Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Deep in the woods, down the winding road and by the side of the long dirt driveway, there was a chickadee, perched high in a pine tree. It’s right talon was supporting all the bird’s weight, as it’s left hung limply in the wind, mangled and bloody. It’s feathers were dull and ruffled, it’s stomach painfully tight, it’s mind tired.

The chickadee was staring intently into the window of the house opposite it, watching the boys inside go about their evening, as it had been doing for the past hour. They seemed kind. Their interactions with each other looked to be filled with playful love. But what was really fascinating was they all seemed to be just like the chickadee. Still, you can’t tell a lot about people by watching from a distance for a little while. Sometimes you just need to have faith.

And so, deciding to put its faith in the kindness of others, the chickadee flew down towards the house, landing delicately on the front porch. As it touched down, the chickadee’s form began to change, feathers shifting into fur, wings becoming legs, sharp talons turning into sharp claws, until finally a kitten about two handfuls big sat where the bird once was. Her back left leg was torn and mangled, just as the chickadee’s was, and the hunger in her stomach remained as potent as ever.

Staring up at the door, the kitten let out the loudest mew she could manage, hoping she could be heard over the commotion inside. Every inch of her body was on high alert, ready to run if things began to go south. The kitten meowed again, and then again, her voice soft and pitiful in the autumn winds.

Suddenly, the door in front of her swung open and she ran back a few feet as yellow light poured into the darkness. Standing in the doorway was a tall man, his face broken into a smile as soon as he laid eyes on the kitten. “Ha! I told you guys I wasn’t hearing things, there is a cat out here!” The man called back into the home.

Crouching down, he extended his hand towards the brown tabby, making kissy noises as he did so. “Come here kitty kitty, I’m not gonna hurt you.” The man was still grinning as he called out to the kitten huddling in the dark. As she considered her options, or lack thereof really, the kitten’s eyes were drawn to one of the reasons it had decided to take a risk and trust these strangers: the pair of white feathery wings sprouting from his back.

Her initial stakeout of the house revealed that the house contained multiple non-humans, much to her surprise. Supernatural creatures, humanoid and otherwise, were well known in this world, and you could find them in just about any town. But they were far from the majority. Non-humans were frequently looked down upon by ‘normal’ people, often labeled as dangerous and unnatural. As a supernatural creature herself, the kitten found solace in the company of other non-humans, and finding a home with what appeared to be seven non-humans seemed to be a gift from god in her moment of need.

As the kitten hesitated, more faces appeared in the doorway. It was hard to distinguish their faces against the bright light coming from within the home, but she could hear them speaking to one another.

“You weren’t kidding Hobi there really is a cat out here!”

“Of course I wasn’t kidding, you guys should believe me more often.”

“Awww it’s so cute can we keep it?”

“What if it has rabies Tae?”

“No it looks sweet I doubt it has rabies!”

“Can I go pick it up?”

“No Jimin you’re gonna scare it off. We’re probably already frightening it enough all crowding around it like this. All of you get out of here let Hobi take care of it.”

“Someone grab me a can of tuna or milk or something this poor thing looks like it hasn’t eaten in days”

The kitten had backed further away from the commotion, but calmed down a bit once the doorway cleared. Usually she tried to stay on her own, and being around so many people frightened her. But she knew she needed help, not to mention the promise of tuna made her empty stomach growl.

The angel, who the cat had deduced was named Hobi, was still smiling at her with his hand out, murmuring soft reassurances. Ever so slowly, the kitten hobbled over to him, watching carefully for any signs of aggression or ill intent.

“There you go. Poor thing, what happened to you? It’s okay now, we’ll take care of you.”

The tabby meowed quietly in response to his words. She had almost reached his hand when another figure appeared in the doorway, holding two bowls. The imposing horns on the person’s head signified some sort of supernatural heritage to the cat, but she couldn’t quite tell what.

“I got the tuna and the milk, hyung.”

“Alright put it down next to me and then get out of here, I’ll let you guys know when you can come see it.”

The unknown person did as he was told, and quickly disappeared inside the house. As the scent of tuna drifted over to the kitten, hunger overcame fear and she limped her way as fast as she could over to the bowl. Purrs erupted from her chest as she enjoyed her first real food in a few days.

The angel watched the kitten feasting with a smile on his face. He reached his hand down and gently placed it on her back, hoping he wouldn’t scare her away. She froze at first, debating whether or not to flee, but quickly went back to eating. The angel began to gently stroke the tabby’s fur, and she found herself enjoying his soft touch.

After she had stuffed herself on tuna and milk, the kitten limped closer to where Hobi was crouched and plopped on the ground, her injured leg splayed out beside her as if to showcase it to him.

“Poor little baby,” he cooed to the kitten, frowning at her injury. “Here, let’s take you inside and see what we can do about this boo-boo!”

As gently as he could, Hobi scooped the kitten into his hands, being very careful of her leg. As he entered the house, the rest of the boys rushed away from the window where they had been watching and started grouping up around Hobi.

“No no no, everyone back up we still need to give this lil guy some space. It’s leg is hurt. Namjoon, can you grab a pillow and bring it to the kitchen table?”

Now that the kitten was in the well-lit house, she could make out the members of the household in detail. The one Hobi referred to as Namjoon appeared to be a werewolf or some sort of dog hybrid, as indicated by the ears on top of his head and the tail wagging excitedly. As the tabby got a better look at the horned boy she guessed he was some sort of dragon hybrid. It was much easier to guess what kind of supernatural creatures they were from inside the house as opposed to up in a tree, and the kitten noticed a fairy, a kitsune, a dryad, and a vampire among those she hadn’t already identified. So many different heritages, all living together in one home. It made the kitten hopeful about her possibilities of fitting in here.

Namjoon came back with a pillow and set it down in the middle of the table Hobi was approaching. As carefully as he could, the angel placed the kitten on the pillow, making sure her injured side was facing up. He sat down in the chair closest to her and started examining her leg. Namjoon was still hovering around, his tail thumping against various furniture. “It’s so cute!!! Can you fix it’s leg Hobi?”

“I think so, but it might be a while before it will be 100% better.”

“So that means we get to keep it, right?” asked the dragon hybrid.

“A pet’s a lot of responsibility,” the vampire pointed out.

“Yeah,” the dryad agreed. “I’m not cleaning any litter boxes so if you want a cat you guys will have to care of that.”

“Me, Jimin, and Jungkook can take turns cleaning the litter box, right guys?” The fairy turned to the kitsune and the dragon, hoping they’d agree with his plan.

They both nodded in affirmation and the kitsune added, “Yeah, that’s a good idea! Can we please keep it, hyungs?”

Hobi and Namjoon looked at each other, and then at the dryad and the vampire boy. “What do you guys think?” Hobi asked. “I’d feel bad sending it back outside, and if Namjoon’s tail is any indication he’s already smitten with the little kitten.”

The vampire shrugged, watching as Namjoon playfully shoved Hobi. “I’m fine with it, it doesn’t seem like it’ll be too much trouble. And it is really cute”

“I agree with Yoongi. As long as I don’t have to clean any litter boxes, I’m fine with it staying,” the dryad concluded.

“Great! Well I’ll work on healing this little guy- err,” Hobi turned to the kitten, examining it closely before continuing, “This little girl, actually, and then we can figure out a name.”

The kitten had been starting to doze off on the pillow, but was jolted awake by hands touching her. “Shhh it’s okay little kitty,” the angel cooed. “You’re gonna feel a lot better in just a second.”

Hobi closed his eyes, his hands still on the kitten, and a sudden warmth overtook her. It felt like her fondest memories were flowing through her body, from her mother’s smile to her old friend’s laugh, seeing the first spring flowers and falling asleep near her loved ones, all of it spreading throughout her until she felt like her bones had become sunshine and her veins had turned into flowers.

After a few moments of bliss, the glow that had been radiating from Hobi’s hands dimmed until it was no more, leaving the kitten feeling at peace. Her leg, which had previously been raw and bleeding, was now a closed wound, though not completely healed.

“I did the best I could,” Hobi announced, “but it’ll still be a little while before she’s 100% better. Now, anyone have any ideas for names?”

The kitten didn’t hear the rest of the conversation, having drifted off into a deep sleep, her old memories still lingering in her mind.

Chapter Text

There was something about waking up in a house again that made her miss being human.

It had been a while since she walked on two legs, and longer still since anyone called her by her true name. Throughout her life she had been called many things: Junmyeon, Whiskers, Sister, friend, various animal noises that cannot be properly transcribed, mutt, lying bitch- just to name a few. But none of those felt as fitting as the name she was given at birth: Y/n. She missed being addressed as such.

Y/n briefly wondered if she would be able to reveal her identity to her new hosts if she stayed long enough, but quickly shot the idea down. It was better to be safe than sorry. She had seen people’s fear towards shapeshifters first hand, and just because they had accepted a kitten it didn’t mean they would accept her. Even supernaturals tended to be wary of shapeshifters.

Y/n’s ponderings were interrupted by a face suddenly peeking around a corner, staring at her. She recognized the fairy she had seen the previous night, and his eyes lit up when he realized she was awake.

“Guys she’s up!” the fairy shout-whispered. Two more faces, belonging to the kitsune and the dragon, appeared around the corner. There was a few moments of silence, during which both parties just stared at each other with wide eyes. The kitten let out a quiet, questioning meow and suddenly the three boys were in the room, kneeling on the floor a few feet in front of her.

“Ahh she’s so cute!! I’m so glad the hyungs let us keep her,” the fairy exclaimed.

“Not so loud, Tae! You’re gonna scare her.” The kitsune scolded.

“Ah, sorry Jimin. Sorry Mittens,” The fairy added, smiling sheepishly at her. So, Mittens was the name they had decided to go with? Not bad, Y/n decided, though not entirely unique. It wasn’t the first time she’d been dubbed Mittens but she didn’t really mind.

As she mulled over her new name, she noticed the dragon boy staring at her, almost thoughtfully. She was wondering what was going through his head when suddenly he flicked his hand out and a string appeared on the floor. So this is what they were gonna do, huh? It’s not like Y/n was gonna chase around some little bit of twine for their amusement. She was a shapeshifter, a hunter, a-

The string twitched and Y/n’s body instinctively slid into a hunter’s crouch. Oh come on, she wasn’t above being kept as a pet or letting them touch her fur but chasing string? She had too much pride for that.

The string twitched again and Y/n pounced, easily catching it between her outstretched claws. God damn it.

The boys were giggling, and Y/n sighed inwardly. Pride or not, sometimes the temptation of a wiggling string was too hard to resist. Not to mention, it was difficult to maintain a human mindset while in the body of an animal.

“Jungkook, keep Mittens busy. Jimin, come help me get her food,” the fairy (was his name Tae?) directed, pushing himself to his feet.

The kitsune, who Y/n assumed was Jimin, got up and followed behind him. “Can’t you do this on your own?” he complained.

“I don’t know what cats can and can’t eat.”

“And you think I do? Someone needs to go out and get cat food.”

“Jin hyung said he’d get some today, but she needs to eat in the meantime.”

Y/n tuned out the rest of the conversation, focusing instead on the dragon boy in front of her. Some of the dragon hybrids she had met previously used their heritage as an excuse to act like savage beasts, but Jungkook seemed perfectly friendly. His sweet smile off-set any effects his imposing horns and wings might have had.

She felt the boy give the string a tug, and strengthened her hold on it. After a few more unsuccessful attempts to retrieve it from her grasp, he surrendered it to her. Having won the game, Y/n quickly abandoned the string in favor of looking around the room.

It looked like she was in the main room of the house, a combination living room, dining room and kitchen. The kitchen was separated from the rest of the room by a set of counters. Inside the kitchen, Jimin and Tae were pointing to various containers in the fridge and arguing. She heard Tae suggest leftover cake and let out a prrp of amusement when Jimin smacked the back of Tae’s head. The two went back to arguing and Y/n went back to trying to get the lay of the land.

The living room was cozy and clearly lived in, comprising of two couches, a few recliners, two coffee tables, a television, and some gaming consoles that Y/n couldn’t be bothered to investigate. The dining room was just a long table with seven chairs around it. Off to the left, a hallway leading to places unknown caught her attention. 

Bored with the string and the bickering, Y/n ventured off in that direction to explore the rest of the house. She noticed Jungkook stand and start trailing behind her. That was fine, now he could open any closed doors for her.

The smell of the house was chaotic. Not just because seven boys lived there, though that did play a small part in it. The biggest reason was the huge range of supernaturals they had living in the same home. All creatures carry their own individual scent, but beings with magic smelled different from humans, in the same way a cat smelled different from a dog. Even among magical creatures, each species carried their own scent. Humans smelled more or less the same, but it was easy to tell the difference between a vampire and a dryad.

In truth, the concoction of scents was alluring to Y/n. Being able to smell magic throughout the house was comforting, reminding her more of home than the mostly humans cities where supernaturals were few and far between.

Y/n had stopped to breathe in and consider all the smells of the house, but quickly went back to her exploration mission. When she reached the hallway (which took longer with her still favoring her back leg), she counted 5 doors: two open, three closed. The first door on the right appeared to be a bathroom, if the tiled floor was any indication. Not that interesting in Y/n’s opinion, so she veered towards the open door on the left.

The room was fairly messy, with dirty clothes and the occasional snack wrapper strewn about, but it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been. A bunk bed was pushed to one side and a single bed lay opposite it.

“This is Jimin, Tae, and I’s room,” Jungkook announced from behind her.

That seemed pretty obvious to her, but she didn’t tell him that. Mostly because she couldn’t, but that was beside the point. Instead, Y/n wandered farther into the room, on the lookout for anything interesting. She saw a desktop computer sitting idle on a desk, with two laptops off to the side charging. She also saw a few plants on the window sill and a few more on their small bookshelf, most likely belonging to the fairy she decided. But there wasn’t much else that stuck out to her.

Eager to explore the rest of the house, Y/n marched around Jungkook and back into the hallway. The door to the left of the first bathroom had the sound of rushing water coming from behind it, so she assumed it was just another bathroom. No need to investigate that, so instead she approached the door opposite it. She meowed loudly when she reached the door, hoping Jungkook would get the hint and open it for her.

“No Mittens,” he told her gently, trying to turn her back towards the main room. “That’s Namjoon and Yoongi’s room, we shouldn’t wake them up.”

Y/n meowed again, this time more out in complaint of him trying to move her than of wanting to get in the room.

“No Mittens. Yoongi and Namjoon are asleep, let’s go-” The door opened suddenly, cutting off Jungkook’s statement and revealing a tired looking Yoongi.

“I would be asleep if you guys were capable of being quiet. What are Jimin and Tae arguing about now?”

“Oh, good morning Yoongi. I think they’re trying to decide what to give Mittens for breakfast.”

Yoongi acknowledged him with a grunt, then bent down to pet Y/n. She shied away from him at first, not entirely used to people so big reaching out to touch her yet, but let him stroke her head a few times. He smiled at her before pushing his way past Jungkook and into the open bathroom.

Noticing that he had left the door open, Y/n took advantage of the opportunity and rushed inside. The room was dark, with those special curtains that block out all the sunlight. Luckily, she could see pretty well in the low-light. It was furnished similarly to the other boys’ room, with a desk, a bookshelf, and some bedside tables, but only had two beds. The room was messier than the other had been, with more clothes lying around in piles on the ground.

Scanning around the room while Jungkook tried to quietly lure her back into the hallway, Y/n noticed a heavy looking book on top of the nightstand next to the still occupied bed. Her curiosity outweighed her fear of waking up Namjoon, and she tried to get closer. Of course, it was hard to read the title from her position on the ground. She’d have to get up there.

She studied the table for a few moments before she decided where she wanted to land. Gathering her strength, Y/n lept into the air, only to have her back leg give out on her. Her jump fell short, but her outstretched claws caught the edge of the table. For a brief moment, Y/n was left hanging on the edge. However the table began rapidly approaching the ground so she sprung off it the best she could, sprinting around Jungkook and out of the room as a loud crash sounded behind her.

Y/n heard a shout of alarm follow the crash, and she dashed into the nearest open door. When she stopped to look around (fur still on end and tail sticking straight up), she noticed she was in an entirely new room. The curtains were drawn back, letting in plenty of mid-morning sun. The floor was clean and plants decorated almost every available surface. It was bright, and cheerful and welcoming.

Less cheerful however, was the face of the dryad sitting up in bed.

“Did you make that loud bang?” Jin accused, his eyes squinting suspiciously at her.

Y/n meowed, trying to look as innocent as possible.

“Aish, your first morning here and you’re already causing trouble. What have we gotten ourselves into?”

Guilt washed over Y/n. He was right. They had been so kind to her and this was how she repaid them? She looked up at Jin, hoping he wasn’t too angry with her.

But, to her surprise, instead of anger on Jin’s face, there was only a fond smile.

Chapter Text

The next month was a strange time in Y/n’s life. After knocking over the table, the shapeshifter worried that she had made herself out to be more trouble than she was worth. But the boys seemed more amused than upset. They didn’t even bother scolding her over it, figuring it was a simple accident.

Later that day, Jin went to the store and picked up everything he thought she needed: a food bowl, a water bowl, wet and dry food (she avoided the dry food when she could, grimacing at the tastelessness of it), toys, a scratching post, a bed that never saw much use (she preferred the recliner at first, and the boys’ beds as time went on), a litter box, and of course, treats. It was strange living with so many people after so much time spent surviving on her own, but there was something about the boys that put her at ease. It wasn’t long before she started feeling at home with them.

Hobi was the one she got comfortable with first. Part of the reason was that he was the one that healed her, but she also found that his cheery demeanor made her feel safe and welcomed. The angel was an instructor at a dance studio, and Y/n loved watching him whenever he practiced at home. She tried copying his moves once, unaware that there had been a camera filming them until he was excitedly calling the rest of the guys over to watch the video. She was pretty sure it got posted to youtube after that.

