Archive of Our Own

The moment Yoongi walked through the front door of his bedroom, he could feel himself instantly relax.

It had been somewhat of a long day for him—for all the members, really. The COVID pandemic may have put a lot of their plans on hold, but they never really stopped working. They still produced music, practiced choreography, recorded performances, and did plenty of other miscellaneous things.

On this particular day, they had back-to-back interviews to film, and then, when all the other members called it a day and went home around early evening, Yoongi decided to stay back and tinker with a track he was working on in his studio. One hour turned into two and two into three. By the time he finally left the HYBE office building, it was pitch black outside and there wasn’t much else to do but go home, change into something comfortable, and sleep. So Yoongi would do just that.

With very little fanfare, he dumped his bag onto the floor next to his chair, kicked off his shoes, and shucked out of his shirt and slacks with an air of lethargy that only reared its head when he was both physically and mentally exhausted. As his outside clothes were replaced with a soft t-shirt and a pair of pajama shorts, for the first time in many hours, Yoongi felt like the fog in his mind was starting to clear up.

He flopped onto his bed face first, only to realize when he landed that he hadn’t brushed his teeth or washed his face yet. As he lay there debating between doing his nighttime routine or facing the consequences in the morning, there was a knock on his door.

“Hey, hyung. You in here?”

Hoseok.

Too comfortable to get up and open the door himself, Yoongi removed his face from the depth of his duvet and grunted in response, knowing that Hoseok would probably be able to decipher that it meant ‘come in’. Luckily for him, Hoseok took the hint and opened the door, snickering when he saw Yoongi’s unmoving form sprawled across the bed.

“That tired, huh?”

“Mm…” was all Yoongi could manage. Sue him, he didn’t feel like using his words.

Hoseok laughed again. “I feel you on that, hyung. Anyway, I came because I found this on the floor near the front door when we came back earlier today. Is it yours?”

Yoongi raised his head once more and glanced over in Hoseok’s direction as the younger man pushed himself off the doorframe he was leaning on and reached into the pocket of his hoodie to reveal…

A teddy bear?

The teddy bear was small—no more than a few inches in height. The fabric used for its fur was a rich brown. It had a tiny nose and beady black eyes that stared blankly at him from Hoseok’s grasp.

It was cute.

But it wasn’t Yoongi’s.

The confusion must have been apparent on Yoongi's face because Hoseok took one look at him and frowned. “It’s not yours?”

“No,” Yoongi answered. “Why would I own a teddy bear? You know I don’t collect stuff like that.”

Hoseok blinked, taken aback by his answer. “For real? If it’s not yours, then whose bear could it be?”

“Did you ask everyone else?”

“Yes,” said Hoseok. “We were all there when I found it on the floor. I asked everyone, but they all said they didn’t know whose bear it was. I figured if it wasn’t any of ours, then it would probably be yours, but…” he trailed off, seemingly at a loss for words.

“Maybe it’s someone else’s,” Yoongi suggested. “You said you found it on the floor near the front door, right? Maybe it belongs to a neighbor’s kid, and it fell out of their bag or something.”

“No, hyung, you don’t get it,” said Hoseok. “I found it on the floor inside of our apartment.”

Yoongi’s eyebrows furrowed.

Oh.

That changed things.

“That can’t be right,” he murmured, almost to himself, as he sat up in bed. “Are you sure it’s nobody’s? Maybe it was a gift from a fan that someone forgot about. It’s not possible for it to have gotten into the apartment if it really doesn’t belong to any of us.”

Hoseok shrugged. “Nobody’s claiming it, so…”

As Yoongi's brain worked overtime pondering how the bear could’ve gotten inside their apartment, he wordlessly reached out to Hoseok, who perceptively dropped the teddy bear into his awaiting hand so the older man could inspect it further. Even though he had just said that it could’ve been a fan gift, he was starting to doubt that the more he thought about it. It had been a while since they held a concert with ARMYs physically in a venue and even longer since they had an actual fan meeting, so there was no way the bear could’ve been gifted to anyone recently. Twisting and turning the tiny thing in his hands, he couldn’t really see anything that signified it belonged to someone. It didn’t even have a tag on it.  

“Well,” he said, sighing in resignation. “I’m just as stumped as you are. I really don’t know where this bear came from.”

Hoseok scratched his head but made no further objections to Yoongi's words. "If it's really not yours then…okay. I guess it’s not that big of a deal, it’s just a little bear anyway.” He turned around, making a move to leave. “I’m going back to my room.”

“Wait,” said Yoongi, holding out the bear to Hoseok expectantly. “Aren’t you gonna take this back?”

Hoseok waved dismissively, not even looking back at him. “Keep it,” he replied. “You don’t have anything cute in your room, anyway. Night, hyung.”

Yoongi huffed and folded his arms in response to his blunt comment but otherwise watched Hoseok leave his room in silence, flopping back onto his bed once the door was shut.

Turning his head to the right, he stared at the teddy bear laying limp in his open palm. Despite the dubious nature of how it even found its way into their apartment, Yoongi supposed that far stranger things have happened to them. A nameless teddy bear was relatively mild in the grand scheme of things.

He pondered what to do with the teddy bear for a short moment before deciding to prop it up next to the lamp on his side table, rising from his bed afterward to slink away to the bathroom and do his nightly routines. And when he came back—teeth brushed and face cleansed—he had practically forgotten about the whole ordeal. He simply put his phone to charge, turned off the lights, and crawled into bed. Yoongi fell asleep in mere minutes; so quickly, in fact, that he didn’t see when the bear on his side table twitched ever so slightly.

~O~

The next morning, Yoongi awoke to the sound of his obnoxious phone alarm. Groaning in frustration at having his sleep interrupted, he rolled over and tried to snooze it with his eyes closed. He managed to do it on the third attempt, wasting no time in burrowing further into his covers to grant himself an extra five minutes of sleep. However, the moment he settled back into bed, he felt something on the side of his face.

Tap, tap, tap.

A disapproving noise bubbled out of Yoongi’s throat as he was trying to get some shut-eye, assuming that someone had managed to creep into his room without his knowledge to try and wake him up. He ignored it and focused on falling asleep.

Tap, tap, tap.

He scrunched his face at the disturbance, still refusing to open his eyes.

“Five more minutes,” he wheedled to…who was even in his room? Probably one of the younger ones. Maybe if he made himself sound cute while reasoning with them, they’d have pity and leave.

There was no response after that, and Yoongi thought his wish was granted, but it hadn’t even been more than a few seconds before he felt it again.

Tap, tap, tap.

Okay, this wasn’t funny anymore.

He cracked his eyes open to properly get a look at who the fuck was tapping him so he could give them the scolding of a lifetime, but the words on the tip of his tongue immediately vanished when he came face-to-face with none other than the little brown teddy bear that was supposed to be sitting on his side table, their paw hovering over Yoongi’s face as if to tap it one more time.

