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Linong knew something was wrong the moment he woke up and found Justin petting him on the head.
"Oh, he's waking up." Justin whispered to someone standing behind him - was it Chengcheng? Linong forced his eyes open, fighting against the impulse to just go back to sleep - yep, it was Chengcheng, holding his phone in his hand. Was this part of some Tiktok challenge he didn't know about?
"I can't believe he snuck a cat into the dorm and left it here." Chengcheng said. "Manager Xu is going to have a fit. Where is Chen Linong anyway?"
Okay, what? Linong narrowed his eyes at the younger boy, trying to discern whether the boy was wearing his contacts or not – surely his eyesight could not have deteriorated so badly overnight? "I'm right here, you dumbass, are you sure you don't need another appointment with your optometrist?" Linong said dryly.
Well, at least that's what Linong wanted to say.
Instead, what came out was a loud meow.
Justin let out a surprised laugh while Linong could only sit there, frozen in shock. "You're surprisingly loud for how small you are, kitty." Justin remarked.
Kitty? Linong looked down at his hands - now turned into paws covered in soft brown fur.
"Oh my god, I'm a cat." Linong meowed. "OH MY GOD, I'M A CAT!!"
"Shhh!!" Justin and Chengcheng both hissed, but Linong hissed right back at them, because let me have my moment, you're not the one who got turned into a cat, panicking is a perfectly rational response!
( "Say Nongnong, if you had to choose between being a cat or a dog, which experience would you prefer?"
"Hm... a cat. I'd like to know what it feels like to be a cat."
"Finally, a person with taste." Yanjun crowed, enthusiastically hi-fiving Linong. Zhangjing rolled his eyes from where he sat leaning against Zhengting's shoulder - Yanjun had playfully pushed him away after Zhangjing had picked to be a dog instead.)
Now, Linong was severely regretting having that conversation with Yanjun, because whatever magic has happened to him, something in him just knows that it has something to do with it.
"What's going on in there?" Linkai called, sticking his head in the doorway before either Justin or Chengcheng could even think of closing and locking the door “A cat?" he wondered out loud, walking over to take a closer look at the cat. “Where did you come from? Where's Chen Linong?”
"Xiao Gui, it's me, I'm Linong!" Linong meowed.
"Yeah, buddy, you're looking for your owner too huh?" Linkai said, reaching over to tap Linong's nose.
"No, Wang Linkai, I am Chen Linong!"
Startled by the loud meow, Linkai fell back on his butt. He muttered something under his breath about how he hadn't expected something so small to be so loud - "It's like You Zhangjing in cat-form." He grumbled while Chengcheng cackled at the comparison.
"Was that a cat? Justin, I didn't know that you'd brought Tinbao over..." Xukun trailed off once he saw Linong sitting on the bed, in all of his brown furred glory. "That's not Tinbao." Xukun said flatly, narrowing his eyes at Justin, who fidgeted uncomfortably under his gaze – Linong felt bad, but at the same time, better Justin on the end of Xukun’s glare than Linong.
"It is! He - uh, just got into some mud?" Justin trailed off uncertainly, sending a silent plea to Chengcheng. Chengcheng shot a look back at him that even Linong could read: What the hell do you want me to do, Huang Minghao? Mud? Really??
"Mud does not look like that, Huang Minghao."
"How can you be so sure?"
Xukun levelled him a judgmental look that would give a middle-aged auntie a run for her money: “Because I’ve seen mud before, Justin.”
"Okay fine, it's not Tinbao." Justin admitted. "Chengcheng and I just found it in Linong's room, I swear. "
Xukun still didn’t look convinced, but before he could say whatever was on the tip of his tongue, Ziyi's voice called from outside the room: "Hey, breakfast is going to get cold, where are all of you?"
Xukun let out a sigh, leaning out of the doorway to shout down the hall: "There's a cat on the bed and Nongnong is missing."
There was a clatter of cutlery, then the sound of footsteps as Ziyi hurried over to them. "What do you mean - oh." Ziyi stopped in the doorway, eyes landing on Linong.
( Back in Dachang, during one of the many nights spent in practice rooms instead of sleeping in a bed – Linong can’t remember who was it that suggested the game, maybe it was Lu Dinghao, he always did love any excuse to dig for any tidbits of gossip – but there were seven of them sitting in the room, and it had been Li Xikan’s turn.
“Who else here has any kind of magical ability,” Xikan grinned, every bit the fox that he was. “Raise your hands.”
Of the seven of them, three hands shot into the air: Xikan and Yanjun, practically everyone knew about them already: Xikan because of that one prank he had pulled on Ruibin, Yanjun because of that one time he had been too tired, slipping into Zhangjing’s room as a cat but waking up as a very grumpy human the next morning when Zhu Zhengting woke up half of the building after finding Yanjun in Zhangjing’s bed – but Wang Ziyi? Now that was a surprise.
