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🦅
It begins with a bird.
The way that it’s laid directly outside Jungkook’s burrow feels deliberate, but he can’t imagine who would leave a dead vulture like a gift at his doorstep—he hardly eats meat, after all. Ordinarily a formidable predator like this would set his rabbit heart to a terrified beat, and even looking at its sharp claws now sends a warning chill down his spine.
But Jungkook isn’t a defenseless little five pound bunny right now and he can appreciate the beauty of it, smooth white-tipped feathers and a wingspan as long as his arm. Best to not waste something so large and magnificent, he decides. It will probably be delicious roasted, or maybe baked into a pie with some pretty pattern decorating the top, and then he can bring it to one of his neighbors.
You could bring it to Seokjin, his brain suggests coyly, and a pink flush spreads unbidden across Jungkook’s cheeks.
Seokjin is the kind wolf who lives across the river where Jungkook can sometimes catch a secret glimpse of him diligently scrubbing his large shirts clean of the day’s dirt, or splashing around all rambunctious and rowdy with his packmates waist deep in water. It’s a level of play that Jungkook could never indulge in with them—although he’s often curious, the adrenaline and instinct to flee spikes his heart rate to levels that are dangerously high.
But with him Seokjin is always gentle and soft, so unlike the rough and tumble wolves that barrel through the trees and nip at the rabbits for fun. Every week he makes a concentrated effort to greet Jungkook at the market in the forest square; he’ll purchase a basket of vegetables and the occasional jar of honey if he’s in the mood, lingering while he endeavors to hold a conversation with Jungkook in between busy sales. It’s sweet, and it makes Jungkook feel special, and desired, and he loves the giggly rush of having Seokjin’s full focused attention on him.
He’s so handsome and charming and witty and blooms smiles on Jungkook’s face with little more than a cheeky wink and—it’s not like Jungkook is in love, though Namjoon seems to think so, but who’s listening to Namjoon anyway? It’s just a little crush, is all. Jungkook is just a little taken by Seokjin’s easy affection, and looks forward to their interactions with antsy anticipation, and feels bursts of fireworks spark in his chest every time their hands happen to touch and—
“Hmph,” Jungkook huffs to no one but himself and the quiet of the woods around him, patting his face with taut palms as if he could chase the pink and the heat away. It doesn’t matter. The pie will be a nice friendly gift, a thank you to Seokjin for being an excellent neighbor and valued customer of his modest little vegetable stand.
With no effort at all he folds in the bird’s impressive wings and bundles it up into his arms, humming a happy song under his breath as he brings it inside to be plucked.
Jungkook is so preoccupied with his pie plan and thoughts of Seokjin that he misses the glittering eyes observing him from across the clearing, and the pleased smile that spreads across a certain wolf’s face.
🦊
When Jungkook leaves his burrow the next morning, he very nearly stumbles over the fox left neatly on the forest floor. It’s dead and thus harmless so he doesn’t scream, but he can’t quite hold back the horrified gasp behind his palm. This is certainly bigger than the vulture had been, and it feels all the more menacing for it.
The fox appears to be unharmed but as Jungkook dares to venture closer with bated breath he notices that its neck is visibly broken, the fur at its throat matted and roughed up in a way that isn’t quite natural. Two animals left outside his home, two days in a row. Surely this can’t be a coincidence, but who would do this? And why?
“Oh, no, there’s another one?” Namjoon peers over Jungkook’s shoulder, sighing when he sees the fox. “Did you make someone mad, Koo?”
“I don’t think so,” Jungkook responds nervously. A fox is certainly more dangerous than a vulture, and he’s heard the old horror stories of bunnies being snatched up out of nowhere, never to be seen again. He licks his lips, distress beginning to prick up his spine. “Hyung, do you—ah, do you think they’re meant for me?”
“I’m sure it’s nothing,” Namjoon assures him, petting down his ears soothingly. “A predator must have dropped their hunt while they were running through. Nothing to be concerned about, it’s okay.”
“He’s probably sending signs that he’s going to eat you,” another passing rabbit snarks.
Namjoon barks, “Shut up Eunjae” at the same time Jungkook timidly asks, “Who?”
