The next day, Liang Zhecheng was woken by Lu Nan. It was Saturday; he didn't have much on, and he'd slept clear to noon. Lu Nan had already tried waking him several times in the morning, but the man's sleep quality was absurdly good. Lu Nan meowed at him over and over, and Liang Zhecheng just rolled over, pulled the blanket over his head, and kept sleeping.
Refusing to accept this, Lu Nan crept right up to his ear and meowed twice more. The sun was practically past his butt—how could any human be this lazy? And this lazy human was, nominally... his owner?
Lu Nan felt he was about to starve to death. The misery of hunger drove him to burrow into Liang Zhecheng's blankets again, hoping that this time he'd manage to rouse the lazy human.
One extremely long meow—Lu Nan shouting WAKE UP at the top of his lungs—rose, then cut off abruptly. Apparently finding him noisy even in his sleep, Liang Zhecheng swatted the poor little Lu Nan straight into the blankets. Lu Nan, whimpering, came face to face with Liang Zhecheng's superbly textured pecs and collarbones. Solid muscle. Pink peaks, right there in front of him... The visual impact. He squeezed his eyes shut, cursed the damn man, took a deep breath, opened his eyes—then shut them again. The view was far too fine. He didn't dare look too long.
Having steeled himself, Lu Nan let out a meow-ow and bit down on a certain spot on Liang Zhecheng's chest.
Lu Nan was very nearly launched across the room by the man's reflexes.
Liang Zhecheng shot upright, clutching his poor chest—two little tooth marks on it—hair a sleep-tousled mess, eyes still hazy, staring at the small ancestor glaring at him from the foot of the bed. "You... you're a pervert of a cat, you know that?"
"I... you..." Lu Nan's head spun; it was as if the ability to speak had left him all at once. There was a time he could charm humans with human talk and ghosts with ghost talk, a lively chatterbox through and through. Now, facing Liang Zhecheng, he admitted defeat. He was outmatched.
Lu Nan meowed helplessly in his own defense a couple of times, round little eyes the very picture of innocence. "YOU'RE the pervert! Your whole family is perverts!"
A deep, profound roar from a cat.
Liang Zhecheng was a bit more awake now, and he thoroughly enjoyed listening to his little cat's cries, still basking in the happiness of owning a cat like a man not fully awake from a wonderful dream. He stared at Lu Nan for a few seconds, then grinned, reached out, scooped the little guy up, and pressed him firmly against his chest—Lu Nan, warm and fluffy, extremely comfortable.
"Good kitty. Pervert, then, whatever you say. If you wanted kisses, you only had to ask! Let Daddy take care of your every need! Go on—kiss me to your heart's content, Mimi!" Liang Zhecheng, thoroughly pleased with himself, stretched one hand back to brace against the bed, eyes closed, head tilted back.
Lu Nan had exactly one thought: Bro, you're disgusting me to the point of vomiting.
He pushed at Liang Zhecheng hard with his little paws in disgust, then leapt away, ran to his food bowl, and meowed at the man. Then he hopped over to the small bucket of cat food and meowed twice more. He'd tried many times that morning; opening these human jars and tubs was simply beyond a poor, adorable little kitten.
"Ohhh, so you're hungry." Liang Zhecheng got up to pour the cat food. His chest already bore two fairly visible red marks—Lu Nan's handiwork from earlier. Liang Zhecheng didn't mind in the slightest.
"Here, eat up. Once you're done, we'll get ready and go out to buy you things." Shirtless, this grown man squatted down beside Lu Nan's bowl, propping his chin on one hand to watch him eat, face tender and devoted, smiling—making absolutely no move to leave.
Fine, stay then. There's food, so whatever. Lu Nan was very good at making peace with things. After this much time together, he'd gone nearly zen about it all. He was a little cat after all—and such an adorable one. No human could resist an adorable little kitten. Lu Nan hereby declared it understandable that the man liked him. Perfectly natural.
As a human, he should have been eating sweet-and-sour ribs and vinegar-glazed cabbage and fried little meatballs. But as a cat, he could finally, legitimately, taste that cat food that smelled so good.
One word: delicious.
Two words: so! Good!
Lu Nan was in an excellent mood, purring away, while Liang Zhecheng stroked his head gently, watching until he was nearly done eating before finally leaving to wash up.
Fed and happy, tail all but pointing at the sky, Lu Nan trotted after him into the bathroom with his chin held high. He wanted to wash his face too—but he refused to groom himself like some actual cat.
Liang Zhecheng had just finished washing up, hair swept back, water beads still clinging to his forehead, sliding down over his collarbone, down his chest—right over the spot Lu Nan had bitten that morning. Lu Nan stared, little mouth hanging open, for several seconds, completely dumbstruck. He'd written this guy off as an idiot and entirely forgot the man was a handsome idiot. With looks like that, one in a thousand wouldn't even begin to cover it. Painfully, infuriatingly handsome.
If Lu Nan were a woman, maybe he'd want to get to know this handsome man better. Maybe even want to cop a feel of those pecs and abs. But he was a man—do that and get labeled a pervert, and then what? Though... he'd probably already been labeled one. Oh, wait. He wasn't a man or a woman right now. He was a cat.
Inspiration struck. Lu Nan shot up onto the sink counter, sidled close to Liang Zhecheng, narrowed his eyes, lowered his little head, and rubbed against the man's body, once, twice—while inwardly marveling, what a magnificent physique, what first-rate muscle.
Liang Zhecheng didn't know whether to laugh or cry, looking down at this pervert of a cat, smiling helplessly. A drop of water fell onto Lu Nan's head, wetting a small strand of fur.
Man to man, he still couldn't help admiring a physique like that. Only after Lu Nan had drunk his fill of admiration did he lift his head, paw at the faucet twice, and meow at Liang Zhecheng. "Hey, pooper scooper. Face. Wash. Now."
"Hm?" Liang Zhecheng tilted his head, puzzled.
"Wash my face!" Lu Nan laid a paw on the faucet, then swiped randomly at his own little face a couple of times.
Liang Zhecheng, half understanding, turned the tap to a thin trickle. Lu Nan gave a small huff—barely satisfied—and grudgingly washed his face.
The water soaked his fur, but the fur was thick; he barely seemed to notice, and washed with real relish. To Lu Nan, the whole experience was exactly like the middle-school days of running out into the rain without an umbrella to look like some deep, brooding male lead—except now he could enjoy it from the comfort of home.
"Hey, aren't you a cat? Don't cats groom themselves clean?" Liang Zhecheng ran a hand through his hair again, staring at the little thing with utter fascination. Lu Nan was not the cat he'd imagined.
Lu Nan glanced at him out of the corner of his eye with the most disdainful little expression, as if mocking the man for making a fuss over nothing. He tilted his head up, presented a perfect curve of neck, and went on washing his face, elegantly.