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Yoongi looks up at the clock and sees that it’s nearing 6 PM. He doesn’t think anyone will be coming in, with it being Christmas Eve and snow obnoxiously falling (and their little adoption shop out of the way), but he still leaves a sign on the counter for any potential customer to knock on the back door for assistance.
Yoongi heads to the back of the adoption shop, stopping every now and then to coo at the other animals in their care, completely missing a sign on one of the older black cat’s cage. He’s quick to step into the back kitchen, grabbing small packets of medicine and warming up kitten formula. As the milk heats up, he grabs a couple of cans of wet food for the older cats in the sick room, divvying it up into small bowls with their prescribed medicines.
With tray in hand, Yoongi makes his way into the closed off sick room with practice ease. He’s greeted with soft meows and tiny whimpers of the kittens that had been brought in a couple of days ago. He greets them all with a gentle hum as he glances over the medical notebook that had been filled out an hour ago.
“Hello Maxine,” Yoongi greets softly to a middle aged Russian Blue who’s recovering from an impromptu surgery, as he sets the notebook down. He grabs the specific bowl of medicinal food for the recovery cat, placing it in Maxine’s recovery cubby and refills her water bowl. The cat just noses at the bowl before Yoongi gently coaxes the cat to eat. “You gotta recover well Maxine,” he whispers, petting the soft fur. “So eat well okay?”
Once the Blue starts eating, Yoongi closes the plexiglass door and jots down the time of medicine and food received in the notebook before moving onto the next cat. Thankfully their recovery/sick room is fairly at the moment, just a few of older cats and the babies. Luckily, none of them have any diseases, but Yoongi still takes care to have only one door opened at a time and gives them the proper, individual care and attention they need.
Once done with the adults, Yoongi grabs the basket the kittens are huddled in from their own cubby, and the man gently coos at the babies as their cries become louder.
“Aigoo, at least I know you’re getting healthier; you guys can pack quite the cry,” Yoongi comments with a light laugh. He sits on the floor, as comfortably as he can with the basket and their food, and quickly sets about filling up their syringes with milk. There are three in total, all calicos, and Yoongi grabs the tiniest one.
“C’mere Lilo,” Yoongi whispers as he gently picks up the tiny kitten (poor think can fit completely in the palm of his hand). “Yeah, yeah. Be patient huh? You’ll eat soon,” Yoongi gently chides as the other two kittens mewl loudly.
He’s gentle as he pries the kitten’s mouth with his thumb and pointer finger, head of the large syringe at its mouth. The kitten whimpers as its mouth opens, tongue eagerly coming forward to lap at the milk Yoongi slowly feeds it.
“Good kitty,” Yoongi quietly praises. “Slowly, slowly.” After a while the kitten finishes, tiny stomach bulging. “You ate so well Lilo,” Yoongi comments as he massages the kitten’s head with his thumb. He grabs the notebook and is quick to write down the time of feeding. Yoongi sets down the kitten, letting Lilo take its time to digest before Yoongi will coax it to potty. Lilo mewls as it’s set down, its siblings crawling over to the tiny thing. He scoops up the next kitten, a bigger one named Dexter and sets about feeding it.
“Okay Dexter, time for food,” Yoongi mumbles as the kitten lets out a loud mewl. The bigger kitten is quicker to eat its food and finishes the milk fast. “Jesus, easy Dex,” Yoongi says and chuckles when the kitten grunts in response.
He’s just started feeding the eldest kitten, Samwise, when there’s a knock on the recovery room’s door. Yoongi stops the feeding, ignoring the tiny mewls from Sam as he moves the syringe away and stares at the door. He looks at his watching, noting it’s almost 6:30, and feels a bit confused. There’s another knock, followed by a light hello?, before Yoongi realizes there’s a customer behind the door.
“Um,” Yoongi looks around. He doesn’t want to stop the feeding but he’s also not sure if the person is willing to come into a recovery room. “Um, if you don’t mind, I can’t open the door. So,” Yoongi explains, trailing off.
The door opens a bit, just enough for a head to pop in, a very handsome head to pop in. The person pulls down their mask and offers a bright smile.
“Hi,” the person whispers, mindful to be respectful to the healing felines in the room. “I’m Kim Seokjin and I’m here to pick up Millie.”
Yoongi merely sits in his spot, his grip mindful of the squirming and hungry kitten in his hand. “Um. Millie’s leaving?”
The man, Kim Seokjin, blinks at Yoongi for a moment, before slowly entering the room and closing the door. “Yes, but I think we should focus on this slight chonker who seems to be hungry,” Seokjin explains with a soft smile.
