Date: December 11th
Time: 7:26pm
Location: Namjoon's house, the living room
Mood: Um, chile, so anyways-
<><><>

"Tae Tae is mine!"

Kim Taehyung was confused. It wasn't a foreign thing for him. There was a lot he didn't understand. Like why do some people think it's cereal before milk? What was with Jungkook's weird preoccupation with squeezing all of his hyung's butts? Why did girls smell so good? What was the ideal circumference of a hamburger?

Because he thought: milk then cereal. Jungkook maybe was trying to...compare sizes? Girls never many sense anyway so there was no point trying to understand it. The hamburger thing: it would take a while to figure it out and a lot of hamburgers would be consumed in that time. That didn't matter. Taehyung was willing to consume as many as he had to in order to unveil this mystery.

But the thing confusing him the most: Park Jimin. Jimin rarely confused him. He was very open and honest, always wore his feelings on his sleeve. What Jimin said was what Jimin meant. He was always there when he needed someone to talk to and he didn't mind it when sometimes Tae needed a cuddle partner to fall asleep. But why was the man grabbing his wrist and acting out his own K drama in the living room?

Taehyung was glad he wasn't a K drama actress. Those poor women's wrists must be bruised up all the time.

The last thing that confused him was his best friend's mate. Not her stutter or shy disposition, which Jin and Hoseok had told them all to ignore on threat of no more Tteokbokki Tuesdays. As if they needed the warning. They were animals, but they weren't without manners. Even if they weren't, there was something innocently endearing about Jimin's mate that had all of them more likely to wreck their own face with a rusty frying pan than insult her.

What confused him was her scent. Or maybe it wasn't her scent. It could have been another smell that she was carrying with her. The best way he could describe the smell was: almost right. Like when you smell someone baking chocolate chip cookies and you go to get one, but then realize they put raisins in them. And raisins were a disappointment.

Why did she smell like that?

He swept all confusion away to focus instead on this adorable creature that had entered the home and caused havoc. He had half a mind to keep it but knew that the cats in the house would never stand for it. Yet possible names came to mind anyway.

Sir Batula?

Batman?

Yeontan?

Bat number 1?

"That's fine. You can have him." Y/n didn't try to fight Jimin. It was the first thing to happen in the last ten minutes that actually made sense.

His friend donned a victorious smirk, bringing Tae's eyes to roll. This was so weird. Stranger, was the moment after when he seemed to have realized what he'd done. Casting a look from his grip on Taehyung's wrist and then back to his mate.

His hand was dropped when Jimin let go to step toward his girlfriend. "Wait-"

"So Y/n, I'll lift you up and you grab it. I'll get some oven mitts so you don't get scratched." At her agreeing nod, he left.

"Red, I-"

She didn't hear whatever he was rambling on about, the cute creature hanging from the ceiling had her enraptured. Never having seen one up close, she was going to take in every detail she could. It wasn't until she felt a warm presence at her back wrap itself around her waist that she became aware of a seeking attention Jimin. But for once, he wasn't her first priority. The animal had established eye contact and was making these strange noises. She took it to mean it was talking to her.

"Y/n?"

"Here we are." Taehyung re-entered the room at that moment, followed by a curious Jungkook bouncing in behind him.

Jimin frowned as Tae handed over the oven mitts to Y/n, not liking the idea of his mate handling this creature that he himself was too afraid to approach. She didn't seem afraid at all as she slipped on the protective mitts to prepare herself.

"Y/n," Kitty appeared next to Jin at the doorway but couldn't enter due to an agitated Namjoon ready to kill the bat and not let Kitty anywhere near it. "When you grab it, try to go downwards from it's head to trap its wings—if that makes sense. And don't grab it too tightly. Firm, but gentle."

"I'll do it." Jimin tried but Y/n looked back to glare at him. How dare he try to take the baby from her?!? This was between this precious creature and herself.

Something in her look caused him to let go and back away, head hanging down.

Normally he might have felt some type of way about the way Taehyung had his hands on her waist as he lifted her to reach the bat, but as of now couldn't find it in him to care.

Wolfy was even less caring. Nothing was going to ruin such a blissfully marvelous day.

<><><>

"Bring a bucket and a mop for this wet-"

"-my high school teacher said I'd never be shit, tell that bitch that I turned out just fine-"

‪"-now who's that talkin' that gangsta shit? Somebody gon' kick ya ass-"‬

‪"-beef is best served like steak, well done get a gun in your face-"‬

"I love this song." Y/n sighed to herself while warming her hands on the vent of the car's dashboard. Regardless of the comment, soon she changed from that song onto the next.

‪"-you gonna ruin my career? You better get one. Like imma sit and fight with you over some slut bitch cunt-"‬

"Oo! And this one." Weirdly, Y/n admired Eminem for putting out a diss track against a woman. He treated his female rivals the same as he treated his male ones. Really though, it might just be a Marshall Mathers thing. The man even put out a diss track against his mom.

