Work Text:
things begin to change on a rainy thursday evening.
jimin’s late. not that taehyung keeps track of the time his best friend comes home after class, but jimin is objectively late. normally, jimin’s home by six on thursdays. his class ends at five-thirty and they’re only a ten minute walk away from campus on a bad day, five on a particularly cold one. sometimes, jimin will stop to get peppermint hot chocolate (he hates coffee) from the café on the way and he will come back to the apartment smelling like christmas and children’s wonder. sometimes, he will get distracted by a very cute dog and suddenly befriend their owner, arranging for another meeting, same time, same place.
everyone loves to be around jimin, from the baristas at the coffee place to friendly strangers and their pets on the street. taehyung is no exception.
by the time it’s six-fifteen and jimin’s still not home, taehyung’s starting to get antsy. he’s getting antsy because he stayed home all day to work on an art project and started a (relatively) homemade dinner at four o’clock. there’s a pot of pasta sitting on their dinky stove with the lid covering the colander because taehyung’s doesn’t want it to get cold before jimin gets back. that would mean he’d have to microwave it. and jimin doesn’t deserve microwaved food.
he’s worried jimin got caught in the rain. starts to imagine jimin standing under the awning of a closed store hoping for it to let up so he can make the journey home. he’s shivering because jimin never wears appropriate clothes for the weather. his phone’s dead so he can’t ask taehyung to come with an umbrella.
taehyung’s mind begins to race at the thought of jimin waiting helplessly for the rain to stop, nearly walking over to their coat rack to get an umbrella and go find him because goddamnit the pasta’s getting cold, and jimin’s missing movie night, and taehyung just really, really, really wants his best friend home.
he’s got an umbrella in his hand and one shoe on when the door busts open.
jimin walks in, soaking wet, droplets of rain dripping from the strands of his hair, shoes creating puddles on the floor by their entryway, with a drenched cloud in his hands.
taehyung breathes a quick sigh of relief that he doesn’t have to go rescue jimin from an apocalyptic rainy hellhole when he sees what jimin’s holding. the cloud turns its head, big, black pupils almost entirely engulfing the green that surrounds it, and meows, loud and angry.
“taehyung, look!” jimin cries, clutching the cat closer to his chest, hoping to warm it. not that jimin’s cold, wet torso will do it any good. “look who i found on the way back from class!”
the cat yowls again, scratching gently at jimin’s arm, getting squirmy in his hold. jimin plops the cat down on their hardwood floor, faint paw print marks left behind as it slowly begins to sniff out its surroundings. jimin’s staring down at the creature, smiling softly with his cheeks warm even though he was out in the rain for much too long, looks like he just walked out of the shower or like he just finished a rough dance workout with hoseok. taehyung, with fondness lacing his features as he looks at his best friend, begins to wonder how jimin is so beautiful, even just like this. shivering and wet and cold and lovely. he just stands there and looks at his best friend and wishes that things were just a little bit different.
“you’re all wet,” taehyung comments, eyeing jimin up and down, a gentle hand on jimin’s shoulder. jimin smiles guiltily, like he didn’t mean for this to happen. life just got in the way. “jimin, you’ll catch a cold.”
“i’ll be fine,” jimin insists, shrugging off taehyung’s hand with his own. “i’ve got a strong immune system.”
taehyung won’t hear it. without another word from jimin, he trots off to the bathroom and gets one of their towels, returning to where jimin stands by their couches, watching as their newfound household addition sniffs around the room. he wraps the towel around jimin’s back, draping it over his soaking wet hoodie. not that it does very much, because if anything it’s just pressing the wet fabric closer to jimin’s skin. but jimin grins at the feeling of taehyung’s arms around him, holding on tight to the edges of the towel like it’s the only thing keeping him warm.
“i was walking back, you know, jamming out to namjoon-hyung’s mixtape because it felt very weather-appropriate,” jimin says, quickly removing the towel to take off his hoodie. he hangs it up on the coat rack, by the umbrella taehyung was planning on bringing to him. his undershirt is soaked too, less so than his hoodie, but the damp white fabric leaves very little to the imagination. it clings to his skin and makes taehyung’s breath hitch in his throat. hands fumbling, he quickly wraps the towel back around jimin.
