Date: December 27th
Time: 6:32pm
Location: Y/n's apartment
Mood: That moment when BTS comes back from break and finally your life has meaning again
<><><>

All at once her thoughts froze in place as the sound of paws thundering down the hall filled the apartment. Maybe a fully grown wolf running towards her should have set her instincts into a fight or flight mode, but all she could detect was an overbearing excitement and a blanket of safety.

In a second she had turned and without fully realizing it, started running to meet him halfway, a happy, "Wolfy!" Escaping from her mouth.

They collided in the living room, Y/n dropping to her knees to encircle his neck in a hug and Wolfy with an overjoyed yip, loving every second of it.

Reminiscent of a puppy, his tongue darted out to coat her in kisses. Giggles soon filled the room as his tongue hit all of the ticklish spots on her neck and a continually sniffing nose roamed the area of her face.

Taehyung bit the head off a giraffe cracker, nearly choking when Y/n delivered a kiss of her own, straight on Wolfy's snout. Both wolf and human stopped for a split second to look at one another, most likely surprised by her action. That didn't last for long. The next moment he had broken free from her hug to flop on his back and present his belly.

A hand beat at Taehyung's chest to dislodge the cracker that hadn't gone down right. This was such an intimate scene that he shouldn't watch, but he couldn't look away. In werewolf culture, wolves only showed their belly to one person. Not their family. Not their friends. Not even their alpha. Only their mate. It was a way of saying, 'here's the most vulnerable part of me, and I trust you with it'.

It was a deeply personal and symbolic tradition that was meant as a promise, a proposal and which signifies an extreme trust. Not a request for a belly rub.

But that's how Y/n took it. Rubbing his belly while cooing over how handsome he was. Taehyung knew it wasn't possible, but he could have sworn he saw Jimin's wolf blush.

And he gave no indication of disliking the attention either. He lay there on his back, staring up at her with trusting eyes as she fawned over him. Tae might have secretly taken a picture with his phone. Or twenty. Eventually he drifted back into the kitchen to give them privacy...and also to see what else Y/n had to eat.

Meanwhile, Y/n was in her own heaven. Wolfy was better than she had first imagined him to be, back before she saw his picture and envisioned him as a blond with chubby cheeks. Then she had seen his picture. But the photograph failed to really portray how beautiful he was. There were lots of colors to him. Brown, black, tawny and a touch of auburn could be seen here and there, each one blending into the next and creating a colorful landscape that could make Monet blush. His coat wasn't overly fluffy, it was thinner and sleek to the touch. Her favorite part of him was oddly familiar to Jimin's pinkie. His tail. It was short, maybe half the size of a regular wolf's and had yet to stop wagging since they had gone running into each other's arms.

Taking her time she looked over every part of him, drinking in the sight of the magical being before her. He was happy, that was obvious. As a person who had trouble reading others emotions, it was strange that she was able to detect his feelings and read him so clearly. The calmness of his gaze told her how content he was. The relaxed posture as he lay on his back said that she was in charge and he would bend to her every request. The way he had run into her arms and coated her with affection let her know that he was in love with her just as much as Jimin had said only moments before.

For the first time in years, an overwhelming joy and love for life made her heart swell and tears to fill her eyes. Sure she was happy with Jimin, with Rosie and Hyuna and everything else that made her world brighter. But now...she belonged somewhere. Although circumstances had torn her down to a devastating degree, now there was a meaning to it all. She wasn't sure if this really was the work of a goddess or just pure luck, but she sent a silent thanks to any god who might be listening anyway.

In a flash Wolfy was on back on his feet. She startled at the sudden movement but then fell into giggles again as he licked the tears from her cheeks. Once done, a tired, 'humph' sound came from his throat and he rested his chin on her shoulder.

They sat in silence for a long time. One hand stroked the back of his neck gently as he let out a sound that she could only attribute to purring. He set one paw on her thigh and sat still as she played with it, running a thumb over the rough pads. After a cursory glance to ensure Taehyung wasn't in the room, she cleared her throat.

