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“Hyung, I'm making some tea, do you want anything?” Hoseok asked from the entryway to the kitchen. He watched with folded arms and a fond smile as Yoongi stretched like cat on the sofa, shifting so he could shake his head in response. Hoseok chuckled. “Alright.”
He turned away from his roommate and paced into the kitchen, immediately reaching for his favorite teacup he left out on the counter after he had put the kettle up to boil. He drank tea so frequently, there was really no point in setting it back in the cupboard anymore, or so Yoongi had grumbled one night when they were cleaning up before bed. Hoseok smiled at the memory, heart warmed a little at the peaceful day they were having. So caught up in new thoughts of the stresses tomorrow would bring and how Yoongi's presence alone helped relieve some of them anyway, he didn't pay much attention to what he was doing until his fingers wrapped around the peachy pink cup. When he looked down, however, he yelped loudly, snatching his hand back as if burned.
There was something in the cup and from the three feet away from the counter of which he had jumped, it looked furry.
“Seok-ah, are you okay?” Yoongi called, a tint of worry in his tone.
Hoseok squeaked again as the thing moved a little and hurriedly replied with a negative as calmly as he could. “Hyung, could you get in here please? Now?” He seemed to be frozen to the spot but unknowingly, his upper body had tilted forward just a bit for a closer look at the thing that was currently contaminating his favorite cup. It was with sickening horror that he realized he may never use that one again.
He heard the couch groaning as Yoongi stood, but he grew less and less frightened the closer he looked, taking a step forward when he realized that maybe that wasn't fur but maybe...hair. Silky black hair, in fact, with tiny (the tiniest) ears that looked suspiciously like bunny ears placed right in the center. There was a face underneath the shiny waves, pale and peaceful, and tiny eyes with even tinier eyelashes fluttering and scrunching every so often.
Soon, Hoseok was pressed against the edge of the counter, leaning directly over the cup with his face as close as could be without losing focus. A quiet squeal came out of his mouth again, but this time it was one of adoration, because the thing was actually a tiny little half human with bunny ears that was fast asleep. His little hands were balled up like the black fluff that was probably his tail, legs tucked against him, body entirely curled up so he could fit just like liquid into the ware. Hoseok was weak for cute things and this was quite possibly the cutest thing he'd ever seen in his life. It should've been odd, absurd even, that he was not questioning the reality or gravity of the situation. A tiny boy that looked like a human but was probably definitely not a human was sleeping in their kitchen and he had no idea where he could have come from.
“Hoseok, what's wrong?”
Said boy jumped again at the sound of Yoongi's voice too close to his ear, and turned to the older with a hand on his heart. “Don't scare me like that!”
“Well, you got me worried! What's going on? Did I get off the couch for no good reason, ‘cuz if I did…” He leveled Hoseok with a cold stare and all the other could do was smile sheepishly.
“Actually, well…” How should he put this…
Before he could open his mouth again to try to explain what was hidden behind his back, there was the softest snuffling sound and Yoongi's eyebrows jerked up. Hoseok turned quickly to see the tiny boy’s nose wiggling and scrunching, body shifting just a bit before settling again and he couldn't help but let out a loud cooing noise.
“Ah, Yoongi-hyung, look!” He bent so his face was right in front of the cup. “Look how adorable this little guy is! I don't what he is or where he came from but I just found him in my cup and, hyung, look how tiny he is, my god. My heart…”
Yoongi shoved him out of the way as gently as he could with the new information he was receiving. There was a creature in their household? Was it a mouse? No, that couldn't be since Hoseok would have been losing his mind by then, not cooing. His roommate was terrible with things like that and would've ran for the hills already but right then, he was cooing over his cup.
When Yoongi's confused gaze fell on the teacup, there was a sharp intake of breath, eyes widening considerably as he looked upon the extremely small man. He rubbed at his eyes quickly, wondering whether he'd fallen asleep on their comfy sofa and was dreaming this all up but Hoseok’s voice cut through his shock.
“I know, I don't know what's going on either but isn't he the most precious thing you've ever seen in your whole goddamn life?”
They were both staring down at the cup, Yoongi trying to come up with something to say, any explanation he could come up with for what could possibly be happening, when there was more movement. They held their breath anxiously and watched as the boy's eyes slowly peeled open, eyelids moving up and down lazily as if in a daze, to reveal the prettiest of gazes. Sparkly brown irises shifted upwards to Yoongi and Hoseok, and immediately the stretching of tiny fingers and short little legs came to a halt. His eyes widened in fear and he scrambled up until he was standing in the middle of the teacup, gripping the edge with a vice-like grip, looking ready to run as fast as he could to a safe, hidden place.
