Chapter Text
When Yoongi woke up, the house was blissfully quiet. He turned over and saw Taehyung half-awake and rubbing at his eyes. A small smile tugged at Yoongi’s lips and he reached over to Taehyung, pulling them together.
Kill him.
Yoongi settled his head under Taehyung’s chin and breathed in the scent of sleep. Taehyung hummed and slung his leg over Yoongi’s hip, drawing them closer together. Yoongi sighed as Holly stretched against his back and wiggled himself to lay his chin on Yoongi’s neck. Yeontan yipped quietly and stepped over Taehyung’s waist to curl up between him and Yoongi. Taehyung groaned as Yeontan stepped on his stomach and Yoongi snickered at him.
Strangle him. Put your hands around his neck.
Yoongi yawned and drifted in that warm place between sleep and wakefulness. His jaw popped. Taehyung placed a kiss right between Yoongi’s eyebrows and started to shift out of bed.
“No,” Yoongi whined, holding Taehyung’s arm, “Stay, sleep with me.”
“It’s almost seven, Yoongi,” Taehyung gave Yoongi another kiss, “We have to go feed the babies.”
“Gross.” Yoongi grumbled but let go of Taehyung to stretch.
Their bedroom was an eclectic mess of both of their personalities. Yoongi put blackout curtains over the windows, but Taehyung had them strapped back to let the sunlight in. Yoongi painted the walls black and Taehyung used scotch tape to hang fairy lights up around the room. They had a shared dresser, a huge white thing with knick-knacks gathered on top of it. Yoongi had lavender candles and rose scented pillow mist; Taehyung had incense holders, bundles of sage, and a silver lighter shaped like a dragon. A picture of them in a frame, beaming in front of their house: new and freshly built.
Yoongi rolled out of bed after Taehyung finished dressing, the dogs following Taehyung out of the room, yipping and nipping at each other. Yoongi yanked on jeans and a t-shirt, pulling on a pair of long white socks. He shuffled out of the room and his eyes softened at the sight of Taehyung holding one of their bottle babies in his arms and cooing at it.
Take the kitchen knife
The other bottle baby spotted him and pranced over, tripping over its knobbly legs and bleating at him. Yoongi scooped up the baby and sighed as the baby peed on his shirt.
“You are disgusting.” The baby screamed back at him.
“The babies don’t like being called disgusting,” Taehyung set the lamb down as he took out two bottles and poured milk into them, “We’ve been over this.”
Yoongi looked down at their kitchen floor, littered with tiny piles of sheep shit and puddles of piss.
“Sure.” Yoongi stepped over the baby gate blocking the kitchen from the rest of the house and placed the baby down on the floor. Taehyung put the bottles in the microwave and started it.
“I’m feeling scrambled eggs this morning, you?” Taehyung pulled Yoongi closer to plant a kiss on the tip of his nose.
“I’ll go grab some from the chicken coop,” Yoongi caught Taehyung’s mouth, “You better have some coffee ready for me when I get back, yeah?”
“Of course, baby.” Taehyung grinned at him, Yoongi’s stomach filling with warmth.
Yoongi stepped over the gate on the other side of the kitchen to the mud room. He grabbed his muck boots and slipped them on, grabbing Taehyung’s oversized jean jacket and sliding it over his arms. Taehyung lifted the dogs over the baby gate and they scrambled to the front door, barking to be let out. Yoongi let them out and filled a bucket with dog food for the dogs outside.
Yoongi trekked for the barn first, going into the pasture to open it from there. Almost a hundred sheep and goats poured outside, bleating and nudging at the food bucket. No new babies were to be found when Yoongi poked his head in to check. He turned out towards the pasture and put two fingers in his mouth, whistling loudly.
Sulli and Sunni, their outside dogs, were huge white dogs, both of them Great Pyrenees. They rubbed up on him, tongues lolling out of their mouths. Yoongi gathered their food bowls and poured the dog food out into them. Yoongi stayed while they ate, chasing off the sheep when they tried to get into the dogs’ food.
