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Seokjin has just opened the window over his sink when he hears a massive crash from his neighbor’s workshop. With a sigh and a snap of his fingers, he leaves his dishes to wash themselves and steps out his back door, walking over to the shed in his neighbor’s backyard.
He knocks, but doesn’t get a response, which doesn’t surprise him.
“Namjoon-ah?” He asks as he pushes the door open. It’s dark inside, despite the lights he knows the workshop has.
“Over here, Seokjin-ssi.”
Seokjin sends a few balls of light up to hover around the ceiling with a flick of his wrist. They light up just enough of the space for Seokjin to see Namjoon pushing himself up from a pile of boxes in the corner with a small grimace.
“Are you okay?” He crosses the small space and offers Namjoon his hand to bring him to a standing position.
“I’ll be fine, Seokjin-ssi. Just a small… explosion.”
Seokjin raises his eyebrows and tries not to notice that Namjoon doesn’t let go of his hand immediately once he’s standing.
“Why was there an explosion at all- actually, don’t answer that,” he says, shaking his head. Namjoon’s experiments cause explosions more often than not. “And please, call me hyung. We’ve known each other for how long now?”
“Three years,” Namjoon mutters, looking down as he no doubt remembers the way they met. He’d been trying to save time in unpacking, but he didn’t have quite as much control over the levitation spell he was using on his things as he thought, and the moment Seokjin surprised him by calling a quick “hello!” across their yards, his belongings were spread all over his lawn.
Seokjin had just chuckled and helped him gather everything up with a few quick gestures. He and Namjoon had gone from acquaintances to casual friends after that, but he still couldn’t convince Namjoon to call him ‘hyung.’ He might be harboring a tiny crush on his neighbor, but if Namjoon isn’t comfortable with him, he’s not going to pursue it further.
Now as Namjoon looks down, some of the light from Seokjin’s magic catches a trickle of red near his temple.
The lights immediately come closer, without Seokjin actually doing anything, and he waves them off before they can nuzzle against Namjoon’s cheek.
“You’re bleeding, Namjoon-ah.”
“I am?” He asks, looking surprised. “It’s fine, Seokjin-ssi. I don’t-“
Seokjin can’t leave his neighbor out here, bleeding from the head, so he takes Namjoon’s hand before he can protest more.
“Come on, Namjoon-ah.” He leads Namjoon towards the door, lights bobbing happily behind them. “You can tell me all about your experiment while I get you cleaned up.”
Namjoon follows without much of a fight, and soon enough he’s sitting on Seokjin’s couch. With another flick of his wrist, he summons the first-aid kit he’s had on hand since Namjoon moved in. It hovers between them as Seokjin pulls out the antiseptic ointment.
When he focuses on more than just the shallow wound on Namjoon’s temple, he realizes that Namjoon is studying him carefully while he explains the automatic bird feeding device he was trying to charm.
This isn’t the first time Seokjin has bandaged Namjoon’s self-inflicted wounds, but Namjoon doesn’t usually watch him so closely. The lights circle in around them until Seokjin remembers to dismiss them. He waves them off with his right hand, and Namjoon follows the movement with his head. It would be fine, except that it brings Namjoon’s face very close to his own.
Namjoon doesn’t move immediately, and Seokjin’s breath is taken away. Namjoon is very handsome. He smiles, and it creates dimples on his cheeks, which Seokjin has to concentrate hard to keep from poking gently.
Before he can consider that idea too hard, Namjoon leans back, out of his space. It startles Seokjin into moving as well, and he stands up abruptly, a little bit embarrassed. He examines the small cut on Namjoon’s head. He’s done a pretty good job.
“You’re good now, Namjoon-ah. It’ll heal quickly. I’m sorry I’m not good enough at healing spells to just heal it now, but the bandages-“
“Thank you, Seokjin-hyung,” Namjoon interrupts, and Seokjin’s brain freezes for just a second. “I’m sure I’m fine now.”
He stands up, and suddenly Seokjin is aware of the few centimeters Namjoon has on him, because he has to tilt his chin up slightly. Namjoon gives him another small smile and waves his hand over the tissues and bandage wrappings that Seokjin had used, and they disappear.
