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He wasn't a cat, he wasn't a dog, but he was a hybrid and that made everyone’s hypothesis worse. Eventually, George was the first to know.
Sapnap went to England, partly to see George and partly to see somewhere that wasn't his home town or bedroom, and it took around twenty minutes for George to decide his guess. He hadn't seen Sapnap’s tail yet, but the ears after he took his hat off in the cab back were enough.
“A hamster,” George decided.
George’s own feline tail flicked against the back seat of the cab, and the driver didn't seem to care about the game they were playing with one another.
“Nope.”
“A mouse?”
“Nah.”
“A… a weirdly smooth bear?”
“George, what the hell? No.”
“You’re definitely some kind of rodent hybrid though, right?”
Sapnap kept folding his clothes to put away, and he didn't look up at George, who was lingering in the doorway. A small, quiet smile spread across his face as he didn't answer, and George’s ears flicked as if he was annoyed.
His tail was still tucked under his hoodie as George walked off to start cooking dinner.
“What colour is that, grey?”
“Surely grey is a tone, not a colour.”
George hummed, but he didn't answer immediately as he chewed the pasta he’d shovelled into his mouth. Sapnap twirled his own spaghetti around his fork and rested his hand on his chin, watching the oil and cream separate around the noodles but still stick to the small pieces of garlic. Bread sat between them on the table, and the standing lamp in the corner was turned off in favour of what faint light came through the south facing window. Even though it was fairly cloudy, it was still clear enough to see.
“Grey in tone, then? No colour?”
Sapnap nodded, some of his hair going into his face. He didn't respond before putting more pasta into his mouth.
“You’re definitely not a dog though.”
Sapnap looked up at him, almost a little disappointed that George was bringing that up at all, but George continued anyway.
“Everyone always says you have dog-energy, whatever that means, but you're too shy in real life for that to be true.”
Sapnap swallowed his mouthful before saying, “Yeah.”
“But you do also have some energy.”
“Unlike you, you mean?”
George gave him a look, and Sapnap smiled at him before the other man continued.
“There’s two reasonable routes to take, right?”
“Is there?”
“Yeah. Mammal or not, and based on, you know,” George gestured to his own head, where his two black ears poked out of his head of hair.
“So I’m a mammal, now what?”
George didn't say anything for a moment, but then his eyes widened slightly. Sapnap put down his fork, knowing the next few questions were going to be demanding his attention more than the food was.
But George just assessed him, looking over his cheeks and his eyes (which still had that mark from a few weeks ago), before he sat back in his chair. Before Sapnap could say anything, George announced, “Chinchilla.”
Sapnap’s hand thumped against the table and he opened his mouth. George’s mouth stretched out into a grin, showing off his teeth.
“No way!” George shouted, “No way, that’s so cute. Where’s your tail?”
“I’m not showing you my tail!”
“Aw, come on , Sapnap. You can see mine!”
George held up his own squirming tail as if it proved a point, but Sapnap scowled at him. There was a moment of silence between them, where George’s tail, still in his grip, twitched back and forth in anticipation, and Sapnap felt his own grow puffy beneath his hoodie.
“On one condition,” Sapnap said.
“Sure.”
“I get the rest of the bread.”
George considered it, looking down mournfully at the bread as he decided whether it was worth it, but then he nodded. Sapnap stood up from the table and, with as little ceremony as he could muster, he took off his grey hoodie and tossed it over the back of his chair. His tail rose up to brush against his upper back in a gentle curve, and the paintbrush-like hairs flicked as they adjusted to being out in the open.
Almost like he was assessing it, George nodded. Sapnap fought the urge to blush.
“It’s cute,” George said.