The Reluctant (Mangaka) Hero for everyone
Title: The Reluctant (Mangaka) Hero
For: everyone
Rating: PG-13
Length: 8938 words
Summary: Jongin is a shy otaku who wants to be like his mangaka cousin, he thinks he's got no talent but he's just got zero inspiration.
Notes: thank you to d for always helping and encouraging me to finish this story. i almost gave up halfway but she's always there to cheer me up. also, thank you for helping me beta 1/3 of this fic. i apologize if there are still mistakes. to my recipient, i hoped you liked this!
Jongin smiles sheepishly when he finishes inking the last page. He admires his work for a second and thinks of his great inking skills. It takes great skills for this job. One wrong stroke and you are going to re-draw everything. And he would not like it. The deadline for submission of the manga is in two days.
"Yo Jongin, are you done with the last page?"Jongin nods and hands over the paper.
"Thanks. Now could you please help Junmyeon-hyung with the screentones? I think hyung’s about to have a mental breakdown for finishing 10 pages in one day."
"Yeah sure," Jongin replies. He would really have a mental breakdown because of your procrastination, Jongin thought. Shaking his head, he goes to the table near the studio’s windows and asks a currently panicky Junmyeon. "Hyung, Myungsoo hyung said you needed help?"
Junmyeon, instead of giving a verbal answer, hands out the last three pages Jongin had just finished inking. He needs help just by looking at Junmyeon’s crinkled forehead, a sign that he’s in his pathetic stressed state. Jongin reaches for the extra cutters on the desk and gets on with the work.
Kim Jongin currently works as an assistant for his mangaka cousin, who’s about to release his newest manga. Despite the stressful workload he has to deal with everyday Jongin actually enjoys his job. He gets to work with his favorite hyung, gets free passes to anime events and receives free manga (complete with autograph) from his hyung, but most importantly he gets to draw.
Drawing is his passion.
Maybe it’s the result of his undying love for his animes ever since he was a kid. But his Myungsoo hyung told him before that it runs in their family. It meaning their love for animes and drawing animes.
And so with his talent he was immediately hired by his mangaka cousin to join his group and work for him. He obviously got the inking job because Myungsoo knows how Jongin is particular with the details on sketches.
Little did anyone know though Jongin aspires to be a mangaka like his cousin but the lack of self-confidence makes his dream remain a dream. He has already the experience because he’s being working for Myungsoo for almost two years. His experience is already enough for him to work on his own but he just can’t. His shyness unable him to do so and that frustrates some of his friends.
He finally finishes his part the same time Junmyeon finishes his own. They sigh in relief as their work for the day is done (that should have been finished a day ago if their lazy mangaka just kept on track of their schedule).
Jongin watches Myungsoo and his two older cousins (all of them assistants too) relax a bit before packing their bags. He was in the middle of packing his pens when Jongdae pats his back, Cheshire-like grin plastered on his face.
"Hey maknae would you like to go out on a drink tonight? You look like you need it," he says. "I take no as an answer though so come on!"
Jongin gets dragged by his happy-go-lucky hyung and forced to accompany him on a nearby noraebang, just two blocks away from their studio. It’s just the two of them. Myungsoo having more stuff to finish back at their workplace stayed behind despite the struggle. He’s guarded by his editor all right. And Junmyeon, poor Junmyeon. He’s got a date with his scary wide-eyed girlfriend, saying they need to catch up on things. And well by catch up probably things every couple do. Jongin’s too embarrassed to even think about it.
He sips his excuse of a drink, which is a pineapple juice, as he watches Jongdae belch high notes on the microphone. He shakes his head when the older boy shoves the microphone to him and asks him to sing Wrecking Ball.
Therefs no way in hell he’ll sing that.
If possible he’d rather sing Shingeki no Kyojin’ 1st opening song. He bet no one can even defeat him singing Seid ihr das Essen? Nein, wir sind der Jager!
Not even his Myungsoo hyung who challenged him before on an anime singing contest can beat him. He’s the unbeatable Kim Jongin, king of anime noraebang.
"Hey Jongin, why don’t you show your manga to Myungsoo’s editor. I’m sure your manga will be accepted and she will find you a good, hmm, maybe even better editor!" Jongdae says, taking the seat across Jongin who almost spat out the juice to the guy in front of him. How did he even find out about his manga? He never showed it to anyone.
Jongdae smirks, "I saw it when I came over your apartment last week, maknae." He says as if reading Jongin’s thoughts. He opens a pack of dried squid and munches on it. "Let me tell you one thing Jongin. You really have talent. Your drawings are really nice, good enough to be in Shounen Jump but the story is like a complete rip off from the popular animes right now. If you want to make it big like that dumb Myungsoo you better come up with an original story line."
He said it. He is aware of everything Jongdae said but he just could not get the right story for his drawings.
"What you need my dear cousin is experience. You need that to widen your imagination!"
"But I get a lot of experience," Jongin mutters.
"If you’re talking about your trips to these anime events then you’re wrong." Jongdae shakes his head. "What I meant is dealing with real people, real action! Like maybe observing what’s around you, the conversations you hear around you. Stop living in your little world, Jongin. Pay attention. This will help you make a good story. Remember that."
Why is he even getting a lecture from someone who never takes anything seriously? But even though Jongdae’s like that Jongin knows he is saying the truth. Lately he’s been always busy up with work and catching up with his weekly anime that he does not even bother stepping out of his comfort zone called anime and mangas. Maybe for once he should listen to his older cousins. Maybe for once he better live his life like normal people do. If he just have enough courage to do that though.
***
The shrilling sound of the alarm clock echoes throughout Jongin’s small apartment. The sound waves bounce at every wall and make their way to Jongin’s ears, waking him up from his deep slumber. He goes to his daily morning routine, which mainly consists of him rubbing any remnants of sleep off his body and taking his two dogs (two fat brown poodles) out for a walk, before he goes to another day at Myungsoo’s apartment, finishing more pages to ink. It’s tedious for someone whose life is dedicated to animes and manga but what can he do really? His day only gets interesting when it’s his day off and he goes to these cool anime conventions where he get to buy more merchandise for his growing collections of whatnots.
Jongin and his dogs are about to leave the apartment when his dogs started barking at a white cat sitting on a bench at the other side of the road. The cat is intently looking at him, seemingly ignoring the deafening noises made by Jongin’s poodles.
He ignores the feline and goes to follow his schedule that morning. Jongin has got more important things to do than staring at an abandoned cat across the street.
***
By the time Jongin reaches his workplace, he was soon greeted by the smell of burnt food and terrified screams of help coming from the other side of the door, muffling the smoke alarm. He was sure he heard Jongdae yell "Myungsoo you fucking idiot! Are you planning to kill everyone!" and an immediate reply like "Shut up Jongdae! I was trying to be nice! And that’s Myungsoo hyung for you dumbass!"
Jongin tucks his sling bag tighter between his arm and body as he enters the den, prepared for another bout of banter from his co-workers, who happen to be his cousins too.
Shortly after Jongin sits on his own drawing table, the commotion has somehow subsided thanks to Junmyeon hyung who have arrived and saved the day. Also the argument between Myungsoo and Jongdae vanished after Junmyeon scolded them for acting like children.
"Here," Junmyeon smiles at him, handing him a bento. The look he might have flashed made the older laugh. "Kyungah made these. She told me to bring these for you guys."
Jongin thanks his ever caring cousin and his soon to be cousin in law for making breakfast. Usually Jongin and his cousins don’t even get to eat three times a day due to their busy schedule. They tend to eat food from a nearby convenience store but Junmyeon brought food with him, real food that they rarely get to ravage. Junmyeon is truly heaven sent.
After Jongin had walked his dogs, eventually losing track of time, he failed to cook his breakfast in fear that he will be late and obviously he did not want to be late and be scolded by angry mangakas and fellow assistants.
"Yah Junmyeon hyung how could you snag a girlfriend like Kyungah? Are you sure you didn’t bewitch her? I mean wow..." Jongdae gulps down a spoonful of kimchi bogeumbap before he resumes stuffing his mouth with the fried egg.
Junmyeon picks a stray pencil on his desk, smiles so bright at Jongdae that Jongin swears he can see light behind him. "It’s the power of love."
Jongdae makes a face somewhat disgusted at Junmyeon’s cliche answer.
"Eww hyung. You’re so cheesy, I swear. I’m surprised your girlfriend hasn’t murdered you yet," Jongdae says. He packs his used chopsticks inside the bento box.
"Why would Kyungah murder Junmyeon hyung? He’s nice."Myungsoo butts in, almost done with his own food.
"Shut up Myungsoo. I don’t remember asking for your opinion," Jongdae retorts.
Jongin sighs and wonders how those two ended up working together when all they do is bicker everyday. It’s definitely a mystery.
"Oi, didn’t I tell you to stop that already?"
Yep. Another interesting day at work again. Jongin bets they will be in a rush to finish the rest of the pages at the end of the day. He pities Myungsoo’s editor who always checks on them if they finished their quota of the day. Poor editor will cry again once she finds out they are getting more and more behind with the needed pages to draw.
***
Jongin has always been a shy introvert who goes at his own pace. When he was a kid he would play alone on the swings, watching the kids from the neighborhood play with the sandbox and make sandcastles out of it. They would ask him to join them but Jongin would politely decline. He’s never been a fan of any activities that requires his physical strength. He would rather spend a day in his room reading mangas or draw anime characters from the afternoon shows he always watch than playing ball. Don’t get him wrong. He loves to play soccer but he thinks drawing is better.
With drawing he can give life to a world he only sees. With his art he can show what words cannot describe, only vivid images of scenery and people that speaks for their selves.
But sometimes it feels like something is missing in his drawings like Jongdae had told him a few years ago before he entered the manga industry. Something void and stripped off from his works. Jongin wants to know what it is but how will he find out when he does not even know where to start?
***
"Heyyyyyyyy Jongin!!"
Jongin distances his phone away from him at the excited voice from the other line. He sighs when he reads the caller ID and finds out it’s one of his friends from an online anime forum.
"Luhan hyung, whatfs up?"
"There’s this anime convention somewhere in Gyeonggu this Saturday. I know it’s your day off so let’s go!"
How Luhan keeps track of his schedule he’s not sure. The sound of visiting an anime convention after a hectic week at work sounds enticing but Jongin remembers what his Jongdae hyung told him a few days ago. If he wants to gain more experience he should limit his visits to these conventions.
"So you going or not? galaxyalpaca00, you remember him right, said Isayama-sensei will be there for manga signing."
To heck with limiting his social skills.
"I’m going, hyung!"
***
"Be good while daddy’s away okay? Don’t even try to escape or no chicken for you tonight," Jongin says, looking sternly at his two poodles who were sitting quietly inside their respective kennels seemingly listening to him. They don’t look like mischievous dogs but Jongin has been with them for five years to know otherwise. He secures the lock of Jjangu’s kennel for the last time before fetching his keys and goes out.
