Archive of Our Own ^beta

Jeongguk stumbled his way across the stone path, his clothes completely soaked through with rain. Lightning cracked through the sky in shocks of blue, its thunder rattling through the trees like an angry ghost. 

He was so cold his entire body was shuddering, raindrops running down from the hair plastered to his forehead and dripping into his eyes. There was a tiny whine, and Jeongguk hushed the small animal, cradling the bundles of fur closer to his stomach from where he’d wrapped them up inside of his shirt. 

More thunder echoed through the forest, sounding like the entire world was collapsing around him. Jeongguk jumped at the noise, feet tripping over each other in shock. The tulips lining the path reached out for him, their leaves steadying him around the ankles.

He didn’t have time to pet their petals like he normally did. Jeongguk kept running, keeping his eyes on the ground to keep the freezing raindrops from his eyes. 

When he was finally close enough to see his cottage, a sigh of relief left him. It was way past sundown, and he was coming back much later than he should.

“Jeongguk!” 

Suddenly the front door flew open and Jimin was sprinting towards him, the cottage knowing instantly when Jeongguk stepped foot onto its grounds. Jimin wrapped his arms around him, uncaring of the rain pounding into his dry clothes. “Where have you been?” 

He went up on his toes to press a frantic, worried kiss to the corner of Jeongguk’s mouth.

“I’m sorry, hyung,” Jeongguk explained rapidly as Jimin began steering them towards the cottage. The curtains were closing and opening frantically, a clear sign of the cottage’s disapproval. The last time it had berated him like this, Jeongguk was coming home with a broken arm after tumbling out of a tree trying to fix a broken nest. 

“You scared us, Jeongguk,” Jimin admonished, but the arm he’d wrapped around Jeongguk’s waist was warm. “Taehyung was about to call his mother.”

Jeongguk shuddered at the thought. Though he loved Taehyung’s mother and knew she loved him back, the tracing witch was a stern woman – she had to be, as the Head Investigator for Magical Mishaps. 

The moment they stepped into their home, the door slammed shut, the lock clicking audibly. Taehyung was there with towels, his eyes dark as he wrapped them around both his boyfriends.

“Jeongguk-ah,” was all the older witch had to say before tears were brimming on Jeongguk’s lashline. 

Jimin was a fretter, a worrier. He babied both Jeongguk and Taehyung on a daily basis, taking his role as the oldest in their relationship very seriously. But when it was Taehyung who was looking at him with disappointed eyes, it never failed to make Jeongguk cry. 

“I didn’t mean to be late,” Jeongguk said, voice muffled as Taehyung ran the towel over his head, drying his soaked hair despite his lips being pressed into an angry line. “I just couldn’t leave them behind, not in this storm!” 

“What are they this time?” Jimin sighed.

Jeongguk slowly sank to his knees and gently unwrapped his arms from around his stomach, letting the bottom hem of his sweater loose from where he’d been tucking it against his skin in a makeshift cocoon. 

Three tiny webkittens tumbled out, mewling and crying, their damp fur sticking up every which way. They were just over two weeks old, practically newborn, and their feet were still much too big for their bodies. 

With the body of a kitten and the feet of a duck, Jeongguk always thought the animals looked absolutely ridiculous, and he loved them with his entire heart. 

Jeongguk immediately ushered them towards him, scooping all three of them into his arms and nuzzling his cheeks into their soft bellies.

“I think their mom died,” his voice cracked as he peered up at his hyungs. “They have no one to take care of them.”

“Jeongguk,” Taehyung sighed again. "You can't keep doing this." 

Anger, immediate and defensive, had Jeongguk lashing out. "Doing what? Listening to my magic? Helping animals that I see are in need?" 

"Putting every single thing on this planet before yourself," Taehyung snapped back, responding to Jeongguk's anger. "Running through storms, coming home well past sunset when you know there are creatures that would love to feast on your bones, or worse."

"I can't help it!' Jeongguk clutched the webkittens closer to himself. "My magic would never let me leave them. I can't help the way my magic works, just like you can't help the way yours does!" 

Taehyung's face morphed into an expression of hurt for a split second before he was masking it in the way he was so good at. 

Face blank now, Taehyung grabbed the wet towels and stood. "Fine, Jeongguk. Do what you want."

Jeongguk jolted at the words. He blinked at his boyfriend's back as Taehyung left, veering towards the laundry room. The tears burning in the back of his eyes were angry now, frustration and guilt already making his shoulders deflate.

Jeongguk hated arguing with his hyungs, but he also knew that nothing he said had been wrong. 

"Sweetheart..." Jimin trailed off from his spot next to Jeongguk, voice soft in the way it only went when one of his boyfriends was on the verge of tears. 

From the kitchen, Jeongguk could hear things moving around, cloths being unfolded and the burner click-click-clicking on, the kettle settling on top of it with a quiet thunk. 

Jimin was their little manner witch, and Jeongguk has always been jealous of his magic. While Taehyung and Jeongguk’s magic was broad and a little vague, Jimin had such calculated control over his magic that he could do little tasks like this, like turning on the stove and moving objects from room to room without accidentally smashing them into things.

If it was even possible for Jeongguk to try and turn the stove on with his magic, the entire cottage would probably be aflame. 

Jimin's magic worked almost like an extension of his desires. Right now, he was worried, and with hardly even a thought, there was tea brewing and rooms being heated.

"He's being unfair," Jeongguk said, lip wobbling. 

One of the webkittens burrowed into him with a tiny mrrow when he ran a hand over its fuzzy ears, and the sight of it made him even sadder. Jimin sighed and leaned into Jeongguk's space, squeezing Jeongguk's cheeks in-between his fingers and gently shaking his head from side to side.

"Both of you are," Jimin said. "You can't keep worrying us like this, Guk, and Taehyungie needs to be a little bit more understanding. No one is right or wrong here." 

Despite wanting to hold onto his anger, Jeongguk knew that if it were one of his boyfriends coming home this late with no warning or prior communication, he'd be out in the forest desperately searching for them. The first few times Jeongguk did this, Jimin and Taehyung had been beside themselves, calling all of their hyungs out for a frantic search party through the forest.

 Neither of them had fallen asleep that night, tucking Jeongguk close in-between their chests while he slumbered, counting his breaths just to make sure that he was safe and whole. 

Jeongguk still felt guilty about it, and every time he did this, he continued to feel guilty. But he knew he'd hate himself even more if he didn't listen to his magic, urging him to help the animals in distress, so he was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Jimin pressed a warm kiss to his temple, then pulled him to his feet and towards the kitchen, where a wicker basket was sitting on top of their table, lined with cloths and one of their fuzzy throw blankets. Jeongguk looked down at the webkittens in his arms, the little things peering up at him with huge purple eyes and messy black fur. 

They smacked their little webbed feet against his arm, clinging closer to him when he tried to set them down.

Jeongguk cooed at them, bringing them close to his face to press a gentle kiss to each of their wet noses. They snuffled at him, and Jeongguk wanted to keep them forever.

He placed them gently inside the basket, and sat down at the kitchen table to watch as they tumbled over themselves clumsily, a mess of fur and flippers.

Taehyung came into the kitchen then with the first aid kit and set it down on the table in front of Jeongguk. The youngest didn't look up at him, even when Taehyung reached out and nudged a finger under his chin, a habit he'd developed to catch Jeongguk's attention.

"Are you hurt anywhere?" 

Despite the anger still brimming in his voice, Taehyung was still concerned for Jeongguk. No matter what, Taehyung's love for both Jeongguk and Jimin would always, always win out, and it just made Jeongguk feel even guiltier. 

"No," Jeongguk responded petulantly, his chin tilted up in Taehyung's large hand but his eyes straying to the side.

Taehyung sighed, rubbing a thumb across Jeongguk's jaw once before he was stepping back, sitting a few chairs down from him and crossing his arms.

"Check him, Jimin-ah," Taehyung said.

"I said I'm not," Jeongguk snapped, previous anger quick to spark again.

Usually he liked his hyungs' coddling, but tonight he felt touchy about everything.

Jimin sighed, placing down the steaming teacups that he'd been pouring and taking a seat himself.

"Alright, but let us know if anything starts hurting later," Jimin said.

Jeongguk nodded in assent, about to reach out for his teacup until one of the webkittens managed to scramble over the side of the basket and make its way over to Jeongguk. It crashed clumsily into his chest, its flippered feet making cute smacking sounds against the wooden table as it ran.

Jeongguk cooed at it, able to cradle almost its entire body with his palms. His heart bloomed with affection for it, and when he looked up, a pleading look already on his face, Taehyung and Jimin were already looking at him disapprovingly.

“Honey,” Jimin sighed, trailing off. “We can't do this every time you bring rescue animals home.”

“You never let me keep any of them,” Jeongguk whined. “It’s not fair, and look, this one already loves me.”

It was true – the webkitten in his arms was purring now, its little body vibrating with the intensity of its happiness. Though that wasn’t surprising nor new. Jeongguk was a bestial witch, his magic attuning him to all animals. He could even speak to some of the more sentient animals, a feat that only the most powerful bestial witches could accomplish. 

“They always love you, darling, and we know you always love them back,” Jimin said gently. “But we can’t have animals running around our cottage. It’s dangerous for them because of Taehyung's magic, and you know that, my love.” 

Taehyung's jaw tightened at the mention of him, but he didn't say anything, just drank his tea silently. 

And Jeongguk did know this. It never made it any harder to have to say goodbye to any of the animals he’s rescued – and, with his magic, that happened more often than not. 

Jimin's magic poured a bowl of water for the webkittens, and Jimin plucked the one in his arms away so it could drink feverishly alongside its siblings.

"You have to find another home for them," Jimin said, voice soft. "I'm sorry, Jeongguk."

Sighing, Jeongguk mourned the loss of the webkittens before they'd even gone. He slumped over the table, resting his face in the cradle of his arms.

"Yea," Jeongguk whispered. "I'm sorry too."

·༊˚

Jeongguk had discovered what type of witch Taehyung was just a month after moving into their cottage. Jimin and Taehyung had been dating for two years before Jeongguk stumbled into the picture. Jeongguk's crush on them was immediate and insurmountable, and the two older witches thought he was the cutest thing they'd ever laid their eyes on.

Jeongguk folded into their relationship as easily as sand meets the sea. Crumbling apart in the gentlest way, feeling himself spread out into something that was so much bigger and stronger than he could understand, but letting it to happen anyway.

Because the waves were golden, and Jeongguk allowed himself to sink into the light.

Right off the bat, Jeongguk had known Jimin was a manner witch. Their cottage was always dancing, brooms cleaning the floor driven by invisible hands, the countertops wiping themselves, blankets tucking in around Jeongguk on their own. 

But Taehyung never mentioned his magic.

A witch's magic was their life source. Every witch had to actively practice their magic, in one way or another, to survive. However, if Jeongguk didn't know that, he would have believed that Taehyung lived completely independently from his magic. 

Until one night, Jeongguk woke up from a nightmare. 

He couldn't remember exactly what it was about, just that he woke with a small start, his heartbeat a little quicker than normal, the shadows looking a little darker than usual. A dry cough escaped him, and he turned under the covers to reach out towards the nightstand. Taehyung, who was sleeping in-between him and Jimin, moved with him in his sleep, his arm tight around Jeongguk's waist.

Jeongguk inched forward, blearily picking up the water bottle from the table, only to sigh when he found it empty. 

He wriggled out from Taehyung's grip, shivering when his bare feet touched the cold tiles. Taehyung grumbled under his breath, and Jeongguk was ready for the older witch's eyes to blink open, but all he did was turn around and nuzzle into the back of Jimin's neck.

Smiling even through the darkness and his sleep-addled mind, Jeongguk padded towards the kitchen with the empty water bottle swinging from his fingers.

The cottage was brimming with Jimin's magic still, even as the manner witch slept. None of the stairs creaked as he descended and the doors silently opened for him as he approached. 

One of the paintings hung up in the hallway waved at him, casting him a confused glance, and Jeongguk sleepily waved back, holding up the water bottle.

Jeongguk was sure that if he were doing something he wasn't supposed to, like the time he went out to harvest midnight flowers by himself even after Jimin had warned him of the dangers, the painting would go right up to their bedroom to tattle on him. 

He made his way into the kitchen and headed towards the fridge, which flickered its lights on and off at him in greeting. 

Jeongguk didn't know what exactly made him look to the side. Perhaps it was instinct, or perhaps there had been movement.

But something was suddenly there, and when Jeongguk turned his head, he found a pair of eyes staring back at him through the darkness.

The scream that tore through his throat was hoarse, but loud. Jeongguk scrambled backwards, the bottle scuttling across the floor after he dropped it. 

His father stood there, peering back at him silently. His lips were twisted into the same frown he always wore, the lines around his eyes harsh and unforgiving.

When Jeongguk looked down, he noticed that his father's fists were covered in red. Blood dripped to the floor around him, staining the wood Jimin's magic always kept so clean.

Shaking, Jeongguk shook his head, breath coming at a rapid pace but his mind slowing to a confused stall. 

"How are you...?" Jeongguk whimpered out, fear and adrenaline coursing through his body so quickly his stomach ached with it. 

His father took a step towards him, and that was all it took for Jeongguk to run. 

"Hyung!" he screamed, his feet pounding against the floor as he sprinted for the stairs. "Tae-hyung, Jimin hyung!" 

He could barely hear past the roaring in his ears, the fear eating away at him like dust moths, but there was commotion from upstairs and suddenly he was crashing into a warm, sturdy chest.

"Hyung," Jeongguk immediately latched on, made himself small, trembling and afraid and confused. "He's – he's in the house, he–"

It was Taehyung holding him, and the older witch pulled back to grasp Jeongguk's face in-between his large palms.

"Breathe, sweetheart, you're okay," Taehyung said. "You're okay."

"No!" Jeongguk sobbed out. "No, he's in the house, he's in the kitchen, we have to leave, please." 

Taehyung's eyes watered, and he pressed his forehead against Jeongguk's, his thumbs swiping at the tears on Jeongguk's cheeks.

"Jeongguk-ah," he breathed out. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, baby."

Jeongguk just shook his head, straining against his grip to try to drag them towards the door, reaching out for Jimin who was standing beside him, pressing a steady hand on his back. 

"We have to go," Jeongguk tried again, not understanding why his hyungs weren't moving. 

"Tae," Jimin's voice was cutting in its quietness. "He had to find out eventually. You have to make him see." 

Taehyung bit his lip so hard Jeongguk thought he'd bleed. 

"I'm sorry," Taehyung said again, before he was seizing Jeongguk around the waist and carrying him to the kitchen.

There was only a brief moment of confused silence before Jeongguk was screaming, wriggling in Taehyung's hold to get away.

"What are you doing?" Jeongguk cried. "Hyung, please, stop!" 

He thought he heard Taehyung let out a pained noise, but he was too concentrated on the way his boyfriend was carrying him directly towards his greatest fear, towards somebody that he knew would hurt him.

It went against every single thing he'd ever known about both Taehyung and Jimin, and betrayal burned hot in his chest.

"Hyung please," Jeongguk's voice came out as a whimper. All the fight left him and he sagged in Taehyung's hold, now trying his best to curl up small against his chest, pressing his face into the skin of Taehyung's neck. "I'm scared, please." 

"I'd never let anything hurt you, sweetheart," Taehyung's voice was gruff, as if he were holding back his own tears. "I promise, Jeongguk. You're okay."

