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mountains of golden dust waver around him and jungkook yelps, stunned.
he falls on his knees and wonders whether things are being seen because of the two mojitos that jin convinced him to down in one go too short of a time ago or if it is because said things are, in fact, really happening.
and then, just as he’s about to nod to himself that, yes, it’s because of the mojitos that he can’t keep upright, well, it’s right then that a gigantic thing emerges from the sand.
after a couple of seconds, jungkook screams again and his brain notices that no , it isn’t because of the mojitos that the colours of the sky and of the ground have turned upside down.
it is due to a freaking dragon holding him mid air by his ankle while glaring at him with his beautifully terrifying golden eyes.
jungkook’s synapses also inform him that, while he is currently being held captive and red-shaded glimmers are filling his visual field, his stomach is threatening to reject the two, no wait it was three mojitos that jin forced him to down in three gos.
‘humans. always so loud. shut up.’
jungkook screams again.
the dragon growls and jungkook’s mouth lets itself open.
he lets the mojitos go, right there on the huge scaled limb of the creature.
the dragon sighs. he seems unimpressed.
‘humans, I really hate you tiny things.’
jungkook shuts his mouth and closes his eyes, tears about to kiss his cheeks.
“p-please” he manages to let out, voice breathy and strangled. “I know I-I just threw up on you but d-don’t eat me.”
the dragon sighs again.
he lowkey looks very tired of his bullshit.
well, jungkook can’t really blame him for that.
the dragon brings him a little closer.
jungkook salutes the world and curses seokjin one last time.
and then he yelps again, pain spreading all around his body as he lands on his ass and inhales golden sand.
as if you had an ounce of fat. you’re all muscles. it’s so annoying to chew muscles.
“you’re not gonna eat me?” the words escape his mouth and jungkook slaps himself, groaning.
his mouth seldom cooperates with his brain and never lets him really think before actually speaking, and he ends up regretting it a lot of times.
like right now.
the dragon hums, a sound low and tired resonating in the tiny human’s bones, and then moves his scarlet body.
it takes longer than necessary for jungkook to understand that he is stretching, like a huge shiny cat, his long tail curling up in the air.
it would be cute, if the creature weren’t so freaking huge.
‘as I said, you’re all muscles. it’d be annoying to eat you.’
jungkook has never been so grateful for not skipping gym days.
“are you sure?” again, he slaps his mouth.
he also hears seokjin's voice in his head saying something like what the fuck is wrong with you.
well, he can’t help but agree with seokjin’s voice at the moment.
the dragon opens an eye and its piercing gaze fixes him on the spot.
jungkook whimpers.
he also can’t help but notice pretty streaks of orange in the golden colour of his irises.
when the creature speaks, a cloud of vapor leaves his nostrils and flushes into jungkook’s face as the dragon gets so close that jungkook could even touch him, if only he stretched an arm and rested his palm on the pretty scales of his muzzle.
‘are you dumb or what?’
jungkook yelps, suddenly outraged at the amusement in the creature’s voice.
“yah!”
‘yah?’
jungkook slaps his mouth.
his lips must be very pink, since he has done so quite a few times now.
the dragon clicks his tongue and opens his mouth just enough to show him the blinding white of his canines.
‘I’m more ancient than the monkey you descend from, tiny thing. show respect to your elders.’
the dragon rises and jungkook gulps, terrified out of his mind.
however, as scared as he is, he can’t help but feel his heartbeat race in wonder at the breathtaking sight.
the huge serpentine body raises itself and uncurls before his eyes. its orange-shaded tail and wings open and reach twice the size of his whole house.
the dragon glares at him for a split second, and then he turns and falls on his back, as elegant and scary as a thunder in the sky.
clouds of golden dust fill the air all around him and when the sand is no longer overwhelming his lungs jungkook coughs and opens his eyes, heart hammering in his chest.
he sputters when he sees the huge creature laying on his back, with its body enclosing him in a circle.
the enormous head is resting way too close to him, his softer-shaded stomach is at arm-length away.
‘scratch my belly.’
“what?” jungkook screeches, and the dragon lazily opens his eyes and sighs.
he has sighed more times than he has talked.
‘you’re really dumb, poor thing. back in my time humans were not this slow.’
jungkook blinks.
“if I scratch your belly will you promise not to eat me?”
the dragon sighs. again.
this time, a small flame erupts from his nose.
‘just scratch my belly!’
“okay” jungkook yells, arm reaching out, hand shakingly pressing on the pretty scales.
“okay” he whispers, a little calmer at the warmth seeping through his fingers.
he flinches when a tiny growl surprises him, but he keeps stroking the huge belly in front of him, trying to be as gentle and as soothing as possible.