After the dogs finished their food, Yoongi stacked their food bowls and put them back in the barn. He left the pasture with the bucket in hand and went around back of the house. Yoongi paused at the sight of the chickens loose in the yard, strutting around and pecking at the ground. He shook his head and went into the coop, scooping up eggs from their nests and putting them in the bucket.
“Did you close up the chickens last night?” Yoongi called as he walked in the door, “They were all over the yard when I went out.”
“I thought I did.” Taehyung frowned. “I musta forgot. Are the dogs still outside?”
“Yeah, they’re playing near the lake. I thought I’d give them a little more time,” Yoongi stepped over the baby gate and put the bucket on the floor, “Here’s the eggs.”
“Alrighty, here’s your coffee, your lordship.” Yoongi closed his eyes as Taehyung kissed his right eyebrow.
Yoongi watched as Taehyung fried bacon in a pan, stepping around the lambs and their piles of excrement. Yoongi felt his heart swell. Taehyung turned the radio up and began singing along in over-dramatic opera.
Yoongi slid into a chair at the kitchen island and drew his bright pink notepad and pen over to himself. For his birthday, Jimin and Taehyung teamed up and bought him the set: a huge notepad bigger than Yoongi’s head and a pen with a ginormous peacock feather on the end. Yoongi promised them he would burn them, but here he was.
Stab the pen into his neck
Taehyung dropped a plate piled high with bacon, eggs, and toast in front of Yoongi. Taehyung sat on Yoongi’s left and grabbed his hand as he began eating. Yoongi rubbed his thumb over Taehyung’s ring finger as he started eating as well.
Jab the fork into his ribs
“What all do we have to do?” Taehyung asked.
“We needa treat the goats for worms, and we have to go check the perimeter of the pasture to make sure all of it is okay, but also to make sure that Gooby hasn’t gotten himself stuck in the fence again.”
“Didn’t we have something else?” Taehyung thought for a moment, “Oh, we need to go pick up the mare from down the road.”
“Ah,” Yoongi wrote that down as well.
The early June morning air was starting to warm up when Taehyung and Yoongi left the house a bit later. Taehyung had filled the bucket with syringes and medicine as well as a notebook. Yoongi let go of Taehyung’s hand for a second to attach the hose to the water pump outside the barn.
“I forgot to give them water earlier, go on ahead.”
Yeontan and Holly rushed over to Yoongi, panting and flopping down at his feet. Yoongi pet their ears for a second before pulling on the water pump and heading inside the barn. He put the hose in the water trough and headed over to Taehyung, who was in the gated portion of the barn to keep the animals out. Yoongi slipped in and sat down on a hay bale as Taehyung flipped through the notebook for a second.
“Here, we need to treat Butter, Baby, Charlie, Beth, and Chrissie.” Taehyung handed the notebook and a pen to Yoongi.
Taehyung found the appropriate goats and wrestled them as he forced the syringe into their mouths and squirted the medicine down their throats. Yoongi wrote down the names of the goats they treated as well as how much medicine was administered to them.
“There’s a new baby!” Taehyung exclaimed after a while. Yoongi’s head whipped up.
“What? I was here not too long ago and I didn’t see any babies.”
“Butter just said that Hoops had a baby. I trust my animals more than you.” Taehyung stuck his tongue out at Yoongi Yoongi blew a raspberry back at him.
Goats all treated, Yoongi left the barn to turn off the water pump and grab the gator as Taehyung went to go hunt down Hoops and her baby. Yoongi drove the gator to the gate of the pasture and watched as Taehyung squealed when he spotted Hoops’ new baby. He picked it up and pointed at it excitedly. Yoongi rolled his eyes and smiled as Taehyung wiped some of the amniotic fluid off the baby and checked the mother. After making sure the mother was healthy, Taehyung walked over to the gate and chased off the sheep and goats to let Yoongi in.
Run him over
“Hey, baby.” Taehyung closed the gate and chained it.
“Don’t forget to turn off the electric fence,” Yoongi reminded, “We don’t want it on if we have to fix it.”
Taehyung flipped the switch and then climbed onto the gator. Yoongi started driving, avoiding the sheep in the way.