A wave of frustration ran through Jeongguk, because he just didn't understand. His boyfriends had never, ever forced him into situations where he'd been uncomfortable before. If anything, they had always been almost too considerate, coddling their youngest boyfriend as much as they could.

But now, in the dead of night, Taehyung was carrying him right over to what was scaring him most, and Jeongguk could feel Jimin's hand tight around one of his forearms, squeezing with reassurance.

"Look up, baby," Jimin whispered. "You're okay, look up."

"No!" Jeongguk shouted, burying his face deeper into Taehyung. "Hyung, why–" 

"Jeongguk," the tone of Taehyung's voice was one Jeongguk had never heard before. "Jeongguk, look up."

Bolstered by something brave and stupid and trusting that loving Jimin and Taehyung had birthed within him, Jeongguk let out a little sob, but opened his eyes.

The moment he lifted his head from out of Taehyung's chest, the witch's lips were pressing warm against his sweaty temple, his arms tightening their grip around Jeongguk.

Jeongguk shrunk back into Taehyung at the sight of his father, still standing there staring at them, stock still. 

His eyes were lifeless, and the blood dripping from his hands was rhythmic, almost like a metronome left forgotten on an old piano.

"He's..." Jeongguk's voice left him in a confused whisper. "What's wrong with him?"

"He's not real, my love," Taehyung whispered into his skin. "He's made of me. Of my magic. I'm sorry, Jeongguk. I'm so sorry."

Jeongguk stared and stared, tears running silently down his face. 

His father blinked back at him, looking so alive, looking like the most shadowy pieces of Jeongguk's memories pieced together, illuminated by the refrigerator light. But now that he was looking up-close, he could tell that this wasn't really his father. He was surrounded by an aura of darkness, shadows churning and coiling around him like smoke.

He wasn't real. He wasn't. 

Jeongguk's stomach ached with leftover adrenaline and fear. His breathing was still choppy and uneven, some inhales too harsh and some exhales too slow.

But they stood there, and stared, and stared, Jimin pressing himself around the both of them, a steady and solid weight, until Jeongguk's breathing evened out, and his heartbeat slowed. 

Slowly, as Jeongguk's fear dissipated, his father did too. He became translucent like a ghost, and eventually he disappeared like mist giving into sunrise. 

Taehyung squeezed him tight once he was gone, pressing a kiss to his ear, the top of his cheekbone, the corner of his lip.

"It's okay," Jimin whispered, his arms around them both, rocking them slowly back and forth. "You're both okay."

When Jeongguk turned his head to look at Taehyung, still gathered up in Taehyung's arms, he saw his hyung's eyes were shut, his lashes thick and wet. Somehow, Jeongguk knew that Taehyung was even more afraid than him. 

The way he clutched at Jeongguk felt as if he thought Jeongguk would bolt out of his arms and leave, Taehyung's long fingers digging tight into Jeongguk's skin.

"Hyung," Jeongguk whispered. "It's – I'm okay. Don't look like that, hyung."

"I'm sorry," Taehyung repeated. "You didn't deserve to go through that." 

"Your magic..." Jeongguk trailed off, unsure of where to start.

Taehyung's eyes opened, and something about them was tortured, looking so much older than his years. 

"It preys on fear, and uncertainty," Taehyung whispered. "It's recessive in my family, and we haven't had a timor witch in generations, until me. I'm still trying to learn how to control it, how to live with it in harmony instead of fighting it every day." 

"What happened tonight, Kookie?" Jimin whispered. "Why were you awake?"

"I had a nightmare," Jeongguk explained. "I just went downstairs to get some water."

"My magic is much more unpredictable when I sleep. When I'm awake, I try to suppress it, but whatever lingering fear you had from your nightmare, my magic latched onto it," Taehyung said, his voice wobbling. "It grabbed the most vulnerable pieces of you and created an entire reality from it, and I..." 

Jeongguk wriggled until Taehyung set him down, then he immediately wrapped his arms around Taehyung's waist, squeezing tight. 

"Stop sounding like this, hyung," Jeongguk whispered. "Please stop talking as if I...as if I'll hate you." 

"You should," Taehyung's voice was weak, as if he didn't even want to put the thought into Jeongguk's head. "You both should."

"We'd never," Jeongguk said fiercely. "I would go through that a thousand times over if it meant I got to be with you and Jiminie hyung. Every night, if I had to." 

A little sob escaped Taehyung's throat at that, and the timor witch leaned forward, his forehead brushing against Jeongguk's jaw. 

"I love you," Jeongguk whispered, the warmth in his chest outweighing the fear still clawing free from his stomach. "Both of you, more than you know." 

·༊˚

Things were stilted in their cottage for the next few days. Jeongguk was always quick to deflate after a conflict, but Taehyung was notorious for being able to hold a grudge.

They'd gone to sleep that night with Jimin in the middle, and Taehyung was awake and out of the cottage before Jeongguk had opened his eyes the next morning.

Jeongguk knew that Taehyung wasn't really angry with him, that they were both sensitive and hurting from the others' words that night, and Jeongguk missed being able to cuddle into Taehyung's chest any moment he could.

Jimin was out at the market with Yoongi, and Jeongguk had a rare day where he didn't go into the forest for work, instead staying in the kitchen grinding herbs and salts into healing pastes for emergencies. 

Taehyung, who always worked from home, was in his workroom. Jeongguk could hear him puttering around in there, mumbling to himself. Because Taehyung's magic was more tumultuous than others, most witches of his kind didn't begin their careers until their early thirties, spending the entirety of their twenties mastering their control. 

After another hour of constantly glancing towards Taehyung's door and barely getting any work done, Jeongguk washed his hands and hesitantly made his way over to Taehyung's workroom. 

He stood in front of it for a few seconds, reciting what to say in his head. 

I'm sorry for yelling at you, hyung.

I know that controlling your magic is hard for you.

It's not your fault that I can't keep any of the animals I love so much.

It's not your fault that this makes me so, so sad.

I love you.

I'd never choose anything over you.

Before Jeongguk could raise his fist to knock, the door opened, and both of them jumped back in shock at the sight of each other.

"Hyung," Jeongguk blurted into the silence. 

Neither of them spoke after that, just blinked at each other.

Taehyung opened his mouth finally, but Jeongguk cut him off before he could speak.

"Hyung," Jeongguk said. "Are you – are you still mad at me?" 

Taehyung's lips pinched together at that, and then he was pulling Jeongguk into a hug, arms wrapping around him and squeezing him tight.

"I was never mad at you, Jeongguk," Taehyung breathed into his hair. "Just–just scared. And angry, but at myself."

Jeongguk melted into the first affectionate touch he's had from his boyfriend in days. He burrowed in a little desperately, relief making his bones feel like honey.

"I'm sorry," Jeongguk warbled. "I know you're stressed about controlling your magic, and I know you're working so hard at it, and I only make it more difficult for you, arguing about keeping the animals all the time."

"It's not your fault. It's not your fault your heart holds so much love, hmm?" Taehyung pulled back, and there was so much fondness in his eyes, Jeongguk could hardly believed that it was all for him. 

It was the type of love he'd grown up never seeing. The type of love he'd grown up not believing in.

"One day, I'll build you an entire barn to keep all your animal friends," Taehyung promised, leaning in to press playful kisses to Jeongguk's eyelids, his forehead, his cheeks. "That day just isn't today, my love, and I'm sorry. I want to give you and Jimin everything you both want." 

Jeongguk sighed and leaned in, pressing his lips gently to Taehyung's. Every time anyone kissed him, Taehyung's fingers reflexively squeezed, and the pressure around his waist as Jeongguk pressed forward was familiar and comforting.

"There's nothing more I want than just having you two by my side," Jeongguk said, pressing his head into Taehyung's shoulder.

The thought of them leaving him one day haunted Jeongguk like a ghost. He'd be a hollow house without them, just empty framework once full of so much love he could burst.

So he would do anything, everything, to keep that love for himself.

After getting a taste, he knew now he wouldn't be able to live without it.

Live without them.

So when Jimin got home that afternoon, the three of them walked to the edge of the forest, and dropped the webkittens off with a loving family who had three young children. One for each of them.

Despite the pain in his heart, Jeongguk smiled at the family, then turned around to walk back home, each of his hands clasped tightly in his hyungs'. 

And he convinced himself it was all he'd ever need.

·༊˚

Jeongguk let out a huff of annoyance as another weeping willow grabbed him into a hug. He loved the forest they lived in, he truly did.

Their hyung Namjoon was the sorcerer that took care of their entire forest, and the entire ecosystem was quite literally buoyed by Namjoon's magic.

Because of that, everything within the forest loved whatever Namjoon loved.

It was the worst with Namjoon's lover – a five minute walk through the forest would take thirty for Seokjin, with the amount of plants that would desperately wheedle for his attention. 

Once, Jeongguk had had the fright of his life as he was walking through the grove of pear trees and heard Seokjin's voice screaming at him from the skies. Apparently the trees had been extra cuddly that day, because they'd swept Seokjin up for a hug and hadn't let him down no matter how much he bargained with them. They'd simply shoved their ripest and sweetest pears at him, wanting him to eat. 

Jeongguk hadn't been successful in saving his hyung until he found the tree's most ticklish spot and poked his finger into it relentlessly. 

Namjoon's devotion and love for Seokjin was reflected in their forest, and so was his fondness and protectiveness for Jeongguk.

Jeongguk noticed that, out of all of them, the forest catered to him the most. 

It lined up stepping stones for him whenever he had to cross rivers, it pushed him out of the way of running thornbrush, and sometimes when he was extra sleepy on his walks home the wisterias would stretch out and hold his hand for as far as it could. 

Jeongguk had been so young when he'd run away and wound up in Namjoon's forest, alone and injured and traumatized after a fight with his father. Namjoon had been called by Jimin and Taehyung after they found him, trembling underneath a gingko tree, and the sorcerer had been protective of him ever since. 

"I don't have time to cuddle right now," Jeongguk told the willow, wriggling to escape its long branches. "There's a family of bluegrems that just had hatchlings, and I need to deliver their milk before the babies get too hungry!" 

The willow sulked, withdrawing its branches and even crossing a few the way a human would with their arms.

Jeongguk giggled, unable to resist the urge to run up to its trunk and squeeze it in a tight hug. The willow often rooted through the pockets of travelers and collected treats for Jeongguk, so sue him if he had a bit of a soft spot for it.

"I'll say goodnight on my way back," Jeongguk promised. 

He continued down the path, pulling along his wagon full of milk bottles for the baby grems. His magic could feel them – the two parents and the four little hatchlings were huddled together in a burrow in the center of the forest, snacking on whatever seeds the father had been able to collect that morning. 

Jeongguk was sitting on the ground bottle feeding one of the hatchlings when he felt the ground beneath him gently rumble.

Looking off to the side, Jeongguk watched as the top of a head emerged from the ground, followed by a smiling pair of eyes.

"Hi hyung," Jeongguk said softly, not wanting to startle the grem in his arms. 

Only half of Hoseok's head was showing, peeking up at him from the ground like a gopher, his skin still tough and veined through like tree bark. He emerged slowly from the ground, limbs stiff as his magic slowly warmed him from earth back to blood. 

"My magic could feel you here," Hoseok said once he was standing on top of the ground instead of being part of it. He raised his arms above his head and stretched with a little groan, his bones popping, little flakes of dirt and leaves falling off of his hair and skin. "I wanted to pop by and say hi."

Hoseok leaned down and pressed a kiss to Jeongguk's head, grinning at the bluegrem Jeongguk had tucked into the crook of his elbow.

"What a cutie," Hoseok cooed, reaching down to wiggle a gentle finger against the bluegrem's bloated tummy. 

It kicked its paws at him, eyes still shut as it suckled its milk from the bottle Jeongguk was holding to its mouth.

"How are the roots doing?" Jeongguk asked, heart feeling even lighter now that he was with one of his hyungs. 

All of them had their own duties and callings in Namjoon's forest. Despite all of them living within walking distance from each other, there were busy seasons in which they weren't able to see each other as often as they liked. 

"Better," Hoseok groaned. "It'll still take me the entire summer to get them all happy again, though."

Hoseok was an elemental witch, with an affinity for earth. He could sink into it the way others sank into the ocean. The earth accepted him with open arms, and he moved through its core with an ease that many other elemental witches did not have.

The amount of roots to all the trees and plants in Namjoon's forest was extensive. There were so many of them that were constantly growing with the sorcerer's love and care that, at some point, they had all began to become cramped and tangled. 

Though it hadn't gotten to the point where it was life-threatening to the forest, it was better to alleviate the situation before it got too serious. Hoseok was the perfect witch to fix it – he'd been spending the past few months going into the earth and slowly untangling the roots down there. With many of the roots growing miles in length, that was a task easier said than done.

"Sometimes I can hear the trees groaning in relief while you work," Jeongguk giggled, popping the empty bottle out of the hatchling's mouth and gently handing the hatchling back to its parents, then scooping up another one to feed. "You're doing well, Hobi hyung." 

Hoseok made a high-pitched, embarrassed noise at the acknowledgement, but wrapped his arms around Jeongguk to squeeze him in a tight hug. 

"Yoongi hyung misses you," Hoseok said. "Tell your boyfriends to stop hogging you. All of you come over for dinner this week."

"They're not hogging me," Jeongguk immediately came to Taehyung and Jimin's defense, despite knowing that Hoseok was joking. It was instinct, to defend his boyfriends, and all the other hyungs knew that.

Hoseok laughed, Jeongguk rising to the bait he'd teasingly thrown out. "I heard about what happened with the webkittens. Did you find them a new home?"

Despite himself, genuine sadness filled Jeongguk's heart at the mention of them, and his shoulders slumped. He'd grown so attached to the little animals, and knowing that he'd probably never see them again made tears fill his eyes.

"Oh, Jeonggukie, I'm sorry," Hoseok said. "I didn't know you were still so sad about them."

"I shouldn't be," Jeongguk said stubbornly. "I don't know why I am. We only had them for a few days..." 

"It's your magic, honey," Hoseok reached over to wipe a tear off his cheek. "You can't help but love them." 

Jeongguk's bottom lip wobbled. "I wanted to keep them."

"I know you did, Jeonggukie," Hoseok's voice dripped with sympathy. 

They all knew how badly Jeongguk wanted to have animals of his own.

But more than that, they all knew that it'd be impossible, with Taehyung in the house. It was one thing for a witch to live with him, because they were able to understand the nature of Taehyung's magic and understand what was and wasn't real.

Animals, however, would be unable to do that. There would come a time when the animal would feel fear, and Taehyung's magic would latch onto that feeling, and terrorize the poor animal without any way for them to explain that the illusions weren't truly going to harm them. 

"I'm sorry," Hoseok offered. 

"It's okay," Jeongguk squared his shoulders and roughly wiped the tears from his cheeks. "I'd give up anything for Taehyungie hyung. And if Jimin's magic needed me to, I'd do it for him too."

Hoseok bit his bottom lip, running his palm over one of the bluegrems that had toddled into his lap and collapsed in a deep slumber. 

"I know you would, and I know that they both love you all the more for it," Hoseok responded. "I just hate how unfair it is, how you have to repress parts of your magic."

Jeongguk shook his head. "It's not repressing my magic, Hobi hyung. It's not as serious as that. I don't have to have any animal companions."

I just yearn for them on a daily basis, and cry every single time I get my hopes up only to have them shattered when the animals are given away, again and again.

Hoseok leaned over to kiss Jeongguk's head. "You're a kind witch, Jeongguk. The kindest witch I know."

