Chapter Text
Seungho notices that Célestine has been a little bit rounder lately.
"Is it your new organic cat food? Is that making you gain weight?" Seungho looks down at her. Célestine mews before weaving closely around his ankles. She’s always been an affectionate cat, but Seungho also notices that she's clingier than usual too.
"Huh," Seungho shrugs and leans down to idly scratch the soft fur between her ears.
Célestine purrs.
***
A few weeks later, Célestine suddenly disappears, and a panicked Seungho turns his house upside-down trying to look for her. He finally finds her inside his closet, nesting in the middle of his Rag & Bone sweaters. She's lying down on her side, and eight kittens are noisily suckling from her engorged teats.
Seungho looks at her grimly. He knows precisely who the culprit is.
***
His neighbor's cat is called Mr. Mochi, and contrary to his name, there is nothing soft or squishy about him.
Mr. Mochi weighs eighteen pounds and has deep amber eyes and long, silky black fur. He's always lurking around, especially when Célestine's sitting by herself on the porch.
Seungho has always known that… that… hellbeast had nefarious designs on his poor Célestine, and now here she is, a teen mom at fifteen months old.
Seungho wants that sly-eyed rascal to take responsibility.
***
Seungho rings the doorbell to his neighbor's house several times, but no one answers. The entire house is quiet, and except for an open second-floor window, one can even mistake the house as unoccupied.
Seungho huffs and slaps a Post-it on the front door.
***
The next day, Seungho sees several bags of kitten food on his porch.
'Child support' is neatly scrawled in large block letters in front of one of the bags. Seungho can hear a rustling sound from one of the bushes dividing his lawn from his neighbor's.
He turns around to look, but no one's there.
***
Seungho has never met his neighbor.
He knows that he never leaves his house, except during late evenings when he shuffles out to get his mail and the packages stacked by his door.
He's something of a shut-in, and the neighborhood gossip (Jihwa and Min dropping during the weekends to keep him abreast with the local news and raid his house for food and alcohol, the freeloaders) that he's heard has theories ranging wildly from 'harmless introvert' (Jihwa) to 'raging psycho with a stash of bodies in his basement and hiding from the authorities' (Min).
Now and then, though, Seungho does see a small figure wearing a hoodie petting Célestine before disappearing, the slam of the screen door in his wake.
***
One morning, Célestine disappears with one of her kittens, which once again sends Seungho in a flurry of panic.
Seungho's in the middle of an internal debate about how he can efficiently drill holes in his walls just in case Célestine's squeezed herself in the crawlspaces between, when the doorbell rings.
A young man is standing nervously on his porch. He's more than half a foot shorter than Seungho, and he looks like he can be blown away by a stiff breeze. He’s cradling a bump in his middle and Seungho’s suspicion ratchets up—he doesn’t know any pregnant men in the neighborhood.
"H-hi…," he stutters, one hand giving a tentative wave. "I'm Nakyum, and I'm, uh, Mr. Mochi's dad?"
Seungho goggles. He's that monster’s owner? How? He looks like his own cat can eat him for dinner.
There's a squeaking sound from the bump inside Nakyum's hoodie, and Nakyum unzips it to show Célestine and her kitten curled inside. He smiles sheepishly at Seungho, "She brought one of my grandkids for a visit."
***
"I'm sorry if I wasn't able to talk to you when you dropped by that one time," Nakyum fidgets with his teaspoon. Seungho's invited him in for tea because even if Min insists that he's a misanthrope who dislikes everyone and is one garden hose away from squirting water at people to get them off his lawn, Seungho still knows proper social niceties. He wasn't raised in a barn.
"I don't keep normal hours because of my work," Célestine and her kittens have flocked around Nakyum, and he's slowly putting them one by one on a tidy pile in his lap. Seungho resists the urge to coo because he knows Nakyum is allied with the Enemy.
"Don't worry about it," Seungho grunts, "I just wanted to let you know that your… creature… and my Célestine had kittens."
"I can pay you back for the veterinary fees and vaccinations," Nakyum offers. He's holding a kitten to his chest while Célestine climbs on top of his shoulders. She's been trying to groom Nakyum's unruly hair to some semblance of order, flattening a section of his hair to the side of his head with determined licks of her tongue.
Seungho lifts Célestine away from Nakyum, which makes her give a disgruntled mew. "You don't need to. It's fine." He puts her down the countertop, where a steely-eyed Mr. Mochi is quietly watching the proceedings.
Nakyum twists his hands and asks hesitantly, "Then would it be alright if I drop by and see the kittens now and then? Until they get adopted? That is, if you're getting them adopted, if you're keeping them all, it's okay too!" he babbles.
Seungho looks at Nakyum's hopeful face.
Even with the disastrous mop of unruly hair, he realizes that Nakyum is delicately beautiful, with long-lashed eyes and a small pert nose above a plump, Cupid's bow mouth.
"Sure," Seungho blinks.
From the counter, Mr. Mochi chuffs loudly. It suspiciously sounds like a laugh.
***
Nakyum starts dropping by every other day.
Seungho piles the kittens in one blanket-lined basket and takes them out to the living room, where Nakyum sits cross-legged on the carpet. He tirelessly gives everyone belly pets and ear scratches while making sure that Célestine gets some too.