They stand there, awkwardly close to each other for a moment before they both try to talk at once.
“I guess I should-“
“Would you like some tea?”
Namjoon blinks rapidly for a second. “Sure, hyung. That would be nice.”
Namjoon calling him ‘hyung’ again ruins the tiny bit of concentration Seokjin still had going on the spell that was washing his dishes, and they both wince when they hear a couple of plates drop heavily into the sink.
“Crashes are usually my job,” Namjoon says with a small smile, and it’s enough to dissipate the strange mood. Seokjin shows Namjoon into the kitchen and busies himself making tea for the both of them. He could just use magic to do it, but he’s always prided himself in his manual cooking skills, and those extend to tea-making, so he sets a kettle on to boil and pulls some tea leaves out of a cabinet. There are a few cookies left in his pantry from the last time he baked, so he arranges them on a small plate as the kettle starts to whistle.
Namjoon has been watching him through all of this, and when Seokjin sets the cookies and tea down on his small kitchen table, he gives Seokjin another dimpled grin.
“Looks good, hyung,” he says, and takes a small sip of the tea. It’s obviously too hot, and Seokjin tries to ignore the way Namjoon sticks his cute pink tongue out to try to cool it down. When Namjoon has recovered, he speaks again.
“People who can cook impress me. Taehyung-ah has banned me from his kitchen for life.”
Seokjin vaguely recognizes the name as one of Jungkook’s friends. Seokjin is much closer to Jungkook, the neighbor on his other side who moved in a few years before Namjoon had. Jungkook was just out of high school when they met, young enough to bring out the parental side of him, and he comes over for dinner more often than not.
“You and Taehyung should join Jungkook and me for dinner sometime, Joonie.”
The nickname slips easily out of his mouth and he worries that it’s too much, but Namjoon flushes and smiles.
“That would be nice, Jin-hyung.”
Seokjin’s heart flutters at the nickname.
They talk as they finish the tea, and at some point Namjoon seems to relax farther, and then he starts actually laughing at Seokjin’s jokes, instead of the courtesy laughs he’s been giving so far.
“Joonie, what do teacups wear when they want to be casual?”
“I don’t know, hyung,” Namjoon says, but he’s already giggling.
“A tea-shirt!” Seokjin replies, and Namjoon cracks up. When his laughter finally dies down, he looks at his empty cup and stands.
“I guess it’s time for me to go,” he says, and Seokjin accompanies him to the front door. “I had a great time today, hyung. Even when you were bandaging my head.” Namjoon smiles so hard his eyes almost disappear.
“Promise me you’ll come over more often, Namjoon-ah?” Seokjin says, because it feels like it’s okay to push their relationship a little bit. “And not just when you’re injured, okay?”
Namjoon nods. “I promise, hyung. I’ll see you soon.”
When Seokjin opens the door for him to leave, Namjoon steps a little bit closer than he has to. Seokjin tilts his head to the side for a moment, but Namjoon just smiles and moves past him.
“See you soon, Jin-hyung,” he says as he starts to cross Seokjin’s yard to his own front door.
Seokjin winks at him, and to his surprise, Namjoon winks back.
It’s sooner than Seokjin expected when he invites Namjoon into his house again.
There’s been a storm gathering all afternoon, and Seokjin isn’t surprised when the power goes out after a particularly close lightning strike. He pushes himself off the couch where he’d been scrolling through his phone, and keeps reading as he moves from room to room in his apartment, using the tip of his finger to light the wicks of candles where it feels necessary before dropping on to the couch again.
He’s just gotten back into an article about an up-and-coming music group out of Seoul that seems oddly familiar when there’s a knock at his door. He can’t imagine why someone would be knocking at his door in this weather, since it’s been raining hard for about an hour.
He’s both surprised and not surprised to see Namjoon on his doorstep. He’s carrying several bags, and stumbles in when Seokjin opens the door fully.
“Hey, hyung,” Namjoon says, but then he slips and ends up on his butt on the wood floor of Seokjin’s entryway.
