Wouldn’t you like to see something strange?
title: Wouldn’t you like to see something strange?
pairing: Xiuhan (+ SeBaek if you don’t blink)
rating: PG-13
wc: 3164
summary: Luhan and Minseok are invited to Jongdae’s halloween party, an event for the whole school. Luhan all but forces Minseok to dress up like the Cheshire Cat, not knowing the shorter male is quite a step ahead...
A/N: let’s ignore how their ages are all over the place even without being mentioned or how Americanized the setting is, and pretend they all go to the same school...but it’s an AU,so why am I even giving explanations xD
Title from Nightmare Before Christmas’ main song, “This is Halloween”.
AO3 || AFF || DW
It’s on everybody’s mouth: Kim Jongdae is going to throw his traditional Halloween party at his house in two weeks. Minseok looks amused at the flyers Jongdae has covered the whole school with and picks the one attached to his locker.
“What are you gonna go as, Min?” someone asks from behind him: it’s Luhan, his best friend since first grade.
“Dunno yet,” Minseok shrugs, “What about you?”
“I’m almost positive about it,” Luhan says, eyeing the flyer he got from his own locker, “but it all depends on you. We could go with matching costumes,” he finally adds with a grin.
Minseok chuckles, “Oh really? For example?” he inquires, heading to the first class of the day.
“Uhm…I don’t know, good and bad are so overrated…Maybe the Blues Brothers, or Jack Skellington and Sally, or Rhett Butler and Scarlett O’Hara…”
“Why do I have the suspect that you’re going to force me into the woman counterpart?” Minseok asks sarcastically, giving Luhan an evil eye.
The ginger shushes him, “I got it, I got it!” he cries out, “Alice and the Mad Hatter!”
Minseok groans, “I thought you’d go with something more original, come on…I know you like the franchise, collect every shit about it and you even dragged me to the theater as soon as Burton’s film was out, but I’m almost sick of it.”
Luhan’s smile falters and he looks quite hurt; Minseok already regrets admitting his ‘darkest secret’, or rather, his tone.
“Sorry, sorry,” he hastily apologizes, “So, who is going to be who?”
“I wanted to dress like the Mad Hatter, though you are the one who never fails to wear a hat, so maybe you should do him…but I’d have loved to see you dressed as Alice…” Luhan pouts, already waving goodbye to his mental vision of Minseok with a long blonde wig, blue dress and polished, black Mary Janes. His best friend will never accept.
“No, I won’t be Alice,” Minseok states resolutely. His friend sighs, he knew it.
“Then…what about the Queen of hearts? Or the Marching Hare, the Dormouse…the twins! We could go as the twins!”
Minseok laughs, “Fuck off, we don’t look anything alike…besides, I’ve never liked them.”
Luhan scoffs, “You’re so picky, dammit…Oh! The Cheshire Cat! How on earth could I forget about him! What do you think, Min?”
Minseok stiffens and keeps looking ahead.
“Come ooooon,” Luhan whines, “…It’s that or Alice,” he challenges, tired of this discussion already.
Minseok glares at him from the corner of the eye, but finally gives in.
“Fine, I’ll be the cat,” he sighs.
Luhan beams and hugs him tightly, preceding his friend inside the classroom. Minseok takes a moment to sneak a hand under his trucker hat and scratch his extra ears before entering the classroom, right when the bell rings the beginning of the lessons.
--
Kim Minseok was born with animal genes. The ones of a cat, to be exact: he has a pair of pointy ears on top of his head, that he covers with a hat to lay them flat; a long fluffy tail, its fur the same chestnut brown of his hair and ears, that he wraps around his waist to hide it better; slightly longer canines; gold-speckled green eyes with vertical pupils that he conceals with black tinted contact lenses.
His parents had to plead up and down, without fully giving his secret away, to snatch a permission for him to always wear a hat at school and not to get changed with the other kids before and after physical education.
You’d never guess he has these extra features, because he looks totally normal once he hides them. He actually doesn’t mind his extra parts, but he feels relieved when he’s at home, free to stretch his always squished ears and wiggle his tail around.
The point is that, excluding his family, nobody knows about it. Nobody, not even Luhan.
--
Three days before the party, Luhan and Minseok meet after school to buy the necessary for their costumes, but Luhan must have run out of luck, because he can’t find a Mad Hatter costume anywhere.
