Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

They had put them in the same room - for now, at least. Yoongi supposed, sourly, he should be grateful for that. He didn’t appreciate anything else about the experience of having been forcibly “rescued” off of the street, together with his younger brother Seokjin, though. In his whole twenty-whatever years of life, he hadn’t heard a single credible positive story about the treatment of cat hybrids in shelters.

He was not only filled with rage to be confined to a locked room with a barred window, he was also terrified that they would be separated soon: he would be an idiot to ignore the fact that Seokjin was better looking, his black-and-white fur still fairly smooth (or it would be if it were clean), his face and ears unmarred by the ugly scars that Yoongi had. He’d probably be picked up by a prospective adopter in a heartbeat. Well, Yoongi had fought to keep them together before, he supposed he could do it again. He rubbed his arms and neck, where he had been forcibly grabbed by the humans who had cornered them in the alleyway and manhandled them into the hybrid transport truck. If only Yoongi and Seokjin hadn’t been fast asleep when they showed up, and too slow to react, things would have ended very differently. They would still be free.

A knock came at the door. Yoongi had been crouched on the floor in front of the cot ever since they had been pushed in here, about an hour ago. Seokjin was asleep on the cot and Yoongi had been standing guard. He didn’t say anything in response to the knock, just kept his eyes and one-and-a-half ears on the entrance to the room. 

The doorknob turned and the door swung open outward. A shelter worker peeked in - a human. Yoongi glared at her and growled. She didn’t react, keeping her eyes carefully on the floor. She was holding a large, white, faux-wicker plastic basket that contained some folded up towels, some other fabric that looked like sweatpants or the like, and some bottles that Yoongi couldn’t identify.

“I’m sorry we didn’t have the bathroom fully stocked for you guys when you came in,” she said softly, putting the basket down carefully just inside the door. “We didn’t get much notice.”

Yoongi continued glaring at her, unblinking, his ears pressed flat against his head and his tail puffed up.

“Take your time,” she went on. “There are clean clothes for both of you, and shampoo for hybrid fur. You can shower and get changed whenever you like.”

Yoongi kept glaring until she backed out of the room and closed (and locked) the door. He kept his feet where they were, but leaned over and reached for the basket, pulling it towards himself. He rummaged around and found the items as described. At least, he thought so: he couldn’t read the words on the bottles, so he didn’t know what the difference between them was.

“What’s happening?” Seokjin asked sleepily behind him.

“Do you want to shower? They gave us stuff,” Yoongi informed him, figuring they might as well take advantage of the opportunity while they were imprisoned here. “You can go first, I’ll stay out here and make sure nobody comes in.”

“Okay, sure!” Seokjin said, brightening up at the sight of the nice clean things.

After Seokjin had showered (and told Yoongi which of the bottles was shampoo, conditioner, and body wash), Yoongi did so as well. He made Seokjin stay in the bathroom with him, terrified that someone might come and take him from the outer room while Yoongi was unable to hear over the sound of the water. They dutifully put the provided clothes on - very plain underwear and sweatsuits, but Yoongi was amazed at how good it felt to be clean and put clean clothes on. He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d done that - their opportunities to do so had been rare, maybe a few times a year they’d sneak into a truck stop at off hours and wash away the grime. 

And he felt even better to see Seokjin smile, obviously pleased as well. He looked as handsome as ever, his tuxedo-patterned fur making him look poised and polished even though he was just wearing sweats. Yoongi had black fur - an inauspicious fur color for cat hybrids, just as it was for plain old cats - and even freshly washed and dried it was scraggly, probably from years of outdoor living and malnutrition. Not that most people even got as far as noticing that, considering Yoongi had one of his ears torn completely off - just a an inch or two of it left sticking up raggedly from his head - and a long, straight scar from a cut that went all the way from his forehead, over his eye, and down to his cheek. Both injuries were from some knucklehead that had thought they were easy prey a few years ago, and though he had gotten those marks in on Yoongi, he’d lived to regret it. 

“This doesn’t seem too bad so far, right?” Seokjin suggested timidly.

Yoongi shrugged irritably. No amount of amenities inside the shelter could really make up for the fact that they’d had violence used against them to bring them here in the first place. They put their dirty, ragged clothing and duct-taped shoes in a neat pile in one corner, unsure of what else to do. Then, another knock came on the door, and Seokjin grabbed for Yoongi on instinct. So, they were standing in the middle of the room holding on to each other when the door opened yet again.

It was the same shelter worker as before. 

“We have some dinner ready for you now,” she said calmly. “If you’d follow me?”

Yoongi grabbed Seokjin's hand and they walked cautiously out of the room together. Yoongi looked around as they walked down the hallway - he hadn’t had much of a chance to see it on the way in, still struggling and screaming and trying to get loose of the men who had grabbed him. There were no windows here, but at least it was clean and didn’t smell too terribly of other hybrids. 

They followed her around a corner, the two hybrids sticking close to the wall with their ears forward and alert, and reached a little institutional dining room. Nobody else was in there at the moment, but it sounded like at least one or two people were in the kitchen on the other side of the wall. Yoongi didn’t see any obvious escape routes - all the doors he could spot were clearly leading to more interior spaces, and he hadn’t spotted anything that helped him orient himself with where the building was in relation to the outside world.

“I’m so sorry we didn’t have something ready sooner,” the worker said as she waved them to a table.

Why bring us in at all, then? Yoongi thought to himself resentfully. Why not just leave us alone like we wanted?

Yoongi and Seokjin stood next to the table, not bothering to reply, looking all around the room first. By the time they finally reluctantly sat down, the woman had fetched a tray from the kitchen window and was placing it in front of them. Then, mercifully, she sat down at the table next to theirs, at a ninety-degree angle to them. Yoongi could tell she was keeping an eye on them in her peripheral vision, but at least she had some semblance of manners to not stare at them directly while they ate. 

The food was hot and delicious - a stirfry of some kind, with meat and cabbage and noodles in it. They ate quickly, shoveling it into their mouths with chopsticks. It had been at least a few weeks since they had gotten to eat something hot and fresh like this. 

Yoongi moved a big scoop of food off of his plate onto Seokjin’s every second or third bite. Couldn’t hurt. Even though his little brother was taller than him now, that just meant he needed more food to stay healthy.

The instant they had finished everything else off, the woman stood up and took their plates back to the kitchen. 

“I’ll get you some more to eat in a minute,” she told them. “Would you be willing to sit and answer some questions?”

Yoongi just stared at her. Seokjin looked between the two of them.

“Sure,” Seokjin finally offered. “I mean, what kind of questions?”

“Just to help us figure out how we can help you,” she explained.

“Just let us go,” Yoongi snapped at her. “We didn’t ask for help.”

She smiled sadly. Yoongi huffed out an irritated sigh. Seokjin squeezed his hand. Still, when she gestured for them to come, they followed her down a different hallway, and then they were in another little room, which had a few very cozy hybrid cushion-beds in it (the ones shaped like giant donuts but with a padded bottom to the hole), as well as a human sitting in a comfy-looking chair with a computer in his lap. Yoongi and Seokjin sat together in one of the beds, side by side.

“Hi, I’m Jihoon,” the man said calmly. “I just wanted to get a couple of things in our records for you. There’s no wrong answers, okay?”

Yoongi just stared at him still, tucked in next to Seokjin.

“What are your names?” he asked first, his fingers poised over the keyboard on his lap.

“Yoongi.”

“Seokjin.”

“Any family name?”

“Mine is Kim!” Seokjin told him. 

Yoongi just shook his head. He had no memory of ever having a family. He had no idea who had even given him so much as the name Yoongi - he had been on his own on the street for as long as he could remember. 

“How old are you?”

“I’m twenty-six, Yoongi is twenty-seven,” Seokjin said. 

“I actually don’t know for sure,” Yoongi suddenly volunteered, nervous for some reason about being caught in a lie. 

“Well, when we met, I was ten, and you were eleven,” Seokjin reminded him.

Yoongi butted his head against Seokjin’s shoulder.

“I didn’t know even then,” he admitted. “You just said you were ten so I figured I should say I was older so you’d listen to me.”

Seokjin smiled. Yoongi remembered little Seokjin, newly abandoned and so scared to be on his own. Yoongi was so, so mad that someone had left him out there, and pledged to take care of him. Seokjin had been his little brother from that day on.

“So I don’t know,” Yoongi continued, addressing Jihoon again. “I guess, put twenty-seven, but I don’t want to get in trouble if it’s not true,” he concluded defensively.

But Jihoon smiled gently at him.

“Of course, you won’t get in trouble for anything you answer, okay?” he said soothingly. “Thank you for telling me. The truth is always good.”

Yoongi sunk a little further down where he was sitting, feeling small and uncertain, liking the praise but also not liking that he did like the praise. 

“How long have you been unhoused?” he asked next.

“Always,” Yoongi answered bluntly. “Don’t need anything else.”

“Since I was ten,” Seokjin said. “Got dumped on the street by a human family. I don’t know their names or address or anything.”

“Okay,” Jihoon said evenly, continuing to type. “When’s the most recent time you’ve had a medical checkup?”

“Never,” Yoongi replied confidently.

“I guess I must have had one when I was a kitten,” Seokjin offered with a shrug.

“Okay,” Jihoon said, clicking the mouse. “Any health concerns at the moment? Any aches and pains, any cuts, recent fevers, coughing, or shortness of breath?”

“Nope,” Yoongi said quickly, wanting to avoid a doctor at all costs.

“Well, if you feel unwell in any way, or have anything you want to talk about,” Jihoon said, and Yoongi didn’t miss the way his eyes briefly went to the scar on Yoongi’s face and the ragged remains of his ripped ear, “then please let us know.”

Yoongi suppressed the urge to snarl at him, and simply pressed himself closer to Seokjin. 

“Thank you guys,” Jihoon said quietly, snapping his computer shut. “You can head back to your room and get some rest.”

Can? Yoongi thought sourly. Not can, we have to. In any case, another worker escorted them back, though Yoongi still peered at every door along the way, looking for any weak point or obvious escape route. He noticed she was carrying a big plastic grocery bag and wondered what that was for. 

“This is more food for you,” she said, handing the bag to Yoongi once they were through the door. “All stuff that will keep. Let us know if you need anything else, okay?”

Yoongi took the bag wordlessly and didn’t reply. Once she left and the door was closed, he rifled through it. There were a few fruit drinks that looked tasty, some dried seafood snacks, some dried fruit, crackers, and so on - all good things to have on hand. Yoongi thought about what the best way to stash it was, when he turned around and spotted their backpacks.

He was incensed to see that though their they were still there, they had clearly been rifled through. Yoongi put the food down on the cot and cried out angrily as he checked them. The stuff inside the backpacks was all there, but their old clothes and shoes had been taken.

“Yoongi, it’s okay,” Seokjin soothed him, running his hand on his back while Yoongi stood there, clenching and unclenching his hands. “The clothes they gave us are newer and thicker.”

“But our shoes!” Yoongi growled, nearly inconsolable. “It’s not fair!”

“I’m exhausted,” Seokjin said suddenly, changing the subject. “Can you hold my hand until I fall asleep?”

So Yoongi huffed a big sigh and made a conscious effort to smooth down his tail and relax his ears. Seokjin smiled at him and yawned and laid himself down on the cot. So Yoongi curled up on the cot next to his brother and interlaced their fingers, and was asleep before he even knew it.

He was woken up a few hours later to the sound of the door opening yet again, sometime in the early evening, about when humans would be wrapping up for the day and cat hybrids would be waking up. He lifted his head up sharply and glared at the human sticking her head in. She merely smiled at him, and placed another bundle of things on the ground, and left without a word. Yoongi carefully shifted away from Seokjin and then padded over to investigate.

It was their old clothes, now washed and dried (though still stained and threadbare), and two new pairs of very plain sneakers - in the same sizes as the ones that had been taken. Yoongi quickly stuffed all of it in their backpacks, then put the backpacks underneath the cot so it would be very difficult for anyone to take any of their things while they were in the room. 

Yoongi spent the night listening to the comings and goings in the hallway. Seokjin woke up soon after Yoongi did, and stayed awake for most of the night as well - he dug Yoongi’s battered flashlight out of his bag, and lay down on his back on the bunk, turning it on and off to make it flash, and waving the beam across the ceiling for his own amusement. And of course they nibbled on their trove of snacks at will. It was boring to be stuck in that room, but at least they weren’t hungry, and they had as much clean water as they wanted.

Finally, Yoongi’s vigilance by the door was rewarded when he heard the sound of footsteps coming towards the room, this time accompanied by voices. At first they were far enough away that Yoongi could only make out a few of the words, but what they were saying became more and more clear as they approached.

“Watching-...-a few weeks-...-opportunity, had to-...-totally feral, but-...-bonded pair, so you’d have to take them both. They’ve-...-very rough time, from what little we know about them, so they’re going to need a lot of patience and love,” he heard.

Yoongi’s heart rate immediately skyrocketed. A potential adopter? Coming to the shelter now, in the middle of the night? Why would a human do that? Sure, they should know that cat hybrids are usually nocturnal, but from what he’d heard they would still be more likely to show up during the day and insist the hybrids wake up for them.

The footsteps halted outside the door, and Yoongi and Seokjin had vaulted up onto the cot, standing with their backs against the far wall, before the expected knock even rang out against the door. Neither of them answered. Yoongi shifted so that he was partially in front of Seokjin, his arm out at an angle across his body.

“Yoongi, Seokjin, I’m here with a visitor,” the voice said, and then the door swung open again.

To Yoongi’s shock, the other person who came inside behind the shelter worker was another cat hybrid. A very sleek, healthy one in beautiful, colorful clothes, with a kind face and shiny gray fur. He looked sad when he saw that Yoongi and Seokjin were perched up as far as they could get from the door.

“Oh, sweeties,” he said quietly, sounding devastated.

Yoongi had an internal war about whether to stare into this stranger’s eyes challengingly, as he had been doing to the humans, or to more politely avoid eye contact. The cot squeaked underneath his bare feet as he shifted his weight minutely, nerves afire. He settled on staring at the visitor’s shoulder, his ears pinned back and his tail trembling with how puffed-out it was.

“Hi, I’m Hoseok,” the stranger said quietly, looking just to the side of Yoongi. “Are you Yoongi? And Seokjin?”

Yoongi nodded, taking another little side-step so that Seokjin was a little further behind him.

“I have a really nice house with a clowder of five. Do you think you might want to come stay with us?” Hoseok said.

Yoongi glanced sideways up at Seokjin, who looked back at him, wide-eyed, scared but trusting Yoongi. He looked back in the direction of Hoseok.

“Do you have a yard?” Yoongi asked, barely able to get his voice above a whisper from anxiousness and uncertainty.

Hoseok smiled warmly, looking delighted that Yoongi had spoken to him. 

“Yes!” he confirmed. “We have a big yard, and you two would have your own room.”

Yoongi thought hard. It certainly sounded like an easier place to escape from than here at the shelter.

“Okay,” Yoongi said shortly. “Can we go there right now?”

Hoseok’s smile got even bigger. 

“We can go there very soon,” he replied. “But the shelter won’t release you until you’ve had a basic medical checkup.”

“Never mind then,” Yoongi said sharply, forcing himself to stand up straighter.

Hoseok’s smile turned sad.

“They’ll be very careful,” he said coaxingly. “They won’t give you any shots. Wouldn’t it be nice to be sure that your brother is healthy? Or if he needs medicine?”

Yoongi shot another glance at Seokjin, uncertain again. They’d probably force them to do it anyway at some point. Maybe it would be better to get it over with. Maybe the presence of a free, possibly rich, cat hybrid would keep the human doctor from being too mean.

“Maybe you could go first, Yoongi,” Hoseok suggested. “And show Seokjin that it wouldn’t be so bad. You could stay together the whole time.”

That gave Yoongi an idea.

“You go first,” he said to Hoseok, trying to sound stern. “The doctor can show us what he’s going to do on you.”

Hoseok nodded, and actually looked pleased at Yoongi’s suggestion. 

“Sure, I can do that,” Hoseok agreed calmly. “If I do the exam first, do you promise you’ll both do it too?”

“Yes,” Yoongi and Seokjin replied together.

So, momentarily, after the shelter worker sent a few messages on her phone, Yoongi and Seokjin were being led out of the room and down a hallway, and to a little checkup room they had on-site. Yoongi supposed it wasn’t so surprising that they had a doctor who worked the night shift, given that cat hybrids were probably the most common residents here. Yoongi and Seokjin stood to one side, their backs pressed up against the wall, while Hoseok gamely sat on the exam table, paper wrinkling and crackling underneath him.