Jongin notices that white cat on the other side of the road again.
How many days has that cat been there? Jongin hasn’t really paid attention to the cat since day one but how could he not notice such cat which exudes the kind of elegant vibes? He walks away and thinks maybe the cat’s owner just lives somewhere near. He’s too distracted with the meet and greet with his mangaka idol to think of baloney things.
Jongin’s mouth hangs open when he reaches the venue. To say he was surprised was an understatement. The convention hall was bigger than the previous event Jongin had gone to. The event is too grand for a normal anime convention. And then Jongin remembers some celebrities in the anime industry will be coming too so it looks like otakus like him will be attending a concert.
There are a lot of cosplayers flocking here and there, some of them might be joining the cosplay contest while some cosplays just for their own fun. From the entrance he could see this group of cosplayers from Shingeki no Kyojin, Jongin’s recent favorite anime. He admires at their exquisite handmade 3D gears from afar and wonders how in the world they could make it realistic. Before he could admire Luffy’s crew lining up on the entrance, someone runs towards him in a-
"Hyung, why are you dressing up as Roy Mustang?"
Luhan beams so bright that Jongin thinks he can provide energy as much as the sun. "Looks cool right? I bought this from an online shop for just $50! I couldn’t let such costume go to waste! And Brotherhood was so kakkoii!!"
Jongin frowns and thinks why is he friends with a weaboo, also not really getting his friend’s point but whatever. He drags the still blabbing Roy-han (as what Luhan instructed him to call him earlier) into the ticket booth and buys their ticket.
If Jongin thinks it’s cool outside he thinks the inside is even much cooler, figuratively and literally. Otakus flocking in one area sends a kind of different vibe to Jongin, like yes- he belongs to this world. This is his realm. He looks to his left and saw a host club booth, beside that is a shooting range and then from there is a line of doujinshis neatly displayed on rows. Again, Jongin finds his self admiring a huge variety of merchandise from different animes. He’s in heaven indeed.
"Jongin, I’m going to meet my friend on the west wing. There’s an hour left before Isayama-sensei’s fansigning so would you like to go with me?" Roy-han calls, already scanning the vicinity map given by the woman at the ticket booth.
Jongin agrees and accompanies his hyung to meet his other friend. This would be a nice opportunity to widen his circle of friends, he thinks.
He should have mentally prepared his self when he agreed to meet his Luhan hyung’s friend. Knowing Luhan he had obviously befriended another quirky person like him. The saying ebirds of the same feather flock together applies. But Jongin does not want to admit he’s one of those weird people in the fandom. He may be a little bit shy and timid but he’s not weird. Or so that’s what he likes to think of his self.
Luhan laughs at something his friend said before remembering that Jongin’s existence and then introduces him to Jongin. "Jongin this is my friend, galaxyalpaca00."
The guy reaches out his large hands for Jongin to shake. Like Luhan, galaxyalpaca00 is also dressed up as an FMA character. "Hi I’m galaxyalpaca00 but I’m Kris Wu offline." He smiles, the kind with showing his gums.
"Kim Jongin. Nice to meet you Kris-ssi." Luhan then starts to tell more things about Jongin, like he’s an assistant to the famous shoujo manga author L Kim and he’s got tons of collection of anime merch. Jongin thinks he should be the one saying that to this new friend but he lets Luhan do the job anyway.
They stroll around the area looking for a manga Luhan has been recently addicted to before they head to the main hall and gets ready for the fansigning event. Jongin is too starstruck meeting his idol for the first time he almost forgot handing his recent copy of Shingeki no Kyojin manga to the author, opting to ask instead how to be like him. The mangaka just laughs at the boy and hands him an on-the-spot sketch of one of Jongin’s favorite characters in the anime, which made Jongin even happier.
"Wow Jongin," Luhan starts, slightly awed at the boy beside him. "I didn’t know you can smile like that."
Jongin’s brows furrow, "Smile like what?"
"Like a real smile! A very happy smile! Usually all you do is scowl like you’re always displeased at the world!"
That’s not entirely true. Jongin does not smile often because he thinks there’s nothing to smile about. Why would he smile when all he sees everyday is the same old boring thing he’s already used to? Also smiling when you’re alone seems creepy.
"I wonder what else can make you happy like that," Luhan mutters.
And Jongin wonders the same thing. What makes him happy other than his anime.
***
Going out with Luhan is as exhausting as running in a marathon. Not only does he move around a lot, he also talks a lot about the world outside 2D. ("Don’t lump me in your category, Jongin. I have a life other than animes and mangas too you know", Luhan said when Jongin asked why he knows a lot of things) He’s an otaku but he doesn’t look like one at all. Unlike Jongin who radiates the otaku vibe even from three meters away.
He’s having a mental debate on how he should run his life from now on when he notices that the cat from that morning is surrounded by a group of dogs, notoriously barking at it, red streaks of blood painting its pristine white fur. Feeling pity for the poor cat, he goes to where it is curling in fear and hissing now and then. The dogs run as soon as they saw Jongin holding a long stick, leaving the wounded cat behind.
Now that the bullies are gone, Jongin picks the cat from the tree where it was previously clinging unto. The cat hisses at Jongin, and Jongin apologizes to the cat when he realizes he’s touched the wound. It’s still bleeding. Jongin is not the type of person who leaves poor bullied cat alone so he decides to take him back to his apartment where he can properly treat his wounds.
As soon as the door opens, Jongin hears the angry barks of his dogs, a warning that tells him they might have already smelled the intruder. The cat hides its face against Jongin’s chest and his heart melts at the affectionate gesture.
Jongin has not let go of the dogs from their kennels yet, scared that they might attack the cat and worsen its condition. He goes to his room and gets the first aid kit. The cat quietly snuggled against him.
The cut is not that deep and it doesn’t look like a bite from the dogs earlier, Jongin observes. Maybe the cat scratched itself when it climbed up into that small tree.
He stills the cat on his bed and picks the betadine from the kit. It shouldn’t hurt the cat but he slightly flinches when Jongin applies a dab of ointment on its cut. "Heyy little guy, it’s ok. It’ll be fine," Jongin says as he finally wraps the gauze around the area where the wound was.
"You stay here while I take care of the dogs ok? I’ll be back."
The cat stares back at Jongin, meowing in response. He licks his paws and starts to groom his self. Jongin laughs at the cat and goes out to feed his hungry (and now angry and probably jealous too) poodles.
By the time Jongin has finished taking care of his dogs and had taken a shower, he went back to his room and finds the cat already dozing off comfortably on his bed. He joins the feline and goes to dreamland.
Instead of the usual ringing of his alarm clock, Jongin is woken up by something wet and rough. And when he opens his eyes, the cat is licking him on his left cheek, unperturbed by the fact that Jongin is quite uncomfortable with the cat’s rough tongue on his skin.
"Good morning to you too, little guy," Jongin says instead. He strokes the cat’s head and smiles when it seems to relish the action. "I’m going to work today so... ugh../ if you want to come back to your owners I can leave you back to where I found you last night." He can’t keep him alright. He’s got two dogs and he’s usually out for work and nobody’s gonna take care of him. He can’t obviously leave the cat alone with his dogs around. However, when the cat snuggles lovingly against Jongin’s warm body again, all thoughts of leaving the cat back to where he found him were gone. He just couldn’t leave him there.
"Alright, be a good boy while I’m away, okay? I’ll leave you here and keep the dogs inside their kennels. Try not to make any mess. I’ll be back this afternoon."
And as if the cat understood what he said, the cat lies back on the bed and closes his eyes, showing Jongin that he’ll be a good cat. Jongin just hopes everything will be alright and in place when he goes back from work.
***
"Myungsoo’s publisher is looking for someone to fill in their extra space for next month’s issue," Jongdae tells him when he sits on his working table. "It’s a 4 page section, Jongin. Would you like to try?"
"I don’t know, hyung... I’m not really confident," He replies quietly.
Jongdae shakes his head, the papers in his hands sway at the same time with his head. "This is your chance, Jongin. They might even hire you full-time if they liked your entry."
"They won’t. You already told me my storylines aren’t good and my art lacks something so I don’t-"
He was cut off by Jongdae’s threateningly sharp g-pen in front of him. It was so close to his face Jongin swears he could almost see doubles. "We won’t know unless you try. Come on just do it. I’ll check your name by next week and I’ll tell you how to improve it. How’s that?"
"Hyung, I don’t think-"
"Nuh uh. Next. Week." Jongdae emphasizes the last two words, patting his younger cousin’s head before heading to his own table. "And don’t forget the keypoints I gave you before!" He says and Jongin’s left thinking how in the world he can do what his cousin’s asking him to do.
"You can do it," Myungsoo whispers as he passes Jongin’s first set of papers to ink. Jongin sighs, can he really do it though.
***
Jongin is totally surprised when he got home that afternoon, seeing the cat he picked up from yesterday sitting quietly behind the door and seemingly waiting for his return. As soon as he shed off his shoes, the white cat starts purring at him and rubbing its body against Jongin’s legs.
He lifts the cat and rubs its head, "Are you hungry little kitty?" The cat meows as if he understood Jongin. He started licking Jongin’s fingers and the human is slightly startled at the rough texture of the cat’s tongue. Jongin’s used to his dogs soft tongue when they lick him.
"Okay.. I brought you cat food. How’s that?"
They walk towards the small kitchen then Jongin opens the can of cat good he bought after work. The cat keeps on mewling at Jongin, as if trying to tell him he wants food. He might be really hungry since he left him and the dogs all alone the whole day.
After he had put the food into the bowl for the cat to eat, Jongin goes to attend to his two dogs who keep on barking nonstop after the lack of attention they got from their master when he got home. They are obviously jealous alright.
Monggu and Jjanggu look so pissed when he frees them from their kennels. Instead of their usual greeting (a lick on Jongin’s cheeks) the two fried chicken look a likes head to the bathroom and did their business. While they’re at it, Jongin pours a heap of dog food serving into their own food bowls, hoping that if he added more the two will love him again. It’s a bribe but Jongin couldn’t care less. He leaves the two dogs to cool their head off (are they even angry?) and goes to his new pet cat who’s probably done eating his food.
The cat still hasn’t finished its food when Jongin goes to check him. Jongin notices how the cat always shifts from eating its food to grooming itself. That is when Jongin realizes how its white fur is coated with grime and some blood from yesterday’s incident.
"Hey, I think you need to take a bath."
At the mention of the word bath the cat stops grooming his paws and stares at Jongin. For a moment, Jongin thought that the cat will run and seek shelter where he can hide but it looks like he is even encouraging Jongin to do it now? Aren’t cats supposed to hate bath?
