Work Text:
The first sensation Cheng Xiaoshi felt upon diving back in time was getting effortlessly picked up and moved aside.
“Bad! Very bad!” a sharp feminine voice chided him, the voice belonging to a literal giant, who grabbed something from the spot Cheng Xiaoshi had just been in, before returning to her equally giant desk.
What the heck? Cheng Xiaoshi was used to the disorientation that came with slipping into another’s skin and having to immediately make their body and senses his own. That was, when the senses in question at least resembled his own. He didn’t know where to even start with this giant room and its litany of incidental sounds and smells. And his body! His legs were bending in ways they were not supposed, and he was keenly aware of something swishing behind him that had never been there before.
Lu Guang! Are you there? Are you seeing this!
There’s nothing you need to do in this room. You can leave, Lu Guang instructed nonchalantly, taking on his usual guiding role without a moment’s hesitation. Or even the slightest surprise.
Lu Guang! The swishing behind him grew more frantic. You knew this was going to happen!
I… obviously? Now he was surprised. Then exasperated. Cheng Xiaoshi don’t tell me you didn’t.
“Of course I didn’t! The only thing you said was – ” Cheng Xiaoshi had a whole tirade ready to burst out, but the only sounds that came out of his tiny brown body were a series of indignant guttural Meows.
“Waffle…” The giant at the desk turned to him unamused.
“Meow,” grumbled Cheng Xiaoshi, from the body of Waffle, their client’s currently missing cat.
It started, like so many of their cases, with a visitor to the Time Photo Studio.
“And – and this one is from my parent’s anniversary last year. I got to see some cousins for the first time in years. But if that’s still no good, there’s my middle school graduation. Or the team photo from the Math Olympiad…”
Before she became a giant capable of picking Cheng Xiaoshi up like a discarded sweater and tossing him out of her room, she was a small panicked high school girl who frantically swiped past various photos from important occasions to an increasingly confused Cheng Xiaoshi. With each photo she offered, her voice rose in pitch and wobbled ever precariously over the edge of sobs, leaving Cheng Xiaoshi increasingly unable to cut in lest a careless remark set her off.
He was sympathetic to be sure. The poster she started the conversation with him had quickly made him understand her distress, and were it up to him, he would happily decree that her troubles were over and they would solve her case. But he had already suffered enough lectures from Qiao Ling and Lu Guang on this exact topic. Despite being one of the main players in their secret operation, he wasn’t the one who could evaluate their potential cases, meaning he also wasn’t allowed to accept them.
That made it nothing short of a relief when Lu Guang returned from his lunch break at the moment with a firm “What’s going on?”
The girl was startled silent, giving Cheng Xiaoshi his chance to finally speak. “Missing cat.” He held up the poster on the counter that contained a photo of a striped brown tabby. “His name is Waffle.” Then, to the girl, he pointed at Lu Guang and said, “He’s the one you should talk to.”
She clutched her phone to her chest as she turned to him, reverting back to the timid customer who first entered the shop. Lu Guang’s rigid posture and intense look tended to have that effect.
It didn’t help that his first question was a very blunt. “How long has he been missing?”
“S-since yesterday,” the girl squeaked.
“Do you remember what time?”
“I noticed in the evening, but I think h-he must have escaped around the afternoon?”
“I see.”
“My friend told me… she read online that for the price of a photo, you guys – this photo studio, I mean, can grant any wish,” she explained. “The more precious the memory, the better. I… I downloaded all of the photos I could find to my phone and…” She trailed off as she gazed at the ground, likely realizing how outlandish the whole thing sounded when said aloud.
“Wow. The internet is a scary place,” Cheng Xiaoshi couldn’t help quipping.
“Hush,” Lu Guang chided him, then approached the girl. In a much friendlier tone he said, “It’s true that we require a photo but nothing so complicated as that. Do you have any photos from the day your cat disappeared? The closer to his disappearance the better.”
“Oh? I think so…” The girl tapped the screen of her phone a few times then handed it to Lu Guang, who proceeded to stare at the phone in deep concentration like a man possessed, only occasionally moving his hand to swipe to the next photo.
“Don’t worry, this is his process,” Cheng Xiaoshi reassured their bewildered prospective client as he leaned over to watch his partner at work with a grin. He knew that look well. No matter how cold or direct Lu Guang might have appeared to be, he never hesitated to help someone who needed it. That grin grew wider as Lu Guang’s brow creased slightly before he finally glanced up.
