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There's a buzzing sort of energy around the building that grows louder every time Namjoon turns around. Their staff kindly dubs it the "Comeback Effect", but Namjoon's chosen to start calling it the Comeback Extreme Anxiety Cloud. It's followed him for months: during production meetings and discussing of concepts, the album design, the collaborations, the filming of interviews, music videos, behind the scenes content and everything else they succinctly pack into every single day. But it's worse now than it's ever been.
Hoseok chalks it up to being on top of the world. People are paying attention to them in a way they couldn't have ever predicted as barely-more-than-kids in their shared dorm room, heads bent over twitter, responding to comments. Of course you're nervous, you want everyone to like us.
Who doesn't want to be liked? Namjoon knows that's part of it, that every move they make is cross-examined a thousand ways on a thousand news sites and thousands more social media pages. It's not a lie when he agrees with Hoseok.
Jimin wonders if it's worse this time because this comeback is different. The concept is new, pulling from old familiar places and synthesizing something that's become more them, somehow. They've always been lucky enough to have real ownership of their work, but there's something fragile about this album, clutched delicately in their hands, a shivering bird with downy-soft feathers. Will it be alright once released into the world?
I know you're worried, hyung. Jimin at his studio door late-late, fingers threaded with Taehyung's. But we'll be okay. I'm glad we're doing this on our terms. Thank you, for letting us.
Namjoon squeezes both of their shoulders, one in each of his hands. His dongsaengs lean in and Namjoon can feel Taehyung's tears through his tee. He'd written and worked so hard for them, and so it's not a lie when he tells them he does worry.
He'd just also written some of the songs about someone else, too.
And that's what has built his apprehension up to this level: not the comeback exactly, but what's happened in the month leading up to it.
Traveling, chatting on talk shows, performing: When the world's eyes turn to him again, how exactly can he expect himself to keep his relationship with Yoongi a secret?
It's been difficult enough trying to hide it from the other members. Though-- hiding it seems maybe too strong a word, too much like he's keeping them out; it's not that, it's simply that he doesn't want them to be concerned, not while Jimin and Taehyung are waiting in the wings, years of their more-than-friendship behind them, solid and strong and ready to be open. It's not his time, Namjoon thinks, arms around Jimin in the bathroom at some event with white tablecloths, the younger man cracking under the weight of just wanting to tuck his boyfriend against his body and kiss his face every time someone supposedly well-intentioned asks him about a girl or a wife or a family.
He has a family. He wants a wife? I'll be his fucking wife.
Years of navigating this world means Namjoon is very good at knowing when it's his turn to support, to shelter, to wait.
Yoongi has been waiting all his life.
Namjoon's heart aches to think of it, to consider how long Yoongi's looked at him with love in his eyes and he simply had no idea. Is that why he'd brought up how long he'd known him every chance he got? Why he'd joke about their matching clothes? Why Yoongi remembered the day they met, exactly what Namjoon was wearing, the conversation they'd had?
They'd started dating officially about a month ago, heads bent together, listening to a song off of one of their phones at some unbearably late hour. Namjoon relished the moments he got to be close like this to his hyung, grasped so tightly to the seconds Yoongi touched his arm or leg, the way he'd sleep beside him on the couch. Yoongi had told him over that song that he loved him. It didn't feel shocking to hear it in his hyung's mumbling satoori; it was more like an answer, a resolved chord at the end of his favorite song. Or maybe-- the beginning of it. Namjoon asked Yoongi if he'd like to be his boyfriend, and Yoongi responded by kissing Namjoon so gently he thought he might turn to dust.
It's terrifying, thinking of restraining himself. The members don't care all that much; Jungkook's sleeping in Seokjin's or Hoseok's bed more often than his own. But Namjoon fears his own obliviousness. What if he lets something slip? What if they're taking pictures for some magazine or promotional item and he lets his hand curl protectively over Yoongi's stomach? He's got to study his PR books again. He won't misstep in English, but the ease of using Korean means there's a chance he might not say Suga-hyung but Yoongi-yah instead.
"It's alright," Yoongi soothes from Namjoon's bed a week before comeback, face down in the pillows. His shorts end only mid-thigh, so Namjoon's gaze keeps getting stuck in the backs of his knees. "You'll do just fine."
"What if I say something wrong, what if there are articles released and more people trying to harass us? What if Taehyung and Jimin get angry at us?"
Yoongi uh-uh-uhs at him, turning over to rub at his stomach. "They would never be angry with us for that." Okay, Namjoon is probably overreacting a little. "There are always articles released and people trying to harass us. If it's not about one thing, it's another." A good point.
"And you won't say something wrong. You'll keep it a secret. If you tell yourself you will, you will. Ok?"
Namjoon takes a deep breath, shaking out his shoulders. He wants to climb into the bed beside him, tuck his head under his shirt and have everything be dark and warm for a second. "Yeah, ok hyung."
"Good boy," Yoongi reaches for his phone, frowning at the time. "Should get some sleep now."
"You're going?" Namjoon stretches out onto the other side of the bed.
"Gotta, I have meetings in the morning, then I'm sending demos out."
