Chapter Three

“Jimin, I have the worst luck in the world. I could go outside now and get struck by lightning while being hit by a car. At the same time.” Seokjin whined into the phone before Jimin could so much as say hello. After Namjoon’s surprising confession, Seokjin had awkwardly walked him home, which just so happened to be three blocks in the opposite direction of Seokjin’s own apartment. Without the oblivious cat hybrid chatting away innocently at his side, the human had shivered his way home in miserable defeat. He honestly hated the cold, summer was more his season, especially since he could buy tinted sunglasses and snap selfies by the beach with an icy fruity cocktail in hand.

Namjoon would look good in circle lenses—

‘No no, don’t get side tracked.’ Seokjin reprimanded himself. Namjoon already had a boyfriend.

How was he so sure mere hours before that someone like Namjoon hadn’t been snatched up by the first man with taste and a brain? It was disheartening, especially since Seokjin now felt at least a little guilty that he had been trying to make a move on Namjoon. Who was apparently taken and smitten with his boyfriend.

The cat hybrid hadn’t said much about him, but Seokjin could tell that someone else was on Namjoon’s mind when he smiled fondly to himself, a dusting of sakura blossom pink on his cheeks. He looked glowy and so happy every time it happened, and Seokjin couldn’t help but feel that maybe he was petty when he changed the subject and shook Namjoon out of whatever memory he may have been reliving. It was almost a blessing for the human when he led walked Namjoon home to an empty apartment.

He was still slightly curious about the man able to capture Namjoon’s heart though.

“…Jin, what the hell are you talking about?” Jimin growled through the phone, sounding distinctly unamused and less drunk than he was leaving the cafe earlier.

“I’m talking about my love life. I swear, every time I start liking someone, they’re already in a relationship, straight, or crazy as hell!” Seokjin complained once again, just barely restraining himself from launching into a tirade about the one guy he dated back in college. He had taken the man to meet his parents, then the bastard had the balls to make a dash out of the restaurant from the bathroom window. The thing was barely a foot wide, but he made it work.

“I would say ‘what love life?’ But yeah, that sounds about right.” Jimin responded, going from irritated to something dangerously close to bored in a second flat. If Seokjin had any other friends, he would go vent to them, but a soul eight to five desk job with required unpaid overtime left absolutely no time for any type of social life outside the office. But Jimin and he had latched on to each other and had been friends since high school, college, and now during their (slightly) steady jobs in America. Their age difference had barely served a challenge to their closeness.

“You know, I sometimes question why I bother trying to have a decent conversation with you.” Seokjin settled for saying, knowing that Jimin was probably interrupted in his nightly routine, meaning he was getting ready to sleep and was irritated that Seokjin called him without news of kittens or new breakthroughs in pharmaceutical poison.

Jimin hummed from the other side, voice oddly pretty and soothing. “I wonder the same every time you open your mouth and a weird dad joke spews out like vomit.”

Seokjin made a noise of outrage, “Excuse me?? Did I just hear an evil imp insult my comedy skills?”

“Is that a jab at my height? Do you want to die?”

‘How can someone joke about something so small?’ Seokjin thought spitefully, huffing to himself, but he backed down all the same. The last verbal war they had, Jimin had lost. The man may be a doctor, but he knew thousands of ways to kill someone and make it look like an accident. Knowing him, he’d probably create a medical mystery while hiding the body.

“You there old man? If you hung up on me, I know where you live!”

“Stop with the threats. I don’t feel like dealing with your lack of comedic taste.” Seokjin finally responded, his voice laced with resignation. He had tried for years to get Jimin to crack up laughing at one of his jokes, only to be met with a stony look and a lip twitch.

“Fine. Just get on with what you were saying, I was in the middle of feeding Sophie.” Jimin ordered, only for some shuffling to be heard over the phone. Faintly Seokjin’s ears could pick up cooing and meowing and he knew that the little stray calico Jimin raised was begging for food and attention. The only time Jimin ever lived up to his ‘Angel Doctor’ reputation was when he was dealing with kids, cats, and of course hybrids. His hospital staff most likely knew the truth, having been traumatized as interns, but all Jimin’s patients thought he was a gift from heaven itself.