jimin crashes down onto the couch, leaving a damp spot where his jeans meet the cushions, and continues. “and i turned down fourth when i heard this soft little meow. and i almost thought that i was just hearing things, but then i heard the meow again! so i stopped to look around and saw her hiding in one of these dingy old cardboard boxes on the side of the road, and it was all cold and wet and i couldn’t just leave her there, tae! she looked so sad and helpless. so i spent ten minutes trying to gain her trust, and then she let me pick her up and carry her here. i tried to keep her as dry as possible, i really did, but she was already so wet so there wasn’t much i could do—”
taehyung finds the fact that it took jimin ten minutes for a stray cat, soaked and cold and probably very disgruntled, to trust him enough to be carried extremely romantic. in fact, exceedingly romantic. because the idea of jimin just being able to charm even small domestic animals without a hitch has a fairytale vibe to it. like if jimin were a prince, he’d befriend every single woodland creature that ever came to him, and then some.
sitting down next to jimin, he looks down at the cloud, who is slowly, from the warmth of their apartment’s central heating system, beginning to dry. she seems to be gravitating mostly towards darker spots, the corner by their television where they keep a pile of clothes that they keep meaning to wash but never get around to doing so. the empty amazon prime box by their kitchen table.
“her name is marshmallow,” jimin declares firmly. a proclamation of the cat’s name. “i’ve decided that.”
“does she have a collar?” taehyung asks. marshmallow has such long fur that taehyung doesn’t think he’d be able to see anything hidden amongst it.
“no, but she’s definitely not a stray. she’s extremely tame,” jimin says. he pulls the towel up to his hair, drying it roughly before letting it rest on his shoulders. his cheeks are still red from the cold. “maybe she was abandoned.”
“you know it says in our lease that we’re not allowed to have pets without a cage, jimin,” taehyung reminds him softly, hating the way that jimin’s entire expression drops as a response. “if we were, we would have adopted like, fifteen dogs by now.”
“i know,” jimin says with a sigh, looking down at marshmallow. she’s come full circle, sitting down right in front of jimin’s feet for a second before getting up to rub against them. “but i wasn’t going to just let her starve. it’s so hard out there for a kitty, taehyung,” he says, beginning to pout. oh, god. “can’t we just keep her? i mean, look at her, she’s so tame and soft and she’ll never be a bother or anything, please?”
“she looks awfully big for a stray,” taehyung says, leaning down to reach his hand out to her. she rejects his advances, hissing at him and puffing up her fur to make herself look even bigger than she already is. “are you sure she doesn’t belong to somebody?”
“if she does, then we can just keep her for the time being,” jimin suggests happily, reaching his hand down to where marshmallow stands at his feet, hissing at taehyung. she immediately turns to him, rubbing against his fingers. taehyung wonders if everyone’s in love with jimin, because it certainly feels that way.
at least, to him, it does.
“please, taehyung? i can buy all of her supplies and everything. we’ll keep her in my room! she won’t even bother you,” jimin promises.
“she doesn’t seem to like me very much anyway,” taehyung says petulantly, only a little bitter that jimin is the main recipient of marshmallow’s affection and not him. he’s normally great with animals. maybe marshmallow just has something out for him because she was duped into thinking she’d share a home with just jimin and nobody else.
“aw, she’ll warm up! you’re so lovable, taehyung, she’ll learn soon,” jimin says, smiling up at where taehyung’s leaning back into the couch. his eyes are all crinkled up, like a piece of paper folded so small that taehyung can barely make out his pupils. “anybody would fall in love with you.”
taehyung hopes that the loud rumbling sound throughout their apartment is marshmallow’s purrs and not his heart.
normally, on fridays, taehyung sleeps in until two in the afternoon and then lounges around like an apartment slug for the rest of the day, playing video games and sketching and procrastinating his schoolwork. fridays are his day to relax, decompress from the stress of the past week, and maybe see a friend or two, because he doesn’t have any classes that day. neither does jimin, so the two of them will often camp out on their couch with a family size pack of white cheddar popcorn, fooling around on the television and their hand-me-down xbox one the entire day.
at two in the afternoon today, taehyung is standing in the aisles of their local pet store, wondering what the hell the difference is between salmon florentine and wild salmon mix. jimin put him in charge of cat food while he went to hunt for a bed, a carrier, and toys. except now, taehyung is waiting in the cat food aisle like a confused toddler, plastic basket dangling in his fingers as he tries to figure out the best brands and flavors for their cat. eventually, he just starts plucking cans from the area closest to him, stocking up because he’s not really that sure what the serving size is per day for a cat.
when there’s enough food in the basket to last marshmallow at least two weeks, taehyung feels his phone vibrate in his jeans pocket. with a heavy metal clunk, he places the basket down on the linoleum floor.
