The Tiger on the Mountain

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/40774161.

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Category: Gen, M/M
Fandom: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Relationship: Kwon Soonyoung | Hoshi/Lee Jihoon | Woozi
Character: Lee Jihoon | Woozi, Kwon Soonyoung | Hoshi, Choi Seungcheol |
S.Coups
Additional Tags: Producer Lee Jihoon | Woozi, Tiger Kwon Soonyoung | Hoshi,
Shapeshifting, Alternate Universe - Shapeshifters, Tiger Hybrid Kwon
Soonyoung | Hoshi, Predator/Prey, Forced Cohabitation, Hurt/Comfort,
Cabins, Sharing a Bed, Fluff, Falling In Love, Choreographer Kwon
Soonyoung | Hoshi
Language: English
Stats: Published: 2022-08-03 Completed: 2022-08-24 Words: 27,254
Chapters: 4/4

The Tiger on the Mountain

by natigail

Summary

Jihoon had gone to a cabin on a tranquil mountain to focus on making his own music. The
actual real tiger he finds in a hunter's trap on his second day thoroughly screws up those
plans of peace and quiet.

Finding a tiger would be bad enough in itself, but it is worse to discover that the tiger is
really a shapeshifter named Kwon Soonyoung, who is hurt and need refuge from the people
hunting him. However, the absolute worst part of it is how Jihoon can't help but get
attached.
 Trap
Chapter Notes

Hi! It's my first time writing these two but it's been a long time coming! I'm excited to
finally share this. Enjoy!

Warnings: Mild descriptions of wounds and blood, mentions of guns and hearing a
gunshot

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Jihoon wasn’t sure this was such a good idea anyway. He had only just arrived at the cabin
yesterday and he had yet to be overcome with whatever focus and calmness that the scenery around
him was supposed to provide. It was a beautiful place, in a lovely cabin on a mountain that was left
to grow wild without much human interference.

It was supposed to be a sanctuary, a place away from the hustle and bustle of Seoul so that Jihoon
could just focus on his music. Seungcheol had sworn up and down that he always wrote his best
music in this place. He was the one who’d recommended Jihoon to rent this little space and try
something new to get out of his creative funk.

Well, it wasn’t really a creative funk, he had argued. It wasn’t like he didn’t still wrote and
produced songs. He did, almost on the daily but… they were always songs for other people. The
idea to work on his own personal album had been rummaging around in his brain for a while. A
couple of years, at least. Maybe even as long as he’d been making music which was… even longer.

Time flew.

He’d just been a kid when he’d started writing music and he apparently had possessed the right
amount of talent and luck for it all to work out. He’d been hired as a producer for an entertainment
company and the rest was history. He now wrote songs for some of the biggest idol groups in the
industry. He liked it very much but he did also want to write something that was his. His own
music for himself.

Hence the cabin trip.

Seungcheol had spoken about it as a little slice of heaven, peaceful chirps of birds and sunshine
greeting you gently in the morning. So far Jihoon had just been kept up half the night because the
damn cabin was creaky and the forest around it was filled with so many unfamiliar sounds. Jihoon
would take the steady noise of a highway any day. He missed the city.

He had also yet to see any sunshine. It had been cloudy ever since he’d arrived, even though it was
only late summer. It had been less than twenty-four hours and he was already regretting taking two
weeks off to come here.

He missed his studio. He’d brought a lot of the portable equipment that he had been able to move
but it still wasn’t the same. It wasn’t the same familiar rhythm he’d gotten used to over the years.

Seungcheol would have argued that was the exact point of coming here. None of the songs for
himself that Jihoon had started over the years had ever gotten finished. He needed a change up or
he was probably never going to make a full album for Woozi, the artist.

With a grumble, he pulled on his hiking boots and jacket and set out to walk around. He always had
more ideas when his body was in movement. Too many times, he’d been working out and he
would have to break off a set to frantically scribble notes down on his phone. He could sit on his
chair in his studio for hours barely moving but eventually his body would get angry at him.

Jihoon figured that walking around and trying to take in all of this scenery might actually do him
some good. Maybe, it would trigger whatever profound calmness he was supposed to be finding.
He was still sceptical that this whole trip would help and the first day hadn’t helped that.

Even so, he was not a quitter and he would at the very least give it a fair shot. One more day at
least.

The weather was still overcast but the breeze in the air was quite nice. The smell of the forest, all
woody and musky wasn’t Jihoon’s favourite thing but it did beat the smell of pollution back in the
city.

One thing about this whole mountain being private land meant that there weren’t any proper trails.
Jihoon had even had to hike up to the cabin with all of his luggage yesterday. The owner of the
cabin has said that he occasionally let experienced and familiar hikers take on the mountain, so
Jihoon shouldn’t be alarmed if he saw someone else hiking around but they generally used the
other side of the mountain, since that was a lot more friendly for climbing all the way to the top.

It meant that Jihoon should essentially have this whole place for himself. He could get lost in these
trees. He’d been handed little markers to stick onto the tree trunks, so that he could find his way
back and not get lost. The way the owner had spoken when he’d handed over the markers, Jihoon
figured that it had happened before.

He had brought the markers but so far, he didn’t feel a desire to use them. His sense of direction
was quite good and he didn’t think he would venture that far away from the cabin. He was just
trying to find those hidden picturesque spots that Seungcheol had told him about.

He did not find them.

He found something else.

Something that shouldn’t even be possible. Jihoon has just been happily making his way through
the trees, with just the quiet sounds of nature around him. It was quite pleasant when you weren’t
trying to sleep in a new and unfamiliar place.

Nothing could be as unfamiliar or as strange as the sight before him. He blinked a couple of times,
as if blinking might clear whatever mirage he was seeing. It couldn’t be real life. There was no
way.

It was a prank. Or some sort of elaborate optical illusion used to trick poor hikers into losing their
mind.

Only… the animal raised its head and stared right at him.

Alive. Eyes alert. Blinking. Body moving with each breath.

He was looking at an actual tiger. A huge predator that had no business being on a quiet mountain
in Korea. Maybe if it had been years and years ago when tigers had roamed free but there hadn’t
been wild tigers in this country for a hundred years.

Jihoon didn’t move a muscle. He tried to remember what he’d learned about big predators but it
wasn’t like he’d ever been warned off how to handle tigers. It wasn’t like it should be a problem
for you, unless you were stupid enough to venture into territories where tigers roamed free, which
shouldn’t be here!

There was no denying that there was an actual tiger in front of him. It was lying down, head turned
towards Jihoon, as if it was evaluating him. Jihoon caught a glimpse of its eyes staring at him and
quickly lowered his gaze. Wasn’t there something about not looking animals in the eye? Didn’t
they take that as a threat?

It was strange though. The tiger didn’t really move. Jihoon should probably just be thankful for
that but instead, he could feel himself getting curious. Why wasn’t it moving? He should probably
be backing away – without actually turning his back? – but instead he let his eyes sweep over the
tiger and then he noticed why it wasn’t moving.

Around its hindleg was something that looked like a beartrap. Its paw was caught in between what
looked like very sharp metal jaws of the contraption. The fur around the metal was coloured in
blood. Suddenly, its visibly strained breath made more sense as well as why it hadn’t moved when
Jihoon had come near it.

He should probably call someone. Who did you call about a rogue tiger lost in a mountain? Animal
control? It was his best bet. They should know how to handle it. Maybe the tiger had escaped from
a zoo or something. It could be that they already knew it was roaming around and they had set the
trap to specifically catch it. Someone should probably let them know that they had succeeded.

Jihoon couldn’t help but wonder if there wasn’t a more humane way to catch the animal, if this had
been done on purpose.

The tiger was still staring at him, barely moving but its gaze felt heavy.

Jihoon pulled out his phone and dialled the number for emergency animal services.

“Hello, how can we help you?” a pleasant voice greeted him.

“Eh, hi? I would like to report a hurt animal,” he said, glancing over at the tiger.

He nearly dropped the phone when the tiger moved. Its movement were slow and kind of stilted
but it managed to pull itself up to stand on three legs and it faced Jihoon head on. He suddenly
wondered if that trap would hold if the animal really put force into it and didn’t care about the pain
or its hind paw.

“What animal did you say, sir?” the woman on the phone asked, and Jihoon noticed that he’d
started to lower the phone. He put it back up to his ear, and turned sideways to he didn’t have to
stare at the very intimidating tiger.

Why was he even getting involved in all of this?

“A tiger.”

A moment passed. There was no sound from the phone. There was however a weird rumbling
sound that sounded entirely too much like growling and Jihoon refused to look over at the angry
tiger. He should probably run. Or maybe climb a tree. Wait, could tigers climb trees? They were
the ones that could swim, weren’t they? Climbing might also be possible for them.
 “This line is for real emergencies only,” the woman said, and Jihoon barely heard it because the
growling was growing stronger. He could feel sweat form on the back of his neck. He didn’t dare
look anywhere but straight ahead; it was more than enough to have the growling tiger in his
peripheral vision.

“Oh, I can assure you this is a real emergency,” Jihoon said, very sincerely. Some of his fear must
have leaked through on his voice.

“There haven’t been wild tigers in Korea for a century. We haven’t had any reported escapes from
zoos,” she continued, a little hesitant. “Where did you say that you were?”

“I am-”

The tiger roared, deep from its belly, and it made Jihoon jump so violently that his hands slipped
on the phone and he dropped it onto the ground. He wasn’t sure what possessed him in that
moment but he turned towards the tiger and yelled.

“Yah! That’s rude!”

To his utter surprise, the tiger stopped roaring. It even lowered his head a little, round ears pulled
back. It almost looked like it was sorry for startling him, but that must just be his imagination. He
didn’t know how tigers acted but he still shouldn’t personify them. It was a wild animal.

Or maybe a trick of his imagination, but it was not a person.

He picked the phone back up again to find that he had either managed to hit the end call button or
the person on the other end had simply hung up on him. He could call back but it wasn’t like it
would be easier the second time around. The woman had clearly thought it was a prank at first.
She’d seemed a little worried when Jihoon’s fear had slipped through but still.

Jihoon dialled familiar number instead, casting an eye towards the tiger. It was still standing
hunched down a little but it didn’t look like it was about to do a leap. It looked more like it had
trouble staying on its feet.

“Yes, Seungcheol speaking,” Seungcheol said, and he sounded half-distracted. He was probably
working.

Jihoon hoped he was having a more productive time than he was. He wasn’t sure this experience
could be song inspiration. Then again, it was bizarre enough that it just might.

“Hi hyung, it’s Jihoon.”

“Oh, Jihoon-ah, how are you doing? Did you settle into the cabin okay?” he asked, his voice warm
now that he knew who was calling. “Isn’t it a beautiful place?”

“Sure,” Jihoon said, void of emotions. “Listen, I’m going to tell you something and it’s going to
sound slightly insane.”

“Okay…?” Seungcheol said and his tone changed again. He was concerned now. He had probably
dropped whatever he was working with. Jihoon had his undivided attention.

“Say…” he hesitated, wondering how to phrase this in a way that wouldn’t make Seungcheol
worried, “if I found an animal, a predator, in like a hunter’s trap… what should I do?”

“An animal? What kind of animal? There shouldn’t be hunting on the mountain at all… It’s like
protected and private land. I would try to call the owner of the cabin and let him know. I know he
has people that come and tend to the forest. They should be able to help.”

“Okay,” Jihoon said, that sounded good. “And the animal…?”

“What is it? Why are you not answering me? You said a predator, is it like a bear?!”

“Eh, no…”

“Jihoon-ah,” Seungcheol said in his stern voice. “What is going on?”

“It’s a tiger, hyung.”

Jihoon looked over on the tiger. It was still watching him with unnerving focus but it seemed calm
enough. Maybe, it had been like an illegal pet tiger or something and then it had gotten too big and
someone set it loose here. He’d heard about that in USA. But then again, he wasn’t sure how
anyone could get a tiger cub into the country or napped from a zoo without it being noticed.

“A tiger?”

“Yes.”

“We don’t have wild tigers.”

“Oh, trust me, it’s a tiger alright. Or I am hallucinating.”

“Call the owner of the cabin. Let him know what’s going on. Do you need me to come and get
you?”

Jihoon smiled. “Hyung, Seoul is hours away. And it’s fine, I think. It’s like docile and definitely
trapped. I’ll be fine.”

Seungcheol hummed but he didn’t sound convinced. “Just be careful, okay? Don’t go near it.”

“I couldn’t dream of it,” Jihoon said, eyeing the claws on the tiger. One swipe and he’d lose half
his face. “But you haven’t encountered something like this before when you’ve been here?”

“Oh, definitely not.”

“Okay, I’m going to hang up and call the owner of the cabin. Talk to you later, hyung.”

“Call me later, okay? If I don’t hear from you in a few hours, I will come up there, Jihoon-ah.”

“Yeah, yeah. I will. Promise,” he said quickly trying to get Seungcheol off the phone before he
said anything mushier. Jihoon wasn’t the best at handling stuff like that.

He lowered the phone and went to search through his contacts when he heard the tiger suddenly
making noises again. Only it sounded different, and it didn’t seem like it was directed at him like
before. He looked up to see it glancing over its shoulder, shifting on its feet a bit even though it
must have been painful to tug on the trapped paw.

It was rumbling, in a low and threatening way and it looked like its fur bristled a bit. Jihoon wasn’t
sure what to make of it.

The tiger then turned towards him and stared right into his soul. He hadn’t really held eye contact
with it before but right now, he couldn’t look away. The eyes were dark and pretty, and it looked
like there was emotion in them. It looked like they were begging, for help, for understanding, for
anything.

Jihoon felt like his breath got trapped in his throat.

To make things even worse, the tiger then proceeded to lie down on its belly and pressing its whole
body into the ground, even though it flinched when it tugged on that trapped leg again. It was
almost like it was making itself look smaller or less nonthreatening.

It was weird.

“What do you want?” Jihoon asked, surprising himself. Now he was talking to the damn animal.

He didn’t expect to get an actual intelligible response but the tiger looked very pointed at him, and
then back on the trap it was stuck in. It even shook the paw in question, pain be damned. It felt
entirely too much like it had understood exactly what Jihoon had asked.

His hold on his phone felt clammy.

He should just leave. He could call the owner back at the cabin, away from this fever dream of an
experience. He wasn’t responsible for this animal or what happened to it.

He most certainly couldn’t just free it, which was what it seemed to be asking for. Even if he could
get close enough to do that, it would turn around and kill him instantly and then it would roam free
to hurt more people.

The tiger made a noise in the back of its throat. It sounded like a pathetic purr.

How intelligent were tigers exactly?

“I’m not setting you free,” he said, once more talking with the damn animal. How had he sunk so
low?

But again, the tiger seemed to understand and it pushed its chin more into the ground and looked
up at him with even bigger pleading eyes. It was so hard to look away. Jihoon found himself
talking a step closer without meaning to.

And then he heard what the tiger must have heard ages ago.

A gunshot. It was faint and probably far away but… Seungcheol had said hunting wasn’t allowed
on the mountain. The tiger looked over its shoulder again, did that weird threatening rumble and
then looked over at Jihoon, instead shifting back to the weird purr.

Whatever was up with this tiger, it was showing much more intelligence than Jihoon had expected.
It must know something was up and that whoever had that gun must be after it.

It would probably have been the same people who’d set the trap to begin with. Were they hunting
the tiger specifically or had it just gotten unlucky? It could be that they were tasked with bringing
down the randomly wild tiger. It could be a ranger doing his job. Jihoon shouldn’t interfere.

He’d taken another step closer to the tiger.

It was a big animal, which became more apparent as you came closer. It was gorgeous and Jihoon
against his better judgement found himself a little mesmerised. He took another step closer. It still
stayed on the ground, just looking at him with those eyes.
It felt like it was trying to talk to him, trying so desperately to ask for help. It was a ridiculous
notion but Jihoon realised that he couldn’t walk away. He had gotten himself too invested but was
he really going to let the tiger out of the trap?

It would even the playing field against the person or people with the gun but… it could mean that
the tiger might kill someone because Jihoon let it out. It might kill him first actually, even if it
showed no aggression towards him at the moment. It could be a clever ploy. Was it intelligent
enough to think of that?

It shouldn’t be… but those eyes.

“If you kill me…” Jihoon muttered under his breath as he stepped closer. He was within striking
distance now, if the tiger tried to launch at him. “Don’t move,” he hissed at it.

The tiger only blinked, not one muscle moved. It seemed like it was actually listening to him.
Incredibly and utterly bizarre. He’d expected it to maybe growl or lash out now that he was this
close. It was cornered and trapped and those types of animals were always the most dangerous
ones.

He managed to walk around to the trap. He could still back out, even if the tiger was behaving
now, a release of its paw would probably hurt and then he’d have a tiger in pain next to him. It
would strike for him then, wouldn’t it?