It also probably helped that Jimin liked cat hybrids, which he specifically specialized in treating medically.

“Okay, so what had happened was—”

“I swear, if you called me to tell another one of your ‘this guy walked into a bar’ jokes, I’m going to hang up and hope you somehow end up killing yourself with your own phone.” Jimin’s voice had gone flat and Seokjin quickly disagreed with a vehement no, no, no.

Jimin whispered something to Sophie that sounded suspiciously like ‘I’ll hang up as soon as he mentions Taehyung.’

Of course Seokjin ignored it. His brain was on his side and censored anything even close to his crazy, contortionist ex’s name.

“Alright, you know how I mentioned having only one customer all day, right?”

Jimin hummed absently and Seokjin took that as a signal to continue.

“Well, that angel just so happened to be a really really cute hybrid. He has the lightest pink hair and his ears and tail look so fluffy and white, he's like a cuddlier more likeable version of Sophie.”

“Hey. I’ll have you know, Sophie is a delight. No one compares to her.” Jimin grumped from over the phone. Seokjin could hear the sly calico meow over the phone again and the human was convinced she had threatened him again. Sophie had never liked him and she loved to secretly knock things over and dart away once Jimin turned around, leaving a surprised Seokjin the victim of the small doctor’s wrath. (The little demon had to pick the most expensive things to drop. She and Jimin were definitely separated twins at birth.)

“Alright, I get it. Sophie reigns supreme, but back to the cutie.”

“Mm, yes the cutie. I wonder if he knew what he was doing standing in front of your run down food truck.” Jimin replied, sounding pleased to himself when Seokjin scoffed in offence.

“For both our sakes, I’m gonna pretend I didn’t hear that, Jiminie.” Seokjin was definitely going to rename the Chim Chim crepe. It will now be known as the Jiminie pabo, tons of people will order it and Seokjin will enjoy cackling every time.

Right now, he had a disbeliever to enlighten to Namjoon’s charm.

“So cutie came up to and scared the out of me. While I was busy cursing and looking like a fool, he stands there, looking every kind of perfect and he is so shy. It’s sweeter than chocolate and he makes me want to wrap him in a fluffy blanket and kiss him good morning, goodnight, goodbye and hello.” Basically Seokjin wanted to kiss him all the time.

“Wow, he sounds like a softie.” This time there is no trace of Jimin’s earlier patronizing tone or general joking dismissal. Deep down he was a good friend, and when Seokjin was serious about something, he was a good listener and supporter (even if his compliments were more backhanded than a pimp slap).

“Exactly, but his smiles were killer. Why did his stupidly perfect DNA incorporate the gene for dimples? And why aren’t attacks on a person’s heart made into a crime? He should be arrested for being so adorable, I swear.” Seokjin had to stop and take a deep breath, much to the silent judgement of one Park Jimin.

“…Jin, this cat hybrid wouldn’t happen to be a white Ankara, would he?” Jimin suddenly asked, voice sounding a little desperate.

Taken aback, Seokjin hesitantly disagreed. “I-I don’t think so?”

A sigh of relief was his only reply, and a little confused, Seokjin continued. “I didn’t get a chance to ask, and I’m really bad at guessing breeds. Namjoon would probably get embarrassed if I asked out of the blue anyway—”

“Namjoon!? He was your only customer today?!?” Jimin screeched in surprise, voice rising into a pitch so high, Seokjin winced a little and pulled his phone a bit away from his ear.

“Aish, Jimin not so loud. I don’t need your glass breaking voice to kill my eardrum,” Seokjin complained, before he narrowed his eyes and suspiciously glanced at his phone, only to remember he wasn’t video calling when a selfie of Jimin with a pair of chopsticks stuck between his teeth popped up on his contact screen. “How exactly do you know Namjoon? Is he one of your patients?”

Jimin was surprisingly silent for a few moments, and his voice sounded a bit more calm and subdued when he spoke again. “I guess you could say that. Just… don’t go after him okay?”

“Why?” Came Seokjin’s immediate defensive question. He didn’t know exactly how to feel that Jimin knew Namjoon before he did, but he assumed that it was because of doctor patient confidentiality that Jimin never mentioned the hybrid before.