Yoongi shot up with a yelp of surprise, nearly falling off his bed in the process. The bear, on the other hand, remained somewhat unfazed, staring at the man with the same blankness in their eyes as last night.

Heart practically beating out of his chest, Yoongi took a moment to inhale some deep breaths, rubbing at his eyes as he got his heart rate down because this obviously must have been a trick of the light. Or maybe it was because he wasn’t wearing his glasses. Were visual hallucinations a symptom of short-sightedness?

Yoongi looked back down at the teddy bear, violently denying reality from where he was sat. He kept some distance between them, which was pretty dramatic considering the fact that this was a three-inch teddy bear he was dealing with and not some type of wild animal, but he’d rather be safe than sorry.

A few more seconds went by as they continued their impromptu staring competition until the bear suddenly lifted their tiny paw and waved at him, throwing Yoongi off guard.

“Um…h-hello?” Yoongi stammered, unsure of what to say. “Can you understand me?”

The teddy bear immediately nodded, making Yoongi feel torn between being impressed and being terrified.

“How are you alive right now?” he asked. “Who made you?”

The bear tapped their embroidered mouth before shaking their head, Yoongi taking a few moments to decipher what they were trying to tell him.

“Ahhh, you can’t speak, can you? ‘Cause your mouth is sewn on?”

Another nod from the tiny bear. It seemed Yoongi wouldn’t be getting any answers from them anytime soon.

How was it possible for a teddy bear to be fully autonomous? Yoongi used to be fairly certain that there was no such thing as magic but after this? Well, he wasn’t too sure.

On top of that, it only sparked more questions. Where did this bear really come from? Were there more bears like it? And if this really was the work of magic, what else could this magic do?

Yoongi was beginning to suspect that the creator of this bear made the thing non-verbal on purpose so it wouldn’t reveal too much information. If that was the case, then perhaps those questions will always remain unanswered.

“Do you at least have a name?” Yoongi pressed. The bear seemed to think for a moment before pointing back to Yoongi, Yoongi blinking in confusion.

“No, not my name. Your name,” he clarified.

The bear continued to insistently point at Yoongi, understanding belatedly flitting over the man’s features.

“You want me to name you?”

The bear nodded, sitting down on the rumpled bedsheets as they waited for Yoongi to come up with something.

Yoongi fell deep into thought, wondering what he should name the bear.

Were they a boy or a girl? Maybe they were both? Or neither? Given the fact that this was a literal stuffed toy, Yoongi was going to bet that the answer probably didn’t matter as much as he thought it did.

He glanced over at the bear once more. Out of everything on their body, the feature that stuck out to him the most was their classic brown fur, the color reminding him of a milk chocolate bar.

Hmm…chocolate…

“What about Choco?” Yoongi suggested.

The bear perked up at the name, leaning closer to Yoongi. He quirked a brow, not sure if that was a positive reaction or a negative one.

“Do you…do you like it?”

The bear stood up quickly and jumped in the air. Yoongi would take that as a yes.

“Great, I’m glad you like the name. I guess I should probably give mine too. My name is Min Yoongi. It’s nice to meet you, Choco. Looks like you’ll be in my care for a while.”

The bear nodded and walked over to Yoongi, suddenly pulling at his index finger. Yoongi was once again lost.

“What is it? You want my finger?”

The bear continued to grasp at his finger, lifting the fingertip off the ground and moving it up and down with both of their paws. It took a while for Yoongi to understand what the bear was doing before it finally hit him.

Choco was shaking his finger because his hand was too big to carry.

How adorable.

Yoongi had been perplexed by this situation when he woke up, but after interacting with Choco for a few minutes, he couldn’t help but smile. He was a sucker for cute things, like his dog, or Kumamon, or any of the younger members of BTS; so it was only a matter of time before a well-mannered living teddy bear such as Choco was going to tug at his heartstrings.

Originally, he wasn’t sure if he could get used to the idea of a magic teddy bear and considered just chucking the bear out of the window in fear, but all it took was some time to become acquainted. There was nothing to be afraid of, and Yoongi felt like maybe they might be good friends after all.

“Hyung?” a sleep-riddled voice called from the hallway. Without warning, the doorknob turned and a pajama-clad Hoseok opened the door, still groggy. “Hyung, what time are we…”

Hoseok trailed off when he peered down at the bed and both Yoongi and the teddy bear he gave to the older man simultaneously turned their heads to look up at him expectantly.

Yoongi could practically see the terror in Hoseok’s eyes as his complexion turned deathly pale.

He grimaced.

“I’m gonna have to explain this, aren’t I?”

…

Namjoon let out a large exhale, trying his best to comprehend what was happening.

“So, in summary, what we thought was a regular teddy bear is actually a magic enchanted bear that somehow found its way into our apartment. Nobody knows where it came from or how it got here, but Yoongi-hyung decided to keep it. Am I understanding this correctly?”

It was impossible for the rest of the members to stay asleep after the blood-curdling shriek that left Hoseok’s mouth a few minutes prior, causing them all to stumble out of their rooms and rush over to see what had frightened the poor guy so badly.

By the time they had made their way to the source of the scream, Hoseok was backing out of Yoongi's room, his voice trembling as he pointed at something inside and claimed that “it was alive”. This gave the members reason to believe that maybe he had just come across a massive insect, but when they checked for themselves, what they didn’t expect was for the "it" to be the brown teddy bear.

They looked to Yoongi for an explanation, so he brought them to sit at the dining room table to tell them all what happened.

“Yeah, that’s pretty much it,” said Yoongi. “I really don’t know much myself, so that’s all I can tell you. But honestly, Choco is pretty harmless.”

“Choco?” Seokjin repeated. “Is that its name?”

“It’s the name I gave the bear,” said Yoongi. “They didn’t have a name, so they asked me to give them one.”

They looked down at the bear in question, whom Yoongi had picked up and cradled in his hands when they decided to take this discussion to their dining room table. Choco had remained in his hands since then, seemingly content with playing with Yoongi’s fingers while he talked. At the mention of their name, however, they tapped on Yoongi’s hand, prompting Yoongi to release them from his grasp. The members watched as the bear slid off his palm, faced them, and gave a ninety-degree bow in greeting.

Jimin was immediately smitten. “Aww, what a cutie!” he squealed. “Nice to meet you, Choco. I’m Park Jimin!”

He reached out to gently grab one of their paws, giggling when Choco began to shake his hand.

“Don’t hog the bear, Jimin,” Taehyung complained, voice taking on a petulant tone. “I wanna shake their paw too.”

Taehyung immediately brightened when Choco released Jimin’s hand and turned to him, holding his hand out for the bear to climb onto. “I’m Kim Taehyung, by the way. It’s nice to meet you too.”

