Got my claws in you

Chapter 20- restart

KOOK POV:

It's the sudden spike of hurting, distressed pheromones that greets us when the loud sound of a crash has my ears perking upright, stiff and alert, has me bolting down the hallway, has my return to the living room diverted instead towards the door that acts as a partition between the two apartments. It has me rushing forward, feet silent treads even as I rush, distantly hearing Jin hyung's alarmed call of my name, ears catching his footsteps that hastily follow me. I follow the trail towards the front of the apartment, towards the front door and find my feet suddenly forced to a stop at the sight. The sudden stiffness in my ears vanish, drooping and sagging at the sight before my eyes, at the petrified stiff figure of (Y/N) curled up, pressed tightly against the wall opposite the door and body made impossibly small, curled together tightly and hunched over. Find that my nose scrunches at the sheer hurt rolling off of her, seeping through in a dull but present wave- underlying the air and making it heavy. I feel my tail twitch as I step closer to her, small silent treads as I move towards her hurting, defensive figure and drop down to my knees beside her.

"(Y/N)." I say softly, not touching her, unsure whether she would even accept physical touch when she's in such a vulnerable position, but close enough.

She stiffens, processing my voice, body curling up even tighter, even smaller, hunching into herself, the unconscious immediate gesture yanking at my heartstrings, heart aching for her.

"(Y/N)... (Y/N) are you okay? Can you look at me?" I ask quietly, imploring and softly spoken. The last thing she needed was any sort of harsh stimulation to her senses, I could still see the way the brown ears on her head curved and twitched, trying to shield themselves, trying to curve away defensively.

But she moves. Ever so slowly her head begins to rise, stiffly and the movement is stilted, jerky as if her limbs aren't complying, as if she cannot get herself to physically uncurl, body still locked up with tension, with whatever was coursing through her body and making her smell so distressed, so vulnerable that it made my ears wilt, curve forward and my nose twitch, leaning forward slightly despite myself, feeling the urge to want to protect her, to look after a fellow prey hybrid.

Though even then I don't approach, force my body to remain still and not lunge for her to hide her, to press her close and keep her safe. No sudden movements. No sudden stimulation I remind myself, biting my lip tightly and watching as her scrunched eyes slowly loosen, slowly ease out and flutter open, peer at me.

And when her eyes meet mine, she doesn't flinch away, she doesn't show a lack of recognition. It's the most subtle and tiniest of shifts but her eyes fill with relief and her body ever so slightly loosens.

I smile at her. Gentle and encouraging.

"That's right. Take your time." I say, easing her slowly into it, watching as the stiffness to her body eases away bit by bit, melting away as she peers at me, as she settles with the sight of someone familiar.

But when she tries to uncurl, when she tries to unwind her arms from around her drawn up legs, when she tries to move, it seems forced and stilted, it seems as if her body doesn't cooperate, still buzzing with that instinctual rush to hide, to defend.

A small noise comes out from the back of her throat, distressed and alarmed, has my body jerking forward towards her and has the sound of footsteps approaching.

Light, careful treads. Hastened but the soft tread of them mark them immediately as Jin hyung's, Jin hyung who'd ushered me towards (Y/N) and had rushed to clear up the broken glass and spilled water, had moved to clear up the space so no-one would be hurt.

And Jin hyung who know hurried back, now that nothing needed to be fixed and moved towards us, crouched down and looked at the two of us, eyes concerned and soft, flickering between us as he takes in all the small details.