Chapter Text
Baek Saheon should have known that those researchers’ expressions were a bit too smug and suspicious before they had sent him off to the latest Darkness. But he had brushed that aside as normal Daydream researcher behavior, and now he was paying the price - he was stuck in the form of a cat.
Temporarily, the researchers had assuaged him as soon as he had escaped the Darkness and appeared back in their lab. Apparently, this whole thing was a test - they’d found a ghost story that turned people into animals, and they had chosen Baek Saheon as their next subject because they had wanted to know if said transformation would reform missing or damaged physical characteristics such as, say, an eye. And now that he was back and it had indeed done just that, they wanted to know if the eye would remain when he turned back into a human.
It made sense - the company surely would be able to make some use of a Darkness that could regenerate missing body parts. Or maybe not, and these researchers simply couldn’t help themselves but do their little experiments. Baek Saheon didn’t particularly care what their motivations were right now - what he wanted was to get away from them. In this fragile state he felt defenceless, claws and teeth not nearly enough to counteract the inherent helplessness of being stuck in this too-small body.
The second they stopped guarding him so closely, he bolted.
Luckily, it was a quiet period of the day and nobody was really out in the hallways, so Baek Saheon somehow managed to escape the building without anyone raising any alarms or making any particularly concerted effort to catch him. Of course, his next problem was where to go. The contamination was supposed to wear off within the next day, but spending an entire night outside sounded like just asking for trouble. Conversely, getting back into his company-assigned dorm was probably an impossible task - but he wanted to at least try, before the workday ended and he would have to go into hiding (maybe in the bushes outside, to avoid being at anyone’s mercy).
And through some careful manoeuvring, he really was able to make it all the way to the hallway where his dorm was located!
“...A cat?”
…Except Baek Saheon had made a critical mistake.
The thing was, Kim Soleum wasn’t supposed to be here. He was supposed to be in some time-warping Darkness for the next week, his absence a blessed break from how Baek Saheon usually had to tiptoe around his own dorm in order to avoid the wrath of his psychopathic roommate. Baek Saheon had assumed that the bastard would be back before the entire week was up, of course, through whatever insane methods he usually used to get out of Darknesses so fast - he just hadn’t expected it to take less than a day.
The circumstances didn’t matter. All that mattered was that as per usual, Kim Soleum was ruining everything - because despite logic, despite the fact that he should have been at work, despite the fact that he should have been in a Darkness - that had been Kim Soleum’s voice.
Baek Saheon froze. Should he flee? Fleeing again sounded like a great option right now.
…Except for the fact that Kim Soleum, that unhinged bastard, was completely unpredictable in every way. Baek Saheon could not ignore the real possibility that his roommate knew exactly who he was (despite his cat form having two eyes and no features in common with his human self), and this was some sort of test, and if he tried to flee he would be somehow punished for his transgressions and cowardice.
On the other hand, if Kim Soleum didn’t know it was him, there was just as big of a risk to not flee. That psychopath seemed like exactly the kind of person who would torture small animals, a way to let out his crazed bloodlust without anybody around him suspecting a thing. He wouldn’t do it in this hallway, where anybody could come across him and ruin his perfect image, but if he took Baek Saheon into the dorms and killed him off in his bedroom…
Paralyzed by indecision, knowing that there was no perfect answer here, Baek Saheon watched helplessly as Kim Soleum reached towards him with some indescribable expression on his face and scooped him up directly into his arms.
Of course, Baek Saheon’s instincts told him to retaliate, to extend his claws and break free. But he still couldn’t do that, because he still had no proof that Kim Soleum didn’t know who he was and would thus discipline him somehow.
Baek Saheon wanted to cry.
“Huh.” Kim Soleum seemed surprised that he had been able to pick up the cat so easily. So he didn’t know it was Baek Saheon after all? Or maybe this was another test…
Speaking of… “I think so, Braun,” Kim Soleum said out of nowhere, as he pulled out the keycard to unlock the dorm room. “I’ll have to text the company group chat and ask if anybody from the dorms is missing their cat.”
The insane fact that he was actually still muttering to that creepy doll of his aside… God damn it. So that proved he really didn’t know the animal in his arms was Baek Saheon. It was too late now, though - the dorm’s door was already clicking shut behind them. Baek Saheon was trapped.
And, of course, he couldn’t enact his plan of retaliation now, because even though he now knew Kim Soleum didn’t know it was him at the moment, him being trapped here also meant that when he transformed back, there was almost a 100% chance that Kim Soleum would either be present or figure things out through simple process of elimination.
As Baek Saheon was seething over this, Kim Soleum turned around and placed him on the floor.
…Surprisingly gently, actually. Even though the two-faced bastard was obviously not going to kill Baek Saheon after all, since that would ruin his plan to foster goodwill from his coworkers by returning someone’s missing pet, that didn’t mean he had to be nice to Baek Saheon. There was nobody to play up his kindness to here.
“There you go,” Kim Soleum said softly anyway, his eyes crinkling with fondness as he watched the small animal on the carpet in front of him.
…This was a test. That proved it. He was taking some sick amusement in once again destroying Baek Saheon’s perception of him, all so that he could probably gloat about Baek Saheon’s gullibility the second he transformed back.
Baek Saheon resigned himself to his fate.
He should have just stayed with the researchers.
And then he steeled himself and formed a plan of action, because he had not survived this long by simply rolling over and giving up. He couldn’t attack Kim Soleum or he would be punished; he also couldn’t run away and hide, because doing something like that seemed like exactly the kind of action that would prompt Kim Soleum to drop his faux-kind attitude and start trying to chase him down in order to raise his dopamine. His current performance was nauseating, but this attitude was still more bearable than Kim Soleum’s usual personality.