He lifted Choco up to eye level and offered his other hand to it, Choco grasping his index finger and shaking it. Taehyung seemed to melt right there and then.

“You’re so cute I might die,” he crooned. He quickly handed the bear over to Jungkook. “Take Choco away from me, I’m afraid I might keep them in my hands forever.”

Resting his chin on his palm, Yoongi watched in fond amusement as everyone began to introduce themselves to Choco and take turns shaking their little paws. Even Hoseok, who nearly fainted when he first saw Choco, was now sheepishly apologizing for screaming and giving the bear affectionate pats on the head.

He chuckled.

Maybe this wouldn’t be so strange after all.

~O~

Since all the members were going to be at the HYBE office building that day for dance practice, Yoongi decided that it was only fair that Choco tag along with them. Everyone readily agreed with him, excited to spend more time with the little bear during the day, although most of them complained when they realized Yoongi and Seokjin would get to have Choco to themselves on the way to the building since they shared a car together. Yoongi silenced those complaints, saying their car rides probably wouldn’t be much different just because Choco was in the car with them.

And he wasn’t wrong. Their car ride to the company building was about as mundane as Yoongi expected (bar the explanation to their very confused driver as to why a living teddy bear was in their possession). The only difference was that their attention was more occupied on the bear clambering all over the seats. Choco would sometimes climb onto them as well, Yoongi watching as the bear would get to the top of his thigh, perch there for a moment, and then slide down as if they were at a playground; or if they were standing while the driver made a sharp turn, they would lose balance and flop silently back onto the chair. It was rather amusing to see how Choco entertained themself.

Halfway into the ride, however, Choco was scooped up by Seokjin as the older man held them up to the car window, voice soft as he talked about the sky, the traffic, or little anecdotes about the shops they would pass on the way. The very sight of it should be creepy at best, but Yoongi was surprised at how much of this didn’t feel abnormal to him in the slightest. Despite meeting this teddy bear only the night before and discovering they were alive only that morning, there was something about Choco that just…fit. As if Choco had been with them all their lives and this was just another day.

Once they got to the HYBE office building, they headed straight to the practice room. Dance practice was the only thing they had to do that day, so compared to the day before, the schedule was relatively light.

It was once again a surreal experience having to explain to another person about Choco, but their dance teacher, Sungdeuk, took it well after the initial shock. They went over their choreography as normal and Choco watched them from the side as they practiced. But as they continued dance practice and Hoseok periodically stopped to make sure everyone was nailing specific moves, he was surprised to find that not only were the other members trying to get the moves down right, but Choco had also been imitating him at the far end of the room. He suddenly halted his teaching, impossibly fond as he stared at the bear.

“You like our dance moves that much, huh?” he said. “Wanna come over here and practice with us? I’ll teach you.”

Choco seemed to jump at the offer, immediately standing and rushing over as fast as their little legs could take them, prompting multiple cooing sounds from the rest of the group.

“Look how cutely it runs,” Jungkook giggled, clapping in amusement.

Namjoon was equally as affected, hand over his heart and a wounded expression on his face. “Too cute! If Choco keeps this up, I might just have a heart attack.” 

“Over here, Choco! Come stand next to me!” Jimin exclaimed, waving the bear over.

“No, next to me!” Taehyung argued, motioning to where he was standing on the opposite side of their formation. “I’ll keep you good company.”

“Guys, I’m the one who’s teaching,” Hoseok reminded them. A little too smugly, Yoongi thought to himself, rolling his eyes. “Choco is standing next to me.”

For the next few minutes, Yoongi watched from behind as Hoseok began to go through the steps with Choco, occasionally bending down to adjust their form. After a little while, when Hoseok thought the bear was ready, he turned the music on and then counted Choco in, dancing the full section he taught alongside Choco.

For a three-inch teddy bear who had no experience with dance, Choco kept up surprisingly well. All the members got increasingly louder with their cheers when they saw how good Choco was doing, whooping and hollering whenever Choco did a more complicated move from the choreography. When Choco got to the end and made a finishing pose, the members couldn’t help but shower the bear with multitudes of praises, crowding around them and taking turns patting them on the head.

And, as Yoongi made his way over to them, he came to a belated realization.

The other members were head-over-heels for Choco.

Yoongi knew this for a fact and wanted to point it out verbally. But when Choco looked over at him and he gave the bear a sappy indulgent grin, Yoongi came to another belated realization.

He was probably no different.

…

Later that night, Yoongi was back in his room, curled up under his bed and reading a novel. On any other night, this would have been considered fairly normal…were it not for the small teddy bear perched on his shoulder.

Ever since they wrapped up dance practice, everyone had been all over Choco at the company building and all the members got plenty of time to play with the bear and tell them a little bit about themselves and BTS as a group. But when it was time to split up, Choco would always choose to go with Yoongi. The others found it adorable and Yoongi would forever deny the way his heart felt warm at being picked, but he supposed it made sense why Choco chose him. Yoongi was the one Choco had spent the most time with, and Yoongi was also the one who gave Choco their name. It was no wonder the bear picked him over everyone else.  

It felt nice to be chosen, Yoongi decided. And Choco made great company. Although the bear wasn’t able to speak, Yoongi wasn’t much of a talker either, so they bonded in silence.

When it got to a late enough hour, Yoongi closed his novel.

“I think I’m gonna go to sleep now,” he said.

Choco, upon hearing this, nodded and slid off Yoongi’s shoulder onto the pillow, hopping from there to his side table. Yoongi, while putting his novel into the drawer of his side table, paused for a moment as if he was thinking about something before turning his attention back to Choco.

“I’m sorry if this comes off as a weird question but…do you sleep, Choco?”

Choco looked off into the distance, considering, before giving a slow nod.

“Oh, so you do sleep,” Yoongi muttered. “I’m guessing it’s different to our kind of sleep since your eyes don’t close. Maybe you don’t even need your eyes to close for you to rest."

The bear shrugged. That was about as close as Yoongi was going to get to the actual answer.

“Okay, so if that’s the case, then I guess you would be fine sleeping on my side table like you did last night, right? But wouldn’t it be uncomfortable? I know you’re a teddy bear, but surely the table is too hard to sleep on, right?”

Yoongi thought for a short moment before suddenly snapping his fingers and getting out of bed. 

“Gimme one second.”

He opened his closet on the other side of the room, rummaging through his clothes. Obviously, he didn’t have a miniature bed just lying around, so he would have to improvise with what he had and create a makeshift bed for the time being.

It took a moment to figure out what exactly to use, but he eventually settled on using a fuzzy sock as a sleeping bag for Choco. Thank God he did laundry recently because he couldn't imagine what he would do if he had to give Choco a smelly sock to sleep in, whether the bear had a sense of smell or not.

“Here,” Yoongi said, handing Choco the sock he found. “It’s not the best thing ever, but it’s all I got for now. Think you can make it work?”