The doctor talked through all the steps of the exam - feeling Hoseok’s throat, shining a light into his ears and his mouth, putting a stethoscope on his chest and listening to him breathe, and then making him lie down and prod into his belly a few times. 

“And that’s it!” the doctor said calmly. 

Hoseok looked over at the two brothers brightly.

“Ready to try it now?” he asked, hopping up off of the table.

“Okay,” Yoongi agreed gruffly. “I’ll go first.”

He sat on the table the same way Hoseok had, trying to pretend he wasn’t nervous and afraid. He hoped the doctor didn’t yank on his scarred ear too hard, or prod his teeth that had started hurting, or grab at his tail at the place that had been broken and healed with a little kink in it. He scowled at the doctor, daring him to do something wrong - Yoongi would call the whole thing off and yowl and fight and never let the man touch his brother.

But, under his glaring eyes, and deftly avoiding his lashing tail, the doctor simply did all the same things that he had done to Hoseok. He felt his throat and looked into his mouth and eyes, but didn’t touch Yoongi’s bad ear when he shined his light into it. Yoongi watched the doctor carefully as he clearly looked at the scar on his face and the damage to his ear, but the man didn’t say anything. He made a frowny face when Yoongi lifted up his shirt for the stethoscope but didn’t say anything. He kept his frowny face when Yoongi laid down. Yoongi didn’t like letting the doctor prod his stomach - not at all - but he put up with it without growling.

“Okay, all done!” the doctor said. 

Yoongi leapt off the table at lightning speed, yanking his shirt back down and quickly smoothing down the fur on his head and neck. 

“He’s definitely too thin,” the doctor said, looking between the shelter worker and Hoseok and Yoongi, “so focus on getting him to eat whatever he’ll accept. And you’ll want to get him to a dentist. Getting some of the damage to his teeth repaired might make it easier for him to eat.”

Yoongi hunched down a little, surprised that the doctor had been able to tell that his teeth were bothering him just from how they looked. Then the doctor turned and addressed him directly.

“Does that ear bother you?” he asked, using a softer tone of voice than before. “It looks like it didn’t quite properly heal.”

Yoongi hunched down further and shook his head. It did hurt, it ached, and it had reopened a few times when he accidentally banged it on things. But he certainly wasn’t going to admit that. The doctor glanced over at Hoseok, and then apparently decided to let it go.

“Ok, Seokjin, you’re up!” he directed cheerfully.

So Seokjin’s exam continued just like Yoongi’s had, with Yoongi keeping an eagle eye on the proceedings the whole time. Ears, eyes, mouth, chest and tummy all examined, with nothing other than the usual “hmms” from the doctor.

“Thank you both,” the doctor said once he’d dismissed Seokjin, and Yoongi had quickly pulled him over and put his arm around him protectively. 

“Seokjin is very healthy,” he said straightforwardly. “I recommend a more thorough checkup once they’re more settled in, but there don’t seem to be any concerns at the moment.”

“That’s great, thank you,” Hoseok said.

And then came what ended up being an even worse ordeal than the checkup in some ways: the paperwork. Yoongi and Seokjin gathered up their backpacks and their gifted snacks and shampoo, put on their shoes, and then were taken back to the same office they’d been interviewed in the previous day. Yoongi and Seokjin put their bags in the corner and plopped themselves back down in the donut-shaped chair. Hoseok, the poor fool, had to sit in the human chair up at the desk and sign a bunch of things over and over. Yoongi supposed it was all stuff that meant Hoseok was responsible for them, would need to comply with all regulations concerning hybrids not owned by human caretakers, yadda yadda yadda. Yoongi didn’t care, because he and Seokjin would be escaping from his house shortly, and it wouldn’t have anything to do with them. It seemed to be taking forever. So he put his head down on Seokjin’s side and fell asleep. 

“Hey sweet boys,” Hoseok said softly some time later, putting a gentle hand on Yoongi’s shoulder, “it’s time to go!”

Yoongi lifted up his head and yawned, as Seokjin - who had evidently napped too - did the same. Yoongi didn’t really feel great about going with this Hoseok guy, but logically, it had to be better than being in the shelter. So he grumbled a little, then got his bag, and handed Seokjin his bag, and they followed Hoseok out of the building and into the parking lot.

The sun still wasn’t up - but judging from the sky, it was less than an hour until dawn. So the three of them had no trouble navigating the parking lot, even without any streetlights overhead. Hoseok had a very nice van, as it turned out. Yoongi supposed with a clowder of five, they’d have to. Hoseok pulled out the little fob from his pocket and clicked it, and the door slid open on its own. He and Seokjin obediently hopped into the back, crowding together into the middle seats and carefully stowing their things at their feet.

Hoseok waited until they had buckled their seatbelts before he closed the door and went up to the driver’s seat. Yoongi assumed he had engaged the “child” safety locks, and didn’t bother trying the door. Then the engine was on, and they were driving to wherever Hoseok’s house was. 

“Are you guys hungry?” Hoseok asked as soon as they pulled out of the parking lot. “The guys back home are getting dinner ready for us, so we can eat as soon as we get there.”

“Yeah, that sounds good,” Seokjin replied politely.

“What are you having?” Yoongi asked bluntly.

“We’re having sushi!” Hoseok informed him cheerfully.

“Oh really?” Seokjin cried, sitting up straight. “That sounds amazing!”

“Great!” Hoseok said with a grin.

Yoongi stayed quiet. He couldn’t be won over by food, no matter how hard they tried.

They reached the house, a very nice building in a nice neighborhood, three stories tall with lots of windows, several trees in the front, and what looked like an even taller tree peeking out from behind it. Hoseok pulled into the driveway, and Yoongi quickly unbuckled and grabbed their bags, so that he could leap out as soon as Hoseok opened the door.

Both Yoongi and Seokjin had their eyes and ears wheeling all over as Hoseok escorted them down the short path to the door, trying to assess the neighborhood. Yoongi kept a tight grip on Seokjin’s fingers with one hand, and his bag with the other, as they followed Hoseok through the door. He sniffed the air aggressively as they walked through, picking up the scents of four other hybrids besides the traces of Hoseok that lingered in the air.

“Let’s put our shoes and bags down by the door,” Hoseok suggested gently, “and then we can all introduce ourselves, and then eat!”

Yoongi and Seokjin obeyed quickly, putting their bags down where Hoseok pointed, carefully taking off the brand new shoes they had been given at the shelter and lining them up next to the wall. Then they linked hands again and slunk around the corner, following Hoseok. 

The living room was amazing. Right away, Yoongi was sure it was the most incredible room he had ever seen. There were two different couches, three giant squishy-looking armchairs, five beanbags, three hammocks, and two loft perches installed in the upper corners. And a gigantic television - the largest Yoongi had ever seen. 

And, of course, the people. Yoongi glanced at them quickly. Two of them were sitting side-by-side on one of the couches, staring at him much more directly than he would prefer. Perhaps they disagreed with Hoseok? Perhaps they didn’t want Yoongi and Seokjin to be there? There was another one standing up, greeting Hoseok with a hug and a cheek rub, and one sitting curled up in one of the hammocks, his tail swishing lazily below. A total of five cat hybrids, just as Hoseok had said.

“Hello everyone, I’m back, and I’d like you to meet Yoongi and Seokjin. They’re brothers, and they’re going to be staying with us,” Hoseok said, once his housemate had stepped back.

The others in the room called out quiet words of greeting, and Yoongi could see hands raised in little waves in his peripheral vision.

“Come on, guys, come sit down,” Hoseok added quietly, turning back to them, and gesturing at the closest couch.

Yoongi, still holding Seokjin’s hand, led the two of them to the indicated spot, and they both sat, keeping their tails tucked carefully in and their heads down. 

“I’m Jimin,” the one who had greeted Hoseok piped up, smiling as much as Hoseok was - a very pretty calico with little golden stud earrings that glinted in his ears.

“I’m Taehyung,” called out the dark brown tabby swinging in the hammock, his voice deep and rich.

“I’m Namjoon,” said the tortoiseshell on the couch - his eyes, even behind big round glasses, too sharp for Yoongi’s liking.

“I’m Jungkook,” said the one next to him, a gray tabby like Hoseok, his eyes big and earnest.

Yoongi took an instant dislike to the way Namjoon and Jungkook were staring at them. What was their problem anyway? He kept his thoughts to himself, though.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Seokjin said politely. “Thank you for having us here.”

Hoseok smiled at both of them equally warmly, as if giving Yoongi credit alongside Seokjin for the greeting. Yoongi remained silent. 

“Well, I’m sure everyone’s hungry. I’ll bring out the food. Taehyung and Jungkook, can you guys please set up the tables?” Hoseok instructed.

Yoongi and Seokjin remained where they were on the couch, tense and holding hands, while the clowder sprang into action. The deep-voiced brown tabby - Taehyung - gracefully jumped out of the hammock, and the gray tabby on the couch - Jungkook - sprang up, and they headed over to the wall where a few low tables were stacked up. They quickly brought them out and lined them up with the coffee table right in front of Yoongi and Seokjin. Meanwhile, Jimin had left the room with Hoseok, headed in the direction of the kitchen. Yoongi watched it all warily, and after a few moments of bustling around and carrying back and forth, an amazing array of sushi and condiments had been put out on the low tables. 

“Alright, let’s eat!” Hoseok said cheerily, handing out plates and chopsticks.

They let Yoongi and Seokjin pile up their plates first, however. Yoongi could hardly believe how much food there was, and how delicious it all looked. He couldn’t even focus on keeping track of the five strangers in the room, because he wanted to make sure he and Seokjin were able to eat. They used their chopsticks and piled up their plates, and then without speaking retreated away, sitting on a bench up against the far wall, so they could keep an eye on everyone while they ate.

Fortunately Hoseok seemed content to allow this, though he was clearly keeping an eye on them. Yoongi put the first piece in his mouth and almost started purring. It was so good, so savory and fresh. It was the best thing he’d eaten in a long time - possibly ever. He watched Seokjin eat too as he chewed, pleased to see Seokjin making his own yummy face and looking as contented as could be.

Yoongi moved a few pieces of sushi off of his plate and onto Seokjin’s out of long habit. Yes, there was plenty of food here, but he couldn’t be too careful.

Yoongi had always prided himself on having taken care of Seokjin for all the years they’d been together. Yoongi had already been on his own out there for as long as he could remember when they met as children, but Seokjin could still remember what it was like to have a home, to sleep inside every night, to have three meals a day - all of which seemed rather fanciful to Yoongi. Although, unlike Yoongi, he could read, which was useful.

Yoongi had taken him under his wing, shared all his food with him, given him the bigger portion always, protected him in every way that he could. And yes, Yoongi had had to get in fights sometimes to protect them, and for his efforts he’d gotten that nasty scar on his face, and he’d had most of one ear painfully ripped off, and his tail broken in two places that had healed crooked, and other bruises and injuries too numerous to recall. But it was worth it to look over and see Seokjin, strong and tall - taller than Yoongi, even. Yoongi felt like that was the one thing he could be proud of, his sole accomplishment in life: he had succeeded in raising Seokjin and done everything he could for him. 

Yoongi stuffed another piece into his mouth and chanced another look around the room, now that the sharpest pangs of hunger had been silenced. Hoseok was sitting next to Namjoon and Jungkook now, so that he was facing towards where Yoongi and Seokjin had moved themselves. He seemed easy and peaceful, though his ears were still pointed directly at Yoongi even when he chatted with the rest of his clowder. Everyone else, even the too-interested Namjoon and Jungkook, were now politely ignoring Yoongi and Seokjin. 

Yoongi listened a bit to their conversation. Namjoon was talking about music of some kind, and then Jimin mentioned something about a class he was teaching, and Taehyung was involved in some kind of project that involved comparing different types of lightbulbs. It all seemed confusing and Yoongi was a little irritated that he understood so little of it. Well, he supposed it didn’t matter if he came to understand the context of their lives - he wasn’t staying.

They came back for second plates of sushi, and then thirds. Everyone else did too. Yoongi watched them all eat and talk, and wondered for a moment what it was like to live like this every day - to be able to eat your fill, to be able to sit in a comfortable, sheltered place for as long as you liked without constantly looking over your shoulder for people trying to make trouble for you or force you to move along, to have things to talk about other than where the next meal was coming from or where the next place to try to rest would be.

He had two pieces of sushi left on his plate. He ate one and moved the last one to Seokjin’s plate. Seokjin smiled at Yoongi and ate it.

“Did you both get enough to eat?” Hoseok called out to them.

“Yes, thank you,” Yoongi said, feeling less aggravated and on-edge now that he wasn’t hungry any more and nothing bad had happened in this house yet.

“Okay, great. Jimin, Namjoon, can you guys clean up while I show Yoongi and Seokjin to their room?” he said.

And just like before dinner, they all sprang into action smoothly. Jimin came and grabbed the empty plates from Yoongi and Seokjin. Yoongi glanced at the remaining food at the table, suddenly feeling anxious. This was the first meal here, but when was the next one? They still had some snacks from the shelter in their bags, but it couldn’t help to be safe. So he quickly walked over and grabbed a bowl of crackers that was left. That wouldn’t go bad.

“Oh, are you still hungry?” Hoseok asked him. 

Yoongi shook his head and held the bowl closer to his chest.

“You don’t need to keep that with you,” Hoseok said. “We have plenty of food out in the kitchen.”

Yoongi still wasn’t willing to part with his crackers.

“How about this,” Hoseok said. “I’ll show you where you’re sleeping, and you can put your bags away, and then we’ll take a look at the kitchen and the pantry together! You can see how much we have to eat.”

“Okay,” Yoongi finally agreed warily.

Hoseok smiled kindly when Yoongi handed him the bowl of crackers. He handed it off to Jimin in turn, and then told Yoongi and Seokjin to grab their bags.

They followed Hoseok down a hallway that branched off the far side of the living room, and then through an open doorway into a surprisingly large bedroom. Yoongi was actually impressed when he peeked in, looking at everything inside while Hoseok stood in the middle of the room beaming at them. There were two lofted beds on each side, high enough that there was a little sitting area with a beanbag chair underneath each one. Then there were little perches installed in the upper back corners, still just low enough that anyone lying down on them would still be able to peek out of the large window that took up the whole back wall. The window looked out the side of the house, a view onto a part of the street Yoongi hadn’t seen on the way in.

“Come in, take a look around,” Hoseok coaxed them. 

“It is nice,” Yoongi said, scooting around the edge of the room. 

“Yeah, this is great!” Seokjin enthused.

“Okay, put your bags down, and take a look around,” Hoseok said, staying at the doorway, “and when you feel ready, come back out and I’ll show you the kitchen!”

Then with a smile he left, leaving the door wide open. 

“I’ll take this side, you take the other!” Seokjin said enthusiastically, throwing his backpack down on one of the beanbag chairs and clambering up onto the bed above it. 

He sat there, looking around the room, swinging his feet and looking pleased. Yoongi put his bag down underneath the other bed, then prowled around the room. He opened the other door in the room, and discovered they had their own bathroom, with a shower and everything. He opened the sliding door to the closet and found it empty except for extra bedding and pillows. He looked into all the drawers of the little dressers that were next to each bed, and found a few pieces of plain, tail-friendly clothing folded up neatly in each one. He squished the beanbag chairs with his foot and pulled down on the perches. 

It was nice - very cozy, comforting, clean. 

Yoongi peered out the window, getting a sense of how close they were to the street. He could see a little bit of green yard and a tall fence. He undid the latch and slid the window open - it would only open a few inches though, not wide enough to even fit his head through. He looked at the frame, and saw a stopper screwed down, preventing it from opening any wider. So he just pressed his face to the screen so he could smell the air outside. Perhaps he’d be able to find a screwdriver somewhere.

“Let’s go look at the kitchen now!” Seokjin suggested, hopping down from the bed and landing lightly on the nice wooden floor. 

Yoongi wordlessly turned away from the window and grabbed Seokjin’s hand. They peeked their heads cautiously out of the bedroom door, then walked hand-in-hand back down the hallway the way they’d come. They paused when they made it back to the living room. Jimin and Taehyung were sitting together on the couch, and waved to them when they spotted them. Jungkook and Hoseok were lazily play-fighting underneath one of the hammocks, and Yoongi could hear someone humming to himself in the kitchen around the corner, which had to be Namjoon by process of elimination.

“Ah, is everything okay with your room!” Hoseok called out as soon as he spotted them, squirming out of the grinning Jungkook’s grip. 

“Yes,” Yoongi said. 

“It’s very nice, thank you,” Seokjin added, squeezing Yoongi’s hand. 

“Okay, let’s take a look at the kitchen!” Hoseok said, smoothing out his clothes as he stood up, and then gesturing towards the direction the food had come from. 

