Archive of Our Own ^beta

Taehyung sighs as he rolls his sleeves up. He plops onto the couch and tilts his head up, closing his eyes to rest for a little while. A moment later, there’s a knock on his door.

He gets up with a slight groan and opens the door. It’s his new neighbour, carrying a plastic bag and dressed in the same outfit he wore last time, as well as a bucket hat even though they’re indoors. Does his wardrobe consist of only one outfit?

Taehyung toes his shoes on, steps outside and closes the door. “Hi,” he says.

Jeongguk blinks and bows lightly. “Hi. We met on the day I moved in, but I didn’t really properly introduce myself. I’m Jeongguk.” He doesn’t bow, and Taehyung feels a little offended. “I moved next door last week, after living in Canada for a little more than ten years, so my Korean might be a little rusty,” he smiles. Ah, that makes more sense.

Taehyung smiles back. Improper Korean already makes a strike— properly was supposed to come at the end of the sentence. “It’s nice to meet you properly, Jeongguk. I’m Taehyung. Are you settling in well?”

There’s some wiggling under the hat. 

Oh, Jeongguk is a hybrid. Those aren't common.

He nods. “Yeah, I have been. I haven’t been able to use the laundry machines yet because it’s always so busy, but I found a nice laundromat nearby.”

Taehyung hums. “It’s least busiest on Tuesdays, for some reason. It’s also not that busy at night and during regular work hours.”

Jeongguk nods, and his eyes are wide like a doe’s. “Thank you.”

He smiles again. “Glad I’m able to help.”

Jeongguk smiles too, and then hands the plastic bag over. There are tattoos on his hand, which are pretty, but not something he was expecting. Though, with the lip ring and multiple ear piercings, he should’ve at least been prepared for the possibility. “This is sirutteok. My grandma made it.”

Taehyung takes it, and then tilts his head. “Why didn’t you move in with her?”

The hybrid laughs, nose scrunching and teeth on full display, just like the cute rabbit videos he comes across on YouTube sometimes. “I would’ve sent her to an early grave. Her to me too.” He tilts his head, mouth parting in confusion, then he quickly bites his lip and says, “I mean, she— she would've sent me to an early grave too. We’re so different it’s not— it’s not the type of different we can bond over.”

Taehyung chuckles. “I understood. But yeah, I get that. Sometimes you just have no chemistry whatsoever.”

He hums. “It’s been like that since childhood and got worse as I grew older, apparently. Everyone knew it, so they never pushed me to move in with her.”

Taehyung smiles. “You don’t have any aunts or uncles you could’ve moved in with? Cousins?”

He shakes his head. “They’re either studying or live too far from my job.”

Humming, Taehyung nods. “Thank you for the treat. I hope things go smoothly at your new workplace. See you around, Jeongguk-ssi.”

Jeongguk smiles. “Thanks. See you around too.”

Taehyung watches him go, and— yep, there’s definitely a scut tail hiding inside the pants if the little bit of wriggling is anything to go by. It’s cute. Just like Jeongguk is cute, which isn’t something he expected with the way he looks, and the way he looks definitely isn’t expected from a rabbit hybrid, but it isn’t unpleasant. 

He goes back inside and sets the bag on the coffee table, goes to his room to change into comfortable clothing, and then plops himself onto the couch again. He uncovers the sirutteok, and begins eating. 

Dear God, bless Jeongguk’s grandma.

Taehyung giggles, shoving more chips in his mouth. He really wishes he could cast the show from his laptop onto his TV, but it just won’t come up when he tries. 

“He’s so stupid ,” Jimin laughs, which makes him laugh even harder. Jimin’s face leaves the screen, then there’s crinkling and then shuffling on the phone. As Taehyung takes another bite of chips, Jimin’s face pops back into view. “If I were—”

There’s a knock at the door. 

Taehyung gulps his food, quickly counts down so they can pause at the same time, and then goes to the door. 

Jeongguk smiles, clutching a big cantaloupe. It’s as big as the ones he saw in a documentary once—on Afghanistan, he thinks.

He’s wearing his bucket hat again. And an all black outfit with his arms covered. Taehyung wants to laugh. Just a little bit. Instead, he leans on the door frame and crosses his arms, smiling back to look a little inviting.

“Hi,” he says, no bow again to give a respectful greeting. “Hopefully I’m not intruding.” His eyes widen, and he quickly bows.

Taehyung giggles, and quickly bows in return. “Hey, Jeongguk-ssi. Don’t worry, you’re not intruding on anything.” He definitely is, but movie time with Jimin can wait for another day. “Is that for me?” he gestures.

Jeongguk nods eagerly. “Do you like cantaloupes? It’s too big for me because I don’t like it that much and I don’t have enough space in my fridge, but my friend insisted because they were on sale.”

Taehyung smiles a bit wider. “Of course. I like all fruits, come on in.” He takes the cantaloupe and steps inside the foyer. 

As Jeongguk steps inside to take his shoes off, he runs to the living room and waves bye bye to Jimin without explaining anything, ends the call, turns off his laptop and grabs the chips bag before going to the kitchen. Not that he can really run anywhere with the size of his apartment, and there’s no way that Jeongguk didn’t see him scrambling to clean up, which is a little embarrassing, honestly, but still.

Jeongguk awkwardly steps inside and follows him to the kitchen.

Taehyung puts the chip bag on top of the fridge and grabs a knife and plate, to put on the counter, beside the melon. “Tea?” he asks.

