Date: December 18th
Time: 6:01am
Location: Misery Island
Mood: Woebegone, desolate, INCONSOLABLE
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Shadows began to recede across the bedroom as the sun rose. The door that served as a connection to the outside world remained firmly shut, slowly collecting dust.

Jimin stared soullessly up at the ceiling, a five o'clock shadow taking root on his face and deep shadows darkening the area beneath his eyes.

She was gone and he was dying a quick death of loneliness. His chest hurt as it felt as though a good chunk of his heart had been ripped out. He missed her. So badly it was painful to breathe. There was no Y/n around to paint his world red anymore.

He missed her.

He missed his red marshmallow.

If only he could go back in time and spend just one more minute hugging her.

It had been forever since he'd last seen her, so long that he was starting to forget her face, the sound of her voice. He was dying. DYING!

It had been fifteen whole minutes since she'd left.

That was so dramatic and for WHAT?

But he had to be patient. She was going to be gone for two weeks, he had to remain strong. He knew it was important to not bother her too much and let her enjoy the time with her family. But how was he to manage? HOW?

Fifteen minutes turned to a day and a day bled into more. On the third, Taehyung broke down the door to his bedroom and physically carried his melodramatic friend who hadn't eaten and was sporting a considerably sized beard at this point back over to Namjoon's house. Weird how quickly that beard seemed to grow.

Jin and Jungkook were in holiday mode and forcing the rest of the Scrooge's and Grinch's of the group to take part. All except for Namjoon who couldn't be bothered with this 'stupid, fake holiday'. Until Kitty gave the tiniest frown and suddenly he was gung-ho for Christmas.

After a shave, a good meal, and a shower, Jimin felt better. But he was still empty. Everything hurt. Unmarked mates weren't meant to be separated for long periods of time. The fatigue and heartache were real. His only solace was the fact that Y/n was human and wasn't affected in the same way, or at least not to the same degree. Their connection as mates was definitely there but as a human, her end of it wouldn't be felt to the fullest extent until she was marked.

The separation was hard for him, but his pack mates banded together to help him through it. Whenever he wasn't at work there was someone stuck to his side. Taehyung clung to him like a koala bear at night. Jin started hosting nightly family board game events. Jungkook introduced him to all his favorite video games and convinced him to play co-op together. Hoseok greeted him every morning with a cup of coffee and every evening with hot chocolate, each time giving him a pep talk. Namjoon engaged him in long, deep talks about philosophy, ethics, and morality. Chim Chim showered him with affection and brought him cat toys to play with together.

But it was Yoongi that helped him the most. No doubt they bickered a lot, but that was simply their language for one another. Now there was no arguing, no back and forth. His hyung confided in him.

Where he had moved out to turned out to be an extremely run down apartment in a very rough part of town. 'Coincidentally' his mate lived across the hall, though the one time he came to visit, Jimin hadn't had the opportunity to catch sight of her. Yoongi was worse off (mentally speaking) than he let on. The stress of finding his mate and consequently rejecting her was eating him up.

Jimin did ask why he'd rejected her, though he already knew why. They'd known each other from before and back then Yoongi had done something so bad to her that he'd almost been kicked out of the pack for it. Depression had hit him hard for years after and it was only Hoseok and then his cat, Lil Meow Meow (or if you asked Yoongi, his 'baby girl'), that helped him through it.

And so it went for days like this. Y/n would text regularly. Asking how his day went, talking about her own, saying that she missed him. He didn't dare tell her how exhausted and in need for her company he was. All he could do now was to look on the bright side. This was the most time he'd spent with his friends and cat since high school. That was a good thing.

But on Christmas Eve it hit him hard. Jin and Yoongi were cooking a feast, Taehyung and Hoseok were searching Netflix for a holiday film, Namjoon was being a grinch and typing away on his phone while Jungkook ran around with a camera, taking shots of everyone and everything.

Red. Why did it have to be a Christmas color? It was everywhere and reminded him of what he was sourly missing. He had to speak to her, even if it was only through text.

Your Jimin💛: I miss my baby 😭
Your Jimin💛: I want to kiss you
Your Jimin💛: I want to hug you
Your Jimin💛: your boyfriend misses you Y/n-ssi. What do you have to say about this
Your Jimin💛: if you don't respond in 3 seconds I'm adding on another thousand kisses to my present because that's only fair

Jimin's baby❤️: OH HOLY NIGHT!!
Jimin's baby❤️: MY DAUGHTER HAS A BOYFRIEND!!
Jimin's baby❤️: praise be to thee, our goddess Aphrodite!!
Jimin's baby❤️: Odin truly is watching over us
Jimin's baby❤️ : in Jesus name, amen

Uh oh.

