Hybrid Taehyung - Tumblr Posts
Pairing: Taehyung x female O/C
Genre: Fluffyest Fluffy Fluff, a little bit of angst if you squint really hard.
Summary: After getting used to the idea of just being her and her little daughter against the world. Autumn is proven wrong once again when fate has different plans for them.
Warnings: None
A/N: The original prompt is from @hybridfanfiction ( their prompts are the cutest, check them out!) This is my first attempt on sharing some of my work and is also my first hybrid fic. I love the reader inserts but not a fan of the Y/N type thing so feel free to just imagine your name instead if you prefer! I have material to make this a series but will leave it as a one shot for now to see if you guys like it! I totally don't own the gifts.
Disclaimer: English is not my first language. Read at your own risk 😂
Ch. 1 Ch. 2 Ch. 3
A smile spread across her face as she listened to her little beam of sunshine’s effusive explanation of her adventures with her imaginary hybrid friend Tata, the girl’s imagination never ceased to amaze her mother. It was definitely a trait that she got from her Father, she thought with a certain melancholy in her eyes.
‘’ And then, last time, Toby was being really mean, he said that I was weird and pulled my hair, but Tata growled at him a little bit and he ran away. Isn't he the best Mama?" - Her little eyes twinkled with adoration, Autumn's first instinct was to coo at her cuteness but something of what she said sent alarms to her mind.- "Haneul, honey, are kids being rude to you at school?" - Having her daughter being bullied at school because of her heritage was one of her biggest fears-
" Mmm… sometimes, but after Tata saved me, they haven't! - She smiled the brightest smile, and Autumn felt a knot clog her throat and dread wash over her stomach. She forced a smile at the best of her ability while nodding and made a mental note to talk with the teachers at the end of the day. She would transfer her daughter to another kindergarten if needed.- ‘’ Ok, honey bear, we are here. Remember that I’m picking you up earlier today for your dentist’s appointment. - Haneul immediately sulked at the prospect, murmuring indecipherable complaints under her breath, but she still kissed her mom’s cheek before running off when she caught the sight of her favorite teacher.-
Autumn waved at the teacher, answering to her smile with one of her own as the teacher was dragged away by an enthusiastic Haneul. Just for the time being she decided to put her worries aside and tend to some of the urgent matters at hand. Jimin and Jin were driving her insane by the minute, her phone buzzing every 2 minutes as if they were taking turns to annoy her.
‘’ You know perfectly fine that I need to drop Haneul at school every day, Jimin!’’ - Was her response as she heard the whiney complaints from the other side of the line, she assured that she would be there in a few minutes with a roll of her eyes before she hanged up.
She loved her friends with her whole heart, they were the ones that pulled her through when Haneul’s dad decided to abandon her while she was pregnant with their daughter, If it wasn't for them and Haneul herself, she wouldn’t be where she is at… But they were, a lot of the time, pains in the butt.
The store was a battlefield once she got there, flowers and decorations scattered everywhere, and a very stressed out Jungkook running around under the direction of an even more stressed out Jimin. They looked at her as if she was some kind of savior before throwing themselves to her arms once they realized she had arrived. She could just roll her eyes at their antics before getting down to work.
‘’ Ok, I’m out!’’ - She announced, after they finally handed out the last piece of arrangements for the wedding, the event was a really big project and she was relieved that everything turned out ok, the customer was more than ecstatic with the results, and there were really few things that gave Autumn more satisfaction than a happy customer.-
‘’ But Noona…’’ - Came Jimin’s protest as an instant response. But it died out quickly when she turned around sharply and Jin put his hand over his mouth to quiet him down. She could be a little scary when tired. Jin thought the younger boy should know better, having been her friend for so long. - ‘’ Go ahead, and bring Haneul over to my place afterwards, we miss our little bundle of joy, I’ll cook dinner for all of us! Maybe I could convince Yoongi to come and bring Hobi with him’’ - Jin requested and the other two agreed with eager nods, Autumn smiled lovingly, she truly had the best of friends. She assured that she would be back quickly as she made her way out of the flower store that Jin and her had opened together. The last thing she heard, a chorus of ‘’By noona’s’’ and ‘’I love you’s’’ ringing one over the other, that made her smile grow even bigger. She truly loved the punks.
‘’ I’m here to pick Haneul up for her dentists appointment’’ - The teacher nodded knowingly, with a small smile, apparently HaNeul had been complaining to all that would lend an ear about the terrifying encounter with a robot monster that she would have to go through that day. Autumn could just chuckle at her daughter's dramatics. - ‘’ Also, is Mrs. Lee, around today? I need to talk with her about some worries of mine’’ - The teacher sent her a worried look as she sensed the discomfort in Autumn’s tone but after she assured her that it wasn’t something too serious, she explained that the principal wasn’t available at the moment. Autumn would have to call her. She had known Mrs. Lee for a long time anyways.-
Following the direction of the young teacher that had to leave her on her own to attend one of the kids with a little potty emergency, Autumn made her way to the playground where all the kids were taking lunch break. After a few minutes, she spotted the light haired girl sitting over one of the farest corners close to the fence. Her heart dropped as she started to come closer and noticed who her little girl was talking so excitedly to, she couldn't believe her eyes, the school was not just reckless about bullying but they also let the kids unsupervised where they could be approached by strangers?
The stranger was munching on a half sandwich, the other half on Haneul’s hand remained untouched as she bounced on her place, there was a soft smile on the man’s face as he seemed to intently listen to her daughter. As Autumn came closer, her steps slowed down as she realized that HaNeul was actually talking with a hybrid, the male seemed to be younger than her, probably around Jimin’s age, but he was so skinny and dirty that he could easily pass for someone younger. Her heart hurt for him.
She noticed some movement that made her nervous but before her quickening steps took her close enough, a scene that horrified her took place before her eyes.
A group of kids came running with piles of mud gathered on their hands, one of them quickly throwing some in Haneul’s direction. A scream died on Autumn’s throat, unable to really comprehend what had happened before the kids ran away from the scene. The man that her daughter had been feeding for weeks now, the same one that she thought was just an imaginary friend, had jumped over the fence standing in between the projectile of mud and her daughter’s little body, staring down the mean boys until they had left the scene running.
‘’ MAMMA!’’ - Before having much time to react, Autumn felt the little body crash against her leg. HaNeul’s flushed little face was stained with drying tears as she explained how the mean boys had attacked her friend and asked her to help him out. Autumn took her in her arms, hugging her and whispering comforting words to calm her down. She started walking towards the Hybrid who was awkwardly standing in the same spot, mud dripping down his right leg, she noticed now that he was standing, how much taller than her he was. Once Haneul noticed her mom wasn't moving any more, she turned her head to face her friend and dedicated a watery smile towards him that he struggled to reciprocate. Autumn could sense the fear emanating from him.
‘’ Look, Tata! It’s my momma, isn’t she super pretty?!’’ - Haneul’s eyes sparkled with innocence, the hybrid timidly nodded in response and Autumn noticed a cute blush spreading across his cheeks. -
‘’ Hey there…’’ - Autumn started but was quickly interrupted by the terrified hybrid’s frenetic attempt to explain himself.- ‘’ I’m really sorry, I tried to refuse but she was so kind and her sandwich smelled really good. I… Please don’t report me, I’ll take any kind of punishment, but please don’t call Hybrid control.’’ - His deep voice ended up as a whimpery whisper as he begged her. Autumn felt her stomach drop and her mouth dried out, she felt like crying for the pitiful state of the boy in front of her. -
‘’ Sorry, but I have no intention to report or punish you whatsoever. I actually wanted to thank you for protecting Haneul, It makes me happy that she has a friend like you.’’ - His fluffy ears twitched in her direction as soon as she started talking but as she called him her daughter’s friend, his eyes jumped to her face, trying to look for any sign of hostility, a small smile playing at the corner of his lips as he took in the soft smile that she was dedicating him. - ‘’ I’m Autumn, an it’s a pleasure to finally meet you Tata!’’ - She extended her arm, patiently waiting for him to shake her hand. He hesitated for a few minutes before timidly taking her hand in his for a second of two. - ‘’ My name is actually Taehyung’’ - He softly corrected, the blush coming back to his sunken cheeks, making Autumn smile even brighter -
‘’ Well, Taehyung, if you don’t have anything else to do today, I would love to invite you for lunch to thank you for helping Haneul, you could come and wash out all the mud from the attack too if you would like.’’ - She suggested but he was nodding before she could even finish the idea. -
‘’ ¡Oh, my gosh! Mrs. Kim, I am so sorry, I don’t really know how he got here, the kids told me about what happened, I’m calling Hybrids control right now.’’ - The panicked voice of Haneul’s teacher caught their attention, Taehyung immediately flinching back with a loud whimper at the mention of hybrid control, pleading no’s flowing out of his mouth incessantly as he started backing away slowly. Haneul started crying out to him,but before things escalated too much, Autumn, lowered the teacher’s hand that was holding the phone. -
‘’It won’t be necessary, Miss Kang. Taehyung here is a friend of ours’’ - Autumn assured, making both the teacher and the Hybrid freeze on spot. She then gestured for Taehyung to come closer, Haneul reaching for his hand as soon as he was close enough. - ‘’ If you could just let Mrs. Lee know that I will be calling her, that would be awesome! - She requested before leaving the scene with the boy that already felt like the new addition to her family.
~FINDING HOME~ (Part 4)
Pairing: Taehyung x female O/C
Genre: Fluffyest Fluffy Fluff, a little bit of angst if you squint really hard.
Summary: After getting used to the idea of just being her and her little daughter against the world. Autumn is proven wrong once again when fate has different plans for them.
Warnings: None
Word count: 2865
A/N: The original prompt is from @hybridfanfiction ( their prompts are the cutest, check them out!) This is my first attempt on sharing some of my work and is also my first hybrid fic. I love the reader inserts but not a fan of the Y/N type thing so feel free to just imagine your name instead if you prefer! I have material to make this a series but will leave it as a one shot for now to see if you guys like it! I totally don’t own the gifts.
Disclaimer: English is not my first language. Read at your own risk 😂
Extra A/N: I didn’t get the chance to post this last week but to compensate you guys, I’ll be posting the first part of my new Mafia Au, so watch out for it!
Ch. 1 Ch. 2 Ch. 3 Ch. 4 Ch. 5
‘’ Hey, Tae’’ - Autumn came out to the back balcony where Taehyung had gone for a sunbathe after dropping Haneul off at the school. - I realize how boring it can be to stay at home for so long every day, so I was wondering if you would like to come to work with me? - The way his eyes light up and his tail started to wag was enough of an answer. - ‘’Really?!’’ - He almost fell out of the chair trying to stand when she nodded yes. - "Ok, I'm ready!" - She couldn't suppress her laugh as he took her hand, wide eyed, tail going crazy behind him, he was almost bouncing in place. -
‘’ It wasn’t the plan to introduce you to the boys like this, but it might be for the better, they can get really chaotic when they get all together. Today it will just be Jin and Jimin at the store because it’s Kookie’s day off, so it shouldn’t be too crazy… Are you ok, Tae? - She could only see his profile while driving but he looked pale and really shaken. He shook his head and she decided to pull over to the side. The store was close, and she figured getting there a few minutes late was worth it if it was for Taehyung’s wellbeing. - ‘’ What’s wrong? Are you hurt somewhere?’’ - Her hand grabbed his arm in a comforting manner, unconsciously tracing circles on his skin with her thumb not really aware of the shiver that ran down his body. He cleared his throat, afraid of his voice betraying him. -
‘’ I… I haven’t had many good experiences with males... I’m just a little nervous, I guess. I’m sorry’’ - Her heart went out to the ball of nerves that the boy had become, understanding right away that whatever he had gone through in the past was still very vivid in his mind, a wound that was still open and fresh. She wanted to hunt down whoever hurt him like that, because if there was something, she was sure about after the few days that Taehyung had stayed with them was that he deserved nothing but love, her instinct to put him on her pocket and protect him from the evils of the world kicking in full force. -
‘’ There is nothing to be sorry about, pup. You don’t have to do anything that makes you feel uncomfortable. I can promise you, though, that none of my friends would ever do anything to hurt you intentionally, but I can definitely drive you back home if you don't feel ready to meet them’’ - Taehyung felt guilt wash over him. It was more than obvious that whoever these guys were, they were really important people to Autumn and he didn’t want to burden their relationship with his own personal demons. - ‘’ No, it’s ok, I.. I trust you’’ - He assured, taking her hand in his, not letting it go for the rest of the way. -
" LOVER BOY!!" - The sudden movement in his peripheral view, took Taehyung by surprise, with so many different flowers everywhere, there were too many scents, and it disoriented him for a second but before he could prepare himself to receive the attack Autumn had put herself in between, receiving the full force of the other boy's collision against her smaller frame with ease, as if she was used to it. The other guy didn't lose time to put his arms around her and pull her closer even though he was whining and complaining that she should have let him say hi to the newbie first. -
This was not what Taehyung was expecting, his hands tightening into fists, and he had to bite his tongue not to let the growl vibrating on his chest break free. Human males were one thing, but a Hybrid? Why didn't Autumn mention that one of her dear friends was a Hybrid? And for how long would he have to watch them embrace each other? He decided to clear his throat to catch their attention. Autumn immediately let go of the other boy, a big smile adorning her face as she looked his way. Somehow it eased Taehyung's heart.
-"Tae, meet Jimin. Minnie, this is Taehyung" - She introduced them and even when Taehyung tried to keep his distance by bowing politely, Jimin was too excited to let it go like that and soon, ignoring autumn’s warning, was hugging the taller man so tight that Taehyung was afraid he would pass out because his blood wasn't circulating properly. He had never met a feline hybrid so affectionate, if it wasn't for the pointy ears and his scent, he would had guessed that he was indeed a canine hybrid instead. -
"Jimin, that’s enough bud, you will suffocate the kid’’ - Another person came into the room and this time Taehyung was well aware of the other man and his every move. Jimin finally let go of him with an apologetic smile, and even though he still didn’t trust him, he was way more comfortable with the Hybrid than with the newcomer - ‘’Hey there, my name is SeokJin, but you can call me Jin!’’ - The man extended a hand in Taehyung’s direction. He was a little bit taller than himself but instead of the intimidating aura that Taehyung would expect to come from him, he had a really friendly demeanor and a sweet scent. But Taehyung knew better than to carelessly trust people. He bowed politely murmuring a nice to meet you under his breath. Jin gave Autumn a knowing look and a soft smile when she mouthed an apology. - "Well, Taehyung, welcome to our humble happiness factory!!"
"Come, Tae, let me show you around, I can teach you how to make an arrangement if you want!" - His Tail was hard to see at the speed it was wagging. Jin and Jimin looked at each other with knowing smiles plastered on their faces -
" So, is Jin....Jimin's sponsor? " - Taehyung whispered as he tried to emulate the little arrangement that Autumn had shown him how to make. She couldn't help but laugh a little at his cuteness, he seemed really apprehensive about her friends, but it was obvious that he was also curious even if he tried to act cool- " So Jimin is a citizen. He is Jungkook's adoptive brother, his parents worked on the citizenship as soon as he turned 18."
" So, he is like... on his own now?" - This was the first time Taehyung met an independent Hybrid in real life and his mind was immediately filled with questions - " Mm, yes and no. He decided to move with Jungkook when he moved to the city around 5 years ago, Jimin doesn't have to live with him but he wants to, so they are roommates now! Which I'm really grateful for, I have been friends with both of them ever since" -
The way Autumn explained it made it sound so simple and normal but for Taehyung it was such a wonder. To think that there were hybrids out there that truly had the chance to live their lives in whatever way they wanted, blew his mind. Then he started to think about the fact that Jimin decided to just stay right where he was at, he wondered what he would do if he was in his place, he had imagined it many times before, that one day he would be free and he would travel the world and make friends everywhere, he wouldn't have to worry about anything more than his own happiness but now when he tried to imagine the scenes that gave him so much hope and comfort before, they didn't seem so bright and happy anymore. He wondered if we would really be able to leave Autumn and Haneul behind and move on with his life?
No, he couldn't… And the realization scared him.
"Woah!! Tae, you are a natural!!" -Autumn was too busy admiring the arrangement that he had just finished fixing to notice the way Taehyung was looking at her, the soft smile that draw itself across his lips or the way his eyes were shining with adoration. If they were to let him, Taehyung felt like he would be the happiest if he could just stay with Autumn and Haneul for the rest of his life.
…
Today was the day when it would finally become official. Taehyung was going to be no longer an undocumented stray, no one could mistreat him after today and Autumn couldn't be more relieved and happier about it.
"Are you ok, Tata?" - Haneul's worried tone alarmed Autumn out of her thoughts. Leaving the dishes for another time, she made her way to the living room, approaching Taehyung's sitting form from behind. A hand immediately finding place on his head, she let her fingers massage the base of his fluffy ears out of habit, because she knows that it always calmed him down to be petted. Taehyung was afraid his heart would come out of his chest at this pace. - "Is anything wrong, puppy?"
" No, I was just thinking. I'm totally fine!" - He sent both of them the best smile he could muster. Praying that none of them could figure out his real feelings at the moment. He didn't want to worry them- "Tata, you are my favorite friend ever!" - Haneul seemed to feel his distress, nevertheless. She hugged him tightly and it just melted both his and Autumn's hearts. - "Hey little love bug! I thought I was your favorite ever! - The living room soon became a battlefield, a tickling battle full of loud bumming laughs and sweet endeared giggles-
Haneul was fast asleep and they were peacefully watching a movie when a knock on the door burst their happy bubble. Taehyung could feel his whole-body tense even before Autumn opened the door, greeting a tall, serious looking man. - Hello! Namjoon, right? Oh, are you ok? - Namjoon went from a professional business looking man to a blushing mess in a second, he had managed to stumble upon thin air and almost fall in the process. Autumn almost cooed at the dimples that appeared with the sheepish smile that he dedicated her way. Taehyung felt like snarling at him. - Hello, Miss Kim, it's a pleasure to finally meet you, Yoongi and Hobi talk a lot about you, haha. - He extended his hand but before she could take it there was a body between them. For a second she wondered if she was imagining it, she had never heard Taehyung growling, but the aggression she could hear in the growl startled her. He didn't even flinch to acknowledge the way she lightly pulled his arm to try to stop him. - " Taehyung! Stop that. Namjoon is our guest!"
"Oh, don't worry, I actually overstepped his boundaries. It's completely normal for hybrids to want to protect their families from any kind of possible thread, and I'm a complete stranger in his territory. I'm sorry, Taehyung-ssi!" - Namjoon stepped back, giving the anxious hybrid some space. Taehyung visibly relaxed as he did so. - "It's a pleasure to meet you, Taehyung-ssi!
"Nice to meet you too…" - Taehyung reluctantly responded after Autumn nudged him from behind. - "Well, shall we get into business? " - Taehyung really didn't like Namjoon's smile-
" Ah, I see, so the process has different stages, I guess I didn't know that… " - Autumn couldn't hide her excitement, the sponsorship stages were designed to provide the hybrids with gradual freedom until they reached their full independence.
With this process, Taehyung would be able to get a job right away, he would get his probational ID by the end of the 1st year and by the end of the second year he would even be able to move on his own, and even though the idea squished her heart in an uncomfortable way, Autumn was really happy with the prospect of giving Taehyung the opportunity to freely live his own life.
"What do you think, Tae? Isn't this… Taehyung, what's wrong? Hey, puppy, why are you crying? - Before she could do much, Taehyung dashed out of the scene, closing the door of his from behind him. - " I'm sorry, Namjoon. I think we will have to do this another time..." - He just sent a sad smile her way. - " I hope he is ok, let me know if you would prefer for me to just send the final paperwork through mail, I'll make sure that everything is cleared up so that whenever you decide to sign, it will all be ready."
"Thank you so much, Namjoon. I really appreciate it!" - She said bye to him after he assured that he was just doing his work. Once she closed the door, a dread feeling washed over her. She hated seeing the people that she loved having a hard time and in the short time she had known him, the dog hybrid had claimed a place in her heart. She took a deep breath before walking towards Taehyung's room- " Hey pup, can I come in?"... Taehyung, I'm really… I'm really worried, honey boy, can you please let me in?" -
After a few minutes of dead silence, Autumn was about to give up and just wait until he decided to come out on his own, when the door opened, and she was engulfed by a taller form. Taehyung was sobbing on her shoulder, trying to calm himself down by subtly breathing in her scent. She dragged herself and the boy to sit on the ground, giving him the opportunity to cuddle closer to her. She quietly petted his ears and traced random forms on his back, waiting for him to calm down.
After a while she unconsciously started humming a song that he didn't recognize, a song that she sang to Haneul every time she had a nightmare or was scared about something, and at that moment, with her warmth surrounding him and her sweet voice filling the silence that threatened with driving him crazy, Taehyung felt at home for the first time in his life. He felt safe and wanted, he felt like he belonged…
" I'm not really sure about what happened, but I just want you to know that you are not alone anymore Taehyung. You are part of this family and whatever life throws at you from now on, we face it together, there is no other way around...You don't have to tell me if you don't feel comfortable sharing but if there is anything I can do to make it better, I need you to let me know" - Her soft voice came to him as a healing balm, she wasn’t mad at him like he thought she should of have after the way he acted, he could just sense worry and tenderness in her tone. His chest filled with love and warmth as he listened, wanting to stay like that forever. She patiently waited for him. -
" What would happen if I don't want to leave after the three years are up? Would you don't want me anymore after I become a citizen?" - She almost cried at how fragile and broken he sounded, he was sincerely afraid of them just leaving him behind and she felt guilty for not noticing how much the whole idea of the sponsorship process was affecting him. He had been quieter than usual for the past few days, but she downplayed it as just him being in the process of getting used to his new environment. - ‘’ Will I have to leave?’’