Yoongi and Seokjin followed him around the corner, and entered into a kitchen that looked straight out of a magazine, or maybe even one of those cooking shows on television. It was huge, with tall cabinets on every wall, a huge island in the middle, and lots of lights embedded in the ceiling. Not to mention two fridges, two ovens, and a stovetop with eight burners. There were so many drawers and cabinets, in fact, that Yoongi wondered how they could possibly keep track of what was inside all of them. What could even be in all of them? Different… bowls? Yoongi didn’t know.

Namjoon was indeed there, standing at the large double sink, humming to himself and washing the dishes. He glanced over at them and smiled, his tail waving slightly. What a weirdo, Yoongi thought.

“So, all the leftover sushi got put in here,” Hoseok said, opening one of the fridges and pointing to a platter covered with plastic wrap, “and all the fruits and veggies in these drawers are for anyone to eat whenever they want.”

Yoongi stared - he couldn’t believe how much food was in just the one fridge. It was practically a whole grocery store by itself - packaged meat and fish and boxes of other leftovers, beverages, condiments, cheeses! It was incredible. Hoseok closed it again.

“And this is the pantry, this side has all the canned stuff, and the crackers and cereal and other stuff you can eat any time,” he went on, opening what had appeared to be a closet door.

It was a whole other room! A small one, and yeah, the size of a closet, but it had floor-to-ceiling shelves absolutely stuffed full of food. There jars and cans and boxes of all colors, and bags of rice and beans, and canisters of noodles, and Yoongi didn’t even know what else.

“You have so much canned tuna!” Seokjin said in an awed tone, as he and Yoongi stepped slowly into the pantry and looked all around.

Yoongi snapped his head to look and indeed, there were stacks and stacks of cans of tuna - probably at least two dozen. His mouth watered just thinking about it. But he was still full, and he’d made himself sick before eating too much, so he didn’t touch it. 

“We can just come in and grab some whenever we want?” he asked Hoseok.

Hoseok beamed at him.

“Yup!” he confirmed. “All I ask is that you don’t leave food out. Put containers away when you’re done, or in the trash when it’s empty, and put your dirty dishes in the sink.”

“Okay,” Seokjin said, nodding, “that makes sense.”

It didn’t entirely make sense to Yoongi, but he stayed quiet. They came back out into the main kitchen, where Namjoon was still washing. Yoongi felt a bit in awe of the whole thing. This was even nicer than being in a large kitchen seemed like it would be from what he’d seen on television.

“Is this the trash here?” Seokjin asked, sliding open a cupboard right next to the sink.

And, sure enough, there was a trash can hidden there. It suddenly occurred to Yoongi that Seokjin had lived in a place like this when he was little - that all of this was probably less of a mystery than it was to Yoongi. That made him feel slightly better. 

“So what’s in all the rest of it then?” Yoongi asked curiously, waving his arms to indicate all the rest of the cabinets.

Hoseok and Namjoon both grinned at him. They proceeded to give a whole tour of the kitchen, proudly and patiently showing off everything: the lower cabinets that held blenders and juicers and toasters, the middle ones that had pots and pans and strainers, the shallow ones that had silverware and tongs and so many spoons, the upper ones that had bowls and plates and glasses and mugs. It was dizzying. 

And this was just the kitchen! What was in the rest of the house? But although it was all very interesting, Yoongi also felt exhausted contemplating it. He kind of felt ready to lie down and stop thinking about all the complicated parts of being in a house with six people, even if he intended to leave very soon. Namjoon showed Seokjin the water dispenser in the fridge, and that suddenly made Yoongi realize how thirsty he was. 

So he thought for a moment, remembered which cupboard had the glasses in it, and grabbed one. Then he filled up a glass of water, and retreated to the corner of the room to drink it. Namjoon and Hoseok watched him, but didn’t say anything. They were still chatting with Seokjin about something - Yoongi’s attention was scattered and he wasn’t sure what words they were saying. Seokjin looked pleased and comfortable though, his tail calm and his ears forward, so that was all that Yoongi cared about, really.

From this angle, crouched down in the corner, guzzling his water noisily, he could see into the living room. Jimin had left his spot with Taehyung and was bustling around - he got out a broom and swept the wooden and tile parts of the living room and entry way, and then he got out a little vacuum cleaner and quickly vacuumed the carpets and even the couches themselves. Yoongi flattened his ears, not liking the sound of the vacuum - but at least it wasn’t too loud. 

He thought about Jimin cleaning that room, and the dishes they had eaten off of, that Namjoon had had to wash. Not only were there lots of things in the house, they all had to be kept clean in different ways. It must take a lot of time! He’d never thought about that before. He felt a little anxious, suddenly, thinking of the times he’d knocked things over in alleyways, or left trash behind, or…worse. And here he was, contributing to the messes in this very house. Well, all the better that he wasn’t staying.

Yoongi gulped down the last of his water. Then, thinking hard, he stood up and walked slowly to the sink. Namjoon was watching him, nothing outwardly mean in his expression, but Yoongi still didn’t like it. Yoongi glared at him, then carefully put the glass into the sink.

“Thank you!” Hoseok said warmly.

There, Yoongi had done that right, he was sure of it.

“Would you like to see the rest of the house now?” Hoseok offered.

“No, I’m going to sleep now,” Yoongi informed him, still feeling just as exhausted and even more overwhelmed than he had been before he got the glass of water.

It was late morning by now, well past the time he’d normally be asleep.

“Okay, that sounds good,” Hoseok said, just as happy and gentle and understanding as ever. 

“Have a nice rest!” Namjoon said. “I’m going to go get some shut-eye too.”

Namjoon went up the stairs that were next to the hallway. Yoongi supposed other bedrooms were up there. His mind boggled a little at all of it - beds and blankets and maybe…books? What sorts of things did these five guys own? What do you keep in a house, anyway? But that was a problem for the future, and Yoongi generally didn’t think much beyond a few hours ahead. He knew where he was sleeping and where his next meal was coming from, and that would suffice for now. He and Seokjin went back down the hallway to the room with the two beds, past Jimin and Jungkook and Taehyung who all called out “sleep well” to them as they went, Hoseok escorting them. 

“We all have different sleep schedules,” Hoseok said, once again stopping in the doorway while the two brothers went inside the room. “So there will always be at least one of us downstairs if you need anything, regardless of day or night.”

They were being watched, then, is what he meant. That made sense to Yoongi, at least. 

“Okay, see you later!” Seokjin said sleepily.

“Sleep well!” Hoseok said, and then he left and closed the door.

Seokjin climbed up onto the bunk bed that he had claimed. 

“Can you join me on this side?” he asked sweetly as soon as he got up there. “I’m not used to being by myself.”

“Of course,” Yoongi said.

It was a good idea - plus he wasn’t really looking forward to being by himself on the bunk bed on the other side of the room anyway. So, just like they had at the shelter, they curled up together and fell asleep quickly. Seokjin even purred a little as he dozed off - Yoongi was glad that Seokjin was feeling comfortable even if Yoongi wasn’t.

Yoongi woke up first, sometime in the middle of the afternoon. He could hear cars going by outside, footsteps on the floor above him. It was just so different than most other places he’d stayed. He wanted to sleep more, but he wanted to make sure Seokjin stayed protected. So he hopped down to the floor quietly and grabbed one of the beanbag chairs. He pulled it to the very middle of the floor, and curled up on top of it, making sure his face was angled such that if the door to the bedroom was cracked open, the beam of light would strike him right in the eyes. None of these soft house cats would get the drop on him, that he was sure of.

Yoongi fell back asleep within a few minutes, intending on grabbing some of that tuna as soon as he woke up. Might as well make the most of things while he was here.

Chapter Text

Yoongi woke up a few hours later, and spotted no evidence that anyone had tried to come in to the room. Seokjin was still asleep. He hopped up out of the beanbag chair and headed directly out to the kitchen. Jungkook was already there, singing to himself and getting out a bunch of pans and bowls.

“Hi Yoongi! Did you sleep well?” he greeted him cheerfully. “I’m making pancakes for breakfast.” 

Yoongi wondered if he was still allowed to get one of those cans of tuna like Hoseok had mentioned. He had said “anytime you want.” He shrugged as an answer to Jungkook, who was looking at him brightly, making Yoongi uncomfortable under the scrutiny.

“I’m making sausages too!” Jungkook added in what seemed to Yoongi like almost a coaxing tone.

He reached over and held up a plastic tray with dozens of little uncooked sausages on it. Enough to feed seven people, for sure. Yoongi felt his mouth watering.

“May I have some when you are done cooking?” he asked carefully.

“Absolutely!” Jungkook said with a flourish of his spatula. “It’s for everybody, that’s why I’m cooking so much!”

His smile grew bigger and his eyes sparkled. But he also twitched his tail back and forth, like he was secretly agitated. Yoongi wasn’t sure what that was about - everything here was confusing.

“Do I smell pancakes?” someone asked sleepily from behind him.  

It was Jimin. Yoongi heard more footsteps on the stairs - and that was Namjoon. Yoongi decided there was quite a lot happening out in the kitchen already and he wanted to go back to the room where Seokjin was. 

Seokjin woke up as soon as Yoongi popped his head into the room, rumpled and sleepy over the edge of the tall bunk.

“There’s going to be breakfast soon,” Yoongi told him. “Pancakes and sausage.”

“Yum!” Seokjin said drowsily, plopping his head back down and yawning.

Breakfast ended up being for everybody at once, just like dinner had been before they slept through most of the day. It was a bit more chaotic though, with the rest of the house coming and going, loading up plates to take over to various perches any where in the whole of the kitchen, living room, and dining room. Yoongi and Seokjin ended up sitting off on the side on the same bench they’d sat on before. 

Yoongi watched everyone else with a sense of unease. There was just so much happening at once. Jungkook was still flipping pancakes and frying up sausages and singing to himself. Jimin hauled his plate up onto one of the upper perches in the living room. Namjoon, in a feat requiring much less athleticism, merely took his over to one of the low tables and sat on the floor instead. Hoseok came in the front door and shouted out a cheerful greeting to everyone, leaving a stack of papers of some kind on the entryway table before going to wash his hands and get his own plate. Taehyung emerged from down the stairs as well, shirtless and damp, as if he’d just gotten out of the shower.

“How was your workout?” Namjoon asked Taehyung, as soon as he’d piled up a plate and sat at the little table across from him.

“Great! I bumped up to 80 kilos on the bench press and was able to do nine reps,” Taehyung replied proudly.

“Whoa, nice!” Namjoon crowed, reaching out and squeezing Taehyung’s bicep, who flexed and giggled in return. 

Yoongi listened, as he demolished his pancakes (and transferred two of his sausages to Seokjin), to Taehyung giving more incomprehensible details of his exercises to Namjoon. And Namjoon told him some things back, involving specific names of muscles and machines and techniques that Yoongi had never heard of before. Then they started talking about going running, about specific routes they’d taken and their personal best times. Yoongi couldn’t believe how cheerful they both were about it all.

“Do you guys go jogging together?” Seokjin asked, startling Yoongi slightly.

“Yeah, not often, but sometimes it lines up!” Namjoon confirmed brightly.

“I go jogging more often than either of them!” Jungkook suddenly piped up, finally leaving the kitchen with his own very full plate. “Do you guys want to come with next time?”

Yoongi watched Namjoon and Taehyung exchange a fond look at Jungkook’s cute bragging.

“Yeah, maybe!” Seokjin said, sounding like he was honestly considering it.

Yoongi was momentarily surprised, but then he realized Seokjin was merely probing for weaknesses. Maybe going jogging was a good time to escape. Of course, it would be extremely difficult to smuggle their belongings out that way…perhaps Yoongi could throw their bags over the fence while Seokjin distracted them with “jogging” and they’d find a place to meet up later. Yoongi nodded to himself and shoved another huge wedge of pancake into his mouth.

Namjoon finished eating then, and went to put his plate away. Thus abandoned, Taehyung then took himself up away from the table and climbed up next to where Jimin was. Yoongi watched Jimin move one of his sausages onto Taehyung’s plate. He thought Jimin might be the most relatable of them here, after all. 

“Thank you for cooking breakfast!” Namjoon said to Jungkook, reaching out and ruffling his ears as he walked by. “It was delicious as always!”

Jungkook snapped his teeth at him cutely and giggled, tapping his feet on the floor. At least they all seemed to get along. 

Namjoon lurked in the kitchen, checking something on his phone. Hoseok finished eating, as did Seokjin, and Yoongi ate the last sausage on his plate. But before anyone could wander off, Hoseok came out to the middle area between the kitchen and the living room.

“Since everyone is awake and fed now, we’re going to have a house meeting!” he announced.

Yoongi frowned. He and Seokjin were new here. He wasn’t sure if they were included or not. So he stayed on the bench at the side so he could observe what happened next. Jimin and Taehyung hopped down and put their plates away at an unhurried pace, and Jungkook kept eating unconcernedly. Hoseok came over and took Seokjin and Yoongi’s plates.

“Would you guys like to choose a spot closer this way? Then it’s easier for us to all chat?” Hoseok said with a friendly smile.

Well, that answered that doubt. So, holding hands again, Seokjin and Yoongi came over and sat on one of the mid-level perches in the corner of the living room. Everyone else came and sat, and it was almost exactly like when the two of them had first arrived yesterday.

“I just wanted to go over a little more information. We got brief introductions before, but I thought you might want to know a bit more about us,” Hoseok said.

Seokjin nodded brightly. Yoongi looked at the floor, feeling obstinate. There was so much to learn here. They’d barely been in the house for twelve hours and Yoongi was already overwhelmed.

“Taehyung and I are brothers. Jimin joined the clowder when he married Taehyung nine years ago. Well, I guess that was when it officially became a clowder, and not just the two of us rattling around,” Hoseok explained with a laugh.

Taehyung fell over sideways onto Jimin, rubbing his head against him affectionately. They did make a cute couple, Yoongi had to admit. 

“Namjoon and Jungkook are also brothers, and they joined us six years ago,” Hoseok went on.

He gave a significant look at Namjoon, which was apparently the signal for him to take over the telling.

“Jungkook and I were raised together - we were both adopted. From different families,” Namjoon said. “We grew up in a family of canine hybrids, which was fine and they loved us very much, but as we got older I wanted a chance to see what life was like in an all-feline environment.”

Yoongi recoiled in horror at the thought. Raised by dog hybrids! 

“Yeah, and it’s been great!” Jungkook added enthusiastically. “I love being in a clowder. Especially this one.”

Better than humans, Yoongi supposed, but still! Seokjin reached over and patted his leg.

“That sounds so interesting,” he said in a gentle tone. 

Yoongi stayed silent. Obviously they couldn’t help the way they’d been raised - any more than he and Seokjin could help the fact that they were used to living on the streets. (And, as soon as Yoongi found an opening, would be back there.)

Hoseok started speaking again.

“We don’t really have any rules in the house, but we value respecting each other. So, don’t go through a closed door without knocking and asking first, and please clean up after yourself as much as you can. Especially in the shared areas like out here and in the bathrooms.”

That sounded simple enough. Yoongi and Seokjin nodded.

“If you ever have any questions about anything, you can ask any of the five of us. Or if there’s anything you need - anything at all, any time. All of us want to help you feel as at home and comfortable as possible.”

Yoongi had so many questions, all the time. He supposed he’d be gone from here before he had even a fraction of them answered.

“I’m sorry we didn’t have many clothes ready for you, but I’m going to get more for you today. Don’t worry about laundry - we’ll handle that and wash your stuff along with ours,” Hoseok said.

“I do the laundry!” Jungkook piped up, with the same tone he’d used to announce his love of jogging. “And I’m good at it!”

Hoseok smiled at him, and Jimin giggled a little.

“You two are free to have whatever sleep-wake cycle you like - as I mentioned before, and you’ve probably seen by now, even the five of us aren’t all on the same schedule. I do strongly recommend that you shower, brush your teeth, and change clothes once per day though - again, your choice of when.”

“And don’t worry about running out of hot water! We installed on-demand heaters throughout the whole house!” Taehyung piped up.

Yoongi frowned. He’d hadn’t even really known hot water that came out of pipes was something that could run out. Plus, the number of things that sounded like rules were starting to pile up suspiciously.

“Is there anything else you wanted to know?” Hoseok asked, his flow of information apparently at an end.

Why are we here? What are you hoping we’ll do? Can we leave now? Would you chase us or call the police if we did? 

Yoongi stayed silent. 

“Okay! Great! Now, it’s time for a little tour through the rest of the house!”

Hoseok stood up and the rest of the clowder trailed after him - so Yoongi and Seokjin followed, as they were clearly expected to. In the same hallway that they room they had slept in was on, there were two more bedrooms, a bathroom, a laundry room, and a room full of what they told Yoongi was workout equipment. 