Jeongguk nods. 

He sets the kettle to boil and then washes his hands, just to show Jeongguk that he’s a sanitary person—not that he’s not! But why would he care about germs when they’re his own?

Jeongguk leans against the counter, making himself comfortable.

“So, how’s your job going?” Taehyung asks. He cuts the cantaloupe in half.

“Ah, I haven’t actually started yet. They showed me around yesterday, but I’m starting tomorrow.”

Taehyung hums, emptying the seeds into the sink, then cuts the fruit into cartoon-like watermelon slices. He’s never had something this big or long to work with though, so his slices could definitely use some work. “What do you work as?”

“I’m a tattoo artist, actually. My friend opened a tattoo shop a couple years back, right after finishing university, and he needs more staff. I took this opportunity to move back because I missed it.”

“That’s cool. That’s really cool, actually. I’ve never been outside this country, so I can’t imagine what uprooting must be like at all.” He takes one of the slices and cuts it vertically, into cube-like shapes, and then cuts underneath so that the cubes separate from the rind and fall onto the plate. “I’ve never wanted a tattoo myself, but I’ve always found them pleasing to look at.”

Jeongguk smiles. 

When the plate is full, Taehyung grabs a bowl to cut the last slice into. 

“What job do you have?” Jeongguk asks.

“I’m a manager at a flower shop. It’s a family business, actually. My brother owns a branch in Gangnam, and I’m gonna take care of this one when my parents retire.” He puts the knife down and rinses his hands.

Taehyung takes two forks out and Jeongguk hesitantly asks, “Do you want to run it? I know sometimes parents can be pressuring about it.”

Improper Korean strikes again. He hands over a fork and then grabs a plate. “Luckily my parents aren’t like that. They would’ve been fine if I chose a different career. They’ve said it themselves.”

He nods, ears wiggling under his hat. “That’s good.”

They go to the small table, sitting across from each other. 

As they eat, he notices Jeongguk’s delicate mannerisms. Cute. Very cute. Very on brand as a prey hybrid.

“Can I ask why don’t you live with your parents? If you work at the same place then I guess it can’t really be because of any disagreements.”

Taehyung pauses from where he was about to bite on a cube, and then puts it down. “Well, it’s like a family tradition on my dad’s side. A year after your children finish post-secondary, you send them out to live on their own for one or two years, depending on how far they moved away or the lease, and then they come back home until they get married.”

“Oh, that’s pretty cool.”

“Mhm. My mum was against it when my brother’s time came up, but somehow my dad persuaded her. She still wasn’t happy, and she didn’t make as much of a fuss when I went.”

“My parents barely let me come here,” Jeongguk shares, taking a moment before he goes on. “I’ve never lived on my own so they were reluctant. One of them made most of the fuss, and the other one tried to talk to me, but eventually they both saw how determined I was and let me go.”

“Do you have any siblings?”

“I have a younger sister, but she’s too young to remember much. Too old to forget, but young enough to forget.” He tilts his head in confusion. “Does that make sense? Like, she was young but not too young, so she remembers and misses it, but she doesn't remember too much to miss it like I do.”

“That does make sense. How old is she?”

“She’s in her first year of university.”

Taehyung hums. They’ve been living in Canada for ten years, so she was about nine. “That is young. Say, is Canada as cold as it’s known for?”

Jeongguk laughs. He’s not going to lie, Jeongguk looks just like a cute bunny with those teeth.

“It actually depends on where you live. Where my family lived? It was very expensive, but the weather wasn’t actually too different from here. Rainy season here, dry winter there. I guess the only difference was that summers were too hot. The temperature went into the forties on some days and late twenties and mid thirties for others.”

Taehyung pauses in chewing his cantaloupe, then quickly resumes and swallows to say, “Wow, that’s hot .”

“I know,” Jeongguk laughs. “It’s the opposite of what people expect from Canada.”

“An anomaly, that’s for sure.”

Jeongguk giggles. Oh, he’s beautiful. “Mhmm.”

“No, Taehyung, you don’t understand.”

He groans and rolls in his bed to his other side. He understands, because not only has Jimin said this several times already, but he has someone of his own he’s crushing on too. 

“He giggled . He giggled because of a joke I made. It felt as if I met and made Kang Yeosang laugh.”

“Mhm.”

Jimin groans. “I wanna cry. I hate having a crush. And he only comes on Fridays. If he felt the same then he would be coming every other day at least .”

“Be honest, does he send signals that he likes you too?”

“Ugh, no. And this time he came with someone. A coworker, I think. He was a deer hybrid but he looks scary as hell.”

“You thought Yoongi-ssi was scary when he first came in.”

“Scary and hot.”

“Get some help,” Taehyung laughs.

“No. Now tell me more about your neighbour. You wouldn’t have ended movie night early if he wasn’t special or in need of any help.”

“So . . .”

“Yes?”

“He’s adorable.”

Jimin belts into laughter, and Taehyung can’t help but laugh too. He’s cute. What a low-grade reason.

“Tell me about him.”

“Well.” Taehyung rolls over in his bed again. “He’s a rabbit hybrid.”

“Oh my God? That’s adorable. He must be so cute. Ah, you lucky bastard.”

He giggles. “He has tattoos and piercings and stuff, but he’s cute . Like, even before I knew he was a bunny hybrid I thought he was cute—er, okay, first I thought he was hot, then cute. He’s also really kind and shy. I think he’s the talkative type, but because of his shyness he isn’t that talkative. Like, does that make sense? The way I can just tell?”