‘’ Oh, my sweet puppy’’ - She hugged him closer and he let out a content sight snuggling the side of her neck, discreetly scenting her. - ‘’ I don’t know everything you have gone through…’’ - At the mention of the past she immediately could feel the way his muscles tensed under her touch, so she did her best to ease him down, petting his ears always seemed to do the trick.- ‘’And you surely don’t have to share, but I hope we can replace those memories with new ones, ones full of smiles and lots of love, to the point that you can confidently believe that there is no place where you belong more than here with us… You will be able to decide, Taehyung, it will always be your choice. But know that we will always want you home.’’ - This time Taehyung started crying for a completely different reason. -
‘’ Can we have some ice cream?’’ - He asked in between sniffles after a few minutes of silence and Autumn couldn’t help the laugh that escaped her lips. And as she prepares three bowls of ice cream, she sent a message to Namjoon, asking him to email the paperwork for them to sign. -
~FINDING HOME~ (Part 5)
Pairing: Taehyung x female O/C
Genre: Fluffyest Fluffy Fluff, a little bit of angst if you squint really hard.
Summary: After getting used to the idea of just being her and her little daughter against the world. Autumn is proven wrong once again when fate has different plans for them.
Warnings: None
Word count: 2865
A/N: The original prompt is from @hybridfanfiction ( their prompts are the cutest, check them out!) This is my first attempt on sharing some of my work and is also my first hybrid fic. I love the reader inserts but not a fan of the Y/N type thing so feel free to just imagine your name instead if you prefer! I have material to make this a series but will leave it as a one shot for now to see if you guys like it! I totally don’t own the gifts.
Disclaimer: English is not my first language. Read at your own risk 😂
Extra A/N: I didn’t get the chance to post this last week but to compensate you guys, I’ll be posting the first part of my new Mafia Au, so watch out for it!
Ch. 1 Ch. 2 Ch. 3 Ch. 4 Ch. 5
After being living with Autumn and Haneul for a month and a half, Taehyung was finally meeting the rest of their family, he had already met Jin, Jimin and Jungkook and even though it was hard for him to trust them fully, he had decided that he liked the three males… Not that any of them really knew that because Taehyung still avoided them every time he could, though it was not really possible to avoid Jimin after he discovered that he and Taehyung were the same age and decided that they were to be best friends.
‘’ Mamma… MAMMA...Mamma, can Tata be my daddy?’’ - That finally caught Autumn’s full attention, she turned around making sure that the hybrid was still taking a shower, praying that he couldn’t hear them over the running water and his own singing voice. She rushed to kneel in front of her daughter. - ‘’ Haneul, baby, that’s not something that we should say...’’ ‘’ But mamma, he tells me stories to sleep and sings to me and tucks me in sometimes, all the kids have a daddy and…and I saw it on tv, the daddy that lives together with you and your mamma, and tells you stories is your daddy! Does my Tata don’t want to be my daddy?’’ - Haneul’s pretty eyes swelled with unshed tears at the idea, and Autumn could have sworn that she heard her own heart break. - ‘’ No honey bear, you know your Tata loves you very, very much! He tells you that all the time, right? It’s just that for a woman and a man to be a mommy and a daddy they have to really really love each other a lot. - She couldn’t believe she was having this conversation with her 5 year old daughter, her flushed little face was destroying her heart. -
"But momma, don't you love Tata?" - Autumn could practically see the engines in her daughter's head starting to over think, tears threatening with reappearing.- "I do sweetheart, I do, but it's just a little bit different for adults, you know, adults are dumb sometimes and things don't work the same for us...Let’s talk about it later, ok? we need to go see your uncles!"
"Noona, I'm ready!" - Autumn felt her soul come back to her body when Taehyung decided to appear, giving her the chance to escape the impossible conversation she was having with her daughter. She smiled at him, noticing the way he was referring to her, she was almost sure that it had to do with spending so much time with Jimin.-
The drive to Yoongi’s apartment was filled with loud singing and laughs. The prospect of getting together with her best friends had Autumn in a really good mood, and even though Taehyung felt really nervous, the smiles on both mother and daughter’s faces helped him breathe easier. He knew most of the men they were getting together with but the fact that they were actually entering the territory of another hybrid, one that he hadn’t met yet, was nerve wracking. He was worried that his instincts would get the best of him and he would piss Autumn’s loved ones off, how would Autumn react? what would she think of him? would she start hating him if her friends didn’t like him?
Taehyung didn’t have to wonder for too long. Everybody’s temper was tested when Hobi had to let go of Autumn as she was being yanked back by a strong arm towards a wide chest, a low growl vibrating against her back. Sensing the hostility in his own territory kicked Hoseok’s instincts on, even though Autumn and Haneul weren’t his humans, they were part of his family and he felt really protective of them, so soon there was a battle of growls and silent snarls. For a few moments none of them really acknowledged the attempts of the others to calm them down.
‘’ Tata, don’t be mean to uncle Hobi, I promise he is really nice!’’ - Haneul’s innocent voice and the way she hugged his leg was what brought Taehyung back to his senses . As soon as he stopped growling, Hoseok did the same, he understood where the younger hybrid was coming from, he remembered being in the same place a few years ago, he wasn’t about to let him cross the line in his territory, establishing hierarchy was a basic hybrid instinct anyway, but he was also excited for the new addition to the friend group even if he was not about to show that at the moment. -
Taehyung was utterly embarrassed about his conduct and after a solid ten minutes of being scolded first by Autumn an then by Jimin, he just wanted to curl up into a ball in a corner and cry his heart out, but they were so loving even when scolding him that he couldn't even do that. He hesitated but ultimately approached Hoseok who was setting things up for the movie night.
‘’Hyung… I… I’m really sorry about earlier… it’s not really excuse for my behavior but…”- Before he could finish his apology, he was attacked by a very effusive fox hybrid, Hoseok was bouncing on the balls of his feet, too excited by the idea of having a new hybrid friend, Taehyung couldn’t help the smile that divided his lips.-
‘’ I’m really sorry about that, Yoongs. Taehyung is a little bit weary of males, and new environments are a little hard for him to take in.’’ - Autumn was worn out by the whole scene, feeling sorry and guilty for everyone in the room, she didn’t blame Taehyung, she knew well enough of his apprehension towards males and she knew how protective hybrids could get when facing threats to who they considered their people, specially in the presence of other hybrids. She remembered the first time she met Hoseok with a shiver. But she couldn’t stop feeling bad for her friends. It was their home at the end of the day.-
‘’ Hoseok, really likes him, I can see it in his face that he already is taking him under his wing. I don’t think we will have any problem. - Yoongi assured with a wink as he motioned towards the three hybrids that seem to have engaged in an enthusiastic conversation about what movies to watch, after Jimin joined them in the living room. Autumn felt her body relax, realizing how worried she was until that moment, a soft smile appearing on her face. -
‘’ Uncle Yoongi, up!’’ - A new battle arised, this time, between Yoongi and Jungkook fighting over who was Haneul’s favorite with Haneul enjoying herself in the shower of attention and love she was getting. -
‘’ He really is the right fit, isn’t he?’’ - Jin's voice came from behind her before a pair of arms encircled her shoulders. She let herself relax in his embrace, feeling happy to be home, loving how her brothers embraced Taehyung so effortlessly.- ‘’ Haneul asked me if Taehyung could be her new dad’’ - She whispered, knowing that Jin was close enough to hear her and everyone else was so loud that she doubted they could hear her even if she were to scream it. She felt Jin humming in thought, it wasn’t a surprise to him even though this was the first time Haneul had ever said something like that. - It is good for her to have some kind of father figure in her life… And if he is sticking around for a while… How do you feel though? - She knew exactly what he was referring to, her an her friends never really payed any attention to the stigma that interracial relationships between humans an hybrids carried with them, but she had given up on dating a long time ago, men were too inmature, too insensitive and she didn’t have the time or the energy to deal with someone else’s child. - ‘’ I don’t know Jinnie, I haven’t really consider it, I mean, he is one of the most caring an loving people I’ve met, always looking out for both of us and looking for ways to collaborate, you know how happy he was when you offered him to work at the flower shop, an he loves Haneul so dearly, she loves him even more, I’m afraid she will get hurt if anything were to happen and he decided to leave… But we are not in that type of relationship, Jin. I am his sponsor and he is our hybrid, and I’m totally fine with that.’’ - Jin left a soft brief kiss on top of her head, hugging her a little closer.-
‘’Then there is nothing to worry about, Mamma Bear.’’ - Autumn closed her eyes in contentment, right on time to miss the look that Taehyung directed to them, but Jin was able to catch the turmoil of emotions that twirled in his eyes. A knowing smile dancing on his lips, He knew how dense Autumn could be when it came to this topic, it would be fun to see how these two would figure things out.He had the hunch that Taehyung was there to stay, and his hunches were usually right-
‘’ Jin hyung, stop hoarding noona all to yourself and come sit, we are about to start the movie!’’ - Hoseok complained in a whine that Jin responded with a scoff before complaying and dragging Autumn with him.- ‘’Next time we should invite Namjoon, Yoongi hyung! ‘’
‘’ Yeah, I like him’’ - Autumn and Jungkook agreed and Yoongi just nodded lazily. Asking them to be quiet and start the movie. Autumn’s fingers immediately found their way through Taehyung’s soft locks when he seated himself on the ground in front of her, resting his head on her knee, missing the heavy tears that rolled across his cheeks. -
…
Autumn woke up gasping for air, her heart felt like it was held in an iron grip, she couldn’t breath, and for a minute she wondered if she was about to die. She didn’t realize she was crying until she rubbed her hands over her face and felt the wetness on her cheeks. The images of the nightmare are very vivid in her mind. It was the same nightmare she had had ever since Ha Neul's dad had left, just that this time, there was a spin to it that made her sick to her stomach.
She didn’t notice Taehyung sitting on the ground next to the door until after, in her fuzzed state of mind, she almost fell over him, being stabilized by his firm hands, she heard him whimper. Her eyes filled with tears one more time as she felt herself getting lost in his bright brown orbs. She straightened up and as she pulled on her arms to free them from the Hybris grip, Taehyung let go of her. He soon trailed behind her, buzzing with worry.
Autumn wasn’t sure for how long she was zoning out with the untouched glass of water firmly held in her hand, when she felt Taehyung’s larger hand over hers as he loosened her grip, taking the glass away from her and holding her hand on his. She followed him almost unconsciously as he led her to the couch. He sitted and then led her to sit almost on his lap, they were so close that when his hand cooped the side of her face to have her look at him, she could feel his warm cinnamon breath fanning against her skin. They stayed like that for what felt like hours, Taehyung was tracing invisible circles over the skin of her jaw and cheek with the pad of his thumb, both of them getting lost in each other’s eyes when he spoke, his voice barely above a whisper.
‘’ Please… Please don’t cry, don’t be sad… It hurts so much… It hurts so, so much’’ - He knew about her nightmares, at least the ones that she usually had where her ex-husband abandoned her and Haneul over and over again, she had mentioned them once when he found her just zoning out in the living room, unable to go back to sleep after a nightmare. His voice was strained, it sounded like it was in the bearge of breaking. As she remained silent, he gained some courage from the wonder and affection that her eyes always seemed to reflect when she looked at him. He traced over her face with the tip of his nose, in one of the most intimate shows of affection for hybrids, subtly breathing her in. She felt her cheeks burn as her heart threatened with leaving her chest, but didn’t make any attempt to move away from his touch. -
‘’ If you would just let me… If you will just look at me the way… If only I could become a man in your eyes. - He closed his eyes as he rested his forehead over hers, a pained expression claiming his sharp features. His lips almost brushing over hers as he spoke. Autumn felt so vulnerable, yet so safe there in his embrace. She took the opportunity to notice all of his little details like the cute little freckles in his nose, his left cheek and the side of his chin, or the way his long lashes rested on top of his cheek bones as he closed his eyes, his rosy lips an the natural blush that seemed to be always present over his honey like skin. Taehyung was simply breathtaking.
Her fingers brushed against his jaw line in an almost hesitant movement, skimming over his skin in a feather like touch but it got him to relax immediately, the frown disappearing, he let out a relieved sigh, the feeling of her touch over his skin felt like a lullaby to his heart. But then there was something soft and sweet pressed against his parted lips, his heart pounded against his ribcage. The contact lasted mere seconds making him whine in the absence of it. He opened his eyes, facing the storm on hers. She was searching for his reaction, he could see the fear aflame in the depth of her grey orbs.
He knew at that very moment that he would give his life for this woman in a blink.
‘’ Noona...Can you do that again?’’ - He breathed out a plea over her lips, his eyes going back and forth from her eyes to her lips as if he was begging her, and he was, by all means ready to beg for her. She moved painfully slowly, her eyes also wandering over his face until her lips met his once again and this time, Taehyung took his time to savor her, his hand sneaked to the back of her head to keep her in place, he felt so blissfully light headed that he wouldn’t be surprised if he was to wake up the next morning and realize that it was just another dream. He almost cried out loud when she pulled away from him.
‘’ Taehyung… I... ‘’ - He didn’t want to hear it, he didn’t want to know what her eyes were trying to say. He could sense the confusion, the fear that rolled out of her like crashing waves. The little bit of her conversation he had overheard a few weeks ago back at Yoongi’s apartment playing over and over in his head.’I’m just his sponsor and he is our hybrid’ she had said crushing the fluttering hope that had erupted in his chest when he had heard how she told Jin about. Haneul asking if he could be her dad, he wasn’t able to hear the whole conversation but what he heard was enough for him to understand his place in their lives.
He had convinced himself that he was completely ok with that, he was happy to at least be allowed to just stay with them but after the moment they just shared he understood how greedy he had become and how much of them he wanted. He couldn’t take it.
‘’ It’s because I’m a hybrid, right? ‘’ - He murmured more to himself than anything else but she heard him and tried to stop him in a panicked attempt. He couldn’t take it, he needed to get out, he needed some time to think. -
And so, he ran. His heartbeat was so loud that it was the only thing he could hear. So loud that he couldn’t hear her
‘’No, that’s not...no, please no… Don’t leave us… Don’t leave me’’ - Autumn could feel the panic attack closing her throat. Incapable of really moving to try and console her hysteric 5 year old that had woken up to the image of her beloved hybrid hero running away and her mom becoming a crying mess. -
SHELTER ME || Series M.List
Tales From The Feral Ward…
NEWEST INTAKE: N/A
DATE: N/A
NEXT SHIFT: KIM TAEHYUNG
NOTES: Hybrid! Bts x Human! Reader Smut, read at your own caution if uncomfortable with such themes
navi
➤ Sheltered
INTAKE PROFILE
➤NAME: Kim SeokJin
➤DATE: N/A
➤SPECIES: Capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris)
➤ESTIMATED AGE: 28
➤NOTES: Rescued from an abusive household. Seems to be able to speak but is unable to read or write. Has little trust for humans but once attached is petrified of them leaving. Has a strict vegetarian diet and loves the water, some others of this species even going as far as to mate or breed in it. Hates to sleep and be alone. Suffers from frequent panic attacks.
CURRENTLY ON BREAK
➤ GONE FISHING
INTAKE PROFILE
➤NAME: Min Yoongi
➤DATE: N/A
➤SPECIES: Fishing Cat (Prionailurus viverrinus)
➤ESTIMATED AGE: 27
➤NOTES: Never interacted with humans before, has gone fully feral. Species near extinction. Rehabilitation needed. Nocturnal hybrid, mostly consumes fish and birds. Loves water. Past unknown, found on the streets of the city, unknown if can speak Korean. Not much information is known on the species. Dangerous, will attack if provoked.
CURRENTLY ON BREAK
➤ Crossbreed
INTAKE PROFILE
➤NAME: Jung Hoseok
➤DATE: N/A
➤SPECIES: Grey Wolf (Canis lupus)
➤ESTIMATED AGE: 26
➤NOTES: Taken from a breeding farm raid, said to be taken from his mate. Very resentful for being forced out, claims he was treated the best. Has the title of ALPHA from birth. Many illnesses. Threat Level high, sedation recommended for any tests or meals. Very territorial; will injure if he feels hes being attacked in any way. Needs rut suppressants, states he’s not addicted to rut pills.
CURRENTLY ON BREAK
➤ Blood Feather
INTAKE PROFILE
➤NAME: Kim Namjoon
➤DATE: N/A
➤SPECIES: Carrion Crow (Corvus corone)
➤ESTIMATED AGE: 25
➤NOTES: Highly intelligent; mostly consumes insects and small rodents. Had large beautiful wings that he grooms frequently. Builds nests high in trees. Does not trust humans at all; will try to play mind games. Large ego. Believes his owner will return to him. Solitary hybrid, however hates to eat alone. Threat level low for experienced care takers.
CURRENTLY ON BREAK
➤ Tied
INTAKE PROFILE
➤NAME: Park Jimin
➤DATE: N/A
➤SPECIES: Curly Hair Tarantula (Tliltocatl albopilosum)
➤ESTIMATED AGE: 24
➤NOTES: Has been in shelters for most of his teen life. Finds joy in scaring people. Does not know how to adequately express his emotions. Has large fangs and double pupils, making most people not want him as their pet. Leaves webs everywhere, even substituting them for furniture. May need spinneret glands cleaned if clogged by web. Is wanted in the black market due to how little spider hybrids there are.
CURRENTLY ON BREAK
➤ Little Rabbit
INTAKE PROFILE
➤NAME: Kim Taehyung
➤DATE: N/A
➤SPECIES: Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes)
➤ESTIMATED AGE: 24
➤NOTES: Very playful. Was very skittish when he came into the conservation center but has since opened up. Loves to dig dens and tear up furniture. Very sneaky and evasive. Seems boyish in nature. Loves the idea of having children and is always talking about his mate. Loves the chase. Prefers the winter and seems to not like other hybrids being around.
CURRENTLY ON BREAK
➤ The Forest Of Beasts
INTAKE PROFILE
➤NAME: Jeon Jungkook
➤DATE: N/A
➤SPECIES: Follow Deer (Dama dama)
➤ESTIMATED AGE: 22
➤NOTES: Has large beautiful antlers that need to be trimmed bi-monthly however is a painful process. Very skittish around humans and will run at the first sight of them. Has strange hair coloring with a chunk of white hair near one antler. Unsuitable for human companionship. To be transported to hybrid safe house or conservation land.
CURRENTLY ON BREAK
hocus pocus — 3
masterlist previous part next part
pairing: maknae line x reader
summary: jungkook wags his tail and his eyes look like truffles. jimin drinks blood out of juice boxes and bendy straws and tries to wink but ends up blinking both his eyes closed. taehyung likes the ocean and all kinds of art and apologizes to rocks. you don’t know if they want to take you out the date way or the assassination way and somehow you think it’s both.
genre: werewolf!jungkook, vampire!jimin, hybrid!taehyung, witch!reader; humor (??); poly!au (in the future!)
words: 14k
There’s a caw by your window, a fluttering of feathers. A knock on the glass. You lift your head warily, eyes squinted, still stuck in a sort of dissociative post-morning state. One, two.. Eight. There are eight crows outside your window.
Crows are often seen as bad luck, omens of death - but people forget they could mean good news. Upcoming wealth. New beginnings.
You watch them for a long while, still under the comforting weight of your quilt, until there’s a sound and the flock flies away with a flourish.
There are eight crows by your window. A sign of a life altering experience soon to cross your path.
You close your eyes and burrow deeper into your pillow.
You think you fall in love the same way you fell into Petz. Accidentally and while making a fool of yourself.
Namjoon comes running over, phone in hand. He frowns. “Did you just trip and I didn’t see? Dammit. This is what happens when I volunteer to take cute pictures of puppies for Jin-hyung. Do it again.”
“I will not.” You say as you right yourself, walking inside the pet store properly this time. Namjoon steps inside behind you, cleaning his shoes over the carpet for more time than necessary.
The pet store is large and cozy and has puppies. It’s everything you expected but you’re still caught by surprise. Namjoon looks around in wonder, only really here under the pretense of wanting a fish but when you turn he’s cooing at a barking labrador, his hands and cheek pressed to the glass.
“Do you think Kimbap would mind if we got a dog?”
Your brows furrow, watching the labrador from beside Namjoon. The dog paws at the glass, and Namjoon boops at where its nose is.
“Kimbap is a cat.”
“He is.” Is all Namjoon says and that’s that.
You leave him to his fantasies as you walk around, not a worker in sight. No one in sight, really. By now you’d expected to be jumped by someone with a Petz logo on their shirt and convinced to buy an entire alpaca farm and multiple chew toys for a dog you don’t even have, but it’s completely void of people.
You pass by puppy cages and reptile tanks and find the fish, too, before you find a single person. You wonder if you came to the wrong pet store. Jimin said he volunteers here, but maybe it’s another Petz entirely. You suddenly hear a commotion somewhere in the back rooms, so you head there, hoping to find someone.
And you do find someone. His back is facing you and there’s no logo on his shirt but there are, like, three to four kittens clinging to his arms, so he’s either thinking of adopting all of them or you’re witnessing the beginning of an abduction.
The kittens are clutching at his arms and emitting tiny meows as he sets them into their little cat houses, muttering something to them but you can’t make out the soft words and you’re distantly aware you’re staring. Not just at the kitten’s heads poking out through the arms but at like- the actual arms. They’re tanned and muscular and have kittens on them. This is just devastating.
He looks up and straightens and it’s three seconds before he turns to you that you notice the antlers on his head and the boxy smile. Oh no.