Once Jeongguk had gotten all the bluegrem babies fed and tucked back into their little burrow with their parents, Hoseok waved goodbye and melted back into the earth. Once his physical body was gone, there was a tiny heart imprinted into the ground where he'd been sitting, and Jeongguk smiled as he ran his hand over it. 

He picked up his now-empty basket and began the trek home, excited to see what Jimin had cooked for dinner that night. His hyung was the best cook, and each night Jeongguk ate until he felt like his belly would explode. 

When he was younger, there never seemed to be enough food at the table, but now every time he looked up from a particularly big bite, Jimin would be looking at him with the softest smile on his face. 

Jimin's magic always spooned more food onto his plate, and Jeongguk ate it all happily, if only to see Jimin beam with pride over his cooking for just a few more minutes.

Jeongguk hummed as he walked, stopping multiple times to pet at animals that came bounding up to him, nudging at his shins. He cooed at the phoenix fledglings that flew in circles around his head, even when they landed on his shoulders and singed his shirt. They flew off with soft coos, and he waved them goodbye.

A few feet later, he stumbled as a weight crashed into his legs, and Jeongguk leaned down to wrap his arms around a pinghorn that was frantically nuzzling its head into his shins, a small animal that looked like a mix between a goat and a puppy. 

"Is something wrong?" Jeongguk asked, running a hand over the creature's little head.

The pinghorn let out a bleat and tugged at his trousers with its mouth.

"What is it?" Jeongguk asked gently. "Is someone in your nest hurt?" 

The pinghorn let out another little bleat, bounding in a circle around him before taking off, running a few feet off the path before stopping and looking back at him, clearly wanting him to follow. 

Jeongguk went without hesitation, picking his way through the thick bushes as he went deeper into the forest, hoping that he'd be able to remember his way back to the main path later. 

Though it was still a little over an hour before sunset, Jeongguk was determined to not scare Jimin and Taehyung half to death again anytime soon. 

"Where are we going?" he called out to the pinghorn the longer they walked. 

It continually looked back at him, making sure he was still following.

They finally got to a part of the forest that was shrouded in darkness. The trees here were so dense and tall that their canopy completely blocked out the sun.

Jeongguk shivered a little in fear.

Though this forest belonged to Namjoon, it was impossible for the sorcerer to completely rid it of dangers or evil. There was a balance to magic, to life, to ecosystems. For there to be light, shadows still teemed with danger. 

"Um..." Jeongguk hesitated as they went further and further into the darkness. "Come here, little one. I don't think we should be going this way..."

He squatted down to reach out for the pinghorn, wanting it to run up to him so he could scoop it back into his arms and run the hell out of there, but the stubborn little animal bleated at him and stopped by the entrance of a cave. 

"I'm not going in there," Jeongguk shook his head at the animal, taking a small step back.

But the more he stared at the entrance of the cave, the less fear he felt. Strangely, his magic felt...compelled. 

It was curious, pushing at his skin to escape, wanting to look at whatever the pinghorn had deemed important enough to lead him to. 

Gulping, Jeongguk stepped forward once.

In his head, he could already hear Taehyung's voice, growling at him to turn his ass around, to get back to the light where it was safe. He could feel Jimin's hands, pulling at his own, trying to lead him back to the main path.

But Jeongguk's magic – it was urging him forward.

Warring with himself, Jeongguk stood still, faltering. 

Until a tiny little noise came from inside the cave. It was a noise that Jeongguk's never heard before, but somehow so familiar to him.

It was the little cry of a hatchling, of a newborn animal that needed help. 

But whatever the creature was, Jeongguk didn't recognize its voice. He'd never heard a cry like that before, high-pitched yet rumbling deep like water rushing underground. 

The sound, however, was what spurred him on. 

Neither he nor his magic could ever ignore an animal in need, no matter how dangerous the situation.

Jeongguk walked to the mouth of the cave, the pinghorn bleating in relief at his compliance, butting at his legs with its head and little horns. 

"Hello?" Jeongguk's voice was hardly above a whisper, and he gentled his tone to not startle whatever was inside. 

All of the rustling suddenly stopped, and the cave became dead silent.

Jeongguk's magic felt the fear emanating from the creatures, and he slowly took a few more steps inside. He silently went down on his knees, trying to make himself look less like a threat.

All he could see was darkness. 

His hands shook in fear, but Jeongguk trusted his magic, and his magic was telling him that he was doing exactly what he needed to.

"It's alright," he coaxed, bringing a hand out to hold it to the pitch black. "I'm not going to hurt you." 

The silence prevailed for a few more seconds before there was another sound. A little, rumbling croon, curious and hesitant.

Jeongguk's heart was pounding, his magic thrumming in his veins.

This was what he was born to do.

He was born to help, to protect, to care for as many of these vulnerable creatures for as long as he could. 

"You're okay," Jeongguk whispered, his hand still held out. "I want to help you."

With that, something nudged against his hand, so warm it was verging on hot.

Jeongguk couldn't help the gasp that escaped his lips.

The creature stumbled back at the sound of it, but after a few moments of Jeongguk biting his lip, his hand still held out, it nudged against his fingers again.

Jeongguk still couldn't tell what it was, just that its head had tiny little ridges that he knew would eventually grow into large spikes. Its scales were smooth but baby-soft, not yet the hard armor they would be once the hatchling matured. 

Another little rumbling noise escaped the creature, and then it went from nudging its tiny head into Jeongguk's fingers to bounding forward on clumsy feet and collapsing into his lap. 

"Oh," Jeongguk exclaimed, shifting so that he was sitting and no longer kneeling, creating a little cradle in his legs for the creature to comfortably rest.

As he adjusted, he shifted so that he was angled a little closer to the mouth of the cave, away from the pitch black. 

Though there wasn't much sunlight in this part of the forest, there was still more visibility coming in from the outside than there was in the recesses of the cave.

The creature let out a sound at the shifting, but followed him, seeking his hands like it was touch-starved. And it probably was.

"Poor little thing," Jeongguk said sadly, letting his hands down to rest on the creature's body.

His eyes slowly adjusted, and Jeongguk could make out tiny talons, and two little leathery wings.

"Oh," Jeongguk ran a reverent hand over the wings, and they stretched and flapped uselessly, limp in the creature's youth. 

"Aren't you a sweetheart," Jeongguk said as the animal scrabbled up his chest. 

He brought an arm up to cradle it to his shirt, and it nuzzled into his body, the heat emanating from it completely warming Jeongguk's skin. It made cooing noises in his ear, and began gnawing on the fingers of his free hand. Its teeth were just barely coming in, tiny little bumps still shielded by soft gum. 

"Where's your mama?" Jeongguk asked. "Are you all alone?"

As if in answer, the creature let out another noise, louder this time. It sounded almost like a bird call, if they were deeper and more guttural.

It echoed through the cave, and a few moments later Jeongguk heard the pattering of little feet.

"Oh!" he exclaimed in surprise as the creature's sibling bumped into his thigh. 

It was somehow even smaller than its sibling, and it stumbled over its own wings as it tried to wrestle its way into Jeongguk's lap too. 

Jeongguk laughed softly as he gently lifted it with a hand wrapped around its belly and plopped it right down next to its sibling. His magic could tell that the two were born from the same parents, even without fully knowing what exactly they were yet.

It immediately wriggled into the warmth of Jeongguk's belly, letting out tiny little snuffles.

"Precious babies," Jeongguk cooed. "What are you two?"

Despite the darkness of that part of the forest, tiny shafts of sunlight occasionally shone through, spearing towards the ground in golden streaks.

Jeongguk didn't know if it was magic, or just a shifting of the sun, but suddenly a shaft of light was beaming right into the mouth of the cave, warming Jeongguk's skin and illuminating the creatures in his lap.

A sharp gasp escaped him when he saw them clearly for the first time.

His heart hammered against his chest in shock, and Jeongguk froze as his hands hovered above the dragons nuzzling into his skin.

The dragons.

The dragons.

Though they were thought to be extinct, there was no doubt in Jeongguk's mind. These were dragon hatchlings, and from the way they were cozying up to Jeongguk, their mother had either abandoned them or was unable to get back to them. 

The pinghorn let out another little bleat, nuzzling against Jeongguk's arm before bounding away, its job done.

"Wait!" Jeongguk called after it, but let it go after he realized he probably wouldn't get any answers out of it, anyway. 

"Where did you come from?" Jeongguk asked the hatchlings in his lap. "You two are...you two shouldn't even exist anymore." 

The dragons peered up at him, and now Jeongguk could see their slitted eyes. He could see that the larger one was a boy with pure white scales, while his little sister sported a deep blue color. 

The girl, seeming to want to meld even closer to Jeongguk, wriggled her way underneath his shirt and pressed her cheek into the skin of his stomach.

The hatchlings couldn't seem to get close enough to him, and something deep and violently sad ached within Jeongguk. For so long, dragons were viciously hunted, to the point of what everybody had thought was extinction. Nobody had seen a dragon for the past three hundred years. 

Until now. 

Now, with two of them tumbling all over his lap, trusting Jeongguk and his magic in a way that proved that there was nobody else to take care of them. 

"I've got you," Jeongguk whispered to them, gently squeezing them despite their rough scales and little spikes. "I won't let anybody hurt you." 

It was hard to leave them that night.

Both the hatchlings whined when he set them down deep in the cave, where they'd created a little makeshift nest from soft leaves and branches. Jeongguk decided to give up his basket for them, and the two of them were just small enough to be able to curl up inside, tucked up underneath the little cloth he kept in there. 

They peered up at him, little rumbles in their throat as he pet over their heads with his fingers, his magic thrumming with love and care. 

"I'll be back first thing in the morning," Jeongguk crooned. "I'll bring you blankets and milk and treats, I promise. I can't take you home with me, but...I'll figure something out. I promise."

Their eyes began shutting sleepily, and Jeongguk leaned down to press a quick kiss to both of their heads before he forced himself to stand up and walk away. 

His walk home was a blur, and by the time he made it back to his cottage Jeongguk was so distracted by his thoughts that he walked straight past Taehyung in the living room.

"Jeongguk?" Taehyung called after him, standing to follow Jeongguk into the kitchen. "Are you alright?" 

Jeongguk blinked once, then quickly nodded. 

For some reason, he wanted to keep the dragons a secret for just a little bit. He knew Taehyung and Jimin would never do anything to harm them, but...but Jeongguk already knew this feeling.

This feeling of wanting to keep them. 

Not forever. His two dragons deserved to fly free, especially after the violence their ancestors faced. 

But just for now, while they were hatchlings and unable to look after themselves. Jeongguk knew he wouldn't be able to bear giving them to somebody else to care for. 

"What happened?" Taehyung was cupping Jeongguk's face in his hands, tilting his head this way and that. "You're covered in...what is that, soot?" 

Jeongguk blinked and looked down at himself.

Black soot marked his clothing, his arms, his palms.

"I...found something in the forest today," Jeongguk said, his voice shaking. 

His nerves were still reeling from the discovery of a species meant to be dead. 

Taehyung's brows furrowed together in concern.

"Did something hurt you, baby?" Taehyung tugged him closer, and Jeongguk felt the older witch's magic give a protective pulse. A shadow in the corner of the room jumped.

"No," Jeongguk shook his head. "It wasn't anything bad. It just shocked me. I think I need some time to...process."

"Okay," Taehyung immediately said. "Why don't you go to our room, and I'll make you some tea, hmm?" 

"Okay," Jeongguk said. 

Then he wandered up the stairs, peeling off his stained clothing, and burrowed himself under the covers.

He dreamt of clouds on fire, of embers on skin, of a love so pure and warm he ached with it. 

When he woke, Jimin was sitting in bed with him, a book propped open on his lap. Jeongguk had moved in his sleep and his face was squished against the manner witch's hip. 

He nuzzled closer, breathing in Jimin's scent and reveling in the feel of Jimin's fingers scrunched in his hair.

"I heard you had a long day," Jimin said quietly, closing his book and caressing Jeongguk's cheek with a soft hand. "Are you okay, baby?" 

"Yea," Jeongguk said immediately. "I didn't mean to worry you or Taehyungie hyung. Nothing's wrong." 

Jimin hummed, but something in the tone of his voice told Jeongguk he didn't completely believe him. 

"I saw Hobi hyung today," Jeongguk deflected. "He said to tell you and hyung to stop hogging me."

Jimin let out a squawk of outrage at that.

"We'll never stop hogging you," Jimin said, laughing as he leaned down to nuzzle his nose against Jeongguk's temple. "You're ours." 

Jeongguk let out a bright laugh, and he wrapped his arms around Jimin in a tight hug, tugging him down so that he was laying too. 

"Am I?" Jeongguk teased. 

Jimin growled at the little show of defiance. The door opened, and Taehyung set down steaming mugs of tea before shuffling onto the bed and laying on top of them over the covers. 

"Our little Jeonggukie thinks that he's not ours," Jimin jabbed at Jeongguk's stomach mercilessly, fingers tickling. 

"Does he now?" Taehyung said, voice darkening with fake outrage as he held Jeongguk in place for Jimin's attack. "Our own heart, thinking that we would ever give him to anybody else?"

Jeongguk was laughing without break, trying to squirm away from Jimin's fingers and Taehyung's strong grip.

"I don't, I don't!" Jeongguk immediately gave up on the facade. "Nobody could love me as well as you two."

Jimin surged forward, fingers moving up to hold Jeongguk in place as he kissed him.

"Our own heart," Jimin repeated Taehyung's words, quieter this time. 

Jeongguk felt guilt fester in his stomach at the knowledge that he was keeping information so important from them, but he tamped it down. 

He'd tell them about the dragons eventually.

It just couldn't be now, when it was all so fresh and new.

He'd give himself and the hatchlings a few days to adjust first, and then he'd come clean. In the meantime, Jeongguk couldn't help but hope to devise a plan that would somehow allow him to bring the dragons home.

·༊˚

That night, there was a noise in their bedroom.

Jeongguk jerked awake to the sound of Taehyung's soft panting. He often found himself sprawled across his hyungs and the entire bed after he fell into a deep sleep, and it was the same this time.

He had an arm trapped under Taehyung's body on his right and a leg hitched over Jimin's hip on his left. 

Turning towards Taehyung, Jeongguk's heart gave a start when he saw he saw what was happening in their bedroom. 

"Please," Taehyung whispered in his sleep.

Sitting up, Jeongguk leaned over to get a closer look at Taehyung's magic.

The shadows morphed themselves to look identical to Jeongguk and Jimin. The two of them were sprawled out on the floor, and Jeongguk shivered at the sight of his own lifeless eyes.

"It's okay," Jeongguk immediately wrapped himself around Taehyung, squeezing him tightly. "It's just a dream, hyung. We're okay, we're okay."

Taehyung shivered in his sleep, tiny heartbreaking noises leaving his throat.

Jeongguk watched with wide eyes as the shadows faded away as Taehyung's nightmare did, the lifeless bodies of he and Jimin blending into the darkness and disappearing.

Pressing a kiss to Taehyung's sweaty forehead, Jeongguk let out a sad sigh. As if sensing that Jeongguk had pulled away from him, Jimin rolled over and pressed himself into Jeongguk's back, smooshing his sleep-warm face against his spine.

Closing his eyes, Jeongguk couldn't help but stew in the guilt.

How could he be so greedy, to want anything more than this?

To want more, when Jimin sought him out in his sleep like a cat following a sun spot. To want more, when Taehyung's greatest fear was losing the both of them. To want more, when Jeongguk's heart was already a glass tipping forward, so full it was close to overflowing. 