“Your hunches are scarily accurate sometimes.” Jimin’s mum yells in the background, and he yells, “ Ask Jihyeon! ” before he shuffles, and then lies down on the couch. “But yeah, if you have a gut feeling that he isn’t good, then run, because if anyone’s judgement of character is precise, it’s yours.”

Taehyung laughs. “I don’t think so. He’s delicate, the way he acts, and I have trouble picturing him as dangerous even though he has all the generic body mods.”

“Oh? Is he, like, heavily modded?”

“I think so. He always wears long sleeves or sweaters, but he has a lot of smaller tattoos on his hand. And he has a lot of ear piercings, and a lip piercing. Actually, now that I think about it, he’s hot. Like, really hot.”

Jimin snorts. “We both found hot, tattooed men to crush on. What does that say about us?”

“We like hot, tattooed men.”

Jimin laughs, eyes scrunching, and Taehyung follows.

Suddenly the screen goes crazy, there’s an oof from Jimin, and the phone lands on the ground, facing the ceiling. For some reason, it only makes them laugh harder.

Taehyung puts on his shoes and unlocks the door, plate of cupcakes in hand. Jimin brought so many of them over to the flower shop today, for the whole family, but Taehyung and his parents were still able to bring some extras home.

He’s not knocking at Jeongguk’s house to see his cute, fluffy ears. He’s not. It will just be a nice bonus, is all. He likes talking with Jeongguk. He’s sweet and pleasant to look at and considerate, and Taehyung has developed a slight crush. A teeny tiny one. 

So he’s going over with the intention of talking to Jeongguk again and getting his phone number.

He closes his door and walks over to Jeongguk’s, takes a deep breath, and raises his hand to knock. 

The door opens as soon as his knuckles touch the door.

Although they both yelp, he doesn’t lean back and Jeongguk almost walks into him before stopping. He fumbles with the plate, but thankfully doesn’t drop it, and ends with his thumb in one of the cupcakes. 

Taehyung winces, glad that he wrapped cling film around them earlier. He moves his thumb to the rim of the plate to relieve the poor cupcake and looks at Jeongguk. 

“Are you okay?” Jeongguk asks. Aw, he’s wearing his hat again. And non-casual clothing—including a sweater that covers his arms. What a bummer.

“I’m okay. The cupcake isn’t though,” he chuckles. “You?”

“I’m okay too,” he smiles. “If you don’t mind me asking, what are you doing?”

“Ah. My friend brought cupcakes to the flower shop today. A client ordered them, but cancelled last-minute. I brought some extras home and was hoping to share.”

“Oh.” His ears wiggle under the hat again, face brightening, then the grimaces. “Sorry, I have to go to work now.”

“I assumed it was bad timing since you look all ready to leave, but to work? At this time?”

“Mm. I’m new, so my work schedule is really irregular since I don’t have many clients. Also, the timing was accidental. I accidentally scheduled for five thirty p.m. instead of three thirty because I mixed up the numbers, and now I have to go even though it’s so close to closing time.”

“Ah,” he nods in understanding. He’s had to stay overtime a couple times before, or had to go back to the shop to accept a delivery, so he knows how much it sucks. “Will you be there on your own?”

“No, my friend will be there. But he’s a little bit angry about the mix up since he has a date today, and he hasn’t shown me what I need to do to close up the shop. Thankfully the client was understanding and agreed to meet at the scheduled time instead of the actual time because ‘ I was about to reschedule anyway, so this works out for me .’”

Taehyung laughs. “Lucky client.”

Jeongguk laughs too. “Yeah. Anyway, can I get a raincheck on the cupcakes? They look delicious, and I really like sweets.”

He knows. Jeongguk said his first job was at a cafe because of his sweet tooth. “Sure. Come by after you’re done with work, or even sometime during the weekend.”

Jeongguk smiles. “Thanks.”

Taehyung moves out of the way and watches as Jeongguk quickly locks the door and heads down the hall, slowly going back to his own door again. Jeongguk looks back and smiles, tail wiggling in his pants again, before he takes a left. They live on the second floor, so the sound of feet pounding and they go down the staircase doesn’t surprise him. 

Taehyung steps inside his own apartment and toes off his shoes. He sets the cupcakes on the kitchen counter and takes out the mushed cupcake, leaning down to lick the frosting on the cling film before eating the squashed cupcake.

He still hasn’t seen Jeongguk’s fluffy rabbit ears or his tattoos. What a bummer.

When Jimin called earlier, Taehyung said he wants to court Jeongguk. He recounted the raincheck hangout and how Jeongguk semi-flirted with him (“He called me pretty. Pretty . Jimin, if I die from an anime nosebleed I expect Jeongguk-ssi to be among the first people invited.”

“Jesus Christ. Is this how crazy I sound?”), Jimin encouraged him to go for it, which leads him to now.

Sitting on the couch with his laptop in hand and a notebook beside him.

He pulls out his phone from his pocket and calls his cousin because he thinks he heard her mention something about friend and rabbit hybrid last month, and she explains that they’re her friend’s ex. She agrees to set up a time between the three of them, and when she tries to pry into why, he diverts the conversation. It wasn’t very good, and she obviously noticed, but it got the job done.

Okay, so that’s happening sometime next week. In the meantime, he can learn about rabbit hybrid behaviour from other sources, such as online.

On his computer, he joins a reddit community about rabbit hybrids, surfs through it, googles questions and even takes notes on their behaviour and courting patterns.