jeongfry [2:04PM]
hey bith
i’m bored
let’s go bowling
taehyung [2:04PM]
don’t you have other friends to bother
jeongfry [2:04PM]
everyone is busy
let’s go bowling
taehyung [2:05PM]
you are a social parasite
also how dare you assume i am not busy
jeongfry [2:05PM]
all you do is sit at home pining after jimin
change my mind
taehyung [2:05PM]
i’m being attacked
jeongfry [2:05PM]
sorry you can’t handle the truth hyung
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
taehyung [2:06PM]
i will have you know that i am out right now
jeongfry [2:06PM]
are you, by any chance, with jimin?
taehyung [2:06PM]
…
jeongfry [2:06PM]
exactly
tell me you’re not a complete goner for him
taehyung [2:07PM]
i am not !!!! how dare you assume i have feelings !!!!
jeongfry [2:07PM]
what are you doing right now
taehyung [2:07PM ]
we are at the pet store
jeongfry [2:07PM]
why the fuck are you guys at the pet store
did you get a fish
diD YOU GET AN IGUANA
taehyung hopes that jimin’s gotten distracted by all of the cat toys so he doesn’t have to see taehyung explain to jungkook how jimin found marshmallow while it was raining and brought her back and now they have a brand new cat even though it says in their lease that they aren’t allowed pets without cages but taehyung can never say no to jimin so here they are. it would be a very long explanation.
jeongfry [2:10PM]
so let me get this straight
jimin brought home a cat named marshmallow
taehyung [2:10PM]
now we have a cat named marshmallow
in my defense the cat is super cute
and jimin loves her so much he treats her so well
so i couldn’t say no
jeongfry [2:11PM]
bet you wish you were the cat
taehyung [2:11PM]
are you accusing me of being a furry
jeongfry [2:11PM]
no
but have fun with your new cat daddy!!!
taehyung [2:12PM]
JEONGGUK
jeongguk doesn’t respond after that, leaving taehyung to scowl at his phone and wallow in the realization that if jimin asked him to somersault off of the empire state building, he’d do it without hesitation.
with nothing else to do and no annoying friends to distract him, taehyung goes on the hunt to find jimin in the pet store. it’s not that difficult, especially not when it’s pretty easy to spot a university student surrounded by cat products. but taehyung knows that deep down, if you asked him to pick jimin out in a crowd of thousands, hundreds of thousands, he’d find him instantly. it’s a magnetic connection, something that draws taehyung into him and keeps him close, never permitting him to leave. something like that.
eventually, taehyung finds jimin in the aisle with the carriers, trying to pick one that will be big and comfortable enough for marshmallow to sit in when they take her to the vet tomorrow. they most certainly will not be letting her roam freely in the backseat of taehyung’s jacked up car, no matter how calm of a cat she is.
“which color do you like, taehyung?” jimin asks when he spots taehyung walking over with a basket of food. “the blue or the green?”
“i don’t know,” taehyung admits. they’re almost the exact same, just a single shade off. similar saturation and everything.
“oh, come on, you’re the art student! you must have an idea,” jimin chides fondly. taehyung’s heart freezes up, as it so often does.
“the blue one,” taehyung says impulsively, liking the way it sits against jimin’s skin as he reaches a hand out to grab it. jimin seems satisfied with taehyung’s answer, placing it next to his own basket, filled with toys and a couple of cat bowls for marshmallow’s food. “do you think this will be enough?”
jimin looks down at taehyung’s basket, stacks of little metal cans one on top of the other, and he laughs. he laughs and it makes taehyung smile too, even as jimin assures him that that’s plenty of food and will probably last them at least a month. he’s not even sure they have enough cabinet space.
when they get home, marshmallow is camped out on taehyung’s sweater, one he draped over the couch cushions last night, her white fur covering the black knit.
they’re going to have to invest in a lint roller.
she refuses to budge as taehyung tries to worm the sweater out from under her, planted onto the damn thing like it’s her lifeblood. it’s only when jimin opens a can of cat food, emptying half of it onto the little dish they got for her, that she finally rises from her throne, stretching out and clawing at taehyung’s sweater in the process, pulling out little loops from the knit.
taehyung decides that he’s going to start putting his clothes back in his closet or into the laundry from then on.
afterwards, jimin coaxes marshmallow into the carrier they got for her, the blue matching well with the soft white of her fur and the cerulean in her irises. maybe she has some personal vendetta against taehyung, but at least it’s because of him that she’ll travel in style. they’ve placed a blanket in there, one they don’t mind getting all dirtied and torn up from her claws and her fur, and hop into taehyung’s car.
the vet says she’s healthy, which is good. as jimin suspected, she isn’t a stray, something that vets can scientifically prove with all of their scientific gadgets. but she isn’t chipped, so they’ll have to go the old-fashioned route to find a potential owner, putting up posters and flyers and sending out alerts online. taehyung doesn’t really want to get kicked out of his apartment, but already he cannot bear the idea of parting with marshmallow. not for his sake, but for jimin’s. of course, for jimin’s. always for jimin.