The boy suddenly stands as straight as a board as his eyes meet yours. His hair is as blue as the ocean he loves so much. There’s a streak of kohl over his lashes that’s a bit smudged on one side, as though he forgot about it and wiped his eye.
There’s only one kitten on his arm now, black fur tipped with brown and almost dozing off, all curled up and comfy. He raises its paw in a little wave. “Hi.”
You don’t know what to do. He doesn’t mention that he knows you, doesn’t even look too surprised, only smiles like this was inevitable. It makes you smile, too. “Hi.”
“Are you here to adopt?” He says- Taehyung says, your mind supplies even though you didn’t ask it to- tickling at the kitten’s tummy as he does, “A kitten, maybe?”
No you are not, you’re definitely not. “Um. Maybe,“ you answer, stepping in closer.
Taehyung stares at the kitten cradled in his chest for a little while longer before turning, gingerly placing it with the rest. He brushes a finger lightly over its head before stepping back and you’re now absolutely devastated.
The boy bites at his lower lip, considering you with narrowed eyes. "A reptile, maybe..” He mutters, more to himself than anything. “Come!”
He takes your hand, quick and excited but soft as he tangles his fingers between yours. Good god.
The deer hybrid leads you to the reptile tanks, pauses by one, tap tap taps at the glass and you both watch as one of its inhabitants comes padding out with surprising agility.
“That’s Guac! She’s a bearded dragon and is also very much pregnant. Me and Jiminie consider stealing her every day.”
You laugh, staring at the reptile’s beady eyes as she blinks, one eye then the other. “She’s pregnant?” Guac doesn’t look at all pregnant at first glance, but there’s a slight bump on her stomach that you have to squint to even notice.
“I was surprised too! She was alone in her enclosure and we still have no idea how the dude got in there to impregnate her. Kookie said something about horniness surpassing all boundaries, but, well. I have no comment on that.”
“He is a menace I am so sorry.” You say but you’re laughing and it makes him laugh, too. “You know Guk?”
Taehyung makes a soft sound as he opens the enclosure, like a hum and a yeah all rolled into one. You watch as he picks up Guac as he would the kittens, soft and gentle and fond. You think he’s like that with everything. You think you’re looking at him like that, too. “Kook visits every so often. He’s cute and funny and has a boopable nose and gave me a rock. Oh!” He startles, raises a hand over his mouth. “Not a rock. Sorry. Crystal,” he corrects.
He’s rocking the bearded dragon softly like he would a baby, bouncing it lightly in his arms. Guac doesn’t seem to mind. You’re fully endeared.
“Did Guk tell you that?” You tickle under Guac’s chin and it makes Taehyung giggle.
“Yeah,” he smiles, bordering on fond. Kisses Guac’s head before placing her back in the tank, watching as she scampers back to the little cave by the corner. Too fast for a pregnant lady, you think, but who are you to judge. “He talks about you a lot, you know,” He whispers, like you’re being let in on a secret. Turns to you with an expression you can’t quite decipher.
You don’t know what to say to that and you don’t want to regret it if you do, so you only nod.
There’s a shout and Taehyung’s head jerks up, smiles something wide and giddy, spots Jimin before even you do. He dashes past you before he’s jumping half on Jimin, tugging him towards you, and then jumping half on you too for no reason except maybe that he can, pulls Jimin in for a soft kiss that goes long and flushes both their cheeks and leaves them both breathless and giggly and there it is-
a little pang.
You scratch at your chest, look around, spot Namjoon idling by the tanks where a school of fish whiz by. Namjoon’s a doctor. A sorta-doctor. An actual witch. A little bit of a seer, if he thinks hard. He knows cardiac arrest and medicine and sickness symptoms and the like. He’ll know you’re dying.
Or he’ll catch you staring, turn, and send suggestive eyebrow raises before scampering back towards the puppy section. Great. Amazing.
Keep reading
| hybrid bts(vocal line)| headcanon
Masterlist
Seokjin
• dog hybrid
•likes to place his head on your shoulder
•randomly gives you protective and tight hugs to show his love
• forehead kisses and cheek kisses are a yes
•loves cooking with you and for you
•yells when you pull his tail
• blows you kisses
•likes to wear his collar to show he's yours
•try to convince not to leave for work, sometimes you have to walk around with him attached to you when you get ready to leave since he doesn't want to let go.
•pouty and whiny
•NSFW kinks: soft thrust, moans, soft kisses
•nicknames he likes to be called: jinnie, dear, babe, baby
•nicknames he calls you: baby! And love
Jimin
•calico cat hybrid
• will scream he loves you
• back hugs almost all-day
•emotional hybrid
•loves small make-outs with you
•loves to hold your hand in public. And when in public, no one touches what his.
•loves when you pet him and lay on his chest
•likes when you sit and relax in his lap with his hands around your waist and his head on your shoulder
•will get angry when you try to grab him so he can take a bath and ends up swinging his claws at you but in the end, he ends up in the bath half crying and apologizing for his behavior. He does like the feeling of you washing his hair though.
•cries and waits by the door for you to come home for work,
•biggest sweetheart
•NSFW kinks: touching, sloppy and wet kisses, hard and soft thrust, moaning, aftercare, letting you take control
•nicknames he likes being called: baby, jiminy, hone
•nicknames he calls you: baby, babe, sweety
Taehyung
•Tiger hybrid
•jealous hybrid
•likes to keep you to himself,
•going to the park and eating popsicles is his favorite
• passionate kisses on the days before and after work
•only one thing will get him in a bath and that if you join, not because he's scared or doesn't like them but he likes playing. He likes when you wash each other's hair and relax against each other.
•doesn't like you being around another male hybrids or guys in general, but he's ok with jungkook
•loves to do art mainly of you, you'll come home and see he's drawn a picture of you.
•pouts and crosses his arms when you don't give him attention
•sings you to sleep
•likes to cup your face in his hands and mess up your hair.
•NSFW kinks: hard a fast thrust, spanking, soft bits, doming you
•nicknames he likes being called: baby, tiger
•nicknames he calls you: baby, mine, cutie
Jungkook
•bunny hybrid
•shy hybrid
• he's really shy around others but is pretty comfortable around you
•likes to cuddle you on the couch when you least expect it,
• like Jin, likes to wear his collar
•tight back hugs in public and also likes when you give him back hugs
•likes to hold your hand while walking
•big doe eyes 24/7
•when he's existed his ears that are normally folded down pop straight up and his little tail wiggles
•likes walking around the house in the morning shirtless,
•likes to cuddle you without his shirt on
•likes it when you brush and style his fluffy hair
•prefers to take showers himself
•cuddles you on his chest
•likes playing video games in front of the TV
•lays his head on top of yours
•protects you if you're scared or around suspicious crowds of people, he will put you behind him or protectively hug you into his chest.
•loves, loves, loves, when you play with his ears
•one time you bought bunny ear headband and he gets all flustered when you wear it. He thinks it's adorable on you and can't get enough of It.
•loves ice cream dates
•NSFW kinks like it hard and fast, oral sex (receiving), kissing your neck and thighs, bunny tail buttplug 🐰
•nicknames he likes being called: baby, kookie, kook
•nicknames he calls you: baby
| hybrid taehyung | hybrid mates
Tiger hybrid taehyung x bunny hybrid reader
Warning: mention of depression
Masterlist
° the way you too met was sad, well not too sad i mean kind of heartwarming if you were to think back to it now.
° your owner had brought you home and noticed you're uncheerfulness and signs of depression, loneliness as well. Your owner decided to go back to a different shelter and get you a hybrid mate that happened to be taehyung when tae was brought home to you, you were shy and tried to avoid his hyper energy but he would sometimes force you to be around him. The first time you talk was when he came into your room late at night, you were laying in bed crying and watching a drama when a creek of the door was heard and the head popped in "i heard the tv playing in hear, can i join i don't have one in my room." He said already making himself comfy in your bed. He noticed the tears you whipped away with your blanket, "Hey, why are you crying in the dark all alone?" He asked taking hold of your face, "don't worry I'm here, you can tell me i won't tell a soul i swear! Or i can just comfort you? Hugs!" He wrapped his arms tightly around you for a long while just silence as you felt a wave of relaxation wash over you.
_________________________________________
°ever since then tae has taken care of you and your mental health, he always wanted to know if there was anything going on in your head or if you were struggling with something,
°you grew from someone who didn't talk nearly at all and cried every other night to someone who laughed in bed every night with their best friend
°tae and you never declared being in a relationship but it was pretty clear you were
° he didn't sleep in his own room anymore and only slept you with you, he needed you to cuddle him and him to cuddle you.
°tae liked going out in public with you, to get ice cream, go to the park, the mall. Anything really.
°he loved playing with your long ears and seeing them perk up.
°tae presses kissing all over your face daily
°he turns to a soft ball of mush when you get shy after kissing him or doing something sexual fun.
°he couldn't help but notice your bunny habit of nibbling, sometimes when you were upset or nervous you sat somewhere comfy and nibble on tae neck (not hard) without noticing yourself.
°tae had his habits too, he would subconsciously rub your back or curs your hair while sleeping or just cuddling and taking pictures of you, so many.
° Taes favorite feature about you; your tiny, tae love wrapping the both of you in a blanket and seeing how small you are.
°tae constantly reminds you of how important you are to him so you never fall back into a sad space
Can i request Hybrid Bts reaction to hurting their s/o while playing and she starta crying. Hope its not too much???
| roughhousing gone wrong |
Bts hybrid x reader
Master list
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Seokjin
Dog hybrid
You and Jin were playing video games on the old Wii together, you were having a little to much fun though. Jin got too hyped up and swung around without thinking accidentally hitting you in the stomach, he intently dropped the remote and bent down on the ground with you asking you if you were ok and lifted up your shirt to reveal the bruise already forming, he winced at the site. His ears dropped down and his tail was completely still, he picked up sitting you on the couch and grabbing some ice and putting on you. "I'm sorry y/n, I didn't mean it," he said kissing your cheek multiple times "it's ok Jin I'm not mad." That made his tail wag with a smile.
---------------------------------------------------
Yoongi
Cat hybrid
I wasn't one to play much but here you were rolling around together, we'll yoongi was the one doing the rolling you, you were just on and under his chest laughing. He didn't notice the tree you were rolling into, he stops -i mean the tree stopped you, the sound of your head thumping against the tree and the little "ow" you let out made him worry. He stood you up quickly brushing you off and checking your head while he repeatedly said sorry. "Yoongi, stop it's not like I'm going to die," you said sarcastically. "You could have though." He said nuzzling his head into your neck like an upset child, you scratched the back of his ears while laughing.
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Hoseok
Squirrel hybrid
Hoseok still hasn't noticed of his strength over you yet so playtime was normally a mess; you and hobi were dancing around for fun, he picked up and put you down And tackled you making you completely fall, hobi noticed what he did and qickly got off of you seeing your eyes fill with tears, "I'm sorry!" He yelled pulling you into a hug letting you let out a few tears, he kissed your cheek a hundred times trying to make you feel better. He picked you up and placed you on the couch where he meant for you to land and softly cuddled you putting his fluffy tail around you like a blanket, "I'm so sorry baby, you know I never meant to hurt you right?" You nodded hugging him back.
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Namjoon
Dog hybrid
Namjoon was normally very aware of his strength and high over you but it had seemed to slip his mind as he jumped on you while you laid on the couch, he just wanted to cuddle on top of you but he ended up knocking the air out of you. You hit his back until he noticed your trouble breathing and quickly got off of you "oh baby I'm so sorry I didn't mean to hurt you" he pulled you into a gentle hug, he felt so bad. "It's ok Joonie, next time you want to cuddle on me don't just...fall on me you know?" Be nodded wagging his tail behind him while listening to your heart beat.
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Jimin
Cat hybrid
You weren't the only one shedding tears right now, jimin had playful went to bite into the breed stick you teased him with but you moved your hand throwing off his aim and he ended up biting you. He was standing at the sink cleaning your hand off from blood while his tears blurred his vision. He wrapped your hand and brought you into a tight hug "are you going to get rid of me now?" He mumbled into your shoulder "of course, not jimin, I know it was a mistake" you said rubbing his back, you could never get rid of him.
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Taehyung
Tiger hybrid
Being the hybrid he was tae always had the most energy, so when a tickle fight turned into an injury you weren't surprised, you hit your head on the coffee table, tae quickly pulled you up into his lap holding the back of your head kissing your forehead as you both laughed, it was no big deal to you guys anymore a few kisses always made it better.
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Jungkook
Bunny hybrid
Jungkook was still getting used to his new home and was finally started to feel more comfortable and started playing with you, he didn't take his strength into account though and ended up shoving you down instead of the soft push he intended. He quickly helped you up his ears flopped down and felt guilty, he apologized over and over until you could finally calm him down telling him you weren't mad. "I-i love you y/n, I'm sorry"
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| hybrid jungkook & hybrid taehyung | period
Dog hybrid jungkook x reader x dog hybrid taehyung
Master list
You and your two hybrids were sitting on the couch cuddling up to each other in blankets while watching the new marvel movie, "I'll be right back" jungkook said getting up and leaving the room, you and tae continued to cuddle until you felt your stomach cramp causing you to take one of yours hands from around his waist and place it over your stomach. Tae seemed to notice your discomfort "are you alright baby?" You nodded. He opened his mouth once again to protest but was interrupted "I'm back" jungkook stated sitting back down and swinging his arm over your shoulder.
After the movie, you yawned looking at the time and all decided it was about time for bed. You send them off to their room with a good night kiss since you didn't share a room, you thought all three of you sleeping in the same bed was a tight fit and uncomfortable so you had your own room while the boys shared.
Jungkook pulled his shirt over his head and settled into his bed, while tae tried to do the same but the more he thought about your behavior lately the more concerned he got. "Jungkook.." Jungkook rolled over glancing at tae across the room "I'm concerned about y/n, she's been acting so weird and early she seemed to be in pain" jungkook gave it some thought before sitting up in bed "her sent has been a little off now that i think of it...she's been using the restroom a lot more the usual, her mood overall" Taes mouth popped open quickly sitting up "what if she's sick!" Jungkokk shook his head "we would have been able to smell it, don't you think" tae nodded. They sat in silence trying to think up a reason until they heard a loud groan coming from your room, they shoot out of bed quickly swinging your door open.
"y/n" tae yelled quickly coming to your side, while you were sat next to the bed "there's blood!" Jungkook quickly pointed out on the bed. Taes eyes widened as he rushed to examine your whole body "where are you bleeding?!" He yelled out grabbing your arms "I'm not!" Silence filled the air. "I'm on my period..." Jungkook and tae shoot each other a dumbfounded look before speaking up "oh, it's ok baby, I'll go put the sheets in the washer" jungkook said with a smile "ya, why don't me and you go get you changed into some fresh clothes and drink some warm milk" you nodded at taehyung response following his lead.
After bedsheets were switched out and you were in fresh clothes they brought you back to bed, doing you the favor of tucking you in "good night baby girl" jungkook kissed your forehead. "Good night princess" tae said doing the same before both left the room. They quietly shut the door, "we did such a good job" jungkook said giving tae a soft high five, "ya, we take such good care of our princess" he laughed before walking to their room
Maybe YandereJK or Tae with Kitty hybrid reader, and as a minor punishment they put her in the corner for timeout, but accidentally forget and she stays there over night, but she’s afraid of the dark so she’s really scared and then just fluffy? 🥺💕
| yandere taehyung | kitty's punishment
Yandere taehyung x hybrid cat reader
(Omg i love cross over request like these )
Masterlist
Waring: yandere behavior, controlling behavior,
"This isn't fair taehyung!" You yelled as he pushed you back inside your apartment "you know the rules kitten, no leaving the apartment permission!" You pouted, all you did was go to get the mail. "You need to be taught a lesson," he said grabbing your wrist and walking you to the corner of the living room. "Sit." He said in a stern tone "site in the corner until i come and get you got it? No excuses." You slumped down against the wall with your arms crossed as you watched taehyung wander off upstairs, probably to his office.
time went on and one as you sat in absolute silence, you watched the clock tick by another hour and the sunset, it had to be three hours of sitting. You hoped tae would come back before the sun was fully gone, you hated being in the dark. Now the sun was fully down and the sky was dark, the only light was the moon and stars light coming Through the window. You tried to stay calm but you couldn't help it and curled into a ball sobbing with your tail tightly wrapped around you.
tae took off his headphones and stretched his arms before looking out the window seeing the pitch-black sky, "shit" he muttered quickly running out of his office and downstairs into the living room. He picked you straight up, you wrapped your body around his pushing your head into the crock of his neck "im sorry love I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to leave you there for that long I'm sorry. I just got carried away." He said. He carried you to your bedroom and sat you on the bed turning the light on. "Get something cozy on, I'll be right back love," he said kissing your forehead.
you got dressed in your bed attire. "Baby" you turned your head seeing tae step into the room with a tray filled with snacks. "I got cookies and warm milk, your favorite" you gave no reply, he set the tray on the bed then wrapped his arms around you placing his head on your shoulder. "Are you still mad at me? That's ok baby, how about i cuddle and you eat?" You kept your arms crossed "ill pet your ears~" he said sweetly "ok, I'll forgive you" he smiled. "Yay! Now let's relax"
| hybrid taehyung | he bites you
Tiger hybrid taehyung x bunny hybrid reader
Master list
(This is short )
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It had only been a week since you had arrived at the shelter and became taehyung's new roommate. You were a little timid and shy but you had warmed up to his playful behavior.
You two were playing on his bed with pillows and just play fighting, giggling and all. He happily pushed you back against the bed hovering over you and biting into your shoulder as a playful gesture but you quickly pushed him away, shuffling to the corner of the bed.
He sat back up a little confused and looked backs at you seeing your bottom lip quivering and ears flopped down against your head, "w-why did you bite me?" You cried out. Tae quickly jumped into action, he grabbed your arms making you flinch at first "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bite into you that hard I didn't know it would hurt that bad, it was meant to be playful" he apologized pulling you closer and began to lick the wound.
Tae sometimes forgot that you were a pray and not a predator hybrid like him so he had to be more careful with you. "Do you forgive me?" You nodded giving him a hug "ill always forgive you, you're my best friend"
Yeah like a wolf hybrit Taehyung and hea an alpha and like super protective over you hehe
| hybrid taehyung | not so shy
Wolf hybrid taehyung x reader
Master list
You had adopted taehyung only yesterday, he looked so scared and afraid in the corner of the shelter.
he hasn't really warmed up to you yet but you thought it is best to take him shopping for new clothes since he only had one outfit.
" do you wanna stop and get a treat?" You asked holding multiple bags filled with new clothes and shoes. He nodded his head and began to walk to the sweet shop "excuse me, miss!" You stopped turning around seeing a middle-aged man. "Is this your wolf? I'll give you 10 thousand for him" he said pulling out his wallet "no, sorry he's not for sale, he's mine" the man looked back up at you like a crazy man. "Come on taehyung, let's go-" you were cut off as the man yanked you back by the arm. "I'll give you 20-" the man was shoved off of you as a low growl left taehyung's throat "don't touch my mate you bastard!" He yelled
this was the first time you've seen taehyung angry and kind of scary. The man quickly got off the ground and ran away, "y/n are you ok?" He asked in a softer voice "oh, yes taehyung I'm fine now, let's go get that treat" he nodded happily taking your hand into his with a smile.
💜💜💜
Sugary Sweet
(Polyamory au) ( Bunny Hybrid! Reader x Tiger Hybrid! Taehyung x Cat Hybrid! Yoongi x Owner! Namjoon)
SUMMARY: Namjoon has a perfect life once he moves out of the city to a cabin alongside his two rescue hybrids, Yoongi and Taehyung. But then one night in the middle of the rainstorm they find you, a bunny hybrid, hiding in their chicken coop.
WARNINGS: Anxiety attacks, Anxious! Namjoon, mentions of hybrid abandonment, hybrid mistreatment, Half of this is Domestic fluff, possessive behavior.
W/C: 5,000 words of backstory you don’t need + 5,000 words of pure fluff
A/N: ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ THIS IS A VERRY VERRY HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRESENT TO MY MAIN HUMAN @peeachypop ❤️WHO I KNOW IS A SLUT FOR TIGER HYBRID TAEHYUNG AND CAT YOONGI, AND AN INTELECTUAL BOYFRIEND NAMS.❤️❤️❤️ I HOPE YOUR NEXT YEAR IS FILLED WITH AS MUCH FLUFF AS THIS ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
- Namjoon was not what you call a people person, not most days anyway.
- Most of the time he preferred to sit at his desk in his little box of an apartment building and write away at his laptop, content only to leave if inspiration was failing him or if his need for caffeine overtook his anxiety.
- Public places made him anxious, the clawing dread in his chest something he couldn’t shove down and live through, of course Namjoon was admittedly living in the middle of one of the largest metropolitan cities in the world. But the feeling didn’t go away and leave him with age like it should have when he’d aged from being a shy school child into being a full-fledged adult with an anxiety disorder.
- Instead mid twenties Namjoon sat down at his desk for almost a whole year and wrote a book. Of course it was successful, the fantasy and philosophical tidbits combined to an adventure story that captivated audiences.
- His publishers tried to get him to go for photo ops and for interviews no matter how much they begged Namjoon even as his novel climbed on the bestseller list. He didn’t want to look like a bumbling idiot in front of cameras, all those eyes on him, just the thought of it made him feel like he was going to be sick.
- So Namjoon’s daily routine was this, he woke up at a time most people would consider lunch or even dinner, and wrote for a few hours. Then he would go out for coffee at around 6 pm or so when everything wasn’t so crowded in his favorite coffee shop (that his best and only friend Jin owned, they’d only became friends with because back when Namjoon’s anxiety wasn’t so bad Namjoon used to write late night in Seokjin’s 24/hour coffee shop.)
