𝙲͢𝚑͢𝚊͢𝚙͢𝚝͢𝚎͢𝚛͢ 𝟸͢𝟹͢

To protect mental health, for the foreseeable future, I'm going to pretend none of that ever happened.

Mentally I grab Professor Bow Tie, Greek monster soulmates, soul stitching, multiple lifetimes, Selene actually doing a whole thing with creating an entire race and it's structure, and last but not least, Bow Tie's homicidal actions with knives and my countertops. I take all of these and throw them into the 'deal with it later' box and chain it shut.

Later. I'll deal with later. Even the fact that when Jungkook wakes up and doesn't mention anything out of the ordinary at all, proving my suspicion that he has no idea that his wolf took over while he was asleep.

Later. We can handle that box of fuckery later.

As we've (or Jungkook) has determined that we're staying in my cabin tonight, I stand, stretching out my muscles before turning my gaze to him. He's stretching and smiling sleepily at me, completely unaware of the existential crisis going on in my head.

"C'mon, sleeping beauty. Go get your bag from the car and I'll start putting some fresh linens on the downstairs bed." That's good. It's normal. I really need normal right now.

With a nod, he also gets to his feet and he moves to the door before I quickly correct my blunder and move to his side. Alpha Jung's words echo in my head to not leave him alone. The alpha had known Jungkook for much longer than I have so I'm inclined to trust his word on this. Does he also know about Bow Tie? Scratch that. That's in the box now and we don't talk about it.

"Actually, let's get your bag together and then let's get the bed linens together." Normal. Let's be normal. No forbidden box thoughts.

He blinks a few times and gives me a tiny smile. Holding hands, we walk to the car where he opens the trunk where he has stored three fully packed suitcases.

Choosing not to comment, I go for the heavier looking one only to have my hands shoved away as he glares at me.

"Direct your glare elsewhere, sir!" I demand in a posh, British accent. "I'm stronger than thou may think."

His face contorts in a way that indicates he's trying not to laugh but he raises his hands and moves back as though to say, 'go ahead'.

Satisfied, I grab the suitcase and drag it over the lip of the trunk.

Then immediately drop it.

A snort escapes him but he quickly straightens his expression.

I look him in the eye and say with all the seriousness in the world, "I meant to do that."

Taking a couple deep breaths like I've seen those heavy weight lifters do, I grab onto the handle of the fallen suitcase and haul it upright. Amazingly, I'm able to do that much. What did he pack in here?? A dead body? Moon rocks? Thousands of fanboy memorabilia of Namjoon? Probably that one. Or maybe Bow Tie packed this one and it's full of weapons.

Nope. Not gonna think about it.

Feeling confident, I attempt to roll the 5 billion pound suitcase on it's wheels and it moves. Like a millimeter.

"Progress!" I cry in a different accent that sounds more like Shrek than anyone else. By now Jungkook is watching with his arms crossed and his lips rolled into his mouth.

Huffing, I pull it with all my might and amazingly it moves a whole centimeter before toppling over. Rude.

"Don't get it twisted!" I tell Jungkook (back in my normal voice), who is staring at the suitcase and refusing to meet my eyes. "This is all part of the plan! You wish you could be this good."

A small smacking sound erupts when he slaps a hand over his mouth.

"You know what?" I give up on the stupidly heavy luggage and pretend to be in charge. "You carry that one and I will effortlessly carry the other two. Remember, two is bigger than one so no matter what each bag weighs, I'm carrying more."

My eyes blink rapidly when his face is suddenly very close to my own. A soft kiss lands on my forehead before he reaches around me to grab the suitcase and picks it up effortlessly. One handed too. Ignoring my words he takes another with his free hand, leaving me the last (and probably lightest) to handle on my own.

I didn't make him laugh, but at least I got a kiss.

That means, I won. And we both know it.

I think.

Did we compete like this in our other lives?

NO. BACK TO THE BOX PLEASE.

I become Jungkook's shadow as we move back into the house with his luggage. We put fresh linens on the bed together, unpack his clothes together, put them away together.

In the bag that weighed a metric ass ton was a bunch of hygiene products. Loads and loads of them. Face wash, moisturizer, acne spot treatment, a series of different types of facial masks plus a jar of face clay mask. There was three tubes of toothpaste, and the most boujee electric toothbrush with approximately fifteen thousand attachments that I've ever seen. Two different kinds of mouthwash, some weird looking device that he told me cleans his tongue. Three razors, (one electric) a manscaper, and one non electric but still looks super extra for no reason.

There were seven, SEVEN different scented deodorant sprays he explained that he liked to rotate and use a different one every day. A million combs. A trillion different shampoos. Only one bottle of conditioner, naturally. A can of hairspray that was halfway gone (this distressed him). And a billion bottles of cologne, most of which contained maybe two spritzes left but he says that he hates to see empty bottles so he always buys a new one before it runs out.

I threw all of those away.

He's very upset about this.

One might think that after all of that, the suitcase was empty.

It wasn't. Jungkook bought this bag at the magic bull crap store and it's as bottomless as his stomach. That's how he was able to pull out a hairdryer, an air purifier, and four humidifiers. Koreans love their humidifiers. I don't really care how dry or moist the air is so I followed him around as he set them all up. Two for the kitchen/living area as it was one big room and one for the downstairs bedroom. He asked for permission to climb into the loft and at my nod he set one up in my room. The air purifier was set in the common area.