“she’s around one year old, just an average domestic longhair,” the vet continues, typing away at the keyboard in front of them. jimin’s busy petting marshmallow, praising her for being such a good girl while she gets all of her shots and is examined by the veterinary staff, letting her rub against his hand over and over. meanwhile, taehyung’s waiting idly behind the two of them, trying to peer over the vet’s shoulder to see what he’s typing down into their animal spreadsheets.
“she’s kind of heavy for a stray, don’t you think?” taehyung prompts, looking at marshmallow’s larger frame. maybe it’s just because she’s already got such long fur that it seems as though she’s bigger than she really is.
“that’s because she’s pregnant,” the vet says pointedly, looking at taehyung and jimin over the frames of his glasses.
jimin’s hand freezes where it rests on marshmallow’s back, his mouth dropping open slightly to form a perfect ‘o’.
“pregnant?” taehyung asks, blinking wildly. they’re not allowed to have marshmallow as it is, let alone more unplanned cats. god, no wonder. taehyung knew something was up. he turns to look at jimin, who looks half in awe and half in shock, like he doesn’t know what to do with the news.
“yep,” the vet continues. “she should give birth within the week, it looks like. you said you found her in a cardboard box?” the vet eyes jimin.
“yeah,” jimin says, still speechless.
“she was probably looking for a good place to have her babies,” the vet explains.
“well, what is a good place for her to have her babies?” jimin asks immediately. it’s clear he wants these kittens no matter what. taehyung can’t really blame him.
“someplace warm and secluded,” the vet instructs. “a box would be good, but one big enough to put a towel so that she and her kittens can spread out. and it needs to be quite warm, so a heating pad would be a good investment. one you can put under the box so that way it won’t get too hot.”
next to him, jimin’s jotting down everything the vet says onto the notes application on his phone. taehyung’s sure that, with all of the amazon prime orders they place each month, there’s no shortage of cardboard boxes in their apartment. they will have to get a heating pad, though.
“do we have to feed her any differently?” jimin asks after finishing up his notes to himself. the vet starts telling jimin something but the words pass right over taehyung’s head. instead, taehyung watches as jimin’s hand comes up instinctively to rub marshmallow’s back as she waits on the metal table in the middle of the room. she curls into jimin’s touch, soft fur meeting softer hands, happily rubbing against his fingers as he nods to the vet’s words.
and taehyung thinks that it’s just so fucking impossible to not fall in love with jimin. even their cat is head over heels for him, and taehyung thinks that that’s how it should always be. that jimin is the kind of person that just deserves to have everyone love him.
maybe taehyung’s biased, because he does. a little too much.
they finish up the vet appointment without any major issues, and maybe they’re going to have to go easy on the groceries because of that thing called the cost of vet appointments, but that’s alright. marshmallow is pregnant and due to give birth within the next week, jimin’s already beginning to think about everything they’ll need to do to prepare, and their lease has basically been tossed into a flaming garbage can at this point. but that’s alright.
on the way back they stop at the pet store again. jimin says he’ll be quick, instructing taehyung to stay in the car to watch over marshmallow while he runs in to buy a heating pad. they should have everything else they need already at the apartment, so this is the last thing they’ll need. for now, at least.
the car door closes and taehyung watches through the rearview mirror as jimin jogs up to the glass door of the pet store, disappearing inside. wonders if that’s the view he’d get if he was with jimin all of his life. feels something bubble up inside him as jimin tells him when they’re thirty, fifty, eighty, that he’ll “just be five minutes, alright?”
with jimin gone, marshmallow starts yowling. for a moment, taehyung worries she’s gone into labor, but she doesn’t seem to be in any sort of discomfort. rather, she’s just noticed jimin’s absence.
taehyung suddenly relates very hard to marshmallow.
