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Hoseok sighed as he buried himself into his boyfriend’s chest. Contrary to popular belief, the squirrel hybrid believed that the safest place in the world was in a predator hybrid’s arms.
His boyfriend’s arms, mind you, but still within the grasp of a creature that could rip his throat out. Not that the cheetah ever would, of course. Sure, predators had all the instincts to do so, but that was both illegal and immoral to do to your boyfriend.
Predators were bigger, stronger, and faster than prey…which some may consider to be threatening or scary, but that Hoseok considered to be safe and comforting.
Especially when that oh-so-scary predator lets out soft purrs when playing with his hair. Delicate fingers tucked loose locks behind his ear as the cheetah smiled at him.
The elder chuckled when the squirrel yet again sighed dramatically into his chest. “Is everything alright, my love?” Seokjin softly, continuing to play with his hair.
Hoseok looked up, meeting the predator’s gaze with a pout. He huffed as he let his face fall forwards, burying his face in the elder’s chest.
“What’s got my angel all worked up, hm?” The cheetah hummed, eyes sparkling with adoration.
“‘M tired,” he mumbled, voice muffled by the elder’s chest.
Seokjin chuckled, purrs breaking up as his chest rumbled. He leaned forward, pressing a kiss between the younger’s fluffy ears. “You can go to sleep, my love, I’ll be here when you wake up.”
The squirrel hybrid shook his head, burying himself further into Seokjin’s chest as he wrapped his arms around him. “Want everyone here, wanna cuddle,” he grumbled softly.
The big cat hummed, wrapping his long, soft tail around the smaller man’s thigh. “I’ll call them in, sweet thing, just rest.”
Soothed by delicate purrs and gentle hands, the younger man fell asleep just as two more figures entered the room.
Hoseok woke up with a start, jumping out of bed as a sudden burst of energy flowed through him.
He stood frozen, analyzing his surroundings. His big, fluffy tail twitched furiously behind him.
Three different predator hybrids were sleeping soundly next to him, rolling over to get closer to the smaller prey hybrid.
He shot his head up as a thunderous snore erupted from the large man next to him. The bear hybrid rolled over, chasing the squirrel’s warmth.
A whine sounded from behind the bear, with the smaller fox hybrid at his back snuggling into him closer.
The bear huffed in satisfaction at the fox's warmth, leaning into him ever so slightly.
Hoseok watched carefully, the nervous energy continuing to course through him as he looked down at his three slumbering, predator boyfriends. They each lay in peaceful silence, blissfully unaware of their anxious boyfriend overlooking them.
As the energy continued to buzz around the hybrid, his eyes widened as an idea suddenly came to his head. Anxious energy increased in intensity as he stood dangerously still.
His tail twitched at the sound of another snore from the predators before him.
With a grin at his genius idea of a way to rid himself of the buzzing beneath his skin, he slowly reached out and grabbed the covers. They still sat where he had awoken, keeping his scent tucked under them. Which, he assumed, was why the bear was still asleep, cuddling the remaining ghost of his scent.
Hoseok pulled the blankets back, allowing the remaining scent to escape out into the air.
He didn’t fail to notice how it slightly seemed to disturb the bear, who let out a mixture between a grumble and growl at the loss of the heat and scent. He watched for a minute, waiting until he fell back into a deep sleep.
He shuffled over to a small desk across the large bedroom–grabbing a notepad from the desk and scribbling down a quick note.
Satisfied, he looked over one more time to confirm that all three of them were asleep.
They’d notice rather quickly that Hoseok had disappeared, and he needed as quick of a head start as he could get.
With one final twitch of his tail, the squirrel hybrid grinned as he quickly dashed out of the house.
~~
Namjoon’s nose twitched, blindly trying to find his human heat source without having to open up his eyes. But all he could smell was something faint as if the soft squirrel hadn’t cuddled up to him during the night.
With a grunt, the bear pat around the bed blindly–wanting to pull his little boyfriend closer, to keep him safe and secure in his big arms.
Yet he still was unable to find anything.
He slowly blinked his eyes open, scanning around for where he could have gone. It was unlike the squirrel to miss out on any chance for warm predator cuddles.
When Namjoon glanced around–having to sit up to look past Seokjin’s shoulders–Hoseok was nowhere to be seen.
Twitching his nose again, he found that the scent of the squirrel was faint and continuing to fade. It was ever so slightly stronger across the room, but left no indication that he was in the room at all recently. At least he could tell which direction he had gone in.
Curiosity getting the better of him, the bear staggered out of bed. He nearly tripped over the cheetah, stumbling clumsily as he found his footing. He nearly crashed into the floor but was able to stagger to his feet.
Too clumsily, it seemed, as the light sleeping fox hybrid on the other side of the bed had woken up.
