Chapter Text
(also more than a year ago)
"I'd like you to meet Célestine."
"We've been over this. You know I'm gay," Seungho says distractedly without looking up from his laptop.
"You'd like Célestine," Seungwon's voice drifts from the depths of his brother's refrigerator, where he's perusing the imported cheeses that Seungho keeps when he wants to indulge in wine-and-cheese nights (strictly a party of one—himself). "She's suuuuper pretty. And sweet."
"No."
"Yes—and you don't have a choice, I've already brought her along with me."
Seungho gives a confused look around his living room, noticing the pronounced lack of any female presence anywhere. The only things that his brother came with were the bulky traveling bags currently sitting on Seungho's new cream-colored sofa.
"Did you chop up her body? Is this is a crime situation? Did you finally snap after living with Dad for so long?"
Seungho makes a show of craning his neck around, checking for any putrid cadavers that his brother might've wrapped with his shower curtains, "Am I going to be an accessory to a murder? You know I can't go to prison—the lack of space and close contact with other people will drive me crazy."
Seungwon gives him a baleful glare, privately thinking that if his brother did ever go to prison, he'd probably be leading a gang of thugs not even five minutes in. But Seungwon has a favor to ask—a huge one—so he knows it's in his best interest not to annoy Seungho.
Pointedly ignoring his brother's ridiculous suppositions, he pulls a colorfully-patterned bag with a mesh top and unzips it, carefully fishing out a small fuzzy bundle from its padded insides.
***
Célestine has guileless, green eyes and the cutest apricot-colored nub of a nose. She's pure white—the color of fresh snow—except for the seashell pink of the insides of her ears and her soft paw pads. She's supposed to be a gift, but Seungwon's then-girlfriend broke up with him before he could give her Célestine, so he had no choice but to keep her.
"She's a gentle thing and really shy," Seungwon extends one small paw so that it playfully prods Seungho's nose. "But once she gets to know you, she becomes a clingy little chatterbox. Don't you, sweetie?"
The kitten gives a happy little chirp and licks Seungwon's hand, her tongue a soft bubblegum-pink strip.
Seungho looks in wonder at the kitten that's inside his brother's cupped palms and realizes that his brother is telling the truth—Célestine is very pretty.
***
For the first time in his life, he—Yoon Seungho, unrepentant gay man (of formerly notorious repute)—falls in love with a girl.
***
"I'll be gone for two months," Seungwon's placed Célestine in the middle of the coffee table while he rummages through his duffel bags. The kitten's hidden inside one of the decorative bowls, upset after realizing that Seungwon has no intention of putting her back inside the pet carrier that she came with.
"Here's her favorite blanket, her toys, her sleeping pillow, and some powdered formula and food."
Seungho doesn't understand why he gets so much flak for being the bad son when clearly he's not the one dumping his responsibilities on other people, "You can't just up and leave! What about Célestine?" he indignantly asks while trying to lure the kitten out from her hiding place by jangling Seungwon's car keys.
"That," Seungwon pushes all of Célestine's things towards him in one big heave, "Is what you're here for."
***
It’s been several days and Seungho has a strange feeling that Célestine doesn't like him.
When she's not busy hiding from Seungho, Célestine disdainfully turns her nose up at every food and drink that Seungho serves her and is warily suspicious of any attempt at rubs, scratches and other forms of affection.
She spends a lot of time looking outside the window, meowing pitifully for Seungwon, a picture of abject misery with her big, wet eyes and one tiny paw on the glass.
"Sadly, you're stuck with me," Seungho picks her up (a sad chirrup of protest as he does) and places her in the middle of her (newly-purchased, expensive) cat bed.
The kitten gives Seungho a disappointed mew before plopping down and turning her back at him.
The sting of rejection shouldn't hurt Seungho—she's a tiny kitten no bigger than a rolled-up sock, for crying out loud—but, strangely enough, it does.
***
Yoon Seungho is not above buying people's affections.
And he's not above doing it for Célestine too.
"How about this?" Seungho waves the iridescent silk chew toy that's shaped like a goldfish and stuffed with catnip. "Or this?" He's been shopping online non-stop, and his browser is chock-full of tabs for pet stores and cat owner Pinterest boards.
Célestine shyly peeks from a tiny gap in between Seungho's expensive coffee books before going back in again to hide, giving a small squeak that Seungho interprets as a 'no.'
"Alright," Seungho sighs. Maybe the monogrammed collar with the Swarovski crystals is a little bit too much.
***
A few weeks in and Seungho sees Célestine crying in her sleep—tiny little distressed noises accompanied by jerky, flailing paws—so he bends down and strokes her side gently to soothe her.
It's the first time that he's touched Célestine without her freezing in panic and then scampering away, so Seungho keeps at it, marveling at the softness of Célestine's fur and the tiny warm body underneath.
Seungho's so absorbed in the novelty of being able to pet Célestine that he doesn't notice that she's already stopped crying.
***
Every time Célestine cries in her sleep, Seungho's there, stroking the kitten's loneliness away.
Seungho thinks that she'll probably never like him when she's awake, but at least he can have this when she's asleep.
It's a small kind of comfort.
***
Seungho's always a jittery, seething wreck whenever his father leaves a message in his voicemail.
It's been years since he's last seen his father. Seungho's never really forgiven him for the cold cruelty of his childhood, and he’s made it his life-long mission to ignore all attempts of conciliation that his father extends toward him. It's petty, and Seungho knows that it's probably not healthy to latch on to his hatred for so long, but it gives him a grim sort of satisfaction knowing that he's tallying another win against his father.