‘yes’, the dragon hums in his mind. ‘good.’
jungkook ends up petting him for three hours straight at the rhythm of low growls that sound a little too close to purrs.
at first, he is scared.
but then, when he notices the tail of the dragon swaying up and down like an overexcited cat, every glint of fear disappears and he dares to lay his forehead against the pretty scarlet shining under the sunlight, basking in its warmth.
when orange and red dust the horizon and the sun falls beneath the clouds, jungkook finds himself thinking that their colour is not as pretty as the one the dragon is made of.
when the stars shyly reveal themselves in the blue of the sky, jungkook holds his breath when the creature hums in contentement and places his head on his legs.
jungkook pales, and then the dragon seems to realise that he is about to crush his limbs into two puddles of broken bones.
he poutingly rests his head next to him, allowing him to see a flash of his golden iris before closing his eyes again.
‘pet my neck’, he (it’s a him, as he found out after gathering his courage to ask such a thing. the dragon had snorted while answering) demands, and jungkook bites a smile back.
“yes, oh mighty dragon.”
the creature snorts and his upper lip threateningly rises a little.
too bad jungkook has already found the perfect spot to scratch so as to distract him from his outraged protest.
as his fingers work their magic, the dragon hums deep and low and arches his head even more, turning putty under his touch.
his tail also accidentally destroys the railing along the sidewalk.
“what’s your name?” jungkook dares to ask.
the creature rolls his eyes.
‘as if I would tell you.’
jungkook slides his hands along his jaw, moving closer to his head. the dragon growls as a warning, but then stays put when the tiny human gently brushes his fingers against the scales between his eyes in a big tender stroke.
“when I cuddle someone like this, I usually do know their names. don’t you?”
‘naive of you to think I don’t know you.’
“you know me?” jungkook asks, surprised.
the dragon sighs.
‘you have stepped on me ever since you were twelve, jungkookah.’
jungkook’s heart is hammering in his chest for some kind of reason unbeknownst to him.
“you’ve been sleeping under the sand of this beach for nine years?”
‘yes’, the dragon replies, and then rolls his head a little, silently asking to be pet under his chin.
when jungkook touches his skin, tender and surprisingly devoid of scales, two little flames erupt from his nostrils.
“yah!” jungkook screams and dives into the sand to put off the sparkles on his tank top and avoid turning into tasty cooked meat.
thankfully, he succeeds and sighs in relief when no unbearable heat starts devouring his limbs.
but he screams once again when a huge and wet pink thing downs on his back.
he freezes, and then casts a sombre glance to the dragon, who’s now looking at him with something akin to embarrassment in his eyes.
“did you just fucking lick me?”
the creature tilts his head.
‘you should thank me. you were about to become my grilled dinner.’
jungkook is so weirded out he doesn’t even have the strength to get angry.
“you lit me on fire!”
‘it was accidental.’
“I’m drenched in saliva, what the hell!”
addle pate, the dragon snorts, baring his teeth.
jungkook blinks.
“I don’t know what that means, but I have the feeling you just insulted me. what the heck. I’ve spent hours cuddling you, my arms are sore and what do I get in return? I get set on fire. aren’t you a goddamn old thing, can’t thou control thou freaking fire or whatever you oldies say? what the hell, I almost died” jungkook bursts out, pent up weariness and tension pumping up the stream of words escaping his mouth on its own.
the dragon’s mouth opens to let him admire the constellation of shiny, dangerous teeth.
jungkook slaps his mouth, drawing in a shaky breath, and realises he’s going to die.
he whimpers, cursing his goddamn brain.
and then, he screams louder than he has ever screamed before when the dragon grabs him in a fragment of a second and then takes off.
jungkook screams and screams, limbs forceless against the razor sharp claws holding him hostage, despair filling his veins and tears flying in the air as he sobs and begs for forgiveness.
“I still have to shave seokjin’s hair in his sleep” he says, words breaking in the wind.
‘shut your mouth and hold your breath.’
jungkook’s mouth closes and then opens at the impact with water.
for a second, everything stills.
salty turquoise becomes endless skies, the chill of waters gliding along his skin sending shivers down his back, and then the dragon twirls, gently, and makes him resurface, placing him on his belly and looking at him from above, gliding on his back on the blue mantle of the sea.
something shifts in the dragon’s posture when he notices how the tiny human sits still, pearly tears gliding down his cheeks. a strangled sound echoes in jungkook’s mind as he holds himself so tight to the dragon’s scales that pink lines appear on his skin.
‘tiny human? what’s wrong?’
the dragon moves so that his head is now at eye level and jungkook lets out a whimper.
