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“Shit,” Yoongi murmurs, voice low. “We forgot the sesame oil.”
Namjoon grins at him, buttoning up his coat again as the chilly wind bites at his skin. “We didn’t, hyung. I got it.”
Yoongi looks at him in surprise. His nose and ears are red from the cold; Namjoon wants to kiss him. “You did? When?”
“You were distracted by the gochujang when I grabbed it. They didn’t have your favorite brand so you were too busy trying to figure out what could replace it.”
“Oh,” Yoongi replies. He smiles. “I’m glad, then. Thanks.” His shoes crunch on the snow covering the sidewalk. “It wasn’t snowing so much when we arrived. Maybe we should’ve taken the car. Don’t want either of us to get sick.”
Namjoon lets out a coy smile. “Well, if you get cold, you can just cuddle up next to me. I’ll keep you warm, baby.”
Yoongi rolls his eyes and takes a big step over a small pile of snow. “What else would you be good for, hmm?”
Namjoon laughs, transferring his bags from his right hand to his left so he can reach out and grab Yoongi’s free one. Yoongi lightly squeezes and doesn’t comment on it.
They walk for a few more minutes and Namjoon is about to start flirting with Yoongi again just to pass the time, but then he hears it.
“Meow.”
Namjoon stops, turning to face the sound. He looks at Yoongi, who’s frowning in the same direction.
“You heard that, right, hyung?”
“Meow.”
Yoongi nods, eyes wide. Namjoon doesn’t hesitate, letting go of Yoongi’s hand to wander off the sidewalk and into their neighborhood park. One of the reasons they picked this neighborhood in the first place was because of this park.
It doesn’t take Namjoon long to find the source of the meowing.
The cat is shivering, curled up in on itself trying to find a source of warmth. It’s skinny and Namjoon can tell how matted its long, black fur is just by looking at it. The cat looked up when Namjoon approached and its yellow eyes blink fearfully up at him as Namjoon stares back at it.
Yoongi appears just seconds later, accompanied by the rustling of a few leaves and more crunches of snow.
“Hyung….”
Yoongi doesn’t even hesitate. “I know; we need to take it home with us.” He reaches out and grabs the bags Namjoon was holding. “Here, pick it up. Hold it close to share your body warmth.”
Namjoon is already moving into action, taking a few careful steps towards it.
“Hi, little kitty,” he greets politely. He holds out his hand as he bends down to its level as much as he can. Thankfully, the cat hasn’t been scared off so much that it wanted to run away. Instead, it simply looks up at Namjoon and gives another broken, “Meow” as it quickly sniffs Namjoon’s outstretched hand.
Now that Namjoon is closer, he can see just how dirty the cat is as well. There are scars and bumps all over its face and Namjoon knows they’ll need to take it to the vet as soon as they can.
“Here, come on, baby….” he murmurs, using both of his hands to scoop up the cat. It meows a little in protest but doesn’t move too much around to get away. Namjoon adjusts so the cat’s chest and body are all completely lined up with Namjoon’s chest and neck. “You weigh so little,” Namjoon says to it. The cat lets out a ragged breath in response, the feeling tickling Namjoon a bit.
Namjoon turns and walks over to Yoongi who smiles gently at the two of them. “Come on, we need to hurry home now, especially.”
“Meow.”
When they get home, Yoongi commands Namjoon to find a towel to warm the cat up as he puts up the groceries.
“It won’t take me long. After I’m done, I’ll get my own towel and wet it with warm water so we can clean its face a bit, too.”
Namjoon only nods, holding the cat closer as he wanders to their closet to find the extra towels. He grabs the dark blue one and then heads back into their living room to situate them on the couch. The cat lets out another little meow but seems to be okay with everything going on so far.
“Here, kitty,” Namjoon says, putting the cat on the couch for a moment so he can unwrap the towel on his lap. After he’s finished, he grabs the cat, places it on the towel, and then brings up the sides to cover his entire body, wrapping it up like a loose burrito.
For the next few minutes, Namjoon lightly rubs the cat through the towel to help warm it up some more.
Yoongi joins him five minutes later, a towel in his hand as well. He sits down next to Namjoon, holding out his hand like Namjoon did in the park and letting the cat smell him.
“I’m going to clean your face. Is that okay?” Yoongi asks warmly. Namjoon can’t help his smile at his tone; Yoongi is the perfect person he could’ve found a stray cat with.
Yoongi moves slowly but the cat doesn’t reject his advances, probably already aware that the two of them are here to help it. Gently, Yoongi cleans the cat’s face and Namjoon holds it closer to him, wanting the cat to know that it’s safe now.
After a minute, the cat suddenly starts purring, low and soft, but Namjoon can feel it on his lap and even Yoongi pauses to marvel wondrously at it.
“It’s so cute, hyung,” Namjoon whispers, positive he may die from how much he’s feeling right now. “I feel bad calling it “it” though… but I can’t tell its sex.”
“I can check it. You’ll just need to move it, so its butt is turned towards me. Although, it might not want us to check right now.”