But as Jeongguk drifted back to sleep, all his magic could focus on was the two little hatchlings, waiting for him deep inside a cave. 

·༊˚

Before Jeongguk met Jimin and Taehyung, his world had felt four corners too small.

All he knew were the walls of his childhood home, marked with holes born from angry fists and barren of any affection. All he knew was action and consequence, mistake and punishment. All he knew was that there was a beginning, and an end, and every step in-between them was marked with fear. 

His magic felt small and shameful inside of him, curled up like a baby animal. For his entire life, Jeongguk knew nothing but repression, squeezing his magic as small as it could go so there would be less of it to hurt. 

His magic, which he'd inherited from his late mother. His magic, which attracted so much love, was hated by the man who raised him. Jeongguk's mother left the world by bringing him into it, and in his father's eyes Jeongguk stole his mother's life and her magic and his one and only love. 

The day he left home, the sun was high. He and his father had been caught in a fight about something – though calling it a fight was generous. Now that Jeongguk looked back, he knew they weren't fights. It couldn't be, when Jeongguk never pushed back. Something in his magic, or his head, or his heart, wouldn't allow him to. 

No matter how much blood his father drew, how many bruises bloomed dark on his skin, deep in his bones, Jeongguk couldn't bring himself to strike his father back, even after he hit a growth spurt that had him overtaking the man in height.

When Jeongguk left, his ears were ringing from his father's screaming not even five minutes before, but no harsh hands were pulling him back. In a way, Jeongguk almost wished there was – that there was something more to his absence than just pure indifference. 

But Jeongguk left, and no one came after him, not even in anger. 

So he walked. Jeongguk walked until the trees became unfamiliar, until the creatures following the warmth of his magic eventually grew tired and drifted away. Jeongguk walked until the four corners expanded, little by little, into something vast and terrifying and unknown.

When he made his way into Namjoon's forest, the trees shied away from him, but the creatures did not.

They flocked to him like honeybees, scrabbling for any scrap of affection he'd give them. Jeongguk had fallen to his knees underneath a golden tree, laughing as his magic pulsed out of him, feeling all at once more alive in that one moment than he had for his entire life.

He didn't know when his laughter had turned into great, heaving sobs, but they echoed through the trees and caught the attention of the two witches that would soon offer him a life so loved he wouldn't know what to do with himself. 

The animals, still burrowing against his skin in a euphoric rush of affection due to his magic unleashing all at once, surrounded him like tiny guardians. Jeongguk pet over all of their ears, their horns, their flippers and hooves and paws. 

This was what he was made for.

To give love freely, to coddle and nurse and care.

Jeongguk was not made to harbor a powerful, active magic like his father and so many other witches.

He was made for this. He was made to love.

And on the floor of that forest, bruised and healing and tender and reborn, Jeongguk looked up, and saw light.

Two witches stood side by side, staring at him, and though an instinctual fear had rushed through Jeongguk's body, meeting their eyes felt like a revelation. 

And he reveled once more, when they introduced themselves, and did not reach out to hurt him.

Once more, when Jimin healed his bruises with a tender hand.

Once more, when Taehyung looked at him, and asked if he needed a place to stay.

Once more, and again, and again, as the days and months and years passed by, as Jeongguk settled down and planted roots and understood that love was not pain, after all.

Love was not squeezing his magic into a desolate part of himself if only to gain a seed of acceptance. Love was not four corners, not shattered glass, not battered walls.

Love was this.

It was a forest that accepted him from the moment he stepped foot into it. It was Jimin's magic tucking the sheets a little tighter around his shoulders on the days Jeongguk found the world too heavy to get out of bed. 

It was Taehyung staying up late, writing out letters to his aunt to ask for the recipe of her famous calming tea. It was a steaming mug, set out alongside every one of Jeongguk's meals. 

Love was Jeongguk slotting into their relationship the way dawn meets day meets dusk. This love was new, and exciting, but it somehow still felt like home, to him.

And if Jeongguk lived one more day or a thousand more years, this love would forever be an unforgettable ache in his bones. This love would begin and end with Taehyung and Jimin. 

And for this love, for everything they have shown him and given him, Jeongguk would do anything to keep it.

Would rip out his soul, would give up his magic, would claw through infernos. 

A little bit of conflict with his and Taehyung's magic was nothing, in the grand scheme of how much Jeongguk would give up for the other. 

It was absolutely nothing. 

·༊˚

Despite his guilt, Jeongguk sped through breakfast, clearly anxious to get out of the house.

His leg was jostling up and down as Jimin peered at him from over his cup of tea, forehead wrinkled with concern.

"What do you have on your list to do today, sweetheart?" Jimin asked gently. "Anything important?"

"Yes," Jeongguk said too quickly. He felt his cheeks flush, and he tried to settle his breathing, knowing that he was bad at keeping things from his hyungs. "Lots of things to do today."

Jimin hummed, glancing toward Taehyung, and the two of them looked at each other in that way they do when they were somehow communicating without even talking.

It was something the both of them were just able to do with each other, so attuned with each nuance and expression on the other's face. Jeongguk always thought their connection with each other was, for lack of a better word, magical, but today he hardly paid it any mind.

He just leaned over his plate and sucked an entire sunny side up egg into his mouth. 

Taehyung grimaced in disgust and reached over to run squeeze a gentle hand over the nape of Jeongguk's neck.

"You're gonna choke if you keep that up," Taehyung said. 

He had bags under his eyes from his nightmare, but neither he nor Jeongguk brought it up. Sometimes they didn't even remember their bad dreams, and Jeongguk didn't want to remind Taehyung of it if he didn't have to. 

"It's not what I'd prefer to choke on," Jeongguk waggled his brows at him, his cheeks full of runny egg yolk.

Jimin burst out laughing, but Taehyung's eyes turned dark as he thumbed at the corner of Jeongguk's lips with intent. 

"I'm just kidding," Jeongguk said nervously. "I don't have time to start anything this morning!"

"You brat," Taehyung sighed, leaning back in his seat and focusing on his own food. 

"Sorry, love you," Jeongguk speared the last strawberry on his plate and plopped it onto Taehyung's as a peace offering, then leaned down to press a kiss to his cheek.

Jimin's magic immediately began clearing his plate and utensils, and Jeongguk moved behind the manner witch and wrapped his arms around his shoulders, leaning down to nuzzle their cheeks together. His heart settled at the smell of Jimin's sweet gardenia perfume. 

"I'll be back late today!" Jeongguk said, shoving his cloak over one arm and packing a basket with the other. 

He grabbed little bottles of milk and small fuzzy blankets that he kept stored around the house for animals. He packed little packets of jerky and a few clementines, and a jug of water. 

"Come home before sundown, please," Jimin said.

"I'll try," Jeongguk said.

He gave his boyfriends one last wave and then was out the door, pressing his hand to the doorframe on his way out to say a goodbye to the cottage.

The flowers along the stone path waved at him on his way out towards the forest. 

Jeongguk was so focused on getting back to the hatchlings that his journey there was a blur. Anxiety was building in his chest, so many questions popping into his head. 

What if he got there and the hatchlings were no longer there? 

What if he got there and their mother was there, ready to burn him to a crisp? 

Jeongguk veered off of the path and slowly made his way towards the cave, the heavy shade making him shiver. He slowly approached the mouth of the cave, treading carefully in case there was something there that day that meant to harm him.

But his fears were for naught, because once he was within smelling distance, the hatchlings bounded out towards him like excited puppies, high trilling vocalizations escaping their throats at the sight of him.

"Oh, did you miss me?" Jeongguk laughed with relief, dropping to his knees so that he could cuddle them properly.

They nuzzled into him desperately, their wings flapping up and down in what seemed to be a draconic display of happiness. Jeongguk would have to remember to ask Yoongi to borrow some of his books on dragons.

Jeongguk squeezed them against his chest, uncaring of the soot that was smearing onto his shirt. They were making those tiny sounds that only infants and small animals could make, and they were melting Jeongguk's heart.

Sitting down on his bottom, Jeongguk pulled his basket closer.

"I brought things for you," Jeongguk crooned, letting go of them and letting them scamper all over each other in the circle of his lap. "Are you hungry?"

He pulled out a bottle of milk and shook it, the contents still warm. 

The dragons trilled curiously at the liquid, the male sniffing at the teat when Jeongguk held it out to him. He squeezed the bottle and let a tiny drop of milk escape, wetting the hatchling's lips. After a small taste, the dragon squealed with delight and nudged his sister, guiding her towards the bottle so she could drink first.

He watched until his sister was drinking heartily, and then peered up at Jeongguk with big eyes.

"I have enough for both of you, sweet thing, don't worry," Jeongguk leaned over as much as he could without jostling the drinking hatchling and pulled out a second bottle. "Here, this one's for you."

The dragon latched on eagerly, and they both sank into silence as they filled their stomachs for what was likely the very first time. Jeongguk's heart ached at the thought of them all alone in the cave with nothing to drink or eat. 

Jeongguk suspected that neither of their parents were around. Though dragons hadn't been seen in hundreds of years, he they were the only species that could lay dormant eggs. Meaning these eggs could have been laid years and years ago, but something could have just triggered them to hatch now. 

Sometimes with the right conditions, the right amount of warmth, the right kind of magic in the air – those all could have been reasons for the awakening of these two hatchlings.

"Slowly, Opal," Jeongguk said gently, the name slipping out towards the older hatchling with the pearly scales.

Despite Jimin's voice ringing in his head that naming them was a bad idea, was a quick and easy way to become way too attached, it was already too late for him.

He was already attached, and Jeongguk was sure that there was no other witch in this forest that was more capable of caring for two dragon hatchlings than he was. 

His magic would never let him let them go. Not before they were ready. 

Opal wriggled happily as he drank, so much more hyper than his younger sister. 

"And should you be Juniper?" Jeongguk smiled at the smaller hatchling, her blue scales the exact same shade as a juniper berry. 

She just blinked up at him lazily, suckling at the last of her milk.

When they both finished, Jeongguk experimentally opened up a packet of the jerky, unsure if they were old enough to eat them. Sticking a finger into Juniper's mouth, Jeongguk felt for teeth.

They were there – small and still growing, but there all the same.

"Try this," Jeongguk split a piece of the jerky in half and held it out to them.

They gnawed at the dried meat, Juniper seeming to enjoy it more than Opal.

Opal ate his quickly, then decided he would much rather use Jeongguk's body as a climbing gym rather than sit still to ingest more food.

Jeongguk laughed when the hatchling perched on his head, the dragon shifting back and forth to test his own balance.

It was something he knew a lot of winged animals did with their mothers. Found a tall place to peer down from, instinctively practicing balancing on smaller surface areas. 

Juniper peered up at him and let out a tiny huff, as if she were laughing. 

"Please don't poop on me," Jeongguk said cheerfully, laughing when Opal made a noise as if he were offended at the lack of trust.

Jeongguk pulled out the blankets next, thinking the hatchlings would cuddle up with them, but the fuzzy things ended up being torn to shreds by their tiny teeth. Jeongguk blinked at the fabric torn apart, both exasperated and endeared.

"I didn't give those to you to be teething toys," Jeongguk chastised lightly. 

If the hatchlings understood his scolding tone, they didn't react, simply continuing to crawl all over him, delighting in his attention. His love for them soared.

As did his dismay.

Jeongguk didn't know how he was going to bring them home. His magic was screaming at him, telling him that he had to take them with him back to the cottage, where it was safe and where he had all of his supplies. But then he thought about them waking in the night, faced with pieces of Taehyung's magic that might terrify them, and it pained him. 

Though he knew that Taehyung's magic couldn't physically hurt them, they'd faced enough fear in their young lives, waking up all alone in a world with no one to care for them.

"What am I going to do?" Jeongguk whispered, petting his hand over Juniper's tiny head. 

She crooned at him, leaning into his touch, her vertical pupils blowing out with contentment.

He spent the entire day with them, and when the sun began to set he carried them back inside the cave, placing them back in the basket he'd left with them yesterday.

"Be good," he whispered to them. "I'll be back first thing in the morning."

When he backed away to leave, both of them scurried back towards him, tipping the basket over and tripping over their too-big wings and too-long tails in their hurry to join him.

"You can't come with me," Jeongguk said, tears rushing to his eyes. "I'm sorry, babies. I'll be back tomorrow, I promise."

He set them back in the basket, and this time they didn't even wait until he took a step back – they immediately rushed towards him again, low pitched whines escaping their throats as they peered up at him, afraid. 

It was getting dark now, but Jeongguk knew they'd follow him the entire way back home if he tried to go now. 

Sighing, Jeongguk scooped them both up and placed them back into their makeshift bed, sitting beside them this time.

He watched as they stared at him warily, making sure he wasn't leaving before they slowly settled down, their sleepy eyes still trained on his every move. 

Jeongguk ran his hand soothingly over their warm backs, the scales smooth and soft under his fingers. 

Tiny little purrs erupted from their throats, their eyes drooping shut. By the time they were both asleep, the sun had already set, and Jeongguk backed out of the cave as quietly as he could before he ran the entire way home.

Taehyung was sitting outside waiting for him when he got back.

He took the empty basket from Jeongguk's hands and silently pulled the younger witch in for a kiss. 

Jeongguk was ready to apologize, but Taehyung didn't look angry, just curious as he peered at the shredded blankets inside of the basket.

"Dinner's ready," Taehyung said, leaning in to press another peck to Jeongguk's lips. 

Overcome with so many emotions, Jeongguk stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Taehyung's waist, burying his face into the side of his neck.

"Are you okay, bun?" Taehyung asked, dropping the basket to hug Jeongguk back tightly, as if he could soak up anything that could possibly be plaguing him and absorb it into himself.

"I just love you," Jeongguk said, his throat tight. 

Taehyung was silent as he pulled back, his face twisted into one of fear.

"What's the matter, Jeongguk?" Taehyung whispered. "Something's wrong." 

And Jeongguk wanted to tell him.

He wanted to share in the pure excitement at his discovery of a species everybody thought was long gone. He wanted both of his boyfriends to experience how utterly cute the hatchlings were, because he knew they'd both love them. He wanted to tell Taehyung how much it hurt to have to stifle a part of his magic to accommodate for Taehyung's own. He wanted to say that even though he understood why he had to do it, it wasn't fair, and it was nobody's fault but it made him angry at times, and sad more often than not. 

"Just a long day," Jeongguk sighed out. 

"Okay," Taehyung accepted easily. 

Not because he didn't think that there was anything more going on in Jeongguk's mind, but because he knew that pushing for Jeongguk to speak when he wasn't ready would do more harm than good.

So he wrapped his arms around Jeongguk and pressed a kiss to his temple, then lead him to the kitchen table where Jimin's magic was setting down bowls of steaming food.

"Our Jeonggukie is a bit tired today," Taehyung told Jimin as he put Jeongguk's work basket away for him, letting Jeongguk immediately sit down at the table.

Jimin hummed with sympathy, but didn't make a big deal of it because he knew it would embarrass their youngest boyfriend. He just pressed a kiss to the shell of Jeongguk's ear and sat beside him, spooning a heaping serving of stew into Jeongguk's bowl. 

In the middle of the night, Taehyung blinked awake.

His magic was stirring deep and hungry inside his chest. He typically didn't wake when it went active like this in the night, but this time he did.