Choco took a look at the sock on the side table and opened it up, wordlessly burrowing in and making it a point to let Yoongi know that they were comfortable. The sight of it had the man letting out a fond chuckle before he even realized it.

“I’ll take your word for it. Goodnight, Choco,” he said, and, without any further delay, reached over to his lamp and switched off the lights.

~O~

Since the members welcomed Choco into their lives, the transition they all made from only worrying about the seven people to worrying about eight of them was almost seamless. Yoongi could recall times where ARMYs would ask them at fan meetings how they would cope if an eighth member was added to their group, and they would always respond that they wouldn’t like it. Obviously, they would play up their reaction for fans, but their answers to this particular question were always at least partially true. However, now that they really did have an eighth member (if Choco could even be considered as such), everyone was totally okay with it.

After that first day of bringing Choco into work, the bear followed them to all their subsequent schedules. From shooting commercials to slow days in the HYBE office building, Choco was present for it all. It made the days easier to get through, knowing that Choco’s presence would lighten the mood.

They even decided on a car rota so everyone would get a turn with Choco when they were driving to whatever schedules were planned. The other members constantly fawned over Choco and Yoongi didn’t blame them one bit. Anything Choco did was cute, and it made it even cuter how attached the bear was to Yoongi. Just like the first day, Choco continued to stick by Yoongi whenever they weren’t all together.

It had been a whole week before Choco revealed something even more extraordinary to them.

Yoongi had shuffled his way into the kitchen, fresh from a shower. They had an early start that day and had to be out of the apartment by seven o’clock in the morning, so the members were slow to come to their senses after waking.

Everyone was in or around the kitchen, silently doing their own thing. Namjoon was peering into the fridge. Hoseok was making himself coffee. Jimin had his head buried in his folded arms on the dining table, most likely already done with eating and deciding to catch up on sleep.

As for Yoongi, he was going to make a bowl of cereal and eat it as quickly as he could. Choco was perched on his shoulder as usual (over the past few days, Yoongi found it was one of Choco’s favorite places to sit), waving in greeting to whoever was looking their way. Yoongi fished the milk from out of the fridge and grabbed a box of cereal and a bowl from the cupboards, but it was only when he sat down that he realized the spoon he took out of the drawer was still on the counter where he left it. He was about to stand up and get it himself when Choco stopped him, shaking their head.

“What? What’s wrong?” he asked quietly, so as to not disturb Jimin snoozing away next to him.

He waited for Choco to explain what the matter was, but instead, Choco turned towards the counter and began to levitate. If Yoongi wasn’t awake before, he definitely was now.

“WHAT THE—?!” he blurted out loudly, grabbing the attention of the other members. Even Jimin jolted awake from where he was sat in time to witness Choco floating towards the kitchen counter, where the bear grabbed the spoon sitting there and floated all the way back, dropping the utensil in front of a flabbergasted Yoongi.

For the longest moment, no one knew what to say. Everyone just sat there and stared at Choco in awe.

“You can fly?” Yoongi said after what seemed like an eternity. “Have you been able to do that this whole time?”

“It must be the magic,” Namjoon mumbled, coming closer to look at Choco from all angles. “That’s the only plausible reason. But how the magic even permits Choco to fly is beyond me.”

“So not only does the magic bring Choco to life, but it can make them fly as well?” Taehyung pondered aloud.

Jungkook, curious, also walked up to the dining table to inspect the bear. “Is the magic that helps you fly and the magic that keeps you alive the same type of magic?”

Choco shook his head, making Jungkook cock his head to the side in confusion. “No?”

“Hm…I’m betting that there are multiple spells that have been cast on Choco so they can do many things,” said Taehyung. “But why put so much magic into a little bear like them?”

“Can you fly again?” Yoongi asked Choco, the bear happily obliging.

All of them watch in amazement as Choco levitated once more and began to fly around the room. The bear floated over the counter and zoomed past the cupboards before circling once around Seokjin, making the eldest smile from where he was stood. Choco then came back to the table and halted in front of Jimin’s face, Jimin giving the bear a sleepy smile and reaching out to tap them affectionately on the nose. When Choco finally landed back on the dining table, everyone couldn't help but applaud.

“This is too surreal,” Hoseok marveled. “I can’t believe someone really put all these spells into a teddy bear. They must have been so bored.”

“Or they were an absolute genius,” said Jungkook.

Yoongi glanced over at Choco, who was now orbiting around Namjoon’s head.

Maybe they were a bored genius.

~O~

By the end of their busy week, the members were elated when they checked their calendars and realized they had a full day off the next day. As Kpop idols, their work schedules were always different from most other jobs where people regularly got weekends off. Their erratic schedules meant they had the potential to be booked for something at any point in the week. This made them appreciate days off even more since they got them less often than the average working citizen.

When it came to days off, the members always spent them doing different things. Some lazed around in bed all day; some went out into town by themselves; and if the day off was pre-planned long enough in advance, some of them went to hang out with friends (although with COVID, that was no longer an option).

On this day off, however, the members all found themselves inside. Perhaps because the weather was already bad—it had been raining since morning—or the fact that the day before they were put through strenuous dance practice, so everyone was worn out. Either way, all seven of them stayed indoors, and picking quiet low-energy activities to do in the apartment seemed to be the way to go.

Case in point, Yoongi and Seokjin were watching a movie.

Yoongi was originally going to work on music, but Seokjin had knocked on his door and asked him if he wanted to join him in watching something. And maybe it was because he hadn’t really spent a lot of time with Seokjin outside of work recently, but he felt more of a pull to accept his offer. So here he was, sitting on their living room couch next to his hyung as they watched some obscure animated film. Yoongi wasn’t following the plot that well, but the animation itself was pretty.

Choco was watching with them too, of course. At this point in time, it was safe to assume that anywhere Yoongi was, Choco would be there also. Aside from their car rota where they all took turns riding to work with Choco (tomorrow was Taehyung, Hoseok, and Namjoon’s turn), Choco was always with Yoongi. Today was no different, the tiny bear sitting on their favorite seat, Yoongi’s shoulder. Choco might have actually been paying more attention to the film than Yoongi, because whenever Yoongi would ask something about the film, Choco would be the first to nod or shake their head. It was pretty impressive.

However, halfway into the film, exhaustion started getting the better of him, and Yoongi felt his eyes droop a few times. He tried to fight it for Seokjin’s sake, he honestly did, but he was not God’s strongest soldier. After a few minutes of resisting, he ultimately gave in, head lolling to the side as he traveled into dreamland.

Next to him, Seokjin smiled, having watched Yoongi’s valiant battle with sleep. He locked eyes with Choco, the bear still sitting on Yoongi’s shoulder.

“Looks like he’s out cold,” he said softly. “Wanna join me instead?”