“What about a DIY costume? We can’t check every single shop in the city, also because they’ll all answer you the same: we finished them,” Minseok groans exhausted after three intense hours of costume-hunting.
“Hell, how can costumes already be over?” Luhan scoffs, dragging his friend to yet another shop.
“Maybe because Halloween is in only three days,” Minseok replies simply.
Luhan spares him a miffed glance and without a word he picks an orange curly wig, a top hat and the necessary to transform it and other clothes in a Mad Hatter costume, taking in Minseok’s suggestion.
“What should I wear for mine, by the way?” the brown haired guy asks, eyeing the cat masks.
“I don’t know… tee and jeans? And you should definitely dye your hair and paint your face,” Luhan states, showing his friend the rack of packages of washable hair dye.
Minseok stares at him blankly, Luhan stares back. The former rolls his eyes and takes the blue dye, then two shades of blue face paint, fake whiskers and mittens and he’s ready to go transforming into the Cheshire Cat of Tim Burton’s movie. He can’t see himself with purple hair like the Disney’s version of the character.
“Hey, Minseok-ah, you’re forgetting tail and ears!” Luhan exclaims, wiggling a thin synthetic tail.
Minseok blushes faintly, hoping his friend doesn’t notice, “Oh, err…I think I have something left from past Halloween costumes and I’m pretty sure my mother dressed like a cat, one year, so I should still have the necessary somewhere,” he lies.
Luhan slightly smirks imagining Mama Kim in a kitty costume, earning himself a hard punch on the arm.
“Ow. Okay then,” he finally shrugs, heading to the cashier to pay.
--
The party is in about two hours, so Minseok has some time to get ready.
A long sleeved, striped blue t-shirt and his pair of jeans customized with a hole for his tail are already lying on the bed. Minseok has closed himself in the bathroom and is freezing his ass off, sitting stark naked on the toilet bowl with the cold and smelly dye on his head and tail, reading the components of the dye product in every language possible to pass the time suggested. Once the timer finally goes off, he takes a shower to take the extra dye off and carefully passes the hairdryer on his cat-ears and tail; he likes blue, but he feels weird sporting it as hair color, he’s already praying it’ll wash off at the next shower.
After wearing his clothes, Minseok carefully paints his face with dark and light blue streaks in a rough human representation of the Cheshire Cat and glues the whiskers. Lastly, he takes the contacts off to show his cat-like pupils: it’s ironic how people are dressing up to be someone or something else for this holiday, while he’s pretty much undressing to be himself, only more colorful.
The doorbell rings and Minseok rushes downstairs to open the door, letting a beaming Luhan in.
“What do you think, Min?” he asks excitedly, turning to show his costume: if he wants he has quite a talent for assembling stuff, in fact he did an egregious job making a Mad Hatter costume almost out of scraps.
“Very cool, Luhan,” Minseok nods cheerfully, his ears and tails moving along.
Luhan notices, of course, “Dude?”
”Mh?”
The Hatter takes his time to finally look at Minseok’s costume: the clothes aren’t anything special, but the feline details are so good they look real. Too good. And…are those cat eyes? Luhan’s initial thought is that Minseok took the costume pretty seriously, despite his initial reluctance, but the seed of suspect is starting to grow its roots, no matter how nuts it sounds to even think his friend really is a cat. He decides to shrug it off.
“Whoa, Minseok-ah, you look awesome! Your eyes! And your ears and tail even move! Where did you get them?” he asks eagerly, diplomatically trying to get an explanation.
Minseok wills his cat parts to halt, “W-What…” he tentatively stutters.
“I didn’t know they made mechanical features!”
”Ehm…yeah, my mother’s cousin is into technological stuff and made her these parts for her costume a while ago…” Minseok explains, hoping his friend will fall for this lie.
Luhan nods along before saying, “Ready to go?”
“Y-Yes, let me grab the mittens and a hoodie.”
“Bye, Mrs Kim!” Luhan calls from the door, heading to his car.
“Bye, mom!” Minseok says, catching a glimpse of his mother’s worried face before closing the door.
--
The car is pretty silent, with Luhan focused on the street while side-glancing at his friend’s cat ears and Minseok reading out loud the directions to Jongdae’s house off the flyer they got two weeks ago.
“May…May I touch them?” Luhan finally asks hesitantly, taking advantage of a red light.
Minseok turns to look at him, feeling his cheeks heating slightly and blessing the virtual darkness outside and inside the car.
