Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Taehyung likes to think of himself as a perfectly normal college student with a perfectly normal life. For him normal is going to to class half asleep in the mornings, drinking too much coffee, hanging out with his friends, cramming the night before exams, eating MacDonald’s at 3 in the morning after a night out, calling his mom at least once a week, living off ramen noodles, occasionally forgetting to wash his clothes , that kind of thing. Normal is not getting confessed to by an infatuated horny alpha at half nine in the goddamn morning.  

“Please have my puppies!”

Taehyung starts, jumping in his seat, his white chocolate mocha sloshing around his cup almost spilling over the side. Jimin, who had the misfortune of actually been sipping his cappuccino when the loud voice sounded behind them, actually spits out his drink. Taehyung might have laughed if he wasn’t so distracted by the kid standing uncomfortably close, staring intently at him and panting.

Taehyung is totally baffled for a moment. The kid isn’t holding an small dogs so he has no idea what he wants until the smell hits him, that distinct musk that could only be alpha.

He’s known a few alphas in his time, some attending his college course, some friends of friends but this is the first time one ever wanted to mate him. Alpha human relationships weren’t unheard of, only rare, alphas usually preferring to stick to omegas.  He blinks slowly, trying to process what’s happening.

“What ever happened to ‘hello’?” he asks with a nervous giggle. He isn’t scared of the kid, he might be muscle bound and, you know, an alpha but he looks harmless, more like a big overgrown puppy.

“Hello!” the boy says his voice loud and Taehyung cringes. The whole café can probably hear them; he knows Jimin is listening in with rapt attention. “Please be my mate and bare my children! I’ll be a good father for you I promise!”

“Okay can you maybe not shout please,” Taehyung says quietly and the kid blinks, his big doe eyes, surprisingly pretty for an alpha.

“The moment I saw you I knew,” the kid whispers, his gaze still fixed on Taehyung like he’s the only thing he can see, “it’s you, you’re the one I just know it. Can we mate now?”

“Wait, are you saying you’ve imprinted on Tae?” Jimin says, speaking up for the first time, a gleeful glint in his eyes and Taehyung just knows he’s enjoying Taehyung’s discomfort, little shit.

The kid tears his eyes away from Taehyung for the first time as if only just now realising there were actually other people present. His eyebrows furrow as he looks at Jimin, an unhappy frown taking over his face.

“Who are you?” he asks curtly glancing back at Taehyung, “why are you with my mate?”

Jimin opens his mouth, his eyes widening and Taehyung feels his face flush. Jimin’s shoulders begin to shake with barely contained laughter and Taehyung kicks him subtlety under the table.

“Whoa, hold it there buddy,” Taehyung says regaining the alpha’s full undivided attention. Taehyung can practically see his non-existent tail wagging behind him. Cute.

“Who said anything about mating?” Taehyung says his voice an octave higher than he would have liked. The kid’s reaction is instantaneous, his face falling as he begins to pout. He really is adorable, a big muscle-y puppy and Taehyung’s heart melts a little. He always wanted a dog; he loves animals, especially puppies but the apartment he’s renting with Jimin at the moment has a strict no pets policy and they’re both broke college kids. He looks at the kid and his heartbroken expression and he can’t find it in himself to turn him down.

“I don’t know about being your mate or raising your children or anything but what about a date?” he suggests and the kid perks up.

“I can court you?” he asks almost vibrating with excitement. He runs a big hand through his dark hair, grinning and showing off sharp teeth.

“I suppose,” Taehyung says as he feels himself smile too, the kids grin was infectious, “What’s your name?”

“Jeon Jeongguk!” the kid – Jeongguk – announces proudly.

“I’m Taehyung,” he replies holding out his hand for Jeongguk to shake. “Kim Taehyung.”

Jeongguk takes his hand but instead of shaking it he presses his lips to the back of his hand before nuzzling his wrist.

“You smell so good,” Jeongguk says and Taehyung’s ears burn.