Hobi was probably the most affectionate with her, often picking her up and planting kisses all over her. Sometimes she’d meow in complaint, but she really didn’t mind. She liked it when he walked around with her on his shoulder, the view much better than the one she usually got from the ground.

Taehyung was a close second when it came to affection, but first when it came to how much time he spent with her. Like Hobi, Tae loved picking her up and snuggling her, but he also loved to just watch what she was doing or play with her. About a week and a half after she had arrived, he decided that the toys Jin had picked up must be getting boring for Y/n, since there was only so much fun you could have with some feathers on a string or a fake mouse. In an effort to mix it up he set up a little obstacle course for her to run through with help from Jimin and Jungkook.

Jungkook and Tae were usually the ones that used the course with her. One of them would lead her through it with one of her old toys and she’d try to navigate the course as fast as she could. When she got comfortable with it, they’d rearrange it to keep it fresh and exciting. Y/n wasn’t sure about the obstacle course at first but realized that the game was actually a lot of fun. Plus, she always got treats at the end.

It seemed like most of her time with Jungkook was spent playing games. When they weren’t using the course or just the regular toys, Y/n liked to watch him play video games. Even as a human she hadn’t played video games too often, so a lot of the time she spent watching was just trying to understand what was going on on the screen. When she grew bored of watching, she’d look for ways to interfere with his game, whether it be sitting in front of the screen or trying to lay on his controller so it was harder for him to play.

Jungkook never really got mad at her though, usually gently pushing her out of the way or pausing the game to pay attention to her. Sometimes when the game itself frustrated him, she could see small embers start leaping from his mouth whenever he spoke. She didn’t dare mess with the game during these moments, but she’d always try to get his attention away from the infuriating game by meowing or headbutting his arm. Eventually he’d look down at the little kitten, and she could see his anger soften. He’d always put the game down after seeing her.

She liked Jimin a lot. She spent a lot of time just relaxing with him while he watched television or read a book, curled up in his lap while he idly stroked her fur. As much fun as Jungkook and Tae were, it was nice to just relax every once in awhile.

Of course, her opinion of Jimin may have been influenced by him being her #1 treat supplier. When he had noticed how quick she was learning the obstacle courses, he decided to see if she’d be able to learn tricks as well. Y/n played dumb the best she could, pretending not to understand what he was saying the first few times, but those treats were surprisingly yummy and she could only resist temptation for so long. Jimin seemed to take pride in how quickly she learned, and was always showing off how smart she was to the other boys.

Jin on the other hand was always complaining about how smart she was. Of course, it didn’t help that he was Y/n’s favorite person to mess with. She couldn’t help it, his reactions were always hilarious so of course she’d keep trying to get those reactions out of him. Plus, it made the other boys laugh too. She liked hearing them laugh.

She never did anything but inconvenience him and he never actually got mad at her. Her way of bothering him was usually just stuff like moving the pen he had just been using, always being in the way of what he was trying to do, or knocking something off the counter and darting in to grab a piece of his food while he bent to pick it up. Despite frequently getting herself kicked out of the kitchen, she liked to watch Jin cook. When she was behaving herself he’d let her sit on one of the counters and give her little bits of the food to try.

While Jin was the one that complained about her the most, he was also the one that took the most care of her. He always made sure her food and water bowl were full and clean, kept tabs on how much food and litter she had left, brushed out her fur (“What, like I’m gonna let my cat be any less handsome than I am?), and always kept an eye on her health. Her leg healed well, but there were still a few times that Jin insisted they should take her to a vet, just for a checkup. For some reason though, Y/n mysteriously disappeared whenever the vet was mentioned.

She hadn’t planned on sharing a bed with any of the boys at first, since she was plenty satisfied with her position on the recliner. However, not long after she arrived a thunderstorm tore through the area. When it first set in Y/n told herself that she was fine, if just a bit on edge. But when the night set in and the thunder grew louder, she felt panic setting in. A particularly loud clap of thunder found her scurrying towards the nearest safe looking place: Yoongi’s bed. The boy was surprised by her sudden dive under his covers, but quickly took petting her and murmuring soft reassurances in an effort to calm her down. After that night, she realized that it wasn’t that bad falling asleep close to someone. Though she alternated beds quite frequently, she ended up sleeping in Yoongi’s the most.

Namjoon always interacted with her as if he was afraid of breaking her. His hands gentle when he pet her, his voice soft, and when he picked her up he acted as if he were carrying a glass vase. She was confused at first, of course none of them were really rough with her, but Namjoon went out of his way to be careful. It wasn’t until she saw him break a completely metal ladle while trying to stir soup that she understood where his caution came from.

There were some nights where Y/n found Namjoon alone on the couch late at night. He was quiet, staring out the window as if the answers to whatever was going on in his mind lay out there. On those nights, she’d join him on the couch, meowing to draw his attention from the answerless window. He’d pull her close to his chest, petting her fur absently as he vented his feelings to the small cat. When his emotions overwhelmed him, and his quiet words quickly turned to muffled sobs, Y/n did her best to lick the tears from his face. In her current state she was unable to offer any words of comfort, but her concern seemed to remind him that someone cared and pull him back from that dark place in his mind.

She spent late nights with Yoongi as well, but those were quieter. There were no tears or murmured confessions, not much indication at all that something was wrong. But Y/n knew. She knew when his movements were stiffer, his silences longer, his responses more irritable, that she’d find him at two in the morning with open eyes, not seeming to actually be looking at anything. When she knew he’d be awake, Y/n would march onto his bed and station herself on top of his chest, purring as loud as she could. Her presence dragged him from his thoughts and into the present moment. Soon his eyes would slide shut, and Y/n would join him in sleep.

There wasn’t much Y/n could do to repay the kindnesses given to her by the boys, but she did her best. She always tried to notice when any of them needed cheering up, and do whatever it took to ease their mind whether that meant making them laugh, being something they could vent to, or just spending time with them. Y/n wasn’t always sure that she was doing enough to help, but each of the boys had discovered a newfound appreciation for her and her presence in their lives.

She had never intended to, but slowly and surely Y/n let herself get comfortable with these boys, let herself fall into the rhythm of their life. She knew who woke up first and who hit snooze five times, who was the first to go to work and who was the last to come home, who always forgot their wallet and who was always prepared. She listened to them, watched them, learned favorite colors and favorite movies, pet peeves and little quirks they had.

She let herself feel at home with them.

She let herself get attached.

Her plan had been to get help and then leave. That was the plan that carried the least amount of risk, the least likely for her to get revealed for what she was. Who knew what they’d do if they found out she was a shapeshifter. Kick her out? Attack her? There were too many things she couldn’t predict, too many bad outcomes she had seen play out too many times before. It was best to just keep moving. If no one knew what she was, and no one became important to her, then no one could hurt her.

The only problem with that plan was how lonely it was.

So when she found people that seemed kind, that treated her well and took care of her, she stayed. Even if they didn’t know the truth about her, and even if she couldn’t be a human like she wanted to be, it was better than being alone. It wasn’t until after dinner one night that she was reminded why she should have left.

The conversation began innocently enough. Jimin had been boasting about how smart she was, using how quickly she had learned to roll over as evidence of her intelligence, when Hobi brought it up.

“You know,” he started, his voice light with laughter in that way people speak when they’re talking about something they think is ridiculous, “I was reading the comments on that video of Mittens dancing I posted a while ago and there were some people who were insisting she was some sort of shape shifter, claiming that wasn’t ‘normal cat behavior’ and ‘an obvious sign she had human intelligence.’ Weird, right?”

Y/n’s heart stopped. Every inch of her being wanted to run, wanted to sprint out of that house before the conversation got any farther. But if they weren’t sure of it already, wouldn’t that just prove her guilt? She heard the boys laugh behind her, and she stayed frozen where she was.

“That is a pretty far fetched theory. Though, come to think of it, Mittens is smarter than any cat I’ve ever met,” Namjoon pointed out.

“Yeah, sometimes I swear she can understand everything we’re saying,” Yoongi added.

Suddenly there was a loud bang and Y/n whipped around. Jin was standing up, staring seriously at her with his hands flat on the table. She saw him approaching, his face devoid of any fond smile and this time maybe running was the smart thing to do but she was still frozen in place. The rest of the boys watched in confused silence as Jin picked the kitten up and held her face inches from his.

“I swear to god,” he began, his voice low, “if I find out that after all this time, after every bite of food stolen and pen that I know you misplaced, that you’ve been a shapeshifter this entire time?”

He paused, and Y/n’s heart sunk deeper into her stomach. She should’ve left as soon as her leg was healed. She had only set herself up for heartbreak. No one would accept a lying, fake, traitorous shapeshifter into their home, and she wouldn’t have been able to stay hidden forever anyways.

“You will be on dish duty for a month.”

Wait, what?

Dish duty? Y/n’s fear turned to confusion as she tried to process what he said. Had she misheard him? She must’ve. There was no way that was his idea of punishment for keeping this from them, for being what she was.

“Jin-hyung, leave her alone!” Jimin called out from the table. “Even if she is a shapeshifter, we’d just accept her as part of the family, right guys? I would’ve messed with you too if I were in her shoes. Well, paws.”

“Of course she can be part of the family,” Jin replied, rolling his eyes as if that were an obvious fact, “but she has stolen too many bites of my perfect chicken alfredo to get off without dish duty.”

“Jin-hyung you’re scaring her, just look how puffed up her tail is,” Tae scolded, walking over to Jin and gently removing the kitten from his hands.

“Ah, was I? I didn’t mean to… I’m sorry Mittens,” Jin apologized, his playful anger softening as he realized how frightened she looked.

“Don’t worry about him Mittens,” Tae said, cradling her to his chest. “He was just playing around. If you are a shapeshifter, I’ll cover dish duty for you! So don’t be afraid to tell us.”

“You know, it’d actually be pretty cool if Mittens turned out to be a shapeshifter,” Jungkook chimed in. “Maybe then she could actually play video games with me instead of just sitting on my controller.”

“That’s great and all, but how many of you guys have changed in front of her?” Yoongi pointed out.

An embarrassed silence fell over the rest of the boys, and Yoongi just chuckled, shaking his head. The conversation shifted after that, but Y/n’s mind was stuck on a loop, going over what they had said again and again.

After so long expecting only rejection and anger, their words sounded like a different language to her. It was one thing to not be angry, maybe Y/n could comprehend that. But acceptance into their family? Hell, even excitement at the idea that she could be a shapeshifter? Those ideas were so far from her expectations that trying to wrap her mind around them was like trying to wrap a shoelace around a bus.

She didn’t sleep much that night, fears and uncertainties fighting against the boys’ words as she tried to decide what to do next. There were so many risks to her revealing she was a shapeshifter, but the rewards were so tantalizing it was hard to resist just throwing caution to the wind and telling them right away. But there were so many ways it could go wrong, even if she did reveal herself she’d have to be careful. When would be the best time to tell them? Should she wait or tell them sooner so there’s less time she was keeping this from them? Would it be better to tell them all at once or just start with one person? Who would that person be?

All through the night Y/n debated with herself, playing through all different outcomes and weighing all the options until she finally let sleep take her, feeling as though she had thought it through well enough.

Come morning, she had made up her mind.

Chapter Text

When it came to secrets, excuses came easier than confessions. Things like “it’s not the right time,” and “maybe if I wait, I’ll know more” were much easier to say than the truth. But these justifications were quick to grow stale, and Y/n knew she was wasting time. The longer she put it off, the more likely the boys were to reject her. She had to tell them soon.

The perfect opportunity presented itself only a few days after her initial decision to let the cat out of the bag. Normally Y/n had the house to herself during the day, since all the boys went off to work. But as luck would have it, Taehyung had taken the day off work, leaving the two of them alone.

Tae of course had no clue that the day was any different than a normal day off, simply enjoying his time to relax. Y/n, on the other hand, was so nervous she felt as if every hair on her body was filled with electricity. At the moment, she was hiding in the room he shared with Jungkook and Jimin while the fairy was on the couch watching television.

It was now or never.

Changing forms was as easy as walking for Y/n. Being in an animal forms never bothered her, but it wasn’t until she was standing on two legs, versatile hands hanging by her side and the breeze tickling her bare skin, that she realized just how much she had missed the comfort of her human body.

Being human was like wearing clothes perfectly tailored to her body. Other clothes could fit just fine but nothing hugged her every angle just right like her human body did. Y/n spent the next few moments just enjoying the contentment of being in her proper shape. It wasn’t until a particularly strong breeze sent shivers across her body that she realized a small hiccup in her plan.

She wasn’t wearing any clothes.

Silently she cursed herself, but thanked god that Taehyung hadn’t come into his room for any reason. She pulled open one of the nearby dressers and started sifting through the clothes. Usually she could get her clothes to stay with any form that needed them, but if she spent too long without them they tended to disappear to god knows where. After a few moments of searching, she finally pulled out a pair of Jimin’s shorts and one of his shirts. All of the boys were taller than her, so even Jimin’s clothes hung loosely on her form. She had briefly considered borrowing a pair of one of the boys’ boxers, but decided that’d probably be weird.

After she was sufficiently clothed, Y/n’s gaze drifted towards the door. Her anxiety returned full force and she almost changed back into a kitten in an effort to retreat to safety before it was too late. But she knew this had to be done, it was her best chance at happiness. And so, steeling her resolve, she opened the door.

The hallway was quiet, but she could hear the sound of the television, barely louder than the pounding of her heart. She inhaled deeply, and took a step. Nothing bad happening yet, but she knew the real risk lay outside the hall. She moved slowly, trying to be as silent as possible. Each footstep was an eternity that brought her closer to the uncertainty of her future. This was it. This was the moment that would decide her fate.

The hallway seemed to stretch into infinity, but eventually she arrived at it’s edge. Tae was turned away from her, his attention completely on the television. Now or never. Y/n took a deep breath, and let it fall from her lips noiselessly. Took another, opening her mouth to speak, but closed it again when no sound came out. She closed her eyes in frustration, leaning her body against the wall.

How was she gonna do this? She was so afraid that he was going to reject her, lash out at her or kick her out of the house. How could she come forward with this when it could go wrong in so many ways? But…

Y/n took a moment to imagine the other outcomes. She imagined a future in which she lived happily with them, side by side with the people she had grown to care about. A future where she was loved and accepted and truly happy.

She pushed herself away from the wall, standing in full view of the couch, and spoke.

“Taehyung…”

His reaction was almost instant, jumping off the couch and spinning around to face her. She could see the bewilderment on his face as he stared at this stranger in his home.

“Who are you?! How’d you get in here?! How do you know my name?!” He was backing away, his eyes darting between her and the door. The fear on his face made her heart ache and she held up her hands in a gesture of surrender.

“Tae please, just wait a second. I promise I can explain just please just hear me out,” she pleaded. She didn’t want him running from her, she didn’t even know what she’d do if he did.

“I-” he hesitated, uncertainty clear on his face. “You have five minutes or I’m calling the cops.”

Y/n let out a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding. “Thank you. I’m not some random stranger breaking into your home, I promise. My name is Y/n, but you’d know me better as Mittens…” she trailed off, trying to gauge his reaction.

Tae narrowed his eyes at her in confusion, trying to process her words. “Mittens? Like our cat Mittens? Why would I-” he gasped suddenly, his eyes lighting up. “No way! She’s really a shapeshifter? You’re really a shapeshifter? Wait, how do I know it’s really you?”

Y/n knew he would ask something like this, and had luckily already rehearsed the answer in her head when she was trying to plan this encounter. “Well… your favorite colors are black, white, and green, you’re a picky eater, and last week you had a really weird dream about strawberry zombies. Oh also I mean-” Y/n interrupted herself, quickly changing her shape back to a kitten before reverting it once again.

As she turned human again, Taehyung was staring at her in amazed silence and Y/n shuffled her feet, feeling small under the weight of his gaze. “Are you mad? I get it if you are. I can leave if you want me to, you guys have done enough for me already…” she lowered her eyes, choosing to focus on the ground instead of his face.

“What? Of course I’m not mad, this is so cool!” He rounded the couch and pulled her into a tight hug. “You can stay as long as you like! I mean of course we’ll have to check with the other guys but I’m sure they won’t mind! I hope Jin has forgotten about that dish duty thing though…”

Y/n was silent for a few moments, stunned by his eager acceptance of her. Suddenly relief overwhelmed her as realization set in. He wasn’t angry, he wasn’t going to lash out at her, she was safe, she was accepted. Tears began rolling down her cheeks and she clung to Tae just as she had clung to hope that this moment would come.

“Thank you…” she whispered into his shirt.

“It’s okay, you’re alright,” he murmured, surprised by her tears but determined to comfort her as he gently rubbed her back.

When she had finally calmed down, Y/n pulled away from him, wiping her eyes on her sleeves. “I’m sorry…” she began, her voice still watery. “I shouldn’t have broken down like that I just… I was so scared you were gonna hate me because I was a shapeshifter… or that you were gonna be upset because I didn’t tell you until now…”

Y/n was surprised yet again as Tae pulled her into another hug. “First off it’s okay to cry, don’t apologize for it,” he assured her gently. “Second off, no one in this house would ever hate someone based on their heritage or abilities. But I understand why you waited. I mean, it took Jungkook a while too before he fully trusted us.”

“Jungkook didn’t trust you guys at first? How did you all meet anyways?” Y/n asked.

“Ah, it’s a long story. Tell you what, let me make lunch and then we can tell each other about what led us here, deal?”

“Deal.”

Chapter Text

Everything started six years ago, with an unlucky human and runaway angel.