Suddenly, the tiger started making noises again. Jihoon froze and wondered if he was about to be
introduced to the tiger’s claws or teeth. But it wasn’t directed at him, it was looking away from
Jihoon. It was shaking, he could see how that he was so close to it.

He wasn’t sure what possessed him to do it but he suddenly reached out, touching the tiger’s back
and shushing softly. The tiger went still under his hand and he realised his mistake. Why had he
just touched it?

He yelped and fell back on his ass, too scared to even move out of reach. The tiger turned towards
him, slow movements and stayed crouched down, twisting only its front half towards him.

Then it gently bobbed its nose against his hand and looked at him with those eyes again. He almost
didn’t register it; he was so scared. It was right there. It could take off his whole arm. Instead, it
was nudging his hand with a gentleness he didn’t think such a big animal processed.

“What are you?” he whispered, utterly bewitched. There was something about the air of this
animal. It wasn’t normal. Jihoon was reacting entirely out of character. He shouldn’t have gotten
this close in the first place but he was in it now and he wasn’t sure he would have been able to back
out even if he had wanted to do it.

The tiger nudged his hand again. Its nose was really soft.

Jihoon snapped out of his trance and moved back to the trap. The tiger didn’t move when he did.
He found the clasp on the side of the contraption easily enough. It wasn’t hard for a human to
open. It wasn’t meant to be. It was made to trap animals. Big dangerous animals that should be
caught.

He pressed the release hatch and the trap jumped open.

The tiger jumped up too. It did a big leap, and landed several meters away. Its hurt paw hung in the
air, pulled up under its body, blood trickling down it. It looked at Jihoon again. The eyes were no
longer pleading and begging but there was still emotion in them. If he didn’t know better, he would
say the tiger looked grateful.

He slowly got up and took a few steps to circle around the tiger. It didn’t jump on him. He would
have to get back to his cabin now. He should still call the owner and tell them about a damn tiger
roaming free on the mountain. He would probably just leave out the part where he set it free. He
knew he would get in trouble for that.

Then he heard the voices. Two or three at the least. Someone shouted something about a trail. The
tiger glared in direction of the voices and let out a terrifying growl. Jihoon felt bad for it, it was still
injured but he’d done all that he could for it.

“Best of luck,” he muttered, still feeling dumb for talking to it.

He backed away, not turning his back but making his steps as swift as he dared. He hadn’t counted
on the tiger following him. It kept a few meters distance almost like it was being respectful but it
matched his pace. He took two steps, so did it. Or rather it limped. It didn’t put any weight on its
hurt hind paw.

He wanted to shoo it away but he wasn’t sure if that might finally make it remember that it was a
dangerous animal and try to attack him. Right now, it was acting like an overgrown cat thinking
that it could follow him home.

“Go away,” he said, in a quiet voice. “You can’t follow me.”

He took a few more steps. The tiger followed still.

Jihoon stopped and he had to fight not to make himself glare at it. Suddenly, the voices were much,
much closer. Both him and the tiger froze.

They’d moved away from the trap a fair bit but it was still so close by. The dense trees made it so
that they couldn’t see the spot anymore but Jihoon could hear the voices that must be near the trap
clear as day.

“We got it and it got away.”

“How could it even get out?”

“Doesn’t matter, it’s nearby and hurt.”

“Get a move on!”

It seemed like the last part was something that the tiger understood. Suddenly, it was running, well,
a weird kind of run jumping, right by Jihoon’s nose. It was fast when it wanted to be. Jihoon
breathed a sigh of relief and started to make his way back to his cabin.

He was happy the tiger hadn’t spared him a second glance, despite seeming keen to follow him
only moments before. He should have held onto his breath of relief. The tiger had not in fact
forgotten about him. It was sitting on the porch of his cabin as he made his way to it. It sat like it
was an obedient dog waiting for its owner to come home.

Jihoon wanted to scream at it, but those hunters had been close by and he did not want to attract
their attention and have to explain why he had let the tiger go. Not that it seemed to matter much if
the damn animal just sat there waiting to be trapped.

“What do you want from me? Didn’t I already help enough?” he asked, not daring to come closer
to the cabin.

The tiger had the audacity to get up, turn towards the door and lightly scratch its claws against the
door. It was loud and clear but there was no way he was letting a damn tiger into his home. He
might be going insane but he wasn’t that far gone yet.

“Absolutely not,” he said. It was becoming entirely too normal to speak to the tiger like it
understood because it kept reacting like it did.

It scratched the door again, a little harder this time.

“I said no,” Jihoon said, keeping his distance and crossing his arms. He was glaring now for sure.
The tiger didn’t seem to care.

It just glared right back and then it did something he’d not expected. It started to rather violently
throw its shoulder into the door. The cabin was old and the wood creaked under the sudden attack.
It already looked bent just from the tiger doing it once. It did it again and then glared at Jihoon.

“It must be an elaborate dream or something,” he told himself, shaking his head. It was the best
explanation he could come up with or there was something in the mountain air that was making
him hallucinate and see things that wasn’t there. Maybe the tiger was just a very annoying cat and
his brain was broken.

Best to indulge and go along with it then. It hadn’t blown up in his face yet.

“Fine, I’ll let you in,” he said, throwing his hands up in surrender.

The tiger instantly stopped its assault on the door. It definitely understood what he was saying.
Jihoon kind of wanted to wring its neck.

It was polite enough to step slightly aside to allow Jihoon to get the key into the door. Stepping
back hadn’t really helped because Jihoon still had to stand right by it and he could feel all the hairs
on his body standing on end, even though the tiger just sat there like it was trained to do so.

Maybe it was really a pet tiger and it was just doing as it had been taught.

Jihoon had only just gotten the door open when the tiger pushed its way inside, along with Jihoon.
He almost stumbled as it bumped into his legs but soon enough, they were both inside. The tiger
then proceeded to push the door shut with a firm click and then promptly laid down in front of the
door.

Jihoon was just staring at it. What the fuck was going on?

He wasn’t sure how long he zoned out, staring at the tiger stretched out across his floor. He was
startled when the tiger suddenly started growling, glancing at the door.

A minute later there was someone knocking.

It wasn’t like Jihoon could open the door with the tiger in the way and there was only really that
one entrance into the cabin unless you wanted to climb through a window.

“Yes?” Jihoon called out. “Who is it?”

“Eh, sorry to disturb you, but we’ve got a couple of questions, if you don’t mind.”

The voices from the forests. The people with guns. The ones who were hunting the tiger.
 The tiger was looking up at him again with those big pleading eyes. It shouldn’t be able to make an
expression like that when it was a grade A predator.

“I do mind,” Jihoon called out, refusing to open the door. “What is it about?”

“Well, eh, we’re local… wildlife preservation and we were wondering if you’ve spotted any
unusual animals in the area?”

Jihoon looked at the tiger. He hesitated. He should say yes. Get them to help him get rid of this
dangerous and odd animal.

“No, I have not,” he answered.

“Well, if you could open-” they tried to say but Jihoon didn’t let them continue.

“And isn’t this private land? I have been informed I might encounter hikers and nothing else while
I work up here. The owner should have told me about you guys ruining my peace and quiet,”
Jihoon said and he tried to sound pissed off. It wasn’t really hard when he was still so confused and
scared. Anger was easier to express. “What was the name of your organisation, again?”

Silence.

Jihoon had expected that. They clearly didn’t have permission to be here whatever they had going
on with the tiger. Maybe they were the people who’d set it loose in the first place, some kind of
sick and twisted hunting ritual. It clearly backfired.

“Sorry, sir, we’ll get out of your hair. Have a pleasant day,” another voice said, even though the
wish did not sound genuine at all.

It took entirely too long for Jihoon to realise he was shaking. It must be the adrenalin of it all. He
sat down on the couch and looked over at the tiger. It was still in front of the door, blocking it.

But it looked much more relaxed now. Like it was lazing more than anything else. Jihoon stared at
it. He watched how it slowly relaxed more and more until it shut its eyes and then its breathing
slowed and evened out.

It fell asleep.

Just like that. Jihoon wanted to call someone. Maybe, Seungcheol for advice. Maybe, the owner of
this place to let him know what was going on. Maybe, a tiger expert to try and understand why it
was behaving like this.

In the end, he just sat and watched it as he tried to process it all.

Chapter End Notes

Am I so whipped for dear Hoshi boy that I had to write him a fic where he gets to be
an actual tiger? Am I so whipped for producer Woozi that I had to write a fic where
he's creating music? The answer to both of those questions is a resounding yes. This fic
is mostly silly and also Jihoon being in denial while Soonyoung is a lovable goofball.

Next update in a week on the 10th of August! I hope you liked this first chapter and
comments are very welcome.
 Talk
Chapter Summary

Jihoon was pretty sure he was both hearing things and hallucinating. The weird tiger
that had forced his way into the cabin could not be an actual person. That didn't make
sense at all. Fuck.

Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

It didn’t seem like he was in immediate danger, even if he should have been. He should have been
terrified, trapped in a small space with a tiger like that. The tiger made little grunts in its sleep.
Jihoon might even be pressed to say that it was cute. He wasn’t sure what had gotten into him.

He should definitely call someone or do something other than just looking at the tiger but then a
thought entered his head. A spark of inspiration. Lyrics about subverted expectations and of
someone not at all behaving like you expected them to do. How someone who could look so fierce
and so strong still needed a helping hand as well. The fact that no matter how you looked,
everyone could need help.

He moved slowly, keeping an eye on the tiger, but he still went over to the desk and his notebook.
Grabbing a pen, he started scribbling. He kept glancing over at the tiger but it was still just lying by
the door, eyes closed and breathing even.

Lyrics spilled out of him and he got into the zone. The tiger metaphor felt a little on the nose but he
still couldn’t help himself. He started to mutter the lyrics under his breath and a melody started to
come out. His humming took shape and soon enough he was pulling out his little recorder and
turning on his laptop.

He had come here to work on his music after all.

The idea for the song had been sparked by the tiger but Jihoon soon realised that it was becoming
more about himself. He knew how people felt that he often didn’t match the expectations that they
had for him. When he’d been younger in particular, everyone wanted him to do cute shit because
he was pretty and short. He had hated it.

It had gotten better as he’d gotten slightly older, more comfortable scowling if someone annoyed
him and he’d started going to the gym. Bulking up had scared off some of those ridiculous
assumptions based on his physical appearance.

He still faced wrong assumptions galore in other ways. A lot of them came with relations to his
music, especially when he wrote about love. Stringing out pretty imagery of love and heartbreak
alike, everyone assumed he was very experienced in that area of his life. He wasn’t really. He just
listened and he dreamed.

The heartbreak was unfortunate based on real experience but he still twisted and turned it around to
suit himself.
He had just finished recording what was already a good draft of an almost entire song. He liked
what it shaped up to be and he’d been entirely lost in the process and forgotten about the damn
tiger inside of his cabin. It was quite impressive really, considering how strange a situation it was,
but making music had always made everything else fade to the background.

It required his sole focus. Seungcheol often joked that a bomb could go off next to Jihoon and he
wouldn’t notice if he had an unfinished song in front of him that he was trying to piece together.

That got proven right in this instance.

Only it was so much worse than a bomb.

It was a voice. Loud in the quiet room.

“That sounds really pretty.”

Jihoon froze up. A lot of thoughts flashed in his head in that moment. Almost too many to make
sense of. At first, he thought he had just imagined the voice. Then he thought that he might just
have spoken out loud himself without realising, even if he knew that wasn’t his voice. Next, he
considered that it might come from outside and the sound of the music had simply travelled.

But he knew in his gut that none of those could be right. The voice had come from within the
cabin. The cabin that he was alone in except for the weird tiger that he had momentarily forgotten
about. Even so a human voice and the tiger should have no damn relation. Jihoon knew that they
had to no matter how impossible.

Jihoon turned around very carefully in his chair and looked over at the door.

What he saw felt like it might scar him forever.

There was no sight of the tiger that had been peacefully sleeping there before. Instead, there was a
man. A very naked man. He did have one leg pulled against his chest, shielding Jihoon’s eyes a
little but it didn’t do much. Muscled legs and arms. Black fluffy hair, falling into some of the
prettiest eyes he’d ever seen. An embarrassed smile. The other leg extended straight, blood and a
nasty gash on the ankle.

Jihoon kind of wished he was the kind of person who screamed in situations like this. It would
probably have felt cathartic. He wanted to do something or say something. He couldn’t. He just
kept staring at the naked stranger, trying to make his brain accept what was happening.

He wasn’t really succeeding. It seemed absolutely ludicrous.

The man ducked his head a little and let out a deep chuckle. He looked embarrassed. It had no right
to be such an adorable look on him.

Jihoon couldn’t stop staring at the hurt ankle. He couldn’t stop thinking of the tiger in the bear trap
with its hind paw and how the injury matched up. He wasn’t dumb. He could connect the dots,
even if it didn’t logically make any sense. The tiger had been acting strange. Almost human.

This at least provided an explanation. Even if it was one that shouldn’t physically be possible.

“Sorry,” the man said, biting into his lower lip. His teeth looked human for most part, but Jihoon
caught a flash of the corner teeth being more prominent than they should have been.

Jihoon didn’t want to deal with this. He wanted to focus back on his song, even though he knew
that was a lost cause right now. He’d sufficiently been pulled out of his flow. Even if he did
manage to make the naked guy go away immediately, he wouldn’t be able to continue.

It struck him that he should probably be scared. Of what all of this meant but also of this… man?
Creature? Whatever he was. He didn’t feel scared. It was difficult to feel fear when the guy was
just sat there naked like that, almost curled into himself.

“Are you really not going to say anything?” the guy asked, lifting his head and tilting it slightly to
the side. He narrowed his eyes. “Why aren’t you freaking out?”

“I am,” Jihoon said, surprising himself. The guy visibly perked up at his voice. “I’m just trying to
process.”

“Right, well… that’s good?”

“Who are you?” Jihoon asked. They were sat in opposite sides of the relatively small cabin. The
guy was still by the door and Jihoon was at the desk situated along the back wall.

If the guy had… still been a tiger, he could probably clear the distance in a leap without any effort
but he wasn’t. He was still pushing his knee into his chest, both arms around the folded leg, like if
he held it close enough, he’d be okay.

“My name is Kwon Soonyoung.”

Kwon Soonyoung. The tiger man was called Soonyoung. Jihoon wasn’t sure what to do with this
information. It felt weird that he had a regular human name like that. Jihoon wasn’t sure what he
had been expected. Maybe something foreign or less human.

“Okay,” Jihoon said, nodding. A name meant nothing but it still felt like it did.

“You’re not going to give me yours? Rather rude, isn’t it?” Soonyoung asked, and he sounded a
little nervous. His voice trembled a bit. It was a weird situation that he seemed to be the more
nervous one out of the two of them.

The roles should have been reversed, shouldn’t they? Soonyoung was the strange creature, who
presumably was dangerous and had tricks up his sleeve. Who knew what else he could do other
than move forms between tiger and man? Jihoon was just a man.

“What do you even know about politeness?” Jihoon found himself asking, staring rather intently at
him.

He really tried not to take note of how nice the guy’s legs were but it was kind of hard when they
were right there for him to appreciate. His arms looked good too, biceps defined. He had strong
shoulders too. He probably also had abs though Jihoon couldn’t see those right now. He was
thankful for it. If he got a view of this guy’s dick, he wasn’t sure how he was going to keep from
actually going insane. Just knowing he was naked and the vulnerability that came with it was more
than enough.

“I’m more human than animal, you know,” Soonyoung said, clenching his jaw a little.

It was probably a wrong move to piss off the tiger man. It was weird to hear him confirm it, even
though there had been no denying it was what had happened.

“I’m Lee Jihoon,” Jihoon said, relenting a little.

This was bizarre but he might as well deal with it. It wasn’t like he was left much other choice. The
man wasn’t going to just vanish into thin air. Or at least he didn’t think he could do that. If he
could, then he should have done that immediately and spared Jihoon all this confusion and
awkwardness.

“Nice to meet you,” Soonyoung said and ducked his head a little. He shivered.

He was probably cold.

Jihoon got up from his chair. Soonyoung flinched and pressed himself more back into the door
behind him.

“I’m just,” Jihoon indicated the sofa, “getting a blanket.”

Soonyoung didn’t protest but his shoulders didn’t go down either. Jihoon carefully moved over to
the sofa and he gently lifted the blanket that had been thrown over the back of it. He made sure to
never turn his back to Soonyoung.

He tossed the blanket right at him. Perhaps a little bit too hard. It landed straight in his face and he
scrambled to catch it. Jihoon diverted his eyes a little, but he still kept Soonyoung in his peripheral
vision. He didn’t want to miss, if he suddenly decided to do something.