Too afraid to reply, Jimin hastily turned the screen off and shoved the phone into his pocket, as if that would erase what had just happened. Y/n said that she couldn't be mean and fight him, but this might just make her snap.

A click of a camera far too close to Jimin's head signaled Jungkook's arrival and impromptu photo session. "What's up with that face?" his head cocked to the side as he studied the screen of his camera before looking back up to his hyung.

"Um..." the phone in his pocket vibrated and he gulped, terrified to look but still in a place of shock that wouldn't allow him to fully process what had happened.

Another text alert was felt against his leg but it wasn't until it started going off nonstop that he began to sweat. Someone was calling him.

Y/n wasn't scary. So why did he want to hide from her?

But it was her, the one his heart had been aching for. There wasn't a snowball's chance in hell he would pass up the opportunity to hear her voice.

"My baby," he sighed out as he received the call.

"Jimin," hearing that one thing from her had his stomach flopping over in happiness. "Don't worry—I'm not mad. My mom understands and she won't say anything."

And the first thing she did was put him at ease. The bond on her end wasn't as intense. But had she known that was what he needed most? Or was it just because Y/n was thoughtful? Either way the relief of hearing from her and the worry that had crept up on him a moment before melted away. Jungkook was still staring so he ducked into a nearby bathroom as tears stung at the corner of his eyes.

"I miss you." The words tumbled out, sounding much more desperate than they had any business being. She sighed and he could have sworn he heard a sniffle, but when she spoke her voice was steady.

"I miss you. Ever since I left-" she halted mid sentence and there was a sound of a door opening, accompanied by loud voices. One that Jimin didn't recognize asked if she could help with supper. Y/n agreed and said she would be down in a moment.

"Are you having fun?" Jimin tried to make the question sound upbeat but he was sure that plan failed miserably.

"I am." The answer was one he had been hoping for. It didn't matter if he suffered. It mattered that she was happy. "But everything I look at reminds me of you. Last night-"

"Unnie, watch dis!" The end of her sentence was interrupted again, this time by her little sister. He shifted from foot to foot, quickly growing impatient at the lack of attention.

"That's amazing, Rosie! But unnie is on the phone right now, ok? Let me talk and then later I will play with you." The disappointed toddler seemed to have exited the room.

"Y/n?"

"Yes? I'm here, sorry about that."

"I'm sorry your mom found out about us..."

"You don't need to be." She placated, the softness of her voice melting him like a popsicle on a hot summer day. "It's not like you did it on purpose. And besides, I-"

"Who are you talking to?"

This time, a voice he did recognize intervened. Y/n's brother demanded an answer but didn't get the reply he was expecting.

"None of your business."

Jimin's eyebrows shot up at that. It didn't sound like his marshmallow at all.

"Sis," he started warningly but she wasn't having it today, replying with the same exact tone he had used.

"Oppa. I said what I said. Go away."

Jimin wasn't sure who actually left, Y/n or Seo-Joon but he heard a door closing.

"Ok," she sighed. "Where were we?"

"We were at I miss you." He rushed out, impatience and a tiny burst of anger trying to fight it's way through. "You could have called before this."

Deafening silence was on her end as Wolfy growled at him, both of which fueled this quickly burning fire. It had been days since she'd bothered to call him, why hadn't she? Did she not miss him as much? Was she over there having fun while he was miserable? And why wasn't she apologizing for it? She should feel bad for leaving him like this.

"I'm sorry I didn't call before." The small voice used for her apology only made him feel worse than he did before. "My grandpa isn't feeling well so I got caught up in that. I didn't mean to ignore you..."

Teeth bit into his tongue as self hatred made an appearance. Why the hell would she have to apologize? Now all anger was directed towards himself. For being such an unworthy mate. For lashing out at her over nothing. For being so weak and unable to handle her absence.

"No," he ground out, readying himself to grovel. "I shouldn't-"

"Oh! Is that your," Y/n's mom's voice dropped to a dramatic whisper, "boyfriend? Tell him I said hello!"

And that was it. All of the the emotions that had been stewing inside for days burst, resulting in him him lashing out at the very person he'd promised never to hurt.

"Can you not go two fucking seconds without getting interrupted?!? I'm trying to talk to you, go in another room or something!"

If her silence had been defeating before, now it was like a planet opened up between them. There was a sharp inhale of breath that let him know she was still there but the space of time left open where she offered no words was louder than anything she could have said.

You dumb shit.

