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Taehyung had never moved so fast in his life.
As soon as the phone call was over, he went into motion. He flew into his room, snatching the old, well-worn duffel bag out of his closet. Storming back into the living room, he dropped the bag to his feet and yanked the zipper down.
Muttering a chant as he straightened up, he narrowed his eyes at the shelves of herbs, liquids and books, all surrounded with a waving aura from Taehyung’s spell. He sharply jerked his hand up, tapping at different places in the air in front of himself as if it were a touch screen device. Select bottles, jars, tomes and other supplies lifted into the air, floating toward him and into the duffel bag.
While the spell worked its magic, Taehyung rushed into the bedroom once again. He threw a black hoodie - Jungkook’s - on over his dirty T-shirt, kicked off his sleep shorts and dragged on some actual pants. He plucked up his keys from the nightstand, snagging a candle as he walked past the table on his way out.
The candle got thrown into the duffel bag, plopped carelessly in with all his chosen items. Stuffing his keys and phone into the pocket of his hoodie, he picked up a smooth river stone from a shelf, tracing the symbol carved into its surface with his thumb, accompanied by a quiet mumbled word. It got dropped into the bag after the candle, the unbreaking charm it embodied fizzling to life and sweeping over all the glass inside the carrier.
Taehyung zipped the bag shut and hitched it over his shoulder. With hurried steps, he flew out of the apartment, ignoring the elevator and slamming the door at the end of the hall open, taking the three flights of downward stairs two steps at a time. He left the building soon enough, breaking out onto the street and immediately heading left.
What was usually a fifteen minute walk felt like it took an hour, but Taehyung knew it was likely more like eight or nine minutes, seeing as how he ran and jogged most of it.
Soon enough, he reached Jungkook, Hoseok and Yoongi’s apartment building. He headed inside and sped across the lobby to the elevator. The witch hit the button harder than necessary, restlessly tapping his foot until it dinged and the doors slid open. Taehyung dived inside, whirling around and pushing the button with the ‘5’ printed neatly in black on top.
The doors closed. Taehyung rested his head back against the wall, taking a moment to collect himself, to take a deep breath and ease the tension that’d been stiffening his shoulders.
The elevator opened, and he jogged down the corridor to the third to last door on the left side, knocking on the wood before he’d even fully stopped.
When the door opened, he was met with a tearful Hoseok.
“I’m so sorry, Taehyungie. It’s my fault, he said he’d been working on shifting into a golden retriever and I got so excited, so I was pressuring him to hurry and show me-” the changeling tried to explain without any preamble, tugging anxiously at strands of his red hair.
Taehyung pushed Hosoek backwards with a palm to his chest, just enough that Taehyung could step inside and shut the door behind him. “You couldn’t have known, Hyung,” he told him in a calm, slow voice, keeping eye contact in an attempt to ease the elder. “None of you could have known. It happens sometimes, especially when a shifter rushes the change or is unfamiliar with the change. He’ll be okay.”
Hoseok’s lips stayed pulled into a frown that didn’t suit him. “Still, I’m sorry. I wanted to stay with him, but... You know my heart is too weak sometimes, especially in these kinds of situations. Yoongi-hyung is with him, though.” He nodded his head toward the door at the end of the hallway across the living room.
Taehyung swallowed. Calm. No panicking. “Thank you, Hyung. Go sit down. I’ve got this covered, don’t worry.”
Hoseok reluctantly slinked away to the couch.
Taehyung made his way to the appointed door. He paused with his hand on the doorknob, closing his eyes and taking a breath.
You can do this. You know exactly what to do, he reminded himself.
He opened the door and stepped into his boyfriend’s bedroom.
His heart immediately clenched painfully in his chest.
Yoongi was sitting with his legs crossed in the middle of the floor. Beside him, Jungkook lay sprawled out on the ground, his head rested on a pillow. Pitiful whimpers fell from the boy’s lips as he squirmed, his face pinched in discomfort.
Taehyung couldn’t blame him. Jungkook’s lower half was twisted at an awkward angle, resting on his hip rather than on his back like his upper body, and his legs, bared by his house shorts, had an awkward, inhuman shape. Patchy chunks of fur were grown in, golden in color, starting about halfway down his side and spanning down along his front, disappearing and then reappearing from under his shorts, going down his legs. A long tail was ducked shamefully in between his legs. When Taehyung looked closer, he could see thick paw pads on the bottom of the younger’s feet and on the tip of two or three of his fingers on his left hand.
Yoongi’s concerned gaze lifted to meet Taehyung’s, relief shining in his eyes. He opened his mouth the say something, but he’s was interrupted by Jungkook’s shrill whine.
“Hyung,” the boy sobbed when he caught sight of Taehyung, “Hyung, it hurts.”