“O-okay…” he allows, cocking his head to the driver’s side. He can’t help but flick his left ear when Luhan’s fingers delicately caress it, sensing a purr slowly rising from the depth of his throat and the tail threatening to move in appreciation.
“Amazing,” Luhan whispers, loving the softness of the fur.
“Thanks,” Minseok says with a tiny voice, staring at his lap for the rest of the ride.
--
Kim Jongdae personally opens the door with a broad grin ruined by his -thankfully fake- rotted teeth, but hey, it’s Halloween and he’s dressed in his best zombie costume so far. Halloween at Kim’s is at its third edition and it has entered with all the rights in the myths of their high school, it will be dearly missed once Jongdae will graduate.
“Luhan! Minseok! I’m so glad you’re here! And I couldn’t expect anything less from you two but matching costumes! Awesome choice, awesome choice! Come on in and stuff your faces with my tomb cake!” he shouts over the loud music, courtesy of someone dressed like Bob Marley.
Devils, bunnies, vampires, pirates and many others greet them from every corner (“See, Min? There’s no one else with a Mad Hatter costume, I don’t understand why I wasn’t able to find one for me.” “…”), while they make their way to the kitchen; there, two tall guys in werewolf costumes and the school’s jacket welcome them with Bacardi and slices of gray cake -Minseok’s even has half of a sugar spider.
“Minseok! Luhan! Cool costumes! Wow, your ears look real, can I touch them?” the werewolf asks enthusiastically, taking his mask off and revealing himself as Chanyeol, followed by who turns out to be Kris
Minseok mechanically takes a step back while Luhan steps half in front of him, “They aren’t anything special, just fake ears, y’know?” he says to his tall friend, shit eating grin plastered on his face.
“Oh, well,” Chanyeol shrugs, “all right. But you look really good in this costume,” he compliments with a flirty smirk, accentuated by his rumbling deep voice.
Minseok smiles shyly and looks away, not noticing Luhan staring at him…and at his tail, that is vaguely swinging from side to side.
“I knew you were a perfectionist, but you outdid yourself with this costume,” Kris observes, cocking an eyebrow in an impressed manner.
“Uh?” Minseok turns to face him.
“Your tail.”
Minseok stiffens and gapes at him, trying to articulate a lie, but his mind is full of worry -stupid stupid STUPID!- for the possibility of his secret to be revealed by Chanyeol and Kris, of all people: sure, they’re friends (of Luhan, though what is Luhan’s is also his), but still...
“His cousin is an ace with electronics and made him moving ears and tails. Sorry but we gotta return to the party,” Luhan quickly explains, dragging Minseok back to the chaotic living room and upstairs, looking for a free room. After hearing shrieks and curses from the couples they interrupted, they lastly find some peace in a small bathroom and Luhan closes themselves into it; he finally turns to Minseok, concern and a hint of anger visible on his face and audible in his voice.
“Your ears and tail are real…for real, am I right?” he asks seriously, a pretty much rare event.
Minseok feels obligated to tell him the truth: Luhan deserves it, after about ten years of dear friendship, and Minseok himself can’t stand to hold such a secret back from his best friend anymore.
“Yes,” he confesses in a whisper, ears down and tail twitching sadly.
“Whoa,” Luhan exhales awestruck, “but…how…”
”I was born with extra genes that caused the growth of cat features: ears, tail, oval pupils, canines a bit sharper that humans’…We don’t even know how it could have happened, I mean, my parents haven’t been exposed to radiations or anything of sort,” Minseok rushes before he chickens out from giving an explanation. His right ear twitches a bit in annoyance because, while he doesn’t mind looking half like a cat, he still doesn’t understand why him.
He doesn’t know how to interpret Luhan’s expression: he looks shocked but not enough to freak out and run away from him forever; he looks sympathetic but not in an irritating way; he looks fascinated but not like he considers Minseok a freak show.
Luhan finally punches him on the arm.
“Ow! What was that for?!”
“For not telling me sooner, jackass.”
Before Minseok has the time to retort that his situation isn’t an exactly easy topic to talk about, he finds himself wrapped in a tight hug.
“I won’t tell anyone, and if they somehow discover your secret, I won’t let them make fun of you or spread voices. I’ll even kick the mad scientists out of your yard, if necessary, I don’t want them to drag you to Area 51 or what the fuck ever,” Luhan promises resolutely, taking a step back to look in his best friend’s relieved eyes.