Choco gazed over at Yoongi once more, looked back to Seokjin, and then nodded, hopping from Yoongi’s shoulder to the back of the couch and padding their way over to Seokjin’s awaiting hand. But instead of Seokjin placing Choco on his shoulder as the bear expected, Seokjin placed the bear in his lap, his hand cradling them close to his body.

“I figured he might fall asleep,” Seokjin said after a moment. “He needed it. And he wasn’t gonna get it working on music, so I thought I’d try a different approach.”

Choco stared at him, making Seokjin chuckle. “What? Was that dishonest of me? It’s not like I tricked him into sleeping. I simply created an optimal environment to rest. Nothing wrong with that.” 

Choco shrugged, snuggling further into Seokjin’s hold and turning their head to resume watching the film while Yoongi continued to sleep.

…

The next time Yoongi awoke was almost two hours later when the room was darker, and the TV was off. As he slowly came to and lifted his cheek off the couch cushion, he realized…when did he lie down? He vaguely remembered sitting upright when he started to fall asleep. He was about to assume that he had slid all the way down the couch in his sleep until he looked down at his body and realized there was a blanket covering him.

It definitely wasn’t covering him before he fell asleep, so someone must’ve put it over him. Probably Seokjin. He must’ve taken pity on him and grabbed it from the closet so he wouldn't get cold. He wondered where Seokjin went after the movie, though. Maybe he’d look for him once he grabbed a drink from the kitchen with Choco and—

He shot up from the couch, eyes wide.

Choco wasn’t here.

“Choco?” he called feebly in the quiet of the living room. He looked around him on the couch, under the blanket, and on the floor. There was no sign of the little bear anywhere.

Heart beating a little bit quicker and his stomach twisting itself into knots, he rose from the couch, wondering where Choco could have gone. It felt silly, being this worried for Choco since he knew that there were six other people in this house, so surely one of the other members must have the bear. But Yoongi was so used to Choco being by his side that even if the bear really was safe and sound with another member, Yoongi wanted to see it with his own two eyes. Just to confirm.

Walking through the dark hallway, Yoongi opened the first door on the right to his own bedroom and looked inside. His room was exactly how he left it before Seokjin had come in to ask if he wanted to watch a movie, but there was no Choco.

Closing the door to his room, he walked all the way down to the end of the hall where Seokjin’s room was and opened the door to find him in bed playing something on their Nintendo Switch console. Seokjin looked up in surprise from what he was playing, but when he saw that it was just Yoongi, his gaze softened, an easy smile forming on his face under the warm light of his lamp.

“Hey, Yoongi. Did you have a nice nap?”

“Oh, uh…yeah. Thanks,” he mumbled. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to pass out on you. I promise the movie you picked wasn’t boring, I was just really tired.”

“Don’t worry, I believe you. It’s been a long week so far. Did you need something?”

“Yeah…” he looked around the room hastily, unable to spot that telltale patch of brown fur. “Where’s Choco?”

“Ah. Not here,” said Seokjin, absentmindedly going back to his game after giving his answer. “Choco was with me up until the end of the movie, but then the maknaes saw me with Choco and took Choco with them somewhere. I’m sure you’ll find them if you check one of their rooms.”

One of their rooms, huh?

Yoongi thanked Seokjin and closed his door, trekking back down the dark hallway and wondering which room he should check first until he stopped in front of Jungkook's room and heard giggling from inside.

Bingo.

He opened the door and found Taehyung, Jimin, and Jungkook all huddled on the bed, staring up at him when they heard the sound of someone entering. In the middle of these three was Choco, sitting down and leaning their weight (if Choco had any weight) onto Taehyung’s leg. Relief flooded into Yoongi’s system now that he knew Choco was safe and not lost somewhere in the house, but he soon grew confused when he properly looked down at the bed and saw it was covered with craft supplies. He raised a brow.

“What are you guys doing?”

“Hey, hyung,” Jimin greeted. “We’re doing a special project!”

“Special project?” Yoongi repeated. “For what?”

“Well, since Choco has been sleeping in nothing but a fuzzy sock for quite a few days now, we thought that maybe Choco could have something better. Like a bed.”

It was true that Yoongi wished he had a better alternative than a sock, but he didn’t have the resources to make a bed. He assumed everyone else would be the same, but apparently not.

“How exactly are you making a bed?” Yoongi inquired.

“It was pretty easy, actually,” said Jungkook, looking rather proud of himself. “We were originally gonna just use a small box, but even that seemed uncomfortable; so we got some cotton balls from the bathroom, and I used a hot glue gun to glue them all over the box to make it feel like a fluffy mattress.”

“And then we wanted the bed to look cute, so we used cardboard for the bed frame, and I got to paint it,” Jimin added.

“I was in charge of the bedding,” said Taehyung, raising his hand excitedly. “It would’ve been nice to knit a tiny blanket, but I can't knit, so I found a shirt in my closet I wasn't wearing anymore, cut up the fabric, and used it to make pillowcases and a blanket. I used fabric markers to give it a bit of pizzazz too.”

Yoongi came into the room fully and sat on the edge of the bed (not even suppressing his smile when Choco ambled over to him). He looked past the scattered markers, scissors, and discarded pieces of cardboard to the actual project in the center of their circle. And it definitely surpassed his expectations.

The maknae-line were artsy—Yoongi knew this from years of living with them and seeing how talented they were at things like painting and crafting. But given the supplies they were using for this bed, even he wasn’t expecting the finished product to be so…professionally done.

The “mattress” made from gluing cotton balls to a small box—for all intents and purposes—looked like a cloud. Building off that aesthetic, the three of them seemed to decide on an astrology theme, because the bed frame was painted deep blues, purples, and pinks, the colors swirling and blending together with white flecks of paint splattered on to make it look like a galaxy.

As for the pillowcases and the blanket, they were dark purple, but Taehyung had gone the extra mile to draw constellation patterns onto them with a thin white fabric marker. Yoongi scanned the blanket briefly and could even identify some of the constellations Taehyung drew.

Yoongi was very impressed.

“This is so creative,” he said, lips twitching the slightest bit when the three of them sat up straight at the praise. “Did you make this all today?”

“Yep!” said Taehyung. “Well, actually, we planned it out together when we got back yesterday. The theme wasn’t decided until we took stock of the supplies we had around the apartment. That’s when we decided to do a galaxy theme.”

“We were gonna bring it over later tonight, but we saw Jin-hyung with Choco and thought we would let Choco see and maybe test out the bed to see if they liked it,” said Jungkook. “Is it okay that we borrowed Choco, hyung?”

Yoongi nodded, waving off his concerns with his hand. “Yeah, no, don’t worry about it, Jungkook,” he reassured. “You don’t need permission from me to hang out with Choco. It’s up to Choco to decide when they want to hang out with the other members.” He pointedly looked at Choco while saying that last part so Choco knew they had a right to choose. Choco may be under their care, but that didn’t mean that Yoongi would lord his authority over the tiny thing. Choco could do whatever they pleased as long as it wasn’t harming anyone. That meant if Choco wanted to spend time with the maknae-line while they made the bear a bed from scratch, then so be it.

