Jungkook sat in his room, staring at the wall. He had been sitting there so long that the room had grown dark as the sun set yet he hadn’t moved to turn the lights on. The darkness was only interrupted by him pressing the home button on his phone, desperate for a message. Even though he knew there was nothing there, he unlock it occasionally to look at his messages with Eunkyung, just in case he missed something. But the messages remained the same, almost mocking him.

Jungkook: R U okay?

Read 3:14

It was 7:58 now and nothing had changed in the almost 5 hours it had been since she’d seen the message.

Jungkook looked at the screen dully before letting it fall from his grasp. He brought his blanket closer to him and rubbed the soft fabric on his face as an act to comfort him.

There was a soft knock on the door. Jungkook ignored it and continued to stare at the wall. But the person on the other side of the door wasn’t easily deterred. They opened the door and flipped on the light, causing Jungkook to moan and try to hid his face with his blanket. The blanket was then promptly ripped from him, revealing J Hope screaming excitedly. Jungkook shot him an unimpressed look and J Hope mirrored him.

“She hasn’t responded.” It wasn’t a question.

Jungkook ignored him and curled on his side again to resume staring at the wall.

“I don’t get it.” J Hope said to the room.

Jungkook sighed and decided to humor him. “Don’t get what.”

“You obviously like her. Why don’t you just ask her out? Then she’ll respond to all of your texts.”

“… It’s not that simple.” Jungkook mumbled and sunk further into his blanket.

“I think you’re just over complicating things.”

Jungkook was silent. J Hope saw that he had gotten everything out of him that he would and stood to leave. He stood up from the bed and turned the lights back off before he closed the door.

Once again shrouded in the darkness, Jungkook pressed the home button on his phone.

Jungkook: R U okay?

Read 3:14

The same text stared at him mockingly.

In a flash of anger, he threw his phone across the room. It hit the wall with a thump and fell to the ground pathetically.

“Why don’t you just ask her out? Then she’ll respond to all of your texts.”

“… It’s not that simple.”

Jungkook sat up suddenly and grabbed his phone again.

But what if it was that simple?

***

Eunkyung took her books out of her locker with a sigh. She had been seriously tempted to skip class again, but she knew Jr wouldn’t have been pleased by that. What she really wanted to do was just hang out with the wolves, but she knew they would much rather she get her education. Taking one last look at her locker, she shut it and turned around to head to class.

“Eunkyung!” A voice cried, stating her.

Jungkook ran over to her, panting slightly. “You’re alright!”

“I am?” Eunkyung said with a questioning tone. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You weren’t at class yesterday! You never miss class! And you left my house so quickly! I didn’t know if you were okay! Plus you didn’t answer my text!” He listed off all the reasons as if he had rehearsed it. “I was worried the wolves had gotten you.”

Eunkyung froze. She couldn’t tell Jungkook she had been with the werewolves. He was a hunter.

Suddenly it made sense to her why that wolf pelt at Jin’s cafe had made her so uncomfortable.

“I made my way home alright.” She stiffly shifted her backpack on her shoulders.

Jungkook started rambling about the stuff she missed in class the other day. She tuned out dully watched him after a minute.

What was the word that described Jungkook?

He was nice enough, sure. He was just… Overbearing? Not quite right, but definitely not wrong. He worried about her too much over her getting hurt by a werewolf after she’d been living in her house for 17 years with no problem from even normal wolves. Selfish? No, he seemed to genuinely think he was doing the right thing, even if it meant he was shoving his beliefs onto her.

Oh wait.

He was annoying.

Eunkyung felt her eyebrow twitch as Jungkook continued to yammer on about who knows what. You’d think he’d have noticed she hadn’t been paying attention for a few minutes already. Waiting until he paused for breath, she quickly interrupted him.

“Sorry, Jungkook, we really need to head to class. We’re going to be late.” Eunkyung moved to get away, but Jungkook took a step after her.

“Wait!”

Eunkyung turned back to him, frustration clear in her face. Jungkook, however, was staring at the ground and nervously shifting from side to side and didn’t notice.

“What is it Jungkook? Can’t it wait until after class?” She said in exasperation.

“I want you to be my girlfriend,” Jungkook seemed to force out his mouth before he lost his courage. “Can we go on a date?”

Eunkyung froze.

Crap.

The warning bell had already rung and the hallway was virtually empty as most student were already in their classroom. His voice was loud and clear, no way for her to mishear what he had said.

Eunkyung’s mouth hung open slightly and she gave him an incredulous look.