he reaches a hand out to her cage, sticking his pointer finger in through the metal grating for her to sniff and rub against, like jimin does. instead, she puts her nose up to taehyung’s fingertip, taking a singular whiff, before retreating to the back of the carrier and meowing again. taehyung doesn’t think he’ll ever get this cat on his good side.
maybe it’s just a jimin thing.
the meows die down and taehyung sinks back in his seat, waits for jimin to come back. suddenly, he’s appearing through the glass doors of the pet store with a heating pad wrapped up in his arms. taehyung already knows that jimin refused a plastic bag, always doing everything he can to protect the earth that they live on. he slides into the driver’s seat and places the heating pad in taehyung’s lap for convenience, cooing at marshmallow and asking if she missed him and if taehyung kept good company.
taehyung’s glad that they can’t understand marshmallow’s response.
“did you miss me?” jimin asks as they begin the journey back to their apartment. it’s silent for another couple of seconds, and then, “hey? earth to tae?”
taehyung feels jimin place a soft hand against his shoulder, jerking him from his reverie as he stares at jimin’s reflection in their car window. “huh?”
“i asked if you missed me,” jimin says, his constant yearning for validation rearing its beautiful head.
taehyung bites his lip and closes his eyes, hoping that the words that have been sitting on the tip of his tongue for months don’t slip out.
“of course,” taehyung says.
jimin smiles to himself, turning his focus back to the road, and taehyung’s heart seizes up.
“do you think this one’s a big enough box?” jimin asks the moment taehyung steps foot outside of his bedroom. he’d been in there the past couple of hours working on an art project for school, pencils and erasers and crumpled up sketches scattered all over his poor desk.
jimin’s sitting on the floor of their living room, marshmallow loitering around the area and rubbing up against every sharp edge she can find. there are so many brown boxes around that their floor looks like part of an amazon warehouse. he’s got the heating pad in his lap for sizing purposes and two piles next to him, one with boxes that it fits inside and one with boxes that it doesn’t.
“i don’t know,” taehyung admits helplessly as he stares at the box in jimin’s hand. despite being an art major he is, admittedly, a poor judge of sizing and perspective. it’s always been one of his weaker points.
jimin huffs to himself as he turns his gaze back to the boxes in front of him, taehyung’s contribution entirely useless. he wishes he could help out more but jimin seems to have assumed full ownership of project pregnant cat, and taehyung doesn’t want to try and get involved with a cat that doesn’t even like him. even now, as he comes over to sit by jimin with two glasses of room-temperature water in his hands, marshmallow’s already scooting away from him, sniffing around the extraneous cardboard boxes.
“drink,” taehyung instructs as he places jimin’s glass on their coffee table, edges rounded from the amount of times they’ve banged their shins on it. jimin looks up as taehyung motions for him to take a sip, but shakes his head and goes back to fiddling with the boxes, trying to deconstruct one in an attempt to change its size. in the meantime, marshmallow sees the unclaimed glass of water on their table as fair game, and jumps onto the coffee table. she and taehyung make eye contact for a few seconds, as if she’s daring taehyung to say something, to stop her, and then proceeds to drink from jimin’s glass.
“jimin, look,” taehyung says with a whine. jimin stops what he’s doing to see marshmallow drinking from his glass.
“it’s okay, she can have it,” jimin says, waving off taehyung’s comment. taehyung sinks back into the couch cushions, defeated. “how does this one look?”
taehyung looks at the box in jimin’s hands and wonders if this is what his future could look like. if those are the same words jimin will be asking him when they go out to look at paint swatches, flower bouquets, ikea furniture. if a life together is really something feasible. too many times has taehyung drifted down this rabbit hole of what if, of if maybe, of thinking that life with jimin as his roommate is like life with jimin as his partner when jimin doesn’t even fucking love him back.
“i think that one’s good,” taehyung says mindlessly. what he really wants to do is build ikea furniture with jimin, but if that’s off the table then he just wants to go back to his room and draw his feelings instead of dealing with them aloud.
“alright,” jimin says as he separates the box in his hands from the rest of them. he calls marshmallow’s name, distracts her from the glass of water in front of her, and says, “hey, marshmallow, does this look good? do you want to have your babies here? we’ll put towels in and a heating pad under it so you’re warm and comfortable and so your kittens are healthy. alright? i love you so much. i can’t wait to meet your kittens. they’re going to be so good, i just know it.”
taehyung finishes his glass of water and gets up to place it in the sink before heading back to his room. on the floor by their coffee table, jimin is cuddling with marshmallow, cradling her in their arms as he sings to her. taehyung tries not to think about a future with jimin, but it’s the only thing on his mind.
namjoon invites taehyung out for brunch at this hipster place that just opened up in their local mall. it serves things like quinoa and avocado toast and other things that namjoon loves that taehyung feels pretty neutral about. on the bright side, it’s pretty cheap, so at least millennials can eat there and afford basic shelter at the same time.
the first thing namjoon says when taehyung sits down at their booth in the corner is:
“so, jungkook tells me you have a cat.”
