Chapter Text
A fluffy white tail hits him square in the face, he snaps awake with a yelp. The first thing he notices is a sight he hadn’t seen in a while. He sighs and lies back down. The sun is already out and pretty high up in the sky. He can only barely see the sliver of the flaming ball through the closed blinds. He watches the dust particles float around the room for a few moments before he stretches and prepares for waking up the figure sleeping on him.
“Yoongi, wake up.” He grumbles and shakes the white-eared hybrid awake.
The cat hisses in his sleep and further climbs up his body. Sighing in annoyance he pushes the other off rather forcefully and earns himself another smack to the face with the furry tail.
“Let me live,” The hybrid finally murmurs into the pillow.
“I’ll let you live if you let me get up,” He tries to negotiate with the cat.
Reluctantly the hybrid slides to the other side of the bed and mewls loudly, “Hobi, make me food.”
“I can’t make you food but I can make food for you.” He laughs at the distressed sound that leaves Yoongi’s mouth.
“Fuck off, Hoseok.” The hybrid’s pout is easily heard in his tone.
He lets the foul language slide this time around because it's been such a long time since he’d last woken up with the hybrid in his bed. Yoongi has his own room and he prefers the solitude of it most of the times. Only during night, of course. During the day it's another thing entirely. Hoseok can barely get anything done without having Yoongi asking for attention in some way or other. Even after all the time that has passed since he'd first gotten the hybrid as a pet when he was a kid, Yoongi demanded all the attention he could give the hybrid. However, this might be because of the fact that Hoseok works for most of the day. Being a high school teacher, an English literature teacher (with a minor in Philosophy) at that, means he has the privilege of teaching for the majority of the day. It wasn’t always like that, of course. Back when they had just met they'd both been small and fragile and Hoseok, even though he could get along with just anybody, was having issues with the other kids. Kitten Yoongi was the exact opposite of kid Hoseok but strangely the arrangement worked. Hoseok offered Yoongi a home and a friendship and Yoongi offered Hoseok a companion that wouldn’t like him for what crayons he had or how many extra cookies he carried. His parents were more than happy, they were satisfied with their decision of joining the two and ever since then the two were inseparable.
Hoseok finally gets up and walks over to the closet. He picks out an outfit for the day and sets it on the chair next to the bed. He notices Yoongi watching him with lazy eyes and a curious pinch to his eyebrows.
Hoseok tilts his head, "Something on your mind?"
"You're gonna be home late again, aren't you?" The hybrid huffs, tail fur puffing.
Hoseok coos briefly and leans over to run a hand through the other's soft, white hair. "I have to work, who's gonna spoil you rotten otherwise?"
"Oh? I didn't know you were spoiling me. Step up your game, human." Yoongi grins cheekily and Hoseok flicks one of his ears.
"Rude," The brunette grumbles and moves to the bathroom to take a shower.
Monday’s were the easy days for him. He didn’t have to get up at asscrack of dawn and he got to lie around in bed for the good chunk of the morning. His routine wasn’t rushed and he could take his time in the shower, enjoying the warmth. The autumn air was starting to up the ante on the coldness and he needed to take his coat out for dry-cleaning; he makes a mental note to do that while going to work. They kids he was teaching were mostly all 11th grade even though he had a class in the 9th grade today as well- he was substituting for a fellow professor. It was easy being the substitute this time around since the kids hadn’t gotten used to their regular teacher so it wasn’t that much of a difference if someone else stepped in on occasion.
The shower curtain slides open and Hoseok squeals, hands rushing to cover himself.
“Jesus Christ, relax, it’s just me.” Yoongi grumbles lowly and steps into the shower, closing the curtain behind. “I think we’re out of milk.”
“Why are you in the shower with me?” Hoseok was slightly ashamed of how high-pitched his voice had gotten. They weren’t kids anymore; they couldn’t just take showers together, for Christ’s sake! Privacy is important!
“Because it saves time and money?” Yoongi looks at him with a tilted head, hair and ears getting drenched under the stream of water. His tail flicks around behind him as he stands there shamelessly naked.
Hoseok prays to all the entities that he isn’t visibly blushing or that the other will chalk it up to the temperature of the room- and boy, was it steamy.
“Well, too bad I’m already done.” He says and even though his hair could use another shampooing and rinsing, he makes a move for the curtain.
Yoongi’s wet tail curls around his wrist and tugs his arm away from the material he was so close to. “Wash my back first,” Yoongi turns around and offers a loofah over his shoulder.
Hoseok takes it reluctantly and soaps it up. He spends the next few minutes trying to as efficiently as possibly reduce the time spent in the shower with his cat hybrid by scrubbing the other’s back swiftly. Yoongi is purring by the time he’s done and his tail is waving happily.