“That’s for aliens, but thanks,” Minseok flushes fondly and thanks his best friend heartily, leaving an embarrassed silence filling the bathroom.
Luhan takes off the wig that is slowly cooking his head, immediately wearing the Hat back, and sits on the bathtub, “Pity I’m more of a dog-guy,” he says nonchalantly. Minseok knows he’s joking, but he still glares and hardly stops himself from hissing.
“Shut up.”
Luhan holds his hands up in mock surrender, slightly turning his head to the side not to show Minseok he’s smirking. More silence ensues.
“So…” Luhan coughs, “Chanyeol, uh?”
“Yeah, Chanyeol…and Kris too, I hope they believed you,” Minseok sighs.
“No, that’s not what I was referring to,” Luhan’s lips stretch in a grin that doesn’t quite reach his eyes, receiving a puzzled look from his best friend, “You totally blushed when he hit on you, you looked like a cute girl in front of her crush,” he elbows Minseok playfully.
“Idiot,” the friend pushes him, blushing at the memory and with a shy smile on his mouth, “Of course I blushed, I’ve never been hit on by anybody, and Chanyeol is pretty popular.”
“Oooh, we’re already on a first name basis, uh?” Luhan remarks with wiggling eyebrows, his mind stuck on I’ve never been hit on by anybody...they don’t know what they’re missing out on. Well, more chances for Luhan, if he ever gets the guts to confess his undying love for his best friend…who’s partially a cat…what?
Minseok knocks his hat off grinning more widely, “You were the one to mention his name first, asswipe. I also want to remind you that he’s one of your closest friend’s best friend and that you introduced the two of us.”
“But you’re the bestest of best friends,” Luhan assures seriously, “though…” he adds in a low murmur.
“…Though what?”
“Nothing,” Luhan picks his hat up and unlocks the door, “Ready to go back to the party?” he asks with a dim smile.
“Not before you explain yourself,” Minseok leans against the door, effectively closing it,staring at Luhan who blushes and looks away.
Minseok’s tail moves on its own accord, hesitantly reaching for Luhan’s hand: the ginger barely flinches, more because he didn’t expect the contact than for being grossed out by his friend’s extra features, earning himself millions of points.
“I’m just…” Luhan starts, caressing the fluffy tail and bringing it to his face to feel the softness, “I’m relieved you don’t like Chanyeol more than me…”
“Of course I don’t, I’m too used to you by now,” Minseok half jokes.
Luhan looks at him with an unreadable expression. Minseok is starting to get irritated by this behavior, and when he opens his mouth to tell his best friend to finally express himself clearly, Luhan kisses him square on the mouth. After the initial shock, Minseok responds to the kiss, his ears perked up and his tail quivering contentedly, his cheeks blushing brightly under the coats of blue paint on his face.
When they break apart, Luhan hides under the brim of his top hat, a shy but satisfied smile fixed on his face. Minseok makes quick work of snatching the hat off his friend’s head and wearing the Mad Hatter’s distinctive element.
Hat-less Luhan holds the door open and bows slightly at Minseok’s passage, who rolls his eyes at the antics but kisses him in appreciation.
“It was about time that you two got together,” the drunkenly high voice of Baekhyun comes from the stairs, startling them. He has his sequined hoodie undone and his thick eyeliner is starting to smudge; he’s leaning heavily against his friend-with-benefits Sehun while getting upstairs, and together are stumbling towards a bedroom.
“Yeah, you were so oblivious to each other’s feelings it wasn’t even funny, especially after something like forever,” Sehun remarks as his decorated face and frilly vest disappear in the dark bedroom, a second before the door slams closed.
Luhan and Minseok stand in the hallway, finding themselves staring at the door that just closed but not wanting to know what their friends are going to perform in that room.
“Well…” Luhan tries to break the silence, “apparently everybody knew I liked you but yourself…” he chuckles.
“I can say the same,” Minseok retorts, folding his arms on his chest playfully.
“But nobody knows and won’t ever know about your secret, I’ll be the only one to enjoy it,” Luhan adds in a really low whisper, closing the gap between the two of them pecking those luscious lips.
“Perv. And I thought you said you were more of a dog guy?” Minseok observes, raising an eyebrow.
