505

36

"hey," minho greeted in a soft low voice and leaned against the doorframe. he was wearing a hoodie and some sweatpants and looked very cosy. he was smiling happily and jisung copied the expression.

"um, hi," the shorter nodded.

"come in, make yourself comfortable," minho let him into the apartment and closed the door behind him as the boy was taking off his shoes, "how was your day?"

the question was innocent but jisung got a flashback to when minho said that in the red room.

"um, good. mr jeon is a lot less generous with his grades than you though..," the younger giggled, "but at least he didn't change the grades that i received from you."

minho nodded and walked to the couch, then sat and gestured for his guest to do the same, "he's just lazy. if he was to admit that i graded you wrong he'd have to examine all the grades i gave from the beginning of the semester but he doesn't want to do that. i bet he didn't even reread any of your works that i graded."

"yeah, probably. he does seem to rely on his assistants a lot.."

"he does. i feel sorry that chan has to take up my role too now," minho sighed and clarified when he was met with an inquisitive look, "because i used to grade works last year too when i was an assistant. it's just a standard practice for him to exploit his protégés.."

"damn, that's unfair..," jisung pouted and started saying something else.

"meow," a little orange blob of fur interrupted him and he immediately looked around to find it behind the couch he was sitting on.

"oh wow," he exclaimed and turned to put his legs on the couch and his chin on the backrest to face the animal, "hey there, pretty lady."

"he's a boy," minho corrected but smiled at his guest's adorable fascination, "this is soonie."

"sorry soon, i tried to be a gentleman," jisung pouted jokingly as the owner of the cat leaned down and swept the cat off the floor with a fast but careful movement.

"it's okay. he is forgiving. he's not mad that you misgendered him," the older smiled and put the animal between them on the couch. he didn't want to leave it in jisung's lap because he wasn't sure he'd want it but since he paid attention to it he thought he might want to pet it.

and he did.

"hey, you're so pretty," jisung smoothed the ginger and white fur all the way to the tail and pursed his lips to talk to the cat.

minho leaned on the backrest and watched as the boy played with his cat with a big smile. it was encouraging that he liked it.

"do you like cats?"

"um, i actually prefer dogs," jisung admitted, "i even have one. but soonie just so fluffy," he cooed in admiration and leaned back.

"yeah, he's irresistible," minho chuckled and stood up. the cat followed after him, "do you want something to drink? i have some gin, tequila, some beer, rum i think, and some rose wine."

"woah. that's a hotel mini bar right there," the shorter laughed and noticed another cat come his way. it was brown and much more agile because it didn't hesitate to install itself on minho's seat, "um, who's that?"

"it's my other cat, dori," the host laughed at jisung's surprise, "so?"

"huh?," jisung hummed as he carefully patted the cat's head, "oh! i'm not much of a drinker but.."

"you're a dream girl?," minho lifted a brow as he joked.

"um, girl?," the younger asked doubtfully.

"hey, that's just a song lyric. from sunmi. i didn't mean it like..," the host explained more quietly.

"oh yeah, right. how could i forget the queen," jisung's lips turned into a smile.

"true. she can slay my entire existence," minho nodded vigorously and took out a glass.

jisung unconsciously clenched his teeth. so that's what he likes? sunmi?

"i'll have the wine," he ended up saying as he scratched the cat's chin slowly.

"alright. coming right up."

minho took a few seconds to pour the wine into glasses, and then bring it, and when he did jisung was already sitting on the couch with two cats on his lap.

"oh, i see you met everyone," he smiled as he approached and sat down.

"yes. they invited themselves. the cheese cat even jumped directly on my legs," the younger explained with a proud smile.

"really? we haven't had guests in a while but last time we did they refused to come out of the bedroom," minho giggled and stroked the little muzzle of the ginger cat, almost leaning to lie down next to his pets on jisung's lap. he took up so much space that the ginger cat leapt down from its place.

the younger didn't try to stoke him but he thought about patting his fluffy hair with one hand like he did the animals'.

"meow," the cat greeting was heard again and interrupted his thoughts. jisung confusedly eyed the two cats to see what they might want but neither of them seemed to want his attention so he thought he misheard it.

minho suddenly put one hand on his thigh and lifted himself, shoving his face closer to jisung's in the process but looking at the cat. it was smooth that the guest couldn't say anything.

"meow," a ginger cat appeared and sat down in front of the two until minho tapped his legs to invite it to join them. with one eager leap, it took its designated place.

"soonie's always been the most well-behaved one," he commented and rubbed a circle on the cheese cat's head that made it immediately bend down to lie between the duo.

"haha, but he's also playful sometimes," jisung exclaimed and the brown cat jumped off of him, startled by the loud giggle.

"not really," minho hummed softly, mechanically continuing to stroke the cat's head.

"well, he-," the younger defensively tried to explain about how his impressions changed from earlier to now but as soon as the space in his lap was free a second ginger cat decided to fill it and stretched out to put its front paws on his legs as if to ask for permission.

jisung's eyes went wide as his eyes drifted between the two cats, trying to determine the differences. minho noticed that and started laughing hard.

"the-they.. they were two all along?!"

"yes," the host kept on laughing, almost unable to make out the words, "i'm holding soonie and you have doongie."

"what about the brown one? was it one or..?"

"yes, yes, i only have three cats," minho giggled.

jisung blinked vigorously, "why didn't you tell me?"

"i thought you could tell," minho lifted his shoulders, "and if not i knew it would be funny when you find out," he laughed again and leaned against jisung's shoulder.