Taehyung cooed, dropping to his knees in front of his boyfriend, shrugging off the duffel bag. “I know, Sweetheart,” he murmured, pushing hair back from Jungkook’s brow to press a kiss there. “Hyung’s gonna get you taken care of, okay?”
The younger sniffled. “Please.”
Running his fingers soothingly through the shifter’s hair, Taehyung looked up at Yoongi. “You can go if you want, Hyung,” he told him. “I’ve got him.”
The black haired man just shook his head. “The kid scared the shit out of me,” he huffed. “I’m not letting him out of my sights just yet.”
With a small hum of easy agreement, Taehyung ran his hand over Jungkook’s shoulder, down his back and to the base of his spine. The boy jerked with a sharp cry of pain.
Hushing him softly with a sweet apology, Taehyung pressed another kiss to his head, this one to his temple. “Jungkookie, Hyung is gonna explain what happened to you, okay? That way, maybe we can keep this from happening again,” he told him gently.
While Jungkook nodded with wet doe eyes, Taehyung pulled his duffel bag closer. He first pulled out the candle, the type of one that Jungkook loved the scent of but never bothered buying one for himself, and lit it, hoping it brought some comfort. Then one by one, he pulled out his mortar, pestle, two tiny plates, a travel cutting board his grandfather had handmade him for his birthday, and a wrapped kit of small kitchen knives. With the items set to the side, he began to dig around for the herbs he knew for sure he needed.
“You’ve been trying to experiment with that you can shift into recently, especially with progressively bigger forms, which is a good thing,” Taehyung explained, voice low and gentle. “But you have to remember that your body is only used to shifting into smaller things like your bunny form because that’s mostly all you’ve ever done. So when you’re shifting into something bigger that you haven’t had a lot of practice with, and you rush the transformation, there’s a chance your body might panic and try to resist, and you’ll get caught in between like you are now.”
He could see the younger squeeze his eyes shut as he fought against the twinge of pain that’d surely surged up his back when he shifted his leg. But Taehyung knew he was listening - Jungkook gave a shallow, stiff nod, and that’s all he needed.
“If we didn’t do anything, you’d go back to normal eventually. But it’s better to just not have to deal with it at all, you know? That’s why Namjoon-hyung always reminds you not to rush your shifts, especially when you’ve only done a specific form only a handful of times.
“But Hyungie isn’t saying this to scold you, I know you didn’t know. You’ll be feeling better soon enough, just hold out for me a little longer, hm?”
As Jungkook gave a tiny noise of acknowledgement, nose wrinkled adorably, Taehyung selected three bottles, each containing a different dried root. He lined them up before himself, then uncorked the first one, filled with brown-orange Turmeric roots. He took two lateral roots out, mindfully snapping one into two halves and putting the one half back into the bottle before replacing the cork - Turmeric could cause nausea and heart burn if taken in too large of dosages.
He could feel Yoongi’s eyes on him, the vampire observing him. A year ago, when Taehyung had just starting out with magic being a job for him, not just something he did for fun, he would have been nervous because of the gaze, hands shaking and mumbling to himself. But Taehyung had grown more confident in his abilities and skills. Besides, if there was anything he was good at, it was definitely herbal remedies; it was his born specialty, after all.
He placed the herb on his cutting board, picked a knife and cut the root into smaller pieces. Once it was in small enough pieces, the little bits were moved into the mortar, where Taehyung used the pestle to start to grind the root into a powder.
Jungkook started to whimper again. Taehyung couldn’t help but wince, glancing up at him. He hated knowing his boyfriend was in pain, hated the times when Jungkook was reduced to tears more than anything else.
Yoongi came to his rescue, though. With a coo you’d only ever hear when he was is in full blown Hyung Mode, the elder dipped his hand into the youngest’s hair, scratching slow circles across his scalp with his nails. Jungkook, always a sucker for scratches no matter what shape or form he was in, quieted, leaning his head into the touch.
Taehyung sent Yoongi a thankful look and received a fond smile in return.
Taehyung emptied the crushed root onto one of the tiny plates. Standing with a soft spoken excuse, he left the room. Hoseok took notice instantly, dragging his headphones off his ears. “Is he back to normal yet?” he asked worriedly.
“No, not yet. Do you have any left over ramen, possibly?”
Hoseok blinked, confused, but nodded.
Taehyung gave him a reassuring smile. “Could you fix some of it for Jungkook? And stir this into it, please,” he instructed, handing over the plate.
Eyes lighting up in understanding, Hoseok enthusiastically took the platter, trotting off to the kitchen as Taehyung made his way back to the bedroom.
