Chapter Text
The small bookstore sat nestled between the tall, looming skyscrapers that surrounded it - all though it was quaint, it was still inconspicuous and hidden in plain sight.
Among the mass of books that crowded every horizontal surface in the joint, the shop offered a wide selection of odd and weird looking trinkets; long and fluffy feathered quills - Namjoon swore they were ethically collected and that no birds were harmed in the process of retrieval - silver bells with strange inscriptions on them, dried herbs, mortars and candles.
And if any of the visitors of the shop found it's stock weird, no one commented on it. Most people only paid attention to the large white cat that sunbathed in the front window anyway - too busy cooing and awing at him to be concerned about the barrage of weird shit being sold within the shop itself.
"I have an idea." Namjoon mutters, looking over at Yoongi "About the shop's name."
The two of them are standing on the sidewalk in front of the mentioned shop, staring at the abysmally empty glass. The name of the shop has been a point of contempt between the two of them for an entire week; each of them pulling in their direction, unwilling to budge even a little bit.
"We've been in business for a month - it's about time we put a name in the window." Yoongi concedes, because people started referring to them as 'that small book joint, you know, a couple turns away from SNU'. It was starting to hurt the business too - people can't shop if there's no name to look up on a map.
"You're gonna love it!"
The smile on Namjoon's face isn't reassuring in the slightest, but Yoongi nods anyway. They still needed a name.
"Sleepy cat books."
Oh hell no. No.
"We're absolutely not calling it that." Yoongi sputters and glares at Namjoon.
"You're always sleeping in the window, what the hell am I supposed to call it then?" Namjoon glares right back, equally irked off.
Well, to be fair to Namjoon, people had started including Yoongi into their descriptions of the bookstore - 'yeah, it's a really cool place, there's a huge cat always sleeping in the front window, you can't really miss it.'
And while Yoongi didn't appreciate the comments about his size - he was an average built cat, thank you very much - he had to admit that he'd become somewhat of a landmark for the bookstore.
"Please hyung? Pretty please?" Namjoon floors him with his best rendition of sad puppy eyes and Yoongi is a weak, weak man that cannot resist him.
So he agrees. Begrudgingly, but he agrees.
The next day, the front window is adorned with huge, bold letters spelling SLEEPY CAT BOOKS.
(courtesy of Seokjin, after he finally stopped laughing at Yoongi long enough to work his magic.)
⚜
Namjoon's and Yoongi's relationship was somewhat unconventional - Yoongi, as a witches familiar, was expected to find a witch and settle down with them. The bond between the witch and their familiar was sacred and it was engrained in Yoongi that as such, without being bonded to a respectable witch, he wasn't of much value by himself. It wasn't really doing wonders for his self-confidence and Yoongi always detested the notion that he alone wasn't good enough and that all of his potential value came from the possibility of being bonded to some boring witch.
In came Namjoon, one of Seokjin's human friends - also his main supplier of all things mystical -, crashing and wrecking each and every one of Yoongi's plans. Both figuratively and literally. Namjoon was a giant, lanky man that couldn't boil a pot of water without it becoming a fire hazard, but in the same breath he could tell you how to replant and grow fittonia from cuttings. It was a detailed explanation too, Yoongi would know - he's heard it; twice.
It was love at first sight. But Namjoon was human.
He might have dabbled with the occult and procured rare and hard to get items for the witches of Seoul, but he was still just a human.
Yoongi's parents objected. The witching community objected. The explanation of how his rare and valuable gift shouldn't be wasted on bonding to a human, of all things, still made Yoongi laugh whenever he thought of it. He found it particularly laughable how quickly their teachings had changed - from being told that by himself, or without a witch by his side he'll never amount to much of anything to doing a complete 180 degree turn and praising him for his unique and precious gifts that should never, under any circumstance be squandered away by bonding to a lowly human.
In the end, Yoongi did what he wanted anyway and told the lot of them to fuck off.
The only witch that didn't turn their back on Yoongi was tragically, Seokjin.
Yoongi could do without the shitty jokes and constant, merciless teasing.
(no he couldn't, but he'd rather die then admit that.)
Slowly, the small bookstore became well frequented by the students of several near-by universities - Namjoon loved the business and the prospect of earning enough money to keep the lights on, while Yoongi thrived on the attention he got; so long as no one touched him, that is.
Now, next to the sleeping feline in the window, there was a simple, black letter board that said:
'please do not touch the cat. he will bite you.'