Once Seokjin gets him to his feet, Namjoon asks lots of questions at once.
“Are you warm enough, hyung? I saw the lightning, and then the power- and I wasn’t sure if you had enough- I brought blankets and candles so you…”
Namjoon trails off as Seokjin guides him into his living room.
“Joonie, are you magic or not?”
He waves his hand towards the fireplace, and in an instant, there’s a fire roaring there.
“Oh yeah…” Namjoon mutters.
Namjoon is still soaking wet, so Seokjin reaches out and gently takes the hem of his t-shirt between his index finger and thumb. The magic to dry Namjoon’s shirt takes a little more out of him, and he’s glad when Namjoon gets the idea and waves him off so that he can dry the rest of his clothing. He leaves Namjoon to it and moves over to the bags Namjoon has brought.
Curious, he starts rummaging through them. As he pulls things out, Namjoon narrates, and Seokjin can’t help but notice that his cheeks are turning a deep pink.
“I brought my warmest blanket, and some candles, plus flashlights, and the other bag-“
“There’s popcorn in here. Did you make popcorn before coming over to save me?”
“It’s one of the few things I can conjure consistently. Don’t make fun of me.”
“I will absolutely make fun of you, Joonie,” he says before opening the bag, scooping up a handful of popcorn and shoveling it into his mouth. “Tasty.”
“Thanks, hyung,” Namjoon mutters, even as he hides his face behind his hands. Seokjin conjures a few of his lights with a flick of his wrist, and they disperse themselves along the ceiling as he returns to where Namjoon is standing.
“Thank you, Joonie,” he says with a gentle touch to Namjoon’s arm. Namjoon jumps, but then gives him a warm smile, his dimples appearing again.
It takes one of his lights starting to do loop-the-loops behind Namjoon’s head for Seokjin to realize that he’s staring, and he clears his throat with a small cough as he lets go of Namjoon’s arm. “Where are my manners? Come sit down, Namjoon-ah. I’ll get the popcorn into a bowl.”
“There’s some wine in one of the bags too,” Namjoon says, and then immediately turns shy. “If you’re interested, I mean.”
“Then I’ll get some wine glasses as well,” Seokjin says, and when Namjoon smiles, he smiles back before retreating to the kitchen. He dumps the popcorn into a large bowl and grabs two wine glasses out of the cabinet above his sink. When he gets back to his living room, Namjoon has perched himself on the edge of one of the couch cushions.
“Relax, Namjoon-ah.”
He startles but gives Seokjin a sweet smile and reaches out to take the glasses from him. With a complicated hand motion, Namjoon magically removes the cork from the first bottle with a quiet pop, and he pours each of them a glass.
Seokjin touches his glass to Namjoon’s and tilts it back. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees that Namjoon is watching him, so he decides the circumstances are calling for him to be bold. In a few gulps, he empties his glass, and when he puts it back down on the coffee table with a wink, Namjoon chokes a little.
“Thanks, Joonie,” he says as he pours himself another glass and takes a sip before leaning against the back of the couch and pulling Namjoon back with him. Namjoon stays stiff for a moment, but then the finally settles back against the couch, and soon they’re pressed together from shoulders to thighs. Seokjin can feel the wine warming him from the inside out and decides to take a chance and lean closer to Namjoon.
“Hyung?” Namjoon starts to say, but Seokjin tilts his head until it rests on Namjoon’s shoulder.
“What were you doing before you came over, Joonie?” Seokjin asks, smiling as Namjoon takes a serious tone.
“I was trying to figure out how to keep my plants alive. There’s something about me they don’t seem to like,” he says. The idea of anyone or anything not liking Namjoon is absurd, and he giggles into his next glass of wine.
“I have a friend who can help you with that. Hoseokie taught me a few things, but I’m nothing compared to him.”
Namjoon takes a long pull from his wine glass, finishing it, and gently nudges Seokjin up so that he can pour another before drinking half of that one as well. Seokjin is no lightweight, but Namjoon seems to be drinking with purpose suddenly. Namjoon sits back against the couch again, and Seokjin settles in.
