Yoonmin Oneshots

Catch me if you can

Not my story
Ao3 TeresaGreen

"Lord Min has decreed that it is past time he find a suitable spouse. The key to his manor has been tied around the scruff of his pet cat, Holly. The first to capture the cat and obtain the necklace, wins Lord Min's hand in marriage."

The announcer held the sleek black cat aloft, its dark, clever eyes scanning the crowd. A brass key hung from a twine cord around its neck. Then the advisor released the cat and chaos ensued.

Jimin watched the crowd gathered in the town square suddenly drop all courtesy and began shoving and fighting each other, the prospect of marrying the mysterious Lord Min too good to pass up.

Jimin stood back and watched them squabble, and the clever feline dodged and weaved his way free of them all, taking off down a side street. Most of the crowd ran after him, but Jimin shook his head and went home to his little cottage on the outskirts of the township.

That was two months ago.

Every day since then, the cat had appeared outside Jimin's cottage, apparently infatuated with a lavender bush in his front garden. Jimin thought about trying to catch it like everyone else, but after seeing the way it tensed at his approach, he decided against it.

Lord Min was handsome and wealthy and kind to his people, but he knew nothing about the man. He decided this poor traumatised cat needed a friend more than Jimin needed a husband.

So he fed him scraps from his plate, gave him water, even cut fresh lavender to scent the inside of his house. After a few weeks, the cat was coming inside and sitting next to Jimins chair. It would sometimes visit and just sit in the shade while Jimin tended to his gardens.

Jimin read to it and talked to it, forgetting about the key and the contest all together. Sure the cat was Lord Mins pet, but it was Jimin's friend now too. Three months passed. Jimin sat in his chair next to the fireplace, stroking the silky black fur, enjoying the quiet.

"Do you think he's lonely?" Jimin asked. The cat looked at him expectantly, so Jimin continued. "Your master, Lord Min. Do you think he's lonely? Is that why he made this contest in the first place? I hope he finds someone who actually loves him, not just whoever happens to catch you. That's not fair. Everyone deserves to find real love."

The cat snuggled into him and fell asleep.

Normally the cat would return to Jimin's cottage in the morning, but one day it didn't arrive until the evening, and this time it wasn't coming inside. It meowed at Jimin non-stop, running off a little down the dirt road and stopping to meow some more.

Jimin thought he must be going crazy. He can't really be trying to get me to follow him, can he? Nonetheless, Jimin followed. He followed the cat all the way through town, to the steps of Lord Min's manor itself.

He eyed the guards and was about to apologise and quickly leave, when the guards opened the doors to let both Jimin and the cat through. He walked inside past attendants and servants, nobody stopped him.

He followed the cat into a drawing room warmed by a lit fireplace and fresh with the aroma of lavender. Jimin watched the cat stop and regard him in a way that made Jimin slightly uneasy.

Then he watched the cat bend it's head to the floor and paw the twine off it's neck. It picked the key up in it's mouth and tiptoed back to Jimin, sitting in front of his feet and waiting.
Jimin gently took the key, wondering what this could mean in the rules of the contest.

Jimin stood up straight and looked over the key, but in the corner of his eye, he began seeing something weird. The cat began growing. It began growing and morphing bigger and stranger...

It's smooth fur turning into black silk robes and a head of black hair, its paws turning into hands and feet, its facial features shifting into something a lot more... human.
Within seconds, the cat was gone, and Lord Min himself in black robes and bare feet stood in its place.

His eyes were still the same though. No slitted pupils like a cats, but the deep brown that always felt like they were staring straight into Jimin's soul hadn't changed.

"Hello Jimin. It feels nice to finally say that."

The deep timbre of his voice was unexpected and sent shivers down Jimins spine.

"Um... hello."

"You were right. I made the contest because I was lonely, I didn't think I could find love any time soon so, I tried to force it. Then you came along."

"Actually I think it was you who came to me."

Lord Min laughed, "You're right, but I was just hiding from the crowd. You're the one who decided to treat me like a real living creature, something to befriend and cherish, I've never been treated that way, not even as a human."

"So, this...?" Jimin held up the key.

"That is me, catching you. Choosing you. If you'll have me."

"You know everything about me by now." Jimin said, mulling over the key.

"And I've come to really... like who you are Jimin. A lot."

"But I know nothing about you."

"Would you like to? Before you decide whether to claim the key, would you like to get to know me? The real me?"

Lord Min was watching him with that piercing gaze again, and Jimin realised he still felt the same easy companionship with human Lord Min as he did with the cat version. Maybe he was worth a chance.

"Yes, I would."

"Then come have dinner with me." Lord Min smiled and held his arm out for Jimin to take.

"Okay. Thank you my lord."

"Please, call me Yoongi."