“That big dumb wolf,” Eunjae rolls their eyes as if annoyed that Jungkook doesn’t automatically know what they’re talking about. “The one who follows you everywhere like an idiot, I saw him here this morning.” They snap their fingers impatiently, “What’s his name? Oh—Seokjin.”
“He’s not—! Seokjin is my friend, he wouldn’t ever eat me,” Jungkook bristles, very nearly thumping his foot at this rude rabbit, but Eunjae just scoffs.
“Are you stupid? He’s a wolf, and wolves eat rabbits. So do foxes,” they say, jabbing a finger in the direction of said animal. “Obviously he has plans to turn you into a meal, otherwise he wouldn’t be threatening you.”
“Get out of here!” Namjoon snaps his teeth and steps in front of Jungkook protectively, hands clenched into fists. Eunjae just sneers before stalking away, and as soon as they’re gone Namjoon turns to Jungkook with a soft dimpled smile. “Don’t listen to them, they just want to get in your head and scare you. You know they’ve always been so jealous of your garden.”
That’s not a lie. Jungkook grows the best and biggest vegetables and the second best flowers, and the whole forest knows it. There’s a reason why his stand is so popular at the market, why his talks with Seokjin come in bits and pieces while everyone clamors for produce before Jungkook sells out.
“Look, we both know that Seokjin would never even think about hurting you. This must be another accident, that’s all,” Namjoon adds firmly, and that’s the end of that. “Let’s bury it in the garden, okay? We don’t want to attract bears.”
But the rabbit’s words won’t leave Jungkook’s head, not when they locate a spot beneath the branches of a faraway oak, not when he wipes the sweat from his brow as they dig the grave, not when he gently rolls the fox in and they begin to shovel fresh dirt on top of it.
The words follow him for the rest of the day, along with the subtle stench of fox, and Jungkook can’t help but begin to wonder if there might be some foreboding truth to them.
🦁
Peeking outside to check the weather is second nature for a gardener like Jungkook, but it’s especially important on days he plans to go to the marketplace. It wouldn’t do to be rained on, the damp chill taking ages to leave his sensitive ears when he doesn’t have a nice toasty fire to dry off in front of.
So Jungkook steps outside to sniff the air and immediately finds himself with his face in the ground, having tripped over something—something large, and dense, the unmistakable feeling of flesh and muscle against his shins. Dread fills his stomach as he scrambles back, coughing and choking on the puff of dry sandy dirt he’d kicked up. The second he catches proper sight of the hulking creature spread belly up like a meal on a platter, Jungkook lets out a scratchy yelp that’s loud enough to alert Namjoon in his nearby burrow.
“Jungkook!” His face is all at once fearful, surprised, and concerned when he sees the commotion, and he’s quick to help Jungkook up and away from the mountain lion that graces his front steps. “Come on, it’s okay, I’ve got you.”
“Wh-what’s going on,” Jungkook stammers, holding a palm to his thudding heart and trying to soothe the panic from his system, “Hyung why is there another?”
“I don’t know,” he answers grimly.
“You..you don’t think...what Eunjae said, yesterday,” Jungkook begins uncertainly. He doesn’t want to believe it, but he’s properly nervous now and his mind struggles to rationalize a different explanation. “Do you think that Seokjin..”
“Even if it were him—and I don’t think it is!” Namjoon is quick to add when Jungkook wheezes in distress, “But even if it were, you know that’s not allowed. It’s against the rules of the forest to eat another hybrid, we aren’t wild animals.”
This is hardly reassuring to Jungkook when adrenaline still pumps icy hot through his veins, when his emotions are still so scattered from shock that he has to focus to pull back from the primal instinct urging him to run and hide. He takes a bracing breath, reminding himself that there’s no active threat to him here, and walks with brave, determined steps back to his home. It takes another two beats of shuffling his feet before Jungkook is able to force himself to crouch down, close enough to count each thick whisker poking from the tawny fur of the creature’s maw. Just as the other two had been, this mountain lion is dead. And, like the other two, it appears largely unharmed save for a broken neck.
Is Seokjin making some kind of statement? A declaration? A promise? Jungkook has never seen him as a wolf but he must be big, maybe even bigger than this mountain cat—and twice as ferocious to be able to kill it with so little struggle.
