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Yoongi being turned into a cat, unfortunately, was not the most surprising thing that's happened to him this week. No, that honor was reserved for the sight of his grandmother, who barged into town as if she wasn't declared dead nearly a decade ago. As she scolded everyone for not looking harder to find her, she explained that she had been trapped in the body of a horse for eight years and only just now transformed back.
Then, she promptly turned Yoongi and his entire family into various animals, exclaiming they'd have to find their way out of this the same way she had.
"Don't worry," she had said. "I won't let you all be animals for eight years— that'd make for boring family reunions, wouldn't it?" Yoongi's mother, who'd been turned into a bird, chirped indignantly. Yoongi's grandmother only smiled. "But for as long as it takes for me to get my house and possessions back, I won't use my magic to help you. And who knows how long that'll take?" Then she had laughed like an evil witch and kicked them all out, exclaiming she didn't live in a farmhouse.
Of course, Yoongi and his entire family tried immediately to use their own magic to turn back. And of course, it didn't work.
Yoongi was doomed.
Then, there was Kim Namjoon, Yoongi's neighbor who Yoongi's been crushing on since they met, who asked him out right just this morning, before practically running out the elevator to God knows where, not even waiting to hear Yoongi's response. Yoongi had been planning on talking to him today after he got back from the sudden family reunion caused by his grandmother’s return.
So, being turned into a cat honestly just seemed like the cherry on top for a very bad week at this point.
Of course, Yoongi was secretly thrilled his grandmother was alive. When she dropped him off at his apartment, though, he hissed at her to make up for the fact he couldn't say anything else.
"I'm sure you'll figure it out first, my dear. You've always been the smartest in the family, especially when it comes to magic."
He hissed again and she simply patted him on the head before setting him down on the ground of his apartment that seemed so much bigger now.
Yoongi spent most of that first day trying various spells to change him back. When none of them worked, he was doomed to miserably attempting to open his cabinets so he could eat something, his hunger beginning to become uncomfortable.
Thankfully, his grandmother had the kind sense to spell a cat door on his front door (something Yoongi had meowed angrily about, completely affronted and slightly worried about what his landlord would say) so eventually, Yoongi wanders through it and to the place he knows he’ll be able to get food.
Kim Namjoon’s door.
Yoongi reasons that Namjoon loves animals, cats especially, and that he will not mind taking in a sudden stray. Especially a stray who needs food.
Cursing his grandmother again in his head, he begins to paw at Namjoon’s door, meowing as loudly as he can.
It doesn’t take long at all.
Yoongi draws back when he hears the doorknob start to turn, door being pulled open, revealing Namjoon, who appears even more massive to Yoongi than he usually does. Yoongi has to tilt his entire head back to look up at him and sees the exact moment Namjoon looks down, realizing the situation.
Namjoon’s entire demeanor shifts in one single second. He crouches down, a quiet, “Hello” slipping out of his lips, and Yoongi blinks at him and meows once more. Namjoon’s eyes scrunch in that way Yoongi’s obsessed with.
“Are you lost? Do you need some food?”
Yoongi nods. Namjoon looks stunned for a second before laughing a bit and propping the door open more, letting Yoongi slip inside. Yoongi makes sure to rub against him as he does, realizing that the sensation is just like how it feels when Namjoon touches him while he’s human.
“I’m Namjoon,” Namjoon says, a bit bemused as he follows Yoongi into his own kitchen. “Wow, you really have a sharp sense of smell.” Yoongi doesn’t care about acting normal; he just needs food. He meows again, jumping up on a counter and staring directly at Namjoon. Namjoon laughs again. “You’re a pretty funny cat. I wonder what your name is… you honestly kind of remind me of Yoongi. Should I call you that for the time being?”
Yoongi blinks, an equal mix of mortified and pleased. He’d probably be blushing right now if he wasn’t a cat. Namjoon shakes his head, deciding on his own. “No, that’s kind of weird, I guess. What about Min? Since you’re so clever?” Namjoon smiles and it’s so pretty that Yoongi just lets out a squeak in reply. “Alright, Min it is. It’s not like Yoongi’s here to say anything about it, right?”