Panicked, Hoseok held out his hands and said, “No, no! It's okay, we're not going to hurt you!”
The tiny human still looked petrified. Yoongi realized that Hoseok, though trying his best to stay calm and in turn keep the other one calm, had frightened the boy with his loud, lilting voice. He began a different approach.
“Hey, little guy, he's telling the truth. We're not gonna do anything to you so it's okay, just calm down, alright?” His voice was as gentle as it could be, which was saying a lot for someone whose natural voice was gruff and indifferent. Hoseok couldn’t help but turn wide eyes on him for a quick second before looking back down at the boy. The tiny human nodded, shoulders still tense as he peered up at the two giants in front of him. “Do you want to tell us your name?”
There was a long stretch of silence as the three of them stared, a silence in which Hoseok noticed the small tremors of fear that caused the tiny body to shake fading a bit and the cautiously flattened-to-his-head ears raising just a tad in curiosity.
“Jungkook.” A smile lit up Hoseok’s face as he heard the boy's voice, a high, pretty sound that he thought well suited the small half-bun dressed in a worn out, pastel pink sweater.
“Hello, Jungkook! I'm Hoseok,” he said, pointing to himself and then pointing to his friend, “and this is Yoongi. It's very nice to meet you! Where did you come from, sweetie?”
Jungkook looked down and clasped his hands together in front of him, shy, and said, “I slipped in with him last night. I’m sorry for intruding.” He gestured to Yoongi briefly with his head still bowed.
“Oh, no need to apologize!” Hoseok exclaimed, to which Yoongi grumbled lowly that maybe this was a cause for apology, Hoseok, please.
Hoseok ignored Yoongi’s mumbling, instead wondering briefly about whether Jungkook had a place to be, people he belonged to, so without hesitation he asked, “Do you have a family you need to get back to?”
He had meant well, saying the words without thinking about if it would affect Jungkook, but as the two normal-sized humans stared down at the smaller, he came to realize that maybe he shouldn't have asked that burning question. Jungkook stayed quiet, not meeting their gazes but he raised one tiny fist to rub at his eye.
“Oh, my god,” Yoongi breathed. “You made him cry.”
Hoseok grabbed Yoongi's arm, panic spiking again in his chest but before he could spew out his apologies, Jungkook spoke up.
“I'm not crying,” he said in a wispy tone. “I don't have a family, no, I've been alone for a while. I...well, I can't really remember much of anything before I was by myself.” He finally looked up to the two giants, as he considered them, with a terribly innocent, blank look on his face. Hoseok let out a strangled breath, willing himself not to tear up. He reached out to comfort as he normally would but right as his finger touched a delicate, soft ear, Jungkook jerked back, staring up at him with glossy, wide eyes.
Yoongi (gently) slapped Hoseok’s hand away in reprimand, to which he received a scandalized look. “Instead of scaring the poor kid, how about you go ahead and finish making that tea you wanted, Seok-ah.” He turned to Jungkook and continued, “Don't worry about him, little, he's harmless.”
Hoseok scoffed, rolling his eyes but moving to get another mug from the cupboard anyway. “You're so mean to me, hyung. I'm honestly just out here trying to live and make a new friend, must you be so grumpy?” He was mumbling as he moved around the kitchen collecting necessary items, which Jungkook seemed to find funny. The boy let out a soft giggle that had both Hoseok and Yoongi staring at him in awe for a good few seconds. Before Jungkook had a chance to regain the shy kind of awkwardness that seemed to be lurking, Hoseok spoke up again. “Oh, Jungkook! You must be hungry, do you want anything to eat?”
At this, Jungkook started, moving forward to grip the rim of the cup in eagerness. Yoongi chuckled down at him in spite of himself. The tiny creature nodded a positive answer and smiled, ears sticking straight up.
“Hm, how about I just give some of these chocolate crackers for now, since we haven't cooked yet,” Hoseok said, reaching to where the box of crackers sat on the counter. In truth, he didn't know what the boy could eat and just how much he would need to prepare so he figured those guessing games were for later. When he placed two of the small crackers into the cup, Jungkook plopped down in the center with eyes alight and black bunny ears swaying.
“Thank you,” he mumbled around his first crunches of the snack.
Hoseok waved his hand, bending just a bit closer to where the cup rested and cooed out loud. “It's no problem, Jungkookie. If you need anything else just tell me, okay?”
Yoongi could sense the squeal waiting to be released at the back of Hoseok’s throat, the younger seeming close to a heart attack from the copious amounts of cuteness radiating from the the tiny human that sat chewing on crackers on their kitchen counter with happily twitching bunny ears. Hoping neither of those would happen, he said, “It was really cold last night. That must be why you followed me in, right, Jungkookie?”
