#taekookau The instant Taehyung sets eyes on the Louis Vuitton carrot pouch hanging from Namjoon's bag strap, he decides he /needs/ to buy it for his bunny hybrid Jungkook. He didn't think a simple gag gift would lead to one of the most heart-wrenching experiences of his life.

➺short ➺fluff,hurt/comfort ➺for @julia⁷ is resting who commissioned whamo bun kooilu ➺can be read as standalone, idol tae x bun koo, they're bfs and live together ➺ao3 link at end of thread ➺continuation of this fic, takes place before epilogue https://twitter.com/afuzzyowl/status/1403935453120585737?s=20&t=Hy4_ZclJIstdlqNBxKTAiA…

The instant Taehyung sets eyes on the Louis Vuitton pouch hanging from Namjoon's bag strap—bright orange, carrot-shaped, with long, oddly realistic green stems growing out of the top—he decides he /needs/ to buy it for Jungkook.

"Hyung!" he hollers. "Where did you buy this! I gotta get one, stat!" "Huh?" Namjoon comes bumbling into the room with an opened chip bag, crunching loudly. "Dunno. I think a friend gave it to me?"

"Gee, that's real helpful." "Wow, okay, no need to be rude," Namjoon sniffs. "You're not getting any of my chips." "I don't care about your chips, hyung, I need to buy this for my Kookie."

Since Namjoon proves entirely useless, Taehyung spends days and nights tracking down the limited edition carrot pouch that's already sold out everywhere,

and when he finally finds it with the help of one of BTS's managers and it arrives on their doorstep and Taehyung's holding it in his hands, he nearly cries imagining how adorable Jungkook would look carrying it around.

That said, as cute as the image is, Taehyung doesn't mean for the pouch to be more than a gag gift. Jungkook's usual aesthetic falls somewhere between tired college senior and goth emo,

so not only does the pouch completely contradict the hybrid's fashion sense, it also isn't all that practical. It's just sort of ridiculous, really.

That's why Taehyung hands the present to him super casually on a random Tuesday night, cackling about how his bun has a carrot to go with him now, haha!

But he doesn't forget to add, "I'm kidding, Kookie, I just thought it was hilarious. Let me take some pictures and then we can donate it or something—" But maybe Taehyung should have known better.

"For me?" Jungkook gasps softly. He gingerly takes the carrot out of the cardboard box that Taehyung had torn open without thought, and unravels the enormous joke of a bow that Taehyung had tied around the pouch while snickering to himself.

Jungkook's eyes are sparkling like they contain a billion stars. "Taetae, you didn't have to...isn't this brand expensive?" And now he's holding the dumb carrot to his chest as though it's his most precious treasure. Taehyung's heart squeezes like it's being wrung dry.

"Pfft, that's chump change to me, you know that," he laughs, which is the truth. But also, nothing in the world could ever be too expensive for his bun.

Jungkook carefully puts the carrot on the sofa before he crawls into Taehyung's lap. "Thank you," he says, pressing a kiss to his cheek, and Taehyung tackles him with violent affection.

"Of course, anything for you," he coos. His heart melts as it always does when Jungkook snuggles into him, long gray bunny ears wrapping around the back of Taehyung's neck in a hug. ---

The carrot becomes a permanent fixture on Jungkook's chic black backpack. He takes it everywhere with him, showing it off to the hyungs, shyly telling his viewers it was a gift from his owner when they spot it in his stream.

"Taetae got it for me," he boasts to everyone, full of joy, and Taehyung is this close to sobbing real, actual tears. He's always buying Jungkook everything he could possibly want and more, ranging from soda candy to whole-ass upgrades of his gaming setup,

yet Jungkook's appreciation never weakens, never loses an ounce of authenticity. He thanks Taehyung in a way that makes Taehyung understand: his love for Jungkook is the one gift Jungkook appreciates over any material possession.

At the door now, Jungkook slings his bag over his shoulder, the carrot a pop of colour against his all-black outfit. "I'm gonna go hang out with Yongsun-noona," he calls over to Taehyung. "I'll be back around eight, I think?"

"Sounds good." Taehyung gets off the couch, walking over to ruffle his hair as he ties up his long boots. When Taehyung crouches down to try to help with his laces, Jungkook whines, batting him away.

"It's okay, I got it. Go rest, hyung, I know you're tired from comeback prep." Taehyung pouts. Originally, he wanted to spend the day off with his bun, but Jungkook had already made plans and they've both been making an effort to have him go out on his own or

with his friends more. He's always been uncomfortable being out and about as a hybrid in an overwhelmingly human population, but his therapist said it'd be good for him to become more independent.

"I don't want to be overly reliant on you," Jungkook had whispered to him one night while they were tangled together in bed. "Want us to be healthy."

And although a teensy, selfish part of Taehyung mourned that he'd no longer be Jungkook's whole world, of course he was proud of Jungkook's progress.

(When he voiced this to Jimin, though, Jimin called him a huge dumb idiot because Jungkook's whole world would always be Taehyung no matter what, and let's just say, that statement alone made Taehyung's week.)