Turning, he found both Jeongguk and Jimin sound asleep, though Jeongguk's brows were pushed together in discomfort. The twist of his mouth showed that he was dreaming of something, and movement caught Taehyung's eye.

A shadow-Jeongguk was standing in the corner of the room, reaching towards them. Tears were streaming down his face, and he was silently screaming for something.

For someone.

His shadowy hands grasped around nothing, and he fell to his knees, wrapping his arms around himself. And Taehyung's heart pounded in his chest, even as he had an arm over the real Jeongguk.

Because whatever Jeongguk was dreaming of, whatever fear Jeongguk was acquiring – it was the loneliest thing Taehyung's ever seen.

"Leave us," Taehyung whispered harshly to the shadows. "Leave."

The shadows blurred faintly – not completely disappearing but not quite as clear as they were. 

Taehyung had been slowly but painstakingly working on controlling his magic. He hoped, with his entire heart, that one day he'd have enough control over it to allow Jeongguk to bring animals home. To fall asleep without the fear that one of his boyfriends would have to wake to one of his shadows terrorizing them, feeding off of their own fear. 

Sighing, Taehyung watched in defeat, rubbing a hand up and down Jeongguk's arm in an effort to soothe him naturally from the nightmare. When the devastated shadow of Jeongguk disappeared, Taehyung laid back down and scooted closer to Jeongguk, whose face was slack with a peaceful sleep once more. 

"I'm sorry," Taehyung whispered. 

Despite it all, Taehyung still loved the magic inside of him. He only hoped that one day, it would feel more like him instead of only just an extension of himself. 

·༊˚

Jimin was a little worried at how oblivious Jeongguk was, walking through the forest. 

Though he knew part of it was just an overprotective instinct that he accepted would always live inside of him when it came to either Jeongguk or Taehyung, Jeongguk hadn't even looked back when Jimin had accidentally stumbled over a friendly root and let out a tiny yelp.

Jeongguk really had no idea that his boyfriends had decided to trail him out of the cottage that morning, and Jimin's blood burned at the thought of anybody else following Jeongguk for malicious reasons.

It's been two weeks of Jeongguk acting strange and skittish, and both Taehyung and Jimin were afraid that something more sinister was going on. Jeongguk was the most tender-hearted of the three of them, despite Jimin being the most openly affectionate. Things didn't hurt Jimin as easily as they did Jeongguk – their maknae was the strongest person they knew, but part of that strength was his tenderness, despite everything that's happened in his past. 

Jeongguk was easily swayed and always eager to help, at times a bit gullible and a little too accepting. These were parts of him that both the older witches loved, and strove to protect, but it made them worry. 

"What if a spirit is luring him into a trap or something?" Taehyung had hissed to Jimin the night prior after Jeongguk had gone into the bathroom to take a shower. "What if there's some strange creature roaming around pretending to be hurt, but it actually wants to hurt him? Or capture him? Or worse?"

"Tae-tae, you need to calm down," Jimin pressed his palms against Taehyung's raised shoulders. 

Taehyung has always been the pessimist out of the three of them, but even Jimin was growing concerned at Jeongguk's behavior. It really wasn't like their youngest to keep things from them for so long. 

"No," Taehyung shook his head. "Something is wrong, Jimin. I can feel it."

The cottage was starting to shudder now, Taehyung's stress rubbing off on Jimin and making his magic do flips inside his stomach.

"Okay," Jimin said, nodding once and locking eyes with Taehyung, both of their expressions morphing into one of protective determination. "Tomorrow, we'll find out what it is. Just to ease our minds."

So here they were, walking behind Jeongguk as their little witch skipped down the path, waving at the apple trees and bending down to pet and kiss every animal that scampered to his feet in hello.

"Okay, maybe we've overreacted," Jimin was the first to admit after over an hour had passed and all Jeongguk had done was flit around the forest distributing soft materials needed for certain creatures' nests and crawling into the swamp to help a crocophin with a loose tooth. 

Taehyung's mouth was still set in a stubborn line as they continued following Jeongguk's wet, muddy footsteps. Jeongguk's boots now squelched with every step, filled with swamp water, but he didn't seem bothered in the slightest. 

Jimin already cringed at it, a cleaning spell already saved away in the back of his mind for when Jeongguk returned home that night. 

Then, Jeongguk looked left and right, before hitching his basket higher up his arm and half-running off of the forest's main path.

Taehyung straightened at their boyfriend's sudden movement, and began running after him, no longer worried about being stealthy.

"Wait," Jimin hissed. "Taehyung!" 

With a curse, Jimin had no choice but to follow, the forest responding to his stress and parting the bushes off the path that both his boyfriends had veered off to. 

Though Jeongguk was out of sight now, Jimin could still see the back of Taehyung's head, and all of them were heading towards a section of the forest that was so dark. 

Jimin pumped his legs to try and catch up with Taehyung faster, fear curling in his gut. 

Why would Jeongguk suddenly go off the path and come here, of all places?

And why did he look so secretive while he did it?

Taehyung must have been wondering the same things he was, feeling the same fear he was, because the timor witch shouted Jeongguk's name. 

His deep voice echoed through the forest, the trees carrying it far, their branches swaying with stress at the witches' agitation.

At the call, there was a response, but it didn't come from Jeongguk. It was a sound that Jimin's never heard before, one that sounded young but rumbling and aggressive.

He saw Taehyung stumble to a stop, his head tipping back as he gaped at something in the air. Jimin collided into his boyfriend, hands coming to Taehyung's waist to keep both of their balance.

"What is it?" Jimin asked. "Where the fuck is Jeongguk?"

Finally, Jimin allowed himself to lift his gaze, and his knees went weak at the sight he was met with.

There, in front of him, was Jeongguk.

Their Jeongguk.

Surrounded on either side by growling dragons.

"Jeongguk," Jimin breathed out.

His feet moved, intent on getting closer to Jeongguk, if only to drag him away from the dangerous, impossible creatures.

At Jimin's movement, the bigger of the two dragons growled, deep in his throat. Though neither of the dragons were fully grown, the sharp teeth and claws they were flashing could still do considerable damage to all of them.

"Hyung, wait," Jeongguk held a hand out to them. "Please – don't come any closer. They're scared of you."

"They're scared of us?" Jimin said incredulously. "Jeongguk, how...?"

The dozens of questions burned on Jimin's tongue, but he didn't even know where to start.

He and Taehyung just watched as Jeongguk turned to the dragons and wrapped both of his arms around them, cooing to them and squeezing them to his chest. Taehyung let out disbelieving a noise at the action.

The dragons maintained suspicious eye contact with Taehyung and Jimin until Jeongguk patted over both their heads with two fingers, soothing.

"It'd be easier if they had your scents," Jeongguk said. "Can you toss me your cloaks?"

Almost in a daze, Taehyung and Jimin did as he asked. They watched as Jeongguk grabbed their cloaks and introduced them to the dragons one by one, the scaled creatures snuffling against the thick fabric and rubbing their long noses along the seams.

"Here," Jeongguk took a single step closer, and held out a hand. "It's okay now."

There was a gentle smile on his face, one so full of love that it made Jimin's heart ache. He's seen Jeongguk work countless times, of course, but this time – it looked different. Jeongguk looked different, impossibly lighter and sweeter with these dragons in his arms.

Jimin stepped forward with a hand clasped tightly in Taehyung's, and both of them held out a cautious hand to be sniffed at.

Jimin flinched when heated scales pressed against his knuckles, the pearly dragon snuffling against his fingers and wrist and arm. Now, up close, Jimin marveled at the sight of the creatures, awe building skyscrapers in his stomach.

"Hey, pretty thing," Jimin whispered. "You're so gorgeous."

The little dragon peeked up at him, almost as if it could understand what he was saying. Then, without warning, it launched itself from Jeongguk's arms and into Jimin's.

He let out a cry of shock, but out of instinct he brought both his arms up to catch it. Wings flapped against his face and shoulders and he spluttered, his fingers hesitant as they wrapped around the dragon's scales and spikes.

"This is what you've been hiding?" Taehyung asked.

When Jimin looked over, Taehyung's arms were similarly occupied, with the smaller blue dragon. Jeongguk was staring at both of them, smiling so wide it looked like his cheeks would burst.

"They like you!" Jeongguk said, reaching over to pat at both the dragons. "Look, they're crooning!" 

There was a deep rumbling coming from both of the small dragons, and the one in Jimin's arms nosed against his neck, the underside of his jaw.

"I think they can smell you on us," Taehyung said, face soft now that he knew there was no immediate danger. 

Jeongguk did a tiny wiggle then hopped up and down, brimming with excitement. 

"Aren't they amazing? They're beautiful, aren't they? I found them two weeks ago, and they're so little and cute right now, even though they've grown so quickly. Every day I see them they get bigger! And look at the size of their claws, they're going to be huge when they're fully grown. This one is Opal, and this one is Juniper. They were all by themselves in the cave back there, isn't that sad?" 

That was sad. Sad enough to make Jimin's heart clench with sympathy. The dragon was so small in his arms, despite its hefty weight and sharp teeth. 

Juniper made a small noise in Taehyung's arms, and suddenly Jeongguk was there, holding his arms out for her with a piece of dried jerky in his other hand. The dragon gnawed on it, and Opal got jealous when he smelled his sister eating, because he flapped his wings once and joined the cradle of Jeongguk's arms.

Despite their combined weight, Jeongguk handled the both of them easily. The way he moved around their wings and nudged at their mouths with his fingers showed that he was familiar with them.

"This is what you've been keeping from us, huh?" Taehyung asked.

Jeongguk sighed once, then nodded. "I'm sorry. I really don't know why I was so adamant on keeping them secret. I guess my magic was just...scared. And protective. Their existence...it's..."

"The fact that they exist at all is frightening," Jimin understood. "Not for us, but for them. There would be a lot of people in the world who would easily hurt them, use them for greed." 

"Yeah," Jeongguk said, voice small. "I couldn't let that happen to them, even though I know you two would never. I just never want them to know hurt. Not like..."

He didn't finish his sentence, but both of them knew what he was about to say.

Not like me.

Jimin stepped closer, leaning in to press a kiss to Jeongguk's cheek.

"They're beautiful, Jeonggukie. They're lucky that you've found them."

Jeongguk beamed at that, laughing when the dragons growled at Jimin for stealing his attention away from them.

A noise behind Taehyung and Jimin caught their attention, and they turned to face the sound.

Namjoon and Seokjin burst from the large trunks of one of the trees, stumbling over to them before anybody could process what was happening.

"What's going on, is everyone okay?" Namjoon asked frantically. "The trees told me you guys were here, and that you smelled scared, Yoongi and Hoseok are on their way, and – what in the stars is Jeongguk cradling in his arms?" 

·༊˚

As Juniper and Opal grew, the more attached to the humans they became.

They followed Jeongguk like twin shadows, flying alongside his head everywhere he went. The only time they were apart was at night, when Jeongguk would settle them down for sleep in their cave. The hatchlings grew into fledglings, becoming larger and stronger each day. Jimin made little nutrient drinks for them to drink, even put them in baby bottles that made it easier for them to suckle. 

The sight of Taehyung and Jimin cradling each fledgling in their arms and crooning at them as they fed them made Jeongguk's heart ache in his chest, and this was it.

This was everything he's ever wanted.

Taehyung, and Jimin, and some animals to love. Jeongguk's never known how families were meant to be, but if he had to make up a definition for himself, this would be it.

This forest, this cottage, these people, these dragons. 

The dragons grew attached to the others, too. Opal loved chewing on Taehyung's hair, and Juniper could spend hours sunbathing on the kitchen tiles watching Jimin and his magic cook. They knew the way to Yoongi and Hoseok's cottage by heart, and could pick up the sound of Namjoon and Seokjin's footsteps from half a mile away. 

Jeongguk wanted to save every moment and trap it in a kaleidoscope, pretty feelings and pretty colors that he could keep inside his pocket for bad days.

"You look happy," Taehyung's voice came from above, and Jeongguk peeked his eyes open to find his boyfriend leaning over him, all ethereal beauty shrouded in sunset. 

"I am," Jeongguk beamed at him, reaching his arms up and making grabby hands. 

His head was leaning against Opal's stomach, the dragon sound asleep in the shady grass of their front yard. Stretched out, now, both the dragons were just a little bit smaller than the length of Jeongguk.

The rest of the hyungs were inside, helping Jimin and his magic prepare dinner. 

Taehyung sat and propped his head up with an arm, immediately reaching over to press his other hand to Jeongguk's cheek. He pressed a thumb into the corner of Jeongguk's uplifted lips, as if wanting to stamp that happiness there to stay.

"Stay like this forever," Taehyung whispered. "Stay this happy forever."

Jeongguk sighed, utterly content. The sun was setting in vivid tangerine hues all around the forest, and the familiar sounds of the table being set and his hyungs' laughter made him feel like he was floating.

"Only happy when you and Jiminie hyung are happy," Jeongguk murmured, giggling when Juniper gave up on stalking a bluegrem and darted over to them, wriggling in-between their bodies, nudging at Taehyung's palm for pets. 

Taehyung stroked over her warm scales. His hand, once so large that it could completely cover her entire body, now could no longer span her back.

"We're happiest with you," Taehyung countered, a teasing smile on his lips.

Jeongguk stuck his tongue out, and Juniper tried to jump up and lap at it.

"Ew!" he protested at both of them, rolling onto his back and cuddling her against his stomach. "Don't be corny, hyung."

Taehyung laughed, then shifted closer. He looked so handsome like this: all carefree black curls falling over his forehead and an easy smile on his lips as he leaned in.

Jeongguk let his lids flutter shut, his stomach warm as he felt Taehyung's breath against his face, until his hyung froze. Feeling the shift in atmosphere, Jeongguk opened his eyes in question.

Both Taehyung and Juniper were staring towards the path that lead out into the forest, and a second later Opal was opening his eyes, scooting out from under Jeongguk's head and growling.

Juniper joined him in the noise, and the two of them stalked towards whatever it was, their wings raised and spread to make them look as large as possible.

"What is it?" Jeongguk sat up.

Taehyung was already standing, striding towards the cottage's waist-height wooden gate and locking it. Though the gate was mostly for show, especially with Namjoon's protective wards surrounding their home, shutting and locking it was a clear signal for whatever was out there to keep out.

Jeongguk scrambled to his feet, and saw what the three were looking at.

Two women were standing stock still in the middle of the path between the forest and their cottage. Their faces were half-hidden by dark cloaks, and of them had a shock of floor-length white hair, pooling out of the hood of their cloaks and brushing the hem of their pants. It was clear to see that they'd been standing there for a while, not even hiding the fact that they'd been staring at the cottage.

Right where Jeongguk had been dozing off. Right where the two fledglings were perfectly in sight.

"Opal, Juniper," Jeongguk's voice came out harsher than he'd intended, panic building in his gut. "Come here."

Despite their protective instincts to guard the cottage and the humans, the dragons let out one last growl before flying back towards Jeongguk.

Juniper landed heavily on his shoulders and completely wrapped herself around him, her tail winding around his neck and her scaled cheek pressing against Jeongguk's own. He could feel her growl rumbling through her, her entire body vibrating with it. 

Opal hovered on the other side of Jeongguk's head, hissing loud enough for the strangers to hear. Jeongguk could see the eyebrows raise on both of their faces. 

Unsure what to do, Jeongguk backed up a few steps to get the dragons further away, but he was unwilling to leave Taehyung out here alone.

"You're on private property," Taehyung said, still standing right at the gate. He shifted his body in a way that looked like he was trying to block Jeongguk from sight. "You need to leave."

