Kittened, for everyone
Title: Kittened
Recipient: everyone
Pairing: Taehyun/Mino (side Jinwoo/Seunghoon if you squint)
Rating: PG
Summary: Taehyun and Mino adopt a kitten, and things don't quite work out how Taehyun had planned them to in his head. (AU)
Notes: Thankyou for the great prompts! I couldn't resist using the cat prompt, although I took it in a slightly different direction. I hope it makes you smile!
Mino presses a hand to Taehyun's bare shoulder and presses against it gently and waits for him to stir before whispering, "Wake up, I have something important to tell you."
"I'm awake," Taehyun mumbles. He holds his hands over his face as his eyes adjust to the early morning light. "What's so important that you had to wake me up to tell me?"
"I'm completely in love." Mino is smiling dreamily when Taehyun finally looks at him.
"I would hope so." Taehyun raises an eyebrow. "I am your boyfriend after all."
Mino looks confused for a moment. "Oh--right, yeah, that too." He says, somewhat distractedly. "But I didn't mean you, I meant with the kitten."
He reaches down beside the bed and stands up again holding a ball of black fluff with pride. "I've been up for two hours already trying to teach her to jump through a hoop."
"We don't own a cat-jumping hoop," Taehyun says it slowly. "Or absolutely anything you could possibly have mistaken for one..."
"Not yet, we don't." Mino says. "So, we were just doing some training. However, I have just ordered three from the internet." He is looking extremely pleased with himself, as though this isn't a complete and utter waste of the little income the two of them have left over after rent and bills and now the cost of looking after a kitten.
Taehyun has no idea what this so-called training could have involved, and suspects it was probably nothing more physical than Mino searching the internet for 'cat's jumping through hoops' for two hours whilst the kitten slept against his chest. "Why do we need three hoops? Or two.. or one, for that matter..?"
"She might like one more than the others. She needs choices," Mino replies He isn't even looking at Taehyun now; all attention placed solely on the Bombay kitten curled up in his arms. "We might not be able to afford to, you know, go out this month, but hey-- who needs date nights now we have Polly?"
He finally looks up at Taehyun, pointedly ignores his boyfriend's death stare.
Taehyun takes a deep breath. "How much did you spend on cat-- things that aren't in our budget?"
Mino shields his face with five pounds of fur, and doesn't actually answer the question. Just says, "A really good quality cat hoop does not come cheap, you know," and escapes the bedroom, kitten in his arms.
This is the moment that Taehyun thinks he might regret getting a cat. Kind of. A little bit.
Or, maybe he just regrets getting a cat with Mino.
--
Taehyun had dedicated many evenings to research before they'd actually adopted her.
"This is important," he had stressed, looking up from his laptop with a glare as Mino had slid a hand up his thigh and pouted.
"It's midnight, you can research tomorrow." Mino had pushed against the back of the laptop screen to close it. "And, anyway, I've already told you-- since I work from home, it will be fine. We'll be awesome pet parents."
"Hmmm." Taehyun had let Mino shut the laptop, but was still thinking about breeds and veterinary bills as Mino had wrapped his arms around him and whispered, "goodnight," into his hair.
When they had arrived at the shelter a week later, Taehyun had been brandishing a folder full of research. He had asked the rescue worker every single question he could think of, and Mino had continued by picking their new kitten up and exclaiming, "She looks like you! I mean, if you were a cat, that is," much to the dismay of the people around them.
--
Taehyun lingers in the doorway before he heads out to work the following morning and watches as Mino runs a hand through his dishevelled hair and then proceeds to trip over the newly purchased litter tray in on his way to the bathroom half asleep, and wonders whether it is safe to leave them alone.
As it turns out, though, Mino falls comfortably into his new role of kitten-protector, and he only trips over the litter tray eight times more in the next three days.
--
Taehyun realises, after four days of almost being late for work, that working an hour across the city from your home is pretty damn annoying when you're trying to raise a kitten.
He wishes he could stay in with Polly all day, could be the one to feed her and pet her and make sure he's settling in, but he can't.
He's glad Mino is at home with her, but when finds a photo message on his phone at lunchtime of Mino at his mixing board with a furry ball curled up in his lap, captioned "too cute to do any work!" with a smiley face he admits that he feels a tiny pang of jealousy, along with a rush of love.
He thinks about faking sick days for the rest of the week, but talks himself out of it by five pm.