“Opposites attract,” Luhan states and that’s the end of their conversation, sealed by a long and lusty kiss.
pairing: Xiuhan (+ SeBaek if you don’t blink)
rating: PG-13
wc: 3164
summary: Luhan and Minseok are invited to Jongdae’s halloween party, an event for the whole school. Luhan all but forces Minseok to dress up like the Cheshire Cat, not knowing the shorter male is quite a step ahead...
A/N: let’s ignore how their ages are all over the place even without being mentioned or how Americanized the setting is, and pretend they all go to the same school...but it’s an AU,so why am I even giving explanations xD
Title from Nightmare Before Christmas’ main song, “This is Halloween”.
AO3 || AFF || DW
It’s on everybody’s mouth: Kim Jongdae is going to throw his traditional Halloween party at his house in two weeks. Minseok looks amused at the flyers Jongdae has covered the whole school with and picks the one attached to his locker.
“What are you gonna go as, Min?” someone asks from behind him: it’s Luhan, his best friend since first grade.
“Dunno yet,” Minseok shrugs, “What about you?”
“I’m almost positive about it,” Luhan says, eyeing the flyer he got from his own locker, “but it all depends on you. We could go with matching costumes,” he finally adds with a grin.
Minseok chuckles, “Oh really? For example?” he inquires, heading to the first class of the day.
“Uhm…I don’t know, good and bad are so overrated…Maybe the Blues Brothers, or Jack Skellington and Sally, or Rhett Butler and Scarlett O’Hara…”
“Why do I have the suspect that you’re going to force me into the woman counterpart?” Minseok asks sarcastically, giving Luhan an evil eye.
The ginger shushes him, “I got it, I got it!” he cries out, “Alice and the Mad Hatter!”
Minseok groans, “I thought you’d go with something more original, come on…I know you like the franchise, collect every shit about it and you even dragged me to the theater as soon as Burton’s film was out, but I’m almost sick of it.”
Luhan’s smile falters and he looks quite hurt; Minseok already regrets admitting his ‘darkest secret’, or rather, his tone.
“Sorry, sorry,” he hastily apologizes, “So, who is going to be who?”
“I wanted to dress like the Mad Hatter, though you are the one who never fails to wear a hat, so maybe you should do him…but I’d have loved to see you dressed as Alice…” Luhan pouts, already waving goodbye to his mental vision of Minseok with a long blonde wig, blue dress and polished, black Mary Janes. His best friend will never accept.
“No, I won’t be Alice,” Minseok states resolutely. His friend sighs, he knew it.
“Then…what about the Queen of hearts? Or the Marching Hare, the Dormouse…the twins! We could go as the twins!”
Minseok laughs, “Fuck off, we don’t look anything alike…besides, I’ve never liked them.”
Luhan scoffs, “You’re so picky, dammit…Oh! The Cheshire Cat! How on earth could I forget about him! What do you think, Min?”
Minseok stiffens and keeps looking ahead.
“Come ooooon,” Luhan whines, “…It’s that or Alice,” he challenges, tired of this discussion already.
Minseok glares at him from the corner of the eye, but finally gives in.
“Fine, I’ll be the cat,” he sighs.
Luhan beams and hugs him tightly, preceding his friend inside the classroom. Minseok takes a moment to sneak a hand under his trucker hat and scratch his extra ears before entering the classroom, right when the bell rings the beginning of the lessons.
--
Kim Minseok was born with animal genes. The ones of a cat, to be exact: he has a pair of pointy ears on top of his head, that he covers with a hat to lay them flat; a long fluffy tail, its fur the same chestnut brown of his hair and ears, that he wraps around his waist to hide it better; slightly longer canines; gold-speckled green eyes with vertical pupils that he conceals with black tinted contact lenses.
His parents had to plead up and down, without fully giving his secret away, to snatch a permission for him to always wear a hat at school and not to get changed with the other kids before and after physical education.
You’d never guess he has these extra features, because he looks totally normal once he hides them. He actually doesn’t mind his extra parts, but he feels relieved when he’s at home, free to stretch his always squished ears and wiggle his tail around.
The point is that, excluding his family, nobody knows about it. Nobody, not even Luhan.
--
Three days before the party, Luhan and Minseok meet after school to buy the necessary for their costumes, but Luhan must have run out of luck, because he can’t find a Mad Hatter costume anywhere.