The women didn't say anything, but they immediately began walking towards them instead of away.

"I said get the hell away," Taehyung's voice was a growl now, his hands fisting at his sides. 

Their cottage must have warned the witches inside, because all of a sudden the rest of them were striding out the front door towards them. 

Namjoon and Seokjin immediately went to Taehyung's side, and Jimin was stepping right in front of Jeongguk, pressing back with a hand against Jeongguk's stomach.

"Go inside, Jeongguk," Jimin said, voice dangerous as he stared at the trespassers.

When neither of the women stopped walking, Jeongguk saw Namjoon raise an arm, the sorcerer's magic visibly condensing into the palm of his hand, dangerously bright.

"STOP," Taehyung screamed, and with his shout a burst of his own magic escaped his body.

A shadowed figure immediately formed in front of him, an emanation of every protective and angry emotion roiling inside of him.

With a flick of Taehyung's hand, the shadow was disappearing and reappearing right in front of the women, growing and completely enveloping them within a split second.

Jeongguk and Jimin both gasped in unison. They were used to Taehyung's magic forming from strong emotion, but Taehyung's never been able to actively control his shadows before.

Both of the women broke into agonized screams.

"Hyung..." Jeongguk's voice was drowned out by the pained sounds of the trespassers. 

Namjoon placed a hand on Taehyung's tense shoulder, squeezing once. The shadow dispersed and split into two, morphing again and landing on the ground in dark humanoid shapes. 

Though the women looked physically unharmed, they were panting now, eyes terrified and hair and clothing rumpled.

"You are not welcome in my forest," Namjoon's voice sounded as if the entire forest were speaking, his eyes glowing green with his magic. 

Jeongguk shivered at the power that he could feel emanating from the sorcerer. Every single tree and bush was leaned towards them, enraptured by its very life source, burning from Namjoon's core. 

Despite Taehyung's shadows still hovering around them, neither of the women could look away from Jeongguk. Away from the dragons wrapped around him.

"Take your eyes off of him," Taehyung spat out, his shadows growing once more.

One of the women said something in a low, raspy voice. But wherever they had come from used a language that none of the witches understood. Despite that, all of them could understand enough what the greed in their gazes meant. 

Sensing defeat, the women backed away from the cottage, Taehyung's shadows multiplying and stalking them. With one last glance towards Jeongguk, the both of them faded away like mist giving in to sunlight. 

The moment they were gone, Taehyung fell to his knees. Jeongguk and Jimin both tried to go to him, but Yoongi held his arm out, stopping them.

"Get inside," Namjoon ordered as he crouched by Taehyung, rubbing a hand up his back.

"But–"

"We'll bring him in," Yoongi said quietly. "We'll all feel better once the fledglings are out of sight."

After a pause, Jimin turned and grabbed Jeongguk around the waist, his hand shaking even as he squeezed it against Jeongguk's flesh as he steered them inside.

The dragons were making strange clicking noises now, ones that Jeongguk's never heard them make before. He reached up to grab Juniper from around his neck and cradled her in his arms, straining a little with her weight but pressing her against him when she curled her tail around his wrist. She peered up at him and made a frightened noise as her vertical pupils dilated.

"It's okay," Jeongguk soothed helplessly. "I won't let anyone hurt you two."

Opal nosed at his sister's cheek, checking on her before taking her place wrapped around Jeongguk's neck.

"They're protecting you," Jimin said, reaching a hand up to stroke Opal's head. "Our neck is our most vulnerable area, and they keep wrapping themselves around yours."

Jeongguk pressed a kiss to Opal's scaled tail. 

"Who were they?" Jeongguk asked, herded to the kitchen by Seokjin and Hoseok. 

Jimin wouldn't let go of him, sitting down and then pulling Jeongguk into his lap.

He heard the front door slamming shut, the cottage quivering as it seemed to draw into itself, sheltering everything inside.

Jimin's magic was frantically locking all the windows and drawing all the blinds shut. Namjoon strode to the back door and pressed his palm against the glass, muttering a spell underneath his breath, an extra protective ward humming through the cottage's walls a moment later. 

The clear glass suddenly became dark, tinted in a way that showed them the outside but allowed nobody to look in.

Taehyung was lead to the sink by Yoongi and immediately turned the water on, dipping to splash cold water onto his face. His skin was pale and his hands shook as he held them under the water.

"Hyung?" Jeongguk's voice was small as he looked over at Taehyung.

Yoongi was hovering near Taehyung, lips downturned with worry. 

"They wouldn't stop fucking staring at Jeongguk," Taehyung gritted out, water dripping from his bangs and jaw over the sink. 

Shadows were emerging and jumping from his skin like wax dripping down the sides of a tall candle. They were starting to fill the room, coating the cabinets and taking up all kinds of shapes in the open space.

"Taehyung-ah, you need to calm down," Yoongi said. "Take deep breaths. Jeongguk is safe. The fledglings are safe. We're all safe."

Taehyung squeezed his eyes shut, splashing more water onto his face.

"It's okay, Taehyungie hyung," Jeongguk said quietly. "Nothing happened."

The shadows flickered in and out of sight, then with a gusty exhale, disappeared completely. 

"And they weren't staring at me, they were staring at the dragons," Jeongguk said, his stomach in knots. 

"They saw how the dragons acted towards you," Seokjin said, sitting down across from Jeongguk and running a hand through his hair, looking uncharacteristically serious. "This isn't good."

"How did they even know about them?"

"The forest speaks," Hoseok sighed. "Even if we've been keeping Opal and Juniper away from other witches, the creatures see. The spirits see. The trees see. Eventually, word gets around. It always does." 

Taehyung finally came over and Jimin immediately held out his hand for him.

"What should we do?" Jeongguk asked, hugging the fledglings closer to himself. "They know where we live now. What if they come again and try to hurt Juniper and Opal?"

"We won't let them," Jimin denied vehemently. 

"The echo of their magic is still here," Namjoon said, face thoughtful. "I can feel it. It's...it's magic I'm unfamiliar with, which means that they must come from a place far away."

"Then I need to call my mother," Taehyung sighed.

The infamous tracing witch would be their best bet on finding out where the women came from. Taehyung stood from the table and left the kitchen to find their messenger mirror.

Worried, Jeongguk rose and plopped the dragons into the nearest available laps before he was going after Taehyung, Jimin following close behind.

"Hyung," Jeongguk caught Taehyung's hand by the stairwell. "Are you okay?" 

He pressed in close, nosing against Taehyung's cheek and wrapping his arms around the timor witch, feeling Jimin do the same on the other side. 

"You controlled your magic for the first time, Tae," Jimin said. "This is a good thing! You were so strong out there."

"There's nothing good about Jeongguk's life being in danger," Taehyung argued, though his cheeks flushed at Jimin's compliment. "You saw the way they looked at him. They know he's an easy way to get to Opal and Juniper." 

A shadow appeared next to them at Taehyung's stress, but none of them flinched. 

"Nothing will happen," Jeongguk reassured him, despite the unease in his own heart. "I can already feel Namjoon upping the wards around the cottage. And they found our house, but they haven't found the fledglings' cave yet. We can have Hoseok transport them there through the ground, so they can't track them if they somehow are still lingering."

"Call your mother, Taehyung," Jimin went up on his tippy toes and pressed his plump lips to Taehyung's, then to Jeongguk's. "I'm not going to let anything happen to any of you."

"The fledglings included?" Jeongguk whispered, pressing his cheek into Taehyung's collarbone.

"Of course," Jimin said. "They're our family now, too."

·༊˚

With how much the forest belonged to Namjoon, Jeongguk supposed he often let his guard down. They all did – Namjoon worked hard every single day in order to make sure that his forest was safe for everything in it, be it the plants, the creatures, and the residents.

But that didn't mean his magic was foolproof.

There was no such thing as perfection, not even in magic as old and powerful as Namjoon's. 

But Jeongguk often let that slip his mind.

It was something he wouldn't have ever dreamed of when he was younger. Growing up, he was constantly looking over his shoulder, afraid to make loud noises, always setting things back exactly where he found them in the house.

There were rules, too many to follow, rules screamed and rules unsaid and rules changed and rules that resulted in punishment after punishment.

Younger Jeongguk was skittish, and walked through the world with fear. 

His movements were slow and his voice quiet, shoulders always hunching in to make himself a smaller target. 

It was devastating, how much he changed. Devastating in all the best ways, when Jeongguk fled to Namjoon's forest and met Taehyung and Jimin and the rest of his hyungs.

For the first time in his life he stretched out his limbs without fear of being too big, too loud, too alive, because he discovered that there was no such thing as it – being too much.

So he grew and grew, in height and in noise and in faith and in joy, and Jeongguk became the version of himself that he was today: trusting and loud, ravenous and euphoric, accepting everything that life had to give him, understanding that the world was not out to harm him. 

He was just shrapnel of whatever star he'd been born out of, and Jeongguk accepted that life was a constant cycle of pain, the worst pain you could ever imagine, but alit with the brightest love, too.

The Jeongguk now, the Jeongguk of today, was completely unprepared for somebody to attack him within Namjoon's forest, despite multiple warnings to be careful after the strange women had showed up at the cottage. But weeks had passed now and nothing had happened, Taehyung's mother unable to find any damning information about them, so Jeongguk thought of it as a strange occurrence and nothing more.

They'd gone on with their normal lives, Taehyung finally having a breakthrough with his magic and becoming more and more in tune with it. He could call forth shadows at will all the time now, and at night when they formed from nightmares they could disappear with a snap of Taehyung's fingers. 

Time moved on, as it does, and Jeongguk was no longer on guard. 

He was sitting outside of the dragons' cave, concentrated on the reeds he was sewing together to make a sturdy, waterproof sling for one of the koi verns that had broken its fin. 

Opal and Juniper were even bigger now, too big to fit into Jeongguk's lap anymore. Though they were still fledglings, their teeth had sharpened and they were slowly becoming aware of the power that they held in their talons, their jaws. 

Jeongguk mourned their hatchling stage, missed cradling them in his arms and bottle feeding them milk. Though they were no less affectionate, Jeongguk had to teach them now to be gentle, especially now that they were larger than him and in the beginning stages of learning to breathe fire.

Juniper was stuck by his side as always, ever-cuddly and happy to lay beside him. But Opal was flying in circles overhead, tugging at her horns and tail to get her to play with him. She grumbled, flapping a wing out at him, but he simply tugged on that too. 

"Go play with your brother, June," Jeongguk laughed. "I have to get this done, you don't have to stick by me all the–"

Jeongguk was cut off when something hard and painful slammed into his upper body. His breath left him in a rush, leaving him winded. Whatever hit him had flattened him to the ground, and belatedly he realized that Opal and Juniper were roaring.

He'd never heard that sound leave their mouths before, had never heard them vocalize anything that vicious. Jeongguk tried to get his arms underneath him to push his body up, and he belatedly realized that he was in some type of heavy, magical netting. 

Suddenly, he was being dragged across the ground, like a fish being tugged out of the ocean. Fear made his heart hammer against his chest, but Jeongguk rolled to look at his captor, a scream escaping his throat. He found that there were an entire group of them, four men dressed head to toe in black, cloths tied around their heads and mouths so that only their eyes were showing.

But from under the cloths, Jeongguk could see peeks of white hair. Dread made his magic coil inside of him like a spring. 

At the sound of his scream, Opal and Juniper tried to nuzzle at him, biting at the large net that was surrounding him, held shut by the men dragging him away.

One of them said something to the other, in the same language that the women from before had spoken in. Jeongguk wished he could understand.

Jeongguk let another scream rip out of his throat, thrashing against the magical restraints. 

"Shut up!" one of them snapped at him, and that Jeongguk could understand. 

When Jeongguk didn't stop, the netting surround him suddenly turned painful. 

The magic surrounding the material turned malicious, tiny zaps of pain coursing through every inch of Jeongguk's skin that the net was touching. Jeongguk let out a harsh gasp, curling into himself and trying to protect his face on instinct, ducking his head into his stomach and knees. 

He heard Opal and Juniper's cries of pain as they continued to try biting at the net, low whines bursting loud through their throats as they tried to get his attention. Though they were bigger, now, they were still young. Old enough to be protective over Jeongguk, yes, but not old enough to try and attack humans, especially not without Jeongguk's guidance.

Looking up at them, Jeongguk reached out and pushed at Opal's head, looking him in the eye and trying to ignore the pain on his hand as he pushed against the net. 

"Leave, Opal," Jeongguk commanded. "Both of you get away." 

Opal let out a noise at that, tiny and wounded, and redoubled his efforts to get to him. He was mouthing at Jeongguk's hand, the netting making magical burns on his perfect, pearly scales. The sight of it had rage simmering deep in Jeongguk's stomach.

They were still just fledglings, and already they were being hurt like this. Jeongguk wouldn't let it happen. He wouldn't let them get hurt.

With a burst of magic, Jeongguk stared both of the dragons in the eye.

"Opal, Juniper. Leave me," he commanded, his magic laced through his words. He felt it simmering through his veins, pooling in his stomach and crawling up his throat, coating his tongue – it was an order no animal could disobey. 

"Go find safety," Jeongguk said, driving the point home.

Leave, and find a corner of this world that will never harm you again, he thought. Forget all about me and stay together. Stay safe.

After a single moment of hesitation, eventually the pull of Jeongguk's magic forced the fledglings to comply. With cries of anguish, the two dragons beat their wings and shot up to the sky, disappearing from sight within a heartbeat. 

One of the men screamed, and though Jeongguk couldn't understand them he knew they were cursing. Despite the anger he could feel simmering, relief flowed through his body as the dragons left.

Jeongguk breathed shakily through the pain and reached down to claw his fingers into the dirt underneath him. He was still being moved roughly across the forest floor, and sharp twigs and rocks cut into the skin under his nails. 

But he dug his fingers in deep. Not to stop himself from movement, but to send a frantic burst of his magic through the earth. 

Jeongguk's type of magic wasn't active like Jimin or even Taehyung's. It didn't move things around or create illusions. It just existed, within him, gave him affinities towards gentling animals and a bigger heart towards caring for creatures and instinct in knowing how to take care of them. 

So Jeongguk could only hope that the shock of magic he sent into Namjoon's forest would be enough. Enough for Hoseok to feel, if he was down there, or enough for the trees to carry back to their cottage, or enough for Namjoon himself to feel.

He wasn't used to expelling his magic this way, and he felt the corners of his vision blurring. Sweat beaded uncomfortably at his hairline and ran down his temple, and Jeongguk wondered what they were going to do with him now that Opal and Juniper were gone.

He wondered what Jimin and Taehyung were going to do without him. Who was going to make sure Jimin ate when he slept in until 3PM, who was going to buy Taehyung new dream journals when he filled up his last one? Who was going to sleep in-between them so they both had someone to hold, since both of them liked being the big spoon?

The forest rumbled like a piece of it was being torn away.

And perhaps part of it was.

Jeongguk almost forgot how sentient it was when it wanted to be. 

Everything within it had been a little less active lately, and Jeongguk chalked it down to the forest's fatigue with all of the re-rooting Hoseok had been implementing. But when a tree reached out a massive branch to swing at the man holding the net, Jeongguk let out a sob of relief.

The men let out an angry cry, and one of them pulled out a long, curved knife and hacked at the branches that were coming towards him.

"No!" Jeongguk screamed. "Don't hurt them!" 