There was a wave of self consciousness that tried to keep her silent. It wasn't everyday that one tried to engage in conversation with an animal that couldn't talk back. But then again, it wasn't everyday that your boyfriend transformed into said animal.

"Wolfy?" Any trace of nervousness left when he lifted his head to make eye contact. She hadn't been sure if he could communicate and understand, even if that worry hadn't made sense. Jimin had said they were the same person and talked everyday.

"Hi," she whispered, suddenly feeling shy under his gaze. Already she could feel her face beginning to burn. "I know this is a strange question. But...have we met before?"

It was strange and silly, and now that she'd voiced it, she felt more foolish. Obviously they'd never met.

Slowly his head titled to the left. Face growing hotter and mind more embarrassed every second, she was surprised when his nose bumped hers as he stood to his full height. It hit her then. He would never pass for a dog. Although Wolfy was smaller in comparison to his pack mates, wolves were much larger than the furry, domesticated friends we have at home. To her, someone who had never had the honor of having a dog, he was gigantic. But handsome nonetheless.

He looked at her for another moment before backing up a few steps. From there he turned until his back faced her. He didn't look back. And though there wasn't a word spoken, it made perfect sense to her.

"That was you?"

Idly she wondered if her period was going to start soon and that's why she was extra emotional today. Because tears filled her eyes all over again at the revelation. A short growl came from Wolfy's throat as he whipped around and rushed back to where she sat, wasting no time in licking her face clean. Another giggle came out, even as her eyes refilled again.

Tightly she pulled him into another hug and buried her face in the fur of his neck. She'd heard before of how some people would say when they hug their partner how it felt as though they were meant to fit together. That was exactly how this felt. As if the sleek texture of his fur, the small vibrations of his throat against her skin, and the sniffing nose at her ear was something she'd already felt and experienced in dreams. Like her soul knew this was where it was meant to be.

"I love you, Wolfy."

Never had she said four words that she meant more.

<><><>

"Can you invite your friend over?"

For the umpteenth time Taehyung asked her the same question.

"Tae, no offense." Jimin began. "But can you leave?"

Tae's eyes jerked to engage his friend's in an intense stare down. From her spot standing in-between them, Y/n shuffled nervously in place, looking back and forth to each guy's expression.

Finally, after a ridiculously long time, Taehyung spoke with a voice laden with conviction.

"The sky," he stressed in an extreme fashion, "is blue."

Y/n wasn't going to ask why Jimin's lips tightened into a firm, straight line. Or why he whispered, "you son of a bitch."

What was happening? She had no idea. Why did Taehyung want to meet Hyuna so badly? She had no idea. Why was he a son of a bitch because he stated the obvious? She really had no idea.

"I-I can call her..."

"YES!"

"Asshole."

"Jimin!" She admonished, instinctively thinking that Rosie or another child might be around to listen.

"Sorry baby." He apologized sheepishly, before jerking his gaze back to Taehyung and adopting a scowl.

Although she had no idea why she was doing so, Y/n left them in search of her phone, eventually finding it on her bedside table in her bedroom. The sound of the guys arguing over something echoed down the hall as she clicked on Hyuna's contact.

"Yo." Her best friend answered after the third ring, her voice sounding more upbeat than it had in a long time.

"Hi bestie." Y/n addressed her as such intentionally, armed with the knowledge that Hyuna always got the biggest grin on her face when she called her that. It had been a while since they'd last seen one another and Y/n missed her.

"Hiya, Velma. My long lost friend who never calls me cause she loves her boyfriend more than me. How was your Christmas?"

Good thing Hyuna wasn't into guilt tripping.

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

"It was ok...There's only one guest room at my grandparents so I had to share the pull out bed on the couch with Rosie and oppa. He kept farting on me and Rosie is a rough sleeper so she kicked me all night long. And my grandpa isn't doing too good..."

"Oh no. What's wrong with him?"