The victory is short-lived, though—Seungho spends his entire day both angry and exhausted, and he foregoes work and food to drink and sleep his terrible mood away.
***
He doesn't know how long he's been sleeping, but Seungho wakes up to Célestine curled beside his neck, her cold nose tucked under Seungho's ear.
One of her paws is flat on Seungho's cheek—a tiny, feline gesture of concern for this tall, funny human—but it makes his heart swell in happiness all the same.
***
After two months of peaceful naps and quiet afternoons of belly rubs and purrs, Seungwon returns from his trip, and he drops by Seungho's house to take Célestine home with him.
Célestine looks at the pet carrier and then at Seungho before giving a sad mew.
"Go on," Seungho nudges her forward gently, "Seungwon's back."
Célestine plops down on her butt before giving out several plaintive noises, all of them directed at Seungho.
"Don't be like that," Seungho tweaks one of her ears softly with his finger, "I thought you missed Seungwon."
Célestine hangs her head, dejected.
***
Seungho tells himself that he's glad that Célestine's gone.
He can tell the cleaning lady to change his bedsheets back to black silk, he can have the dust covers and throws on his couches removed, and he can begin un-babyproofing (un-kittenproofing) his home. All his black cashmere and dark gray wool can be taken out of storage, and he can even start using his favorite cut-crystal ashtrays again, without fearing that one of them will come crashing down from the coffee table due to an errant flick of a tail or a careless wave of a paw.
"And how about this, sir?' the cleaning lady points to Célestine's kitten bed.
It's in the tip of his tongue to have it thrown away, but he remembers how Célestine's grown to love her cat bed—her small body curled in tight fuzzy donut in one corner, her blanket wrapped around her.
"I'll keep that."
***
Seungho Facetimes his brother for the first time in his life.
"This is a surprise."
"How are you?" Seungho greets him with enough false cheer that Seungwon raises his eyebrows.
"You wouldn't Facetime me if I was dying."
"That's... a bit of a hyperbole, isn’t it?"
"You know it isn't."
Seungho gives a (very unconvincing) pout of mock-hurt, "That's simply not true." He rearranges his face to a look of fraternal love and concern. "I just want to make sure that my beloved sibling is doing okay. Is that so hard to believe?"
Seungwon stares at him flatly before rolling his eyes, "Fine. I'll go get Célestine."
Seungho beams.
***
After a few days of Seungho inventing every possible excuse to call his brother, Seungwon—exasperated by his brother’s hourly calls and ridiculous excuses—gets a baby monitor.
Several baby monitors.
"Move the camera around, so it shows Célestine's bed," Seungho bosses his brother around from his phone's speaker. "How would I know if she's napping or not?"
Seungwon gives the camera a disgusted little prod and rues the day he ever introduced Célestine to Seungho.
***
Seungwon's back again, and Célestine's carrier is with him.
Seungho happily catches Célestine as she scrambles from Seungwon's arms to his. She gives several excited chirrups and bumps her nose affectionately at Seungho.
"How long is it this time?" Seungho's snippy words belie his softly smiling face. Célestine's clambered up him and is now purring contentedly and bonelessly near his ear, her forepaws draped over his shoulder. She's a little bit bigger now, and her coat's starting to grow out to that of an adult of her breed—there's even fur growing between her paws, so Seungho makes a mental note to call a professional groomer.
It's pretty much a repeat of Seungwon's earlier visit, with Seungwon setting down Célestine's blanket and some of her favorite toys, but Seungho notices that his brother has brought more with him—theres even a cat condo and scratching posts—that Seungho can't help but ask, "Are you going to be gone for long?"
"Not really—but I thought that Célestine should stay longer."
"Sure, let me know how many weeks—"
"I'm thinking more like, long-term."
Seungho's in the middle of mock-munching on Célestine's paws—who's now giving playful squeaks of delight—when he looks up in surprise at Seungwon. "Oh."
"Yeah, I mean." Seungwon shrugs. He knows his brother—he's a miser of the absolute worst sort when showing his affections—but with Célestine, Seungho's shown a side of what he could've been if he'd grown up without the shadow of their father's prejudices.
Seungwon gives Seungho a fond slap at the shoulder, "I guess I didn't want to get in the way of true love."
***
"Célestine!" Seungho calls out.
It's a lovely spring day, and he'd been planning on just chilling with Célestine at the porch, watching the sprinklers go lazily around while he and Célestine munch on snacks and indulge in some expensive hand-rolled tobacco (an addiction that he'd somehow inherited from his father) and catnip (purely organic and only in closely-supervised doses).
He's about to call for Célestine again when Seungho notices that she’s nose-to-nose with a large shadow that's peeking through the hedges that divide his lawn from his neighbor's.
Seungho goes nearer and it’s revealed that the shadow is, apparently, not a shadow—it's a cat—a tomcat.
A tomcat with the heft and weight of an overfed Labrador.
And who's rubbing noses with his Célestine.
"Célestine!" Seungho barks, hands on his hips. Célestine gives a little jolt of surprise and comes running back inside the house, giving the tomcat one more affectionate head-bump before she does.
Seungho watches her leave before turning his glare at the interloper. His scowl deepens—he doesn't know who this rascal is, but there’s no way in hell that he's going to get his beastly, uncouth paws over his sweet little Célestine.
The cat just gives him an unimpressed stare and yawns.