“This one could work.”
The girl peered over the screen. “Huh? But that’s –
“It has the most potential,” Lu Guang assured her. “I can’t guarantee anything, but can you send this to me. And also your address.”
And so, with one grateful client, a closed shop, and a printed-out photo later, Lu Guang was hard at work on the couch, the promising photo in one hand and a pencil in the other. On the coffee table in front of him was now creased lost cat poster with a series of jagged and dotted lines around the margins. Beside that was his own phone with a zoomed in map.
Cheng Xiaoshi didn’t get it.
“The cat was found by someone and brought inside, but I don’t know where that is.” Lu Guang’s explanation did not help. “My vision for this one is pretty limited.”
“I’m surprised you can see anything at all,” he retorted. When Cheng Xiaoshi finally saw the photo pop out from the printer, his reaction had been the same as the girl’s. All it showed was a black and yellow gradient.
“The photo itself doesn’t matter, only who took it and what they did afterwards.”
“Fair enough.” Cheng Xiaoshi plopped down on the couch and held out his hand. “So I guess it’s my turn now?”
“Huh?”
“To dive in and look around. This is a team operation, remember.”
Lu Guang frowned, subconsciously moving the photo away. “I don’t know… this is a little unconventional.”
“You can say that about all our cases.”
“I’m close to figuring it out. There’s no need.”
“Lu Guang, I can already tell you’re getting tired. That’ll just limit your vision even more.” Cheng Xiaoshi didn’t fully understand how Lu Guang’s powers worked (a part of him suspected Lu Guang himself didn’t), but over the years he had formed his own theories. Lu Guang saw twelve hours into the photo’s future, but not in the near omniscient detail he claimed – rather he saw the major nodes, the ones that connected the past back to the present, but everything in between them was a hazy blur. He could make out some extra details if he tried, though he was more likely to give himself dry eyes and a headache first. Cheng Xiaoshi could already see the warning signs.
More importantly though, those all-important in-between moments were his specialty and Lu Guang knew it. So it didn’t take any longer for the last of Lu Guang’s objections to fizzle out with a resigned, “We’ll dive first thing in the morning.”
Unconventional! Cheng Xiaoshi resumed his tirade in his head as he paced in a circle on the other side of the closed bedroom door, now consciously swishing his tail. It was a good feeling. That was really all you had to say about it? Not once could you mention, ‘Oh by the way pal, you’re going to be the cat’?
On the other end, there was a heavy sigh. You knew I was trying to trace the cat’s route after he escaped, Lu Guang pointed out. How did you think I was doing it?
Cheng Xiaoshi hadn’t thought about it. He did now. Then the limited vision?
A cat isn’t exactly looking up at street signs.
Cheng Xiaoshi thought about it some more. He stopped pacing. How does a cat even take a photo?
Probably that should have been his first question.
Our client dropped her phone while the camera was open, and the cat happened to pounce and hit the button.
Huh… That must have been the item the giant – er, their future-client had picked up before. He looked over his small brown paws and the pink paw pads. I didn’t think that was possible.
They make apps for pets so it’s not that surprising, Lu Guang pointed out. He had, as always, a point.
Cheng Xiaoshi spun around as he looked himself over. Waffle was a fairly lithe tabby, able to move quicker than a human and slip into all sorts of little nooks, high and low.
I feel like this opens up a whole new world of possibilities, Cheng Xiaoshi remarked then a new thought occurred to him and his tail shot up in alarm. Wait! Getting in here is one thing, but I need to clap to get back out. How am I supposed to do that as a cat?
You’ve never seen a cat put its paws together when it’s trying to grab a toy in the air?
Oh yeah. Cheng Xiaoshi tried to picture it. Crouch down, get into position, jump with the hind legs and –
Idiot! Don’t actually do it – this is our only photo!
– plant both front paws back firmly on the ground.
I’m not, I’m just testing out this body. Cheng Xiaoshi felt an instinctual urge to rub his paw against his face. You try turning into a cat and see how fast you adjust to it.
You have plenty of time for that so don’t worry.
Meaning?
You have a few hours before your escape, and our client is going to stay in her room until then. There’s no one else home, so as long as you don’t do anything to draw her out, you have free reign. Cheng Xiaoshi could feel Lu Guan grinning. Go be a cat.