"Hyung, you gotta stop lazing around in the window." Namjoon mumbles as he reaches into the display to replace the book that was just sold. At the disgruntled look he receives from Yoongi, Namjoon trips over his words to explain what he meant.
"It's getting hot as hell in here - you'll get a heatstroke." the explanation is apparently unsatisfactory, because Yoongi in all of his might, turns around and Namjoon is left staring at his fur covered behind.
"Really mature - yeah, real nice." Namjoon snorts and offers a small pat, hoping he won't lose a finger in the process "But somehow, the toddler-like behavior is actually really on brand for you."
That comment gets a reaction and Namjoon barely manages to pull his hand back in time to avoid getting scratched - with a hiss, Yoongi reached for him with his clawed paw, but it was too slow and Namjoon gloats as the cranky feline settles down yet again with an annoyed 'mreow'.
Namjoon knows the exact moment something catches his eye, because the small body goes rigid, ears twitching occasionally as he stares out through the window.
"What? Did you see something?" thank God for the afternoon lull in visitors, because if anyone heard Namjoon talking to the cat that lounges in the window, he's pretty sure he'd get committed or something of the sort.
But Yoongi's ear twitches again as a paw reaches out and presses against the glass, so Namjoon looks out. The street outside is barren and empty - afternoon lull, there wasn't a soul brave enough to wander the streets in this unforgiving heat, save for a lonely figure sitting on the bus stop on the other side of the street. From what Namjoon can see, it's a man; well, more likely a kid, one of the collage students, if the backpack straps he could see resting on his shoulders were anything to go by.
"Yes, someone else is as insane as you are and willing to face the damn heat." Namjoon mumbles, but his offhanded comment has Yoongi in hysterics - the cat is loudly protesting, eyes meeting Namjoon's and then trailing back to the boy sitting on the bench, as the meows get progressively louder. Yoongi presses his paw to the window again, harder this time and Namjoon can see the claws that are protruding from the tips.
"The insane comment? Is that the problem?" Namjoon isn't really sure what exactly is the problem, but when Yoongi stares at him like he's an idiot, he's sure it's not the insane comment that got to the cat.
While the two stare at each other in absolute silence, the bus sluggishly glides down the street and stops right in front of the shop. When it departs, moving yet again sluggishly towards its next destination, the bus stop is empty.
The boy was gone.
⚜
"Well how was I supposed to know what you said?" Namjoon repeats for the thousandth time, tired eyes trailing after Yoongi as his hyung paces up and down the apartment later that night.
The heat finally let up a little bit, but the air was still heavy and humid - the heat that evaporated from the pavements and roads wasn't particularly helping either.
"I screamed it at you!" Yoongi huffs, running a hand through his bleached hair and wincing when his fingers snag on a few damaged strands along the way.
"Yeah hyung, I still don't speak cat." it's something he has to remind Yoongi of quite often and the older is raising his hand, nodding along before Namjoon even finishes his sentence.
"Yes, yes I know - sorry, it slipped my mind." Yoongi frowns and looks lost in though while his fingers toy with the hem of the baggy shirt he's wearing "There's something about that kid, though."
Lacking the same instincts Yoongi had, Namjoon shrugs and pushes the thought to the back of his mind. They had enough problems to worry over, one random kid they'll probably never see again wasn't scoring high on Namjoon's list of priorities.
⚜
The unrelenting heat of the late August burned down on the streets of Seoul unforgivingly and mercilessly - Namjoon found himself tempted to text Seokjin and beg the witch to enchant a miniature tundra into one of their closets as a last ditch effort to escape the heat.
Yoongi, stubborn as always, stayed perched and unmoving in the window despite - or maybe in spite - of Namjoon's warnings of a heatstroke. If he appreciated the small water dish Namjoon placed in the corner, he didn't mention it, but Namjoon did notice that the dish was empty by the time he was closing the shop.
However, with Yoongi's stubbornness and the current temperatures reaching a ridiculous high, it was just as likely that the water simply evaporated from the small bowl.
Honestly, Namjoon wouldn't even be surprised.
"Excuse me, is your cat okay?" a timid voice startles him and Namjoon looks up from the book he was trying and failing to focus on. Standing on the other side of the counter is just a college kid.
The kid, actually. Bus-stop dwelling, sad looking kid that had Yoongi in a weird mood for days after he first saw him.
"Huh?"
