Got my claws in you

Chapter 30- thrown into hot water

HOBI POV:

The day the hybrid centre starts off the mural, Tae comes back looking determined, tail swishing with purpose behind him and hand tightly holding onto (Y/N), the sight of the familiar doe making my head rise from the assignments sprawled in front of me, pen clutched in my hand as I watch him drag her over to the sofa, hand swallowing up her wrist.

"Tae is something the matter? You look like a cub on a mission." I say, brows rising when he gently nudged (Y/N) into sitting down, hand only uncurling from around her when she sinks into the couch and doesn't fight off whatever it is he's doing.

"Tae I'm fine!" she insists. But her words make alarm spike through me, scrabbling upright from my sprawled-out position, eyes scanning over her, over Tae. But there wasn't any sort of indication that either of them were physically hurting or stiff. Rather her posture was loose and relaxed as he tugged cushions closer to her, placing on her lap with wide expectant eyes, smiling when her hands curled around it and clutched it close.

It was one of the pillows I knew the others had been clutching last night, had seen it cushioning Jin hyung's head at some point. I also knew that Yoongi hyung had been clutching it himself some time ago, napping with his body curled around it.

So there was something meaningful and intentional as to why Tae had chosen one of the heavily scented pillows to give to her, bustling off out the living room with a bright call for her to stay seated, that he'll be back.

I shuffle close, leaning against the couch and peering up at her, see the way her gaze focuses on me and she smiles. Hand uncurling to brush my hair away from my face in an almost absentminded gesture, but it's one I lean into, head resting against the side of her leg.

"What really happened? That Tae's stripey tail's in a twist." I say with a smile, gently nudging my head against her leg, lightly butting it.

"And that's got your ears all twirly too." She muses.

But there's flickering remnants of fatigue in her eyes, an exhaustion that goes beyond being physical and there's a slight tightness to her lips.

I give her a hard look.

"I've realised Ji Ah's recovery is going to be far longer. I spent the better part of three hours trying to calm her down from a nightmare. But even after waking she seemed trapped in it." She admits, fingers beginning to card through my hair lightly, fingers barely brushing across my scalp, light touches that make my head lean against her. Settle there.

My heart aches for the helplessness in her voice. The slight fear in it too. Fear that she wouldn't be able to help Ji Ah.

I knew she would, knew that (Y/N) was the best choice in getting through to Ji Ah, but she needed to cut herself some slack and give the both of them time to get there together. Ji Ah needed time but so did (Y/N).

And when Tae returns with a blanket I know was lying on our bed, folded up and approaching (Y/N) with a fierce need to cheer her up, I wriggle onto the sofa, reaching out to grab my textbook. Content to curl into her whilst Tae shuffles close from the other end, sandwiched between the two of us.

Know that none of us were going to let her overwork or get lost in her mind with fears and anxieties and worries.

That had been four days ago.

Four days and I'd seen (Y/N)'s smile at times burn in full force, dazzling and optimistic and unwavering but I'd also seen it dim when she thought I wasn't looking, had walked into her office at the beginning of my afternoon shift and had seen her cradling Min-Junie as he napped, with silent tears trickling down her cheeks and dampening his hair. Whispering with an aching shaky voice that Ji Ah had rejected taking the feeding tubes, had tugged them out with hysterical sobs and writhing away from anyone who'd come close. That she'd tried and tried but (Y/N) had been unable to even to get Ji Ah to settle, she'd needed a sedative to help keep her calm.