Unfamiliars - themarmalade(AO3)

Chapter 4

*This is not my story but from @ themarmalade on AO3*

-*-

"Is your leg seriously okay?" Hoseok asks in disbelief, pulling on a clean t-shirt. The stranger rolls his eyes and tucks up his pant leg, a pair of Hoseok's yoga pants.

Hoseok notices Yoongi's petrified state, eyes bulging, tail puffed up like a bottle brush. "Aw baby," he hums. "Kookie scared you, huh?" He squats down but Yoongi dodges his hand and scrambles under the coffee table and hisses again, eyes never leaving this supposed Kookie human.

But there it is, a red, half-healed gash just above the back of the man's knee. And anyway, the eyes are the same, wide and dark, playful and observant. How? How? How? rings through his mind like a police siren.

Hiss and arch, his body clenches and shivers. Fear and fascination and a match spark of optimism. If he could change from dog to human, then maybe, just maybe...

But all the decidedly un-cat things Kookie had witnessed him doing came crashing down around him. Now, Kookie with a mouth and words to speak to Hoseok. Yoongi is nauseous with envy and fear. It was awful, his mind a blaring siren of hope and shattered hope, over and over.

"Let him sniff your hand so he knows it's the same Kookie," Hoseok suggests, chuckling at Yoongi's poofy panicked state.

Yoongi nearly chokes on Hoseok's laughter. How can he laugh? It's all gonna be over soon, he's gonna ruin it, he's gonna take Hoseok away from me.

He glares daggers at Kookie, daring him to stick his damn hand under the coffee table, daring him to breathe a word of his strange cat behavior to Hoseok.

Kookie does stick his damn hand under the table and Yoongi swipes at it before barreling across the room to hide under Hoseok's bed. The other two are laughing it off, Hoseok passing him a tissue to press against the little red beads of blood welling up on his hand, but Yoongi regrets it immediately.

"Ah, I don't get cats," Kookie moans with a sheepish grin.

"He's probably just freaked the fuck out that you smell the same but, y'know," Hoseok laughs, motioning across Jungkook's body. "You two got along so well though, he'll get over it, he's a sweetie."

The words of faith jabbed at his guilty heart. He shouldn't have scratched Kookie. He shouldn't have let Hoseok take him in. It wasn't supposed to end this way; he had just wanted a warm place to sleep, and Hoseok had been so very warm.

"So. Jeon Jungkook. What kind of trouble did you get into this time?" Hoseok asks sternly.

"Ah, it's embarrassing," Jungkook squirms a little, pulling his good leg under him. "You know that house up the hill, with the pet goats? Well, they uh, don't like dogs so much. Apparently."

Hoseok breaks into a loud cackle. "Are you telling me a goat put you in the hospital?"

"No! Not exactly," Jungkook winces again, leg clearly still uncomfortable. "They're just, big, you know? And one of them kept charging and trying to headbutt me and I just, didn't quite clear the fence when I jumped."

He rolls his eyes as Hoseok laughs and slaps his knee. "What the hell were you doing in the goat pen anyway?"

"Just....exploring. They're cute, y'know? I guess I get a little carried away when I'm in dog form." Jungkook scratches the back of his head and grins.

Yoongi feels doubly bad. Honestly, human Jungkook is just as cute as puppy Kookie was. Part of him wants to go to Kookie, but he's frozen under his fears and the safe shelter of the bed.