witch's familiar

haunted by the living

It started out harmless. Wen Kexing found clothes in places he didn't remember putting them. His hairbrush wandered from one place to another overnight. Even the dishes turned up in different places. But Wen Kexing told himself it was his own fault. He hadn't paid attention to where he put his things or simply forgot.
Then the food started to disappear. He asked Gu Xiang, but she denied touching anything in the refrigerator. She was so seldom at home and when she ate, then anywhere but at home. Wen Kexing wished she were the thief. At least that way he would have known that she was eating enough.
He was alarmed to realize that even his wine was not safe from the thief. The bottles were well hidden that Gu Xiang couldn't find them (she knew where he hid his alcohol from day one). It wasn't that Wen Kexing didn't trust her. It was just something a responsible adult should do.

What finally broke the camel's back was a conversation with the old lady who lived across the street.
One day she stopped by his house unannounced and brought a whole basket of fresh vegetables.
"That would not have been necessary!" He accepted the basket with a big smile. "Say, what is the reason for such a gift?"
The old lady just waved her hand. "I just noticed that you're not getting a good night's sleep, so I thought I'd bring you some fresh veggies to kickstart your diet."
Wen Kexing looked up in surprise. "What makes you think I don't sleep well?"
"Well, I see you sneaking around the apartment every night!"
Wen Kexing turned pale as a ghost.

As soon as the old lady had disappeared, the young man called a crisis meeting. The only participants besides him were Gu Xiang and A-Xu. Both were sure that Wen Kexing might need a break. Or a hobby.
"I'm pretty sure the apartment is haunted! How else would you explain all of this?"
"That you're overworked and you're getting paranoid?"
"What about what the old lady said? That someone is supposedly wandering through the apartment at night?"
Gu Xiang looked at the man unperturbed while petting A-Xu. "Stress can lead to sleepwalking."
Wen Kexing groaned in frustration.

Zishu had silently followed the conversation. He knew the place wasn't haunted. If so, he would be the first to know about it. No, all the incidents that Wen Kexing described were Zishu's fault.
After regaining consciousness, he uses the nights to change form. On the one hand to prevent the instincts from gaining the upper hand again and on the other hand because it is otherwise difficult to open a bottle of wine with paws. Only he didn't know that he was seen. What normal person is up at 3 a.m.?
Maybe he should be careful though. He could already see white hair slowly appearing on Wen Kexing's head.

"I'm serious, A-Xiang!"
"Me too! Where should I go if you go completely insane and I can't stay with you anymore?" She huffed angrily. "You need to take better care of yourself! Take a break!"
Maybe she was right and Wen Kexing was just driving himself crazy? Maybe he actually works too much.
Gu Xiang got up and put A-Xu on Wen Kexing's lap.
"Resolve this with A-Xu. I'm going to meet up with Weining."
"Didn't you just meet yesterday?"
She rolled her eyes in annoyance. "And I'm meeting up with him again today because I enjoy spending time with him. That's something you do when you have friends. You would know if you had any."
"I have friends!"
"The cat doesn't count!"
A-Xu pricked up his ears. Was that why Wen Kexing kept bugging him? Because he has no one else to spend time with? Zishu almost felt sorry for the guy.

The young man said nothing more and watched as Gu Xiang put on her shoes and left the apartment. He remained sitting still for a few more minutes before wordlessly setting A-Xu down on the floor and leaving the room. This behavior surprised Zishu as he was almost used to the fact that Wen Kexing couldn't keep his hands off him. Seeing him like this now worried Zishu.
This led to something Zishu wouldn't do under normal circumstances. He followed Wen Kexing.

He was lying on his bed with his face buried in a pillow. The soft sobs that came from him made Zishu's heart heavy. This was the first time - at least the first time he remembered - that he had seen him like that.
The familiar jumped onto the bed and cautiously approached the crying man. He didn't know exactly what to do. Not only because his current form didn't give many options, but also because he generally didn't know how to behave in such situations.
So he decided to nudge him lightly with his paw. However, when that didn't elicit a response, he decided to get vocal.
"Meow!"
The sobbing stopped and Wen Kexing turned his head to A-Xu. His face was red and blotchy. The eyes reddened. A stark contrast to the normally handsome face Zishu was used to. The familiar was shocked by the sight that presented itself to him.

"A-A-Xu...are you...are you hungry? Do-do you need some...thing?"
The cat came closer so that there were only a few centimeters between both faces and licked the tears from Wen Kexing's cheek.
The young man was surprised by the gesture and didn't quite know how to react to it.
"A-A-Xu! Are you...h-here to com-comfort...me?"
A single meow was all he got as an answer, but that was enough for him. He stretched out an arm and pulled A-Xu to his chest. The familiar made no move to run away and instead snuggled closer to him.
"At least we both have each other..." he heard Wen Kexing whisper before falling asleep from exhaustion.