A lot of the stuff are similar to universal courting patterns like: giving food, whether it be store bought or homemade; and giving little gifts, size-wise, and expense-wise if it applies. 

But some things are rabbit specific like: going in circles around the person they’re courting, or honking softly.

By the end of the research session, he has a page full of suggestions, and little notes. He’ll need to review these several times by the time the weekend is over so that he memorizes all this, but it’ll be worth it. 

Jeongguk is worth it.

Taehyung’s adding bouquets to a stand in the display window when someone knocks on the window. He looks over his shoulder and is surprised to see Jeongguk, smiling with his teeth showing and waving quickly. He’s still wearing his hat, ears wriggling underneath, but this time he’s wearing short sleeves. Both of his arms are tattooed heavily, and he looks hot despite the wide smile he’s sporting.

Taehyung smiles and waves too, then gestures for him to come in. 

Jeongguk comes in with a hop in his step. “Hey, Taehyung-ssi. Is this your family business?”

Taehyung steps away from the display stand. “Mhmm,” he hums. “My parents are in the backroom clipping thorns off, so it’s just me up front for now. You work in the tattoo shop next door?”

“Yeah. I’m really shocked. I don’t know how I— I don’t know why I— I’m just—” he purses his lips then sighs, shoulders sagging. It’s life changing to see a hot, bulky, tattooed man be so open about his emotions. “I didn’t notice you. I don’t know how.”

Taehyung laughs. “It’s all right. I didn’t notice you either. Are you on your lunch break?”

“Yeah. When do you get off for yours?”

Taehyung checks the time on his phone. It’s a quarter til two. “Technically I can get off whenever, but officially, my lunch break starts at one.”

Jeongguk hums. “Mine depends on my schedule. If there’s no appointment, then I can go out to get lunch anytime I want as long as there’s someone in the front. I’m just coming back from Subway, but can we get lunch together tomorrow?”

Taehyung nods. “I’d like that.”

He beams. “See you tomorrow.”

True to his word, Jeongguk comes by the next day just as he’s telling his parents he’s off for lunch. They smile when they see him, send Taehyung a raised eyebrow and a smile, then tell them to have fun. 

Taehyung thanks them and quickly gets them out of there. 

“So where do you want to eat today?” Taehyung asks.

Jeongguk shrugs. “I don’t know. I was hoping you’d know a good place to eat at.”

He chuckles. “Well, I mostly pack leftovers for lunch or eat whatever Mum brings, and on Fridays there’s this ahjumma that comes around with a cart. I’ve seen fast food places nearby, though, a couple of cafes, and even a restaurant. Do you usually eat out at work?”

“Mostly. Only because I’m still a bit disorganized. Back in Canada I brought my own lunches and my coworkers would always exclaim wow, how do you manage to bring meals every day and not just a quick sandwich or something .” He laughs. “I didn’t want to disappoint them so I didn’t tell them that I just brought the leftovers Mum purposefully made from last night.”

Taehyung laughs. “You should’ve. It would’ve helped them. Do they always make their lunches in the morning?”

“Yeah. It’s either that or they went to fast food places. I really don’t get it. Make extras so that you don’t have to cook or make anything the next morning. All you have to do is put it in your bag and add a snack or two.”

“Mm,” Taehyung agrees. Then he laughs. “So where do you want to go? To one of the fast food places?”

“Is there, um, Subway? Is that how you say it?”

“Yup.” When would be a good time to honk? “It’s closeby, just have to travel two blocks down.”

“Ah, okay.”

“Where did you eat yesterday?”

“I told you yesterday. I went to Subway.”

“Oh—” He slaps his hand on his forehead. “Sorry, I forgot.”

Jeongguk laughs. “It’s alright. I also went to the cafe about an hour later and tried out a bunch of their desserts.”

He laughs. “That doesn’t seem like a good diet for your muscles.”

Jeongguk only shrugs. “I don’t have too strict of a diet. Plus, I haven’t found a gym to sign up to yet.”

There’s a lull in the conversation. Might as well take this chance. He honks softly, and honestly it sounds more like a whimper than anything else. He acts like nothing happened for a couple seconds, then quickly looks at Jeongguk out of the corner of his eye. 

Jeongguk’s looking straight ahead, no change of expression from his resting face.

Maybe Jeongguk didn’t hear it. He honks again, a bit louder, and when he looks out of the corner of his eye, Jeongguk still doesn’t react.

They stop at the crosswalk and press the button, waiting for the white man to appear.

Now that he thinks about it, Jeongguk probably didn’t hear it with all this traffic. He’ll honk again in Subway if it isn’t too loud. He can circle right now, though! He puts his foot back and prepares to turn around, but the crosswalk starts beeping. Shoot. No, he can’t.

He smiles when Jeongguk looks at him.

The next apartment date they have, he’ll honk again. And when they stop at a crosswalk on the way back, he’ll try circling again.

Only he doesn’t get the chance.

For some reason, on the way back, when the crosswalks come, they show the white man right away. 

When they get close to their shops and there’s another lull, Taehyung honks again.

Jeongguk looks at him. “Hey, are you okay?”

Taehyung stops walking. “What do you mean?”

“You keep whimpering. I didn’t give it any thought at first but then you did it while we were eating and I didn’t get a chance to ask then. Are you okay? Does your throat hurt?”

Taehyung wants the ground to swallow him whole. “I’m okay, yeah. I’m fine,” he chuckles. Kill him now. Just take him away.

