The Hybrid Whisperer KTH+JJK

Forty One

Taehyung chewed his lip anxiously as he sat at the small, two person table at his favourite campus coffee shop, one hand wrapped around a white, ceramic mug, the other resting on his laptop’s touchpad. The shop was a little out of the way which made it the perfect mix between palatable, affordable and quiet to suit his needs.

He lifted the mug to his lips, surprised to find it lukewarm already. He drank it anyway. Caffeine was caffeine. He needed the jumpstart to his brain. The whole assignment was lacklustre. He set the cup down and opened his browser history. His professor had sent them a link to previous years top scoring essays to give them an idea of what he expected. Maybe he could pinpoint what it was that his work was lacking.

He was scrolling through the week’s entries when his finger paused it’s scrolling.

Collar
Hybrid Collar
Do you need a collar
Do hybrids need collars
When do hybrids get collars
Why hasn’t my owner gotten me a collar yet

He was used to seeing the hybrid’s search history. When he’d given the boy a phone he had set it up with his google account so he would only have to pay for apps once. Jeongguk didn’t really email, so it had seemed like a waste of time to set a separate one up for him.

Usually it was just YouTube links, gaming stuff, memes, recipes, song lyrics and weird questions he’d obviously been arguing with someone about. He knew the searches were to settle an a dispute, because Jeongguk always made his opinion part of the search. Like when he’d looked up ‘Gay penguin don’t adopt rocks’. Which it turned out, was wrong. Given the chance, a gay penguin will indeed adopt a rock. Taehyung knows this, because he clicked the link.

Taehyung took another sip of his coffee, his thoughts no longer on finding the je ne sais quoi his essay was sorely lacking.

As it turned out, there had been a collar sitting in their cupboard for the better part of a month now. He’d bought it during his deeply mortifying trip to the sex shop. He just hadn’t know how to broach the subject with Jeongguk for fear the tetchy hybrid might not just reject the gesture, but that it might bring a sudden and violent end to the blissful honeymoon phase of their relationship.

In the week and a half since they’d finally confessed their true feelings for one another his bunny had revealed a whole new aspect of his personality. He was open in a way he’d never been before. He no longer made the pretence of begrudgingly accepting Taehyung’s affections, but enthusiastically reciprocated. He’d even begun initiating things, entwining his their fingers when they walked down the street. Resting his head against Taehyung’s shoulder when they rode the bus with a contented sigh, kissing him good morning, hugging him goodbye. Yesterday he’d jumped into Tae’s arms and nuzzled into his neck, purring loudly when the older boy had shown up to collect him, uncaring of the many eyes that had been upon them.  Every word, every gesture, no matter how big or small, soothed the ache in Taehyung’s hungry heart.

With one careless google search, Jeongguk had put his fear to rest. Now all that was left to do was make an honest hybrid of the boy. He rested his chin on his hand, a dreamy smile forming on his lips as he pictured Jeongguk’s pale, graceful throat adorned with his collar.

After their evening shower, Taehyung had sat his hybrid on their bed as usual, the hair dryer sat beside them on the bedside. He knelt behind him, grabbing the hand towel from around his bare shoulders and gently blotting the excess water from his damp head. Then he plucked up the dryer, careful, as always, to test it against his inner elbow before his long fingers sifted through the wet tresses, lifting and separating them as waved their blast of warm air at them. Once the heavy mop was dried to wavy perfection, he grabbed the boy’s favourite brush and dragged it through his untangled hair. And just like always, he soon discarded the grooming aid in favour of simply dragging his fingers through the silky locks and over the velvety ears, both of them luxuriating in the familiar sensual pleasure that had always brought comfort and contentment to them both.

Taehyung bent down, bestowing a gentle kiss atop Jeongguk’s relaxed, ebony ear, listening to the familiar sound of his toothy purr, feeling the way their chests rose and fell harmoniously. If his life was could reduced to this one moment, captured in all of time and space, he would consider himself the most fortunate of men. The beautiful creature in his arms was everything he had never known he wanted, but would forever be grateful he had found. He made him strong, yet achingly vulnerable. No matter what he gave to the sweet boy, he was always made richer for it. He was his world, his heart and he knew he would never love another.

“I love you.” He whispered and Jeongguk flicked his ear, purring harder.

Taehyung drew the collar he’d been hiding under the pillow up to Jeongguk’s neck, touching the black leather to his delicate throat. “My pretty, baby, bun.” He murmured, brushing his lips over the boy’s hair.

“T-Tae?” The hybrid lifted a hesitant hand to the steel D-Ring that adorned the front of the simple collar hesitantly.

“I am yours, body, mind and soul, now and for always. And you are mine. Remember? I want to show the whole world what we mean to each other. I want them to know that you are loved, and cherished, and completely and irrevocably owned.” His voice thick and tight with emotion. “Will you wear it?”

“Yes.” Guk whispered, pressing it to him as Taehyung did the buckle at the back. Before Tae even had a chance to drop his hands he was twisting to face him, his mouth seeking Taehyung’s own. It spoke everything that was in their hearts. Tae’s hands reached up to cup his pretty face, his eyes squeezing shut as he rested his forehead against the boy’s.

“I love you, Taehyungie.”

“I love you, too, bun.”

Then the excited hybrid was tearing out of his grasp and leaping off the bed to rush into the bathroom. Frowning in confusion, Taehyung followed to find his hybrid grinning at himself in the mirror, lifting his chin to admire the strap of black leather that adorned it. His hand reached up to touch the padlock that adorned it, noticing for the first time the engraved characters.

My Bun

Jeongguk groaned, but Taehyung could see the delight behind the exasperated facade. “Really, hyung?”

Taehyung bit his cheek to keep from smiling and raised his eyebrows in question. “If you really don’t like it, I guess I’ll just take it back...”

“No!” The hybrid’s hand slapped protectively over it. “It’s mine.”

“There’s my bun.” He chuckled, wrapping his arms around the boy and resting his head on his shoulder.

“Yeah.” Jeongguk breathed in agreement, leaning back. “All yours.”

A/N Well, we're essentially at the end. I do have an epilogue I'll probably post on the weekend, but otherwise done. I hope you enjoyed the ride.

So what do we think? Was it too sappy? I get a little starry eyed sometimes and turn into a romantic monster.

I'm not sure I stressed the importance of collaring enough in the story, so I'll probably mention it a bit more in editing. Essentially it's like getting married. So yeah.

Anyways lovely readers, don't forget to vote.

And remember, I purple you, always and forever