“Oh, that was fast” Jinyoung mutters after opening the door of Jackson’s house

“Jinyoung!” Youngjae yells before pulling Jinyoung into a tight embrace.

“Hey, hey, relax I’m not going anywhere”, Jinyoung says with a chuckle.

Jaebum smiles at Youngjae’s cuteness. Jinyoung notices him and panics, but Jaebum only shakes his head and comes in, closing the door after him.

“What are you doing here this soon?” Jinyoung asks them as he detaches himself from Youngjae.

“Well, Shura and Yugyeom disappeared suspiciously and left us alone” Youngjae answers with a smirk. “So I asked Jaebum to tell me his entire life and then we decided to come here”.

“Oh, really?” Jinyoung asks Jaebum, surprised about it.

“Yes”, Jaebum answers, “I though you would be missing each other a lot so I suggested paying you a visit”.

“I’m really glad you came” Jinyoung says with a smile, “I’ve missed you guys”.

“Jinyoung, who is it?” Bambam asks as he and Jackson enter the room.

“But if it’s cute otter Youngjae!” Jackson exclaims, rushing to take the amused Youngjae in a bone-crushing hug.

“Cute otter?” Youngjae asks, accepting Jackson’s embrace.

Jaebum glares at Jackson with murderous eyes, feeling the urge to yank the boy away from his precious sunshine.

“Yah, Jackson! Release my friend before he suffocates!” Jinyoung yells noticing Jaebum’s stare and actually feeling worried about his friend’s health.

“But doesn’t he resemble a cute otter?” Jackson asks looking adorably at Youngjae.

“Of course not” Jaebum mutters, “he resembles an angel”.

Jackson and Bambam look amusedly to him, while Youngjae blushes and Jinyoung rolls his eyes.

He’s back at it, Jinyoung thinks.

“I still think he looks like an otter”, Jackson says while taking out his phone. “I’m sure I have a picture here…”

“Please, take a seat” Bambam says, smiling to their guests, “can I offer you some tea?”

“Yes, please!” Youngjae answers, “I’m so thirsty”.

Bambam smiles to him and then looks at Jaebum, who nods his head, and then he walks towards the kitchen.

Youngjae is about to sit beside Jaebum when Jackson takes him by the arm and forces him to sit by his side, provoking Jaebum’s fury.

“Here, look!” Jackson shouts, showing Youngjae his phone’s screen, “don’t you think it looks like you?”

Jaebum starts taking deep breaths trying to contain his assassin instincts. Jinyoung by his side smiles apologetically to him.

“Oh, it’s true” Youngjae says, blinking repeatedly while staring at it, “I do look like an otter. Look Jaebummie, doesn’t it look like me?”

Jaebum flinches at the nickname, but a wide smile quickly appears on his face. Jinyoung smiles at them too; thinking that it’s a good sign of that Youngjae still remembers Jaebum somehow.

“You’re cuter” Jaebum answers after taking a look at it while grinning.

“Thank you…” Youngjae mutters shyly.

“Ah, Jaebum is right! You’re cuter” Jackson says, pinching Youngjae’s cheeks.

The smile on Jaebum’s face drops and he runs a hand through his hair in exasperation. Jinyoung is about to tell his friend to stop with the PDA if he appreciates his life when Bambam comes back, holding a tray with five mugs and some pastries.

“Here you have milk and sugar too” he says while offering everybody a mug.

“Thank you, Bambam” Youngjae says, “you’re very kind”.

“Please, he’s only doing this to impress you” Jackson says. “Once you get comfortable with him he’ll stop doing this. And forget about going out for dinner; he will always leave his wallet at home ‘unintentionally’”.

As a response Bambam kicks his boyfriend’s leg subtly. Jackson grimaces but says nothing, accepting the punishment even though he was saying the truth. When Bambam is finished he sits at the other side of Youngjae.

“Well, have you heard about Namjoon already?” Jinyoung asks.

“No, he’s still missing” Jaebum answers, “but he knows how to take care of himself. He’ll be fine. He’s probably busy helping Junmyeon”.

Jinyoung nods.

“I really hope so” he says, “I wouldn’t want anything bad happening to him”.

Youngjae smiles to him.

“So tell us, Jinyoung” he says, “how was it working with the S.U.S.F.?”

“Oh, really good. You guys should get to know them more. They’re actually nice people”.

“They even accepted this dork as part of the team, so…” Bambam says, pointing to Jackson.

“Who are you calling dork?” Jackson asks, seriously offended. “At least I have a bunch of muscles. Look, look!” he says while showing his muscled arms to Youngjae.

“Wow, amazing” Youngjae mutters.

They hear coughing from the other side and as they turn to look for the injured person they find Jaebum with his shirt covered by tea while Jinyoung dabs it with a tissue.