“You can go now,” The hybrid says with a yawn.
“How generous of you, I’m as shriveled as a raisin now.” Hoseok complains just to have something to say. Yoongi just gives him an unimpressed look and shoos him out with a smack of the tail.
He towels off quickly and hopes his hair will be dry enough by the time he’s finished breakfast.
With breakfast comes his upstairs neighbor’s dog hybrid as well.
“Don’t let him in, he’s annoying.” Yoongi whines from the couch as Hoseok makes for the door.
“Don’t be rude, we both know you like him keeping you company.” Hoseok tuts and wipes his hands on the apron that he’s wearing.
He opens the door and is greeted by an armful of an excited puppy.
“Hoseokkie!” The hybrid yelps and places a wet peck onto Hoseok’s cheek.
“Woah, Jiminie, calm down- you saw me yesterday!” Hoseok laughs in delight, the young hybrid never failed to make him smile. Sometimes he wished Yoongi was more like the younger but he knows that’s impossible- Yoongi being half-cat as well as kind of an asshole (so like a regular cat, really).
“I like seeing you! You make good food!” The puppy grins and detaches himself from Hoseok.
Hoseok gasps in mock-horror, “You only like me because I feed you!”
“Don’t be silly; if that were the case I would have stopped liking Tae a long time ago.” Jimin says as he plops down next to Yoongi and gives his hair a playful ruffle. Yoongi hisses back at him and swats his hand away.
Hoseok crosses his arms over his chest, “Don’t tell me he’s not eating again.”
Jimin shrugs, “He’s way into the thing he’s writing to notice trivial things like hunger or the need for a walk.” The younger frowns.
Hoseok sighs and takes off his apron, “You two get settled in the kitchen and start eating- I’m gonna bring some of it up to Tae.” He gathers a few sausages and some scrambled eggs along with some bread and a tomato into a plastic container. He takes a few bottles of water with him and an energy bar for good measure.
The elevator ride is short considering the dog hybrid and his owner live just above them in a loft. Hoseok steps out of the metal box with a mission. He knocks on the door but it swings open on its own, Jimin must not have locked it. The loft is the last floor in the previously-industrial building and it’s furnished in a modern way. Monochromatic colors and sleek furniture that give it a cold sort of atmosphere while Hoseok and Yoongi’s flat is always homey and warm. Taehyung’s loft always seems so empty and that’s mostly because Jimin spends all his time in theirs. The observation of the cold space brings him back to his mission.
“Kim Taehyung!” He barrels into the room and sees Taehyung flinch at the sound of his name. He’s seated in front of a laptop typing furiously in only a thin shirt and boxers- he looks like he hasn’t showered in a while.
“Uh, hi, Hobi.” Taehyung turns around to give him a sheepish smile.
“You’ve been neglecting yourself and by extension your hybrid again. Up and into the kitchen.” Hoseok orders in a stern voice and watches the younger’s eyes dilate.
“But, Hob-”
“Don’t you ‘Hobi’ me; food, now.” Hoseok points and marches into the kitchen to pull out a plate and some utensils. He frowns at the pile of dishes in the sink and at the unloaded dishwasher. He doesn’t know why the younger has such a modern kitchen if he never plans on using it.
“You two need to learn how to clean after yourselves,” He says as Taehyung takes a seat at the glass table.
“No time, close to finishing the book.” Taehyung mumbles and starts shoveling food into his mouth. It was the third one in the series and his readers were anxious to see what will happen next.
Hoseok smacks him upside the head, “Slow down or you’ll be sick later. Also, clean. And feed Jiminie. I can’t keep feeding him for you; plus Yoongi’s getting annoyed.” He huffs as he remembers that his own hybrid get’s easily irritated by cheery things that like cuddles (it’s a miracle he still likes Hoseok at this point).
“I’ll pay you for the stuff he eats, money isn’t a problem- time is.” Taehyung says with a mouth full of scrambled eggs.
Hoseok cuts him off with a look and Taehyung snaps his mouth shut to chew his food. “It’s not about the money; it’s the principal of things. You got him, you take care of him.”
“Okay but I can’t cook for shit.” Taehyung says.
“Then hire someone who will do it for you.” Hoseok waves a hand around in exasperation.
“Can I hire you?” The younger asks hopefully.
“No,” Hoseok shoots him down. “I don’t have time and I already have a job.” He doesn’t mind occasionally bringing the younger two some food or inviting them over for dinner but that’s only when he has enough time not to rush a meal or order in. He’s a busy man, what can he say.
Taehyung sighs, “I’ll look into it. But! Only if you still cook for us on Sunday.”
“Every other Sunday,” Hoseok bargains.
“Fine,” The younger responds with a pout. “Can you do my dishes today, though?” He grins toothily.
