"Man, that's really weird. Maybe they were high or something. You're lucky they didn't stab you and take your wallet." Jimin finally spoke. He'd listened to Seokjin's story about his treks into the woods with a shocked face. It really was a lot to take in. Especially when Jin had shown him the faint bite marks. Probably wondering why they'd taken such a short time to heal. Jin was wondering that himself. He had no more answers than he'd had when he'd first encountered the cat, since he hadn't even seen it again on his walk.

 

"Yeah. Maybe they were high. But...there was something strange about them. That one that-I didn't get his name, for sure." Jin had felt a sort of familiarity when he'd looked into the boy's dark eyes. He didn't want to tell Jimin that. It made his whole experience sound even crazier. "Anyway, don't tell Hoseok. Ok? He'll just get worried. You know him."

 

Jimin nodded slowly. "But you're okay, right? I mean the bite. There's nothing to be worried about?"

 

"It's fine." Jin lied. It was still bothering him at night. Tingling with heat and...something else.

 

There was a knock at the door startling them both. Jin got up and set his beer can on the side table. "That's probably him. Okay, so don't say anything about this. Promise?" He waited for Jimin's nod before walking to open the door. "Hey. Uh... You're not Hoseok."

 

The guy standing at the door had dark hair and a scowl on his face. He was a little taller than Jin. And he wasn't alone. His hand gripped tightly around the wrist of a very familiar boy. "He came to apologize to you. Jungkook, tell him you're sorry."

 

"I did. I did that before." He tried pulling his arm away. Jin could tell he was scared. His eyes were wide and darted around for escape. Much like the other day.

 

"Wait. What? What is going on here? Who are you...guys?" He noticed two other males in the hallway behind them. One of them was the orange-haired kid, Taehyung. The other had paler orange hair. And they were all dressed in the same sort of beggar clothing. "Or I guess the better question is: why are you at my house?"

 

Had 'Jungkook' followed him and broke in to steal something when he wasn't there? That's a scary thought.

 

"I'm Namjoon. This is Yoongi." He pointed behind him. "And you've already met Jungkook and Taehyung. We're here because Jungkook needs to apologize to you. And you need to teach him how to speak better."

 

Jin was completely confused. "Uh..." Was all he could manage.

 

"Human behaviour as well. He's just been acting like a brat lately." Namjoon continued.

 

"Hyung." Jungkook protested. Trying once more to wriggle free.

 

"Taehyung too, if you can." Yoongi spoke up. His arms were wrapped around the young man tightly. "He's so wild. He has to learn some manners."

 

Jin just couldn't grasp the situation. Why is this happening? What is happening? "Okay, why does he have to stay with me?" This seemed like a crazy con that they were pulling. Do they do this all the time?

 

"He bit you." Namjoon stared at him. His statement was very matter-of-fact. "He chose you and you'll have to mate at some point in time. Better that you get to know each other before then, right?"

 

Of course, Jimin took that exact time to come into the conversation. "Mated?" They all turned to him.

 

"Mated?" They all looked back at Jungkook who was wearing a even more frightened look. If that was possible.

 

"Yeah. He chose you by marking you." Yoongi shrugged. He and Namjoon were the only two who didn't seem phased over the word.

 

Against his better judgement, Jin stood aside. Bumping Jimin behind him as he went. "Maybe you all should come inside." Hopefully they won't try to kill him and steal his crappy stuff with Jimin in the house. But as he looked at Jungkook's terrified face, he got that feeling again. There's something there that he'd better get an explanation for.

 

***

 

Taehyung had ran to the other room as soon as the front door had closed behind them. Jungkook wished he could have done the same but Namjoon still had a tight grip on his arm. So now he was stuck in the middle of this awkward conversation they were having. Where Jin had no idea what they were and he didn't know how he could have possibly marked Jin. He's a human. I was just scared of him touching me.

 

But, if he was being honest, he had bitten Jin on purpose. He'd heard somewhere that biting a human turned them into a cat. And after discussing it with Taehyung, he'd been dared to bite the next human who got close enough. It was supposed to be for fun.