It takes a bit for Yoongi to understand what the man has said, gaze too focused on the well-dressed man in front of him. It’s the sound of Seokjin clearing his throat that brings Yoongi to the present, eyes leaving the sight of the broad looking chest above him, to focus on Samwise.
“Shit, sorry Samwise,” Yoongi rushes to say to the squirming kitten, picking up the syringe and going back to feeding the last kitten. “I’m Min Yoongi by the way,” Yoongi finally offers as Seokjin gives a nod of acknowledgement.
“Samwise huh?” Seokjin asks as the man effortlessly sits across from Yoongi, paying no mind to that his dress pants might get dirty. Yoongi stares resolutely at the kitten lapping hungrily at the milk, knowing that if he looks directly at the handsome man, he might get distracted from feeding his hungry calico.
“Yeah, he’s my favorite character from Lord of the Rings,” Yoongi explains quietly.
“Understandable. Frodo definitely wouldn’t have been able to succeed with Sam,” Seokjin chimes in. Yoongi glances up briefly and relaxes a bit as the man looks around the room, offering smiles to the older cats in their cubbies. “My favorite is Pippin. He has a lot of folly to him, but he has a good heart,” Seokjin explains as he refocuses his attention on the basket of kittens.
Yoongi only hums in response and both of them sit in quiet as Yoongi finishes up feeding Sam. It doesn’t take long for the kitten to finish and Yoongi sets it down with the rest of its siblings.
“I just have to have them go potty and then we can head up front,” Yoongi explains as he writes the last entry in the notebook.
The process takes a bit longer than the feeding and Seokjin is patient through it all as Yoongi works. The man asks Yoongi questions about the kittens, the older cats in the room as well, and Yoongi notices how Seokjin shows interest in all of his answers. Once Samwise has been coaxed to go potty, Yoongi places the basket in their enclosed cubby and finishes everything up in the recovery.
“I’ve only seen people take care of kittens’ needs on TV; it was interesting to see it in real life,” Seokjin comments as Yoongi leads him to the front room.
“It’s not hard once you get used to it,” Yoongi replies back as he heads around the front counter. “Sometimes it takes longer for a kitten to go but as they get used to the repetitive schedule, it becomes easier.” Yoongi digs around the counter and register, looking for any note from his boss Namjoon, who had left earlier, about this Kim Seokjin and Millie. Yoongi can see from his peripheral that Seokjin is leaning against the counter and looking highly bemused.
“Not to interrupt your search, but if I can be of some help,” Yoongi stops and looks up at the handsome man, “I notice a note on Millie’s cubby earlier, when I stopped to greet her. Maybe that’s what you’re looking for,” Seokjin explains with a cute little shrug.
Yoongi flushes a bit and murmurs, “Maybe,” before heading to Millie’s cubby.
‘Hey Yoongi! Kim Seokjin should be
coming in tonight to pick up Millie.
Her adoption’s been finalized. Happy Holidays!’- Joon
Yoongi rereads the note again and feels a bit of sadness rush through him. While he’s happy that a cat is getting a furever home, Millie has been one of his favorites here in the center, especially since she’s been here the longest.
“Was that what you were looking for Yoongi-ssi?”
Yoongi looks up and flushes at the cute, inquisitive look on the taller man. “Yeah. I’m just, a little sad is all,” Yoongi explains with a seemingly carefree shrug before turning back to look at Millie. He misses the look of understanding on Seokjin’s face.
“Namjoon-ah introduced her to me when I came in a couple of weeks ago,” Seokjin starts to explain softly. “Last month, I finally came out from one of the hardest moments of my life and Joon-ah helped me through it.” Yoongi looks up at Seokjin and feels emotion sweep through him at the sad look on the man’s face. “He would constantly send me pictures and videos of the shelter animals to try and cheer me up. And they eventually started to really work you know? It helped me process how I was feeling, watching them with sadness at their predicaments, feeling happiness course through me when a cat found its home; even laughter at their silly antics.” Seokjin clears his throat at a pause and Yoongi wants to hug the man.
“Eventually, I managed to find my bearings last month and while I’m not completely emotionally healed, I wanted to give back some love and warmth to a cat that I was able to receive from them with the help of Namjoon,” Seokjin finishes up. Yoongi locks eyes with the man and he feels his heart speed up at the mix of fondness and sadness in those stunning brown eyes. “When I came in, Namjoon seemed to know exactly who I needed,” Seokjin explains with fondness as he looks into the clear cubby to see Millie. “He explained to me that she’s been here the longest, an older black cat that no one seems to want. Who seems cranky and mean, but is just shy and takes a while to warm up to.” Seokjin bends down a bit to stick one finger into the many air holes in the Plexiglas, for Millie to sniff, who does so with interest.