Then a shadow burst forth, vivid as a dawning sun. It wrapped around Jeongguk as if in embrace, and a harsh gasp left his mouth at the sharp chill of it. But then it was unwinding, one last tendril caressing his cheek like a gentle lover, and then shadows were rising and growing and sharpening and shooting towards Jeongguk's attackers, soft turned into steel. 

Jeongguk squeezed his eyes shut at the sound of the first scream, hunching into himself and throwing his hands over his ears.

Though the shadows had felt so cold wrapped around his skin, Jeongguk sagged so hard with relief that his entire body trembled with it. Because where those shadows went, despite how much fear they used to put in Jeongguk's heart, now, now he knew that where those shadows went, there was also–

Warmth.

"Jeongguk."

A hand, small and familiar, running up his spine through the magical netting all the way up to his neck. Squeezing there once in comfort.

"Jeongguk-ah, please answer me, are you hurt?"

His own hands were gently being pried away from his ears, and he blinked up at Jimin, whose eyes were teeming with a wild fear. Slowly, Jeongguk turned his head to find Taehyung a few feet away, standing completely still with his arms outstretched.

Though he wasn't fully facing them, Jeongguk saw that his eyes were completely black. Jeongguk thought he looked beautiful. Like a solar eclipse, blotting out the center of the sun.

Taehyung's gaze was completely honed in on Jeongguk's attackers, who no longer looked as powerful or terrifying as they did while they were trying to take Jeongguk away.

"Honey, look at me," Jimin was ripping at the netting now, not flinching even as burns ran through his fingers as he tried to get to Jeongguk. 

Jeongguk knew that he was worrying Jimin the longer he didn't respond, but it felt like there was molasses stuck in his throat. His thoughts were somehow going too quick and too slow at the same time.

He couldn't stop shaking. 

Jeongguk turned his head again, peering up at Jimin, the gold of the manner witch's hair burning in the day's last vestiges of sun. 

"Jeongguk," Jeongguk's body jerked as Jimin finally ripped away the last of the netting, the magic coursing through it growing weaker as the assailants did. 

The manner witch flung it far away, and then he was scooping Jeongguk up, strong arms winding underneath Jeongguk's torso and lifting.

Jeongguk sat up and leaned heavily against Jimin's chest. His head flopped into the space between Jimin's shoulder and neck, and he nuzzled into the skin desperately. 

Jimin pressed him there with a hand to the back of his head, his fingers threading through Jeongguk's hair almost desperately.

His other hand was running over Jeongguk's skin, but Jimin quickly stopped when Jeongguk sucked in a pained breath.

Jimin cursed at all of the welts left on Jeongguk's skin. 

"Hyung," Jeongguk finally croaked out. "Hyung."

"I'm here, we're both here," Jimin said, his voice shaking. "You're okay, honeybee, we have you."

"Dragons?"

"They came home, they're safe," Jimin soothed him.

And Jeongguk let out a little sob at that. He'd told them to fly away, to find somewhere safe, and they'd flown home. 

When Jeongguk turned to look towards Taehyung again, Jimin was quick to stop him, catching his cheek and turning his face back into his chest.

"Don't look," Jimin whispered. "Tae wouldn't want you to look."

"'M not afraid," Jeongguk slurred out. "I'm not afraid of him."

He could feel his skin growing tight with the magical burns, feeling stretched out and stiff in the worst possible way. His body was beginning to ache, and a pained sound left his throat when Jimin shifted a little too quickly for comfort.

Between one blink and the next, Jeongguk saw familiar robes stepping out from the trunk of a tree. Namjoon's gaze immediately locked on him, slumped over into Jimin's hold, skin marked all over with magic burns, and an expression so murderous Jeongguk almost didn't recognize him transformed his face.

Namjoon made his way towards where Taehyung was, and then Seokjin's voice was somewhere next to Jimin's, and then, and then–

Jeongguk shrunk into himself, and lost consciousness. 

·༊˚

If there was one thing to be said about Jeongguk's hyungs, it would be that they knew how to coddle.

When Jeongguk woke up, he was sitting firmly on Taehyung's lap inside their cottage. He could hear Jimin in the background opening cabinets and stirring something over the stove. A blanket was gently wrapped around their shoulders, and Taehyung's arms were holding him loosely around the waist, afraid to aggravate the burns further.

Little shadows were oozing from Taehyung's skin like steam evaporating off summer pavement. 

There was movement, and then Jeongguk realized Opal and Juniper were there too, laid out beside them on the couch, inching closer and closer and trying to fight their way into Jeongguk's lap.

Taehyung gently pushed them away, scolding them with light taps of his finger to their sensitive noses. 

"He can't cuddle with you right now, he's hurt," Taehyung said.

They blinked up at him cluelessly, unable to even get a sense of what he was trying to say, not in the way they could understand Jeongguk with the aid of his magic.

"I'm okay," Jeongguk croaked out, freeing an arm out of the blankets to pet at the fledglings' heads, if only to make them stop looking so pitiful. They looked like crestfallen puppies aching for a cuddle, their behinds even wriggling like they wanted to launch themselves into Jeongguk's lap at any moment.

"I'm okay," Jeongguk reassured them again. "I'll give you both a big hug in a second, okay? You were both so brave."

"You're awake," Taehyung breathed out, moving to catch Jeongguk's eyes. "Does it hurt a lot? I'm sorry we didn't get to you quicker."

Jeongguk shook his head. "It's fine. I'm just glad Juniper and Opal aren't hurt." 

Taehyung squeezed his eyes shut and knocked his forehead against Jeongguk's.

"Thank the stars you're okay," Taehyung whispered. "I don't know what we would've done if they'd taken you away."

Jimin came back with a tray full of balms and bandages, a stressed line in-between his brows. "He's not okay," Jimin said sharply, setting the tray down on the table with a loud thunk. 

Gently, he reached out and pulled the blanket away from them, revealing Jeongguk's skin. Almost every inch of it was covered in ugly, criss-crossed welts.

While Jeongguk was glad that he was wearing long pants that at least saved some of his legs from the pain, his arms, face and neck were a different story.

"Those fucking bastards," Taehyung cursed, eyes dark.

The shadows jumped from his skin in angry bursts, almost losing their connection to the witch and taking on fully formed shapes. 

"Hyung, I promise I'm okay," Jeongguk said, easing close to the witch and pressing his cheek into Taehyung's hot neck. 

He closed his eyes against the shadows tickling his cheek and ears, giggling at the sensation.

"This isn't okay," Jimin's voice was wrecked through with emotion. "This shouldn't have happened, Jeongguk. Not to you." 

The three of them lapsed into silence for a few moments. The only sound in the room were the fledglings' curious snuffling as they leapt from the couch and sniffed around the living room, temporarily giving up on cuddling Jeongguk, and the tear of bandages as Jimin pressed the balm to Jeongguk's skin and wrapped him up.

"I don't need this many," Jeongguk groused as Jimin wrapped basically his entire arm. "I won't be able to move."

"Good," Jimin said roughly, continuing to wind the bandages. "Maybe then you won't get into so much trouble."

"Jimin-ah," Taehyung intercepted.

Jimin's face was hardened in the way it got when he was feeling particularly stubborn, or angry. Jeongguk bit his lip, never liking to be the one who provoked his hyung's ire.

"I'm sorry, hyung," Jeongguk said. "I know I can be a burden sometimes."

"That's not what I'm saying, Jeongguk," Jimin said immediately, making a conscious effort to soften his tone.

He sat back with a big sigh, peering up into Jeongguk's face. Jimin reached up to cup a hand against Jeongguk's least-injured cheek, running a small thumb over his skin in delicate arches.

"I love you with my entire being, Jeongguk," Jimin said in a whisper. "We both do. And if something happened to you...neither of us would be able to survive that. We wouldn't."

"We need you to be safe, baby," Taehyung pressed his cheek to Jeongguk's shoulder. "We're not angry, we're just scared."

"I'm sorry," Jeongguk said again. 

He knew that if he were in their shoes, if one of them had been attacked the way he had, he'd have reacted the exact same way. 

Faint tremors wracked through his body, aftershocks of adrenaline and fear. 

"You're never a burden," Jimin said, leaning up to press his lips gently against Jeongguk's. "Please don't think that."

Jeongguk sighed into the kiss, eyes drooping.

The smell of the tea and the herbal balm Jimin had pasted onto his wounds made him sleepy, now that his pain was abating. For some reason, these smells were the most nostalgic to him. Perhaps it was because he only smelt them when he was at his most vulnerable, sick or tired, but it made him feel floaty and cared for and loved. 

Perhaps that was the reason why, for the first time, Jeongguk said out loud, "I want Juniper and Opal to live with us."

Taehyung exhaled long and slow behind him. Jeongguk could feel the rise and fall of his chest against his back. 

"I love them so much," Jeongguk continued, voice wobbling. "I love them and the whole time those men were trying to take me away, they wouldn't leave my side until I commanded them with my magic. I don't want anything to happen to them – not now, and not when they're older. They're never going to be safe, being the only two dragons alive right now. And I'm never going to stop thinking about them, if they're taken care of by someone else, I'm constantly going to be worried and–"

"Okay," Taehyung said.

"...What?"

"If you think we can do it, then we can try," Taehyung said gently. "They can live with us."

Jeongguk turned to him, watery eyes huge. "Do you mean it?"

Taehyung looked at him with a sad smile. "I want whatever will make you happy, Jeongguk. I can't promise you that it'll work out, but I promise you we'll all try our hardest."

Jeongguk's face crumpled, and he silently launched himself into Taehyung despite already sitting on his lap. He wound his arms tight around the timor witch's neck and squeezed.

"Thank you," Jeongguk breathed into his skin. "Thank you, thank you."

He turned to Jimin then too, and Jimin smiled at him softly. 

"This was always between you two, and your magic," Jimin said once he realized Jeongguk was waiting for his approval, as well. "I've never hated anything more than having to stifle your magic's urges, Jeonggukie, but I wanted Taehyung to feel comfortable as well. If you two think that Opal and Juniper will be able to thrive here, then I'm willing to do anything I can to help make it work."

"I think from what Taehyungie hyung showed in the forest, he has plenty of control over his shadows now," Jeongguk said. 

"It's different when I'm asleep though, sweetheart, you know that," Taehyung said gently. "It's harder for me to control them in my sleep."

"Maybe the shadows won't scare them," Jeongguk said hopefully.

Taehyung snorted. "Opal is scared of his own tail."

"He's not!" Jeongguk defended. "He's just jumpy!" 

Looking up at the sound of their names, the fledglings decided they've been away from Jeongguk long enough, because they flew over and tumbled down into his lap, licking at the bandages around his arm.

"Hey, don't lick the balm off you savages!" Jimin scolded them, plucking both of them up and plopping them into his own lap.

The dragons turned their affections onto him, nuzzling into his hands and chest.

"Did you hear that, babies?" Jeongguk exclaimed. "You get to live here! With us!"

Juniper tilted her head back and let out a delighted little roar. And with it, a burst of flame escaped her throat and singed the ceiling. The cottage let out a shocked yelp.

"Oops!" Jeongguk cried out on her behalf. "She didn't mean to!" 

Jimin already had his head in his hands, sighing. 

"One minute in and they're already destroying the place." 

Never one to lose to his sister, Opal tilted his head back, and let out some fire of his own. Jeongguk peered up at the twin burn mark on the ceiling, honestly impressed at how quickly they'd learned how to breathe fire.

Taehyung threw his head back and laughed, jostling Jeongguk's entire body with it. Even the cottage joined in.

Their questions were answered a few days later. 

Jeongguk woke to the sound of their bedroom door creaking open. Jimin had been letting the fledglings stay inside of the house because they were just small enough to move around without knocking too many things over, but Jeongguk had a feeling they were going to be moved outside very soon. 

Jeongguk lifted his head, eyes bleary as they adjusted to the darkness. Two glowing pairs of eyes were peeking at him from the hallway, and despite his grogginess, Jeongguk huffed out a little laugh at the fledglings.

"C'mere," Jeongguk whispered, motioning for them to come onto the bed, despite knowing how much Jimin would complain about their dirty sheets the next day.

Opal and Juniper bound into the room, but didn't fly up onto the bed to cuddle Jeongguk like he'd thought they would.

They pounced on something in the corner of the room, their tails swaying back and forth in the way it did when they were play fighting. 

Jeongguk sat up fully and saw that they were swiping at a shadow.

It was a small one, not having taken shape yet – the mere beginning of a nightmare forming from Taehyung or Jimin. But before it had time to fully form, Opal and Juniper were pushing their heads into it, disturbing the magic as it festered. 

The shadow dispersed and spread, and Juniper let out a delighted little yap at the sight of it. The sound jerked both Taehyung and Jimin awake, and the two of them sprung up, their hands immediately reaching out for each other, for Jeongguk.

"Wha's it?" Taehyung mumbled, eyes barely open. "Something wrong?"

Opal and Juniper were tussling now, a pile of rolling wings and scales as they pounced at the poor shadow that was bouncing back and forth between them, desperate to escape.

"I don't think we have to worry about the dragons being scared," Jimin laughed, his voice raspy. "I think they're in love."

Taehyung was wide awake now, watching the fledglings play with his magic that had only ever brought out fear.

Hesitantly, Taehyung stuck out a hand and splayed his fingers out. On command, the shadow darkened and stretched, then took the shape of a little fledgling. 

Juniper and Opal roared at that, twin sounds of pure joy. If dragons could laugh, the sound they were making would be the equivalent of that. They pounced towards the shadow and rolled onto their backs when they just went through it, immediately flying up to try again.

The three witches were openly laughing now, leaning into each other in the warm bed as Taehyung played with the fledglings. The walls of the cottage were grumbling at the late hour, but Jeongguk could tell that it was amused, too.

However, everything was put to a stop when Opal forgot that they were indoors and flew directly into the wall, so hard that a little crack sprouted from the impact.

Jeongguk was immediately sprinting for him, and the cottage let out a sigh, the windows opening and shutting with a great exhale, as if to say, I told you so.

I told you so, Jeongguk thought right back as he cradled Opal's large body in his lap, his arm already aching with his weight. I told you everything would be okay.

He didn't know whether his thoughts were directed to Opal, or Taehyung, or himself. 

All Jeongguk knew was that warm feeling in his bones – that was happiness, growing and growing in a home made of shadow and magic. 

༊˚

"Angel, time to eat," Jimin leaned against the doorframe of their cottage's backdoor, a stained apron protecting his clothes and a wooden spoon clutched in one of his hands.

"Yes hyung," Jeongguk called back, sitting up from the blanket he'd laid out on the grass, shutting his sketchbook.

Opal and Juniper had been extra touchy with him all day, and he struggled under the weight of their heads as he tried to stand. 

A few months had passed and they were fully grown now, their heads the size of Jeongguk's entire torso and their wingspans surpassing the length of the cottage. 

After Jeongguk's attack, Taehyung's mother was able to interrogate the men and discovered an entire organization dedicated towards capturing and selling rare magical creatures. Though none of them knew all the specifics of it, they knew that it was one of the biggest criminal busts the magical world had seen in decades. 

Juniper made a low huffing noise as he moved, nuzzling her head into Jeongguk's stomach the way she did when she was still small.

"Gotta go, June," Jeongguk pressed a kiss to her hot scales. "See you in the morning!" 

The two dragons made matching sounds at that, a noise that Jeongguk had never heard from them before. It had him pausing in his movements, trepidation bleeding into his stomach as he glanced at the dragons.