Jeongguk smiles, subdued. “Alright.” 

They start walking again. When they get in front of the flower shop, Jeongguk puts his arms out as an offer. His heart warms. Taehyung takes it and hugs him for a couple of seconds, then separates because he’s pretty sure at least one of his parents is watching. 

“I had fun,” Taehyung says. 

“Me too.”

“See you tomorrow?”

“Same time?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright.”

“Cool.”

Jeongguk knocks on his door on a Sunday. He hands over a bag and Taehyung takes it to the kitchen, past the stage where he tells Jeongguk he shouldn’t bring anything over because he’ll bring something anyway. 

Jeongguk settles on the couch and Taehyung puts the strawberries and blueberries on a plate.

“How was work?” Jeongguk asks.

He laughs, setting the kettle to boil. “Today’s a Sunday.”

“Well, I mean, in general. How was your week?”

“I met with you on Wednesday and Thursday.” He says, wanting to be difficult. He sets a couple crackers on a plate too, then comes around to sit on the couch without the snacks.

“Okay then, how was Friday?”

“Friday was good.”

Jeongguk purses his lips in an amused way. “Yeah? What about it was good?”

“Well, customers were nice, Jimin visited, and I went home early. There’s one more thing I’m forgetting though . . .” He crosses his legs and pretends to think. “Ah, this one guy sent me a bunch of memes that night.”

Jeongguk raises his eyebrows, but then laughs. “Yeah? Who’s this guy?”

“A funny guy.”

“What else?”

“A talkative guy.”

“In a good way or bad?”

“Good. He has a nice voice.” Are they flirting?

Jeongguk leans forward, putting his elbow to the knee and face on his curled fist. “What else do you like about him?” They’re definitely flirting.

“He’s kind, and expressive with his emotions. He shares happiness whenever he can. He’s shy, but fun to talk to.” Jeongguk’s ears are going wild under his hat, and not for the first time, Taehyung wishes he can see them. “He’s sweet. He’s good.”

“You really think?”

“Yes. I mean, I could totally be wrong and he could turn out to be a psychopath or a serial killer, but for now, he’s good.”

Jeongguk chuckles. “Well, hopefully he doesn’t turn out to be either.”

Taehyung smiles, big enough to show teeth. “Hopefully.”

“Did you send any memes back?”

“No. I was too tired to send any of my own.”

“Did you fall asleep in the middle of the convo?”

“Why yes. Yes, I did. I was tired.”

“Did you sleep well the night before?”

“Yeah. I woke up in the middle of the night to use the washroom, but fell asleep as soon as my head hit the bed again.”

“That’s good.”

Taehyung can hear the kettle finish boiling, so he gets up and makes tea in the tea thermos and brings it over. He brings the cups and snacks on the plates over too. “So what did you do on Friday?”

Taehyung meets with his cousin Hyerin and her friend’s ex at a cafe near her house. 

His name is Seokjin and Taehyung can’t understand at all, upon first glance, why they broke up when the man appears to be so perfect. When he tries to pry, Hyerin miserably groans, “Not you too.” 

Seokjin chuckles.

“We didn’t have time for each other. With my modelling career picking up and her erratic schedule, we always chose to rest or to talk with our friends before talking to each other. We didn’t even notice we were drifting apart until she pointed it out, so we just decided to break up.”

“Oh, okay.” He wriggles in his seat, getting comfortable, and takes a sip of his drink. “Now, let’s get down to business because I promised your parents,” he gestures to Hyerin, “that I’d come over for dinner, and your sister’s family is staying there for the time being, right?” She nods. Taehyung continues, “I haven’t bought a present yet for their new daughter, so I have to find baby clothes and a gift bag in a city I’m not familiar with.”

Seokjin asks Hyerin, “You can’t help?”

She shakes her head. “I have to tutor a kid.” She sips her drink, then starts tapping her yellow nails against the cup. They’re pretty, but he has no idea how she functions with those monsters.

“I can help you then,” Seokjin says. Then he chuckles. “If you don’t mind, of course. I don’t have anything else planned for today.”

Taehyung nods, smiling. “We’ll see how this goes. But yeah, tell me, how do rabbit hybrids court? I did some research and they mentioned honking and circling, and I already knew the basics like giving food and little presents. How exactly do you honk?”

“Well,” he taps the table and takes a sip of his lemonade. He already had his daily quota of coffee, he explained. “Okay, so, first of all, honking isn’t like the kind of honking you get from cars or the ones you hear geese make.” 

Oh, so he did it wrong. No wonder Jeongguk thought he wasn’t feeling okay. 

“It’s more like . . . rubbing your finger against a balloon? Some people have said that it’s also kind of like a grunt. It’s a soft sound, not at all aggressive or loud, and it’s pretty hard for hybrids of a different species or for humans to replicate, so I’d say just whimper? I think that’s the closest you’d get. Try it.”

“Um.” He glances at Hyerin, who’s on her phone texting, and looks back at Seokjin. He tries it, and ends abruptly when Hyerin stops texting to give him a judgemental look. He narrows his eyes at her and she chuckles before she takes a sip and goes back to texting.

“Ignore Hyerin. Try again, but be quieter. You’re supposed to whimper, not hum.”

“Can you demonstrate?” He tilts his cup around on the bottom of the rim.

Seokjin honks, and he really wasn’t off with the balloon description. It’s a lot quieter and smoother than his own was.