In the immortal words of some old children’s movie, everybody wants to be a cat.
Cheng Xiaoshi understood them well now. The speed! The athletics! The softness! In his first few hours as a cat, he explored the house and all of its nooks and crannies, jumping and climbing all over the furniture as he got accustomed to his new body. Cats really were like liquid, he conceded as he tested out all the different places he could fit. And no wonder they liked boxes so much.
Time travel was the best!
Even Lu Guang seemed to be enjoying himself, occasionally piping up to give Cheng Xiaoshi various commands, as though he were a proud owner showing off his pet’s tricks.
I’m just making sure you got the hang of things, he insisted, likely sensing Cheng Xiaoshi’s amusement. Once you’re outside, you’re on a schedule.
I know, I know. Cheng Xiaoshi made a long stretch then jumped onto the couch and curled up on a pillow. But still, this is nice. Downtime wasn’t exactly rare during their dives since the likelihood of a photo being taken right at the key moment they needed, but piloting a person still involved a certain sense of propriety. For however many hours he was borrowing them, he had to follow their general routine and take care not to leave any unnecessary traces of his intrusion. A cat didn’t have the same restrictions. According to Lu Guang, all the time Cheng Xiaoshi spent roaming around, the real Waffle had just napped.
Honestly not a bad idea, Cheng Xiaoshi yawned. He was warm, he was comfortable, and his only complaint was that he could sense Waffle’s loneliness and desire to get back into his owner’s room. He had passed by her door several times in his wandering, and each time felt the urge to meow and scratch at it.
Poor Waffle, Cheng Xiaoshi thought to himself. I hope the person who found you is being good to you.
He could sense the fated time approaching from Lu Guang’s silence.
In the distance, he heard unfamiliar steps growing closer.
Then, the doorbell rang.
Hide. Don’t let anyone see you.
Cheng Xiaoshi did not need to be told twice. The sudden high pitched sound triggered Waffle’s flight instincts, sending him scrambling for the comforting darkness behind the couch. He sat tense as pounding footsteps raced down the steps. He watched carefully as their client opened the door, all smiles as she greeted the person on the other side. She was handed a clipboard, then a large cardboard box, and then she kneed the door and tottered back upstairs.
Cheng Xiaoshi watched the whole thing with a dawning dread.
So that’s it. Tch, shouldn’t skip leg day, he thought staring at the door to the outside world, the ultimate temptation for curious cats, was left slightly ajar. Cheng Xiaoshi crept towards it. At once he could feel Waffle’s anticipation – the Big Door behind which all the giants disappeared, the one hiding all sorts of unfamiliar smells, and the one he was never allowed to cross. Now open just a crack, enough for him to widen and push his way through.
Cheng Xiaoshi, go on.
Lu Guang, do we have to do this? Cheng Xiaoshi crouched to the ground. Can’t we just… hide somewhere and make her think he escaped?
For two days?
Cheng Xiaoshi flicked his tail. Of course, he knew what Lu Guang would say – the sanctity of the timeline, the major nodes, world-ending butterflies, yada yada – but he still hoped maybe Lu Guang would allow it. Maybe he wouldn’t have to kick off an undoubtedly stressful event for a young cat and his family.
Waffle will be fine, Lu Guang assured him. We know someone will take him in; we just need to see who to track him down in the present. We can’t change the past.
But we can learn from it. Literally. Cheng Xiaoshi stuck his paw through the crack and slithered on through.
If a calm peaceful house was overwhelming from the perspective of a cat, the outside world was even more so, huge, and vibrant and new in all the ways that made Cheng Xiaoshi nostalgic for childhood, where he could run around and pretend he was an explorer, investigating the neighborhood with a rich sense of wonder.
He couldn’t now, with Lu Guang instantly taking on the more familiar guiding role, barking orders to go here and there, slow down, speed up, duck there – it certainly kept Cheng Xiaoshi from giving in to more curious instincts (his and Waffle’s), but at the same time…
Lu Guang, do we really need to trace the cat’s steps that perfectly? He grumbled. As long as they ended up in the right place eventually, couldn’t he go at his own pace? It wasn’t every day that he could explore their city as a cat.
Actually, come to think of it, Cheng Xiaoshi looked around at increasingly familiar streets and buildings. Aren’t we really close to the photo studio?