“You do know I’m not an omega right?” Taehyung says, for the first time worried about the others reaction. Jeongguk just looks at him quizzically.

“You’re not?” he asks, confused, “but you smell like one.”

From across the table Jimin laughs into his coffee mug.

“I do?” Taehyung asks, “Well I’m not, sorry.”

“That’s okay,” Jeongguk shrugs, “No one’s perfect. We can always adopt so you can still raise my children.”

Taehyung laughs. He had to admire Jeongguk’s single-mindedness. “Alright big boy, let’s slow down a little how about dinner tonight, yeah?”

Jeongguk looks a little disappointed at the thought of no mating but he nods happily anyway.

Jimin coughs and Taehyung knows it’s time to head to class. He stands and smiles at Jeongguk.

“Well it was nice meeting you Jeongguk,” he says with one last wave he turns to go only to have Jeongguk follow right behind him.

“Um Jeongguk do you have classes or something?” Taehyung asks and Jimin snickers.

“Nope!” Jeongguk says cheerfully, “Besides, nothing is more important than protecting my mate! You never know when someone will try to steal you from me.” he flexes as he speaks, a subtle show of strength and Taehyung won’t lie he’s attractive and he wouldn’t mind getting to know him a bit better. Or a lot better for that matter. Still that doesn’t mean it isn’t embarrassing. Jeongguk is so hilariously unaware of human customs, although maybe it’s the fresh imprint that’s making him act this way, but it’s endearing and oddly charming.

“Oh my god,” Taehyung groans, burying his flushed face in his hands as Jimin bursts out laughing next to him. What the hell was he getting himself into?

Chapter Text

The lecture hall is relatively empty which isn’t surprising considering the class hasn’t started and the lecturer isn’t even here yet. It’s Taehyung’s last lecture of the day and he’s always here early because his class before is also held in the same hall. It’s boring but the ten minutes between lessons isn’t enough to go anywhere else. He’s currently killing time scribbling vague notes in his notepad as his fellow college students trickle in.

This is one of the lectures he doesn’t share with Jimin and he finally managed to convince Jeongguk that he needs to go to his own lectures instead of following Taehyung around to all his. I can look after myself brat, he’d smiled at Jeongguk, laughing as the young alpha pouted and whined about not being able to protect his mate. But Taehyung quickly realised there isn’t a lot Jeongguk wouldn’t do for him so he relented and went to his own lectures in the end.

Taehyung feels himself smile at the thought of the alpha, his boyfriend. It had been a little over two weeks since they’d officially started going out, which was itself a week since Jeongguk imprinted on him in the café that morning. Taehyung considers it dating but Jeongguk insists it's still courting. Taehyung had asked him when courting ended and Jeongguk rolled his eyes like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Courting ends when we mate properly and I knot you, he’d stated bluntly and Taehyung had been so surprised he’d spat the soda he’d been drinking out all over Jimin, which served his friend right because he’d been busy laughing at him.

Taehyung isn’t sure he's ready for knotting and mating or anything yet, but Jeongguk, despite being unbelievably eager is willing to be patient with him, which Taehyung appreciates. He’s still only beginning to research what all of it even means. He has a general idea but he’s never really concerned himself with werewolf matters so it’s all pretty much new to him. He googled what a werewolf’s knot actually was in a public library and had been ready to murder Jeongguk because the little shit could have maybe mentioned what a knot was before a bunch of swollen wolf dicks appeared on his screen. He’d almost been banned from the library for gods sake. Thankfully the librarian liked him and let him off with a severe warning.

From what he could tell mating with a werewolf is a serious business and not to be taken lightly even if he is just a human. It’s not something to be rushed and he supposes him and Jeongguk will have to talk about it later. It’s certainly not something they should be doing after barely a month of dating.

Despite only dating for such a short period of time Taehyung is already stupidly fond of the kid. Jeongguk is a year younger than him and just started his first year at the same college as Taehyung. He’s majoring in business and minoring in dance, which means Jimin has to deal with him a lot more on campus than Taehyung does, which amuses him to no end (‘all he does is talking about you, Tae, it’s sickening I think I’m going crazy.’).

