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The next week was downright torturous.

The vet had yet to call me back with BooBoo's test results, which put me on edge and kept me there. I found myself constantly watching and judging everything he did, worrying over every little thing. He was still eating fine, but had randomly decided to stop grooming himself so I took over for him. Three times a day combing through his fur and carefully cleaning out his ears and the area around his eyes. A cat that has stopped grooming was a bad sign and I knew it, yet I pushed that fact to the back of my mind, convincing myself that he only stopped because he was lazy or enjoyed it more when I did it for him.

Either way, it resulted in time we got to spend together that we normally wouldn't. Namjoon, who was usually on the clingy side, supported this, stepping back and not bothering to call or text or visit during these hours. Proving to me once again that he's the perfect boyfriend.

The next thing that was stressing me out was Carl and this stupid book report. Carl apparently was a good boy.

"Carl, we don't have to read the book, let's just watch the movie." I tried to argue with him, but he wasn't having it.

"No, no, Kitty, you no understand." he'd insisted over one of our lunches in the courtyard. "The teacher, she said it, she said we no watch movie, we watch book only."

Eun-ji and In-guk were suspiciously absent that day so I was left with Namjoon, who was no help and only wanted to play with my hair.

"It's read a book, not watch it," I'd corrected. "And she won't know that. We can watch the movie and then look up online the difference between the book and the movie. She won't know."

"No, no, she know." his silver earrings glinted in the sunlight when he shook his head back and forth. "She said she always know."

"Dammit, Carl!" I'd snapped and my German friend appeared hurt so I smoothed out the tone of my voice to a calmer one. "Just listen to me. I've done this before. I know what I'm doing."

"You no listen to teacher. You bad." his scolding caused my eyes to roll while Namjoon giggled. "I read book and you watch movie and I win."

"Win what?"

"I win the book report."

"That makes no sense." I'd pointed out, getting fed up with him. If he didn't like cats so much I would have been tempted to fight him in the pit. "We have to do it together."

"You read book?"

"No, I'll watch the movie and write down what I know, and if you're so set on reading the book then you can go back over it and correct any mistakes I make."

"Yes!" he'd punched a fist triumphantly into the air. "We watch together!"

"Wh-what?? I'm so confused."

"Yes." Carl nodded and said solemnly, "me too."

Considering I had no idea what the hell went on in Carl's head, or even if he had two brain cells to rub together, I ended up having to rent stupid ass Moby Dick from the library. The trip there had been unpleasant, due to Pervert Mike stalking me and Mouth Breather Bae, who I had to ask for help, and whom I forgot was a close talker. And her stanky ass onion breath did nothing to put me in a better mood.

At least Pervert Mike didn't talk to me. The wall that separated the library from the hall was almost entirely glass, and this was where that asshat stood and blew on the glass, creating a fog on which he sketched various sized penises.

I wish I could see his penis.

So I could chop it off.

The last thing he did was lewdly hump the glass before he walked away, strutting as if he just did something impressive.

Then there was my grandma. I love her so much. But I forgot how annoying she could be. She wakes up ‪at three am‬ every morning and is as loud as possible at brewing a pot of coffee and turning on the news, the volume sky high. At least the guest room was downstairs so this wasn't right next door to me, but I had my cats.

Normally their feeding is in the morning. No specific time but when someone is up, they assume it's breakfast time and they want it. Right then. Not later. Not earlier. And so help you god because if you don't give it to them it's chaos.

The first time this happened I woke up disoriented and groggy, with all of them sitting in a circle around me and watching intensely. I love my cats.

But that was creepy as fuck.

Especially when they all started meowing without blinking or moving at all.

And it's not like I can lock them out of my room because they'll harass and meow at me all night. Since Voldemort has the scariest fucking meow ever (like a old woman being murdered) locking them out is not an option. And this is how I ended up having to feed my cats at three in the morning every day.

So this is where I'm at now. Sleep deprived, check. Having to read over five hundred pages of a book I'm progressively starting to hate more and more, check. Being sexually harassed by a pervert at school, check. Terrified that I'll lose my oldest companion but kidding myself that it's all gold and sunshine, check.

It's in this state that Namjoon approaches me about a subject he's clearly been thinking over for the last few weeks.

