Archive of Our Own ^beta

It was the day after Eurovision, and Joost could not find Marko anywhere.

During the competition, even when he got disqualified, they had grown to be rather close friends. Marko was shy, anxious, soft-spoken, he never made eye contact with Joost when they spoke, and he fidgeted constantly.

Joost sort of resonated with that. This man was like a quieter, more puppy-like version of Joost. So he approached.

They became fast friends, and it turned out that they did, in fact, have a lot in common. Joost had come to absolutely adore Marko’s beautiful smile, his fluffy bleached hair, the way he would fidget with his hoodie or scratch at his tattoos when he was nervous.

After the devastation of his disqualification, Marko had been there for him. Whereas Joost had planned to get the first plane back to the Netherlands and forget Eurovision ever happened, Marko managed to calm him down. It made Joost decide, in his head, that he would stay in Sweden for the remainder of the contest – just to see his new friend perform.

And perform he did – Marko managed to barely edge out Switzerland’s Nemo, and bring home Croatia’s first ever win for Eurovision. Joost would never forget his reaction as long as he lived – the second-place artist ran up to hug him in the green room, and tears were streaming down Marko’s face no matter how he tried to keep them in. His delegation hugged him, and he got to perform an encore for the audience.

That all happened yesterday.

Now, Marko was nowhere to be found. They had agreed to share a hotel room to save on costs, since Joost wasn’t actually competing in the contest anymore, there was little reason for him to pay for a room. God, he couldn’t believe Marko’s generosity sometimes. It was the only place Joost hadn’t checked yet – because why would Marko be back at their hotel room after winning Eurovision?

Yet, when Joost approached the room, he heard soft sobbing from within. Frowning, he placed his ear against the door, wanting to make sure that that was definitely what he was hearing.

And indeed, inside the door there was a soft, sniffling sound, followed by a quiet hiccup.

“Marko?” Joost exclaimed worriedly, pushing at the handle, but the door was locked from the inside.

“Go away,” a soft voice from inside called. “Please go away.” Marko’s voice was broken, and about three octaves lower than it usually was. It sounded like he’d been crying for quite a while.

Joost paused, considering what to do. Should he just leave, do as Marko asked, and let him compose himself on his own?

No, of course, for that wasn’t the Joost way to do things. So he started to plead with Marko.

“Please open the door. I just want to help you. Whatever is happening, I promise I can make you feel better.”

There was a pause from behind the door, and then Marko sobs, “No. You can’t see me like this.”

That made Joost pause again. He had no idea what Marko could possibly mean – surely he knew that Joost couldn’t care less what he looked like?

“Hey. If you were trying to cut your hair, and it went wrong, or whatever happened, we can fix it. Okay?”

“No.” Marko began to sob again, and it completely broke Joost’s heart.

It took possibly thirty minutes of pleading with Marko, and one event of having to convince a concerned staff member that no, he wasn’t harassing Marko, he swears, before Marko finally opened the door. Once he did, Joost heard scurrying footsteps, and a thump sound of something heavy landing in a bed.

Joost opened the door and stepped into the room, and Marko was lying in the bed, underneath all of the covers.

“Hey, what’s going on?” he asked softly, doing his best not to startle Marko. It was as if he were dealing with a stray, frightened animal.

“I don’t know what happened,” Marko whimpered. “Please don’t hate me. I don’t know what happened..”

“Whoa,” Joost said, shocked. “I could never hate you, you know that.” He sat down on the side of the bed, and gently tried to lift the covers up so he could see Marko’s face. “C’mon, look at me.”

Finally, Marko did so, raising his head from the covers and looking at Joost with his green eyes glossy with tears. There are tear tracks on his cheeks, with fresh tears still streaming down. He was biting down on his quivering lip – and that’s when Joost noticed what was wrong.

On top of Marko’s head, there were now two large, fluffy, triangular ears. They were black-and-orange in colour, and Joost knew from the first glance that they weren’t some prop – no, those were real. They were trembling just as much as the rest of Marko’s body.

“Is that what’s wrong?” Joost asked, gently reaching up to touch them. Marko doesn’t flinch away, so Joost rolls his thumb over one ear. It’s just as soft as Joost imagined, and Marko leaned against him as he did it. He nodded.

“How...?” was all that Joost could say, completely dumbfounded – of course, Marko only replied with a shrug.

“I just...I woke up and it...I had...these,” Marko choked out in between sobs.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay.”

Joost clutched Marko closely to his chest, wrapping his arms around him. “Shhh. Don’t cry. We’ll figure this out.”

“How am I supposed to show myself in public like this?” Marko cried. “I’m going to be a laughing stock! They’re all going to laugh at me...oh, what will my family think?”

“Shh. We’ll work something out.”

Joost raised his hand and scratches just behind the cartilage of the feline ear, just like one might pet an actual cat. That seems to work, because he can physically feel Marko relax against him, a tiny whimper escaping him that Joost didn’t dare to think about how hot he found it.

“Please...b-be careful,” Marko whined. “They’re sensitive.”

Joost continued exploring with his fingers, until he found a certain, sensitive spot just on the underside of the back of the ear. When he stroked it, Marko shuddered, and genuinely started purring. It wasn’t a sound Joost had ever heard come out of a human being before.

“Marko?” he asked. “How are you doing that?”

The other shrugged, the noise only growing louder. Marko already appeared to be deep in a state of relaxation, his ears twitching against Joost’s fingers, and then he felt something curling around his other wrist.

It was a tail, the same colour as the ears. Joost couldn’t believe this was happening.

“Do you feel better?” Joost asked.

There’s no reply, before suddenly, Joost felt himself getting pinned down. Marko sat on top of his chest, and began to nibble the side of his neck, tail twitching behind him.

“Ah-!” Joost stammered, trying to get the Croat off him, but without any luck. “What are you doing?”

There wasn’t a response, and Joost almost find himself enjoying it, the wet feeling of Marko nibbling on his skin, leaving little kitten nips...

“Joost. Joost. Joost!” Marko chirped as he bit down again, making Joost let out a moan.

“Joost!”

Joost startled awake. It was pitch black outside. Marko is shaking him, a very concerned look on his face. And in the dim light, Joost can certainly make out that there are no cat ears on his head.

“What-what’s happening?”

“You were, um.” Marko looked away, and even in the darkness Joost can see the blush on his cheeks. “Making strange noises. It woke me up...”

“Oh. I’m so sorry.” Joost blushed as well. God, what had he said in his sleep? He hoped he hadn’t completely embarrassed himself – what on Earth had that dream been all about?”

“Let’s just go back to sleep and forget about it,” Joost begged, and thankfully, Marko agreed. They laid back down, and it wasn’t long before he felt Marko’s strong arms wrap around him from behind.