Taehyung had been surprised to learn Jeongguk had actually been raised in a pack of werewolves somewhat removed from society. Not totally removed or primal or anything like that but they lived relying less on society and more on nature. Apparently, it also wasn’t unusual for young werewolves to leave the wild for college when they grew older, deciding to integrate into modern society. Jeongguk told him he’d moved to the city with his older brother, Namjoon, also an alpha. This explained a lot, especially Jeongguk’s complete lack of concern for following human protocols focusing more on werewolf traditions. It’s painfully endearing and even though Jeongguk had followed him around diligently for days like a cute puppy, actually growling at anyone who so much as looked at him, Taehyung finds himself falling more and more.

He’s so caught up thinking about Jeongguk he doesn’t realise someone sneaking up behind him until something is dropped unceremoniously on his desk.

He blinks at the sudden appearance of what looks to be a random pile of fluff and fur on his desk. He looks up to see none other than Jeongguk smiling proudly down at him, looking so pleased like the cat that got the cream.

“Hello, Gukkie,” he says slowly looking from the furry heap to Jeongguk back again, who’s still grinning happy as a clam. There’s a weird smell from the pile and he wrinkles his nose. What the hell is that thing?

“Hi Tae!” he chirps, bouncing back and forth on his heels. He seems to be waiting for Taehyung to look at the ‘present’ he dropped on his desk.

“So, what’s this, buddy?” Taehyung asks poking the thing with the end of his pencil. The fur is soft but overall the thing is strangely firm and he has no clue what it could be. Maybe it’s some kind of hat? Winter is approaching and Jeongguk’s been fussing about his health so maybe he got him something to keep him warm?

“It’s a present for you, my love,” Jeongguk announces and Taehyung raises an eyebrow.

“Aww thanks baby, that’s so sweet I-” Taehyung starts, his heart fluttering as he smiles at his sappy boyfriend. He goes to pick his present up and his heart drops when he finally sees what exactly it is Jeongguk got him. He lets out a shriek dropping the thing as quickly as he can, almost tumbling out of his seat as it lands back on his desk with a thud.

“Jeongguk! What the fuck!?” he yells, not caring that his fellow students are looking over. “Is that a dead rabbit? Oh my God!?”

Jeongguk pouts, his lower lip jutting out unhappily, his doe eyes widening with surprise as if he really, honest to god is shocked that Taehyung doesn’t like the dead, bloody animal corpse he dumped on his desk out of nowhere.

“You don’t like it?” Jeongguk asks in a small voice.

“Like it? Jeongguk are you serious? It’s a dead rabbit!? Why would I like that? Oh my god did you kill it?” Taehyung asks in utter disbelief. He doesn’t even want to look at the dead rabbit on his desk. The poor bunny!

Jeongguk hums, not meeting his eye and Taehyung can tell he’s thinking about lying to him, like a child that’s been caught red handed stealing from the cookie jar but is still thinking about trying to deny it.

He sighs. This doesn’t seem like a mean prank, he’s not even sure Jeongguk is capable of being mean, especially mean to him but he can’t for the life of him imagine why Jeongguk would have thought giving him a dead rabbit was a sweet thing to do for him.

“Guk,” he begins taking a deep breath carefully avoiding looking at the dead rabbit. “why is there a dead bunny on my desk?”

Jeongguk stares firmly down at his shoes, shuffling his feet looking for all the world like a young kid being scolded. He mumbles something too quiet for Taehyung to make out.

“What was that?” he asks and Jeongguk sighs, finally looking at Taehyung with wide, innocent eyes.

“It’s a present for you,” he mutters, still pouting, “I hunted it for you.”

Taehyung takes a deep breath. He’s knows it’s not fair to yell at Jeongguk for trying to do something nice for him but still…

“Why did hunt a rabbit for me?” he asks keeping his voice calm.