Throwing all his queries aside, Jongin prepares the hot water while keeping the two dogs away from their mortal enemy. As soon as the tub is full of lukewarm water, Jongin picks up and washes his dirty cat. He smiles when the cat leans on to his touch, clearly enjoying the bath.
"While no one’s claimed you yet you’ll stay with me, okay?" Jongin says. "Oh. I should give you a name, right? Since your fur is so white I’ll name you Kuro."
Kuro bares his claws and Jongin instantly feels threatened. The name must have been too lame for the cat’s liking but Jongin couldn’t think of a much better name at the moment so he just leave it be. It’s not like the cat will talk back and tell him ‘change my name you freaking lame human’.
Jongin has finished bathing Kuro, drying him off with his spare towel. The cat looks so pleased at the treatment that he starts purring at Jongin. It feels weird when this cat is too lovable towards him. Jongin never get a cat for a pet because he heard from his friends that they tend to be snob and self-absorbed. Unlike the dogs who give their love to their master 28/7 of the time. Those must have been lies because judging from what’s happening to him right now, it’s entirely the opposite from the advices he heard before.
"Okay Kuro you head to bed first. I’m going to bath myself too," Jongin says, tapping the cat’s butt and urging him to get out of the bathroom. The cat did and Jongin’s left to clean his self.
Once he decides he’s squeaky clean, free from the sticky feels and smell of his sweat, Jongin enters his room to put on some clothes that will at least cover his private parts. He looks at his cat, now sleeping soundly on top of his bed, cuddled around Jongin’s blanket.
The idea of sleeping already on his soft, comfortable bed is so tempting. Normally, Jongin will go straight to bed after a long day at work but now that Jongdae has given him a task that seems impossible to accomplish, he will have to temporarily say goodbye to his constant mutual relationship with his bed.
Careful not to wake his pet, Jongin turns on the lamp near his drawing table and grabs his materials for drawing. He sits there for a minute, holding his pencil and thinks of a good story for his manga. A minute turned to five, six... twenty but Jongin still could not think of a good plot. Instead, he draws a sketch of Luffy riding his ship full of gold coins and other treasures. Jongin laments at his poor, unimaginative brain.
He turns off the lamp when his brain could not squeeze any more ideas. He will just have to try the next day. Maybe, just maybe, he will get an inspiration.
Jongin joins his white cat on the bed as he finally closes his eyes and rides the trip to dreamland. The last thing he saw in the dark room was his cat staring at him with his dilated eyes and patting his human with his right paw.
***
When Jongin wakes up the next day, he was expecting to see his cat still sleeping soundly beside him and then the dogs’ loud barks echoing throughout the whole apartment again. But what he sees the moment he opens his eyes shocked the living soul out of him.
Right next to him is a man. A naked one to boot. Jongin’s first instinct is to kick the stranger out of his bed but he thinks it’s kind of rude even though the stranger slept next to him without his permission.
He thinks if the stranger is a criminal he would have killed Jongin while he’s sleeping but he didn’t so what and who in the world is this man? Before he could even wake the intruder and ask what he’s doing there, the boy slowly opens his eyes.
"Good morning," the boy says.
"Who are you?" Jongin calmly asks, his heartbeat is surprisingly normal for a situation like this.
The boy just smiles at him, his eyes disappearing and forming into two half-crescents. "I’m Sehun."
"Sehun..." Jongin repeats, pondering if he was so tired thinking of his project that he forgot that he let this man in. "What are you doing here?"
"You took me in!" he says as if it's the most obvious thing.
"But I didn’t take anyone in? Seriously, what are you doing here?"
The way Sehun pouts after that made Jonginfs inside flutter like there were thousands of disturbed butterflies. "You don’t recognize me? At all?"
Jongin shakes his head.
"Oh well. You named me Kuro."
Kuro.
But Kuro’s a cat?
Kuro is a cat. Not a human. And most of all not a pretty boy like Sehun.
"How are you Kuro? Kuro is a cat?"
Sehun awkwardly stands up, not so intentionally showing Jongin all of his naked glory and sighs dramatically. Jongin is sure he heard the boy mutter something like ’now here’s the explanation part’.
"Hmm, it’s a long story actually. But to keep things shorter, I was cursed. I got into trouble with this girl who liked me so much one time but I turned her down because you know, I’m not really into girls and then I found out she’s a witch and turned me into a cat."
"But how did you..?"
Sehun beams at him, "The curse will only be broken if some guy takes care of me while I’m on my cat form. And it happened to be you so now I’m free."
Jongin’s face must have still shown confusion because Sehun laughs at him again. "I kept waiting outside but nobody even gives me attention. As you have witnessed last night, the only ones who gave me the attention were the dogs. I was so terrified of them. I thought I’ll die right there."
There’s too much to comprehend like how is it even possible for a human to be cursed and turned into a cat. Don’t those things only happen in mangas or animes? Jongin pinches his cheeks to check if he’s really awake and not dreaming.
It hurts.
Great, he’s not dreaming.
"Hey, mind if you lend me some of your clothes? It’s so awkward standing here with my dick exposed in front of you."
***
Jongin finds his self having a roommate for his tiny apartment that very day. Sehun explained to him that he has nowhere to go and please, please, please can he just stay with Jongin. He promises he will work around the house so he won’t have to worry about a messy house when he comes back from work. But the thing is, it looks much better if Sehun does not touch anything. He’s a complete klutz.
Right after Jongin leaves Sehun with his job of cleaning the house decides to work on his project , he hears the clanging of pans and kettles. When he checks what happened, he caught Sehun trying to organize his already neat kitchen. He sighs and helps him clean up the mess he’d just made.
"I’m sorry! I’m sorry, Jongin!"
"It’s okay."
It’s not really okay but Jongin can’t be mad at the boy. He was just trying to do his job, right? How could he even be angry when he sees Sehun looking so cute when he’s embarrassed.
Sehun furiously apologizes after that and tells Jongin he will make them lunch. Jongin asks him if he knows how to cook to which the boy replied with an indignant and slightly offended yes.
"Don’t hesitate to call me if you need help," Jongin says. Sehun replies with "I don’t need your help. I’ll cook you something for lunch!" Again, Jongin leaves him alone in the kitchen and goes back to his own work.
If the pencil in Jongin’s hand can speak it would have already yelled profanities at the one who’s holding and circling it around his fingers. It’s a habit Jongin has developed when he’s stuck with drawing something. No matter what he does, the mood to draw would just not come into him, prisoning his ideas in a box tightly secured inside his brain. Just how and where could he find the key to unlock those hidden thoughts?
He’s only got three weeks left till the submission of the entry and Jongdae needs his draft in three days so they can work and improve the story. The two need to polish it before they submit the manuscript to the publishing company.
The looming deadline pressures him more, holding him back to draw anything.
However, the smell of burnt rice derailed his train of thoughts followed by the noise made by the smoke detector and he just sighs because he knows what’s exactly going in there.
And as expected, Sehun is rushing to turn off the stove and save his burnt meal. Jongin notices the clutter in the sink and he wonders how many poor onions were victimized by the clumsy Sehun.
"I told you to call me if you need help." Jongin picks the frying pan from the stove and pours water onto the now un-edible food. Sehun, on the other hand, stands there feeling even more embarrassed at what he has done.
"I swear I know how to cook!"
"Yeah, and you're an expert on burning it."
"That’s not it!" Sehun blushes as Jongin looks at him with an amused smile on his face. "I promise I’ll do better next time."
"Alright, Sehunnie, you go get changed and we’re going to eat outside and maybe replenish our food stock since it seems like you have used everything in my fridge."
Sehun’s face got even much redder, embarrassed that he ruined every ingredients by trying to cook a simple fried rice. He hides his hands into his (Jongin’s) shirt as he runs into the room and changes into something that doesn’t look like pajamas.
***
Sehun kept quiet the whole time they were eating in a fastfood store just a few blocks away from Jongin’s apartment, probably still embarrassed that all he did the whole day was to disturb Jongin and mess up everything in his apartment. All he wanted is to help the other boy but he’s just really clumsy to do anything.
"Hey, why are you not eating? Don’t you like the food?" Jongin asks him, munching on a piece of fries he’s picked from his tray. "Or you’re still not used to eating human food? Would you like me to buy you cans of cat food later?" he teases.
Instead of taking the bait, Sehun lowers his head in shame. "I’m sorry, Jongin. I didn’t mean to be a useless human. I understand if you want to leave me on the streets and die of hunger..."
Jongin laughs at that. "Why would I do that? Silly cat."
"I’m not a cat anymore! I’m human now," Sehun says, the pout is so cute on his pretty face and Jongin tries so hard not to pinch Sehun’s adorable cheeks. "And stop laughing."
Jongin stifles his laughs, reducing into fits of giggles instead. "I’m sorry Sehun. I’m still not used to this whole thing yet. I mean, wow. I never knew this kind of scenario really happens in real life. I thought it only happens in animes."
"But it’s real. I’m the living proof."
And it’s true Sehun is right there, right in front of his eyes, eating a burger larger than his hands. It’s cute when Sehun slurps his drink, looking so pissed at something Jongin might have said earlier.
"What are you looking at?" Sehun asks, trying to pull off an ’I’m-angry-don’t-try-to-mess-with-me’ look at Jongin who looks like he’s enjoying teasing the other boy so much.
"You look cute when your eyebrows are furrowed like that. It’s like you have unibrows or something," Jongin laughs again and almost spills the contents of his drinks when he accidentally brushes his fingers to the cup of soda. "You’re way cuter now than when you were in your cat form, Sehunnie."
"If you just didn’t take care of me I swear I would have already kicked you in your shin."
"Wow, that’s so threatening Sehunnie. I bet you would fall once you lift your leg and try to kick me."
The sharp kick on Jongin’s legs proved otherwise as Sehun finishes his burger and glares daggers at the laughing but slightly pained Jongin.
***
"Did something happen?" was Jongdae’s question when he goes to work the next day. For some reason, his cousins had sensed the sudden change in Jongin’s personality like he has become more cheerful and he smiles now and then at work. "What, come on tell your hyungs what happened."
"I don’t know hyung. Nothing really happened." And nothing really happened except for the fact that the cat he had picked up a few days ago turned to a pretty boy and he enjoys every minute of his life teasing him. He couldn’t help it. Sehun’s an easy target. You can joke with him anytime and he won’t make you feel bad for teasing him after. He’d just throw a non-insulting word at Jongin and cry after.
Jongdae gives him an appreciative look before asking him about his entry. "You’re working on it, are you?"
Jongin nods, "I’m almost done, hyung. Don’t worry." It’s a lie. He’s nowhere near in finishing said manuscript. He hasn’t even come up with a story yet but he doesn’t want to trouble his hyung further. Also, he doesn’t really need to listen to his older cousin’s nonstop scolding once he hears about Jongin’s progress.