“So now that you’ve finished it, Choco can test it, right?” said Yoongi. “There’s nothing else you need to do?”

“Nope,” said Jimin. “The paint’s all dry and everything’s been glued down. So, Choco-ssi,” he looked at the bear and gestured to the miniature bed “if you could please do us the honors.”

The four of them watched in fascination as Choco stood up and walked over to the bed, inspecting it from all sides before climbing on. When they got on the mattress, they pulled the cover over themselves, leaning against the headboard.

“Does it feel comfortable?” Jungkook asked.

It seemed all three of the maknae-line relaxed at Choco’s enthusiastic nod, exchanging high fives and a few iterations of “good job team” here and there, and Yoongi couldn’t help but wonder when the last time was that Jimin, Taehyung, and Jungkook really sat down to do something as trivial as an art project together. They’ve split into pairs during the quarantine, yes (Yoongi remembers seeing Taehyung and Jungkook go live to make crafts and Jimin and Jungkook go live to make gimbap) but the three of them together doing this kind of thing? Off-camera at that? It truly has been a while. Their schedule has been so busy that none of them have really had time to do things like this as of late.

Yoongi decided that he enjoyed seeing them have fun together. Happiness was a good look on them.

So when Yoongi said his thanks and carried Choco and their mini-bed back to his room, he didn’t resist giving the three of them an affectionate ruffle of the hair. They deserved it.

~O~

Making music was stressful.

Yoongi loved it, but it was stressful. And he knew that the other members felt the same. After all, who didn’t run into stress while on the job? It was all a part of the process.

That was what Yoongi was currently reminding himself of as he sat in the studio with Namjoon and Hoseok, computer open to an audio file on their music software.

They had most of the song done already. However, there was still a part of it they felt like they needed to change. It wasn’t necessarily a three-man job, so neither Hoseok nor Yoongi really needed to be there. But Namjoon had been fretting over it for a few days now and asked them for a second opinion…and, well, it was impossible to say no to him. Not with those puppy-dog eyes, anyway.

Yoongi was sitting on the computer chair, swiveled partially away from the desk, while Choco sat near his hand where it was curled around the mouse. It had been a few weeks since they first encountered Choco, but Yoongi still felt bad whenever they were in the studio for long periods because it meant Choco couldn't go home. He would always tell the bear time and time again that they didn’t have to stay with him, that they could go home with one of the other members if they were bored or tired, but Choco always stayed. Whether for Choco’s sake or his own, Yoongi didn’t know. But the fact that he could always count on Choco to keep him company was greatly appreciated.

“Hmm…I don’t know about this first part here,” said Hoseok, brows furrowed in thought as he listened to the audio clip one more time. “It sounds a bit much; don’t you think? I think it might be better for it to be a little less heavy.”

“Yeah, I can see why you might feel that way,” said Namjoon, equally as deep in thought while he paced around the room. “I just don’t know how to alter it. It’s like my brain isn’t working anymore.”

“Think again about what exactly it is you want to portray in the sound,” Yoongi offered. “It can help you refocus and maybe think of a different angle to come at.”

Namjoon sighed and dragged a hand down his face, tired eyes blinking slowly at the bright computer screen in front of him as he stopped in place and contemplated in silence. Yoongi felt a pang of sympathy in his chest.

Making music was stressful.

Yoongi locked eyes with Choco and removed his hand from the mouse to rub their head briefly. In that one action, Yoongi hoped that he and Choco were close enough that the bear would understand what he was trying to convey with it.

I’m sorry, we’ll be done soon.

“Well, for starters, I guess we can take some stuff out of the first verse to make room for buildup,” said Namjoon. “Now that I’ve listened to it a few times, there’s so much going on that by the time it gets to the chorus, it feels underwhelming. What should we take out, though?”

They all sat there for a long moment before Yoongi felt a nudge on his hand. He looked down at Choco in question.

“Hm? What’s wrong?”

Choco walked over to the mouse and began to push it to the left, Yoongi watching as the bear led the cursor on-screen to a section of the song and kept it there, turning back to look at Yoongi expectantly. Yoongi exchanged a look with the other two.

“Are you…suggesting we should take this part out?”

Choco nodded, gesturing for Yoongi to use the mouse. Yoongi’s hand curled around the mouse once more.

“Should we take it out?” he asked the other two.

Hoseok shrugged. “Let’s try it out,” he replied. “If it doesn’t work out, we could always just undo it.”

Yoongi glanced over at Namjoon, who nodded as well. So with no more wasted time, he highlighted the area and hit the delete button. When it was gone, Yoongi played the track, and they all gathered around the speakers to listen to it. And strangely enough…it sounded better.

Of all the people to come up with a solution to their problem, Choco was the last one they expected. However, now that Yoongi thought about it, Choco had been in the studio with him for hours on end for a few weeks now. At some point, Yoongi had even stopped using headphones when he worked to let Choco listen to whatever he was making. And he didn’t stop there; he would always teach Choco the ins and outs of producing and what each function on his music software did. So, in retrospect, Choco was actually pretty knowledgeable about music, enough to make an executive decision about what edits should be made on a track.

Yoongi suddenly understood how parents felt when they had talented kids.

“Choco, this is great!” said Namjoon. The wrinkles on his forehead had smoothened out and his expression looked more even than Yoongi had seen in days. “I think you might have a talent in music.”

“Yeah,” said Hoseok. “Keep at it and you might give Yoongi-hyung a run for his money.”

Normally, when the members teased him like this, his first instinct was either to play along and act like he was offended or to tease them back, but this time, Yoongi simply leaned back in the chair, hand gravitating to Choco’s head again.

“You better watch out, our Choco’s an ace. Soon they’ll come for everyone. Isn’t that right, Choco?”

Choco did a little victory dance in response, causing the three of them to laugh fondly, and Yoongi felt the atmosphere lighten up.

Making music was stressful.

(But sometimes it wasn’t all that bad.)

~O~

After nearly two months of Choco living with them, the bear had inadvertently taught Yoongi many things. But out of all of them, the most important was that it was okay to be in tune with your inner child.

BTS mentioned it in their music all the time. How they got thrown into the music industry so young, how they never got a chance to fully mature, how they practically felt like they were all just children in adult bodies.

Fame did that to people.

Yoongi didn’t regret the journey he took to get to where he was, and the others didn’t regret their journeys either. Everything they’ve done and the struggles they’ve endured ended up paying off in the biggest possible way, even if all their impact was a bit scary sometimes. However, Yoongi did understand that with all this influence came a lot of responsibility.