"Okay," Namjoon does his best pout, so pathetic looking that Yoongi will consider staying.
"No pouting, Namjoonah," Yoongi's sitting up, kissing the corner of his mouth. "We can have a sleepover tomorrow night when the kids go out."
"Okaaaay," he sighs, lifting his hands to tug Yoongi back down for another kiss. "Sleep well, hyung."
"You too, big baby," Yoongi's leaning on his open bedroom door now, one side of his oversized shirt folded carelessly into his waistband. Namjoon feels warm all over at the sight of his bare-faced boyfriend-hyung smiling back at him.
Yoongi's long gone by the time Namjoon wakes up, no trace of him in the kitchen. Their coffeemaker's not even on which is odd; he must have grabbed some on the way to their office. Hoseok's separating leftovers, making faces at every other container he opens, squatting in front of the fridge.
Seokjin snorts at the collection of takeout on their floor and swipes open the delivery app anyway.
Sitting down to eat, the three of them are silent until Hoseok curses at the sound of Jungkook wailing somewhere else in their apartment.
They all look at the entrance to the kitchen for their youngest, but he doesn't repeat himself, so they go back to eating. Typically that's the kind of noise he makes while he's playing some video game and he's just left his door open, not an actual emergency.
Except this time hurried footfalls grow closer until Jungkook's standing in the kitchen, eyes wide.
"Shit, Jungkook-ah, you scared me!" Hoseok chuckles, putting down his chopsticks. "Bad game?"
"No," Jungkook's voice is all weird, and he looks pale. "There's.."
"What-- there's what, a bug?" Hoseok scoots his chair back and places one socked foot on it, as if the bug has somehow found its way in here.
"No, it's..hold on." He zooms out of the room, leaving his hyungs to look amongst each other.
He comes back holding a small gray and white striped cat.
"Jungkookah! Where did you get that cat!?" Seokjin, laughing incredulously.
"What the fuck? Whose cat is that?" Hoseok.
"It's hyung."
"The cat is named hyung?" Namjoon. He looks; the cat's not in a collar. There's no tag to be seen.
"Weird name for a cat," Seokjin comments.
"No, the cat is Yoongi-hyung," Jungkook says, with increasing urgency.
"Aw, you named it Yoongi-hyung? He'll love that, he's kind of like a cat, right Namjoon?" Hoseok, still confused, patting Namjoon's shoulder in an attempt to smooth over whatever's got Jungkook so worked up.
"No!" Jungkook is bright red, appearing as though he's going to be sick or start crying. "The cat is Yoongi-hyung, Yoongi-hyung is the cat. This is him! He's a cat!"
The room is silent. Seokjin blinks a couple of times.
Namjoon feels a deathly cold shiver run down his spine. "Oh my god."
"Okay, hold on, what," Hoseok shakes his head. "That's a cat, that can't be. He can't be hyung."
Jungkook places the cat on the table, immediately beginning to wring his hands once he's done so. He looks distraught. "Ask him."
Seokjin scoots some of the food out of the way, bending down so he's eye level with the cat. "So, cat, are you my favorite dongsaeng?"
The cat nods.
"Cats don't like, nod, do they?" Namjoon asks, fear beginning to build.
"No hyung, not in my experience." Jungkook's rocking back and forth from one foot to the other.
"Wait wait wait, Kitty: are you really Yoongi-hyung?" Hoseok questions, gasping when the cat turns to him and nods again. "How can we be sure that you're not just a well-trained cat that somehow got in here and can nod when asked questions?"
"Hyung, he was in a pile of his clothes in his bed. His phone's still plugged in. I think he woke up a cat," Jungkook explains. "I walked in looking for something and I saw him there just like this. He can understand us."
"How about we do a test, yeah? Cat, please show or tell us something only Yoongi-yah would know."
So the cat hops off the table rather ungracefully, short legs getting caught up underneath it so it more or less lands on its own face. All four of them follow it out of the room and down the hallway, Hoseok rubbing his eyes and shaking his head the whole time.
Instead of stopping at Yoongi's door, the cat goes to Seokjin's, bumping it with its head until it opens. They trail behind, watching as it crawls up onto Seokjin's chair, then onto his desk, a small piano keyboard set up for Seokjin to practice with. They all watch as the cat turns it on (which is weird) and begins to play (even weirder). It's not just playing something random either, but tapping its paws on notes, one after the other, walking carefully in front of it. Combining all those notes like that means it's playing a song, and Namjoon recognizes it immediately: it is one of the ones on their album coming up, the piece Yoongi composed that hasn't even been released yet, so only they would know it.
"What the fuck. Yoongi-hyung's a cat." It's like Hoseok suddenly has no bones, collapsing heavily onto the edge of Seokjin's bed.
"I told you," Jungkook whines, rubbing at his face.
"Wow, this isn't a dream. Yah, Yoongichi's gotten himself turned into a cat. This is really happening."
Namjoon feels totally, unbelievably alone. "Hyung," he says, and the cat turns to him, lifting a paw until he comes closer. When he holds his hand out, Yoongi pushes his little head into it, nuzzling and purring. Yoongi's the one that's turned into a cat, which is probably alarming and disorienting but he's still comforting him.
