Alley Cat

7: Real Name 🪪

"You're a medical student, but you're not doing it because you're from a family of doctors. No, you became interested in healing people all on your own. You have a messiah complex, but you don't appear to be dying and wanting to make the world a better place or 'leave your mark on the world with your short life. So I'd say instead you're looking to save people like yourself. People who can't help themselves most likely you were abused by a family member, but no one saved you not until one day a kind doctor was able to report it and you escaped. Now, you're determined to do the same thing but haven't been able to fulfill that little hero fantasy yet because you're still in University. However, now you've been presented with the perfect opportunity in me, the poor hybrid. Kicked and held down by society, homeless and hungry, you pounced on me like a cat on a mouse offering help, but asking nothing in return even when you clearly have less than nothing to give. But it's truly a misplaced sense of duty because you blame yourself for what happened and instead of fixing yourself you are channeling that energy into rescuing other people who will never help you in return, making you in essence, a martyr."  The hybrid finishes his long-winded dress down, by staring at Hoseok, his calculating green-yellow eyes looking harshly at him.

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Hoseok stands there with his mouth agape, eyes round with shock. He's never heard the hybrid more than a few words at any one time let alone the amount he just spat out, detailing the student's life like he was reading it from a book.
"That - was - amazing." Hoseok blinking a few times, looking down at the concrete and then back up in his astonishment.  "You think so?" The hybrid eyes him as if he were expecting a different reaction, his ears flicking up and forward, eyes softening at the edges, questions reflecting in them. "Of course, it was, extraordinary. It was - brilliant. Wow." Hoseok runs his hand through his hair then smooths it over his face, making a 'he's right' face, and gestures at the brick wall.

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He lets out a long breath, as the puzzle pieces of his personality he hadn't even realized were missing get placed into their slots. Although he had never thought of himself in that kind of light, he couldn't deny that everything the hybrid said made a lot of sense. "Oh, that's not what people usually say." The hybrid discloses his face showing his confusion with eyebrows crinkled and lips pursed. "Yeah. What do they usually say?"   "Piss off." He gives a small shy smile and Hoseok bursts out laughing, his eyes full of glee. The hybrid chuckles with him and it sounds like music to Hoseok's ears. The hybrid's face lights up, eyes closing, nose scrunching up, and tail waving back and forth in a moment of vulnerable happiness that Hoseok believed he would never see from the reserved and guarded hybrid. When Hoseok is finally able to stop laughing he hikes his backpack onto his shoulder and gives one last little chuckle. "Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow." The hybrid nods his head and Hoseok takes off down the path realizing he's almost late for class.

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Every time Hoseok goes to see the cat hybrid after that long chat, he's greeted with a small smile and actual words. It makes his heart soar to know that he's gotten the hybrid to like him. Yet it upsets him to know that the hybrid had been correct in his analysis, that Hoseok had been helping out of some weird sense of duty, but his new friend never brings it up again and acts as if what he pointed out doesn't matter, an unspoken agreement between them. Hoseok vows to treat him not like someone needing to be saved and the hybrid not acting like Hoseok's an enemy or hero, both just simply regular people. Some days when he arrives the hybrid isn't there and Hoseok leaves the food like usual, but misses the little morning chat he sometimes gets.

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He's finding himself getting up and out the door early, just to see how the hybrid is doing. He still hasn't been given a name, so each day he just keeps calling him silly nicknames. Today he has a new one. "Alright, I'll be off, later Dusty" Hoseok says with a smile and with a sassy wink. He turns around, walking away just another morning of hanging out with his new friend. He gets about halfway down the alley when he hears a voice behind him. "Hosoek" The hybrid calls to him. He jumps a little, startled. He turns around to find that the hybrid has snuck up on him, quiet like the cat he's genetically mixed with. His arms are crossed over his stomach, making himself small and he's staring at the brick wall as if it's suddenly become the most fascinating thing in existence. "What's up, you okay?" Hoseok asks worried, the hybrid has never called him by his name or followed him before. "My - name." - is Yoongi." He says it quietly like he wasn't completely sure he was going to say it until it was already done.

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Hoseok instantly smiles, teeth on display in as wide of a grin as he could possibly make. "Thank you." He says quietly back, making the hybrid look up, his eyes narrowing as he observes Hoseok which only makes him want to smile wider, as he has come to like the scowly face the hybrid smile. Yoongi 's arms fall to the sides, defenses coming down before he takes off back down the alleyway. Hoseok can't get rid of his smile. Even having to stay late on a paper in the computer lab, which forces him to run two miles to get to the restaurant on time. For his shift doesn't put out his good mood. He has a name, a real name for his friend, Yoongi. He admits to himself that he's getting too attached, but it doesn't feel like a bad thing. It doesn't make him feel like running away, if anything he wants to run forward into this unknown thing they have going on.