Namjoon nods, petting the cat as he moves it, and it purrs more in response, not minding the movement at all. Yoongi is quick but still gentle about checking, making sure not to scare the cat too much as he lifts the tail to see.
“It’s a girl,” Yoongi comments, letting go of the tail and helping tuck the cat back into the towel fully.
“How do you know?”
“Trust me, I know.”
Namjoon’s lip quirks, but he doesn’t question it. “Well, what should we do with her?”
Yoongi pets under her chin, which she lifts for easier access.
“I can take her to the vet tomorrow since it’s my day off. It doesn’t look like she has any major injuries, but she may be sick with something. We should get her vaccinated too if she isn’t already.”
Namjoon nods, looking down at her. “We should feed her, too. I bet she’s starving and dehydrated.”
“I’m about to take the car and get some food for her. I’d prefer to get her food made for cats. We can give her water, of course, if she wants it.”
“You know,” Namjoon says, freeing one of his hands to touch Yoongi’s arm. “This is a new first for us. We’ve never dealt with a stray before.”
Yoongi bites his lip. “Well, we have our whole life together to make more.”
The assuredness in Yoongi’s words leaves Namjoon momentarily breathless. “I like it,” he finally says. “Every time I get to have new firsts with you, it makes me fall in love with you more.”
He brings his hand back to continue holding and petting the cat, and he can tell Yoongi is oscillating between wildly different responses, from making fun of him to saying something even sappier.
Eventually, he just settles on a soft huff, his eyes twinkling. “You’re the most sentimental man to exist. I’m going to go get the food. Call me if anything happens.” He stands up, pressing a kiss to Namjoon’s forehead. “Love you.”
Namjoon grins up at him, the cat still purring peacefully in his lap. “Love you, too.”
The trip to the vet, apparently (and thankfully), was mainly uneventful. They did a full check-up which included vaccinating her and prescribing her some antibiotics since she has a moderate upper respiratory infection. After, they cleaned and groomed her, confirming as well that she was most likely a stray given the state of her condition and the fact that she wasn’t chipped.
“They also said she was probably around two years old. Oh, and I scheduled her appointment to be spayed.”
Yoongi was carrying the cat like a baby, and she was loving it, looking up at him with her wide eyes and leaning her head against him. Namjoon immediately whips out his phone to take photos of the sight. Yoongi looks up just in time too, smiling widely at him.
“Oh, and the vet also said that we could put her up for adoption at the local adoption center. But… well…” Yoongi blushes. “We’ve been talking about getting a pet anyway, right? So, maybe we could…?”
Namjoon blinks, confused momentarily because—
“Oh, I thought it was a given we’re keeping her. It’s fate, hyung. We can’t just get rid of her. She’s our new daughter.”
Yoongi nods, beyond pleased. He comes over and sits down on the bed next to Namjoon, placing the cat in Namjoon’s arms, who accepts her eagerly.
“We need to name her if we’re keeping her.”
Namjoon pets her fur, humming to himself as he thinks. “I don’t know. It’s important… we should wait. It’ll come to us.”
Yoongi lies down next to him, reaching so he’s petting her as well. “Alright. We can wait.”
Being the proud dads of a cat proves to be more challenging yet easier than expected. The cat quickly warms up to the two of them, but she still has trouble sleeping, often walking around and meowing for big portions of the night, obviously scared that the safety won’t last. She is sweet, though, and not picky with her food or water. She enjoys playing, but only with incredibly specific toys because otherwise she gets bored by them. She wants to go outside sometimes, but the vet said they should wait a bit before letting her go outside since she needs to realize that their home is her new home as well.
She’s also the cutest cat in the world.
“I think she’s the cutest cat in the world,” Namjoon murmurs, watching as she plays with a toy mouse that they bought her.
“I agree. There’s no other cat as cute as her.”
“We should bring Jimin over to rub it in his face how much cuter our cat is.”
Yoongi snorts, his hand mussing up Namjoon’s hair a bit as he shifts. “He would just agree; nobody can deny how cute she is. He’d face his defeat immediately.”
Namjoon hums his assent, yawning as he gets more comfortable leaning against Yoongi. They’re watching a historical fiction drama; it’s mildly interesting so far, but Namjoon heard it gets better in a couple of episodes.
“Do you think she understands Korean?”
“Why would she be fluent in something else? ‘Here’s our cat,’ we would say. ‘She’s French?’”
Namjoon cracks a smile. “I think I know her name now.”
Yoongi turns to look at him, his hand falling from his hair to rest on top of Namjoon’s hand. “Yeah?”
Namjoon nods. “Gyeo-wool. Since we met her in the winter, but also—don’t make fun of me—because we met in the winter. It can be our way to celebrate this new step in our lives.”
Yoongi’s returning smile is fond and warmer than the sun. “What did I say about you being the most sentimental man alive?” He presses a short kiss to Namjoon’s lips. “I love it.”
Gyeo-wool, seeming to sense this important moment in all three of their lives, bounds over to them and jumps onto their laps with a big stretch and sigh.
“Your name is Gyeo-wool,” Yoongi says to her, his voice full of love. “Do you like that?”
She looks up at them and blinks. “Meow.”
They take it as a ‘yes.’