Safe With You | Yoonmin

Chapter 16: Spring

| Yoongi |

SPRING HAD FINALLY ARRIVED, and life was becoming routine for Yoongi.

Every morning he rose early in the cold, crisp pre-dawn, walking to the nearest public well to collect water for drinking and washing.

Then he would venture out into the forest, checking his traps and foraging for any roots, mushrooms or berries that had survived the cold and for pheasant eggs hiding in the grass. Occasionally he would cross paths with Jungkook or other hunter-gatherers from the pack's poorer families.

On the days where he found a rabbit or bird caught in his traps, Yoongi would have to rush home. Salt for curing meat was still a luxury he couldn't afford, so it was necessary to prepare and eat it quickly, or to pack it tight with any snow he could find, so that it might keep for a day or two. But even snow was becoming hard to come by.

The rabbit furs he saved, laboriously cleaning and curing each pelt until it was silky soft. The pelts were tossed onto the ever-growing pile by the tea table.

And that was another thing. He had a tea table. A beautiful, delicate piece of furniture carved from cherry wood.

When the previous owners of this house had died, it had begun to grow cold and damp. The neighbors had removed the tea table and a few other furnishings to save them from rot and mildew. They were a kind elderly couple. Betas. And after Yoongi moved in they had insisted on returning the tea table to him, as well as a tall wooden wardrobe.

The tea table looked a bit silly, sitting in the barren house by the window without a single chair or a vase to place upon it. But Yoongi constantly found himself admiring it, tracing the carvings as he imagined the improvements he would one day bring about, to make this house worthy of such a table.

After a meager breakfast of stringy meat and wild berries, Yoongi would report to the carpentry shop where he worked from morning until sunset. The work was exhausting and hard on his shoulder, but each day brought him one step closer to earning his own tools.

Then came the very best part of the day. Seeing Jimin.

In the trade sector, all work ground to a halt as soon as the sun dipped below the hills. In all shops but one, that is. While everyone else went home for a hot meal, Yoongi would walk up the street to the pottery shop, letting himself in by the back door.

These visits had begun innocently enough. The first time, it was to keep the promise Yoongi had made to Jimin weeks ago; that he would fashion a proper latch for the shop's front door.

The task was complicated, requiring the right tools and a sturdy wood that wouldn't warp with time or swell in humidity. The "key" was a narrow wooden piece the same length and half the width of Yoongi's hand, with several different shaped grooves along it's edge. It turned in the lock just like any metal key and could be hung on a belt or around one's neck by a string. He made three keys in the end. One for the master potter and one for each apprentice. It took several nights of working alone in the carpentry shop, but in the end it was worth every aching muscle and drop of sweat.

Jimin, who had been quiet and withdrawn for weeks, was unable to hide his delight and fascination when Yoongi installed the lock. The omega found it so clever, the way each piece fit together. His smile of gratitude had been nothing short of radiant, and it nearly sent Yoongi's wolf into a preening frenzy.