He lowered his leg and wrapped the blanket around him. He hissed as he moved to get it under his
butt and properly around his waist. When Jihoon heard the movement stop, he looked over at him
again. He’d wrapped it all around his body, the one leg still folded against his front again while the
other still stuck out. He’d bent it a little at the knee, drawn it slightly closer to him.

It was still bleeding. Blood was slowly dripping onto the wooden floor of the cabin.

“Thank you,” Soonyoung said, and he still looked like he was shaking. Maybe it hadn’t been the
cold that made that happen then.

Even so, Jihoon felt better looking at him now that the majority of his body was hidden behind the
blanket. It had been a lot of naked limbs. Jihoon appreciated naked men but only when it was an
actual consensual situation. This felt far from it.

“Why did you come in here?” Jihoon asked, leaning against one side of the sofa. He crossed his
arms and tried to look intimidating. He didn’t want to let Soonyoung know that he was a softie at
heart.

Soonyoung looked down at his leg. “I didn’t have much choice.”

“You always have a choice,” Jihoon countered.

Soonyoung let out a funny sound. It almost sounded like a growl.

“I didn’t have any good choices,” he rephrased.

“So, I take it that those guys with guns were after you?”

It was the only logical explanation. Jihoon had been trying to make sense of it himself, what they
would want with a tiger. He wasn’t sure he had any more answers to what they’d want with a
shapeshifting tiger man. If they even knew he could do that. Maybe they didn’t. Jihoon didn’t
know how any of it worked.
He surprised himself by being curious to know.

“Yeah,” Soonyoung said and pulled the blanket a little closer around him.

“Did you hurt them?”

“What?”

Soonyoung snapped his head up and openly stared at Jihoon. His mouth was a little agape and his
eyes were so damn expressive. His eyes had changed a little between forms but there was still no
mistaking them from the pleading eyes of the tiger.

“I did not!” he said, and he sounded genuinely offended. “Why would you even think so?”

“Pal, I don’t know if you’re already forgot but I saw you as a tiger. You could easily kill anyone
when you were like that,” Jihoon said. He had a feeling he’d said a bit more than he should have.

“Like you?” Soonyoung’s voice dropped. It turned deeper and raspier. Something also dark also
came over his eyes. He was glaring.

Jihoon hadn’t been scared yet of Soonyoung in human form. A shiver went down his spine now.
He should still be careful.

“You had your chance to kill me,” Jihoon reasoned, trying to stop his heart from kicking up and
going faster. “Multiple chances actually.”

Soonyoung huffed out air, it sounded almost like a laugh. “What? When you were freeing me from
a trap or when you were giving me shelter and protection?”

When he phrased it like that, it sounded quite ridiculous. Jihoon still couldn’t quite believe he’d
done that, even if it had only been a few hours ago.

“You still could have,” Jihoon said. He’d seen those teeth and those claws. They could cut into
human flesh easily. The tiger being Soonyoung explained more why it hadn’t acted like a cornered
animal in pain. Human reasoning had been there to aid it.

Aid him.

It was hard for Jihoon’s brain to accept that the tiger and Soonyoung was one and the same.

“I didn’t want to kill you,” Soonyoung said, quietly. “I don’t right now. I don’t want to kill
anyone.”

Jihoon shouldn’t ask but he couldn’t stop himself. There was still this air around Soonyoung like he
was pulling him closer, demanding all of his attention. Jihoon was too curious for his own good.

“Have you?”

Soonyoung raised an eyebrow. “Ever killed anyone?”

Jihoon nodded.

“No. No deaths. I’ve hurt some people, but not on purpose. Fuck, I shouldn’t be telling you all of
this,” Soonyoung said and tilted his head back against the door behind him.

Jihoon wasn’t sure if he was meant to protest that. He wanted answers but he could see that maybe
Soonyoung shouldn’t be spilling them.

In fact, shouldn’t he be threatening Jihoon to keep quiet or else? Or something dramatic like that. It
seemed like this situation probably called for it. He wondered what Soonyoung would do if Jihoon
took his phone and called for help right now.

Granted, they would probably think he was having a psychotic break rather than believe the truth if
he told them that he was trapped in a cabin with a man who could also be a tiger.

“Did those men know that you’re… not just a tiger?” Jihoon asked, looking over at Soonyoung and
how he was practically hiding in the blanket, except for the injured ankle. It was likely one of those
questions he shouldn’t be answering but that wasn’t Jihoon’s responsibility.

Soonyoung trembled. Visibly. It moved through his whole body. “Yeah.”

It was against all logic but in that moment, Jihoon wanted to run out of the door and chase down
those men. He wanted to shout at them for daring to do this to a person. Well, mostly a person. He
might be a little odd but he was clearly in possession of intelligent thought that similarly resembled
humans. They’d come charging with the guns, probably set the trap that had mangled his paw,
foot, whatever.

They should probably do something about that. He wasn’t in any condition to leave right now.
Jihoon couldn’t just kick him out, even if that would have been simpler. He wasn’t responsible for
him but he still felt like he was. It was a weird thing.

“We should get that cleaned up,” Jihoon said, nodding towards Soonyoung’s ankle. He pushed
himself off the corner of the sofa and went over to the desk again. He still made sure not to turn his
back, even if Soonyoung looked like he couldn’t hurt a fly with how he was sat tangled up in the
blanket and shivering.

Jihoon found the first aid kid in the bottom drawer just like it had said on the lease contract. He
opened it and he was happy to see both antiseptic wipes and bandages. He wasn’t sure if he could
do much more to help the wound but it should at least be cleaned up and wrapped. If it required
more medical attention, maybe he could help Soonyoung halfway down the mountain and drive
him to the hospital.

“You’re actually going to help me?” Soonyoung asked when Jihoon turned around with the kit in
his hands. He sounded like he couldn’t believe it.

“What? Am I meant to let you stay like that?” he asked, probably grumbling more than was
necessary but he didn’t want Soonyoung to make any assumptions about him doing this out of the
goodness of his heart, even if that was what was happening. “You’re dripping blood on the floor.
You’ll make me lose my deposit.”

It was a vague excuse and one that could probably easily be seen through but at least Jihoon had
tried.

This might be one of his most stupid ideas to date. He shouldn’t get more involved in all of this.
He was already dragged into the dirt. It wasn’t the time for getting his hands dirtied up with blood
as well.

But Jihoon had never been able to look at someone needing help and just walk away. He knew he
should stay on guard to do his best to protect himself from Soonyoung. He was probably
dangerous. Jihoon didn’t have any clue how it worked to change from tiger to human form or the
other way around but he knew for sure that he could easily kill him as a tiger. He might even be
able to do the same as he was now.

It didn’t feel very likely with the way he was curling in on himself under the blanket, seeming
small and vulnerable. It made Jihoon feel like he was the one in charge and the one capable of
exerting harm.

“Can you get to your feet?” Jihoon asked. The first aid kit was lacking to treat any serious injuries
but he hoped the bloody wound on Soonyoung’s ankle looked worse than it really was. At the very
least he could clean it up and put a bandage on to keep it clean.

He had a feeling that going to see a doctor might not be a welcome suggestion.

“I can,” Soonyoung said, and he sounded very confused and unsure about the whole thing. Jihoon
wasn’t sure if that was about standing up or the whole situation in general. He pushed himself up
against the door, rising to stand, even though he didn’t put any pressure on his bad foot.

He hovered it over the floor. Jihoon had been joking about getting the deposit back but Soonyoung
was indeed dripping blood onto the wooden floor below him. Slow drops were trailing down to his
heel before slipping free.

“Can you get on the sofa?” Jihoon asked now, still keeping a safe distance.

Soonyoung nodded, a grimace taking up his face as he hopped in that direction on his good foot. It
looked painful and Jihoon contemplated offering his help but… he wasn’t sure how he could deal
with an injured mostly-naked tiger man being that close to him. Thankfully, Soonyoung did hold
onto the blanket, bringing it with him as he moved.

A few more pathetic hops and he was finally by the sofa and let himself sink into it cautiously. His
injured leg hovered weirdly in the air. It couldn’t be comfortable holding it like that. Jihoon backed
away carefully, not turning his back to Soonyoung, until he reached the door to the bathroom and
he was able to reach his hand in and pull the hand towel hanging by the sink.

Soonyoung watched him, eyes closely following his every move. The sofa was a rather deep one,
the kind you’d sink into and be unable to get up from quickly. It was ridiculously easy to get
comfortable in it. Soonyoung didn’t look comfortable, he looked on edge, barely leaning into the
plush fabric as he watched Jihoon.

It made Jihoon’s skin prickle. He once again thought that he should call someone. He should leave
this up to someone else.

He didn’t reach for his phone. The two of them were alone here, and help was a decent hike away.
If Jihoon didn’t help, Soonyoung wouldn’t get help. It was as simple as that.

“Stop staring,” Jihoon snapped as he walked back over, nudging the coffee table closer and
spreading out the small towel on top of it.

“Sorry,” Soonyoung said, lowering his gaze for the first time since he’d gotten to his feet.

“Here. Rest your heel on this,” Jihoon instructed, waving at the towel. He reached behind him for
the first aid kid that he’d dropped on the chair. It would be uncomfortable to do this standing, with
how low the table was. It would be better to crouch down or get on his knees. Of course, that
would also render him almost unable to dash away in a quick fashion if he should need it.

Soonyoung’s heel was gently lowered onto the towel and he lifted his eyes towards Jihoon again.
Not a stare this time, but his eyes did linger. Jihoon didn’t like it one bit.

“Cleaning up the wound might hurt…” Jihoon warned, pulling out the antiseptic wipes.

“What? You scared I’ll lash out at you?” Soonyoung asked, his voice light, almost floaty, but there
was a tightness in his face that accompanied the words.

Jihoon stopped. Just paused. He was frozen for a second as he tried to wrap his head around what
that meant. Was he teasing? Was it meant to be a taunt? A threat?

“Fuck, sorry,” Soonyoung said, eyes widening. He sounded genuinely apologetic. “I was joking.
Or well, not really. I kind of have… sensitive reactions to stuff like pain, but I won’t- I mean, I
wouldn’t, like, hurt you. On purpose, I mean.”

Jihoon made himself take a deep breath and unlocked his joint where they’d tensed and frozen.

“You’re not being very reassuring,” he said honestly. He didn’t move closer.

Soonyoung ducked his head again. “Sorry. I’m not used this,” he added in a small voice.

“What do you mean?”

“Eh, people finding out and not immediately running screaming for the hills or calling the police or
trying to hurt m… eh, yeah,” Soonyoung said but cut himself off with a purposeful cough.

It was kind of nice to know that Jihoon’s instinctive reaction had been the expected one. He wasn’t
sure what it said about him that he was making himself behave rationally and keep calm.
Soonyoung clearly found it strange.

Well, he found Soonyoung strange so they were on equal footing there.

“I’d feel better if you, like, sat on your hands or something,” Jihoon said, carefully crouching
down, still a little too far away to actually reach him.

“Sure,” Soonyoung said easily, moving to sit on them with a little trouble. It meant he let go of the
corner of the blanket and it slid down a little. It was still wrapped around his body and his stomach,
ass and thighs were still covered but more of his chest got exposed. Jihoon was again reminded that
he was fit, not that he needed the reminder.

Jihoon scooted a little closer and started to wipe down the deep gash on his ankle. Soonyoung’s leg
jerked a little. He reached out to grab it without thinking. He’d closed his hand around
Soonyoung’s calf before he had even been able to question it. The muscle under Jihoon’s palm was
hard, tensed to max and he could practically feel the power there would be behind a jump done
with these legs.

It took him entirely too long to let go. “Sorry,” he muttered, looking down at the calf and then at
his hand. He barely dared to breathe, and he definitely wasn’t going to look in Soonyoung’s
direction.

“It’s fine,” Soonyoung said after a couple of seconds of tense silence. “Don’t worry.”

He sounded genuine but he also sounded like he was on edge in general. Jihoon decided that they
should hurry this up and get it over with as fast as possible.

He wiped over the wound again with a clean wipe and this time Soonyoung tensed but he didn’t
move. Now that the blood was gone, Jihoon was surprised to see that the wound didn’t look as
deep as he’d feared. He’d thought that perhaps the trap had cut all the way down to the bone but
miraculously it looked like that wasn’t the case. Or maybe it was already healing, quicker and
more efficiently than it would on a human. Jihoon didn’t ask. He was pretty sure he wasn’t going
to get an answer.

And even if he did, he wasn’t sure how he’d feel about that information.

“It’s not too bad,” he found himself saying, wanting to comfort Soonyoung, even though it wasn’t
his place. “I think if we bandage it up and leave it to heal, it might be fine? I mean, you should go
to the hospital obviously bu-”

“No hospitals,” Soonyoung said, quickly and then he was trying to draw his leg back towards his
body, away from Jihoon. He grabbed onto his calf on purpose this time and once again Soonyoung
stilled under the touch.

“If you’re let me finish,” he said, proud that his voice didn’t tremble when those intense eyes
landed on him, “but I am guessing that’s not an option for you, so this will have to do.”

Jihoon picked up the rolled-up bandage from the first aid kit and set to work. He’d sprained his
ankle last winter, embarrassingly slipping on ice and he’d watched closely how it had been
bandaged up by the nurse at the emergency room that Seungcheol had insisted to take him to. This
was a different kind of need for a bandage but he still tried to use some of what he’d learned.

He had to shuffle a little closer, more into Soonyoung’s personal space and it felt odd. He could
feel those eyes on him again, staring too intensely. He wanted to call it out but he had a feeling it
would just make things more awkward like it did before. He focused on his hands, moving
Soonyoung’s foot and keeping his eyes on task.

He hated that he could smell a sort of earthy musk sitting this close to Soonyoung. It should be
unappealing, but he just smelled nice. Manly. Attractive. Jihoon hadn’t been around a naked man
for a little too long. He was blaming it entirely on that and not on Soonyoung.

Satisfied with his work, he sat back and smiled proudly. The ankle was wrapped well, more times
over the wound, but also around the foot to secure it and give support. He didn’t think that
Soonyoung would be running on it anytime soon, at least not if he had normal human healing, but
maybe it would allow him to move a little easier. Hopefully, it would be enough for him to climb
down the damn mountain and get out of Jihoon’s hair.

“Thank you,” Soonyoung said, in a small voice, reaching down to carefully graze his fingertips
over the edge of the bandage.

Jihoon just hummed. He wasn’t sure he should be thanked, in any case it felt weird. Who would
see someone bleeding in front of them and not try to help?

“A lot of people wouldn’t have helped,” Soonyoung answered and Jihoon realised he must have
said that out loud. He flinched and then got to his feet and tried to pretend he hadn’t heard it.

“I mean that,” Soonyoung repeated, not letting it go and let Jihoon pretend that he hadn’t heard
him.

Jihoon just walked over to the desk, resting against it and crossing his arms as he watched the boy
on his rented sofa. He was not really a boy. If Jihoon had to place him based on his appearance,
he’d say they were probably around the same age. But then again, he couldn’t know if whatever
creature he was aged differently.

He had a whole lot of questions about how it all worked, always curious after knowledge but he
wasn’t sure he should go down this road. The less he knew, the better. It meant that Soonyoung
didn’t have an incentive to come back and haunt him down when he was back in fighting shape.
Jihoon could still remember the way a chill had run down his spine in fear when he’d first spotted
the tiger.

“You’re welcome, or whatever, then,” Jihoon said eventually, when Soonyoung just kept looking
at him with those big pleading eyes.

“So, what happens now?” Soonyoung asked.

Jihoon was surprised. Wasn’t he the one who would have experience with this stuff? Jihoon was
lost to it for sure.

“Shouldn’t you know?” he asked.

Soonyoung smiled, sadly, and looked down at his hands that he was rubbing together anxiously.
“Maybe, but like I said, I’ve never had anyone react like this. I can’t figure out what you’re going
to do next.”

Jihoon was baffled that Soonyoung was speaking as if Jihoon was the one who was holding all of
the cards, like he was the one with the power. He didn’t feel like that. He felt like it was reversed
and that he was just trying to navigate having a too powerful being stuck in his home.

“You go…?” Jihoon asked, hating how his voice came out so unsure.

“You’re kicking me out?” Soonyoung asked, once again with those eyes that were more puppy
than tiger.

“Technically, I never invited you in. You stalked me here,” Jihoon pointed out, wagging a finger in
his direction.

“Ah, yeah,” Soonyoung admitted and he sounded kind of embarrassed about it. “In my defence, I’d
have been done for if those people had found me. It isn’t like there were a lot of other places to
hide and you were… nice. You were nice.”

“I was nice?” Jihoon asked, not believing it even though Soonyoung said it twice.

“You were nice,” Soonyoung repeated for a third time. “You set me free, remember?”