Their property was huge, only half of it taken up by the pasture. Their house was on the south side of the property, the barn east of it. The barn connected to the pasture, which stretched from the barn all the way to the north boundary. The lake separated the eastern and western sides of the property. The western side was a large forest where they chopped down trees for firewood during the winter, and was a lot larger than the eastern side.
Yoongi and Taehyung loved it. When they had been together for almost two years, they moved out to the country, buying as much land as they could and building their own house. They had bought a small camper while they built the house. They first had to clear out all the trees and underbrush first, then level the ground to put down the foundation. Taehyung worked on the house during the first half of the day, and the barn and farm land during the last half. At night they showered and collapsed in bed, exhausted but happy. The house had been finished nearing a year now, and the pasture and barn a little later.
As Taehyung and Yoongi traversed through the pasture, they talked and laughed together, Yoongi pushing the violent thoughts out of his mind so he could focus on the happy fluttering of his stomach and the warmth of Taehyung’s hand in his.
They passed their two horses, Jackie and Jimmy, and Taehyung laughed as they started trotting after them. Yoongi played with them, driving circles around them and accelerating to make them run a little faster. Taehyung’s laughter in his ear made Yoongi smile and his cheeks to go red.
I hate him I hate him I hate him I hate him I hate him
Yoongi squeezed Taehyung’s hand and grinned at him as they continued around the perimeter. They made it to the lake, a huge thing full of fish and children of the fae. The far side of the fence went all the way into the water to keep animals from leaving the property. Another part of the fence was put up during the winter, separating the pasture from the lake. During the winter, the lake would freeze over and the animals would trot out onto the ice. They had lost almost five sheep before they got the fence up, the sheep falling through the ice and drowning.
“We can take the fence down. The water won’t freeze anymore,” Yoongi made a mental note, “We could do it this afternoon if you’re up for it?”
“Yeah.” Taehyung hummed.
They were silent for the rest of the ride, enjoying the warm summer breeze on their faces. Yoongi dropped Taehyung off next to the chicken coop to spread feed out. Gator parked next to the barn, Yoongi went inside and into the sectioned off portion. He got a knife and opened a door to the room where they kept their hay bales. They had about forty left, and Yoongi made a note to contact one of his friends to get more.
Yoongi cut the string keeping the hay together and pulled it out so the sheep wouldn’t eat it. He pulled out a flake of hay and went back to the barn. The sheep started bleating and piling into the barn at the sight of food. Yoongi threw flakes of hay into the general area of the food troughs and called it good. Yoongi grabbed an old plastic container used for ice cream they had cleaned out. He filled the container with pellets from a fifty pound bag, went into the other part of the barn, and filled the troughs with the pellets. After the container was empty he threw it back into the sectioned off portion of the barn and left the barn. He drove the gator back up to the house, smiling softly at the sight of Taehyung crouching in a herd of chickens and speaking to them.
Yoongi parked the gator, and got the truck keys from inside the house. Taehyung walked around to where they had the horse trailer parked next to the barn and helped direct Yoongi to connect the truck and the horse trailer. When the truck was lined up, Taehyung lowered the horse trailer so the coupler was over the ball and mount. When they clicked together, Taehyung climbed up into the bed of the truck to connect the safety chains.
“Hey baby,” Taehyung climbed into the passenger seat and buckled his seatbelt, “Ready to go?”
“I’m ready. How were the chickens?” Yoongi asked mildly, idling forward and looking in his rearview mirror to make sure the horse trailer wouldn’t spontaneously disconnect.
“They said something let them out in the middle of the night,” Taehyung squinted out the window, “Did you leave the puppies outside?”
“Oh, shit,” Yoongi stopped the truck, “Do you want to bring them in with us or put them up?”
“Let’s bring ‘em with us,” Taehyung opened the passenger side door and whistled for the dogs, “We’ll be back in a little bit anyway.”
The dogs came bounding over. Taehyung picked them up and put them in the backseat, kissing their heads. Yoongi started again, pulling out of the driveway again, and turning left down the road towards Jimin’s house.
Jimin had their newest horse, a temperamental mare they hadn’t named yet. Jimin was an expert at breaking placing charms on horses to keep them from breaking their legs or eating anything poisonous. Yoongi and Taehyung had given the mare over to Jimin about four months ago after buying her from a breeder.
