Namjoon sighed when he set down his chopsticks and saw Yoongi across the table, face buried in his plate.
"Yoongi," Namjoon said, and the kitten raised his head, munching happily with sauce and bits of rice smeared over his cheeks. "I gave you utensils to use, why are you still eating like that?"
"Yoongi likes!" Yoongi insisted, swiping his tongue over the food to clean his cheeks off. "F-faster!"
"You're messy." Namjoon stood up and grabbed a napkin, crouching beside the cat hybrid to wipe his face off. "You can't eat like this in public, or people will know you're a hybrid and they could ask for ownership papers, remember?"
Yoongi pouted, squirming as the human cleaned him. "But Yoongi no l-like using chopsticks! Can't hold!"
"You're just not practicing." Namjoon picked up the hybrids unused chopsticks. "Here, I'll help you."
Yoongi dutifully held out his hand and let the human position the sticks between his thumb and first finger, staring without enthusiasm.
"Hold the bottom one like this, it doesn't move, okay? And then your other finger moves the top one." Namjoon explained as he showed Yoongi.
Yoongi poked his tongue out in concentration, slowly moving his hand towards his plate. He squeezed too tight and the chopsticks flew from his grasp, clattering to the ground.
Yoongi's face crumpled into sadness, ears flattening on top of his head. He stared at his empty hand, as if wondering why it betrayed him.
"Hey, it's okay, you did good for your first attempt." Namjoon quickly encouraged him. "Here, let's start smaller."
He hurried to grab a fork instead.
It wasn't Yoongi's fault, the hybrid had never been given utensils before. That bastard who previously owned Yoongi only fed the kitten from a bowl, so Yoongi had never learned how to eat properly.
"Here, this will be easier." Namjoon wrapped Yoongi's hand around the fork. "And now you can stab or scoop up your food."
Yoongi tried it out, hand shaking and spilling half his rice, but he managed to bring the bite to his mouth and beamed happily when he tasted his success.
"N-Namjoonie!" Yoongi showed the human his empty fork. "Yoongi did!"
Namjoon chuckled. "Good boy, I knew you could."
Yoongi tried a few more bites, and though he spilled more than he ate, Namjoon was just glad the hybrid was learning how to eat like a human-
Yoongi picked up his water glass with both hands and dumped it messily into a bowl, before tossing it over his shoulder and plunging his face into the bowl to drink.
Namjoon sighed.
This was going to take a little longer than he thought.
-
After dinner, Namjoon cleaned up the hybrids mess while Yoongi scampered to the living room, curling up on the couch to lick his hand, dragging it over his cheeks to scrub them clean.
Namjoon noticed. "Yoongi, you can't get clean like that."
"Y-yeah huh!" Yoongi held his hand out to show Namjoon how he had licked it. "See? Yoongi cleaned!"
"But your tongue is dirty," Namjoon reminded him. "Because you just ate."
Yoongi frowned, like that didn't make any sense. "Yoongi licked. Yoongi is cleaned."
"You need to wash up, with water-"
Yoongi hissed and leaped off the couch, diving under the couch to hide. His tail was still visible, swiping through the air as he 'hid'.
Namjoon walked over and bent down, peering at Yoongi. "Come on, kitten, it's not bad! Will you let Namjoonie show you?"
Yoongi's eyes glittered in the dark and he shook his head.
"You trust Namjoonie, don't you?" Namjoon reached a hand under the couch, close to Yoongi's face.
Yoongi hesitantly leaned forward, his little nose booping the human as he sniffed the hand, relaxing when he smelled books and plants.
"Namjoonie wouldn't make you do anything bad." Namjoon promised, petting Yoongi's hair and scratching behind the boys ears, smiling when the action made Yoongi purr.
"Th-that is true." Yoongi admitted. "Namjoonie never hurt Yoongi."
"Never ever." Namjoon promised.
It took a little more coaxing and petting, but then Yoongi finally climbed out from under the couch, following timidly behind Namjoon as he led the hybrid to the bathroom.
Namjoon decided a bath would be easier than a shower for the hybrids first time, so he turned the water on and made sure it was warm. While he waited for that to finish up, he grabbed out some fluffy towels, knowing Yoongi wouldn't want to be wet and cold for long.
Yoongi watched the tub with arms crossed over his chest and a pout on his lips. "Bad."
"Water is good." Namjoon said, shutting it off.
Yoongi shook his head. "Makes Yoongi's ears and tail wet! Bad!"
"Wet but clean." Namjoon reminded him. "The sooner you get in, the sooner you can get out."
"Why Yoongi can't just licks?" The hybrid pleaded.
"Because that's not getting clean." Namjoon walked over and helped Yoongi out of his clothes, guiding the cat to the tub. "See, it's all nice and warm for you, you love being warm."
"Warm, not w-wet." Yoongi muttered. But he stuck his hand inside the water and swished it around a little.
Namjoon let the hybrid take his time, smiling when Yoongi whined and complained the whole time he slowly inched himself into the water, finally sitting inside, arms still crossed and one ear flicking in irritation.
"Good kitty," Namjoon scratched under the boys chin and Yoongi reluctantly purred, leaning into the nice touch.
Namjoon grabbed a cup and filled it with water, blocking Yoongi's cat ears as he dumped the water onto the boys hair, getting it wet.
Yoongi hissed his disapproval, but he liked it when Namjoon massaged in the shampoo and conditioner.
"All done." Namjoon leaned back after he finished scrubbing Yoongi with the wash cloth. "What a beautiful, clean kitten!"
Yoongi giggled and blushed as he climbed out, purring as Namjoon wrapped the towel around him, using another one to dry the hybrids hair.
They changed into pajamas and climbed into bed.
Namjoon grabbed a book off the small bedside table and leaned against the headboard to read it, while Yoongi curled up against his side, his favorite mouse toy in the kittens mouth, squeaking every now and then when Yoongi bit it.
Namjoon flipped the page and Yoongi's soft purrs filled the quiet room, both boys at peace with their new shared life.
