#neukjae

she blinks. ❛ it's nettle. what's your problem? ❜

okay, so she knows exactly what his problem is. there's been a lot of changes in the last day or so — understatement of the fuckin' century, probably — since they'd sat down for what she's since dubbed in her head as " the talk ", and probably even more to come. one of the biggest ones, though, is the realization that she doesn't need to keep nettle's glamour up all the time now, because if jaeyong knows, there's no one she needs to be hiding him from anymore.

( that's going to take some getting used to. )

orla did plan to tell him, really, but ... well, it's not their fault he's been refusing to talk to them, right? ( which — well, guess that's over now too, hopefully, unless he's just making an exception for this — but, like, seriously, dude? you were hiding something too! ) so now here they are, no chance for her to explain first as he stares down at what used to be her russian blue, now her ... okay, so she's not totally sure what nettle actually is, but that's beside the point. her ... weird little talking cat thing. her ... tiny plant god that lives in her house and gives her magic? whatever.

the point is, he kinda looks like a freak. so she does get it. doesn't mean it's not funny as hell to pretend otherwise, though. orla bends down, scooping their familiar up into their arms, thumb brushing affectionately against some of the leaves by the nape of his neck, as they glance back up at jae and raise their eyebrows. nettle, thankfully, has decided to keep his mouth shut for now, likely having realized that the last thing jae needs right now is the jumpscare that he can talk, too.

life was complicated, people were confusing, and things never went the way they were supposed to. for years he'd been a regular at blooms & brew, the cafe was only a block from the office and tucked away enough that it got a steady stream of activity without being choked to death by swarms of coffee addicts at all hours of the day like some of the larger chain cafes in the area.

cosmo had known what jae was the first time he'd seen him, and not by any fault of his own. therianthropes, or shifters, all had the same tell to someone like cosmo. he'd caught a glimpse of jae's golden eyes, seen the wolf rolling just under his skin and on days when the full moon was closing in, that wolf would be straining, pulling, stretching, gnawing at the human skin that contained it.

you're fucking kidding me, right?

❝ if i was kidding, this would be funny. ❞ cosmo remarked dryly. he wasn't in the habit of exposing anyone for what they were, he'd of been happy to continue ordering his usual ( a blonde roast with hazelnut ), and pretending like he didn't know.