Jimin was quiet again, but he gave his signature eye roll sigh and talked to Seokjin as if he were dumb. “Because he has a boyfriend already.” The silent duh! could be interpreted over the phone and Seokjin almost wanted to see Jimin in person so he could smack him.

“I already knew that! He told me nearly an hour ago himself.” Seokjin replied, rubbing the temples of his head and deciding to give up conversing with Jimin.

“If he already brushed you off like an insignificant spec of dust, why the hell are you bothering me and Sophie, huh!!?” Jimin saucily snapped, his demon cat chiming in with a meow of agreement.

“Can’t a guy call up his friend and vent!? I called your icy to complain, whine and get comfort and encouragement in return, you know, the way FRIENDS do.” Seokjin’s emphasized words were loud enough to get his upstairs neighbor to stomp their feet over the living room, probably shouting at him to shut up.

“Do you think you’re some kind of drama heroine? I don’t deal with anyone except Sophie after eight.” Jimin replied.

“Must be nice to be a content cat lady so early in life.” Seokjin said, rolling his eyes before he flopped onto his back, his comfy bed and thirty dollar pillow catching his weight. The damn down stuffed thing was a bite into his wallet in college, but it held up well and now he couldn’t sleep without it.

“It’s all I ever wanted in life. A perfect felis catus can replace a stinky man any day.”

Seokjin laughed a little. “How can you be happy with that? Don’t you want someone to cuddle and hold, to dote on and kiss whenever you want?”

“You talking about Sophie? She’s a good cuddler.”

Seokjin shook his head and left the topic alone. Jimin had been single as long as Seokjin had known him, and after nine years of friendship, all Seokjin had gotten out of Jimin was that he was biual, but preferred men a little more. Seokjin somewhat understood that it was hard for Jimin to get close to anyone, he was leagues ahead of his age in the academic department and he was one of the youngest doctors working in his profession.

“Jimin,” Seokjin started out cautiously. The question he was going to ask his friend was of utmost importance and Jimin must have sensed it because his soft breathing accelerated just a bit and he sounded a bit paranoid.

“What?”

Taking a deep breath, Seokjin ended his internal debate. It may seem a bit personal, but he had to ask.

“…What’s Namjoon’s boyfriend like?”

Jimin sputtered on air. “What type of— never mind. Kim Seokjin, why the hell are you asking!? I just told you to leave him alone, he has a boyfriend you home wrecker!”

“Hey, I’m not a homewrecker!” Seokjin protested, glaring at his phone again. Jimin’s dumb chopstick picture looked so aesthetic only because he had Beyoncé worthy lips and liked tinted lip balm and red hair dye. “I was just curious. If you’re his doctor, you would have at least caught sight of his boyfriend right?”

Jimin groaned over the phone. “I think you’re forgetting that I know you Jin. You’ll try to act innocent now, but as soon as his man slips up, you’re gonna sweep in like a vulture and snatch up my ba- Namjoonie.”

“…Were you just about to call him your babe?” Seokjin asked.

“Damn it.” Jimin cursed.

Smirking like the furry demon Sophie, Seokjin made himself comfortable in bed. “Spill the tea Lucifer.”

“You know calling me that makes me want to hang up and go to sleep.” Jimin deadpanned, faking an over-exaggerated yawn just to make Seokjin panic and apologize like the nosy man he was.

“If I tell you this, you can’t let anyone I told you, understood?”

Seokjin nodded and then hastily agreed aloud. Staring at Jimin’s contact picture had made him forget that he was on an audio only call again.

“Okay, Namjoon’s boyfriend is…”

Seokjin was almost smashed against his phone at this point, cursing his own phone’s volume controls to break just when he needed them.

“…His boyfriend is…” Jimin trailed off again and Seokjin wanted to scream at the evil little imp.

“Get to the point Beelzebub!”

“Fine fine, you’re so impatient.” Jimin scoffed. “Namjoonie’s boyfriend is a super-hot Instagram model like him. Namjoon was supposed to advertise for you by the way. Anyway, the dude is a fitness nut and I think they make collab pics sometimes, they have a huge following. I believe they just beat Vante and his weird abstract pictures.”

