Work Text:
'Move-In Day'
For as long as he remembered, Jimin had gotten along with his down-the-street neighbor, Min Yoongi. Despite Yoongi being two years older and a canine hybrid, the two boys had spent hours upon hours chasing each other through the park and the woods, teasing each other on the bus to school, and simply waving energetically across the street as they parted ways at the end of the day. They weren’t necessarily close; Jimin being a feline hybrid with strict parents, they were usually accompanied by another feline friend, or were in view of his parents. Their conversations never really got too deep, centering mostly on movies and sports, homework and tests.
Then, Yoongi moved away to university, and didn’t come home on the breaks.
They lost touch. Jimin couldn’t even remember which university his friend had gone to.
When it was his turn to graduate and move off to university, Jimin picked a school in the city, with great course options and extracurricular activities. But it was five hours away from home.
Jimin had never been on his own before. He’d never considered himself shy or timid…but then again he’d lived his entire life in their small town, knowing the same people for years, never even seeing any visitors because there wasn’t anything interesting to see in their town to draw tourists.
It didn’t take him long to realize that he was timid, and the realization was horrifying.
The dorms were co-occupancy, with felines and canines mixed not only on the floors, but within rooms. Jimin’s old-fashioned parents weren’t pleased, but no matter how many times they repeated their displeasure to the housing office, nothing could be done about it.
Jimin’s roommate Hyun, also a first year, happened to be a canine. A Rottweiler. His black ears were floppy and deceivingly cute, but he was a big guy; Jimin barely came up to his shoulders. His voice was deep, and Jimin couldn’t help thinking he was growling at him when he spoke.
“What’s wrong with your ears?” was the first thing he said to Jimin, once his parents had left and he’d trudged back up the stairs from seeing them off.
“I—what?” Jimin startled, automatically tucking in his shoulders and shifting to put more distance between them.
Hyun pointed at Jimin’s ears. “What’s wrong with your ears?” he repeated. “Why’re they all…squished down like that? Somebody box your ears when you were a kitten? They look broken.”
Jimin couldn’t tell if he was making fun of them or if he was concerned, but it didn’t matter. Starting up school as a child, he’d dealt with all of the teasing from his peers, and spent plenty of time crying behind the coats or behind the pillows kept for naptimes. Eventually, though, his classmates got used to his unusual ears, and stopped bothering him. He wasn’t expecting to deal with it all over again in university.
“They’re not b-broken,” he pouted. “My mother is a Scottish fold. I got her ears.”
“You don’t look Scottish,” Hyun raised his eyebrows stupidly. “You look Korean.” He reached forward to grab Jimin’s ears, and the feline hissed, ducking away.
He seized his ID card and his wallet, stuffing them both into his pocket.
“I have to—I have to go,” he mumbled, not waiting for a response before escaping the room.
The hallway was chaotic, and Jimin scurried around all of the moving students and their parents, trying to keep his precious tail—long hair from his father’s side—from getting bumped into or caught between people he squeezed through. By the time he reached the end of the hallway, he was trembling. There was far too much stimulation for him, and he felt like he was on the verge of tears. He pushed open the door to the side stairwell, intending on heading downstairs to go outside and get some fresh air, when suddenly he crashed into someone heading upstairs to the next floor.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he gasped, feeling his anxiety skyrocket. He flattened himself against the wall to get away from the stranger.
“No biggie; just maybe next time—Jimin?”
Jimin peeked up from behind his fists; the only thing he’d had to hide behind.
It was no stranger he’d crashed into; it was Yoongi! His Yoongi! Instantly he relaxed, and threw himself at the canine, overwhelmed.
“Yoongi-hyung!”
“Jiminie,” Yoongi laughed, “what are you doing here? Are you one of the freshies?”
Jimin scrunched up his nose at the term, but nodded. “I just moved in. Hyung, I don’t like my roommate—he’s a dog!”
Yoongi frowned, but Jimin could tell it was a confused frown, not a mad frown. “I’m a dog, too; you’ve never had a problem with me.”
“Yeah, but he’s, he’s a big scary dog and he’s so growly, and he—he called my ears broken!”