“Joon-ah?” The fox—Yoongi—mumbled as he sat up, immediately sensing the squirrel’s absence given the bear’s unusual actions.
Namjoon picked up a notepad sitting on the desk, squinting as he struggled to read the scribbled note in the dim light of the bedroom.
When he finally did, however, he chuckled warmly and deeply, ripping out the page from the book.
With a dark grin on his face, he passed the note over to the fox hybrid. He crossed his burly arms looking down at the elder.
Yoongi blinked, confused as he took the paper from the larger man. Bringing it closer to himself, he quickly read the scribbled note.
An equally dark grin crept onto his face, ears and tail flickering as he also crawled out of bed, careful not to disturb the slumbering cheetah. He read over the note again, confirming what it was insinuating.
“Let’s not wake Jin-hyung yet,” he hummed as he stretched, “he’s too fast.”
Namjoon hummed in agreement, turning to face the fox with an evil grin. “Shall we?”
Yoongi flashed a fang-filled smile, tossing the note onto the desk for whenever Seokjin awoke.
The two predators rushed out of the door as the note fluttered to rest.
The small piece of paper had a messy hand-written message written on it, as if the writer was trying to do so hastily. On it, it read: “ catch me if you can ”.
~~
Predator hybrids, despite still being human, had…urges. Feral, animalistic urges were hidden away in modern society. Urges regarding their prey counterparts: to hunt. The thrill of the hunt was almost like a drug for predators– adrenaline leading to pure euphoria when they finally caught their prey.
‘Hunting’, at least in a modern sense, didn’t lead to the murder of the prey, per se. It did in some sick cases, with crazed predators desperately struggling for a high.
Predator and prey relationships were still uncommon, as prey were not often willing to give up their sense of security.
Hoseok, however, knew that his boyfriends could never actually harm him. They had the capabilities to do so, sure, especially when on a hunting high…but they would never actually do anything to harm him.
So for his lovely boyfriends, he was willing to give up his security—to run and let himself be chased by three predators.
And in some weird way… he enjoyed it too. Enjoyed the way that they tracked him down and chased him.
Hence why he left them an invitation to chase him as he ran through the woods around their home. He tried to avoid the path, knowing it would be too easy for the predators to track him down. He wanted to give them a bit of a challenge before they got their reward.
That reward being him, of course.
He left a few hints along the way; a shake of his tail here, a few tufts of tail fluff there, enough that it was more than possible for him to be found.
And hopefully enough to give Namjoon or Yoongi a head start, assuming Seokjin—being the heaviest sleeper of the group–would still be asleep. It was hard to outrun a cheetah, after all.
With Namjoon’s extraordinary sense of smell, Yoongi’s excellent eyesight, and Seokjin’s unparalleled speed; it could be any of them to successfully hunt the squirrel down.
Not that he’d make it any easier for any of them.
Now a ways out from their home, Hoseok stopped by the base of a tree. He’s been running for quite some time and deserved a break–and would be kind enough to give his predators a chance to actually catch up to him.
Effortlessly launching himself up the tree–a nice, sturdy oak tree that he could hide in–he sprawled himself out onto a branch and watched the horizon for their arrival.
He grinned wickedly, knowing of the chaos in the home beyond the woods.
~~
Not too far away, Namjoon stood off the beaten path, taking in deep breaths of the fresh, forest air. Hidden in that mangled mess of forest scents was the sweet, telltale sign of a certain angelic squirrel hybrid.
The scent grew stronger the further away that they got away from the house, deeper into the woods. To those with a lighter sense of smell, it may be hard to tell just how drastically the change between the house and the forest was. But to a bear, it was easy to tell just how far away his prey had gotten and the path he took.
The fox at his side could find the small hints that Namjoon’s nose couldn’t, such as the slight indentation difference in his footprints, indicating the speed that he was fleeing and thus the one that they should match.
With the two predators on the prowl, it was rather easy to find him. Or at least, it should be.
Hoseok, with his several past experiences with his boyfriends, knew how to make the hunt a little more difficult. More complicated than just following a scent trail–which would be far too easy with a bear’s nose.
One such recent addition to his skill set was his use of height, being a naturally skilled climber. Enough to confuse their noses for a decent amount of time. It seemed, at least, that he just disappeared into thin air.
Enough that he could sit on the branch, watching the horizon carefully. He watched as two predators stalked slowly throughout the woods, trying to track him down.
Namjoon was holding his head high, taking in deep breaths as he looked around the horizon.
Yoongi, however, was at his tail, checking any location that the bear—who seemed to just be following where his nose took him—had missed. One such location was up .
Hoseok buried himself into the branch, tucking his tail closer to his body. He curled in on himself, trying to hide the best he could behind the leaves.