“That’s what I’m supposed to do, Tae,” Jeongguk explains imploringly, practically whining. “I’m an alpha! I need to hunt for my mate. I need to make sure you don’t go hungry. Especially in winter.”

Taehyung can’t help himself, he feels so bad about the poor little rabbit but the thought of his dumb boyfriend sneaking around the woods, stalking a small rabbit thinking he’s going to feed Taehyung with it, well that’s just ridiculous. He lets out a little laugh and once he starts he can’t stop his laughter growing until he’s bent over clutching his stomach.

“Tae?” Jeongguk asks confused, watching him laugh looking so unsure. It’s cute. “are you okay? You’re not mad?”

“You hunted me-” he wheezes, “a rabbit? You hunted down a bunny for me? Oh my god Jeongguk.”

“Is it not enough?” Jeongguk asks, his brows wrinkled. “I can hunt you more! Do you want a deer? I can get you a deer or a bear? I will fight a bear for you Tae!”

“No!” Taehyung says shaking his head wildly, “no, no, Guk, please no more killing things for me! I appreciate the thought, I do, but I’m not a wolf, I don’t eat raw meat.”

“Oh,” Jeongguk says quietly, looking genuinely disappointed and Taehyung’s heart squeezes painfully. “I’m sorry, Tae.”

He hadn’t meant to hurt Jeongguk’s feelings, there’s still so much he doesn’t know about wolf traditions, for all he knows this is something very important to Jeongguk and he’d laughed at him. He suddenly feels pretty shitty. He’s still learning and so is Jeongguk and it’s a but messy and tricky but he knows he wants this to work. He reaches out and takes Jeongguk’s hand in his, squeezing reassuringly.

“I’m sorry, Guk,” he says sincerely, and Jeongguk looks at him hopefully. “I appreciate the gift, I do. My big strong alpha hunting for me, thank you.”

Jeongguk sniffs, looking less downcast, even preening a little at the praise.

“Really?” he asks and Taehyung nods.

“Just please don’t bring me dead animals anymore, okay?” he asks and Jeongguk nods, no longer looking so dejected.

“Thank you,” Taehyung says, pulling Jeongguk’s closer so he can press a quick kiss to Jeongguk’s pouty lips.

“Tell you what, my brother owns a restaurant so why don’t we take this to him and he can make us a stew or something then I can eat it,” He suggests with a smile, squishing Jeongguk’s soft cheeks between his hands. Jeongguk smiles for the first time, his cheeks squishing even more as he shows off his bunny teeth.

“Alright,” Jeongguk mutters, looking pleased. “It’s not my fault you humans are so weak.”

“Watch it you dumb wolf,” Taehyung laughs as Jeongguk scoops the dead rabbit off the desk putting it back in the plastic bag he brought it in and Taehyung figures he can always get the notes off someone else as they head off to Seokjin’s restaurant. He’d much rather have lunch with his sweet, well-meaning but slightly unaware boyfriend than sit in another boring lecture anyway.

~

“I brought you something!”

Taehyung grimaces at the sound of Jeongguk’s voice behind him. He loves his boyfriend, he really does but after the rabbit incident those words strike fear into his heart. It’s been two days since Jeongguk deposited a dead bunny on his desk like a cat that brings you dead mice and he hopes he’s learned his lesson because, while the rabbit stew Seokjin whipped up was delicious, Taehyung isn’t sure he can stomach seeing another dead animal so early in the morning.

Still he looks up to see Jeongguk smiling, holding out another plastic bag filled with…something.

“Remember we talked about this baby?” Taehyung says forcing a smile onto his face, “No dead things remember?”

Jeongguk rolls his eyes, smiling even brighter as he holds the bag out for Taehyung to take. “of course I remember so I got you something else.”

“Really?” Taehyung asks, his curiosity peaked, “what is it?”

“Open it and find out,” Jeongguk says and Taehyung gives him one last look just so Jeongguk knows if Taehyung sees something dead in the bag there’s going to be trouble.

