Chapter Text
Jungkook is three years old when he meets Jimin.
With chubby cheeks and bright eyes, Jimin’s gripping onto his paperback with his teeth trying his bottom lip. One of his overall straps had fallen, lying beside his elbow.
Jimin’s furry, brown ears strain to hear his parents, tiny tail wagging whenever he hears his name. He hasn’t looked at Jungkook once, his attention focused on the conversation above.
More than his cute appearance, Jungkook notices his smell. It’s sweet, like the cherry lollipops his mother purchases on their grocery visits. With every inhale, his fluffy black tail wags slightly quicker. If Jimin didn’t seem so shy, he would’ve asked to pet his ears by now!
“This is Jimin,” Jimin’s mother places a hand on her son’s shoulder, adjusting the overall strap. “Can you say hi to Jungkook?”
“Hi,” Jimin’s eyes glance from the ground to Jungkook shyly, and he freezes when they make eye contact, tail halting. Something warm enters his eyes as they stare at each other, silence thick between them.
“Hi,” Jungkook finally smiles, taking a step forward. In reply, Jimin’s mouth curves into a smile, tail swaying back and forth.
When Jungkook’s parents merely smile at him, he leaps at Jimin and embraces him in a hug. The smell coats the inside of his nose, his heart beating a million miles a seconds as Jimin hugs back, tiny hands clutching onto his shirt.
“How cute! They’re already best friends,” Jimin’s mother coos.
Really, all Jungkook’s focused on is Jimin’s warmth, and his body relaxes. They’ve just met, but Jungkook feels his tail wag and ears flick against Jimin’s. The cherry scent’s so strong, Jungkook’s about to go crazy.
Jungkook does something that causes the parents to gasp, something so instinctive that he isn’t aware of the action; he nuzzles his nose against Jimin’s neck, the most sensitive part of the body, and confirms the affection with a tiny lick.
Jimin sighs so beautifully, shifting his head to give Jungkook better access, but his parents are pushing him away, telling him that “only couples can do that!”
A whine’s making its way from Jimin’s throat as hands push him away, and Jungkook surprises himself when a growl forces itself from his throat. Everyone stares at him, including his parents, but he’s only looking at one person.
“Jungkookie?” Jimin whispers, tiny hand rubbing the spot he’d nuzzled.
“Don’t hurt Jimin!” Jungkook snaps at the dumbfounded parents before grabbing Jimin’s soft hand and leading him inside the house.
~*~
Their first week of being neighbors, Jimin and Jungkook become the best of friends. They play tag at the park, eat frozen lemonade popsicles on Jungkook’s trampoline, and they schedule their first sleepover for Friday.
The day before the sleepover, they find themselves in Jimin’s backyard, rambling on about what they’d like to do tomorrow.
“We can play Wii!” Jimin exclaims, throwing his stained popsicle stick onto the grass. His tail keeps batting Jungkook’s side, sending the aroma of cherries with every wag. To keep his side from being attacked, Jungkook grabs Jimin’s tail.
“Cool,” Jungkook kicks his feet, running a hand through the thick fur. If only his fur was as soft as his! “Do you have tennis?”
“Not tennis! I always lose.” Since Jungkook grabbed his tail and began petting it, Jimin’s body slumps comfortably in his chair. When Jungkook’s hand stills, Jimin flicks his tail against his nose, urging him to continue. A small smile covers his face as Jungkook combs through the tiny snarls and smoothes out the fur.
Jungkook doesn’t know why his new friend’s silent. Usually, Jimin’s parents tell him to “be quiet” at least five times whenever he visits (which is every day!). Maybe he’s tired and just wants to sleep.
When Jungkook retracts his hand, the skin smelling so strongly of fruit he becomes dizzy, Jimin blinks up at him.
“Why’d you stop?” he asks softly, ear flicking in the wind.
“Cause you’re sleepy. Here,” Jungkook pats his leg, “You can use my leg as a pillow.”
“Okay!” Adjusting the two chairs side by side, Jimin rests his cheek on Jungkook’s thigh, body curled up. Chubby cheeks pulled into a smile, he glances up at Jungkook. “Your leg is tough!”
“Tough? What’s that mean?”
“Um,” Jimin wrecks his five year old brain, nose scrunched as he thinks, “It means hard.”
“Oh.”
The sun feels nice against their faces, and Jungkook yawns. His eyelids are beginning to slip when he hears a quiet, “Jungkookie?”
“Yeah?”
“Can you pet my ears?”