“I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget,” Jihoon responded and it was the truth. It was such a
bizarre experience. It was burned into his brain forever whether he wanted it or not.

“Me neither,” Soonyoung said in a quiet voice, barely louder than a whisper. Jihoon wasn’t sure if
he was meant to overhear or not. Where Jihoon said it in disbelief, Soonyoung said it in awe.

“What would you have done if I’d told the guys who came to the door?” Jihoon asked, suddenly
wondering how close he’d come to death. It was one thing that Soonyoung wouldn’t attack after
he’d just set him free. He could understand that. But he’d almost been found anyway, if Jihoon
hadn’t lied to those people.

He hadn’t exactly wanted to hand over the tiger to someone who might cause it harm but he had
been scared of being on his own with the tiger. With Soonyoung. It still felt weird, making his
brain connect the two beings.

“What do you mean? I would have been caught?” Soonyoung said and his body went all tense like
he thought that Jihoon could just summon those guys back to his front door with a single thought.

“No, that’s not what I mean,” Jihoon said, even though Soonyoung was technically correct. “I
mean, what would you have done to me?”

“I am still not following?” Soonyoung said and Jihoon wanted to shake him. He wouldn’t because
despite bringing up this topic to begin with, he did value his life.

“You were a tiger; I was right there. Would you have swiped for me? Leapt at me? Teeth on my
throat kind of deal?” Jihoon asked, words coming out harsh. He felt tired. Drained.

Soonyoung paled. His hands went to smoothing out the blanket still around him, even though it had
no creases.

“No, I wouldn’t… if you’d told them I was there, I’d have tried to run. Maybe jump through a
window and take my chances, even if I knew they were almost zero.”

He could be lying and lulling Jihoon into a false sense of security, but there was something about
the earnest look in his eye that made him want to believe him. He was probably right that his
chances of escape would have been poor with an injured leg and several people with guns on his
tail.

Would they have shot to kill him? Or to hurt and capture him? Based on the bear trap, Jihoon
would have thought that it would be the latter, which was almost more terrifying. If they had
known he was a shapeshifter of some kind, he was even more valuable. Jihoon hadn’t known such
a person could exist but it was unusual, rare and bizarre. Lots of rich freaks would probably pay
good money for something like that, not caring that they were enslaving a person.

Jihoon opened his mouth to say that he was glad he hadn’t revealed him to the hunters, but he was
interrupted when his phone buzzed in his pocket. It was Seungcheol.

Shit. He’d promised to update him and he hadn’t.

“Hi hyung, please tell me you’re not on a train,” Jihoon said.

“Not yet but minutes away from booking a ticket. Why did you not call back?” Seungcheol said,
sounding mildly annoyed but mostly relieved.

It made sense. Jihoon knew he’d sounded frightened when he’d made the call and then he’d just
gone radio silent. Soonyoung sat up on the sofa looking at him intensely but not saying anything.
Jihoon walked over to his desk and jumped up to sit on top of it, back against the wall and keeping
his front towards Soonyoung.

“I got distracted by song writing,” Jihoon said, which wasn’t a lie.

“Oh? The encounter brought you inspiration?” Seungcheol asked and he sounded please. “A song
for yourself this time, yes?”

“Yes,” Jihoon confirmed, looking down at the notebook filled with lyrics. The barebones for a
whole song was there already. He’d just record and then he had a demo. He loved when writing
felt that easy.
“And the tiger situation?” Seungcheol asked. “Did you get a hold of the owner of the cabin and got
it sorted?”

Soonyoung must have a superior hearing because he snapped his head in Jihoon’s direction and
then those pleading eyes were back again. It was frightening how they were effective both in tiger
and human form.

“The situation is… handled,” he settled on, not saying anything about the owner. He didn’t want to
lie to his hyung but he wasn’t sure he could explain outright exactly what had been going on.

“So, it was really a tiger? Must have escaped from somewhere.”

“I’m not sure,” Jihoon said vaguely. “But it’s under control and I’m fine.”

“Good,” Seungcheol said and let out a deep sigh. “Next time don’t let me stew for so long, you
hear? Now I’ll let you get back to your song.”

“Thanks, hyung.”

They hung up and Jihoon felt how Soonyoung was staring at him again. It felt far too intimate.

“Stop staring,” he grumbled and Soonyoung flinched and lowered his eyes like he hadn’t even
realised he was doing it.

“Your hyung?” he asked, nodding towards the phone still in Jihoon’s hand. “Same one you called
out by the trap?”

“Yeah,” Jihoon confirmed. “He was worried I wasn’t okay, which I’m not, but I can’t have him
coming here.”

Soonyoung frowned. “You’re not okay? How?”

He sounded so genuinely baffled that it startled a barking laugh out of Jihoon in disbelief.

“Because of you, Kwon Soonyoung,” he said but he felt a little harsh saying it.

“Oh,” Soonyoung said and deflated, practically melting back into the sofa. “Right. Sorry.”

It made no sense that a powerful tiger man could look so small and harmless. Jihoon was trying so
hard to keep his guard up but it was so impossibly difficult around Soonyoung. Instinctively, he
wanted to trust him but his brain was stopping him.

“What do you want to do?” Jihoon asked. “Do you have anywhere you can go?”

“Yeah,” Soonyoung confirmed, fiddling with his hands. “I live in Seoul with a couple of friends.
But I’m not sure I’ll be able to walk well for a bit. And the hunters won’t just leave… They know
I’m here. I don’t think they’ll just give up.”

He said the last part with so much resentment and anger and Jihoon knew there was a story to it.
He wanted to ask but Soonyoung also looked so small and tired. He needed rest. He needed a place
to recuperate.

Jihoon should not be getting more involved. This was not his business. At all. He had done more
than enough already. He would be completely justified to kick him out.

And yet…
 “Do you want to stay while you heal?”

Soonyoung’s head snapped up and judging by the disbelief on his face, he definitely hadn’t
anticipated Jihoon asking anything like that.

“You mean it?” he asked, eyes entirely too wide in surprise.

It was the last chance. He could back out. Laugh it off as a joke. Turn away from this insane
situation.

“Just for a few days,” Jihoon said firmly.

Soonyoung tried to leap to his feet, joy practically radiating off of him, until he tried to put weight
on his foot and immediately crumbled with a pathetic yowl. Jihoon watched in bewilderment and
amusement.

He had a feeling he was going to regret this.

Chapter End Notes

Ahh, thank you so much for all the comments on the first chapter, I'm so happy to see
more of you excited about tiger!Hoshi. I love their dialogue back and forth here and
the tension. We haven't seen the last of it now that Soonyoung will stay with Jihoon
while his ankle gets better. Comments are very welcome, I won't have time to reply
until I'm done with my daily writing challenge PEDIA in August, but I read them all
and will reply in September.

Next update will be on the 17th of August.

 Transformation
Chapter Summary

Jihoon wasn't sure what to do about having a stranger in his space at first, but he found
an easy escape into making music. His creativity was exploding at the moment and he
was churning out song after song, while trying not to talk too much to Soonyoung. He
shouldn't get attached, it was dangerous.

Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

It didn’t take him long to start regretting it. It had been years since he’d lived with someone else
and he had never been much for sharing his space. When you added to the mix that he was still a
bit scared and on edge around Soonyoung, it was really a recipe for disaster.

The only good thing was the music. It felt like meeting Soonyoung had stirred something awake in
him and creating suddenly came easy. He could focus on himself, self-discovered as he felt himself
react to this strange presence that had come into his life unexpected.

Some of the songs were more abstract, like taking a chance on a bad gamble. Others were way too
specific, as the song dedicated to describing how Jihoon’s loose shirt hung across Soonyoung’s
shoulders. He wasn’t exactly proud of that one, and he had very pointedly not tried to record it, just
writing down lyrics and recording snippets of melody separately.

To his credit, Soonyoung did try to give him privacy but it was almost impossible in the small
cabin. He had taken up residence on the sofa and he was just constantly there. Jihoon had never
been more thankful for his noise cancelling headphones. He tried to set up clear boundaries with
Soonyoung and also to say as little as possible. He had decided that he wasn’t going to engage him
in more conversation than necessary. He might be burning with curiosity but it wasn’t his place to
ask any of the stuff popping into his head.

He didn’t want an angry tiger on his hands.

Jihoon had enough trouble falling asleep as it was. He kept lying awake, the noises of the forest
around them now the least disturbing factor. It wasn’t exactly that Soonyoung snored exactly but
he breathed loudly and deeply and it was constantly audible. Jihoon couldn’t escape the knowledge
that he wasn’t alone.

It reminded him of the short period that he’d been rooming with idol trainees because he was new
to Seoul and he hadn’t been able to find a place to live right away. It was a constant sound of
sharing a space with other people. He’d been glad to escape it.

He didn’t want to think about how for the first couple of months following getting his own room in
a shared apartment with Seungcheol, he found himself walking past Seungcheol’s open door just to
hear him sleeping. To know he wasn’t alone. Despite having hated that in the shared dorms.

Jihoon had since gotten his own place. He was now used to living on his own, never hearing
anyone breathing during the night. It had been fine. He had really gotten used to it. Soonyoung’s
heavy breaths were bringing both insomnia and memories.

Jihoon would go on walks just to get a bit of a break from Soonyoung but it did also help clear and
focus his head and it was easier to sit down and work at his desk once he returned. It had taken him
a bit to get used to sitting there, back exposed towards Soonyoung but it was becoming easier with
each passing hour. Jihoon was doing Soonyoung a favour, sheltering him and providing him with
food. He kept empathising how grateful he was for it, so Jihoon didn’t think he would suddenly get
attacked.

At least, he hoped not.

It was during their fifth dinner together, as usual just the sounds of them quietly eating that
Soonyoung suddenly put his fork down and stared at Jihoon.

“Are you not curious?” Soonyoung asked unprompted.

He could be talking about anything and everything. This wasn’t a pick up from a previous
conversation. Most of their words over the past few days had just been “here” and “thank you”.
Soonyoung had tried to ask questions now and again, seemingly trying to strike up a conversation,
and Jihoon would just give one-word answers. Soonyoung soon took the hint and dropped the idea.
Jihoon felt like he’d made it perfectly clear that he didn’t want to talk more to him.

He had never explained why, but mostly because he wasn’t sure how he felt about it himself. He
just knew that he was on high alert and trying to avoid dealing with this situation by diving into his
music. Hit pause on reality. It felt nice and productive and it had been what he had come to do after
all.

“About what?” Jihoon asked, acting clueless, but he was actually just playing dumb.

He was fairly certain that Soonyoung meant why Jihoon didn’t have more questions about him
being a shapeshifter or why people had been hunting him down. But learning anything about those
topics would just be trouble. Right now, they were stuck in a weird, awkward-polite limbo and just
waiting for Soonyoung’s injury to heal enough so that he could leave.

They had agreed to check on it tonight, perhaps that was why Soonyoung was trying to speak up
now. If his ankle looked alright, then he was leaving tomorrow.

“About me?” Soonyoung clarified, even if it was not much of a clarification at all.

“No,” Jihoon said, even though it was a blatant lie.

It was better like this. They shouldn’t get too close. It was a temporary situation. If only
Soonyoung would stop surprising him and confusing him.

“Well, I’m curious about you,” he said, making Jihoon’s eyebrows shoot up.

“Me?”

“Yes, you. What are you doing all the way out here in the woods? I see you working on music
relentlessly and it’s really freaking good – I haven’t been sure I should tell you since you flinched
the last time, I told you that the song was pretty.”

“I flinched because you had been a tiger last time, I looked at you and then you suddenly had a
voice. You were suddenly a person instead,” Jihoon said narrowing his eyes. He didn’t actually
take the best to compliments about his music made to his face. He never knew how to respond.
“Not because of the unsolicited compliment.”

“Oh, right,” Soonyoung said and smiled sheepish. He looked pleased with himself though, like it
was an accomplishment to engage Jihoon in conversation. Like he was hungry for more. “But you
work with music?”

It was not the first time Soonyoung had asked. He’d asked the same question on their first day
together but Jihoon had been annoyed and hardly slept through the night and he’d brushed him off.

“Yes,” he said, and he saw Soonyoung’s shoulder slump a little, clearly expecting another one-
word answer. Jihoon bit into his lower lips and contemplated how much he should say. “I’m a
producer at an entertainment company.”

Soonyoung visibly perked up, excitement in his eyes growing. It should not be so endearing but it
was.

“You make music for idols?” he asked, and Jihoon nodded. “Anything I’ll have heard?”

Probably, if Soonyoung ever listened to the radio. Despite his weird shapeshifting tiger nature, he
did seem to be a regular person, living just like anyone else. It made Jihoon question how many
secret shapeshifters he might pass doing down the street in Seoul. It was likely that they were rare,
or surely their existence would have been widely discovered before. There his brain went again,
increasing his curiosity when he wasn’t supposed to care.

“Maybe,” Jihoon said cryptically. “I don’t know your tastes.”

“Well, anything K-pop related, I keep up with. SHINee is my favourite artist but I like everyone. I
teach dance, and I run a class based on K-pop choreographies, so I’m always listening to the new
music to learn the dances.”

It was not what Jihoon had expected at all. Soonyoung danced. Taught dance in the same industry
that Jihoon worked in. It felt like it hit a little too close to home. His astonishment must have
shown on his face.

“What? Thought that I just run around as a tiger all the time? I told you that I’m mostly a person,”
Soonyoung said with a laugh but it wasn’t mocking, it was kind.

“Yeah, sorry, I don’t mean offence. It’s just strange… to think we might have passed each other
before and not knowing,” Jihoon said, too baffled to modify his speech.

“Not knowing I’m a tiger?” Soonyoung asked, and Jihoon nodded. “Yeah. That’s fair.”

He looked like he had more to say, like he was practically bursting with it but it was clear that he
wanted Jihoon to ask. They were playing ball and Soonyoung just kept handing him the ball to
serve. It was thoughtful and kind of nice to keep making sure the ball was in his court. It gave
Jihoon a feeling of control, whether it was real or not.

He had resisted the urge for three days but now he caved.

“How does it work? The shapeshifting or whatever it is?”

Soonyoung shot him the brightest smile and he almost looked like he was ready to vibrate out of
excitement.

“So, it’s not really shapeshifting. Like none of the forms are my ‘true’ form or whatever. My
person and my tiger parts exist within me in harmony. They have done ever since I was born. My
parents had a rather hard time with me. We had to move out into the country, so no one would find
out when I randomly switched between being a kid and being a tiger cub.”

Jihoon tried to imagine a little tiger cub running wild in a day care all of a sudden. It would surely
have been chaos.

“It sounds like your parents had their hands full with you,” Jihoon said.

“For sure, but my mum is a panther, so she was prepared,” Soonyoung said.

“You’re all big cats?”

“Yep, it’s an ancient linage or something, though the type of cat varies. We’ve had someone as
small as a lynx. The tiger is the biggest though, it’s supposed to bring good fortune,” Soonyoung
said, and then got a bit of a sad smile. “Not sure that part is true. It’s been hard. No matter how
hard we try, the secret tends to spill here and there. It’s my fault the hunters knew to find me here.
I’ve come to run around this mountain for years just to stretch my limbs and live in my tiger form
for a couple of days. I’ve become predictable. It made me easy to find.”

He sounded like he was beating himself up and Jihoon couldn’t help reach across the table and
give his hand a squeeze. Soonyoung’s eyes widened and looked down at Jihoon’s hand on top of
his. Jihoon made to pull it back but Soonyoung had quick reflexes and he caught Jihoon’s wrist
before he could retreat. When he realised that he’d grabbed him, he immediately let go.

“Sorry,” he said, lowering his eyes.

“No, it’s alright. I touched you first, I should have asked,” Jihoon said, not sure what had come
over him. He wasn’t really the best with reassuring physical touch and yet he’d just done it on
impulse.

“No, no! It’s okay. You were trying to reassure me, I appreciate it,” Soonyoung said and his smile
was warm and reassuring. It made Jihoon feel slightly embarrassed but also flushed.

“So, the hunters staked you out?” he asked with an awkward cough, trying to redirect the
conversation. “But they don’t know your name, right? Or where you live in Seoul?”

He imagined the men with gun showing up with guns at Soonyoung’s apartment in Seoul,
knocking on his door and levelling him with a gun and pressuring him to come along. Or maybe
they’d just shoot him.

“They don’t know, I’m pretty sure,” he said. “But they want to capture me, so it’s of utmost
importance that they don’t know my human identity. I don’t think they’d be above human
kidnapping. They’d probably find it easier than when I’m a tiger.”

“You are rather scary,” Jihoon said, taking another bite of his food after he’d pushed it around his
plate for minutes while lost in the conversation.

“Me? I’m scary? Really?” Soonyoung asked and he perked up like Jihoon just have given him the
biggest compliment. “You think so?”

Jihoon raised an eyebrow. “Why are you so happy about that?”