Comeback's in less than five days; what the fuck are they going to do?
First, he has to go send the demos out for Yoongi. He's missed the meetings already, but Namjoon has an idea of what goes where, and he and Hoseok can probably figure out the rest; Yoongi leaves incredibly detailed notes on everything he does. They go to their building and get to work, apologizing for sending the emails instead of Yoongi, combing through files until they've sent off what needs to be sent, responded to what was still in his inbox and hoping they didn't miss anything that Yoongi will have to manage later. Taehyung and Jimin are eating lunch by the time Hoseok and Namjoon are done and so they're the first to break the news to them, arriving at the table they're eating at with haunted looks on their faces.
"We saw Jungkookie sent a picture of a cat to the group, it's really cute," Jimin says, folding seaweed over rice. "Did he rescue it?"
"Kinda." Namjoon sighs. Hoseok's head is in his hands. "The cat's Yoongi."
"Hyung, what? It's Yoongi?"
"Yeah like. He woke up as a cat. Like in a webtoon. With magic or something."
Taehyung and Jimin freeze.
"It's the truth. We don't know what happened, we just know it's Yoongi-hyung. He played a song for us."
"A real-life cat-hyung..."
"Oh my god? What does this mean, is he just gonna be a cat now? That's insane."
"No, we're going to figure it out," Namjoon states with a lot more confidence than he actually feels about the whole situation. Sure he can take care of himself, and they can also take care of him, but how do they go about discovering how this happened? And how can they change him back?
"Okay, but in the meantime, should I order some cat stuff? A collar maybe? You think he would like a bed or something? Ooh, or a cat tower for scratching?" Taehyung is already scrolling through a pet supply store at record speeds. He stops suddenly, making a considering face.
".....Should we get cat litter too?"
Namjoon's head hits the table.
It's a long day of doing damage control and explaining to their staff that Yoongi's fine but he's not going to be in for a day or two so he'll miss their commitments and no they don't need to call a doctor but he is sort of sick but he's also not that sick and halfway through all of it Namjoon asks Hoseok if they should have come up with a different lie, like one about him having to go home to see his brother or something, so no one thinks he's in trouble.
"What choice did we have?" Hoseok's eyes are squeezed shut in the back of the car that picked them up. "We just gotta figure out how to change him back as soon as possible. That's the most important thing."
There are probably at least five boxes worth of items at their door when they get home, Jungkook dragging them in while Taehyung and Jimin snuggle and pet their hyung in the middle of the floor.
"We're home," Namjoon announces, watching Yoongi squirm out of their grasp to come up and sit in front of him, tail flicking back and forth.
"Hi hyung," he says, holding out a hand again. Yoongi starts rubbing the side of his face and his chin on it, eyes shut. "Did you see what they got for you?"
At that, he opens his eyes again, staring at the boxes. He nods.
"Don't uh. Don't feel like you have to use the cat litter, I know we were just trying to think of everything that would make you more comfortable. Like this. In this form."
Yoongi nods again.
Namjoon stays up for a long time trying to think of what might have caused this. He researches curses and spells on his phone until he drops the thing on his face, turning off his light to go to sleep.
He wakes up early to a rumbling noise, soft fur brushing his nose and mouth.
"Hyung?"
In response, a gentle gurgling meow. He cracks an eye open to see his cat-hyung sitting before him on his blankets, wearing one of the tiny striped sweaters Taehyung bought him.
"Nothing changed last night, huh?" Yoongi shakes his head, ears drooping. "Damn. Thought this might be a one-day thing. Looks like we're going to have to try some different stuff."
Yoongi nods, yawning.
"Is there...I know we have schedules today, but is there stuff you need me specifically to do? For you? Like take phone calls or meet with somebody?" Yoongi nods, walking across the bed to reach for Namjoon's phone.
Putting it flat, Yoongi types in his code, using his pink paw pads to navigate through his apps. It takes him a long time, but he's able to type something in an open note.
"Yeonwoo.....oh, were you supposed to see him today? Okay, yeah, I can go for you. Anything I should know?"
Yoongi tap-taps out another few words.
"Postpone studio time, discuss tour...Got it. I'll text him and let him know you're not available and meet with him if he still wants to see one of us."
Yoongi types thank you and Namjoon smiles.
"'Course, hyung. I've got you. Anything you need."
"Namjoonah! Is Yoongi in there?" Seokjin raps his knuckles against his door before looking in. "I made him a special cat breakfast!"
Yoongi makes a noise that's kind of like a sigh, jumping off the bed to saunter towards Seokjin.
"Ah, so you are in here! Come eat. Namjoonah, I made human breakfast as well."
They decide to leave Yoongi at home, his laptop open to a new email in case he has to send anything urgent since he can't call them and meow into the phone and expect them to understand his needs. Namjoon knows it must look ridiculous, setting up a computer for a cat, but he doesn't like going anywhere without Yoongi. The thought of him not being able to contact him somehow is a scary one.
One by one, the members file out of the apartment and down to the cars until Namjoon is the last one, slipping on his shoes by the door.