“please. I just want to go home.”
the low hum of the creature’s ancient voice becomes sharp, darkened with worry.
‘I don’t understand’, he says, blinking slowly. ‘ why do you look like a bunny who’s bound to death?’
“why wouldn’t I” jungkook says, voice flat. his whole body is sore now, his heart has shrinked and doesn’t seem to want to go back into his chest, stuck in his throat. “you almost killed me twice.”
the dragon’s face is a bright red question mark.
“you set me on fire and managed to break I think three of my bones. just kill me, if you want to. don’t make me suffer like this” jungkook sobs, slowly retracing his arms to wrap around his aching body and flinching at the pain. “you’re born from the fire of the earth and the water of the ocean, you’re the biggest thing I have ever seen. but I’m none of that! I’m one tiny fleshy human and I am fragile. at that speed, water is concrete to me. I’m lucky to be alive!” he mutters under his breath.
silence falls, and he sniffs.
alright, maybe jungkook’s exaggerating.
maybe his bones are not broken, just a little sore from the impact.
but jungkook is scared and tired, and he wants to go home, so he doesn’t slap his mouth when his lips stop moving.
maybe he feels a little guilty too, when among the blur of his tears he notices that the dragon is frozen in place and looks at him in horror.
‘I’ the ancient voice lingers in his mind, raspy and low and careful, and a little sad too. ‘ I just wanted to wash my saliva off of you. I’m sorry, tiny jungkookie.’
jungkook may have sobbed even harder at those words, the fear of death vanishing from his mind.
‘I’ll get you home.’
when gentle claws clasp him all over again, jungkook closes his eyes and breathes at the rhythm of the wind.
when the dragon places him on his doorstep, ignoring the waterfall of screams coming from jungkook’s neighbours, he doesn’t look at the sorrowful gold of his eyes as the gigantic red scales slips farther away.
when the loud thud of his wings deafen him for a second, jungkook doesn’t let his eyes linger on the pretty red thunder melting into the far-away blue of the sky.
when seokjin opens the door and starts screaming and hugging him in hysterics, asking about the scratches on his arms and the tears on his cheeks and threatening to kill a beast that’s one hundred times bigger than the boyfriend he claims he will employ to kill it, jungkook dives his face against his neck.
“hyung” he breathes “I need you to do something for me.”
jungkook sleeps for two days in a row, and then goes out to buy milk.
his legs are a little sore, but it’s nothing compared to the day he met the heart of the earth, thanks to seokjin’s disgusting potions.
“keep the change” hoseok says, and the tiny tiger he has as familiar headbutts jungkook’s palm.
hoseok is fidgety, and the tiny yellow birdie on his shoulder is chirping at the speed of light.
“uh, jungkookie-”
“I know” jungkook says. he presses a kiss on taehyung’s forehead and turns. “see you tomorrow” he says, and then walks out of the shop, ignoring the huge scarlet creature hiding behind a two-storey house and the fainted kids in its garden.
he waves hi to namjoon as he glides along the street, lingering for a couple of minutes in front of the shop window to look at the tiny black bunny namjoon adopted and named cookie a week before.
the bunny presses his nose against the glass, recognising him.
and then the tiny thing sees the dragon’s head behind jungkook as the creature silently checks the scratches on the boy’s arms.
cookie jumps in namjoon’s hands, ears low and eyes scared, almost fainting.
jungkook wonders whether he looked scared like that, the day he met the ancient creature.
namjoon blinks and points his finger to the huge dragon hiding behind his friend’s back.
jungkook nods and tears his gaze away from the reflection of the dragon in the glass window.
he turns to walk home -the dragon’s head suddenly missing in the middle of the street, now hanging above him while the dragon keeps himself out of his sight and up in the air.
jungkook goes home ignoring the loud thud of the dragon’s wings as the creature follows him, still thinking he’s not been discovered.
jungkook puts raspberries in seokjin’s cauldron, already cackling at the screams he will receive in the evening, and goes up to his room to grab his stuff.
when he arrives at the beach, he turns his head so that the dragon can stop sneaking behind him and drawing cuts in the concrete with his claws and tail, so as to give him plenty of time to curl up on the beach and pretend he’s never moved from there.
when it’s done, jungkook jumps over the bent railing and glides among the dunes of sand.
he clears his throat when he sits in front of the giant creature, who lazily blinks an eye open.
‘what’, he says, voice low and edgy.
jungkook doesn’t say anything about the tail curling around him in a possessive circle.
“so” he starts, opening his bag and taking the folded paper between his hands. “these are the rules. let me read them to you.”
he clears his throat again and tries to hide how shaky his hands are and prays that the dragon hasn't changed his preference over meat, muscles and bones.