- It’s an idea for his next book that makes him adopt a hybrid, because he’d never had one and Namjoon is always thorough in his research, and if he’s going to write about a hybrid character then he needs to know what it’s like to live with one.
- The beginning of the process is surprisingly easy, but the next step, actually choosing one is the hardest. Namjoon looks in the room of bounding puppies and foxes and bears that are all playing and biting each other’s ears and Namjoon isn’t comforted just overwhelmed.
- Not able to choose Namjoon turns and walks down the hall, thinking that maybe this was a mistake, maybe he should just make the character in his book a human, maybe it was bad of him too want to get a hybrid for selfish reasons when in reality they where so close to people.
- “Hey watch where you’re going!” a low grumpy voice says the second before Namjoon trips over a pair of stretched out legs. Namjoonfalls flat on his face barely managing to catch himself against the linoleum. He doesn’t even know how he manages to scratch his palms so bad. They make him hiss in pain as he picks himself up.
- “What the fuck! can’t you see anything with those glasses?” the person growls, dressed in all black baggy clothes, a round face with a hood pulled up over his head and a pair of headphones. “Apparently not” Namjoon says wiping his scraped hands on his jeans. One of the attendants comes crashing through the door. “I’m sorry mister! Did he hurt you at all?” Namjoon stutters out a no before they turn to small man that Namjoon tripped over.
- Namjoon is just about to apologize to him again before the attendant hisses almost lower than Namjoon can hear, “you where supposed to be in your pen Yoongi, making sure you didn’t bother the patrons. Now apologize.” Namjoon spies the electric prod through the attendants waste, the way his hand hovers on it and the way Yoongi shrinks into the back, no not the man- the hybrid, whose hands are covered by the large sweatshirt that sticks over his hands, and the black hood that covers lumps which must be ears of some sort.
- “I’m sorry” Yoongi says, his face downward. And Namjoon feels the protective instinct in him swell up. Thoughtlessly he reaches up and pushes back Yoongi’s hood, Yoongi flinches and Namjoon becomes even more displeased as he spies the small black cat ears that are poking out of the hybrids rumpled curly hair.
- “Actually, I was just talking to Yoongi about the possibility of adopting him when I tripped, we where just on our way to the office.” Yoongi’s eyes are wide as dinner plates alongside the attendants, his lips parted, his puffy tail swishing. No matter how hard they try to convince Namjoon to adopt “a more suitable companion.”
- Namjoon won’t budge. Yoongi is going to be his hybrid.
Keep reading
💜💜💜
Loving You isn’t Hard to Learn 05
genres: hybrid, romance, found family, slow burn(ish) series rating: mature (mentions of/references to death and abuse. eventual smut) chapter warnings: mentions of death. nondescript nudity relationship(s): ot7 x female reader
In the middle of what many would call nowhere, a sign glows bright yellow. Old, unmaintained, and on its last legs, the letter e flickers for a few seconds before going dark. H aven’s Door Motel, it now reads.
prev | chapter five (5.8k) | next
From outside the room, frantic footsteps rush up to your door, but they stop at the threshold. You hear Hoseok’s hand grasp onto the doorknob. It doesn’t move.
Jimin’s cold red eyes hold you in place, though you have no intention of backing down, whether he lets you or not. With your forearm held up in front of his face, you keep your breathing even and your eyes set on his.
You don’t know if it’s an eternity or a millisecond that passes before Jimin’s hand snatches your wrist out of the air. His grip is strong; enough to keep you stuck if you wanted to escape, but you don’t flinch. Or, at least, you try not to. Maybe something flashes in your eyes, because Jimin’s expression shifts as he pulls your arm so your pulse point is just under his nose, your palm mere centimetres from his cheek.
“You humans...” he hisses lowly, his eyes half-lidded as he now takes in your scent. This isn’t like Hoseok, though, with his short, quick sniffs. Jimin just breathes. “There is no in-between with you, is there? Either trembling cowards...” He meets your eyes, his red irises seeming more and more unnatural under the light. “...or sick freaks like you -- obsessed with death.”
You frown, but his grip tightens. You can feel your tendons and veins shifting under your skin, protesting the intense squeeze of Jimin’s hand. Already, you know your arm will be sore come next morning.
“Jimin--”
“You’re just like him, you know that?” Jimin whispers, closing his eyes. He breathes in your scent, his plush lips grazing the skin of your wrist in a way that sends a small shiver up your arm and down your spine.
You watch in silence as his jaw stretches wide. His teeth -- his fangs make their appearance once again, and you can only stare as they find your skin in the lightest of touches.
But the bite never comes.
His teeth don’t sink into your flesh, and venom doesn’t flood your veins like he threatened. Instead, he breathes a sigh through his wide open mouth, hot air blowing against your skin. Jimin pulls back his head with a scowl and tosses your arm away like it disgusts him. Bringing up a knee in front of his chest, he rests his arm on it and presses his forehead to his hand, eyes closed.
“How did you know?” he asks, voice lowered and full of an emotion you can’t quite read yet. It sounds a lot like defeat.
Rubbing your other hand over your -- no doubt bruising -- wrist, you sit back on your legs right in front of him.
You don’t want to tell him your most prevalent thought -- the idea that you can’t bring yourself to believe those in charge of making and developing hybrids would give them a veritable weapon such as venom, which would easily allow snake hybrids to overpower any human. It’s why dog hybrids don’t actually have canines that can tear through raw flesh; why cat hybrids don’t have real claws.
“You know those things you learn as a kid?” you say instead, and your strange half-answer seems to perk his attention. His head raises just slightly. “Those useless facts you remember because you think you’ll need them in the future, even though you probably never will? Like how to get out of quicksand. Don’t panic, just lay backwards and let yourself float to the top.”
Jimin looks at you, his eyebrows quirked in confusion and the corners of his lips turned down.
You push your lips up into an awkward smile and shrug. Maybe now isn’t the best time to get sidetracked and ramble. “There’s that rhyme. ‘Red touching black, safe for Jack. Red touching yellow, kill a fellow.’”
Jimin groans. Back falling to the floor, he stretches his legs out and brings both hands up to his face. Now further away from him, near his feet, you scoot up so you can sort of see his face, still keeping your distance in case he doesn’t want you any closer.
“Your scales...” With his coat now shed, you can clearly see the pattern of scales spanning over half his neck. “You’re a scarlet kingsnake hybrid, right?”
Another groan rumbles from Jimin’s throat. “A rhyme. You knew because of a fucking rhyme.”
Solemnly, you nod. “Sorry... If you don’t mind me asking--”
“I do mind.”
Jimin doesn’t remove the hands over his face when he cuts you off, and you shut your mouth, nodding again even though you know he can’t see it. Though, now with your questions effectively cockblocked, you have nothing to fill the thick silence that has flooded your bedroom. You just watch Jimin -- the way his lips hardly move from his permanent frown, the way his chest rises and falls slower and slower the longer this silence stretches on. It’s almost enough to make you give up on trying to get through to him, but then Jimin seems to get sick of the silence a beat quicker than you do.
“Fine.” One of his hands falls down to his side, the other still covering the upper half of his face. “What?”
Surprised but not deterred, you school your expression before you ask, “Why do you want people to think you’re venomous?”
When he doesn’t say anything for a good few seconds, you continue.
“Why do you want to scare people away?”
Tense silence follows once again; you’re starting to think you might choke on it soon. You open your mouth to tell him he doesn’t have to answer, but you don’t get the chance.
“It doesn’t fucking matter anymore, does it?” Jimin breathes, chest shuddering. “The one person... the one person who needed to believe it...”
As he trails off, you face scrunches in confusion. You have no idea what he means, but you don’t want to push him, either. Jimin mumbles something under his breath, inhales deeply, and exhales through his mouth. It doesn’t take a genius to tell he’s holding back tears.
You sit there for a few seconds, eyes awkwardly skirting over your room even though it’s all stuff you’ve seen a hundred times before.
“Shit!” Jimin jolts up, his back hunched as his legs curl up slightly, both hands moving to his face.
“Jimin?” All your previous thoughts of giving him space drop down a rung on your ladder of priorities at his pained grimace. You kneel next to him. “What’s--”
When you remove the hands from his face to inspect what’s wrong, a tearful, brown eye greets you. The other is squeezed shut in discomfort, but that isn’t what drops your jaw. Brown eyes...?
In one of Jimin’s palms, a bent, red-ringed contact sticks to his skin.
“...You wear coloured contacts?”
“No...” Jimin’s bottom lip trembles. His other eye opens, still poppy red -- though, you realize now, unnaturally so. “I’m... I’m special...”
Your heart shatters in your ribcage. “Jimin...”
He avoids your eyes, looking down to his lap. Like this, he seems ashamed, and you’re at a loss for what to do or say. What can be said in a situation like this? You barely know Jimin; you don’t have context; you don’t know if what you say will make him feel better or worse. What he said earlier still confuses you. You’re just like him. Like whom?
“Jimin, I--” Your eyes flit to the contact on his palm again. “Wait, how long have you had these in?”
He shakes his head slowly, not looking up. “A couple days...”
“Oh my god, dude!” You gasp, your hands instinctively tightening around his. “Take it out!”
“No!” He tries to push you away and hide his face at the same time, which doesn’t do much for either attempt, and without thinking, you swing one leg over his hips to lock yourself to him. The top of Jimin’s head bumps into your chest. He makes a sound of complaint, but you aren’t having it.
“You’re gonna damage your-- eyes--” You grunt as you struggle to keep his hands from pushing you off.
Jimin tucks his chin close to his chest, keeping you from looking at his face while his arms flail in your hold. “I don’t care! I’m special! I’m... I’m...”
His voice breaks, and in that moment of hesitation, you accidentally push him backwards, his back hitting the floor. Jimin looks up at you with teary eyes, one red and one deep brown. A single sob breaks past his lips.
“Jimin, you have very pretty brown eyes. Now take out that contact and join us for dinner.”
=
After awkwardly getting up off Jimin and leaving him to take the contact out -- trusting the garbled promise he responded with -- you open your bedroom door to a very irritated-looking Hoseok.
“You’re insane,” is all he says.
You shrug cartoonishly, bringing up both hands to flutter your fingers under your chin with a wink. “And I look good while I’m at it.”
Reheating dinner isn’t much of an affair, but you notice that as soon as Jimin walks in and sits at the dinner table, Hoseok stands up from it to come over and ‘lend you a hand’. You don’t bring it up.
Jimin seems shy now, taking different scoops of food in small intervals even though you can tell how hungry he is by the way he hardly chews before swallowing. You try to encourage him to have as much as he wants, but he avoids your eyes as much as humanly possible. Hoseok glares at him from across the table every time he practically ignores you, but you nudge Hoseok’s side with your elbow when he does.
“Don’t be impolite,” you hiss under your breath.
Hoseok directs his glare at you. “You want me to not be impolite?”
Knowing Hoseok heard everything that went on in your room, you nudge him again. He should know just as well the kind of shit Jimin’s had to go through -- even if you don’t have all the context.
Jimin’s eyes flick up at the short interaction, and you clear your throat, looking away from Hoseok.
“Hey, how old are you?”
Caught in a spotlight he wasn’t expecting, Jimin gulps down his bite of food and stares back at you with wide eyes. You’re still getting used to that dark brown.
“...Twenty-five.”
“Oh, we’re the same age then.” You nod along with your train of thought, smiling across the table at Jimin. “We’re basically friends already.” At that, though, you turn to Hoseok again with a frown, realizing you never asked how old he is. “What about you?”
As if also realizing the same thing you just did, Hoseok furrows his brows. “Twenty-six.”
Your brain takes his answer, tries to file it under ‘Things I Know About Hoseok’, and instead throws it in a trashfire. You blink slowly. “Say that one more time.”
“Twenty-six.” Hoseok lowers his spoon. “Are you feeling dizzy again?”
Hesitantly, you bring one of your hands up to the back of your head, where the bruised scalp is still tender from when it hit the cold hard floor of the motel lobby. The pain when your fingers put a bit of pressure against your skull isn’t sharp enough to make you react, just dull and unmistakably present. “I don’t think so...”
Hoseok sighs, but he doesn’t say anything else about it, turning back to his food. Across the table, Jimin watches the way you rub your temples.
“Did you hit your head?” he asks.
“Yep.”
“How?”
Lowering your hands, you sneak a glance at Hoseok, who, although he hasn’t looked up from his dinner, sports a grimace. “Uh, I just fell.” You send a smile towards Jimin. “I’m a bit of a klutz.”
His lips form into a natural half-pout, and your eyes stick on them for a few seconds more than necessary. “Are you gonna be okay?”
Beaming at his concern, you bring up both your hands in A-okay gestures. “Golden like a goose. Thanks for asking, Jimin. Can I ask you something?”
Even though he looks nervous, Jimin nods.
“Do you think a snake is all body or all tail?”
Jimin blinks, completely at a loss from your random question. You wait patiently for his answer, though.
Hoseok inserts himself into the conversation with, “All tail,” just when Jimin decides, “All body.”
They both dart their eyes at each other, Hoseok’s gaze a touch harder, but you choose to ignore that as you nod enthusiastically at Jimin.
“I thought so too! I talked about it with Luc one day, and they called me crazy--” You scoff playfully. “--but they can’t say shit now that you’ve got my back.”
For the first time, you’re pretty sure you see a genuine smile on Jimin’s face. It’s small and faint, but the warmth of it feels real, and you let that fuel you. The rest of dinner isn’t anything close to chock-full of conversation, but it’s not too awkward after that, especially when Hoseok tries to back himself up on the ‘all tail’ idea, and it turns into a friendly debate you and Jimin end up winning.
Jimin doesn’t help clear the table, just sitting in his spot and watching you and Hoseok move around the small kitchen. You don’t think it’s because he’s rude; you think he might just feel like too much of an outsider to join in. From the sink, you look over at him. His eyes are roaming your apartment, finally taking it in for the first time.
“You wanna take a shower?”
Jimin’s head whips towards you, and his eyes widen. “Really?”
“Yeah.” You shrug, hoping to seem casual and calm. As much as you think Jimin has warmed up to you, (not a lot, but you’re moving in the right direction,) you don’t want to accidentally set him off. “I bought a pyjama set for Hoseok at the store today. You can change into that afterwards.”
While Jimin prepares for his shower, you turn back to the sink and its seemingly endless supply of dirty dishes. Having only ever really prepared meals for yourself over the last couple years, you aren’t used to this much upkeep. Oh well. You have a feeling your life is going to have a lot of changes a lot bigger than this soon enough.
Hoseok silently takes dishes from the rack and dries them, putting them back in their places around the kitchen, which takes a bit longer than it would for you since he’s still new to the space. It’s an uncomfortable silence, not like the ones you’ve shared with him before, so you speak up.
“Okay, why are we all grumbly now?”
Finally looking at you after avoiding your eyes ever since Jimin left the room, Hoseok shakes his head and skirts his eyes away again. “Don’t know what you mean.”
“We may have just met, Hoseok, but I can tell when people are in a bad mood.” You pat your hands dry on your pants and put one on your hip. “So c’mon. Tell me what’s wrong, and we’ll fix it.”
“Nothing’s wrong.”
You sigh. Trying not to seem upset -- you’re not, but you have a tendency to get read wrong -- you stop yourself from crossing your arms. “Hoseok, the last thing I want is to tell you what to do, but from what I can see, we’re going to be tackling forever together. I’d hope at some point we’d figure out how to talk to each other.”
Hoseok meets your gaze, his hands pausing around a plate. “‘Tackling forever’?”
“Well.” You tilt your head, thinking for a moment. “If you’ll have me, I think we’re going to be working and living together for a long time. This motel thing seems like a huge task... but I’m not the type to quit that easily.” You click your tongue. “Getting fired is another story, but you wouldn’t fire me, right?” Even as you flash a joking smile at him, Hoseok doesn’t move a muscle. For a second, you think you’ve said something wrong, but as you comb through your words in your mind, he speaks, his voice barely above a whisper.
“You mean it?”
Blanking, you ask, “Which part?”
“You’re gonna keep me forever?”
The earlier boy-ish and disgruntled look that was on his face is completely gone now. Hoseok just looks at you, the plate in his hands long dry, and you can see in his eyes that this question isn’t one he’s asked easily. Still, you can’t stop the slight downturn at the corners of your lips. You can tell he notices, something rippling and fading behind his eyes, so you’re quick to respond.
“’Keep’ is a weird word for it, but I’m gonna do my best to take care of us, yeah?” You put one of your hands on his bicep, just above his elbow. “For as long as I can.”
Hoseok brings the hand from his opposite side up to graze over yours, his thumb sneaking under your palm and squeezing gently. He smiles at you, his eyes flitting from your face to the floor, bashful. You smile back.
“Um.”
You both turn to the entrance of the hallway from the main room, where Jimin is half hidden behind the corner, which is strange considering you can hear the shower running. He’s wrapped in nothing but a towel, and thankfully a large one at that, because he’s got it draped cutely around his shoulders like a kid jumped fresh from a pool. It barely reaches past his butt. Your hand relaxes, and it would fall from Hoseok’s arm if he didn’t hold on to it, but he does.
“Jimin? Is something wrong with the shower?”
He’s completely dry, so it doesn’t make too much sense when he shakes his head. “No, I just... um. I wanted to ask...”
Noticing the way Hoseok just glares at him, you try to tap your thumb reassuringly against his bicep while you keep your eyes on Jimin. “Wanted to ask what?”
“It’s stupid.” Jimin shrinks back behind the corner. “Nevermind--”
“No, hey, it’s not stupid,” you tell him, silently relieved when you see him pause and meet your eyes. “What is it?”
“Would you...” Jimin breaks eyes contact again, then takes a deep breath and looks up. “...wash my hair?”
Hoseok growls, and his hand over yours tightens. You give him a stern look, lightly smacking his arm with a whispered, “Calm down.” You turn to Jimin and point at yourself. “You want me to wash your hair?”
Jimin hurriedly shakes his head. “You don’t have to. It’s just that she used to...”
As he trails off, you frown. Some deep part of you, despite having never had to take care of anyone but yourself, feels some sort of instinct to protect Jimin at all costs. It crawls up your throat and makes you say, “Alright.”
Hoseok gives you another one of his looks of disbelief, (you’ve been collecting quite a few of those today,) but you just smile at him as you take your hand from his grip. “Relax.” You walk over towards the hallway, past Jimin, and point at the bathroom door. “C’mon, let’s do this before I overrun the water bill.”
You’re trying to figure out how you’re going to manage washing Jimin’s hair without getting yourself completely soaked when Hoseok appears in the doorway and leans against the frame, his arms crossed. He avoids your eyes when you smirk at him, clearing his throat in feigned nonchalance.
“Okay, I think if you just sit in the tub with your back facing me, we can do it that way,” you figure out. Jimin looks at you nervously, his hands gripping tighter at the towel around his shoulders. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep my eyes north of the equator.”
You miss the way Jimin’s shaky eyes dart over to Hoseok, who nods towards the tub with a look that dares him to try anything shady.
With a bit of space between Jimin’s back and the edge of the tub, you manage to perch yourself behind him and grab the shower head with one hand, testing the water temperature first before running it gently over his shoulders. You watch as the muscles tensed under his skin relax with the flow of warm water. It’s not a stretch to call it strange, at least not to you, how, when you move the water across his back, it gently bounces off his scales rather than the way it falls simply over his human skin. A thin mist slowly dampens your legs, perched on the edge of the bathtub. The scales are different, of course, from anything you’ve experienced before, but they don’t bother you. If anything, you find a growing concern in the way his skin turns red and irritated where it meets with his scales. Patches of it run not only over his neck and upper back, but down his arms as well. Seeing it all now, you can discern the pattern much better. Black, red, black, yellow. Down his arms, though, the skin touching the scales is even more irritated, red and bumpy, and in some places, there are still fresh scratch marks. “Tilt your head back a little,” you say softly, not wanting to cut through the serene mood that’s taken over the bathroom -- bar Hoseok, whom you’re selectively choosing to ignore. You’ll address Jimin’s scales and irritated skin another time. Jimin does as he’s told, and you see that his eyes are closed. They’re not scrunched shut in fear or anger, but lying shut as if he were sleeping. You feel a swell of satisfaction in your chest, taking it as a sign that he at least trusts you to the extent of not pouring soap in his eyes. Raising the shower head, you aim the water to fall just at his hairline, wetting his hair for a little bit before you cut the water and hang the shower head back on the wall. Without the sound of the shower, the silence is a bit awkward, but you choose to pay it no attention. “I don’t have scent-free shampoo,” you say as you reach for the bottle. “I hope that’s alright.” As you squeeze some shampoo in your palm, Jimin nods silently, his eyes still shut. You smile. “I’m going to start, okay?”
As soon as your soaped-up fingers touch his scalp, Jimin lets out a long breath through his nose, his shoulders falling from where they’d tensed up in the seconds before. You take that as a good sign and begin to run your fingers through his oily hair, careful not to pull on any knots. “Is this good?”
Jimin hums in response, and you let yourself chuckle quietly at the way he seems lost in your touch. Maybe you should’ve gone into cosmetology. Grabbing the shower head again, you turn the water on and point it towards the drain, waiting for the hot water to come back. “You cool if I rinse you and go for a second round? No offence, but I think you and your hair could use it.”
“Please,” Jimin doesn’t hesitate to whisper.
You turn your head at the sound of Hoseok clicking his tongue, but he’s not looking in your direction when you do.