“What if- what if I wanted you to teach me?”
Seokjin doesn’t miss the emphasis Namjoon puts on the word you, and a tiny spark of happiness runs through him.
“I’d like that a lot, Joonie.” Namjoon relaxes as he says it, and Seokjin grins to himself.
They sit for a while, leaning against each other and gazing into the fire. Then Seokjin sets his glass down on the end table and speaks.
“Maybe I am a little cold, Joonie,” he says, and turns his face up into Namjoon’s neck. It’s a little more intimate than he would normally dare, but Namjoon doesn’t shy away. Instead, he points towards the bag with the blanket and draws it up with his magic, spreading it out before it settles over both of them.
As Namjoon puts his glass down and only barely manages to not knock it off the end table, Seokjin surreptitiously shrinks the fire with a hidden gesture, and then cuddles up to Namjoon under the blanket.
He waits for Namjoon to stiffen, but instead he pulls him closer. He decides to take the wine-induced initiative and swings his legs over top of Namjoon’s.
“Seokjin-ah?”
Namjoon freezes as soon as he hears himself.
“You can call me that, Joonie. Keep me warm, okay?”
Namjoon twitches a bit under him, but then he reaches out and pulls Seokjin almost into his lap.
“I’ll keep you warm, Jin-ah.”
Seokjin only barely notices Namjoon’s gesture that tucks the blanket in all around them.
“Good, Joonie,” he says, and he lets the warmth of Namjoon’s magic settle all around him. It’s different from his own, but he feels comfortable as Namjoon brings his hand up to stroke through his hair. “So good.”
He casts a quick spell to extinguish the candles and dozes off as the fire starts to die down.
When he wakes up, Namjoon has repositioned them so that they’re reclining against the arm of the couch. They’re still covered in Namjoon’s blanket, and he lets himself relax. The fire has gone out, and it sounds like the storm is starting to break. He can still hear soft rain against his roof and he can see through the window that the storm is ending while the sun sets. Namjoon is breathing warm against his neck, and Seokjin lets out a slow sigh.
It’s comfortable.
It’s been three weeks since the power outage, and Seokjin wants to see Namjoon. He hasn’t seen Namjoon since he sent him off the morning after the storm, and Seokjin just misses him. He finds himself on Namjoon’s porch, and before he knows it he’s knocking on Namjoon’s door. The door opens in front of him and he steps in, though he’s not sure Namjoon actually meant to let him in.
“Come in!” he hears Namjoon call, and a small light appears in front of him. He’s only been in Namjoon’s house once before, so he follows the light into Namjoon’s living room, where he finds him reclined on his couch, with a book hovering over him.
“Hi,” Seokjin says softly, not wanting to interrupt him. He works his way around the mess of projects on the coffee table and settles in a chair across from Namjoon. He doesn’t acknowledge Seokjin’s presence at first, but that’s okay. He’s content to watch Namjoon read, turning the pages with a flick of his index finger.
He’s just relaxed into the chair when Namjoon seems to actually register that he’s there. He turns to look at him, and the moment Namjoon sees him, the book that was floating above him crashes down onto his face.
Seokjin quickly lifts the book up with a spell, but it’s not enough to keep Namjoon from falling off of his couch.
Namjoon looks up at him from the floor, and Seokjin is relieved when he starts to laugh, a contagious giggle that makes Seokjin laugh as well, the obnoxious laugh that Jungkook likes to joke about. Eventually, Namjoon sits up and properly greets him.
“Hello, hyung. I wasn’t expecting you today, was I?”
Seokjin had sent over the instructions for a few spells to keep Namjoon’s plants alive, but so far they’ve been corresponding via magic messages. They’ve been flitting in and out of Seokjin’s kitchen window, and he suddenly realizes that they should probably just exchange cell phone numbers.
“You weren’t, Joonie.”
Namjoon smiles and doesn’t question him any further. Instead, he pushes himself back up onto the couch.
“It’s good to see you, hyung.”