“This is my room!” Jungkook informed them, dashing forward so he could be the one to open it.

He was lashing his tail as he went - no, wagging it, Yoongi reminded himself. He needed to keep that in mind. No wonder he found Namjoon and Jungkook confusing at times. Raised by dog hybrids! Jungkook’s room ended up being decorated mostly in shades of black and grey, with a big sound system and lots of stuffed animals. 

Next was Hoseok’s room, which seemed to Yoongi almost like it belonged in a completely different house than Jungkook’s, given how he seemed to have twice as many lights and most of the furniture was white. But each room was very nice in its own way. It was fascinating to Yoongi to think about how they’d each had to choose everything that was in there.

Once they’d seen all of that on the ground floor, Hoseok led them up the stairs to the second floor.

“This is my office,” Hoseok said at the first door. “Well, it’s for the whole clowder, really, but I’m in here the most since I’m in charge of paying all the bills and filing our paperwork and all that.”

There was a very large, wooden desk on the far side, backed by several filing cabinets that had a gap between them just wide enough for the window. The desk had a small laptop computer on it. The two side walls were covered in framed pictures, and the rest of the room was filled with a variety of perches, cushions, and beanbags. A place for discussing serious clowder matters, Yoongi supposed. 

The next door down led into the biggest bedroom Yoongi had seen yet. 

“This is where Taehyung and I stay,” Jimin said, gesturing cutely and then leaning over and giving Taehyung a kiss on the cheek for good measure. 

It was very nice, with a huge bed piled high with pillows, with large dressers on either side with various bottles and things on top of them. On one side were two doors, leading to a closet and a bathroom. Everything was in warm colors and a little string of tiny globe-shaped lights went all the way around the edge of the ceiling. Yoongi had a hard time imagining anything could be more luxurious than this. 

But just like all the other rooms, after that quick look it was time to turn around and go to the next. After just a few more steps down the hallway, Namjoon opened the next door.

“And this is my room,” he said, stepping inside.

He had a giant shelf on one side, filled mostly with things other than books. There seemed to be vases and stuffed animals and colorful little toys and all sorts of things Yoongi couldn’t identify. Then in the middle he had a large desk with a computer and lots of extra things attached to it, a window with heavy, dark-blue curtains, and then a double-sized bed with a comforter that matched the curtains and a single, extremely flat pillow. 

It was all very intriguing to Yoongi. He felt seized with a sudden desire to sit on that bed for a long time so he could properly look at all the things on the shelf. He bet Namjoon would enjoy sitting there with him and telling him all about everything and why he’d chosen each thing - he would talk and talk and talk, wouldn't he.

Yoongi didn’t understand the strange yearning that squirmed through his chest at the thought. The confusion made him feel obstinate, so he leaned in - further than he’d leaned into any of the other rooms - and gave the room a good long sniff, totally unnecessary and obnoxious. Namjoon looked like he was trying not to laugh, ducking his head but doing nothing to hide how his dimples had popped out. Of course he’d take it with good humor, Yoongi thought crossly.

Yoongi turned back into the hallway, feeling restless. He could see that the last doorway here was another bathroom, and then there was still another floor to go! Even more rooms! His brain hurt already. He wasn’t sure he wanted to keep going.

Suddenly, a loud ringing sound echoed from up the stairs. Yoongi flinched and then fell into a half-crouch, heart hammering in his chest as he was instantly on full alert.

“That’s just the doorbell,” someone said, maybe Jungkook.

But Yoongi had already started running down the stairs. It sounded like an alarm of some kind, and there was no way that Yoongi was going to ignore it. He skittered around the corner out into the living room and then paused so he could listen. The sound didn’t happen again. He could hear footsteps coming down the stairs behind him…but also outside the front door. 

Yoongi ran to the big front window next to the door and pushed aside the curtains just a sliver so he could peek out without being seen. A human in a delivery company uniform was strolling away down the walkway, back to a big delivery truck parked in front of the house.

“That should be the socks I ordered!” Jungkook said from behind him. 

Yoongi watched him open up the door and grab a small box that had been placed right outside of it.

“See, it’s the doorbell!” Jungkook said cheerily before he came back inside.

He reached over and touched something just outside the door, and the same loud ringing pealed out. Yoongi flinched again and glared up at the weird little box installed high up on the wall that it was coming from.

“I know, I think it’s too loud too,” Jungkook complained, rubbing his ears with his free hand. 

Yoongi quickly stepped outside next to Jungkook so he could see. Ah, yes, a little button right outside the door. And it made the ringing sound. Maybe he had seen things like this before, but he hadn’t realized how loud it was. He reached out and pressed it, and even though he was expecting it he couldn’t entirely stop himself from flinching one more time at the ringing sound.

“Hmmph,” he snorted to himself, ignoring the way Jungkook was looking at him and smiling.

That seemed to end the tour. Everyone trooped back down the stairs, apparently not forcing the issue and insisting on showing Yoongi whatever was on the top floor. Hoseok did pull Seokjin and Yoongi aside and, sitting on cushions in the living room, he showed them pictures of clothes on a laptop and had them choose a few things.

Yoongi felt guilty. He wasn’t going to stay. They were already giving them so much food! He wasn’t going to steal clothing when he left - at least, not that much. Whatever he was wearing at the time, nothing more.

“Just the shirts and pants you left in the room is fine,” Yoongi told him gruffly. “Clothes are clothes.”

Seokjin did choose a few things - at first shyly, but then less hesitantly in the face of Hoseok’s enthusiasm. Yoongi was going to ask him about how much of it he really thought he’d be able to take with him, but once they’d retreated back to their room he ended up getting sleepy far to quickly to ask any meaningful questions. No matter, might as well nap while he could.

Just like before, Yoongi woke up before Seokjin did. He crept out so that Seokjin could rest, then ignored the bright and curious eyes of Jimin (who was lounging in the living room) as he got himself a can of tuna from the pantry. He went and sat in the same little empty spot right against the wall in the kitchen, where he could see everything. Jimin kept relaxing, and Hoseok came down and greeted both of them. Yoongi nodded but kept eating his tuna. 

After finishing it all, Seokjin was still asleep (or so he presumed, since he hadn’t come out), so Yoongi decided he would go out into the yard. Nobody stopped him when he let himself out through the sliding door in the living room, though Taehyung did come out just a minute or two later. Yoongi supposed it made sense that their policy of always having someone watch him would still apply out here. 

He sat at the edge of the koi pond, just watching them for a few minutes. He felt oddly peaceful. All sorts of interesting and fresh smells wafted through the air. Then he let his eyes roam over the rest of the yard again, and the walls of the house, and the sky. A gentle breeze ruffled the leaves of the ginkgo tree, and suddenly Yoongi couldn’t stand it any more. It was too calm. Something was bound to happen. So he stood up and strode to the fence, then marched along the whole perimeter of the yard, ignoring Taehyung who was sitting on a bench on the patio watching him. (Not meanly or suspiciously…just watching.)

Once he’d completed two full circuits, having spotted nothing of interest either inside or outside the fence, his restlessness hadn’t abated at all. So he walked over to the gingko tree, put his hands on its trunk, and looked up. The whole thing spread above him, so many branches, so many golden leaves. It looked easy. So Yoongi jumped up, grabbed the nearest low-hanging branch, and climbed up. 

It was a very nice tree - much stronger and better established than the scrawny little trees growing in medians or parking lots Yoongi had often climbed in order to hunt birds. He got to the top of this one in no time. The branches split apart in such a way that there was a wide enough spot so that he could sit with his head peeking out of the very top of the canopy of leaves. Now this was nice! He could feel the breeze and the sun on his face, he had a great view of traffic on the hillside road at the front of the house and the entire park behind their house, including some of the other yards that bordered it. 

“Are you okay up there?” he heard Taehyung yell from the ground. 

“Yeah,” Yoongi called back carelessly, easily straddling the top branch. 

In this spot, he was just about even with the windows of the top floor of the townhouse - the third floor. Then, just a few minutes after he settled in, the window closest to him slid open, startling him slightly with the noise. He whipped his head over to look, and saw Jimin poking an inquisitive but carefully blank face out of it. Yoongi tried to peer past him - he was pretty sure Jimin was checking on him from one of those rooms he hadn’t been in yet. 

“Hey Yoongi!” Jimin greeted him cheerfully, though with a little strain in his voice, “You okay up there?”

Yoongi rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, irritated. This wasn’t even the tallest tree he’d climbed, not by a long shot. These guys were seriously weird and prone to worry about nothing at all.

“Yup,” he replied tersely, turning away and lashing his tail. 

Then, unable to resist his curiosity, he turned back to Jimin and tried to look in the window again. That was definitely the part of the house he hadn’t seen earlier. 

“What’s in there?” he asked, pointing behind him. Jimin smiled, looking delighted that Yoongi had asked him a question.

“We have a little reading nook and craft room up here,” Jimin explained. “You should come up and check it out!”

That did sound interesting! Fair enough, Yoongi thought. So he swiftly stood up on the branch, crouched down to get his balance, and jumped across to the eave that sloped out just underneath the window. It was an easy distance, no matter the three-story drop just underneath. He’d done much scarier jumps before, no problem.

Jimin, however, shrieked in dismay, reaching his hands out to Yoongi unexpectedly.

“No!” Jimin yelled in a panic.

Yoongi froze, balanced on the roof just below the window, confused and upset. Jimin had invited him over! Why was he yelling at Yoongi now? He glared at him in betrayal for a moment as Jimin babbled something and flapped his hands at him, and then just jumped back over to the tree. He could feel confused, hurt tears welling up in his eyes already.

“Yoongi, NO!” Jimin yelled again as soon as Yoongi jumped back.

“WHAT?” Yoongi shouted furiously as soon as he was solidly back on the branch, ginkgo leaves rustling all around him. “You can’t do that, Jimin! You said I should come over, and then you yelled at me when I did, and then you yelled at me when I obeyed you and left! That isn’t FAIR! I did what you asked both times!”

He glared at Jimin, clutching onto the tree branch as hard as he could with his legs and his hands, focusing on that so he didn’t start crying. He didn’t understand the rules of this house at all. He felt like as soon as he figured something out, someone else contradicted it. Jimin was taking deep breaths with one hand over his mouth and another on his chest, looking very upset himself.

“I am- Yoongi, I’m so sorry,” he finally said, face smoothing out to calmness again. “I shouldn’t have yelled, that was wrong of me. And I didn’t phrase what I meant correctly. I meant that the next time you were inside the house, you should come up the stairs and see this room.”

“I’m already up here,” Yoongi growled resentfully, “why can’t I just jump across?”

“I was really worried that you would fall and get hurt,” Jimin said, sounding a little tearful.

“Oh!” Yoongi said, filled with sudden understanding.

Such a thing hadn’t even occurred to him. He was able to relax then, and even gave Jimin a smile and shook his head - what a silly thing to worry about.

“Jimin, I wouldn’t get hurt from that,” he explained dismissively. “The gap is so small! And it’s only three stories up! I’ve jumped way further than that before, and fallen way further to boot.”

Jimin, for some reason, didn’t look reassured. Then Jungkook materialized in the window right next to him, all bright eyes and eager interest.

“You jumped from the tree to here?” he asked, sounding impressed.

“Yeah!” Yoongi replied. “I’m surprised you guys haven’t done that before, this is a great tree.”

Jimin glared at Jungkook. Jungkook grinned at him with a distinctively mischievous air. 

“No more jumping back and forth! Either of you!” he pleaded. “It’s not safe.”

Yoongi huffed, still slightly annoyed. But he could be a good sport when he needed to be, so he climbed down. At the bottom, he collected a slightly rattled-looking Taehyung and then went all the way up both sets of stairs to get into the upper level the proper way. 

By the time he got there, Seokjin was there too. 

“You jumped from the tree?” he asked laughingly, sticking his head out of the window to scope it out for himself.

“Yeah,” Yoongi said with a casual shrug. “Don’t see what the big deal is.”

He was rewarded by an annoyed look from Jimin, who apparently decided to let the subject drop so that he could show the newcomers around the top floor. There was a sort of open spot in the middle where the stairs led up to, then the reading loft on one side and the craft room on the other. The craft room had two tables with shelves full of all sorts of colorful things that Yoongi couldn’t even begin to identify. The reading nook actually looked very cozy, with shelves full of books (that Yoongi didn’t particularly care about), more beanbag chairs and cushions, and two little fabric tents for curling up in. 

Now he’d seen everything, and gotten a good feel for how everyone acted in this house. His next step was to bide his time and look for gaps in their attention. 

Another few meals and sleep intervals passed with nothing else remarkable happening. The food was delicious and plentiful, their room remained a peaceful sanctuary, and the other five were constantly bustling in and out of the house on their own business. But then, after another day in the house, a storm blew in.

Yoongi stood in the middle of the living room. Lightning flashed through the front windows and back sliding door simultaneously. Yoongi counted to five in his head, and then a peal of thunder shook the house. He didn’t like that. If he were outside under a bush it would be cold and wet and loud, but the whole house wouldn’t be trembling. 

“Yoongi, it’s okay, come sit!” Jungkook called out.

Yoongi glanced over to where he and Seokjin and Jimin were all sitting on the couch together. It was good to see that Seokjin was comfortable and had the others to reassure him. But Yoongi shook his head at Jungkook and ran up the stairs instead of joining them. He ran up the second flight of stairs too, all the way up into the reading loft. He could hear the rain pounding on the roof right above him. That was a lot of surface area - what if it leaked?

Just then, the storm got five times louder as the rain turned to hail. Yoongi shivered involuntarily - he was glad he wasn’t outside in it, but who was to say the house was strong enough? He didn’t want to be caught unawares. He didn’t want any of the caught unawares. The thought of any of the other six suddenly being plunged into a cold, dark storm because a wall caved in filled him with anxiety. Having things go wrong just went you thought you were safe and warm and comfortable was much more terrifying than never being safe in the first place, in Yoongi’s opinion.

Yoongi quickly paced through the whole upper area, testing to make sure that all the windows were fully closed and latched. He paused and listened at each corner, but didn’t hear any suspicious creaking or trickling of water. So then he crouched down in the doorway to the reading room, letting him look and listen in pretty much every direction.

It continued to be very noisy from the combined noise of the wind, hail, and thunder. The whole house still shook with the thunder. But since Yoongi was on alert, even over the cacophony he was well aware of Hoseok coming up the stairs before he arrived. 

“Hey, Yoongi, it’ll be okay! It’s just a storm! Dinner’s ready, come down and eat with us!” Hoseok said as soon as he alighted at the top.

Yoongi shook his head and Hoseok came closer.

“Yoongi, I promise it’ll be fine. I think the storm is less scary if we’re all together!” he said, his voice sweet and encouraging.

Yoongi glared at him, pinning his ears down in disapproval.

“I’m not scared of the storm,” he explained. “I’m up here to keep watch in case the roof leaks.”

“Oh! Oh, Yoongi, it won’t leak, it’s-”

“Did you build this roof?” Yoongi demanded.

“No,” Hoseok replied, sounding a little non-plussed.

“Well, then you don’t know that for sure. I want everyone to be safe. I’ll come down and eat after the storm ends.”

Yoongi turned his attention back to the ceiling, content that he’d explained himself sufficiently. Hoseok stood there for a moment longer, probably trying to think of more arguments, but finally he went back down. Yoongi couldn’t help but feel a little impressed that he’d convinced him.

But then, just a few minutes later, he heard Hoseok coming back up. Yoongi looked over in confusion, because from the cadence of his steps he was carrying something bulky. And indeed he was: a little folding floor table in one hand and a tray of food in the other. He deftly put the table down right in the middle of the hallway area with a satisfied noise and then put the tray on top of it. There was a huge pile of mandu, some sauces, and two cups of tea.

“What is this?” Yoongi asked in confusion.

“I decided I liked your idea of keeping watch, so I decided to join you. We can eat and keep an ear out at the same time!” he replied cheerfully. “Could you grab two cushions out of the reading loft for us?

Now that he could smell the mandu, Yoongi had to admit he was feeling very hungry. So he stood up and brought over two of the thin cushions, and then the two of them sat at the little table. It was still close enough to the door that they would be able to hear if any water started trickling in, or a window cracked, or anything else unusual occurred in the whole third floor. 

Hoseok smiled at him, then picked up his chopsticks and started in on the mandu. Yoongi had a few sips of the tea first, and then he joined him. They were very good. Yoongi made sure to keep listening even as he chewed. Once he’d made it through five or six of the dumplings, however, he realized he should probably have said something. 

“Thank you for bringing all of this,” he said once he’d swallowed. “It’s very delicious.”

Hoseok beamed at him, looking very pleased with himself. 

“You’re very welcome,” he replied.

