Chapter Text
No one woke anyone up here. Everyone was responsible for waking up at whatever time they wished, and getting breakfast. Yoongi woke up so late that no one was in the kitchen, and the food was cold. It felt like such a luxury to sleep until the sun was already high in the sky, and not to have to wake up before dawn and whip up an unsatisfacory breakfast. He ate slowly and lazily, thoroughly enjoying the delicious food before going outside to the garden.
Yoongi idly strolled to the stream, thinking if no one was around it would be his chance to finally bathe. Though he had bathed in the stream back home with others, he felt extremely uncomfortable to think of bathing in front of the magic folk – especially in front of that dragon. Unfortunately, this was not his chance for a private bath- instead of what would be the usual gentle murmur of the stream, there was violent splashing. To his shock, it was the dragon - dark scales shone in the mild sunlight, and violet eyes were wider and softer as he splashed and played. A thick layer of bubbles covered the surface of the water surrounding him, and even though there was a slight current in the stream, the bubbles remained in the same area - no doubt due to Taehyung's creativity and magic.
Seokjin sat on the edge of the stream, his legs in the water, leaning back and propping himself up with his elbows. He must have either sensed Yoongi or heard him, because he turned his head and greeted him with a smile. "Here for a bath?"
"No!" Yoongi said at once, perhaps a little too fast.
Seokjin frowned. "You are a terribly dirty creature! You have not bathed even once since you got here." His frown melted into an expression of horror. "M-my water! When you finally bathe you will be so dirty you will contaminate my water! I will rinse you myself before you step foot into my stream. Don't you dare bathe without telling me first! In fact, I ought to haul you in here and make you bathe right now!" he fumed.
Yoongi took a step back, alarmed. Why was the nymph so obsessed with his water? He would never get clean at this rate!
A splash of water hit the nymph in the face, and the dragon disappeared under the bubbles only to reappear and send more water splashing over Seokjin, who simply sighed and watched the dragon play. Yoongi sat down in the grass, keeping a careful distance, and watched the dragon play by himself with the bubbles. He tried gathering them together to make a heap, but they kept scattering. This game of chase went on for quite a while until he seemed tired of it, and decided he had enough and bounded out of the stream, his glossy scales winking in the sun.
The dragon nuzzled his head against Seokjin affectionately, who chuckled and patted the side of the dragon's face. "See? Feels good to play with the bubbles and water again, doesn't it?"
The dragon nodded and Yoongi was slightly started to hear a deep humming kind of sound coming from him - it sounded like pure contentment. The dragon spotted Yoongi and bounded up to him excitedly.
Alarmed to see a dragon running at him, Yoongi scrambled to his feet.
"He wants to play," said Seokjin, seeing Yoongi had no idea how to react. The nymph stood up, and headed towards them.
Yoongi looked at the dragon, and gulped. He was so beautiful, but also dangerous, he reminded himself. Now they were standing on even ground, the dragon did not tower over Yoongi - he was a head taller than him. The dragon spread his wings slightly to dry them, and Yoongi's heart skipped a beat in sudden admiration of the perfection of the dragon, of the absolute majestic beauty.
Seokjin plopped himself in the grass. "Beautiful, right?"
Yoongi nodded wordlessly.
"Me, I meant," Seokjin said. "Not the dragon!"
"Oh! Well, you are beautiful as well," Yoongi said quickly.
The dragon's eyes widened in realization that Yoongi had called him beautiful - that Yoongi looked at him in awe and admiration instead of fear. Trying very hard to contain his excitment and happiness, he lay down, to show Yoongi he would be calm and not harm him.
Yoongi's breath hitched as the dragon looked up at him, eyes like liquid amethyst. Hesitantly, he held out his hand, suddenly longing to touch those shimmering scales, and the dragon happily brought his face forward so Yoongi's palm met his cheek.