"Hey, uh, I'll be back as soon as I can."
Yoongi sits on the little step, mouth open just slightly, blinking up at Namjoon. He's in a different shirt now, this one pink with ducklings on it. Another Taehyung gift.
"Don't do anything I wouldn't do."
Yoongi chirps at that, and there's something comforting about it, even if it's not in Korean.
"Okay." Namjoon's got his foot in the hall, but he's hesitating. Everyone's waiting, so he should just-- leave! He should go. Yoongi is fine, he's a grown man who just also happens to be a tiny cat right now. There's no reason that Namjoon should be looking for an excuse to stay home with him.
Yoongi meows, tilting his head towards the door.
Go on, Namjoon-ah. Namjoon can hear his voice in his head. He misses it so much already, the way it would settle his bones.
"Right, yeah. Okay. Bye." Crouching down, he presses a kiss between Yoongi's gray ears, stands up abruptly, and leaves.
All day, Namjoon's mind drifts to Yoongi. He checks his email a few times an hour, just in case, but it's only questions about merch items and colorways, weverse notifications, and a reminder to check the expiration date on his passport from one of their managers. Nothing from Yoongi. Which is fine! No news is good news in this case; he saw earlier how difficult it was for Yoongi to type with his (admittedly very cute) pink toes that are much too big for the tiny touchscreen on his phone.
It doesn't stop him from refreshing his email thirty more times.
"Namjoon." Seokjin leans in so close to his ear when he speaks that his phone tumbles out of his hands. "The cat is fine."
"I know, it's just--"
"Hard not having him here?" One of their makeup team members approaches and both men quiet, allowing her to fix how Seokjin's hair is swept up off his forehead. "He's probably sleeping."
"Yeah," Namjoon mumbles when she's finished. "I forgot how much I didn't like being away from him."
Seokjin's face softens, and Namjoon sees something there, a flicker of something else before it disappears. "He helps us all, doesn't he?" Their eyes trail over to the younger members, Taehyung and Jungkook taking turns showing each other their phones while Jimin chooses between two sets of earrings. They're subdued today, and Namjoon knows the staff must be feeling it too without Yoongi around.
"He does."
Because he's a man of his word, Namjoon rushes home. He's the first one in the car and the first one in the elevator and the first one to type in their code and open the door to find: nothing.
"Yoongi-hyung?" Hoseok should be up right after him, so Namjoon's got about a minute to freak out to himself.
There's a tiny meow from the kitchen-- Namjoon tosses off his shoes to sprint down the hallway, fearing the worst.
On the kitchen floor, he finds Yoongi curled up in a bowl. Strewn about the room are a few other dishes, a container of rice, and a pan on the stove.
"Hyung, what happened? Were you-- cooking?" Yoongi's eyes slide open, blinking a few times slowly at Namjoon. There's a smear of some sort of sauce on his fur, right by his mouth.
"You actually cooked like that?"
Yoongi snorts, now pretty much ball-shaped in his bowl.
"Hyung...you really used the stove?" Namjoon feels silly for taking this tone with his hyung but also with the cat version of his hyung, but Yoongi looks awfully guilty for a cat. "C'mon, out of the bowl. Tell me what happened."
The door chimes to signal Hoseok's entrance, and they can both hear him humming to himself as he takes his shoes off.
Yoongi makes a very similarly displeased face to his human one and leaves the bowl. Immediately Namjoon can see what he was covering up: there's a singed bit of fur on his foot, and he's not putting any weight on it as he stretches and stands.
Namjoon drops to the floor. "Hyung, you're hurt! Were you really going to try and hide that from me? Are you bleeding?"
The squeaky fearful tone in his voice causes Hoseok to come running.
Yoongi looks unimpressed, holding his paw above the floor as the two men squawk over him. He meows, loud and long, interrupting them, probably saying something like I'm fine or Relax.
"Hyung we can't leave you here alone if you're going to be getting into things you can't handle!" Hoseok keeps combing fingers through his hair, cleaning up the mess. Yoongi just meows again.
"Hyung, let me see. Did you run it under water? Should I wrap it up?"
Yoongi's still very clearly annoyed, but he lets Namjoon inspect his paw between his fingers, and Namjoon watches as the annoyance fades into embarrassment, ears flattening.
Looking at it up close, it's not bad, maybe just uncomfortable. He must have touched one of the hot pans.
"Sorry hyung, we should have left you food. I'll make something for tomorrow, okay?" Yoongi nods, butting his head against Namjoon's hand, his purring rumbling through his tiny body.
"We can't leave him here, Namjoonah!" Hoseok's finally got all the dishes up off the kitchen floor, turning on the tap. "Not only is it apparently dangerous--" Yoongi gives Hoseok a long grumble-meow. "--but he shouldn't miss out on anything else we work on or discuss together. Maybe we can bring him? To the meetings?"
"What, just show up with a cat? Are you serious?"
"Hey, just let Jungkook or Taehyung carry him, they get away with everything. It'll be fine, Namjoonah, at least he can listen to all the important things while we work on changing him back."