Yoongi felt warm and happy. He was getting along with Hoseok now. He was making sure everyone was okay in the storm, and Hoseok agreed with him, and he’d thought of all the right things to say to Hoseok. It was a pretty good day after all.

Once they’d finished off all the food, Hoseok went back into the reading loft and dragged out two beanbag chairs, and plopped them down next to the table. Then, with a satisfied huff, he threw himself down onto one of them and pulled out a book. Yoongi scuttled over and curled up into the other one, and they sat there in companionable silence, the storm raging just above them. The hail had turned back into rain, bringing the noise back down to a less overwhelming level.

Yoongi wasn’t sure how much time had passed when Hoseok spoke again.

“You could take a nap if you want,” he said casually, turning a page and glancing up over the book at Yoongi. “We can take turns. I’ll watch while you sleep.”

Yoongi thought about it. He was very sleepy. All the adrenaline from his worries earlier had worn off. Nothing bad had happened yet: the roof had held up under all the hail, rain, and wind.

“Go ahead,” Hoseok said with an encouraging smile. “I promise I’ll wake you up if anything happens.”

So Yoongi nodded and put his head down, curling up in the divot of the beanbag chair. He wasn’t quite all the way asleep when Hoseok quietly got up and carefully laid a blanket over him, but he graciously pretended to sleep through it. 

When Yoongi woke up, the storm had subsided to a mere drizzle. Still, Yoongi sprang up and looked out of each of the windows again in turn. It was just around dawn, so he could see from the movement of the nearby trees that the wind was much lower too. Everything was fine. The danger had passed.

Hoseok stretched luxuriously and then gracefully unfolded himself out of the beanbag, his ears and tail relaxed.

“Thanks for keeping watch with me,” he said cheerfully.

Yoongi nodded, and then helping him put away the beanbags and cushions and carry the table a tray back downstairs. Hoseok wasn’t nearly as clueless as he’d thought, and this realization came - somehow - as a relief.

Yoongi remained on alert as much as he could, sitting in his spot in the kitchen observing everyone’s movements on the main floor, keeping his sleeping schedule short and unpredictable to keep them on their toes. None of them ever seemed to be suspicious of him or even object to what he was doing.

Yoongi ducked back into the room where Seokjin was just waking up from his nap, wanting to have a moment to talk to him about their plans. He hopped down from the bunk and gave Yoongi a sleepy hug, then plopped down on the beanbag chair to stretch out a little.

“I don’t think they’re paying very close attention to us,” Yoongi told him quietly. “I bet we could load up our backpacks with cans and sneak out within the next few days.”

Seokjin stared at him uncomprehendingly for a moment.

“You’re trying to find a way to leave?” he finally asked.

“Yes,” Yoongi confirmed. “The shelter was too locked down, but this is just a house-”

Seokjin stood back up and came over to him, and took one of his hands. He had an odd look on his face, which halted Yoongi’s train of thought somehow.

“I think we should stay here,” he said, a slightly nervous smile on his face. “I really think life here could be good, and we should give the clowder a fair shot.”

Yoongi frowned. He hadn’t considered that Seokjin would want to stay.

“Really?” he asked skeptically. “But…we were snatched off the street. I’ve been trying to find an opening for us to escape.”

“The humans who ran the shelter snatched us off the street. Hoseok came to get us so we wouldn’t have to be with them, or any other humans.”

Yoongi bristled with remembered outrage. He had failed to protect Seokjin, but he would fix it.

“Yeah, but we could just-”

“Yoongi,” Seokjin interrupted, so very serious, with an aching sadness in his eyes that Yoongi didn’t like at all. “There are so many things that can go wrong living on the streets. I’m allowed to worry about you, too. We have gone through some hard times before. I mean…after the attack, you didn’t speak for almost two weeks.”

Yoongi felt like he had been punched in the stomach. He didn’t- he wasn’t- he had won the fight! That was what mattered! But it had been hard and painful and of course he wasn’t happy about losing an ear and almost an eye. It wasn’t fair for Seokjin to bring it up and point out Yoongi’s failure. It wasn’t like Yoongi didn’t still have nightmares about it all the time, where he was a fraction slower than he had been in real life, and had gotten slashed badly and then so dizzy and then the man with the knife turned to Seokjin and-

“Yoongi, Yoongi, I’m sorry, please-”

Yoongi’s cheeks were wet and he every time he tried to breathe a weird little wheezing noise came out and someone was grabbing his wrists.

“Yoongi, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you like this. Just put your arms around me, okay? Please?”

The hands released his wrists, and Yoongi put his arms around Seokjin. He wanted to say that he was sorry for not growing bigger and stronger, and he was sorry for not doing better at being a protector, and he was sorry that he thought living in a house was confusing and scary, and he was sorry that he was so slow at understanding things that he hadn’t realized that Seokjin wanted to stay instead of escape. But he couldn’t manage to say anything, so he just pressed his bad, ugly, ruined ear against Seokjin’s chest even though it hurt, and squeezed his eyes shut, and listened to the beating of Seokjin’s heart and his steady purring.

Seokjin’s hands rubbed on his back. Yoongi finally managed to take in a big awkward gulp of air, even as he felt more tears stream down his cheeks. 

“Is everything okay?” came Hoseok’s voice from the doorway.

“Just give us a minute,” Seokin replied firmly, using that stern, authoritative tone he only pulled out in the most serious moments.

Yoongi heard the door close, so that must have satisfied the clowder head. His clowder head, now. Because that was what Seokjin wanted.

“I just want you to be safe,” Seojin murmured to him. “I love you, Yoongi. I want you to be safe and never have to worry or be cold or hungry ever again. And I think these guys really are good. I think we could have a good life here.”

Yoongi took a few more deep breaths so he could stuff all the bad feelings and tears as far down as he could, then pulled away. Seokjin wanted to stay. Being here in this house was what Seokjin wanted.

“Okay,” he said, nodding his head and wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. “If that’s what you want, then let’s be happy here.”

Seokjin smiled at him tentatively, then more widely as he saw that Yoongi was calming down, and that he meant what he said.

“Good,” Seokjin said, his eyes shining with happiness. “That’s great, Yoongi. I’m so glad we can be safe here, together.”

Yoongi nodded. And that was that: his life had a new plan. He felt shaky and uncertain, no longer having a goal to prioritize his actions against. In a fog of anxiety, too many thoughts whirling in his brain for him to choose any in particular to focus on, he stuck close to Seokjin for a while longer. He trailed behind him even after they went out to the living room and then to eat something. But then Seokjin wanted to see something in Jungkook’s room and Yoongi started feeling too restless to stay inside any more so he went out into the yard instead. He grabbed a can of tuna for himself on the way out.

Yoongi went all the way to the far corner of the yard and sat there. He squeezed into the space between two bushes and rested his shoulders on the inner corners of the fence. He could see basically the whole yard and the back of the house from here: the entirety of his life now. He tried to picture what it was going to be like. He had a lot more to learn about the house and the other five guys.

His heart sank further the more he thought about it. There were so many ways to mess this up - so many pitfalls he didn’t even know about. None of the things he’d learned so far to survive in life were helping him now. He thought back to how he’d acted over his days here in the house and was pretty sure he’d already been doing things totally wrong. He’d already been too rude to everyone - he wasn’t happy and friendly like Seokjin, partly since he’d been planning on leaving and partly because that was just the way he was with people he didn’t know.

Well, he would have to find a way to make up for it now. He’d have to make them people he did know, and figure out what they liked. Or at least what they expected.

To try to steady his nerves, he ate his can of tuna and tried to think of nothing else but how good it tasted, and how nice the big tall ginkgo tree looked blowing in the gentle breeze. It was a nice yard. Surely it was nice to think that he had full permission to sit somewhere like this for as long as he wanted.

He ate all the tuna and put the empty can down on the dirt in front of him. He’d have to go back inside the house at some point, he knew, and get back to tackling all the intricacies of his new life, but at least at this moment things were simple. Just him and the bushes and the empty can and the breeze. 

He woke up out of a doze to the sound of the can being scraped across a rock. He gasped, startled, to see Jimin right there in front of him picking up the can.

“No, don’t!” he cried out, reaching out to snatch it out of his hand. 

Jimin’s eyes widened but he didn’t flinch away - he just let Yoongi take the can.

“I was going to get it!” Yoongi whined, feeling trapped and pathetic. “I wasn’t leaving it there, I was going to put it away myself!”

He stood up in a hurry, hustling past Jimin as he spoke so he could get back in the house.

“Yoongi, it’s fine! I was just trying to help!”

“I’m obeying the rules!” he called out desperately over his shoulder as he slipped back through the sliding door and went into the kitchen.

Hoseok was there. Yoongi felt a twinge of resentment. So he really would have gotten in trouble if he hadn’t woken up in time.

“What’s going on?” Hoseok asked in bafflement.

“I’m bringing in my own empty can of tuna,” Yoongi explained emphatically, as Jimin came in behind him.

Yoongi rinsed out the can in the sink and tossed it into the recycling bin, just like he’d seen the others do. He hadn’t just been sitting staring off into space, he had been watching and trying to understand their habits.

“Okay, thank you,” Hoseok said, still sounding a little baffled.

“Oh, Yoongi, I wasn’t trying to get you in trouble,” Jimin said, looking between him and Hoseok.

Yoongi shrugged obstinately and headed to the living room. He climbed up to the highest perch in the corner and sat there. But Jimin still followed him - he curled up on the ottoman right below him. Yoongi stared off into space and lashed his tail.

“Yoongi, I’m sorry for startling you,” Jimin said placatingly. “Please don’t be mad at me.”

Yoongi felt another little stab of panic. He kept making mistakes. 

“I’m not mad,” he said quickly. “I just want you guys to know that I remember what you told me and I’m following the rules.”

He chanced a look down. Jimin was pouting at him. 

“Hey, I think you’re doing just fine,” he said, a placating tone in his voice as he looked up with his eyes big and pleading.

Jimin rolled onto his back on the ottoman so he could look up without craning his neck, not coincidentally showing off how relaxed he was by exposing his belly. Jimin wasn’t mad at him, he had just been trying to help. Yoongi just needed more practice in getting along with everyone, and they both knew it, and Jimin was trying to help him feel better. But Yoongi still didn’t know what to do so he stayed silent. 

“Want me to show you how to get shows on the TV?” Jimin asked, a hopeful tone in his voice.

He reached over for the remote and held it up towards Yoongi, waggling it temptingly. It had a very large quantity of colorful buttons on it. Jimin wasn’t mad at him. He wasn’t, and he wanted to know that Yoongi wasn’t mad at him either. 

“Sure,” Yoongi agreed, grateful for Jimin for the offer, and then he jumped down from the perch and landed next to him.

Jimin smiled and sat up, and bumped Yoongi’s shoulder with his own as soon as he sat down next to the ottoman. Yoongi had to smile at that. 

“First of all, this button turns it on. But there’s a lag, so after you press it you’ll need to wait a breath or two before it will seem like it works.”

Yoongi nodded, paying close attention to all of Jimin’s instructions. He was glad that Jimin was smiling at him, and that he’d managed to turn things around. He learned about the volume buttons and the names of the different streaming services and how to scroll through the shows and how to start playing one he was interested in. 

“Okay, that’s the basics - now, what would you like to watch?” Jimin asked.

Yoongi wasn’t quite sure - he’d seen some shows on when he was in laundromats or the like sometimes, but didn’t have any good idea what he should choose to watch. But then something occurred to him. 

“Are there any that show you how to construct a house?” he asked hopefully.

“Oh! Yes! Definitely!” Jimin confirmed excitedly.

Yoongi was glad it ended up being that simple. There ended up being even more details involved in house construction than Yoongi would have ever guessed. Seokjin came in and sat next to him and they watched three episodes in a row together, watching a married couple go over blueprints, oversee foundations being dug, and the beginnings of the framing and the plumbing. Jimin told them there were even more shows about decorating the insides of houses, so they had that to look forward to as well.

Yoongi was trying to decide whether he wanted to put on a fourth or go do something else, when Hoseok came in, clearly looking for him and Seokjin. Yoongi looked at the remote carefully and turned the TV off, feeling quite accomplished.

“I’m glad the two of you are in one spot!” Hoseok declared, plopping himself down on the couch. “I wanted to talk to you about tomorrow.”

Yoongi was immediately on edge.

“You were both given a very quick checkup at the shelter, but tomorrow I’m taking you to a regular doctor for a full appointment.”

Yoongi frowned and shrunk down in his seat. He didn’t like that idea at all.

“I know it’s not pleasant - believe me, I don’t like going to the doctor either,” Hoseok went on, “but it will help all of us help you if we know if there’s anything else we should be doing to make sure you’re healthy.”

“Okay,” Yoongi agreed gruffly.

Earlier today he’d never have folded so easily. But he was trying to follow through on what Seokjin wanted. They were staying in this house, so it was time to act like it. 

Back in the van the next day, the two of them being driven by Hoseok and accompanied by Taehyung, Yoongi reflected a little bit on how he felt physically. He had to admit that on the whole he did feel better. He had been able to sleep in safe, comfortable places for as long as he wanted (or as long as his anxious brain had let him), he’d eaten tons of fresh food and drunk gallons of clean water. (He’d certainly had to use the bathroom much more frequently than he ever had before.) He felt alert and full of energy. 

His usual aches and pains were still there, and he certainly wasn’t going to stop being vigilant about what was happening around him. But he supposed he could admit that he could see the benefits of being in a house was already paying off. There had to be a catch, though - somehow. It made him uneasy that there could be so much upside with very little downside.

“Thank you guys for being so good about this,” Hoseok told them as they walked from the parking lot into the clinic. “All I ask is that you cooperate with the doctor and answer his questions honestly. You won’t get in trouble for anything you say. Everyone here just wants you to be healthy, okay?”

Yoongi considered all this grimly. He was going to try to be good, but he hoped it wouldn’t be too hard. He grabbed Seokjin’s hand. They’d get through it together, like they always did. 

The first part wasn’t too bad: they measured their weights and heights. Then the two of them, plus Hoseok, were taken back into an exam room. The doctor joined them fairly quickly - he was an older man, with white hair and a little bit of a white beard. 

“Hello Yoongi, Hello Seokjin, I’m Dr. Lee,” he introduced himself as he sat on a rolling stool.

“Hello,” Seokjin said shyly.

Yoongi didn’t answer, but he liked that the doctor didn’t have too loud of a voice.

“Okay you two, first off I just want to hear a little bit about how a typical day would go,” he asked kindly.

It took him a few questions for Yoongi to understand what he was after, but then the doctor took a few notes as he and Seokjin told him how often they ate, how long and how many naps they took, and a few other details of that nature. A few times Hoseok piped up to clarify something.

“Great. The next thing we’re going to do today is have you guys take a look at the eye chart. We’re just testing to see how well you can see,” Dr. Lee explained.

He pressed a button and something got projected on the wall. It had lines of letters. Yoongi knew that they were letters, at least, but he didn’t know what the individual ones were called.

“Okay, Yoongi, can you read the top one?” the doctor asked.

“No,” Yoongi said bluntly. “But the first one on the second line, I know that’s the first letter in the word ‘bread.’ And the one below that is in the middle of ‘police.’”

He glanced at the doctor, who hadn’t said anything back, and he couldn’t read anything in his expression. Then he glanced over at Hoseok, who looked so very sad again. What did he do wrong? Yoongi felt a crushing burst of anxiety and leapt to his feet.

“You said I wouldn't get in trouble!” he snapped, pointing to Hoseok and curling into himself and flattening his ears, feeling completely confused as to what was happening. “You said as long as I followed directions it would be fine! You- you- you’re not allowed to get upset! I did what the doctor said!” 

Yoongi felt like he was about to cry. He backed up towards Seokjin, who pulled him in and hugged his back as he voiced his defensive protest. Hoseok held his hands up and tilted his head, making an effort to look calm and peaceful.

“Yoongi, you aren’t in trouble,” he said quietly. “I’m so sorry for upsetting you. You’re right, you did follow the directions - you did it perfectly.”

“Seokjin’s the one who can read,” Yoongi went on, aggrieved and hurt. “He knows what all of those are called.”

Seokjin pulled him in even closer, and started rattling off the names of the letters as fast as he could, from the top all the way down to the fifth row, so close that Yoongi could feel the breath of Seokjin’s words against his good ear. The doctor made a few motions like he wanted Seokjin to stop, then gave up.

“-and then they’re too small, I can’t read the rest,” Seokjin concluded. 

Yoongi looked at the two of them defiantly from Seokjin’s arms. 

“Okay, thank you, Seokjin,” the doctor said calmly. “You did that very well. Good job. Yoongi, would you mind sitting down again? I have a different one I want to show you.”

Yoongi wanted to growl or whine.