Kim Namjoon was a high schooler with more bad luck than friends, so when he got mistakenly jumped by a group of werewolves looking for someone that had hurt one of their family, he just added it to the long list of things that had gone wrong recently. Of course, this was the first time he had been left bleeding to death in an alley, but it really just felt like the icing on the cake of his already terrible week.

Namjoon’s luck took a turn for the better however when an angel found his unconscious form and decided to heal him. The angel in question was Jung Hoseok, though he preferred to go by Hobi. It was almost unheard of for an angel to leave their luxurious cities high in the clouds, since many of them believed they were above those that walked the ground (technically they were, but that was only because they literally lived in the sky). But Hobi was different. He wanted to help the people of Earth instead of just watch them suffer from his place in the clouds. And so, as soon as he had finished his schooling, Hobi ran away from home and down to Earth.

When Namjoon opened his eyes and saw a being with feathery wings crouching over him, he was sure he had died. In fact, it wasn’t until the two of them had reached Namjoon’s home that he believed Hobi’s insistences that the boy was very much alive, thanks to his timely intervention.

Namjoon (as well as his mother when she was informed of the situation) must have thanked Hobi a thousand times for saving his life. They offered him money as a gesture of their appreciation but he refused, stating that all he’d really want from them was their friendship. And also maybe a place to stay since he didn’t really think this whole “running away” thing through and didn’t have a place to sleep that night.

Things seemed pretty good for a while, Hobi moved in and got a job helping out at the nearby hospital and Namjoon went back to school. They ended up being best friends not long after Hobi started living with them, just kind of seeming to click with one another. With school going well and finally having someone he felt close with, Namjoon felt like his bad luck streak was coming to an end. But it wasn’t quite over yet.

A week before the next full moon, they received an envelope in the mail. Inside was a large sum of cash and a letter apologizing for what happened to Namjoon. Needless to say he was surprised, he hadn’t known that his attack had been a mistake, though he was glad that the people were kind enough to send some compensation. What really shocked him however, was the warning at the end of the letter.

“Lock yourself inside during the next full moon.”

Namjoon felt stupid. He had known the people who had attacked him were werewolves, but it hadn’t even crossed his mind that he might become one. He spent the next week anxiously researching everything he could about werewolves and how to have a smooth transformation. His biggest fear was losing control and hurting someone. He didn’t want anyone to suffer at his hands, let alone his mother or Hobi.

When the night of the full moon came, Namjoon locked himself in his room as the letter had advised. His mother had prepared a big meal for him since his research had told him that the transformation burned a lot of calories and a lot of werewolf attacks were purely because they were hungry.

Hobi and Ms. Kim were waiting anxiously outside of Namjoon’s room. When the time finally came, they heard a number of pained grunts and labored breathing coming from the other side of the door, but didn’t dare open it. Namjoon had made them promise not to come in unless they were sure it was safe.

After about a minute, the grunts were replaced with the sounds of food being eaten, and finally, silence. Figuring that Namjoon should’ve been sated by then and worried about his friend, Hobi decided to open the door. He inched it open ever so slowly, ready to slam it shut at the first sign of aggression.

When he finally opened the door enough to peek inside, Hobi’s mouth fell open in awe. The fact that there was a wolf in Namjoon’s room didn’t surprise him, he had been expecting that and though the black fur and yellow eyes were different from how he’d pictured his friend as a wolf, it wasn’t that shocking. What was shocking was said wolf being about the same size as Hobi.

Though the wolf was huge, anyone could tell from the way it was laying belly-up on the ground that it wasn’t intent on hurting anyone. They spent the rest of that night almost like any other, even though Namjoon wasn’t allowed on the couch. They were all relieved that the night was going as well as it was, and felt confident that they could handle the full moons to come.

However, come morning Namjoon was shocked to discover he still had wolf ears and a tail on his human form. He really didn’t want any of the kids at school to know about his new abilities, but how was he supposed to hide this now? Luckily, Hobi was quick to act and helped Namjoon figure out how to hide his new appendages with a hat and some loose fitting jeans. The rest of the year passed smoothly and surprisingly enough, no one found out about Namjoon’s werewolf identity.

Life wasn’t really turning out how he had expected it to. If you had asked him five years ago where he thought he’d be, he probably would’ve guessed that he and his childhood best friend Yoongi would be either working together or going off to college, not that Yoongi would move away the very next year or that Namjoon would end up being a werewolf with an angel for a best friend. But it wasn’t really a bad thing. He was pretty happy with where he was in life. And perhaps his predictions weren’t entirely wrong.

In the fall after graduation, Namjoon ran into his old best friend while searching for movie night snacks at the local convenience store with Hobi. Yoongi seemed a lot different than how Namjoon remembered him. Of course he was older now, but he looked a lot tireder too, not to mention how pale he had grown. Nonetheless Namjoon was overjoyed to see him. He invited Yoongi over for dinner one night, and though he refused the offer of dinner (which was odd in itself since Namjoon remembered that Yoongi used to love his mom’s cooking), he agreed to stop by later in the night.

They soon parted ways with a promise to meet again, and Namjoon was left puzzling over his old friend. His physical changes weren’t really that big of a deal, but Yoongi had been acting kind of strange too. It seemed like he was genuinely happy to see Namjoon again, but he also seemed to be nervous about something. It wasn’t until Hobi innocently asked why Namjoon had never mentioned that Yoongi was a vampire that he figured it out.

A few days later, Yoongi showed up at Namjoon’s house just as he promised. He still seemed nervous, but this time Namjoon was too. They were both keeping pretty big secrets from each other, as Yoongi didn’t know about Namjoon’s newfound supernatural abilities either. Luckily for them though, Hobi was there to break the ice. While the three of them were immersed in a videogame, the angel bluntly asked when Yoongi had been turned into a vampire, and then proceeded to out Namjoon’s status as a werewolf when the two turned to stare at him with wide eyes.

It was awkward at first, trying to be friends after so long spent apart and each of them having changed so much, but eventually Yoongi and Namjoon fell back into their old familiarity and comfort. Namjoon wasn’t sure if Yoongi and Hobi would get along, and was surprised by them becoming close friends almost immediately. Yoongi started hanging out at Namjoon’s house all time time, and Namjoon felt content with where he was in life.

A year after Yoongi met Namjoon again, he received a call from one of his high school friends, begging him to help one of her friends. The friend in question was a dryad named Jin. Yoongi remembered meeting once or twice, but they never really talked much. The land Jin’s tree was on was in danger of being bought by some company that wanted to clear the area for more housing developments, and they refused to listen when Jin told them that cutting down that tree would literally kill him. All dryads had a single tree they were connected too, but most didn’t have to worry about the health of the tree as it didn’t have any impact on their own health. Jin, however, was from a family line in which the death of the tree would mean the death of the dryad. It was possible to transfer his connection to a different tree, but the process was long and difficult and he didn’t have that much time.

Yoongi told Hobi and Namjoon about the situation, and the three of them agreed to do whatever they could to help. Though how they would help was another problem entirely. The only solution they could see, if the contractors weren’t listening to Jin's pleas, was to buy the land before they could. It had a house on it that the boys could move into to justify the cost, but the land was still incredibly expensive. It would take all of Yoongi, Namjoon, and Hobi’s savings combined, as well as what was left of the money Namjoon had received in the letter and on top of that they would have to take out loans to be able to afford it. It wasn’t the best financial decision for three boys fresh out of highschool, but they couldn’t just leave Jin to die.

When his friend told Jin that she had found someone to help him buy the land, he was shocked by how willing these almost complete strangers were to come to his aid. At first he thought she must have found some rich old person with a heart of gold, but when she told him who his saviors really were he almost considered refusing. If his life weren’t on the line, he probably would have. How could he just let some kids younger than he was throw away their money like that? But he was desperate. And so, with guilt weighing heavily on his mind, Jin allowed the boys to help him, promising to make it up to them in any way he could.

Purchasing the land was fairly easy once they had enough funds, and soon enough they were all packing their bags to move to the new place. The house only had three rooms, so Hobi and Namjoon would be sharing one. It made the most sense since they had been sharing a room for the past year, and were already used to living with each other.

Living with Jin and Yoongi however, was an entirely new experience. It wasn’t entirely bad, but it was weird getting used to their quirks and habits. Namjoon slept walk, Jin sung in the shower, Hobi’s wings kept molting and Yoongi was always found sleeping in the weirdest places. But Namjoon was also the first to settle any disputes and made sure their plans were on track. Jin looked after the boys’ health and was the one to cook more often than not. Hobi did most of the household chores and was always there to cheer them up after a long day. Though they all had jobs, Yoongi was the one that worked the most and brought home the most money, as well as taking care of any official paperwork or other adult stuff they needed done. It wasn’t perfect, and there were quite a few arguments that broke out, but at the end of the day they were all glad to have met each other.

Two years passed, and the boys had grown comfortable with their daily routine. Not much had occurred to disrupt it, and they all figured that the strange events that had led to them meeting weren’t going to be a recurring theme. That is, until Namjoon, Yoongi, and Hobi came home to find Jin serving snacks to a fairy and a kitsune.

The dryad took them aside as soon as they came home and explained that he had found the pair wandering around in their yard. They both looked lost and in need of help so Jin invited them inside and offered them snacks, listening as they told him about what brought them there.

The fairy, who’s name was Taehyung, had recently left the reclusive fae village he called home in search of adventure. Growing up, he had only known the bounds of his village and the way of the fae, but he wanted to know more. He wanted to know about mermaids and werewolves, angels and non-magical creatures, how their cities worked and how people lived without magic. He wanted to know everything about the outside world, but there was only so much he could learn from the books in his village. He needed to actually go out and participate in it if he was going to learn everything. And so, packing his bags and saying goodbye to his family, Taehyung set off to learn about the world.

The first person he met in his travels was Jimin, a kitsune who had only recently become human. Kitsunes were a specific type of shapeshifter, born as a fox and granted magical abilities, which including being able to turn into a human, once they had lived for 100 years. Being 100 years old, Jimin had a decent amount of general wisdom. But since those years had been spent living as a fox, Jimin’s knowledge about life as a human was pretty limited.

Since they both had limited knowledge of the human world, Tae and Jimin decided to team up. If they worked together, they basically had twice as much knowledge as before. With their newfound friendship, the boys continued their trek through the woods. They arrived at their current destination after a few days of walking, since both of them had been deep in the forest. When Jin found them, they had been trying to decide whether they should go up to the house or keep walking in hopes that they found a city. The dryad’s invitation and promise of food had been what made up their minds.

While the two newcomers ate, the other boys conferred on what they were gonna do. It was obvious that they had no place to stay tonight, and their lack of experience in cities made it unlikely that they were going to find somewhere to sleep. Of course, they could always go back to the woods, but that wasn’t the most comfortable place to sleep, and it was clear the two boys wanted to go to the city.

Namjoon was quick to point out how dangerous the city could be, especially for a couple of newcomers. Hell, he had lived in the city all his life but still ended up getting jumped. Hobi too was reluctant to let them traipse into possible danger, though Yoongi and Jin were a little unsure about letting them live here. It’s not that they were totally against the idea, but they wanted to think it through carefully before inviting more strangers into their home. Yoongi pointed out that no one would be able to have their own room anymore, and it might be a while before Jimin and Taehyung would be able to find a job to help contribute to the household. Jin on the other hand was busy teasing Namjoon and Hobi about their trend of taking in strays, warning that they were gonna run out of room in the house if they kept it up.

In the end, their concern for these two strangers ended up outweighing any cons of having them move in, and Jimin and Taehyung were offered a place in their home. Tae was quick to accept, but even quicker to retract his acceptance and look to Jimin for his decision. They might not have known each other for very long, but the fairy didn't want to abandon his new friend. The kitsune contemplated the decision for a short while, weighing the pros and cons heavily, before finally agreeing, figuring it was his best opportunity to learn how to navigate human society. The two were very grateful for the boys’ kindness, and promised that they’d pay them back however they could. Namjoon had to agree with Jin that there was a clear trend appearing with the new friends he made.

It wasn’t even six months before the next “stray” showed up. Jimin and Taehyung had been adjusting to their new lives well. Both of them managed to secure a job after just a month of getting used to human society, and were glad to finally be able to help out around the house with more than just chores. They also fit right in with the other boys, introducing a lot more playfulness than had previously been present. They shared Yoongi’s old room. At first Yoongi had moved into Jin’s room, but due to their opposing opinions on sunlight and how often their curtains should be left open, Yoongi ended up switching places with Hobi and going to room with Namjoon.

Jimin was happy he decided to stay. Not only was it a great opportunity to get help figuring out human life, it was also a chance to make friends. He had grown very fond of the boys since he met them, especially Taehyung. The two had quickly become best friends, bonding over their shared lack of experience.

Jimin was thinking about his new friends after work one day, waiting for them to pick him up, when he noticed something slouched against a building across the street from him. He wouldn’t even have known it was there if he hadn’t heard a groan coming from that direction.

Studying the figure in the gathering darkness, Jimin noticed the humanoid shape first, and the horns and wings second. Some sort of dragon hybrid then? He crossed the street, carefully approaching the creature. He probably should have left well enough alone, but the possibility that this could be someone in need outweighed any danger of being attacked. Jimin was pretty sure he could handle himself in a fight anyways.

As he drew closer however, the blood he noticed pooling around the creature was a clear indicator that they weren’t in any shape to fight. Jimin called out to them just as Hobi and Jin pulled up in the shared car. After not receiving a response from the figure, Jimin urgently waved Hobi and Jin over to him. The angel was quick to start healing the stranger as soon as he saw what was going on. When the person was stable, Jin and Jimin carried him into the back seat of the car and drove as fast as they could back to the house.

When they arrived, they placed the dragon hybrid on the couch and Hobi went back to healing him while the other boys discussed what to do. They were all pretty much in agreement that he could stay at least until he was better, but Yoongi pointed out that he may not even want to. Hobi, Jimin, and Jin had basically kidnapped the kid, and though their hearts were in the right place he may not see it that way.

It was a few hours before the dragon boy returned to consciousness, and another twenty minutes before they could get him to calm down enough to listen to them. They understood why he was scared, he had passed out from blood loss and then woken up with no clue where he was and six strangers staring at him, but the burn marks on the couch really  weren’t appreciated.

Of course, it was Tae’s fault for rushing towards the boy as soon as he saw that he was awake. He should’ve expected him to lash out at him, as any frightened, cornered creature would, but apparently that thought hadn’t crossed the fairy’s mind until a burst of flame was heading straight towards him. If it hadn’t been for his quick reflexes, there probably would’ve been a lot more damage than a smoldering couch.

The next twenty minutes were filled with lots of angry, chaotic shouting and desperate attempts to placate the dragon hybrid, but eventually they managed to get him calm enough for them to explain what had happened.

The boy, whose name was Jungkook, was a lot more cooperative after they told him about how they had basically saved his life. Despite how grateful he was however, he still wanted to leave. Usually that wouldn’t be a problem but he still wasn’t fully healed and Hobi didn’t want him wandering into trouble again before he was all better. It took some coercing, but eventually they convinced him to stay.

Even though Jungkook was reluctant to stay at first, he never ended up leaving. The first week was kind of awkward, with Jungkook constantly keeping his guard up and not really initiating any conversations with the others. But over time he began to relax and open up, showing his more cheerful and mischievous side.

Jungkook’s caution going away was mostly thanks to Tae. After Jungkook almost set him on fire, the fairy apologized for scaring the boy and set to work becoming his friend. It was a difficult task, and Tae almost got blasted with fire a few more times before Jungkook finally started interacting with him in a more friendly manner. Eventually the two grew close enough for Jungkook to share more about his past. Specifically, the event that had led him to his current home.

His story wasn’t all that different from Namjoon’s in it’s basic elements. He had been alone, wandering through the city, when someone mistook him for someone else and beat him to the edge of death, only to be saved when Hobi came to the rescue. However, instead of a gang of werewolves, Jungkook had been attacked by a group of religious fanatics that had seen his horns and wings and figured he must have been a demon. They responded with what they considered a “reasonable” reaction, which was grabbing whatever weapons they could, following him until he was alone, and then proceeding to try and kill the “demon.”

It sadly wasn’t the first time something like this had happened to the boy, but it was the closest he had come to actually dying. When he had woken up with six people he didn’t know staring at him, he assumed they were either going to finish the job or use him in some strange ritual. What he hadn’t been expecting was to end up finding a home with them.

Jungkook moved into Jimin and Tae’s room, and things went back to normal. But they had to wonder just how long it would be before they ended up with another member of their family, since apparently they had created a refuge for lost supernaturals that drew magical creatures in need to their home like moths to a flame. They wouldn’t have had it any other way though.

When it came time for Y/n to share her past, she found herself lacking the words to tell him. It’s not that she didn’t want to tell Tae, she trusted him and she wanted to repay the trust he had placed in her when he shared his story by sharing her own, but she just couldn’t figure out how to say most of it. She did her best though, and told him what she could.

Y/n told him about her mother, who had always been more wolf than woman. She told him about how her mother had tried to teach her about all the cultures of the creatures she could turn into, wanting her daughter to have as much knowledge on how to communicate and how to act with different species. Though her intentions were good, her attempt to make sure Y/n knew everything left her a jack of all trades but a master of none. The sum of her knowledge of different societies was probably greater than all the boys combined, but since she was missing a lot of information about specific species, she was often confused and had trouble completely fitting in.

Her mother had always been a proud woman, and refused to let anyone make her feel bad about being a shapeshifter. As much as Y/n had wanted to imitate that confidence, the looks she’d get if she transformed in public, the whispers of teachers when they thought she couldn’t hear them, and the cold shoulders from the kids at school all made her feel like being a shapeshifter was something she had to hide. She kept it a secret when she could, and when she couldn’t, more often than not whoever found out would just prove why she had hidden it in the first place.