“Why?” Jungkook hides a giggle. Only his parents touch his ears.
“I don’t know!” Jimin’s pouting now, brown eyes pleading.
“Course I can, we’re best friends.” Jungkook begins to stroke Jimin’s left ear, the brown fur velvety soft. A soft grumbling noise rumbles deep within Jimin’s chest, hitching in volume whenever Jungkook rubs both of his ears at once.
Jungkook’s about to ask a question when he catches sight of Jimin’s closed eyes, his chest dipping and falling with his relaxed breathing.
~*~
When Jungkook turns four, Jimin starts attending Kindergarten. On his first day of school, Jungkook waits with him and Jimin’s parents at the bus stop. With his fist tightly clutching Jimin’s, Jungkook feels the familiar bat of Jimin’s tail against his legs.
“I’m so excited, Jungkookie,” Jimin hops once, backpack strap falling off of his shoulder. His parents watch him fondly, telling him to calm down. “School’s gonna be so fun!”
Leaving Jimin for hours doesn’t seem very exciting to Jungkook, so he shrugs his shoulders in response.
An array of smells hit Jungkook’s nose once the bus appears, loud and bright yellow. Holding in a squeak when Jimin crushes him into a hug, the familiar smell of cherries cause his stomach muscles to unclench.
“Bye!” Jimin waves, and then he’s gone, puffing down the road in the yellow school bus. The smoke causes Jungkook’s nose to wrinkle and an ear to flick irritably. Oh, how he hates school buses!
“Mom,” Jungkook whines a few hours later, lying on the living room floor. Waiting for his friend is boring, and Jungkook wishes that he didn’t have to go to school. “When’s Jimin coming back?”
“Honey, I’ve told you several times that he returns at three o’clock,” his mother patiently explains. Why’s she smiling!? His Jimin is gone!
When three o’clock finally rolls around, Jungkook’s anxiously waiting beside the bus stop, looking up and down the street. At the scent of smoke and laughter of young children, Jungkook’s tail whips back and forth. When the bus pulls up to the stop, kids stare at him from the open windows.
“Jungkookie!” a familiar voice shouts, and Jungkook giggles when Jimin pops his head out the window, smiling and waving. “Taehyung, look! This is my neighbor!”
Neighbor? Jungkook thinks. I’m also your best friend! Why didn’t you say I was your best friend?
A boy with wild hair and a lollipop stuck in his cheek pops his head from the window, his tan ears alert. “Hi Gukkie!” he says through his sucker.
“Hi,” Jungkook waves shyly as Jimin leaves the bus, smiling at his classmates and thanking the bus driver.
“Bye, Jimin!” Taehyung shouts before the bus whines and starts down the road. Staring at the bus with longing, Jimin’s quiet for a moment.
“I wanna be at school,” he pouts, shocking Jungkook to the point of his tail drooping. He doesn’t care if he leaves Jungkook alone?
It’s Friday, so they’re setting up their sleeping bags in Jimin’s house for their weekly sleep-over. Since he left the bus, Jimin’s been talking non-stop about school. “Jungkook, you’re so quiet!” he comments, squishing himself beside Jungkook in his sleeping bag. Getting no response, he giggles into Jungkook’s pillow.
“My parents aren’t here,” he whispers, his warm air causing Jungkook’s ear to flick against his nose. “You can pet my ears.”
But Jungkook doesn’t catch what he’s saying, only focused on that… weird smell. It’s coming from Jimin, masking his cherry scent. Sniffing the air cautiously, Jungkook identifies the smell as the beach.
It’s coming from Jimin’s neck. Someone marked him.
In Jungkook’s four-year old heart, something tells him that this isn’t okay.
“Jungkook-” Jimin’s voice cuts off when Jungkook thrusts his nose in the crook of his neck, a tiny squeak leaving his lips. A tongue laps at his neck, teeth nibbling on the sensitive skin. Cheeks flushed, Jimin exposes his neck so Jungkook can access the skin. It feels so good and nice, and his heart’s flipping in his chest.
Growling at the remainder of the beach smell, Jungkook nips and licks the last of it away. Now, this is good. He’s telling whoever marked Jimin that he’s his best friend! Take that, Taehyung.
When he’s only inhaling his own scent and cherries, he nuzzles his neck and flops his head onto his pillow, slightly embarrassed. Peeking up from the pillow, he’s met with chubby cheeks and a huge smile.
“I wanna do that!” Jimin pushes against Jungkook’s shoulder, pressing his nose against his neck.