“No!” Hoseok smacks him upside the head again.
They live close to Hoseok’s workplace so it only takes him a short walk to get there. He likes to use this time to reflect on stuff and prepare mentally for the teens he has to teach. Their apartment building is surprisingly tall for a former industrial building. It had been in the ownership of some company that went bankrupt, after that it had been bought by some guy with a lot of money to spend that had renovated it and started renting out and selling apartments. The amount of money that went into the building must have been substantial considering its state before the renovation. Now the exterior was still brick but inside it was all state of the art. Even with its height it was still one of the shortest buildings around. Well, it was still tall compared to the small house that was situated next to it.
Hoseok often pondered this small house that was nestled between a couple of skyscrapers and apartment buildings. The owner of the building had refused to sell his property to some company that wanted to move into the neighborhood.
Yes, Hoseok often pondered this little house and its story while he walked next to it and got barked at by a vicious-looking German Shepherd that occupied its front yard.
He childishly sticks his tongue out at the animal as it growls at him continuously. The chain the dog is kept on rattles furiously and Hoseok worries about the animal hurting itself. Before Hoseok comes near, the animal always looks sad- this being said, the damn mutt only reacts to Hoseok. Hundreds of people pass by that rickety old fence every day and the only person that gets barked at is Hoseok. He’s getting a bit pissed at the animal if he were being honest.
So that same day, just like any other working day, when he goes home he throws the dog some of the cafeteria food he had picked up especially for the animal. It was sort of a thing Hoseok did. Even with all the barking, he felt sorry for the yapping animal. Every day he would go to the cafeteria, charm the lunch ladies into giving him some leftovers and then he would throw them to the dog on his way back. The animal never once stopped barking at him.
He throws the dog the food, except the dog isn’t there. Neither is the fence, nor the house. He stops in his tracks and gapes at the rubble that’s left. He looks around and people bump into him as he remains motionless. He dashes over to pick up the burgers he had thrown the dog and stares at them in wonder. There’s a soft sound of padding, barely heard over the sound of the traffic in the background. He snaps his head to the side just in time to see the dog sit down next to him and look up at him curiously.
He yelps and jumps back, afraid that the animal might want to harm him- can you blame him? What, with all the barking, one would assume… But no, the canine just sits there and looks up at him. Hoseok backtracks slowly and places the food on the sidewalk rather than the former yard. The animal walks forward and sniffs at the food; it regards it with mild irritation then looks back up at Hoseok.
“Eat it, you never complained before.” Hoseok mutters quietly, not wanting to be seen talking to a dog. The animal tilts its head and Hoseok huffs, “Why am I even talking to you? You’re a dog.” He turns on his heels and makes his way back to his home. The scraping of nails on the concrete follows him relentlessly and he turns his head back.
“Stop following me, dog.” He hisses quietly and the dog stops. Hoseok nods in approval and continues walking- only to stop when the dog’s paw sounds pick up again. He quickens his pace and so does the dog. It’s a brief race but Hoseok manages to slip into the building before the dog follows him.
“Hey, what happened to the old guy’s house?” He asks in form of a greeting to his pet and his neighbor’s pet who seems to have spent the day annoying Yoongi.
“They tore it down today; the old man’s been dead for like a month and a half.” Yoongi says casually from where he’s busy flicking Jimin’s tail that’s thumping against the carpet.
“Dead?!” Hoseok squawks. “Who’s been feeding his dog then?! Don’t tell me he’s been living on cafeteria food only for the past month?” He hurries to the window to see if he can spot the animal in question.
“To be fair, it’s not like he was living on much before the old man died.” The cat hybrid responds. “Congratulations, you’ve been keeping the mutt alive.” He deadpans.
Hoseok shoots him a glare, “We can’t just leave him out there.” He sadly looks down at the overgrown (and somewhat strange) puppy that went back to sitting in the spot where his house used to be.
“Of course we can. We let the pound find him; he’s a nice dog- I’m sure he’ll get adopted.” Yoongi regards him with cold eyes- if he didn’t know any better, he would have thought the cat was heartless.
“You’re mean,” Jimin mutters and grabs his own tail to withhold it from Yoongi’s hands.
“What else is new?” Yoongi grouches and pushes the dog hybrid; Jimin tips over with a yelp- thankfully, he had been sitting on the floor already.
“Don’t do that.” Hoseok’s eyebrows furrow, “Why are you extra bitchy today?”
“He’s angry because you don’t spend enough time with him,” Jimin jumps off the carpet and distances himself from Yoongi to avoid the immediate swipe of the cat hybrid’s hand.
“You big baby,” Hoseok’s features soften as he takes in the rosy tint to Yoongi’s cheeks and how he crosses his arms over his chest angrily. He throws the dog outside one last glance before he takes a seat next to his hybrid on the couch.