The exception to this rule was her old best friend, a harpy who talked more than she listened, but still listened to Y/n more than anyone had before. She thought Y/n’s powers were pretty cool, but was mostly just glad she had someone that could fly with her. Taehyung laughed as she told him about the time they had managed to dump out huge buckets of ice water on a group of particularly mean classmates and flew out of sight fast enough that they didn’t get in trouble. She didn’t tell him about the argument they had the day before her friend was going to move across the country, or how Y/n had never gotten the chance to apologize.

Middle school sucked. High school sucked even more. High school was pretty okay at first, the kids didn’t seem to care as much as in middle school. They were all too involved in their own schoolwork and relationships to care about some quiet kid who wasn’t even in class half the time. Despite being absent more often than not, she still did well in her classes, studying at home when her mom wasn’t giving her culture lessons. Keeping her in class probably would have taught her more about human society than her mother could, but Y/n didn’t complain. She liked being home a lot more. Her first two years of high school went way better than all of middle school and she found herself getting hopeful for her future.

Junior year her mom got sick. Senior year came and she wasn’t any better. Another year passed before the sickness became too much for her. Y/n was thankful she had at least gotten as much time with her mother as she did.

After the funeral, she spent a year trying to fit in with the human world. Job after job escaped her, and night after night was spent without a roof over her head. She had lost her childhood home not long after her mother passed, any money she had going to funeral costs or food. Eventually, she got tired of cold streets and colder humans, and retreated into the forest.

The animals were more tolerant of her than the humans had been, but still weren’t completely accepting. She spent some time in herds and packs, but mostly wandered on her own, just trying to survive a little bit longer. She missed being human, and would sometimes change back just to feel at home in her body for a little while longer. But living as a creature of the forest was what had been working best for her, so she always changed back.

She probably would have lived in the woods indefinitely, but fate had different plans for her. Y/n had been wandering through a field as a deer, the beautiful full moon pulling for her attention and distracting her from the lone wolf creeping up behind her. The fight didn’t last long and she managed to escape with a swift kick to the wolf’s head, but she didn’t make it out unscathed. Her leg was a mess of flesh and blood, impossible to walk on and vulnerable to infection. She knew she wouldn’t last two weeks like this. Upset that her only successful lifestyle had failed and desperate for help, Y/n came up with a plan.

“And well, you know the rest,” she said, wiping away the rest of the tears that had come unbidden while she was telling her story.

Taehyung pulled her into another hug and she fought the urge to cry again. She wasn't used to being comforted like this, or really any sort of physical affection, but it was a very pleasant experience, if not a little overwhelming. “Thank you for trusting me enough to tell me all this, Y/n,” he said, and this time she did cry as she heard her name used for the first time in more than a year.

“It’s the least I could do, I mean you trusted me enough to tell me about your past,” she pointed out. Tae released her from his hug, but she rested her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes. It had been an emotionally exhausting day and she was really ready for it to be over. Granted, she was happier than she had been in a long time and was extremely glad she had confessed to Tae, but at that moment she really just wanted to go to bed. Maybe she could just take a quick nap and-

Before she could finish her thought, Y/n heard the front door open and her eyes shot open just in time to watch Namjoon walk inside, followed by the rest of the members of the house. It was a few seconds before he noticed her sitting there, and his eyes widened in surprise as he looked at her, and then Taehyung.

“Tae, who’s this?”

Chapter Text

Y/n was frozen, eyes staring in shock at Namjoon as all coherent thoughts fled her mind and left her speechless. Somehow in her excitement over Taehyung accepting her, she had forgotten that there were six other people she needed approval from. Now those six people were staring at her expectantly and she couldn’t even get herself to utter a simple hello.

Besides her, Taehyung stood up from the couch, and Y/n was glad she had enough sense left to follow his lead. As she got to her feet she clung to his arm, partly to hide behind him a bit and partly just to hold onto something solid as she felt herself edging closer towards panic. He stared at her for a moment, expecting her to say something, but the look on her face was enough to tell him he’d have to do the talking here.

“Guys, this is Y/n. Y/n, you already know the guys.” Tae said, placing his hand over hers as he introduced her.

“She… already knows us? How?” Namjoon asked, looking taken aback by Tae’s statement.

“That’s kind of creepy…” Jungkook whispered to Jimin, who nodded in response. The two were quick to look apologetic however as Tae shot them a dirty look and they realized their side conversation wasn’t as quiet as they thought.

“Well… you remember how last week we were joking about Mittens being a shapeshifter? Turns out we weren’t exactly wrong…” Taehyung explained, and Y/n focused her eyes on the ground.

There was no response at first, the boys staring blankly as they tried to process what Tae said. It was a lot to take in and she understood that, but as the silence dragged on Y/n felt like she was suffocating in it. She held tighter onto Tae’s arm as if it were the only thing keeping her from drowning.

Just when she was sure the whole world had gone silent, the stillness was broken by a sudden cacophony of voices. With all of them talking at once she couldn’t understand a word of what they were saying or if they were angry or not, only that they were loud. The explosion of noise was startling enough for her to jump and hide herself almost completely behind Tae.

After a few moments of chaos, Namjoon’s voice rang out above the others. “HEY! Everyone be quiet for a second!” The noise died down almost immediately as everyone looked to Namjoon expectantly. “Alright, I know we probably all have a lot to say and lots of questions but let’s not overwhelm the poor girl by all talking at once. Jin, you’re oldest, you go first.”

Jin glanced and Namjoon, and then at Y/n, before speaking. “I am… so sorry for scaring you the other night I didn’t actually think… If I had known…” His voice trailed off, and Y/n could see the guilt written clearly on his face.

“It’s okay!” Y/n reassured him, leaving her hiding spot behind Taehyung to try to make it seem like she wasn’t scared, even if she really was. “Please don’t feel bad. I thought you were gonna say something a lot worse that’s why I was scared. I don’t mind doing dish duty, really!” She gave him her biggest smile, hoping it would ease his guilt. She didn’t want anyone feeling bad because of her, especially since that conversation was actually what had led her to the current moment, one she wouldn’t trade for anything.

Jin looked like he was going to say something else but was quickly cut off by Yoongi. “So how do we know that you’re Mittens and not some stranger? I mean I don’t know why you’d lie about being our cat but I just wanna make sure.”

“Actually I can vouch for her!” Taehyung chimed in. “She knew a lot about me that she probably couldn’t have known unless she had lived here, plus she showed me how she changes between shapes.” He gave her a reassuring smile, and she repaid it with a grateful one of her own.

“Wow!” Jungkook exclaimed. “Can you show us how you change? Does it take a lot of energy? How d-”

“Hey! You’re the youngest wait your turn, we’re trying to make sure this is at least a little organized,” Yoongi scolded.

“Sorry,” Jungkook said, not looking sorry in the slightest. He seemed the most excited by far, bouncing slightly on his feet as he waited impatiently for his turn to speak.

“What I was going to say before I was rudely interrupted,” Yoongi continued, shooting Jungkook a dirty look, “is why didn’t you tell us sooner then? I mean, I’m not mad at you or anything, I just… did we seem like bad people?”

“No, no, no! That wasn’t it at all!” Y/n reassured, feeling like the only thing she had managed to do so far in this conversation is make people feel bad. “The only reason I’m telling you guys now, and really the only reason I approached you guys in the first place is how kind you guys seem. I… I’ve met a lot of people who don’t like shapeshifters… and when I first met you guys I really needed help so I didn’t want to risk you guys turning me away… and… and then afterwards… I really got to know you guys and… I didn’t want to see you angry at me…”

The boys went quiet again, though this time out of sympathy rather than shock. She saw Jungkook frown before speaking, “Of course we’re not mad, that’d be stupid. You did the smart thing.” He turned towards the others before speaking again. “She’s staying, right?”

They seemed just as surprised as her by his matter-of-fact attitude, and they all turned their eyes from Y/n to him.

“Maybe we should talk this over before deciding?” Namjoon suggested hesitantly, glancing at the other boys to see how they were reacting to Jungkook’s declaration.

Jungkook looked doubtful as he turned back to Y/n. “You don’t have anything to go back to, right? Why else would you have stayed for so long.”

“Well, I mean I can figure stuff out I’ve been doing fine you don’t have to worry ab-”

Jungkook waved his hand to cut her off, “Listen to me: double bunk beds. Not like on top of each other but like two sets of bunk beds it’ll be so cool come on I’ll show you my room.”

The dragon boy took her hand and led a very confused Y/n down the hallway, totally forgetting that she had been living there for the past month.

The other six stood in baffled silence. Jungkook had never been insistent on making decisions for the group before, but he seemed pretty dead-set on making sure Y/n stayed. Though it was unexpected, Tae was glad he had at another person 100% on Y/n’s side, and turned to the others. “So, does anyone object to her staying? I know eight is kind of a lot of people but… I think out of everyone that’s showed up here, she’s probably the most in need of a home.”

“Yeah that’s fine with me but what’s up with Jungkook? It took us months to get him to open up to us but he’s known Y/n for all of five minutes and he’s already super friendly with her,” Jin complained.

“Maybe he thinks she’s cute,” Hobi teased.

“Technically we’ve all known her for more than a month now,” Namjoon pointed out.

“Yeah but that doesn’t mean we know anything about her,” Yoongi said. “We don’t know how old she is, where she came from, or how she got hurt in the first place.”

“Actually Y/n told me a lot about her past before you guys came home, it’s not really my story to tell but…” Tae paused, trying to find the words to convince them without saying more about Y/n than he should. “She’s been through a lot. I really think she deserves to have somewhere where she can feel safe, and I think we can be that for her. Like I said I know eight is a lot of people to live with but unless Jimin minds she can stay in our room and I could look for another job if we don’t have the money… but I really think she should stay with us.”

There was a beat of silence before Hobi spoke up, “Well she’s already been living with us for a month, I see no reason to kick her out now.”

The rest of the group murmured in agreement, and a huge smile grew on Tae’s face.

“So she can stay?” he asked.

“Yeah I think it’d be cruel not to let her stay at this point. I mean, she’s already basically a part of the family, we just have to get to know this new side of her,” Namjoon said, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly.

“We’re actually in a pretty decent spot financially right now, so adding one more person isn’t going to be a huge deal,” Yoongi commented.

“I’m okay with sharing our room, as long as she doesn’t mind being in a room with three boys,” Jimin added.

“Alright,” Jin began, clapping his hands together, “so who wants in on the shopping trip tomorrow?”

Chapter Text

While the majority of the boys were busy deciding Y/n’s fate, Jungkook was busy deciding her sleeping arrangements.

“So that’s where Jimin and Tae sleep and this is where I sleep and I know as a cat you just kind of slept wherever but I figured since you’re a full sized person you’d want your own bed now I mean I’m not opposed to sharing my bed but I think it’d be really cool if we also had a bunk bed like Jimin and Tae but of course ours would be way cooler OH but would you want the top bunk or the bottom bunk?”

Y/n had been patiently listening to Jungkook babble about the bunk beds with a fond smile on her face. She wished she could be as excited about them as he was, but she didn’t even know if she was going to be allowed to stay here past today, and that thought weighed heavily on her mind.

“Oh um… I don’t really know? I’ve never had bunk beds so I don’t really have a preference…”

“Well that's okay, you can test each one out once we get them and- what's wrong?”

Y/n looked up from where she was nervously fiddling with the hem of her shirt. “Oh, sorry! I was listening I swear! I'm really okay with either bunk so if you have a preference that's okay I'll sleep wherever, even if you want me in the living room or outside or something that's okay. I'm not picky.”

Jungkook frowned, “No way I'd let you sleep outside, and I'm not letting them kick you out either! I've got your back, so you don't have to worry anymore, okay?”

He smiled, and Y/n felt tears welling in her eyes once again. “Okay,” she replied shakily. She still couldn't understand why they were being so nice to her, but even if it was some trick she decided that she would rather enjoy it while it lasted.

“Good. Now come sit over here and I'll show you my pokemon!”

“So this one is a Blastoise, and I named him after Jimin because he used to be small and cute but now he's big and buff but I didn't want to change his name after so long.”

“So they all grow up as you play?”

“Kind of. It's called evolving and it happens in stages instead of gradually.”

“Oh, that's weird.”

“Yeah but it's fun while you're playing.”

“What's that one called?”

“That ones a Skitty. But I named it Mittens cuz it was really cute like you.”

“Oh! Well I guess it is really cute…”

Tae had paused outside the door, eager to tell Y/n the good news but also curious to see what she and Jungkook could be talking about. Leave it to him to just start talking about video games, but Y/n seemed to be having fun so he guessed that was what counted. Still, he had more important things to bring to their attention so he pushed open the door.

“Okay so I have good news and bad news,” Tae began, interrupting Jungkook's pokemon tutorial. “The bad news is that Namjoon forgot to go shopping, so we won't be having tacos tonight.”

Jungkook groaned from besides Y/n, who giggled in response. “How could he forget about taco night,” he whined. “Again! You would've thought the shame from last time would've been enough to make him remember.”

“Well the good news is that he's getting us pizza as an apology,” Tae laughed.

Y/n smiled at the thought, but the smile quickly fell from her face and she looked nervously between Tae and Jungkook. He hadn't mentioned what they had decided to do with her. Did that mean they had accepted her and he was just messing with her by not telling her? Or that he thought it was obvious she needed to leave?

Jungkook noticed Y/n beginning to get anxious again, and put an arm around her protectively. “Enough pizza for eight, right?”

“Of course!” Tae replied with a big grin. “We wouldn't leave our newest family member out of pizza night!”

Y/n stared at Tae, completely dumbfounded. “Really? I can stay?”

Her voice was so soft and full of hope that even Jungkook felt his eyes tear up just a bit as the two boys enveloped her in a warm group-hug.

“Welcome to the family, Y/n” Tae whispered.

Chapter Text

It was a few days later, a few hours past midnight, and Y/n was wide awake on the couch, staring at the ceiling. She hadn't been sleeping much lately. For once, her lack of sleep wasn't due to anxious thoughts nagging her mind or tired numbness keeping her from rest, but rather, it was just wanting to be awake.

    The past days had been her happiest days in a while. During dinner the first night, they asked her a lot of questions about herself, things like “what were you doing before you came here,” or “do you have any surviving family members or close friends,” and “wait where did you get that shirt? Is that my shirt?”

    Namjoon had asked if she remembered everything that she had seen or heard when she was a kitten, and the look of hesitance on his face was enough to tell her what he was alluding to. All those late nights spent with her, he had thought he was confessing his deepest thoughts to something that could never judge him or utter a word of it to anyone else, but now here was this stranger in front of him who knew more about him than even his closest friends and he barely even knew her name. She told him the truth of the matter, but also assured him that if there was anything she had seen or heard that was clearly a private matter, she wasn't going to share it with anyone else, even the other boys. He seemed comforted by her answer.

    As the night went on, she answered all their questions the best she could. When some got too personal or emotional for her, Jungkook or Tae would step in to steer the conversation away from that particular topic. She was grateful for their firm support of her. The other boys were nothing but kind to her, but none of them were as quick to step to her defense as Jungkook and Tae. It was a shocking, but welcome change to how she was used to being treated. She still felt as if this was some blissful dream she was in, but her new best friends were eager to assure her that this was as real as anything.

    The next day Jin took her and a few of the other boys to the mall to shop for new clothes. Yoongi and Namjoon had stayed home to catch up on sleep, but the rest of the group piled into one of their cars and headed off to the mall.

    The trip was a lot of fun, if not chaotic. There was a lot of arguing with Y/n about how much she was allowed to buy. She felt that she owed them enough for letting her stay with them so she really only needed a few items, but the other boys ignored her protests and piled the cart high with anything she had shown even mild interest in. It wasn't until she started getting teary eyed that they reluctantly put a few things back. Still, they left with enough clothes for a whole new wardrobe. Although she felt guilty for letting them do so much for her, she was so amazed and grateful that they would help her out so much. Each moment spent with them and each favor they did for her strengthened her resolve to repay them for all they'd done.

    Everything that had happened recently felt too good to be true, and she was always afraid that if she went to sleep, she'd wake up with it all gone. Y/n didn't want to miss a second of her new life, even if those seconds were just spent staring out the window while everyone else was asleep. Every moment spent sleeping was another moment she wasn't making the best of her current situation.

    Sometimes Y/n would get up and walk around the house, replaying conversations or examining items lying around, trying to imprint it all into her head so she would never forget. This night however, she was just laying down, going through the boys' favorite foods, favorite colors, and birthdays in her head. Would their favorite food in their favorite color be a bad birthday gift? Maybe... How would she make something green white and black anyways?

    The sound of a door being opened disrupted her ponderings and she turned her head to stare down the hallway. It wasn't uncommon for someone to get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, but as she watched the figure leave Yoongi and Namjoon's room and pass the bathrooms, she knew what was up.

    "Namjoon, what are you doing up?" she called out as the werewolf entered the living room.

    Namjoon jumped back immediately, slamming his hip into the kitchen counter in the process. "Jesus christ Y/n you scared me. I... forgot you were out here I'm sorry, I'll head back to my room sorry if I woke you up.

    Y/n winced as he hit the counter, and had already sat up by the time he had recuperated. "I'm sorry I scared you, I thought you'd see me. I was already up though so don't worry." She paused for a moment, debating whether or not she'd be making him uncomfortable before asking, "Will you sit with me for a moment?"

    He hesitated, glancing at the door to his room before moving over to sink down onto the couch besides her. It was quiet for a few moments, with neither of them looking at each other as Namjoon absently twiddled his thumbs.

    "I know you're kind of weirded out that I remember everything you told me, and I know it's more awkward now that you see me as something that can think and judge and remember, but... if there's anything on your mind... I want to help. I promise I won't judge you anymore than I would have when I was a kitten, and I won't utter a word of what you said to me to anyone else."