Seokjin was stunned into silence for a solid couple of seconds. It made sense that Namjoon would be somewhat of an unofficial model, he had the slender build and the long pretty fur of his ears and tail definitely emanated some regal vibes. Seokjin also had no doubt that Namjoon could rock harem pants and manage to make them look y.

But the thought of some unknown model being Namjoon’s boyfriend had Seokjin’s indignation levels rising higher than ghost peppers on the Scoville spiciness scale. “Park Jimin, have you never seen my face!? Has day to day exposure for nine years rendered you blind to my stunning beauty?? Whoever the hell Insta-nothing thinks he is, I’m way hotter than him. And if he’s younger, then I’ve been doing this longer, meaning I’ve been handsome since the time before he was even born!!”

Jimin huffed again, “Well excuse me for forgetting you’re the iest old man in the world. I’m just stating what Namjoon told me as well.”

Feeling his irritation simmer down at that, Seokjin still sniffed. “Namjoon said that before he met me.”

“Mhmm, and I’m sure you’ve never met anyone better looking than you before.” Jimin replied dryly, remembering a time when all Seokjin would talk about was a certain handsome beauty that stole his heart when he jumped over a fence and landed on Seokjin.

“I-I well, t-that was a long long time ago!” Seokjin grumbled, remembering his recent crazy ex. “Stop bringing up old Jimin. It’s not fair when you don’t have a love life I can make fun of too.”

Jimin in an audible breath at that.

Frowning, Seokjin easily slipped out of his jovial mood. “Jimin? You good?”

“Y-yeah. I just— I gotta go now, Sophie’s crying.” The vague reply was quickly followed by the sound of the call beeping and ending. Strangely enough, Sophie wasn’t meowing at all a few seconds ago.

Feeling like he missed something, Seokjin stared at his phone for a bit, biting at his bottom lip and finally deciding that Jimin wanted to be alone for the night. Whatever had bothered him, it was obviously a fresh wound and Seokjin felt bad for unknowingly triggering it.

Maybe Jimin was hiding something from him?

‘Nah, Jimin wouldn’t do that.’ Seokjin thought, shaking his head and dispelling all his doubts on the matter. If Jimin were going through something, he’d fight through it alone for a while before he opened up to Seokjin and asked for help. Until then, Seokjin had to distract himself.

Closing his eyes, Seokjin felt the long day wear on him. He was feeling a little tired, though he didn’t drink with Jimin, he did feel the soothing effects of the chamomile tea he had. But every time he closed his eyes, Namjoon’s smiling face and static electricity plagued pink hair and soft ears would pop up. It was maddening especially since he felt like he missed out on someone wonderful, Namjoon’s boyfriend was so lucky they met before Seokjin knew the cat hybrid.

Wait, while he was on the topic, Seokjin remembered Jimin saying something about them posting pictures together. Jimin hung up before Seokjin could eve think to ask what Namjoon’s username was, or what platform he used, so he rolled over and grabbed his phone once again. He had quit his job some time ago, but he had enough sense to pay for his apartment bills and his phone so that he was good for the next six months.

Debating whether he should do this or not, Seokjin sighed and typed Kim Namjoon into his search engine. Searching google was way faster than Instagram, which his phone hated loading unless it was on the good Wi-Fi all the fancy hotels kept locked up tighter than Alcatraz.

To Seokjin’s amazement, article after article popped up about Kim Namjoon, the top result catching his eye first.

‘He goes by RM? It sounds sophisticated,’ Seokjin thought with a soft smile. He scrolled down a bit but soon made his way back to the top and clicked on the first link. He was directed to Instagram and he sighed, amusing himself by staring at the clock n his phone and watching five minutes pass before the account and all the precious pictures were loaded in grid formation.

~~❀RM(=^•ω•^=)Daily❀~~

CatBoi who likes art, fashion, and books thicker than minaj. Dating a cuttie rn #goals

The description had Seokjin chuckling a bit, even if the mention of the boyfriend made his heart drop a little. Still, he had to see what Namjoon was up to online, and what his boyfriend looked like.

