#squidgame

Pairing: Nam-gyu x f!reader

Summary: you are actively feeding the stray cattos near the club he works at

A/N: I personally spend some of my savings on feeding the stray cats (occasionally dogs if I see any) and if you have the possibility to do the same, trust me, the pets will be extremely grateful <3 also the title is inspired by the animated movie "a whisker away" on Netflix 😺 part two is here!!!

Warnings: mentions of smoking weed,drugs (such as ecstasy) mentions of death (it doesn't happen tho)

Whoever thought about putting a club a few houses away from a school was an absolute genius (sarcastically)

College students, especially the evening students with evening classes, would spend 3-4 hours listening to booming music and occasionally new singer wannabes during their lessons

Luckily for you, most of the time the teacher was writing on the board, and you just had to rewrite everything on your papers, which was great; it gave you the possibility to have your headphones on and ignore the outside

However, some students were cursed with whatever new song Thanos came up with for tonight.

Once the lessons end, you, as usual, gather your things pretty quickly before putting your headphones away in your bag, making your way out of the building followed by others

You weren't extremely tired, just very bored. Which caused you to be a bit sleepy.

It's a good thing you chose evening lessons. You get to sleep until 6 PM, need to attend 4 hours of classes (if you feel like it), study for a few hours, and BOOM! Free time.

And you had enough time to study at home, too. A quieter place for absorbing the notes into your brain

On your way home, you always end up cornering the street that goes almost to the back of an alley, right behind the club that was bothering your classmates pretty much every night

It was your routine to come here every evening after class. Because beautiful pairs of eyes waited hungrily for you to bring them kibbles and leftovers from your breakfast

There were ten hungry bellies in total, and you always made sure all of them were full before you could leave home peacefully

You were surprised as to why the loud music never scared the cats away, but perhaps they already got used to it at this point

As you pet the fur of your colored furry friends, you hear a click of a door echoing in the alley

The cats couldn't care less about the sounds or the two people that just burst out from inside the club. They were too busy munching on their food

You curiously looked at the scene, trying not to draw too much attention.

Two guys were leaning on the nearest wall, sucking from their joints and talking about Holy Spaghetti knows what.

One had black hair, while the other dude had purple-dyed hair. They both seemed strong enough, but also extremely stoned

You were pretty skeptical about leaving the cats in here with some junkie dudes, but you were also paranoid about your life and how dangerous staying here could be

Until one of them spotted you. The one with black hair, who looked more wasted than the other guy

He just stared at you, long, shamelessly, before returning his gaze back to his friend. "She's feeding the cats again..."

"Who?" the other one asked, peeking over his shoulder

"The girl I told you about. She keeps bringing kibbles for the fur balls"

You couldn't properly hear what they were talking about, but you were grateful for the fact that they left you alone and didn't approach you, high as they were.

"What's wrong with some community help, huh? She's not doing anything wrong, my man"

The black-haired man scoffed, rolling his eyes at his friend as he stole looks from you from time to time.

"It's just... pathetic. You almost feel pitiful when you look at that," he answered his friend's words, taking a drag from the joint and letting the high sink in deeper

"Compassion is a virtue not everyone possesses. It's pretty admirable, my homie. Try to view it differently"

After a while, you decided it was time to head home and prepare some Buldak while binge-watching one of the few shows you truly liked. You missed your couch dearly.

The next evening was the same. Class at 6 PM. At 10 PM you gathered your papers and pens then got right back to haunting the streets of Korea for your fur friends

For a few days everything was normal, calm, like the usual atmosphere. You'd leave the kibbles, pet their scratched faces, then leave to go eat for yourself.

Until this evening

Once again, the doors opened. Not suddenly, not forcefully. Just opened. Then closed

You recognized the man. You saw him a few days ago with his friend,

He looked... bad. Like he hit rock bottom. His face was a mess, probably from all the substances he was consuming

You felt a bit relieved knowing it was him and not someone else. A familiar face was easier to duck than some stranger whose intentions with you were unknown

He sat down on the stairs, letting himself fall over the door and slowly slide down onto it until it felt comfortable enough

You watched. Not because you wanted to say something, but because you had this internal sympathy for him and his actions. You never knew what someone's going through, and you were glad you had that mentality

He didn't observe you at first; you were practically invisible to him. The drugs worked so well he was actually feeling the ecstasy kicking in.

After getting used to the feeling, he started to look around. He then spotted you in the same spot you always crouched at

His instinct was to scoff at you, roll his eyes, and ignore you. However... Maybe it was the Ecstasy, or perhaps what Thanos told him a few days ago, because he didn't find himself taking his eyes off of you like he'd usually do

He just stared.