After you rinse the shampoo from Jimin’s hair, you squirt another palmful into your hand and once again dig your fingers into his scalp. He practically moans this time, and you smile at the way he tries to press his lips together to stop the sound. You don’t comment on it though. It’s fine to let him believe you didn’t hear it if he’s going to be embarrassed.
A few minutes pass where you get lost in the motions, but when you blink yourself back into the present, you notice the slight tremors in Jimin’s shoulders; the shaky way his breath leaves him. He sniffles.
Mouth gaping, you look up at Hoseok, who’s noticed the same thing. He looks almost as worried as you suddenly feel, his brows furrowed slightly.
“...Jimin?” you ask hesitantly. “What’s wrong?”
He sniffles again, shaking his head under your fingers. “Sorry.”
“Don’t apologize.” You try to rub your thumbs soothingly on the back of his head. “Do you wanna talk about it?”
You have no plans on forcing him to talk, especially when he shakes his head again, but before you can assure him it’s okay not to tell you anything, he speaks.
“She used to always wash my hair.”
Blinking, you pause the movements of your hands. You don’t know what to say, but thankfully, Hoseok finally speaks up.
“Who?”
Jimin leans his head back into your touch, so you return to your initial task, hoping he doesn’t notice the concerned look on your face. “Rayoung. My owner.”
You grimace at his words. They bring you back to that first time meeting Hoseok in the motel, when he talked about Mr. Jung in the present tense. If Jimin’s been on the streets for a year...
“Was she nice?” you ask instead of losing yourself in your thoughts. Hoseok’s eyes widen at you, and he jerks his focus to see how Jimin reacts to your question.
Jimin takes a breath, his eyes still closed. The slightest of smiles appears on his lips. “She’s the best.”
Hoseok frowns, obviously expecting a different answer. He readjusts himself on the doorframe, his arms crossing tighter in front of his chest. “Then what are you doing here?”
“Hoseok,” you scold gently, flicking a wet, soapy hand against his jean-clad shin. Hoseok ignores that completely, his hard gaze on Jimin, who’s opened his eyes to meet Hoseok’s. The tears are gone, replaced with a fire.
“Her stupid boyfriend found out I’m not actually venomous,” he spits at Hoseok. “He’s the reason she left me.” As if starting makes him unable to stop, Jimin continues. “Rayoung kept me for years. Years. And she never found out. Then this fucking sicko comes along, stealing all her time, telling her all this bullshit...” Jimin tucks his legs close to his chest, wrapping his arms around himself and propping his chin on one of his knees. His eyes shut again. “He brought this... this mouse. Wanted to watch me kill it with my venom. Something about the fucking soul in its eyes or whatever the fuck.”
Your hands have long left his hair by now, hanging awkwardly over the tub to not drip soap on the floor. You have no idea what to say -- if you should say anything.
“And when I couldn’t...”
Jimin doesn’t finish his sentence, and it’s clear that he isn’t going to. You readjust your legs on the edge of the bathtub, suddenly aware of the tingling under your skin, the lack of blood able to flow through your veins as you’ve sat in the same spot for too long. About to say something, you stop when Hoseok appears next to you and puts his hand on Jimin’s shoulder. Jimin opens his eyes and bends his head back, looking up at Hoseok as he gives Jimin nothing but a grim, knowing smile.
Watching from the sideline like this isn’t necessarily unexpected. Hoseok and Jimin, though they met at the same time you did, are connected to each other in a way you will probably never understand. At least not enough. Still, something in you jerks with a sharp pang, jealous, almost, that you can’t console Jimin in the simple way Hoseok can. You shake away the feeling.
As Hoseok steps back, his smile still present, you breathe normally and pick up the shower head once more.
“Let’s get you rinsed up, hey?”
=
Grabbing your extra throw blankets from your closet, which are usually stowed away until winter becomes colder, you try to make your way to the living room on muscle memory alone, your vision blocked by the huge pile of fluff in your arms. Before you can make it, the bathroom door opens, and you bump softly into what you have to assume is Jimin. “Ope! Sorry.”
Jimin says nothing, so you just scoot around him, shooting him a little smile once he shows up in your line of sight. He’s dressed in the new pyjama set you left in the bathroom when you and Hoseok left Jimin to carry on with the rest of his shower -- no doubt a cold one after all that hot water was used up. The pants are a little too long on him, the hems tucked under his heels, but they look quite cute like that. His eyes roam over you and the big pile of blankets you’re hugging to your chest. “...Where are you going?”
“Guests take the bed,” Hoseok’s voice says from somewhere behind the blankets blocking your vision. You see Jimin turn to where Hoseok must be standing. “Don’t bother trying to argue.” The weight in your arms lightens, and you let out a little confused hum as Hoseok takes the blankets from you. He holds them more at his side than in front of him, so he can see both you and Jimin, whom he smiles at. “You get used to her.”
You roll your eyes. “Like you have room to talk about ‘not arguing’, Hoseok.”
His smile turning shy, Hoseok just averts his eyes and turns around to head into the living room with the blankets. You return your eyes to Jimin, who watches Hoseok go, and you wrap your arms around yourself, your hands resting comfortably on your elbows. “Seriously, though, feel free to head to bed. You deserve a good night’s rest.”
“I had a nap--” Jimin stifles a yawn behind his hand. “--earlier.”
You chuckle. “Yeah, I can see you’re super up and alert.” Stepping up to him, you gently place your hand on his lower back, barely touching him. You guide him back into your bedroom, and he follows without an ounce of resistance, too tired to do anything but shuffle over the hardwood flooring. As you lay him down on your bed, you pull the comforter up to his chin, smiling softly at the way his eyes drift shut. He blinks several times, trying to stay conscious, but he's succumbing all too easily to the warmth of the blanket draped over him. Now that his hair is clean and dry, it's fluffy to the touch as you brush some stray strands out of his eyes.
There's still so much you don't know when it comes to him. Why did his old owner think he was venomous? Why did he feel like she needed to? Why did he lie in the first place? You have a feeling you'll always have more you don't know about him than things you do.
"Goodnight, Jimin."
He falls asleep before he can even respond.
Returning to the living room, you find Hoseok lying on the floor in front of the couch, one of the blankets folded beneath him and a throw pillow tucked under his head. You stand near his feet and put your hands on your hips, a light chuckle leaving your lips. Your leg stretches out, and you poke your toe into the sole of Hoseok's foot. His eyes open just as you say, "What're you doing down there?"
Hoseok just smiles and closes his eyes again, wiggling his shoulders in tandem as his arms rise up so he can link his fingers together under his head. "I'm not your newest guest anymore since Jimin is here now."
"You're still a guest," you say. "And I don't make guests sleep on the floor."
A huff leaves Hoseok's nose. "You're not sleeping on the floor. You're still injured."
"I wasn't thinking that, either." You roll your eyes and step over him to sit on the couch, pulling a throw pillow into your lap.
One of Hoseok's eyes peeks open, and he looks over at you with a slight frown. "What were you thinking then?"
You pat the cushion next to you. "Splitsies? Well, as long as you don't mind sleeping sitting up. But at least it's not the cold hard floor, right?" With a teasing smile, you use one hand to take the pillow off your lap, then hold both your arms open. "Unless, of course, you wanna cuddle?"
Fully expecting Hoseok to laugh at your joke and argue further for his case to sleep on the floor, you pull your head back when Hoseok clambers up and over you, his hand bracing himself on the back of the couch.
"Oh--"
Hoseok wraps his arms around your torso and, to put it lightly, manhandles you until you're on your back. "Oh. Okay. This is happening I guess." You stare at the ceiling all of a sudden when seconds ago you were sitting normally. Hoseok lies on his side, tucked snug between you and the couch, with his back to the back cushions. His cheek lies just below your collarbone, the tip of his nose brushing against your neck. "Okay."
Hoseok breathes in a deep breath, sighing out on your neck. You shiver at the feeling as he wraps the arm that's already over your middle even tighter. Pulling out your arm from under him, you gently pat his back, weirdly reminded of when you'd see moms trying to lull restless babies to sleep.
"A cuddler, are you?"
Hoseok's face is out of sight, but he shifts slightly in your hold. "...Maybe."
You can't help the tiny snort that comes out. "Cute. You know, you never answered my question earlier."
"Which question?"
"What got you so grumbly after dinner?" you ask again. "Was it something I said?"
A few seconds of silence follow, and you wonder if maybe Hoseok's fallen asleep, but then he tucks his face further into your neck and whispers against your skin, "...You gave him my new pyjamas."
The laugh that escapes you is twice as loud as his confession. You feel him bristle at the sound. "If I remember correctly, you were insisting I didn't need to buy you any clothes, and you only stopped when I pushed them through the scanner anyway."
"Yeah, well." Hoseok shrugs awkwardly. "They were still mine."
You pat his back some more. "Okay, okay, my big bad wolf."
"Not a wolf."
"I'll buy you a new set next time, alright?"
Hoseok shakes his head and mumbles, "You don't have to spend money on me."
"What if I want to?"
A pause.
"Go to sleep."
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💜💜💜
Loving You isn't Hard to Learn 06
genres: hybrid, romance, found family, slow burn(ish) series rating: mature (mentions of/references to death and abuse. eventual smut) chapter warnings (may contain spoilers): mentions of death. accusations of drugging/roofie-ing. descriptions of injury to the face. the reader character cooks meat; if you don't eat meat, please think of it as them just cooking it for other people. relationship(s): ot7 x female reader
In the middle of what many would call nowhere, a sign glows bright yellow. Old, unmaintained, and on its last legs, the letter e flickers for a few seconds before going dark. H aven’s Door Motel, it now reads.
prev | chapter six (12.0k) | next
The floor is cold when you wake up on it, though not as cold as it could be, so you must've been sleeping on the floor for at least a couple hours. As you sit up, you try to get on your knees, but find your legs tangled up in half of a throw blanket. You grumble, touching one hand to the side of your head, where you had to have laid directly on the floor rather than the throw pillow you can see pushed under the coffee table. Okay, you're definitely not telling Hoseok your head kind of hurts. He's already enough of a worrywart. Speaking of...
Looking up at the couch, you see Hoseok's sleeping face smushed against the cushion, his hair ruffled all over and his mouth slightly open. Upon closer inspection, a small wet spot of drool has grown on the couch cushion directly under his mouth. You grimace at that but quickly shake the split second of disgust away. It's just saliva; it'll wash out just fine.
You untangle yourself from the blanket, and when you stand up, you drape it over Hoseok's sleeping form as quietly as you can. Yawning, you head to the kitchen, first filling your kettle and turning it on, then moving to the other side of the counter and unplugging your phone from the wall. As the screen flicks on, you see a missed call from Lee Minhyuk from only a few minutes ago, and a text from him that followed soon after.
It seems I forgot to leave one last thing to you. I found it in our storage this morning. I'll be in my office all day if you'd like to come and pick it up. Otherwise, please let me know by phone call.
As professional as always, this guy. Glancing over at the microwave, you take note that it's only 8:56AM, which isn't that early for someone like him, but still. Lee Minhyuk is punctual, you'll give him that. Well, you suppose if you head out soon, you could get back before ten, depending on what it is Minhyuk forgot to give you. Some paperwork, maybe. He did say before that Mr. Jung had liquidated everything he owned other than the motel... You wonder what it could be.
Not wanting to wake your two house guests up, you stop the kettle before it can beep to signal that it's boiled and pour the hot water over a tea bag in a to-go mug to let it steep while you get changed. You sneak on tip-toes back to your room, and you move your hand as deftly as possible on your bedroom doorknob, focusing on your feet as you step in and close the door behind you. Bee-lining to your dresser, you tug off your pyjamas and pull on some fresh clothes as quietly as you can.
But when you turn around, Jimin is sitting up in your bed and looking at you with a frown.
"Oh my gosh!" You jump and pat a hand over your heart, taking a sharp breath in at the sudden sight of him. He barely reacts, just raising one of his eyebrows at you, his bottom half still snug under the comforter. "How long were you just sitting there?"
Eyes still half closed, Jimin says, "Long enough."
"Oh. Well..." Embarrassment trickles along your veins knowing he watched you trying to quietly sneak in. He looks too tired and uninterested to care about the fact that you changed right in front of him, though. There goes your confidence in your own sex appeal. "...Did you sleep okay?"
"It was fine." His words come out short and curt, and you can't quite pinpoint why, but you get a weird feeling as you try not to narrow your eyes. He flips the covers off himself and swings his legs over the edge of the bed, using his hands at his sides to push himself off and stand. His eyes dart around your room. "Where are my clothes?"
You blink. "Oh. They're in a hamper in the bathroom. I was planning on putting them through the wash and then making something to eat." Of course, stopping by Lee Minhyuk's office threw a tiny wrench in those plans, but still, you weren't expecting this from Jimin as soon as he woke up. Whatever this is.
Just as he tries to exit your bedroom, you move to stand between him and the door, your hand held up. Jimin stops himself before either of you touch, and he frowns slightly when you go, "Whoa, hold on. What's the hurry?"
"I have to go back."
"Go back?" you echo, confusion tinged in your voice, but Jimin doesn't bother. He gently puts a hand on your wrist and moves you out of the way, which you let him do all too easily in your stupor. Go back? To the streets? Blinking and shaking yourself out of it, you turn to follow him into the bathroom, where you watch him find his dirty clothes at the top of the pile in the hamper. "What do you mean?"
Jimin doesn't look at you as he focuses on unbuttoning his pyjama top. "She's looking for me."
Sputtering, you completely miss the fact that Jimin is taking off his clothes right in front of you. "Rayoung?"
Even though he doesn't answer you, the determined look in his eyes tells you you're right. He slips on his old clothes and pushes past you again.
"She is?" You struggle to follow both him and his words, stepping into the main living space after him. "How do you know--"
Jimin whips around, and you almost bump into him, but your feet screech to a halt directly in front of him. He glares at you with those piercing brown eyes. "She loves me," he says.
Your mouth opens and closes like those dogs in kids movies they'd feed peanut butter to so it'd look like they were talking. You can't say what you think, no, that would be too harsh. You can't just say outright that someone who loves him wouldn't leave him to live miserably like he did. But, what can you say? You don't want him to go back to where he was, even if what he thinks of Rayoung is true... not when you have something within likeness of a solution so close to falling in your grasp. You were planning on going to the motel this evening with Hoseok -- and, ideally, Jimin -- to scope out the building better and finally figure out what the hell you're doing.
"Jimin..." You hold yourself back from reaching out to him, knowing that your touch might be the last thing he wants. "At least eat something..."
"I'm not hungry," he tells you, and with the conviction he puts behind the words, you almost believe him.
"C'mon, at least a bite--"
"No!"
Jimin's sudden volume startles you, and your eyes go wide as he pushes both hands against you, causing you both to stumble back a step. You stare at your feet for half a second before looking back up at him, a breath of a laugh tainted with disbelief puffing past your lips. "What--"
"Don't come any closer!" He wraps his arms around his chest and scrunches his eyes shut. "I don't know what was in that fucking tea, but you can't keep me here." His back turns to you. "Rayoung was right. I can't trust anyone."
Completely thrown off, you straighten up slowly, his words settling in your brain. "...Excuse me?"
Jimin says no more, simply standing there in the foyer with his back turned, shielding himself from... you.
Roused from his deep slumber, Hoseok appears next to you. His hair is tousled and pressed flat against the side of his head that he slept on, but the sight isn't as endearing as it would be if you weren't so baffled by what Jimin just said. Taking one step in front of you, Hoseok puts a hand on your arm before you've even realized you went to get closer to Jimin, one hand up and pointed at him.
"You--" Hoseok's firm grip on your arm stops you from getting far, and as he pulls you partway behind him and your shoulder bumps into his back, you lower your voice to a whisper. "You think I drugged you?"
With his head down low, Jimin still refuses to respond. His entire body trembles, fear coursing through him like rapids under his skin. Even you can see it.
But something fogs over your rationality.
"Are you serious right now? I didn't-- I would never--" You try to take a deep breath, but it gets stuck in your throat and only serves to fuel this ugly feeling inside your chest. "You're delusional."
Hoseok hushes out your name, a warning of sorts, or maybe something closer to a plea. You don't hear it past the ringing in your ears.
"And it's not because of anything in my fucking tea," you continue. "No, you know why you're delusional?"
Hesitantly, Jimin turns around half-way, his frowning profile causing that awful roiling in you to flare up.
"Because even though you've been living on the streets for months, starved enough to root through restaurant trash bins, abandoned by the very person who supposedly loves you--" Something flashes across Jimin's eyes, but you have no grasp of what it is. "--you still think she's coming back for you."
No one says anything for a second -- too long, and Hoseok's hand slides down your arm and gently wraps around your wrist. You tug it out of his grasp with a sharp inhale. "So let's just go," you say, walking to where you keep your car keys. The jingle-jangle as you pick up your keys is the only sound in the apartment aside from your footsteps. "I'll take you right now. Near Antonio's, right? She left you around there and that's where you think she'll go looking for you?"
Hoseok softly calls your name again, but you don't hear him. Jimin only follows you with angry eyes.
"I was on my way out anyway," you continue. With your hand already on the doorknob, you slip on your shoes. "So yeah, I have no problem with dropping you off on your own with nowhere to go." You pull the door towards you and step out, eyes still on your feet. "Where you have no sure way of getting food."
Jimin doesn't look at you as he puts on his shoes.
"Where Hybrid Services already know your face--"
Your words choke to a stop when you look down the hall towards the elevators. That damned fluorescent yellow armband you had no business caring about a couple days ago -- two of them -- appear in your sight just a few metres away, directly in front of the apartment-next-door's open entrance, where your neighbour to the right, Anne-Marie, is talking to the two officers.
Without uttering another sound, you push Jimin back inside your apartment as quickly and overtly as you can. Unfortunately, this means you achieve that by shoving your hand in Jimin's face, but your head isn't exactly in the right place to think about hiding-someone-away etiquette.
"Wha--?! Stop--!"
"Shh!" You make frantic eye contact with Hoseok while Jimin glares daggers at you. At this point, you know you can't just go back inside yourself; both the officers and your neighbour have probably seen you already. You keep your voice as quiet as you can, hoping the boys can still hear you with their weird hybrid powers. "Both of you, not a peep. Got it?"
You don't wait for either of them to answer before you grab the doorknob and swing the door shut in their faces. As soon as you look back down the hall, both officers, a man and a woman, and Anne-Marie are looking at you.
"Good morning," you greet with a slight bow, completely unsure of what to do or say next.
Would asking some sort of question be suspicious? Or would trying to walk by and ignoring them be even worse?
Either way, you have to get to the elevator...
Before you have to decide, (or maybe after you already should've, considering the awkward silence,) Anne-Marie waves you over with a slight frown. "Leaving so early today?"
"Ah..." You nod at her with a strained smile as you walk up to her and the officers, making sure to smile and nod at them too in that weird, you're not really part of this conversation but you're standing here so I'll try to include you sort of way. "Yes, I have some errands to run this morning."
Anne-Marie doesn't question you, thank goodness, and just gestures towards the officers. "Well you should hear them out before you go," she says. "Apparently there's a feral hybrid on the loose."
"Feral hybrid?"
You don't have to fake the initial look of concern that appears on your face, but the way you deepen your frown at the flyer one of the officers hands you is definitely for show.
"Yes," he confirms, face stiff and almost bored from repeating the words so many times to all the residents in the building already. "He ran away from a hybrid clinic in the city and was last spotted in this neighbourhood."
Anne-Marie nods along as he speaks and shakes her head when he points out the area the hybrid was spotted last night on a small map included in the flyer. "So close to home..." she mutters, which he ignores.
Continuing after him, the female officer speaks up. "We're doing rounds to make sure everyone living in the area is aware of the risks of a feral hybrid, as well as inform everyone of the proper procedure."
"Which is...?"
"Do not approach," the man tells you as your eyes finally focus in on the two pictures of the feral hybrid, one from the front and another of his profile. In both photos, he's smiling, eyes bright. "It's dangerous for regular citizens to attempt to capture feral hybrids. Leave it to the professionals and call Hybrid Services upon encounter."
He doesn't look so dangerous.
His smile is wide and almost boyish, like someone told him he was posing for a photo op rather than the strange hybrid-version of a mug shot it actually is. He holds up his name placard like it's an award he's proud of. "V," it reads, then a bunch of numbers underneath. His animal ears are perked straight up, and you can't tell what kind of ears they are in the grainy black-and-white pictures, not to mention how small they look compared to Hoseok's. Still, the deepness of his smile, the happiness in his eyes and the scrunch of his nose -- you're not scared at all.
You don't say any of that, though.
"I'll keep an eye out, thank you," you say with a polite smile. "What kind of hybrid is he?"
The two share a look, the female officer grimacing before she turns back to you. "That's unfortunately classified information."
"What? Why? Wouldn't it help us be safer and more prepared if we know what he looks like?" You turn to make eye contact with Anne-Marie, who drinks in your words and nods with a slight frown towards the officers, a finger propped concernedly on her chin.
The man sighs. "As much as I agree with you, these pictures are the only images any of us have to go off of. Even Hybrid Services hasn't been informed of his sub-species. It's private information belonging to the clinic, and legally, we don't need to have it to apprehend the hybrid."
"I see..."
After thanking them again and giving your due goodbyes, you do your best not to turn around and watch the officers as you wait for the elevator. You step into the elevator, and as your finger finds the button for the ground floor, you peak down the hall and let out a breath of relief. The officers seem to have skipped your door because you already spoke to them.
It would probably be suspicious to re-enter your apartment so soon while they're still patrolling your floor, you think. The last thing you need right now is Hybrid Services finding a reason to look into you.