He can’t help but be a tiny bit disappointed when Namjoon doesn’t call him “Jin-ah” again, but he supposes it’s okay if that stays in their intimate evening. It still takes a lot of inner strength for Seokjin to keep from pinching Namjoon’s cheeks when his dimples appear, and when Namjoon’s eyes almost shut entirely because of how hard he’s smiling, Seokjin stumbles over his words.
“Do- do you- would you- should we go for a walk?” he finally gets out, and Namjoon’s smile somehow seems to deepen.
“Sure. I’d love to,” he says, and Seokjin is gratified by the tiny blush that appears on Namjoon’s cheeks. He packs a bag for the two of them with water, snacks, and a small first aid kit. Namjoon starts to protest the last item, but he’s silenced with a quick raise of Seokjin’s eyebrows.
They’re lucky enough to have a trail fairly near them. It starts near Namjoon’s house and ends about a mile downhill, just close enough to the city to have some nice coffee shops. Seokjin already has his mind set on one, the place Jungkook works part-time. He’s going to walk down the trail with Namjoon, then order what he knows is Namjoon’s favorite drink (he owes Jungkook several dinners for that information) and enjoy the walk back up to their houses.
It’s a great plan.
Unfortunately, Namjoon is very clumsy.
The trail isn’t that difficult. It’s in the middle of the suburbs, after all, but somehow Namjoon manages to trip over pretty much every root they come across. Seokjin can’t bring himself to mind, because it gives him an excuse to keep his hand tucked under Namjoon’s elbow. They settle into a rhythm after a while, and Seokjin has finally adjusted to the fact that they’re walking arm-in-arm down the trail when Namjoon trips hard over something he can’t see, and tumbles to the ground before Seokjin can balance him.
When he pulls Namjoon up to his feet, they’re suddenly really close together again. This time, Namjoon doesn’t move away. His hands, which were spread out to either side of him to catch his balance, settle on Seokjin’s sides, near his hips.
The air between their faces suddenly seems heavy, even though Seokjin knows it’s the same as the air all around them. Seokjin’s hands trail up Namjoon’s chest and then they’re on Namjoon’s shoulders and Namjoon’s face is very close. His eyes dart down to Seokjin’s lips, and then he’s pulling him in closer–
There’s a small cry from somewhere behind him, and Seokjin twists in Namjoon’s grip. He vaguely feels Namjoon’s lips connect with his neck, but he doesn’t have time to think about that. He stumbles forward, towards the source of the noise, and there it is. There’s a cat, just old enough to still be called a kitten. It’s tiny, white with black stripes near its neck, and after a quick sniff of his hand it lets him pick it up, though it seems a little wary.
“Joonie!” he whisper-shouts, but Namjoon is already there. The kitten looks up at him with big eyes, and quickly squirms out of Seokjin’s arms and into Namjoon’s. As the kitten moves over to Namjoon, Seokjin has a moment to observe it. “Joonie, its leg is hurt, look!”
Namjoon carefully rearranges the cat in his arms enough to examine its paws. The cat’s back left paw is bent at an unnatural angle. He carefully lifts it higher, but the moment Seokjin tries to touch its paw to get a better idea of the injury, it meows angrily at him.
“Can you heal it?” Namjoon says quietly, and Seokjin leans in, trying to get a good look at its leg. It kicks out at him with its good leg, and Seokjin jerks back just in time to miss the tiny claws. It wiggles farther into Namjoon’s arms and refuses to let Seokjin look closer at it.
“I don’t know how to help it…” Seokjin can hear the bit of panic that sneaks into his voice, but he can’t do anything about it. He runs through the couple of healing spells that he knows in his head, but he doesn’t dare try any of them when he’s not sure what’s actually wrong with the cat.
As he’s panicking, he realizes that Namjoon has carefully lifted the cat up so that it can rub its face against his.
“Joon-ah?” he asks when Namjoon seems to be done comforting it. “What do we do? How do we help?”
Namjoon thinks for a moment. “Jimin,” he says. Seokjin doesn’t have a clue what that means, but there’s determination in his eyes, and he steps back on to the trail, cat still clutched carefully against his chest. Seokjin follows him, still worried.