"Baby?" Jimin called out hesitantly, giving her cause to lower the stereo's volume. At her awaiting look he carefully chose his words. "Um...did I maybe...anger you? With that thing I said about Taehyung?"

What had he been thinking? In the moment he had been so consumed with jealousy, he had said what he wanted to without regard to how his words might affect Y/n. And that worried him. That could not happen. Not with her, not with anyone. It was a juvenile and selfish mindset that he wished to correct as soon as possible. Even if she wasn't mad, she would certainly know that the way he had handled his feelings had been wrong.

With everything in him he hoped that she wasn't upset or mad, but the way she diverted her eyes to her lap and the small downturn to her mouth told him otherwise.

"I'm not angry." Her usually soft voice sounded ten times smaller now and that had mirror affect on his quality as a man. With her disapproval, he was a centimeter tall.

"But..?" He prodded carefully, knowing there was more that she was holding back.

"But...maybe. A little," pausing as her fingers poked and prodded one another, she appeared to struggle to get the words out. "Just a little bit hurt."

Forget one centimeter, his heart plummeted and now he was less than a bug. With ease he pulled over to the curb and put the car in park. As he turned in his seat, ready to grovel at her feet, she turned as well, holding her thumb and forefinger up to demonstrate her words.

"But—just like this much! It's ok—it's nothing. It barely hurts at all!"

Her being cute was not helping, as he had a suspicion that she was on the verge of apologizing for feeling sad. God, how he hated hearing those words from her. They were never appropriate to the situation and the way she said it always spoke of an untold, deeper pain she wasn't letting out. When she said 'I'm sorry', it always sounded like she truly meant it.

The worst possible way for his situation to go would be for her to feel worse than he'd already made her, but he couldn't help but let a growl slip as he raked an agitated hand through his hair.

"Y/n, I swear to god, if you say sorry I won't give you any sodas for a month."

Liar. As if we could ever deny my baby anything.

Refusing to meet her eyes was the only way he was able to deliver that threat, which maybe made it less meaningful, but she didn't apologize, so he counted it as a win.

He kept his gaze elsewhere when he went on, one hand tangled in his blond locks and the other gripping the steering wheel.

"My mom always told me that when you hurt someone, sorry is the second word you say. The first word is how." Finally he peeked in her direction but she wasn't looking his way, choosing instead to gaze out at the snow fall. "How did I hurt you? She taught me to say that first for the sake of understanding the people who are special to me. That way, it's less likely that I make the same mistake twice. So...how? How did I hurt you? How did I make you feel?"

All too used to the idea that her feelings didn't matter, Y/n didn't like talking about them. But this was Jimin. Her weak spot. And the way he was acting was so honest and open, that ignoring him would be wrong.

"I guess it hurt because it felt like you were pushing me out and that, maybe...you weren't choosing me."

As soon as the words left her mouth she went to backtracking. Although it had hurt her, she was too afraid of Jimin becoming upset and for these negative emotions to spill over and hit her in a different way. In other words, if she didn't forgive him quickly then he would become fed up with her. She shouldn't have been able to imagine that but she did, and often. The idea refused to leave her.

"But like I said, it's ok. It will go away, it's not important. We don't have to talk about it. It's really, really nothing to stress over."

A frustrated huff left him as he tried to pull on the reigns of his temper. Why wouldn't she stand up for herself? When she said things like that, it made him feel even worse. Maybe if she threw an insult his way or yelled at him, this guilt would stop eating away at his psyche. But no, he got the gentlest, softest little marshmallow out of the bunch. And like hell was he ever going to complain about it. But he needed someone to hold him accountable.

He tried to keep his voice steady, but he couldn't help the trace of exasperation in his tone. "Of course it's important. That's why I asked how, and why I'm going to apologize to you."

"No, really! It's ok. Let's drop this and-"

"Stop it." His hand thumped against the steering wheel in frustration. "Stop doing that! I want to talk about this and work it out and tell you that I'm sorry for making you feel left out. Can you not work with me?"

"We talked about it enough." Finally there was a touch of sass from her. He didn't like it as much as he thought he would. "Apology accepted."

"No!" He shouted. "We're not done! Fight me!"

You have no chill.

Y/n stared at him, unamused. "Why would you say that?"

"Tiny!"

"Huh?"

"Shorty! You're short, Y/n. Remember last week when we lost each other in that convenience store? That was because you were so short and I couldn't see you over the top of the shelves!"

At the sight of her face falling he knew he'd fucked up. She didn't talk about it, but it was apparent Y/n was self conscious about her height.

"That was mean." With a cross of her arms she turned her back on him to face the window, sending him into a panic.