“I can See things.” Ziyi had explained. “It’s a bloodline thing, my great-great grandfather saved a fairy so all of his descendants have the ability to See. No big deal.” )
Please see me, please see me, Linong prayed silently, please don’t let Ziyi’s gift fail him now -
"Oh dear." Ziyi sighed, shaking his head at Linong. "Chen Linong, what did you do?"
"That's exactly the question I'm going to ask him once I find him. How did he even manage to sneak this cat in here - "
"No, Kunkun," Ziyi interrupted, and Linong wondered how his voice could still be as calm and serene as ever as he continued: "That cat is our Nongnong."
The silence that followed was deafening. Xukun was still, staring at Ziyi with unblinking eyes. Linong was starting to worry if Xukun had stopped functioning when he finally cleared his throat: "Are you sure?" Xukun asked.
Ziyi nodded. "Don't worry, bro, it's a reversible condition, not a big deal," Ziyi said calmly, patting Xukun's shoulder comfortingly. Xukun shot a look of pure disbelief at him, a vein pulsing in his forehead. Linong really hoped that he wouldn't pass out or have a heart attack or anything, because it really wouldn't be good if tomorrow's newspaper headline read: Leader of Nine Percent Cai Xukun rushed to hospital - he really didn't want to imagine what Xukun's literal army of fans would do.
Linong padded across the bed over to Xukun. The original plan had been to jump off of the bed and go over to Xukun, maybe get his attention somehow before his leader's blood pressure rose to dangerous heights -
But Linong forgot to take into account his current size, and with a surprised meow he walked right off the edge of the bed.
"Oh shit- " Xukun swore, lunging forward, barely managing to catch Linong before his small cat body hit the floor. "Are you okay?" Xukun asked, adjusting the cat in his arms to a more comfortable position.
I'm okay, Linong meowed in reply, still not over just how much bigger Xukun was than him now - he was supposed to be the taller one, damn it! Yet now the older was able to pick him up so easily, Linong wasn't even the length of Xukun's forearm! What was this injustice?
"Please be more careful next time, what if you end up hurting yourself?" Xukun scolded. Linong let out an almost sheepish meow as Xukun continued to fuss over him.
"We're lucky that we don't have any group schedules for the next few days. How did you even get yourself turned into a cat, Nongnong?" Xukun sighed, fingers gently scratching the fur on the top of Linong's head - Linong unconsciously leaned into his touch, not that Linong the human would ever admit that that ever happened.
"Can you even understand what I'm saying? Because otherwise this is going to be really weird."
"You're talking to a cat that's actually a human, Kunkun, this is weird enough as it is." Justin said dryly, while Linong let out a meow that could only be described as indignant.
"I guess there's your answer," Ziyi laughed as Linong swatted at Xukun's fingers. Xukun yelped when Linong nearly nipped at one of them, quickly depositing the annoyed cat Linong on the floor.
"Okay, okay, so you do understand what we're saying." Xukun ignored Linong's responding huff as he trotted over to Ziyi's side, as though he was insulted by Xukun suggesting otherwise. "So, do you have any idea what caused you to become like this? Meow once for yes and meow twice for no."
They waited with baited breath as Linong meowed - but then Linong meowed a second time, and Xukun sighed in disappointment, already feeling the impending headache and white hairs that he knew this entire experience was inevitably going to leave him with.
"I should have known that this break was too good to last." Xukun muttered under his breath, massaging his temples.
"So," Justin finally spoke up, breaking the silence. "Kun-ge, what should we do?"
"I have no idea. I don’t know anything about magic. Any ideas, Ziyi?" Xukun glanced hopefully at the other.
"Sorry bro, I don't really know much about undoing animal transformations." Ziyi said, looking up from his phone. "I tried calling Zhangjing, but it went straight to voicemail."
"Lin Yanjun?" Xukun asked, trying not to sound too desperate.
Ziyi shook his head. "Same thing. I think they're in the middle of a schedule right now."
Xukun wrung his hands, muttering under his breath about how the one time when they actually need the two older members and they can't be reached - "Let's just eat breakfast first - we can figure out how to deal with this later. Who knows, maybe this will have worn off by then, like the time Yanjun turned into a rabbit."
Xukun sounded so weary that none of the boys could bring themselves to remind him that it was Zhangjing who had turned Yanjun back, having transformed him into a rabbit in the first place, after he had been satisfied that Yanjun had 'learned his lesson' - whatever the lesson had been.
"Don't worry, Nongnong, we'll get you back to normal soon enough." Ziyi said, picking up small cat Linong. "Now, do you want milk or pancakes for breakfast?"
"Chen Linong is a what now?!" You Zhangjing's shrill voice shrieked through the phone speakers. Lin Yanjun's roaring laughter could be clearly heard in the background, followed by what sounded like Zhangjing throwing a tissue box at Yanjun's head because "this isn't funny, Lin Yanjun, this is serious!"
"Kid's a cat, Zhangjing," Yanjun said, breathless from all of his laughing. "Chen Linong turned into a cat, oh my god, this is just hilarious - He's so cute and small, what the heck -" he broke off into another round of laughter, and Ziyi could hear what sounded like something heavy falling on the ground with a thump.