He opens the bag and looks inside and is pleasantly surprised to see no rabbit corpses. Instead he sees a half dozen sugar doughnuts. His eyes light up. It’s his first lecture so he hasn’t had time to grab anything other than coffee and his stomach has been growling at him ever since.

“Awww you hunted some doughnuts for me?” he coos as Jeongguk flops into the seat next to him, glaring at the guy two seats down. “you’re the best alpha ever. I’m so lucky.”

“Hunted them down on the bakery aisle,” Jeongguk brags and Taehyung giggles, taking the first bite of the sugar treat. Jeongguk throws his arm around Taehyung’s shoulder, a gesture that he’s done so much neither of them even notice anymore, it just happens naturally and Taehyung curls into his side, offering him a doughnut too.

“Thank you,” Taehyung says sincerly as they both snack on the pastries, stealing sugary sweet kisses, “this is a million times better than rabbit stew.”

Chapter Text

College has taught Taehyung many lessons. ‘Life lessons’ his dad would call them. One such life lesson is that bad things often happen altogether. Rarely does one thing go wrong without multiple other things going wrong at the same time as well. When it rains, it pours and all that. Taehyung had woken that morning after an all-nighter with a pounding headache, sore throat and a cough that wouldn’t quit. He attributed his sore head to the fact he’d only slept a rough three hours. However, it quickly became apparent it wasn’t that simple. It never is. He started sneezing when he brushed his teeth. His nose began to run like a tap and speaking hurt his throat like it was coated in sandpaper. There could be no denying it- he had a cold.

A cold turned out to be the least of Taehyung’s worries. Jimin had a packed day and had left early to make it to the first of his many classes. He knew his friend and unofficial care taker when he was ill would be out until late as he had dance class after all his lectures. Having decided there was no way he could drag his coughing, wheezing, aching body to class, Taehyung curled up on their old, worn couch with his thin duvet ready to spend the day watching terrible reality tv and feeling sorry for himself. No sooner had he gotten comfortable then he heard their radiator, that had clearly been in this apartment longer than he or Jimin had been alive, begin to splutter and rattle. “Mood,” he croaked as, with one final death cough, the heating system died.

Which leaves Taehyung, in his already weakened state, to freeze in their tiny apartment which could now easily double as a freezer. His eyes and nose are running and he can’t seem to go for more than two minutes without sneezing or coughing out his lungs and now he is apparently stuck in an apartment that is growing colder by the second which cannot be good for his health. It was certainly pouring now. He considers calling Jimin but there’s not much his friend can do for him right now. The heating failing isn’t exactly an uncommon experience but their landlord is an absentee jerk and it always takes at least a day to get it back and Taehyung is in no condition to be arguing with him right now. So he sighs, tucking his freezing fingers underneath him, shivering so hard his teeth chatter.

He’s just drifting back off to sleep when his phone begins to ring. He fumbles for it, almost knocking it off the coffee table before he manages to answer the call.

“Hello?” he croaks, reaching for another tissue to blow his nose into.

“Tae?” Jeongguk’s panicked voice sounds on the other end of the line and Taehyung internally groans. He should have told Jeongguk he wasn’t going to show up today but it had totally slipped his addled mind. “Where are you? Are you okay, baby? Just tell me where you are, I’ll come and get you right away!”

Taehyung opens to his mouth but he’s interrupted by a violent coughing fit.

“Sorry, Gukkie,” he wheezes once the coughing dies down enough for him to speak. “I was going to message you. I’m not coming in today, I’m sick.”

Jeongguk is silent on the other end.

“Guk?” Taehyung asks, moving the phone away from his face as he sneezes. “Everything okay baby?”

“You’re sick?” Jeongguk asks, “How sick? Do you need a doctor? Should I take you to the hospital?”

Despite how miserable he feels, Taehyung chuckles at Jeongguk’s concern.

“I’m alright, Gukkie,” he says, his voice rough and scratchy, “it’s just a little cold, I’ll be fine.”