“This isn’t a test,” the doctor went on gently. “There’s no wrong answer. We’re just using this to see if your eyes are working right.”

Yoongi carefully sat back down. The doctor pressed another button and the projection changed - this time it was all numbers. Yoongi let out a big breath, relieved. This he could do. He confidently rattled off the numbers to the doctor, until he got to the fifth or sixth row. Then, he trailed off, unable to make them our any more, and glanced at the man to see if he should keep going or not.

“Okay, great,” the doctor said smoothly, noting something down.

Next, he had to check their hearing. Yoongi knew he was going to have to touch his ruined, ugly ear, and he hated it. But, he told himself, if he got through it, then Seokjin would be able to as well. So he just squished his eyes shut as hard as he could and hunched up his shoulders and let the nurse put the headphones over his one good ear and the painful remnant of his bad ear. He tried his best to follow their directions and point to the directions he heard beeps in, but it was hard because it hurt and he hated it so, so, so much.

Finally, it was done, and they lifted it off. Yoongi retreated to the corner, rubbing all the fur around his ears, while Seokjin took the same test. The doctor told them neither of them had any issues with hearing, at least. 

Then, they took turns with the physical exam. That was almost harder to endure, because it took so much longer. But Yoongi did his best to be good, and let the doctor look in his mouth and ears and prod his tummy and listen to his chest and back and move his joints, even though he was shaking by the end and clutching so hard to Seokjin’s hand that it hurt a little. He made sure to hold on to Seokjin’s hand when it was his turn next.

“And that’s it! You’re all done,” Dr. Lee finally concluded, to Yoongi’s tremendous relief.

He and Seokjin got their shirts back on, and then the doctor addressed the three of them.

“There’s an abscess forming here,” Dr. Lee said, pointing to the torn edge of Yoongi’s ear. “It’s not bad yet but it’ll only get worse over time. I’d recommend scheduling a surgery to clean that up - once it heals, it won’t hurt any more.”

Yoongi didn’t know what to say to that.

“Other than that, just keep doing what you’re doing. A simple daily vitamin supplement is a good idea, but most of all make sure they get fresh air and exercise every day, and that they drink lots of water.”

“I drink lots of water,” Yoongi piped up.

Dr. Lee smiled.

“That’s good! I also want you to focus on getting more and longer sleep, okay? It will help your immune system.”

Yoongi shrugged.

“Try using a heating pad while you nap - it can help your muscles relax and make it feel nicer to fall asleep,” the doctor suggested.

“Oh, that’s a good idea - I have a few tucked away in the closet, I’ll get one out as soon as we get back,” Hoseok said. 

They also stopped to get a special treat on the way home - crispy shrimp sticks, one whole bag for each of them. Yoongi munched on them absently for the rest of the drive, glad to have the snack but even gladder to not be at the doctor’s office any more.

Yoongi was exhausted from the ordeal, so he simply went directly into his bed once they got home and instantly fell asleep. He thought Seokjin joined him for a nap at some point, but he was already gone again when he woke up some hours later. Fortunately, just after Yoongi woke up, Hoseok had finished cooking a big, delicious-smelling stirfry for lunch, so that was the next order of business.

Having eaten, Yoongi was about to go shower to get the last remnants of the smell of the doctor’s office out of his fur, when Hoseok pulled him and Seokjin aside again.

“Okay, first of all, I put two heating pads in your room,” Hoseok said. “So I’d recommend you try them out and see if they help you sleep a little more solidly.”

Yoongi nodded - he thought that did sound nice.

“And, these are for you too!” he said next, handing them each what looked like a slab of polished plastic.

As Yoongi took his, he found that it was much heavier than he was expecting. And then he realized what it was: a tablet computer. He looked at Hoseok in amazement.

“These are for us?” Seokjin asked, his eyes wide.

“Yep,” Hoseok said with a nod. “Here, let me show you some of the stuff you can do!”

Yoongi was glad to see that it was all controlled by pressing colored things on the screen. As long as he remembered what each thing was, he didn’t even need to be able to read to use it. So he paid attention very carefully as Hoseok showed how they could get to the shared photo album for the clowder (and add their own photos taken on their tablets!), and how to open up YouTube and use the voice search to find videos of whatever they wanted to learn about. There were even a few games on them.

“And here, Yoongi, let me show you something that’s only on yours,” Hoseok added. “See these three icons at the bottom? These are special games that teach you how to read and write. If you want.”

Yoongi stared at them, a little ashamed, but intrigued.

“Only if you want,” Hoseok repeated, his smile soft.

“Okay,” Yoongi said. 

He’d wait until he was by himself, and then check. Maybe it wouldn’t be too scary or hard. He ended up putting the computer aside for a bit, wanting to go pace out in the yard for a bit, but once he’d come inside and had a snack, he decided to try out the little computer a bit more. He grabbed it from where he’d left it on the floor underneath his raised bed. Then he dashed up both staircases and curled up on one of the beanbags in the reading loft. 

He lay there, looking at it, trying to comprehend that he owned something so fancy and expensive. It didn’t seem real. He turned it on and stared at all the icons, hoping he could remember what Hoseok had shown him. Well, Jimin had taught him how to use the TV, so surely he could use this. He decided to find a video to watch. He opened up the app and clicked on the voice search. 

“How does tuna get in the can?” he asked.

A bunch of videos showed up in a grid, all featuring colorful cans and huge slabs of fish. Yoongi grinned and picked one. It was even more fascinating than he thought it would be, and he marvelled at the sight of the huge pile of fish waiting to be canned.

He was still thinking of things he wanted to know about and choosing videos one by one when Jimin came up and found him there a bit later.

“Whatcha watching?” he asked, glancing briefly at Yoongi’s tablet and then sitting on one of the other beanbag chairs.

“It’s about oysters,” Yoongi said. “Those weird little things that live in shells in the sea.”

“Okay, yeah,” Jimin said, “what made you want to know about oysters?”

“There was a can of them once, an unopened can we found by the trash,” Yoongi explained, actually feeling like he was enjoying himself and that Jimin was interested in what he was saying, “and we split the whole thing. I’d always wondered what they looked like before they were in the can. Did you know that if a piece of dirt or something gets in them, they can form a pearl around it to protect themselves?”

Jimin smiled.

“I think oysters might be the perfect life form,” Yoongi mused enthusiastically. “They stay in one spot all day and their food comes to them. They help keep the ocean clean, they can form actual jewels out of the things that annoy them, and they taste good.”

Jimin laughed, looking absolutely delighted. Yoongi smiled. He was doing really good! He was learning things, just like they wanted. Maybe Seokjin was right - maybe this was an okay place to stay. At least right now, when things were going well, it didn’t feel like a trap.

Once he was done with the videos, Yoongi looked at the games Hoseok had mentioned. At least, he looked at the icons without touching them. He hesitated. He’d probably mess it up if he tried any of them. So he put the tablet carefully to the side instead, and went in search of something else to do. What even should he do? What did one do all day in a house and a yard? He didn’t even know how to cook, or how to clean anything. It made him anxious. 

Then, he remembered he had meant to take a shower, all the way back before he’d gotten distracted by the tablet. He went back down the stairs and hurried to go get that done. It was a house rule, after all. That taken care of, he decided to go see what was happening in the rest of the house.

But when he came out of the hallway, Yoongi froze in his tracks. There, at the little blank corner of the kitchen where he had been heading, was a stool. It was tall and had a padded seat with a wide raised lip, and it looked pretty comfortable. It hadn’t been there before. Yoongi hadn’t seen that stool at all before, in fact. He had been going to get himself a glass of water and then sit on the floor there, so he could watch everything on the main area at once as he had been doing, but now he wasn’t sure what to do.

“Hi Yoongi!” Taehyung greeted him.

Yoongi didn’t answer, still staring at the intruding piece of furniture.

“Oh, right, the stool!” Taehyung said. “You know, it’s funny, we used to have a little rolling shelf there, but then it broke, but then we decided we didn’t like it anyway! But we never made our minds up with what would be the best thing to put there instead. But then since you started sitting there, it made me realize what a great perching spot it is. So we got this little seat here so you don’t have to sit on the floor!”

Taehyung smiled, looking very pleased with himself after his little speech. Yoongi turned and stared at him.

“You got it because of me?” Yoongi asked, still feeling completely confused.

“Well, yeah,” Taehyung said easily, tilting his head cutely.

Yoongi walked over to it slowly. He hadn’t really thought about how you would even decide what furniture to get and where to put it. He reached out and touched the upholstery. It seemed nice enough, and definitely brand-new. He sat down on it.

Now, this was nice. He had an even better vantage point over the whole of the kitchen, dining, and living rooms than he had before, sitting on the floor. He wiggled in the seat and folded up his legs - the seat of the stool was wide enough for him to cross his legs and kind of curl up in. 

Taehyung brought him a glass of water with a satisfied smile. Yoongi had forgotten that he was going to do that first, he’d been so distracted by the stool. But now Taehyung had remembered - he had noticed not only where Yoongi liked to sit, but that he liked to drink his water there too.

“Thank you,” Yoongi whispered as he took it carefully with both hands.

“You’re very welcome!” Taehyung chirped, and then he dashed off to do something else. 

Yoongi sat and savored the water as he perched on the brand-new stool. There were all sorts of nice things you could do for each other if you knew how everything in a house worked. He was glad that Taehyung wanted to do nice things for him even though Yoongi was still new here and didn’t know how to act most of the time. It gave him a little hope that things would be okay.

Not too much later, Hoseok came into the kitchen and whipped up a huge batch of soup of some kind and a bunch of banchan. Yoongi watched carefully but it still seemed amazing that Hoseok could remember where every single ingredient, utensil, and dish that he needed was. He just reached in to the fridge, the pantry, the cupboards, and like magic everything was where he thought it should be. 

Not everyone was home for this meal: just Yoongi, Seokjin, Hoseok, Jungkook, and Namjoon. Yoongi had seen Taehyung leave and he was pretty sure Jimin was gone as well, both at whatever jobs they had. The rest of them ended up sitting at the kitchen counter all together. Yoongi waited for everyone else to serve themselves before he made his own bowl. A few bites in, out of habit, he picked up one of his radish slices and started moving it over to Seokjin’s bowl.

“There’s plenty of food, you don’t need to do that,” Seokjin said, slightly shifting his bowl away from Yoongi’s chopsticks.

Yoongi froze and looked at him. Seokjin was smiling warmly, looking perfectly content as he chewed a big mouthful.

“There’s plenty of food,” Seokjin repeated. “Go on, don’t worry about me. Eat!”

Yoongi put the radish back down. Right. There was plenty of food. Still, he swirled and fidgeted and fussed with his bowl before he took another bite. He felt strange. 

After they ate, Yoongi retreated back to the stool and watched how everything got cleaned up. Namjoon left right away, seemingly heading back up to his room. Jungkook made Hoseok go sit down, and he packed up all the food that was left and put it in the fridge. Seokjin joined Jungkook, rinsing off each bowl as Jungkook emptied it off. Then he packed each of them in the thing that Yoongi had learned was called “the dishwasher.”  Once there was no evidence left of their meal at all, Jungkook washed his hands - and then, laughing, flicked a few drops of water at Seokjin.

“Hey!” Seokjin complained, though he was laughing too.

He smacked Jungkook gently on the shoulder and Jungkook poked him back. And then, just like Jungkook and Hoseok had been play-fighting the first day Yoongi had seen them, Jungkook got Seokjin to join him in a play fight this time. Yoongi watched them closely, but he relaxed once he saw that Jungkook was being careful not to take it too far, no matter how outwardly insouciant and puppy-mannered he appeared to be. He was glad that Seokjin was laughing and having a good time - he had always helped Yoongi feel more relaxed and cheerful, and Yoongi knew he deserved to be in a place where he felt comfortable enough to play like this. He felt a little guilty all over again that it had taken him so long to realize that Seokjin wanted to stay.

Of course he wanted to stay. But Yoongi couldn’t help but feel a little lonely. Then the thought came to him: maybe Namjoon was feeling lonely too. After all, Jungkook was his little brother, and Yoongi couldn’t help but notice that Jungkook had been spending a lot of time with Seokjin. I mean, it made sense - obviously everyone should want to spend time with Seokjin, he was a great guy. But maybe that meant Jungkook was spending less time with Namjoon - just like Seokjin was spending less time with Yoongi.

Yoongi went up the stairs, figuring he’d at least peek in and see what Namjoon was up to. Maybe he wouldn’t want company - then Yoongi would just go up to the reading loft and watch for birds. But when he stuck his face timidly around the corner, Namjoon was looking right at the door. Yoongi opened his mouth, trying to think of what to say, but he found himself tongue-tied somehow. Maybe it was the way Namjoon had brightened up so immediately on seeing Yoongi in his door - why had he done that? Surely he would prefer one of his actual clowder-mates over the appearance of Yoongi?

“Hi, come in!” Namjoon greeted him enthusiastically. “Hello!”

“Hello,” Yoongi replied, now even less sure of what to say.

“I’m glad you came by! You seemed very curious about my room when Hoseok was showing you around.”

Yoongi suddenly remembered how he’d made a show of sniffing Namjoon’s room and strongly considered running away. But Namjoon didn’t have a trace of deception in his face, just warmth in his eyes and those dimples in his cheeks under his big round glasses.

“You have a bunch of stuff on your shelves - it looks interesting,” Yoongi mumbled, finally stepping through the door.

“Ah, of course! Well, come take a look at it - I’m quite proud of my little collection here,” he said, making broad gestures for Yoongi to come closer.

So Yoongi did. He came right over to the shelf and Namjoon stood next to him, looking like he was hoping Yoongi would ask him questions. The first thing Yoongi saw at eye level was a framed picture: two cat hybrid kits and two fully-grown dog hybrids.

“This is you and Jungkook when you were little?” Yoongi asked.

“Yes, us and our parents,” Namjoon confirmed with a smile.

Yoongi peered at the happy little family. Namjoon was an absolutely adorable toddler, his huge dimples on display and his paws and ears far too big for the rest of him as he sat cuddled on his mother’s lap. (With his one black ear and one brown ear, just like he had now) And then in their father’s arms, Jungkook was a tiny, tiny baby. His ears were still a bit curled up, but his big round eyes were open and he looked very solemn in the way tiny babies did. And even then he had his tabby stripes visible on his forehead.

Their parents had warm, friendly faces too. Light-brown fur and tail pointy ears, similar to a guard-dog sort of breed. Somehow, seeing them all together made Yoongi feel better about the whole thing. Namjoon and Jungkook, even if sometimes they didn’t act the way Yoongi expected, were still full of care and lightness and Yoongi could easily picture them having been doted on. How could they not have been doted on when they were so cute?

Yoongi almost blurted out about how cute he thought Namjoon was. But he wasn’t sure if Namjoon wanted a scruffy alley cat (who he’d not exactly chosen to live with) to call him cute.

“I think this is the most love I’ve ever seen in a picture,” Yoongi said instead, making sure to keep his tone serious so Namjoon would know he wasn’t making fun of him.

Namjoon made a funny face and put his hand dramatically on his chest.

“You’re so sweet,” he said, looking quite charmed.

Yoongi suddenly felt overwhelmed at how nice and welcoming Namjoon was being. He didn’t know how to react at all - so he decided to ignore it for now.

“Why is this vase so tiny?” he asked, pointing to the bright blue but miniscule object next to the frame.

“It’s a sample from a local ceramic artist! She tests all her new glazes on tiny vases before she puts them on the big one,” Namjoon explained. “Someday, I hope to be able to afford one of her big pieces.”

Yoongi wondered just how big those could possibly be. But Namjoon easily anticipated this question, as he was already pouncing back onto his computer chair and typing something.

“See, she makes these,” he said.

Yoongi leaned in and saw a set of photos of enormous jars and vases, all nearly large enough to contain a person, and covered in brilliant colors.

“And even this doesn’t really capture it,” Namjoon went on enthusiastically. “You really have to see these in person to see how they come alive.”

Yoongi thought that normally he wouldn’t spend even a second thinking about why and how a giant vase could look “alive,” but the way Namjoon was describing it was somehow captivating. He tried to imagine going somewhere with Namjoon and enjoying looking at a giant jar.

“Well, take a seat, get comfortable!” Namjoon suggested suddenly, gesturing towards his bed. 

Yoongi wasn’t going to turn that down. He sat himself down neatly on the foot of Namjoon’s bed, pulling his knees up and circling his hands, He tucked his tail carefully around his feet.

“One of your books fell over,” he pointed out, looking back across at the shelf.

Namjoon turned his head to look.

“Oh, right, that’s a book about traditional calligraphy - I’m trying to learn it. Maybe.” he said in a scattered manner.