We're walking home from school, slower than normal because we haven't been able to spend as much time together. Today I've decided to finally introduce him to granny and he seems overtly nervous for something so mundane.

"I've been thinking," he begins, but then stops to take his coat off and wrap it around me when I shiver from the cold. I try to reject it but he completely ignores me and does what he wants. "Full moon is coming up."

My eyes flit up to him while the memories of last time come back. That was so annoying. "Oh...so you have to be locked up again?"

"Yeah..." he avoids making eye contact and swings our intertwined hands back and forth.

"What is it?" I question when he stops talking. Our walking has slowed down to a snail's pace but I don't mind it. I've missed him.

"I was wondering," he shakes his head and corrects himself. "Or, Fluffy was wondering, if you, what I mean to say is-" one hand makes it's way to the back of his neck where it rubs anxiously. "Do you—and it's fine if you don't want to—but I was wondering, I mean, we were wondering, if uh—if-"

"Namjoon, spit it out."

"Do you want to spend it together?" he rushes out. His adam's apple bobs up and down as he swallows and his eyes stay trained on the ground in front of us. "It'll be different from last time, because we're closer now and because-" finally his gaze moves from the ground to that special place of his below my ear.

Every time we kiss (which isn't very often) he always takes care to kiss me there, too. It was weird, but in a holy shit that feels great kind of way. Lately I've gotten to where I really...want him to bite me there. Not just the loves nips he normally bestows, but like...really, really bite me.

Never knew I was into that kink but apparently horny cupid has flown in and shot me right in the ass.

If he could just dig his teeth in once, really good I might be satisfied. Then I could do the same to him and everyone would know he's mine and then—

Wait.

What?

What?

Huh?

"-because you smell more like me now." Namjoon finishes, thankfully not able to read my disturbing thoughts. "I—or Fluffy wouldn't be as crazy." he chuckles nervously. "It would be him you were dealing with."

Why do I want to bite him?!?

Oh god.

It's been me all along, hasn't it?

How was I so blind???

Namjoon isn't the pervert here.

IT'S ME!

"Y/n-ie, are you listening?"

I'm sorry Namjoon-ie, I promise I'll never bite you or hurt you.

But damn I want to bite you.

NO!

"Are you alright?" the palm of his free hand checks my forehead for a fever. "You're flushed."

Yeah, probably because I'm imagining you with no pants on and a bite mark over your hipbone. Why the hipbone? Why not?

"I'm fine." I assure him but the previous thought makes my face burn hotter. Why am I like this? "That's fine, I guess we can spend it together. I can tell dad I'm sleeping over at Eun-ji's or something."

"Are you sure?" he presses, eyes analyzing my face. "You don't have to. But...Hoseok said he would stay in the house this time, just in case I go overboard."

"What do you mean?"

He shifts uncomfortably from foot to foot. "Have you been reading that book I sent home?"

I had, but it was hard to get in much reading with everything else going on. Plus the fact that I now have more crap to read for a book report.

What I'd read so far had been very interesting. It went into further detail on the werewolf rankings and gave me a better understanding on how Hoseok's power and the weakness of Jin's connection to his wolf worked. The first few chapters had been an overview on the history, going into details on things like 'pack wars' and clan histories and how certain lands for packs had been established.

"Yes," I answer, "but I haven't gotten far because I also have to read stupid Moby Dick. Have you read it?" I ask but then go on without giving him time to answer. "I hate Captain Ahab!! That son of a bitch bastard ass motherfucker should have just left the damn whale alone!" Namjoon nods as we resume walking. "It was just out in the ocean, doing whale stuff-" I go on, despite his snort of laughter "-and this jerkoff wants to stalk him! I mean, sure he bit off his leg, but maybe he was just hungry? Did he ever think of that? No! He didn't cause he only thought of himself!"

"You should add all this in the book report. Sans the profanity."

"I'm going to." I assure him, completely serious. Even in one conversation with Carl, he agreed with me. ("He got bad, bad obsession, just like us with the kitty cats.")

"I have several theories on why he hated the whale so much."

"And being attacked and permanently crippled isn't among them?" Namjoon laughs.

"No." Feeling passionate in my defense of this fictional whale, I continue my rant almost the entire way home. "The book says Moby Dick is white. And they say this, like, constantly, like they're trying to make a point."