“snitch,” taehyung comments to himself. of course jungkook would go blabbing after their text exchange at the pet store from a few days ago. he picks up the menu with a scowl, reminding himself to confront jungkook when he gets home.
“he also said a couple of other things but for my safety and his, i won’t be repeating them,” namjoon says sagely, making taehyung’s fists tighten around the menu in his hands.
“i didn’t come here to be attacked like this,” taehyung mutters to himself as he decides on his meal. “i don’t need you to remind me of anything.”
“wow, can’t believe you’re just assuming i invited you out to my favorite local brunch location just so i could shout at you about your ridiculous crush on jimin. what if i just wanted to spend time with you?” namjoon says, accosted.
taehyung frowns.
“alright, you’re right. but seriously, taehyung, how long has this been going on for?”
“ahhhhhhhhhhhhh.”
“taehyung,” namjoon says like he’s speaking to a petulant five-year-old.
“ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh,” taehyung says again, extending it for emphasis. just then, their waitress drops by, only a little alarmed by taehyung’s apparently-broken brain as she takes their order.
when she vanishes, namjoon beats him to the next word. “you can’t hide this from jimin forever, taehyung.”
“i can and i will,” taehyung says firmly, only a little disillusioned. the thing is that taehyung thinks that if he confessed to jimin he’d curl into a ball and melt into the floor. “i’ve done it for this long already.”
“that was before you got a cat,” namjoon says pointedly.
taehyung scowls. “what does marshmallow have to do with this? i’d be helplessly in love with jimin with or without her.”
“at least you’re self-aware,” namjoon hums to himself. he helps himself to a piece of whole wheat bread, dipping it into the little plate of oil between them. “but have you noticed anything different since you got her?”
“different how?”
“well, for starters, how has jimin been acting?”
taehyung opens his mouth to claim that nothing’s changed now that they’ve got a pregnant cat, but he sinks back into the cushions of the booth without a single word. things have changed. it’s weird.
it’s weird because jimin’s always been so loving, so caring, so kind and gentle and considerate, but now when taehyung looks at him, all he can think about is jimin being a parent. all he sees when jimin coos at marshmallow, plays with her and sings to her and holds her is jimin with a child. marshmallow appeared and even if jimin hasn’t changed, something else has. taehyung can’t even be sure that they will have a future together, doesn’t even know if they’ll be roommates after they graduate college, doesn’t even know if they’ll be friends, but he can’t help but wonder if this is what being with jimin for the rest of his life looks like.
taehyung’s silence seems to answer namjoon’s question.
“you know it’s not just a crush, right, taehyung?” namjoon asks. “it was a crush for the first few months. it’s different now.”
“it’s always been different, namjoon-hyung,” taehyung sighs.
“well, do you think owning marshmallow is going to change anything?” namjoon prompts. the waitress comes with their food, little hand-painted plates laid out in front of them, decked out with eggs and bread and avocados. “do you think it’s already changed something?”
“i don’t know,” taehyung says, almost a plea. like he doesn’t want to keep talking about this because it means he has to think about it, and thinking has almost never done taehyung any good. especially when it comes to jimin. “i don’t know what’s going to happen.”
“what’s already happened?” namjoon asks. “list everything out. what do you know?”
taehyung sighs. it feels sort of like he doesn’t know anything at all. “we have a cat. if our landlord finds out about this we’re getting evicted, for sure, and both of us can barely handle ourselves as it is. i have a big art project due soon and i’ve barely made a dent in it. marshmallow’s going to give birth within the next few days and jimin and i are hardly equipped to handle one cat, let alone one cat and her newborn babies.” and then, quieter, “i think i’m in love with him.”
“what about those things is going to change?”
taehyung’s sure he’ll finish his art project eventually. the pressure always kicks in a few nights before it’s due and he ends up cranking it out within twenty-four hours. with time, he and jimin should get more accustomed to taking care of a pet. marshmallow will not be the only cat in their tiny apartment by the time the week is up. their landlord will still definitely kick them out with or without kittens running around the place.
taehyung thinks he’ll be in love with jimin forever. but that’s fine. it’s fine.