Taehyun finds a pile of newly delivered parcels beside the front door when he gets home from work, peeks inside the first open box and realises they're the hoops that Mino ordered on a whim earlier in the week. Groans as he covers the lid back over, hopes they're returnable.
--
The next morning he heads out for his and Mino's usual weekend indulgence together: coffee and the morning papers at the coffee-shop their friend Jinwoo runs downtown.
Mino is asleep on the lounge floor, half covered by a tiny blanket definitely meant for cats and not grown men, when Taehyun leaves. Polly is fast asleep in her own bed across the room, and Taehyun contemplates waking them up, but decides to leave them to it, heading out on his own.
"You're not usually here alone on weekends?" Jinwoo looks worried as he hands over Taehyun's coffee order. "Everything okay?"
"Mino and the kitten are inseparable." Taehyun rolls his eyes. "He won't leave her alone and neither of them seem to know I exist anymore."
Jinwoo clasps his hands together and smiles. "Ah, I think it's cute."
This isn't the response Taehyun was looking for. "You think a lot of very uncute things are cute, though." He pouts.
Jinwoo unclasps his hands, looks perplexed. "Do I? Like what?"
"Like-- " Taehyun blows on his coffee. Is grasping at a good answer. Finds it in the form of Jinwoo's co-worker. "Like... Like Seunghoon."
Seunghoon appears from around the counter, cloth thrown over his shoulder. "I heard my name?"
Jinwoo flashes a glance that says 'don't you dare' in Taehyun's direction, but Taehyun ignores it. Sips his coffee and turns to Seunghoon. "I was just explaining to Jinwoo that his definition of what's cute is clearly skewed."
Seunghoon looks interested. "Yeah? Why?"
"Because last week Jinwoo was telling me that you have this habit of getting distracted and dancing every time you're trying to count the inventory after the shop shuts and that it's really--"
"Annoying. I said that it's annoying." Jinwoo cuts in, presses his palms against the worktop and adds, loudly and far too brightly, "Okay, well, you have a great day Taehyun. Bye!"
Taehyun smirks.
"I told you that in confidence," Jinwoo hisses across the counter once Seunghoon has disappeared into the backroom to fill up the milk.
"Remember that next time you're contemplating taking my boyfriend's side on anything."
Jinwoo pouts. "I thought you were looking forward to getting a kitten?"
"I was... I'm happy she's with us. It's just-- I thought that... Oh, I don't know." Taehyun waves a hand.
"You don't think it's even a little bit cute that they're always together?"
Taehyun pulls a face. "When I turned on my laptop this morning there was a search for 'socks for cats' in my history, Jinwoo. Socks for cats."
Jinwoo contemplates this. "Now, that really is cute."
Taehyun pulls a face, but, he has to admit that when he'd first seen it, it had made him smile a little: The thought of his boyfriend half asleep, kitten in his lap, suddenly feeling worried about her having cold paws.
It's... it's actually kind of completely adorable.
Taehyun doesn't mention this to Jinwoo, though. Just says, "I hope the rest of your shift is boring and terrible."
Jinwoo laughs. "If it gets boring I'll just text Mino to send me photos of Polly!"
Taehyun huffs out an angry breath. "I'm going to start buying my coffee elsewhere."
"No, you're not." Jinwoo laughs. "You're very picky about your coffee and I know it."
"Luckily for you," Taehyun retorts, but he smiles as he says, "I better get back and make sure they haven't caused any destruction," and waves goodbye to Seunghoon from across the shop.
--
When Taehyun gets home, Mino greets him at the door with Polly in tow. "You went for coffee without me?" He asks with a pout, but he doesn't seem too bothered as he gestures towards the kitten and asks, "Can you watch her while I shower?"
"Okay." Taehyun holds his arms out awkwardly, watches as Mino picks the kitten up. She clings to his chest happily.
Mino bundles Polly into Taehyun's arms and says, "See, isn't that nice?"
"Hmmm." Taehyun isn't so sure. Is convinced he can feel the kitten trying desperately to leap out of his arms and back into his boyfriend's.
Mino takes in Taehyun's awkward stance. "What's up?"
"She doesn't want to be with me-- Look." Taehyun sighs. "Oh well. We both know she likes you more."
"What? Wait--" Mino raises an eyebrow . "Are you jealous?!"
Taehyun pretends not to know what Mino is alluding to.
"You said she likes me more?!" Mino laughs. "She's a kitten! She's just getting to know us!"