“Well, being scary has power. Making people cautious. Gives me more time to fight or run away.
Being scary is good.”
“So, you do want me to be afraid of you then?”

“What? No, of course not. You don’t count. Wait, did you mean I’m scary to you? But! I thought
we were passed that. You let me stay here and rest? Wait, did you do that because you’re scared of
me?” Soonyoung asked, his face painted with guilt. “That’s no good, I’m sorry, I’ll-”

Soonyoung was already getting up from his chair and trying to back away. He looked a little
unsteady on his feet and flinched when he put pressure on his bad ankle. Jihoon stood up as well,
shaking his head.

He wasn’t sure how to tell to Soonyoung that he was wrong. Him being a huge tiger was scary
objectively, Jihoon would keep insisting. However, it was kind of difficult to be scared of
Soonyoung when he’d seen him sleeping all curled up adorably on the sofa.

“I’m not,” Jihoon said. “I’m much tougher than you.”

The caution and worry were wiped from Soonyoung’s face instantly and he broke into a smile
instead. “Oh, do you think that you could take me?” he asked, tone suddenly flirty and before
Jihoon had properly blinked, he was getting backed up.

Soonyoung walked up to him, predatory gaze in his eyes and Jihoon wasn’t really a man to back
down but his feet moved without his permission. It was because of the tiger thing, he told himself.
It wasn’t because of the attractive man with a mischievous look in his eyes.

Jihoon’s back hit the wall. Soonyoung moved in closer, leaning one hand slowly against the wall
and leaning in. He might be crowding him in but he was still making his moves slow and careful.
He was giving Jihoon time to reject him or pull away. Jihoon should be doing that. He shouldn’t let
himself be corned in like some maiden in a kdrama.

He hated being reminded that he was short but he found that it was a rather hot to be made to look
up at Soonyoung and the wicked grin on his face.

“Scared now?” Soonyoung whispered and Jihoon didn’t miss the way that his eyes darted down to
Jihoon’s parted lips.

Jihoon swallowed. He couldn’t say that he hadn’t thought about Soonyoung the last few days as
they had peacefully cohabitated. He’d tried to keep his distance and not get involved but he was a
good-looking guy and he seemed interesting and kind. He had Jihoon curious, and not only about
his whole tiger bit.

Frankly, he found that he was more curious about the man underneath.

Maybe Soonyoung knew that too. Jihoon mostly wore his headphones when he played back the
music, he’d been writing but he did also have to record it, which meant singing into his
microphone. Jihoon wondered how much he might have laid bare in terms of his interest that
Soonyoung could have overheard.

“I told you,” Jihoon said, tilting his head back and looking up at Soonyoung. “You don’t scare me,
big boy.”

Soonyoung looked absolutely delighted and he seemed like he was just a second away from
leaning down and closing the distance between them. In those few seconds, Jihoon felt like he
could already see how all of this would play out. They’d kiss. They’d get lost in the taste of each
other. They’d fall into bed. It would be hot and sexy.
It would also be empty. Jihoon was no stranger to lust but it knew it was a bad idea to give into
this. They’d sleep together and then Soonyoung would go on his merry way out of Jihoon’s life. It
was usually how he preferred his one night stands to go, but there was also a reason he didn’t seek
out stuff like that very often.

He was a romantic at heart, even though you’d never get him to admit it. Only in his lyrics would
you be able to find his heart. And he knew this pull, this curiosity and this attraction to Soonyoung
had the potential to bloom into something else if he let it. Sleeping together was a dumb idea.

Jihoon put a hand on Soonyoung’s chest and he stilled under the touch immediately, stopped
leaning in further. Jihoon lowered his eyes, even as he could feel Soonyoung staring at him.

“We should, eh, check how healed your ankle is,” he said, which was a lame excuse. But he
needed Soonyoung to go away. A shapeshifting dance teacher? No, he would not put himself
through that. They were fleeting acquaintances, meeting by chance and soon they’d never see each
other again.

His heart needed to get on board.

“Right,” Soonyoung said, smiling but he looked disappointed. “I didn’t mean to pressure you or
anything, I’m so-”

“You apologise too much,” Jihoon said, easily ducking under Soonyoung’s arm. “I already told
you. You don’t scare me.”

The world felt like a lie at the tip of his tongue. He wasn’t really scared that Soonyoung would hurt
him by sinking his teeth or his claws into him. He was a little scared of the emotions that he stirred
up within Jihoon’s chest without permission. The domestic little bubble had been nice, working on
music and eating together. Existing side by side.

However, it was time to burst the bubble before it grew too big and exploded around them.

“Sit on the couch,” Jihoon said, pointed at it before he turned his back to get the first aid kit. He
froze when he picked it up.

He was turning his back now. Without even thinking about it. When had that started happening?
Today? Yesterday? Was this the first time? He had no idea. It wasn’t fair that Soonyoung seemed
to have weaselled his way under Jihoon’s skin so quickly.

He pushed away the thought and went to sit next to Soonyoung. They propped his ankle up on the
coffee table and Jihoon carefully unwound the bandage to assess how it was healing. Soonyoung
kicked up a fuss, claiming that it hurt when he pulled off the last layer of bandage.

The blood had dried and the deep cuts were definitely in the process of healing but one part on the
inside of his ankle was still bleeding a little as the bandage had been removed. It still looked
painful and raw and Jihoon wondered why Soonyoung hadn’t even asked for pain killers.

“I should have offered you pain killers,” Jihoon muttered under his breath.

He’d forgotten that he was sat right next to a guy with exceptional hearing.

“I’m fine,” Soonyoung said in the softest voice. “You’ve done more than enough for me. Really.”

“Still,” Jihoon said, still a little annoyed with himself, as he reached for the rubbing alcohol to
clean the wound. He’d been too in his head to actually warn Soonyoung and he paid for that dearly
as soon as he set the wipe down on the open wound.

Soonyoung let out a scream that turned into a howl and Jihoon watched in horror, feeling like time
had slowed down as he saw the shift before his own eyes. Soonyoung’s limbs extended and
changed, orange and black fur sprung from his skin, his face morphed and the sound of something
snapping and tearing filled the room.

Jihoon stumbled back, falling on his tailbone but other than that, he seemed out of reach from the
now-growling tiger. The same could not be said for the couch. The tearing had been Soonyoung’s
claws ripping right though the upholstery and the snapping sound had been the legs of the couch
giving up under the new added weight.

Soonyoung seemed just as confused, the hurt hind leg pulled up high and hidden under his belly as
he looked down at Jihoon with wide eyes. He stopped growling. It was impossible not to see
Soonyoung in the tiger’s eyes now and Jihoon couldn’t believe that he hadn’t worked out that it
was a human as a tiger when they’d first met. He was so expressive.

He shook his whole body, making the couch break further and then froze like he hadn’t meant to
do that. He looked almost sheepish, which wasn’t an expression that Jihoon had ever expected to
see on a tiger.

Soonyoung was so much bigger than Jihoon remembered or maybe it was because he was still so
close to him, sat on the floor right next to the collapsed couch. The shaking had managed to
remove the last tatters of Jihoon’s clothes that had been burst right open during the transformation.
He tried to step out of them carefully and then carefully itched closer to Jihoon.

Jihoon was sitting frozen in place. Every instinct in his body was screaming at him to back away.
A big dangerous predator was right in front of his face. He should be fleeing, but he made himself
stay still. This wasn’t a wild tiger. It was still Soonyoung and he seemed to be conscious and
himself even in this form.

Soonyoung pushed his ears back and down and he looked slightly pitiful. Even so, he was still
beautiful. Jihoon hadn’t realised that he was extending his hand until he almost touched
Soonyoung’s head.

Soonyoung’s eyes flickered to the outstretched hand and then proceeded to headbutt it like he was
a small kitten rather than an adult tiger. He was soft. Jihoon wasn’t sure why he had thought that
his fur would be coarse but it wasn’t. It was too tempting not to dig his fingers in just slightly. He
was petting Soonyoung now. This was so bizarre and Jihoon’s heart still felt like it was going a
mile a minute but he was fascinated. He was captivated.

A loud rumble emitted from Soonyoung’s chest and Jihoon’s hand froze readying to retreat as he
thought Soonyoung was growling but then he recognised it for what it really was. He was purring.
Soonyoung was being petted and he was purring.

“You’re ridiculous,” Jihoon said with a breath of disbelief and resumed his strokes.

Soonyoung lifted his head a little and he looked so smug. He moved his front paws onto the floor
and then headbutted Jihoon’s stomach. Big strong dangerous teeth so close to his internal organs
and yet Jihoon felt like he melted.

Soonyoung was trying to apologise, he realised. It was working surprisingly well.

He stayed as a tiger for about ten more minutes and he let Jihoon’s hands wander over his back and
chest, even his ears though that made him shake them. Jihoon had always hated the idea that
tourists could come meet wild animals sedated to pet them and take photos. It had been distasteful,
even more when it was done with baby animals. However, he could understand the fascination. It
was rather incredible.

Jihoon fetched Soonyoung a blanket when he looked about ready to change back, and then he
watched, with a much calmer heart this time, how Soonyoung’s body twisted and became smaller
and hairless again.

“You’re looking at me funny,” Soonyoung said, voice a little worried as he wrapped the blanket
tightly around himself.

“You are quite the marvel, Soonyoung,” Jihoon said. “Thank you for allowing me to see, even if
you gave me a big fright.”

“I didn’t expect it to hurt so much and I haven’t been able to shift since that day we met, not hiding
away inside of the cabin. It makes it easier for random stuff to trigger it. I’m sorry, I should have
warned you.”

“It’s fine,” Jihoon said and then looked at the couch. “Or well, I’m never getting my rent deposit
back, but rather the couch than me.”

“I didn’t get you, right?” Soonyoung asked, full of worry.

Jihoon shook his head. “No, you didn’t get me. And you think you can handle me looking at your
ankle again?”

“Yeah, for sure, I’ll be good!” Soonyoung promised, all excitedly.

It was doing funny things to Jihoon’s heart.

“Get dressed first,” he said throwing another pair of sweats and a T-shirt towards him. He caught it
mid-air because of course he did. Jihoon was rather quickly running out of clothes. He had only
packed for himself, after all.

Looking at the wound, they decided that Soonyoung would spend one more day letting it get rest
before he would head down the mountain. Of course, it did cause one problem. The couch was on
the floor, cracked and torn up but Soonyoung still instead that he could sleep on it with just a
blanket. Jihoon was sceptical that was the case but he didn’t protest.

It wasn’t like they had many other options. There was only really one other option and Jihoon
wasn’t sure that would be a good one.

He changed his mind that same night when he couldn’t get any sleep from Soonyoung being so
restless. He kept twisting and turning, clearly trying to make his movements as quiet as possible
but that also made them slower and everything was stretched out. Jihoon could hear it all. He
hadn’t been able to fall asleep.

After more than half an hour of listening to it, he sat up in bed with a sigh.

Soonyoung carefully peeked out from under his cover and shot Jihoon’s an apologetic smile. “I’m
s-”

“Nope,” Jihoon said. “I don’t want to hear it. I want sleep and you should get rest. Just come here.
It’s a double bed, we’ll be fine.”
He ignored how his ears felt like they were turning red. It was fine. He’d shared beds with people
before. Seungcheol most of all and they’d never been involved. Platonic bed sharing should be
celebrated more. It was important.

Sharing a bed with someone you were attracted too didn’t feel very platonic but Jihoon was going
to firmly ignore that. As long as he didn’t acknowledge it, it was like it didn’t exist.

It took a bit for Soonyoung to get moving but eventually he left the wreck of a sofa behind and
walked over with his blanket wrapped around his form. He looked cautious and a little scared.
Jihoon rolled over, allowing him even more space, even though it meant Jihoon’s ass was almost
hanging off the edge. Soonyoung seemed to notice the big space and rather than take it as an
invitation, he let out a thoughtful hum.

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“Yes,” Jihoon said, lying to himself and to Soonyoung.

Soonyoung still didn’t move. “Would it be easier if I was a tiger?” he asked, completely throwing
Jihoon off his game. He’d not expected that offer.

It also didn’t make any sense. Soonyoung was bigger and heavier as a tiger and he’d take up even
more space. It might be a double bed but it wasn’t one of those gigantic ones that you could get in
America.

Jihoon hated turning vulnerable, so it was easier to be snippy.

“Why? Are you going to break the bed too?”

It was the wrong thing to say. It was late, dark outside, so he could only see Soonyoung’s face a
little but it still fell at the words before he plastered on a smile. Jihoon wanted to curl up into a ball
and hide under the covers, but he knew that would only worsen the situation right now.

It took a couple more moments before Soonyoung carefully climbed into bed, cautious to stay on
his side. He got comfortable under his blanket. The open space between them, how they were both
clinging to the edge did something funny to Jihoon’s heart. He wasn’t sure how to describe it.

At least not in simple words. Maybe if he got out his keyboard or his lyrics notebook.

“Why did you want to be a tiger instead?” Jihoon found himself asking into the air between them.
He kept being so curious about Soonyoung. Not just all his weird shapeshifting tiger stuff but his
habits and his personality too. Jihoon would catch bits and pieces of habits when he was taking
breaks between making music. Soonyoung always seemed to find a way to busy himself. It was
fascinating.

“Oh,” Soonyoung said, softly, “well, you seemed more comfortable with me as a tiger is all. I
didn’t think about the size and weight thing. I forget about that a lot. I never feel big or heavy, I’m
just me.”

Jihoon let out a hum to show he was listening but also because he wasn’t sure how to reply. Had he
been more comfortable with Soonyoung as a tiger? That seemed stupid. He was far more
dangerous in that form.

Physically dangerous, Jihoon’s brain reminded him. But Soonyoung in human form activated
Jihoon’s fear of intimacy and being vulnerable. When he was like that, Jihoon could see himself
falling into those eyes and be unable to get out again.
“I’m not uncomfortable with you,” Jihoon said. “It’s nothing to do with you. It’s just me. I’ve
got…”

He wasn’t about to spill his guts to Soonyoung just because it was late and they were sharing a
bed, was he? What kind of teenage sleepover did he think he was having? He’d never even
attended sleepovers as a kid and the adult sleepovers he occasionally participated in now didn’t
leave a lot of time for talking. Mouths were usually otherwise occupied.

Great, now he was once more thinking about what could have happened if he’d let Soonyoung lean
the rest of the way in and kiss him. It wasn’t fair that Jihoon was the only one having to behave
like a responsible adult.

“You don’t have to tell me,” Soonyoung said, suddenly shifting and rolling over so he was facing
Jihoon, instead of the wall. “But, eh, I’ll listen if you need it.”

Jihoon rolled over on his back, not quite facing Soonyoung but closer than before.

He let out a huff of frustration. “You shouldn’t have to listen to me.”

“Well, isn’t that my choice? It doesn’t matter what you think I should or shouldn’t do for you. It
matters what I want to. I’m very honest and forward. If I say something I mean it,” Soonyoung said
it, so confidently and easy and Jihoon wasn’t sure what to do with the lump that formed in his
throat.

“I’m a little lost,” Jihoon admitted, closing his eyes like hiding his vision would also hide him from
Soonyoung’s. “I’m a professional musician and producer and I’ve been doing it for years and yet…
the lingering feeling that one day I’ll run dry never fully leaves. It’s the same with the people in my
life. I can never truly believe that they won’t be gone one day. There is no guarantee of forever,
even when someone has the best intentions. My best friend, Seungcheol hyung, tells me that he’ll
never let me be alone but… he’ll get married. He’ll have a family of his own. He won’t have the
same time, even if he wants. The artists I write for and the colleagues I work with, we’re friendly
and they admire me. But it’s all temporary. None of it is made to last,” he added in a quiet voice.

It hurt to say the words out loud. It felt like something had latched onto his rib cage and pried it
open. He was bleeding now, barely breathing and yet it felt freeing.

“You’re right,” Soonyoung said, and it sounded like he shuffled a little closer. “Loss and rejection
hurt. Some of it hurts so bad it almost feels like it isn’t worth it to get attached or try. But… it is.
You never know what wonderful people could come into your life, if only you allow it to happen.”

“Yeah,” Jihoon answered but his voice was flat. Detached.

Soonyoung didn’t seem deterred.

“Your hyung, right? How long ago did you meet him?”

Jihoon didn’t know what Soonyoung meant by that but he tossed his mind back all the same. “It’s
been like eight years? Nine? I can’t remember.”

The bed moved and Jihoon opened his eyes. Soonyoung sat up in bed now, crossing his legs under
him and looking very excitedly at Jihoon.

“And how many hours have you spent with him since then? Hundreds? Thousands? Think of all
the amazing moments you’ve had together that would never have been possible if you hadn’t
become friends! No matter if in a month, in a year, in ten years that you start to drift apart, the joy
he had brought to your life and the he brings to your life right now can never be taken from you.
He might also never leave. Don’t forget that.”

