A/N: Special thanks to Sally for helping me with horse names~ <3

~~

It would’ve been hard for anyone to make out the hunched figure slowly approaching in a snowstorm, and in the dark nonetheless. His feeble lantern barely lit the ground in front of his feet as he shuffled forwards against the biting wind, keeping his head ducked down and face buried in his scarf as much as possible. The sun had set hours before, allowing ample time for temperatures to plummet. However, the brightly light building ahead brought hope of warmth soon.

Suddenly, the shrill shriek of a hawk cut through the muffled sound of the blizzard, and the traveler froze, primal instincts kicking in and warning of a predator. His first impulse was to flee, but then his rational side successfully regained control. Not that there would’ve been anywhere for him to run to or hide in, anyways.

Squinting through the haze in front of him, his suspicions were confirmed by the mere shadow of a form circling above. But rather than diving down to target him, it only screamed once more, before dropping down on top of roof of the two-story inn.

Taking in a shaky breath, the traveler steeled his nerves, hunkering down for the last few hundred feet until his destination.

At long last, a hesitant knock sounded on the large wooden door, followed by a few more raps soon after. A small panel near the top of the door slid open to reveal a blinking eye, before it was swiftly shut and the door creaked open.

“Welcome to Safety Inn, how may I help you?”

A bright-eyed boy greeted the traveler, the steady light from inside finally illuminating the features of a nervous-looking young man bundled up snuggly in order to brave the swirling snowstorm outside. Even with the door open for a few seconds the frigid air had already managed to settle inside the entryway.

After ushering the traveler inside, the boy immediately swung the door back closed, firmly bolting it shut before turning to the traveler with a smile.

“Freezing out there, huh? I’m assuming you’ll want to stay the night, with this weather? I’m Bambam, if you’d like to head this way.”

“Yes, that’d be nice,” the traveler said, voice slightly croaky from the cold as he followed Bambam forwards. He had a heavy pack strapped to his back while one hand carried another rucksack.

“I can take those,” a voice sounded from behind him and the traveler jumped when the weight from this back was suddenly lifted. He was greeted by another boy, this one visibly taller than the other, but also smiling in that same welcoming way as he introduced himself.  

"I'm Yugyeom, nice to meet you.”

A hint of fear flashed through the traveler's eyes as he recognized the taller boy for what he was, but he quickly regained control over his expression, though perhaps also out of fear.

“A single room, then? And would you like to order dinner from us?” Bambam continued amicably, his placating tone indicative of the fact that he'd noticed the traveler's unease. And slowly, the man began to relax.

“Y-Yes, dinner would be nice.”

“Alright, here’s a menu, whenever you decide what you’d like to eat you can fill out this slip in the pocket on the back, and drop it off back here. I’ll let you know when your meal is ready, and you can decide if you’d like to eat in your room or in the common area.”

“I’ll eat in my room, thank you.” The man said hastily as he took the proffered menu. Bambam nodded, fully expecting this answer.

"Sounds good, it will be brought to you when ready. Also, do you have any special requirements for a room? We do have a cat shifter staying here now as well, and if I'm not mistaken you'd prefer a room on the opposite side of the inn?"

The man blanched while Bambam suddenly looked suspiciously smug, having the confirmation that his guess about their guest's identity had been correct. Yugyeom, on the other hand, only rolled his eyes.

"Don't worry sir, there's a reason why we're called Safety Inn, you're perfectly safe here," Yugyeom said kindly, shooting one last glare at Bambam who was now biting back a snicker. He snatched the keys from his hand, then gestured to their guest.

"You can follow me, I'll you to your room."

When Yugyeom returned, Bambam was still giggling behind the front desk, earning another exasperated but grudgingly amused look from the younger.

"You absolutely terrified the poor guy. You know how rare it is for mouse shifters to travel alone like that."

"I know, know," Bambam looked genuinely contrite, but his amusement won over by a long shot. "But did you see his face? It was like he genuinely believed he'd be eaten!"

At this, Yugyeom only shook his head some more, but couldn't quite help a small smile.

"You're a menace, you know that?"

Bambam only stuck his tongue out at Yugyeom.

"At least we're tied up now. You won the past three weeks in a row, I can't let you win again, now can I?" Bambam sniffed.

"That means I have an eye for it, and I don't even have to terrify our poor guests in order to guess their species. There's a reason why I've been winning, though I suppose my innate superiority is the reason why you've resorted to such pathetic measures..." Yugyeom grinned.

"Hey! Now now that's just a lie!"

With that, Bambam launched himself onto Yugyeom's back, his legs wrapping tightly around his waist to free up his arms, allowing him to whack Yugyeom on the head and tug on his hair.

"Yah yah yah that hurts! Get down, you crazy monkey!"