Jungkook shivers again, wringing his hands. He knows what needs to be done, but that resolve does little to stop him from shaking as he drags the carcass out to what is quickly becoming a small burial ground, in his very own backyard. As unaccustomed to digging graves as he is, Jungkook makes quick work of it, determined for this to be over and done with. He very steadfastly does not entertain the fact that he’s terrified to bits not only because of the proximity to such a fearsome predator, dead as it is, but also because this could be him. If it’s true, if these animals are meant to send the message that Jungkook is next...
He arrives at the forest square early enough that it’s mostly empty, too eager to leave his harrowing morning behind. The quiet is equal parts comforting and disconcerting, Jungkook’s ears standing alert and twitching with every rustle of leaves and patter of paws behind the bushes. Nervous hands work quickly to set up his vegetables and flowers, punnets of ripe strawberries and his very first harvest of round, smooth-skinned plums this spring. Fragrant bunches of apple mint and lemongrass—his latest experimentation with growing herbs—go out in front where they can be sampled, and then Jungkook is eagerly ducking behind the safety of his sturdy wooden stall. It’s where he plans to huddle and lurk out of sight until the first of his customers come poking around, but—
“Jungkook-ah!”
Someone calls for him—no, not just someone, Jungkook knows that voice, could recognize the sound of it anywhere, not just the timbre but the way his name is spoken so dotingly, tenderness rounding out the syllables—
“Jungkook?”
They’re right above him now, sounding curious, and Jungkook pops up with a squeak. “Yes!”
“Good morning,” Seokjin greets cheerfully, visibly amused. “Is everything alright?”
“Yes, ah—yes, it’s just, well, you know how mornings are, ha ha,” Jungkook rambles, trying hard to appear normal but having trouble meeting Seokjin’s eyes, afraid of what he might see there. “It’s, um. Yeah. Everything’s fine, ah..how are you? I haven’t..seen you around.”
“Well it’s only been a week since last Saturday’s market, hm?” Seokjin comes closer, Jungkook can smell him, the spicy warmth that clings to him wherever he goes—Jungkook still doesn’t know whether it’s the soap he uses or if it’s just his natural scent, but it’s awfully clean and comforting. “Are you sure everything is alright? I can come back later, if now isn’t a good time. I, ah..just wanted to give you these.”
Forced to finally look up, Jungkook slowly raises his gaze from Seokjin’s sturdy brown shoes, up the dark trousers covering his long legs, to the wide white shirt tucked in and accentuating his trim waist, to the strong hands holding out...flowers? Orange lilies, specifically. Three of them, soft-petaled and vibrant like miniature bursts of sunset, wrapped in crinkled brown paper and tied with twine.
“I know they aren’t anything as special as what you grow,” Seokjin murmurs, more shy than Jungkook’s ever heard him. “But I saw them and thought of you all the same. They’re pretty, aren’t they?”
Inside Jungkook’s brain is a tiny, miniature Jungkook with an even tinier tail and ears running around in a frazzled panic. Me? You were thinking of me?
“That’s so—so sweet of you hyung,” he breathes, the pervasive unease of being prey momentarily replaced by a fluttery, stomach-flipping bashfulness. His eyes dart to Seokjin’s face finally and is both pleased and surprised to find that he’s quite pink, a flush across his cheeks and growing at the tips of his ears.
He’s also handsome as ever, dark hair falling into dark eyes and a facial structure so intensely captivating that Jungkook often considers Seokjin to be almost too perfect to exist in nature. The effect of beauty to the point of intimidation is, of course, lessened when Seokjin smiles and his face blooms and softens with laughter. And this, of course, only causes Jungkook to fall ever deeper into his maddening infatuation that everyday grows into something more closely resembling what someone like Namjoon might seek to call love—
Their fingers brush when Jungkook accepts his gift of flowers, and the zing of electricity he feels zapping up his arm is all-consuming, the steady rhythm of his heart beating fiercely against the cage of his ribs so thunderous he wonders whether Seokjin can detect it.
“Thank you,” he whispers, reluctant to speak any louder and pierce the fragile bubble that’s formed around them. “They’re lovely.”
“Then you can understand why I thought of you, little rabbit,” Seokjin responds brazenly, just as hushed. He chucks Jungkook ever so lightly under the chin, an affectionate flirty touch that makes Jungkook duck his head and smile shyly. “Anyway, I’ve got to get going. Have a good day at the market, Jungkook.”
