ninelie - yoonmin Gumiho AU

prologue

He feels like shit, and can barely move his limbs

Yoongi is tired of how the village treats him. This? Unthinkable. Hurting their own kind? Stupid. Just because he matured earlier doesn't mean that he was better at absorbing spiritual energy. In fact, doing a 930-out-of-1000 years collecting spirits gave him a short statute and a babyface. Apparently, that was why the village hated him. Along with his red fur instead of the usual white or orange. Was it orange or red? Yoongi was not sure anymore as the other Gumihos kicked him over.

Oh, right. The color was like the dead leaves in fall, except only a tiny bit more red. The same color that is blowing around him, the color that is up high above him, and the color that he is lying on. Completely against his own free will. His slitted golden eyes looked up in defiance at the village's thugs, the ones that repeated feel the need to beat up weaker things in order to make them feel slightly in dominance.

Even if Yoongi had called out for help, he wouldn't get any.

Curse this village.

The cuts and bruises that were cleverly hid under his loose-fitting clothes only started to act up again, and suddenly Yoongi was yanked up by the collar and lifted off his feet. This guy's face is ugly as anyone can get and the eyes are a boring brown. He feels a major urge to spit in this trash's face.

"You get your pathetic red ass out of my face."

And then he fell quite unceremoniously on the bed of leaves, throwing them in disarray and ears barely picking up the laughter of the two other Gumihos.

Oh, Yoongi sure was going to do that. He was sure going to leave this place, soon.

The next day, the village elder drove him out and casted him in exile. Not without calling him names among the lines of abomination and shameful. The words don't hurt him as they did 20 years ago. The magic hurled at him and grazed past his tails as he ran far from the gate of that hellhole, nothing in hand and no intention to return.

The moment he stumbled into civilization, his magic can't hold up or keep his stamina. The red (cursed, as the villagers say) beautiful tails that he actually liked, thank you very much, retracted into thin air along with his ears. He nearly collapses, but stayed awake long enough to get somewhere decent that people will find his ingloriously collapsed form.

--🍁--

Over the few years, Yoongi kept track of his appearance.

...No signs of change or maturing. He doesn't bother to check mirrors again for every few months or weeks. Except for when his boss decided that his messy hair doesn't follow dress codes in the front of the shop. Yoongi also remembers that time where he had to die his pink hair into a blonde color because 'pink is not an acceptable color'. The only reason he wants to stay working there is because of the pay.

His last few years of modern life was fairly uneventful. Yoongi's part of the city is in the less wealthy areas, which only makes his hunting easier. Throwaways of the society tend not to be missed much when they are gone.

What surprises Yoongi most is how he made two friends, Namjoon and Seokjin. Namjoon's a cute kid, younger than Jin and Jin's the same age as Yoongi (technically he isn't but it's just the appearance and cover-up age when he was asked). The two humans just can't get it on with their hopeless pining and crushes on each other. Sometimes he has to leave the room of the embarrassment from the extreme slow burn of a relationship. He plans to just shove their heads together and make them kiss already.

Fairly uneventful.

Until the series of killings that Yoongi leaves in the wake of his hunger appeared on the news. Thank god it was some kind of positive opinion, something like he 'cleared the local gang out'. The harsh condition of the found corpses were noted, though, and he smirks.

All victims' hearts were taken out.

Hearts, the organ that might as well be his drug. He can't live a day without the beating flesh. That reminds him, Yoongi got up and flicked the TV off, heading out to the back streets again.

Mealtime.

--🍁--

He meets up with Namjoon and Jin in the middle of winter, the whole group rushing to find somewhere to grab a drink. It's been awhile since Yoongi met the two, nostalgia lapping against him lightly like waves. Who said fox spirits can't have connections with humans? Once they got settled somewhere in a small warm pub bustling with chatter of other tables, Namjoon and Jin broke out the news that they were an official couple.

Final-fucking-ly.

They laughed and had a good time. Near the end of the meeting, Namjoon off-handedly makes a comment about foxes, of all things. Drawing the points together about the case of the thug-murderer's corpses without hearts and folklore, and saying that Gumihos are real after all.

"I'm curious. What are Gumihos actually like?" Jin slurred his words together, what a lightweight. It's adorable in a puppies and kittens way.

"I'd like to know too. Are they actually not that vicious? I bet they're beautiful." Namjoon adds, earning a light ear-pinch from Jin reminding him that they're a couple now.

Yoongi chuckles at the sight, and also at how little do his friends know.