“have you ever thought about what could change if you just told jimin? if maybe… he liked you back?”
“nope,” taehyung says instantly, shaking his head. that’s entirely out of the cards and namjoon should know that. “nothing will change because i won’t tell him.”
namjoon frowns into his food. “taehyung.”
“i’m not. i don’t want things to change between us,” taehyung says. “it could be worse.”
“what if it was better?”
“what if it wasn’t?” taehyung challenges.
taehyung thinks that if they talk about this anymore his brain will short-circuit. break down or burst into flames. taehyung thinks the idea of jimin liking him back is laughable. after all, he’s one of thousands, from people to pets, who have fallen in love with him.
namjoon resigns himself to his meal. “things are going to change whether or not you want them to, taehyung. you just have to figure out how you’re going to react.”
taehyung comes to the conclusion that he will burn those bridges as he comes to them.
jimin’s in a frenzy when taehyung gets back. taehyung opens the door to their apartment to find jimin pacing around their living space, very obviously stressed. jimin only gets like this when he comes back after exams and thinks he’s failed one, or when he can’t figure out what to write his research paper on because he likes too many things. his eyebrows furrow and his back tenses up and to others he might look a bit scary, even with his smaller frame, but taehyung could never be scared of jimin.
“jimin?” taehyung asks softly, warily, as he closes the door behind him, movements gentle. “is everything alright?”
“marshmallow’s acting weird,” jimin says, eyes flickering to their cat. she’s walking around slowly, little chest heaving up and down.
“is she okay?” taehyung asks, quickly pulling off his shoes to join jimin where he’s standing by their couch, running his hand through his hair.
“i don’t know, tae,” jimin snaps, making taehyung take a step back. “she isn’t eating or drinking and she’s yowling. maybe if you paid more attention to her, then you’d notice.” his voice is biting, cold. jimin gets like this when he’s stressed.
“jimin,” taehyung says again. he feels a little helpless.
“she’s your cat too, you know,” jimin spits out, eyes trained on marshmallow as she pants in place, clearly uncomfortable.
“you know she doesn’t like me as much as she likes you,” taehyung says defensively. “how can i help her when she doesn’t even let me near her?”
“you could try!” jimin shouts. “all you have to do is let her sniff you and she’ll get used to you. but for the past week you’ve been holing yourself up in your room and going out with namjoon instead of being here. she’s pregnant, for god’s sake. she needs us.”
“no, she needs you,” taehyung rebuffs. “she likes you much more than she likes me so why would she need my help when you’re there? as if she would trust me at such a vulnerable time in her life.”
“what the fuck are you talking about?”
“you’re the one taking care of her,” taehyung reminds jimin. “you feed her and play with her and sing to her and let her sleep on you and anytime i try to approach her she runs away. she needs you, not me. why would she need me?”
“well, maybe if you put in a little more effort, she would! it’s like you don’t even care. i bring home a stray, pregnant cat and it’s like you don’t even realize she’s there,” jimin accuses. “would you even notice if she’s gone?”
marshmallow begins to yowl again, sniffing around until she reaches the box jimin’s got set up in the corner of their living room, heating pad plugged in and resting underneath it. she’s still panting, but she steps in and curls up on the old towels jimin’s placed inside.
taehyung, knowing better than to argue with jimin when he’s already stressed, takes a deep breath and retreats to his room, letting the door shut behind him as he collapses on his bed. he doesn’t understand why jimin can’t see how much marshmallow doesn’t care for him. why on earth would she need taehyung when she has jimin?
taehyung wakes up to a heavy knock on his door the next morning. it’s still dark outside when he opens his eyes, but he can see the light on in the hallway and a pair of feet outside of his room.
“taehyung?” jimin’s soft voice, almost apologetic for waking him up so early, asks through his wooden door.
taehyung rubs away the sleep from his eyes, all of the anger from their weird half-fight the previous day leaving his body, dissipating in the air around him. taehyung can never be mad at jimin for too long. or at all, really.
“jimin?”