Taehyung tries again, and again, and again, and again, and Seokjin finally says, “Good enough.”

Taehyung sags into the chair. 

“You also need to understand: context matters. We don’t usually do this anymore, but it’s still important for you to know just in case you accidentally send a message you don’t want to. Hwayoung, my ex, accidentally did this. It was our first fight and we were pretty new as a couple—”

“How long did you guys date?”

“Six months. Er, well, almost six. But yeah, during our first fight, she started circling me. Y’know how sometimes the first fight is the make it or break it moment for couples? She circled me because she wanted to show that even though we’re fighting, she wanted to fix things, and that she was still showing her interest in me. I thought she wanted to fight me. Like, a full-on fist fight.”

Hyerin snorts. “Yeah, she can be an idiot sometimes.”

“Yeah,” he giggles, and takes a sip. “So context definitely matters. To be on the safe side, just do it when you’re both happy or having a regular conversation. Sometimes we do it with close friends, so don’t misunderstand if your lover circles their friends.” 

“Okay, that’s good to know.”

“Yup. Also, scarves are a nice gift. Especially with a scent we associate with you, since our noses, like all hybrids, are sensitive. If it’s your shampoo, wash the scarf with your shampoo instead of regular laundry detergent. If it’s cologne, then spray it a bit. If it’s your laundry detergent, then, yeah. So on and so forth. A little tip for the fall,” he winks.

“Thanks,” he laughs.

“Anytime.”

Jeongguk comes over at the start of his lunch break again. They go to Subway again, and although there’s a wait when they get to the crosswalk, Taehyung’s too shy to circle Jeongguk.

They sit down with their orders and Jeongguk starts telling him about a story about his high school mechanics teacher. “There was this table, and he’d just shove everything off sometimes. If something fell on your foot, then too bad, deal with it. And then he’d make us clean it up.”

Taehyung, chewing, covers his mouth with his hand, eyes widening, because even though he’s shocked, he doesn’t want to stop eating. 

“I know! He was crazy. But in a good way, because I actually really liked him. And sometimes he’d just throw things at us. Like, whatever was in his hands or whatever he could grab, he’d throw at us.”

“Is that even allowed?”

“No, but it wasn’t like he was abusing us or doing it out of malice. It was pretty funny at times.”

“That’s good then.” Not really, but if Jeongguk liked him, then it’s whatever. He takes another bite of his sandwich.

“Mhm. Since he wasn’t allowed to do that, we came up with a code word for if other teachers or the principal came by. I don’t remember the word, but it was a dog’s name. We yelled it and acted like we were searching for a dog. I think it was Polo? Or Marco? Or Darcy?” He shakes his head. “Something like that.”

Taehyung laughs and nearly chokes. Jeongguk shoves his water bottle closer, and Taehyung takes it even though he’s fine. 

“Thanks,” he says. “What else did your crazy teacher do?”

“I can’t really recall anything. Anyway, enough about myself. I can go on for a long time, so you should talk. I should also start eating.”

Taehyung chuckles. Still, he takes another bite to think about what to say. “I don’t have many fun stories. In high school I was a quiet kid and didn’t have any friends. No extrovert adopted me like a raccoon from a dumpster. 

“I worked at the flower shop for about a year, then worked at McDonald’s for another year, bought a motorcycle, and then went back to the flower shop. Learning to ride a motorcycle and car was the most exciting thing that happened those years.”

“Mm, that really is different from my experience. But that’s okay. Most of the exciting stuff of mine wasn’t because I did this or that, but because my environment happened to be like that. What about post secondary? You mentioned going to university. Anything happen there?”

“I went to Yonsei,” he chuckles. 

Jeongguk’s eyes widen. “Oh my God? You didn’t say that!”

Taehyung nods. “Studied business. I also got good grades so my parents were lenient with my schedule. I could spend an entire day on campus or somewhere else with friends and neither of my parents would ask when I’d be back; they’d just text me to ask if I ate.”

“That’s nice,” Jeongguk comments. “It’s really nice when your parents trust you and let you have freedom.”

“It is. I didn’t live on campus; I took my motorcycle on most days and the bus when the road conditions got bad during winter. I met Jimin in university, while I was working here. He came over one day to buy flowers for his girlfriend and we hit it off. Learned that he worked at the bakery nearby and we kept visiting each other since we didn’t go to the same university.”

“Oh. Did Jimin live on campus, then? And why did he choose a job so far away?”

“Nah, he took online classes. Lived in his own studio apartment. He didn’t have the greatest relationship with his parents, so it’s partially why he moved so far.”

“Mm, it’s nice to learn about people that are important to you. But I don’t actually know much about yourself.”

“I thought we established that I have nothing to say about myself? That I’m pretty boring?”

“In experiences, sure. But tell me about yourself. What do you like to do?” Jeongguk covers his mouth, eyes going wide again. “I just realized, I talked so much about myself but I barely know anything about you. Why didn’t you tell me? You should tell me to shut up sometimes. I’m a chatterbox.”

Taehyung laughs, shaking his head. 

“No, really! Yoongi hyung—he’s my friend that owns the tattoo parlour—tells me to shut up. Sometimes he even puts a timer on! Until this timer goes off, I don’t want to hear a sound from you. ”

Taehyung laughs. “It’s funny, because at first you really didn’t talk so much.”

“I got comfortable,” he says. Cute. Like a true bunny.

“Mm. Well, okay. Shut up, Jeongguk, and let me tell you about myself.”

