Chapter 27

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Once they were done eating and Jungkook had placed the plates in the dishwasher, they went to look for the cat. Jungkook knew it was probably hiding somewhere because it was nervous, but he also wanted it to get used to them. In addition to that Taehyung kept searching the room for it and Jungkook really wanted to keep the siren happy and content even with all of their new deals.

Jungkook was just checking beneath the table when he remembered another thing that had slipped past him earlier, which also was somewhat important.

"Oh right, Taehyung?" Taehyung, who had been checking behind the plants next to Jungkook's television, turned his way, looking at him questioningly.

"I really have no intention of running away or blowing this deal off. As long as you don't try to kill me I'll show you around the town and the human world as much as you want to, so there is no reason for you to threaten me. If I do something you don't like you can tell me or even hiss at me... there is no need for your scary claws to be anywhere near my throat. You get the message across either way."

Taehyung nodded as if that was the most normal thing, like he hadn't done it a hundred times, before he turned back and continued searching the plants. Jungkook couldn't help but keep watching the way he just pushed the leaves and small twigs to the side, clearly not aware of the fact that maybe they could break.

Actually Jungkook had realized that, while Taehyung clearly wasn't careful with most things, it mainly seemed to be due to a lack of awareness of how delicate some of them were. Taehyung could also be gentle. Jungkook had seen that from the way he had held the cat... and the awkward hug before. It had been really fucking awkward, but Taehyung had been really careful in the way he had touched him then.

Maybe in the ocean most things just weren't gentle. It made sense. Strong currents, rocks, sand... none of these needed to be handled gently by Taehyung. There was a good chance Taehyung just didn't think when he was being this rough with things.

The fact that he had hurt Jungkook a few times... those had been intentional. Taehyung had clearly intended to hurt him then, but smaller things like Taehyung leaving a dent in the table... those seemed to come from a lack of awareness.

Jungkook moved over to the sofa to check underneath it... and there she was. Clearly a little nervous, staring at Jungkook with anxious eyes. "I found her."

Jungkook listened to Taehyung's footsteps getting closer as he slowly reached his hand out for the small animal. "Hey, we're not trying to do anything bad..." He tried talking in a calming voice, but he wasn't sure just how reassuring that was when the cat had just been picked up off the street by two weird people and brought to a place she didn't know.

Clearly it wasn't too reassuring because the second his fingers got a little too close for comfort for the cat, sharp pain shot through his hand as the small animal both clawed at his hand and bit him. Quickly he pulled away, hissing in pain. He sat up to inspect the small wounds. Scratches on the back of his hand and a tiny bite mark on his finger. It wasn't really deep and only the scratch in the middle of the marks on the back of his hand had even drawn blood, but it was frustrating nevertheless.

From what he had heard being scratched by a cat could be quite dangerous actually. Not that he really thought this would lead to any complications, but that didn't mean he wanted to get bitten either.

He could feel Taehyung leaning over his body, clearly looking at the injuries too.

"Cats are like you and they scratch and bite if they don't like something." Jungkook joked, rubbing his hand. "I'll go disinfect this. We'll see how we get her out of there without being covered in bite marks afterwards." Jungkook declared getting up, expecting Taehyung to follow him like he usually did, but instead the siren laid flat on the ground like Jungkook had done before, stretching his arm underneath the sofa.

For a second nothing happened, but then he seemed to get a hold on the small animal and pulled it out from underneath the sofa. Jungkook wondered whether maybe cats reacted better to sirens or something, until he saw the way the cat was clawing at Taehyung's hand and biting it too... the claws and teeth didn't even penetrate the skin.

Taehyung didn't seem bothered at all, soothingly rubbing the cat's back until it finally seemed to calm down, letting go of his hand it was still tightly holding onto with teeth and claws.

At least there was one thing the siren was good for. Holding onto wild animals without getting so much as a scratch.

Jungkook realized that this probably wasn't the first cat that had tried to bite Taehyung... although the ones before this one had probably met a way worse fate right after. This one was just getting pats and Taehyung holding it softly in his arms.