“Why on earth do you want to date me?” Eunkyung looked at him in contempt. “The entire time I’ve known you, you’ve forced your views on me and stepped all over me. You dragged me away from my house for my own ‘protection’ and you try to harm an wolf on my property when you knew I didn’t like it. You’ve always been so disrespectful to me, I just assumed you thought I was so below you that I wasn’t worthy of your respect.”

Jungkook looked at her in absolute shock. It was clear that he had never thought his controlling actions came across that way. His disregard for others was exactly the reason Eunkyung knew she didn’t want to date him.

“I’m flattered by your offer, Jungkook, but I’m afraid I’m not interested.”

And with that, Eunkyung turned and slipped into class just before the bell rang.

Jungkook watched her go even after the door had closed behind her, obscuring his view of her. He looked down at the ground and took a deep  breath. Then he turned and left the school. He didn’t think he could face Eunkyung later in class.

***

The weather grew cold and crisp as it turned to winter. Thick blankets of snow covered the ground and trees and Eunkyung had to bundle herself up whenever she went to the pack’s house. The path in between their houses never had any snow on it, however. No matter how early she woke up, the snow had always shoveled away. 

(Eunkyung suspected Yugyeom had something to do with this, but he denied it no matter how often she asked him.)

Weeks had passed since Eunkyung had found out that the boys next door were wolves and nothing much had changed. She spent most of her days there now; Her house only served as a place to sleep.

At school, she was still sort of friends with Jungkook. He continued to be friendly with her and partner with her on work, but Eunkyung was getting snippier with him. He kept asking he to study at his place or come hang out “where it was safe” no matter how many times she refused. Her patience was wearing thin and she wished he’d just get the point and go away. She was to nice to tell him directly though and he wasn’t getting any of her subtle hints.

But all in all, Eunkyung was happy. She had a family now with the pack. She wasn't alone in her cottage anymore.

One Saturday morning, after breakfast, Eunkyung was under a massive pile of blankets reading a book in her living room. She had woken up way earlier than her meant to and the boys weren’t expecting her over until lunch time. She decided to take advantage of her unexpected free time and catch up on her reading. A few chapters in though, there was a knock on her front door.

After marking her page, Eunkyung got up and opened her front door.

“Yugyeom?” She said in surprise.

“Hey, Eunkyung,” The werewolf said nervously. He kept glancing to the side and playing with the strap on the bag slung across his shoulders. “I was wondering if I could hang out until it’s time for lunch?”

Eunkyung smiled welcomingly and opened the door wider so he could come in.

“Of course, You’re always welcome here,” She closed the door behind Yugyeom an led him to the kitchen. “I’m going to make some tea, would you like any?”

Yugyeom nodded and wordlessly walked over to her electric kettle to work on getting the water going. Eunkyung went over to the cabinet and pulled out the tea leaves and sugar. seamlessly, the two worked together until they both had a mug with tea.

They left the kitchen and settled in the living room to drank tea in comfortable silence. The small love seat was just big enough for both of them and the cuddled close to each other to share a warm blanket.

“Do you mind if I read?” Eunkyung inquired suddenly. “I’m in the middle of a really good part.”

“Of course not, What are you reading?” Yugyeom looked at the book she picked up off the arm rest curiously.

“It’s about an common orphan trying to move up in the world and become a gentleman.”

Yugyeom hummed in acknowledgment and laid his head down on her shoulder so he could read along with her. Though she was halfway through the book and Yugyeom quickly got into the book.

How long they sat there, neither could say. But there was something reassuring about being so close to each other.

Eunkyung and Yugyeom’s relationship had come a long way. Just one season ago, they had said nothing more than good morning to each other. But now they could sit together for hours, each doing their own thing, but still be content just knowing the other was within arms reach.

“… Hey Eunkyung,” Yugyeom started.

She hummed and turned a page. 

“When we, you know, told you about us being werewolves, did we tell you what mates are?”

Eunkyung closed her book and turned to face him. “I don’t think you did.”

Yugyeom nodded and shifted away from her slightly. He pulled a small picture book out of the bag he had brought with him.

“I didn’t think so, I wanted to explain that to you a-and I figured that this would b the best ways. It’s how I was told about it when I was little.”

Eunkyung opened up the picture book. Each page depicted two being, a beautiful, graceful goddess and a strong sturdy looking god. As she flipped through he pages, Eunkyung read out loud.

“The sun god, Sol, was a lonely spirit. Everyday was the same for him. He’d raise the sun to the sky and made sure it set at night so the the moon goddess, Luna, could do the same with the moon. But after eons of doing the same thing, he grew restless. Earth was a beautiful planet with thousands of unique creatures. He could watch any animal anywhere under the rule of his sun, but it was always the same thing.