Over dinner, Jimin reveals they've purchased a windowed cat backpack so that Yoongi can join them safely on their schedules.
"We got you a collar too, hyung. So no one thinks you're lost."
Yoongi stares at them. The collar is glittery, a tiny bell attached.
"Don't you think you're having too much fun at hyung's expense?" Hoseok asks. "He didn't ask to be turned into a cat and now you've got him in designer cat clothes."
"If he hates it, he can say so. Hyung, do you hate it?" Taehyung pouts.
Yoongi, as accommodating as ever, shakes his head.
"See? We just want to make sure he's warm and taken care of and no one steals him from us." Which, sure, yeah, he's a really cute cat and this situation could be made much worse if someone else thinks he's up for grabs. Namjoon can't help but laugh at the thought of it: of some staff member thinking he's a stray and taking home a record-breaking producer and rapper to feed him cat treats.
It's one of those images in his head that makes him smile and then immediately quiet: how long will he be a cat? They haven't gotten any closer to changing him back; nothing on the internet has helped, and he's tired of clicking on naver links only to be directed to webtoons or fanfiction.
Maybe he'll have to be more direct. He opens a Q&A forum, creates an account with a throwaway username that in no way could possibly be traced back to him and types his question, explaining the situation. Perhaps he'll have answers tomorrow. Then Namjoon analyzes the last chunk of articles about cat and human friendships before he falls asleep, unsuccessful once more.
When Yoongi wakes up the next day still in cat form, Taehyung puts the collar on him. They show him the backpack with big circular windows in it and Yoongi acquiesces, climbing in silently. Their drivers say nothing about the live animal backpack in Jungkook's arms. Their managers look a little concerned when they sit down to go over a tentative plan for their next world tour, but they don't ask.
For the most part, Yoongi pays attention, looking between everyone who speaks, face pressed against the window. When Namjoon glances towards him after an hour or so, he finds him asleep. He's not alarmed; cats sleep way more than people, and it's probably a lot of work to do everything he's doing with that adorable little body, so Namjoon is proud he's gotten through this much already. He sleeps while they film a few Bangtan bombs in a row, Seokjin announcing way too close to the camera that Yoongi's just in the other room and they're waiting for his hair to be finished. Namjoon doesn't notice Jimin in the background of that shot, half-obscured by their staff, holding Yoongi in his arms while he naps.
"Maybe we need a shock of some sort. A surprise."
"It's not hiccups."
"What did the dark web have to say, hyung? Anything about curses? Ancient rituals?"
"Taehyung. Do you think I know how to access the dark web? I imagine I can't just type in 'take me to the dark web' now can I?"
"Hm. Good point." Taehyung stands up from the floor, looking for whoever's laptop is closest.
"Taehyung, if you put viruses on that thing I swear..."
They've been tossing ideas around for hours and don't feel at all closer to a solution. After a long day, no one wanted to spend the rest of the night doing this, but they had no choice; with three days left, Namjoon's pretty sure he's taken up some of Yoongi's habits in his absence: namely the nail-biting and the extreme sleep schedule. Next to him Seokjin scrolls video game wikis, sighing every two minutes. Jimin sprawls out beside Taehyung, heads knocking together as they attempt to discover the entrance to the dark web.
Yoongi is sitting on the table beside Jungkook's folded arms, paws flexing and kneading in his shirt sleeve. Namjoon can't tell on account of him being a cat, but he thinks Yoongi must be nervous too, considering whatever joke the universe has played on them hasn't righted itself before an extremely important day, nor the next extremely important collection of months where they'll have stage after stage and award show and whole tour where people are expecting him. Namjoon knows Yoongi; he'd hate to disappoint their fans.
"What if this happened because of some decision we made? Like--" Hoseok frowns, lifting a hand to gesture back and forth, his palm like a rocking boat in an unsettled ocean. "--we did something, and then this was the result."
"Like a wish?"
"Did anyone wish for hyung to become a cat?"
"Not seriously..."
"Thank you for not wishing for that seriously, Taehyung. Did anyone else make some big decision, some choice that would have had....consequences?"
"Not that night," Seokjin says, glancing at Jungkook, who looks up at him for a long time, without saying anything. Namjoon wouldn't find that at all odd usually, but there's something on Jungkook's face this time that makes Namjoon think that something's on his mind.
"This wouldn't be because of the comeback, would it, like that seems..." Jimin winces. "I don't know. A really big coincidence. We made all the big decisions about it together, before hyung shape-shifted, so it wouldn't be that, right?"
"And nothing's wrong, right hyung?" They all look at Yoongi again, who is licking the top of one of his paws. He stops as soon as he notices they're staring, lowering it back down to the table. In response, he shakes his head.
"Okay, so it's not like some sort of danger you're supposed to warn us about."
Yoongi shrugs. It would be kind of hard for a cat his size to warn anyone of danger, but Namjoon's not totally tossing out that theory, or any other theory they've come up with so far.
"Can we try wishing really hard, just once?" Jungkook asks, his voice small. "Like all at the same time, just to see if he wakes up a human again?"
"Couldn't hurt, I guess." Namjoon takes off his glasses to rub at his eyes. He'd try anything.