Soonyoung’s eyes were sparkling. He seemed to adamant about convincing Jihoon that he was
right. It felt humbling to have so much energy directed at him and to have Soonyoung’s undivided
attention like that. He wasn’t to shrink back under it but it was like his body wasn’t allowing it.

Instead of shrivelling up, he found himself blooming under Soonyoung’s gaze.

“Won’t that just make the pain hurt more once he’s gone?” Jihoon asked. “All of these memories
tainted by a presence lost?”

He found himself sitting up as well. This whole conversation was stirring thoughts and activating
something in his brain. His hand itched to write, to compose. He was restless with creative energy,
ideas coming into his brain half-formed. He needed to catch them.

“You can’t move through life without being followed by memories. We all have memories, of
people, of experiences, of us self. The only fate worse would be having no memoires at all. Not
having lived.”

An idea shaped and changed and Jihoon leapt out of bed. Soonyoung looked a little alarmed, but
Jihoon waved him off with a hand. He was already opening his laptop and reaching for his
keyboard to plug it in.

“I’m good. Just… ideas. Music,” he said, not really making a lot of sense and he felt slightly bad
for bailing mid-conversation. He could do that with other people who knew him because they
knew he’d do this. He could never resist trying to grab an idea. But Soonyoung and him were still
new and he didn’t know Jihoon. “Sorry, I’m not bailing on this talk, I’m just-” he was starting to
explain and apologise when he froze.

Soonyoung was looking at him with understanding in his eyes. His lips were slightly pursed and he
looked pleased, even though Jihoon had just abruptly and rudely cut off their conversation.

“Inspiration, right? No worries. Go make something awesome,” Soonyoung said, voice full of
warmth and Jihoon’s hands paused where he’d been shifting the keyboard into its space.

It felt like Soonyoung saw right through him, even without Jihoon purposely having let him see.
Maybe he’d been watched too, in the short but brief moments like he’d done to Soonyoung. He’d
heard Jihoon write lyrics, sing and record them. He’d forgotten just how much he bared his heart
in them. He might not have spoken much to Soonyoung directly but he’d let him get very close all
the same.

But it turned out that it wasn’t a bad thing, like he always feared. Soonyoung had caught a glimpse
behind the curtain and instead of turning and running away, he was looking at Jihoon with soft
eyes and an understanding smile.

“Okay,” Jihoon said, feeling his voice feel dry.

He needed to focus, get back on the idea instead of being captivated by Soonyoung’s eyes.
Otherwise, he’d lose it. He didn’t want to lose it. It felt like he’d cracked open something
important.

“Good luck, remember to sleep once you’re done,” Soonyoung said with a fond little laugh and
then rolled over on his side, back facing Jihoon, as if to give him privacy. Jihoon put on his noise
cancelling headphones and hoped that he could get lost in his music, even with how his heart
 seemed set on beating out of his chest.

Chapter End Notes

Tiger!Hoshi makes another appearance. I love him and I had a lot of fun with this
chapter. I hope you liked it as well, I'd love to hear your thoughts. It's somehow
already the last chapter next week! Where has the time gone! I'm not done writing but
I'm hoping to get it ready in time, so that it can go up on Wednesday the 24th like
planned. See you then!
 Tell
Chapter Summary

Their time together in the cabin was coming to an end. Soonyoung's injury had healed
a lot and he had to get on. Neither of them would admit that they were hesitant to part
ways, but as they lingered they were suddenly ambushed. It was a good thing that they
got each other.

Chapter Notes

Warnings: Guns and gunshot injury, blood

Last chapter, let's goo! Also biggest one yet, almost 10k.

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Jihoon didn’t think that he’d actually be able to fall asleep in a bed with a stranger, but by the time
he crawled back into bed, he was so exhausted and empty that sleep came easy no matter the
companion. He’d poured himself out into the music, lyrics scribbled in a notebook, music recorded
only through listening in his headphones, whispers muttered under his breath.

Soonyoung took up a lot of space. As soon as he’d fallen asleep, he’d flopped onto his back and
just stayed there, snoring ever so slightly. On a whim, Jihoon had picked up his recorder and gone
to capture it. He hadn’t even realised he was doing it before he’d been standing above Soonyoung.
He wrote it off as natural musical curiosity, he was always listening out for interesting sounds. It
was only that.

He’d nudged Soonyoung to take up less space when he needed to sleep and done so without
remorse or worry. His eyelids had been heavy and he’d just wanted to rest them, to catch at least a
couple of hours. The day was already dawning outside and soon he’d have to be a functional
human again. It was always hard after a late-night session.

The following morning was no exception, at least at first. His internal clock woke him up, after
way too few hours of rest, and he was about to grumble about it and turn over to catch more
snoozes when he realised it. He was in someone’s embrace, back tugged against a warm chest and
arms circling his waist. Intimate.

Jihoon didn’t try to move at first. His brain might be groggy but he knew he’d gone to sleep in the
same bed as Soonyoung yesterday. But they hadn’t been cuddling, not at all. Jihoon had kicked
Soonyoung over to only take up half of the bed and then promptly fallen into a deep sleep.
Somehow, it didn’t surprise him that Soonyoung must be one of those people who could seek out
cuddles even in his sleep.

He always seemed so tactile, even if he often caught himself when reaching for Jihoon. His hand
would be moving and then stop and drop. He was trying to be considerate, but it was clear that he
didn’t have the same reservations while asleep. It was almost endearing, and still Jihoon should be
breaking up the touch.

He couldn’t get himself to do it. It felt nice to just be held. He hadn’t realised how much he missed
that. It was mostly his own fault, he kept rejecting people who wanted to get into his personal
sphere, and yet some part of him still craved to touch. Not just in passing but for it to linger and
spread warmth through his skin. He could allow himself to lie here and bask in it for just a couple
more minutes before he got up.

A stolen moment before they would have to pass ways.

If only Jihoon could stop his heart. It had started racing after he’d woken up and he wasn’t sure
how to slow it down again. He took a couple of deep breaths but it didn’t feel like they did
anything to help at all. It was ridiculous. He was lying still. He wasn’t doing anything that would
require his heart to go haywire.

Then Soonyoung let out a soft sound behind him and there was a nose at the nape of his neck,
moving up into his hair. The movement was slow, probably subconscious, but there was still
something so tender about it. It was too surreal to know that this man could somehow also
shapeshift into an actual tiger. He was just a guy.

And yet…

“Jihoon-ah?” Soonyoung muttered, and Jihoon couldn’t really tell if he was asking in his sleep or if
he was awake. He decided to remain silent. The arm around him tightened pulling Jihoon back into
Soonyoung’s warmth.

Without permission a content sigh left Jihoon’s lips.

“So, you are awake,” Soonyoung muttered, sounding both half asleep and smug.

Right. Time to abort this stupid indulgence. No more cuddles with the strange tiger man.

But when Jihoon tried to scramble away from the bed before embarrassment could bleed into his
cheeks, the arm around his waist tightened purposely. Soonyoung was strong. If he didn’t want to
let go, Jihoon wasn’t sure he could physically escape his grip. That should have been terrifying.

Jihoon didn’t care. And perhaps, he was trying very hard to ignore how this touch made him feel
comforted and secure, even if it didn’t make any sense.

“Soonyoung-ah,” he said, pointedly matching Soonyoung’s not agreed upon casual speech. “Let
me go before I kick you in the balls.”

Soonyoung huffed out a short laughed and loosened his grip but he still didn’t let go fully. He gave
Jihoon the opportunity to try and leave but he hadn’t pulled back properly. It was like he was
scared of letting go.

“Do you really want me to?”

“What do you mean?” Jihoon asked, calculating if he could just squeeze out of Soonyoung’s now
loose hold.

“I heard your songs. Ehm… just a no strings attached cuddle session is nice. We’re already here.
After today, you will never see me again, unless you want to. Even if it gets awkward, you can just
put it behind you without being reminded. And I know you haven’t slept enough. You’ve only
been in bed for a couple of hours.”
Jihoon should kick him in the shin. Elbow him in the stomach. Smack him in the face. Do
something.

What a ridiculous idea. To just… cuddle. With a stranger in a rented bed before they potentially
parted ways forever.

Even more ridiculous how much he wanted to accept that offer, even though his neck was
definitely red with embarrassment now. He’d forgotten that Soonyoung might have paid attention
to all of the songs that Jihoon had written over the last week. He had laid a lot bare in them, writing
for himself and he was used to working alone in his small studio where no prying ears could catch
anything.

He wasn’t aware that how he was feeling touch starved had been that apparent in them. He’d
danced around it with metaphors, never saying it directly but he knew the answer could be found in
the lyrics all the same. If you paid close attention, it was there.

“Just another hour,” Soonyoung offered, and then he let out a sound that could only be described as
a purr. Jihoon could feel it too, vibrating right into him where their bodies were still pressed
against each other. Soonyoung was purring like he was a big overgrown cat.

It should be weird and concerning, but somehow Jihoon was fighting against a smile instead.

“Are you purring?” Jihoon still felt compelled to ask, even though it seemed obvious.

“Yeah,” Soonyoung said and now it sounded like he was the embarrassed one. Jihoon wanted to
turn around and take in the expression on his face but he was scared of shattering the fragile
moment between them. “It’s supposed to help you relax. Do you feel relaxed?”

Yes and no. The purring was in fact helping but he was also stressing out because his stomach was
doing funny things. Things that felt an awful look like getting attached to a person he shouldn’t. His
head still felt heavy and he was tired. He decided to say fuck it.

“One more hour,” he said and let himself melt back against Soonyoung’s body. It felt like it
welcomed him, as Soonyoung curled around him more pointedly, now that he’d gotten permission.

“Just one more hour,” Soonyoung agreed and even without looking at him Jihoon could hear that
he was smiling.

He didn’t fall asleep right away but it was a very conscious decision. He let himself stay in the
warm embrace and soak it all in. Let the warmth and touch make a home in his bones. He was
telling himself he just wanted to remember this moment, to keep for the future when he was cold
and alone. A free chance to indulge and get a need fulfilled that he very much liked to pretend that
he didn’t have.

He’d never sought out touch, never really felt like he needed it that much. He still felt like that
most of the time, but then when it went on for too long, it would make him unsettled. He’d feel
untethered and if he was being honest, unloved. For years, he’d quietly been pleased with
Seungcheol’s tendency to reach out and grab him for a quick hug whenever they hung out together.
It made him tide over.

Still, a proper snuggle in bed was something different and Soonyoung seemed to do it so easily,
even though they didn’t know each other well. Jihoon could tell the moment that he fell back
asleep, because his arms loosened their grip around him a little but he still stayed close.

Jihoon counted Soonyoung’s breath and matched his own breathing to it. It made him calm down
significantly, let go of tension he hadn’t even been fully aware that he was carrying. Between the
slow breathing and the cosy warmth, it was so easy to be lulled back into sleep. One more hour.

He could rest in this fantasy for one more hour.

Jihoon wasn’t sure how long he actually slept but he woke up more well rested than he’d felt in
months. Soonyoung was in the kitchen, making coffee and he put on a pouty expression when he
saw that Jihoon had woken up from the noise.

“Sorry, I wanted to surprise you with coffee in bed,” he said, pout still firmly on his lips. It was
distracting. It made them puff out and look entirely too kissable. Jihoon should not be thinking
about kissing him first thing in the morning. “Here,” Soonyoung said, offering a steaming mug to
Jihoon.

He muttered a thanks, trying to ignore how he’d stared at Soonyoung’s mouth, and took a sip to
distract himself. It was coffee just how he made it for himself. It tasted exactly the same. He
looked at Soonyoung with a raised eyebrow and he was almost bouncing in place, clearly looking
for his feedback.

How close attention must he have paid to Jihoon’s morning routine over this past week? Part of
Jihoon wanted to flare up and say that it was creepy and invasive, but it was drowned out by
another voice. One that was entirely too pleased and glad to let someone take care of him, even
though he hadn’t asked for it.

“It’s good. Thanks,” Jihoon said and he hoped his ears weren’t turning red.

“Yay!” Soonyoung said and then promptly sat back down on the bed, the movement almost
making Jihoon spill his coffee. “I’m glad.”

“You seem to be moving well again,” Jihoon said, hiding behind his mug as he nodded towards
Soonyoung’s leg.

“Yeah, it almost feels back to normal,” he confirmed and then his face fell. “I can easily make the
trip back down the mountain…”

“Right,” Jihoon said.

It was going to be weird to stay the last handful of days alone in the cabin after having shared it
with Soonyoung for over a week. He had gotten used to his presence, whether he wanted to or not.
It felt like there was going to be a void now. Jihoon had an eerie feeling that the cabin would
become entirely too quiet.

“I’m going to miss you,” Soonyoung said, folding one leg under him and moving to press the other
one against his chest. Just like he’d sat when Jihoon had first seen him in his human form. He once
more wrapped his hands around his leg and held onto it tightly.

At least he wasn’t naked now, but honestly, Jihoon wasn’t sure that seeing Soonyoung in borrowed
sleep clothes was that much better. It was so damn domestic and after that staying in bed cuddle, he
was worried his heart was getting the wrong idea.

He had a feeling that Soonyoung would argue it was the right idea. But someone had to be the
cautious one out of them and keep reality in mind. Jihoon was a social hermit and he liked to keep
to himself. From what he’d learned about Soonyoung, they would not mesh at all. All of this was
not even considering the tiger shapeshifting thing.
“You can’t just say something like that,” Jihoon argued and his ears were definitely red now.

“Why not?” Soonyoung asked and he sounded genuinely confused.

“It’s not right! You don’t know me,” Jihoon argued, feeling himself get angry because he was
frustrated and unable to reel himself in. “How can you miss someone you don’t know?”

Soonyoung looked at him for a long time. Jihoon started down into his mug, refusing to meet his
eyes.

“You can miss someone you don’t know,” Soonyoung said carefully. “Like the idea of someone,
or someone you hope to find one day. But… that’s not true here. I might not know you well but I
know more than enough to be able to tell that I like you.”

I like you.

It hung in the air, almost suffocating Jihoon.

No, no, no! This was going all wrong.

How did Jihoon manage to accidentally seduce a damn tiger man while going away on his
songwriter isolation? It was not even a problem that he’d considered being able to run into. At
worst, he’d have thought that he would waste his time staring at walls and not be getting any
writing done.

“You’re too straightforward for me, Soonyoung-ah,” Jihoon said and he felt like he was saying too
much. Revealing too much between the words.

The silence lingered between them and Jihoon still couldn’t make himself look at Soonyoung.

“Oh, I assure you that I am having no straight thoughts towards you. Only gay ones,” Soonyoung
joked, voice bright and full of delight, like he hadn’t just been turned down.

It was enough of a surprise that Jihoon snapped his head in Soonyoung’s direction and actually
looked at him. He didn’t look like he was losing, he looked like he was winning whatever game he
was playing.

“Why are you like this?” he asked in bewilderment but the corners of his lips were trying to turn up
into a smile. It was so damn hard to fight it, and he wasn’t winning if Soonyoung’s increasingly
delightful expression was anything to go by.

“I wanted to tell you before I leave. You should know,” he said, with a shrug. “I am happy you
found me and decided to help me.”

“That’s not a good reason for liking me,” Jihoon said, ducking his head again. The back of his
neck felt hot. “That was just human decency.”

“Well, if you’d let me finish,” Soonyoung continued and suddenly, he was reaching out to take
Jihoon’s hand. He moved slowly, giving Jihoon more than enough time to protest or pull back. He
didn’t. “I am happy that you found and helped me, but I didn’t start liking you until I spent time
with you. Until I saw how you were nervous around me and yet you still let me stay. Until I saw
how you write music, it’s so beautiful and captivating that I can’t even begin to explain. Until I saw
how you look in the morning, face puffy and speaking in one-word sentences. You’re both kind
and cute, how could I not like you?”
“Right,” Jihoon said, wanting to let go of Soonyoung’s hand but unable to make his hand actually
cooperate with the order from his brain. It didn’t want to release him.

“You’re doing it again. The one-word sentences,” Soonyoung pointed out and gave his hand a light
squeeze.

“Hm.”

Soonyoung laughed, bright and beautiful and Jihoon felt like a moth to a flame, compelled to
gravitate towards him again. When Soonyoung let go of his hand and got off the bed, he almost
wanted to grab him and drag him back. His fingers flexed, almost reaching out but he stopped
himself.

“Just… look me up when you get back into Seoul, if you want. I go by Hoshi professionally. It can
just be to chat or if you want to work with me or confess your affections.”

Jihoon let out a laugh, somewhat exasperated but mostly nervous at that last remark. It made
Soonyoung respond with a wolfish grin.