“Oh My! Jaebum are you okay?” Youngjae asks worriedly.

“Yes, yes I’m fine” Jaebum answers a bit angrily, “I just need a moment with Jinyoung at the kitchen”.

Jinyoung frowns at him but before he can complain he’s being dragged towards the said room.

“Jaebum what are you doing?” Jinyoung asks. “You need to change your clothes. I’ll lend you a shirt”.

“I don’t care about my clothes” Jaebum answers. “Why is Jackson all over Youngjae? Who does he think he is? You have to control your friend or else I’ll have to teach him a lesson. Youngjae is mine”.

Jinyoung realizes then that Jaebum wasn’t present when he introduced Jackson and Bambam and probably doesn’t know that they are actually a couple. Even though he also wants to scold Jackson because he’s sure the other is being extra with Youngjae to bother Jaebum. And maybe he should scold himself too because it was him who made a comment on how funny Jaebum looks when someone is too close to his sunshine.

Jinyoung wants to inform Jaebum about his friends being madly in love with each other, but the other doesn’t hear him calling out his name as he continues rambling and rambling about how he’s going to kill Jackson if he doesn’t stop.

“Jaebum!” Jinyoung shouts, effectively shutting the other boy. “Chill man, you’re losing your mind. And you should know that-“

“You know what? It’s okay” Jaebum cuts him, “after all he’s coming home with me. And I’m going to glue myself to him like a limpet”.

Jinyoung sighs.

“Why do you always complain about Mark being possessive when you’re a thousand times worst?”

“Speaking about Mark,” Jaebum says, purposely ignoring Jinyoung’s question. “He came to our house a while after you left searching for you”.

“Did he?” Jinyoung asks staring at him incredulously.

“Yes. He said he was regretful he argued with you. He acknowledges his mistakes and wants you to come back to him”.

“If he wanted me to leave why would he want me there again?”

“Maybe that was my invention but I’m sure he wants you with him”.

Jinyoung leans on the counter and crosses his arms on his chest.

“Look, Jaebum” he says, “I know what was he thinking when he told me to go away. And I’m aware he did it for me. But he didn’t think about my feelings as you also didn’t think about Youngjae’s. Stop trying to protect us because you’re only damaging us. Youngjae and I are very much able to stand by our own feet”.

Jaebum bites his lip. Jinyoung is right; they should stop thinking that because they’re human they are weaker than them.

“And of course I want to go back” Jinyoung continues. “I love him too. I want to be with him more than anything else. But at the moment I’m still mad he chose to let me go instead of keeping me by his side to fight with him. I’ll talk to him tomorrow but not now”.

“As long as you both talk to each other again it’s fine with me” Jaebum says. “Now give me a dry shirt. This smell is damaging my nose”.

Jinyoung chuckles while leading Jaebum towards his provisional room. He takes out a clean sweater and gives it to Jaebum.

“By the way, Jaebum” Jinyoung says after turning to give Jaebum some privacy. “You shouldn’t worry about Jackson. He and Bambam are very happily in love with each other”.

“Then Jackson is a terrible boyfriend flirting with another boy in front of his beloved one” Jaebum says with a scoff as he finishes putting the sweater on.

“Look who’s talking. I remember you openly flirting with my Mark in front of us” Jinyoung says, scoffing back and guiding Jaebum back to the living room.

“We were only joking, okay?”

“Sure. But if I see you getting too close to my man I’m warning you that I won’t have mercy”.

“You don’t have to worry about that”.

“I hope so. But look, you should really worry about that”.

Jaebum follows Jinyoung’s gaze and finds Bambam squeezing Youngjae tightly and screaming how cute the other is while Jackson takes photos of them and squeals.

Jaebum’s ears turn red with fury and he clenches his fists. Jinyoung prays the house will be undamaged by the end of this.

“YAH! GET AWAY FROM HIM HE’S NOT A TOY!”

“Where’s Seokjin?” Shura asks as she accepts the cup Jungkook is offering to her.

“He’s with Yoongi trying to contact Namjoon” he answers. “They’re very worried about him”.

“Do you think he’s fine?” Yugyeom asks him.

“I really hope so. But…it’s not usual from him to not answer their calls. Yoongi and Seokjin are the closest to him”.

“We should trust him,” Shura says. “He has to be okay”.

Jungkook smiles weakly to her. Yugyeom notices the hesitance in his face, but doesn’t say anything.

“How is Youngjae?” Jungkook asks then. “You said he lost his memories of Jaebum. It has to be hard, knowing that someone took an important part of your life out from you”.

“He’s fine” Shura answers. “Jaebum asked us to not tell him about them being in love with each other, but still I think that Youngjae wants to be his friend again”.