"Cool." Jungkook opens his arms and Yoongi gingerly steps into them, allowing Jungkook to hold him up. "Ready? Oh hyung, you should probably wish, too."
Yoongi meows gently, settling more comfortably in Jungkook's embrace.
He counts down and they all squeeze their eyes shut at the same time, wishing Yoongi will wake up as a human and they can just get back to living their lives. It doesn't feel powerful enough to Namjoon, but he doesn't voice that nagging thought, instead patting Jungkook on the shoulder and wandering off to bed.
When he opens the forum post again, all he's received are people congratulating him on a good joke or a clever screenplay idea. One comment links him to a k-drama asking if he was looking for it, another person only replied with that sucks. tell your boyfriend meow from me. Not a single serious answer, which, he maybe should have expected considering the ridiculousness of the situation.
Namjoon wakes with a start when his phone slides off his nightstand and lands heavily on the floor. There's a little peep before Yoongi jumps into his bed, tail swishing, meowing what's probably an apology.
"S'okay hyung." His eyes aren't even open, his eyelids feel like they're being weighed down with lead. "What time is it?"
Yoongi burrs a soft noise against Namjoon's neck, tapping his foot on his shoulder three times.
"Three am?"
Yoongi makes the same sound, nosing his way underneath the covers to curl up in the warm spot Namjoon's created in the bed.
"Sorry we haven't figured it out yet. I know you're worried." He pulls the covers up over both of them, and in the darkness, Namjoon can pretend everything's fine, that Yoongi is still a human and is sneaking into his bed to listen to music together because he can't sleep or he wants to kiss a little so his brain finally shuts off.
Yoongi's meow and the tickle of his fur remind him.
"Yeah," he says like he understands Yoongi. He feels him bump his head against his chest, dragging his whiskers back and forth over the same spot. "But I feel like I could be doing more somehow. I just don't think there's anyone I could talk to about this, you know? I made a post on a forum and no one believed me." He dreads tomorrow; surely soon their team's going to want to see Yoongi, regardless of how sick or unable to show up he is. What is he going to tell them?
Yoongi trills quietly, pawing at Namjoon's bare skin.
"Okay, yeah, sleep. Sleep is good." That seems to be exactly what Yoongi's saying to him judging by how he settles in, smacking his lips. "Plenty of time to have a crisis tomorrow."
They're up early for a trip outside the city, blue-gray light a hazy blanket over their morning. Yoongi, still a cat, is tucked into Namjoon's hoodie as they head out to the vans. On the ride there Namjoon finds out he's too exhausted for a full-blown crisis, but Hoseok, being infinitely talented, not only finds time for a crisis but space in his body, too. Jimin has to spend almost the entire drive flattening him into the seats with his body weight.
Hoseok doesn't cry, but he does bury his face in Yoongi's fur and shake all down his shoulders and back before stepping away to warm up for the dance video they're doing.
When the managers ask about Yoongi, Namjoon shakes his head. Later, he tells them, three, four times in a row. This first. He'll have the tough conversations later.
He hands Yoongi to one of their choreographers and they get to work.
Hours later they're exhausted, Hoseok and Jimin filming one last transition while everyone else waits off-set, Jungkook face down on a couch while Taehyung kisses Yoongi's face, scrubbing over his ears. Namjoon's pulled aside by the team who don't look like they're going to let him go back home without a really good explanation for Yoongi's absence. He's scrambling trying to think of something that sounds less insane than oh yeah that cat over there we decided to start taking around with us? Yeah that's hyung, ha ha, pretty funny right?
Just as Namjoon's about to let the worst lie in the entire world slip out of his mouth, Seokjin walks in, his hair in a silly little ponytail on top of his head, a serious look on his face.
"Namjoonah, he sent us an update." Holding his phone out, Namjoon peers at the screen. On it: ticket information, a KTX trip from Daegu to Seoul, dated for this evening.
Silently, Namjoon passes the phone to the collection of staff sitting nearby. He fights to keep himself from staring at Seokjin.
"He's in Daegu?" One asks.
"Yeah, these are texts from him." Sure enough, Seokjin scrolls through a conversation he'd had with Yoongi over the course of the last few days, a text here and there with updates. "Something happened with his brother, but it looks like it's okay now. He said he'll tell us when he gets back."
Some of their team seem sympathetic. Others, less so.
"You can ask him yourself when you see him again." Seokjin shrugs, hand on Namjoon's shoulder. He locks his phone back up. He's infinitely confident, almost dismissive. Namjoon thinks he could breathe just so and people would likely be convinced beyond a doubt that he was lying. "He said sorry for scaring you, though."
Namjoon doesn't relax until they're back in the other room staring at Yoongi's little cat body as he drags his rough tongue over Taehyung's face, his giggles bubbling over and waking Jungkook.
"Holy shit," The shuddering won't stop. "Holy shit, hyung."
"What, you didn't think they'd buy it?" Seokjin's stern look eases into something warmer, squeezing Namjoon's bicep. "Sorry for jumping in like that. I texted myself using Yoongi's phone."