His skin was so warm. Yoongi had expected it to be slightly rough, but his scales were smooth and there was a kind of softness to them. Very excited now, the dragon rolled onto his back, and Seokjin laughed.
"Rub his belly!" the nymph said.
Taken aback that a dragon would enjoy belly rubs, Yoongi hesitantly knelt down in the grass and touched his pale belly. There were no scales and it was softer and smoother than the skin of even a baby's.
"A dragon's belly is the most vulnerable part," Seokjin said. "So for a dragon to give you access to it, it is a sign of trust. Though I do not know why he trusts you right now."
The dragon grunted, annoyed, and the nymph scoffed. "Did I say something wrong, huh?"
He flicked his tail and Seokjin rolled his eyes. "I am going to clean the bubbles, so behave."
As soon as the nymph stood up, the dragon hurriedly sat up. At first, Yoongi wondered if he had done something wrong, but the arrival of nearly half a dozen fluffy rabbits answered his doubt.
The rabbits sniffed the dragon, little noses wiggling, and some of them climbed on his paws, exploring. Yoongi watched with bated breath - how did rabbits dare to climb on the dragon? A few were even on his back now, and one slid down his tail.
Yoongi sat down and tried to touch one of the rabbits, but it immediately ran off and climbed on the dragon instead. Surely he must be less threatening than a dragon, he thought indignantly.
The dragon seemed peaceful, slightly bored even, as the rabbits used him as a playground. By the looks of it, this was definitely not the first time...
Yoongi melted inside, seeing how patient the dragon was with the playful and curious rabbits. They eventually sniffed him curiously, but if he so much as wiggled his toe, they would run and take refuge somewhere on top of the dragon.
Eventually the dragon had enough, and shook himself slightly, telling them it was time to go and play somewhere else. They seemed to get off him reluctantly, but bolted when the dragon suddenly leapt up and ran across the stream and disappeared behind a thicket.
Yoongi looked around, startled - what made him suddenly so agitated? He reappeared soon, his mouth full of daisies and feet full of dirt. He ran across the stream and dropped the flowers right in front of Yoongi, looking at him expectantly.
"W-what is it?" Yoongi asked, clueless. He picked up two daisies and twirled the stems together, which made the dragon nearly quiver in excitment. Something clicked. "Would you like me to make you a flower crown?" he asked carefully. If this was not what the dragon wanted, he really had no idea what....
Luckily, the dragon nodded eagerly, violet eyes dancing. Yoongi laughed fondly. "Alright, I'll make you one!"
The dragon watched the human make the crown eagerly, not able to keep himself still, and when Yoongi finished, he looked as though the human had made him a crown of stars, not daisies. Yoongi tried not to laugh again, as he placed it on the dragon's head - he had made it longer to fit him better.
A dragon wearing a crown of daisies - that was something Yoongi had never imagined. Then again, everything about Namjoon was beyond his imagination. Playing with bubbles in the water, wanting belly rubs, letting rabbits play with his tail, and so excited and happy about a flower crown - Yoongi felt like he was dreaming because this was one of the most adorable and sweetest things he had ever seen.
"OY!!!! WHO RIPPED OUT MY FLOWERS?" a furious voice demanded, and proceeded to rant loudly. Hoseok came into view, and Yoongi immediately noticed that he did not glow - instead, he was surrounded by a dark aura. He gulped, and the dragon whined softly.
Hoseok's eyes zeroed in on the flower crown. "YOU!!!! YOU CAME AND WRECKED MY FLOWER BED!" He marched through the stream and as if on cue, Seokjin's furious voice screamed, "MY WATER!"
The fae stopped in his tracks, thinking the nymph was shouting at him as he materialized from the water.
"I LEAVE YOU FOR TEN MINUTES AND YOU TRACK MUD IN MY WATER!" The nymph spotted the flower fae and his darkness. He saw the flower crown and sheepish dragon and human, and his face turned purple in rage. "I LEAVE YOU ALONE FOR JUST ONE MINUTE AND YOU RIP OUT HIS FLOWERS AND TRACK MUD IN MY WATER! THIS IS TOO MUCH!"