Yoongi’s eyes flicked up to Jimin’s ears, and the canine pouted as he reached up to scratch delicately at one of them. Jimin closed his eyes for a second and purred, smiling widely. But then he snapped his eyes open and pawed Yoongi away.
“Hey, I’m trying to complain to you—why are you distracting me?”
Yoongi’s shoulders shook as he laughed, and he pulled Jimin toward the stairs leading up. “Come upstairs and hang out with me, you little floof,” he said, and gave Jimin’s butt a playful pat.
Jimin had always followed whatever Yoongi was doing, so it didn’t take much to change his original plan from going outside to heading upstairs to Yoongi’s room.
Yoongi’s room smelled of all canine, and Jimin’s hackles raised slightly as they entered the average-sized dorm room with two twin beds.
“Seokjin’s off directing lost parents,” Yoongi rolled his eyes.
Jimin didn’t need to ask to know which bed was Yoongi’s. It smelled like him—nice and calming, and Jimin leapt onto it, immediately flopping to roll around and rub all over it.
“Hey, hey,” Yoongi called him out, sitting down cross-legged and reaching out to rub Jimin’s belly. “You’re gonna make it smell like you.”
“That’s the idea,” Jimin smiled cheekily, letting his purr take over for a moment as he enjoyed the belly rub. Soon enough, though, he got bored. He slapped Yoongi’s hand away and crawled up onto his lap to snuggle more comfortably.
“I missed you, Yoongi-hyung,” he sighed through a low purr. “I was so bored without you! Why don’t you come home on the breaks?”
“I have a job, Jimin. I can’t just stop working for a month here and there without losing my job.” The canine shifted uncomfortably until he’d shoved Jimin off and he could lie down on his side instead. Jimin giggled when he saw how happily Yoongi’s tail was wagging. Both of Yoongi’s parents were boxers, and thankfully they hadn’t docked his tail as a pup. Jimin tried catching it a few times now, only to get whacked in the face.
“Rude,” he exclaimed, crawling back over to Yoongi’s other side to snuggle up again. He flopped his tail over the edge of the bed, swishing and tapping his tail against Yoongi’s backpack leaning against the bed. “Scratch my ears again,” he demanded, picking up Yoongi’s large hand and placing it on top of his head.
“Only if you scratch mine,” Yoongi mock glared at him, leaning his face so close their noses nearly touched.
Jimin couldn’t argue with that, so he lifted a hand up to Yoongi’s head and stroked a finger down his smooth, floppy brown ears. He’d always liked the way they felt between his fingers, so he lifted it up and rubbed the skin between his fingers for a moment before Yoongi growled slightly, startling him.
“Stop teasing me, or I’ll shove you off the bed,” he threatened lightly.
Jimin pushed his own head into Yoongi’s hand and then began scratching up behind Yoongi’s ears properly. He heard a whapping sound and glanced down to see the canine’s tail wagging happily again.
Lying there together, petting and giving ear scritches to each other, Jimin felt all of the tension seep out of his body.
Before he knew it, he was waking up to an unfamiliar voice in the room, and Yoongi wasn’t there.
Jimin tensed, eyes opening just barely to watch the canine hybrid striding into the room. He was tall and beautiful, with pale furry ears just a shade lighter than his golden brown hair. He was talking excitedly to someone else—another dog who walked in after him—and he was loud.
He suddenly turned to face Yoongi’s side of the room, and Jimin’s tail went rigid when the dog not only noticed Jimin’s presence, but also saw that he was awake and watching him.
“Whoa! What do we have here! It’s a precious little kitty! Hoseok-ah, will you look at this adorable guy—what’s he doing on Yoongi’s bed?”
Jimin’s eyes darted all over the room, looking for an escape. Where had Yoongi gone? Was this how university was going to be every day? Why was everyone so loud and invasive? He wanted to go home.
“Oh no—hyung, lay off him, will you? He’s gonna cry,” the second canine said, voice softer, pushing the older one away a little. “Hey, hey, it’s okay, little one. What’s your name? I’m Hoseok. This is Seokjin.”
Jimin scooted back until he was huddled in the corner, where the wall met the head of the bed. He snatched up Yoongi’s pillow and held it tightly like a teddy bear.
“I’m Jimin,” he whispered.