"That was smart. Thanks hyung, for thinking."
Seokjin lets go, waving that same hand. "You focus on changing our cat back, I'll deal with everyone else. Okay?"
Jimin and Hoseok return to announce the arrival of their cars and Namjoon scoops Yoongi back up, smiling softly when he chirps and wiggles back into his hoodie. It's nice getting to have Yoongi this close, constantly touching him without concern, but it'd be nicer if he got to do it while the guy was a human and their whole world wasn't five seconds from crumbling beneath their feet.
"I emailed a psychic and she said it's not really her area of expertise."
"This isn't like. A church thing is it? People don't have to pray over your body, do they?"
Yoongi snorts, stretching out on their couch.
"Maybe a near-death experience would trigger something?" Seokjin shrugs. Yoongi does not look pleased to be considering it.
"I doubt he had a near-death experience while sleeping in his bed that would have caused the change in the first place."
Namjoon glances over, watching their cat hyung walk a circle in his spot, then lie back down. Every day that passes makes him seem more cat-like and less human. It freaks Namjoon out, catching him batting at strings and bathing himself, but he won't say anything. No need to scare everyone else with how far away Yoongi seems now, even though he's merely centimeters away, coughing up his own fur. They're all worn thin as it is.
He checks the forum one last time before bed, scrolling past the replies he'd already seen to the bottom where a few more have appeared. One person describes some sort of ceremony, with candles and a circle of people holding hands. There's an incantation to be said with it, and Namjoon's not going to turn down an opportunity presented to him by forum user tongyeongwitch90, so he copies the comment into a note app to try tomorrow when everyone's awake. The rest of the comments are pretty much the same: damn. fighting op-ssi or you should write a book or pics or it didn't happen.
He opens their group chat, meaning to ask everyone to collect all the preferably non-scented candles from their spaces for their ritual cat-turning ceremony, but he cannot type. Something stills his hands, heavy and deep, bone-chilling cold. He's exhausted but he can't calm down either, suddenly unable to bring himself to do this simple task.
It is at least three straight minutes that he's been staring at the keyboard on his phone when his door is nudged open then slowly pressed shut. The bed doesn't even dip when Yoongi jumps on it, much more graceful now that he's had a few days to get used to his body.
He takes one look at Namjoon's face and attempts to grab the phone away, knocking it down and pawing it aside to place himself in Namjoon's palms instead, stretching his back and butt up for pets.
Instantly, he pulls Yoongi close, surfacing out of whatever had pinned him down.
Namjoon doesn't realize he's crying until he can't breathe, tears wetting tiny spots on Yoongi's fur.
"Oh, shit, sorry hyung." Yoongi's purring, trying to comfort him, turning in Namjoon's hands until their faces are pressed together. Namjoon wants to hear his voice so badly now he aches. It's overwhelming, a physical weight like he's never felt before. Yoongi keeps him whole, carefully sews all his pieces together any time they split or fray, delicate work done with perfect, deft hands and the soothing murmur of his voice. Namjoon hadn't realized it until now, until whatever this is tore them apart.
He doesn't want to be apart any longer. "I'm so sorry this happened, I'm so sorry I probably did this to you."
Yoongi meows forlornly. He wishes it was that raspy hiss of breath instead, the softness of Yoongi's lips against his cheek.
"If you were here the way you're supposed to be, I don't know, I'd--" He's gotta take a second to scrub at his eyes. "I'd want to be honest about us. I was so afraid before."
Yoongi nods, blinking slowly when Namjoon can see him clearly enough to tell.
"Hyung-- I'm not afraid anymore. I want to tell everyone that I love you because I do. I love you so much," his voice cracks, eyes and nose burning. He doesn't want to waste any more time pretending he hasn't fallen so hard for Yoongi he's got scrapes all over, because this whole ordeal proves he really doesn't know how much time any of them have. How awful it is to have someone so close and simultaneously so far away.
Yoongi's tongue is rough where he's licking his cheek, paw pads warm on his jawline. "We can do this together; I trust you, I've always trusted you with every part of me-- haha." He's smiling, wobbly, letting his nose touch Yoongi's adorable one. "I know you know that. Please trust me too, hyung."
Yoongi mewls, and Namjoon hopes it's what he thinks it is. "I just want you back. Please come back, okay? I want my hyung back."
Namjoon's still crying as he falls asleep, Yoongi solidly on his chest, purrs rumbling through all of his body. He dreams of the two of them bundled up in coats and scarves and hats and masks, walking along the Han together, Yoongi's body heavy and warm in his arms.
Heavy and warm enough to wake him, snoring softly into the space between his neck and shoulder.
Namjoon wraps his arm tighter around his hyung, and lets himself drift back into the dream for a moment longer.
But-- his eyes shoot open.
"Hyung?" Oh no, is this still a dream? His brain is so fucked for making this one feel so damn real.
Yoongi stirs, tucking his nose to Namjoon's skin. "Mmh, early, 'joonah."
Namjoon's heart leaps into his throat, beating wildly right where Yoongi's lips move over thin skin. His voice. That's really his voice.