"He's starting to get dementia." Although her lip trembled at the memory, she maintained a steady tone. "He remembered mom but it took him a minute to recognize us and he kept forgetting our names. And now mom is thinking of staying there for a few months and of course she would keep Rosie with her." Now her tone wasn't so stable. The thought of her favorite little person being away for so long hurt badly. Who would cuddle her every morning and give her pet rocks if Rosie wasn't around?

"Hey, it's ok. Well...no, I can't say that. But I can promise that no matter what happens, I'll be there for you. You're not alone."

And that was why she loved Hyuna. She never made promises. But made realistic assurances that she meant. None of her words were empty.

"Thank you," she sniffled and pushed the conversation along past the emotional subject. "How was your holiday?"

"It was fun. We traveled to America to visit my sister because she goes to University there and we went to Disney World. But Y/n, my sister is fucking insane. She's obsessed with this boy group and won't talk about nothing else! I tried being nice but I don't get it. She don't even speak the same language but somehow knows all the words to their songs and won't shut-up about her 'oppars'. What even the fuck is that and why if she intentionally saying oppa wrong?!?"

Listening to Hyuna rant helped her to forget the previous subject and she laughed freely as it continued, eventually morphing into complaints about how her dad had the ability to lose the tv remote fifteen hundred times a day and had to call in the entire family to help him search for it. Clue: it was always in his chair.

"Unnie, are you busy? Want to come over to my house?" She asked once the laughter died down and their shared stories started to slow.

"Right now?" Hyuna questioned, the telltale sound of her smacking on gum traveling through the phone. "Sure, I can. Are ya lonely or something?"

Now Y/n wondered how to put this. When she herself was unaware of the reason Jimin's friend wanted to meet her friend. No one had explained why, they'd only asked. But putting it that way made them and Y/n seem weird. Which they were. But that was an observation for another time.

"No. Jimin is here. I just want to see you." That wasn't a lie. It just wasn't the complete truth. She found no wrong in that because Taehyung didn't seem like a bad guy. Strange but not bad.

"Oh." Hyuna's simple answer and tone confused her. She seemed...disappointed? Was it because she wanted to spend alone friend time? Instantly Y/n was hit with guilt. She should have thought this through beforehand. Then Hyuna said something she didn't expect and it left her more puzzled than she had been before. "I reckon that's fine."

That's fine. The wording was odd. Was it because she wanted to spend solo time with her friend, or did Hyuna not like Jimin? She wracked her brain for all of their previous interactions but couldn't come up with a viable answer. Jimin and Hyuna bickered back and forth every now and then, but it had remained a friendly type of banter as far as Y/n had seen.

That familiar twisting in her stomach set to make her nervous. This was a bad idea. Hyuna didn't sound happy and this stupid request would end their friendship. She would leave her. "Y-you don't ha—you don't have to."

"Excuse me, bitch?" The sudden way she snapped at her jolted Y/n further into the downtrodden state. "Did you just stutter with me? Why? What's wrong? What changed? You good? You being held hostage or something? If you are, laugh and say something about marinara sauce."

"No! It's just," but Y/n stopped. Because how was she supposed to explain how she had 99 problems but 93 were all made up in her head? Also that infinitesimal (extreme) fear of rejection? If she expressed that phobia, then Hyuna would certainly leave her. "I thought I upset you because Jimin is here."

For such a small sentence there was a lot of weight and more unsaid things attached to it.

"Nah, that's fine. That didn't isn't upset me at all, I was just thinking 'bout something else. I'll tell ya about it later, 'kay? Text me your address and I'll head over."

Had it really not bothered her? Y/n could only take her word for it, and Hyuna wasn't known for being offended and not voicing her opinion. If she was mad at Y/n, she would say it. Inside she relaxed. Today she was safe from anyone leaving.

After hanging up and texting her the address, she made her way back to Jimin and Taehyung. They seemed to be in the midst of a serious conversation spoken in hushed tones. The younger of the two was sporting a hard frown, the corners of his eyes dropped in concern. Jimin didn't look much happier either but the conversation ended abruptly and that expression melted away when he caught sight of her return. 