"Your cat, is he uhm, okay?" the kid repeats himself and Namjoon throws a quick look over at Yoongi. The cat is lying on his back, all four paws spread apart and his head slumped to the side precariously and at an awkward angle - Namjoon can't see it from where he's sitting, but he'd bet 20 bucks that his mouth was open and a small, pinkish tongue was lolling to the side in an attempt to cool down his over-heated body.
"Uh, yeah, he's fine." Namjoon looks back at the kid with an awkward smile "There's a water dish in the corner, too." he feels compelled to add, like a complete moron.
"You sure? He looks kinda... dead?" it comes out more as a questions and the kid fidgets, the nerves seemingly eating away at him. Namjoon also notices how he'll look at absolutely anything but Namjoon himself.
"Seoltang!" Namjoon hollers out and gives it a second. The kid jerks a little at the sudden yell, fingers tightening their grip on the hem of his shirt and Namjoon spots the tattoos decorating his arm - not that he can see much of it, because the kid is wearing long sleeves. In 40 degree weather. It strikes Namjoon as odd, but before he can ask and completely obliterate the limits between making polite small talk and being nosy as hell, the cat in question peeks out from the window with an annoyed 'mreow'.
"Seoltang, this is.." Namjoon trails off, realizing he didn't ask the kid for his name. At the questioning look, the boy nervously fills in the blank.
"Jungkook."
".. right. Jungkook, who thought you were lying dead in the window and came to notify me."
The cat lazily jumps down from his perch, stretching out his hind legs before slowly strutting over to the counter. Namjoon knows it's all a show - Yoongi was anything but indifferent to Jungkook, but the familiar was testing the waters, one paw slowly coming up to rest against the side of Jungkook's sneaker. Feigned curiosity.
"See? He's quite alright." Namjoon smirks and doesn't miss the irritated flick of Yoongi's tail "But thank you for your concern."
Jungkook just offers him a hum as he crouches down and slowly offers up his hand to the cat.
Yoongi takes to him like a fish to water - which is surprising, considering the fact that the cat despised almost everyone but the select few, mostly Namjoon, Seokjin and Hoseok. So to Namjoon's astonishment, when Jungkook reaches out further, Yoongi doesn't shy away from his hand.
"Careful, he bites..." Namjoon's words die on his tongue as Jungkook's fingers touch the top of Yoongi's head - anyone else would lose a finger by now, but instead of biting and scratching Jungkook, Yoongi seems to lean into the touch, offering up a more favorable spot for scratches, the one behind his left ear.
"Sellout." Namjoon mutters under his breath, but offers up a quick smile when Jungkook looks up at him, confused. The cat however, looks incredibly smug and pleased as he shamelessly plops down on the floor besides Jungkook. The bastard's even purring.
"Wow, you really are cuddly, aren't you?" Jungkook coos and Namjoon fights off the desire to take his phone out to capture the entire thing on video as a means of proof when he tells Seokjin about it.
The look Yoongi gives him from under Jungkook's hand makes Namjoon think twice before doing it; in the end, he concludes that sleeping with one eye open for the foreseeable future, in constant fear of Yoongi's wrath just wasn't worth it.
The silence comes to an abrupt end as the doors of the bookstore swing open and Jimin all but falls into the bookshop, Taehyung following behind him in a tornado of laughter, clumsy steps and overly loud conversation that no one other then the two of them could ever understand.
"Hey hyungs - oh!" Jimin's wide smile falters a little as he notices Jungkook there, still crouched down with his fingers buried deep in the cat's fur.
"Hello hyungs! Your favorite children have arrived!" Tae announces loudly, but also freezes at the sight of Jungkook - Jimin elbows him in the ribs and Namjoon just rolls his eyes at the not so subtle attempt of covering up their words.
Jimin and Taehyung weren't witches; not yet, at least. But they were on their way to becoming one, so they know that Seoltang wasn't a full-time cat, but also an annoying, moody familiar by the name of Yoongi.
"Oh! I know you! You go to our school, right? Psych 101?" Taehyung's quick to divert the conversation away from the fact that they've both said 'hyung' to a cat "Jeon, right?"
"Uh, yes.." maybe it's the hyung thing, or maybe it's Taehyung's questions, but Jungkook suddenly looks uncomfortable and like he'd rather be anywhere else but here. His wide, round eyes are focused on nothing in particular as he absentmindedly strokes Seoltang's fur, but there's a tension that wasn't present there before Taehyung and Jimin entered the shop.
"Jungkook, are you alright?" Namjoon asks, but that seems to make the matter worse instead of better because Jungkook stands up, giving him a tight-lipped smile.