“I tried it and I’m pretty bad at it,” he went on with a bashful chuckle, sticking his elbows out by putting his hands up on the armrests of his chair.

Yoongi couldn’t help but smile. He had been right when he predicted it: it was nice to sit here and listen to Namjoon talk about all of his interesting things. He asked about a few other things - some of the figurines and books. But then something else occurred to him.

“What were you doing when I came in?” he asked.

“Oh! Um, I was actually making a song,” Namjoon replied, glancing over at his computer.

“A song? I mean, sorry for interrupting,” Yoongi stammered in confusion, preparing to leap up.

“No no, it’s fine - I have plenty of time left before the deadline, and taking breaks helps me work more efficiently, as paradoxical as it sounds,” Namjoon reassured him. “Actually, do you want to hear it?”

“Oh…sure,” Yoongi agreed cautiously.

Namjoon made a pleased little sound, then clicked a bunch of things on his computer and grabbed his headphones from off the desk. Yoongi stood up and came over next to him.

“Um,” Namjoon said, suddenly pausing. “Will this be okay?”

He looked a little dubious as he held up the headphones, looking at Yoongi’s ear-stub. Yoongi felt ashamed that he was a problem. He had endured the headphones for the hearing test so he could probably put up with this.

“Yeah,” Yoongi said tersely.

But as Namjoon leaned in, one side of the headphones in each hand, and the big puffy earpieces got closer to the sides of his head, Yoongi suddenly felt himself panicking. He could do it, he could do it…

No, he couldn’t. Suddenly, Yoongi flinched away, almost against his own will, and whirled away from Namjoon. It was going to hurt, and it was his fault, and why didn’t he think these things through?

“Oh no, did I hurt you?” Namjoon asked, throwing down the headphones and looking worried.

“No!” Yoongi said forcefully. “I- I just-”

Yoongi was suddenly so angry at himself. Why did everything have to hurt? Why was he so stupid and difficult even when everyone was being nice? He kicked the wall behind him in frustration, trying his hardest not to cry in front of Namjoon.

Then he heard footsteps running down the hallway, and Hoseok stuck his head in, his eyes wide and his ears pinned down. He looked startled and upset.

“Whoa whoa whoa, let’s not pound on the wall, okay?” he said breathlessly. “That’s awfully loud!”

The rage in Yoongi was suddenly replaced by a wave of panic, and then an even more visceral wave of despair. He’d made Hoseok mad. He had proven he was bad at being in a house. He’d broken a rule. He was too stupid to even listen to music - he shouldn’t have even tried to invite himself into Namjoon’s room - now they both hated him - 

It was all too much to bear and Yoongi’s heart was going to tear itself to shreds if he had to feel all these terrible feelings for a single moment longer. It had to stop. Yoongi collapsed, letting his back slide down the wall so he was sitting on the floor, and then he reached up for his ears with his hands and grabbed them as hard as he could and dug his nails in and screamed.

The pain jolted through him, the nerves in his tender flesh sending signals to his brain that easily overwhelmed his stress and worry. He could no longer see Namjoon or Hoseok’s faces or hear what they were saying. 

Yoongi was distantly aware of more footsteps running towards him, and then hands were grabbing at his wrists. Familiar hands. Seokjin. It was Seokjin, prying his fingers loose, making Yoongi throw his hands around Seokjin instead, and pulling Yoongi close just like he had before. Just like he always did when Yoongi completely failed like this. Yoongi’s breath ran out, his scream trailing out into a whimper. He let himself be wrapped up, buried his face in the safety of Seokjin’s chest, letting the purring drown out the misery in his head.

“What did you do?” Seokjin asked in an icy tone, still flawlessly purring to Yoongi even as he spoke.

Yoongi couldn’t tell if he was directing that at Namjoon or Hoseok. His ears ached. They would ache for hours after this, he knew.

“I, well, hold on, this all got out of hand so quickly…”

That was Namjoon, sounding upset almost to the point of tears. Yoongi wanted to explain to Seokjin that it was his own fault, he’d accidentally let himself get hurt and then he expressed his frustration the wrong way and now Hoseok hated him. And now Seokjin was angry on his behalf and things were getting even worse, but he wasn’t able to speak yet. He tried to breathe but sobbed instead, and Seokjin pulled him closer and purred louder.

He could barely hear Namjoon’s explanation of events, stumbling over his words as he tried to make it clear that it was just a misunderstanding. Yoongi tried to breathe, tried to push the bad feelings down like he always did, and the awful roaring in his ears slowly subsided until things seemed normal again. He squirmed out of Seokjin’s grip.

“It’s okay,” he said gruffly.

He finally managed to look up, to see all three of them looking at him in deep concern.

“Did you break the skin?” Hoseok asked quietly, looking at Yoongi’s ears.

“No,” Yoongi said, rubbing over his ears.

He had before, but not this time. Just bruises. 

“It was my fault. Sorry for pounding the wall and yelling and- and yeah,” he mumbled.

Then he eeled away and out the door, and ran away from all of them. He ran down the stairs and into the room he shared with Seokjin and up onto the bunk bed. He regretted everything. Maybe if he just stayed here in this room quietly, he wouldn’t make any more mistakes. 

Seokjin came in just a minute or two later. He hopped up on the bunk and curled up behind Yoongi. 

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Yoongi said, because he always said yes when Seokjin asked him that question.

Seokjin stayed with him, all the way until his heart finally slowed down and he was able to doze off. It was a short nap, but it did help Yoongi feel a little better. At least, until he remembered he’d need to go back out and see everybody - especially Hoseok and Namjoon. Who knew what they thought of him now, he thought morosely.

Hoseok ended up coming in to talk to him once they’d woken up. Seokjin left after giving him a big long squeeze and directing a slightly threatening glare to Hoseok.

“Hey, Yoongi, are you feeling better?” Hoseok asked him, carefully arranging himself in the beanbag chair on the ground.

“Yeah,” Yoongi said, rolling onto his stomach so he could look down at Hoseok from the bunk.

“I wanted to apologize for what I said to you. It was wrong of me to come in and scold you for hitting the wall when I hadn’t even cared to ask what led up to it,” Hoseok said.

Yoongi stared off to the side, not looking at Hoseok. It hadn’t even occurred to him that Hoseok would think he’d done anything wrong.

“It’s your house. It was wrong of me to hit the wall and scare you,” Yoongi told him contritely.

He really did feel awful about the whole thing. Hoseok shook his head gently.

“I shouldn’t have reacted so strongly. I do sometimes have an issue with loud, sudden noises - they do stress me out - but I should never have made it your problem. I promise I’ll do better going forward.”

Yoongi wasn’t sure what to say.

“Seokjin told me a little bit about…what you do with your ears. That it’s a coping mechanism. I really, really hope that I - that neither I or anyone else in the house - would ever do anything again to make you so upset that you felt like you had to do something like that,” Hoseok said, his voice sad but insistent.

Yoongi felt ashamed of himself all over again, that he was so bad and hard to get along with. 

“So it’s okay - Yoongi, if you need to yell, or tell us to leave you alone, or anything, please just tell us what you need. Please don’t hurt yourself.”

Hoseok sounded so upset. Yoongi didn’t want him to think he was to blame, but he didn’t know how to make things go back to the way they were before either. Suddenly, Yoongi realized that Hoseok felt guilty about what had happened. It was like when Yoongi had snapped at Jimin about the tuna can, and then they’d had to carefully convince each other it was okay and they actually weren’t mad. He could see now how both he and Hoseok had made things worse for each other without meaning to.

Hoseok stood up then and came closer to Yoongi, his face only just below eye level for Yoongi. He reached out and put his hand on the edge of the mattress, trying to bridge the gap between them.

I don’t even know why I do it. I feel like I never know what’s going on around me from minute to minute, much less what’s happening inside my head. I’m so afraid of messing up. I don’t know if you guys even want me here or not. I never feel comfortable anyway and I don’t know what to do to make anything better.

“Okay,” Yoongi whispered.

He reached out very carefully and put his hand on top of Hoseok’s. Hoseok smiled at him in return, a careful sad smile.

“Will you come out and join us for dinner?” he asked.

Yoongi shook his head. He still felt far too off-kilter to think of seeing everyone at once. 

“Not hungry yet,” he said, which was not quite a lie, because he knew if he went and smelled food he’d feel hungry but he just didn’t want to.

Hoseok squeezed Yoongi’s hand and then withdrew.

“I’ll let you be, then. We’re all here for you, I hope you know that,” he said.

He seemed content to leave it at that, not requiring any further answer from Yoongi. He left and closed the door behind him when he went out. Not long after, Yoongi could hear the muffled noises of conversation and dinner from down the hallway, but he stayed where he was.

However, he didn’t end up being along for long. A knock came at the door.

“It’s Jungkook, can I come in?”

That, Yoongi hadn’t been expecting. So he finally rolled himself out of the bed so he could talk to Jungkook on his feet.

“Yeah,” Yoongi called out uncertainly.

Jungkook pushed inside the door with a tray of food and a hopeful sparkle in his eyes. 

“Seokjin said you might eat if I leave this in here,” he said, quickly hustling in and putting it on one of the chairs.

Yoongi spotted a whole variety of things - some pork belly, some pickled veggies, some rice, some other things he couldn’t identify right away. And of course, now that he could smell it, he did feel hungry. So he pulled a floor cushion over and crouched next to the tray and started eating.

“Thank you,” he said shyly to Jungkook.

He still didn’t know Jungkook very well. He was a little bit wary of his energy and playfulness - but Seokjin seemed to like him very much, which was a good sign as far as Yoongi was concerned. Jungkook nodded to him, satisfied, and then turned around and left as quickly as he’d arrived. Yoongi decided he felt a little better already, so he focused on eating.

Jungkook came back fifteen or twenty minutes later, after Yoongi had demolished the contents of the tray and had retreated to the corner. He was watching obliquely out the window, keeping track of people, dogs, birds, and anything else that went by the house in the approaching twilight. He was starting to feel like he wanted to come out of the room but was still feeling shaky and bashful and wanted to make sure everyone had dispersed before he emerged so there wouldn’t be too many faces on him at the same time. But Jungkook had interrupted his reverie, coming in on the pretext of getting his dishes.

“Are you going to eat more of this?” he asked kindly.

Yoongi shook his head.

Jungkook knelt down and started stacking the little bowls, making sure it was ready to pick up without anything tipping. He paused, hands on his knees, and looked over at Yoongi.

“I’m sure Namjoon would love to play the song for you, if you feel up to going back,” he said with a hopeful look.

Yoongi wanted to believe it, but he felt awful.

“I think he must hate me now,” he confessed tearfully. “His room is so wonderful and peaceful and I messed it up.”

Jungkook shook his head, then came over and sat down next to him. He was crouched on the floor next to his side, looking at him beseechingly.

“You didn’t mess it up. Namjoon thinks you might be mad at him. I promise you he doesn’t hate you at all. Can you give him another chance?”

“Of course I’m not mad at him,” Yoongi argued. 

“Well, good,” Jungkook said, as if it were that simple.

He looked at Yoongi with those big eyes of his, the sparkle in them only enhanced by his cute, striped fur. Yoongi remembered the picture of him as a baby, and thought that he probably had not been told “no” very many times in his life. He wiped his teary eyes impatiently. He’d made up with Jimin, he’d made up with Hoseok, he could make up with Namjoon as well. 

Yoongi took a deep breath, pushed himself away from the window, and bolted out of the room and up the stairs before he could lose his nerve. He took another deep breath at the top landing, and then forced himself to walk to Namjoon’s door for the second time that day. He peeked in, and saw Namjoon sitting at his computer as he had been before, but he was holding on to his tail and running his fingers through the fur fretfully. But again, like he had before, he brightened up as soon as he saw Yoongi.

“Oh, you’re here! Oh, Yoongi, I’m so, so sorry - I wasn’t thinking - I should have-” he said immediately, falling over himself and stumbling over his words.

“No no, it’s okay,” Yoongi assured him, trying to sound more comforting than he really felt like he was capable of being. “It’s my fault. I’m really sorry for causing such a problem and, and all of what…happened.”

They stood there, looking past each other awkwardly, both of them with their ears flattened down from worry. Yoongi’s ears still throbbed, but it was a familiar ache by now, easy enough to ignore.

“I’ll put the song on my speakers? If you still…want?” Namjoon asked tentatively.

“But don’t you prefer to listen on headphones?” Yoongi replied anxiously.

“Ah, mm, I guess I just get self-concious,” he said with a stiff little chuckle. “I worry about, I don’t know, bothering the house with the noise. But everyone is so noisy…so, you know, who cares. Right?”

He was still wringing his tail, though he’d popped his ears back up by the end of his nervous little speech.

“Sure,” Yoongi finally agreed. “I…want to hear it.”

Namjoon let go of his tail and beamed, clearly relieved.

“Great! Well, sit down then?” he suggested.

So Yoongi carefully sat down in the same spot he’d been in before, with his knees up and his arms around his legs and his tail over his feet. Namjoon turned to his computer and clicked a few things with maybe more enthusiasm than was really called for, then unplugged his headphones with a flourish, and hit one last button that was apparently the one that would start the music.

It was nice, though Yoongi didn’t know any words to describe it. It had notes in different tones, and it had a drum beat, and it was fun to watch Namjoon happily nod his head in time to the drums. He was so grateful that Namjoon was giving him another chance. He got to sit in Namjoon’s room, where it was peaceful, and interesting things happened, and Namjoon was letting him listen to a song he’d made.

Namjoon smiled at him and Yoongi smiled back. That song ended, and Namjoon put on another he said he’d made for a different client, and then he picked some other songs by other people that he said inspired him. Yoongi wasn’t even sure how many songs they listened to total before a grinning Jungkook came in and told them it was time to eat.

At the meal, Yoongi made sure to sit next to Hoseok. He wanted to test to see if things were still fine between the two of them. Hoseok smiled at him, and helped him load up his plate with the delicious food (cooked by Jimin, this time). Yoongi felt like he could put the whole unfortunate happening behind him, then.

Yoongi used the heating pad Hoseok had gotten out for him at his next nap. He should show that he was listening to the things they asked of him. And, he discovered the doctor was right - having the gentle heat to cuddle up to did help him fall asleep. It wasn’t as nice as being next to Seokjin, but their schedules had been drifting further apart the longer they’d been staying in this house. So, at least it was something. 

After he woke up, still alone, Yoongi sat up on the top bunk for a while, feeling like there was too much worry and uncertainty looming over him. He had almost screwed up everything for himself and Seokjin. He needed to try harder to live the way he was supposed to in this house. But what else could he do to to fit in? 

He opened up the photos on the tablet, just the way Hoseok had shown him. He scrolled through, looking at his now-housemates. There were lots of pictures of them hanging out here at the house, or walking around the neighborhood, or sometimes at restaurants. They all looked like themselves in these pictures - exactly the way they looked to him in real life. Nothing came to him of what he could do to match what they did. 

But then a little bit later, when he had to use the bathroom and caught sight of himself in the mirror, he realized that maybe there was something he could do: his fur was not nearly as nice as theirs. (Or even Seokjin’s.) It was dull and ragged, clumping together weirdly. It was even matted in a few places on his back that were hard to reach. Maybe if his fur was softer and shinier he’d feel more like a housecat.

The next step, then, was to decide who to ask about it. Namjoon, with his tortoiseshell fur, had the darkest and thus closest to Yoongi’s black fur. But Yoongi still felt on edge around him in some ways - plus he was already being nice enough about listening to music together. Best not to push things. Jimin was definitely the softest and prettiest-looking of all of them, but almost intimidatingly so. Perhaps that was aiming too high. So ultimately Yoongi decided to start with Taehyung, since his tabby pattern was almost as dark as the medium tone on Namjoon’s fur, and he was the one who had gotten the stool for Yoongi so maybe he’d be willing to do him another favor.

Yoongi lurked and flitted distractedly around the house for the next few hours, trying to find a chance to talk to Taehyung alone. Finally, after many comings and goings and various groups chit-chatting in the living room or heading out the front door for errands or wandering up the stairs with laundry baskets, Yoongi got his chance: Jimin was solidly planted on a couch reading a magazine, and Taehyung had gotten a package in the mail and so must have gone up to his and Jimin’s room.

Yoongi scampered up the stairs, and was elated to see that the door to the husbands’ room was open. He poked his head around the corner, and Taehyung spotted him immediately.

“Yoongi!” he greeted him, sounding surprised and delighted. “Did you come up here to see me?”

Yoongi nodded, feeling shy. He wasn’t sure now if he still wanted to ask. Maybe Taehyung would think his request was stupid or impossible. He might even laugh.

“Ooooh, well come sit then!” Taehyung said happily, pointing to the giant ottoman he had next to the bed.

