the fluffy sheets.
With his right hand still cupping Yushi’s pretty, bewildered face, Riku leans in and kisses him for the second time that evening.
🐈
When the rest of their members return after their schedule, they’re relieved to find Yushi alive and well, albeit it in Riku’s bed, snuggled in his arms — almost like a cat.
“How did you find him, hyung?” Jaehee’s face betrays his confusion, eyes flitting between the sleeping Yushi and barely awake Riku, curled up in an indistinguishable ball of limbs and blankets together.
“I was right. He didn’t make it far. I found him in the milk aisle of the store down the road.”
“Why was he there at 6am? How did he even get out?”
“My current theory is sleepwalking. Hence why I am trapping him here like this. He must’ve caught something, he’s got a fever of sorts too.” Riku gestures to the ball of blankets he has Yushi wrapped in, and the tight grip he has on his waist.
The members don’t look as though they fully buy the excuse, and Riku can’t blame them. He's really, sincerely hoping that Sion doesn't notice any of the obvious inconsistencies in his excuse, especially since it doesn't line up with the back-and-forth phone calls they'd exchanged all day. Hopefully their leader is too tired from practice to think about it too much.
Even worse, the blaringly obvious hickey on Yushi’s neck is threatening to show as the collar of his pajama shirt slips down. Riku needs to get them all out of the room now before they start to get any more suspicious, or figure anything out that they shouldn't.
“Now get out, all of you. He’s burning up and he needs his rest.”
As the members file out of the door, muttering between themselves, Yushi blinks open a single eye to look back up at Riku. When their eyes meet, Riku can’t help but giggle and press another soft kiss to the corner of Yushi’s lips, smiling.