“Wait,” Yoongi blinked, “What do you mean something let the chickens out in the middle of the night?”
“I don’t know,” Taehyung sighed and held Yoongi’s hand, “It took a long time to get that out of them, and they wouldn’t explain anything when I asked.”
Crash the car
“That’s strange,” Yoongi frowned, “It might be the neighbor’s boys playing a prank again.”
“Maybe.” Taehyung didn’t seem convinced.
Jimin greeted them cheerfully, kissing them on the cheeks and talking his head off. Yoongi got the horse trailer set up, handing the harness and lead rope to Taehyung. Taehyung and Jimin wandered off as Yoongi kicked some horse shit out of the way. Holly and Yeontan raced off to play.
The mare, a palomino quarter horse with a bright white diamond on her forehead, was a lot calmer than when they first gave her to Jimin. The mare was scared to the point of aggression, terrified of humans and anything that had to do with them. She was passive as Taehyung led her to the horse trailer, Jimin talking about how much work it took her to get her to this stage.
“I swear, you somehow managed to get the bitchiest horse I’ve ever seen. Normally it takes me a month and a half to break a horse, but this one,” Jimin whistled, “This one gave me a run for my money.”
“We can double your payment, no problem,” Yoongi shrugged, “Thank you for doing this, you know?”
“Of course!” Jimin smiled, his eyes forming little crescents and his snaggle tooth digging into his bottom lip, “I also put the normal charms on her, but you don’t have to pay me for that. Think of it as a gift.”
“Thanks, Jiminie.” Taehyung hugged Jimin as Yoongi loaded the mare up on the horse trailer.
“Do you guys want to come inside for lunch?” Jimin asked, jerking his head towards his house “I got some baked mac and cheese started in the oven.”
“I wouldn’t mind,” Taehyung directed his gaze to Yoongi, “Feeling up for some baked mac and cheese?”
“Sure,” Yoongi nodded and left the back of the horse trailer open to keep the mare from getting too hot, “We have to be back pretty soon, though, we have more work to do.”
“Oh, sure!” Jimin led them back up to the house, chattering away. Yoongi spotted a familiar truck in Jimin’s car port.
“Is Hobi here as well?” Yoongi squinted.
“Yup!” Jimin nodded, “He’s hanging out for a while.”
Both Taehyung and Yoongi were aware that Hoseok and Jimin had something going on, but didn’t have enough proof to confront them about it. They were both very secretive and never let anything slip, even if it was obvious.
When they got inside the house, Hoseok was lounging on Jimin’s couch without a shirt on, dark bruises marking a trail down his chest and stomach. Taehyung and Yoongi both raised their eyebrows and looked at each other. Hoseok squeaked and hustled himself into Jimin’s bedroom, red scratch marks on his back. Well, there was all the proof they needed.
“So what’s Hobi doing here again?” Taehyung asked lightly, reaching down to pet Jimin’s cat, a beautiful calico named Mochi
“Oh, he’s just, um,” Jimin's mouth opened and closed, “He’s just here to… to buy a saddle!”
“I think he has someone who can ride him just fine without a saddle,” Yoongi strokes Mochi, “I think a saddle is a bit unnecessary.”
Taehyung wheezed and doubled over as Jimin’s face flamed red and he busied himself with checking on the baked mac and cheese and the stew he had simmering in a crockpot.
Hoseok emerged while they were eating some time later, fully dressed and ready to completely disregard any attempt at analysis of his relationship with Jimin. Yoongi still made innuendos, keeping a straight face while Taehyung had to wipe his face with a napkin any time he wanted to smile. After lunch, Jimin kicked them out with a scowl and a tint to his cheeks. Yoongi did not feel bad.
When they got home, Yoongi closed the door to the barn and brought the mare in. He thought they would take her for a ride and didn’t want to try and catch her later. He put Holly and Yeontan back inside the house, and the dogs fretted the whole way. Taehyung and Yoongi spent the rest of the afternoon pulling up fence stakes and rolling up wire. When they finished, Taehyung brought Jackie over to the barn to put on her saddle. Yoongi tied the mare and set her up with the saddle he bought from Jimin. Taehyung sprayed them both down with fly spray and they went to the west side of the lake.