“Hey, let a boy dream.”

“You’re better off with someone else, trust me,” Jihoon tried to argue, because whatever
Soonyoung thought that he must have fallen for about Jihoon in their short time together, it wasn’t
the full picture. It was part of the picture surely, but there was still much more. Jihoon pushed
people away. He almost always did it.

So far, only Seungcheol had managed to latch onto him and not let go.

It should perhaps have felt worrying that Jihoon was looking at Soonyoung and seeing a similar
determination in his eyes. It sparked something like hope in his chest.

He still felt the impulse to tell Soonyoung that this wasn’t worth it. He wasn’t worth it and he was
an idiot for getting attached, but he couldn’t make the full rant come out of his mouth. He had a
feeling that it probably had something to do with how he couldn’t take his eyes of this boy.

He was gorgeous, from his pretty eyes to his toned body. He was interesting and funny, constantly
catching Jihoon off guard and surprising him. He was still so trusting and genuine, even if he’d
lived a life where he would have to be so careful.

He was also a tiger.

Not all the time, but some of the time. It didn’t bother Jihoon as much as it should have. He was
captivating as a tiger too, soft and careful, while being a powerful predator. His mere existence
went against everything Jihoon had known until a week and a half ago, and by now he just
accepted that.

The world was much bigger and stranger than he’d anticipated.

If he could find a tiger man on the mountain, perhaps the concept of falling in love with someone
who liked him back wasn’t so out of reach all of a sudden.

“You should let me decide that,” Soonyoung said, smile turning softer and a little melancholic.
“Only worry about whether you like me, and not whether I should like you. That’s my call and you
can’t tell me to change how I feel.”
He could try. He could argue until he was blue in the face. Often, he didn’t bother to get into
arguments. They required far too much energy and half of the time it wasn’t worth the hassle. He
only ever really argued about music, when someone wasn’t understanding what was good or how
he worked through stuff. He’d learned to pick his battles but he did take them when it was
necessary.

“Maybe, I’ll look you up then,” Jihoon found himself saying. “If I’m not so sick of you after
escaping a week trapped in a small cabin together.”

He added a deadpan stare to his statement, looking right at Soonyoung and he felt his heart skip a
beat, wondering if he would read the attempt at dry humour properly. Even if he didn’t, and he got
angry and sour it would still be alright. Better push him away now than back in Seoul.

“You’ll miss me,” Soonyoung shot back, not a drop of doubt in his voice.

Jihoon couldn’t shoot back anything clever. He was too busy trying to fight a blush that wanted to
rise to his cheeks. His lack of answer made Soonyoung laugh, all bright and happy like he was
pleased with himself. Jihoon hated that he would indeed miss that sound at the very least.

They finished up breakfast and tidied and then it was time for Soonyoung to go. He still favoured
his uninjured leg, but he was moving around well now and Jihoon wasn’t worried that he’d trip and
die hiking down the mountain.

Still, he was a little worried. Soonyoung reassured him that he has stashed extra clothes and his
phone nearer the foot of the mountain as he always did before his runs and he’d haul a cap to the
nearest train station and take the train back home. Jihoon insisted that he take a portable charger
just in case the phone had run out of battery while he’d been away much longer than anticipated.

“Just in case,” Jihoon had insisted and pushed it into his hands, when they were standing outside
on the porch.

It wasn’t like Soonyoung had any bags with him. He’d come onto the mountain as a tiger. The
clothes were borrowed from Jihoon and he was barefoot too, since he couldn’t fit into any of
Jihoon’s shoes. Jihoon had tried to offer socks at least, but he had insisted that he didn’t mind
walking barefoot. He said he preferred it.

Eventually Soonyoung accepted the charger with a soft sigh and he might have let their hands
touch for an extended period before he pulled back.

“I’ll get it back to you. Your clothes too. If you don’t want to see me again, I can just drop them at
your work. Where was that again?” Soonyoung asked, tilting his head to the side and smiling
innocently.

He was fishing for a way to contact Jihoon after they parted. Jihoon had purposely not told him any
specifics but he was leaving now, and would it really be so bad if Soonyoung knew how to reach
out? Jihoon wasn’t sure he’d ever get the guts to do it first. Maybe this way it would not be the last
he’d see of him.

“Hybe,” Jihoon said. “I go by Woozi.”

Soonyoung’s eyes went wider than Jihoon had ever seen them. He looked both surprised and
absolutely delighted and he started bouncing on his feet and making little jumps.

“Wait, the Woozi? Omg, no wonder your music sounded so familiar! I’ve been dancing to your
music for like almost a decade!”
Jihoon let out a startled laugh. “You're lying. I wasn’t even signed a decade ago. I hadn’t produced
any songs yet.”

He’d been writing them but unless Soonyoung knew about his shameful Soundcloud that had since
been deleted, then he wouldn’t have any way to know.

“I said almost! And I got hold of a demo of Adore U in 2014 that I created a whole routine to. It
was my first time doing that.”

“God, please stop. That’s embarrassing.”

“I think it’s quite incredible. You weren’t even 20 years yet and it was your first hit song. A
sweeper! You cannot be embarrassed by it. It’s so catchy and fun, like akkinda,” Soonyoung
started singing and it took absolutely no time for Jihoon to lean in and clasp his hand over his
mouth.

Soonyoung had the nerve to look delighted by this. Before Jihoon could scowl of turn away,
Soonyoung’s hands were around his waist and pulling them flush against each other. Jihoon froze,
looking up at his pretty eyes. It looked like his pupils were dancing and the glee was radiating off
of him.

Why did he have to be so charming and pretty up close like this? It was making Jihoon get stupid
ideas again. Like he could remove his hand and press his lips against Soonyoung’s mouth to shut
him up instead. Maybe he’d actually stay quiet, if he tried that.

He was frozen in the indecision before he saw Soonyoung’s eyes flicker off to the side and
suddenly he was being pulled and twisted around. It happened so fast that Jihoon’s whole body
starting tingling, as Soonyoung manhandled him, almost managing to slam him into the door
behind him.

He was about to scold and demand to know what was going on before he saw Soonyoung crumble
down to one knee and the smell of blood filled the air. It was like the sound of the gun shot echoed
slower and he only noticed it now.

Someone had shot at them. Soonyoung had been shot.

He’d moved Jihoon out of the way.

Jihoon’s head whipped up and he saw movements in the bushes off to the side. It didn’t take long
for him to realise who it was that must have shot at them. The hunters with guns had to be back.
There was no other explanation.

Which meant that Soonyoung was the target and not Jihoon and still he had put himself in between
to try and shield him. Foolish idiot. Jihoon helped him to his feet and then promptly took up the
space in front of him.

“Don’t,” Soonyoung tried to protest and his breathing sounded ragged.

Was he dying? It smelled like blood. He must have been hit. He tried to push Jihoon out of the
way.

“Stop that,” Jihoon protested, and stood his ground. Normally, Soonyoung might be able to throw
him around but right now he was barely standing upright, leaning against the door. “You are the
one they want.”
“Yeah, exactly,” Soonyoung said, sounding exasperated. “So, you don’t need to get hurt.”

What absolutely nonsense. As if he would sit down idle while some men with guns hauled
Soonyoung away to be experimented on or be an exotic pet or whatever gross agenda they might
have with him.

“I’m not going to let them take you,” Jihoon said, and he still blocked Soonyoung who was
crouched behind him. He saw heads peek up from the bushes, three hunters in total and they
seemed as baffled as Soonyoung that Jihoon was now shielding him.

They should perhaps retreat into the cabin. Bide their time, but the hunters knew that they were
here already and there wasn’t much that Jihoon could do to fight back against them. Hiding would
only work for so long. No, he needed to confront them and get them to permanently fuck off and
leave Soonyoung alone.

He didn’t have any weapons of his own but he could be clever and intimidating.

He pulled out his phone and started a FaceTime call with the only person on his Favourites list. He
turned down the volume and then tapped the screen for it to use the outfacing camera. He saw the
call get picked up and Seungcheol’s face pop up on screen, looking a little confused.

He was about to more confused and infinitely more worried.

“Don’t you dare come closer,” Jihoon shouted, voice loud and intimidating as he looked at the
hunters still looking out from their little hideout. “You just shot an innocent man.”

He didn’t have time to explain the situation to Seungcheol but his best friend was clever and he
trusted his judgement and help. He’d record his own screen and call the police to Jihoon’s location
once he realised what was going on. Soonyoung might not want the police involved but Jihoon
feared that it was all that could scare off these scary dudes.

“You should step away from that thing,” one of the hunters said, standing up fully. “He is not
actually a person. He’s highly dangerous.”

It made Jihoon felt like gagging that they were pretending that they were here to help Jihoon and
keep him safe from the big dangerous tiger. He’d sat with Soonyoung’s head in his hands, a soft
and comforting weight and looked into his eyes as he practically purred.

Technically dangerous? Yes, very much so. But in reality, he wouldn’t hurt a fly, let alone a
person.

“He is a person and you shot him. Unprovoked!” Jihoon said.

“What are you doing?” Soonyoung whispered behind him, trying once more to push Jihoon out of
the way, so he wasn’t standing in the line of fire. Again, Jihoon refused to move.

“Sir, you have gotten involved in something that is much bigger than you. The creature you are
protecting is a big threat and you should move aside.”

“No,” Jihoon said, gripping onto his phone so tightly that it hurt. He didn’t take his eyes off of the
hunters. “I will do no such thing. I will not give you a clean shot on an innocent person.”

“I can assure you, it is far from innocent,” the hunter continued. “And we do not wish to kill it. We
are tasked with retrieving it, so it cannot cause more harm.”
“Fuck you,” Soonyoung shouted, trying to peek out from behind Jihoon but Jihoon didn’t let him.
“You don’t own me, you never did!”

As he spoke the two other hunters stood up and unlike the man who’d tried to step forward to
mitigate with Jihoon, these kept their guns raised and pointed right at them.

“Lee Jihoon-ssi,” the man in front said, and Jihoon hated that they’d gotten his name. It probably
wasn’t hard, considering he’d officially rented the cabin, but it still pissed him off. “You are
interfering with governmental business.”

“Oh, you’re from the government now? Let me see some identification then,” Jihoon demanded.

He saw the way the hunter clenched his jaw and looked ready to reach for his gun.

“We are not obligated to discuss our business with a civilian.”

“Oh, so it’s military business now instead? You speak like it. Or are you simply rented on the
black market to do something shady for money?” Jihoon asked, throwing a wild guess out there.

It might have been a bit too much of a good guess. The men looked among each other for a
moment and then they suddenly started coming closer.

“I should change,” Soonyoung said, stuck between the door and Jihoon’s back. “I could-”

“No,” Jihoon hissed through his teeth. “You’ll do no such thing.”

“Tiger!” one of the hunters shouted. “If you don’t want your little new friend in trouble, I suggest
you come with us voluntarily.”

It seemed they had realised that Jihoon wasn’t going to budge and directed their attention to
Soonyoung now. That wasn’t great. He was much more likely to fold in an attempt to protect
Jihoon. He couldn’t have that. He latched onto Soonyoung’s arm when he tried to move past him.

“Let go,” Soonyoung hissed in a low whisper.

“No,” Jihoon repeated.

The hunters advanced closer, clearly not seeing any of them as much of a threat. Perhaps they
weren’t, not against guns. Even Soonyoung’s teeth and claws required that he was up close and
personal, if he even had the guts to attack.

Jihoon had learned over their time together that he was quite gentle and soft-hearted. He wasn’t
sure he could attack, even if he had to.

“Trust me, we just want the tiger man. This has nothing to do with you,” the hunter said and they
were getting way way too close for comfort. Jihoon wasn’t sure what he was going to do if they
tried to grab him and pry him away from Soonyoung.

He’d taken a few self-defence classes and he worked out but he had a sinking feeling that they
could still overpower him. It was a good thing that he was intending to fight with his brain and not
his brawn then.

As they got even closer, Jihoon extended his phone instead of having it pushed against his chest.

The hunters had been too far away to take notice of his phone before now but they zeroed in on it
now. Stopped in their tracks.
“What? Are you recording? How sweet. We’re not letting you keep that,” one of the hunters said,
grinning menacingly with their gun raised. They seemed a little nervous but they clearly still
thought that they had the upper hand.

Now it was Jihoon’s turn to grin. “Oh, I figured. Which is why it isn’t me recording a video. It’s a
video call,” Jihoon said and saw the surprise on their faces. He moved his thumb to turn back the
sound on his phone.

“Hyung? You got all that?” he asked.

He wasn’t looking at the screen but he could imagine just how frantic and worried Seungcheol
must look based on the tone of his voice alone.

“All of it. Screen recording everything as we speak. We’ve got a clear view of their faces and I’ve
called both police and an ambulance to your location. They should be arriving soon,” Seungcheol
said and he’d always been excellent under pressure. He sounded so calm and collected on the
surface but Jihoon knew him well enough to know it was all an act.

He was terrified. Probably more than Jihoon was. It was difficult to fully take in the grasp of the
situation and be scared since he was so focused on solving it.

“Police?” Soonyoung whimpered. “Ambulance?”

Jihoon knew he didn’t want to be examined by the authorities but they didn’t have any other
choice. Seungcheol had made the right call.

The so-called government people did not look any bit comforted but of course they wouldn’t.

“See?” Jihoon said. “We’ll get all of this cleared up without guns. If what you say is true,” he said,
even though he knew it wasn’t, “then you can explain it to the police and then I am sure this man
can be arranged to follow you after his injuries has been tended to. You’ve got nothing to lose.”

The hunters were already taking a couple of steps back, speaking in hushed voices amongst each
other.

“They’re wondering if they should shoot us,” Soonyoung told Jihoon in a low whisper. “Why did
you piss them off?”

“Because otherwise they’d take you!” Jihoon hissed back.

“Yeah, but you’d be fine! That’s what matters.”

“It is not,” Jihoon shot back, still in an angry whisper. “If you think I’m letting them, put a hand on
you, then you’re insane.”

“Why? Aren’t you the one insisting that you don’t know me and I don’t know you, why would
you-”

Soonyoung was caught off by the hunter shouting, loud and angry.

“Hey! You have caused much more damage that you realise getting the police involved. Hand over
the tiger now and we will be on our way.”

“It’s like you guys don’t understand the meaning of no,” Jihoon said, tilting his hip to the side and
meeting them with a blank stare and an eyebrow raise. He made sure to still keep them within his
phone’s camera. He hoped he radiated confidence and nonchalance that he didn’t feel.

Fake it until you make it.

“I said-” the hunter tried again, but Jihoon wasn’t going to let him speak.

“No. I said that I will not let some random men, who I do not know shoot and then abduct a man
just because you think he’s a tiger? You sound absolutely delusional and like you are the ones who
should be picked up by authorities. If you’re right in your claim and whatever credentials you
claimed to have, you should take no issue with waiting and explaining why you shot an unarmed
man.”

If Jihoon could growl, he might have been growling then. He stared down the hunters and tried to
look as aggressive and angry as possible.

The hunters looked between each other again and then it seemed like something shifted. The
person in front shook his head. “This isn’t worth it. Retreat.”

Jihoon tried not to let the relief show on his face, just in case they were pulling a prank or
something, but he watched as they slowly but surely stared to back away, walking backwards as if
not to leave Jihoon and Soonyoung out of their view.

“Wait, did that really-”

“Shush,” Jihoon shushed Soonyoung, not wanting to have him jinx it. It wasn’t until they could no
longer see the hunters that he allowed himself to breathe.

Only for a second before he was scrambling for the door and pulling him and Soonyoung inside of
it.

“Jihoon, are they gone?” Seungcheol asked from the phone, after Jihoon locked the door.

Jihoon moved Soonyoung over to sit on top of the coffee table and assess the damage. It felt like
his hands was shaking. He’d been so cool and collected while the altercation was happening but he
felt like it was crashing in on him now.

“Maybe, for now, at least,” Jihoon said, trying to get a look at Soonyoung’s injury. His side was
bloody, the grey shirt stained red and sticking to his skin.

Shit. He was getting really tired of tending to Soonyoung’s injuries. He should not be getting hurt
this damn often. It made something feel funny in Jihoon’s chest.

He could have died.

They could both have died.

Dead. No longer breathing.

“It’s fine. It’s a graze,” Soonyoung said, as he moved to peel the shirt away from his skin. “It’s
already healing,” he said in a soothing voice. “Don’t worry.”

Jihoon hadn’t realised how clearly the worry must show on his face. Damn, he didn’t have any
energy or time to mask his emotions right now.

He also hadn’t realised that he had moved his hands to Soonyoung’s face. It was irrational. He
wasn’t hurt on his face at all, but he’d reached for him instantly just the same. Soonyoung’s hands
gently locked around Jihoon’s wrist and pulled the shaking hands down. All the while keeping eye
contact with Jihoon.