Namjoon starts to move around the kitchen, grabbing a small plate and setting it in front of Yoongi. He fills up a small bowl with water, and while Yoongi immediately begins to lap at it, he keeps talking. “I asked him out this morning, you know. It went so horribly.” Namjoon groans. Yoongi looks up at that, still drinking his water. Namjoon is pulling out some leftover chicken that Yoongi cooked for him just last night. “I’ve been wanting to ask him out since I met him. Literally. But we’re neighbors so I figured it’d be kind of uncomfortable for him if he wasn’t interested, right? So, I waited.” Namjoon puts some of the chicken on Yoongi’s plate. Yoongi doesn’t eat it, too interested in what Namjoon has to say now to care about his hunger. “And it seemed like… like he likes me too? I don’t know. I wanted to ask him out properly, but we ran into each other in the elevator this morning, and he looked so cute, you should have seen the way he styled his hair, and it just slipped out. I’m not even sure about what I said. I think I accidentally yelled at him.” Namjoon sighs and leans against the counter, his arms in paw’s reach of Yoongi. Namjoon shuts his eyes tight. “And then I ran away. Fucking embarrassing, right? I’m sure he won’t want to go out with me now.”
Yoongi stares at him, his heart beating fast, and he hates his grandmother now more than ever for unintentionally getting in the way of his love life.
Namjoon opens his eyes and laughs again, his gaze set firmly on the ceiling. “Look at me. Talking to a cat. I’ve been waiting for him to get home all day, but I haven’t seen him. He hasn’t texted me or called either.” He looks at Yoongi. “He hates me, doesn’t he?”
Yoongi wants to shake this ridiculous man. No, I do not hate you, my grandmother turned me into a cat, I am right here, I’ve wanted to kiss you this entire past year, I am sorry I am a cat, this isn’t my fault, please yell at my grandmother next. Instead, Yoongi can only meow again. Namjoon nods like he said something wise.
“You’re probably right. I just need to calm down. Yoongi’s not the kind of person to let friendships end that way anyway. He’s… he’s the best, honestly. I can’t even believe that I get to know him.” Namjoon sighs and raises an eyebrow. “All that meowing you were doing earlier but you still haven’t touched your chicken. Do you not like chicken? Do I have a vegetarian for a cat…?”
Yoongi, horrified at the thought of Namjoon taking away his meal, immediately starts to eat again. The chicken tastes a bit strange, not at all how it tastes as a human, but it’s good enough, and Yoongi is just secretly pleased that he still gets to eat his own cooking—something he’s sure his grandmother didn’t expect at all.
Namjoon watches fondly as Yoongi eats and if Yoongi wasn’t basically in love with him, he might have minded more, but instead, he takes in the attention with a bursting heart, looking up at him every now and then to let out a thankful or loving meow. Namjoon smiles each time and, eventually, he’s reaching out and placing his hand on top of Yoongi’s head, petting him.
“You’re so soft. You aren’t a stray cat, huh? You must belong to someone. I don’t think strays are usually so soft.”
Yoongi meows in protest, fearing that Namjoon will try giving him away. Yoongi doesn’t know how long he’ll be a cat, but he definitely doesn’t want to be handed off to some stranger who claims Yoongi is theirs.
“Don’t worry. I’ll get you back to them soon. Tonight, you can stay here. I’ll put up some posters tomorrow, okay? I’m sure we’ll find your owner soon.”
Yoongi meows again, realizing that his situation has turned dire. He pulls back from his food and walks over so he’s right in front of Namjoon on the counter. Namjoon looks surprised, but Yoongi doesn’t stop there, instead standing up and placing both his front paws against his arm. Namjoon seems delighted by this turn of events, as if Yoongi isn’t begging for his very life, but it’s okay because Namjoon’s then picking him up and holding him close to his chest, as if Yoongi were the most precious creature in the entire world.