They rode through some trails, racing each other and trying to get close enough to each other to kick at the other’s shins. The sun was setting when they got back to the barn. They took the saddles off the horses and released them into the pasture. Yoongi laughed as the mare took off and began rolling in the dirt.
“Jimin did a good job with her.” Yoongi observed. He and Taehyung went over to the chicken coop to round them up for the night.
“He did,” Taehyung agreed, “Before I could barely understand her because she was so frantic. She’s a lot calmer now.”
They locked up the chickens for the night and went inside. Taehyung started warming up bottles for the babies while Yoongi began mopping up the piss and shit all over the tile. Yoongi washed his hands and started preheating the oven. Taehyung wandered over with a baby in his arms and leaned his head against Yoongi’s shoulder.
“What are you making?”
“I was thinking pizza rolls.”
“You know the way to my heart, old man.” Taehyung giggled as Yoongi used a rag to whip at his ass.
Strangle him. Put the towel around his neck and pull
Yoongi kissed Taehyung on the lips, and then broke away when the lamb in Taehyung’s arms started screaming.
“He’s jealous.” Taehyung laughed. Yoongi planted a kiss on the baby’s little forehead.
They sat on the couch and ate pizza rolls, the dogs curled up at their feet and Bojack Horseman playing on the TV. Taehyung set his plate down and wriggled until he was a mess of limbs and pouting lips. Yoongi giggled as Taehyung tried to get comfortable. But when Taehyung landed a hand too close to Yoongi’s crotch, Yoongi’s body contorted and pain struck between his pelvis.
KILL HIM KILL HIM KILLHIMHURTSHURTSHURTSHURTS
Yoongi curled in on himself, putting his hands over his eyes. Taehyung gasped as Yoongi let out a strangled noise. Taehyung removed himself completely from Yoongi, only his calming words managed to break through the blockade surrounding Yoongi’s brain.
It’d been like this for a while. Yoongi couldn’t bring himself to do anything remotely sexual, not after what happened with his sister. Ever since she had died, Yoongi couldn’t do anything without thinking about what had happened to her. It was said twins could read each other's thoughts, but Yoongi could feel her pain as if it were his own. He hadn’t told Taehyung what had happened, but Taehyung was always wonderfully understanding.
The first time it had happened was before they had started dating. It got a little steamy, and Taehyung had started to slip his hands under Yoongi’s shirt, and Yoongi doubled over with the pain. Taehyung thought Yoongi had been raped or something similar, but Yoongi couldn’t talk about it. He couldn’t talk about his sister with anyone who didn’t know her before she died.
Yoongi felt himself returning to his body slowly. He could feel himself pulling at his hair and rocking back and forth. Could hear Taehyung shushing him from afar. Could feel hot tears running down his cheeks, and taste blood on his tongue.
“Tae?” Yoongi asked shakily. Taehyung took his cue to gather Yoongi up in his arms, running his fingers through his hair and kissing his forehead.
“I’m sorry, baby, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for that to happen, I wasn’t thinking,” Taehyung soothed, “I’m sorry, it’s okay to cry, baby.”
“Sorry,” Yoongi hiccupped, “This is ridiculous, I should be able to fucking hug you without…”
“Don’t be sorry, yeah? It’s not your fault. Whenever you’re ready, don’t force yourself.”
“Thank you.” Yoongi mumbled and collapsed forward into Taehyung’s chest, exhausted from the day.
“I love you, Yoongi.” Taehyung whispered into Yoongi’s hair.
“I love you, too,” Yoongi separated himself from Taehyung. “But I need to go take a shower. I still haven’t changed from when the baby peed on me earlier.”
They settled together, washed and dried and warm and snuggly, the dogs curled up next to them. Taehyung pulled until Yoongi’s back was flush with his front and wrapped an arm around Yoongi’s stomach. Yoongi fell asleep to Taehyung’s thumb stroking his stomach and to the sick thought of pushing a pillow over Taehyung’s face and holding it there.