“There you go! Just like that!” He takes a big bite of his sandwich. He looks at Taehyung’s and his eyes bulge before quickly going back to normal.

Jeongguk has barely eaten anything while Taehyung just started on his second half.

“I like to read. I read anything, don’t really have much of a favourite genre. I mostly read YA though, so I’m not sure if that says anything about me.”

Jeongguk giggles. “That’s cute.”

Taehyung scowls. “You’re cute.”

Ears move underneath the hat and Jeongguk raises his eyebrows. “You’re cuter.”

Taehyung chuckles, shakes his head and takes a bite of his own sandwich, then waggles his eyebrows and laughs through his nose since his mouth is full.

Jeongguk is funny.

The next time Taehyung knocks on Jeongguk’s door, he brings cookies along. Without saran wrap. And makes sure to swing by on a weekend. The door opens quickly. 

“Hey, Tae,” Jeongguk says, ears finally out in the open! 

He takes them in, how outward and awkward they are for bunny ears, and even how they don’t seem like rabbit ears at all. But it doesn’t matter, because Jeongguk trusts him to see them, so he’s not going to comment rudely on them.

“Hey, I brought cookies.” He lifts the plate up, pushing it towards him. Jeongguk’s eyes widen, taking the plate with both hands, and says, “Thank you. Did you make these yourself?” He goes backwards, into his apartment, and Taehyung follows, taking his shoes off and toeing into the slippers Jeongguk gestures to.

“Yeah, earlier today. Asked Jimin for the recipe.”

They get to the couch and he takes a seat as Jeongguk goes into the kitchen, bringing tea, pastries and several of the cookies on a smaller plate. The thermos stays on the corner of the small table, and rectangular knitted mug mats underneath the cups in front of them. 

“I forgot to ask the last time I came over, but did you make these?” He taps his finger on the corner of the mug mat. 

“Yeah. There was this knitting club in uni and my friend recommended it because it helped him relieve stress. I went during exam seasons, learned the basics, and since my brain felt as if it had just been fried, I didn’t have the capacity to learn new techniques. Mug mats and scarves were the only things I made, and I had so, so many made by the end of each semester that I gave them away after my family started refusing to take them.” He laughs.

Taehyung laughs too. “Do you still knit?”

Jeongguk shakes his head. “Not much stress after I graduated, so there wasn’t any need to continue it. I mean, apprenticeship was stressful, but not that much.”

He hums. He grabs a pastry and bites it, but once he recognizes the taste and why it looks so familiar, he swallows quickly and asks, “Did you get this from the bakery near the parlour?”

“Yeah, why?”

“It’s where my friend works.”

He hums. “Actually, your friend’s name is Jimin, right?”

Taehyung nods. 

“Yoongi hyung’s been making me go over with him because he’s too shy to go on his own. Jimin-ssi sneezed this one time, and all he did was sigh in the lovesick way that people do in movies and said, ‘He’s so cute,’ with a pout. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen him pout.”

Taehyung laughs. “Even before you moved to Canada?”

“I met him when he was thirteen, so yeah, I haven’t ever seen him pout. He was too goth for that. He was so entranced by Jimin-ssi that he didn’t even notice my very, very obvious shock.”

“Do you guys go over often?”

“Mhm. Always orders the usual on Fridays,” gesturing to the mix of pastries on the plate, “but he doesn’t like sweets at all, so he just gives them to me.”

“You know,” Taehyung snickers, “Jimin thinks you two are together because you always arrive together.”

Jeongguk mouths an o. His ears flick, and it’s so weird to see them for the first time, especially since they’re so weird for bunny ears. They’re pointing outwards instead of just down, and the fur is shorter than what he expected. “Really?”

“Yeah. He keeps sighing about it forlornly on the phone.” He puts his elbow on his knee and rests his face in his palm, bringing the other one up to his ear to mimic a phone. He puts a sad face on, a slight pout to his lips, and sighs. “‘Hot guy came in today with his boyfriend again. Tae, I don’t understand. I thought we had something going on for the past two months. I thought that the gaping he did when we made eye contact for the first time meant he was speechless ‘cause of my beauty and the weekly visits were our thing. What went wrong?’” He straightens up and giggles. “Tell Yoongi-ssi to get his shit together and clear things up.”

Jeongguk chuckles. “I will. He just never thought Jimin-ssi would reciprocate the attraction. He actually said that he’s gonna stop going there, but I went with him to check this Jimin guy out to see what the commotion was about, and for some reason he kept asking me to come along with him after that.”

“Supportive friends. Love to see that. From what I’ve heard though, you’re not that good of a wingman.”

Jeongguk laughs. “I’m shy.”

Taehyung gently honks again. Jeongguk glances at him before taking a sip of his tea and biting into one of the cookies Taehyung made. “This is good,” he says.

“Glad you enjoy.” He takes a sip of his own tea. 

“So,” Jeongguk starts, putting the cookies down and then rubbing his palms together. “Sorry if this is a bit invasive, but you said that your throat is completely okay, so can I ask you why you keep, like, whimpering?”

Taehyung purses his lips, putting his hand to the back of his neck to scratch. Does . . . Jeongguk not know how rabbit hybrids court? “Um, well, thing is—”

“You really don’t have to answer—”

“No, well, the thing is”—he puts his hand down—“I’m actually trying to court you.”

Jeongguk blinks. “What?”

“Yeah. Am I doing it wrong?”