“come look,” jimin pleads from outside his door, making taehyung slowly rise from his bed, stretching in the process. he ruffles a hand through his hair and opens the door to reveal a clearly worn-out, tired jimin, all the fight drained from his body. he meets taehyung’s eyes and smiles, warm and whole.
with taehyung’s hand in his own, he leads taehyung to their living room, where marshmallow is sitting in the box they’ve set up in the corner. taehyung turns on the lamp on the way as jimin kneels down in front of the box, motioning for taehyung to join him.
in the box is marshmallow and a single kitten, already suckling at her stomach, kneading away the fur to find her food. taehyung lets out a small gasp at the sight, marshmallow purring contentedly with a kitten by her side, a calico one that taehyung would hardly think came from marshmallow if he saw it separately.
“oh my god,” taehyung whispers, more to jimin, more to himself.
“she was meowing about twenty minutes ago,” jimin says softly. “and i came out and she was sitting in her box, panting. and then she…”
“jimin, look!” taehyung interrupts with an exclamation, pointing at marshmallow. the head of another kitten, this one white like her, is poking out of her, and marshmallow slowly pulls at it until she’s given birth to another baby, licking away the membrane surrounding it. “wow, this is kind of gross.”
“it’s the circle of life!” jimin chides with a smile.
“it’s still a little freaky,” taehyung says. “marshmallow’s eating what used to be inside of her.”
“but now she has a kitten,” jimin comments happily, small thumb smoothing over where it rests on taehyung’s hand.
as the sun rises, marshmallow gives birth to two more kittens, each varying patterns. only one of them is completely white like she is, the other three with patches of color decorating their fur. taehyung and jimin sit and watch the whole thing, kneeling in front of the box and bearing witness to, as cheesy as it sounds, the miracle of life. next to him, taehyung sees as jimin falls more and more in love with marshmallow, with each of her babies as they squeal and squirm in marshmallow’s hold.
taehyung doesn’t think he’ll ever get over something like this. looking at jimin and watching the adoration lace his features, watching his heart warm in his chest. things like this—taehyung will never get tired of.
“i’m sorry,” jimin says softly in the morning light. the sun’s rays filter through their window, casting an orange glow in their apartment.
“for what?” taehyung asks. jimin doesn’t have anything to apologize for.
“for saying that you don’t care about marshmallow,” he mutters. “i know you do, i mean, you went to the vet with me and we went to the pet store together and you let me keep her even though it’s against our lease. i just—”
“you don’t need to explain yourself, jimin,” taehyung murmurs, taking jimin’s hand in his own. “i understand. i should be putting in more effort to take care of her. you do all of the hard work, like feeding her and cleaning her litter box and playing with her.”
“no, i know she doesn’t like you that much but i’m trying to get her to trust you,” jimin says like it’s a promise, a vow. “everytime you’re around i try to show her that it’s okay, that you’re gentle and kind and harmless. i was just—she was in labor yesterday and i was really stressed out by it, so i took it out on you. i’m sorry.”
“it’s okay, jimin. you don’t need to apologize,” taehyung assures him.
jimin sighs, like he’s letting out a thought he’s had in his brain for a very long time. “the truth is, when i said that marshmallow needed you, i—i meant to say something else. i meant to tell you that i needed you.”
taehyung’s breath hitches in his throat.
“you were hiding from me because i spent so much time with marshmallow and you knew she didn’t like you, and i hated it. i wanted you there, tae. there were so many things i wanted to show you and you weren’t there and it was awful. i need you with me. i always do,” jimin says softly. “don’t you know? i love you.”
jimin meets taehyung’s eyes, soft brown irises gazing up into his own like a plea, waiting for taehyung’s response. taehyung opens his mouth to say something, anything, to tell jimin that he didn’t think it was possible and that he’s the light of his life and that he loves him too, but then he’s leaning down and pressing his lips onto jimin’s. jimin lets out a surprised noise, letting the sound catch in his throat before he leans into the kiss, relaxing at the touch. it’s elementary—not a big kiss, not a deep one. just a real one. a simple press of lips on lips as taehyung hums contentedly, like he’s just told jimin everything he needs to know.
“taehyung?” jimin asks when they part, eyelashes fluttering.
“i love you too, jimin,” taehyung beams, and it’s like a weight has been lifted off of his chest, like the inspiration he’s been lacking for this dumb art project has returned. “always will. always.”
jimin grins against taehyung’s lips as he leans in again, the sunrise filtering in through the window to their tiny apartment where a cat has just given birth.
a few days later, while jimin’s making them dinner, taehyung kneels down beside the box where marshmallow is tending to her litter. he reaches a hand out to her, watching as her kittens fumble around on top of each other. she sniffs it gently, inspecting it, before letting taehyung reach down to rub her back. at taehyung’s touch, she begins to purr.