Given how huge BTS was, the media constantly viewed them under a microscope. It used to be easier to deal with it back when they were smaller and more tunnel-visioned, but now? There were times where Yoongi felt like he was suffocating.

No matter what they said or did, there were always people who twisted their words and actions into something negative. It made Yoongi pay extra attention to how he was presenting himself in public. Every time they went out, it was always the same mantra in his head of ‘stand straighter, look up, smile, stand straighter, look up, smile—’ because there were always people watching, even off stage.

Even off-camera.

It meant that there weren’t many places where he could just drop the maturity act. Not to say he wasn’t mature—after all, one thing so many people loved about Yoongi was how wise he was beyond his years and how he could so easily step into an older brother role for the other members. But there were times where he wanted to step back from all that and just let himself act a little bit like the child he still felt he was on the inside.

As time went on, Yoongi felt like Choco coaxed that side out of him more often.

One day, BTS happened to finish their schedules and head home in the early afternoon. By the time they had gotten back and ordered some food, Yoongi had already changed and gotten comfy on the couch, idly scrolling through Twitter as he waited for the delivery person to message him. Jimin had snatched up Choco the second they had walked through their door, so it was just Yoongi by himself.

It wasn’t long before he heard a door open, and giggles poured out into the hallway. Yoongi glanced up from his phone just in time to see what the commotion was all about and had to do a double-take at the sight.

Choco had emerged from the hallway, flying around with their magic, but Yoongi couldn’t help but notice the tiny purple cape tied around their neck. Jimin and Hoseok, the source of the giggles, were close behind, filming Choco on Jimin’s phone. They spotted Yoongi over on the couch and waved.

“Yoongi-hyung!” Jimin said excitedly. “Look at what we put on Choco. They’re a superhero now!”

Yoongi watched in amusement, phone now forgotten on the table, as Choco landed on the coffee table in front of them and did a heroic pose.

“You’re a superhero, huh?” he said, patting Choco on the head. “So who’s your arch-nemesis?"

Jimin and Hoseok thought for a second before Hoseok suddenly pointed at Yoongi.

“You,” he said. “You’re Choco's arch-nemesis. Choco, get him!”

For a brief moment, Yoongi deliberated over what to do. Was he really about to get off this couch and engage in some superhero-villain roleplay? It just seemed so…so childish.

Then again, when would be the next time that Yoongi would be able to release energy like this? When would be the next time he could let loose, forget all his responsibilities, and just play around?  

He locked eyes with Choco, and after a few seconds, Yoongi felt something switch in his head.

Fuck it.

For the next twenty minutes, Yoongi ran around the apartment as he was chased by Choco, laughing and shrieking with Jimin and Hoseok the entire time. Eventually, it turned into a boss battle with the bear, and Jimin and Hoseok continued to film, Yoongi throwing fake punches and dodging the bear when they would swoop in for a hit. And when Choco finally managed to get him, he put on an amazing show of pretending to die, giving a moving speech about how misunderstood he was and how nobody was on his side. They had so much fun that only when Yoongi's phone vibrated did they remember they had ordered food in the first place.

The members had all come out of their rooms and huddled around the dining table to eat sometime later. Upon sitting down, Seokjin studied Yoongi’s disheveled out-of-breath appearance, quirking a brow in question.

“Did you run a marathon or something?” he asked, mirth laced in his voice.

Yoongi blinked, looking up from his food. “Huh?”

“Your hair and clothes are a mess and you’re breathing so hard. What did you even do? I could hear the three of you laughing from my room.”

“We were playing superhero with Choco,” said Hoseok. “You should’ve seen it, hyung. It was so funny. Yoongi-hyung pretended to be the villain.”

“You seem like you took the role pretty seriously,” Namjoon teased, also taking in Yoongi’s form. “At least you had fun.”

And you know what? Yoongi did have fun. His mind felt clear. He was tired, but it was the good kind of tired he used to feel as a kid when he came into the house after a long day of playing outside. It was weird to say, but that twenty minutes of just running around the apartment made him feel more balanced than any activity had in a while.

So he didn’t deny Namjoon’s words. He shrugged and lifted his cup up to his lips to hide his growing smirk.

“I got it all on my phone too,” Jimin proclaimed. “Everyone should see this.”

From there, the eight of them proceeded to watch the wacky video Jimin had filmed, laughing and clutching their sides at Yoongi’s stellar performance. Even Choco was clapping along. And as Yoongi gazed at the others watching the video, a wave of contentment washed over him.

Yeah. He definitely missed this feeling.

…

Later that night, Yoongi and Choco were getting ready to settle down. When Yoongi’s nighttime routines were done, he decided to watch a documentary on Netflix he had procrastinated on watching for the longest time. It had just finished, however, so he took that as a cue to call it a night.

As he was closing his laptop, there was a knock on his door, swinging open to reveal Jimin, Taehyung, and Jungkook dressed in their pajamas before he could even ask who it was.

“Yoongi-hyung, are you going to bed soon?” said Jungkook, peeking his head in.

“Yeah,” Yoongi replied. He looked up from his bed at the three of them, who were all wearing matching pleading expressions. Yoongi sighed gesturing for them to come inside.

“Alright, go ahead.”

That was another thing the members picked up since Choco started living with them—more specifically the maknae-line. They made it part of their nighttime routine to say goodnight to Choco. Tonight was no different, the three of them walking up to Choco, who was sitting in their own miniature bed.

“Goodnight, Choco. Sleep well,” Taehyung said gently to the bear, nudging them to lie down properly and then pulling the blanket up over them.

“Are you comfortable?” Jungkook asked Choco, fussing with the covers a bit more after Taehyung had stepped back. Choco nodded, which seemed to satisfy Jungkook, awarding them with a pat on the head and a quick “goodnight” from him as well. Jimin was the last and arguably the most indulgent.

“My precious baby Choco, sleep well. Hyung loves you and I hope you only have good dreams tonight,” he cooed, planting a soft kiss to the top of Choco’s head.

“How are you so sure he’s even young enough to be a baby?” Yoongi interjected from next to them. “For all we know, this bear could be forty years old.”

“Don’t care. Still my baby,” Jimin responded flippantly, kissing Choco on their head again as if to prove his point.

“You guys have fallen deep, huh?” Yoongi chuckled. “I don’t even get this treatment from you when I’m going to bed.”

“Do you want us to tuck you in and kiss you goodnight?” Jimin asked. He turned around and Yoongi paled at the mischievous gleam in the younger man’s eyes.

Oh no.

If Yoongi had been aggressively tackled seconds later by the maknae-line as they all took turns holding him still and planting obnoxiously loud kisses all over his face, he would never admit it.

~O~

Yoongi couldn’t believe it.

One of their songs spending even a week on the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart was a blessing in itself. It was incredibly difficult to top that chart and he knew ARMYs worked so hard to chart their music whenever it was released.