Those eyes were going to be the death of him. He felt like they could look right through him and
see all of the things he’d never dare to say out loud. He was almost tempted to ask Soonyoung what
he was seeing.

“The police and the ambulance are still on its way to you,” Seungcheol said from the phone that
had been tossed onto the table.

Jihoon got a good look at the wound along Soonyoung’s side and drew a breath of relief when he
realised that Soonyoung was right. It had been bloody but it had not fully hit him, just grazed along
his skin and it almost looked like he was healing already.

“Call off the ambulance, hyung,” Jihoon said. “Say that the bullet missed, we were mistaken.”

“I think they’re going to want to talk directly to you, but I can try,” Seungcheol said, “and also you
owe me so much explanation to all of this. Please don’t tell me the tiger you found was actually a
person, or something?”

“I’ll fill you in, I promise,” Jihoon said, and touched the disinfectant wipe to Soonyoung’s side,
even if it didn’t look too bad.

“Call off the police as well?” Soonyoung asked, sounding hopeful.

“No,” Jihoon said and he heard a “no” echo from Seungcheol on the phone.

“I am doing no such thing when my best friend is alone in the woods with a person that people are
shooting at. You’re coming home, right now, you hear, Jihoon-ah?”

Soonyoung squirmed under his touch, while Jihoon chuckled. He didn’t like being seen as
vulnerable or in need of help but there was something very warm about the idea of Seungcheol
getting all protective of him, even from so far away.

“Trust me, this guy is harmless,” Jihoon told Seungcheol. “But yes, it’s too risky to stay here. And
a police escort could save us some trouble getting down the mountain. We should also report those
hunters.”

“Agreed,” Seungcheol said.

“But… they know,” Soonyoung said in a quiet voice, only loud enough for Jihoon to hear.

“They have no proof. They seem like lunatics right now according to the recording,” Jihoon said.
“Speaking of, hyung, did you end it yet?”

“Let me do that,” Seungcheol said, and Jihoon gave him a minute. “Done.”

“Good. It’s the reason I didn’t want to make you shift. Now they look like the bad guys shooting at
and harassing a person. We can use that as evidence if we need to.”

“Sure, but I’m still scared,” Soonyoung said, and then lifted his head. “Sirens. They’re coming.”

“Hold up, before they do, you’ve got to tell me? Who is this guy? Was there any truth to what the
people with guns said?”

Jihoon picked up the phone, letting Seungcheol see his face and not just the darkness of the camera
against the table. He looked over at Soonyoung, raising a questioning eyebrow.

“You can tell him. He’s your hyung and you’re good, so you must know good people too,”
Soonyoung said, so easily.

He really was too trusting for his own good. Someone should teach him to be careful. Or maybe
they should just be ready to advice and protect him. It sounded quite tempting, rather than trying to
kill his innocence.

“His name Kwon Soonyoung. He’s a choreographer from Seoul under the name Hoshi and… a
shapeshifter. Half tiger, half man.”

As soon as he said it, it sounded like the connection disconnected or something. Seungcheol went
stock still.

Jihoon could hear the sirens now too. How they got a vehicle up the mountain he had no clue but
he hoped that maybe they would spot three suspicion men with guns running away. They should be
behind bars for what they had attempted.

“Hyung, did I lose you?”

“You’re not joking?” Seungcheol asked and he moved on screen now. He hadn’t been
disconnected; he’d just sat so still that Jihoon thought the screen had frozen.

“Nope,” Jihoon said and then tossed his phone to Soonyoung. “Say hi.”

Soonyoung nearly dropped the phone on the floor but then he did raise it in front of his face and
wave. “Hi, Jihoon’s hyung. It’s very nice to meet you.”

It sounded so formal and stilted. Almost like he was nervous and wanting to get Seungcheol’s
approval.

Jihoon chuckled to himself and took the bloody shirt and tossed it into the burning firepit. It
wouldn’t be easy to explain how a wound that had bled so much had closed up so quickly. He went
to fetch another shirt of Soonyoung. It wasn’t technically clean but it would have to do.

“Are you playing a prank on me?” Seungcheol asked. “If so, this isn’t funny. Like at all.”

Jihoon let out a hollow laugh. He looked at Soonyoung sitting shirtless on the coffee table, healing
wound in his side, and big bright eyes.

“Unless I’m hallucinating, then no,” Jihoon answered, after a beat. He tossed the shirt in
Soonyoung’s face. He caught it but then flinched, but otherwise didn’t seem bothered by his injury.

Seungcheol seemed like he lost all of his words, which was probably good timing. An authoritative
voice shouted from outside that there had been a shooting reported and to please exit the cabins
with your hands visible.

“I hate the police,” Soonyoung said, struggling to pull the shirt over his head.

“We’re reporting those hunters and then getting the hell back to the city,” Jihoon said.

“You owe me an explanation then,” Seungcheol said from the phone.

“Yes, later, hyung,” Jihoon said, closing off the call and then turning to Soonyoung. He didn’t need
to ask for his attention. He already had it, fully and undivided. “You just let me do the talking,
alright? You’re traumatised and scared quiet.”

“Got it,” Soonyoung agreed with a quick nod, as someone pounded on the door.

Jihoon took a break and then turned to open the door and greet the police. But not before making
them identify themselves with their badge numbers. It was the minimal of checking he could do.

Thankfully, it went rather smoothly. Seungcheol had sent over small clips and screen shots of his
own screen recording since it was too big to just send over on his phone. Some officers went off
trying to look for the hunters while two stayed with Jihoon and Soonyoung as they packed up and
got ready to leave. Jihoon wondered if his lost days would cover the damage done to the couch.

The police also found the bullet that had grazed Soonyoung embedded in the door and they seemed
pretty pleased about that. Jihoon kept his expression neutral and just found himself latching onto
Soonyoung’s arm.

They were driven back to Seoul by car, an offer that none of them was going to refuse. They went
to drop off Soonyoung at his home address first and he lingered weirdly as he got out of the car.
Like he wasn’t sure what to say or do. They’d spent the last couple of hours mostly in silence since
anything they wanted to discuss couldn’t be done so with an audience.

There was a lot of unsaid stuff in Soonyoung’s eyes but Jihoon tried to push it away. Not being
able to say a private goodbye was a blessing in disguise. He wasn’t sure how long the two of them
would have lingered by the cabin if they hadn’t been so rudely and dangerously interrupted.

The adventure was over now. A fever dream almost. It would be better for both of them if Jihoon
forgot all that he knew about Soonyoung. He’d have to keep his secret. Soonyoung didn’t even ask
him to do so, he seemed to just trust Jihoon implicitly. It made Jihoon feel a little weird, mostly
because he had seemingly been figured out that easily.

It was a little embarrassing.

He let Soonyoung walk away with just a wave and sad eyes, and not words of comfort. He
regretted that the same night when those sad eyes haunted him in his sleep. He felt guilty.
Soonyoung had tried so hard to get to know and bond with Jihoon, and he’d just been pushing him
away again and again.

He got interrogated by Seungcheol the following day. Repeatedly. It seemed it took Seungcheol
hearing that Soonyoung was in fact a tiger, a couple more times from Jihoon before he fully
believed it. Jihoon almost wished he had physical proof of it.

It had only been a day and he felt like he had already forgotten what Soonyoung looked like. As a
tiger and as a person. It was little concerning that he found himself upset by this fact and started to
search up Hoshi choreography on YouTube.

“Damn, your boy can move,” had been Seungcheol’s comment, who had essentially glued himself
to Jihoon’s hip, even after he’d gotten the full story. He seemed worried that Jihoon might
accidentally stumble across another wild animal if he took his eyes off of him.

It was kind of cute, but Jihoon was never going to admit that out loud.

“He’s not my boy,” Jihoon said and tried to hit Seungcheol. Unfortunately, he anticipated it and
ducked out of the way. “He might claw your face off if he heard you say that,” Jihoon added in a
grumble.
“For calling him yours?” Seungcheol replied with a snort. “I only saw him on the video call for
less than a minute and still he looked absolutely smitten, Jihoon-ah."

Jihoon didn’t deign that with a reply.

In fact, he was entirely planning forcing Soonyoung out of his brain. It was decidedly hard when
Jihoon could not stop watching Hoshi dance practices. He had accidentally discovered that
Soonyoung worked under a sub-label of Hybe and that the archives had dance practices of him
making up choreography for trainees that they could refer to if they wanted to practice.

The way he moved was practically music in and of itself. Jihoon might be writing a song to the
beat of his body.

Fine, maybe he was working on three songs in total inspired by Soonyoung. He would have been
more mad about it, if he wasn’t so happy getting songs written down. Combining what he’d done
while in the cabin and the songs he was working on now, he could have an album for himself
ready in just a few months. He was decidedly not washed up and unable to write for himself.

It was almost as if he had been missing a muse and it had come in from of Soonyoung of all
people, barrelling into his life and changing a lot of beliefs and evoking a lot of feelings. Jihoon
could already imagine the smug grin he’d get on his face if Jihoon called Soonyoung his muse to
the man’s face.

It was so clear in Jihoon’s own head. It had been over a week since he’d seen the guy and it still
felt like his face was burned into his retinas. Extended exposure surely. It would go away
eventually.

… or it would come knocking at his door.

Jihoon’s studio, nicknamed The Universe Factory, was known for being off limits to other people.
It was locked and it had a keypad outside that only Jihoon and Seungcheol had the code to. The
staff person responsible for individual studios could make a manual overwrite in extreme cases, but
for most parts, it was a closed and private space.

Jihoon was notorious for not letting people into his space so it was very bizarre to hear a knock in
the first place. He’d had his headphones around his neck and been able to hear it. He got to his feet
and approached with caution.

Seungcheol might have knocked as a warning but then he’d have beeped himself in immediately
after. He also tended to do a fun knock pattern each time. Not a timid two times knock like this.

Jihoon opened the door and he wasn’t sure how to explain the way his heart jumped in joy as the
person it hadn’t dared to hope for stood on the other side.

Kwon Soonyoung in a huge soft hoodie that was swallowing almost his entire frame. In his hands,
he held a huge bucket of soft pink and pale blue flowers that matched beautifully. He also had a
cap pressed over his hair and a nervous smile on his lips.

He looked soft and real and Jihoon wanted to reach out and grab him. Pull him into a hug. He had
definitely been kidding himself that he could just forget about this boy. They’d been apart for a
week and seeing him again felt like coming up for air after a deep dive.

He was so fucked. This man was going to make him write love song after love song. He could
already see it now, stretching ahead of them and it was terrifying because it was not certain. It
would be fragile. It could break. It could not work out.
But Soonyoung had come to his door with flowers.

Jihoon had never gotten flowers before.

“Hi,” Soonyoung said with a little chuckle.

“What are you doing here?” Jihoon asked, and perhaps it came out a little harsher than he meant to
say it. Soonyoung’s face fell a little, mouth pinched together.

“Oh, sorry, I know I am coming into your space, I just hoped…” he looked like a balloon in the
process of deflating and it twisted at Jihoon’s heart. “Sorry, I should have left you alone. Or like
wait for you to reach out, but then I got worried you never would and I would just love to- that’s
not your problem. Not at all. You’ve done enough for me, I’m sorry. I’ll go," he added, already
turning on his heel but then he turned back around. “Wait, do you still want the flowers? I don’t
really know how to take care of them.”

He might not know how to take care of flowers but he was making Jihoon fall. So hard and so fast.
He’d gotten attached. To the thoughtful eyes, the rambling, the kind gestures. He was doomed.

He was a romantic. When his heart decided on someone, he had to follow it. And he had a feeling
in his gut this time as well. Maybe this was a love that could last. Soonyoung was nothing like
anyone else he’d ever been interested in but he meant that in the best way possible. It was like he’d
arrived and just shown Jihoon what he’d craved but never been able to put into words.

“Soonyoung-ah,” Jihoon said. “You bought those for me?”

Soonyoung ducked his head. “Well, yeah? Of course. You deserve flowers! No matter what.”

“Is that why you bought them?” Jihoon asked, leaning on the doorway and delighting in how he felt
like the cat playing with the mouse right now, even if arguably it should have been the other way
around.

Soonyoung’s ears were turning red. He stuttered as he answered.

“Well, n-no? I was going to ask you something, but seeing your reaction to me, I thought I was
being dumb and would spare myself the humiliation,” Soonyoung said with a hollow laugh that
sounded like he was trying to pretend it didn’t bother him. “For you know, the rejection.”

Jihoon let his eyes sweep over Soonyoung slowly but determinedly. It was hilarious how he almost
didn’t seem to realise that he was very attractive. He was funny and kind too. He probably had
options in spade, or at least he should have. And yet he was coming here and making Jihoon’s
heart race so fast.

“I’ve never gotten flowers before,” Jihoon said and gently took them from Soonyoung’s grasp. He
put them up to his nose and gave them a sniff. “Lovely. You picked well.”

“Oh, thanks,” Soonyoung said and reached behind him to scratch the back of his head. “I’m glad
you like them. Please take care of them? I’ll not bother you anymore.”

Soonyoung turned and he was actually going to walk away. He thought he was being rejected.
Jihoon decided to take mercy on him.

“Ask me,” he called out and ignored how his own ears were turning red now. This was vulnerable
and scary but that meant that it mattered. It could become something great.
“… ask you?” Soonyoung replied in confusion.

“Ask me what you were going to ask me with the flowers,” Jihoon said, pointedly holding them up.
He hoped that Soonyoung would get the hint. He’d accepted already. Soonyoung just needed to
catch on.

“Wait… are you saying-”

“Yes.”

“How do you even know what I’m going to ask?” Soonyoung asked and came closer, stepping up
until he was all in Jihoon’s space now. He smelled nice and he looked even prettier this close.

“I took an educated guess.”

“What are you educated in? The art of guessing?”

“No, music production,” Jihoon replied with a deadpan stare.

Soonyoung threw his head back and laughed so beautifully that it made Jihoon chuckle as well. He
looked much more relaxed now, like he had finally caught on and he was delighted.

“But you’re wrong. I don’t have just one question. I have two,” he said holding up two fingers and
then wiggling them right in front of Jihoon’s face.

“Ask two then, I’ll allow it,” he replied with a challenging eyebrow raise.

“Okay,” Soonyoung said and took a steadying breath. “Will you please go out on a date with me?”

It was the question that Jihoon had been anticipating. It had been almost a given with the flowers
and the nervous expression and the lingering gaze.

He found it was very easy to answer. He was no longer going to hold himself back. He had to try.

“Yes.”

Soonyoung’s reaction was precious. His whole face lit up in delight and it was contagious, melting
right into Jihoon too. They were just standing in a dull grey empty hallway grinning at each other
like fools.

“Okay, good. Very good,” Soonyoung said. “Now for the second question, which is tangentially
related to the first question.”

“Big word,” Jihoon remarked with a laugh.

“Shut up,” Soonyoung said but he was smiling.

“But if I shut up, I can’t give you your answer?” he pointed out.

Soonyoung shook his head. “Fine, don’t shut up. Ready?”

“Of course.”

“Will you let me kiss you?” Soonyoung said so openly and sincerely. “I realise you might want to
wait, see how the date goes and if we’re even compatible and all that boring but also important
stuff, but I’ve been thinking about kissing you for, like, weeks already and it’s totally fine, if you
 don’t want to, but just in case, I thought I’d-”

It had no business being this cute. Jihoon had no reason for being this soft for Soonyoung already
and yet he couldn’t even deny it to himself anymore. That ship had sailed. Maybe they would too.

“I think it’s time you shut up,” Jihoon said and then he shifted to hold the flowers only in one hand
and use the other to grab onto Soonyoung’s hoodie and pull him in.

He caught on very fast, one hand finding Jihoon’s face and the other finding his hip. He still
managed to make them pause just long enough for them to make eye contact. It was magnetic and
wonderful and they then continued to lean in until their lips touched.

As the kiss deepened, Jihoon yanked Soonyoung into his office and he didn’t even think about how
he was already allowing Soonyoung into his safe and private space. It felt natural in a way that it
never had before.

It was their first kiss but it would just be the first of many many more shared during a whole future
that they were going to build together. And Jihoon would write many more songs as well, both for
and about Soonyoung.

It was how he expressed his love, after all, and he would fall deeply in love with the man, who was
half tiger and half man.

Chapter End Notes

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Last chapter! I can't believe time passed so quickly! Thank you for reading along. This
was such a self-indulgent silly little fic idea at first and now it blossomed into this long
and cute fic. I'm very proud of it. Tiger Hoshi getting the rights that he deserves.
Thank you for all the people leaving lovely comments, it really makes my day.

My fondness for these two grew so much over the story and I just love them. Please
leave a comment with your thoughts if you have the time.

Please drop by the archive and comment to let the author know if you enjoyed their work!