Yoongi waits, heart endeared at the man who’s looking at one of his favorite cats with happiness. Seokjin then stands straight up and pulls out a phone.
“But there is one part that’s a bit of an ulterior motive,” Seokjin comments and Yoongi narrows his eyes at the flush that appears on the man’s smooth face.
“Look here Kim Seokjin-ssi,” Yoongi says sternly. “A lot of these cats have been through hell and back and don’t need to be led on by the whims of a human. They have feelings too!”
Seokjin looks up from where he had been scrolling, eyes wide and panicking. “No! No! That’s not what I meant!” The man is quick to defend himself. “I really want and need to adopt a cat. All that I said earlier? That’s true. 110%.” Seokjin explains, voice earnest and imploring. Yoongi’s anger starts to drop, though he’s hesitant to fully trust the beautiful man next to him.
“Then what did you mean?” Yoongi hesitantly asks.
Seokjin smiles ruefully and the blush returns to his face. “One of the pictures Namjoon-ah sent to me really captured my interest you know? It’s of a cat, Millie specifically, looking grumpy but content at the same time? And there’s a person in it,” Yoongi’s eyes go wide as he starts to realize what Seokjin’s talking about. “Who also seems cat like,” Seokjin says, voice lowering as he leans in a bit closer. “The guy looked really cute you know? I’ve never seen such a bright smile before you know? I asked Namjoon about it. He said his employee, who’s a lot like Millie, finally got the old feline to let him hold her after earning her trust. And he was so happy and jubilant about it, that Namjoon had never seen such a look on the man’s face before.” Seokjin’s voice is like a whisper as his head leans into Yoongi’s space. Yoongi feels his face burn from the attention and tries hard to avoid Seokjin’s imploring eyes.
“I decided then, that’d I really like to have both of them.”
Yoongi turns to look at Seokjin, mouth parting and eyes wide, disbelief (and little bit of hope?) coursing through him. “Seokjin-ssi…”
“If I can, Min Yoongi, I’d like to adopt you both and work my hardest to earn your trust and eventually earn your love,” Seokjin says earnestly.
Yoongi blinks, mind working a mile a minute and grinding to a halt at the same time. He almost finds it hard to believe that this stunning man is interested in him of all people and based on just a picture?
“Seokjin-ssi, I’m not sure… You really want to date me based on a picture? You don’t know anything about me.”
Seokjin pulls away from Yoongi and hums thoughtfully. “That’s true. I just know what Namjoon’s told me. Which honestly, is a lot since he seemed to notice my interest,” Seokjin thoughtfully explains. “But isn’t that the point of dating? Getting to know the person you have an interest in? But I get it, you don’t really know me.” Seokjin pulls himself to full height and clears his throat.
“Kim Seokjin, born December 4, 1992. Moved to Seoul when I was little and have basically lived here since then. I attended Konkuk University studying acting and film and I’m currently doing theater work though I have my first TV show appearance next month…”
“Okay, okay,” Yoongi interrupts the man’s resume with a laugh. He runs a hand through his hair and thinks about the possibility of dating this intelligent hyung. He can see himself doing it, no matter how shy he is at first and the idea of potential happiness slipping through makes him feel off kilter. Yoongi glances at Seokjin and he feels giddy at the look of hopefulness on the man’s face. “If you’re sure you’re okay wi—“
“I’m totally sure Yoongichi!” Seokjin interrupts happily.
“Yoongichi?!”
“It’s what I’ve been calling you in my head,” Seokjin explains with laughter in his voice.
“But first, Millie,” Yoongi says, attention going back to the cat, who’s grooming herself.
“Yes, first Millie,” Seokjin agrees with a bright smile.
The Day After Christmas
“I see you met Seokjin hyung the other night,” Namjoon comments offhandedly, though Yoongi manages to catch a sly look on the other’s face.
“Yes. Thanks for the heads up Namjoon-ah,” Yoongi deadpans despite the flush that appears on his face.
There’s silence between the two men as Yoongi enters the medical notes from the night before into the computer. “And how was it?” Namjoon eventually asks, undisguised interest lacing his question.
Yoongi shrugs before answering, “Okay I guess. Millie went without any protest, and even seemed delighted to finally have a home.”
Silence greets Yoongi’s answer and he keeps typing away. After closing out of the program, he looks up at his manager.
“That’s it? ‘Okay I guess’?” Yoongi almost laughs at the man’s incredulous look.
Yoongi nods in agreement and turns to leave the counter to head to the back for the next kitten feeding.
Right before he enters the back door, he turns back to Namjoon. “Ah I just remembered, We may or may not be hanging out tomorrow night but who knows,” Yoongi calls out with a shrug and a laugh at Namjoon’s squawk of surprise.
“I knew it!”