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breadcaaat · 5 years

Text

part three

Jeongguk x hybrid!reader

Words: 2.4k

Genre: action, fluff, eventual smut if i’m brave enough??

Warnings: nudity (again)

The first thing to pop in Jeongguk’s head as he woke up was The heating’s been fixed, and it’s overcompensating. It was hot in his little apartment. How had he slept like this? Even his sheets were damp with sweat, and for the first time since autumn started the thick duvet layers were stuffy rather than sanctuary.

At least it was up again. That’s good.

Smacking his dry lips quietly, he flapped at his shirt a little to get some airflow. The movement caused whoever was next to him to shift in their sleep with a quiet chuff.

Jeongguk’s eyes shot open.

He hit the floor like a box of pans tumbling down a flight of stairs, and the girl startled awake. “Hey,” she growled, reaching for the duvet he’d unintentionally ripped away. “Give it. M’cold.”

“No! What are you doing in my bed?”

She ignored him, grabbing the duvet and pawing it back onto the bed. “I was sleeping.”

“Why?” he squeaked.

“Apartment’s cold.”

“You can’t just do that - sleeping in people’s beds without asking - ”

“Saved your life. Stop whining.” She pulled his pillow into a tight embrace, nestling the other behind her and tucking herself back in with the duvet. He watched in dismay as she melted right back in.

“I - thanks, but, I think you should…” He was interrupted by a soft snore. All conviction left his voice with a sigh. “…Go.”

Her shoulders rose and fell in a deep sigh, and then she relaxed all at once back into a deep sleep. I guess she did save my life. I shouldn’t be rude.

She looked tired anyway. In the morning light, he was able to see her clearly for the first time since they’d met. The fluffy, rounded little triangles on her head flicked on the pillow. The tip of her nose twitched. She looked at peace - relatively.

Judging by the deep bags under her eyes, it didn’t seem like peace was something she got often. They were dark as bruises. When was the last time she slept? he wondered to himself. There were other features to her indicative of a turmoiled life - small scars, healing bruises, untreated acne, slightly jaundiced complexion. She hadn’t seen the sun in too long, it seemed, or a full meal. There was no softness to her besides the brush of her eyelashes across the cheekbones beneath them.

He sat on the edge of the bed and fussed with his bangs nervously. What now? He couldn’t just leave her to sleep since she could steal something, but it looked like she was going to be comatose for the next few hours. What time was it anyway?

…Where was his phone?

A small panic seized him. Shit - the river!

Jeongguk shot to his feet. It either dropped out of his pocket or got wet, either of which was death to the poor thing. Mumbling a few curses under his breath, he started towards the bathroom. That’s where he’d dumped the mop-load of clothing from last night.

And ugh - the bathroom stank. It was a swamp of unmopped bath and river water, and the polluted grime seemed to have completely permeated his clothing. There were mud tracks everywhere, too. He whimpered at the mess. I barely have enough time as it is, how am I gonna clean this?

The phone was nowhere in the bathroom, so he fluttered over the entry to see if it’d dropped anywhere. “Where is it?” he muttered frantically. Stripes shifted in bed, indifferent.

Mostly.

He was making a lot of noise. If I don’t throw him from the balcony before breakfast I’m rewarding myself with another bath, she thought.

She groaned to get his attention. He didn’t answer, just ducked out the door for a second to check the hallway, muttering to himself frantically.

“Jeongguk,” she groaned. He fluttered back in, kneeling down to check - his shoes? Why is he checking his shoes? “Jeongguk.” A thinly veiled growl this time.

“What?” he said, not really paying attention. Maybe it was between the couch cushions?

“Rice.”

He looked up. “Huh?”

“Rice.” A loose wave towards the kitchen.

He looked at the counter and just about melted in embarrassment. “Oh.” There it was, sitting in a bowl of rice. “T-Thanks.”

All he got was the thump of a tail swatting the duvet in answer. “M’tired,” she repeated. “Quiet.”

“Yeah, I’ll… do that. Thanks, sorry.”

He got a grunt in return. Not very talkative, he noted.

Scooping his phone out of the bowl and brushing the dust off of it, he swiped through his notifications to see if he’d missed anything important this morning. It was nine o’clock. Not as late as he feared, but still four hours later than usual.