"I'm so sorry!" Yoongi cried. He should have realized the dragon was causing trouble! The dragon whined again, louder.
"OH NO! DON'T GIVE ME ANY OF THAT!" Seokjin shouted. "THIS IS WHY I SAY YOU NEED CONSTANT SUPERVISION! MUD IN MY WATER-"
"Can you stop saying that?" Hoseok cut in darkly. "It's not mud! It's earth, and it's NOT dirty!"
"It's mud and it's dirty!" Seokjin retorted. "Contaminating my pure water-"
"Earth can never contaminate water! They are both elements that work in harmony! I am sick and tired of your whining and nagging, nymph!"
Hoseok put his foot - his dirty foot - in the water and Seokjin nearly burst. The nymph and flower fae got into a heated argument about earth and water.
"M-maybe we should leave..." Yoongi muttered, as the nymph violently splashed water on the fae, who went even darker.
The dragon nodded, and the two snuck off quietly.
"Hoseok is so bright and cheerful, but he seems terrifying when angry," Yoongi said, the dragon behind him, as the shouting got more distant. "Maybe I should make lunch alone today... as a way to appease Seokjin."
The dragon nodded, still looking sheepish. They bumped into Jungkook who was followed by a bunch of rabbits and birds, who said he was on his way to get Seokjin because it was time to make lunch.
"Oh, I'll take care of lunch today!" Yoongi said, and the fae furrowed his brows. "You see.... Seokjin is a little upset because his stream got dirty, so I want to to do him a favor and make lunch."
"Who dirtied his stream??" Jungkook demanded, alarmed, and one look at the dragon's expression was enough to tell him. "Namjoon! You know what happens when Seokjin's water gets dirty!"
"What happens?" Yoongi asked.
"Well, he usually gets itchy and maybe developes a rash, or he can even fall ill - water is his main life source, you see, and it's important it stays pure so he stays healthy."
No wonder Seokjin was so strict about rinsing off before stepping foot in his stream, Yoongi thought guiltily. He wasn't causing a fuss about something small, after all...
"He and Hoseok are fighting," Yoongi added. "Hoseok is upset Seokjin calls earth dirty and unpure."
"Oh no!" Jungkook groaned. "Not this again! I will go and try to get them to calm down, is that all right?"
"Of course!" he said. "Don't worry about anything, we'll take care of lunch!"
Jungkook smiled rather doubtfully at that, and after wishing them luck, he sprinted to the stream.
"Are you going to help with lunch?" Yoongi asked, as the dragon followed him inside. First things first, the stove should get started. Yoongi opened the little door in the stove and piled in the firewood that was kept beside it, and hunted for something to light it on fire.
"Do you know where the matchsticks are?" he asked the dragon, who stepped forward and before Yoongi realized what he was about to do, he opened his mouth and sent a blast of fire in the stove. The wood became instantly alive with fire, and Yoongi hurriedly closed the stove door.
"Thanks," he said, quickly over his surprise. "You sure saved me the effort of trying to get a fire in there."
The dragon looked pleased, and to Yoongi's confusion he wandered out of the kitchen. Well. His job was over, he supposed, and he got to work cutting up vegetables.
Namjoon wandered back in shortly, carrying meat - it took Yoongi by surprise to see him in his human form again. He wandered back out again and returned carrying even more meat, until there was more than anyone could possibly want.
"This is too much, even for eight people," Yoongi said.
"No no, I will just eat this," Namjoon said.
"Oh, so you don't want rice and vegetables?"
"No, thank you," Namjoon said politely.
It figured, that a dragon's main diet would be meat, Yoongi thought. He quickly found out the reason why Namjoon was not in any team for meals - he tried to help but he kept dropping things and kept asking what he should do, and didn't understand what Yoongi told him. Eventually he told Namjoon to just sit down and keep his nose on the lookout in case anything burned, to which he happily agreed.