"Oh who's superior now, the big 'ol bear can't even take the little monkey? Who’s so superior now?”

“You play dirty!”

“As if you don’t! You totally had Youngjae-hyung help you last time!”

“What about me?” A third voice piped up mildy from behind, causing the other two to spin around, Bambam still firmly attached to Yugyeom’s back.

“Hyung! Didn’t you help Yugyeom with that bat shifter last time? The only reason he guessed right was because you told him she wanted the room with the hook hanging from the ceiling!”

“Nuh-uh! I saw it for myself!” Yugyeom immediately protested.

“You had help!”

Youngjae only watched on amusedly as they continued to banter, cutting in only when they both needed a moment to take a breath.

“All I want to know is what you’ve done this time, our new guest seemed absolutely terrified to even step out into the hallway, and asked me to bring his order down.”

At this, Yugyeom stared pointedly at Bambam, who at least had the decency to look sheepish.

“I… may have mentioned the cat shifter also staying here, in passing, and we’re pretty sure he’s a mouse.”

Youngjae immediately burst into laughter, nearly dropping the order he had in his hand.

“Oh my god you’re terrible!”

“See!” Yugyeom added smugly, now secure in his victory on the matter. Bambam only pouted, shooting a disdainful look at Youngjae for not taking his side.

“You should’ve seen how scared he was, he was almost as jumpy as you used to be!”

That stopped Youngjae’s laughter, and now it was his turn to look petulant.

“Hey, that’s a low blow! And I wasn’t that jumpy!”

“Are you kidding? You’re a rabbit, all you do is jump and twitch!”

“Not in human form!”

“Do you remember the first time we met? You almost shot up a tree when you saw Yugyeom! And I thought I was supposed to be the monkey!”

This managed to get a giggle out of Yugyeom, while Youngjae flushed red at the memory.

“Well you try living alone in this place for a year, and everything’s out to kill you! Of course you’d be a little apprehensive of a bear!”

“Yah yah yah, what’s with all the racket?”

All three immediately stiffened at the addition of a new voice, fixing on sheepish smiles as they turned to face their self-proclaimed inn manager.

“Jaebum-hyung…”

Jaebum only raised an eyebrow and Bambam finally jumped down from Yugyeom’s back, giggling nervously.

“Are you guys messing with guests again?”

“No, of course not!” Bambam was quick to deny.

“Yes they were!” Youngjae was just as quick to rebuke. “And they’re being mean!”

Jaebum’s eyes narrowed as he immediately grasped the situation, stepping up to Youngjae to sling an arm around him. Bambam and Yugyeom slumped, knowing they’d both lost this one. Not that they really had a chance to begin with anyways, Jaebum always seemed to take Youngjae’s side.

“Do I have to repeat myself every time?” Jaebum said exasperatedly. “Really? How many times have I told you two to knock off your little games, and to not get other people involved?”

“Sorry,” they both mumbled, each wearing the perfect face of repentance.

Jaebum was ready to continue on with his lecture, but Youngjae was never one to hold a grudge for long, and thus took pity on his dongsaengs. Besides, once Jaebum really got going, it took forever to get him to stop, and if possible, Youngjae would rather not endure such an ordeal.

Not to mention, Yugyeom and Bambam would surely get him back for “tattling” if they all had to sit through an entire lecture. They were already staring at him desperately, and Youngjae felt a shiver go down his spine at the thought of all the pranks they’d be sending his way if this didn’t end now.

“Hyung, it’s okay, I’m sure they won’t do it again,” Youngjae cut in gently, pulling out his imploring eyes for the best effect.

“They better not,” Jaebum said with a huff. “We worked hard to earn this reputation of being a safe place to stay for traveling shifters, we don’t need anything tarnishing that image.”

He seemed ready to go on, but Youngjae cut in again. If Jaebum was in a lecturing mood and couldn’t be stopped, the least he could do was get himself out of it.

“Ah, hyung, I actually have a dinner order from the guest I need to get to Jinyoung-hyung, so I’ll just--”

“I can take that,” Jaebum said without missing a beat, taking the paper from Youngjae’s hand without even letting him finish his sentence. Youngjae only blinked, surprised by the sudden change, before things clicked and he had to force himself to hold back a snicker.

Of course Jinyoung-hyung would be the only one that could divert Jaebum-hyung’s attention.

Bambam and Yugyeom exchanged a look with Youngjae, catching on quickly.

“I think Jinyoung-hyung’s with Mark-hyung in the lounge watching some movie,” Yugyeom supplied helpfully, and Bambam only nodded gleefully along as Jaebum’s eyes darkened a fraction.

“I’ll take this to him, you three, stay out of trouble.”

And then Jaebum left, just as abruptly as he’d come.

Youngjae barely managed to hold in the snickers until Jaebum was out of earshot, and Bambam and Yugyeom soon followed in exploding into laughter.