“What about a DIY costume? We can’t check every single shop in the city, also because they’ll all answer you the same: we finished them,” Minseok groans exhausted after three intense hours of costume-hunting.
“Hell, how can costumes already be over?” Luhan scoffs, dragging his friend to yet another shop.
“Maybe because Halloween is in only three days,” Minseok replies simply.
Luhan spares him a miffed glance and without a word he picks an orange curly wig, a top hat and the necessary to transform it and other clothes in a Mad Hatter costume, taking in Minseok’s suggestion.
“What should I wear for mine, by the way?” the brown haired guy asks, eyeing the cat masks.
“I don’t know… tee and jeans? And you should definitely dye your hair and paint your face,” Luhan states, showing his friend the rack of packages of washable hair dye.
Minseok stares at him blankly, Luhan stares back. The former rolls his eyes and takes the blue dye, then two shades of blue face paint, fake whiskers and mittens and he’s ready to go transforming into the Cheshire Cat of Tim Burton’s movie. He can’t see himself with purple hair like the Disney’s version of the character.
“Hey, Minseok-ah, you’re forgetting tail and ears!” Luhan exclaims, wiggling a thin synthetic tail.
Minseok blushes faintly, hoping his friend doesn’t notice, “Oh, err…I think I have something left from past Halloween costumes and I’m pretty sure my mother dressed like a cat, one year, so I should still have the necessary somewhere,” he lies.
Luhan slightly smirks imagining Mama Kim in a kitty costume, earning himself a hard punch on the arm.
“Ow. Okay then,” he finally shrugs, heading to the cashier to pay.
--
The party is in about two hours, so Minseok has some time to get ready.
A long sleeved, striped blue t-shirt and his pair of jeans customized with a hole for his tail are already lying on the bed. Minseok has closed himself in the bathroom and is freezing his ass off, sitting stark naked on the toilet bowl with the cold and smelly dye on his head and tail, reading the components of the dye product in every language possible to pass the time suggested. Once the timer finally goes off, he takes a shower to take the extra dye off and carefully passes the hairdryer on his cat-ears and tail; he likes blue, but he feels weird sporting it as hair color, he’s already praying it’ll wash off at the next shower.
After wearing his clothes, Minseok carefully paints his face with dark and light blue streaks in a rough human representation of the Cheshire Cat and glues the whiskers. Lastly, he takes the contacts off to show his cat-like pupils: it’s ironic how people are dressing up to be someone or something else for this holiday, while he’s pretty much undressing to be himself, only more colorful.
The doorbell rings and Minseok rushes downstairs to open the door, letting a beaming Luhan in.
“What do you think, Min?” he asks excitedly, turning to show his costume: if he wants he has quite a talent for assembling stuff, in fact he did an egregious job making a Mad Hatter costume almost out of scraps.
“Very cool, Luhan,” Minseok nods cheerfully, his ears and tails moving along.
Luhan notices, of course, “Dude?”
”Mh?”
The Hatter takes his time to finally look at Minseok’s costume: the clothes aren’t anything special, but the feline details are so good they look real. Too good. And…are those cat eyes? Luhan’s initial thought is that Minseok took the costume pretty seriously, despite his initial reluctance, but the seed of suspect is starting to grow its roots, no matter how nuts it sounds to even think his friend really is a cat. He decides to shrug it off.
“Whoa, Minseok-ah, you look awesome! Your eyes! And your ears and tail even move! Where did you get them?” he asks eagerly, diplomatically trying to get an explanation.
Minseok wills his cat parts to halt, “W-What…” he tentatively stutters.
“I didn’t know they made mechanical features!”
”Ehm…yeah, my mother’s cousin is into technological stuff and made her these parts for her costume a while ago…” Minseok explains, hoping his friend will fall for this lie.
Luhan nods along before saying, “Ready to go?”
“Y-Yes, let me grab the mittens and a hoodie.”
“Bye, Mrs Kim!” Luhan calls from the door, heading to his car.
“Bye, mom!” Minseok says, catching a glimpse of his mother’s worried face before closing the door.
--
The car is pretty silent, with Luhan focused on the street while side-glancing at his friend’s cat ears and Minseok reading out loud the directions to Jongdae’s house off the flyer they got two weeks ago.
“May…May I touch them?” Luhan finally asks hesitantly, taking advantage of a red light.
Minseok turns to look at him, feeling his cheeks heating slightly and blessing the virtual darkness outside and inside the car.