"That’s great. I’ll be expecting your draft the day after tomorrow then."
***
Sehun is preparing their dinner when the door bell rings. And thankfully he hasn’t burned anything yet. He’s learned enough from Jongin some tricks on how to not burn your food and keep it edible. He quickly runs towards the door, quite excited to see Jongin and show his masterpiece.
"Welcome home!"
Jongin reciprocates the greeting with a smile, patting Sehun’s head as he rids off his shoes and placing them on the rack. Sensing Jongin’s mood, Sehun follows the boy into their now shared room and asks him what’s wrong.
"Are you ok? You don’t look well," Sehun places his hand on Jongin’s forehead, feeling the other’s temperature.
"I’m okay, Sehunnie. Just a long day at work."Jongin gives him a warm smile, assuring the other that he’s really fine. "Did you cook something? The apartment smells nice and nothing like burnt food."
Sehun beams at the compliment and pulls Jongin’s wrist to guide him towards the kitchen. "I cooked ramyun!" He says proudly and shows Jongin a bowl full of the dish he’s just made. It looks so appetizing that Jongin’s stomach instantly reacted to the smell of the food.
"You sure this is edible?"
The other scoffs, "Of course! I’m improving you know! Do you want to eat now? I’ll prepare the bowls."
Jongin watches as Sehun gets the plates. He’s never been observant of his surroundings but somehow ever since Sehun came, he starts to notice the little things. In just a span of a week, Jongin sees how Sehun has this habit of biting his pretty thin lower lip when he’s nervous or when he’s done something wrong, how Sehun gets up 10 minutes later after Jongin, how Sehun cries so much when he watches the dramas on TV and more small things Sehun does.
Sehun has a lithe figure, long limbs and sharp features. He’s only an inch taller than Jongin but he still acts like a child. That’s why Jongin loves to tease him at most times.
He has already prepared the plates on the table while Jongin’s so lost in his thoughts. He didn’t realize that Sehun was asking him something.
"Sorry, what?"
Sehun sighs as he flicks Jongin’s forehead. "You sure you’re alright?"
"Yeah. I’m completely fine, why do you ask?"
"You seemed troubled over something."
Jongin shakes his head and flashes Sehun one of his usual fond lopsided grin, "I’m fine."
Sehun looks at him apprehensively before he drops the subject. Jongin listens to Sehun rant about how he’s kept his room squeaky clean and arranged all his mangas in the cabinet by their volume number and he should really keep all his anime merchandise in one place if Jongin doesn’t want to cry over lost precious treasures.
Jongin is about to retort over something Sehun said about keeping Jongin s hygiene when a sudden spark lights up and immediately a series of ideas plays in his brain. He ignores Sehun’s yells of "finish your food first!" and goes straight to his drawing table, ready to draw the inspiration he had just thought of.
***
Jongin grins at his finished draft, proud that he managed to get it done before Jongdae can bug him again. He has to do his best even though the opening in the magazine is only a 4-page column. Jongin knows that this short story will soon escalate to a full series if the readers liked it.
"What are you doing?"
Jongin almost flinched in his seat, slightly cursing for not noticing the sly boy. "I just finished the draft for my entry to be submitted to my cousin’s publishing company," he says, compiling the papers and cleaning his table. Sehun peeks at his work curiously, "What’s it all about?"
"Not your stuff."
Before Jongin can hide the papers from Sehun’s prying eyes, the other boy is quick to snatch the papers. Jongin can not even retort, afraid that he might crumple the paper if he wrestles with Sehun to get back the draft. And besides there’s no point getting it back now that Sehun is almost at the last panel of the page. Jongin is amaze at Sehun’s fast reading skills.
"Wow, you write shoujo manga?" he asks, handing Jongin back the papers. Sehun is still smiling like he just read an article about cooking, which is a good thing since he loves to cook.
"Nah, this is for the magazine right? I normally draw shounen stuff like Shingeki. Do you know that?"
Sehun looks at him, his eyes telling Jongin ’do you think I know that? I’ve been in my cat form for how many months how does he expect Sehun to know that’. He scoffs as he kicks Jongin’s chair, "This is why you didn’t finish the food I cooked for you." There’s a hint of dismay in his voice and Jongin sees the arrow of guilt about to hit him.
"Sorry Sehunnie. I’ll make up it to you tomorrow okay?"
Sehun is still pouting but he does not look as alienated as earlier. Nice. That’s what Jongin loves about Sehun, he’s easy to please despite his countless teasing towards the boy. Just a sincere apology will do.
Jongin has evaded the arrow of guilt but not the sudden attack of Sehun’s hug. "H-hey..." Jongin says, slightly out of breath as Sehun’s bony arms tighten. The fact that Sehun’s chin is on top of Jongin’s shoulders doesn’t help at all too. Jongin’s airways seem to be not working whenever Sehun’s close to him.
"Good luck Jongin. I know you can do it," Sehun says quietly and kisses Jongin’s cheeks. And before Jongin can ask him what just happened, Sehun scampers towards the bathroom, leaving a puzzled Jongin behind.
Jongin spent the rest of the night thinking why Sehun did that. He can’t interrogate the other boy because as soon as Sehun finished taking a bath, he headed straight to the (their) bed and slept, even ignoring Jongin’s questions like "Did you put the shampoo back to its right place?" Sighing, Jongin decides to leave it at that. There’s still tomorrow.
***
"Jongin!" Jongdae starts, his sharp jaw slightly ajar in astonishment. He looks at his younger cousin who’s somewhat fidgety on his seat, already preparing himself for any violent reactions and criticisms his cousin might shoot at him. Instead of the dreaded and usual 'this is not good' comment, Jongin receives a pat on his back and when he finally glances at Jongdae, the other is grinning so wide. "Wow, you improved a lot!"
"Really?" Jongin asks, not believing his ears. "Really, hyung?"
Jongdae nods, "great improvement indeed, Jongin. We can submit this to Myungsoo’s editor!"
He listens to Jongdae’s comments about his dialogs and the art. He told him about the minor improvements Jongin had accomplished. Also lecturing him on the things he can improve, like how Jongin should lessen the shounen-ish feel of the art and think of how to engage their audiences more in the story, along with the dialogs of the characters (also putting more appropriate contexts.) Other than those factors mentioned, the draft is A-okay according to Jongdae.
When they finished with the brainstorming, Jongin calls Sehun at home to go get changed and meet him at their usual meeting place to eat out so there’s no need for Sehun to prepare dinner. The other asked him what’s up and Jongin just told him to follow.
***
Sehun is still far away but Jongin immediately sees him despite the crowd filling in the sidewalk. It’s already 6 pm, those who have just got off from work are on their way to their homes while some are probably going to have a good time. It’s a Friday night after all all. The night is young.
"Hey, what took you so long?" Jongin asks when Sehun’s just an arm-length away. The boy is dressed with Jongin’s old Naruto t-shirt that has a huge "DATTEBAYO" written on the front and a pair of pants that is too big for Sehun. Jongin mentally notes of buying Sehun his own clothes after Myungsoo gave them their paychecks at the end of the month. Sehun’s too skinny for his old clothes.
"Your dogs were killing me! They hate me so much," Sehun says.
"Well, you used to be a cat."
"I bet they’re just jealous because I stole their master."
Jongin stops on his tracks and looks carefully at Sehun. "What did you say?"
Sehun’s cheeks redden in an instant, maybe he didn’t mean to say it out loud. "Ah! What’s with you today? Why are we eating out again? Did something happen at work?"
"Just got my draft approved by Jongdae hyung. Nothing much to celebrate but-"
"JONGIN!!!" Sehun screams and literally latches himself on Jongin, winding his arms around Jongin’s neck and giving the mangaka his tightest hug ever. "Congratulations!! I knew you can do it!!"
Jongin tries to breathe. "Thanks Sehunnie but ugh... I can’t breathe."
"Oh my god. I’m sorry Jongin!" The half crescents on Sehun’s eyes are back and Jongin just can’t resist his feelings any longer as he stares at Sehun with his own longing eyes. He watches as Sehun bites on his lip again and the urge to just claim those thin lips intensifies. He leans in closer to Sehun, and it feels so cliche like this. Sehun instantly closes his eyes, ready to relish into the moment. Their distance is almost a few centimeters away before Jongin catches himself and pulls away, thankful that he didn’t do anything stupid.
However, the scowl on Sehun’s pretty face must have told Jongin otherwise. Was he disappointed at Jongin? Yeah, he must be because right when he calls Sehun to eat, the boy pulls him into a hard kiss right in front of a busy crowd. When they finally pull apart to breathe for air, Sehun is breathless and still scowling at him.
"Idiot, Kim Jongin! Will you ever grow any balls to tell me how you feel?"
Jongin is speechless. He’s in a daze and somewhat he cannot believe what just happened. "Sehun..."
"I like you okay! I like you so much Kim Jongin ever since that day you saw me while you’re walking your dogs and ignored me. I thought if I stayed there you might finally notice me but you didn’t until some bully canines came to gang up on me."
"But-"
"I didn’t even know why I like you back then, you good for nothing otaku! I hate you so much but I like you but I hate you-"
Jongin shuts him up with a kiss albeit a light one. "Silly cat. I like you too okay. I like you and your clumsiness, your stupidity, your dreams of being a good cook. We’ve just met so let’s take things slow, understood?"
Maybe Sehun is still in that post-kissing frenzy euphoria because he replies Jongin with a nod, following his boyfriend(?) inside the barbecue shop.
Jongin doesn’t really understand the turn of events but he knows he likes Sehun and that is all what matters (for now).
***
The two are preparing for sleep when Sehun suddenly remembers something from their conversation earlier. "What's your story all about? I haven't gotten really read the whole thing before because I was so distracted."
"You wanna know, bae?" Jongin teases. He pulls the blanket over them and laughs when Sehun has this confused look on his face, which is almost comical. Sehun nods, waiting for Jongin to summarize the story to him. "Oh, it’s just about a boy and his catgirl girlfriend who are living together. The catgirl is clumsy and all but the boy really likes her."
With that, Sehun frowns so badly, "That sounds like me and you."
"Exactly!"
Sehun throws a pillow at Jongin’s face and shrieks. "I swear to God, Jongin! I’ll give out all your anime merchandise to those kids outside and you’ll never see them ever again!"
"Seid ihr das Essen? Nein, wir sind der Jager!" Jongin cackles as he continues to avoid the non-stop pillow projectiles being thrown at him. He’s grateful that he met Sehun because without him he’s probably going to be all mopey at the moment and not having fun. Because of Sehun, he managed to get inspiration for his entry and get an approval. Because of him Jongin finds more reason to smile everyday. He’s gonna keep this clumsy cat turned human in his life.