Juniper was rubbing her cheek along his arms, as if trying to bathe him in her scent. Opal watched the two of them, but there was something in his eyes that Jeongguk marked as overwhelmingly sad.

"Opal?" Jeongguk whispered. "What's the matter?" 

Though he knew the dragon couldn't answer him back in precise words, Opal finally stepped closer and dipped his head down, slowly and gently pressing his forehead against Jeongguk's. There was no more puppyish energy to the dragons now. They'd grown so quickly, and with their new size they now understood that they needed to treat humans with gentility.

The dragon shut his eyes as he stayed there, pressed against Jeongguk, and the forest around them grew quiet.

Dread ate away at Jeongguk's stomach.

When Opal pulled back, the older dragon allowed himself to press his cheek against Jeongguk's once. 

It felt like a thank you.

It felt like a goodbye.

"You're leaving?" Jeongguk whispered, tears climbing up the back of his throat. "You're...you're both leaving?"

Jeongguk knew that this day would come.

That Opal and Juniper weren't domesticated house pets – they were dragons.

Large, magnificent beasts that once had been the most fearsome and powerful species on the planet. 

Jeongguk knew they would leave one day. He'd wanted them to go, wanted them to live their lives to the fullest, to see sights they've never seen and find treasures they couldn't get in Namjoon's forest. And now they were old enough, and strong enough to protect themselves against anyone who might want to hurt them. It made sense for them to leave.

But now, now, when the time came – all Jeongguk felt was heartbreak.

He heard two sets of footsteps come up behind him, pausing.

Jimin and Taehyung stood there silently, and Jeongguk knew if he reached back for even a moment they would be wrapping themselves around him, cradling him close. Juniper came up and said her own goodbye, nudging her head against Jeongguk's stomach until he wrapped his arms around her. 

A sob climbed its way up his throat, and Jeongguk squeezed her tightly.

"I love you," Jeongguk said, tears trailing sticky and fast down his cheeks once he let her go. "Opal, Juniper, I love you." 

The dragons peered at him with what his magic knew, to its very core, was love. Jeongguk felt their love for him like an ache, and the witch couldn't help but mourn the days when the both of them still fit in the palms of his hands.

Now, they'd outgrown him, and it was time for them to move on. 

Jimin and Taehyung stepped up beside him and was granted their own goodbyes, short nuzzles to their outstretched hands.

Then, as the sun dipped below the horizon, the two dragons borne from Namjoon's forest and Jeongguk's love threw their heads back and roared.

The sound echoed through the quietest corners of the world, through the embers of Jeongguk's magic, through the warmth of their little cottage.

With one last glance, Opal and Juniper stretched out their wings, and flew.

Jeongguk didn't breathe until they were out of sight, tiny specks in the far horizon. Grief swallowed him like an ocean, and his knees caved in and collapsed.

Jimin and Taehyung followed him down, their arms winding around him tightly, as if they were afraid of him scattering into a million broken pieces. Jimin whispered tiny words into his hair, ones that Jeongguk couldn't hear but that warmed him nonetheless. Taehyung simply pressed his cheek to Jeongguk's and stayed there, breathing in deep breaths to for Jeongguk to attempt to copy through his gasps.

Jeongguk was the reason why the hatchlings were able to grow up so well that they could even leave this forest, and discover parts of the world all for themselves. He was the reason why these two dragons lived, when no other dragon had survived for generations. 

And for the first time in his life, Jeongguk's magic felt powerful. It saw buds bloom from nothing but pure love, and Jeongguk had grown up thinking that was impossible.

He'd grown up thinking that there was power and there was care, and that the two were separate things that never touched.

When the tears subsided, Jeongguk crawled into Jimin's lap and tucked himself small, reaching out to hug Taehyung close to them.

Taehyung pulled back to look at his face, reaching out to cup his cheek.

"Are you okay?" Taehyung whispered.

Jimin squeezed his arms around Jeongguk once, a silent reminder that he was there.

And Jeongguk smiled, glancing up at the sky and blowing a silent kiss.

There was power, and there was love, and Jeongguk was bone and flesh and blood, and he finally understood that there was nothing stronger than the gentlest touch. 

·༊˚

Jeongguk was listless for the next few weeks. Though he always knew the dragons would have to leave someday, he supposed he never truly prepared himself for the reality of it.

Of coming to the garden with slabs of meat for them only to remember that they weren't there anymore. He couldn't break the habit of checking out the bedroom window at night, just to spot their scales in the darkness, their forms lying peacefully in slumber. 

Jimin had tucked Jeongguk into bed for an afternoon nap after Jeongguk had snapped at him for no reason.

"I love you, sweetheart," Jimin had said, sitting on the side of the bed and stroking his ringed fingers through Jeongguk's tangled hair. "I'm sorry you're hurting."

And Jeongguk had just felt even worse at that, burying his face into the pillows and catching Jimin's hand to squeeze in apology.

Now, he was waking from a light half-snooze as their front door opened, and the sound of voices traveled up the stairs. 

There was a painting on the wall that showed the front of their cottage, and Jeongguk squinted at it to see who was there. 

His question was answered mere moments later, when the door burst open and Seokjin strode in, eyes immediately zoning in on Jeongguk's huddled form.

"Baby," Seokjin said, his gentle tone completely opposite to the way he took a running start and jumped on top of Jeongguk's prone body, ruthless as he allowed his entire body weight to crush the younger.

"Hyung," Jeongguk wheezed out, immediately struggling and freeing his arms from the blanket to try and grab Seokjin into a headlock.

Something about the older witch always riled him up in the best way, competitive energy buzzing through his veins like a hive of bees. Jeongguk enjoyed rough-housing every once in a while, and Jimin always told him fondly that he reminded him of a dog that had grown up and still thought it was puppy sized. 

In Jeongguk's defense, neither Jimin nor Taehyung complained when Jeongguk plopped into their laps, so how was he to know! 

But Jimin's had a lithe dancer's frame that Jeongguk was secretly afraid to hurt, and Taehyung only enjoyed play-wrestling when he was drunk.

So whenever Jeongguk found Seokjin, some part of him always wanted to playfully pounce. Jeongguk giggled when Seokjin began screaming into his ear, Jeongguk's arm wrapped loosely around his neck.

To be even more of a menace, Jeongguk stuck his tongue out and wiggled it against the apple of Seokjin's cheek.

The screams became louder and more horrified, Seokjin rearing his head back and karate chopping the sides of Jeongguk's neck until he was freed.

"Namjoon-ah!" Seokjin was screaming. "We're leaving! Taehyung and Jimin called us over to cheer Jeongguk up, but if he's got enough energy to terrorize me, then he must be absolutely fine!" 

Laughter came from down the stairs, and the cottage must have been in a good mood because it took the joyful sounds and transferred them to the bedroom, making it sound like Namjoon's deep chuckling was right next to them.

Jeongguk giggled at the familiar sound, wrapping all four of his limbs around Seokjin and squeezing tight. His hyung was sturdy and loud and funny and Jeongguk loved him.

Seokjin let go of his affronted act at the hug, smile gentling as he pressed a silent kiss to Jeongguk's hair. 

"Out of bed, then," Seokjin said. "Yoongi made dinner."

When they made it downstairs, Hoseok immediately swooped in for a hug and Namjoon only hesitated for a few moments before he was dragging Jeongguk into his chest as well. 

Yoongi was setting the table with the aid of Jimin's magic, but he kept glancing at Jeongguk from the corner of his eye, a concerned pinch in-between his eyebrows. 

And despite the lingering sadness that ached in his chest, Jeongguk felt lighter than he had since Opal and Juniper left. 

Because for the first time in his life, there were people around to notice when he was in pain. For the first time in his life, he had a family who cared, people who cooked dinner for him, people who rallied around him even when he wasn't at his brightest. 

As Taehyung stood by the table setting out napkins, Jeongguk sat in his usual seat and nuzzled into his boyfriend's stomach. The sweater Taehyung was wearing was warm and smelled like Jimin, and Jeongguk smiled when Taehyung's big hand cupped the nape of his neck and squeezed gently.

"Okay?" Taehyung asked, voice quiet.

"M'okay," Jeongguk agreed. "I'm glad everyone's here. I've missed everyone." 

Yoongi huffed out a breath at that. "I knew Jimin and Taehyung were holding you captive here," he joked. "You possessive terrors."

Jimin's magic playfully turned all the forks towards Yoongi, jabbing menacingly in the air a few feet away from him. Everyone was gathered around the table now, plating their food and engaged in their own side conversations.

"Stop trying to steal our boyfriend," Jimin joked. "He snores and take up all the space in bed. We're the only ones who can put up with him."

"Hey!" Jeongguk squawked, though neither thing that Jimin said was false. 

Jimin's laugh rang through the cottage, the windows opening and shutting with it in a joyful cacophony. It was because of that rattling that none of them heard it, at first. 

The flapping of wings sounded a lot like windowpanes opening and closing. 

But something deep in the forest floor grumbled, as if a heavy weight had been set onto it, a missing piece clicking into place. 

Namjoon was the first to look up, so finely tuned to his forest that he felt the new presence as soon as they landed. He was sitting facing the windows that overlooked the garden, and awe flitted over his features before a smile was stretching over his face.

"Jeongguk-ah," Namjoon said softly. "Jeongguk, turn around."

Confused, Jeongguk turned, feeling Jimin and Taehyung on either side of him turn with him. Almost as if they knew he was turning to look, the dragons lowered their heads so they could peer into the window, their glowing eyes blinking at him like winking stars. 

Jeongguk stood so quickly his chair tipped backwards, Jimin's magic just barely catching it in time. By the time the chair righted itself, Jeongguk was already outside, arms splayed wide open as he sprinted for his dragons. 

His magic sung, seeing them, so excited that sparks ran off the tips of his fingers, the ends of his hair. 

Opal and Juniper were making excited clicking sounds in the backs of their throat, and when Jeongguk was close enough, they shoved their heads into his stomach the exact same way they did when they were hatchlings, eager for pets. 

A sob silently erupted from his throat, and Jeongguk wrapped his arms around them as best as he could. Though he could no longer cradle them to his chest, he ran his palms over their scaled brows and snouts and muscular necks, everywhere he could reach.

They were even larger than the last time he'd seen them, gargantuan creatures wiggling their tails and whining for Jeongguk's attention like puppies.

"You're back," Jeongguk cried, leaning down to kiss their faces. "You came back." 

Opal was nosing at him all of a sudden, his forked tongue coming out to smooth over Jeongguk's hair before he was being nudged into the dragon's body, Opal draping a wing over Jeongguk's form. 

The dragon looked like he would've sat on top of Jeongguk if he could've without hurting him, and Jeongguk knew that they'd missed him just as much as he'd missed them. They looked at him as if saying, of course we did.

Jeongguk wrapped his arms around one of Opal's legs, running a hand down the dragon's soft and vulnerable underbelly. Juniper ducked and pressed her cheek against Jeongguk's for a long time before she was distracted by the rest of the witches piling outside, smiles splitting their faces. 

Taehyung let out a loud laugh when Juniper picked him up by the back of his shirt, just to deposit him right next to Jeongguk in the cradle of Opal's body. Jimin was similarly moved, then Seokjin, then the rest. 

The dragons hoarded them in-between them, a group of squashed witches being smothered and scented.

"We missed you too," Jimin crooned, pressing a kiss to Opal's snout.

Namjoon was grinning. "I can feel the whole forest humming in contentment. It feels...it feels like these dragons have a place here that they can't find anywhere else."

Seokjin laughed, and pressed a hand to the side of Juniper's neck. "Joon-ah. I think the word you're looking for is home."

·༊˚

Opal and Juniper settled down in Namjoon's forest like seasons clicking into place at Earth's creation. Though they often made trips to various places, they always came back home. 

Jeongguk, Jimin and Taehyung had gotten rid of the little fence separating their cottage's backyard and the rest of the forest. Hoseok had taken the time to coax some of the trees further away so that there could be a large enough clearing for the dragons to sleep comfortably.

Namjoon was in the process of building them a shelter there, going every other day to coax the ground up to form a cave that they could sleep in. It would also be a natural place for them to store their hoards, which were growing larger and larger as they collected treasures from everywhere they visited. 

For now, their hoards were scattered all around the cottage's perimeter, and Jeongguk turned back when he heard Jimin cursing behind him.

The manner witch was stumbling over a pile of trinkets haphazardly covered in leaves. Jeongguk saw a few scraps of fabric that looked a lot like Taehyung's favorite sleep shirt and a few shiny teapots.

"Opal, Juniper!" Jimin was calling over to the dragons sleeping a few feet away. "You need to organize your hoards and tidy up! My magic can't take all this mess anymore!"

Juniper had the grace to at least lift her head at the sound of her name, but Opal's eyes stayed shut.

"Hey! I'm talking to you!" Jimin screamed angrily, though there was humor in his voice as well.

"Please stop yelling at them, you know they can't understand you," Taehyung laughed, coming up from behind Jeongguk and wrapping his arms around his waist.

Jimin scowled, turning back to the two of them with his arms crossed. He looked cute, flour smeared on his cheek and his hair tied back from his face with a bandana.

Jeongguk giggled at him, and held out his arms for a hug.

Jimin acquiesced easily. "They haven't moved from that spot since they've gotten back."

Jeongguk startled at that. "You're...right. Do you think they're hurt?"

He immediately wriggled out from their arms and began striding towards the dragons, his magic humming with urgency.

"They've only been back for half a day, Jeongguk-ah," Taehyung said as he followed behind him. "They're just resting."

"They didn't even want to cuddle when they got home though," Jeongguk protested. "They always give me a cuddle when they get home."

He made it to the dragons and clambered over to Opal's head. He put a hand on the dragon's face and pried open an eye, ducking so that the dragon could see him.

"You okay, Opal?"

Opal's other eye slowly slitted open, and he shot Jeongguk the most deadpan expression he could muster, baring his teeth in a faux threat.

When Jeongguk turned, he noticed that Juniper was nosing at something underneath her belly.

"Oh," Jeongguk laughed. "Did you two find something to add to your hoard? Are you being a little protective of it?"

The dragons let out a few grumbles.

Jeongguk made his way over to the space in-between them. The two of them shifted carefully, and something in their body language had Jeongguk pausing.

Whatever they had found was important to them – though they weren't actively shooing Jeongguk away, he'd never seen them so protective of anything that wasn't him.

"What is it?" Jimin asked from behind him.

All they could see was a little nest of leaves and dirt that the dragons had piled up.

Opal turned his head too, the both of them watching Jeongguk as he carefully, delicately brushed a few of the leaves away.

And his breath caught in his throat.

"Oh," Jeongguk breathed out, eyes wide.

His magic thrummed again, familiar. 

Juniper and Opal weren't protecting a new treasure for their hoard. They had found dragon eggs. 

Three of them, perfect and shining and round, tucked up nicely in their makeshift nest.

"Is that what you two go around searching for?" Jeongguk whispered, reaching out to feel the fragile shells. They were warm. "Are you searching for more of you?"

The two dragons crooned, deep in their throats, and Jeongguk brushed the leaves back over the eggs.

And when he turned, Taehyung and Jimin were grinning at him, pride on their faces.

"You really saved them, our Jeonggukie," Taehyung said. "Because of you, because of your magic, dragons are getting an entirely new chance at life."

"They're going to need your help, raising those hatchlings," Jimin said. "Think you have room in your heart for three more?"

And if love could form a planet could form a solar system could form galaxies, there would be no starlit edges. 

No four walls.

There would just be infinite, infinite space.