~~

“Yah, Jinyoung, you’ve got another order to make.”

“Yah, Jinyoung.”

“Park Jinyoung!”

Jaebum’s eyebrow twitched when he still got no response. The TV was running, but as usual, the two figures curled up on the couch together were fast asleep. It was pretty much a given that whenever these two settled down to watch a movie, cuddling would soon become the first priority.

Jinyoung was in his half-shifted form, almost completely settled on Mark’s lap with his tail hanging out over the side of couch. Mark had his head resting on Jinyoung’s shoulder and Jinyoung had his head resting on top of Mark’s, his ears twitching slightly in sleep.

No, wait. His ears only twitched like that when he was pretending to be asleep.

“YAH! I KNOW YOU’RE AWAKE!”

At this last outburst, it was Mark who finally stirred, slowly blinking awake to look up at a fuming Jaebum.

“Jinyoungie,” Mark nudged Jinyoung gently, reaching a hand up to muss his hair. “You’ve got an order to make.”

It was only now that Jinyoung opened his eyes, putting on quite the act as he pretended to just wake up.

“Hmm?” he mumbled, not even sparing Jaebum a single glance as he turned to bury his face in Mark’s shoulder.

Mark only laughed, flicking Jinyoung’s ear affectionately while Jinyoung sighed, shifting back to full human form.

“I thought I already finished my last order for the night,” Jinyoung said sulkily, still refusing to move from where he was comfortably settled against Mark.

“A guest just arrived late, you’ve got one more to go,” Jaebum said stonily. It was only now that Jinyoung looked up at him, scowling.

“I don’t wanna.”

“You have to.”

“I’m tired.”

Jaebum looked ready to burst a vein, and Mark finally decided to intervene.

“Hey, Jinyoung, it’s just one order, we can come back to the movie when you’re done, kay?” Mark said placatingly, amusement dancing in his eyes at the way Jaebum’s eyes darkened.

In Jaebum’s mind at least, movie time pretty much equated to cuddling time. Their TV was crappy as heck, and they never had any cable signal. The best they could do was rewatch the few old movies they owned over and over, which more often than not lead them to sleep.

Jinyoung, however, seemed to take satisfaction in Jaebum’s obvious annoyance.

“Okay…” he said reluctantly, finally standing to snag the now-crumpled order from Jaebum’s tightly clenched fist. To make his final statement, he dropped a kiss on Mark’s cheek before finally heading out to the kitchen.

Jaebum growled, moving into half-shift without even realizing, claws unsheathing and his dark black tail swishing agitatedly behind him.

“Woah, calm down there,” Mark soothed, but the amusement was evident in his voice. “You know he’s just doing that get a rise out of you.”

“Well then, he’s succeeded,” Jaebum snarled, but still regained control and shifted back. “And if you know that already then there’s absolutely no need for you to go along with his antics.”

“He’s just upset you haven’t been spending time with him recently, you know, and who am I to deny him affection?” Mark said, and Jaebum deflated a bit. “And we all know the inn hasn’t even been that busy recently.”

“I know.” Jaebum only looked defeated now, and fatigued. “But he won’t even let me get close to him now, what am I supposed to do?”

Mark rolled his eyes.

“He’s your boyfriend, idiot. Chase him down. He’s the sly fox, but you’re the panther, aren’t you?”

At this, Jaebum’s expression cleared slightly, but then he frowned again.

“But I’m supposed to check up on Jackson in the stables, apparently Bei’s been acting up again.”

“Leave that to me.” Mark stood up, stretching with his arms above his head. “I’ve got it.”

Before Jaebum even had time to respond, a red-tailed hawk now stood in Mark’s place. With one final stern look at Jaebum, it took off, circling the room once before heading up the chimney and outside.

“Showoff,” Jaebum muttered under his breath.

~~

When Jaebum finally wandered into the kitchen, Jinyoung was already busy at work. The kitchen, to any outsider, would’ve looked like a total disaster zone, but those who knew better knew that Jinyoung had his own very strict method to his madness.

“Do you need help?” Jaebum finally asked, almost tentative as he edged up to Jinyoung, reaching out for him carefully.

“No. Don’t touch anything,” was Jinyoung’s cold response.

Jaebum nodded, surprisingly meek as he retracted his arms. Jinyoung continued to work in silence while Jaebum stood back and watched, uncharacteristically patient.

It was when the lasagne (with extra cheese, of course) was finally in the oven that Jinyoung turned to look at Jaebum, arms crossed with a stern look on his face.

“So?”

Jaebum floundered for a minute under Jinyoung’s withering stare, before finally wilting.

“I’ll… do the dishes,” he finally said resignedly.

Jinyoung grinned.

“That’s more like it.”