When she did reply, it was stern and cold, the tone clipped short to indicate that this was the end of the conversation.

"You will not talk to me like that."

And that was all. No screaming or insults. No crying or fighting. Just eight words that made him feel more ashamed than he'd ever been. The click of the ended call afterwards was like the final nail in his coffin.

Then he smashed his phone into a million pieces, because that was going to fix everything.

...now go back and read that in a sarcastic tone.

Meanwhile across the country, Y/n was bawling her eyes out. Jimin hated her! Hated her! She couldn't do anything right. She was worthless and stupid and a bad person-

"Sweetheart." Her mother hadn't left her side. When the phone call ended she had pulled her daughter's head to rest in her lap and was gently stroking her hair in comfort. "Tell me where he lives and I'll call up my gang."

That statement instantly stopped her crying and Y/n turned teary, red eyes up to her mom. "What gang?"

"Oh sweetie," she clicked her tongue in amusement. "All mothers have one. They're reserved for people who hurt our children. Now which do you prefer? Should we sic Seo-Joon on him, or should mama call up her gang?"

As intended, the absurdity of the question had Y/n giggling. This was her mom's defense against sadness: humor. Nine times out of ten it worked and already the heavy pressure on her chest began to ease off. Jimin didn't hate her. But she might have disappointed him, which was equally terrifying.

"Or," her mom continued, the trails of comfort her fingers left on her scalp relaxing her, "you could go home early."

"What! No-"

"Don't argue with me. You've been miserable since we got here and now I know why."

She didn't though, not really. Physically, Y/n felt drained, exhausted and was sporting a splitting headache. It had started on the night Jimin had disappeared, which of course turned out to be the full moon. That night had been hell. Every part of her body was in intense pain. It was much worse than it had been the last full moon. The last time had been hard but it hadn't hurt, not to that extent. None of it made sense and the part that bothered her the most was how intensely she missed Jimin throughout the process. As if her cuddly boyfriend could take away bodily pain.

Since that night and then the day she had left him behind to visit family, her emotions had been on edge. With no Jimin cushion to fall back on, she was forced to confront the stark reality of what she had been trying to ignore all this time.

Jimin made her happy, there was no doubt about that. But years of untreated depression left her withered on the inside. It didn't matter how perfect a boyfriend was or how important they made you feel. The only person that could fix you, was yourself. The only one that could fix Y/n's heart, was Y/n.

She knew that. And she was tired. Trying to pretend it wasn't there was exhausting and she didn't want to do that anymore. Jimin couldn't fix her, but he could give her the confidence she needed to speak up for herself. And she was going to. After the holidays.

But first, she had a werewolf boyfriend to get back to.

Because even if every once in a while she could go into denial and the whole idea of werewolves didn't fit into her science oriented brain, Y/n wasn't stupid. She was definitely dating a werewolf. And she planned to confront him about it.

Bonus scene

<>The Price of Repentance<>

Jimin sat commiserating on the sofa in utter misery while surrounded by his pack members. They were trying their best to cheer him up, with no luck.

They all looked up as Kitty waltzed through the door, a purring black cat in her arms.

"Y/n says that she's coming home early to whoop your ass."

She didn't really say that. But Namjoon's mate thought it was more fun this way.

Besides, it all went flying over Jimin's head. All he heard was: Y/n, home early.

Yoongi cast a questioning look in Kitty's direction but she was too engrossed in the feline she held. Y/n was going to beat Jimin up? That wasn't likely but if it did happen, Yoongi would enjoy watching. Observing other people's lives and relationships fall apart made him feel a little better over his own shit hole of a life.

"Sounds like she's mad at you." He goaded, sending a pointed look to Kitty and nodding in Jimin's direction.

"Yeah, she's furious." She agreed. "Not to be dramatic. But if I were you, Jimin, I would shave my head in repentance."

"You're right." Jin jumped in while struggling to keep a straight face. "You should shave your whole head."

"The whole thing, hyung," Jungkook's input was far more serious than anyone else. "It's the only way to really say you're sorry. Don't leave one hair behind."

Taehyung held a hand for silence and everyone waited, even poor Jimin who couldn't tell if they were serious or not. "If Jimin is truly apologetic then he needs to shave the word 'sorry' into the side of his head."

"No!" Hoseok was already laughing before he could get his idea out. "He needs to get 'I'm SORRY' tattooed across his chest and then he can RIP his shirt open to show it off!"

They all turned to Namjoon, who had completely missed the joke and was wondering what was wrong with his friends.

"None of that is necessary, just buy her a cat."

—
Edited 8/2/22