"Is everything okay there?" Ziyi asked in concern.
"I think Yanjun's broken." Zhangjing groaned in exasperation. "How did this even happen?"
"Linong doesn't know, and he didn't eat or drink anything strange or suspicious last night either," Ziyi replied. "Do you think you can change him back to normal?"
"If we can figure out what caused the transformation, probably. Of all the times for this kind of nonsense to happen..." Zhangjing sighed, and Ziyi could almost picture him doing that thing he always did when he was frustrated: where he pushed his hair back and rubbed his forehead like he was staving off a headache.
"Yanjun and I will be taking the evening flight back to the capital later, so we should be able to reach home a little after dinnertime. Just keep an eye on Nongnong and make sure he doesn't get lost or kidnapped or anything."
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen," Ziyi replied, watching Chengcheng and Justin try to tempt Linong into playing with some of the cat toys that Justin had bought for Tinbao. It wasn't working so far. "See you guys later then."
"Come on, Nongnong," Chengcheng said, flapping the toy bird by a string in front of Linong. "You know you want to."
Linong glared at him as fiercely as he could, but in his current form and size, he was about as intimidating as a marshmallow. Justin, Chengcheng and Linkai had at some point decided to have a contest among themselves: who could take the cutest photograph of Cat Nong. Linong wouldn’t be surprised if they had enough photos to fill an album already, with how often he had heard the sound of camera shutters going off in the past couple of hours.
Justin quickly snapped a picture of him with a loud snicker, and Linong briefly considered putting his new claws to good use, but then a loud chime sounded, a familiar sound that made them all freeze.
"Is that - " Chengcheng started.
"Please don't tell me that's what I think it is." Justin pleaded.
As if to confirm their fears, the doorbell sounded again, followed by an all too familiar voice: "Hey kids, are you awake yet?" Their manager's voice, muffled through the door.
"Shit." Linkai muttered under his breath. Xukun came rushing out of his room then, hurriedly pulling a sweater over his shirt.
"Hide Nongnong," Xukun hissed. Ziyi followed him out, and the three of them scrambled to their feet. Justin carefully picked Linong up, and Linong didn't fight back, allowing him to carry him.
"Where do we hide him - "
"No, not in the toilet - "
"What about in the kitchen cabinets - "
"Fan Chengcheng!" Justin hissed, interrupting them. He adjusted his grip on Linong, ignoring Linong's confused meow. "Quickly, help me take a picture first!" Justin said.
"Are you kidding me right now, Huang Minghao?" Linong let out an exasperated yowl. Justin ignored him, tightening his hold on Linong so that he wouldn’t accidentally drop him with how much Linong was struggling in protest, all the while flashing a grin at the camera.
"Got it." Chengcheng snorted. "Now let's hurry up and find a safe place for Linong to hide."
"Ooh, it's nice," Justin said happily, showing the photo to Linong, who was giving him the best exasperated look a cat could give to a human. You need to learn to sort out your priorities, Justin , Linong thought, settling back in Justin’s arms with a huff. Justin murmured quick apologies to Linong, scratching that spot behind his ears that Linong seemed to like as he ran after Chengcheng and Linkai.
They finally decided to hide him inside Zhengting's wardrobe, under a pile of jackets on the bottom of the wardrobe: “Everyone knows Zhengting-ge’s wardrobe is the messiest, plus Zhengting himself isn’t here, there’s no reason why manager would even think of going into his room.” Justin reasoned as they carefully arranged the jackets to form a little nest for Linong to comfortably hide in. “Just stay hidden in here until we come back to get you, Nongnong, okay?”
Their manager regarded them with a suspicious eye when the trio rushed out into the living room, looking much too lively to have just climbed out of bed. “Xu-ge! What are you doing here, today?” Linkai blurted out. Xukun bit back a groan, fighting the urge to facepalm at the three of them: Linkai’s smile was clearly too forced, Chengcheng looked like he would rather be anywhere but here, and Justin had that smile on his face, the one that literally everyone knew meant that he was up to something.
"You all seem rather restless today," their manager remarked. Linkai came up with some half-hearted excuse, blaming it on excitement to try out some new music production equipment.
"I could have sworn I heard a cat just now, before I came inside." He continued, looking at them expectantly.
"Justin was practicing his animal impressions." Chengcheng blurted out. Ziyi let out a snort that he quickly disguised as a cough, while Linkai stopped any indignant retort that Justin might have had on the tip of his tongue with a stomp on Justin's foot.
Their manager raised an eyebrow at them, looking like he wanted to say something, but then Xukun led him away, asking something about schedules and restrictions, and that was one crisis averted. Justin immediately started attacking Linkai in retaliation, trying to stomp on his foot as revenge, and Ziyi had to step in to stop Justin from lunging at Linkai.
"Really? Animal impressions?" Justin said flatly, shooting an unimpressed look at Chengcheng.