~~

Mark was shivering by the time he reached the barn, shifting back to human form and re-dressing as quickly as possible. And good thing for his speed, too, because Jackson wouldn’t have been able to hold on for much longer.

“HEY THAT’S NOT VERY NICE!”

When Mark climbed down from the loft Jackson had just been tossed into a bale of hay, looking absolutely pitiful with straw sticking out from his hair every which way.

“Having some trouble there?” Mark commented and Jackson’s eyes immediately lit up, scrambling up to launch himself at his newly arrived savior.

“MAAAAAAAARK.”

Luckily, Mark was only too familiar with Jackson’s over-enthusiasm, allowing him to brace himself sufficiently before being tackled to the ground

“Woah, down boy, down,” Mark laughed good-naturedly while Jackson only whined, kicking his feet in protest.

“Hey, I’m only twenty-five percent dog! I’m three-fourths wolf, you know!”

“Yes, yes, of course, that’s why you’re Wang Puppy,” Mark only laughed, not taking Jackson’s following growl seriously at all. The next second, he nimbly dodged the headbutt Jackson had aimed at his stomach in retaliation. “How about acting like a human while you are one?”

“Oh as if you’re any better! Are you here to help me or not?” Jackson raised an eyebrow challengingly, finally sitting up but not yet getting off of Mark.

“I’m here, aren’t I?”

Sufficiently pleased, Jackson nodded, finally standing and extending a hand to help pull Mark up.

“I don’t know why she’s been so rough today, but she’s just not cooperating at all. I’ve been spending the past hour trying to get her back into her stall.”

Now down to business, Jackson turned serious, genuine concern in his eyes as he led Mark down to where one of their horses, Bei, was still pawing at the ground agitatedly.

The seven of them at Safety Inn owned two horses total. That is, two real horses, both non-shifters. They had a younger stallion, JJ, dark grey and incredibly laid back, and of course, the aforementioned Bei, an old, stubborn, speckled beige mare. They really made it possible for them to run this inn, allowing them to haul back supplies from their monthly trips to town. Cars were a luxury only available for the wealthiest in the largest of cities. Even though their inn was situated on a rather well-traveled road, they were lucky enough to have basic electricity, plumbing, and heating.

“Here, watch.”

Jackson left Mark standing a few feet away, and began to approach Bei alone. She let him near, but as soon as he tried to lead her towards her stall, she began to resist, neighing loudly and tossing her head, refusing to move even a step closer.

“See?” Jackson said, stepping away frustratedly. “She even kicked me before! I don’t know what’s up with her!”

“She almost seems to be in pain…” Mark observed, brow furrowed.

“Really?” Jackson let out a quiet gasp, suddenly remembering something. He bent down, prompting Bei to lift her leg and let him examine her hooves.

It was on her right foreleg that Jackson finally discovered the problem.

“This little bugger was it!” Jackson declared triumphantly when he managed to dislodge the small pebble caught in Bei’s hoof. “Finally!”

Bei seemed to agree with the way she snorted and tossed her head, stalking into her stall without anyone leading her.

“That’s my girl,” Jackson said fondly, swinging the door shut before once again launching himself at Mark.

“Maaaaaaaaark you’re a genius!”

“Of course,” Mark just managed to say before being cut off by Jackson’s fervent lips on his own.

~~

When Mark and Jackson finally got back inside, everyone else was already settled in the back room. Youngjae appeared to be fast asleep, fully shifted in rabbit form and snuggled up in the crook of Bambam’s arm, who in turn was leaning comfortably back into Yugyeom.

Mark was also pleased to see Jinyoung and Jaebum had reconciled on the couch, both half-shifted, Jinyoung laying comfortably in Jaebum’s arms and their tails wrapped around each other.

“Movie timeeeeeeee,” Jackson announced loudly as he dragged Mark over to the easy chair, slipping into half-shift as he plopped down first, tail wagging excitedly as he pulled Mark down to sit as well.

“About time, I was starting to think Bei had finally trampled you,” Jaebum drawled, earning a snicker from Yugyeom and a shout of protest from Jackson.

“As if! She’d trample you first, if anything! Bei loves me most! The most!” Jackson emphasized.

“Let’s just start,” Jinyoung said impatiently, elbowing Jaebum in the ribs before he could start up a shouting contest with Jackson. God knew they already had enough of those on a regular basis.

“Okay, okay,” Jaebum was quick to relent, not wanting to antagonize Jinyoung so soon after he’d earned his forgiveness. He dropped a quick kiss on Jinyoung’s temple as way of appeasement, just in case, before finally pressing play on the remote.

Jackson fist-pumped the air in victory, only to be smacked on the back of the head by Mark.

And within half an hour’s time, they all joined Youngjae in dreamland, one by one.

A/N: Drop me a comment if you enjoyed!