For: everyone
Rating: PG-13
Length: 8938 words
Summary: Jongin is a shy otaku who wants to be like his mangaka cousin, he thinks he's got no talent but he's just got zero inspiration.
Notes: thank you to d for always helping and encouraging me to finish this story. i almost gave up halfway but she's always there to cheer me up. also, thank you for helping me beta 1/3 of this fic. i apologize if there are still mistakes. to my recipient, i hoped you liked this!
Jongin smiles sheepishly when he finishes inking the last page. He admires his work for a second and thinks of his great inking skills. It takes great skills for this job. One wrong stroke and you are going to re-draw everything. And he would not like it. The deadline for submission of the manga is in two days.
"Yo Jongin, are you done with the last page?"Jongin nods and hands over the paper.
"Thanks. Now could you please help Junmyeon-hyung with the screentones? I think hyung’s about to have a mental breakdown for finishing 10 pages in one day."
"Yeah sure," Jongin replies. He would really have a mental breakdown because of your procrastination, Jongin thought. Shaking his head, he goes to the table near the studio’s windows and asks a currently panicky Junmyeon. "Hyung, Myungsoo hyung said you needed help?"
Junmyeon, instead of giving a verbal answer, hands out the last three pages Jongin had just finished inking. He needs help just by looking at Junmyeon’s crinkled forehead, a sign that he’s in his pathetic stressed state. Jongin reaches for the extra cutters on the desk and gets on with the work.
Kim Jongin currently works as an assistant for his mangaka cousin, who’s about to release his newest manga. Despite the stressful workload he has to deal with everyday Jongin actually enjoys his job. He gets to work with his favorite hyung, gets free passes to anime events and receives free manga (complete with autograph) from his hyung, but most importantly he gets to draw.
Drawing is his passion.
Maybe it’s the result of his undying love for his animes ever since he was a kid. But his Myungsoo hyung told him before that it runs in their family. It meaning their love for animes and drawing animes.
And so with his talent he was immediately hired by his mangaka cousin to join his group and work for him. He obviously got the inking job because Myungsoo knows how Jongin is particular with the details on sketches.
Little did anyone know though Jongin aspires to be a mangaka like his cousin but the lack of self-confidence makes his dream remain a dream. He has already the experience because he’s being working for Myungsoo for almost two years. His experience is already enough for him to work on his own but he just can’t. His shyness unable him to do so and that frustrates some of his friends.
He finally finishes his part the same time Junmyeon finishes his own. They sigh in relief as their work for the day is done (that should have been finished a day ago if their lazy mangaka just kept on track of their schedule).
Jongin watches Myungsoo and his two older cousins (all of them assistants too) relax a bit before packing their bags. He was in the middle of packing his pens when Jongdae pats his back, Cheshire-like grin plastered on his face.
"Hey maknae would you like to go out on a drink tonight? You look like you need it," he says. "I take no as an answer though so come on!"
Jongin gets dragged by his happy-go-lucky hyung and forced to accompany him on a nearby noraebang, just two blocks away from their studio. It’s just the two of them. Myungsoo having more stuff to finish back at their workplace stayed behind despite the struggle. He’s guarded by his editor all right. And Junmyeon, poor Junmyeon. He’s got a date with his scary wide-eyed girlfriend, saying they need to catch up on things. And well by catch up probably things every couple do. Jongin’s too embarrassed to even think about it.
He sips his excuse of a drink, which is a pineapple juice, as he watches Jongdae belch high notes on the microphone. He shakes his head when the older boy shoves the microphone to him and asks him to sing Wrecking Ball.
Therefs no way in hell he’ll sing that.
If possible he’d rather sing Shingeki no Kyojin’ 1st opening song. He bet no one can even defeat him singing Seid ihr das Essen? Nein, wir sind der Jager!
Not even his Myungsoo hyung who challenged him before on an anime singing contest can beat him. He’s the unbeatable Kim Jongin, king of anime noraebang.
"Hey Jongin, why don’t you show your manga to Myungsoo’s editor. I’m sure your manga will be accepted and she will find you a good, hmm, maybe even better editor!" Jongdae says, taking the seat across Jongin who almost spat out the juice to the guy in front of him. How did he even find out about his manga? He never showed it to anyone.
Jongdae smirks, "I saw it when I came over your apartment last week, maknae." He says as if reading Jongin’s thoughts. He opens a pack of dried squid and munches on it. "Let me tell you one thing Jongin. You really have talent. Your drawings are really nice, good enough to be in Shounen Jump but the story is like a complete rip off from the popular animes right now. If you want to make it big like that dumb Myungsoo you better come up with an original story line."
He said it. He is aware of everything Jongdae said but he just could not get the right story for his drawings.
"What you need my dear cousin is experience. You need that to widen your imagination!"
"But I get a lot of experience," Jongin mutters.
"If you’re talking about your trips to these anime events then you’re wrong." Jongdae shakes his head. "What I meant is dealing with real people, real action! Like maybe observing what’s around you, the conversations you hear around you. Stop living in your little world, Jongin. Pay attention. This will help you make a good story. Remember that."
Why is he even getting a lecture from someone who never takes anything seriously? But even though Jongdae’s like that Jongin knows he is saying the truth. Lately he’s been always busy up with work and catching up with his weekly anime that he does not even bother stepping out of his comfort zone called anime and mangas. Maybe for once he should listen to his older cousins. Maybe for once he better live his life like normal people do. If he just have enough courage to do that though.
***
The shrilling sound of the alarm clock echoes throughout Jongin’s small apartment. The sound waves bounce at every wall and make their way to Jongin’s ears, waking him up from his deep slumber. He goes to his daily morning routine, which mainly consists of him rubbing any remnants of sleep off his body and taking his two dogs (two fat brown poodles) out for a walk, before he goes to another day at Myungsoo’s apartment, finishing more pages to ink. It’s tedious for someone whose life is dedicated to animes and manga but what can he do really? His day only gets interesting when it’s his day off and he goes to these cool anime conventions where he get to buy more merchandise for his growing collections of whatnots.
Jongin and his dogs are about to leave the apartment when his dogs started barking at a white cat sitting on a bench at the other side of the road. The cat is intently looking at him, seemingly ignoring the deafening noises made by Jongin’s poodles.
He ignores the feline and goes to follow his schedule that morning. Jongin has got more important things to do than staring at an abandoned cat across the street.
***
By the time Jongin reaches his workplace, he was soon greeted by the smell of burnt food and terrified screams of help coming from the other side of the door, muffling the smoke alarm. He was sure he heard Jongdae yell "Myungsoo you fucking idiot! Are you planning to kill everyone!" and an immediate reply like "Shut up Jongdae! I was trying to be nice! And that’s Myungsoo hyung for you dumbass!"
Jongin tucks his sling bag tighter between his arm and body as he enters the den, prepared for another bout of banter from his co-workers, who happen to be his cousins too.
Shortly after Jongin sits on his own drawing table, the commotion has somehow subsided thanks to Junmyeon hyung who have arrived and saved the day. Also the argument between Myungsoo and Jongdae vanished after Junmyeon scolded them for acting like children.
"Here," Junmyeon smiles at him, handing him a bento. The look he might have flashed made the older laugh. "Kyungah made these. She told me to bring these for you guys."
Jongin thanks his ever caring cousin and his soon to be cousin in law for making breakfast. Usually Jongin and his cousins don’t even get to eat three times a day due to their busy schedule. They tend to eat food from a nearby convenience store but Junmyeon brought food with him, real food that they rarely get to ravage. Junmyeon is truly heaven sent.
After Jongin had walked his dogs, eventually losing track of time, he failed to cook his breakfast in fear that he will be late and obviously he did not want to be late and be scolded by angry mangakas and fellow assistants.
"Yah Junmyeon hyung how could you snag a girlfriend like Kyungah? Are you sure you didn’t bewitch her? I mean wow..." Jongdae gulps down a spoonful of kimchi bogeumbap before he resumes stuffing his mouth with the fried egg.
Junmyeon picks a stray pencil on his desk, smiles so bright at Jongdae that Jongin swears he can see light behind him. "It’s the power of love."
Jongdae makes a face somewhat disgusted at Junmyeon’s cliche answer.
"Eww hyung. You’re so cheesy, I swear. I’m surprised your girlfriend hasn’t murdered you yet," Jongdae says. He packs his used chopsticks inside the bento box.
"Why would Kyungah murder Junmyeon hyung? He’s nice."Myungsoo butts in, almost done with his own food.
"Shut up Myungsoo. I don’t remember asking for your opinion," Jongdae retorts.
Jongin sighs and wonders how those two ended up working together when all they do is bicker everyday. It’s definitely a mystery.
"Oi, didn’t I tell you to stop that already?"
Yep. Another interesting day at work again. Jongin bets they will be in a rush to finish the rest of the pages at the end of the day. He pities Myungsoo’s editor who always checks on them if they finished their quota of the day. Poor editor will cry again once she finds out they are getting more and more behind with the needed pages to draw.
***
Jongin has always been a shy introvert who goes at his own pace. When he was a kid he would play alone on the swings, watching the kids from the neighborhood play with the sandbox and make sandcastles out of it. They would ask him to join them but Jongin would politely decline. He’s never been a fan of any activities that requires his physical strength. He would rather spend a day in his room reading mangas or draw anime characters from the afternoon shows he always watch than playing ball. Don’t get him wrong. He loves to play soccer but he thinks drawing is better.
With drawing he can give life to a world he only sees. With his art he can show what words cannot describe, only vivid images of scenery and people that speaks for their selves.
But sometimes it feels like something is missing in his drawings like Jongdae had told him a few years ago before he entered the manga industry. Something void and stripped off from his works. Jongin wants to know what it is but how will he find out when he does not even know where to start?
***
"Heyyyyyyyy Jongin!!"
Jongin distances his phone away from him at the excited voice from the other line. He sighs when he reads the caller ID and finds out it’s one of his friends from an online anime forum.
"Luhan hyung, whatfs up?"
"There’s this anime convention somewhere in Gyeonggu this Saturday. I know it’s your day off so let’s go!"
How Luhan keeps track of his schedule he’s not sure. The sound of visiting an anime convention after a hectic week at work sounds enticing but Jongin remembers what his Jongdae hyung told him a few days ago. If he wants to gain more experience he should limit his visits to these conventions.
"So you going or not? galaxyalpaca00, you remember him right, said Isayama-sensei will be there for manga signing."
To heck with limiting his social skills.
"I’m going, hyung!"
***
"Be good while daddy’s away okay? Don’t even try to escape or no chicken for you tonight," Jongin says, looking sternly at his two poodles who were sitting quietly inside their respective kennels seemingly listening to him. They don’t look like mischievous dogs but Jongin has been with them for five years to know otherwise. He secures the lock of Jjangu’s kennel for the last time before fetching his keys and goes out.