"Why are you always feeding them?" you hear those words from your right.

You froze, not wanting to engage in any conversations with drug addicts, especially those who are already intoxicated

You didn't answer. You tried to remain calm as he shifted from his seat, walking towards you.

"I'm not here to scold you or anything—I just want to know why you're wasting your time on them"

Your instincts wanted to run. You definitely didn't know him and his intentions, but you've seen the way he wobbled towards you. You chose to stay calm instead.

"They've been here since I started working; no one really gave a damn about them. Then you... started showing up for the past few months."

You nodded slowly, petting their furs.

"I can't stand the sight of hungry animals," you reply softly, looking up at him

He seemed harmless, almost.

"They've been doing better since you started coming here..." he mumbled, crouching down on the pavement next to a wall to lean on

"I'll make sure not to stop, then," you assured, nodding in his direction

He didn't say anything; he just looked at you. His pupils were huge as his hands trembled slightly, but you saw the tiredness. It almost broke you

"Make sure they're all full,please." you kindly asked him, standing up on your feet and grabbing your bag from the ground

"What am I, cat security?" he asked with a scoff

But you simply chuckled, taking a few steps back slowly,"You might just become one"

You didn't see his face for a few days. It wasn't unusual; he barely went out for a breath of air or just to high himself up so you weren't expecting him, or anyone for that matter.

Today, though, the stars aligned. And as you wanted to take the turn to the alley behind the club, the guy met with your figure right at the front doors.

He curiously peeked in your direction before grinning and waving slightly at you.

"Here for the fur balls?"

You nodded, smiling slightly at him, "What else would I be here for?"

"I don't know, maybe you'd like a drink?" he shrugged, trying to give you an idea.

"I don't like drinking without my friends. And plus, it's a school day. I need to get back and study"

"You're in what, college?" He leaned on the metal bars next to him.

You learned his name. His life, in small proportions at least. His habits.

Today wasn't as lonely as the days before; he actually followed up with you in the alley corner and talked to you about different subjects while you were feeding your little friends

He still seemed skeptical about this; he couldn't see the point of feeding something that could easily be killed or taken away by tomorrow morning

But he still watched you. And, God, you were so kind to them

You seemed so sweet towards the cats, he couldn't help but think about how much he wishes someone would be just as sweet towards him

That'd be a joke, to be honest. Who would be sweet and compassionate to a screw-up like him? He barely deserved to occupy space on this planet

Nam-gyu made sure to always meet with you in that spot. He made it seem like an accident, but in reality, he'd check up the time and memorize your schedule just to see your sweet butt taking care of the cats

After a while it became a routine. He always sat with you, drugged or not, and talked about anything and everything while you took care of the small beings

"Wanna try? They don't bite, I promise," you asked while handing him a piece of chicken from your last lunch

For the first time he felt included in something that didn't mean work or drug dealing...

Nam-gyu's heart swelled the day he saw you bringing in a plastic box, rigid enough to hold steady during wind, and big enough for every one of them to curl inside and warm each other

"Autumn's coming. Thought about some shelter for them," you told him while placing soft blankets inside of the box, making it as comfortable as possible

"All of this for... them?" He seemed confused. He couldn't understand how much kindness can be in one person. It was almost sickening (in a good way)

Whenever you weren't around, for example, during 1 AM when the club was at its peak, he made sure to check up on the cats from time to time

Just to be sure no one disturbed or threw rocks at the harmless creatures

That basically became his second job. Cat security

Nam-gyu swears he didn't get attached to them, neither of you nor your companionship. He just felt like that was the right thing to do (he got attached)

And when he told you, casual as hell, you let out sweet "awww"s and "thank you, Nam-gyu, that's very nice of you"s that made him smirk under his nose

Little did you know that he wasn't as casual as you thought; he actually wanted to hear you praise him for the good work. He just didn't want to show it

But, hey! It worked!

Yeah, no, this dude fell in love. Hard.

He just didn't know how to act towards girls that seemed too good for him

He knew he'd fuck up one way or another. Whether it was with his drug addiction or just his way of being. It was always something with him...

But you accepted to go out with him either way!

That was a shock for him

He promised to take it slow with the drugs, even seek help at some point

But Nam-gyu was now protecting the cats whenever he had the chance to

It was like he became their father; that's how much responsibility he put into it.

And maybe it was because he also liked you. Like... REALLY liked you

He became softer with time. That's on you, of course

But whenever he backed into the alley to smoke a joint and escape the crowds for a while, he always sat with the cats and thought about you