    Namjoon's thumbs stilled, and she let silence fall between them once again. She could see the conflict on his face, and knew there wasn't much else she could say to convince him that she could still be a trustworthy confidant to him. Namjoon took a deep breath, and she looked at him expectantly.

    "I..." he trailed off, his eyes looking out the window as he considered his next words carefully. "Were you happy in the forest?"

    She was a little taken aback by his question, having expected this conversation to be about him and his feelings. She thought back to all the time she spent in the woods. She thought about the good times, running through the trees at full speed, unburdened by the responsibilities of being human, falling asleep to the soft breathing of the members of the pack she had been staying with, watching the sun just beginning to breathe color into the clouds and the world below as she swayed gently on the highest branches of a tree.

    But she also had less pleasant memories. Jaws snapping at her when she had overstayed her welcome, the deep-set hunger that chewed away at her after days without food, the winter nights spent huddled under tree roots or bushes, so achingly alone and lacking the will to get up and keep going once the sun finally rose.

    ”I am… grateful to the woods,” she began. “They were the closest thing I had to a sanctuary after a long time of being shunned and abandoned among human societies. If I wasn't able to escape to the woods I… don't know how much longer I would have survived. I did have some happy memories but-”

    She stopped suddenly, and looked over at Namjoon. His face was unreadable, and she felt her stomach drop as she figured out why he had asked. “If you want me to leave, I can go now, before the others wake up. I'm really just glad to have gotten to spend this much time with you already and I mean I owe you all so much already I couldn't expect to stay here forever.”

    Namjoon looked taken aback by the sudden turn in the conversation. “What? God no I'm not trying to kick you out, we meant it when we said you were part of the family now, Y/n. We want you to stay here for as long as possible. I just wanted to make sure that you didn't regret ending up here. Especially, you know, since you only ended up here because you were attacked.”

    She breathed a sigh of relief, and offered him a reassuring smile. “If it meant I could end up with all of you again, I'd endure way more than the pain from one wolf getting the better of me.”

    Namjoon shook his head in disbelief, laughing softly. “Well I don't want you to have to go through anything like that ever again. I'm glad you're happy though, truly.” He stood from the couch, tussling her hair as he did so. “Thanks for the talk, I really appreciate it.”

    She smiled up at him, leaning into his hand out of habit. “I'm always here for you, no matter what.”

    He smiled back at her, letting his hand stay on her head for a moment longer. “Get some rest, I'll see you in the morning.”

    As she watched him walk back into his room, she found herself wondering why his smile had looked so sad.

Chapter Text

    “How do you know when it's done?”

    “You just have to wait until it's all brown and actually looks like taco meat.”

    “Oh okay. And what about seasoning?”

    “That goes in after it's all browned, then you let it cook for a little while longer.”

    “Oohhh. So when should I get a job then?”

    Jin put down the spoon he was using to stir the meat and gave Y/n a stern look. “We've already been over this, Y/n,” He gently reminded her. “We really don't need you to get a job, and after you told us how people treated you when you tried working in the past, none of us want you to have to expose yourself to all that negativity for no reason.”

    “But there would be a reason!” Y/n insisted. “Everyone else has a job, and I want to pull my weight around here.” She had already had this argument with each of the boys at least once, but none of them seemed to take her side. It's not that they were dismissive of her concerns, they tried to give her enough responsibilities to make her feel like she was contributing, but she still never felt like she was doing enough.

    “Everyone else having a job just means we have enough money so you don't have to work,” he pointed out. “You help out enough around the house and it's honestly a big relief not worrying about chores when we get home. Plus, I'm teaching you how to cook so that's another thing you can help out with.”

    “But-”

    “Hey,” Jin interrupted, putting his hand on her shoulder. “You're a member of this family, and if we thought you weren't doing enough, we'd talk to you. Now why don't you go set the table?”

    Y/n frowned, seeing that this conversation was getting her nowhere. “Okay…”

    He smiled, and gently tussled her hair. “Thank you. Oh, and why don't you get the others after you're done with that.”

    Jin sighed inwardly as he watched her walk away and start setting the table. He understood how she felt. After Namjoon, Hobi, and Yoongi saved his life, he felt as if he would never be able to pay them back. Even now he still felt indebted to them, but he'd moved past feeling guilty for accepting their help, and just focused on being a good friend and roommate to them.

    Y/n on the other hand seemed to drown in guilt for every tiny favor she received. He wished he could make her understand that it was okay to get help, to rely on people, and that she didn't have to fight for her place here. She had already earned her spot in the family, and they weren't letting her go anytime soon. But he knew that it was difficult for her to trust that safety after everything she had been through. Just the thought of her past made his heart ache. He had only known her for a little over two weeks, but all he wanted to do was take away all the hurt from her past and give her a future where she could be as happy as humanly possible. It's the least she deserved.

    “Hello? Earth to Jin?”

    Jimin’s voice broke Jin out of his thoughts, and he blinked a few times to focus back on what he was doing. “Sorry, did you say something?”

    “Yeah man, you're starting to burn the meat,” Jimin pointed out.

    Jin swore and quickly moved the pan off the burner, examining it to make sure it wasn't ruined.

    Jimin laughed as he watched him pout over his mistake. “I know it's weird having a cute girl in the house for once, but try to keep it together hyung,” he teased.

    “That's- I wasn't- shouldn't you be doing something else Jimin? Go help Y/n or something!” Jin scolded, trying to ignore the heat creeping into his face.

    “What a way to thank the guy who saved dinner,” Jimin replied, quickly escaping the kitchen with a smirk on his face before Jin could deny anything further.

    After dinner (which wasn't even noticeably burnt), everyone changed into their pajamas and piled into the living room with their pillows and blankets for movie night. Jin had bought Namjoon, Jungkook, Jimin, and Y/n cute onesies of a dog, dragon, fox, and cat respectively as a gag-gift. Well, it was a gag-gift until everyone had seen how Y/n's eyes lit up when she saw them. None of them dared say anything about them and risk upsetting her, especially with Jungkook leering at them over her shoulder. Not to mention that once she was wearing hers she looked so cute that it made it all worth it.

    And so that was how half of the household ended up dressed as various animals as they settled down for the movie. Y/n was snuggled up between Hobi and Namjoon, with Jungkook draped over the couch right behind her. Jin tried to pretend like he didn't wish he was the one cuddling her.

    “So what do you guys wanna watch?” Namjoon asked as he absently clicked through Netflix.

    “What about that new horror movie that just came out?” Jungkook suggested.

    “And give me nightmares? I thought we agreed to only do horror movies on certain nights when only some of us were here,” Hobi complained.

    “We could start watching The Haunting of Hill House, everyone has been talking about how good that one is,” Jimin said.

    “Were you not listening to a single thing I just said. “

    “No not really.”

    “I'm with Hobi,” Jin interrupted, before the two of them could start arguing. “No horror movies or horror series.”

    “Well, since this is Y/n's first movie night, why don't we let her decide?” Tae suggested.

    “Yeah!” Jungkook agreed. “What's your favorite movie?”

    “Well… I dunno… it's kind of silly,” she said, absently messing with the zipper on her onesie.

    “No need to be embarrassed, Y/n. I'm sure it's a good movie,” Namjoon reassured, pulling her closer to his side.

    “Yeah I mean Hobi's favorite movie is still Finding Nemo,” Yoongi pointed out.

    “It's a good movie!” Hobi defended.

    “I'm not saying it's not, I'm just saying that it might sound silly to have it as your favorite movie as a 25 year old,” Yoongi replied, rolling his eyes.

    “It's a good movie…” Hobi repeated quietly, pouting now.

    “Oh! Well I mean if you guys don't mind kids movies, I've always loved Lilo and Stitch,” she admitted.

    “You get me, Y/n,” Hobi whispered dramatically, holding her face between his hands. “You get me.”

    She giggled and nodded enthusiastically. “Don't worry Hobi, I'm always on your side!”

    “What about my side?” Jungkook whined, reaching out to play with her hair.

    “Well of course I'm on your side too Kookie!” she declared, face still squished between Hobi's hands.

    “What happens if they're on different sides Y/n?” Jimin pointed out.

    “Well- I…” Y/n stammered, looking back and forth between the two of them anxiously.

    “Oh hey look! The movie's starting!” Namjoon announced loudly.

    Y/n gasped and immediately turned her full attention to the TV, bouncing slightly with excitement as the opening credits began.

    By the time the movie ended, Yoongi and Jimin were fast asleep, Y/n had cried three separate times, and Jungkook had finished the entire bowl of popcorn by himself.

    “I think… I ate too much popcorn…” Jungkook groaned.

    “You literally do this to yourself every movie night Jungkook,” Jin pointed out.

    “You literally do this to yourself every movie night,” Jungkook grumbled, hugging the empty bowl close to his chest.

    “What now?” Y/n asked, glancing over at Jimin passed out in the recliner. “Do you guys usually just sleep out here or go back to your rooms?”

    “It depends,” Namjoon answered. “Usually Yoongi sleeps out here since none of us are brave enough to wake him, but for the rest of us it's just based on who's already fallen asleep and who prefers to sleep in their bed.”

    “I for one am already pretty comfy,” Hobi said, nuzzling into Y/n's hair.

    She hummed contentedly in response, leaning into Hobi's embrace. “I think I'll stay out here too then! If only to enjoy the company,” she giggled.

    “Well, I have a nice soft mattress calling my name, so I'll see you guys in the morning,” Jin announced, stretching as he stood from the ground.

    “Goodnight then Jinnie! I hope you sleep well!” Y/n said, followed by a chorus of good-nights from the boys still awake.

    “Goodnight, Y/n,” Jin smiled fondly, reaching down to pat her head. “Goodnight guys!”

    As Jin walked down the hallway, Y/n snuggled down between Hobi and Namjoon, content smile on her face.

    “Goodnight everyone,” she murmured sleepily. “I love you.”

    She drifted off to sleep to the sound of their mumbled replies, feeling safe at last, and surrounded by love.

Chapter Text

In the morning, Y/n woke up to the smell of bacon and pancakes wafting over from the kitchen. As she opened her eyes, she saw that Hobi was already awake and scrolling through his phone beside her. Namjoon, on the other hand, was still fast asleep, with both his arms wrapped tightly around her.

“Mornin Hobi,” she mumbled, voice scratchy from sleep.

“Good morning sunshine! How'd you sleep?” Hobi asked, as impressively chipper as he always seemed to be in the morning.

“Mmm pretty good! I was nice and cozy all night,” she responded.

“Breakfast is almost ready, can you two get the others up?” Jin called out from the kitchen.

“Sure thing Jinnie!” Y/n replied, and turned her attention over to Namjoon. “Joonie… Hey Joonie it's time to get up,” she said gently, rocking his shoulder back and forth. His only response was to groan and pull her closer, which made her giggle.

“Come on Joon, don't you want breakfast?” she cooed, poking at his face.

“Noooo,” he grumbled, burying his face in her shoulder.

“You gotta g-”

Y/n was interrupted by something colorful whizzing past her face and slamming into Namjoon with a soft thump. He groaned in response and sat up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. As Y/n looked up to discover the source of what she realized was just a pillow, she found Hobi standing over them with a grin on his face.

“Sometimes that's the only way to wake him up,” he informed her helpfully.

“Don't listen to him, Y/n, he's just impatient and doesn't understand the meaning of ‘sleeping in,’” Namjoon said, shooting Hobi a dirty look.

“Hey! You're the one who would always make us late because you take forever to get out of bed, I had to learn the best ways to speed up the process,” Hobi countered.

“Yeah, yeah,” Namjoon said, waving his hand dismissively. As he turned to thank Y/n for being gentle with him, he noticed just how close she was. She was smiling at him, amusement clear in her eyes, and he felt his heart flutter.

“I- um, did you room enough have last night?” he asked, unable to tear his eyes away.

“I sure did room enough have,” she giggled, and Namjoon felt his cheeks growing hot. “I like snuggling with everyone, it always makes me feel so safe.”

He nodded, trying to keep his cool as he finally tore his eyes away. He wasn't usually this flustered with her, and it was catching him off guard. “Well whenever we’re not doing a movie night, my beds always open if you want a snuggle buddy,” he offered.

“Hey if that’s true,” Jin interjected, “then how come last time I fell asleep in your bed you kicked me out in the middle of the night?”

“Well that’s because you somehow stole all the blankets and both of my pillows!” Namjoon retorted, meeting Jin’s glare.

Jin huffed, and focused his gaze back on the food. “I am accustomed to a certain level of comfort that your bed does not meet! Why don’t you buy better pillows it’ll make your bed much nicer!”

“If you don’t like it then don’t sleep in my bed???” Namjoon responded, bewilderment overtaking the embarrassment of his offer to Y/n being overheard. “I didn’t even ask you to sleep there that night you just came in and fell asleep! And I happen to like my pillows, thank you very much.”

“Your pillows are a little flat Joonie…” Y/n added, shrugging sheepishly.

“Yeah you’d think for a guy who sleeps as much as you, you’d spring for the nicer pillows,” Hobi agreed. “Even Yoongi has nicer pillows than you.”

Namjoon looked back and forth between the two of them, hand over his heart as he gasped softly. “I can’t believe this… betrayed by my best friend and our newest family member, the world is so cruel…”

Y/n patted his back sympathetically, giggling as she did so. “There, there…” she comforted.

As the moment passed, Y/n pushed herself to her feet and walked over to the counter where Jin was cooking, sitting down across from him.

“So I’m guessing your family was more of an indoor plant type than other dryads?” She asked, watching as he stirred the scrambled eggs. There were a lot of things she was curious about regarding the boys, but she was always hesitant to ask, scared that they would consider it prying.

Jin winced slightly at the question. “Yeah that’s what a lot of the other dryads would refer to it as, but my mom thought a comfortable life was more important than unnecessary traditions.”

Y/n frowned as she realized how insensitively she had phrased the question. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to ask like that or call you something that would upset you, I was just curious…”

“It’s okay Y/n, you didn’t know, and it’s not a big deal anyways,” he reassured. “My mom never let their comments get to her anyways, so I always tried to follow her example.”

"My mom was the same way," Y/n sympathized, smiling fondly as she thought back. "She told me never to listen to, in her words, 'an idiot's mouth garbage'. I tried following her example too but… she was always tougher than I was…"

Jin reached over the counter and gave her hand a soft squeeze. "You're tougher than you give yourself credit for, and even if you weren't as tough as your mother, you're still tougher than most people I know."

"Even tougher than me?" Hobi asked, coming up to join them at the counter.

"Hobi last week the tip of your wing got caught in the door and you were on the verge of tears," Jin replied.

"It hurt!" Hobi protested. "And didn't you start crying when we watched Moana two weeks ago?"

"Yeah but I'm not claiming to be tough," Jin countered. "Besides, tough guys can be in touch with their emotions."

"Moana isn't even a sad movie though!" Hobi replied.

"Yeah well Lilo and Stitch is a pretty feel-good movie but Y/n, recently declared toughest member of our household, cried multiple times!" Jin retorted.

"He had finally found a family and it was all going to be taken away…" Y/n whispered, starting to tear up again.

Hobi wrapped his arms around her protectively and shot Jin a dirty look. "Look what you've done, you're gonna make her cry again."

"Wh- what I've done?! We wouldn't even be talking about this if you hadn't insisted you were tough! Y/n I'm sorry I didn't mean to make you cry again," Jin apologized.

"It's fine Jin I just love Li-" Y/n reassured before a wall of feathers blocked her line of sight to Jin.

"Shhhh don't talk to him, he's evil and definitely brought up Lilo and Stitch on purpose." Hobi said, now totally encapsulating her with his wings.

"Alright fine I guess neither of you want breakfast then," Jin responded nonchalantly.

Y/n looked up at Hobi with a horrified face. "Hobi he's got chocolate chip pancakes. I gotta get some of those pancakes you can't deny me this JIN I'M BEING HELD AGAINST MY WILL PLEASE DON'T WITHHOLD THE PANCAKES FROM ME I'M BEGGING YOU"

Hobi let her go with a laugh and tousled her hair. He was glad she seemed to be adjusting well enough to joke around with everyone.

Soon after that Jin finished cooking and they finished waking the other boys. Taehyung had gotten up earlier to shower and was just coming out as Jin finished setting the table.

As they sat down to eat, Y/n noticed that Tae seemed particularly excited about something. He kept bouncing in his seat and glancing at her like he knew something she didn't. When asked about his weird behavior he would either change the subject or give some half-assed answer. It wasn't until after breakfast that she got her answer.

"Psst," Tae hissed to her as they were washing the dishes. She leaned closer to him, and he glanced around to make sure no one was eavesdropping.

"Get dressed and meet me outside in 20 minutes, and wear your best walking shoes," he whispered.

She gave him a quizzical look then nodded, going back to her dishes as she wondered what on earth he had planned.

Finishing the dishes, she quickly changed in the bathroom and then slipped out the back door when no one was looking.

Tae was already waiting for her, basket in hand and grin on his face. "Surprise!" He announced as she got closer.

"What is all this?" She asked, excited for whatever he had planned.

"Well I thought since it's so nice out, and we're not doing anything today, we could go on a picnic!" He responded, holding up the nearly overflowing basket for emphasis. "It'll be fun to explore the woods and spend some time together without the chaos of the house."

"It does get pretty hectic in there…" She conceded. "That does sound like fun though! Should we tell the others where we're going before we head out though?"

Tae waved his hand dismissively. "Nah we'll be fine. I have my phone and we shouldn't be gone for too long."

"Alright! Let's go then!" Y/n responded enthusiastically, taking hold of Tae's hand as the two of them disappeared into the forest.

Chapter Text

"I think I underestimated how heavy all this food would be," Taehyung whined, dropping the picnic basket to the ground dramatically. 

