Feral - Hybrid!Taehyung x Reader

Chapter Twenty-Three - Golden Retriever

You cooed, clapping and grasping Taehyung's hand and kissing the back of it. His ears twitched and he smiled softly, leaning his head on your shoulder.

"When do you want to start? Can we start now? Please please please?!"

Your eyes widened and you turned to Jimin.

"Now? I thought you had meant like some other day! I didn't know you meant right now!"

A nearly inaudible whimper came from Jimin as his ears lowered, and you restated yourself in a calmer manner.

"I just meant that I didn't know you were going to start today. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound upset," You explained, smiling reassuringly at Jimin, "if Taehyung wants, you can start teaching him today. But if he doesn't want to right now, you just gotta wait, okay?"

Jimin nodded, turning to face Taehyung. You shifted your shoulder to the side, moving out of Taehyung's hold to look at him instead.

He opened his eyes, having closed them while his head was resting in your shoulder. He looked somewhat confused as to why you and Jimin were both staring at him.

"Taehyung, Jimin wants to know if you want to start learning how to shift today, or some other day?"

"Can we start now?" Taehyung still spoke in an accent that suggested he was learning how to speak, somewhat stunting his letter sounds, and each word was interrupted by a short pause. But his speaking skills blew you away sometimes, he was finally able to create basic sentences. It was hard to learn a new language and you were so insanely proud of him for learning so bravely.

Jimin cheered, startling the kitten who was perched on the edge of the bed. He quickly caught him before he fell, cradling the animal to his chest.

"Do we know what kind of dog Taehyung is?" Jimin's inquiry had you furrowing your brows, realizing that you really hadn't ever come across an answer.

"No. But his ears look like he might be a golden retriever, or a lab, or some sort of mix with one of the breeds." You stroked the soft ears on his head as you spoke of them, admiring how golden and shiny the fur had become after you had reintroduced shampoo to the boy.

"That'll be enough to get him through, we don't need to necessarily pinpoint the breed. But since I don't have a phone, would you look up a picture of either of the two breeds? He needs to visualize what he's trying to become when he's shifting and it's not going to work if he doesn't know what they look like." You nodded, pulling out your phone and googling golden retrievers.

Several pictures popped up and you chose the one which showcased the most of the animal, a full side of the body and the entire head pictured. You handed the phone off to Jimin, checking that it was a sufficient picture before saving it, switching to your photos app and viewing it larger.

Jimin handed the phone to Taehyung, telling him to visualize himself as the dog. He spoke for quite a while, and if you didn't know for a fact that it was real you would have laughed at how hoax-like it sounded. Jimin was telling Taehyung to push himself, to force himself to become the dog.

"How do you even shift? What do you have to do?"

"It's a funny sort of feeling in your chest, you sort of strain your muscles and then your tummy starts feeling weird and then you're an animal!" Jimin's explanation was unprofessional at best but he looked so smug that he was able to shift and that he was able to teach someone, so you stayed quiet.

Taehyung's eyes were closed and his face was scrunched up, clearly in deep concentration. You reached out, placing a tentative hand on his ears once Jimin nodded to let you know that it was okay. He relaxed slightly, leaning into your hand before gasping softly. His body began morphing, slowly changing into that of a golden retriever, a soft whooshing noise the only audible evidence of his change.

Taehyung was still sitting beside you on the bed, changing forms seemingly not affecting that. But he stood, staring down at his paws and barking excitedly.

You laughed, gaping at the dog on your bed. Jimin was clapping, smile so wide that you swore he must not have been able to see. He stopped, concentrating for a moment before morphing into the little corgi that you knew all too well. They greeted each other, playing around before Taehyung moved over, climbing into your lap.

You hummed, giggling when he licked your nose. You scratched behind his ears, moving to rub his tummy when he rolled over onto his back. Jimin whined, pawing at one of your hands that was tangled in Taehyung's fur and guiding it to his back. You pet both of the dogs, watching as they basked in the attention you were giving them. 

The little kitten seemed to disagree with your adoration of their second forms, scuttling to the edge of the bed and preparing to leap off. You cooed, scooping him up and bringing him into your chest. Taehyung turned back over, resting his head on your thigh. The kitten hissed quietly, squirming out of your arms. He sauntered over to the golden retriever, batting him on the nose when Taehyung tried to sniff him. An astonished whimper came from Taehyung and you laughed, pulling the kitten back into your hold. 

You placed him beside you on the bed, watching as Jimin approached him and smiling when the kitten didn't lash out.

Taehyung whined for your attention, licking a stripe up the side of your leg where his head was still resting. You turned back, rubbing his head and leaning down to rest your forehead on his.

"You're so cute Taehyung, I love you. I'm so proud of you, you're such a fast learner, so smart."

He barked at your praises, sitting up and sitting himself in your lap. Even if he didn't quite fit, he laid his head against your chest and closed his eyes, dozing off with his tail resting against your leg.