Unfamiliars - themarmalade(AO3)

Chapter 3

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

-*-

The next morning, he wakes in the bruised blue before dawn. The couch beneath him is shifting weirdly, and it takes him a minute to remember, not couch, puppy. He gently hops off the soft tummy and trots to the bed, wondering if Hoseok came home.

There he was, sprawled shirtless through kicked off sheets, night breeze and moonlight from the open window whispering through his soft hair, a bit damp with sweat at the nape of his neck. Soft tings from the windchime bounce off his cheekbones and he looks serious in sleep, lips parted, eyelashes splayed over his cheeks.

He really is beautiful, Yoongi admits, aching for fingers to smooth Hoseok's furrowed brows instead of a little paw, lips to kiss his smooth shoulders until the muscles relax. Yoongi thinks of his own face, the human one he still pictures as his, and can't help but wonder if Hoseok would like it, would kiss it all over in happy moments the same way he does now.

There's nothing I can do. A leaden reminder, heavy as the moon. All he can do is search out all the little ways a stray cat can make Hoseok's smile fade less quickly. The thought isn't hard to accept, and that scares him the most. How utterly has he given up hope if he's content with this little life? It was terrifying, weightless.

Needing a little comfort, he licks Hoseok's nose with his sandpaper tongue until he groans in his sleep, consciousness surfacing just enough to pull Yoongi to his skinny bare chest. Slow, thin fingers curl through his fur sporadically as they drift together into the sweet lack of awareness, dreaming of small things they could never tell each other.

-*-

When he wakes again, he's still curled into the curve of Hoseok's thin, golden chest. Summer morning sounds are drifting in through the window, the raucous whirring of delivery bikes, a bucket of water being dumped from a balcony, the announcement of a trolley soon arriving from the station down the way.

Hoseok's arms are caging him in as he scrolls through his phone. Interest piqued, he shifts around to see what Hoseok was looking at, eager for any little glimpses into Hoseok's life. He's scrolling through emails, deleting most of them, pausing to read some new requests from a tutoring company.

An instagram comment pops up at the top of his screen and he switches to it. A picture on Hoseok's feed of the dog sleeping, tiny Yoongi curled up on top like a cherry on a scoop of ice cream. There's a small string of comments, mostly composed of hearts and laughing emojis.

A happy hum rumbles in Hoseok's chest. "Cuties," he murmurs, pecking a kiss to the back of Yoongi's head. For a moment Yoongi had forgotten about the puppy with it's bandaged leg. He's not upset that the puppy is there, he tells himself, really he's not. He just sorta... wishes it would hurry up and better before Hoseok gets attached and adopts him too.

He knows how it goes; dogs are just more fun, more sociable, demand more time and love. The family cat gets some chin scratches and might get to lay in someone's lap but mostly, they become an afterthought. Worst of all, everyone assumes the cat doesn't want any affection anyway.

Even pre-magical mishap, Yoongi could relate. And maybe it wasn't quite fair to say, because true, he doesn't want loads of attention from everyone. Disliked it, even, if it wasn't for genuine reasons. But from the few that he really likes, he craves affection and has never known how to ask for it.

A wave of jealousy or resignation hits when there's a little whine from the sofa and Hoseok is leaving him in favor of the puppy. Back facing the living room, he stubbornly falls back into a shallow sleep, ears twitching every so often at the sounds from the tv or Hoseok talking to the dog.