"We've only been walking for ten minutes," Y/n pointed out, giggling as Tae gave an exaggerated sigh. "What did you pack in there anyways?"

"Well, I'm still not 100% sure of what foods you like and don't like, so I packed as much as I could," he responded, "but then Jimin saw me trying to shove a baguette inside so he helped me put an enchantment on it that makes it bigger on the inside."

"Wow, he can do magic like that?" She admired, walking over to the picnic basket to examine it.

"Yeah he's actually really good at magic," Tae said proudly. "But he gets shy about it, so he doesn't like showing off much."

"Well, you can do magic too, right? Can you make the basket levitate?" She asked.

There was a moment of silence as Tae stared blankly at the basket, and then turned his eyes to Y/n. “You’re a genius and I think I’m in love with you.”

She laughed, cheeks turning pink at his praise. “Well you probably would’ve thought of it eventually, but I love you too!” She reassured, watching as he sprinkled a glittering dust over the basket. She was so busy watching his magic that she hadn't noticed Tae's cheeks turning an identical shade of pink. A few moments after the dust settled the basket began to glow a soft green color and floated a few inches off the ground. Tae scooped it up with ease, satisfaction clear on his face. 

“Well, now that that’s taken care of, shall we continue?” he asked.

As they walked through the forest, Y/n would occasionally point out places she remembered from her time spent living there. She didn’t mention the bad memories, but she still found herself visiting those places, trying to replace those memories with happier ones of a hike with one of her best friends.

"Oh and this is where I got stuck in thorns for a full day!" Y/n explained excitedly, running over to examine a wild tangle of thorns. 

"A full day?! That sounds so painful…" He shivered just imagining it. 

She shrugged, plucking a raspberry off the vine and popping it into her mouth. "It wasn't so bad… the bush was just past its prime harvest period so the remaining berries had started falling onto the ground, so at least I wasn't hungry! My fur took forever to grow back though…" 

"Well Jin mentioned getting you a cellphone so if that ever happens again you can just call one of us and we'll get you out, okay?"

"Alright! But you gotta call me if you need help too, okay?" She asked, suddenly super serious in a way that made her look even cuter. 

"Deal," he agreed.

She gave him a big smile, and wrapped her arms around him in a quick hug, which he returned eagerly. 

"Hey, I bet I can fly faster than you," she teased as she stepped away from him. 

"Oh you're on! Last one to the river is a rotten mushroom!" Tae declared, quickly zipping off in that direction as Y/n's now falcon-like form chased behind him, laughing the whole way. 

“Jin, have you seen Tae?” Jimin was standing in the doorway of the older boy’s room, his phone clutched nervously in his hand. “I’ve been trying to text him but he isn’t answering…”

Jin frowned, putting his own phone down. "He was doing dishes with Y/n a little more than an hour ago, maybe she knows where he went?"

"Oh… okay I'll ask her." Jimin answered, disappearing as quickly as he had arrived. It wasn't unlike Tae to go off to do his own thing, but he usually mentioned where he was going to at least one other person. Maybe he had remembered something he had to get done and had left in a hurry. 

Jimin came back a minute later, looking more distressed than he had been previously. "Y/n is missing too, and Hobi and Jungkook haven't seen either of them since breakfast."

"Well hold on now, it hasn't been very long since they were here so let's not officially call them missing just yet," Jin reassured. "Tae probably forgot to charge his phone again, but he can't be too far. Let's wait an hour or so and see if they come back, okay?"

Jimin nodded, looking a little calmer though not entirely at ease. Since they first became friends, Tae and Jimin had been pretty inseparable. If they weren't together then they usually knew exactly where the other one was, so Jin understood how this new uncertainty could be making him anxious. "You're probably right," Jimin replied, trying to convince himself to calm down. "At least they're together, whatever they decided to do…"

An unpleasant feeling settled into Jin's chest, but he quickly pushed it away. Of course Y/n would like spending time with Tae, she loved everyone in the house. Sure, Tae was the first person Y/n trusted enough to tell her true identity, but it didn't mean there was something else going on there. 

"Yeah… they're with each other so you don't have to worry so much, okay?" Jin reassured, patting Jimin's shoulder as he moved past him into the hallway. 

"Okay… but where are you going?" He asked. 

"Oh I just have to ask Namjoon about something," he responded nonchalantly. If Y/n was out of the house, it might be the only chance he'd get to have this conversation. "Why don't you go see what Jungkook's up to until Tae comes back?"

Jimin nodded at Jin's suggestion and disappeared to go find him. Jin still waited a few moments to make sure he was gone before entering Namjoon's room.

"Oh please, do come in. Thank you so much for knocking so you didn't interrupt anything important or catch me naked," Namjoon deadpanned as Jin walked in, not taking his eyes off his book. 

“Cut the sarcasm Joon, I need to talk to you about something,” Jin retorted, his voice low as he closed the door behind him.

Namjoon looked up at Jin, setting down his book as soon as he saw how serious the other boy looked. “What’s going on? Is it about Y/n?”

“Yes. Kind of. I need to ask you about something. Do you remember that night a few months ago, when we hadn’t given you enough to eat before the full moon?”

Instantly he could tell that Namjoon remembered. The way his concerned expression sank into guilt, shoulders slumped and eyes looking anywhere but at Jin, and how his fists gripped the fabric of his bed as if it were the secret he was desperately trying to keep in his grasp. He already knew what Jin was going to say next. He had realized it a long time ago.

“Don’t…” Namjoon whispered, voice soft and desperate, but also resigned, as though he knew there wasn’t anything they could do to fix what he’d done or keep the others from knowing for much longer.

Jin sighed softly, sinking onto the bed besides Namjoon, a comforting hand on his leg. “So you already figured it out?”

“That I attacked Y/n? That she almost died because of me? I-” His voice caught in his throat and he paused to collect himself. This was the first time he had actually vocalized the thought that had been plaguing him for weeks. Saying it out loud hurt more than he had imagined. “...I realized it when she first told us how she got hurt before coming here. As soon as she said wolf I knew it was me I...” Finally he looked at Jin, tears welling up in his eyes. “What do I do, Jin? I don’t want to scare her off forever, I don’t… I don’t want her to hate me..."

 Jin felt his heart ache as he pulled Namjoon into a hug. He wanted to tell him that everything would be okay, that Y/n was a forgiving person who wouldn't hold something like this against him. After all, it wasn't like Namjoon had been hunting for sport or had been in a clear mindset when he left that night. He was a wolf, and he was hungry. So he did what any other wolf would have done: he hunted.

He wanted so badly to tell him that Y/n would understand all of this and brush it off like it was no big deal. But… the truth was he didn't know how she was gonna react. It seemed like she loved living there and loved each of the boys, but she was still clearly on edge, always waiting for something to go wrong and ruin her dream home. And from what Y/n told them about her past, she also seemed like someone who's first instinct was usually to run away from danger to protect herself. 

"I don't know Joon…" Jin admitted, pulling away from him. "We still don't know her that well so I can't tell you how she'll react. But what I do know is that you need to tell her before the next full moon. It'll be easier for her to hear it from a friend than find out from seeing the wolf that attacked her."

Namjoon nodded solemnly, wiping the tears from her eyes. "How do I even start to tell her something like that? 'Oh hey by the way I almost killed you once but I didn't, are we cool?' Should I like… take her for a walk and tell her in priv-?"

"Nope nope absolutely do not do that one," Jin interrupted, shaking his head vigorously. "At best she will be nervous on the walk back and at worst she will assume you took her out there to finish the job."

"...Right." Namjoon agreed. He sighed and let his head fall into his hands. "I don't know how to do this Jin… I'm gonna fuck it up and we're never gonna see her again…"

Jin frowned, rubbing his hand along Namjoon's back. "No you're not, because we're gonna work together, and we're gonna figure this out, and she's gonna forgive you in no time, okay?"

"...Alright. I trust you Jin."

Chapter Text

"Well. At least the grapes were in a water proof bag?"

"I'm... actually allergic to grapes."

Taehyung sighed and dropped the plastic baggie back into the water logged basket. Their perfect picnic was ruined now, and Tae mentally kicked himself for not paying attention to where the floating basket was heading until it was too late. If only he hadn't been so distracted by Y/n's smile…

"I'm sure you wanna head back to the others now so we can eat something that isn't soaked in pond water…" He hated the idea of cutting their trip so short, especially since he didn't know when he'd get to spend one on one time with her again, but he didn't want to starve her out here just because he didn't want to go back yet. 

Y/n looked at his crestfallen face for a long moment before crossing her arms stubbornly. "Nope!"

He gave her a bewildered look. "No? You don't want to go back and get lunch? Even if we leave now it'll be a while before we make it home, I'm sure you'll be hungry by then…"

"Hey you promised a picnic, so let's have a picnic! Do you know how to start a fire?" 

"Uhh kind of? I haven't really practiced fire magic, but I can get a spark." His confusion was clear on his face, but Y/n seemed unusually confident and he didn't want to ruin that for her. 

"Okay you work on that and I'll be right back!" Before Tae had a chance to respond, Y/n shifted into a sparrow and zipped into the treeline.

When she returned, Tae had gotten a small fire started and was tending to it proudly. 

"Alright are you ready to make our picnic!" Y/n beamed proudly as she presented an assortment of leaves, nuts, and fruits she had collected. 

"We're… gonna eat leaves? Are you sure this is all edible?" He asked, poking through the ruffage in her hands. He didn't want to curb her enthusiasm, but he wasn't sure he wanted to put any of that in his mouth.

She rolled her eyes at his hesitance and began digging through the ruined picnic basket for fire-friendly bowls. "You can eat your grapes if you want to, or if I really mess it up we can head right back, okay? But I didn't survive out here on nothing, and apparently my dad used to be a good forest chef so my mom tried to teach me a few of his recipes."

Taehyung watched her flit around, preparing her assortment of strange bowls, his interest now piqued. "What even is a forest chef?"

She smiled. "A 5 star chef that followed a crazy lady into the middle of the woods and learned to make do, according to my mother."

"This is the first time I heard you mention your dad," he pointed out.

For a second she faltered, almost dropping the cup she was holding onto the fire. "...Yeah. I guess he just hasn't come up yet."

"You don't have to talk about him if you don't want to, it's okay," Tae reassured, placing his hand over hers sympathetically. 

"It's fine Tae, I've never actually spoken to him," she admitted. "They broke up before my mom even knew she was pregnant. After she died I managed to track him down but… when I found him he already had a new family with a normal human wife and normal human kids. I didn't want to ruin that for him, y'know? I'd just cause more problems..."

Taehyung felt his heart ache as he watched her. Just a moment ago she was bubbling with joy and determination, but now she smiled in the same way you stitch up torn jeans, hoping no one notices the damage done. She was busying herself with the cooking, but the tears welling up in her eyes were unmistakable. Silently, he moved his hand up to her cheek. His finger tips settled against her skin, warm and gentle, and the tears began to fall like stars in a meteor shower. 

"I'm sorry I'm such a crybaby," she laughed, letting his thumb brush the wetness away from her eye. "It's been a while since I've had someone I was close enough to talk to like this, and I guess there's a lot I haven't had a chance to cry about yet."

Tae shook his head, and continued to hold her face even as she composed herself. "You've spent long enough keeping this to yourself, it's okay to let it out now. You're safe, you have a home with us, we'll always be there for you... I'll always be here for you, okay? I'm never gonna leave you. I-" he hesitated, words catching in his throat. "...I promise."

She smiled in response, bringing her hand to rest on top of his. For this moment, neither of them needed words. She owed him everything for giving her this new life. But, right now, she could only think about his hand on her cheek, the sunlight dancing on his skin, the way he was looking at her. She felt safe, she felt seen , she felt…

Gingerly she lowered his hand from her face, clinging onto it for a moment before letting him go. "I should probably finish what I was making Tae, if you're gonna be there for me forever I should probably make sure you don't die of starvation."

He laughed, finally breaking his gaze away from her and desperately trying to focus on anything other than the warm feeling in his chest. 

After about an hour, Y/n presented the culmination of her efforts in mismatched bowls and plates. Even with limited supplies and ingredients, she had actually done a great job of making the meal look appetizing enough that even Tae seemed to be drooling over it. 

"Okay so since I didn't have a lot of time I had to go with the basics but that still means we have dandelion tea, an omelet with scallions, and, uh, berry nut mush."

Tae gave her a curious look. "Berry nut mush? And where did you get the eggs?"

"Don't worry, I already checked and they were unfertilized anyways so they were probably just gonna rot if I didn't grab them." She explained. "And the berry nut mush is raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, and roasted acorns. I still haven't found a good name for it, but it's better than what I used to call it."

"What did you used to call it?" He asked. 

"I don't want to say… it's embarrassing." She admitted, not meeting his eyes. 

"Oh come on now you have to tell me!" He pressed. "Remember you've seen me naked you have to even the scales."

"...mushy mushy good fruit squishies." 

Tae's eyes lit up immediately. "You called it mushy mushy good fruit squishies?!" He asked, bursting into laughter. 

"Hey! Don't make fun of me!" She pouted. "It was catchy and I never thought I'd have to tell anybody…"

"No I'm not making fun of you, I swear," he said, stifling his laughter. "It's just really adorable, you're cute for naming it that."

Her cheeks turned pink, and she held out a spoonful of the fruit-mashup to him. If his mouth was full he couldn't tease her anymore. 

"You have to try it." She insisted, seeing his hesitance as she brought it close to his face. 

"Why don't you try it first? You're the chef you should get the first bite."

"I'll eat anything but you're a notoriously picky eater, I have to make sure it's up to your standards." When he still hesitated, she gave him her best puppy- eyes. "Please?"

"...alright. Only because it's you though," he assured. He leaned forward, taking the smallest possible bite, and then leaning back with a thoughtful look.

She watched him anxiously, trying to read his reaction. "Well?" She prodded.

"Y'know, for something that was made from stuff you literally picked up off the ground, it's actually pretty good!"

Y/n sighed in relief, visibly relaxing. "Oh thank God, I was gonna feel really bad if I made you stay out here just to make you food you didn't like."

"Any extra time with you is enough of a treat for me," he said, giving her a big smile. 

They quickly dug into their meals, already hungry from waiting so long. After they were done, Tae collapsed onto a particularly comfortable bed of moss. 

"It's so nice out today, I feel like I could just take a nap right now," he admitted, his eyes following the clouds as they drifted along. 

Y/n shrugged as she settled down beside him, her head resting on his shoulder. "I mean, we totally could. Laying on this moss, full from lunch, the birds chirping, the sun warm like a blanket." She paused to yawn. "Sounds… pretty good if you ask me."

Tae's eyes were already drooping shut as he echoed her yawn. "I guess those are pretty good points… are you comfortable like this though?"

The silence from her was answer enough, and he smiled as he wrapped his arms around her, quickly following her to sleep.

Chapter Text

"Hyung, do you know why Jimin won't stop pacing around the living room? It's driving me crazy." Jungkook stood in the doorway to Jin's room, giving an annoyed gesture down the hallway where Jimin was still pacing.

Jin sighed, putting his book aside. "Tae and Y/n went out somewhere and didn't tell Jimin where they were going, and Tae didn't charge his phone again so it's been very distressing for him."

"Oh…" Jungkook responded, his brow furrowing. "Are they like, on a date?"

"I don't know, and honestly I'm trying not to think about it," Jin replied. 

Suddenly Jimin appeared behind Jungkook. "A picnic basket!!!" He shouted, drawing confused stares from the other two.

"I helped Tae enchant a picnic basket, he must be on a picnic with Y/n!" Jimin explained.

"Oh, good," Jin said. "Now that you know what they're doing, maybe I can get back to my book and you can stop talking to me about what they might be up t-"

"But it's way after noon they should be back by now!" Jimin interrupted, his anxiety clearly not eased by his realization.  "They could be lost, or hurt, or in danger, or-"

"Or they could be just enjoying their time together or something," Jin added, with an exasperated look at Jimin. "Like I said, I'm trying really hard to mind my own business, maybe you could do the same."

"Or," Jungkook began, and Jin rolled his eyes. "Maybe they ARE hurt, so we should go into the woods and look for them right now, before they get any closer. To the danger."

"I feel like you guys aren't listening to anything I say."

"I think Jungkook has a point," Jimin persisted, "We should go looking for them before anything else happens to them, Jungkook can get a bird's eye view and I can search from the ground."

"Even if I said not to you guys clearly wouldn't listen, so just make sure your phones are actually charged!" Jin advised, but the two were already halfway down the hallway. He sighed, picking his book back up as he desperately tried to shake the images of Tae and Y/n on a date out of his head. 

When Tae opened his eyes again, the sun had moved significantly in the sky. Y/n was still asleep in his arms, if her soft snores were any indication. He spent a few minutes just admiring her as she slept before deciding to wake her. 

"Hey… Y/n… we should get up," he whispered softly. She mumbled something incoherent and clung tighter to him. "Come on, I promise you can have some desserts when we get back to the house."

She peaked an eye open at him. "Promise?"

He laughed and moved a strand of hair out of her face. "I promise."

After giving themselves a few minutes to fully wake up, the two of them began packing the extra dinnerware back into the now mostly dry, and much lighter, picnic basket. They left all the ruined food behind, with the reassurance from Y/n that some animal would find themselves a nice treat with it. 

As they set out back towards the house, Tae held his hand out to Y/n. She smiled, and happily interlocked their fingers. Today had been another wonderful day with someone from her new family, and she couldn't wait to see what the future had in store. 

"Dragon to fox, I repeat, dragon to fox come in."

"Jungkook, this is a phone call, not a walkie talkie. You don't have to do that."

"...I just thought it might make it more fun…" Even without seeing him, Jimin could hear the pout in Jungkook's voice. 

"Fine…" Jimin sighed. "Fox to dragon, do you have eyes on the runaways?"