It took him a couple of seconds to notice that Taehyung was staring at him. Right, he had said he'd go to the bathroom to disinfect his hand. He turned around to walk to the door.

"By the way... we still need a name for her. Do you have any suggestions?" Jungkook turned to look at Taehyung, who just shook his head, furrowing his brows. He probably had never had to name a thing in his life. After all, what was there in the ocean that Taehyung could name?

Did Sirens even have the same concept of naming things? Maybe such a thing didn't even exist in Siren culture, but then again Taehyung and Jimin had names... Jungkook just wasn't going to think about it too hard.

"I suck at giving names." He entered the bathroom, going through the cabinet in search for some disinfectant. He could hear Taehyung following right behind him.

He glanced back at Taehyung and found him looking down at the cat, furrowing his brows as if that was how the answer was just going to come to him, but then he simply shrugged his shoulders. Yeah, Taehyung had probably never named something before.

Jungkook put the disinfectant and the cotton swabs down by the sink before hesitantly moving to pet the cat. Luckily it seemed rather relaxed in Taehyung's arms now and didn't try to attack Jungkook's hand like it had before.

"Yeah no clue... we will come up with something at some point." Jungkook declared after scratching her behind her ear, enticing the hint of a purr from her. She had been so nervous just minutes ago, but now Taehyung seemed to be working the same magic on her as he sometimes did on Jungkook.

She seemed completely relaxed as he slowly ran his hand over her body.

"Okay... disinfecting..." He moved back and got to work. As he cleaned his wound rather thoroughly, the cat had been living on the streets before and he didn't know what was on its claws, he also watched Taehyung pat their new pet.

It was probably one of the most wholesome things he had seen Taehyung do throughout his time here. He was sitting on the edge of the bathtub, rubbing the cat's stomach, the hint of a smile playing at his lips. Maybe Jungkook was just imagining things, but it sounded like Taehyung was humming a little. Just under his breath so it was barely audible, but whenever he heard it Jungkook could feel a little bit of happiness wash through him.

Maybe it was the effect of Taehyung's voice, maybe it was just seeing Taehyung this relaxed... but he couldn't get himself to doubt that getting a cat had been a good idea. If he got to see Taehyung happier and less tense because of it, then it had been totally worth it.

"There, I'm done. Now I shouldn't die." Jungkook chuckled, putting a bandaid on the small scratch that was mostly there to stop any dirt from getting into the cut. He got up, stretching his body. Maybe he should just brush his teeth too. It was probably past midnight already, or, now that he was thinking about it... actually more likely way past midnight.

"Will you sleep in the bathtub again?" Jungkook asked, already expecting a yes as an answer. He almost always did, which was why he was so surprised when Taehyung shook his head.

"Oh, okay." Jungkook grabbed the toothpaste and the toothbrush, once again looking back at Taehyung, who was focused on the cat again and oh god, Jungkook really had to keep in mind what Taehyung was because all he could think about now was how cute that was.

Jungkook spent an embarrassingly long time brushing his teeth, watching Taehyung scratch the cat's stomach. His smiles were just that rare to see and Jungkook barely ever got to witness that soft look in his eyes either. He wondered whether he had that look often when something wasn't just food to him like Jungkook was.

"I'm done. I'll go to sleep now... you too?" Jungkook asked as he pulled his t-shirt over his head and threw it into the laundry basket.

Taehyung nodded and picked up the cat that was comfortably resting on his legs before standing up himself.

"It would be better if we left the cat outside my room since I'm pretty sure she'll pee somewhere tonight and I'd prefer if that place wasn't my bed." He moved closer to pet the cat too, still surprised with how comfortable Taehyung seemed with Jungkook stepping into his space when it was just about petting the cat.

"Is that okay for you?"

Taehyung nodded, holding the cat out for Jungkook to take. For a second Jungkook hesitated because he still was very much aware of the danger of getting scratched, but the cat seemed to be utterly relaxed so he carefully took it and walked to the living room to place her down on the sofa. This time Taehyung didn't follow him and instead just went straight for the bedroom.