"I know that." Taehyun snaps, moves towards the sofa, sits down and cradles the kitten against his chest. Won't look at Mino.
"Taehyun-ah..."
Taehyun finally looks up. "I just I had this silly idea of how it was going to be when we got her, and I did all this research... But I'm out all of the time, and you're here, and you two are so cute together and..." He stops, bites his lip. "Okay. I guess might be a bit jealous." He softens.
Mino sits down next to him, tucks an arm around his shoulder. "She will love you too, I promise. When you're not at work, you can spend as much time with her as you want. Deal?"
"Deal." Taehyun nods, and the next time he looks down at his arms, Polly is sleeping soundly and happily in them.
--
Taehyun hurries home from work the following Monday, kicks off his shoes and heads straight into the kitchen to take his turn in feeding Polly her dinner.
He takes another look at the hoops, still sitting in their boxes in the hallway, and has visions of Polly leaping through hoops of fire at the annual summer block part pet show next year. Of the neighbour's faces as he tells them that "I taught her that," proudly.
Will never, ever admit to Mino that he has had this fleeting thought. Packs the hoops back up, shakes his head at Mino and says, "I still can't believe you bought those, they'll never get used," whilst wondering if he can possibly train the cat up in secret, make it a surprise for Mino.
Knows he's getting carried away, but can't help it anymore.
--
Mino wakes up to an empty bed, hears noises from the lounge.
Finds Taehyun asleep on the sofa, one leg dangling over the edge. The television is on some infomercial for pet food playing on loop. Polly is atop Taehyun's stomach, her own tiny, tiny chest rising and falling in time with Taehyun's.
He sits down on the edge of the sofa. Whispers, "I told you she'd love you too."
Taehyun opens one eye and smiles down at his chest. "I'm really glad we got her," he says, reaches an arm out and places his hand on Mino's arm. "I bought them, you know."
"Bought what?"
"The kitten socks you had bookmarked on our internet favourites. They're really cute."
"Not as cute as you both look right now..." Mino stands up. "Wait there, I'm going to get my phone to take a photo."
"Okay," Taehyun murmurs, brushes a finger across the sleeping kitten's soft head, and wonders whether he should order her another pair of socks tomorrow as he hears Mino tripping over the litter tray on his way to the bedroom.
Recipient: everyone
Pairing: Taehyun/Mino (side Jinwoo/Seunghoon if you squint)
Rating: PG
Summary: Taehyun and Mino adopt a kitten, and things don't quite work out how Taehyun had planned them to in his head. (AU)
Notes: Thankyou for the great prompts! I couldn't resist using the cat prompt, although I took it in a slightly different direction. I hope it makes you smile!
Mino presses a hand to Taehyun's bare shoulder and presses against it gently and waits for him to stir before whispering, "Wake up, I have something important to tell you."
"I'm awake," Taehyun mumbles. He holds his hands over his face as his eyes adjust to the early morning light. "What's so important that you had to wake me up to tell me?"
"I'm completely in love." Mino is smiling dreamily when Taehyun finally looks at him.
"I would hope so." Taehyun raises an eyebrow. "I am your boyfriend after all."
Mino looks confused for a moment. "Oh--right, yeah, that too." He says, somewhat distractedly. "But I didn't mean you, I meant with the kitten."
He reaches down beside the bed and stands up again holding a ball of black fluff with pride. "I've been up for two hours already trying to teach her to jump through a hoop."
"We don't own a cat-jumping hoop," Taehyun says it slowly. "Or absolutely anything you could possibly have mistaken for one..."
"Not yet, we don't." Mino says. "So, we were just doing some training. However, I have just ordered three from the internet." He is looking extremely pleased with himself, as though this isn't a complete and utter waste of the little income the two of them have left over after rent and bills and now the cost of looking after a kitten.
Taehyun has no idea what this so-called training could have involved, and suspects it was probably nothing more physical than Mino searching the internet for 'cat's jumping through hoops' for two hours whilst the kitten slept against his chest. "Why do we need three hoops? Or two.. or one, for that matter..?"
"She might like one more than the others. She needs choices," Mino replies He isn't even looking at Taehyun now; all attention placed solely on the Bombay kitten curled up in his arms. "We might not be able to afford to, you know, go out this month, but hey-- who needs date nights now we have Polly?"
He finally looks up at Taehyun, pointedly ignores his boyfriend's death stare.
Taehyun takes a deep breath. "How much did you spend on cat-- things that aren't in our budget?"