And he couldn’t act like a typical cat or like he had lost his memory, because Kim Soleum would definitely somehow figure out how the Darkness actually worked and subsequently later make his life hell for lying about it.
So Baek Saheon’s plan of action was clear - stoically accept whatever Kim Soleum did to him, and then as soon as he transformed back, make it clear that he had known Kim Soleum had been acting the whole time and had decided to humour him, thus proving that he owed Kim Soleum nothing.
“I’m not sure,” the bastard in question said out loud, clearly a response to something that horrible stuffed animal had supposedly said. “I’m surprised we’re allowed pets too, but I guess not allowing them could cause less people to stay in the company?” Another pause. “Yes, you’re right.”
Kim Soleum then began to cautiously stand upright, as if trying to avoid startling the animal in front of him. Baek Saheon simply sat there in defeat as his roommate started what was presumably his normal after-work routine, taking off his shoes and hanging up his jacket before making his way to his bedroom door.
“Just wait there,” he said to Baek Saheon just before opening it, sending him another unnervingly gentle smile. And then Kim Soleum disappeared through the threshold.
Following his resolution, Baek Saheon did exactly as Kim Soleum said. When he reappeared through his bedroom door ten minutes later, changed out of his suit and into a much more comfortable outfit (albeit still sporting a pocket for that accursed doll), Baek Saheon was in the exact same spot he had been left in, not even one centimetre out of place.
Kim Soleum had to gall to look surprised at that; although the expression did provoke the tiniest curl of satisfaction in Baek Saheon’s gut, at the thought that maybe this particular reaction might have been involuntary after all - he would take any win he could get right now, and genuinely surprising the sometimes seemingly all-knowing Kim Soleum would definitely be a win in his books.
Of course, Kim Soleum had to ruin that by making his expression twisting once again, this time to something like sympathy. “Poor thing,” he murmured, slowly approaching Baek Saheon once again, stretching a hand out in front of him in offering.
Baek Saheon ignored it, trying his best not to glare too much. He just had to sit there. Surely Kim Soleum would lose interest eventually, right?
After several stretched-out moments of stillness, the hand was withdrawn.
Another success, Baek Saheon thought triumphantly. Too prematurely, though - rather than giving up and leaving, Kim Soleum then shuffled slightly closer, still feigning caution no matter how clear Baek Saheon made it that he was fully aware of what was happening. Maybe he was trying to get Baek Saheon’s guard down, and that’s why he was continuing the act despite how fruitless it was.
Attempting to shove down his irritation, Baek Saheon watched warily as Kim Soleum’s hand once again slowly advanced towards him, wondering what exactly he was going to do now.
…The hand moved to rest lightly on Baek Saheon’s head.
This time, Baek Saheon freezing in place wasn’t on purpose. This… was going too far, wasn’t it? Even when Kim Soleum was being all weirdly polite to their coworkers, like with their batchmate at the art exhibit, something like this seemed… too much, even for his usual act.
But no - Baek Saheon had already figured this out, hadn’t he? Kim Soleum was trying to trip Baek Saheon up - and it hadn’t worked so far, so now he was going even further in pursuit of that goal. It was the only explanation that made sense. So Baek Saheon once again steeled himself and stood there stock still even as Kim Soleum gently scratched behind his ears and cooed softly, ostensibly trying to get the oddly motionless cat to loosen up and react in some way to the petting, because letting himself be visibly surprised or angry was letting Kim Soleum win.
He also especially pushed down the part of him that actually did want to lean into the touch. He… remembered exactly the last time someone had initiated any physical contact with him that wasn’t just a polite handshake or that lunatic menacing him by gripping his shoulder as he yapped about his dopamine rushes and psychopathic plans. He didn’t need physical comfort, physical comfort wasn’t a necessity for his survival, but… he had forgotten how nice it could be. If it hadn’t been coming from a madman, that was.
Luckily, working so hard to ignore everything he was feeling left no room in Baek Saheon’s head for anything else, and so he successfully once again hadn’t moved even a single inch by the time Kim Soleum actually gave up and retracted his hand again.
“...At this point, I’m not sure if I should even give them back,” Kim Soleum said into the air as he stood up again, faux worry colouring his voice. “I’ve never seen a cat be so still…”
Baek Saheon’s heart seized in terror for a moment, until he remembered that he wasn’t actually going to be stuck here forever. No matter how powerful and terrifying Kim Soleum was, it wasn’t to the point that he could actually keep Baek Saheon in this cat form. If he did have power like that, Baek Saheon was sure he would have been a victim to it by now.
“You’re right, Braun,” Kim Soleum continued as he got back to his feet. “For now, I’ll go shopping and get some cat food while I’m there, just in case their owner doesn’t contact me anytime soon. Hopefully the cat gets a little bit more comfortable while we’re gone too… maybe on the couch…”
Baek Saheon would have cheered out loud if he were able to do so right now when the door closed as Kim Soleum disappeared back out of the dorms. It wasn’t as if Baek Saheon could do much right now considering his lack of opposable thumbs - and Kim Soleum’s directive was very clear, that he expected Baek Saheon to follow his commands and be waiting on the living room couch by the time he got back. But all he could think about right now was how completely, blessedly alone he was.
He hoped Kim Soleum got hit by a car on the way to the store.
The chances of that actually happening were essentially zero, but Baek Saheon still soothed himself with fantasies of the psychopath ending up in the middle of a ten-car pileup and perishing on the spot.
It was very comforting. Yes, Kim Soleum would be back - but for now, just for a little bit, Baek Saheon could relax.