By the time they reach the end of the trail, Seokjin is worried out of his mind. He’s been hovering around Namjoon and the cat, cooing quietly at it, but it’s been ignoring him in favor of nuzzling into Namjoon’s chest.
When they emerge from the woods, Namjoon immediately strides off down the street. Seokjin follows close behind him, and before he can say anything, Namjoon is walking into a small shop that Seokjin hadn’t ever noticed, even though it’s close to the coffee shop he’d planned to invite Namjoon to after their hike.
When they enter, there’s a man at the counter who doesn’t even look up from the book he’s reading. He gives them a polite wave, but ignores them even as Namjoon strides up to the counter like he’s used to it.
“Yoongi-hyung,” Namjoon says, and Seokjin’s eyes widen. He didn’t know that Namjoon knew any of the shopkeepers intimately enough to call them ‘hyung.’ “Is Jimin here? We have a kitten that needs his help.”
The man, Yoongi, finally looks up from his book, and his features instantly soften when he sees the cat still in Namjoon’s arms.
“Sure, Joon. Give me a moment, I’ll go get him.”
Namjoon waits patiently at the desk, but Seokjin has too much nervous energy, and ends up pacing back and forth behind him. He’s turned on his heel for the fifteenth time when Namjoon steps backward into his path. He’s shifted the cat into his right arm so that his left is free to pull Seokjin into his side.
He starts to protest, still too wound up, but then Namjoon hums quietly. It pulls him out of his head, so he catches it when Namjoon softly tells him that the kitten is going to be okay, Jin-ah, that Jimin is the best animal healer he knows.
Somewhere in the back of his mind he realizes that he’s always been the calm one, the one in control when they’re together, and before he can think any harder about that Yoongi reappears from the back, followed by an angelic-looking man. He’s got round cheeks, and a smile that lights up the room and somehow reassures Seokjin.
Namjoon doesn’t step away from him, just gently runs his hand down Seokjin’s side and to the small of his back. He leads him forward, up to the counter again, and carefully hands the cat over to the man, who he guesses must be Jimin. It seems to relax immediately into his grip, and Seokjin immediately feels much better as Jimin gives it a quick once-over.
“It looks like a clean break, Joonie-hyung. I’ll have the little guy right as rain in a couple of hours.” Jimin turns to Seokjin with a reassuring smile. “He’s going to be fine, I promise. Do you know what happened to him, uh, Joonie-hyung’s friend?”
“This is my neighbor, Jin-hyung,” Namjoon answers for him, with a soft pinch to his waist. “We were on the trail that leads down to the café, and he was meowing at us from behind one of the trees.”
Jimin tilts his head and smiles again. “He looks like a stray, but I’ll ask around to see if anyone is missing a cat. You two come back this afternoon and I’ll let you know how he’s doing, and if anyone has claimed him.”
“Thanks, Jiminie,” Namjoon says. “You too, Yoongi.”
“Anything for our favorite volunteer!” Jimin says, and nudges Yoongi, who smiles a tiny bit back at him. “Go have lunch with your Jin-hyung, then come back and meet this little guy when he’s back to normal.”
Seokjin is too weirdly dazzled at being referred to as “Namjoon’s Jin-hyung” to register Namjoon guiding him out of Yoongi and Jimin’s shop and into the café he’d planned to take Namjoon to, back when he thought he knew how their day would go.
It takes until Namjoon has deposited him into a chair at one of the small tables and headed to the counter for Seokjin to realize that Jungkook is working this afternoon, and he’s giving Seokjin a significant look as he makes their drinks. It helps that their drinks are actually magically making themselves behind him so that Jungkook can use way too much eyebrow in the look he’s giving Seokjin.
Namjoon brings them both over to the table, handing Seokjin’s over and settling into the chair across from him. It feels oddly natural when Namjoon reaches over and gently pulls one of his hands off of his hot chocolate so that he can link their fingers together.
“He’s going to be okay. Jiminie and Yoongi-hyung are the best.”
Seokjin remembers something, which is surprising, because he’s so distracted by how warm Namjoon’s hand is, and the way he’s gently moving his thumb back and forth over Seokjin’s knuckles.