“Well, we kind of forced them to have a talk alone” Yugyeom says.

“Do you think they will be like before?” Jungkook asks.

“I really hope so. They were so in love with each other but everything went wrong… but I’m sure it will get better from now on” Shura honestly says.

Jungkook nods and smiles innocently to her.

“And when are you two going to mate?” he asks then.

Shura chokes in her drink while Yugyeom looks shocked at him, totally not expecting the question.

“Mate is a strong word” Shura says after recovering, “we aren’t even dating”.

“Because you don’t want to” Jungkook says, “look, Yugyeom is blushing”.

“I- I’m not blushing!” Yugyeom complains; but his face is as red as a tomato.

“Seriously guys, being mated is the best sensation in the world” Jungkook says dreamily. “It’s true that you feel everything more intense, pain included; but it’s really worth it”.

“But aren’t you scared?” Shura asks him. “You feel what he feels. You suffer as he suffers. And if he dies, you’ll die too”.

“I know”, Jungkook says, still smiling widely. “I barely knew anything about mating when we did it, but as I told Seokjin that night, it really doesn’t matter to me. If he died even if we weren’t mated, I would have also died because I can’t live a life without him by my side”.

“Wow, Kookie” Shura says, “you’re my younger brother but you talk as if you were the older between us”.

“I’m only stating facts” he says, “I really love Seokjin so much. A life without Seokjin wouldn’t be a life”.

“You both are soooooooo cute~!” Shura squeals while hugging her brother.

Jungkook laughs while Yugyeom smiles tenderly to them.

“Ah, before I forget!” Jungkook exclaims while disentangling himself from Shura. “Seokjin and I made this for you”.

Jungkook gives both of them a bag full of homemade cookies, making his sister squeal in delight and Yugyeom smile at him brightly.

“They look so delicious!” Shura says. “But what for?”

“We felt like the good vibe was dropping so Seokjin thought it would be a good idea to make cookies to lift everyone’s mood” he answers. “But Yoongi summoned him to search for Namjoon so we couldn’t make more. These are the only ones we could make, and I wanted you to have them”.

“This is such a beautiful gesture” Shura says, “thank you so much, Kookie!”

“Wow, cookies from Jungkookie” Yugyeom jokes, making the siblings burst into laughter.

“Thank you again, Hyunwoo” Minhyuk says, checking that his new phone works well.

“Stop thanking me, please” Hyunwoo says while smiling gently to him, “I’m just doing what every normal person would do in this case”.

“Sure” Changkyun mutters, eyeing the other and raising an eyebrow to him.

“I was thinking…” Minhyuk says, leaving his phone on the table. “It’s already late, why don’t you stay for dinner?”

Changkyun and Hyunwoo look at him with shining eyes, while Kihyun glares at him.

“And you can also stay for the night” Minhyuk continues, ignoring the pleading gaze from his best friend. “I have an extra mattress in my closet and Kihyun has another bed in his room”.

Minhyuk turns to smirk at his friend, but Kihyun just looks at him at the edge of having a panic attack.

“Well, if it wouldn’t be much bother to you, I would feel relieved knowing that you are okay tonight” Hyunwoo says.

Kihyun wants to say that they are going to be fine and it’s not necessary for them to spend the night there when Minhyuk claps his hand over Kihyun’s mouth.

“Of course,” Minhyuk says.

Kihyun is the only one who doesn’t smile at that.

“Aren’t Jinyoung’s friends nice?” Youngjae asks Jaebum as they walk towards the pack’s residence.

“Yes, they’re the nicest” Jaebum sarcastically says.

“Don’t be like that. They are really a lovely couple”.

“Jinyoung could have said they were a couple first”.

“And Kihyun also texted me. He’s so nice too. I want to meet him again”.

“Sure…”

Jaebum sighs. Why is Youngjae receiving so much affection today from everybody? It really bothers him and makes him jealous because he also wants Youngjae’s care.

Youngjae turns to smile at him, missing the broken branch at his feet. He trips over it but Jaebum quickly catches him and steadies him by the waist.

“You have to be more careful” Jaebum says without letting the younger go.

Youngjae smiles to him nevertheless. Jaebum sighs, surrendering to the younger’s cuteness. As Youngjae doesn’t make a move to get away from him, he places one of his hands in Youngjae’s cheek. He studies Youngjae’s face, as if he was rediscovering the beauty in front of him again.

Suddenly Youngjae’s mind buzzes, and images of Jaebum in the same position but wearing different clothes and his hair styled back appear in his mind. He closes his eyes, trying to relieve the pain in his head. He sees in his mind Jaebum staring at him the same way, but they are at the common room surrounded by a crowd of people. He remem