Pairing: Lee Know/Minho (Stray Kids) x Reader; Genre: Slice of life, Humour; Rating: PG-13, sfw; Warnings: mentions of being afraid of hights, cat stuck in a tree, mentions of some little violent solutions, and a tiny fall; Wordcount: 1.267
Summary: Usually you are the one falling for someone. Now with his cat on the tree it’s finally the other way round. Though you didn’t expect it to be quite literally now.
Autumn. Probably your favourite season of the year. It's not too cold and not too warm, nothing blossoms or blooms that could induce an allergic reaction. During the day you can normally dress and in the evening just snuggle up with your favourite hoodie and a hot chocolate on your couch. It was basically perfect living conditions.
The season provided you with a lot of fruits like apples and pears, or pumpkins and corn. The leaves changed their colours from simple green into various shades of yellow, orange and red. Even the light shining through the trees made everything magical.
You walked from the town centre, where you just bought a few new books to read, back to your home in the outskirts of this town. It was a little windy but the sun shone brightly down on you, warming your cheeks. You smiled happily taking in your surroundings. Besides from yourself there were no people around. You heard a few children laugh somewhere on a parallel street and birds chirping near you. Even a squirrel rushed around the branches of the trees, complaining loudly because of something that had happened just recently.
It didn't take you long to see why that squirrel was so upset. In a tree a few metres in front of you sat an orange white cat meowing loudly, as if it was screaming for help. You didn't think much about it since its owner seemed to be there already.
The moment you got closer though you noticed something was off. The owner stood on a ladder, holding tightly on it, his eyes pressed shut and he himself shook so violently even the ladder wobbled a little. He made no other movements and didn't try to reach out for the cat.
Without hesitation you dashed forward. You immediately grabbed onto the ladder as soon as you came to a halt in front of the guy, minimising the wobbling. “You need a hand?” Concern laced your voice while you stared up to his face.
He was handsome, even though almost all the blood was drained out of his face, leaving him ghostly white. A sharp jawline, a straight nose and skin that seemed flawless. Almost. A small and fresh scratch, probably from his cat, was on his right cheek.
Carefully he opened one eye a little, before he squeezed it shut again. “Ugh, i-it´s-sss a-alright,” he mumbled, not showing any form of improvement.
“You sure?”
His only response was a hesitant shake with his head.
“It's alright, really. I don't mind helping,” you reassured him, “I can get your cat down from the tree. We just need to switch places.”
“O-okay.”
“Great, then how about you step down that ladder?” You smiled, even though he had his eyes still closed tightly.
“I.. I can't,” he whispered.
“Oh. Okay, no problem, it's alright! Really!”
If it hadn't been obvious before you could clearly understand his problem now. He was afraid of heights and his fear was immobilising him. While he still shook like a leaf in the wind on the ladder, you searched for a solution.
You came up with several options. Firstly, since he wasn't so high up, to just push him down. With that option he wouldn't get seriously hurt but it could increase his traumatised opinion towards heights. So it was basically out of the question.
The second option was to somehow force him down. But you had no idea how you should force a grown man down a ladder. Therefore this wasn't really an option as well.
Your last idea was distraction. Basically the only shot you got. “I’m Y/N by the way. So, is this your only cat? What's its name?”
“M-Minho.”
“Minho? That’s a nice name. Not a typical name for a cat, I would say.” You shrugged with your shoulders but didn't mind at all.
“N-no, my name.”
You paused, with wide eyes, staring up at him. “Oh! It's your name! I’m so sorry! Anyway, it's nice to meet you Minho. Wanna tell me about your cat now?”
“It’s not m-my only cat.” The wavering in his voice lessened but his eyes remained closed.
“So you got more cats? How many?” You asked curiously, your eyes fixed on his body throughout the whole time. Silently and with your hands still stabilising the ladder you walked around it until you nearly stood behind him.
“Three.”
“Tell me about them.”
“Hmm.” He took a deep breath. Th-there is Soon-ie, Doong-ie and Dori.”
“Which one is sitting up there and glaring down at us?”
Minho chuckled dryly. “Doong-ie. He's a rascal.”
“Ah, I see. Chased that squirrel and got stuck up in that tree, huh?”
“A squirrel?” Surprised, Minho looked down at you. His brown eyes wide from the news. “You chased a squirrel?” He said with an accusing voice, staring back up to Doong-ie.
You took the chance and gently grabbed his ankle, tapping it lightly with your fingertips until he unconsciously balanced his weight on the other foot. While Minho continued to argue with his cat, which meowed loudly back at him, you pulled his foot one step down the ladder.
Before his discussion would stop and his distraction vanished, you chimed in again, asking him to tell you more about his other cats. He almost immediately started to talk about them; where he adopted them, which cat he got the longest and how they looked or what they were like.
Meanwhile you repeatedly pulled one foot after the other down. The whole procedure went totally great, only a few steps were missing. Minho talked and talked about his cats, not realising what you were doing. He even had his eyes open, looking up to Doong-ie the whole time and grinning like an idiot.
It was fine until said cat decided it got way too bored stuck up in that tree. Standing up and stretching it looked down, locating where it could jump to. Its gaze finally set on Minho himself.
“Doong-ie?!” Minho asked, alarmed, getting your attention from his feet up again to the cat. “What are you doing?”
The minute he said that the cat leaped forward. Panicked, Minho stretched his arms out to catch it, losing his balance the second of the impact. You screeched and jumped, your body moving on autopilot because you had no idea what to do.
The next thing you remembered was lying on the ground, Minho on top of you, holding Doong-ie tightly to his chest. You groaned in pain when your body finally registered the hurt. “Pretty catch, huh?” You laughed only to end frantically coughing.
Minho rolled off of you, mumbling incoherent excuses. Concerned, he knelt next to you, the cat still clutched to his chest, even though it looked kind of annoyed by now. “Are you hurt?”
“Nah, nothing's broken, I guess. I just kinda fell for you, didn’t I?” You smiled dumbly up at him, grinning even wider when you noticed the faint blush on his cheeks. “Are Soong-ie and Dori this troublesome too or is it just this little fella here?” You asked, petting its head gently, before sitting up again.
“Definitely not! How about some tea at my place and you’ll meet them? You will love them, I promise! They are just the most adorable cats on the whole planet.” Minho's gushing was stopped by the loud whining meow from Doong-ie.
You laughed lightheartedly. “Don’t worry Doong-ie! I love you little rascal too.” Looking back up at Minho, you added with a smile. “I’d like a hot tea very much right now, thank you.”