"I take it back!! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! I won't ever say it again. Hit me if you want to; I deserve it. Y/n? HELLO? Y/n? Are you ignoring me?"

It was a long moment before she looked back to glare at him. "Yeah. Go write about that in your little diary."

Quiet washed over them and he blinked in shock, neither he nor Wolfy knowing what to say to that. Little diary? Was she referring to the first time they got into a fight and he wrote it down?

How....rude.

In the next moment, her angry expression was replaced with an anxious one as she whipped around to face him properly.

"Oh my god, Jimin! Don't cry!! I was just playing!"

"I'm not crying." He scoffed, surreptitiously wiping at his eyes before moving to push the hair from his face. "Come here."

And that was how they came to hugging in the car at night while Jimin tried not to cry manly tears.

"I can't be mean and fight you. That's not me." Her voice came out muffled against his chest and he nodded profusely while wondering why he had demanded such a thing in the first place.

"I know. I'm sorry for acting that way. And I'm sorry for making you feel left out. I would never choose anyone other than you. But when I tell you that your feelings are important to me, I need you to trust me and believe that. Otherwise it's like you're calling me liar. You get it?"

With a nod and another muffled yes she snuggled deeper into his arms. "I got it. But I wasn't lying. It wasn't that big of a deal. I also thought it was cute that you got jealous of me."

"Be quiet." She lightly giggled when he dropped his head to let his nose trace the shell of her ear.

"Um...but Jimin?"

"Hm?"

"I have something to tell you."

"Hm?"

"Well, every Christmas since I was a baby my family goes to my grandparents to spend the holidays...so..."

"Oh." Disappointment bubbled in his chest but he tried not to let that leak into his tone. "For how long?"

"Two weeks."

"Two....weeks...?"

"Are you crying again?!?"

"I never cried and I'm not crying! Get back in there." Blinking back tears he unceremoniously shoved her face back into chest.

It was her family and Jimin shouldn't complain. Especially since they were so close knit. All of them were as devoted to each other as they should be. Always letting one another know their whereabouts, what time they'd be home, when they had arrived or left a new place. Once a week there was family movie night, which they never missed. They had a healthy family unit. But Jimin felt a bubble of animosity towards them.

They were always stealing Y/n from him! Movie nights. Family dinners where everyone put all their devices away. The fact that he couldn't walk her to the door or come visit for fear of her psycho brother. And now they took Christmas too.

Stupid mature people.

"Can I come with you?" He asked out of pure desperation, even though they both knew it would never work.

"I'm sorry." She murmured while peering up at his face. Her insides constricted at the thought of hurting him, but there wasn't any way around it. Jimin was important, but so was family. As a distraction she changed the subject. "What do you want for Christmas?"

"Kisses." Was his automatic answer.

"Alright. How many?"

"One thousand."

"But I'll lose count!"

"That's true." He feigned solemness with a nod. "If it happens, then we'll start over. And that's fine with me. Mistakes happen, I wouldn't hold it against you."

"How about a hundred?"

"How about you just crush my heart? Because that's what you just suggested."

At her chuckle he snuggled impossibly closer, making sure to press a light kiss to her ear so that his scent remained on her person. "By the way. You won't hear from me Sunday or Sunday night."

He was going missing. Again? This time, as crazy as she felt for doing it, she had to check the moon. And if it was the full moon again? Then that meant...something significant. Because what regular person goes missing every month when the moon was full?

...A person really into astronomy. The study of stars. That had to be it. Even with the logical conclusion, she kept that to herself and instead asked him.

"How come?" It wasn't like she expected him to answer in a way that provided more evidence to her suspicions of the supernatural, but his reply was surprising.

There was a moment where he said nothing. But the tightening in his arms and the deep breath he took made his incoming words feel important.

"After Christmas when you get back...That's when I'll tell you. And...I'll introduce you to Wolfy."

With a gasp she shot out of his arms. For whatever reason that wolf—or dog as Jimin had pointed out—had been on her mind all day. "Really?? I can meet him then?" It was pointless to try and hide any excitement.

He gave her a nod in assent but it wasn't enough.

"Promise." Demanding wasn't something she ever did but this seemed important. And why wouldn't it be? She needed more animals in her life.

At her offered pinkie Jimin paused, hesitation and some degree of anxiety flashing in his eyes. The brief moment was pregnant with tension and Y/n didn't know why. At the same time her intuition was begging for her to realize that this was a significant moment so she remained silent, waiting for his answer.

Slowly, his smallest finger curled around her own and he released a heavy breath. "I promise. When you get back after Christmas, I'll introduce you to Wolfy."

<><><>

Song list by order:

Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion—WAP
Joyner Lucas—ISIS
Migos—Fight Night
Pusha T—exodus 23:1
Eminem—The Warning

—
Edited 8/2/22