"I panicked." Chengcheng said sheepishly. "Anyway, it worked, didn't it?"
The door opened, and Xukun walked back into the room, a triumphant smile on his face. "I convinced manager that he needed a break of his own, so he's off visiting his own family – which means that for the rest of the week at least, we don't have to worry about anyone unexpectedly dropping by the dorms to check on us." He announced gleefully.
"Nice," Ziyi smiled, clapping Xukun's shoulder. "One less thing to worry about."
"Did you speak to Zhangjing just now? What did he say?" Xukun asked as Justin and Chengcheng slipped off to let Linong out of hiding.
"He and Yanjun will probably be back after dinnertime today." Ziyi replied. "Zhangjing said that any help with figuring out what caused the transformation would be helpful, so try and look on the internet to see if you can find anything."
"Where are you going?" Linkai asked.
"I'm meeting my brother's family for lunch, remember?" Ziyi said. "I'll try asking him, maybe he'll know something that might help Nongnong get back to normal. I'll see you later, make sure you don't lose Linong while I'm gone!"
"We're legally adults, Wang Ziyi, have a little faith." Linkai called at his back. "It's still Nongnong, how difficult can it be to take care of him?"
"Hey, this website says that ingesting a," Justin paused, narrowing his eyes as he regarded the unfamiliar word. "Okay, I have no idea how to pronounce this word. But anyway, have you eaten anything like this recently, Nongnong?" Justin asked, glancing at the cat curled up on the cushion on his lap.
Chengcheng shot Justin an unimpressed look. "Justin, there is no way Linong would have been able to smuggle it into the country, let alone bring it into the dorm to eat."
Linong stared at the bright multi-coloured thing on the laptop screen - it was some kind of fruit, it seemed. How would I even eat that without any of you noticing it? We have our meals together most of the time, Linong thought.
"Well, what did you find?" Justin huffed, closing the tab.
"See, this page says that if you do this, you can turn him back - "
"Fan Chengcheng, how is this any less illegal than that mystery fruit I just showed you?"
Linong sighed as they squabbled: partly out of relief because he really did not want to try Chengcheng's suggestion, partly out of exasperation because it had been hours of fruitless internet searching - I mean, come on, everyone used social media nowadays, magic-users weren't that rare in the world now, were they? Maybe there were rules on what they could share online?
Or maybe the recipes for potions and spells were secret, like great-grandmother's famous fish porridge recipe, the one that your ancestors would rise from the grave to smack you across the face if you forget it or accidentally leak the 'secret' to 'outsiders'.
Well, hopefully they would find a solution by the time Ziyi came back from his personal schedule, Linong thought. Think happy thoughts, stay positive, and good things will happen to you eventually.
Linong’s ears perked up at the sound of a door opening down the hall: One thing that Linong had realized was that his hearing seemed to have improved. Neither of the two still squabbling boys seemed to have noticed it, too caught up in their heated conversation. Carefully, he climbed off of the cushion and Justin's lap, quietly slipping out of the room without either of them realizing.
Another thing about waking up in a body that was like - an eighth? A tenth? - of his normal human size, was that everything was just suddenly so much bigger than Linong remembered. He knew his way around the house, he knew where everything was supposed to be, but had the house always been this big? Thank god they were on the ground floor, Linong couldn’t imagine how long it would take for him to navigate those flights of stairs.
Linkai turned around just in time to see Linong enter the room. "Hey, Nongnong," he yawned, squatting down. Linong let out a meow in greeting, happily trotting over to his outstretched hand. It smelled like salty potato chips: Linong narrowed his eyes at Linkai, he had better not have polished off the that one pack of chips that Linong had bought during their trip to the supermarket yesterday.
"What are you doing here, weren't you with Justin and Chengcheng?" Linkai asked. "Did you get bored of them already?"
The way Linkai's fingers were scratching the back of his neck was really distracting, and Linong might be embarrassed about the low rumbling purr he was making later, but he was enjoying the comfortable sensation a little too much to really care about how Linkai was chuckling at his reaction, or how Xukun wasn’t even bothering to hide the fact that he was definitely snapping photographs of Linong enjoying his little scratching session – when had Xukun joined in on Linkai’s contest?
Xukun ended up lying down on the floor, propping himself up on his forearms so he could be eye-level with Linong. "So, how is it like being a cat?" Xukun asked.
"It's a bit annoying that you can't understand a word I'm saying, but otherwise it's cool." Linong meowed in reply.
"I have no idea what you're trying to say -"
"Of course you don't."
"- But that doesn't sound like an upset meow, so I'm going to assume that that means you're still doing okay." Xukun said, reaching over to scratch Linong behind the ear.
"Why is everyone so touchy with me now that I'm a cat?" Linong grumbled, but hey, scratches were amazing, scratches were great, Linong was not turning them down any time soon.
"So cute," Xukun laughed as Linong let out soft purrs. "Lin Yanjun might just get jealous when he sees you later."
