Cat Boy

23 | granny bars

Daehyun is a zombie.

Well, not literally a zombie, technically speaking. Or maybe she is literally a zombie if you take into consideration the fact that a zombie is what she's dressed up as for Halloween (is literality even applicable in that case?).

The mirror had made her outfit look pretty cool, considering that she had only had very limited resources to put together the look (an old t-shirt, a pair of scissors, ketchup and her housemate's stolen makeup kit). She'd almost been caught sneaking out the makeup last-moment—well, not almost, since she actually had been caught.

Thankfully, her roommate had taken one look at her poorly-done outfit, sighed, and offered to help. She had even thrown in cool white contacts in the deal.

But after walking into the café at prime time in the evening, Daehyun is not so sure about the coolness of her outfit.

Halloween is obviously a big event for the café's usual visitors, judging from the amount of time and energy everyone's spent on their costumes. Daehyun guesses most of them are Jeonghan and Joshua's friends from art school, since every single outfit in front of her has been carefully designed and worn, not a hair or a fold out of place. Everyone's laughing and sharing and enjoying themselves, and absolutely no one is paying attention to her zombie fit she had thought would garner a lot of notice.

Suddenly, she feels small and insignificant.

Daehyun almost steps back out, but is held back from doing so by the sight her eyes land on randomly. It's the sight of a smiling Vernon, his outfit even worse than hers, but his smile as bright as she remembers. It makes her feel weird.

She's been feeling weird a lot lately.

"Dae! Over here!" It's Joshua, surprisingly (or perhaps not) who waves her over. She hesitates only momentarily before joining the four boys at their booth, pressing her lips into a shy smile. Joshua is wearing a white wig which sits askew on his head, and there's heavy kohl lining his pretty bitten-cookie eyes. She guesses he's supposed to be some kind of anime character, one she doesn't recognize.

"Sorry I'm late," she murmurs again, resisting the urge to tuck a loose strand of her hair behind her ear. It's been styled specifically to resemble a bloody mess, though she suspects her roommate hasn't done that great of a job in that matter. "I'm always early, so you know I'm genuinely sorry."

"Don't be," Wonpil says pleasantly, giving her a smile as he makes space for her on the bench. He looks brighter than usual despite the simple Men In Black suit. His eyes narrow playfully when they zero in on a smirking Jeonghan. "She said she's sorry."

"About being late, or about breaking her perfect early streak?" Jeonghan asks wryly. He's dressed like Jack Frost, a costume choice that looks strangely dignified on him. He taps the end of his stick against the side of the table periodically, which is both annoying and characteristic.

"Don't think I've forgotten about your lockup incident," she says as frostily as she can manage, which doesn't turn out quite well because of the smile on her face. Seeing all of the five gathered together makes her irrationally happy, despite the lingering tension between her and Vernon.

Vernon.

When her eyes flit to him, he's looking down at his lap, absently playing with his fingers. The top of his blonde head shines like a halo in the fairy lights behind the fake glue spiderwebs Joshua has worked so hard to install along the edges of the ceiling. He's wearing clothes that look normal enough, a simple black hoodie with the hood taken down. She can't figure out what he's supposed to be.

Then he glances up, raising his head to look at her.

Daehyun's first instinct is to laugh.

His 'costume' is three crudely-drawn whiskers on both cheeks, a dark whiteboard marker squiggle on his nose which is supposed to resemble that of an animal. The rest of his face is bare, and he looks aware of his outfit's shortcomings, as visible from the small pout his lips rest in.