“Did Jimin say that you volunteer there?”
Namjoon smiles. “I do. I met Yoongi-hyung and Jimin not long after I met you. I saw a sign in the window of their shop looking for volunteers. They mostly do pet healing and adoptions, but they also offer kennel services for pet owners who are traveling, so sometimes they need people to walk dogs and play with cats. I volunteer a couple mornings each week.”
Seokjin can imagine Namjoon surrounded by cats and dogs, all of them clamoring for his attention. It’s a sweet image.
“So why don’t you have a pet of your own?”
“I’m not sure.” Namjoon goes distant for a moment. “I think I’ve been waiting for the right one. Can I tell you something stupid?”
Seokjin takes a sip of his drink and grins. “Of course you can.”
“You know those old stories about witches having familiars?”
Seokjin chuckles.
“As soon as I found out I could do magic, I sort of had this daydream that maybe one day I would have a familiar, one that chose me.”
“You know those stories aren’t real, right?”
Now it’s Namjoon’s turn to chuckle.
“Of course they aren’t. That’s not how magic works. Also, the term “witches” hasn’t been used in thousands of years.”
They’re both silent for a moment.
“What about the cat that’s waiting for us back at Jimin and Yoongi-ssi’s shop?”
“He might belong to someone, remember?”
“And what if he doesn’t?” Seokjin says with a quick squeeze of Namjoon’s hand. “He seemed to like you. You saw how he calmed down when I handed him over.”
Namjoon considers it for a moment. “He was really sweet to me, but…”
“But?” Seokjin prompts.
“But I couldn’t have a familiar that doesn’t like you as well.”
Seokjin can’t say anything back to that. He just blushes. Jungkook makes a silent gagging face behind the counter.
Their conversation lightens after that. Namjoon gushes about some of the animals he’s taken care of, and Seokjin tells him embarrassing stories about Jungkook’s first years on his own. When he starts to share the story of Jungkook’s tiny crush on Namjoon right after he’d moved to the neighborhood, the lights flicker above them, and Jungkook shoves them out the door with the excuse that they’re closing for maintenance. Neither of them point out that Jungkook doesn’t eject any of the other customers, and that he doesn’t flip the “open” sign to “closed.”
Instead, they walk down the street, meandering from storefront to storefront, never getting too far from Yoongi and Jimin’s store. It’s only after an hour has passed that Seokjin realizes they’ve been walking hand-in-hand down the street. He starts to let go, but Namjoon just squeezes his hand tighter while pointing out a cute stuffed animal in an antiques store with his other hand.
When they decide it’s been long enough, they head back to Yoongi and Jimin’s to check on the cat. When they enter, the cat immediately bounds out of the back room, hopping up on to the counter and flicking its tail in Yoongi’s face before leaping off and landing at Namjoon’s feet.
There’s no trace of its previously broken leg as it winds back and forth between Namjoon’s feet. Namjoon finally lets go of Seokjin’s hand and leans down to pick the cat up. It immediately nuzzles into his chest, and Namjoon smiles down at it.
Seokjin stays back, letting Namjoon and the cat get reacquainted, but Namjoon doesn’t let him stay away for long. He brings the cat closer to Seokjin, and there’s a moment where Seokjin remembers the way it had shunned him on the trail.
He prepares for rejection, but then the cat stretches towards him and nuzzles into his cheek. It’s the closest he’s been to the cat since they initially found him, and he suddenly realizes that there seems to be a faint trace of magic coming from it.
Jimin comes out of the back room, smiling when he sees the cat snuggling up to both of them.
“I’ve checked with the nearest shelters, and no one has reported any missing cats. Would you be willing to keep him while I’m asking around? He seems to like you both.”
Before Seokjin can remind Jimin that they’re just neighbors, someone else comes through the doors to the shop, and Jimin and Yoongi are both occupied talking to their new customer, whose name might be Hoseok? He’s talking too fast for Seokjin to understand, but Yoongi is handing the cat’s papers over to Namjoon, and before he knows it, they’re outside.