“Oh shit,” he muttered all of a sudden. Don’t I have a morning shift?

He checked his calendar, and sure enough. God, the Gim family was going to kill him. He’s never skipped work a day in his life, and it’d be useless to go - all the morning deliveries are done by now. He could see he’d gotten nine texts from Miyun, and cringed a little. The last one seemed angry.

He groaned, shrinking with guilt. All his regulars probably went without breakfast. Agh, how was he gonna look them in the eye later?

It’d taken a whole lot of willpower to drag himself away from his apartment and to Gim’s place, knowing that the homeless tiger girl sleeping in his bed could wake up whenever and leave whenever with whatever she wanted. He made sure to hide everything important deep in a shoebox before he left and consoled himself with the thought that nothing else in his apartment is really worth much.

The bus ride over had been stressful, too. He was biting his fingers raw just worrying. Would he be fired? They must’ve lost a whole lot of profit today without deliveries - hell, it was a delivery place. That’s their thing! Shit he was fucked!

By the time he skittered through the doors like the mousy little rodent he believed himself to be, he’d worked himself into a wreck. He wasn’t aware of it either, but he looked horrible. Like a drowned rat. (Not too far from the truth, honestly.) But at the sight of him, all the anger Sungyun had incubated whooshed away in a huff.

“Kid!”

He jumped a little but got sheepish when he registered it was her. Ducking his head as she walked around the corner, he found himself fussing with his bangs. Shaking them out, picking at a few strands, patting it back into place. Another nervous tic. Unbeknownst to him, his fingers were bleeding around the nail beds. The sight made Sungyun frown.

Gently, she took his hands into her own, and he blushed at the sight of his cuticles. Expecting a scolding, he ducked his head again.

Rubbing at his hands gently, she asked, “Why did you miss your shift?”

“I woke up late,” he replied quietly. She knew there was more to it.

“You worked a night shift, too, didn’t you?”

“Yeah.” She narrowed her eyes. “...Then I… fell into a river.”

All the calm concern in her gaze disappeared with her eyebrows shooting into her hairline. Now it was a fiery hot mama-bird concern.

“A river?!”

“The one a couple blocks south of the mini-mart.”

“A river!”

Miyun ducked out from the kitchen. “A river?”

Sungyun started fussing over him then, checking for bruising and other such signs of drowning. “A river!” It would’ve been amusing had he not actually fell into a river last night.

“What about a river?” Miyun asked.

“I fell in one.”

“An actual river?!”

This was ridiculous. He felt a little smirk twitch across his lips. “Yeah, river. As in R, I, V - ” Sungyun swatted him over the back of the head then and called him a brat, but then cooed in apology and started fussing over his skull when he winced. There was no way in hell he’d tell her about the kitchen debacle a week ago. She’d have a stroke or something.

The fussing and following interrogation lasted for another two minutes until he started to gently bat her hands away to which she grabbed at his ear and tweaked it until he squealed.

“Stop worrying!”

“Stop doing things that make me worry, you brat!”

It went surprisingly well, honestly. He left the shop with a solid homemade meal and a sore ear, which was a lower casualty stat than he expected. It was good she’d given him an obscenely huge serving size too - that meant he wouldn’t have to spend any money on feeding his guest. Speaking of which - I hope she hasn’t stolen anything. Best case scenario is she’s just waking up as I get back.

On the way home, he called the moving company and the convenience store to call in sick. He deserved a day off.

Finally, the best case scenario was happening rather than the usual worst. He keyed his way back into the dinky little nest he called home and noticed the steam rolling out of the open bathroom and heard the gentle rippling of water as Stripes took a morning bath, which hopefully meant she wouldn’t be too grumpy. He gently shut the door behind him and toed off his shoes.

The water sounds quieted. “Jeongguk?”

“Yeah, just me.”

The water sounds resumed.

“I got breakfast,” he called. “Come get it while it’s hot. This stuff isn’t good microwaved.” He set up the food on the coffee table as she sloshed her way out of the tub. Her footsteps padded over until she stopped a meter away.