Linong heard the click of the front door opening before the others, small ears perking up at the noise. "What is it, Nongnong?" Linkai asked, glancing over at him as Linong stretched his limbs, getting ready to jump off the table to check out who was at the door.
"Someone's at the door," Linong meowed, just as the familiar voice of Zhu Zhengting echoed down the hallway, announcing his arrival with a cheery: "I'm back!"
"Careful, Nongnong," Xukun called as Linong jumped off of the table, easily landing on his feet. Linkai set his laptop aside, getting up to follow after Xukun and Linong out of the room.
Zhengting had gone back home to visit his family as soon as their last group schedule had ended, but he had made sure to remind the boys of his existence: happily spamming their group chat with photos of all the good food he was eating and videos of the cute dumb stuff that his dogs had done. Justin and Chengcheng had demanded he bring his dogs back to the house, so they could play with them in real life instead of just watching them in short one-minute videos.
Come to think of it, Linong thought, admittedly a little late, since he was almost at the door: did anyone tell Zhengting that he was a cat?
Apparently not, Linong realised, because Zhengting walked into the room, holding Wubaiwan and Fuli on two leashes - two excited dogs dragging their owner along, two excited dogs that got even more excited the moment they laid their eyes on Linong in his cat form.
"Wait, Wubaiwan, Fuli, no!" Zhengting yelped, trying desperately to hold on to the dogs' leashes, but even Linong knew that there was no way Zhengting would be able to hold on to them, and he watched as the leashes slipped out of Zhengting's hand. Free of any restraints, they tore down the hallway straight towards Linong, and while Linong the human would have found it adorably endearing (I mean, who doesn't find dogs running on their short little legs cute?), in Linong's cat brain, there was nothing endearing in the slightest about the two dogs that were actually bigger than him, threatening to stampede over him.
Alarms blared in Linong's mind and he stopped thinking, instincts taking over as he turned and fled in the opposite direction. Xukun was shouting, Linkai was yelling, but Linong couldn't hear a single word that was being said, easily leaping over chairs and tables trying to escape the dogs and their seemingly boundless energy.
The door to Chengcheng and Justin's room opened, and a confused Chengcheng peeked out into the hallway. "What's going on - " Chengcheng broke off into a yelp, forced to backpedal back into the room when Linong darted past him, followed closely by the ecstatic dogs.
"Zhu Zhengting, what the f - "
"When did we even get a cat? And why did no one tell me?!" Zhengting shrieked back.
"Catch them!" Xukun yelled, but that was easier said than done, even with all five of them chasing after them. Wubaiwan and Fuli were too excited to calm down, and Linong was running completely on cat autopilot to listen to human reason. Plus, with his current size, it only made it that much easier for Linong to evade Chengcheng and Justin's attempts to catch him.
Somehow, Linong ended up on the kitchen counter, cornered by one dog on each side - Fuli was still kicking his small hind-legs trying to climb up onto the countertop, but Wubaiwan had no such trouble and was already getting ready to sprint towards Linong -
There was an open window right next to Linong.
"Chen Linong, no - "
Chen Linong, yes.
Linong jumped out of the window.
Linong had regrets.
Specifically, he regretted jumping out of that window and running full speed ahead the moment his paws touched the ground, because now he had no idea where he was or how to get back home. He had been walking around for a while already, he had no idea how long he had been walking, but it was starting to get dark already, so it must have been quite some time...yet none of the buildings he had passed by seemed familiar in the slightest. Or was it that they just seemed unfamiliar because they seemed so much bigger than Linong remembered?
Linong sat down on a patch of grass, letting out a frustrated huff. His stomach grumbled as though to also show its discontent with his current situation. It had been a while since lunch, the last thing he had was the last of the canned tuna that Xukun had dug out from the back of the fridge for him. That had been a few hours ago. Hungry and lost, this day just couldn't get any worse, could it?
Thunder rumbled overhead, and Linong wanted to cry when he felt the first droplet land on his nose. He just had to ask, didn't he?
Well, better try and find some shelter, Linong thought to himself. He was already hungry and lost, he didn't want to add 'drenched to the bone' and 'miserable' to the list of adjectives to describe him right now.
Unfortunately, it didn't seem like any divine being was on his side today, and the raindrops pelted down from the heavens as if racing one another to the ground. Linong did his best to shake his fur dry, but the rain had done its job: the now miserable and soaked Linong glared up at the sky from underneath the car he was hiding under.
With how dark the sky was, he had no idea of estimating what time it was. Had Ziyi come back home already? Were they worried about him? Linong hoped that Zhengting wasn't blaming himself for Linong running away, he'd hate for the older boy to feel bad about it.
Were the others searching for him now? Linong strained his ears, but he couldn't hear any sound of any of the boys calling his name. Had he really run so far away that he couldn't even hear them anymore, even with his enhanced hearing?
Linong suddenly had a chilling thought: if things were like this, would the others even be able to find him?
What if he never saw them again?