They make the trip home with the cat walking between them, nudging at their ankles, and their shoulders keep bumping together, much more frequently than when they were heading down the trail.
When they reach the sidewalk between their houses, they linger.
“You should take him in,” Seokjin says. “He obviously likes you more than me.”
The cat looks up at Namjoon and meows quietly before gently placing a paw on his shoe.
Seokjin smiles down at it. “My thoughts exactly. What if I name him, and he stays with you?”
Namjoon agrees, and Seokjin sizes up the kitten. It takes him a moment, but he quickly has a name.
“RJ.”
“What.”
Seokjin smiles sweetly. “He looks like an RJ, you know?”
“He does?” Namjoon picks the cat up just underneath its front paws. A moment passes between Namjoon and the cat, and then he puts it down near Seokjin’s feet.
“RJ!” Namjoon calls, and the cat purrs before trying to climb up Namjoon’s leg.
The cat ends up in Namjoon’s arms, purring and stretching a paw out to Seokjin.
“I think he’s RJ,” Namjoon says.
“That’s good. He’ll stay with you until his owner comes to claim him.”
Seokjin gives RJ a kiss on the forehead and starts to head towards his own house, but Namjoon catches him before he gets too far.
“I had a good day with you, Jin-ah,” he says, and kisses Seokjin’s cheek.
He falls asleep that night dreaming of Namjoon’s lips on his, with the kitten winding between their legs.
Seokjin has just opened the window over his sink the when he hears a massive crash from his neighbor’s workshop. With a sigh and a snap of his fingers, he leaves his dishes to wash themselves and steps out his back door, walking over to the shed in his neighbor’s backyard.
This time when he opens the door RJ leaps carefully off of Namjoon’s workbench, seemingly unruffled by whatever caused the crash. He never had been claimed, so Namjoon had taken over ownership of the fluffy little kitten still known as RJ. Namjoon could have given him a different name, but RJ seems to have stuck.
It’s much easier to see Namjoon since he wasn’t blown back quite as far by the most recent explosion, but there he is, on his back. Seokjin helps him up, and this time he doesn’t stop his lights from nuzzling up against Namjoon’s cheeks.
He isn’t bleeding, but Seokjin’s lights still illuminate his temple and run down his side, checking for injuries before settling between Namjoon’s ears and chin. He pulls Namjoon to his feet, and his lights hover close enough for him to brush the dirt off.
There’s a faint magical shove against his back and he stumbles forward until Namjoon’s hands balance him.
“Hi,” he says, and that’s all he gets out before Namjoon kisses him.
For half of a second, he’s surprised, but then Namjoon’s hand settles on his lower back, and his entire body relaxes into it. Namjoon is kissing him, and Seokjin doesn’t wait to kiss him back. Namjoon runs his hands down Seokjin’s sides, and when they meet his hips, he pulls Seokjin even closer, angling his head and deepening the kiss.
When they finally break apart, Namjoon lets go just long enough to bring his hands up to cradle Seokjin’s cheeks, which he can feel growing warm.
“Hi,” Namjoon whispers with a smile before tilting Seokjin’s chin up and kissing him again.
Seokjin just wants to keep kissing Namjoon forever. He grips Namjoon’s biceps harder as he parts his lips and lets Namjoon lick into his mouth. He’s content to stay that way until he feels an unfamiliar weight on the tops of his feet.
He pulls back, but keeps his forehead pressed against Namjoon’s as he lets out a breathless laugh. He tilts his head farther down to see RJ looking back up at him from his perch on their feet.
“See, he likes you,” Namjoon says from near his ear. “Though not nearly as much as I do.”
Seokjin feels himself get somehow even more red. “I like you too, Joonie.”
Namjoon pulls him back up to kiss him again, but after a moment RJ meows loudly to complain that they’re not giving him enough attention, and they break apart with another laugh. RJ circles them as they head back into Namjoon’s house.
When they get distracted with kissing each other again, RJ decides that the best course of action is to get between them by climbing all the way up Namjoon using his claws.
It works.
(At least for a little bit.)