He swore that he saw Yoongi squinted at him—at least in his direction—and he froze in a mix of fear and adrenaline. Adrenaline at the thought of being chased down and caught—allowing his boyfriend free rein over him. Something deep inside of him churned at the very idea of Yoongi losing control of his instincts.
Though, when the fox turned his head around to follow the bear’s lead, Hoseok couldn’t help but feel a wave of disappointment. He sighed as he buried his face into his arms, tail flicking behind him.
When Namjoon fell for his trick—a little detour of rolling around in a meadow in the warm sun that spread his scent everywhere—the squirrel hybrid shuffled backwards as he carefully etched down the tree. He peeked his head around—making sure that they didn’t hear him.
The bear hybrid stumbled his way away, as the fox stood frozen in place.
Plucking an acorn off a branch, Hoseok rolled it around in his hand as he bit his tongue in focus. His gaze focused on the predator just feet away from him as he tossed it as far as he could.
Just enough to hit a certain, confused man in the centre of his head.
The fox let out a quiet, surprised squeak as he rubbed his head, whipping his head around.
His eyes quickly fell on the tree and a certain squirrel hybrid that was hiding behind it.
Yoongi grinned, turning to make sure that Namjoon had fallen for the scent trick. Seeing that the bear was disappearing beyond the foliage, he turned on his heel and sprinted after his boyfriend.
~~
Hoseok took in deep breaths, as much as he physically could, as he sprinted through the woods. Ducking his head under branches with graceful agility as he raced away, adrenaline fueling his fight or flight instincts as the predator’s thudding footsteps could be heard behind him.
The fox growled, upping his pace as he started closing the gap between them.
Hoseok let out a shuddering breath as Yoongi got closer, almost close enough to tackle him to the ground.
His heart beat fiercely in his chest, adrenaline coursing through his veins, tingling with a mix of fear and excitement. Instinctual fear of the predator racing behind him, craving to lunge at his throat. But the excitement to be caught , to be a free canvas for his lover and desires. To help him release those predatory instincts safely in a way that benefited the both of them, a unique bond between them.
He was too distracted by his own thoughts and fantasies to hear the rustling just behind the fox.
Just as Yoongi was about to reach the squirrel—just one more burst, enough to tackle down and claim his prey—a sudden blur sped past him.
Hoseok dared to look back—a foolish move, in hindsight—and was shocked to not see a certain, short fox lunging for his neck.
But rather, it was a certain tall cheetah hybrid with messy bedhead.
The big cat sped past the younger predator, closing the gap between them.
With a growl, Seokjin jumped, wrapping his arms around the squirrel. One arm around his waist, the other gripping at his shoulder as he pulled the smaller man against his chest.
As the tangled duo were falling, Seokjin twisted his body so as to bear the brunt of the fall. He may be hunting his prey, but that didn’t mean he wanted to hurt him.
Thus as they carefully tumbled to the ground, the cheetah pulled the squirrel close–keeping him away from any outside harm. As they landed on the ground, the cheetah rolled over, tossing the squirrel onto his back on the cool forest floor.
He put his two arms on either side of the smaller man’s head, effectively trapping the prey between his arms.
The cheetah growled in satisfaction, seeing the prey look so pretty under him.
He leaned down, chest rumbling as he leaned in, burying his head into the squirrel’s neck.
Hoseok barred his neck, giving his predator easier access to let loose. Blissful tingles coursed through his body as he shivered in the pleasure of being caught and at the mercy of his big and strong predator lover.
The cheetah scraped his teeth against the soft skin of the younger’s neck. He nibbled softly, letting out a satisfied chirp.
The squirrel went lax, starting to purr ever so softly in pleasure at the elder's care.
“Found you,” Seokjin hummed, voice rumbling along with his satisfied purr.
Hoseok’s own purr was broken up with chuckles as the man above him cuddled closer.
~~~
“I never win,” Namjoon pouted, crossing his arms as he watched his two boyfriends cuddle and purr.
“Me neither,” Yoongi grumbled, tail lashing in annoyance behind him. “Hyung’s too fast.”
“We could tie him to the bed next time?” Namjoon suggested, smiling when Hoseok’s purrs intensified.
Yoongi nodded. “Wanna join them?”
Without saying anything else, the bear hybrid picked up the elder with ease, tossing him over his shoulder. The fox rolled over, making room on the bear’s shoulder.
Shuffling over to the purring pair, Namjoon wrapped his other arm around the two of them. With a grunt, he lifted them up and brought them closer to his chest.
Arms full of three hyungs, the bear squeezed them all closer. “Mind if we join you?” He questioned, chest rumbling with a gruff purr.
Their purrs were broken up as they all chuckled, happy for more cuddles with all of them.