Cheng Xiaoshi. When Lu Guang called his name like that, Cheng Xiaoshi paid attention. Before you reach the last stretch, there’s one more major node you need to clear. For some reason his voice sounded a little strained. But rather than explain, Lu Guang just continued. Turn that corner and hang around a bit. I’ll tell you when to proceed. It’ll be quick.
Cheng Xiaoshi turned. He took note of his surroundings, and sat down, waiting for Lu Guang’s next orders. But he remained silent, not even responding to Cheng Xiaoshi’s prodding. Just what was this super secret bonus objective he needed to complete before the mission was over? It wasn’t anything dangerous, or Lu Guang would have warned him (or not have allowed him to dive in the first place). But with how anal he usually was about the timeline and recreating every detail of a dive, this sudden silence was intriguing.
He paced around waiting for Lu Guang to reappear, then just as he was about to call out to him again, he felt someone’s stare.
Cheng Xiaoshi looked over and instantly perked up at the familiar giant in front of him.
“Lu Guang!” he meowed and bounded over, happily rubbing against the legs of the Lu Guang of two days ago who was on his way back to the photo studio with a grocery bag in hand.
Lu Guang, Lu Guang, Lu Guang. You didn’t tell me you saw Waffle back then, Cheng Xiaoshi remarked. Suddenly a lot of things made sense.
Yeah… His voice still sounded a little strained. I recognized him from the poster, so… let him – me – get a good look at you, then go.
Cheng Xiaoshi would most certainly not be doing that. The Lu Guang of the past had frozen at the suddenly affectionate cat, but only for a moment. The next moment, he knelt down with an unguarded smile.
“Where did you come from?” he said holding out his hand for Cheng Xiaoshi to headbutt affectionately.
Okay. You can go.
Cheng Xiaoshi let Lu Guang pet him, and did not resist getting scooped up moments later.
“So soft. So friendly,” Lu Guang cooed at him, scratching his ears, as Cheng Xiaoshi basked in the affection. This was not a Lu Guang just anyone was allowed to see. He was always so strict and cool on the outside. Cheng Xiaoshi was one of the few who could see him like this, but it was still too rare. That did it, they were definitely getting a cat!
No, we’re not. Go.
Cheng Xiaoshi would go once Lu Guang had his fun. He squirmed into a more comfortable position, to bury his fluffy head into the crook of Lu Guang’s neck. His whole body felt like it was vibrating – oh, so this was what purring felt like. He liked it.
Lu Guang chuckled.
Mission aborted. Clap your paws together. Now.
“You are the cutest cat I’ve ever seen,” Lu Guang said. “I’m going to call you Victoria.”
Lu Guang could feel Cheng Xiaoshi’s grin as he reappeared on the couch.
“Don’t say it.” His eyes were shut and his ears bright red. “Forget everything.”
Cheng Xiaoshi dutifully ignored both demands. “Lu Guang,” he crooned leaning against his beloved best friend. “It’s me. Victoria.”
“Shut up.”
“So cold,” Cheng Xiaoshi purred. It didn’t come as naturally as it had as a cat, nor did it have the same effect on Lu Guang who promptly stood up letting Cheng Xiaoshi fall onto the couch. He laughed harder, his voice finally free after hours of only limited meowing.
And yet, he missed it already.
“We got the address. Let’s go,” Lu Guang said sharply, moving towards the coat closet. Barely composing himself, Cheng Xiaoshi followed.
“Aww, Lu Guang, don’t be embarrassed. You were so cute!” He wiped tears from his eyes. “And so was I! The cutest kitty you’ve ever seen.”
“No.”
“So soft. So friendly,” he parroted until Lu Guang finally glared at him.
“Are you done?”
“No.” Cheng Xiaoshi reached into the closet and pulled out his old white cat-eared hat, untouched and forgotten for many months until this perfect moment. He put it on and got on one knee, a serious look in his eye. “Will you scratch my ears?”
The answer was a closed front door.
“Okay, I’m done! I promise!” Cheng Xiaoshi called out, hurriedly putting on his jacket and running after Lu Guang. “I couldn’t resist, I’m sorr – wait, is that a smile I see? Lu Guang, admit it! You’re enjoying this too!”
The case was wrapped up fairly quickly afterwards. But Cheng Xiaoshi would never forget the look on Lu Guang’s face or the warmth of his hands as he’d cuddled him that afternoon.
And he was going to start a collection of photos taken by cats.