“O-okay…” he allows, cocking his head to the driver’s side. He can’t help but flick his left ear when Luhan’s fingers delicately caress it, sensing a purr slowly rising from the depth of his throat and the tail threatening to move in appreciation.
“Amazing,” Luhan whispers, loving the softness of the fur.
“Thanks,” Minseok says with a tiny voice, staring at his lap for the rest of the ride.
--
Kim Jongdae personally opens the door with a broad grin ruined by his -thankfully fake- rotted teeth, but hey, it’s Halloween and he’s dressed in his best zombie costume so far. Halloween at Kim’s is at its third edition and it has entered with all the rights in the myths of their high school, it will be dearly missed once Jongdae will graduate.
“Luhan! Minseok! I’m so glad you’re here! And I couldn’t expect anything less from you two but matching costumes! Awesome choice, awesome choice! Come on in and stuff your faces with my tomb cake!” he shouts over the loud music, courtesy of someone dressed like Bob Marley.
Devils, bunnies, vampires, pirates and many others greet them from every corner (“See, Min? There’s no one else with a Mad Hatter costume, I don’t understand why I wasn’t able to find one for me.” “…”), while they make their way to the kitchen; there, two tall guys in werewolf costumes and the school’s jacket welcome them with Bacardi and slices of gray cake -Minseok’s even has half of a sugar spider.
“Minseok! Luhan! Cool costumes! Wow, your ears look real, can I touch them?” the werewolf asks enthusiastically, taking his mask off and revealing himself as Chanyeol, followed by who turns out to be Kris
Minseok mechanically takes a step back while Luhan steps half in front of him, “They aren’t anything special, just fake ears, y’know?” he says to his tall friend, shit eating grin plastered on his face.
“Oh, well,” Chanyeol shrugs, “all right. But you look really good in this costume,” he compliments with a flirty smirk, accentuated by his rumbling deep voice.
Minseok smiles shyly and looks away, not noticing Luhan staring at him…and at his tail, that is vaguely swinging from side to side.
“I knew you were a perfectionist, but you outdid yourself with this costume,” Kris observes, cocking an eyebrow in an impressed manner.
“Uh?” Minseok turns to face him.
“Your tail.”
Minseok stiffens and gapes at him, trying to articulate a lie, but his mind is full of worry -stupid stupid STUPID!- for the possibility of his secret to be revealed by Chanyeol and Kris, of all people: sure, they’re friends (of Luhan, though what is Luhan’s is also his), but still...
“His cousin is an ace with electronics and made him moving ears and tails. Sorry but we gotta return to the party,” Luhan quickly explains, dragging Minseok back to the chaotic living room and upstairs, looking for a free room. After hearing shrieks and curses from the couples they interrupted, they lastly find some peace in a small bathroom and Luhan closes themselves into it; he finally turns to Minseok, concern and a hint of anger visible on his face and audible in his voice.
“Your ears and tail are real…for real, am I right?” he asks seriously, a pretty much rare event.
Minseok feels obligated to tell him the truth: Luhan deserves it, after about ten years of dear friendship, and Minseok himself can’t stand to hold such a secret back from his best friend anymore.
“Yes,” he confesses in a whisper, ears down and tail twitching sadly.
“Whoa,” Luhan exhales awestruck, “but…how…”
”I was born with extra genes that caused the growth of cat features: ears, tail, oval pupils, canines a bit sharper that humans’…We don’t even know how it could have happened, I mean, my parents haven’t been exposed to radiations or anything of sort,” Minseok rushes before he chickens out from giving an explanation. His right ear twitches a bit in annoyance because, while he doesn’t mind looking half like a cat, he still doesn’t understand why him.
He doesn’t know how to interpret Luhan’s expression: he looks shocked but not enough to freak out and run away from him forever; he looks sympathetic but not in an irritating way; he looks fascinated but not like he considers Minseok a freak show.
Luhan finally punches him on the arm.
“Ow! What was that for?!”
“For not telling me sooner, jackass.”
Before Minseok has the time to retort that his situation isn’t an exactly easy topic to talk about, he finds himself wrapped in a tight hug.
“I won’t tell anyone, and if they somehow discover your secret, I won’t let them make fun of you or spread voices. I’ll even kick the mad scientists out of your yard, if necessary, I don’t want them to drag you to Area 51 or what the fuck ever,” Luhan promises resolutely, taking a step back to look in his best friend’s relieved eyes.