Mino shields his face with five pounds of fur, and doesn't actually answer the question. Just says, "A really good quality cat hoop does not come cheap, you know," and escapes the bedroom, kitten in his arms.
This is the moment that Taehyun thinks he might regret getting a cat. Kind of. A little bit.
Or, maybe he just regrets getting a cat with Mino.
--
Taehyun had dedicated many evenings to research before they'd actually adopted her.
"This is important," he had stressed, looking up from his laptop with a glare as Mino had slid a hand up his thigh and pouted.
"It's midnight, you can research tomorrow." Mino had pushed against the back of the laptop screen to close it. "And, anyway, I've already told you-- since I work from home, it will be fine. We'll be awesome pet parents."
"Hmmm." Taehyun had let Mino shut the laptop, but was still thinking about breeds and veterinary bills as Mino had wrapped his arms around him and whispered, "goodnight," into his hair.
When they had arrived at the shelter a week later, Taehyun had been brandishing a folder full of research. He had asked the rescue worker every single question he could think of, and Mino had continued by picking their new kitten up and exclaiming, "She looks like you! I mean, if you were a cat, that is," much to the dismay of the people around them.
--
Taehyun lingers in the doorway before he heads out to work the following morning and watches as Mino runs a hand through his dishevelled hair and then proceeds to trip over the newly purchased litter tray in on his way to the bathroom half asleep, and wonders whether it is safe to leave them alone.
As it turns out, though, Mino falls comfortably into his new role of kitten-protector, and he only trips over the litter tray eight times more in the next three days.
--
Taehyun realises, after four days of almost being late for work, that working an hour across the city from your home is pretty damn annoying when you're trying to raise a kitten.
He wishes he could stay in with Polly all day, could be the one to feed her and pet her and make sure he's settling in, but he can't.
He's glad Mino is at home with her, but when finds a photo message on his phone at lunchtime of Mino at his mixing board with a furry ball curled up in his lap, captioned "too cute to do any work!" with a smiley face he admits that he feels a tiny pang of jealousy, along with a rush of love.
He thinks about faking sick days for the rest of the week, but talks himself out of it by five pm.
Taehyun finds a pile of newly delivered parcels beside the front door when he gets home from work, peeks inside the first open box and realises they're the hoops that Mino ordered on a whim earlier in the week. Groans as he covers the lid back over, hopes they're returnable.
--
The next morning he heads out for his and Mino's usual weekend indulgence together: coffee and the morning papers at the coffee-shop their friend Jinwoo runs downtown.
Mino is asleep on the lounge floor, half covered by a tiny blanket definitely meant for cats and not grown men, when Taehyun leaves. Polly is fast asleep in her own bed across the room, and Taehyun contemplates waking them up, but decides to leave them to it, heading out on his own.
"You're not usually here alone on weekends?" Jinwoo looks worried as he hands over Taehyun's coffee order. "Everything okay?"
"Mino and the kitten are inseparable." Taehyun rolls his eyes. "He won't leave her alone and neither of them seem to know I exist anymore."
Jinwoo clasps his hands together and smiles. "Ah, I think it's cute."
This isn't the response Taehyun was looking for. "You think a lot of very uncute things are cute, though." He pouts.
Jinwoo unclasps his hands, looks perplexed. "Do I? Like what?"
"Like-- " Taehyun blows on his coffee. Is grasping at a good answer. Finds it in the form of Jinwoo's co-worker. "Like... Like Seunghoon."
Seunghoon appears from around the counter, cloth thrown over his shoulder. "I heard my name?"
Jinwoo flashes a glance that says 'don't you dare' in Taehyun's direction, but Taehyun ignores it. Sips his coffee and turns to Seunghoon. "I was just explaining to Jinwoo that his definition of what's cute is clearly skewed."
Seunghoon looks interested. "Yeah? Why?"
"Because last week Jinwoo was telling me that you have this habit of getting distracted and dancing every time you're trying to count the inventory after the shop shuts and that it's really--"
"Annoying. I said that it's annoying." Jinwoo cuts in, presses his palms against the worktop and adds, loudly and far too brightly, "Okay, well, you have a great day Taehyun. Bye!"
Taehyun smirks.
"I told you that in confidence," Jinwoo hisses across the counter once Seunghoon has disappeared into the backroom to fill up the milk.
"Remember that next time you're contemplating taking my boyfriend's side on anything."
