Unfamiliars - themarmalade(AO3)

Chapter 2

*This is not my story but from @ themarmalade on AO3*

-*-

A big hand enveloping his shoulders snaps him out of weird feelings. "Jimin's always telling me I should think about getting a companion animal because of all my...shit," he says, gesturing vaguely at his head. "He'll shit himself when he sees this picture."

He giggles, a sound somehow reminiscent of distant motor boats on sun-glittered water. Yoongi wonders where the memory came from. He spirals, wondering if he'll ever go to the ocean again, or feel the pleasant burn of sunlight on bare skin instead of thick fur. So many words he wants to say with his voice, so many things he wants to do with his hands and no hope of it ever happening.

"Aw, you cold, kitty? I wonder if cats can catch a cold," he muses, scooping Yoongi up against his chest.

He had been shaking, Yoongi realizes. He let Hoseok squeeze at the pads of his paw.

"Little toe beans!" Hoseok screeches under his breath. "I wanna eat them up," he coos, brushing the top of Yoongi's fuzzy paw under his nose.

Yoongi smushes his little foot against Hoseok's lips just in case he was really considering it. A boyish, musical hiccuping laugh bursts against his foot and fuck, he loves it, will do anything, any cute cat-antics bullshit it takes to bring that sound back.

-*-

So here he is a day later, exhausted to his bones, leaping around like a jackass trying to catch a little rainbow feather ball Hoseok is jerking around on a string, basking in the dumb lovely laughter.

The shopping bag from the pet store looks like it's exploded across the little living room. There are catnip pillows, crinkly holographic balls, an elaborate yarn horse with bells in its hair, cans of treats, a stuffed broccoli toy that Yoongi's sure is for dogs but is immediately endeared to. There are jingly balls, things on sticks, canned cat food that Yoongi pretends not to see, some mechanical ball spinning device, a scratch pad. Seemingly half a paycheck worth of things Yoongi will have to play with out of guilt.

But ironically, Yoongi feels more like himself in this moment of absolute catness than he has in nine months. The realization sinks in like the tides and it's laughable, it's sobering. Every second of his life for the last nine months has been in anticipation limbo, a weird self-repulsion, as if separating his mind from this feline body would save him. Months of vigilance and dissociation. But now, right now, Hoseok is beaming at him, breathless from giggling and flinging the feather toy around. A full, present smile.

With a queasy drop in his stomach, Yoongi realizes, he could do this. Live life this way, as a cat, as Hoseok's.

Mid-leap he sits down hard, dark olive eyes wide at Hoseok, who's panting a little from joy and exertion. Hoseok grabs him and falls back to the floor with a huff, plopping Yoongi down on his chest.

He stands there on bumpy ribs, watching the grin on Hoseok's face melt into something more thoughtful. "You know, I thought I'd been doing okay for a while."

He chuckles and scratches behind Yoongi's ear. "But I'm so happy right now that whatever I was before kinda looks like shit. I guess Jimin was right about me needing a companion animal, that fucker," he says fondly. "I'll never tell him, I'll just get 'Jimin was right about the cat' on my tombstone."

Wobbly on Hoseok's thin chest, he carefully sits himself down and curls into a little ball. "Like, why does it feel good to tell a cat all this random bullshit?" Hoseok continues. "You don't even know what I'm saying. Maybe that's why though, huh? No judgement from you, at least," he says softly, tickling his fingers under Yoongi's chin. "Well, no more than usual from a cat."