Work Text:
The first scream for a group meeting sounds at 3am, just a little after Chan, the last to fall asleep, is in bed. Unfortunately for him, he’s also the one who wakes up the easiest. He stares blankly at the dark ceiling, waiting for someone up there to strike down his band mates. Chan falls back asleep after a minute.
The second scream comes from Seungcheol fifteen minutes later, and his is more frantic and loud because—
“GROUP MEETING RIGHT NOW!”
—he slams open the door, sticking his head in long enough for his cracked voice to wake up all three of them in the room. Jun sticks his head out from the bottom bunk.
“What the fuck, hyung.”
But only Chan and Seungkwan are left to hear it. Seungkwan mutters curses under his breath, and Chan chooses to climb down and head for the living room where it’s louder but safer.
...
Chan always thought Mingyu seemed more like a dog person.
“Aren’t you a dog person?” Seokmin asks, dull and not-quite there. He reaches out to pull at one of Mingyu’s ears—the cat ears, Chan’s brain supplies, equally as blank—but Mingyu slaps his hand away with an actual hiss.
“Hey, bad dog,” Jeonghan snaps playfully, and Mingyu whirls around with an even fouler expression. Chan is left staring at his ass, brain sluggishly attempting to process the short-fur tail protruding from Mingyu’s...tailbone... area. He rubs his eyes.
“Hyung, it’s really not the best time for pranks,” Vernon says, eyes swollen. His nose twitches, and he rubs it with the back of a hand. “If this is some dumb skit for Gose, it could’ve waited until at least five when we have to get up anyway.”
Soonyoung snores, and Vernon nods, taking it as agreement.
“This isn’t a prank,” Seungcheol says firmly, mouth twitching. They look at him all together, even Mingyu.
...
Kim Mingyu goes to bed a normal twenty-something manchild, and Kim Mingyu wakes up a normal twenty-something cat-hybrid-thing. Junhui helpfully suggests ‘catboy,’ but Jihoon vehemently vetoes this for the sake of their sanity.
He sits on his haunches—his heels, he’s just sitting on his heels, but somehow Chan can only think of a petulant cat sitting on its hind legs—and bats at the jingling cat toy in Wonwoo’s hands.
They each take turns recording Mingyu’s undivided attention on a toy meant for kittens. For posterity.
“You know, I always thought Wonwoo would’ve been a cat boy,” Junhui says lazily, chin resting on his palms. Soonyoung snickers beside him.
...
The scream Chan hears a week later is Vernon’s. Soonyoung is an actual tiger.