"Hyung!" Namjoon wails, crushing a very human Yoongi against his chest. "You're back, fuck-- you're back--"
Yoongi's completely naked, hair a mess, grunting as he's jostled into wakefulness, face so round and puffy with sleep.
"Oh, fuck, I'm back," he rasps, regaining control of his limbs and squeezing Namjoon with everything he's got. "You brought me back."
It's pretty difficult to keep himself from sobbing with happiness, but Yoongi's smiling and patting his back again and Namjoon cannot possibly keep it in.
There's a thumping sound in the hallway and then his bedroom door flies open, Hoseok and Taehyung standing there.
They've seen each other naked enough times that neither of them seem to be too bothered, launching into Namjoon's bed to embrace them both, kissing Yoongi's head.
"Hyung, we missed you so much--" Hoseok's trembling voice. There are tears in his eyes now. "I'm so glad you're back."
Taehyung's biting Yoongi's ear, giggling. "You stink!"
"Yah, I've been a cat for four days, brat! I bathed myself!" He's grinning, reaching around Namjoon to pinch Taehyung's arm. The rest soon appear (first Seokjin, then Jungkook, followed by the sleepiest, most rumpled Jimin), the spreading relief palpable as they allow Yoongi to climb out from underneath all of them and take a shower, then join them for breakfast.
Namjoon can't bear to leave him for even that short amount of time, peeking in the bathroom every so often to make sure he's still human and still real and Yoongi's grumbling, chastising him, but he's smiling still, leaning into Namjoon's arms when he climbs out of the shower, unused to standing on two legs. They kiss as he towels off, then kiss again while he's getting dressed, only stopping when they have to go eat because they've got a thousand things to do and everyone's probably waiting for them.
"I contacted the team, told them you returned and were ready for today," Seokjin explains, dropping a bowl of rice down in front of Yoongi. "Sorry, you'll have to come up with a reason why you were home with your family extremely suddenly and without an explanation beforehand, but I'm not worried."
Yoongi starts in on his food, nodding. "Thanks, hyung."
Namjoon's so relieved he's barely got a thought about the comeback or anything else in his head, staring at his plate. He doesn't move until Yoongi's hand touches his thigh, thumb stroking gently. Namjoon's eyes track up to him, and Yoongi's so pleased, just looking at him like that. Namjoon feels the sting of tears at the back of his throat again, but he clears it, takes Yoongi's hand as the rest of his friends eat and move around the room.
"Hey, guys? I was wondering if I could say something before we go and do what we gotta do today."
"Oh?" Jimin stops where he is, shutting the fridge and turning to them. "A leader speech? This early in the morning?"
"No, not yet-- shit, I haven't even thought about what to say for that. No, I wanted to say something else." He should be meeting all of their eyes in turn, see if they're listening, but he's just still staring at Yoongi, at how pink he's turned with the attention. "I wanted to say that Yoongi-hyung and I are dating. That we've been dating for a month."
Yoongi's holding his hand proudly, on the top of the table this time.
"We know, hyung!" Taehyung announces, planting kisses on each of their heads.
"Wait, what. You did?"
"Yeah, you're like-- so hilariously obvious about your love. Both of you. It's sick, honestly." Seokjin's rolling his eyes. "You're inseparable most of the time but a month ago it got worse. Yuck."
Hoseok's laughing behind his hands. "We figured we'd wait to hear from you two before talking about it. You'd tell us when you were ready, even if it took ten more years."
"Oh." Namjoon exhales a soft laugh. Yoongi looks just as embarrassed, ducking his head. "I really thought you had no clue."
"Nah," Jungkook smiles, chin in his palms, cute and starry-eyed. He suddenly sits up. "We should have thought of that! That Namjoon had to do something with Yoongi being a cat!"
"Oh, good point!" Jimin comes back to the table, clapping each of his hyungs on the shoulder. "Hyung! You should have told us you were dating before and skipped the scary but very cute cat part!"
"Guess I should have. Sorry."
Yoongi shakes his head. "I'm sorry too. I'm the one who said we should keep it a secret in the first place."
"Ooh, it's really just like a webtoon I read one time. How romantic," Taehyung sighs dreamily, collecting all of their empty dishes. "I'm glad you both came around."
"Me too." Yoongi leans forward to press a kiss to the corner of Namjoon's mouth only for Hoseok to coo and for Seokjin to start pretending to throw up, scandalized by the display. Namjoon can't move once he's done it, frozen solid because Yoongi kissed him in front of everyone. He's elated. No one's angry with them or concerned or anything. They should have thought to do this sooner.
When their staff sets up the camera for the live that night, over the snacks and balloons and whatever other silly props they've brought, Namjoon shares a look with Yoongi, tucked securely into his side.
"Didn't change your mind, did you?" Yoongi smirks, the makeup he's wearing making his skin glow so prettily in the light.
"No. Your cat form was cute but I think I prefer the version of you that's my boyfriend."
Yoongi snickers, that sweet gasping laugh he does where his shoulders shake and his cheeks get all squished and sweet. Namjoon's so gone on him, he knows it's visible all over his face.
"I think I do too."
They do the live with their fingers linked almost the entire time.