No wonder that bag was so heavy.

The bathroom counter is chaos and part of my mind starts to panic at the mess. I want to jump in and organize everything but I'm too busy Jungkook sitting, who is now pulling out a whole fucking roomba from what I thought was the empty cursed suitcase.

"We don't need that, we have two hands and are capable to sweeping the floors." The words fly out of my mouth without thought and I'm startled by how much I sound like my parents.

Jungkook doesn't miss a beat, replying, "and I have two hands that I worked hard for my money to buy this."

"Wait," I pause, just now realizing after three months of dating that Jungkook has a job. It's weird because he's never talked about it, has never left at a certain time every day or said he couldn't see me because he had to work. "You have a job?"

As he continues to fiddle with the machine in his hands the tips of his ears turn dark red. "I sort of have my own small business."

I shouldn't be surprised because he's literally never let me pay for anything when we're together. Not like I was gonna complain. I don't want him to hold doors open for me or do things that I can do myself, but I do enjoy being taken care of. Allowing me to physically exert myself and taking care of me in monetary value are two very different things.

But even while I do like it, sometimes I wish that he would let me take care of him that way. Which is partly the reason why I gave up this cabin so easily. Finally I can provide for him as well.

But hold the phone. Why is he embarrassed?

"Are you a stripper?" I blurt.

The image I've procured in my head of Jungkook in a firefighter's suit is extremely appealing to me. In this fantasy, I'm at the top of a burning tower guarded by a dragon. Jungkook shows up in his flame retardant suit that of course is enchanted to withstand the dragon's power. He could become enflamed by the dragon's fire and I could be the princess that couldn't be burned, not by anything other than the force of my mate's cock driving into my soaking-

"What!" Jungkook splutters, looking at me to show that his face has gone crimson too. "No!"

Jeon, you enjoy interrupting these fantasies of mine, don't you?

"Why are you insulted?" I ask, leaving my daydream behind. "Stripping is a job and brings in a lot of money."

"You're confusing insulted for embarrassed."

"Why would you be embarrassed to be a stripper?" I ask honestly. "With someone that looks like you, that's a lot of money. I mean, a win is a win."

His eyebrows create this frown affect as he stares at me in confusion. "You would be ok with me stripping for other women?"

"No. But you could strip for me." I wink and make an exaggerated perverted expression. He scoffs and goes back to his little roomba machine, but there's an obvious smile on his face.

"So what's your job?"

Surprisingly, his face turns a darker pink and he splutters and tumbles over his words before finally managing an intelligible one. "Let's make a deal. I'll tell you my job when you tell me yours."

"Deal." I see no problem with that. If I get to have my secrets then he can have his too.

After a century he's finished unpacking and the roomba is moving along the floor, cleaning and creating a low humming sound. As there isn't enough food here for the both of us, we leave the house to go fetch groceries.

Once we're in the Jeep, I flip up the cup holder that separates us and snuggle up to his side as close as I can get. As I've said before, for the both of us, an important element to our love language is touch. Even now after 94 days and 14 hours, my body reacts the exact same way that it did when we first touched.

Naturally we get into an argument that I secretly know is bull crap but proceed with anyone just to annoy him.

"Seatbelts save lives, Lucretia, and I'm not risking yours." His hands grip the steering wheel but the car remains in park.

"I don't like the middle seatbelt. It's itchy." It's not. I don't mind it at all. "Besides, if we crash, I have complete faith that you'll catch me."

"Yewl," he mocks my accent. I glare at him but I don't really mind that either. "Don't be ridiculous. Stop acting like a child and put on the seatbelt."

"Fine." I pretend to give in and his eyes narrow in suspicion. "But only if you kiss me first."

He sighs before dipping down and giving me a soft kiss on the lips. Like real soft. No tongue at all. I think I'm insulted.

When he moves back I glare at him, but this time it's for real. His eyes widen as he takes in my expression. "What now??"

"You call that a kiss?"

"No, I call that a paper bag." He deadpans. "Of course it's a kiss! What do you call it?"

"Not enough."

He growls and swoops down to my level again. Smug and eager, I'm awaiting my kiss but instead of the tonguegasm I expect, a sharp pain erupts on my lower lip at the same time the click of my seatbelt sounds out.

What the...

There's a smirk on Jungkook's face as he pulls away and starts the Jeep. We're jostled by the unpaved path as I gawk at him. Jungkook is hotter than Tartarus but he's never been like that. And by that I mean hot as fuck.

"You bit me!" I accuse, trying to sound insulted and not like I'm ready to sit on his face.

"Your intelligence is provocative."

"Jungkook!"

"Lucretia."

"That wasn't a kiss. And..." I glance from the seatbelt to his face, feeling fifty different ways of turned on, if that's possible.

"And?" He asks, amusement shining in his eyes.

"And you tricked me!"

"You were being a brat. Expect more next time."

Eight Erotes is he saying he punished me? Is he saying he's going to in the future?

Feeling it more than ever before, I utter, "Yes, daddy."

We almost run off the road when he turns a ferocious scowl on me. "Stop calling me that!"

Spoiler: that did not convince me to stop.