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"Uh." Jimin says, eyes narrowing. Seokjin’s frozen, eyes wide as he looks back at them.
Seokjin has ears on top of his head. And a tail. They’re fluffy, brown-red things. His ears are on full alert, his tail stiff behind him. In the next second they disappear, and Seokjin smiles. “Hi?”
"Yeah, that’s not going to work." Yoongi’s eyes narrow and Namjoon circles Seokjin, eyes wide as he lifts Seokjin’s shirt. "There was a tail. And ears." Namjoon grabs the air above Seokjin’s head as if the ears are still there.
"I don’t know what you’re talking about," Seokjin scoffs, but Seokjin’s one of the worst liars Yoongi’s ever seen. He and Namjoon and Jimin just kind of stare at him until he’s fidgety and looking like he might burst into tears. He looks scared.
Yoongi frowns and squats down next to him. “Seokjin, it’s all right. What are you so scared of?” Seokjin just shakes his head, head hung low, and Yoongi glances back at Jimin and Namjoon. “All right.” His hand pats the back of Seokjin’s head. Seokjin’s hair is soft, and Yoongi contemplates what ears he might have seen. They looked canine. “We never saw anything, then.”
“I don’t even know what you’re talking about,” Jimin adds, grinning and hugging Seokjin’s waist, and Seokjin finally raises his head, beaming.
—
They don’t bring it up to Seokjin. He looks constantly nervous, like they’d kick him out any moment or bring it up, but they keep silent about it. Namjoon whispers to Yoongi about it once, asking if he ever talked to Seokjin about it afterward. Jimin brings it up quietly once, asking Yoongi what he thinks it is, and that’s it. Seokjin had obviously been uncomfortable about it, and they’re not gonna bring it up.
They go quietly for the next few weeks, but then here’s a loud yell from their bedroom and when Yoongi opens it to see what’s going on, Seokjin and Taehyung are on the top bunk. Seokjin looks like he’s about to pass out, and he’s got the ears back on top of his head. Taehyung, looking equally like he might pass out, is holding Seokjin’s tail in his hand. “What the fuck?” Taehyung yells, again, and Seokjin’s teeth actually starts chattering.
“Taehyung,” Namjoon says, all calm authority as he pushes past Yoongi into the room. “Let go of Seokjin-hyung’s tail.”
Taehyung does, probably purely out of reflex. But Seokjin doesn’t do anything about them except burst into tears, which probably shocks Taehyung even more and Taehyung flings his arms out to tug Seokjin into an embrace, hugging him and patting his back awkwardly. Seokjin’s ears are droopy and his tail looks just as dejected.
Yoongi climbs into Seokjin’s bed and Namjoon does the same, and Yoongi worries for a moment that the bed is going to collapse under the weight of four grown men. But Seokjin crying takes a little more priority, except Yoongi doesn’t know if he should touch the tail and ears. “Are you going to sell me away?” Seokjin manages through his sobs.
“What?” Jimin demands, from the floor because any more and the bunk really will collapse. “Sell you? Why – why would you even think that?!”
“Because I’m part fox!” Seokjin wails, tugging on his ears. “And my mom said I should never let anyone else know because people like me get sold to the black market.”
Yoongi’s first response is oh, so those are fox years, ha, I was right about them being canine. He feels bad that his second response is horror, but then he’s a little offended. “Hyung, we aren’t going to sell you to anyone. How could you think we would? You’re important to us. We’re your friends.”
It takes a bit of time for Seokjin to calm down, but he ultimately does, sniffling and playing with Taehyung’s shirt. Taehyung doesn’t even look bothered by the way his shoulder is soaked through with Seokjin’s tears. “So… how did this happen?” Namjoon asks quietly, offering a warm smile that Yoongi’s always noticed he only really has for Seokjin. He pointed this out to Namjoon once and Namjoon had responded back that Yoongi had a look only for Seokjin, too, and they just agreed not to talk about it again.
“My mom is part fox.” Seokjin sniffles, tugging his tail around to bury his face in it. “Fox demon. Gumiho, I guess,” He amends, and carefully searches their face for their reaction. Yoongi isn’t fazed. He figured it was something like that because how else would a human be part fox? “She has all 9 tails but I’ve just got one.” He tugs at it. “She says it’s because I haven’t found that person yet.”
Taehyung takes Seokjin’s tail out of his hands and Seokjin lets him. “I thought it was fake so I pulled.” Taehyung tells them sheepishly. “Sorry. Did it hurt?”
“Not that much. It just kind of feels like pulling on any other limb.” Seokjin shrugs. “It just surprised me, that’s all. I’m not really good at keeping it in…” He pats the top of his head at the triangular ears. Jungkook’s climbed up onto the ladder and he reaches to rub one ear. “Sorry.” Seokjin sniffles.
Yoongi snorts. “About what? About this? No one cares, hyung. You’re still the same person.” He pulls Seokjin to him instead and Seokjin’s ears tickle his cheek when he rests his head on Yoongi’s shoulder. “And we’re not gonna send you to some black market. How ridiculous is that? We’re not bad people. Not just that. We care about you.”
“We love you,” Hoseok chirps from Taehyung’s bed.
—
After that, Seokjin experiments a little. He lets his tail and ears out in the dorms, cautiously gauging their reactions, and Yoongi snorts because Seokjin probably thinks he’s being discreet about it but he’s not. But none of them say anything because what Yoongi said was true. Seokjin is still the same person, fox ears and tail or not, and then ultimately he gets comfortable enough that he forgets he’s got his ears out when they’re going out and Yoongi has to shove a hat on his head.
“So if you’re a gumiho,” Yoongi asks, one day when he’s brought Seokjin to the studio with him. He wanted to test Seokjin’s voice out for one of his tracks and so far he’s pretty pleased with what he’s got, “does that mean you eat human liver?”
“Ew, gross.” Seokjin makes a face. “No, I eat real food. I’ve never even tried to seduce people, okay?”
“Pretty sure a lot of fans are gonna disagree,” Yoongi smiles, and Seokjin laughs. “How about the whole.. bead thing? The source of your power and all that?”
“Oh, I have that. But I don’t have special powers or anything. The part of me that’s fox is too little for me to have any weird powers. My mom heals a little faster than my dad does, and I guess my brother and I get less sick than normal people, but that’s it.” Seokjin shrugs, and then hums. “Yoongi, you get tired all the time, right?”
Yoongi frowns. “Mostly because I stay up all night working on songs.”
Seokjin nods, humming a little, and then smiles almost wickedly. He leans forward and presses his lips to Yoongi’s, and Yoongi blinks when he feels something being pushed into his mouth. He swallows, almost instinctively, and then when Seokjin pulls back, he blinks. “There.”
“What the hell,” Yoongi mutters, feeling a flush brighten his cheeks. “What did you give me?”
“My bead.” Seokjin beams, and Yoongi blinks.
“What.”
“It’s okay, keep it. It’ll make you healthier. You need it more than I do, anyway.” Seokjin beams. “It’s not that big of a deal. I’d rather you stay healthy and not sick.”
Yoongi does feel a little more energetic, but he’s not sure if he’s imagining that or not. “Aren’t you supposed to give that over to the person you love, or something?”
Seokjin gives him a look. His human ears are bright red, and his fox ears twitch on top of his head. He fans his face a little before giving Yoongi a shy smile. “Yeah.”