"Negative, fox," Jungkook replied cheerily.

"That's not good news Jungkook!" Jimin scolded.

"...right. I was just excited you were doing the thing with me."

"You're sure you don't see any sign of them?" Jimin asked again. "Or any sign of a picnic or something?"

"Still a negative, fox. The skies are clear and the ground is greener than a fresh head of lettuce."

Jimin sighed, and looked anxiously around him for any sign that the two of them had come through here. "It's gonna be getting dark soon, I think we should go back and get Yoongi and Namjoon to help us look."

"You go back, I'll keep looking over the trees for them. I still have my phone so I'll be fine," Jungkook reassured. As much as he liked using the radio talk to keep things light, there was an uneasy weight in the pit of his stomach. He wasn't sure if it was anxiety or just jealousy, but either way he knew finding the others would help put him at ease. 

"Alright Jungkook, I'll be back as soon as possible."

"Um. Tae? Are you sure we're going the right way? I feel like we should've reached the house by now."

Tae slowed to a stop, looking at all the trees around him. "Huh… I guess we should've gotten there by now. I figured you would've corrected me if we were going the wrong way," he admitted sheepishly. 

Y/n stopped and stared at him for a long moment, her face completely still. "Did… your village not teach you about the effects of Fae presence on anyone non-fae?" She asked cautiously.

"Fae presence?" He responded nonchalantly. "Our village was exclusively Fae-folk, so I never really learned about our effects on others…"

Y/n slumped against a tree, anxiously running her hand through her hair. "Long term exposure to Fae energy can have a number of undesired effects on any creatures not of Fae descendance." She recited. "Side effects include, but are not limited to, time loss, trouble sleeping, aversion to iron, and loss of directional senses."

"...oh." He stated, as realization set in. "No wonder it took Jimin and I so long to get out of these woods…"

"What about your phone? Do you have a map thing on there?" She asked, trying to stay hopeful. 

"You're a genius!" He declared as he pulled out his phone. "Let me just open up the… black... screen… because it's not charged…"

Tae sat down next to her with a sigh. "I'm really sorry today has been such a mess. I thought a spontaneous picnic would be cute, but clearly my lack of planning is coming back to bite us in the ass…"

"It's okay Taetae, I had fun today! And in a week we'll look back at this and laugh!" She reassured, pushing down her own worries as she took his hand in hers. "I'm glad I got to spend this time with you, and I'm sure the others will come looking if we're gone for too long!"

He gave her hand a grateful squeeze. "Thanks Y/n, I'm really glad you're part of our family now. I'm gonna go fly up to try and figure out what direction we should be walking in."

The shadows grew long as the day drew to a close, and soon enough the faint glowing from Taehyung's wings was their only source of light. 

"Tae… I think we should stop for the night, we're only gonna get more lost if we keep going like this."

He slowed to a stop, scanning over the treeline once more and desperately hoping for any sign that they were going in the right direction. When his search came up empty yet again, he sighed, and let the picnic basket in his hand fall to the ground. 

"I guess you're right," he agreed, disappointment clear in his voice. "I can start another fire for us? We still don't have much in the way of food though…"

"I'll go try to find some food!" Y/n volunteered, trying to stay cheerful. "And maybe we'll be as lucky as we were last time!"

She zipped off into the forest as he got to work on the fire. The darkness made scavenging difficult, and she barely managed to gather enough to sate their hunger. The two decided to sleep soon after they finished eating, and settled down on a bed of moss Taehyung had created with his magic, their arms wrapped tightly around each other to keep warm as the air began to chill. 

However, even as Taehyung's breathing slowed, sleep did not come to Y/n. The last time she had slept beneath the trees, she had been bloodied, terrified, and certain she was going to die. As the memories forced themselves into her mind, each and every sound made her jump. Eventually she tired of lying in wait, and slipped out of his arms to begin anxiously patrolling around the campfire in the shape of a wolf. Every once in a while she would shift back to add more wood to the fire. She hoped the boys weren't still searching for them throughout the night, but didn't want them to pass her by on the off chance that they were still out. 

The hours passed slowly, and she watched the moon inch it's way across the sky. Her anxiety eased as more time passed, and she settled down beside Taehyung once again. She wasn't keen on leaving him unguarded as he slept, but it would be a lot harder to make it back tomorrow if she didn't get at least some sleep. Doing her best to set her worries aside, she let her eyes drift shut. 

"Wait, what do you mean they're missing?" 

Yoongi and Hobi had only been home from running errands for all of five minutes before Jimin's shimmering portal had deposited the boy into the middle of the living room, and he wasted no time in launching into the full explanation of what had occurred while they were gone. Jin and Namjoon were already in the living room when they had gotten home, and currently they stood silently to the side like two children waiting for their punishment. It had only been two weeks since Y/n had joined them, and under their careless watch she and another member of the household had gone missing. 

"I mean they're not here and no one knows where they went and they've been gone all day so they're missing!" Jimin practically shouted. He had leaves and twigs stuck in his hair from searching in the woods, and his tail anxiously waved back and forth behind him. 

Yoongi looked to Jin for confirmation. "The last time anyone saw them they were doing dishes after breakfast, and Tae's phone is dead so we don't have any way of contacting them." He informed the vampire. 

"I told you that hours ago and you didn't believe me that they were missing!" Jimin accused, glaring at the eldest boy. 

"I had no reason to!" Jin defended. "You told me they brought a picnic basket, so they must have been on a picnic and gotten lost or something."

"Well clearly something happened! Maybe if you had helped us look we would've found them already!" He argued back. 

"ALRIGHT ENOUGH," Namjoon interrupted, placing himself between the two angry boys. "Instead of fighting amongst ourselves we should be out looking for them. Where's Jungkook?"

"He's still out searching," Jimin answered, shooting Jin one last glare. "Since the sun set he's been using his fire in the hopes that they see it in the sky."

"Okay good. Did you try following their scent?"

"Yeah but I lost it at the river…" Jimin admitted, his tail drooping. 

"Alright take me to where you lost it and we'll keep looking from there. Jin, start looking in the other direction just in case they flew or used any form of travel magic. Yoongi and Hobi, meet up with Jungkook and help him with his aerial search. Everyone make sure your phones are on and charged, and let everyone know if you find anything. Ready?" The five boys nodded, determination to find their friends replacing their anxiousness. "Let's go then, between the six of us they won't be missing for much longer."

Back in the depths of the forest, Y/n was startled awake by the sound of snapping branches. She wasn't sure how much time had passed, but the fire had been reduced to embers and shadows loomed on every side. Immediately she shifted back into a wolf, glaring into the darkness as she tried to figure out exactly who or what was nearby. 

She sat silently for a few moments, listening closely to the  sounds of the creature's movement through the trees. It couldn't have been much bigger than she was, judging by the sound of it's footsteps, but it seemed to be heading directly towards them. Y/n moved to stand protectively over Taehyung, a low growl building in her throat. She could feel herself instinctively changing her wolf shape till she was roughly the size of a bear, if not bigger. The unknown creature continued it's approach, either unbothered or unaware of her abilities, and she lifted her nose to try to catch a trace of it's scent. 

Suddenly, Y/n's blood ran cold. The night air carried with it a hauntingly familiar scent, for nearly two months it had haunted her nightmares as she was hunted down time and time again. Surely this couldn't be the exact wolf that had nearly ended her life, here to finally finish the job when she had so much to lose?

Yet it was unmistakably the same. Try as she might she had not been able to shake that scent from her memories. Part of her was desperate to run off, take flight before she could be hurt again and never look back. But she knew Taehyung's helpless sleeping body lay just beneath her. She felt a surge of protectiveness run through her. These were the people who had taken her in and given her a home when no one else would. She would not let anything harm them.

As the wolf finally appeared in her line of sight, Y/n roared loud enough to shake the earth. She was even bigger now, looming over the clearing as the wolf desperately skidded to a halt. Her body had become a hybrid of different predators, with claws like a lion and bared teeth sharper than any wolf's. She growled again as the wolf cowered before her, it's much smaller frame pressed low to the ground. 

She had never gotten a good look at it when it first attacked her, but now she could see clearly it's fur darker than the pits of hell and eyes almost unnaturally yellow. It inched forward with a small yip, clearly eyeing up Taehyung, and Y/n lunged for it's throat. Her jaws snapped shut on the air where the wolf had been just a heartbeat before. 

Seeing it’s life flash before it’s eyes, the wolf stumbled backwards and immediately darted off into the darkness, it's tail tucked between it’s legs. Y/n stood there for what felt like years, breathing hard as her body fought to maintain the excessive shape she was in. 

"Y/n!" She whipped around to see Taehyung standing behind her, staring at her with a mixture of concern and astonishment. "He's gone now Y/n, it's okay." 

Like a rubber band unwinding, she suddenly shifted back to her human form. Her whole body was shaking, and she could feel tears running down her cheeks. "I- I was… I was so s-scared Taehyung I didn't- I wasn't..."

A wave of dizziness crashed over her. Her body had been pushed way past the limits of what she was capable of, and she quickly realized she was paying the price for it. She tried to focus on the shape of Taehyung in front of her, but she couldn't tell if he was walking towards her or away from her, his voice swimming in and of her ears as she desperately tried to cling to consciousness. She took a tentative step forwards, and felt her legs finally give out beneath her. The last thing she saw was an orange glow rushing up to meet her face. 

Chapter Text

She was surrounded by darkness. Cold, ominous darkness that seemed to press into her with a weight of its own. Although she could not see, she knew she was not alone. Without warning, the sounds of snarling wolves began surrounding her on all sides. No matter which way she ran they were always right next to her. She felt sharp teeth dig into her calf and she careened face first into the dirt as one of the wolves violently yanked her leg out from beneath her. As she tried to get back to her feet, the wolves nipping and shoving at her body making it much more difficult, a bright white light appeared about ten feet in front of her. Relief washed over her, and she rushed as fast as she could over to it. As she got closer, she saw that it was a shimmering orb, about one foot in diameter. Eagerly she reached out towards it, watching as it’s bright light began to travel up her arm. She watched it with fascination for a few moments, when suddenly a burning sensation began to grow where the light was touching her. Immediately she pulled back, but it was too late. She was burning now, her face burning, her body burning, inside and out until it felt like the whole world was on fire.

And just like that Y/n was awake, though the burning sensation did not leave her. She felt a presence laying beside her, but her eyes would not allow themselves to open. And so she was forced to remain in the dark, her body still steadily burning. 

At least the wolves were gone. 

She wasn't sure how long she lay there before she heard footsteps approaching. 

"Any changes?" The voice that had just arrived asked. She could've sworn she knew them, but the fire crawling throughout her skin made it difficult to focus.

"I think she was having another nightmare, she was whimpering a lot." The presence beside her responded. Was she in a bed with them? Or maybe on a couch?

Suddenly something cold was laid across her forehead, and the relief it brought was instantaneous. The untouched parts of her face still stung but the burning in the rest of her body allowed itself to lessen. 

"You put it too low, the water's gonna drip into her eyes again." The person beside her shifted around and she felt the cold on her forehead being moved. 

"Jungkook for the last time it helps soothe the burns on her eyelids when the water drips, quit moving it around," The outside voice chastised. The coolness of what she assumed was a wet washcloth made it easier for her to think. Was that Hobi's voice?

"How come you can't heal her more anyways?" Jungkook asked, repositioning the washcloth yet again. 

"Well my magic mostly works by helping her body heal itself," Hobi explained, "but she's so weak right now I  have to focus on keeping her stable."

"Why don't we take her to a real doctor then? Couldn’t they fix her?"

"They wouldn't be doing much different than what I am right now, and I think she would prefer to stay home."

Jungkook paused for a moment, his fingers ever so gently touching the side of her face. "Do you think she's in pain?" 

The silence that filled the room seemed to answer his question, and he continued. "If they had just-"

"Enough, Jungkook. Arguing about it isn't going to change what happened, okay? He's gonna tell her when she's better, but just leave it alone for now." Hobi sounded tired, and Y/n felt worry filling her chest. What had she missed while she was out?

Jungkook's only response was to move closer to her, wrapping an arm protectively around her waist. Hobi sighed, and she heard his footsteps fade into the distance once more. Y/n felt the washcloth being adjusted again, and then she slipped back into unconsciousness. 

The next time she woke, the fire in her body had subsided. She still felt unseasonably warm and utterly exhausted, but it was not nearly as bad as it was last time. Someone was in the bed with her again, talking to another person in the room. 

"You know she's not in a coma right? You don't have to read to her." It sounded like Jungkook was still next to her, and she wondered how much time had passed since she was last conscious. 

"And you don't have to stay in the same bed as her the whole time, but here we are,” replied the other voice. Was it Jimin this time? Even without the incessant burning, the exhaustion made thinking difficult. 

"I'm watching over her," Jungkook stated matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, you've made that pretty clear." Jimin said, sounding a little annoyed. "Speaking of, when are you gonna let them visit her?"

"Is never an option?"

Jimin sighed. "You know how bad they feel about what happened Kookie, you can't keep blaming them."

"Well when she's no longer in pain because of what Namjoon did and what Tae didn't do, then I'll let her decide if she wants to be around them."

"Jungkook-"

"If Tae had done a better job protecting her she wouldn't be in such a bad state!" Jungkook had sat up now,  clearly agitated. "If he can't be trusted to keep her safe then I'll have to do it myself."

Jimin fell silent. A few moments passed, and she felt his hand brush a strand of hair out of her face, coming to a rest on her forehead. His touch stung, but she didn’t have the energy to flinch away. 

“I think her fever broke, she doesn’t feel nearly as hot as she did yesterday,” he said, quieter now.

“...yeah. I’ve been keeping an eye on it,” Jungkook responded. “Do you think she might wake up soon?”

“Let’s hope so,” Jimin replied. He picked up his book and began reading as Jungkook settled back down beside her, and Y/n found herself drifting back into sleep as she tried to piece together what everyone was so upset about.

When she woke up again, the space beside her was empty. She listened for a moment to see if anyone was in the room with her, but detected no voices or movement. Forcing her eyes open, she looked around the room. It was dark, but she could make out potted plants neatly lined on a windowsill that still had the curtains drawn-back, and she figured she must be in Jin’s bed.

The other times she had woken up, there had always been at least one person in the room with her, so the sudden silence sat uneasily in her stomach. Gathering all her energy, she pushed herself into a sitting position. The dizziness that washed over her was almost enough to send her back into unconsciousness, but she pushed through it. She paused for a moment to let her head settle before looking around the room again. 

From her new vantage point she could see a dark shape of Hobi lying in his bed, sound asleep. His wings were sprawled out behind him, glimmering in the moonlight like a fresh blanket of snow. Seeing him there eased some of her worries, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to rest easily until she knew everyone was okay.

Giving herself till the count of three, she swung her legs off the bed as her muscles screamed in protest. Her body wanted nothing more than for her to lay back down and sleep for another month, but she stubbornly ignored it. Slowly, but surely, she stood up. The whole world seemed to shift and sway around her as she began to take unsteady steps towards the hallway.

She leaned heavily against the doorframe as soon as she arrived at that milestone. Her hair, unwashed and tangled, had fallen in front of her eyes during her expedition, and she pushed it out of her face with annoyance. As her fingers skimmed her cheek however, pain shot through her skin. She flinched back reflexively, wondering what had happened to cause such injuries. Delicately she explored her skin with her fingertips, and found it unusually rough and generating an abnormal amount of heat. Were those burn marks all over her face?

Uneasily she pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind, and began to move down the hallway. She had to know that they were safe, especially since there was clearly a lot of tension between everybody right now. She found herself wondering if she was to blame for the state of things as she made her way towards a light in the living room. It was slow going, and she had to lean the majority of her body weight against the wall, but she was making progress. 

As she passed the bathrooms, she noticed that one of the doors was cracked open. Pausing for a moment, she listened intently to see if anyone was inside, and was surprised to hear the sound of soft snores coming from inside. The thought of someone asleep on the toilet made her smile, and decided to let them be as she continued her trek towards the living room.

Eventually she arrived at the edge of the hallway. She could see Jin and Namjoon talking in hushed tones, and felt relief wash over her. Being unsure if her loved ones were okay hurt more than any of the physical pain she had endured, and she was glad to see that at least the majority of her family had been accounted for since she first woke up. She took another step forward, leaving the support of the wall on unsteady feet as she tried to speak. At first nothing came out, but when she tried again she managed to croak out a few words.

“You’re both okay…” she said, her voice rough from disuse.

Instantly the two boys looked up at her, eyes wide. Before she knew it Jin was in front of her, checking her over for any new injuries. Namjoon however remained still as stone on the couch, looking as if he was staring at a ghost.

“Y/n what are you doing out of bed!” Jin exclaimed. “Jungkook was supposed to be watching you.”

“I needed-” she stopped to clear her throat, “I needed to make sure everyone was okay…”

Jin’s expression softened, and he placed a hand gingerly on her head. “We’re all okay Y/n, we’ve all just been worried about you.”

“Tae is okay?” she asked.

“Yeah, Tae's fine. We found him not long after you collapsed and got you both home straight away.” He answered.

"I'm really glad…" she said, smiling softly. Her mission finally completed, she felt her legs buckle underneath her, and she collapsed into Jin’s arms. 

"Easy now,” Jin cooed as he caught her. “Let’s get you back into bed, Y/n.”

Effortlessly he scooped her up bridal style, and began carrying her down the hallway. As they passed the bathroom, Y/n piped up. “I think Jungkook’s asleep in the bathroom, I heard snoring coming from inside as I walked by.”

Jin laughed softly, making Y/n smile. “Of course he is. In his defense, he hasn’t been sleeping well. He’s too insistent that he has to keep an eye on you at all times.”