Five consecutive weeks at number one, though… That was unheard of.

And yet, here BTS was, huddled around the chart results on Namjoon’s phone at ass o’clock in the morning with wide eyes.

Billboard Hot 100

#1. @BTS_twt – “Butter” (=)

(Weeks: 5 ׀ Peak: #1 for 5 weeks)  

Sometimes, Yoongi felt like he still hadn’t processed just how big they were. There were times where he felt it, like at the UN General Assembly or during their stadium concerts. But now that they hadn’t held a concert at a physical venue for over a year, Yoongi found it difficult to imagine just how many more fans they must have gained in the USA and Puerto Rico alone for them to pull off a feat like this that arguably wasn’t even possible the last time they came back with new music. And Dynamite had only been released just under a year ago.

Either way, after some of them had posted their thanks to fans on Weverse and gone to bed, by the time they woke up, they had decided that to celebrate this milestone, it would only be fair that they did a group VLive at the HYBE office building. That was all fine and dandy, but Yoongi didn’t want to leave Choco alone while they did their broadcast.

“I don’t know how long we’re gonna take, so I don’t want to leave Choco in the studio,” Yoongi had explained once they arrived. “They’ll get bored.”

“Why not just reveal Choco on camera then?” Hoseok asked. “I don’t think it would be that big of a deal.”

“No, no, that would be too risky,” said Yoongi. “If people knew we had an enchanted bear, they might want to try and take Choco from us. I think it would be in our best interest to keep Choco safe by making sure no one knows they’re alive.”

“Ooh! I got an idea, hyung,” said Jungkook. “If you don’t wanna leave Choco somewhere, why not just put them in your shirt pocket, and then Choco can pretend like they're an ordinary teddy bear? That way Choco can stay in your sight without compromising their safety.”

That…didn’t sound half bad.

Yoongi picked Choco up from where they were sitting on his shoulder, holding them up in his palm so they could look at him.

“Choco, do you think you could act like a regular teddy bear?”

Choco nodded and held a paw up as if they were telling the members to wait. Then, without warning, they suddenly went limp and collapsed in his palm, unmoving. Yoongi’s eyebrows shot up.

“Impressive.”

Choco lifted their head slightly to acknowledge the compliment before going back to being limp.

“Perfect!” Taehyung exclaimed. “All you need to do is hop inside Yoongi’s pocket and you’re all set.”

Yoongi looked down at the large breast pocket attached to the left side of his white t-shirt before carefully putting Choco inside.

“You comfortable?”

Choco gave another nod and went still. Yoongi took a deep breath and exhaled sharply.

“Okay, let’s do this.”

The VLive went pretty smoothly. They had a great time talking to fans and expressing their appreciation altogether. It wasn’t as long as Yoongi expected either. To be fair, group VLives were never as long as ones they did individually or in units. All of the members had different schedules at times so it was hard for all seven of them to be on VLive for more than an hour at a time unless it was comeback season.

During that time, Choco was completely still. So still, in fact, that Yoongi was almost convinced that they really were a regular teddy bear. But once BTS had said their goodbyes and made sure that VLive had been turned off, Choco suddenly came back to life, wriggling around in Yoongi’s pocket until Yoongi took the hint and picked them up, holding them in his hands for a bit.

“That was a pretty good job,” he praised. “You could’ve fooled me into thinking that you weren’t alive.”

Choco puffed out their chest proudly, making Yoongi laugh as he placed the bear back on his shoulder so they could leave.

Later that night, despite Yoongi believing that the act Choco put on was flawless, his paranoia of Choco getting caught out still prompted him to check Twitter to see if anyone was talking about it. There really wasn’t much talk going on the Korean side. Just to be safe, he checked the English side of Twitter as well. He did end up finding a compilation video an ARMY made of him accidentally moving what they seemed to have dubbed as his “pocket bear”, but most ARMYs were just fawning over how cute it was rather than suspecting anything. The closest anyone came to suspecting him was an exchange in the replies between another ARMY and the original creator of the video, which he was proud of himself for understanding since it was entirely in English.

 “yes yes accidentally woops”

“i would pay to see yoongi acknowledge the bear”

“@ yoongi psst poke the bear and tap your nose with your pinkie if bear best friend”

He chuckled. The ARMYs in question were most likely joking, but it was amusing to see them speculate about the nature of his “pocket bear”. Choco’s secret was still safe with the members, but after this, he supposed that it wouldn’t be wise to bring Choco on their live broadcasts anymore. ARMYs were still convinced the bear was part of his shirt and he didn’t want to have to continue to wear that exact same shirt just to keep up the act.

“Looks like you’ll have to sit behind the camera with the staff next time, Choco,” he said to the bear perched on his shoulder. Choco shrugged, unbothered as usual.

Yoongi switched his phone off. “Okay, I think it’s time for bed.”

Choco nodded and slid off Yoongi's shoulder to the bedsheets, ready to hop over to the side table and climb into their own bed, but before they did, they stopped in place, making Yoongi furrow his brows in confusion.

“What is it?”

Choco turned around to face Yoongi and then clambered onto his thigh, walking the precarious path from his leg to his stomach before opening their arms and flopping onto Yoongi, nuzzling their face into him. It took Yoongi a few seconds to understand what was going on before he clocked what was happening.

Choco was hugging him.

After all the months they had spent together, this was the first time Choco hugged him like this.

Their dynamic had settled early on since Yoongi was not as touchy as the other members were, so things like Choco sitting on his shoulder or cradling Choco in his hands were always just…enough.

But this?

This felt very nice.

Yoongi could feel himself melting into a puddle of goo right there and then, cupping his hand around the bear to hold them close as he used his thumb to caress their head and their back. Somewhere in the back of his head, Yoongi wished that Choco was bigger so he could hug them properly with both arms.

But this was still okay.

“Thank you,” Yoongi said quietly. Gently. Fondly. “Sleep well, Choco.”

Choco finally let go and stood up, getting over to their bed and snuggling into the blanket. When they settled down, Yoongi gave them one last look before turning off his lamp and going to bed.

There were times when Yoongi thought about the day that Choco first showed up in their apartment and wondered what led Choco to them. There was still so much they didn’t know about Choco, such as what kind of magic they were enchanted with or where they really came from. And yet, strangely, Yoongi—and perhaps the other members as well—were no longer hungry for answers.

In the beginning, Namjoon was scouring libraries and the internet in his free time to look for books or any general information about magic, all to no avail. But now, they all just slowly accepted that maybe they’d never get those answers. Regardless of what Choco was, or where they came from, what was more important than their origins was the bond they shared with all the members. 

So far, Yoongi had enjoyed the months they spent with the bear and knew they would spend many more together. To him, Choco was no longer a strange phenomenon, but an integral part of their dynamic.

Choco was a friend.

And, frankly, Yoongi couldn’t ask for more.