“Hi Jimin-ssi,” Hoseok said sweetly, and Jimin felt himself start to relax just a tiny bit. “Are you friends with Yoongi-hyung? Did he bring you here?”
The feline nodded. “Where did he go?”
“Ahhh…dunno?” Hoseok glanced at Seokjin with a shrug. “Hyung doesn’t usually announce where he’s going. But don’t worry; we can entertain you!”
They both sat down on Yoongi’s bed, and Jimin recoiled. He stood up on the bed and scrambled off, leaping to the ground and turning in a confused circle—before tripping over his own foot and falling hard on his butt.
The door opened.
“What are you doing on the ground, Jimin-ah?” Yoongi asked, shouldering the door shut because his hands were full. He had a tray of iced drinks in one hand, a brown paper bag in the other.
“Hyung,” Jimin whined loudly, “why did you leave me all alone? With dogs everywhere?” He quickly stood up and curled around the back of his friend so he could peek over his shoulder at the two dogs stealing Yoongi’s bed.
“Give me a break, Jimin-ah. You were out like a log. Figured you’d be hungry after move-in. Don’t you wanna see what I got you?”
“You got me something?” Jimin loved gifts.
“’Course I did, you floof. Come’ere.” Jimin trailed closely after him as he set the drink tray down on his desk—(“You didn’t get me anything?” Seokjin complained loudly)—and unrolled the scrunched up opening of the bag to reveal the treats inside.
Jimin was hungry. Now that Yoongi was back, and he wasn’t so scared of the other two canines, he noticed his grumbly stomach. As they unwrapped the treats and Yoongi handed Jimin one of the drinks after popping a straw into the top for him, the canine kicked his friends off of his bed so he and Jimin could sit down.
“So!” Seokjin immediately declared as he and Hoseok settled back down onto his bed instead. “Where did you meet Jimin-ssi, Yoongi-yah?”
“We grew up together.” Yoongi was absently stroking his fingers through the longest hairs on Jimin’s tail as it fluttered and flickered over his thigh while Jimin quietly munched on the savory pastry in his hand. When Yoongi took a larger handful of his fur to pet it more thoroughly, Jimin giggled and flicked his tail away, purposely turning to make it more difficult for Yoongi to reach it. He rolled over onto his back so he could look at his friend upside-down.
“He sure is a cutie,” Hoseok commented with a laugh. “Just wait until Namjoon-ah meets him. It’ll be difficult to separate them.”
Jimin’s content smile faded. “Who’s that?”
Yoongi glanced down at him and reached to pat at Jimin’s belly a few times. “Namjoon is a second year, like Hoseok here. He’s a feline like you. He’s—what kind is he?” he turned back to the other two, frowning.
“He’s a tabby,” Seokjin replied. “Real tall for a cat,” he laughed. “I swear he’s got something else in him, too.”
“He’s really friendly,” Yoongi continued, and Jimin tried to fight the purr as he switched from patting to rubbing gently up and down Jimin’s belly. “He likes cute things, so he’ll like you a lot.”
“Hyung,” Jimin covered his face with his hands in embarrassment.
The other two occupants of the room both laughed from Seokjin’s bed.
“I vote for keeping him,” Seokjin decided. “Jimin-ssi, we’re adopting you; there’s no getting out of it, now.”
As classes started up and Jimin gradually got used to being around so many strangers, the feline made his own place within Yoongi’s circle of friends, in addition to bringing in a few of his own new friends; a feline his age named Taehyung, and another canine named Jungkook. The latter of whom had to be some kind of child prodigy, being two entire years younger than Jimin but in the same year at university.
Jimin also grew used to his roommate Hyun, who, despite seeming big and scary at first, proved to be the most loyal roommate he could ask for; all it took was a raised eyebrow and a pair of folded arms over his broad chest for any of the multitude of overly interested dorm mates to scurry away with their tails literally between their legs in embarrassment.
When Yoongi eventually asked Jimin out, after months of playful teasing and cuddling and crashing together on the older one’s bed, it came as a surprise to no one at all. Of course, Jimin’s parents were less than pleased (“But he’s a dog!”), but Jimin couldn’t see himself with anyone else, and decided that he was old enough to make his own decisions about whom he loved.
The End.