Jungkook still felt like it was a little surreal. Not even just a little. He had a cat now. There was a siren living in his apartment, but the siren was also trying to be nice now and he had a cat as of today. He closed his eyes, squeezing the bridge of his nose. It had been a really fucking long day and Jungkook couldn't wait until he could finally fall asleep again. All this was great, but he really needed some sleep now.

Back in his bedroom, he found Taehyung already sitting on his pillow bed. Jungkook still felt a little bad for making Taehyung sleep there. Of course, he didn't seem to mind, but the floor was hard and Jungkook just felt like it wasn't right. He got to sleep in that soft, king sized bed and Taehyung was down there, lying on the cold floor.

Jungkook moved to the wardrobe to slip into some sweatpants instead of his tight jeans before moving to the bed. He placed his phone down on the nightstand and plugged his charger in.

Looking at Taehyung, who was sitting on the bed, watching him, he realized just how little the siren's presence actually bothered him when he went to sleep. It was so weird. If he thought about it too much it started to feel scary, but just the fact that Taehyung was sleeping in the same room as Jungkook alone... wasn't that frightening. Actually it was rather relieving because while the threat Taehyung posed to him was pretty much the same when he was asleep and awake, the same thing didn't count for possible intruders.

He doubted anyone would break into this place, but if they ever tried... Jungkook really preferred having Taehyung in his room over not having him here.

"Hey, uhm..." Jungkook was still awkwardly leaning over the edge of the bed. He couldn't believe he was about to say this. Maybe it was stupid, but Taehyung couldn't be comfortable down there and he had been really sweet and nice all day... and Jungkook appreciated that.

"If you want you can sleep on the bed as well. It's huge anyways so we wouldn't even touch... the floor just looks really uncomfortable." He remembered how Taehyung had fallen asleep at the bottom of his bed last night. He still had no clue why he had been there... but it didn't really matter either.

He could feel himself grow antsier as Taehyung just stared at him. With the completely blank, unreadable expression he wore quite a lot... but then he stood up and when he didn't move after that Jungkook realized that he was waiting for him to move away.

To make space on the bed. Jungkook did so quickly. Maybe having made this offer was stupid. There was a good chance that he would accidentally roll onto Taehyung's side of the bed and get stabbed or something... but he just wanted to be nice in return.

If they both tried being nice to each other, maybe this would work out.

Taehyung sat down on the edge of the bed, pushing his hand into the mattress like he was testing the way it moved before finally lying down. Jungkook watched him grab the blanket and pull it over him and he couldn't help thinking about how normal... how human that looked. Taehyung didn't seem like the monster he could be.

If Jungkook hadn't known better he would have assumed he was just a really attractive person Jungkook had gotten the chance to share a bed with.

"Comfortable?" Jungkook adjusted his pillow, moving as far to the other side of the bed as possible.

Taehyung nodded, pulling the blanket up to his shoulders before yawning softly. Jungkook had to fight back the urge to coo because Taehyung and his soft face looked absolutely adorable when he yawned.

"That's good." Not knowing what else to say Jungkook turned around and switched off the lights in his room. He felt a little hyper-aware of the other presence in his bed, but he forced himself to close his eyes nevertheless. He had to put a little bit of trust in Taehyung if he wanted this to go well. If he expected Taehyung to kill him any second, their relationship would stay as tense as it had been this whole time.

And Jungkook couldn't take that. Not anymore. He just wanted some peace and quiet... not worrying about anything but absolutely insignificant matters.

But he really believed that it could happen. That they could get along better if they just learned how to communicate properly.

"Good night."

And maybe there was a chance. Because when Taehyung looked at him his eyes really didn't seem as empty and void of emotions anymore. Maybe there even was a hint of a smile on Taehyung's face when he spoke again.

"Good night."

A/N

I love this story sooo much and I hate school for stressing me out and stopping me from writing all day long... the nerve._.

I want jk to hug tae even though it would probably... not kill but certainly hurt him. Like trying to lift a cat that doesn't want to be lifted up just with sharper claws skshxjsjdndn

Anyways... the next posted chapter will be with the fanart I have so far of predator tae... I also drew something👉👈😖💕

Don't judge me too harshly. I only started drawing 4 months ago but I tried zksbzjsbdjx