Taehyung’s eyelids droop. His mind is still fuzzy and his heavy, aching body just screams for sleep. Hearing Jeongguk’s voice, worried as it may be, is comforting and lulls Taehyung closer to drifting off.

“You’re at your apartment then?” Jeongguk asks. Taehyung hums an affirmation, stifling a yawn.

“Alright, I’m on my way,” it takes a moment for Jeongguk’s words to sink into Taehyung’s hazy mind.

“Okay, sweetie,” he mumbles, then realising what Jeongguk said, his eyes snap open. “Wait, what?”

There’s no answer and when he looks at his phone he sees Jeongguk has hung up on him. He considers calling him back and telling him not to bother, that he should be in class and not trooping all the way over to their freezing apartment but he suspects nothing he could say would deter Jeongguk, who, even after nearly four months of dating is still as stubborn and dedicated as ever. He should have asked his boyfriend to at least bring some blankets with him. Taehyung settles down, pulling the thread bare blanket up to his chin and waits for his big puppy of a boyfriend to arrive.

He must have drifted off to sleep because he awakes to the sound of the door opening, groggy and confused at having been woken so suddenly. In his sickened, muddled state his mind couldn’t place who would be entering his apartment.

“Jiminie?” he mumbles, blinking awake.

“No, it’s me, Tae.”

“Guk?” ah yes, he did give Jeongguk a key to their apartment. It had been that or risk having him break down their door at some point. Jeongguk clearly didn’t know his own strength, something Taehyung found endearing except when he broke his stuff.

“Gukkie,” he attempts to smile but can’t help but sneezes instead with surprising force. He grabs more tissues for his leaking nose.

Fully awake he can see Jeongguk standing before him, holding two bulging plastic bags.

“What you got there, Gukkie?” he mumbles and Jeongguk beams at him, that same proud smile he always flashes him when he brings Taehyung a gift.

“Everything I could think of that you might need!” Jeongguk waves the bags, “I got cough syrup, cough drops, nasal spray, cold medicine, aspirin, ibuprofen, headache pads also three brands of chicken soup and lots of tissues.”

“My hero!” Taehyung claps weakly, pausing to blow his nose again. He’s too sick to even worry about how gross he looks in front of his boyfriend. “My big strong, wonderful alpha, you always take such good care of me, such a good boy.”

Jeongguk glows at the praise, standing a little straighter, puffing his chest out. If Taehyung hadn’t been couch ridden he probably would have ruffled his hair.

“Of course,” he says a big goofy smile on his face. Cute. “Anything for you.”

He places the bags on the small, cluttered coffee table, boxes of medicine and cans of chicken soup spilling over. Jeongguk shivers despite his parka.

“Why is it so cold in here, Tae?” he asks, tilting his head to the side. “Do you want me to turn the heating on?”

Taehyung shakes his head sadly. “The heating is broken, baby.”

“What?” Jeongguk gapes at him. “Aren’t you cold?”

“Of course I’m cold,” Taehyung pouts, curling up tighter under his thin blanket. “You didn’t happen to pick up a blanky did you?”

Jeongguk frowns, his brows furrowing as he thinks. He stares at Taehyung then his whole face lights up.

“I know!” he says and unzips his jacket.

“Aww you don’t have to give me your jacket,” Taehyung mumbles but Jeongguk just tosses it aside.

Taehyung blinks at the jacket now lying crumbled on the floor. “Well if you don’t want it, I’ll take it.”

“Don’t worry, Tae, I have an even better idea,” Jeongguk says as he removes his t-shirt, pulling it over his head revealing his abs. If Taehyung hadn’t been so dizzy he probably would have appreciated the sight more. As it is, in his sickened state, all he really wants to do is fall asleep.

“Uuhh, Gukkie, why are you stripping in the living room?” he asks, “not that I don’t like the show but I don’t think I can get full enjoyment when I could die from a violent coughing fit and or hypothermia any second now.”