However, Namjoon quickly grew bored, and kept checking the meat to see if it was ready. Cooking for eight people alone, Yoongi realized, was quite the task - especially with a bored dragon who kept asking him questions and distracting him.
Thankfully, everything was finally cooked, and Namjoon nearly tipped over his chair in his excitment to pile a plate high with meat, and fell silent, eating as fast as he could.
Hoseok, Jungkook and Jin entered, declaring something smelled delicious, the flower fae and nymph all smiles. The three served themselves and praised the food, saying it was different but good, to Yoongi's relief - no doubt fae and human cousine was different.
"Why did you cook so much meat?" Seokjin asked.
"Was it too much?" Yoongi asked, glancing at Namjoon who was taking more.
"Yes, it was! Did that dragon tell you to make that much?"
Yoongi's silence was as good a confirmation as any, and the nymph sighed as the two fae giggled.
"Seokjin wants Namjoon to eat vegetables," Hoseok explained. "But as you can tell, Namjoon doesn't want any."
"Dragons do not eat vegetables!" Namjoon declared.
"I am too tired to argue with you now," the nymph gave in. "Stubborn dragon..."
Namjoon flashed Yoongi a triumphant smile, as though some secret plan of theirs worked out, showing off two deep dimples. Yoongi couldn't help but smile back, feeling like his partner in crime - and to his surprise, it didn't feel like something bad. It felt... well, fun, almost? Like he had made a friend.
"I heard the rabbits played with you again, Namjoon," Jungkook said.
"Ah yes, those rascals attacked me again," Namjoon laughed.
"Yoongi, do you like rabbits?" the fae asked.
Yoongi nodded eagerly. "Yes, I do! I love squirrels and birds as well. I tried playing with the rabbits earlier but they ran away."
"You won't... well, harm them, will you?" Jungkook said carefully. "If I tell them you are all right to play with, I meam.."
"No, of course not!" he said. "As long as I am here, I will respect the rules - such as no picking flowers without first checking with Hoseok, and absolutely no stepping foot in the stream without rinsing off first."
"Clever boy!" Seokjin cried approvingly, and Hoseok glowed. "That's the spirit! We can all live in harmony, right?"
Jungkook smiled a bunny smile. "Perfect! Maybe the rabbits will come play with you soon. I must warn you though, their energy can be overwhelming!"
"Just lie still and let them jump on you till they get tired," Namjoon advised, and Yoongi laughed. He couldn't wait to play with bunnies!
Once the meal ended, Yoongi wandered about aimlessly, everyone having seemed to disappear. So he grabbed the chance to take a bath, taking extra care to rinse himself off before entering, and breathing a sigh of relief. The water was so pure and refreshing, and the soap smelled divine - it did not smell of one thing, but of nearly all the good things, blended together in a delicious feast for the sense of smell.
Yoongi did not dare take as much time as he wanted bathing, afraid someone would come. He dried himself off and changed into fresh robes, and lie down in the grass in the gentle sunshine.
To his shock, a small fluffy rabbit hopped and settled down right in front of him, it's little nose wiggling in curiousity and sniffed him. It must have eventually decided he was not a threat, because it allowed him to pet it's velvety fur. The rabbit snuggled into the crook of Yoongi's neck, and his heart skipped a beat. Was this paradise?
Yoongi slipped into a peaceful sleep, in a bed of sweet grass and kissed by the gentle sunshine, a fluffy rabbit cuddled to his side.
****
Yoongi was gently woken by Seokjin, who was beaming because he finally bathed and did an amazing job of not getting the water dirty, he informed him.
Dinner was very quiet, as none of the fae were there - they were the chatterboxes, it seemed. The dragon and nymph exchanged a few sentences here and there, but that was it. It was so differen from when the fae were present, chattering non stop and filling the room with excitment.