And, maybe, you need a minute to yourself. Just to breathe.
You hadn't meant to snap at Jimin like that, it just... So much doesn't make sense to you. You've barely had Hoseok around for a few days, but you feel as though your friendship is something already. Maybe not something to be proud of, exactly, but it's something.
Jimin... you've known him for even less time, if you could even call that "knowing" him at all. And yet, you felt this strange surge of protectiveness over him.
You really hope that isn't part of the saviour thing Hoseok spoke of before...
Sighing into the empty elevator, you try not to think about the fact that it probably is, and instead focus on what is right in front of you. Your car keys are still in your hand, the shape imprinted into your palm from how hard your nerves had made you grip them between your fingers while you talked to the officers.
You take the coward's route and run away.
Lee Minhyuk's office building isn't that far in terms of distance, but the traffic around it is pure hell. It gives you much too much time alone with only your thoughts. You try to drown them out with whatever is on the radio, but even that can't seem to calm the disquiet within you. The more you think about the things you said, the more regret builds in your gut. What right did you have to say those things to Jimin? Sure, you think it's a fool's dream to believe this Rayoung girl is out there searching for him, but to purposefully shut him down like that? To crush that dream just because you got offended by emotions he was completely valid in feeling? Just because he's been scarred by humans before and you happen to be one? It's not his fault that he thought you might've drugged him, it's a product of--
"Ah, you're here."
Blinking, you realize that your body went on autopilot and walked you up to Lee Minhyuk's office without you knowing, and you watch his back as he goes to sit at his desk.
"Yeah I... got your text," you say dazedly, unsure of anything else you could possibly say in the moment.
"Well, it's good that you came. I wouldn't want you to go without this." Minhyuk holds his hand out, and you step closer to his desk to let him drop whatever the thing he forgot is in your awaiting palm.
A single key stares up at you, attached by a small ring to a simple metal tag.
Silver Meadows Columbarium, it reads.
"Oh."
Moving the key to your fingers, you flip over the tag and read lot C 258 on the back. You'd never heard of Silver Meadows Columbarium before. Never needed to...
"I believe Mr Jung set up his..." Minhyuk pauses as he mulls over his word choice. "...accommodations before he passed."
You can't help but ask, "Just him? No family, or...?"
Your words trail off, both of you knowing that Mr Jung left you as his sole benefactor. If he had family, he didn't leave them anything. Not even the location of his remains.
Minhyuk shakes his head, and you frown.
"He prepared for his own death all by himself?"
Your concern is met with a small, understanding smile on Minhyuk's face. "Well, he may have done the paperwork himself, but he wasn't alone. He had you."
"But I--" You hardly knew Mr Jung.
"He brought you up more than once," Minhyuk says, making you close your mouth and blink stupidly at him. At your silence, he continues. "He came to my office a few times to sign the papers and whatnot, and he mentioned you every time. Always said you're the only one who laughs at his jokes."
"They're funny!"
Your own response jars you a bit. The last time you said that, you thought Mr Jung was alive.
Minhyuk only smiles again, softly. "He was happy you thought so."
"Did he say that?"
"Not in so many words, but I it wasn't hard to tell. Don't get too caught up in the fact that Jung didn't have blood relatives he wanted to include in his will. Evidently--" He gestures to you. "--he had a family of sorts."
Except that you weren't it. You couldn't be, right?
A seedling plants itself in the forefront of your mind.
A seedling named Hoseok.
That's must be it -- Mr Jung wanted to leave his estate to Hoseok, but couldn't figure out how to, legally. Hybrids probably can't even have bank accounts, much less accept inheritance, which is why Mr Jung defaulted to you. He trusted you to help Hoseok start up Heaven's Door as the legal owner of the land it's built on.
In his letter, he'd said it's that it's you, whatever that means.
You look down at the key in your hand, taking a deep breath in. It might not be the key to Heaven's Door Motel, but you clutch it in your fingers, and as you step out of Lee Minhyuk's office, you make a silent promise to Mr Jung.
You'll get Heaven's Door up and running.
And you'll do a damn good job of it too.
=
When you return to your apartment, you have a brown paper bag of fresh pastries in your hand and a heavy something in your chest. You tried to figure out what you want to say to the two hybrids in your place on your way home, but it's hard. You feel like all you keep doing is messing up. Now, you even ran off without a word after seeing the Hybrid Services officers, which had to have freaked Hoseok out.
You grimace as you twist the doorknob. Less than an hour ago, you'd resolved yourself to running Heaven's Door with everything you've got, but are you really the right person for the job?
When you enter, you go to call out for Hoseok, but you freeze with your mouth partially open. The guys stand ramrod straight in front of you, Hoseok with a slight smile and Jimin with a hesitant clench of his jaw, arms crossed. You gape at them for a couple seconds until Hoseok frowns at Jimin and jabs his elbow into his side.
"Ow! What the--"
"Don't you have something to say?" Hoseok prompts through his teeth, a harsh grit to the question.
Jimin huffs, his arms shifting in front of his chest, hands holding his own arms a little tighter. He meets your eyes. "I'm--"
"Wait." You hold up a hand to stop him, not missing the confusion that flashes across Hoseok's face. Something like panic reflects in Jimin's eyes when he sneaks a glance at Hoseok, but you don't acknowledge it. "Let's talk." With the hand still holding the paper bag, you gesture towards the couch. "Have a seat. Both of you."
Jimin doesn't move until Hoseok does, following silently while Hoseok watches you out of the corner of his eye as he sits down.
You set the pastries on the kitchen table before making your way to them, stopping in front of the couch and chewing over your thoughts. Jimin regards you with a half-frown, brows knitted in apparent distrust. You can't really blame him.
If your ears were better, you might've heard the slight gasp Hoseok let out when you dropped to your knees, bent down, and pressed your forehead to your hands, which are now flat on the floor. You bow in front of them, let out a breath, and raise your head once you gather your thoughts, putting your hands respectfully on your lap. "I'm sorry," you say. "I fucked up."
Hoseok's ears twitch, dipping, and he scoots forward on the cushion, about to say something, but you don't let him.
"Jimin, I want to apologize for this morning. I had no right to react the way I did." You look at Jimin, but you can't read his face. "It's not your fault if humans have hurt you enough to make you think we're all the same. People can be... horrible. I wish things were different, but... I want you to know that I will never intentionally hurt you--" Your eyes meet Hoseok's. "--either of you. I'm not going to punish you. I'm not going to force or coerce you into anything you don't want to do. I don't want to be the kind of human you're afraid of."
Hoseok shakes his head. "I'm not afraid--"
"I can't promise I won't fuck up again," you say, wincing as you realize you've spoken over him, but when he doesn't speak up again, you continue. "I honestly feel like a walking disaster with how many times I've fucked up, and it's only been a couple days. Sometimes I speak before I think, and I really need to work on that. I'm sorry."
You don't know when you started staring into your lap, but you let out a long breath, and only after that do you slowly look up at the two hybrids. They both wear blank expressions, and it makes you want to shrink back in on yourself. "I just--"
"I lied," Jimin blurts out, and you face him, eyes slightly widening.
"...Lied? About what?"
Sighing, Jimin casts a glance at Hoseok, who nods determinedly. He fidgets with his hands, looking at them rather than meeting your eyes. "I guess, technically, Rayoung isn't looking for me right now," he mumbles. "But she will. As soon as she breaks up with her stupid tool boyfriend."
"Oh." You blink at Jimin. "Well, um... You're welcome to stay with us. Until then, I mean."
Jimin's lips form into a contemplative pout, but he says nothing.
You scratch the back of your neck. Is there a good way to approach this? "We could, um... let her know somehow? That you're with us."
You eye Hoseok, who's hopefully in the same boat for you to be saying we. He wasn't exactly Jimin's biggest fan last night, weird possessiveness over pyjama sets aside. Now, though, you see that even he can tell this Rayoung girl is bad news. Still, Jimin's ties to her seem to run deep, and you know it's nowhere near simple to tell someone a person they love isn't as great as they thought.
Jimin takes a deep breath in, his shoulders scrunching up as his body tenses and relaxes. "Can I... think about it?"
"Of course!" You perk up at the idea of him even considering your offer after the way you snapped this morning, and you point at the brown paper bag on the table. "Do you want to have breakfast while you think?"
While Jimin marks a straight line to the kitchen, Hoseok holds his hand out for you before you even move to get up. You take it, and he uses his other hand to gently grasp your elbow and lift you onto your feet. He doesn't let go right away, instead holding both your hands and whispering, "You shouldn't have gone out alone." He rubs his thumbs over your knuckles. "You're still concussed."
The proximity combined with his concern for you causes heat to stir in your chest. It's uncomfortable and foreign, so you try to force it down, smiling and letting out a chuckle that screams casual. You hope. "I can hold my own. Besides, I think I'm all better; right as rain up here." You pull one of your hands out of his tender hold and curl it into a fist, knocking on your cranium like a door. Except, the impact makes your brain swish around in your skull like gargled fluoride. "Whoa-- shit."
You sway, tipping the direction you knocked your own head into. Hoseok keeps you standing, but he doesn't like it. "You just proved my point."
"Listen--"
"From now on, no going off on your own," he says, and from his tone, there's no point in a rebuttal.
You roll your eyes, and, whoa, does the room always spin when you do that? Still, even wooziness can't stopper your sarcasm. "Protective much?"
"Kind of my job description."
"I thought I was your bodyguard," you tease, and he chuckles, his seriousness evaporating with the sound.
"As if--"
"You're dumb."
You and Hoseok both turn towards the kitchen, where Jimin stands next to the table with a half eaten pastry in his mouth. Ignoring the glare he's under from Hoseok, which you don't notice, he speaks around the pastry. "Only a dumb person would go out on their own in your condition."
Even though you're pretty sure he should be on the same side as Jimin on this, Hoseok sneers at him, the slightest of growls rumbling in his throat.
Jimin holds up a hand, mockingly. "Easy, pup."
"I'm older than you, punk!"
You can't help it; you laugh. Jimin is all over the place, accusing you of atrocities one second and talking to you and Hoseok like you're long-time friends the next. The two hybrids cease their bickering at the sound of your laughter.
"Okay, okay." You take a breath to stop the giggles threatening to break past your lips. "New temporary house rule: no one should go off on their own unless they have to."
Jimin raises a brow. "No one?"
"Ideally." You nod. "Which brings me to the next thing I wanted to talk about. When the Hybrid Services officers were here before, they were telling everyone there's a feral hybrid in the area. The entire neighbourhood is going to be on alert-- I don't know how kindly they'll take to finding any unregistered or, uh, stray hybrids if they run into either of you alone."
Nodding along, Hoseok rubs his chin with his thumb. "Makes sense."
"They know what the hybrid looks like, but we don't know how much they actually care about the picture. Who knows if they'd just nab any male hybrid off the street," you say. "It's probably best to play it safe; at least while we're still in the neighbourhood."
"What do you mean, 'still in the neighbourhood'?" Jimin asks, curious.
You smack your own forehead and ignore the way Hoseok immediately brings his hands up like you're going to knock yourself over any second now. "Right, uh... We're kind of..." Bringing up a hand, you gesture between yourself and Hoseok. "...prospective business owners? Is that--? No, we're, uh...starting up a motel? But, like, for hybrids?"
Hoseok is decidedly unhelpful with explaining what Heaven's Door is meant to be, staying silent and just making a face as you botch it.
"Anyway, it might be safer if we head out there sooner rather than later if the neighbourhood is getting paranoid over stray hybrids. It's outside of the city, and Hybrid Services doesn't do patrols out there. I was thinking to move once I'd figured more shit out, but I didn't think the whole 'feral hybrid' thing would happen today, and I definitely didn't foresee meeting you." Not that anything that's happened to you in the last few days could've been foreseen, either. You smile at Jimin. "But hey, at least you were a pleasant surprise."
"Didn't I threaten to kill you?."
You shrug. "I'm still here, aren't I?"
"And your guard dog attacked me."
"After you attacked her!" Hoseok argues.
Clicking his tongue, Jimin gives his head a nod. "Point taken."
"Anyhow," you continue on. "While you think about what you wanna do, I'd like you to come with us. Of course, you're free to refuse. I still have two-ish weeks of rent paid for this place, so you could stay here, but..." You share a look with Hoseok, then return your eyes to Jimin.
"...I'd be alone?" he finishes for you.
"I guess I'd just feel better if you're with us."
Jimin seems to absorb your words, but he stays silent for a few seconds. He tosses the last bite of the pastry into his mouth, chewing quietly and brushing his hands together to get rid of the leftover crumbs. He takes a breath. "I guess I sort of owe you for the food and the bed I slept in last night... The least I can do is make you feel better."
Your cheeks make way for a beaming smile.
"Just while I think about it."
You school yourself. "Right! Right," you say, clearing your throat of any enthusiasm that might've gotten clogged in there. "Just while you're thinking about it. Nothing's set in stone."
=
Either Hoseok calls shotgun outside of your hearing range, or Jimin silently sits in the backseat of your car out of some unfounded sense of regularity. He doesn't speak a word as you drive, just watches the world pass by through the side window. You can't really see him in the rear view mirror, and most of your focus is on the road, but there are a few moments where you catch his fingers scratching at his arms before he flexes his hands and stops. You're reminded of the red, bumpy skin you saw on his arms. Now, it's covered by his shirt and jacket, both of which you convinced him to let you wash before you all left your apartment.
"I don't think this is the right way..." Hoseok says, squinting at the street signs as you drive out of the inner city.
"Yeah, uh." You'd looked up the address to Silver Meadows before you left, and it's practically on the other side of the city as Heaven's Door. "There's somewhere I wanted to go first. You know how I left this morning?"
Hoseok nods.
"Well, it wasn't just to throw a tantrum, if that's what you were thinking."
"I thought maybe you were trying to get those Hybrid Services officers to think you were going somewhere, so they'd think no one was in your apartment," Hoseok says, making your eyebrows rise on your forehead.
"Wow, you're pretty intuitive, aren't you?" Your eyes dart to the backseat, but you can't see Jimin's face since he's sitting right behind you. "Were you guys able to hear that whole conversation in the hallway?"
Jimin scoffs, something sarcastic in the simple sound, while Hoseok nods again. "It's weird how even they don't know the species of the feral hybrid," he says. "Without that information, they'd go after any stray hybrid they encounter -- not that they weren't doing that already."
"But they might treat any stray like they're feral and dangerous," you finish the thought process for him, and when you meet his eyes, he sports a grim expression. You roll your shoulders back, sighing. "It's a good enough reason to stay on our toes, but hopefully we won't run into any trouble outside of my neighbourhood..."
And, hopefully, the feral hybrid doesn't get found by anyone less than civil. The cheerful face of that hybrid flashes across your mind, and you wonder about his circumstances. What makes a hybrid go feral, anyway? What made him run away from the hybrid clinic? How much of the information the officers gave you is a stretching of the truth?
"So where did you go?" Hoseok asks when you make another unfamiliar turn.
"Lee Minhyuk texted me -- he was Mr Jung's estate lawyer." You add that in to give Jimin some context, but you're not sure if he's even listening. "He forgot to give me the key for Mr Jung's niche."
Hoseok's brows furrow as he echoes you. "Niche?"
"It's what they call the individual sections in a columbarium," you explain, not too informed yourself, but you know enough. You take Hoseok's silence as him not filling the gaps quite yet. "Mr Jung's urn is being kept in one. Lot C, niche 258, at Silver Meadows Columbarium."
"Oh." Hoseok doesn't exactly slump in his seat, but you see the way his shoulders sag just the slightest. "He was cremated?"
You nod, eyes still on the road. "Yeah... I hadn't thought about it much. I'd assumed his family was dealing with all the..." Breathing out a long exhale through your nose, you try to think of the right words. (And come up with nothing.) "...well, that kind of stuff. But apparently I'm the only one with the key."
"Mr Jung never talked about any family..." Hoseok mumbles.
A road sign ahead reads Silver Meadows, and you slow down to turn into the lot.
"You're not bringing flowers?"
You turn your head at Jimin's sudden question, surprised since he was quiet the whole drive. He meets your eyes.
"You're visiting a grave, and you didn't bring flowers?" he asks, arms crossed.
"Oh." You look downward. "I hadn't thought about that..."
Jimin doesn't say anything, and you've run out of words yourself. Does it make sense to go back to buy some? You think about Mr Jung, and far above wanting to go get flowers for him now, you wish you could've brought him one back then. When he could see it.
You find a parking spot and switch off the engine.
"It's okay," Hoseok says before any of you exit the car. He's not looking at you, though. "We can bring flowers next time."
You watch him step out of the car, and as he does, he pulls his collar out of his pocket and fastens it around his neck, clasping the metal ends together before he shuts the car door behind him. Before you'd left the apartment, you told him to bring it, but you forgot about it during the drive.
"Oh, right. Jimin." You twist in your seat and reach into your bag, finding the red velvet choker you'd stuffed in there earlier. You've never really worn it since someone gave it to you however long ago, and you just hastily grabbed it from your room before you all left the apartment. You hold it out for him. "Wear this for now. It's not technically a collar, but... no one will be looking too closely. I hope."
Jimin frowns, but he takes the choker. "Can't I just stay in the car?"
You don't want to pressure him, but you can't help the grimace that crosses your face. "I feel safer together..."
"Fine," he huffs, bringing his hands up to fasten the choker. "You're lucky this is cute."
By the time you both catch up to Hoseok, he's already found the directions to lot C. He walks silently, and when he finds niche 258, you and Jimin hang a bit back, giving him a moment.
This section of the columbarium is indoors, and the walls and niches seem to be white marble, or made to look like white marble. Whichever it is, it feels a bit... cold.
Mr Jung's niche is empty, save for the black urn inside. Jimin was probably right -- some flowers would at least bring some life to the space.
Hoseok stands in front of the niche, which is embedded in the wall at around the height of his chest. His arms hang limp at his sides. You step up beside him, and you take his hand, gently, bringing it up so you can push the key into his palm.
"I think he meant to give this to you." And everything else, you want to say, but you hold your tongue. That's a lot to put on someone all at once.
You would know.
Hoseok holds his hand in front of him, staring at the key. He looks up at you and meets your eyes with his watery ones. "You think so?"
"Of course I do." You put a hand on Hoseok's shoulder, your thumb rubbing back and forth over his coat. "You said Mr Jung never talked about any family, right? That's because you were his family."
Sniffling, Hoseok bites his bottom lip to stop it from trembling as he breaks eye contact and returns to looking at Mr Jung's niche. "I... I wish he wasn't this far away. He made it so much harder to visit."
"Hey..." Gently, you use your hand on his shoulder to turn Hoseok toward you, then put both your hands on his arms and give him a reassuring squeeze. A tear threatens to roll down his cheek, but you reach up at thumb it away. "I know you probably knew Mr Jung better than I did, but... something in me thinks he'd want to say..." You turn your head to look at the niche, smile, and shake your head. "He's not in there." Bringing a hand up, you softly poke the pad of your pointer finger between Hoseok's eyebrows. "He's in here." You move to his chest and poke at where his heart should be. "And here." Finally, you take both his hands, a bit awkward with the one still holding the key, and hold them between you. "And that's what matters, right?"
Hoseok nods, but his face crumples up, and he tucks it into your neck. You wrap your arms around him just as his embrace you tight. Over his shoulder, you glance at Jimin, who quickly looks away, but you know he was watching. He stuffs his hands in his pockets, suddenly very interested in his worn out shoes.
"But we can still visit, right?" Hoseok mumbles into your skin, bringing your attention back to him.
"Of course. And next time, we'll bring flowers."
=
As you slide into one of the parking spots in front of Heaven's Door, it occurs to you that this is the first time you're seeing it in the daylight. All of its mediocre glory. The outer walls are a faded yellow, with supporting pillars and railings on the second floor landing which were once white. The doors to the individual rooms are a nice dark green that matches the roofing, but you have to admit they've seen better days. Still, you can feel the potential the old building blooms in your chest.
"Not too bad, hey?" you say to Jimin, who's leaning forward between the driver and passenger seats to peer out the windshield at the place.
He sniffs. "It's no Plaza Hotel."
"You've been?"
"No, I've seen Home Alone 2."
Chuckling, you pull your car key out of the ignition and exit the car. You put your hands on your hips, inhaling a big, exaggerated breath as you take in the motel. Hoseok walks over and stands next to you, arms crossed.
"Well," you say. "It might be a bit of a fixer-upper, but that's nothing a couple of fixer-uppers like us can't handle, right?" You bump your shoulder into Hoseok, who smiles at you and bumps back with his hip. You stumble a bit, but Jimin's hand on your back stops you from swaying too hard. When you take your eyes off your feet, he meets your eyes with a plain expression.
"You guys are disgustingly optimistic."
A hand on his shoulder, you grin. "You just named one of my best traits!"
=
The move into Heaven's Door is by no means smooth, but you can't say it's not something you expected.
The first thing you notice is the broken window in the convenience store under the motel lobby, which you'd missed that first night in the dark. Hoseok sheepishly admits that he'd had to break in to eat the snack food inside. You don't push it -- that void of time between losing Mr Jung and meeting you isn't a topic you think is worth diving into if it's going to bring Hoseok back to that time. The window won't be cheap, but if you don't put a custom decal on it like the shattered one on the ground, it might not be as expensive.
Secondly, Hoseok leads you and Jimin to the master room you remember Mr Jung mentioning in his letter, and you realize you'd only seen the motel from one side. Behind the lobby, which has a lot of that same forest green as the doors outside, Hoseok shows you the half of the building you had no idea about before. An entire branch extends behind the lobby, about the same length as the front, but instead of the entrances to each room facing outside like the ones you saw before, there are doors mirroring each other on both sides of a hallway. Immediately to the right is the master room, but at the end of the hallway seems to be a common area with couches and coffee tables, and two walls lined with a counter and cabinets. Hoseok tells you it's the same downstairs, except the end of the hall is a kitchen and dining area. It reminds you of a college dorm.