“That’s for aliens, but thanks,” Minseok flushes fondly and thanks his best friend heartily, leaving an embarrassed silence filling the bathroom.
Luhan takes off the wig that is slowly cooking his head, immediately wearing the Hat back, and sits on the bathtub, “Pity I’m more of a dog-guy,” he says nonchalantly. Minseok knows he’s joking, but he still glares and hardly stops himself from hissing.
“Shut up.”
Luhan holds his hands up in mock surrender, slightly turning his head to the side not to show Minseok he’s smirking. More silence ensues.
“So…” Luhan coughs, “Chanyeol, uh?”
“Yeah, Chanyeol…and Kris too, I hope they believed you,” Minseok sighs.
“No, that’s not what I was referring to,” Luhan’s lips stretch in a grin that doesn’t quite reach his eyes, receiving a puzzled look from his best friend, “You totally blushed when he hit on you, you looked like a cute girl in front of her crush,” he elbows Minseok playfully.
“Idiot,” the friend pushes him, blushing at the memory and with a shy smile on his mouth, “Of course I blushed, I’ve never been hit on by anybody, and Chanyeol is pretty popular.”
“Oooh, we’re already on a first name basis, uh?” Luhan remarks with wiggling eyebrows, his mind stuck on I’ve never been hit on by anybody...they don’t know what they’re missing out on. Well, more chances for Luhan, if he ever gets the guts to confess his undying love for his best friend…who’s partially a cat…what?
Minseok knocks his hat off grinning more widely, “You were the one to mention his name first, asswipe. I also want to remind you that he’s one of your closest friend’s best friend and that you introduced the two of us.”
“But you’re the bestest of best friends,” Luhan assures seriously, “though…” he adds in a low murmur.
“…Though what?”
“Nothing,” Luhan picks his hat up and unlocks the door, “Ready to go back to the party?” he asks with a dim smile.
“Not before you explain yourself,” Minseok leans against the door, effectively closing it,staring at Luhan who blushes and looks away.
Minseok’s tail moves on its own accord, hesitantly reaching for Luhan’s hand: the ginger barely flinches, more because he didn’t expect the contact than for being grossed out by his friend’s extra features, earning himself millions of points.
“I’m just…” Luhan starts, caressing the fluffy tail and bringing it to his face to feel the softness, “I’m relieved you don’t like Chanyeol more than me…”
“Of course I don’t, I’m too used to you by now,” Minseok half jokes.
Luhan looks at him with an unreadable expression. Minseok is starting to get irritated by this behavior, and when he opens his mouth to tell his best friend to finally express himself clearly, Luhan kisses him square on the mouth. After the initial shock, Minseok responds to the kiss, his ears perked up and his tail quivering contentedly, his cheeks blushing brightly under the coats of blue paint on his face.
When they break apart, Luhan hides under the brim of his top hat, a shy but satisfied smile fixed on his face. Minseok makes quick work of snatching the hat off his friend’s head and wearing the Mad Hatter’s distinctive element.
Hat-less Luhan holds the door open and bows slightly at Minseok’s passage, who rolls his eyes at the antics but kisses him in appreciation.
“It was about time that you two got together,” the drunkenly high voice of Baekhyun comes from the stairs, startling them. He has his sequined hoodie undone and his thick eyeliner is starting to smudge; he’s leaning heavily against his friend-with-benefits Sehun while getting upstairs, and together are stumbling towards a bedroom.
“Yeah, you were so oblivious to each other’s feelings it wasn’t even funny, especially after something like forever,” Sehun remarks as his decorated face and frilly vest disappear in the dark bedroom, a second before the door slams closed.
Luhan and Minseok stand in the hallway, finding themselves staring at the door that just closed but not wanting to know what their friends are going to perform in that room.
“Well…” Luhan tries to break the silence, “apparently everybody knew I liked you but yourself…” he chuckles.
“I can say the same,” Minseok retorts, folding his arms on his chest playfully.
“But nobody knows and won’t ever know about your secret, I’ll be the only one to enjoy it,” Luhan adds in a really low whisper, closing the gap between the two of them pecking those luscious lips.
“Perv. And I thought you said you were more of a dog guy?” Minseok observes, raising an eyebrow.
“Opposites attract,” Luhan states and that’s the end of their conversation, sealed by a long and lusty kiss.