For a lack of things to do, Yoongi insisted he would clean up, and that no, he did not want help. When he finished he found Namjoon sitting quietly at the table, as though waiting for him.
"It is the full moon tonight," Namjoon said. "The garden is beautiful in the full moon, come see."
Curious, Yoongi followed him inside, and nearly forgot how to breathe in wonder.
Moonlight bathed the garden in a brilliant silver glow, and Yoongi gasped. Fireflies - hundreds of them - surrounded them, as though the stars had come down to play. A feeling of bliss washed over him like a gentle wave curling in on the beach. Was it because of the fae's magic? Or was the pure beauty of nature enough to wash everything that wasn't now, in this place, away?
"It's beautiful," he breathed.
"The full moon is always beautiful," the dragon said. "We cannot go farther than this, however, because the fae will get distracted."
"What are they doing?"
"Harvesting the moon light, of course" Namjoon replied, as though that were obvious. "Absorbing new energy, as well."
"How do they harvest moon light?" Yoongi asked, wanting more than anything to see the fae doing this. "And what do they do with it?"
"They all use it for different things - Jimin uses it for healing, Taehyung uses it for his energy and inventions, Hoseok uses it for his flowers, and Jungkook uses it to keep the forest animals in health and balance. I do not know how they harvest it, though," he added. "It is fae magic. No one other than faes can be present for the moonlight harvesting ritual, it disturbs the energy."
"I wish I could see it," Yoongi said longingly.
Namjoon laughed softly. "So do I. Fae magic is so.... enchanting. I wish I could do such magic."
"You are a dragon," Yoongi said. "You have a different kind of magic."
"I suppose so," Namjoon said doubtfully. "But I would like to have magic like the fae, or perhaps a dryad or nymph. Or even dwarves and elves."
"D-dwarves and elves?" Yoongi repeated, stunned, and then internally laughing at himself fo surprised such beings existed when he had spent a large part of his day with a dragon.
"Yes, dwarves, the masters of metals. Taehyung learned much from the elves about crafting."
The fae were truly fascinating, and Yoongi felt a small stab of envy - he wished he had some kind of power, too.
"I wish I had some magic, too," he said. "Any kind. You still have magic, even though it is not fae magic."
"That's true," Namjoon admitted. "You no longer fear me, do you?"
Yoongi looked at Namjoon carefully, his sharp violet eyes appearing incredibly soft and somewhat hopeful, even. Yoongi smiled. "No, I do not fear you anymore. I misjudged you badly, and I apologize for that."
Namjoon's lips stretched into a smile, the two dimples deeper than ever - his face was like the full moon, round, and with little craters. "I am happy to hear that - I don't like to be feared." The dragon lifted his face to the moonlight, positively basking in it.
Thinking of his past behavior towards Namjoon made Yoongi want to crawl and hide in shame - no one had ever treated him better than the dragon and fairyfolk have, and his attitude had not deserved much kindness. Hearing the dragon's sobs of the other night made Yoongi realize this arrangement was worse for Namjoon than it was for himself - there was a price on his head, and though Yoongi did not know him well he did know Namjoon was a creature who preferred peace.
A firefly landed briefly on Namjoon's nose, causing him to jump slightly in surprise and wiggle his nose like a bunny, and Yoongi laughed. "The firefly kissed you!"
"No, it did not!" Namjoon protested, sounding horrified for some reason.
"Yes, it did," Yoongi insisted. "The firefly kissed you good night."
"Good night?" Namjoon asked doubtfully. "Is that what a kiss means?"
"Well, yes. It can mean good morning, good night, and even hello and goodbye," he explained.
"Ah, now I understand. A kiss is a greeting and farewell."
"Yes, but it's-" Yoongi's voice died in his throat as Namjoon leaned forward and pressed his lips to his forehead.
"Good night," said Namjoon.