“The animals only occupied themselves with one thing. Eat or be eaten. They only cared about their survival on the planet. Not once did they look up at the celestial sky and wonder what put it there or who put the rain in the clouds. The lacked curiosity and nothing ever changed because of that.

“So one day, Sol got cleaver. He took star dust and clouds and molded them into the shape of the very first human. He put in the human a large amount of curiosity, ingenuity, and a sense of kinship for it’s own kind to not let the eat or be eaten mentality of earth taint his beautiful creation.

“Sol was so busy perfecting his new creature that he did not notice Luna watching him. 

“Luna was more of a free spirit than Sol. She did not care if the moon rose and set at the same time. She would often change the schedule for the moon and make it rise early so she could be in the sky at the same time as Sol. And if she was feeling particularly mischievous that day, Luna would sometimes make the moon pass below the sun and eclipse it in the sky. Sol cared deeply for the moon spirit as she was his best friend, but he also knew how she easily got carried away. 

“He wanted to keep his humans a secret from her so she didn’t try to make her own. She would probably figure out how to improve their design and make her own humans that were more advanced than his own.

“But he didn’t know that Luna already knew about his creation and was already inspired to make her own. Instead of using clouds, she took some of the earth’s dirt to mold the base of her humans. Then she gave them the strength and speed of a wolf.

“Her final gift to her humans was their own unique star for their heart. Each one of her humans could summon their star’s power and do something amazing that no one else could do. Some could heal others and others had even more strength or even the ability to charm others.

“For a while, nothing happened. 

“Both Sol and Luna were too occupied with their own humans to take much notice in the other. 

“But when their humans began to meet with each other, Sol realized what Luna had down.

“He was furious.

“Not only were her humans tougher and more stable, but she didn’t even try to deny that she stole his design. Luna brushed off his anger and tried to tell him he was upset for no reason.

“Sol lashed out at her creations and they took the blow meant to harm her.

“Luna’s humans were cursed to submit to the wolf traits given to them ever full moon so Luna could see her precious creations suffer in the bright light of her moon. They were forced to turn into vicious, blood thirsty wolves.

“In the months passing, Luna’s heart broke more and more as she watched her precious humans loose all hope with every full moon. Unable to stand their pain anymore, Luna sacrificed her hair and with the severe locks she spun them into string and tucked it behind her human’s ears.

“Now, they would have sweet dreams at night of their other half. While it wasn’t much, t was all she could do to make them happy. Wether it be a romantic or platonic relationship, she could at least give them hints about their future mate.

“As Luna’s humans evolved, they became more and more like wolves. They gained the ability to shift between a human and a wolf form even outside of the full moon. Their wolfish nature showed even in how they socialized with each other. They gained the name “werewolf” from Sol’s humans and have been called such ever since.”

“These are our gods, Sol and Luna.” Yugyeom spoke up. “The dreams that Luna gave us begin once we meet our destined mates. Normally, they are wolves in our own pack, but occasionally they're of someone outside of the people we know and it takes up a long mate to find them. Until we meet our mate, we can’t see their faces while we dream.” 

“Have you ever dreamed of your mate, Yugyeom?” Eunkyung was enchanted by all this. It seemed so romantic and she almost wished she was a werewolf so she could have a mate.

“I have,” He took her hands and held them in how own large, warm ones. “She had long brown hair and loves to read.”

Eunkyung’s eyes widened.

Was he…?

“Her mother died when she was young, but she still is brave and takes care of herself all on her own.”

Eunkyung began to tremble and tears welled in her eyes.

“I’ve always known who she was, because we moved in next door to her when I was very young.”

Yugyeom reached out and wiped a single tear that fell down her cheek.

“You’re my mate, Eunkyung.”

Eunkyung’s eyes snapped up and she looked at him, overwhelmed. Because of him, she had found a family. Because of him, she was never alone anymore. And now he was saying he could give her a soul mate, too?

Yugyeom began to panic because of her silence. He pulled his hands away from hers and curled in on himself.

“Y-You don’t have to be in a relationship with me though. I’d never force you to. If y-you want we can pretend I never said this.” Another tear fell down her cheek and he gave her a stricken look. He never wanted to make her cry. 

But Eunkyung reached forward and took his hands back. She beamed up at him and giggled.

“I guess that’s why I’ve always felt so comfortable around you."

A/N: :D LOOK AT MY BABIES GO