"I'm okay. Have to.. uh- I gotta, gotta go. Bye."
Yoongi was right. There's just something off about that kid.
⚜
"I told you so."
"Yeah. Yeah, you did hyung." once the kids leave and Namjoon closes the shop, they move upstairs to their apartment. Yoongi is pacing once again, dressed in a pair of basketball shorts and one of Namjoon's shirts. He's steadily wearing down a path into their carpet though, pacing back and forth like a caged lion.
"You noticed it too this time, yeah?" sharp, cat-like eyes find Namjoon's and he sighs, nodding along. Yoongi was right, which meant he would be insufferable with the use of 'i told you so's'. Something Namjoon was not looking forward to.
"We need to sic the kids on him." Yoongi suddenly says, nodding to himself as the half-baked plan forms in his head "Tae said that they go to school together, right? The kids can befriend him, or something."
"Hyung, while I agree that there's something weird about the guy, is it really our place to meddle?" Namjoon wonders because at the end of the day, what right did they have to interfere with the kid's life? They didn't even know him.
Yoongi crosses the room and curls next to Namjoon on the couch. When his head disappears into the crook of Namjoon's shoulder, that's how he knows that this really bother's Yoongi.
"He's so sad Joon-ah. So, so sad." Yoongi mumbles and Namjoon sighs for the umpteenth time that day.
He never even stood a chance.
"Okay hyung. We'll sic the kids on him." he presses a soft kiss to the crown of Yoongi's head "Maybe even Seokjin hyung." he adds after contemplating it. He feels the vibration of Yoongi's small hum of agreement and it's enough to ease his mind a little. For now.
⚜
Despite their best efforts, the kids cannot befriend Jungkook. Jimin was even starting to take it personally.
Whenever they tried to get close to him, the kid would think of an excuse and leave as soon as humanly possible.
("he avoids us like we're the rats that carried the plague." is how Taehyung eloquently put it. Yoongi snorted his coffee out of his nose and Seokjin's squeaky laughter echoed around the small apartment for 10 entire minutes, with the background sounds of Yoongi cursing both of them out and wiping coffee from his shirt.)
Every now and then though, Jungkook would visit the store. He'd walk in behind a large group of people, only to break off and disappear in the back as soon as they enter. Yoongi would follow after him every single time.
("he just sits there Joon-ah. Doesn't even read or text, he just sits there.")
Today was no exception - but Namjoon decided that enough was enough and that they're going to talk to him.
He finds Jungkook in the back of the store, slumped against the shelf with his head down. Yoongi is precariously perched on his lap, violently purring and pushing his head against Jungkook's chest in a soothing manner.
"Jungkook?" Namjoon tries not to wince when the younger startles at the sound of his voice and looks up, eyes watery and rimmed red "Hey, are you alright?"
"Yeah, ah, sorry." he gives Seoltang one last pat on the head before he moves to get up, but Namjoon's hand and Seoltang's loud meow stop him in his tracks.
"It's okay, you can sit here for as long as you want - we don't mind." Namjoon assures him and as if to agree, Seoltang lets out another loud meow. Jungkook smiles down at the cat - it's watery and sounds a little wet, but it's a small laugh; Namjoon's counting it as a win.
"Are you okay?" Namjoon asks him again and Jungkook nodds, but doesn't really look convincing. Both Namjoon and the cat stare at him suspiciously and the kid finally gives in.
"I - I'm not used to living here. It's really lonely."
Oh.
This is a problem they could solve for Jungkook.
"I know how you feel. When I first came here, if it wasn't for Yoongi, I'd be a lonely wreck." it's the truth - both of them were ostracized and alone, kicked out of their perspective groups and families for the choices that they had made. They only had each other. And Seokjin.
"Yoongi?" Jungkook questions, confusion evident on his face.
"Oh, my boyfriend." he can feel the blush coloring his cheeks and he pointedly ignores the smug cat sitting in Jeonguk's lap.
"Oh." the kid nods to himself mostly and throws his head back, eyes fixed on the ceiling of the store.
"I miss having friends. Seoul is really lonely; and colder then I though it would be." he shivers as if the emphasize his words and hugs Seoltang closer to himself "So much colder."
Namjoon subtly looks out towards the street that's all but deserted due to the heavy heat that's been beating down on Seoul for days on end. Yoongi looks confused as well, but as Jungkook holds him tighter, his purr hiccups and his small eyes widen in realization.
Namjoon slowly adds two and two together and it suddenly clicks.
Jungkook wasn't a human.