Yoongi walked in slowly and sat down at the indicated spot very gingerly. Taehyung had always been so kind…so far. He might as well try.

“Your fur is very nice,” he said by way of broaching the subject.

“Thank you,” Taehyung said, raising up his shoulders cutely and laughing a little.

“I was wondering…” Yoongi started, and then bit his lip because he still didn’t know what to say.

But Taehyung waited patiently for him to gather his thoughts.

“Do you think there’s anything I could do with my fur to make it maybe even a little shiny?” he finally asked timidly.

Taehyung’s ears perked up and his eyes gleamed in excitement.

“Would you like to do a little fur treatment?” he asked, clasping his hands together. “Oh, yes, Yoongi, I would love to help you. And you know, Jimin’s the expert in all that. Let’s ask him too.”

He had pulled out his phone and texted Jimin before Yoongi could say anything else. Yoongi heard the pitter-patter of feet coming up the stairs and down the hallway, and then Jimin was in the doorway.

“A makeover?” Jimin whisper-shouted excitedly as he strode in, clasping his hands together cutely.

“No,” Yoongi said nervously, though he wasn’t entirely sure what that was. “It’s just that I don’t look like I live in a house. I want my fur to look…better.”

Taehyung and Jimin exchanged a look, but smiled at him gently when they were done. Yoongi knew what he was asking for was kind of stupid, because he would still have the ugly mark on his face, and his ear was ruined forever, but he couldn't give up just because of that. 

“I know it’s never going to look nice, like you guys do, and that’s fine,” Yoongi went on stubbornly. “But-”

“Oh, no, Yoongi, they make some amazing fur conditioners,” Jimin assured him, squeezing himself onto the ottoman next to him. “We’re going to make you as glossy as a supermodel.”

Yoongi laughed at that, picturing himself on a billboard. These guys were pretty silly.

Twenty minutes later, he was already filled with doubt again. He was wearing only shorts now, and Jimin had massaged some kind of goo on the worst, most tangled part of his fur on the back of his head, neck, and back. It had been soaking in for a while, and now it needed to be combed out. Yoongi really hated the sensation of his goopy fur getting tugged, but he could tell that Jimin was being as gentle as he could be.

Still, he was sitting on the chair very tensely, holding one of Jimin and Taehyung’s throw pillows against his chest. But even with that to hold on to, he was still clenching his fisted hands so hard that his arms were trembling.

“Are you okay?” Taehyung asked, putting a concerned hand on his shoulder.

“I don’t like this part,” Yoongi said, trying not to whine. “But I know I asked for it.”

“Aw,” Taehyung said, looking upset on his behalf. “Would a distraction help? Maybe we could put a show on?”

Yoongi perked up at the idea. That sounded a lot better than just sitting here marinating in unpleasant sensations.

“Yeah, Jimin showed me a show all about how to build and fix houses!” he said. “Can we watch that?”

Jimin agreed to the change of scenery, so they all trooped down the stairs together to the living room. (Yoongi kept the pillow clutched to his front. He felt a little shy about walking through the house with no shirt on.) Yoongi was placed on one of the chairs there, facing backwards so that Jimin could sit behind him and keep combing, and Taehyung got his show on.

Yoongi breathed a sigh of relief. It was much easier to endure now that there was a person there explaining how they were about to rip up some walls and floor to make a bathroom bigger. Jimin’s careful grooming receded to a background sensation.

A few minutes later, the front door opened - it was Namjoon. He kicked his shoes off, shook his head hard enough to make his ears flap, and then noticed Yoongi, Taehyung, and Jimin in the middle of the living room. He stared at them. 

“We’re giving Yoongi a little fur treatment!” Taehyung announced to him.

Namjoon still kept staring. He was staring right at Yoongi, like he was shocked by something. Well, Yoongi probably did look really weird with all the goo in his fur. But he was learning so much from the renovation TV show, that even Namjoon being his odd self wasn’t enough to upset him.

“Namjoon, look, they discovered that the floor joists were damaged! They almost put a giant claw-footed tub there, but it might have gone straight through into the room below,” Yoongi told him excitedly, pointing to the screen.

“Oh wow,” Namjoon murmured.

Yoongi turned his attention back to the show, feeling a little impatient with Namjoon’s slow, distracted behavior. Jimin had worked his way down though the thick fur at the nape of his neck and was carefully teasing out the knots along his spine. The grooming wasn’t so bad now that’d he’d gotten used to it. It seemed like Jimin was really good at this sort of thing. 

But then, surprising Yoongi, Namjoon came over just a few moments later and sat down in the middle of the living room next to him.

“May I join you?” he asked.

“Yeah, of course!” Yoongi said, feeling oddly excited.

He was really glad that Taehyung and Jimin were being so nice helping him, and that he was actually kind of enjoying sitting here being pampered, and now Namjoon was here seeming interested in the same show he was, and everything was just going so well! Maybe he did know how to live in a house after all. 

They watched all the way to the end of the episode together. Namjoon thought that the color of tile they chose might have been too dark, but Yoongi decided he liked the way it had turned out. Then, Jimin announced he was done detangling Yoongi’s fur and it was time for him to rinse off. Jimin escorted him to the bathroom and brought in three different bottles. Seokjin peeked in curiously, listening in as Jimin instructed him on which of the three to use in what order. Yoongi paid very close attention, making sure he noted the colors and shapes, since he couldn’t read the words on them.

It was a huge relief to step into the shower finally and rinse all of the goop out. Yoongi was elated to feel how the water ran through his fur smoothly - all the little mats and knots were gone for sure. He washed his fur with all the stuff just the way Jimin had told him, even though he got a little impatient by the end with all the lathering and rinsing.

He got even more impatient when he was towelling off, because he wanted to see it already! He knew he wouldn’t be able to tell how much of an impact all of that work had until his fur was actually dry. But, peeking at how he looked in the mirror still wet…he couldn’t help but get his hopes up. Yes, of course, his ugly scars were visible as always, and they surely didn’t help, but he thought the odds were good that his fur was better. 

He got dressed in the stuff he preferred to wear: a nice comfy baggy shirt and pants. He was grateful that that’s what Hoseok (he assumed) had put in the room for him before he showed up. Then, he went out to his preferred spot in the kitchen so he could see what was happening. That gave him a front-row view of the preparations for the next meal, which were no less fascinating now than they always were. All the chopping and stirring and tasting and sizzling captivated Yoongi, even though he didn’t understand what most of it was supposed to accomplish.

It was when the time came for everyone to eat that Yoongi remembered his fur. It felt nearly dry now, and he hoped it looked better.

“Oh, Yoongi, look at you!” Taehyung crowed when all seven of them were descending on the food laid out in the kitchen. “Jimin, Jimin, look! Wow, it really worked!”

Everyone looked over at him and Yoongi almost laughed at the effect of six pairs of eyes widening and six tails perking up in interest at once.

Hoseok came over first, reaching out and rubbing his shoulder and then running his fingers through the fur on the back of his neck. Namjoon patted the top of his head with a funny little giggle. Jungkook combed through the longest fur on the back of his head.

“Your fur is so soft and shiny!”

“Aw, you look so nice!”

“Wow, Yoongi, I’m so impressed!”

Yoongi couldn’t help it. He started purring. They all started cooing and praising him even more, and he felt bashful but only purred even louder.

“See, didn’t I tell you that we’d get some good results?” Jimin exclaimed, coming over and touching the side of his neck. “Aw, you’re so sweet.”

“I’m glad you’re happy,” Taehyung said with a pleased laugh and a little purr of his own. “Wow, I wish we had done this sooner - I never would have imagined you’d purr like this!”

“Yup, I think Yoongi’s got the loudest purr of all the cat hybrids I’ve met,” Seokjin said proudly.

“I’ve never heard him purr before,” Jungkook said, with the distinct air of someone who thought he had been missing out on something.

Some of the others murmured in agreement.

“Doesn’t he purr for you guys?” Seokjin asked, his voice suddenly much softer.

Yoongi coughed loudly and moved away from everyone’s caressing hands. He just hadn’t been much in a purring mood lately, that was all.

“Anyway, the food looks delicious, let’s eat!” he said.

Yoongi, despite how much he generally didn’t like looking at his own face, whisked away to the bathroom as soon as dinner was over to see what he looked like with his fur dry. Jimin and Taehyung had definitely worked some magic: it was shiny! He ran his fingers through it and purred to himself, just a little. Silky smooth. It was nice. He’d need to make sure to follow all of their instructions so it stayed this way. Everyone had been so happy with the result - he was glad that at least he’d had one good idea.

The next day, Yoongi thought about the fact that he really should give those games on his tablet a try. Knowing how to read was also something a housecat should know. But he still felt too nervous to try. He decided he should make sure he was really ready first - and he always thought better when he wasn’t hungry, so it only made sense to have a snack.

Yoongi rummaged around in the fridge and found something enticing: some whole lemons. This was a fruit he was familiar with: restaurants often discarded whole piles of the slices. They could be refreshing (if you found them soon enough). But these were undoubtedly nice and fresh. Yoongi retreated to the stool, turned so that he could look out the back door into the yard, and bit right into the peel of the lemon.

Sour, bitter, tangy, unmistakable. It made his mouth pucker up a little but he could remember getting advice from other cats out on the street: there was a vitamin or something in lemons that you couldn’t get in other foods usually, and if you ate them it would keep you from getting sick. So to Yoongi, the lemon tasted like the promise of a healthy future. He always felt lucky when he found a lemon, and that hadn’t changed just because they were easier to get now.

So he slowly nibbled away at his lemon and enjoyed the sunbeam coming inside and felt peaceful and content.

Jungkook came into the kitchen and stared at him, his tail straight out.

“What?” Yoongi asked him suspiciously.

“Are you eating a lemon?” Jungkook asked.

“Oh! Yeah! There’s still a bunch more, do you want one too?” Yoongi asked, wondering if Jungkook was feeling of pang of jealously at Yoongi’s snack.

Jungkook shook his head.

“I’ve never seen that- I’ve never seen anyone just eat a lemon like it was an apple,” he remarked.

Yoongi shrugged and took another bite. 

“You sure you don’t want one?” he asked suspiciously once he’d swallowed it, given that Jungkook was still staring at him. “You can even have a bite of mine!”

He held out the lemon magnanimously. Jungkook’s face broke into that cute smile of his, and he waved his tail.

“No, but thank you,” he said sweetly.

“Are you eating a lemon?” Jimin asked, suddenly materializing from around the corner and sounding positively scandalized.

“He’s eating a lemon,” Jungkook confirmed.

Yoongi gave Jimin a thumbs’s up. Jimin opened his mouth as if to say something, then closed it, and then opened it again.

“Actually, that reminded me of something!” he said brightly, shaking his head and making his pretty ears wiggle adorably. “You did a great job with the fur washes I gave you, by the way.”

“Thank you,” Yoongi mumbled.

He had been following Jimin’s directions scrupulously.

“Your fur really does look nice,” Jungkook agreed.

They both came closer and stroked his fur a little like they had before. Yoongi purred, just a little. He was glad that he had asked for help with his fur, and that they approved of how it had come out. 

“Now, for the next thing, I was wondering…do you want to try painting your nails, like I do?” Jimin asked.

He held up his hand. Yoongi had subconsciously noticed Jimin’s nails being painted before, he realized, but he hadn’t really paid attention to them. They were a sort of light blue right now - like the color of a robin’s egg. It really suited Jimin’s lovely calico fur.

Yoongi surreptitiously looked down at his own nails. They were quite ragged, given that he bit them short all the time. He couldn’t imagine what they’d look like painted - they probably couldn’t even be painted at all.

“Tell you what - if you can make it five days without biting them, I’ll give you a manicure and you can choose any color you want for the polish!” Jimin suggested.

Yoongi seized on the idea. He liked that Jimin had suggestions for how he could improve himself. And he was being very kind by not mentioning Yoongi’s extremely visible scars and disfigurement. Obviously nothing could be done about all that. But surely they’d all be a little more comfortable around him if he had shiny fur and pretty nails. 

“Okay,” Yoongi agreed. “Five days!”

The next day, Hoseok and Taehyung asked Yoongi and Seokjin to come to the office upstairs. So he gamely trooped up after them, puzzling over what could possibly happen when they got there. Yoongi crept through the door very carefully once they arrived, already not liking that this was a new situation. He’d only had the one peek in here before when they toured the house, and hadn’t been inside since. Seokjin came in right behind him, much less concerned. They plopped down together on the couch right across from the desk, where Taehyung was sitting. Hoseok came in right behind them and pulled up another seat to the side of the desk.

“So, good news, we were able to find more records for each of you,” Taehyung said, gesturing to the computer next to him. “Seokjin, we did find your registration with the family that took you in as a kitten. It all matches up with what you could recall. And here’s your birth certificate.”

He pushed a piece of paper across the desk, and Seokjin grabbed at it eagerly. 

“Kim Seokjin,” he said, sounding very satisfied, “born December fourth, 1992. So I did remember it correctly!”

He looked over at Yoongi and smiled. Yoongi smiled back and gave him a hug. 

“So, we have proof now that the humans who originally adopted you illegally abandoned you,” Hoseok explained solemnly. “We can contact the authorities and try to get them charged.”

Seokjin shrugged, a little unhappily.

“I don’t want to see them again,” he said quietly, “or even think about them, at all. I’d rather just forget it completely.”

Yoongi kept his arm around Seokjin and squeezed him.

“Sure, we’ll handle it however you want,” Taehyung said gently. “Now, Yoongi, it was a little harder to find anything for you,” he went on, “but I think I did find something.”

He turned the computer monitor around so Yoongi and Seokjin could both see it. It showed a cropped, blown-up of photograph of a dirty, ragged, snarling hybrid kitten, surely no older than three years old, being held in place upright for the photograph with adult hands on each of his skinny arms. Yoongi stared, doubtful.

“Oh, it’s you!” Seokjin stated with certainty, sounding fascinated. “That’s your face. Unmistakable.”

Yoongi kept looking at it. He couldn't remember anything from his childhood. The years before he met Seokjin were a dark blur that he spent no time ever trying to recall. Well, perhaps there were a few impressions he had retained even all these years later. Times of being left by himself hidden somewhere, alone for hours and hours. Days in a row where nobody else was around, he was never spoken to. Hunger. Cold. Unkind hands.

Yoongi shivered.

“This is from an encampment of unhoused hybrids, that was rounded up and demolished in 1996. All of the inhabitants were photographed and registered. If this is you,” Taehyung said cautiously, “then none of the adult hybrids there claimed you as their own.”

Yoongi didn’t know what to say to that, so he stayed silent, looking at the angry little baby face that he supposed must be himself. He tried to put himself in that place, to see if he could remember it. Back against a wall, big camera a few feet from his face, giant human hands wrapped around his upper arms pinning him in place. Tall people all around him. 

He shook his head - it made him feel very bad to think about, but he didn’t think it was actually a memory. He didn’t want to think about it any more. It was a mistake.

“Anyway, there was some kind of mixup after that,” Taehyung continued, sounding perturbed, “because all the hybrids who had been in the camp were supposed to be taken care of, given permanent housing and so forth, but then they all just vanished from the system again. But they did link a few more records together before that. If this is you in the picture, then the records say this is your birth certificate.”

He pushed another piece of paper across the desk. Yoongi grabbed it, but held it between himself and Seokjin, since he couldn't make out most of what it said. He could see the name, though.

“Min Yoongi?” he said.

Taehyung and Hoseok nodded.

“March ninth, 1993!” Seokjin cried out, pointing to the birthdate on it. “Oh, Yoongi, you’re younger than I am!”

Yoongi stared at the paper. He could, indeed, make out the numbers and the name of the month. He nodded but didn’t speak. It didn’t change anything, They were still brothers, had still spent all those years together. He had still kept Seokjin as safe and healthy as he could. That was what mattered.

“It’s okay,” Seokjin said, sounding very amused by the whole thing. “I don’t need you to be my older brother any more!”

He bumped Yoongi’s shoulder with his head and hugged him and laughed. Yoongi smiled weakly. He had heard the words Seokjin had said but didn’t really feel like he understood them. He felt tired. He wanted to stop thinking about angry, dirty kittens and their brothers. He wanted to lie down and take a nap. Seokjin chuckled and handed both papers back to Taehyung.

Yoongi didn’t really remember leaving the office, but soon enough he was in his and Seokjin’s room, clutching the heating pad to his chest as he lay on the top bunk, facing the wall.

I don’t need you to be my older brother any more.

Yoongi thought that might be the worst thing anyone had ever said to him. Honestly, he’d rather have had his other ear cut off than ever have heard such a thing. He squeezed his eyes shut and pleaded silently for the heat to knock him out as soon as possible, so that he didn’t have to think about it any more.