Seungho idly wonders, as he looks at Nakyum's dainty fingers combing through Célestine's fur, if it's stupid to wish that he could also be a cat.
***
Despite Nakyum and Célestine’s efforts, Seungho and Mr. Mochi still don't get along. At all.
Seungho still thinks that Mr. Mochi is a wolf in a fluffy cat's clothing, and Mr. Mochi wants to tear Seungho's face into bloody ribbons at every given opportunity.
"Why can’t the two of you be friends?" Nakyum's carrying Célestine in his arms, both of them wide-eyed and pouting.
Mr. Mochi gives a furious hiss. Seungho resists the urge to bare his teeth and growl back.
***
Nakyum's visits are now frequent enough that he sometimes crashes on Seungho's couch.
Seungho sometimes sees him and Célestine napping on one corner of the sectional, Célestine curled over Nakyum's chest, with some of her kittens randomly tucked beside Nakyum’s neck or around his head.
Seungho vows that he will not be a creep and take a picture, even though he really really wants to, because Nakyum has the softest, most vulnerable face when he sleeps.
***
One of the kittens passes away in her sleep.
One day she's gamboling with her brothers and sisters; the next, she's silent in the corner of their sleeping basket, her eyes closed and breathing still.
Nakyum is heartbroken.
He sobs inconsolably in Seungho's arms after they wrap her in one of Seungho's old scarves and bury her in the corner of Seungho's lawn, inside a wooden tea box.
Seungho has always kept his lawn immaculate and free from overgrown weeds and frivolously-colored perennials. But for Nakyum, Seungho plants a pot of daisies over the kitten's grave. He waters it diligently and borders it with a small garden fence, patting down the soil neatly to ensure it stays in place.
Nakyum places a soft kiss on Seungho's cheek before he goes back to his house after an afternoon of playing with Célestine and the kittens. "Thank you," he murmurs, before walking back to his house, Mr. Mochi padding silently beside him.
Seungho reaches up and touches his cheek, just to chase the feeling of Nakyum’s lips.
***
Every few days or so, Nakyum receives a visit from his editor.
Seungho hates Nakyum's editor. And despite all their differences, Mr. Mochi agrees with him.
Nakyum's editor is officious and demanding, and doesn't care that Nakyum spends sleepless nights bent over his tablet, eyes bloodshot and dry from hours sketching and staring at his screen.
They're having lunch together one day when Nakyum also invites Seungho over.
"Nakyum, you know I don't like cats near my food," Nakyum’s editor sniffs, pushing his pretentious hipster glasses up his nose, "It's positively unsanitary. I don’t know what kind of diseases these cats have. Can you take them outside?"
Seungho's about to open his mouth to tell him to fuck off when one of the striped gray kittens that always hangs around Mr. Mochi jumps on the table and, calmly as you please, coughs up a hairball in the middle of Jung In-hun's pasta puttanesca.
***
"I'm naming this one 'Vengeance'," Seungho scratches the gray kitten under her chin. Mr. Mochi mrawrs loudly in agreement. The kitten yawns and scratches at her nose, pleased at being named.
From inside Nakyum's house, In-hun is still indignantly screeching over his ruined lunch.
In a rare moment of camaraderie, Seungho and Mr. Mochi nod at each other, satisfied.
***
Months have passed, and it's time for the kittens to go.
The day after all the kittens get adopted, Nakyum finds Seungho looking contemplatively at the corner where the kittens used to sleep, huddled together, in their basket.
"I'm gonna miss them too," Nakyum reaches out and gently pats Seungho's shoulder. Mr. Mochi is in the corner with Célestine, curled tightly around each other as if seeking comfort from the memory of their kittens.
***
Seungho isn't expecting Nakyum to visit anymore. The kittens are gone, and he knows that they’re the only reason why Nakyum treks the short distance from his house to Seungho's.
So it's a surprise when he sees Nakyum standing on his porch, a bottle of expensive red wine in his hand.
"But the kittens are gone," Seungho says, confused.
"There's Célestine."
"Oh," Seungho doesn't know why he sounds disappointed.
Nakyum shuffles his feet, shyly, "And more importantly, there's you."
It takes Seungho a few seconds before his brain cues him in on what Nakyum is saying.
"Oh," Seungho says softly. His heart feels like it's tap-dancing to a silly beat, and his stomach is wildly swishing this way and that. His palms are sweaty, and he wants to puke rainbows and butterflies.
"Yeah." Nakyum's blushing, a pretty rose-pink hue dusting his nose and cheeks.
Seungho opens the door wider and gives one of his rare smiles. "Come in."
(epilogue)
"Kids, I'd like you to meet," Seungho carefully lowers Seungmin until he's at eye level with Célestine and Mr. Mochi. "Your baby brother."
Célestine gives the baby a few delicate sniffs before licking his toes. Seungmin kicks out in surprise and gives a tickled laugh from the feel of Célestine's rough tongue on his feet.
Célestine makes a curious mew. (Is this Gentle Sir's kitten?)
Mr. Mochi gives a low rumble in his throat before leaning his head down to lick Célestine all over her face. (Yes, with Scary Eyes.)
Célestine purrs, pleased, and butts her head affectionately at Mr. Mochi before they both look back at Seungmin. The baby gives them a slow, sleepy blink.
(Then he's ours now too.)