“Oh, you’re—you’re leaving already? You don’t need any vegetables? I brought fresh strawberries, I know you like them,” Jungkook scurries around his small space, rushing to choose and wrap the nicest ones. He’d brought the strawberries specifically in the hopes that they would run into each other. “Here, take some with you.”
“Ah, not today I’m afraid,” Seokjin declines humbly, and a bit morosely as he eyes the juicy red fruit with unconcealed longing. “I’ve been hunting lately, and there’s something that I wanted to catch before nightfall.”
Jungkook freezes, a paper bag slipping from his fingers that have suddenly gone stiff. Thoughts of all the wild game left at his door fill his mind, like flashes of a macabre slideshow, and he involuntarily shivers.
“But, maybe some other time!” Seokjin beams at him, all smiles and happy, wagging tail as he turns to leave. “I’ll see you around, bunny.”
In the frigid space he leaves behind, Jungkook is stuck with a veritable whirlwind of thoughts, an exhausting back and forth of Seokjin wouldn’t eat me he’s so kind and thoughtful and he likes me, we’re friends, and the more caustic, biting Seokjin is leaving dead things in front of your home, there has to be a reason that he’s doing it and what if the reason is that he wants to eat you?
It goes in endless circles before Jungkook forces himself to settle, only for it to inevitably start up again the second he allows his mind to wander. It gets so overwhelming and distracting that he can hardly focus on anything but his wild imagination for the rest of the afternoon.
🐻
The sun has just begun to reach its rays beyond the tops of the trees when Jungkook takes a tentative, timorous step outside his burrow—surely these troublesome mornings wouldn’t continue into a fourth day! Only to fling himself inside, bounding all the way through his tunnels to his underground nest where it’s safest, although he hasn’t been feeling especially secure anywhere as of late. All he can do is hold his ears down over his eyes and repeat to himself that no one is going to eat him, sniffling into his knees that he’s curled to his chest.
Bears are just as scary when he’s human as when he’s rabbit, he finds. It’s a lesson he never particularly cared to learn.
A part of him is so stunned by what’s happening that it doesn’t have the wherewithal to feel anything but numb to the things happening around him, and another part can’t help but laugh deliriously at how ridiculous all of this is, that he should be caught up in some elaborate dinner scheme where he happens to be the delayed main course. And then, the biggest part of all is quivering with an untamed anxiety, so consumed by caution born from instinct—instinct that’s meant to keep him alive!—that he no longer wants to leave his own burrow, ever.
Who leaves an entire bear at someone’s doorstep if not to frighten them? If not to threaten them? What has Jungkook done in his life that would warrant someone—no, Seokjin—toying around with him like this?
He’s a peaceful bunny! All he wants is to tend to his garden, share its abundance, enjoy the serenity of the forest with his friends and zoom between the underbrush when the inclination takes him. He should have liked to one day take a mate, sure, and before he would have liked for that mate to potentially be Seokjin, but everything has become so muddled and confusing that Jungkook just can’t see how it could ever happen.
It saddens him more than he’d like to admit.
🐺
The night before had seen Jungkook tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep despite his best efforts. The packed earth above his head muffling the outside world, thick blankets warmed by the fire, his softest nightshirt, hot milk with honey—nothing had worked. He’s jittery with exhaustion and still so strung out with apprehension from the ordeal of the bear that when there’s a knock on his door the next morning, he opens it to see Seokjin and instantly bursts into wretched tears.
“Please don’t eat me!” Jungkook wails, uncaring that he’s likely to wake up the entire warren. “I’m—I’m a good bunny, I swear!”
“Eat you?” Seokjin looks perplexed.
Jungkook nods vigorously, ears shaking with the movement. “I don’t know if I’ve upset you, or—or if you’re just hungry, but I—I promise I’m not good to eat, so please—”
“I’m not here to eat you,” Seokjin says, baffled, a concerned crease between his brows. “Sweet little bunny—”
This is the wrong thing to say as it has Jungkook flinching back with an alarmed squeak and a fresh round of fat tears welling up in his sparkling eyes. He clutches his long velvet ears for comfort, bringing them down beside his cheeks, and trembles where he stands, but he doesn’t back down and it makes Seokjin adore him all the more.