 

"I still don't know what's going on here." Jin shook his head. Why did he have to be so clueless? It was bad enough Namjoon was forcing him to get close to a human and calling it 'mated', but Jin didn't seem very bright. He should understand what we are by now. Namjoon's been explaining it for 20 minutes.

 

He thought again about Taehyung. He should be mates with him. They always have fun. "Can I go to Taehyung?" He asked quietly. Namjoon would probably say no but…

 

"Jungkook." He started in his scolding voice.

 

"Oh, yes. Yeah. Lets go together and find out what he's up to." Jin stood up from his seat on the sofa. His friend, Jimin, standing right with him.

 

"Don't leave me with these people." He pleaded in a whisper that Jungkook picked up easily. Namjoon and Yoongi would have as well. He wasn't sure why Jimin had whispered that. Why he said it at all. They weren't going to do anything bad.

 

"They seem harmless. Crazy...but harmless." Jin shoved Jungkook lightly with his fingertips and they walked to the other rooms.

 

"He's there." Jungkook pointed to the room on the right.

 

"How do you know?" Jin asked.

 

"I can hear him breathe." Humans are so inferior. He sighed. Taehyung's purr sounded agitated. Well, yeah. He's probably even more frightened than Jungkook. Tae hadn't really had any contact with humans. He'd been late to change and he usually still preferred his cat form. And maybe that also was one of the reasons Jungkook wanted Taehyung to be his mate when they grew up. So he could take care of him.

 

"Holy ." Jin exclaimed as he pulled back the curtain. Inside the big white bowl, Taehyung crouched. His ears were pressed against his head and all his hair stood up. He stopped purring and growled at Jin.

 

"Shh." Jungkook Tae's fur but it wasn't really helping. Cat form was always more sensitive than their human ones. "It's just Jin."

 

Taehyung's eyes darted between them. He growled once more but seemed to be calming down as Jungkook pet him.

 

"Can you go away. Please?" He asked. Hoping his pleading eyes could tell Jin more than he could say.

 

"He's a...cat." Jin muttered as he backed away and out the door. Yeah. He's going to make such a good mate. Jungkook thought. Taehyung's eyes were saying the same thing.

 

***

 

"He's a cat." Jin said as he entered the living room. "He's...a cat."

 

"Who's a cat?" Hoseok asked from the doorway. . This is just great.

 

"See. This is the kind of thing we need to fix." Yoongi pointed out. "He can't go changing into his cat form whenever he wants to."

 

"Cat form? What did I just walk into?" Hoseok laughed. He grabbed the beer Jimin handed him and waited with anticipation.

 

. .... Okay. "I'm going to tell you something but you can't freak out about it, okay?" Jin started. He knew Hoseok well enough to know that he would indeed freak out. He was doing a lot of that himself, internally. But he told the story from start to Taehyung in the bathtub.

 

Hoseok eyed the two shabby looking guys sitting on the floor. "And you... are also... cats?" Hearing the whole sentence aloud sounded even more insane. They're all cats.

 

"Yes. I thought you would know that by now." Namjoon frowned. "I'm sorry if that wasn't clear."

 

Jin grimaced. "I couldn't even wrap my head around it until I found Taehyun in the bathroom. I still don't know if this is just a dream or what."

 

"It's real. We could turn to our cat forms if you really wanted to see..." Namjoon said in a way that made it sound like he wasn't all too thrilled with changing into a cat.

 

"But...?" Jimin prompted.

 

"It's not really something we do in front of so many people." Yoongi answered quickly.

 

"How do we know then that it's not just a prank?" Jimin pursed his lips. He looked at Jin. "They're just thieves with an elaborate story."

 

"No. Oh, this is not really working out like it should." Yoongi frowned.

 

"Hey. Calm down. I will change, okay?" Namjoon got up. He sighed heavily and ed his jacket.

 

"I can. I will." Jungkook stepped up beside him. "He knows my cat."