"And what is your point?"

"Captain Ahab is racist!" I pay no attention to Namjoon's loud snort and the laughter that follows. "My second theory is that Captain Ahab was trying to compensate for something. Get it? Moby Dick, a sperm whale that is very large, and, in fact, is waaaay bigger than any actual sperm whale has been recorded being. Captain Ahab clearly has a small dick and Moby Dick threatens his masculinity."

Namjoon has stopped laughing and is listening now with interest. "That's...actually a really good analogy."

"My third theory is that Captain Ahab is a closet gay."

"...What?"

"Right! So maybe he has a regular sized penis and he's ok with that-"

"I doubt it."

"-but really, all he wants is to get some dick and a big one. So his thirsty ass went out searching. Hence: Moby Dick. Oh my god!" I gasp as a new theory hits me. "No! What if he's really in love with the whale, and he just wants Sempai to notice him!"

"I think Sempai noticed him. And you've been reading too much manga."

"And of course the whale is like: 'get off me, bruh', and is sooo not interested. But the captain is crazy-"

"The Captain is crazy?" He gives me a pointed look.

"Crazy in love, just like ‪Beyonce‬ said he was in that song."

"‪Beyonce never said a word about Moby Dick."‬

I wave this reasoning off. "Of course not, it's all implied." Dreading that I'll have to keep reading this stupid book all the way through, I sigh. "I haven't finished it yet. But I'm rooting for the whale."

"Y/n?"

"Hm?"

"I like you."

When I get home, I'm awarded with the sight of BooBoo making his towards me. A frown forms on my face when I can't help but to notice that his pace is a step slower than normal, but quickly push the worry away in favor of sweeping him up into a hug. Swallowing the sudden lump in my throat, I motion for Namjoon to follow me into the kitchen, where granny is sitting at the dining table and peeling radishes.

Before I can even introduce them, he drops all the way to the ground in a formal bow until his forehead touches the floor.

Jesus, he's embarrassing.

"Who are you?" Granny spouts, staring at Namjoon weirdly.

He quickly stands to his feet and introduces himself, including his full name, age, address and social security number.

What the hell?

"Y/n sweetie." she speaks to me but she continuously eyes Namjoon distrustfully. "Why is there a strange boy in the house?"

My face burns in embarrassment. As much as I'd like to deny knowing him at this moment, I don't think I could successfully convince her of that. "Granny, this is my boyfriend."

Her eyes widen and look back and forth between us. Namjoon moves to bow again but halts at the death glare I send him.

"Boyfriend?" at my nod she turns back to look him up and down critically, as though he were some sort of specimen she'd never encountered before. The silence goes uninterrupted until she snaps, "why is your hair purple?"

Not liking that tone one bit, I set BooBoo down and move to hug her around the shoulders. "I like it, granny. I think it's cute."

Dimples make an appearance as a smile stretches Namjoon's face and he lowers his head shyly.

OH MY GOD.

Why the fuck is he this cute?!?

Granny tugs me down to her level so she can speak lowly into my ear. "Dimples? I like dimples."

At these words, a memory comes back to me of when she showed me pictures of my grandfather. Unfortunately, I never got to meet him because he died before I was even born. This was one of the reasons we bonded so well when I came to live here. My grandma understood my pain and knew exactly what I needed to hear.

The first time she'd ever shown me a picture of my grandfather I'd been struck by how handsome he was. He'd been in his military uniform, it showing off a tall, lean body. I clearly remember (with some discomfort) my grandma saying something along the lines of, 'look at that sexy beast. Wish I had a picture of his ass.'

I was eleven at the time. Now you understand why I am the way I am.

But now that I think about it, I know why my grandma has a soft spot for dimples. In my grandpa's picture, his hair was clipped short and his facial features were soft, just like dad's. But what stood out the most was a singular dimple on his left cheek.

Oh, lord. First dad and now granny? Are all my family members going to crush on Namjoon?

"I..." not sure how to respond I drift off, the situation making me feel happy, but strangely jealous at the same time. I finally decide with, "me too."

The comment makes Namjoon's smile brighter so that he's practically glowing at this point. Both granny and I suck in an appreciative breath at the same time.

Eventually granny nods, I'm guessing in approval. "Just don't get knocked up."

—

Edited 4/22/22