“I don’t think we can,” Jungkook admits, glancing around the room. “We can’t mark each other, Jimin…”
“But you marked me!”
“Cause you didn’t smell like cherries!” Huffing, Jungkook hides in the sleeping bag. He’s totally mad (but still allows Jimin to curl up next to him when they sleep, because they’re best friends after all).
~*~
For the first time ever, Jimin invites a friend to his and Jungkook’s Friday sleepovers. “It’s gonna be Taehyung’s first time over!” Jimin exclaims, adjusting the pillow on the couch for the hundredth time. For the past hour he’s been in an all-cleaning mode, wanting everything to be perfect.
“He smells like the beach,” Jungkook dips his fingers into the bowl of chips. Of course he doesn’t show his excitement! If his tail starts wagging, he’ll shed his fur onto Mrs. Park’s recently vacuumed floor. If he were to show it, he’d be bouncing on the sofa.
“He smells good,” Jimin comments, Jungkook nodding in agreement, a chip hanging from his mouth. “Hey, don’t eat all the chips!”
“But I’m hungry.”
“We’re ordering pizza!” Giggling, Jimin snatches the bowl and races around the couch, Jungkook hot on his heels. “Too slow, too slow!” Jimin’s singing with the bowl clutched tightly to his chest, but his voice dies down when the doorbell suddenly rings.
“Jimin, your friend’s here!” his mother shouts down the stairs, but Jimin and Jungkook are already racing up, eager to open the door.
“You have chips?” is the first thing Taehyung says, snatching one from the bowl and stuffing it into his cheeks. He’s wearing a light blue shirt with a spaceship and adorns his usual messy hair.
Jimin’s bouncing on his tiptoes, tail whacking his mother’s knees as their parents talk. “Yeah, and pizza!” Motioning him in, Jimin sets the bowl onto the countertop while Jungkook shyly examines Taehyung’s ears, watching them flick. “Jungkook’s gonna party with us, too.”
“Yay! Hi Gukkie, you’re so cute.” Apparently not caring about the parents being right outside, he reaches for Jungkook’s left ear, scratching the sensitive inside with his fingers. Warmness immediately spreads from Jungkook’s ear to the tip of his tail, causing his shoulders to relax and his head to tilt towards Taehyung.
Smiling when he hears the grumbling of Jungkook’s chest, Taehyung pats his ear and starts on the other one.
“Taehyung,” Jimin snaps out of his surprised demeanor, voice unusually stern, “Don’t do that.” When he’s ignored, he grabs Taehyung’s arm and pushes him away from Jungkook. “I said stop!”
Blinking up in confusion, Jungkook wonders why Jimin’s being mean to his friend. Having his ears petted was relaxing- it wasn’t as if a stranger was touching them. He knows and likes Taehyung, so it doesn’t matter if he pets them.
“Why?” Taehyung pats Jimin’s head, eyes opening in confusion when he’s rejected with a swat. “I do it to you.”
“Well, Jungkook didn’t say you could!”
“You can,” Jungkook grins at Taehyung, causing Jimin to gasp. “I like it when he pets my ears, Jimin. It’s okay.”
For some reason, Jimin pouts the rest of the night.
~*~
There’s been a lot of changes since Jungkook became friends with Taehyung. Not that he’s caused a rift in Jimin’s and Taehyung’s relationship, for the two are always together, giggling about something. At school, they’re the best of friends.
Most of the drama happens at the Friday sleepovers, anyways.
1) Jimin’s constantly separating the two with his body if they get a little too close. Taehyung makes it a point to nuzzle Jungkook’s neck whenever he wants, which is basically all the time, regardless of who’s in the room. When this happens, Jimin’s over there in less than a second, clawing at his face and threatening to tell his mom.
“You’re a bad wolf!” Jimin growls after shoving him away from Jungkook, wrapping an arm around Jungkook’s tiny shoulders. “You can’t lick his ears!”
“They taste good,” Taehyung grins. “Like cotton candy.”
“Idiot!”
2) When it’s time to sleep, Jimin and Jungkook always share a sleeping bag.
Taehyung started this tradition by creeping into Jungkook’s sleeping bag one night and snuggling into the blankets. When Jimin had lazily cracked open an eye and caught sight of that extra bulge in the sheets, his ears had instantly perked and his body practically flew through the air.
“Out!” he kept pushing at the sheets, growling and snarling. “It’s not your sleeping bag, Taehyung! Get off!”