A quiet whine reached his ears, and it took him a moment to recognize it as his own. He sniffled, sitting down, no longer caring about wet butts and unsanitary roads. Who would think about that when there were more important things to worry about, like the possibility of never seeing his friends again?
What was he going to do if he could never go back to being Chen Linong, human member of Nine Percent?
Great, now he wanted to cry. Linong tried to blink the prickling feeling in his eyes away, stubbornly glaring at the road in front of him like that would stop the tears from coming. He may have transformed into a cat, he may be lost and with no way of knowing how to get back to the others, he may also be soaking wet and kind of cold, but no, he was not going to cry here, not now. There were enough puddles around him from the rain, no need for him to contribute to that.
Think positive, Linong thought fiercely. They wouldn't stop looking until they found him, he knew that. Zhangjing and Yanjun would be back soon, and Zhangjing knew how to use magic, they would definitely find him. He was definitely going to see them again and he was definitely going to turn back into a human.
“If you get lost, just stay put where you are,” wasn’t that what all parents told their children when they were still little? He just needed to stay put and wait, like a lost child in a supermarket -
A sharp rustling sound caught his attention just then, snapping him out of his thoughts, and Linong reconsidered his plans of staying put and not moving, because what was that? Linong slowly retreated further under the car, eyes fixed on the still rustling bushes ahead of him. What if it was a dog? What if it was a dog that was bigger than Wubaiwan and Fuli? Oh my god, what if it was hungry -
Fortunately, it seemed like someone up there was finally taking pity on him: what emerged from the bush was no dog, but a familiar black cat that regarded Linong with eyes that betrayed him as not merely a normal animal.
"Chen Linong," the black cat, Lin Yanjun meowed, the closest sound a cat could make to a human drawl. "Running so far away from the house, really. How did something as small as you manage to run so far?"
Linong almost fell on his face sprinting over to Yanjun, happily rubbing up against the bigger cat's legs.
"Wow, you really are tiny," Yanjun remarked, checking over Linong's body for any injuries of any sort. "You didn't run into any trouble while you were out, right?"
Linong shook his head. Yanjun, finally satisfied with his examination, gave a little affectionate lick on the top of Linong's head. Linong the human found that weird, but Cat Nong kind of liked it. Linong decided not to think too much into it.
"Come on, let's go back."
Yanjun shifted back into human form in an alleyway two blocks away from the house, safe from prying eyes - no need for the public to know that Lin Yanjun the idol was also a cat-shifter, that would lead to a whole lot of other problems. "You're so small, oh my god." Yanjun cooed, because Linong fit snugly inside the front pocket of his hoodie, his head poking out of one hole to look outside.
You Zhangjing opened the front door before Yanjun even stepped on the front step. “Did you find him?” he demanded before Yanjun could even open his mouth.
“Wow, Jing, hello, Zhangjing, yes it’s lovely weather outside, Zhangjing, I’m fine, thank you, Zhangjing.” Yanjun snarked. Zhangjing rolled his eyes, handing him one of the two towels in his hands. “Not even a ‘hello’ for me, are you not even concerned for me? I was out in the rain.” Yanjun grumbled under his breath, carefully taking Linong out of his pocket and wrapping him up in the towel.
“I told you that it was going to rain, you’re the one who refused to get a raincoat.” Zhangjing shot back, taking Linong from Yanjun and passing the other dry towel to him.
"Thanks, Jing." Yanjun said, accepting the towel gratefully, ignoring Zhangjing's grumbling at how Yanjun had better not catch a cold and expect Zhangjing to take care of him.
“And you!” Zhangjing said, turning his attention to Linong. “Running off like that, what were you thinking, Chen Linong? I had to do a tracking spell in order to find you! What if you had gotten hurt while you were outside?”
Linong couldn’t answer him even if he wanted to, because Zhangjing was furiously using the towel to wipe him dry, all the while fussing and scolding him for fleeing the compound: “ - do you have any idea how worried we were, to come back home and find Xukun on the verge of going into cardiac arrest, Zhengting inconsolable, Linkai and Chengcheng were tearing through the neighborhood – Huang Minghao almost fell into a ditch chasing after another cat – “
“Zhangjing, where are the others?" Yanjun asked, interrupting Zhangjing’s angry muttering.
“I wasn’t done!” Zhangjing shot a glare at him. “And now you’ve derailed my train of thought.” he let out an annoyed huff, and the endearing look that Yanjun gave Zhangjing made Linong want to gag. Even after turning into a cat, there was still no escaping those heart eyes – Linong burrowed into the towel, stubbornly refusing to look up at them even when Zhangjing chastised him: “Nongnong, don’t try and suffocate yourself.”
"As for the others: Ziyi and Xukun are helping Zhengting with Wubaiwan and Fuli, Chengcheng is taking a shower, I think Linkai and Justin might be trying to cook dinner - "
"Are you sure there's no need for someone to supervise them?"