“Um, well, I thought you might be courting me, but I wasn’t exactly sure? Also, what does whimpering have to do with courting?”

Taehyung furrows his brows. “It’s called honking . . . ? Is that not what bunny hybrids do? When they’re trying to court?”

Jeongguk throws his head back and laughs. When Taehyung doesn’t laugh with him, he stops and stares. “Wait. Wait, wait, wait.” His hands start waving in the air. “Hold on. You think I'm a bunny hybrid?” 

Taehyung purses his lips. “. . . Are you not?”

Jeongguk puts his hands to his mouth. “Oh God,” he whispers. Then he gestures to his ears. “Do these look like rabbit ears to you?”

“I’ve never seen your ears before today. You were always wearing a hat! Also, I thought you might have, like, a mutation thing but I didn’t mention it because I didn’t wanna be rude!”

“Be honest with me, have you seen a rabbit’s ears?”

“Yes. They’re one of the most basic animals.”

“Do my ears look like theirs?”

“No, but I thought that that was why you constantly wore your hat! Because yours are different! And like I said, I thought they were a mutation thing.”

“Okay, I appreciate your, well, consideration, but they’re not different. Because I’m not a rabbit hybrid.”

Taehyung nods his head. Can the ground swallow him already? 

“Taehyung. Now that you’ve seen my ears, what kind of hybrid do you think I am?”

Taehyung shrugs, looking at his feet. “I’m not well-versed with animals.”

“Okay. Let me tell you, then.” He grabs Taehyung’s hands in his own, and Taehyung looks up. “I’m a deer hybrid.”

“. . . Oh. Okay. Sorry.” He shrugs, looks at his hands again. “About the misunderstanding,” he clarifies. He tries to get his hands out of Jeongguk’s grip, but he doesn’t let go.

“Do you change your mind about courting me?”

He glances at Jeongguk. “No.”

“Then look at me.”

He’s about to explode. From embarrassment, anticipation and—well, everything. 

“I accept,” he says, smiling.

“Really? After I just, y’know, mistook your entire being?”

“Mistook?” He furrows his brows, looking at the ceiling. “Mistook, mistook, mistook,” he whispers. “Oh! Yeah, that’s fine. Honestly I found it pretty funny. Pretty stupid and a bit annoying, because you could’ve just asked me what hybrid I am instead of guessing and being completely wrong, but it was also pretty funny.”

“Okay,” he giggles breathlessly, nervously. “Then, I mean, it doesn’t explain why your ears are like that? The deers here, in Korea . . .”

“Oh yeah!” he laughs. “I have lesbian parents, and my sperm donor is a deer hybrid from America.”

“Your parents . . . went to America just for a sperm donor?”

“No, no,” he laughs. “He moved here and donated his sperm to a clinic or wherever. I haven’t met him, so I have no idea if he’s still in Korea or if he’s moved somewhere else. All I know is that he was a big kpop fan.”

He hums, nodding. “Okay, so, like, to confirm. We are courting. You and I.”

Jeongguk giggles. “Yes, you and I are courting.”

Taehyung nods. “Nice. Nice.”

“So, now that we’re courting, how do you feel about a kiss?”

Taehyung nearly chokes.

Jeongguk laughs, readjusting his grip on his hands, then he laces their fingers together. “Is that a yes?”

Taehyung pecks him quickly. 

Jeongguk laughs again. “Come on,” he eggs. “You can do better than that, can’t you?”

Taehyung kisses him again to shut him up.

“So, like, how do deer hybrids court? I completely forgot to ask yesterday.”

Jeongguk looks up from his sketchbook, blinks, then closes it and puts it to the side. He wasn’t drawing anything, just looking through it, so Taehyung doesn’t feel bad about interrupting him. “Well, um, other than the standard, scenting is pretty important.”

“Like wolf hybrids?”

“Yeah. Also, this might seem a bit counterproductive, but playing hard to get every now and then is, like, really fun and it reinforces the fact that you’re interested in us.”

He hums in acknowledgement. Playing hard to get sounds fun. Then he says, “So, do you wanna go on a double date?”

Jeongguk tilts his head, ears flicking again. “With who?”

“Jimin and Yoongi, of course,” Taehyung smirks. “You invite Yoongi and I’ll invite Jimin. It’ll be like an official meet the friends sort of thing, and they’ll have to spend time together outside of making small talk in the bakery.”

Jeongguk giggles. “That sounds good. But let’s go on a couple more by ourselves before setting them up, yeah?”

“Sounds just fine to me.” He giggles. “Be prepared to be wooed, bambi.”

“Is that a challenge?” Jeongguk raises his eyebrows, ears flicking in interest.

Taehyung just smiles and doesn’t say anything.

Jeongguk gets up and plops himself onto Taehyung’s lap.

“Oof.”

Jeongguk laughs.

Now, Jeongguk isn't that heavy. Taehyung could totally have Jeongguk sit in lap for a little bit and he’d have no problem whatsoever. But only for a little bit. Because Jeongguk is made of muscle and flesh through and through, and although Taehyung may be able to handle some weight, he’s not made to handle this much weight.

“Get off,” he groans.

“Is that a challenge?” he repeats.

You know what? Just because he likes spoiling doesn’t mean he can’t be spoiled too. “Yes, it is. What’re you gonna do about it?”

Jeongguk stands up and puts one arm behind his back and two fingers under Taehyung’s chin to lift him up, then leans down to press a peck. “Prepare yourself. You’re about to be spoiled to the nines.”