His entire demeanor brightened, and the huge smile directed at her was so contagious that she couldn't help but to reciprocate. For the first time since the early, innocent childhood years of her life, everything was good. Soulmate? Still she had yet to grasp that idea in it's full capacity but just the surface put color into a previously grey world.

The urge to squeeze him into a hug was tough to not adhere to, but she was too shy to do anything like that in front of Taehyung. Jimin appeared to understand that without her saying so and didn't jump to hug her as he usually would have.

"I really love you."

But no one said he wouldn't show her affection through speech instead. He beamed a smile so hard his eyes nearly closed. It was that, the words, and Taehyung's presence  that had her flushing bright red and looking anywhere else.

"Uh," she stuttered a few times before she forced out in a squeak, "thank you!" She tried to ignore the way he squirmed and let out a small squeal. "T-Taehyung, she uh-um, will be right over."

In return Tae sent her a grateful nod and slid both hands into his pockets, all while giving Jimin a judgmental side eye.

As they settled on cushioned furniture of the living room, they slipped into a slightly awkward silence.

It didn't stay that way for long though as Jimin's friend randomly blurted, "No matter what, the sky is blue." A grin broke out across his face while Jimin gave a half a halfhearted nod and a smile.

"I-it's actually not." Both men looked to Y/n, Tae adopting a confused frown. Embarrassed, she looked down at her lap. "The sky is l-lots of different colors b-but our eyes can only perceive two point three percent of the e-electromagnetic spectrum. It's blue, b-but also purple and green and red..."

"I feel like you could kill me and get away with it." Jimin said out of nowhere, earning a startled look from her. "Seriously, you're so smart they would never find my body..." as he trailed off another thought came to mind. Y/n was weirdly interested in all things true crime. "You...already know how to get rid of a body, don't you?"

In lieu of a reply she simply giggled. Absurdly, she was aware of the chemical concoction needed to quickly decompose a body, including the bones. But Jimin didn't need to know that.

Thankfully Taehyung cut in before she had to say something. "If sixty seconds is a minute and sixty minutes an hour, how long is a second?"

As the queen of random and useless knowledge, Y/n was able to supply him with an accurate answer.

"Nine trillion, one hundred and ninety two million, six hundred and thirty one thousand, seven hundred and seventy oscillations of a cesium-133 atom."

The specificity of this was not lost on anybody.

"How..." did she know that, or how did she memorize it? Which did Taehyung want to ask first? Before he could decide, the buzzing sound of the doorbell rang throughout the house.

That seemed awfully quick of Hyuna to arrive, so Y/n wasn't completely surprised when she opened the door and found not her friend, but Jackson instead.

The absence of those butterflies she used to feel when he was around no longer surprised her. Now that Jimin was a presence in her life, it was obvious that the crush she had once held for her neighbor was just that: a crush. Though that knowledge did nothing to settle her nerves when around him or anyone else she wasn't completely comfortable with.

"H-hi." With a hot face she greeted him gently. A warm presence at her back almost comforted her, until she realized that it wasn't Jimin, but Taehyung.

"That's not it." The corners of his mouth turned downwards. "This is your friend?"

"No," the word came out without her thinking beforehand, leading her into a nervous, incoherent rambling mess. "I-I mean y-yes-yeah! J-Jackson he's uh-he's not th-that friend but he-he—-it's not the sa-same one-"

"Ok." Whether that meant he understood what she was trying to say or not, Tae gave a brisk nod and turning on his heel, walked off just as Jimin came over.

"It's been a while." Jackson completely ignored the blond man and addressed her with a happy grin.

Trying to ignore the way Jimin shuffled so close that he was hanging over her shoulder like a gargoyle, she nodded politely in return. Jackson wasn't a bad person. But she didn't know how to handle him. Seo-Joon would have been perfect for this situation. She, however, couldn't bear hurting anyone's feelings.

Curiously, her neighbor slid his gaze over to her boyfriend. "Can I come in?"

"S-sure?" It was a question because she had no idea how to let him down.

Alarmingly, Jimin's allergies returned with a vengeance.

—
Edited 8/3/22