"There's a fire extinguisher in the kitchen, I'm sure they'll be fine." Zhangjing said confidently. "Besides, have a little faith, they've been on how many cooking shows already, and none of the kitchens burned down, did they?"
"None that I know of..." Yanjun muttered.
"If there's anyone we should be worried about letting in the kitchen, it should be you." Zhangjing said firmly, ignoring Yanjun's scandalised expression.
"He's right," Linong meowed, finally looking up from the towel.
Yanjun shot a betrayed look at him: "Us cats are supposed to stick together, Chen Linong, why are you siding with a dog person? "
"You don't even know how to boil water, Lin Yanjun."
Yanjun spluttered in response, making Zhangjing laugh. "Well done, Nongnong," Zhangjing grinned, fondly scratching the back of his head. "You succeeded in rendering Lin Yanjun speechless."
"If you wanted me quiet there are plenty of other ways you can make that happen." Yanjun muttered under his breath. Not soft enough for Linong's ears to not pick it up unfortunately, and Linong really wished he could just suffocate himself in the towel, because no, he did not want to think about the implications of Yanjun’s words.
"Shut up and go get yourself cleaned up before I do decide to take your tongue, Lin Yanjun." Zhangjing snapped without any real bite. Yanjun grinned cheekily, shooting a wink at Zhangjing before disappearing off to the bathroom.
Zhangjing sighed, shaking his head as he watched Yanjun leave. "Honestly,” he muttered, rolling his eyes fondly. “Well, while he's off showering," Zhangjing hummed, heading towards the direction of the kitchen. "You must be hungry already, right, Nongnong?” he asked, glancing down at the cat in his arms. “Ziyi brought back some cat food that looks really expensive," Linong immediately perked up eagerly at the mention of food, meowing loudly in excitement, causing Zhangjing to laugh. “Okay, okay, let’s go get some food for you...”
This time, Zhengting and Xukun made sure that the dogs would not overwhelm Linong, and Linong ended up sandwiched in between the two dogs on the sofa, Fuli curled up beside him on his left and Wubaiwan on his right - it was like being in between two super soft, super cuddly, warm heaters, and Linong definitely was not complaining.
“I still can’t believe you guys forgot to tell me about Nongnong getting turned into a cat.” Zhengting sulked as he snapped a few quick pictures of the three of them cuddled together on the sofa. Linong yawned, and he could see Justin immediately taking pictures out of the corner of his eye: “What, yawning animals are adorable!”
“No one said anything, Justin.” Yanjun laughed from his seat in between Zhangjing and Ziyi on the opposite sofa. “So, what did you guys manage to find today?” he asked.
Chengcheng and Justin immediately started listing out all of the possible options that they had found on the websites that they had visited today, and Linong tried to stay awake and listen to all of it, he really did. However, eventually, the warmth radiating off of the two dogs beside him lulled him to sleep, and he drifted off to a dreamland where he never turned back into a human, spending his days as a tiny brown furred cat, chasing after toy mice that wouldn't stop running.
When he woke up, it was to dog slobber dripping on his paw. The room was dark, with only a small table light on. Wubaiwan was gone, she had probably padded off to find her owner or another more comfortable bed to sleep in, Linong reasoned to himself. The others had probably seen that he was asleep and decided to leave – or maybe it was already that late that they themselves went to bed too.
The lights in the hallway outside were still on, and Linong could hear the sound of someone talking, so it seemed like not everyone was asleep yet. Fuli let out a snort when Linong got up, and for a moment Linong worried if the dog was going to wake up, but Fuli merely rolled over into a more comfortable position on the cushion and continued snoring away.
Linong followed the voices to Zhangjing and Yanjun's room, peeking through the small gap in the doorway at the two oldest members (Everyone remembered what happened the last time when Linkai forgot to knock before interrupting them, and no one wanted a repeat of that).
Inside the room, Zhangjing had several thick books laid out on the floor around him, while Yanjun lay on the bed, brows furrowed in concentration as he deciphered the runes on a piece of parchment that looked moments away from crumbling to dust. Where did they even manage to find all these things, Linong wondered, and more importantly, where in the house had they stored them? Linong was absolutely certain that he had never seen any of those books in any of their rooms before this, and he definitely would have noticed them if they had been there.
Zhangjing pushed the heavy book off of his lap with a frustrated huff, catching Yanjun's attention. "Honestly, I can't understand how Linong could just turn into a cat overnight." Zhangjing grumbled. "He didn't eat or drink anything out of the ordinary – besides meeting that one fan yesterday, nothing particularly extraordinary happened."
"A fan?" Yanjun asked, sitting upright immediately.
Zhangjing waved his hand dismissively. "She only gave him a charm, nothing that could trigger an animal transformation." He said.
(Linong had been with Justin and Zhangjing, wandering up and down the snack aisle in the supermarket, picking out some tidbits for the boys to share back at the dorm later while Zhangjing and Justin tackled the fresh produce aisle.