“I’ll warm you up, just wait,” Jeongguk says, slipping his pants off, folding his jeans neatly and setting them aside. Taehyung’s eyes widen as he takes his underwear off too, standing fully naked before him, completely unashamed. He opens his mouth but Jeongguk gets there before him.

“Close your eyes,” he says and Taehyung wants to but he’s in no real condition to think of anything clever to say so he lets his eyes fall shut, willing himself not to fall asleep just yet.

His ears are clogged up from his cold and everything is slightly muffled but he swears he hears Jeongguk grunting and shifting. He opens his eyes, his mouth falling open at the sight that greets him.

Jeongguk no longer stands before him, in his place is a large, panting wolf.

Taehyung’s always known his boyfriend could shift, of course he did what with Jeongguk being an alpha and all but this is the first time he’s ever seen his wolf form in person and it’s nothing like he expected. To be fair, he hasn’t seen many wolves in his lifetime. Yes, he’s known a few werewolves but he’s never seen them shift, as far as he knew that is only something they did around people they trusted. He grew up with dogs but his childhood puppies are dwarfed by Jeongguk in his wolf form. Wolf Jeongguk is huge, bigger than any dog Taehyung’s ever seen by a long shot. He seems to take up half the room and Taehyung suspects if he were standing Jeongguk’s wolf head would come to about his chest. Jeongguk’s pelt is a deep glossy brown, almost black and his wolf eyes are still the same colour as his human ones, bright, warm brown. His tongue lolls out the side of his large maw and Taehyung spies a row of sharp white teeth. He’s not afraid, not even slightly. Because he may be a huge wolf now but he’s still Taehyung’s overgrown puppy. His posture is relaxed, his two front paws stretched out before him, his head lowered between them.

“Wow,” Taehyung rasps and his hazy mind can’t think of anything better to say.

Jeongguk blinks and pads around the coffee table, his lean muscular form moving fluidly beneath his fur. Jeongguk lowers his big wolf head by Taehyung’s, his hot breath washing over his face. Taehyung reaches out to run his fingers through Jeongguk’s fur, scratching behind his ears. Jeongguk licks his face, his rough tongue tickling his cheek.

“That tickles,” he laughs, his voice cracking as Jeongguk nuzzles closer.

The heat radiates off Jeongguk like he’s a furnace and Taehyung understands.

“You want to cuddle?” he asks, snuffling, reaching for another tissue to dab his running nose. Jeongguk nods, his tongue hanging out of his mouth. Without hesitation he clambers up onto the couch, his massive wolf body moving nimbly over Taehyung, careful not to crush him. The couch cushions sag beneath his weight as he settles next to Taehyung. The couch is not really big enough for two people, let alone a person and a wolf so, in order to not fall off, Taehyung has to manoeuvre until he’s lying almost on top of Jeongguk.

Jeongguk’s warmth envelopes him almost immediately as he sinks into his soft fur. He sighs and for the first time since he crawled out of bed that morning, Taehyung stops shivering.

“You’re so warm,” he mumbles as he buries his face into Jeongguk’s fur. His nose is blocked up but he can still smell Jeongguk’s scent, it’s like how he smells as a human but stronger, muskier and fills the room. “I mean I knew you were hot but this is a whole new level.”

He laughs, but it sounds more like a wheeze and he starts coughing. Jeongguk’s body shudders and Taehyung realises he’s laughing too.

“Thank you, Gukkie,” Taehyung sighs, he’s toasty and contented now, the freezing cold of his apartment nothing but a distant dream and he finds himself drifting off to sleep once again, Jeongguk’s solid, warm form next to him. Taehyung finally falls asleep with a smile on his face, happy in the knowledge that when he wakes up, Jeongguk will be there.

~

Taehyung doesn’t know how long he had been out. He opens his eyes groggily, his eyelids feeling as though they’ve been glued together. It could have been a few hours, or he could have slept for a few days, he has no idea. His head still aches, feeling stuffy and he can’t breathe through his nose but at least he’s warm and his body doesn’t hurt so much now.