If anyone stayed in the rooms you saw out front, you don't think they'd even notice this half of the building.
The master room is smaller than your apartment, but it has its own half-kitchen and en suite bathroom with a pretty nice shower. Hoseok explains to you that most of Mr Jung's time and focus went into building and upgrading the interior of Heaven's Door, which is why it has its less than shiny exterior.
You can tell Hoseok was staying in the master room up until you... kidnapped(?) him.
"This is probably the nicest room in the motel, huh?" Jimin posits, walking inside with his hands in his pants pockets. He's wearing the clothes he met you in, now washed but no less worn down.
You nod. "Probably. We're a bit far from the city, so it would make sense for the owner to just live here."
"Dibs." Jimin flops down face first into the bed.
Hoseok crosses his arms. "Yah."
As you fail to hide your laughter behind your hand, Jimin squirms in the bed, twisting himself so he lies on his back. He stretches his arms and legs out like a sea star. "Smells too much like dog here, though."
While Hoseok sneers, you say, "Probably because this is Hoseok's room. You and I can take the rooms next door and across the hall."
"Why would I wanna be next door to you?" Jimin closes his eyes and interlocks is fingers behind his head, fully relaxing into the bed.
You let out an affronted scoff. Your hand goes up to your chest, right over your heart even though Jimin can't see it. "Um, my amazing company and charming personality?"
"Pass."
As you and Jimin go through this back-and-forth, you miss the way Hoseok's face fell when you said you'd be in a different room. His disheartened expression goes unnoticed, and when you stand up, proclaiming there's a lot of work to be done, he smiles at you with all the sunshine he can muster.
You're none the wiser.
=
Aside from the horrors (the mere idea of business management, the building maintenance, the absolute atrocity that is dealing with plumbing, the phone calls, etc, etc,) at least it's fun to print keys. Hoseok apparently never figured the system out because Mr Jung took care of getting it installed, but half an hour on the computer, and you manage to print a key for both yourself and Jimin. He chooses the room across from the master, while you're right next to it.
Hoseok insists on him and Jimin carrying all the food you'd brought inside, but to appease your need to take part, he lets you carry one item for each trip from your car to the common kitchen area. (You find this a little patronizing, but it is admittedly nice to be doted on by them both, even if Jimin's still pretending he doesn't care.)
((He takes a bag you were reaching for, despite already having both his hands full.))
Much of your things are still back at your apartment, but you have time to bring them over. The first day is mostly about getting Hoseok and Jimin out of dodge -- you can worry about your own problems later. You spend the afternoon sitting in the lobby, poring over the paperwork left there and googling motel business 4 dummies like your life depends on it. Hoseok, who'd been cleaning up his room and taking care of the broken glass outside (and inside, unfortunately) the convenience store, forces you to take a break in the form of helping him make dinner.
During dinner, unprompted, Jimin tells you he's still thinking.
It hasn't slipped by you, of course, that Jimin's stay with you is conditional and, lest you hope otherwise, temporary.
But when he says that, staring into his food rather than looking at you, a tiny smile makes it's way onto your face,
"Take all the time you need."
=
On the third night, you wake up to soft knocks on your door. You have no expectations because your brain is in the process of trying to dissect the dream you'd just been ripped out of, but seeing Hoseok on the other side of your door still isn't something you were prepared for. He's wearing the new, new pyjamas you'd bought for him in a sparse shopping trip you'd all gone on the second day, despite him saying he didn't care that much about Jimin wearing the other ones.
You go to say his name, but he just brings a finger up to his lips in a silent shush, and with his other hand, he gently takes your hand and leads you down the hall into the master room.
Nothing in your body wants to fight it, so you let him bring you right up to the bed. He practically pushes you onto it, but the way he pulls the warm comforter over you defies any ill intent. When he settles in on the other side of the bed, his breath puffs against your cheek. He hasn't really scented you since the day you met Jimin; you've been near each other almost constantly since, so there was really no reason to.
You remember him telling you it's about separation, but also not. He never did tell you more about it.
In your sleep-ridden haze, you shift to your side. Hoseok is on his side too, rather close, and his eyes are closed, but you know he can't have fallen asleep so fast. Gently, you bring a hand to the back of his head, careful, as always, not to touch his dingo ears. You pull him closer ever so slowly. If he resists at all, you'll let go.
Hoseok lets out a shaking breath. He wraps both arms around you and tugs you closer, his face pressing itself against your neck. Eyes still closed, he squeezes you close. It's warm.
That's right, you think.
He’s a strong little pup, but he hates being alone.
How did you manage to forget that?
=
If Jimin has anything to say about the fact that you've started to retire to the master room at the end of the day, he doesn't vocalize it. Hoseok never brings it up, either. He's hardly touchy during the daytime, keeping his hands to himself, especially in front of Jimin. Yet, when night comes, he pulls you to bed like he's done it his entire life and keeps his arms around you until you fall asleep and wake up to find him all tangled up in the sheets.
Jimin either hasn't noticed, or, as you suspect, he doesn't care.
He'll often say he's "still thinking about it". You're not quite sure how to respond to it every time, so now you just smile and nod, sometimes reminding him that the choice is still his.
One night, you find him in the common area, sitting on a couch and watching a muted cartoon on the tv you'd connected to your Netflix account the day before. The subtitles aren't even on, and when he turns at the sound of your footsteps, you see the red of his eyes, and the shining tracks on his cheeks.
There's still a lot you don't know about Jimin.
Rayoung. Her boyfriend. His red contacts and why he wore them.
"It's freezing in here," is all he says as he wipes his cheeks with his sleeve. "You should get the heating system checked."
You sit down next to him, neither of you looking at each other. "Feels normal to me."
The cartoon isn't one you recognize, but it looks like it could be fun if you knew what anyone was saying.
For a while, you and Jimin say nothing. He sits next to you, and you next to him. At some point, he shifts just the slightest bit closer so your shoulders brush against each other. That's as far as he goes for your body heat.
"Do you get cold easily?" you eventually whisper.
"Mhmm."
"Is that a snake thing?"
Jimin shakes his head, slowly, the late hour finally getting to him. "Some reptile hybrids are like that, some aren't. There aren't many of us, so people don't really know why. At least... that's what he told me."
He. You decide not to dig into that. Jimin will tell you if he wants to.
"Your scales... the skin around them seemed irritated."
"...Itchy..." Jimin's head falls to your shoulder. He doesn't snuggle in, but he rests there. "I had a cream for it..."
"We should buy some," you say.
"It's expensive... You shouldn't buy it if I'm going to leave soon..."
Though his words cause a muted ache in your heart, you don't stew on it. That was always the case.
"You can take it with you."
Jimin doesn't respond, asleep on your shoulder.
You're not sure how much time passes, but later, you hear light, shuffling footsteps behind you, and you turn your head towards the sound, careful not to jostle the slumbering Jimin on your shoulder. Hoseok stands there, eyes half closed but on you nonetheless.
"You left," he mumbles, swaying slightly like he's struggling to stay both awake and upright.
You give him a small smile, lit only by the tv that's still playing that cartoon you don't know the name of. "I didn't go very far."
"Come back to bed?"
Gently, you lift a hand and gesture at Jimin. "Can we bring him back to his, first?"
=
When you're sent the invoice for the window repair, you realize (not for the first time) this won't be easy.
You didn't think it'd be a walk in the park, of course not, but you've never really had to worry about the cost of running a business before. Now, you look at the numbers, and you just can't wrap your head around how it'll all work. Mr Jung left you a considerable amount, yes, but... will it be enough? You can't imagine the motel is in any high level of traffic area for travellers. There are quite a few campsites around in the surrounding forest, but that's about it. How many customers would it take monthly to support the motel? How much has to or even can be sacrificed before any income is made?
You've already spent so much on keeping you, Hoseok, and Jimin alive and warm for the past week. It's normal, you suppose, but you've never supported two dependants before, and the fact that you're currently unemployed doesn't settle the heavy feeling in your chest at all. You're draining your savings while not making any money in the meantime.
A safe haven for hybrids...
...who can't pay rent.
Maybe Mr Jung was older and more senile than you thought.
You shake your head and rub your hands over your face, resting your elbows on the desk in front of you. First, you gotta apologize to Mr Jung for disrespecting the dead. You might be cynical, but he had a dream. A really good and nice dream. Secondly, you scold yourself for thinking what you did about hybrids. Of course they can't pay rent. They were born into a system that actively discourages their financial (and pretty much every other kind of) autonomy. They can't pay for anything because of humans.
Still, you don't know how long you can keep running Heaven's Door on your inheritance alone. You haven't even opened yet -- how much will it cost to run for a month? Three? A year?
"Do the numbers change if you sigh hard enough?"
You turn in your swivel chair to glare at Jimin, who's sitting in the chair next to you with one leg folded up to his chest, foot propped up on the seat. He doesn't return your gaze, enraptured by the match-three game he's playing on your phone, which he's been going at rather consistently for the past two days. You don't really have a job for him right now, and aside from the tv, he doesn't have much to take up his time. You'd offered to grab the contents of your bookshelf back at home for him, but he'd casually refused, telling you he'd take a look next time you make the trip, but not to go out of your way.
"Maybe they will," you taunt back, which goes just as ignored as your glare. "I better sigh harder to test it out."
You tilt your head, looking at your phone in his hand. "Should I get you guys phones...?" you ask, mostly to yourself.
Jimin's eyes glance up, and he finally acknowledges you. He doesn't need to say it. He does anyway.
"I'm still thinking."
Curling your lips in, you nod, turning back to the computer and hovering your hands over the mouse and keyboard even though you have no plans on what to do with them. "Right. Right..."
Thankfully, Hoseok chooses that awkward moment to walk into the lobby. "You should take a break," he says. "How is your head feeling?"
"It's fine, doc." You roll your eyes, smiling. "Just as fine as I said it was yesterday."
"Have you been taking your meds?"
You shake your head. "The doctor said they're for headaches. They're just painkillers -- the few times my head has hurt, the pain went away by the time I remembered I could take them."
Jimin lowers your phone and gives you a look you can't quite decipher. It's not positive; you know that at least. "You're still getting headaches?"
"Only itty-bitty ones," you try to placate them.
"How long has it been since you fell?"
You almost forgot you lied to Jimin about how you got your concussion. By the looks of Hoseok's guilty expression, though, you're not sure if you regret it. You don't want him to feel responsible, but talking about it -- whether or not Jimin knows -- still seems to remind him of what he did. Where you put the blame doesn't matter to him. He still thinks it's his fault.
"Uhh... a little over a week?" you answer, keeping a careful eye on Hoseok. "Maybe eight or nine days."
Jimin frowns. "That can't be good, right?"
"The doctor said to go back to the hospital if the symptoms last over two weeks." Concern laced in his features, Hoseok crosses his arms.
You nod along. "I'll put the date on my calendar, okay? I'm sure I'll be fine by then."
"You better not play it down when the time comes," Hoseok warns.
"Yes sir," you joke.
Hoseok takes in a sharp breath, shoulders scrunching up for half a second before he forces them to relax. A small huff of a laugh escapes Jimin's nose, and you look at him in confusion, but his eyes are on Hoseok, something playful and teasing in them. Jimin mouths something to Hoseok, which you can't read.
Hoseok grumbles and tightens the arms crossed in front of him. "Shut up."
"No fair," you whine. "You guys already have inside jokes?"
Jimin just laughs harder while Hoseok gives him a death glare and says, "It doesn't count as an inside joke if I don't find it funny."
"Don't worry," Jimin teases through a smirk. "I find it funny enough for the both of us!"
You can't help but smile at the ever-growing amity between the two hybrids, which is admittedly playful in the biting way, but it still makes you happy that they're somewhat getting along.
=
"We should celebrate," you tell the boys one day.
"Celebrate what?" Jimin questions, hands stuffed in his coat pocket and shoulders scrunched up to his ears.
You'd gone around the back of the motel and found a paved, patio-like area, complete with five wooden picnic tables, propane patio heaters, and an old-looking but (probably) functional barbecue, but Jimin isn't exactly a fan of the cool breeze flowing through the air.
You lift the lid of the barbecue, examining the charred grates of the grill. "Well, I dunno, but it'd be a shame not to use this before it gets too cold out."
"Too late," Jimin mumbles. His lips are hidden behind the front of his coat, which he's ducked half his face into.
Hoseok ignores Jimin, nodding at your idea. "A barbecue night would be nice."
"How are you on the grill?" you ask him.
"I'm better at prepping."
You chuckle. "So basically, not good?"
"Not good," he echoes with a smile.
After sharing some giggles, you look at the barbecue again. "I'm sure I could figure this out."
"I'm going back inside," Jimin tells you both, already walking away.
"C'mon!" you call after him. "It'll be fun!"
=
Although you're in a different store now, near the edge of the city closer to the motel, the pet/hybrid aisle hosts a pretty similar collection to the store near your apartment. You pull another plain, black collar off the hook on the shelf, which matches the one currently sitting around Hoseok's neck.
He's not paying attention at all, as far as you know, instead hunched over the pushbar of the shopping cart he insisted on pushing for you, poring over the grocery list you'd written on a memo pad for tonight's "celebration".
In your mind, you've started calling it your "new friends party :D", emoticon included, but you haven't worded that out loud to either of the boys. Hoseok would surely laugh at the childishness of the name, even if he'd politely try to stifle it, and you know Jimin would only remind you that his relationship to you and Hoseok is temporary.
Mood killer, you think to Jimin, although it's the hypothetical version of him.
The real Jimin is looking at the array of collars on the shelf like you asked him to, and you step up next to him.
"What do you think?"
Jimin frowns, deep in thought. "They're all ugly."
Okay, maybe not that deep.
"Ouch," you chuckle, fingers toying with the black silk in your hand. "You don't have to wear one all the time -- just while we're in public spaces like this."
Grumbling, Jimin stuffs both his hands in his coat pockets. "In public... that's when I wanna look good."
"Okay, okay." You pat a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe we can find one you like online, or something."
"Doesn't this one work?" Jimin points at his neck, fingers ghosting over the soft velvet of your red choker.
You tilt your head. "I guess... Probably."
The tags for collars have to be bought and customized separately anyway. There's no reason why you wouldn't be able to put Jimin's on your choker, though attaching the tag might not be as simple as the store-bought collars. Manageable, though, you're sure.
"If you're done being picky, we should get going. The frozen meat will be rotten by the time we get to the car," Hoseok says, making Jimin roll his eyes and stick his tongue out at him.
You clap your hands together. "Ooh! We should get ice cream!"
When you bring all the groceries to the counter, you notice that Jimin keeps his head down, avoiding the eyes of the person ringing everything up. This isn't new -- Jimin seems to not like making eye contact with anyone but you or Hoseok.
He'd tossed the red contacts after one of them had an intimate meet and greet with your bedroom floor, but you can tell he doesn't like being without them. It's awful, you think, how long he wore those fake red eyes just because his owner... what, enjoyed the idea of owning a deadly hybrid?
The... exoticism?
You shiver.
On the cusp of winter time, with Jimin in a couple layers, you wouldn't even know he's a hybrid if you weren't paying attention. As far as you know, his only hybrid-defining trait is his scales, and the only ones you can see right now are on his neck. They'd easily go unnoticed to the everyday passerby.
"Your total is--"
The cashier's voice startles you, and all you can do is shake your head when they ask if you have their points reward card.
Before heading back to the motel, you make a quick stop at your apartment, telling the boys that you're just grabbing some more of your clothes and that they can wait in the car. You do grab some clothes, but you also pick up a few of your favourite books. Hopefully the boys will be able to find some entertainment in them. Recently, you discovered a recreation room in the motel, complete with a couple of exercise machines and a pool table. With how preoccupied you are with all this motel business stuff, though, you haven't had the time to play a round of pool or even think about exercising. Maybe the boys have been in there, but it seems like Hoseok is almost always somewhere around you, still weary of your condition.
It's sort of fair, you think. Dizzy spells still hit you sometimes.
Jimin, too, often sticks around somewhere nearby. Maybe it's because he likes scrolling through your phone and doesn't want to just take it and leave whatever room you're in.
Which brings you to the real reason you stopped by your apartment. You walk up to the mailboxes and pull out your key, smiling when you open your locker and find the packages you were expecting.
It's a bit of a pricey expense -- at least, for how you used to budget your life before it flipped on its head -- but you think it's worth the money. A simple phone for each of the boys, a new family plan to save on the phone bills, and a specialty reptilian hybrid eczema cream. You hope it's the right one for Jimin. You haven't seen his irritated skin since that shower due to the chilly weather, but you still catch him scratching his arms over his clothes from time to time.
You're sure if you told Jimin you wanted to buy the cream for him, he would've refused. The phone, too.
"Took you long enough," Jimin says when you dip back into the driver's seat of your car.
You chuckle. "I missed you too, Mochi."
He huffs at the nickname and crosses his arms, then turns his head to stare out the window. You don't see his faint smile.
=
"It's freezing," Jimin complains through chattering teeth, hands stuffed in his coat pockets and shoulders scrunched up practically to his ears.
You can't hold back a little laugh. "I told you, you could either help me out here with the grill, help Hoseok with prepping everything inside, or run the raw food from the kitchen to out here." Raising an eyebrow at him, you gesture towards your gloved hands and the food you're flipping on the grill with metal tongs. It is chilly out, especially since the sun set, but you're wrapped up in your own jacket, and the fire from the grill is keeping your cheeks warm. It probably feels colder to Jimin, though. "You wanna trade with me?"
He gives you a flat look. "You're kidding."
"Thought so. You wanna trade with Hoseok?"
Cringing, Jimin shakes his head. "I hate touching raw meat."
"Well, there's our answer then," you say. "Was that the last of it?"
He nods, another shiver rippling through him. It's almost endearing how red his cheeks are turning, but you know he really can't stand the cold.
"Okay, go inside and warm up. I should be done cooking everything in ten or fifteen minutes. Bring this plate in--" You point at a foil-wrapped plate of the food you've already cooked. "I can bring the rest inside once I'm finished."
Jimin's eyes widen slightly. "I thought you wanted to eat out here?" He looks at one of the picnic tables.
"Nah." You shrug. "It's way too cold for me, and the food will cool down too fast."
Elated by this news, Jimin smiles and bounces on his feet when he grabs the plate and runs it inside.
"And help Hoseok clean up the kitchen!" you yell out right before the door shuts behind him.
Truthfully, you did want to eat outside for the celebration, but it's more important to you that Jimin is comfortable and happy. After all, he's one of your new friends, and that's the whole point of tonight. You smile at the thought, excited to gift the boys their new cell phones after dinner.
Flipping some of the last pieces of meat on the grill, you hum to yourself. Out of the corner of your eye, you see a hand reach for the plate you have set to the side for the cooked food. It tentatively grabs one of the slices of meat and pulls it off the plate, which you let out a chuckle at.
"What, you couldn't wait a couple more minute--"
You choke to a stop, though, when you look up and see neither Hoseok nor Jimin.
Dark eyes meet yours for less than a moment before swiftly turning downward. The man stumbles back a step, but he freezes in almost the same way you do. Except, instead of his jaw dropping open like yours does, he pauses mid-chew, the frisked meat still in between his teeth.
That's not what makes your breath hitch, though.
Even under the blackened sky, you can see the bruises.
A dark, deep purple sits boldly under is left eye, the surrounding skin a sickening blend of yellow and green that winds up all the way to his brow. His chin sports another bruise in a similar state, like the blows had been a couple days ago and the skin has gone through only the first stages of healing. Although his face is grimy with sweat and dirt, you can see crusted blood just at his hairline before his black hair hides anything else. You can tell his lip was completely busted at some point, marred with dark, dried blood that's been split over and over again and given no chance to heal.
Even his stance looks like he's in pain. Like he's trying to make himself look smaller.
You swallow the shock down, the words not coming out. "I..."
He snaps out of it at the sound of your voice. Both of his hands shoot up, palms flat and facing you. "Sorry-- I'm sorry," he mumbles and winces, like it hurts to speak. His voice is scratchy and rasping.
He backs up further while you try to find something to say, something to do, but before you can do anything, he runs off the patio and disappears into the treeline, a clear limp in his movement.
"Wait!" you call out, but he's gone.
Maybe it was the injuries that made you want to go after him. Maybe it was the way he held himself, like he didn't want to be in his own body. Maybe it was the way his voice trembled, or the fact that he definitely wasn't wearing enough for the temperature outside.
Maybe it was all that combined, but most of all, it was the pointed black ears you saw on top of his head.
prev | chapter six (12.0k) | next
💜💜💜
Sugary Sweet
(Polyamory au) ( Bunny Hybrid! Reader x Tiger Hybrid! Taehyung x Cat Hybrid! Yoongi x Owner! Namjoon)
SUMMARY: Namjoon has a perfect life once he moves out of the city to a cabin alongside his two rescue hybrids, Yoongi and Taehyung. But then one night in the middle of the rainstorm they find you, a bunny hybrid, hiding in their chicken coop.
WARNINGS: Anxiety attacks, Anxious! Namjoon, mentions of hybrid abandonment, hybrid mistreatment, Half of this is Domestic fluff, possessive behavior.