The small boy hummed, nodding. He swallowed before replying, “Yes, I… I'm sorry again for coming into your home like this. I'll go as soon as possible, whenever you want me to.” He nodded again to himself in determination, the action utterly endearing. Yoongi heard a squeak from behind him.
“Oh, no,” Hoseok said seriously. “You can't go back out there in this snowy weather. In fact, you can stay here with us from now on! Only if you'd like, of course!” He was positively beaming down at the tiny human and the gaze was returned with one of disbelief and awe.
Yoongi quickly stood up straight and faced his impulsively spoken roommate. “Now, hold on--”
Hoseok whined as he turned to face the older. “Aw, hyung, come on! You know he can't go back out there on his own! We can keep him and love and adore him!”
Faint blush sparked to life on Jungkook's puffy cheeks.
“Yes, but we're barely home--”
“Don't give me that! At least one of us is home most of the time! Ah, just look at him, he's small and adorable and defenseless!” Here he paused for dramatic effect, resting a hand on his heart as they both glanced at Jungkook. “He could get eaten by dogs or worse...lions.”
“Hoseok, we live in the middle of a city! There are no goddamn lions here,” Yoongi exclaimed quietly, as if he didn't want Jungkook to hear the conversation they were having. It was really no use of course, since the boy sat in the cup, munching on his food and staring up at them in curiosity. They seemed very close.
“The zoo is right there, hyung. It is an entirely possible scenario!”
The two bickered quietly for a few seconds longer before Yoongi exclaimed, “Fine!”
Hoseok let out a whoop and clambered back over to Jungkook. “So, what do you say, Jungkookie? Wanna stay here with us? We're definitely as crazy as we look, though, just a fair warning.”
But Jungkook was only thinking about how these two boys were the nicest people he'd ever seen, treating him carefully and sweetly. They were funny and warm, ill-intentions nowhere to be found. Without knowing, he found himself nodding up at Hoseok and got a blinding smile in return. Even Yoongi was smiling from where he stood further behind. Hoseok jumped and clapped, saying, “Great! This is so exciting! I'm gonna go out and buy all the stuff you need right now!” He stopped. “Well, maybe you'd like to clean up a bit first, Kookie?”
Jungkook's heart warmed at the nicknames he had been receiving and the brown-haired boy’s immediate willingness to make sure he was doing well. He nodded once more but said quietly, “You don't have to go through all that trouble for me, really.”
“But I want to,” Hoseok stated. “So, let's get you into a bath shall we? I'll sneak you out with me afterward when I go to the store and you can see how funny it'll be, a grown male in the toy section.” He picked up the teacup gently, making sure not to jostle the boy too much as he grabbed something from the cupboard and headed down the hallway to the bathroom, tea all forgotten. Yoongi followed the excited mumbling after a pause, finding Hoseok near the sink filling up a bowl with warm water.
The younger turned to look at him where he stood in the doorway. “Hyung, I'm using some of your bath stuff, okay?” Yoongi nodded, confused until he saw Hoseok break off little bits of a light blue bath bomb to drop into the bowl. Jungkook was carefully climbing out of the cup and when he stood before Hoseok on the sink, he silently allowed the larger boy to lift his sweater from his tiny body.
When the small piece of material was dropped beside him, he registered Hoseok gasping quietly. There were small bruises that dotted Jungkook's porcelain-smooth skin and Hoseok felt his heart crack with the knowledge of tiny Jungkook weathering the hardships of life on his own.
“We'll protect you from now on,” he said softly. Jungkook gazed up at him, wondering how the heck he'd gotten so lucky and wondering if they would stay true to their word. He looked past Hoseok's shoulder to where Yoongi was leaning on the door frame, only to see the oldest nodding with that same soft smile on his lips.
“Thank you both so much,” Jungkook whispered dazedly, finding himself being submerged in warm, bubbly water. He was soon splashing playfully and giggling and, ah, there was the sound of Hoseok melting. Hoseok smiled and took some water to dump over Jungkook's hair, massaging lightly while remaining careful with the tender, ticklish bunny ears.
Yoongi chuckled at his friend and what was apparently his new roommate. What a turn of events, he was thinking, a peaceful day had turned into what he would probably mark as an extremely important one in his mind. He watched as Hoseok giggled along with the pretty, little Jungkook, chuckling when, soon after, it was time to get out and Jungkook whisper-yelled, “Don't look!” Hoseok dutifully held a hand to his eyes with laughter on his lips as Jungkook's tiny hand grasped his finger so he could get out. He was promptly rolled up in the smallest hand towel they had and was beginning to speak animatedly with Hoseok.
Yoongi sighed and rested his head against the door frame, thinking about how this was bound to be the start of an (adorable where Jungkook was involved) adventure.