Once he was settled again, Taehyung wiped out the mortar with the bottom of his hoodie (Yoongi snorted at him), then opened the other two bottles - one of long, brown, wrinkled Ashwagandha roots, and the other of chubbier, tan Valerian roots. One was taken from each bottle, placed on the cutting board, and cut with a new, clean knife. Then the roots were transferred into the mortar and crushed until they, too, were powdered and placed on the second plate.
Jungkook was starting to doze by that point, so Taehyung didn’t feel too guilty as he traveled back out to the kitchen. Hoseok was stirring in the Turmeric root when he stepped inside. “I made some tea, too,” the elder mentioned.
Taehyung grinned. “That’s perfect, Hoseok-hyung.”
Once the second powder was stirred into a cup of tea, the witch took the cup and bowl of ramen back to the bedroom. Yoongi glanced up when he entered, gently nudging Jungkook awake.
“It’s finally time to take that remedy, Baby,” Taehyung informed him, smiling at the sleepy blinks he received in response.
Trying to sit Jungkook up was distressing for both the boy himself and for the two others around him. Despite their best efforts to make it as painless as possible, Jungkook started to cry again from the agitated aching in his lower back, furry bottom half refusing to cooperate as if completely detached from his top. Quickly finding the boy to be unable to sit up straight, much less able sit up at all on his own, they ended up leaning him back against Yoongi’s chest.
Taehyung didn’t baby him, letting Jungkook feed himself. He only helped guide the younger’s hands when he felt they shook too much and missed their intended destinations too often.
Jungkook was half asleep by the time the meal and drink were finished, likely exhausted from the constant discomfort and tears. Taehyung and Yoongi carefully maneuvered him onto the bed, wincing apologies at his weak noises of disapproval. He curled up just fine under the blanket once he was settled, though, and the two of them sat on the bed beside him until the younger finally slipped into sleep.
“Those roots will take about half an hour to fully kick in. It’ll take another half or a full hour for the fur and dog limbs to transform back to human,” Taehyung informed the vampire lowly.
Yoongi blinked at him. “It’ll take time even after the herbs fully set in?” he asked, confused.
The younger laughed a little. “The roots were for his back pain and his anxiety. The only reason it was taking so long for him to transform back is because his nervousness was making him tense up, so his back started to hurt more, and the pain made him more more anxious - you get the point. It’s a big cycle. When you take away the pain and fear, things run a lot faster.”
Yoongi sat silently for a moment, staring at Taehyung, eyes considering. Finally, he broke into a small smile. “I’m proud of you, Tae. You’re gonna give Seokjin-hyung a run for his money one of these days.”
“Ah,” Taehyung flushed. “I don’t think that’ll be anytime soon, Hyung. Maybe one day... But thank you.”
The elder stood, patting the witch’s shoulder and pressing a kiss to the top of his head that had Taehyung squirming, preening. Yoongi was rarely openly affectionate with anyone other than Hosoek (and as of recently, suspiciously Jimin), so Taehyung always melted happily at his cousin’s fond touches.
“Do you need anything?” Yoongi asked as he headed toward the door.
“No, but thank you,” Taehyung replied. “I’m just gonna clean up and stay with him until he wakes up.”
The elder nodded as he stepped out. “Text me if you want something.”
Humming as the door closed, Taehyung turned back to his boyfriend, tucking a wayward strand of hair back behind his ear. Giving the boy’s hand a squeeze, he slid off the bed and headed to put away his supplies.
✶
Jungkook woke two hours later. He wiggled just a bit, blinking his eyes open. Taehyung looked up from where he was going through his phone, smiling and stuffing the device back into his pocket.
“Hi, Sweetheart,” he murmured, running his fingers through the younger’s hair.
The shifter stared at him groggily. “All fixed?” he questioned, voice thick.
With a hum, Taehyung waved his hands sillily above Jungkook’s blanket covered leg, smiling when the shifter snorted at his playfulness.
Finally, Taehyung took the edge of the blanket in his fingers and pulled it back, revealing back-to-normal human legs. “Ta-da!”
Jungkook giggled. He slowly stretched his legs, sighing in relief. “Finally. That was embarrassing, I never wanna experience that again.”
Taehyung chuckled. “I don’t blame you. You don’t have to be embarrassed, though. You didn’t know that could happen, Namjoon never fully explained why you aren’t supposed to rush unfamiliar shifts.”
Jungkook just shrugged a little, ducking his head. He peeked up at the elder through his bangs. “Hyung?” he asked.
Taehyung poked at Jungkook’s hand until the shifter turned it, allowing for their fingers to tangle together. “Yes?”
“Thank you.”
Taehyung smiled widely, watching a soft pink flush setting over Jungkook’s cheeks. “Anytime for you, Love,” he whispered, kissing his cheek. “Anytime.”