W/C: 5,000 words of backstory you don’t need + 5,000 words of pure fluff
A/N: ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ THIS IS A VERRY VERRY HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRESENT TO MY MAIN HUMAN @peeachypop ❤️WHO I KNOW IS A SLUT FOR TIGER HYBRID TAEHYUNG AND CAT YOONGI, AND AN INTELECTUAL BOYFRIEND NAMS.❤️❤️❤️ I HOPE YOUR NEXT YEAR IS FILLED WITH AS MUCH FLUFF AS THIS ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
- Namjoon was not what you call a people person, not most days anyway.
- Most of the time he preferred to sit at his desk in his little box of an apartment building and write away at his laptop, content only to leave if inspiration was failing him or if his need for caffeine overtook his anxiety.
- Public places made him anxious, the clawing dread in his chest something he couldn’t shove down and live through, of course Namjoon was admittedly living in the middle of one of the largest metropolitan cities in the world. But the feeling didn’t go away and leave him with age like it should have when he’d aged from being a shy school child into being a full-fledged adult with an anxiety disorder.
- Instead mid twenties Namjoon sat down at his desk for almost a whole year and wrote a book. Of course it was successful, the fantasy and philosophical tidbits combined to an adventure story that captivated audiences.
- His publishers tried to get him to go for photo ops and for interviews no matter how much they begged Namjoon even as his novel climbed on the bestseller list. He didn’t want to look like a bumbling idiot in front of cameras, all those eyes on him, just the thought of it made him feel like he was going to be sick.
- So Namjoon’s daily routine was this, he woke up at a time most people would consider lunch or even dinner, and wrote for a few hours. Then he would go out for coffee at around 6 pm or so when everything wasn’t so crowded in his favorite coffee shop (that his best and only friend Jin owned, they’d only became friends with because back when Namjoon’s anxiety wasn’t so bad Namjoon used to write late night in Seokjin’s 24/hour coffee shop.)
- It’s an idea for his next book that makes him adopt a hybrid, because he’d never had one and Namjoon is always thorough in his research, and if he’s going to write about a hybrid character then he needs to know what it’s like to live with one.
- The beginning of the process is surprisingly easy, but the next step, actually choosing one is the hardest. Namjoon looks in the room of bounding puppies and foxes and bears that are all playing and biting each other’s ears and Namjoon isn’t comforted just overwhelmed.
- Not able to choose Namjoon turns and walks down the hall, thinking that maybe this was a mistake, maybe he should just make the character in his book a human, maybe it was bad of him too want to get a hybrid for selfish reasons when in reality they where so close to people.
- “Hey watch where you’re going!” a low grumpy voice says the second before Namjoon trips over a pair of stretched out legs. Namjoonfalls flat on his face barely managing to catch himself against the linoleum. He doesn’t even know how he manages to scratch his palms so bad. They make him hiss in pain as he picks himself up.
- “What the fuck! can’t you see anything with those glasses?” the person growls, dressed in all black baggy clothes, a round face with a hood pulled up over his head and a pair of headphones. “Apparently not” Namjoon says wiping his scraped hands on his jeans. One of the attendants comes crashing through the door. “I’m sorry mister! Did he hurt you at all?” Namjoon stutters out a no before they turn to small man that Namjoon tripped over.
- Namjoon is just about to apologize to him again before the attendant hisses almost lower than Namjoon can hear, “you where supposed to be in your pen Yoongi, making sure you didn’t bother the patrons. Now apologize.” Namjoon spies the electric prod through the attendants waste, the way his hand hovers on it and the way Yoongi shrinks into the back, no not the man- the hybrid, whose hands are covered by the large sweatshirt that sticks over his hands, and the black hood that covers lumps which must be ears of some sort.
- “I’m sorry” Yoongi says, his face downward. And Namjoon feels the protective instinct in him swell up. Thoughtlessly he reaches up and pushes back Yoongi’s hood, Yoongi flinches and Namjoon becomes even more displeased as he spies the small black cat ears that are poking out of the hybrids rumpled curly hair.
- “Actually, I was just talking to Yoongi about the possibility of adopting him when I tripped, we where just on our way to the office.” Yoongi’s eyes are wide as dinner plates alongside the attendants, his lips parted, his puffy tail swishing. No matter how hard they try to convince Namjoon to adopt “a more suitable companion.”
- Namjoon won’t budge. Yoongi is going to be his hybrid.
Keep reading
The Mockingbirds song |KTH ~ Teaser/Intro|
Pairing: Hybrid!Taehyung x Hybrid!F!Reader
Summary: You had fled from your old home, your old owner, your old life in hopes you’ll find a better one. You ran as far as you could, as much as you could, until you couldn’t. Left for dead, you have no hopes you’ll make it to see the light of the morning.
Genre: fluff, angst…
Teaser warnings: slight smut (I’m sorry if it’s weird, I’m new to smut writing), blowjob.
Word count: 1.3k
Released on September 16, 2023. Read it here
You hesitantly open your master's door, being enveloped by the smell of musk and cigars as soon as the door is cracked. You fight the urge to wince, stepping in and closing the door behind you, standing in front of it with your head down, hands intertwined behind you. “Come here, Y/n.” You slowly make your way to your master’s bed, standing by him, eyes focused solely on the carpet under your feet.
“You called, Master?” You ask, light and soft, just like he’d taught you. “I did. I have friends coming over today, and I expect you to assist them.” You purse your lips and nod, earning a coo from your master. “Good girl.” You watch the blanket shift on the bed before his feet appear by your own. You feel his fingers slide under your chin, grasping it and tilting your head to look at him.
“There. Now I can see your pretty face.” You hold eye contact, fighting the urge to cower under his intense gaze. “My friends will be here soon, go get ready. Be downstairs in 15 minutes, no sooner, no later, got it?” His grip tightens on your chin, keeping you from nodding. “Yes, Master.” You mumble, earning a smile from him. “Good girl.” He gently shakes your head side to side before letting you go.
— 15 minutes later —
You slowly walk down the stairs, dreading what’s to come. Your skirt barely reaches the middle of your thighs, your top hardly covers your boobs, the low v-neck showing off your cleavage. The shirts sleeves hang off your shoulder, running down to your hands, a thumb hole cut out of the side on each sleeve. You have white socks that match your shirt, they go just above your knees, and black heels that match your skirt. In your hair you have a black bow with white designs holding your hair out of your face.
You hear whoops and hollers coming from a door down further into the house, making your way down to the door. The clicks of your heels echo down the hallway, silencing the voices. You take a deep breath when you reach the door, reaching forward and twisting the knob, gently pushing open the door.
“There she is.” You hear your master speak. You shut the door behind you before standing in front of it, keeping your gaze locked on the ground, hands loosely intertwined in front of you. “Come here, Y/n.” You slowly make your way to the couch your master is sitting on, sitting down beside him. “Now, who’s going to have her first?” You wince at the yelling that immediately starts, the sounds bouncing off the walls doing wonders for your enhanced hearing.
The echoes of ‘Me!’s and ‘I want her!’s make You inwardly wince each time the words are yelled. Your master raises a hand, effectively bringing silence across the room. He doesn’t say anything, simply turns to you and harshly grabs your hair, pulling you to your knees in front of him. You whimper involuntarily, earning a harsher tug on your hair. You purse your lips, holding back any other sound that threatens to leave you.
“Good girl.” You sag slightly in relief when the hand in your hair disappears, instead trailing down your chin. He grips your chin tightly, lifting your head so you make eye contact with him. “You know what to do, Y/n.” He lets go of you, leaning back and intertwining his hands behind his head, his eyes never leaving your face.
Your gaze slowly drops down to his crotch, a slight bulge evident in his black slacks. You shakily reach out, undoing his belt slowly before moving down to unbutton and unzip his slacks. You inhale and exhale deeply before reaching into his boxers and pulling out his cock. You run a shaky hand up and down his shaft a few times before leaning forward.
You hold eye contact with your master as you run your tongue over his tip, earning a small sigh from him. You slowly sink down his length, keeping your eyes trained on your master. You sink down until your nose is snug with his groin, his pubic hairs tickling your nose. Your throat constricts around his length earning a throaty groan from your master.
He reaches a hand down, grabbing your hair and pulling you almost all the way off his length, holding you still as he thrusts up into your mouth. You gag as spit spills from the corner of your mouth, tears building up in your eyes, sliding down your cheeks. You gag harshly when he pulls you down snug against his groin, his cum sliding down your throat. Your master lets out a throaty ‘fuck’ before he finally lets you go. You cough as soon as you remove his dick from your mouth, gasping for air when you’re pulled up. “My turn.” A voice says, pulling you to another couch.
When he sits down your master speaks up, “Now, I like to give my friends privacy when they have bought time with my hybrid.” He says, getting up from his spot on the couch. He walks over to you and his ‘friend’, gesturing for the both of you to follow.
He leads you out of the door and further down the hallway, to a room he keeps locked. He pulls a key out of his pocket, and unlocks the door just as you take a deep breath.
‘It’s now or never.’ You think to yourself.
You whip around to your masters ‘friend’, kneeing him in the crotch before turning toward your master. He’s already turned toward you, reaching for your neck, gripping it harshly. You wrap your hands around his arms, struggling to gasp for air. You mentally encourage yourself before reaching to his face, desperately clawing at him, making him release you almost immediately. “Fuck!” He screeches.
You stumble, gasping for air before turning and shifting, scrambling down the hall. Your claws skid against the floor as you run to the kitchen and out the doggy door. You run straight toward the fence, mentally gathering the courage before jumping as high as you can, leaping over the fence. You land on the floor harshly, pain coursing through you as you stumble. You whip your head back at the sound of the back door opening, scrambling to stand up before making a run for the forest.
“You fucking bitch!” You only run faster at the booming voice, your paws heavy on the forest floor as you run as fast as your legs can take you. You weave through trees, turning every which way, moving deeper and deeper into the trees. You jump at the faded sound of a gunshot ringing through the air, more following suit. You make the mistake of looking back, missing the root that curves out of the ground.
You trip.
You fall.
And you roll.
Whimpers fall from you as you tumble and tumble down a hill, roots and trees hitting you, pushing you further and further down. You shift to human, desperately clawing at the ground to no avail, the steep hill seems to never end, flat ground never reaching your feet as you fall, and fall, and fall.
Then you stop.
The world stops spinning.
Your back is finally touching the ground.
The cold, hard, wet ground.
You gasp, tears cloud your vision as you attempt to turn to your side. You let out broken whines, clawing at the ground in hope of moving yourself. To where? You’re not sure. Anywhere that isn’t near that man.
You barely manage a few inches before your body gives up on you, falling limp against the ground. Your eyelids grow heavy, your head throbs, your limbs burn. You mumble something not even you can understand, finally letting your eyes glide shut.
A/n: I hope you’ll like this fic (series? Still not sure yet.) I know I have three out there right now, but I need variety, it’s hard for me to focus on the same task 😅 (in this case fic.) if anyone would like to be on a taglist for this feel free to dm me, or comment!
⚠️BEAR WITH ME FOR THE GENRE ADD-ONS⚠️
The Mockingbirds Song |Chapter 1|
Pairing: Hybrid!Taehyung x Hybrid!F!Reader
Chapter warnings: nothing really :)
Summary: You had fled from your old home, your old owner, your old life in hopes you’ll find a better one. You ran as far as you could, as much as you could, until you couldn’t. Left for dead, you have no hopes you’ll make it to see the light of the morning.
Genre: angst, fluff…
Word count: 1k
Hybrid types: Reader: Omega!Red wolf, Namjoon: Alpha!Eurasian wolf, Yoongi: Omega!Alaskan Tundra wolf,Hoseok: Alpha!Steppe wolf Jin: Beta!Great Plains wolf, Jimin: Omega!Northwestern wolf Jungkook: Beta!Arctic wolf, Taehyung: Alpha!Alexander archipelago wolf
A/n: I’m really excited to start this series, like I have a feeling it’s actually going to be a good series 😁
I recommend reading the teaser first, as it is more so a intro to the story than it is a teaser!
Credit to @cafekitsune for the dividers!
Next - Masterlist
You whimper, your body feels so stiff. You hear muffled voices, yet you can’t bring yourself to open your eyes. Your mind is running a mile a minute, screaming at you to Get up! but you can’t find it in you to. You attempt to shift onto your side—wait, your side? You didn’t black out on your back. You jolt upright, wincing at the pain that courses through you. Your gaze lands on seven bodies all watching you intently.
You whimper, backing up against the couch. “Hey hey hey, no no we’re not gonna hurt you. We’re hybrids too.” At the man’s words your gaze flickers to the tops of all their heads. They are. “We found you in the woods..well I should say Taehyung found you and brought you back here.” You look at the man that’s gestured too. He’s watching you closely, brows furrowed with a small pout tugging at his lips.
“T-thank you for taking me here but…why did you?” You ask, your voice a bit hoarse from disuse. “Well you didn’t look very good, your neck had slight bruising on it, and your body just..” The man, now known as Taehyung, trails off, his concerned eyes never once leaving your form. “What were you doing out in the woods?” Another voice speaks up. You turn your head to the source, finding cold eyes boring into yours.
You swallow nervously, gaze lowering to your lap to avoid the man’s. “I-I ran away..” You mumble, playing with your fingers. “From what?” The man asks again. You consider not responding, frowning as you mull over what to do. “You don’t have to say anything. The important thing is you're safe now.” Another man speaks up, reaching out and putting a reassuring hand on yours.
You flinch, a small, barely there flinch yet the man quickly takes his hand back. “Sorry..” You mumble, relaxing back into the couch as best as you can. “No no, don’t apologize.” You look up to see a frown on the man’s face. You quickly look back down, fiddling with your hands. You bring your tail into your lap, gently combing your fingers through it as you press your ears to your head, a form of comfort for you.
“What kind of hybrid are you?” One of the men speaks up, earning a smack from another. “Kook!” One of the men whisper harshly. “I-I’m a red wolf..” You mumble, keeping your eyes firmly planted on your fingers working out the small tangles in your tail. You hear a small gasp from someone, “Like the really rare one?” You nod, nibbling on your bottom lip. “Coolio!” One of them say, jumping up from the floor making you look up.
“I’m an arctic wolf.” The man says, sitting by you on the couch with a wide smile. You look up at him, giving him a small smile in return. You haven’t met another wolf in years. “I’m Jungkook.” He says, extending a hand in your direction. You take it hesitantly, giving it a weak shake before letting go. He starts to point at the men on the floor, “That’s Jimin, that’s Jin, that’s Namjoon, that’s Yoongi, that’s Hobi, and that’s Taehyung.” You follow Jungkook’s finger over all the men, doing your best to match the names with faces in your head.
They all give you a small, little awkward wave with a small smile. You give them all a smile, “Thank you all for helping me, but how do I get out of here?” You ask, regretting your question when you see some of their faces fall ever so slightly, the sour change in their scents becoming more and more prominent. “I, uhm, can show you.” One of the men, Jin says as he gets up. You nod, standing up from the couch.
You wince, struggling to keep your balance when one of the men, Taehyung, reaches out, steadying you. “I don’t think you should go yet. You can hardly stand.” Taehyung says, holding you gently by your forearms. Your legs wobble and you wince as you move to take a step. “I-I’m fine.” You mumble, attempting to move closer to Jin. Taehyung hesitantly lets you go, hovering nearby.
You move to take another step and lose your balance, pinching your eyes shut as you wait to make contact with the ground. You open your eyes when you don’t, feeling yourself being pressed against a chest before you’re moved back to the couch. “Yeah, sorry but you're not leaving. At Least not until you can walk properly again.” Taehyung says, sitting on the floor in front of you.
You nod, looking down at your lap. “Are you hungry?” You look up at the voice, about to deny when your stomach betrays you. You look away, flustered, as the man laughs. “I’ll take that as a yes.” The man says before walking away. “What happened to you? I know you said you’d run away but..” Taehyung asks, his concerned eyes foaming over your form.
“I uh..I fell.” You mumble. It isn’t a complete lie, but it’s not the full truth either. “And your neck?” Taehyung asks, his eyes flitting down to your bruised skin. You press your ears to your head, combing your fingers through your tail. “I um…it was the fall?” You mumble, nervously looking up at Taehyung. He frowns, eyeing your neck. “Weird. They look like hand prints.” He mumbles, pursing his lips. You avert your eyes to your tail laying in your lap, pursing your lips as tears cloud your vision.
“Did you..did you have an abusive owner?” Taehyung mumbles, tilting his head to try and catch your gaze. You bite back a sob, a single tear slipping down your cheek. “Hey hey hey..it’s okay. They can’t reach you now.” Taehyung mumbles, his brows furrowing. At this the sob escapes you, making you curl in on yourself. You miss the concerned glances the men in front of you exchange, all of them eyeing your shaking figure worriedly.
“Is she okay? I heard a sob.” The man who’d previously left the room returns, a frying pan in hand as he eyes everyone. Taehyung sighs, sparing you one last glance before standing up and leading the man out of the room.
Next - Masterlist
A/n: I’m sorry it’s a short chapter, but I made like a mini drabble type of chapter with Tae talking to Jin in the kitchen.
If anyone would like to be on a taglist for this series please let me know!
𝐁𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐓𝐀𝐍 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐒 :-
𝐊𝐈𝐌 𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐉𝐎𝐎𝐍
ɴᴀᴍᴊᴏᴏɴ ɪ
ɴᴀᴍᴊᴏᴏɴ ɪɪ
ɴᴀᴍᴊᴏᴏɴ ɪɪɪ
𝐊𝐈𝐌 𝐒𝐄𝐎𝐊𝐉𝐈𝐍
ᴊɪɴ ɪ
ᴊɪɴ ɪɪ
𝐌𝐈𝐍 𝐘𝐎𝐎𝐍𝐆𝐈
ʏᴏᴏɴɢɪ ɪ
ʏᴏᴏɴɢɪ ɪɪ
𝐉𝐔𝐍𝐆 𝐇𝐎𝐒𝐄𝐎𝐊
ʜᴏsᴇᴏᴋ (ɪ)
𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐊 𝐉𝐈𝐌𝐈𝐍
ᴊɪᴍɪɴ ɪ
ᴊɪᴍɪɴ ɪɪ
ᴊɪᴍɪɴ ɪɪɪ
𝐊𝐈𝐌 𝐓𝐀𝐄𝐇𝐘𝐔𝐍𝐆
 ᴛᴀᴇʜʏᴜɴɢ ɪ
ᴛᴀᴇʜʏᴜɴɢ ɪɪ
ᴛᴀᴇʜʏᴜɴɢ ɪɪɪ
ᴛᴀᴇʜʏᴜɴɢ ɪᴠ
ᴛᴀᴇʜʏᴜɴɢ ᴠ
𝐉𝐄𝐎𝐍 𝐉𝐔𝐍𝐆𝐊𝐎𝐎𝐊
ᴊᴜɴɢᴋᴏᴏᴋ ɪ
ᴊᴜɴɢᴋᴏᴏᴋ ɪɪ
ᴊᴜɴɢᴋᴏᴏᴋ ɪɪɪ
ᴊᴜɴɢᴋᴏᴏᴋ ɪᴠ
ᴊᴜɴɢᴋᴏᴏᴋ ᴠ
ᴊᴜɴɢᴋᴏᴏᴋ ᴠɪ
ᴊᴜɴɢᴋᴏᴏᴋ ᴠɪɪ
ᴊᴜɴɢᴋᴏᴏᴋ ᴠɪɪɪ
ᴊᴜɴɢᴋᴏᴏᴋ ɪx
ᴊᴜɴɢᴋᴏᴏᴋ x
ᴊᴜɴɢᴋᴏᴏᴋ xɪ
𝐁𝐓𝐒 𝐎𝐓𝟕 / 𝐏𝐎𝐋𝐘
ʙᴛs ᴘᴏʟʏ/ᴏᴛ𝟽 (ɪ)

wolf tae is just so cute :( i can only imagine him as a puppy wolf, and he’s so soft and this smut has so many talk i love aaaaa
—moonstruck. (m)
⟶ pairing: taehyung x reader
⟶ genre: werewolf!taehyung au / arranged marriage au / smut with a sprinkle of fluff
⟶ words: 7,421
⟶ rating: 18+
⟶ summary: in hindsight, being friends with a pack of werewolves and, thus, suddenly being thrown into a world of supernatural furries and other inhuman beings isn’t something you would recommend but it was too late to back out now, especially when you consider the fact that apparently you’re now being “hunted” and the only way to save you is to be mated with taehyung. whatever that means.
⟶ warnings: multiple smut scenes, first time (virgin!taehyung), clumsy sex, soft and gentle sex, sort of rough sex, all the sex, cunnilingus, riding, hair pulling, knotting, buckets of cum, biting kink, slight impregnation kink, unprotected sex, creampie
⟶ disclaimer: first fic back after a long hiatus and i’m suddenly v nervous to post this!! also this is shamelessly and 100% inspired by an episode of the show outlander (to be exact, the wedding episode). i couldn’t help myself!!
“Are you serious right now?”
In hindsight, being friends with a pack of werewolves and, thus, suddenly being thrown into a world of supernatural furries and other inhuman beings isn’t something you would recommend but it was too late to back out now, especially when you consider the fact that apparently you’re now being “hunted.” Whatever that means.
Had you heard yourself speak a year ago before meeting Taehyung and having your life turned upside down, you would have surely thought you were insane, and you would have definitely thought Taehyung is insane, and the rest of his friends who are, subsequently, now yours ━ each of whom are all currently splayed out before you in Namjoon’s spacious country-side home with similar grave looks staring back at you.
“Dead serious,” Hoseok takes the liberty of breaking the odd silence saturating the kitchen. He’s made it a point to be on time for once, which you consider great and all if it wasn’t basically to dispute your current death sentence. “Always thought Jaebum’s pack were sons of bitches ━ glad to know it’s still true.”
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