Jongin notices that white cat on the other side of the road again.
How many days has that cat been there? Jongin hasn’t really paid attention to the cat since day one but how could he not notice such cat which exudes the kind of elegant vibes? He walks away and thinks maybe the cat’s owner just lives somewhere near. He’s too distracted with the meet and greet with his mangaka idol to think of baloney things.
Jongin’s mouth hangs open when he reaches the venue. To say he was surprised was an understatement. The convention hall was bigger than the previous event Jongin had gone to. The event is too grand for a normal anime convention. And then Jongin remembers some celebrities in the anime industry will be coming too so it looks like otakus like him will be attending a concert.
There are a lot of cosplayers flocking here and there, some of them might be joining the cosplay contest while some cosplays just for their own fun. From the entrance he could see this group of cosplayers from Shingeki no Kyojin, Jongin’s recent favorite anime. He admires at their exquisite handmade 3D gears from afar and wonders how in the world they could make it realistic. Before he could admire Luffy’s crew lining up on the entrance, someone runs towards him in a-
"Hyung, why are you dressing up as Roy Mustang?"
Luhan beams so bright that Jongin thinks he can provide energy as much as the sun. "Looks cool right? I bought this from an online shop for just $50! I couldn’t let such costume go to waste! And Brotherhood was so kakkoii!!"
Jongin frowns and thinks why is he friends with a weaboo, also not really getting his friend’s point but whatever. He drags the still blabbing Roy-han (as what Luhan instructed him to call him earlier) into the ticket booth and buys their ticket.
If Jongin thinks it’s cool outside he thinks the inside is even much cooler, figuratively and literally. Otakus flocking in one area sends a kind of different vibe to Jongin, like yes- he belongs to this world. This is his realm. He looks to his left and saw a host club booth, beside that is a shooting range and then from there is a line of doujinshis neatly displayed on rows. Again, Jongin finds his self admiring a huge variety of merchandise from different animes. He’s in heaven indeed.
"Jongin, I’m going to meet my friend on the west wing. There’s an hour left before Isayama-sensei’s fansigning so would you like to go with me?" Roy-han calls, already scanning the vicinity map given by the woman at the ticket booth.
Jongin agrees and accompanies his hyung to meet his other friend. This would be a nice opportunity to widen his circle of friends, he thinks.
He should have mentally prepared his self when he agreed to meet his Luhan hyung’s friend. Knowing Luhan he had obviously befriended another quirky person like him. The saying ebirds of the same feather flock together applies. But Jongin does not want to admit he’s one of those weird people in the fandom. He may be a little bit shy and timid but he’s not weird. Or so that’s what he likes to think of his self.
Luhan laughs at something his friend said before remembering that Jongin’s existence and then introduces him to Jongin. "Jongin this is my friend, galaxyalpaca00."
The guy reaches out his large hands for Jongin to shake. Like Luhan, galaxyalpaca00 is also dressed up as an FMA character. "Hi I’m galaxyalpaca00 but I’m Kris Wu offline." He smiles, the kind with showing his gums.
"Kim Jongin. Nice to meet you Kris-ssi." Luhan then starts to tell more things about Jongin, like he’s an assistant to the famous shoujo manga author L Kim and he’s got tons of collection of anime merch. Jongin thinks he should be the one saying that to this new friend but he lets Luhan do the job anyway.
They stroll around the area looking for a manga Luhan has been recently addicted to before they head to the main hall and gets ready for the fansigning event. Jongin is too starstruck meeting his idol for the first time he almost forgot handing his recent copy of Shingeki no Kyojin manga to the author, opting to ask instead how to be like him. The mangaka just laughs at the boy and hands him an on-the-spot sketch of one of Jongin’s favorite characters in the anime, which made Jongin even happier.
"Wow Jongin," Luhan starts, slightly awed at the boy beside him. "I didn’t know you can smile like that."
Jongin’s brows furrow, "Smile like what?"
"Like a real smile! A very happy smile! Usually all you do is scowl like you’re always displeased at the world!"
That’s not entirely true. Jongin does not smile often because he thinks there’s nothing to smile about. Why would he smile when all he sees everyday is the same old boring thing he’s already used to? Also smiling when you’re alone seems creepy.
"I wonder what else can make you happy like that," Luhan mutters.
And Jongin wonders the same thing. What makes him happy other than his anime.
***
Going out with Luhan is as exhausting as running in a marathon. Not only does he move around a lot, he also talks a lot about the world outside 2D. ("Don’t lump me in your category, Jongin. I have a life other than animes and mangas too you know", Luhan said when Jongin asked why he knows a lot of things) He’s an otaku but he doesn’t look like one at all. Unlike Jongin who radiates the otaku vibe even from three meters away.
He’s having a mental debate on how he should run his life from now on when he notices that the cat from that morning is surrounded by a group of dogs, notoriously barking at it, red streaks of blood painting its pristine white fur. Feeling pity for the poor cat, he goes to where it is curling in fear and hissing now and then. The dogs run as soon as they saw Jongin holding a long stick, leaving the wounded cat behind.
Now that the bullies are gone, Jongin picks the cat from the tree where it was previously clinging unto. The cat hisses at Jongin, and Jongin apologizes to the cat when he realizes he’s touched the wound. It’s still bleeding. Jongin is not the type of person who leaves poor bullied cat alone so he decides to take him back to his apartment where he can properly treat his wounds.
As soon as the door opens, Jongin hears the angry barks of his dogs, a warning that tells him they might have already smelled the intruder. The cat hides its face against Jongin’s chest and his heart melts at the affectionate gesture.
Jongin has not let go of the dogs from their kennels yet, scared that they might attack the cat and worsen its condition. He goes to his room and gets the first aid kit. The cat quietly snuggled against him.
The cut is not that deep and it doesn’t look like a bite from the dogs earlier, Jongin observes. Maybe the cat scratched itself when it climbed up into that small tree.
He stills the cat on his bed and picks the betadine from the kit. It shouldn’t hurt the cat but he slightly flinches when Jongin applies a dab of ointment on its cut. "Heyy little guy, it’s ok. It’ll be fine," Jongin says as he finally wraps the gauze around the area where the wound was.
"You stay here while I take care of the dogs ok? I’ll be back."
The cat stares back at Jongin, meowing in response. He licks his paws and starts to groom his self. Jongin laughs at the cat and goes out to feed his hungry (and now angry and probably jealous too) poodles.
By the time Jongin has finished taking care of his dogs and had taken a shower, he went back to his room and finds the cat already dozing off comfortably on his bed. He joins the feline and goes to dreamland.
Instead of the usual ringing of his alarm clock, Jongin is woken up by something wet and rough. And when he opens his eyes, the cat is licking him on his left cheek, unperturbed by the fact that Jongin is quite uncomfortable with the cat’s rough tongue on his skin.
"Good morning to you too, little guy," Jongin says instead. He strokes the cat’s head and smiles when it seems to relish the action. "I’m going to work today so... ugh../ if you want to come back to your owners I can leave you back to where I found you last night." He can’t keep him alright. He’s got two dogs and he’s usually out for work and nobody’s gonna take care of him. He can’t obviously leave the cat alone with his dogs around. However, when the cat snuggles lovingly against Jongin’s warm body again, all thoughts of leaving the cat back to where he found him were gone. He just couldn’t leave him there.
"Alright, be a good boy while I’m away, okay? I’ll leave you here and keep the dogs inside their kennels. Try not to make any mess. I’ll be back this afternoon."
And as if the cat understood what he said, the cat lies back on the bed and closes his eyes, showing Jongin that he’ll be a good cat. Jongin just hopes everything will be alright and in place when he goes back from work.
***
"Myungsoo’s publisher is looking for someone to fill in their extra space for next month’s issue," Jongdae tells him when he sits on his working table. "It’s a 4 page section, Jongin. Would you like to try?"
"I don’t know, hyung... I’m not really confident," He replies quietly.
Jongdae shakes his head, the papers in his hands sway at the same time with his head. "This is your chance, Jongin. They might even hire you full-time if they liked your entry."
"They won’t. You already told me my storylines aren’t good and my art lacks something so I don’t-"
He was cut off by Jongdae’s threateningly sharp g-pen in front of him. It was so close to his face Jongin swears he could almost see doubles. "We won’t know unless you try. Come on just do it. I’ll check your name by next week and I’ll tell you how to improve it. How’s that?"
"Hyung, I don’t think-"
"Nuh uh. Next. Week." Jongdae emphasizes the last two words, patting his younger cousin’s head before heading to his own table. "And don’t forget the keypoints I gave you before!" He says and Jongin’s left thinking how in the world he can do what his cousin’s asking him to do.
"You can do it," Myungsoo whispers as he passes Jongin’s first set of papers to ink. Jongin sighs, can he really do it though.
***
Jongin is totally surprised when he got home that afternoon, seeing the cat he picked up from yesterday sitting quietly behind the door and seemingly waiting for his return. As soon as he shed off his shoes, the white cat starts purring at him and rubbing its body against Jongin’s legs.
He lifts the cat and rubs its head, "Are you hungry little kitty?" The cat meows as if he understood Jongin. He started licking Jongin’s fingers and the human is slightly startled at the rough texture of the cat’s tongue. Jongin’s used to his dogs soft tongue when they lick him.
"Okay.. I brought you cat food. How’s that?"
They walk towards the small kitchen then Jongin opens the can of cat good he bought after work. The cat keeps on mewling at Jongin, as if trying to tell him he wants food. He might be really hungry since he left him and the dogs all alone the whole day.
After he had put the food into the bowl for the cat to eat, Jongin goes to attend to his two dogs who keep on barking nonstop after the lack of attention they got from their master when he got home. They are obviously jealous alright.
Monggu and Jjanggu look so pissed when he frees them from their kennels. Instead of their usual greeting (a lick on Jongin’s cheeks) the two fried chicken look a likes head to the bathroom and did their business. While they’re at it, Jongin pours a heap of dog food serving into their own food bowls, hoping that if he added more the two will love him again. It’s a bribe but Jongin couldn’t care less. He leaves the two dogs to cool their head off (are they even angry?) and goes to his new pet cat who’s probably done eating his food.
The cat still hasn’t finished its food when Jongin goes to check him. Jongin notices how the cat always shifts from eating its food to grooming itself. That is when Jongin realizes how its white fur is coated with grime and some blood from yesterday’s incident.
"Hey, I think you need to take a bath."
At the mention of the word bath the cat stops grooming his paws and stares at Jongin. For a moment, Jongin thought that the cat will run and seek shelter where he can hide but it looks like he is even encouraging Jongin to do it now? Aren’t cats supposed to hate bath?