“rule number one: a break is due after every half an hour of petting.”
the silence stretches and he’s not dead yet, so he goes on.
“rule number two: always ask for permission whenever one wants to touch. you, me, same goes for both of us. you also have to move at the speed of a snail and make sure you’re touching me with appropriate strength. this will save us a lot of problems. well, it will mainly save me from getting steamed or crushed to death but whatever. namjoon was a pain in the ass about this.”
the dragon tilts his head.
his other eye slowly opens and he puts his head on his giant limbs, listening.
“rule number three: since you are old as fuck, you should use your knowledge to pay me back for my cuddling services. I was thinking about you helping me with my history homework, but we’ll figure that out if you don’t like history. math would be welcome too.”
the dragon snorts, jungkook flinches but no sparkles linger in the air and he sighs in relief.
“rule number four: oh, I didn’t write this. wait a second” jungkook reads the scribbly lines while frowning in confusion and then smacks his hand against his face. “don't stab me with a claw, I’m just reading this, okay? I didn’t write it. seokjin says you have to bring fresh fish for dinner at least once a week since you have stolen his helper. which is, me, if you weren’t aware of that” jungkook reiterates, pointing at himself.
the dragon hums and rolls on his back.
jungkook tells himself not to get up and not to scratch his belly. and not to get up and not to plop down on said belly and fall asleep nuzzling in that warmth.
“rule number five: for every word that I don’t know, you should explain the meaning to me and also give me a golden coin from your cave.”
the dragon sighs and says nothing.
jungkook keeps reading, feeling impossibly small and unimportant at the lack of feedback.
maybe he’s being stupid, maybe he read the signs wrong.
but maybe he’s right, and maybe he’s not dreaming when the dragon’s tail slowly reaches his thigh and wraps around it, pretty scales crowning his limb with a gentleness that makes it hard to breathe.
“rule number six: I want to know your name, and I want to know you, but please remember I’m one tiny small and normal and boring human and I get attached really easily so if you lose interest in me I will cry and be sad. and I don't want to be sad and cry, so if you plan on leaving me don’t approach me ever again or I will cry and seokjin will kill you and namjoon will hide your body.”
well, that wasn’t in the script, but the dragon is frozen and his lips never stay goddamn shut and his cheeks are dusting pink and the dragon is piercing him with his gaze and his breath is hitching and the creature is lowering in front of him-
jungkook’s breath gets stuck in his throat when golden sparkles blind him for a second.
when he opens his eyes, he finds before him the most beautiful human he’s ever seen, who’s also gently pressing his big, warm hands to his cheeks.
his eyes are glowing, gold and pretty and caring, and red curls of hair kiss his glossy skin.
jungkook avoids lowering his gaze on the pretty pink of his shoulders gliding down to the curves of toned arms, because he knows he wouldn’t survive the sight. he doesn’t look at the collarbone marking the soft hills of his chest, he doesn’t look at the pretty red of his lips blooming into a smile and the pretty gums shining between them.
“I’m sorry, jungkookah” the dragon says, and kisses his forehead, gently. “I do accept all of the rules. but I have two more.”
“what” jungkook breathes, wonder flooding his chest like a turquoise tide, shiny and warm and slow.
“don’t call me ancient or mock me. and please help me know you and your human nature, because I’m old and lonely and I have never been fond of humans like I’ve become fond of you by looking at you from afar for so many years, so please teach me you and your human ways because I want to hurt you never again and I want to take care of you evermore” the dragon says, voice so sweet that jungkook’s heart jumps in his chest.
“okay” jungkook says, and then he slaps his mouth when he hears himself asking “do you like milk?”
the dragon chuckles, voice deep and raspy.
“yes, I do” he says, tenderly grazing his cheeks with his fingertips and crushing their lips together, gently, sweetly, slowly, like turquoise waters kissing his skin, like earth’s warmth embracing him.
“woah” jungkook says, and then blinks.
“that’s how dragons mark an oath” the dragon whispers, cheeks dusting pink.
jungkook tries to stop his hands from wrapping around the golden dunes of the dragon’s arms.
“you’re warm. can we do it again? I’m cold. or we can mark another oath? like, I could come up with some other rules, you know. a lot of new rules. a lot of oaths. oh, you’re so warm” he sighs when the dragon’s arm sneaks around his waist to hold him closer.
there’s something terribly close to endearment in the dragon’s eyes.
“I was born in the heart of a volcano, jungkookah, of course I’m warm. I will bring you there, if you want. not many can say they’ve seen min yoongi’s motherland” he says, and then he smiles again.
“we can do it again, but only if you show me where the milk is, sweet tiny human.”