He had noticed her of course, it was hard not to notice her: a petite girl gaping at him from the other end of the aisle, almost dropping her basket to the floor when she first realised his presence. From the uniform that she was wearing, Linong guessed that she was a high school student. After a brief moment where she seemed to be cheering herself on, she cautiously walked up to Linong.
"Excuse me, I hope this doesn’t sound too weird, but I'm a fan of yours. I – er," she gulped, pulling out a small parcel from her bag. "It's not very impressive looking, but I hope you will accept this." She stuttered as Linong accepted the present from her trembling hands. "I hope it will help grant you all of your wishes!" She half shouted, bowing deeply to Linong and running off before Linong could say anything.
"Thank you!" Linong called after her fleeing back. He looked at the small parcel in his hands: brown wrapping paper wrapped around something small and curiously heavy for its small size. Before he could peel apart the paper to see its contents, however, their manager appeared. Linong quickly stuffed the parcel into his pocket before she could see it, grabbing a couple of packets of snacks and running to meet the others at the cash register.
“I got a gift,” Linong whispered to Zhangjing, and the older boy kept a lookout while Linong sneakily unwrapped the parcel in the car.
“Oh, it’s a charm,” Zhangjing murmured, after Linong shows him the little gift. “That’s cute.”)
The charm, of course! Linong felt like screaming in frustration and knocking his head on the wall, of course it was that blasted charm, he had had it in his pocket when he said had that conversation with Yanjun – how could he have completely forgotten about something so important, she had said that it would help grant all of his wishes, Chen Linong you absolute idiot - !
Linong took off running, heading straight to his own room. Thankfully, the door had been left open, because cat paws weren't any good for turning door knobs. Linong headbutted the door open, which admittedly, in hindsight, was not that great an idea, the door was harder than Linong expected and he was sure he had a bump on the top of his head now.
Now then, where did he put those damn pants?
After half an hour of wrestling with the clothes hamper, Linong finally managed to retrieve the pants that he had been wearing that day. The charm was still in the pocket, thank god, Linong did not want to have to dive back into the hamper full of stinky clothes to find it.
Here goes nothing, Linong thought, holding the charm with his paws. "I wish to turn back into a human," he meowed.
Nothing happened. Linong felt absolutely nothing. He didn't feel any different at all, but then again, he hadn't felt anything yesterday before turning into a cat.
Just go to sleep, Linong yawned as he climbed onto the bed – had he been this sleepy just now? Maybe it was the magic working – hopefully this would all be solved in the morning.
(It had better be solved, Linong did not want to have to visit a warlock to reverse his condition.)
Curse cat paws and their inability to draw the curtains , was Linong's first grumpy thought, rolling over on his other side to avoid the sun rays that seemed to be persistently shining directly on his face. Couldn't the sun go and shine somewhere else?
The sound of a door slamming shut outside made him wince, burrowing deeper into the pillows. "Are you trying to knock cracks into the wall or something?" He grumbled.
Pause.
Linong's eyes snapped open, and he stared at the very human hand in front of his face, attached to his very human body -
"It worked," he breathed, lips pulling into a grin as he flexed his fingers. Oh, wow, he had really missed having them. "It worked!" He shouted in glee, scrambling off of the bed.
He nearly ran headfirst into Zhangjing, the older boy having run over to his room to see what all the commotion was about. His eyes widened almost comically at the sight of a fully human Chen Linong, and a shriek slipped out when Linong picked him up and started spinning him around.
"Chen Linong, what – put me down and stop spinning me around so I can think!" Zhangjing yelped.
"I'm back to normal!" Linong cheered, finally setting Zhangjing back on his feet.
"Yeah, I can see that, how did you - "
A stampede of steps and: "CHEN LINONG!" - Zhangjing just barely managed to step out of the way before Linong was being tackled to the floor by three very excited boys and two very enthusiastic dogs.
Xukun winced as he watched them go down on the floor with a loud thump, and Linong could feel the beginnings of a bruise forming on his body somewhere, but he was too caught up in the relief and elation of being a human again to care about that for now.
He was back to normal , he laughed as Wubaiwan licked his cheek happily.
"So it was the charm." Zhangjing hummed. "A wishing charm, that's impressive work." He said, admiring the little charm.
"It can grant any wish?" Justin asked, a glint in his eyes that made Zhangjing reflexively tighten his grip on the charm. "What if I wished for world domination?"
"...for the world's sake, I hope that doesn't work." Zhengting muttered under his breath.
“Anyway, on to more important questions,” Yanjun said, slinging an arm around Linong’s shoulder. “How did you enjoy your time as a cat?”
“It was...interesting, to say the least.” Linong laughed. “Not my cup of tea, I still prefer being a human.”
Yanjun nodded wisely. “It’s not for everyone. But if you do ever decide to try it out again, tell me. I’ll show you how to really live a cat’s life, Chen Linong.” he grinned, clapping Linong on the back.
“I’ll be sure to hold you to that promise, Lin Yanjun.” Linong grinned. Not right now, but someday, he thought, looking down at the charm in his hand, someday .