Throwing all his queries aside, Jongin prepares the hot water while keeping the two dogs away from their mortal enemy. As soon as the tub is full of lukewarm water, Jongin picks up and washes his dirty cat. He smiles when the cat leans on to his touch, clearly enjoying the bath.
"While no one’s claimed you yet you’ll stay with me, okay?" Jongin says. "Oh. I should give you a name, right? Since your fur is so white I’ll name you Kuro."
Kuro bares his claws and Jongin instantly feels threatened. The name must have been too lame for the cat’s liking but Jongin couldn’t think of a much better name at the moment so he just leave it be. It’s not like the cat will talk back and tell him ‘change my name you freaking lame human’.
Jongin has finished bathing Kuro, drying him off with his spare towel. The cat looks so pleased at the treatment that he starts purring at Jongin. It feels weird when this cat is too lovable towards him. Jongin never get a cat for a pet because he heard from his friends that they tend to be snob and self-absorbed. Unlike the dogs who give their love to their master 28/7 of the time. Those must have been lies because judging from what’s happening to him right now, it’s entirely the opposite from the advices he heard before.
"Okay Kuro you head to bed first. I’m going to bath myself too," Jongin says, tapping the cat’s butt and urging him to get out of the bathroom. The cat did and Jongin’s left to clean his self.
Once he decides he’s squeaky clean, free from the sticky feels and smell of his sweat, Jongin enters his room to put on some clothes that will at least cover his private parts. He looks at his cat, now sleeping soundly on top of his bed, cuddled around Jongin’s blanket.
The idea of sleeping already on his soft, comfortable bed is so tempting. Normally, Jongin will go straight to bed after a long day at work but now that Jongdae has given him a task that seems impossible to accomplish, he will have to temporarily say goodbye to his constant mutual relationship with his bed.
Careful not to wake his pet, Jongin turns on the lamp near his drawing table and grabs his materials for drawing. He sits there for a minute, holding his pencil and thinks of a good story for his manga. A minute turned to five, six... twenty but Jongin still could not think of a good plot. Instead, he draws a sketch of Luffy riding his ship full of gold coins and other treasures. Jongin laments at his poor, unimaginative brain.
He turns off the lamp when his brain could not squeeze any more ideas. He will just have to try the next day. Maybe, just maybe, he will get an inspiration.
Jongin joins his white cat on the bed as he finally closes his eyes and rides the trip to dreamland. The last thing he saw in the dark room was his cat staring at him with his dilated eyes and patting his human with his right paw.
***
When Jongin wakes up the next day, he was expecting to see his cat still sleeping soundly beside him and then the dogs’ loud barks echoing throughout the whole apartment again. But what he sees the moment he opens his eyes shocked the living soul out of him.
Right next to him is a man. A naked one to boot. Jongin’s first instinct is to kick the stranger out of his bed but he thinks it’s kind of rude even though the stranger slept next to him without his permission.
He thinks if the stranger is a criminal he would have killed Jongin while he’s sleeping but he didn’t so what and who in the world is this man? Before he could even wake the intruder and ask what he’s doing there, the boy slowly opens his eyes.
"Good morning," the boy says.
"Who are you?" Jongin calmly asks, his heartbeat is surprisingly normal for a situation like this.
The boy just smiles at him, his eyes disappearing and forming into two half-crescents. "I’m Sehun."
"Sehun..." Jongin repeats, pondering if he was so tired thinking of his project that he forgot that he let this man in. "What are you doing here?"
"You took me in!" he says as if it's the most obvious thing.
"But I didn’t take anyone in? Seriously, what are you doing here?"
The way Sehun pouts after that made Jonginfs inside flutter like there were thousands of disturbed butterflies. "You don’t recognize me? At all?"
Jongin shakes his head.
"Oh well. You named me Kuro."
Kuro.
But Kuro’s a cat?
Kuro is a cat. Not a human. And most of all not a pretty boy like Sehun.
"How are you Kuro? Kuro is a cat?"
Sehun awkwardly stands up, not so intentionally showing Jongin all of his naked glory and sighs dramatically. Jongin is sure he heard the boy mutter something like ’now here’s the explanation part’.
"Hmm, it’s a long story actually. But to keep things shorter, I was cursed. I got into trouble with this girl who liked me so much one time but I turned her down because you know, I’m not really into girls and then I found out she’s a witch and turned me into a cat."
"But how did you..?"
Sehun beams at him, "The curse will only be broken if some guy takes care of me while I’m on my cat form. And it happened to be you so now I’m free."
Jongin’s face must have still shown confusion because Sehun laughs at him again. "I kept waiting outside but nobody even gives me attention. As you have witnessed last night, the only ones who gave me the attention were the dogs. I was so terrified of them. I thought I’ll die right there."
There’s too much to comprehend like how is it even possible for a human to be cursed and turned into a cat. Don’t those things only happen in mangas or animes? Jongin pinches his cheeks to check if he’s really awake and not dreaming.
It hurts.
Great, he’s not dreaming.
"Hey, mind if you lend me some of your clothes? It’s so awkward standing here with my dick exposed in front of you."
***
Jongin finds his self having a roommate for his tiny apartment that very day. Sehun explained to him that he has nowhere to go and please, please, please can he just stay with Jongin. He promises he will work around the house so he won’t have to worry about a messy house when he comes back from work. But the thing is, it looks much better if Sehun does not touch anything. He’s a complete klutz.
Right after Jongin leaves Sehun with his job of cleaning the house decides to work on his project , he hears the clanging of pans and kettles. When he checks what happened, he caught Sehun trying to organize his already neat kitchen. He sighs and helps him clean up the mess he’d just made.
"I’m sorry! I’m sorry, Jongin!"
"It’s okay."
It’s not really okay but Jongin can’t be mad at the boy. He was just trying to do his job, right? How could he even be angry when he sees Sehun looking so cute when he’s embarrassed.
Sehun furiously apologizes after that and tells Jongin he will make them lunch. Jongin asks him if he knows how to cook to which the boy replied with an indignant and slightly offended yes.
"Don’t hesitate to call me if you need help," Jongin says. Sehun replies with "I don’t need your help. I’ll cook you something for lunch!" Again, Jongin leaves him alone in the kitchen and goes back to his own work.
If the pencil in Jongin’s hand can speak it would have already yelled profanities at the one who’s holding and circling it around his fingers. It’s a habit Jongin has developed when he’s stuck with drawing something. No matter what he does, the mood to draw would just not come into him, prisoning his ideas in a box tightly secured inside his brain. Just how and where could he find the key to unlock those hidden thoughts?
He’s only got three weeks left till the submission of the entry and Jongdae needs his draft in three days so they can work and improve the story. The two need to polish it before they submit the manuscript to the publishing company.
The looming deadline pressures him more, holding him back to draw anything.
However, the smell of burnt rice derailed his train of thoughts followed by the noise made by the smoke detector and he just sighs because he knows what’s exactly going in there.
And as expected, Sehun is rushing to turn off the stove and save his burnt meal. Jongin notices the clutter in the sink and he wonders how many poor onions were victimized by the clumsy Sehun.
"I told you to call me if you need help." Jongin picks the frying pan from the stove and pours water onto the now un-edible food. Sehun, on the other hand, stands there feeling even more embarrassed at what he has done.
"I swear I know how to cook!"
"Yeah, and you're an expert on burning it."
"That’s not it!" Sehun blushes as Jongin looks at him with an amused smile on his face. "I promise I’ll do better next time."
"Alright, Sehunnie, you go get changed and we’re going to eat outside and maybe replenish our food stock since it seems like you have used everything in my fridge."
Sehun’s face got even much redder, embarrassed that he ruined every ingredients by trying to cook a simple fried rice. He hides his hands into his (Jongin’s) shirt as he runs into the room and changes into something that doesn’t look like pajamas.
***
Sehun kept quiet the whole time they were eating in a fastfood store just a few blocks away from Jongin’s apartment, probably still embarrassed that all he did the whole day was to disturb Jongin and mess up everything in his apartment. All he wanted is to help the other boy but he’s just really clumsy to do anything.
"Hey, why are you not eating? Don’t you like the food?" Jongin asks him, munching on a piece of fries he’s picked from his tray. "Or you’re still not used to eating human food? Would you like me to buy you cans of cat food later?" he teases.
Instead of taking the bait, Sehun lowers his head in shame. "I’m sorry, Jongin. I didn’t mean to be a useless human. I understand if you want to leave me on the streets and die of hunger..."
Jongin laughs at that. "Why would I do that? Silly cat."
"I’m not a cat anymore! I’m human now," Sehun says, the pout is so cute on his pretty face and Jongin tries so hard not to pinch Sehun’s adorable cheeks. "And stop laughing."
Jongin stifles his laughs, reducing into fits of giggles instead. "I’m sorry Sehun. I’m still not used to this whole thing yet. I mean, wow. I never knew this kind of scenario really happens in real life. I thought it only happens in animes."
"But it’s real. I’m the living proof."
And it’s true Sehun is right there, right in front of his eyes, eating a burger larger than his hands. It’s cute when Sehun slurps his drink, looking so pissed at something Jongin might have said earlier.
"What are you looking at?" Sehun asks, trying to pull off an ’I’m-angry-don’t-try-to-mess-with-me’ look at Jongin who looks like he’s enjoying teasing the other boy so much.
"You look cute when your eyebrows are furrowed like that. It’s like you have unibrows or something," Jongin laughs again and almost spills the contents of his drinks when he accidentally brushes his fingers to the cup of soda. "You’re way cuter now than when you were in your cat form, Sehunnie."
"If you just didn’t take care of me I swear I would have already kicked you in your shin."
"Wow, that’s so threatening Sehunnie. I bet you would fall once you lift your leg and try to kick me."
The sharp kick on Jongin’s legs proved otherwise as Sehun finishes his burger and glares daggers at the laughing but slightly pained Jongin.
***
"Did something happen?" was Jongdae’s question when he goes to work the next day. For some reason, his cousins had sensed the sudden change in Jongin’s personality like he has become more cheerful and he smiles now and then at work. "What, come on tell your hyungs what happened."
"I don’t know hyung. Nothing really happened." And nothing really happened except for the fact that the cat he had picked up a few days ago turned to a pretty boy and he enjoys every minute of his life teasing him. He couldn’t help it. Sehun’s an easy target. You can joke with him anytime and he won’t make you feel bad for teasing him after. He’d just throw a non-insulting word at Jongin and cry after.
Jongdae gives him an appreciative look before asking him about his entry. "You’re working on it, are you?"
Jongin nods, "I’m almost done, hyung. Don’t worry." It’s a lie. He’s nowhere near in finishing said manuscript. He hasn’t even come up with a story yet but he doesn’t want to trouble his hyung further. Also, he doesn’t really need to listen to his older cousin’s nonstop scolding once he hears about Jongin’s progress.