Jinwoo pouts. "I thought you were looking forward to getting a kitten?"
"I was... I'm happy she's with us. It's just-- I thought that... Oh, I don't know." Taehyun waves a hand.
"You don't think it's even a little bit cute that they're always together?"
Taehyun pulls a face. "When I turned on my laptop this morning there was a search for 'socks for cats' in my history, Jinwoo. Socks for cats."
Jinwoo contemplates this. "Now, that really is cute."
Taehyun pulls a face, but, he has to admit that when he'd first seen it, it had made him smile a little: The thought of his boyfriend half asleep, kitten in his lap, suddenly feeling worried about her having cold paws.
It's... it's actually kind of completely adorable.
Taehyun doesn't mention this to Jinwoo, though. Just says, "I hope the rest of your shift is boring and terrible."
Jinwoo laughs. "If it gets boring I'll just text Mino to send me photos of Polly!"
Taehyun huffs out an angry breath. "I'm going to start buying my coffee elsewhere."
"No, you're not." Jinwoo laughs. "You're very picky about your coffee and I know it."
"Luckily for you," Taehyun retorts, but he smiles as he says, "I better get back and make sure they haven't caused any destruction," and waves goodbye to Seunghoon from across the shop.
--
When Taehyun gets home, Mino greets him at the door with Polly in tow. "You went for coffee without me?" He asks with a pout, but he doesn't seem too bothered as he gestures towards the kitten and asks, "Can you watch her while I shower?"
"Okay." Taehyun holds his arms out awkwardly, watches as Mino picks the kitten up. She clings to his chest happily.
Mino bundles Polly into Taehyun's arms and says, "See, isn't that nice?"
"Hmmm." Taehyun isn't so sure. Is convinced he can feel the kitten trying desperately to leap out of his arms and back into his boyfriend's.
Mino takes in Taehyun's awkward stance. "What's up?"
"She doesn't want to be with me-- Look." Taehyun sighs. "Oh well. We both know she likes you more."
"What? Wait--" Mino raises an eyebrow . "Are you jealous?!"
Taehyun pretends not to know what Mino is alluding to.
"You said she likes me more?!" Mino laughs. "She's a kitten! She's just getting to know us!"
"I know that." Taehyun snaps, moves towards the sofa, sits down and cradles the kitten against his chest. Won't look at Mino.
"Taehyun-ah..."
Taehyun finally looks up. "I just I had this silly idea of how it was going to be when we got her, and I did all this research... But I'm out all of the time, and you're here, and you two are so cute together and..." He stops, bites his lip. "Okay. I guess might be a bit jealous." He softens.
Mino sits down next to him, tucks an arm around his shoulder. "She will love you too, I promise. When you're not at work, you can spend as much time with her as you want. Deal?"
"Deal." Taehyun nods, and the next time he looks down at his arms, Polly is sleeping soundly and happily in them.
--
Taehyun hurries home from work the following Monday, kicks off his shoes and heads straight into the kitchen to take his turn in feeding Polly her dinner.
He takes another look at the hoops, still sitting in their boxes in the hallway, and has visions of Polly leaping through hoops of fire at the annual summer block part pet show next year. Of the neighbour's faces as he tells them that "I taught her that," proudly.
Will never, ever admit to Mino that he has had this fleeting thought. Packs the hoops back up, shakes his head at Mino and says, "I still can't believe you bought those, they'll never get used," whilst wondering if he can possibly train the cat up in secret, make it a surprise for Mino.
Knows he's getting carried away, but can't help it anymore.
--
Mino wakes up to an empty bed, hears noises from the lounge.
Finds Taehyun asleep on the sofa, one leg dangling over the edge. The television is on some infomercial for pet food playing on loop. Polly is atop Taehyun's stomach, her own tiny, tiny chest rising and falling in time with Taehyun's.
He sits down on the edge of the sofa. Whispers, "I told you she'd love you too."
Taehyun opens one eye and smiles down at his chest. "I'm really glad we got her," he says, reaches an arm out and places his hand on Mino's arm. "I bought them, you know."
"Bought what?"
"The kitten socks you had bookmarked on our internet favourites. They're really cute."
"Not as cute as you both look right now..." Mino stands up. "Wait there, I'm going to get my phone to take a photo."
"Okay," Taehyun murmurs, brushes a finger across the sleeping kitten's soft head, and wonders whether he should order her another pair of socks tomorrow as he hears Mino tripping over the litter tray on his way to the bedroom.