When Taehyung had rushed out, Jimin made himself at home in the sleeping bag, Jungkook’s body right next to his. The beach scent was quickly replaced with cherries, and Taehyung stood outside the sleeping bag, complaining.
“Why can you sleep with Kook but I can’t?” Taehyung whined, pulling up his baggy pajama pants.
“I’m his neighbor,” Jimin huffed happily, tail batting against Jungkook’s knee underneath the covers. “That means we’re best friends.”
Really, Jungkook didn’t mind who slept in his sleeping bag; both of them were warm. However, he enjoyed the scent of cherries much more than the beach.
3) Jimin cried when he found out that Jungkook only invited Taehyung to the city’s waterpark for a playdate.
Listen to this! Jungkook constantly talked to Jimin about the waterpark, wondering why the older wolf seemed to dislike the place. Whenever he’d mention swimming there, Jimin would tell him how ‘unsanitary’ and ‘boring’ it was.
“I only went there once, and it was so boring! I also got this sunburn on my back.” As if the mark would still be there, Jimin had lifted his shirt and pointed at a random part of his back. “It was here!”
So Jungkook was surprised to hear that Jimin, after hearing Taehyung boast about their upcoming playdate, hid in his room and bawled. Jimin’s mother was quite irritated, not understanding that Jimin didn’t like the waterpark. Jungkook’s heard his complaints many times! She should know what her son likes and doesn’t like.
“Do you wanna come with us?” Jungkook had asked, lifting up the blanket Jimin was hiding under.
Wiping away the tears from his chubby cheeks, Jimin glanced up at him with hurt eyes. “Y-Yeah.”
“I thought you hated the pool, Jimin.”
“Not w-when I’m with you.”
~*~
Their parents don’t like it when they show affection.
“Honey, only couples can do that,” Jungkook’s mother explains for the thousandth time, dipping a plate into a bath of bubbly water. Jimin’s mother had caught them in their sleeping bag, nuzzling each other’s necks and ears, and had yanked them both out of their ‘nest.’ “Friends don’t show affection like that.”
“Why not?” Jungkook whines. It feels so nice when Jimin touches his ears! He doesn’t understand why their parents always yell at them when they do it. Don’t they realize that they’re half wolf? Nuzzling Jimin’s neck is part of his instincts. It always tells him that it’s okay to show his hyung affection.
“It’s not something you’d do with a friend!”
“Well, that’s dumb!” Growling, Jungkook leaves the kitchen and heads outside. With the fresh air blowing through his hair and ears, he can relax and think.
Really, there’s nothing wrong with what they’re doing! His mother’s just crazy.
At least Jimin doesn’t lick his ears. Well, most of the time. Taehyung does that, he does it to both of them, and it feels nice. However, Jimin’s ear touches and neck nuzzles are better than any of Taehyung’s ear licks.
Before Jungkook knows it he’s crossing the street and heading around the familiar house. Jimin’s window is close to the ground, giving him easy access to sneak in and out. Last night he’d snuck in and nuzzled Jimin to sleep. He wasn’t planning on taking that trip, but his instincts kept telling him to see Jimin and make sure he slept well, so he did.
Tapping on the glass with alert ears, Jungkook’s tail wags when Jimin appears and cracks open the window with a smile. “Hi.”
“Hi!” Jimin jumps in excitement, eyes bright. “Come in quick, they might see you!”
Grabbing Jungkook’s waist, Jimin heaves him in and they end up crashing onto the ground, a mess of limbs and furry tails. Jimin’s neck is unprotected, pale flesh begging Jungkook to mark it, and Jungkook nuzzles his nose into the skin. Something in his body relaxes when he smells his own scent on Jimin.
“Guk,” Jimin mumbles, craning his neck to give his friend better access. Their tails curl together, ears flicking against one another’s faces. “Let me.”
Then Jimin’s prodding at Jungkook’s throat, asking to mark. Jungkook yelps when he nips at his neck, soothing the area with a nuzzle. For a long time he nuzzles his neck and ears, masking Jungkook’s scent with cherries.
“Hey,” Jungkook mumbles after a few minutes, neck sore from the marking, “I gotta leave soon. My mom’s gonna be mad.”
“I don’t want you to go!” Jimin pouts, nipping Jungkook’s ear. “I want you to stay.”
“You always want me to stay! I’m always in trouble.”
“Visit me later,” Jimin touches their noses together, then flicks his ear against the side of his face. “Promise?”
“Promise.”