Yoongi wants to tell him so desperately how much he cares about him. Yoongi wants to tell him that Namjoon is his favorite person in the world. Yoongi wants to tell him that he’s an idiot for running out before Yoongi could give a proper response. Yoongi wants to do so many things, but his grandmother is absolutely evil, and so all he can do is cuddle into Namjoon, breathing softly against him, feeling so content that Yoongi could fall asleep.
Oh, actually he is falling asleep. Huh. Namjoon only continues to hold him, though, petting him so gently that the world fades away completely. Yoongi is happy.
A few hours pass and Yoongi wakes up tucked against a sleeping Namjoon. Yoongi realizes how dark it is, realizing that it must be the middle of the night. A part of Yoongi needs to pee, but he doesn’t want to get up, not wanting to disturb Namjoon. So, he turns on his side even more, beginning to paw and knead at Namjoon’s stomach, something he doesn’t even realize he’s doing until Namjoon sleepily wakes up.
“Min? Oh, you woke up. You fell asleep on me earlier. I really did name you well. Yoongi falls asleep on me on the couch all the time.”
Slightly embarrassed now, Yoongi kneads him a bit harder. Namjoon huffs in amusement, reaching down and picking him up so he’s holding him over his face, Yoongi’s body dangling in the air like it’s nothing. A part of Yoongi thinks he could be a cat forever, actually, if he got to do this with Namjoon every night.
“I kind of can’t help but wish you didn’t have an owner. I’d like to keep you. I think Yoongi would really like you, too! I bet he’d try to have your name changed, though.” Namjoon brings Yoongi down to nuzzle their faces together. “I wouldn’t let him. So, don’t worry.” Namjoon presses a gentle kiss against Yoongi’s forehead.
The change is immediate.
Yoongi’s once-tiny body immediately becomes huge, and because Namjoon decided to hold him over his face like he was a child playing with a toy, Yoongi falls on top of him, their foreheads bumping into each other hard.
“Oh, fuck,” Yoongi mutters in pain.
Namjoon is no better, groaning unhappily before he seems to realize what just truly happened. “Hyung?!”
Yoongi realizes immediately what kind of magic he had been afflicted with. Love magic—the worst kind. Notoriously difficult to undo or overcome, especially in the case of being turned into an animal. Yoongi supposes he’s grateful he was turned into a cat, rather than a more obscure animal. Cats are easy to accept into a home.
Yoongi’s even more grateful that he was accepted into Namjoon’s home, though.
“Okayyy, I know you’re a witch, hyung, but this is going to take some explaining because wh—”
Yoongi kisses him. Namjoon’s entire body stiffens for a second, but he relaxes into it soon after, one of his hands getting lost in Yoongi’s hair while his other holds the back of Yoongi’s neck.
Yoongi leans into it, overwhelmed in the best way, and this day has been one of the most ridiculous days of his life, but it’s all worth it, it’s all worth it now.
Pulling back, Yoongi rests his cheek against Namjoon’s. “You’re a fucking idiot, by the way.” Yoongi mumbles. Namjoon is quiet, flushed and looking just as breathless as Yoongi is. Yoongi presses another short kiss to his lips. “Running away on me like that. Of course I want to go out with you, Namjoon.”
Namjoon laughs, his entire body moving against Yoongi’s. Yoongi is too happy to be embarrassed at the fact that he’s basically straddling Namjoon. “Oh. Oh, yeah. Sorry. I panicked.”
“Well, maybe next time consider that my apparently living grandmother might be turning me into a cat just a couple of hours later and that I’d be forced to give no proper answer until I was magically turned back.”
Namjoon laughs again. “You’re right. My bad for not considering that.”
Yoongi smiles, finally moving off Namjoon to lie down beside him. Namjoon’s hand immediately grabs Yoongi’s, squeezing tightly.
“So… where should we go for our first date?” Yoongi asks.
Namjoon turns, facing Yoongi entirely now. There’s a wicked grin on his face. “How about a cat café?”
Yoongi hits him with his pillow.