“Smells good,” she murmured. He hummed and looked up at her, only to blush profusely and whip his head in the opposite direction. “Jesus - ” she cocked her head, confused “ - clothes! Please! At least a shirt?”

She glanced down at her naked self, chuffed bemusedly, and padded back into the bathroom.

He let out a tight exhale, preparing himself for whatever interaction came next. How could she be so… unbothered by nudity? She just didn’t care. Hell - the balcony windows were open too which means anyone in the opposite building could’ve seen. Agh. Agh!

She padded back out in a pair of his boxers and a hoodie, striding past him to grab a pair of socks from his dresser. He noted that she was wearing the boxers backward to use the hole for her tail, and giggled a little. Her ears flattened and she glanced at him.

“What?”

“Nothing, nothing.” He took another bite, swallowed. “Come n’ eat.”

They ate. Things were a little awkward at first. He didn’t know what to say and she didn’t invite conversation, so they ate in the relative silence of clicking chopsticks and munched food. Jeongguk finished first, leaning back against the couch to piece together what he wanted to say. She noted the thoughtful expression on his face but said nothing.

Finally, with a sigh. “So, I want to say thanks.”

“For what?”

“For the river yesterday. You didn’t have to.”

“I did.”

He furrowed his brow, confused. She elaborated, voice suddenly quiet, timid. Even vulnerable.

“You saved mine. I wanted to thank you but couldn’t find the chance. You’re so…” she took another bite and cleared her throat, “…busy.”

He blushed a little. She was cute when she wasn’t being all threatening and Grrr, I eat throats for breakfast! “Well, uh, you’re welcome.”

She nodded. “Me too.”

Some of the tension in the room broke, and they physically felt a weight lift off their chests. She finished her breakfast a bit more relaxedly, and he let his eyes close for a bit as she ate.

Something occurred to him suddenly, and he tipped his head back forward to look at him. Her eyes met his questioningly.

“You don’t have a place to stay, do you?”

A heavy question, it seemed. She took her time to answer it, polishing what little was left on her plate.

“I - ” her voice broke, still rusty from disuse but better than before, “ - I can, I can leave. This is your den and I’m sorry… for intruding.”

“No, no! “ He waggled his hands, flustered. “That’s not what I meant! I was just curious. Uh, do you?”

“Do I what?”

“Have a place to stay?”

Her ears flattened, embarrassed. “Not really,” she mumbled. “I don’t.”

Jeongguk nodded, thinking. He posed a hypothetical to himself. If he let her stay, what would life be like? He’d need to feed her since she can’t get a job looking not-like-a-human. It looked like she had a pretty extensive appetite, too, judging from how much breakfast she just ate. She needed clothes, toiletries, maybe even a phone - he could only afford a cheap one but it’d do. That and some of his bills would probably double. Water, definitely. Her baths were going to knock into that budget. It didn’t seem like the dark was a problem for her vision though, so maybe electricity would stay the same? It’d also be warmer, given the changing seasons and how much heat she put off - he was sweating just thinking about this morning. Heating bill might go down. How much money did he make in a month again?

To Stripes, he was unreadable. His brow was furrowed and he was staring at the ceiling over her left shoulder, doe eyes spaced out and glazed. It wasn’t intimidating at all - his brooding - but she didn’t like not being able to read him. Was he trying to find the right words to kick her out? He seemed like a nice kid, one who’d want to punt her to the curb, but gently.

“... What are you thinking?” she asked hesitantly.

He could probably do it. There was some free time in his week that he could fill with another part-time, maybe at Yoongi’s parlor. The barber liked him well enough - even if he was a little intimidating - so maybe he could swing it. He’d have to give him a call later -

“Jeongguk?”

His eyes refocused. “Huh?”

“What are you thinking?”

“Oh, I just… would you want to stay here? Can you?”

Her eyes widened? Did she hear him correctly? There’s no way. Sure, her hearing’s never failed her, but - he couldn’t be serious. “You mean it?” she asked. She was very still.

He shrugged and fiddled with his hoodie strings. “Yeah. If you want.”

Her tail thumped, and for the first time since they’d met, he saw her smile. He couldn’t help but smile back.

A/N: i’m already working on the next chapter! please leave comments!! i need the validation!! !

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