“Sorry, did I wake you?” it slowly registers that it’s Jimin who’s speaking to him. He squints up, the lights of the living room suddenly too bright. He makes out Jimin’s form, standing over him, his gym bag thrown over his shoulder.

“What time is it?” Taehyung mumbles. A snort next to him draws his attention and he glances down at Jeongguk who is still in his wolf form and appears to be fast asleep.

“Holy shit,” Jimin breaths, his eyes following Taehyung’s line of sight, “is that Jeongguk?”

Taehyung nods, sitting up carefully so as not to disturb his boyfriend.

“He’s so big,” Jimin says, letting out a low whistle. Taehyung nods, his brain slowly waking up. If Jimin’s home it must be late, after his evening dance class. Which meant Taehyung slept almost all day. He feels guilty for not having gotten any more study done but he does feel somewhat refreshed so he supposes he shouldn’t feel so bad. The apartment doesn’t feel so cold anymore and he guesses either Jimin must have complained to the landlord or it started up again itself. His stomach gurgles loud enough for Jimin to hear.

“Hungry?” he asks, dropping his gym bag to the ground. He eyes Jeongguk’s bags from the convenience store. Taehyung nods.

“I haven’t eaten all day,” he whines.

Jimin frowns at him, “why not?”

Taehyung sniffles reaching for his pack of tissues, “I’m sick.”

“Why didn’t you text me?” Jimin asks but Taehyung shakes his head.

“It’s not too bad, I just feel like crap, it’ll pass in a day or two,” he explains. Jimin examines his face, placing a hand on his forehead like his mom used to when he was a kid.

“Well you don’t seem to have a fever at least, come on, I’ll make you some chicken soup. There’s enough here to keep us going for a month,” Jimin says, picking up a can and heading for the kitchen.

Taehyung sits at their tiny, two person slash three person at a squeeze table while Jimin sets about heating the soup over the stove. Jimin tells him about his day and Taehyung listens, nodding occasionally. Jimin’s just getting to the part where he met up with Namjoon, his long time crush, when he’s interrupted by the sound of feet padding against the kitchen tiles and Jeongguk emerges from the living room, human again, sleepy and still fully naked.

There’s silence for a moment and Jimin’s eyes widen as he takes in Jeongguk’s stark lack of clothes. He glances at Taehyung who shrugs. It’s not like he minds his boyfriend’s nakedness. If anything, he finds the whole situation quite amusing.

“Uh hello Jeongguk,” Jimin says, averting his eyes as Jeongguk stretches, totally unashamed of letting everything hang loose.

“Hey Jimin,” Jeongguk replies, sniffing the air, “the soup smells good.”

“Do you need to borrow some clothes?” Jimin asks and Jeongguk blinks.

“No, I’m good thank you, I have my own clothes,” he says and Taehyung has to stifle a laugh. Jimin shoots him a glare as if this was somehow all his fault.

“Guk, you gotta wear clothes at the table,” Taehyung says eventually, taking pity on Jimin. Jeongguk cocks his head to the side.

“Do you feel warm now, Tae?” he asks. Taehyung smiles. He’d fetched one of his oversized, fluffy sweaters and the heat from the stove helps.

“Yeah, much better now, thank you Gukkie,” he says. Jeongguk beams and heads back to the living room. Taehyung tries not to stare too openly at his backside. He returns a moment later, clad only in boxers with the thin blanket draped around his shoulders. Jimin looks as if he wants to argue but decides to let it drop.

Jeongguk seats himself beside Taehyung, his hair sticking up at the back from sleep. Taehyung reaches out to ruffle his head, Jeongguk leaning into his touch.

“Thanks for coming over, Guk,” he says and Jeongguk smiles, resting his head on Taehyung’s shoulder. Jimin rolls his eyes affectionately as he brings the soup to the table, taking his seat opposite them.

“Of course, Tae,” Jeongguk smiles, “I told you, anything for you.”