"That’s great. I’ll be expecting your draft the day after tomorrow then."
***
Sehun is preparing their dinner when the door bell rings. And thankfully he hasn’t burned anything yet. He’s learned enough from Jongin some tricks on how to not burn your food and keep it edible. He quickly runs towards the door, quite excited to see Jongin and show his masterpiece.
"Welcome home!"
Jongin reciprocates the greeting with a smile, patting Sehun’s head as he rids off his shoes and placing them on the rack. Sensing Jongin’s mood, Sehun follows the boy into their now shared room and asks him what’s wrong.
"Are you ok? You don’t look well," Sehun places his hand on Jongin’s forehead, feeling the other’s temperature.
"I’m okay, Sehunnie. Just a long day at work."Jongin gives him a warm smile, assuring the other that he’s really fine. "Did you cook something? The apartment smells nice and nothing like burnt food."
Sehun beams at the compliment and pulls Jongin’s wrist to guide him towards the kitchen. "I cooked ramyun!" He says proudly and shows Jongin a bowl full of the dish he’s just made. It looks so appetizing that Jongin’s stomach instantly reacted to the smell of the food.
"You sure this is edible?"
The other scoffs, "Of course! I’m improving you know! Do you want to eat now? I’ll prepare the bowls."
Jongin watches as Sehun gets the plates. He’s never been observant of his surroundings but somehow ever since Sehun came, he starts to notice the little things. In just a span of a week, Jongin sees how Sehun has this habit of biting his pretty thin lower lip when he’s nervous or when he’s done something wrong, how Sehun gets up 10 minutes later after Jongin, how Sehun cries so much when he watches the dramas on TV and more small things Sehun does.
Sehun has a lithe figure, long limbs and sharp features. He’s only an inch taller than Jongin but he still acts like a child. That’s why Jongin loves to tease him at most times.
He has already prepared the plates on the table while Jongin’s so lost in his thoughts. He didn’t realize that Sehun was asking him something.
"Sorry, what?"
Sehun sighs as he flicks Jongin’s forehead. "You sure you’re alright?"
"Yeah. I’m completely fine, why do you ask?"
"You seemed troubled over something."
Jongin shakes his head and flashes Sehun one of his usual fond lopsided grin, "I’m fine."
Sehun looks at him apprehensively before he drops the subject. Jongin listens to Sehun rant about how he’s kept his room squeaky clean and arranged all his mangas in the cabinet by their volume number and he should really keep all his anime merchandise in one place if Jongin doesn’t want to cry over lost precious treasures.
Jongin is about to retort over something Sehun said about keeping Jongin s hygiene when a sudden spark lights up and immediately a series of ideas plays in his brain. He ignores Sehun’s yells of "finish your food first!" and goes straight to his drawing table, ready to draw the inspiration he had just thought of.
***
Jongin grins at his finished draft, proud that he managed to get it done before Jongdae can bug him again. He has to do his best even though the opening in the magazine is only a 4-page column. Jongin knows that this short story will soon escalate to a full series if the readers liked it.
"What are you doing?"
Jongin almost flinched in his seat, slightly cursing for not noticing the sly boy. "I just finished the draft for my entry to be submitted to my cousin’s publishing company," he says, compiling the papers and cleaning his table. Sehun peeks at his work curiously, "What’s it all about?"
"Not your stuff."
Before Jongin can hide the papers from Sehun’s prying eyes, the other boy is quick to snatch the papers. Jongin can not even retort, afraid that he might crumple the paper if he wrestles with Sehun to get back the draft. And besides there’s no point getting it back now that Sehun is almost at the last panel of the page. Jongin is amaze at Sehun’s fast reading skills.
"Wow, you write shoujo manga?" he asks, handing Jongin back the papers. Sehun is still smiling like he just read an article about cooking, which is a good thing since he loves to cook.
"Nah, this is for the magazine right? I normally draw shounen stuff like Shingeki. Do you know that?"
Sehun looks at him, his eyes telling Jongin ’do you think I know that? I’ve been in my cat form for how many months how does he expect Sehun to know that’. He scoffs as he kicks Jongin’s chair, "This is why you didn’t finish the food I cooked for you." There’s a hint of dismay in his voice and Jongin sees the arrow of guilt about to hit him.
"Sorry Sehunnie. I’ll make up it to you tomorrow okay?"
Sehun is still pouting but he does not look as alienated as earlier. Nice. That’s what Jongin loves about Sehun, he’s easy to please despite his countless teasing towards the boy. Just a sincere apology will do.
Jongin has evaded the arrow of guilt but not the sudden attack of Sehun’s hug. "H-hey..." Jongin says, slightly out of breath as Sehun’s bony arms tighten. The fact that Sehun’s chin is on top of Jongin’s shoulders doesn’t help at all too. Jongin’s airways seem to be not working whenever Sehun’s close to him.
"Good luck Jongin. I know you can do it," Sehun says quietly and kisses Jongin’s cheeks. And before Jongin can ask him what just happened, Sehun scampers towards the bathroom, leaving a puzzled Jongin behind.
Jongin spent the rest of the night thinking why Sehun did that. He can’t interrogate the other boy because as soon as Sehun finished taking a bath, he headed straight to the (their) bed and slept, even ignoring Jongin’s questions like "Did you put the shampoo back to its right place?" Sighing, Jongin decides to leave it at that. There’s still tomorrow.
***
"Jongin!" Jongdae starts, his sharp jaw slightly ajar in astonishment. He looks at his younger cousin who’s somewhat fidgety on his seat, already preparing himself for any violent reactions and criticisms his cousin might shoot at him. Instead of the dreaded and usual 'this is not good' comment, Jongin receives a pat on his back and when he finally glances at Jongdae, the other is grinning so wide. "Wow, you improved a lot!"
"Really?" Jongin asks, not believing his ears. "Really, hyung?"
Jongdae nods, "great improvement indeed, Jongin. We can submit this to Myungsoo’s editor!"
He listens to Jongdae’s comments about his dialogs and the art. He told him about the minor improvements Jongin had accomplished. Also lecturing him on the things he can improve, like how Jongin should lessen the shounen-ish feel of the art and think of how to engage their audiences more in the story, along with the dialogs of the characters (also putting more appropriate contexts.) Other than those factors mentioned, the draft is A-okay according to Jongdae.
When they finished with the brainstorming, Jongin calls Sehun at home to go get changed and meet him at their usual meeting place to eat out so there’s no need for Sehun to prepare dinner. The other asked him what’s up and Jongin just told him to follow.
***
Sehun is still far away but Jongin immediately sees him despite the crowd filling in the sidewalk. It’s already 6 pm, those who have just got off from work are on their way to their homes while some are probably going to have a good time. It’s a Friday night after all all. The night is young.
"Hey, what took you so long?" Jongin asks when Sehun’s just an arm-length away. The boy is dressed with Jongin’s old Naruto t-shirt that has a huge "DATTEBAYO" written on the front and a pair of pants that is too big for Sehun. Jongin mentally notes of buying Sehun his own clothes after Myungsoo gave them their paychecks at the end of the month. Sehun’s too skinny for his old clothes.
"Your dogs were killing me! They hate me so much," Sehun says.
"Well, you used to be a cat."
"I bet they’re just jealous because I stole their master."
Jongin stops on his tracks and looks carefully at Sehun. "What did you say?"
Sehun’s cheeks redden in an instant, maybe he didn’t mean to say it out loud. "Ah! What’s with you today? Why are we eating out again? Did something happen at work?"
"Just got my draft approved by Jongdae hyung. Nothing much to celebrate but-"
"JONGIN!!!" Sehun screams and literally latches himself on Jongin, winding his arms around Jongin’s neck and giving the mangaka his tightest hug ever. "Congratulations!! I knew you can do it!!"
Jongin tries to breathe. "Thanks Sehunnie but ugh... I can’t breathe."
"Oh my god. I’m sorry Jongin!" The half crescents on Sehun’s eyes are back and Jongin just can’t resist his feelings any longer as he stares at Sehun with his own longing eyes. He watches as Sehun bites on his lip again and the urge to just claim those thin lips intensifies. He leans in closer to Sehun, and it feels so cliche like this. Sehun instantly closes his eyes, ready to relish into the moment. Their distance is almost a few centimeters away before Jongin catches himself and pulls away, thankful that he didn’t do anything stupid.
However, the scowl on Sehun’s pretty face must have told Jongin otherwise. Was he disappointed at Jongin? Yeah, he must be because right when he calls Sehun to eat, the boy pulls him into a hard kiss right in front of a busy crowd. When they finally pull apart to breathe for air, Sehun is breathless and still scowling at him.
"Idiot, Kim Jongin! Will you ever grow any balls to tell me how you feel?"
Jongin is speechless. He’s in a daze and somewhat he cannot believe what just happened. "Sehun..."
"I like you okay! I like you so much Kim Jongin ever since that day you saw me while you’re walking your dogs and ignored me. I thought if I stayed there you might finally notice me but you didn’t until some bully canines came to gang up on me."
"But-"
"I didn’t even know why I like you back then, you good for nothing otaku! I hate you so much but I like you but I hate you-"
Jongin shuts him up with a kiss albeit a light one. "Silly cat. I like you too okay. I like you and your clumsiness, your stupidity, your dreams of being a good cook. We’ve just met so let’s take things slow, understood?"
Maybe Sehun is still in that post-kissing frenzy euphoria because he replies Jongin with a nod, following his boyfriend(?) inside the barbecue shop.
Jongin doesn’t really understand the turn of events but he knows he likes Sehun and that is all what matters (for now).
***
The two are preparing for sleep when Sehun suddenly remembers something from their conversation earlier. "What's your story all about? I haven't gotten really read the whole thing before because I was so distracted."
"You wanna know, bae?" Jongin teases. He pulls the blanket over them and laughs when Sehun has this confused look on his face, which is almost comical. Sehun nods, waiting for Jongin to summarize the story to him. "Oh, it’s just about a boy and his catgirl girlfriend who are living together. The catgirl is clumsy and all but the boy really likes her."
With that, Sehun frowns so badly, "That sounds like me and you."
"Exactly!"
Sehun throws a pillow at Jongin’s face and shrieks. "I swear to God, Jongin! I’ll give out all your anime merchandise to those kids outside and you’ll never see them ever again!"
"Seid ihr das Essen? Nein, wir sind der Jager!" Jongin cackles as he continues to avoid the non-stop pillow projectiles being thrown at him. He’s grateful that he met Sehun because without him he’s probably going to be all mopey at the moment and not having fun. Because of Sehun, he managed to get inspiration for his entry and get an approval. Because of him Jongin finds more reason to smile everyday. He’s gonna keep this clumsy cat turned human in his life.