“No, I didn’t mean—” Seokjin stumbles over his words, wanting badly to convey that he isn’t a threat and would never let harm come to Jungkook let alone be the cause of it, but he’s often clumsy with affection that isn’t physical and finds himself floundering. He makes a stressed whining sound in the back of his throat, shifting on his feet and only then remembering the weight in his hands.
“Namjoon says you like blueberries,” he blurts out.
Jungkook sniffles daintily, breaths stuttering.
Seokjin carefully, slowly, offers the wicker basket for Jungkook to see, peeling back the gingham cloth so that he can take a peek. “I—your friend, Namjoon—he told me that you like blueberries. I baked you muffins.”
“O-oh..I do like blueberries...thank you,” Jungkook snuffles, wiping at the stubborn tears that cling to his lashes. He peers into the basket obligingly and gives a watery noise of approval. “That’s kind of you.”
Seokjin nods, relieved to see the panic leave Jungkook as he loosens his grip on his ears. “He advised me to stop leaving you dead animals—I told him that they were offerings, but he said you didn’t like them.”
“Offerings?”
Seokjin nods again. “To court you, because I like you,” he explains matter of factly. Jungkook’s cheeks blaze with dizzying heat but Seokjin continues as if he hadn’t shared a momentous revelation, voice going low with chastised shame. “You accepted the first one..when you brought me the pie I thought you knew of my intentions. I didn’t know that they would end up scaring you, so I’ve come to apologize. Rabbits are very delicate and I should have known better. I’m so sorry, Jungkook.”
“..I didn’t know what to do with them,” Jungkook admits, the tremor gradually leaving his words. “I..I had to bury them outside by my garden.”
“I thought they were too small, and you weren’t satisfied with them because of that,” Seokjin divulges, brow furrowed. “I liked that you had standards and knew that you were worth as much as I could give, so I brought you something even bigger.”
“You brought me a bear,” Jungkook clarifies weakly.
“To show you that I can protect you,” Seokjin beams, and it’s hard to miss the hint of pride in his tone, the slight puff of his chest. Both are helplessly endearing and distracting enough that Jungkook’s heart gives an aching tug. “I can hunt your enemies and we can feast on them, together.”
And...oh. Jungkook understands the significance now, the offerings gradually growing larger and larger, all of them natural predators of bunnies in the wild, conquered and laid at his feet. Gifts. He hadn’t made the connection before, but then how could he have?
The realization that Seokjin’s pursuing him was motivated by romance rather than his stomach finally settles in and it makes Jungkook feel buoyant and shy all over.
“I—I don’t eat meat all that much,” he confesses in a small voice, twisting his fingers.
“You can wear their furs in the winter, when the forest grows too cold for you to leave your burrow,” Seokjin suggests earnestly and so sincerely that Jungkook’s lips quirk up in a fond smile. The sight seems to have an immediate effect on Seokjin, whose ears go pink. “I’ll clean them for you.”
“I would appreciate that,” Jungkook whispers. And then, slowly, giving Jungkook enough time to move away should he want to, Seokjin raises a hand to Jungkook’s face and thumbs away the tears drying on his cheeks. He repeats the motion, over and over, until all he’s doing is stroking Jungkook’s soft skin and Jungkook is nuzzling into his palm.
“Next time I’ll bring you something more suited to your liking,” he offers quietly. Jungkook presses a secret smile to Seokjin’s wrist and Seokjin's tail begins to wag in gentle sweeps across the forest floor, loose leaves getting stuck in the coarse fur. “No more dead animals.”
“That sounds nice,” Jungkook says, a little hopeful and a lot in love. Seokjin looks at him expectantly, nothing more than a great big harmless puppy and Jungkook gingerly takes the basket from him with a demure little smile. “Would you like to come inside? We can have muffins and tea for breakfast, and..and maybe I can teach you about rabbit courting?”
“I’m a quick learner,” Seokjin swears and, after the briefest hesitance, swoops in with a careful hand on Jungkook’s shoulder to press a very enthusiastic, giddy kiss to his cheek. Jungkook’s soft gasp melts into a soft laugh, and he shyly grabs Seokjin’s hand to pull him inside, both of them tumbling into Jungkook’s burrow with silly, smitten giggles and the promise of tomorrow.