“Whatever, not like you can help it.” The hybrid looks away.
Jimin lets out a short bark, interrupting them. “Hobi, are you making food or should I try and get Taehyung to order for us all?”
“Aish, all you think about is food!” Hoseok smiles and pulls the pup over for a hug; Jimin’s tail hits his sides as it wags happily. “Go squeeze money out of Taehyung, what are you feeling like?”
“I vote pizza,” Jimin jumps.
“Anything but pizza,” Yoongi retaliates with an angry squint to his eyes.
“Well, too bad it’s Taehyung’s money so Jimin gets to decide.” Hoseok says, even though he knows he’ll probably end up making Yoongi something else later.
As Jimin runs out the door Hoseok turns to look at Yoongi with a raised eyebrow. “You really miss me that much?”
Yoongi’s ears flatten against his head and he grumbled to himself. “You shouldn’t have taken that extra class.”
“I couldn’t have just left Namjoon hanging,” Hoseok scoots closer and the hybrid immediately goes to lay his head into his lap. Hoseok runs a hand through his downy locks and hums. “I’ll call in a sick day soon and we can go to the beach, sounds good?”
Yoongi purrs loudly at the notion, “Sounds good.”
Hoseok smiles at how soft Yoongi actually is.
The next day, the dog is still there in the morning and in the evening when Hoseok stops to bring him food. Except, in the evening the dog is surrounded by construction workers and large machinery that’s supposed to start well, construction on the site.
Letting out a worried yelp as a man swings a hand back to hit the dog, Hoseok hurries to grab the man’s arm.
“Please don’t hit the poor thing!” He pleads and the man slowly puts his arm down.
“The damn mutt refuses to move, we have to work, we’ve been trying to get him to move the entire afternoon!” The man shouts over the noise of the machinery.
“He won’t budge and he’s already bitten someone! Won’t even move for food.” Someone else adds.
Hoseok frowns and crouches down to be at eye level with the animal. He squints at it, “You’re being difficult and unreasonable. Come on.” He stands up and walks away; as expected, the dog follows. He waves at the gaping construction workers and goes to the building.
He stares down at the animal and the animal stares up at him back. “What am I gonna do with you?” He sighs. The dog gets up and pads to the building entrance where he sits again and places a paw on the door.
Hoseok stares in amazement and knows Yoongi isn’t going to like what comes next.
“No, absolutely not. Are you out of your mind?!” Yoongi yowls loudly, fur bristling and ears flattened. His tail swishes angrily and lashes at anything that’s near. It happens to be a vase and Hoseok dives to catch it.
Vase safely in hand, he stands back up and places it away from Yoongi. “But, Yoongs, he has nowhere to go! He wouldn’t even leave the lot! They were gonna hurt him!” He pleads on his knees (from when he was catching that pesky vase). The dog sits next to him on its hind legs and raises his front paws in a praying motion.
Hoseok’s eyes widen and he points to the canine excitedly, “Look! He does tricks!”
“I do tricks too; look, I call this one refusal.” With that, the hybrid turns around with his arms crossed and leaves the living room.
Hoseok looked at the dog sadly, “He’ll come around.” He pats the animal’s head then frowns. “You kinda stink, though. You need a bath, come on.” He stands up and the dog follows him.
Giving the animal a shower was surprisingly easy. Once he had gone down to the store around the corner and gotten the proper shampoo, the animal had sat in the shower and let Hoseok was him of all the grime. He was surprisingly flee-less and tick-free. Hoseok was very pleased when the dog started smelling like the soap instead of dirt and rain.
He drapes a fluffy towel over the animal and it again remains calm as Hoseok dries it. “You know, you’re already a better pet than Yoongi.” He winks at the animal and the dog let his (Hoseok had established it was a boy) tongue loll out of his mouth happily. Hoseok stares at him for a minute. The brown eyes that look back at him seem more intelligent than he would have liked to admit. He shakes off the strange feeling that he’s missing something and plugs in a blow-dryer to speed up the drying process.
“I don’t want you in the living room by yourself, so you’ll be sleeping in my room for tonight, pup.” Hoseok mumbles quietly and leads the dog behind him once they’re done with the drying.
The dog hops onto the bed and settles his head on his paws. Hoseok coos a little at how adorable the animal is. He wonders if Yoongi really will start to eventually like the dog since it seems like he will be staying with them for a while.
Being too tired to care at the moment, Hoseok lets the thoughts slip from his mind as he changes into his sleepwear. He climbs into bed and whispers a quiet ‘goodnight’ to the new occupant of their apartment. The dog huffs in return but Hoseok is already sinking into slumber so he doesn’t question it.