“Don’t tell him I got out of bed… I don’t want him to think he has to push himself even more to make sure I’m always being watched,” Y/n worried.

“Alright, I won’t tell him anything, as long as you tell him to get more rest the next time you talk to him,” Jin reassured.

“Deal.”

They arrived back in Jin’s room, and he gingerly set her down back onto the bed.

“Hey Jin?”

“Yeah?” he replied, covering her with a blanket.

"Everytime I wake up everyone seems to be arguing… is that because of me?"

Jin looked at her sympathetically. "It’s not your fault, Y/n. Tensions have been a little high but that’s just because we want you to get better, and we were scared that you got so hurt. This will all blow over in no time, you just need to focus on recovering, okay?"

She was silent for a few more moments. "I’ve never transformed like that before… I was just so scared Tae was gonna get hurt…"

"I know, sweetheart," Jin reassured, taking her hand within his own. "You did what you could to protect someone you love. We all understand that."

"I was so scared…" she murmured. As she drifted back into sleep, she thought about how nice it felt to hold his hand.

Sunlight filtered into the room the next morning, and Y/n woke up to the sound of someone singing. The voice was quiet yet effortlessly beautiful, and as she opened her eyes she saw Jungkook next to her once more. He hadn't noticed her wake yet, still absently tracing shapes onto the back of her hand as he sang. 

She stayed still for a few minutes,  basking in the sound of his voice. She had heard him sing before, but this one felt different. It was soft, and intimate, much like the feeling of someone caressing your cheek. She couldn't make out the lyrics, but it sounded like some sort of lullaby. Or maybe a love song?

Eventually she decided she should let him know that she was awake now,  and she turned her hand over to intertwine their fingers. Immediately he looked up at her in surprise, and as he saw her open eyes staring back at him he broke out into a huge grin.

"Y/n!" He exclaimed, practically jumping on top of her so he could wrap his arms around her. "You're finally awake I've been so worried I missed you so much!!!!!"

She giggled as the dragon boy nuzzled into her neck, a deep rumble emanating from his chest. She never knew that dragons could purr. "I'd say I missed you too Kookie but you were always right next to me whenever I woke up!"

"Well I had to watch over you and make sure you were okay," he explained, his breath warm against her skin. 

"I know," she smiled. "It was nice always knowing you were right there if I needed anything. How long was I out anyways?"

"Two full days, today would've been the third morning that you didn't wake up."

She was silent for a few moments, "I'm sorry if I scared you guys…"

Jungkook lifted his head to stare at her seriously. "You should be!" He scolded. "You're not allowed to ever get hurt or sick again, okay? You have to stay safe for all our sakes or I'll have to handcuff us together so I can always be there to protect you."

Y/n giggled at the thought. "Okay, I'll be more careful from now on," she promised. 

Jungkook settled his face back into the crook of her neck, breathing in her scent. They sat in silence, enjoying the feeling of being wrapped in each other’s arms, Y/n running her hand along his back. After all the pain and uncertainty in the last few days, it was nice to be held and to know she was safe now.

"Does it hurt?" He asked, breaking the stillness in the room.

Y/n hesitated, wondering how much to tell him. The fever was finally gone, but her body felt like it was filled with rocks. Not to mention the stinging in her face whenever she so much as raised her eyebrows. 

“Well, it’s way better than when I first was conscious, so that’s good! I’m mostly just really tired,” she admitted with a sigh.

“Then go back to bed! You still need more rest so you can recover” Jungkook chastised.

“Nooooo,” she whined, pulling him even closer to her. “I’ve already slept for two whole days, I want to spend some time with my Kookie before I sleep more!"

Even without seeing his face, she could feel him grin against her skin as his purring got louder. "I guess that's an acceptable excuse," he said, trying to hide his delight.  

"Did I miss anything while I was asleep?" She asked. 

"...No, we were just waiting for you to wake up," he answered, unconvincingly. 

"Jungkook…"

Before she could press him further, she heard footsteps approaching down the hall. As she turned to look, Jimin appeared in the doorway, holding a tray with two plates of chocolate chip pancakes and two glasses of juice.

"Y/n!!!!" He exclaimed, quickly setting down the tray and rushing over to her side. "How are you feeling? Are you hungry? Are you in pain? Should I go get Hobi?"

She paused for a moment, trying to comprehend his barrage of questions. "Uhhh I'm okay, yeah I could use some food, the pain is manageable, and you don't need to bug him."

Before she even finished what she was saying Jimin was busy collecting all the pillows from Hobi's bed. "Are you able to sit up?"

"Yeah, I got it," Y/n assured. "Kookie, you're gonna have to move though."

The dragon boy sat up with a slight pout, giving Jimin a dirty look for interrupting their cuddling session. They watched with concern as she slowly but surely pushed herself into a sitting position. As much as she tried to hide it, the pain it caused was clear on her face. When she was finally up, Jimin placed the extra pillows behind her so she could lean back and still eat. 

"Here, we still had some pancakes from the other day," Jimin said, placing the tray on her lap. "I brought some for me and Jungkook but since you're up you can have my share!"

"Nonsense!" She asserted. "There are six pancakes so we can all have two!"

Jimin began to protest but she was already distributing the pancakes, leaving the two for her on the tray and handing Jimin and Jungkook their plates. "Now we can all enjoy the pancakes together!"

"What about utensi-" Jungkook started, but stopped with a giggle as he saw Y/n already scarfing down the pancake with her hands. It had been a while since she had properly eaten, so he didn't blame her. When they were done, Jimin brought the dishes out to the kitchen and then clambered into the bed with Y/n, much to Jungkook's annoyance. 

"There's not enough room Jimin," the dragon complained.

"Well maybe if you moved over more there would be," Y/n pointed out with a giggle. With an overly dramatic sigh Jungkook scooched over and soon Y/n was surrounded by snuggles on all sides, much to her delight. 

"Where's everyone else?" She asked, as Jungkook buried his face in the crook of her neck once more. 

"Hobi is sunning himself on the roof, and everyone else is working," Jimin answered, intertwining his fingers with hers.

She hummed in acknowledgement, and a comfortable silence fell on the three of them. Unfortunately, as much as Y/n wanted to stay awake to spend time with her family, the warm embrace of sleep called to her, and soon she found herself slipping away once again. 

When she finally woke, it was beginning to get dark. She mentally cursed herself for falling asleep again, and sighed as she stared up at the ceiling. Jungkook was gone again, but she could hear the sounds of conversation coming from down the hall. It seemed like she had woken up while they were eating dinner.

Before she could force herself up out of bed, the door to the room creaked open and someone slipped inside. She had closed her eyes to shield them from the sudden bright light from the hallway, but she recognized Yoongi's voice as he approached the side of the bed. 

"I know you're asleep," he whispered, "but I saw this on my way home from work and… well I thought you might like it."

She felt him place something on the bed next to her. It seemed like some sort of plushie, but she couldn't tell what it was for sure without opening her eyes. Either way, he seemed to think she was still asleep, and she was curious to see if he too would say more than when she was awake. 

Sure enough, she sensed him hesitate for a moment, as if he was contemplating what to do next. Just as she was considering saying something, she felt him lean forwards, placing a gentle kiss on the top of her head.

"Get better soon," he whispered, adjusting the blanket on top of her. 

"Thank you, Yoongi," she whispered back, smiling up at him as his eyes finally adjusted to the light in the room. 

"I didn't- I wasn't- I was just checking your fever," he stuttered. Even in the dim light, she could see how flustered he was. 

"Mmm of course you were, because you're supposed to feel the top of my head instead of my forehead," she teased. 

"Well you- I didn't want to hurt your burns," he defended. "It doesn't matter anyways it was stupid enjoy your Stitch plushie."

"Wait Yoongi!" She called out, and he stopped with his hand on the door. "It was sweet, thank you, really. For the plushie and the get better kiss"

Although still clearly embarrassed, she saw his body relax. "It's no problem," he mumbled. 

There was a brief pause, and then it was her turn to be embarrassed. "Um, since you're here though, do you think you could help me to the bathroom?"

He laughed, and returned to the bed so he could scoop her up in his arms.

"I can walk you know," she pouted. "I just need a little help."

"Well you can walk yourself out of the bathroom then," he told her, amused. As they arrived at the bathroom, Yoongi gingerly placed her so she was standing, making sure she was steady before removing his hands.

"I'll uh, wait outside. Yell if you need anything." And just like that he was gone, the door shut between them. 

When she was done, she shuffled her way back to the hallway. As she opened the door, Yoongi held out his arm for her to steady herself on, and she gave him a grateful smile as she grabbed on. 

"Do you want to go say hi to everyone or go back to bed?” He asked.

“I wanna go say hi!” she said cheerfully.

Slowly they made their way back down the hallway, Yoongi matching the pace Y/n set. As they drew closer, she could smell the tantalizing scent of Jin’s homemade hamburgers wafting down the hallway. Her stomach growled in response, much to her embarrassment, and she heard Yoongi chuckle beside her.

“I guess we should get some more food in you since you’re up,” he suggested, eyes sparkling with amusement.

“Don’t tease me! I’ve been asleep for so long it’s a miracle I haven’t wasted away,” she pouted.

“I wasn’t trying to-”

Before he could finish what he was saying, Taehyung appeared around the corner. Even though she had been reassured that he was okay, she was almost overwhelmed with relief to actually see it in person. And it was clear to see that he felt the same way. As soon as he caught sight of her, she saw tears fill his eyes as he rushed to envelop her in his arms.

“Y/n I’m so sorry I should’ve stayed awake I shouldn’t have left you alone I didn’t even think that something like that was going to happen I’m so sorry it’s all my fault.” His voice cracked as he babbled, and she could feel his tears drip onto her shoulder.

“No Tae please don’t blame yourself,” she begged, feeling her own eyes fill with tears in response, “it’s my fault I got hurt, I just got so scared and lost control, there’s nothing you could’ve done differently.”

“But if I had only-”

“I think Tae has a point,” Jungkook interrupted, appearing behind Taehyung and circling around Y/n so he could wrap his arms around her waist protectively.

“Jungkook, we’ve been over this,” Yoongi warned, giving the dragon an annoyed look. “It was an accident, and blaming each other is only going to cause more in-fighting. Let it go .”

Y/n turned to look up at Jungkook in shock. “You’ve been fighting with Tae? Because of me ?”

“Only because he didn’t do a good job protecting you,” he defended, but as Y/n stared up at him with tears still in her eyes, he felt his conviction wavering.

“I don’t ever want you guys to fight, especially not because of me,” Y/n pleaded. “You guys were such good friends, and I want you to all be happy. Please don’t be mad at him anymore Kookie, he did everything he could.”

Jungkook sighed, trying to look anywhere but her pleading eyes. “I guess I could try to forgive him, for your sake,” he grumbled, punctuating his words with a kiss to her cheek. Even though his kiss stung a bit, Y/n still felt her cheeks heat up in response. As she looked away bashfully, she didn’t see the smug smirk the dragon boy shot at Tae. 

“Come on Y/n, let’s go get you some food,” Yoongi intervened, prying the girl from between the other two. 

Her recovery was slow, but steady. During her first night properly awake she ate four hamburgers and then fell asleep on top of her fifth, much to the amusement of the rest of the family. Jungkook stayed home with her every day, barely leaving her side, and for the first couple of days she had healing sessions with Hobi every night. However she quickly realized how much of a toll the constant healing was taking on the angel, and refused to let him treat her anymore, stating that the burns would heal fine on their own. The boys tried to argue with her on this, but at this point it was doing more harm to Hobi than it was good to her, and she refused to budge on the matter.

At some point she was moved to Jungkook's bed so Jin’s back could have a break from the uneven surface of the couch, and the dragon moved to sleeping in the living room instead. She had tried to protest, arguing that they could at least share the bed, but the other boys seemed pretty against that particular idea. 

During this time, Namjoon barely spoke to her. He didn't outright ignore her, but he kept all his answers short and never initiated the conversation. This change in attitude left her feeling hurt and confused. Was he really that scared of her now? Whenever she pressed the others on the issue, they gave her dismissive answers and changed the subject, which frustrated her even further. She would rather be upfront about the problem than continue pretending there wasn't one. 

It weighed heavily on her mind day in and day out, and she found herself on the back porch one night,  contemplating what to do when she heard the door open behind her. 

"Y/n… what are you doing out here?" It was Namjoon, looking just as wary as he did everytime he looked at her lately. 

"Oh, you're finally talking to me again?" She snapped, and she winced at how aggressively it had come out. "...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say it like that."

"No, I'm the one who should be apologizing," he said, coming over to stand next to her by the railing. "I'm sorry I've been avoiding you, I just… well I was scared of having this conversation…"

The sounds of the forest filled the silence between them as both considered their next words carefully. 

"I've spent a lot of my life being scared," Y/n admitted, staring intently into the dark treeline. "So I never really learned what to do if I end up becoming something to be afraid of." She sighed, letting her head drop so she was looking at the ground. "I don't ever want to leave you guys, but, if this is a problem we can't overcome, I'll bow out. You shouldn't have to live in fear, and you were here first, so if I need to I'll… I'll…"

Namjoon looked up at her in surprise. Tears were beginning to spill down her face, and she covered her mouth in an attempt to contain the sobs bubbling up from her chest. Had she really gotten the situation so backwards? For a moment he hesitated, unsure if his touch would be a welcome one, but the sight of her crying was too much not to wrap his arms around her.

"Oh Y/n, that's not it at all," he whispered, stroking her hair as he held her.

"What is it then, Namjoon?" She asked, untangling herself from his arms and taking a step back. "For weeks now you've barely spoken to me, barely even looked at me. Do you know how much that hurts? I just want to know what's wrong so we can fix this and be friends again. I miss you. I miss your hugs, and the way your ears twitch when you're dreaming, and the face you make when you break something. But even when you're standing right next to me, it feels like you're a million miles away. So just tell me how to fix this so things can go back to normal. Please Namjoon..."

Namjoon opened his mouth, and then let it fall shut. The cicadas cried out as the night breeze swirled around them, and Y/n waited for his answer. Without a word, he reached into his back pocket, and handed her a small gift box. It was white with a navy ribbon around it, and she looked at him in confusion as she opened it. 

"A knife?" She asked. "I don't understand…" The present glinted in the moonlight as she examined it, the soft glow highlighting it's lethal edge.

"A silver knife."

Immediately she slammed the box shut, staring at him in horror. "Namjoon where did you get this?! This is so dangerous to even have around you, why would you give this to me?!"

"I wanted to make sure you felt safe," he explained, unable to meet her eyes. 

"Namjoon, I still don't understand..."

"It was me in the woods when you were protecting Tae, and it was me when you were attacked three months ago. I’m the wolf who almost killed you."

His words hung in the air between them, heavy and irreversible, like the result of a mirror's first introduction to a hammer. She stared at him wordlessly as memories swarmed her mind. The shock of vicious teeth burying themselves into her flesh, blood soaking into the dirt, a struggle ensues. As she runs her leg dangles uselessly, and as she stops fear consumes her endlessly. The pain is near unbearable, but the fear is worse. Every breath and every broken twig and every stray scent are predators one step behind her, eager to finish her off for good. She can't slow down or relax, too aware that each breath may very well be her last.

But even when she is safe, when the pain has been eased, the fear remains, and the second she lets her guard down she is reminded why. The danger is always breathing down her neck, running only delays the inevitable and taking a stand leaves her burned and broken. 

Just for a heartbeat, she considers opening the box. 

But as the wave of memories subsides, she sees Namjoon in front of her. He still can't meet her eyes, his ears flat against his head. Those ears…

No, she had to keep those two beings separated in her head. If Namjoon had wanted to kill her, he had plenty of opportunities. This was one of her dearest friends, someone with whom she had swapped secrets and comforts back and forth like pokemon cards. This was the man who lost his wallet four times in the same store, someone who constantly asked for help finding something that was in his hands, the only being capable of breaking a Nokia. But he always held her with a gentle reverence, as if she were a glass sculpture, beautiful and fragile, and he was always there for her when she needed him.

"How… did it happen? I thought you usually didn't hunt. " She was clearly hesitant, but she hadn't run just yet. It was a start. 

"Time got away from us, and the full moon arrived before I could prepare," he admitted. "I can remember a strong hunger, and then I remember blood, and then pain, and the last thing I remember was watching a deer run away…”

She was silent, and he continued. “Y/n… you have to know how sorry I am for what happened. I was going to tell you but… I didn’t want to scare you off. We all love you so much, I couldn’t bear to put your position here in jeopardy. But then I got so excited when I found you in the woods I didn’t even think to turn back… and you got hurt again because of that. If I could go back I would undo all of the pain I caused you, but I know that isn't possible. You don't have to forgive me, but please… don't leave. Don't punish the rest of them for something I did."

She was silent for a long time, so long that by the end of it she was wondering if she even knew how to speak anymore, or if she were permanently rendered mute by the sharp edges of this exposed truth. 

"I'm scared Namjoon…" her voice was only a whisper, almost lost among the sounds of the night. "I don't want to be, because I know it's you and I love you, but… those deep-rooted instincts to keep myself safe and run and hide till the danger passes are running wild within me. I don't want to go, but for so long the only answer I've known is running. I don't know how else to handle this."

"Well… for someone who's spent her whole life running, you've got a lot of fight in you. Twice now you've kicked my ass, but maybe you can use that spirit to fight for the future you've earned, here, safe with us. Even if it just means fighting your own instincts, don't let me or you or anyone else take this place from you. It is yours, and you belong here." 

Namjoon stepped away from her, moving towards the stairs to the driveway. "I'm gonna go spend the night in a hotel or something, you stay here and sleep on it. We can talk again tomorrow."

Y/n watched wordlessly as he got into the car and drove off. She wasn't sure how long she stood there, watching the spot where she had last seen his headlights, before finally going back inside.