The most recent phot featured a serious looking Namjoon biting his lip, back pressed against a wall next to a painting of a little water village at night. The picture showcased a hidden sensuality Seokjin hadn’t seen from him before. It was a bit of a shame his ears were covered with a beanie.

The next few pictures followed with a similar aesthetic appeal, professional and chic street. Namjoon looked good in all of them, but Seokjin’s favorites were the ones in which Namjoon wore a sweater or a choker, and had his ears and tail out, white fur sometimes messy like his hair and sometimes sleek and elegant.

All it took was a few more swipes of his thumb and the face of his enemy was revealed.

“Goddamnit!” Seokjin cursed aloud, feeling irritated that the boyfriend was actually hot enough to give him a run for his money.

Whoever he was, he looked like a kid no older than eighteen. His face was small and evenly proportioned, eyes rounded out and jaw angular, smile small and charming with teeth straight yet crooked enough to give the impression of a bunny. Black hair fell in a ‘c’ shaped swoop across his forehead and Seokjin hated how in the picture he was smiling while holding Namjoon around the waist, chin propped on the blushing hybrid’s shoulder.

The comments on the post were wild and Seokjin’s poor internet impulse control appeared when he swiped through them.

Omg, so cute

they look good

Is that JeonJeon? (>///<)

Hes hot wow

Do bunny hybrids n kitties mate? =^._.^= ∫

boy cen get ittt

hes a obv wolf, not abuny

Aww Look At My Kitty Joonie (*≧▽≦)

more picss mooooreee

SEND NUDEZZ

Confused at some of the comments, Seokjin looked at the picture again, only to groan at his own unobserved nature.

How could he not notice that Insta-nothing was a hybrid as well!?

‘Why do they always fall for the bad boy wolves?’ Seokjin grumbled to himself, scrolling through more pictures and finding some offensive ones of Insta-nothing throwing Namjoon over his shoulder, both laughing. There was one of Namjoon feeding his boyfriend, the other staring broodingly at ice cream. How does such a cute face work with musculature like that? Seokjin hadn’t seen much of the boyfriend in terms of—

Oh wait, there’s a shirtless Insta-nothing cuddling with Namjoon in bed. (Jimin wasn’t kidding about him being a fitness nut) The cat hybrid was blessedly clothed, but he looked caught off guard at the camera, eyes wide and a mischievous grin on the boyfriend’s pink lips. Their ears were disheveled and different colors, Namjoon’s shocking white softened in the low ambiance of the picture and the boyfriend’s wolfish dark brown ears melting into a complimenting charcoal.

It was disgustingly domestic, even more so when the next picture showed Namjoon and his boyfriend with their tails entwined in the shape of a heart, the wolfish one looking thick and rigid next to Namjoon’s svelte white tail.

Hissing, Seokjin resisted the urge to throw his phone at the wall and settled for flipping it upside down instead. He buried his face in his pillow and yelled while kicking his arms and legs in the air at nothing. It made him feel better after a few seconds, and he rolled over to breathe again. He didn’t want to be smothered by his pillow at twenty seven.

His phone pinged and Seokjin grumpily checked it, seeing nothing but a game notification—

Oh .

—

Seokjin had double tapped the heart-tail picture on Namjoon’s Instagram!

Cursing even more, Seokjin double tapped again, but his finger slipped and he tapped on the next set of pictures. These posts were over three months old, Seokjin was such a stalker, and everyone would know it.

“Oh god,” Seokjin mumbled, putting his phone away so he could curl up in bed and die.

Even if he did take back the hearts, Namjoon would still be notified that he liked them, that he was the one stalking him online like some crazed, whole half desperate tho—

The pinging on Seokjin’s phone interrupted his mental tirade. He peeked out of his blanket cave long enough to check his phone.

Chim-cifer:
I forgot ur dumb an need insturtcion

Chim-cifer:
But dotn look up knj!! His bf outta ur reach

Chim-cifer:
An hes a blackbelt in tea-kwon-do

“..Of course he would tell me this now,” Seokjin muttered darkly, changing Jimin’s contact pic to a blurry shot he got of the doctor picking his nose. If Jimin thought he deleted it, then he thought wrong.