"You gonna be back for dinner?" Taehyung asks, leaning against the wall. "Yup. But after shopping, we're gonna watch a movie, so I won't be too hungry after all the popcorn."

Taehyung snorts. "Gotcha. I'll make something light, then." He opens his arms as Jungkook finishes with his boots, and the younger happily bounces into his embrace.

"Have fun," he murmurs, rubbing his back and dropping a kiss on a soft, floppy bunny ear. Jungkook turns his face up, lips puckered. "Want a real kiss," he says, leaning in. Taehyung grins hard enough that Jungkook ends up kissing his teeth instead.

"You're adorable," he whispers into Jungkook's lips, and his boyfriend squirms in his arms, pressing peck on top of peck to his mouth until Taehyung finally kisses him for real, their lips coming together slow and languid, so warm it sends Taehyung's mind into a daze.

They separate only after Jungkook's phone beeps with a text, and Taehyung walks him out of the apartment barefoot, sneaking in more long, clinging kisses as they wait for the elevator. Jungkook escapes from his clutches with a laugh once it arrives, hurrying inside.

"Bye, hyung," he says, cheeks pink and waving cutely. Taehyung blows him a kiss. "See ya in a bit, baby." ---

Taehyung is trying his best to concentrate on the show, but as time continues to tick by, the intervals between his phone notification checks become shorter and shorter.

Usually, Jungkook comes home a bit earlier than planned because he still gets overwhelmed sometimes from being out for long periods of time without Taehyung.

Taehyung tries to tell himself that Jungkook must just be feeling especially good today, that he feels safe with Yongsun, and that's why he's late...

But soon, the clock hits eight-thirty, and Taehyung doesn't want to act like some kind of overbearing parent, but he's concerned now. He sends Jungkook a text. >>hey kookie, having fun with yongsun-noona?

When another handful of minutes go by without a response, Taehyung really starts to get worried. He texts again, asking Jungkook where he is, but that, too, goes unread.

He shoots to his feet and starts pacing around the living room, gnawing on his bottom lip, and when he can't take it anymore, he decides to call Yongsun. "Hello, noona?" His heart is pounding in his ears. "It's me. Uh, are you still out with Jungkook?"

"Nope!" Yongsun replies cheerfully. "I saw him off at the subway station at around seven-thirty." She pauses. "Wait, is he not home yet?" "No," Taehyung bites his lip harder. "I—I'll keep you posted."

Stuffing his phone in his pocket, he snatches up his keys and a random jacket and storms over to the foyer, heart in his throat.

There are a million reasons for Jungkook to be late, but Taehyung can't help thinking the worst, that something must have happened for his responsible bunny to fall off the face of the earth like that.

He's got his phone out again, his thumb slipping over the button to call Jungkook, when a series of beeps comes from the front door.

Taehyung freezes. He stands there like a deer in headlights as the door swings open, revealing the familiar dark figure of his boyfriend. He sags from relief.

"Jungkook," he exhales, "where were you? I—" Then Jungkook looks up, and Taehyung forgets what he was saying.

"Ah, hey, hyung," Jungkook says, turning away to unlace his boots. "Sorry I'm late. Something...came up."

Taehyung isn't listening. His feet move him forward until he's standing right in front of Jungkook, who's refusing to look him in the eye.

Up close, Taehyung notices the marks in his backpack, the leather peeling away as if it had been scraped over something abrasive. There's a tear on the shoulder of Jungkook's jacket, seams busted open. Taehyung's body grows cold.

"Baby, look at me," he says, voice soft. Jungkook goes eerily still, unresponsive and unblinking. But when Taehyung reaches for him, he doesn't resist and lets the elder cup his jaw and turn his head, his hood falling back from the movement to fully reveal his face.

"Kook," Taehyung gasps. His hands shake, but he doesn't know if it's coming from him or Jungkook. His fingers reach reflexively for the swell of purple around Jungkook's eye before he thinks better of it, gently holding his cheeks instead. "What happened?"

There's a nasty cut on his lip too, blood dried around the wound, and it must hurt because he winces as he speaks. "Uh, some robbers jumped me on my way home."

And it was obvious already given the state of Jungkook's face, but hearing the words out loud makes the rage that was simmering low in Taehyung's stomach erupt through his body.

"They hurt you," he snarls, angered and pained. "Where else? Just your face?" Jungkook shoots him an unreadable look before slowly, hesitantly shaking his head. "P-punched my stomach."

"Did they have any weapons on them?" A slow nod. "Knife..."

If his vision weren't red, Taehyung thinks he would be crying. He can barely sift through the cacophony in his mind, but one thing takes priority over all else, always. "We're going to the hospital," he growls. "Now." ---

The whole ride there, Jungkook weakly tries to convince Taehyung that he's fine and that there isn't a need to speed to the emergency room after getting punched a couple times.

But Taehyung will have none of it; the smallest impact on the head can cause irreparable damage, and he refuses to leave Jungkook's wellbeing to chance.

While the hybrid is getting his X-rays and other examinations done, Taehyung stalks up and down the hallway, making phone calls to Hybe and the police, anyone else who may be relevant.

Jungkook returns before long and seems to be alarmed by the lengths Taehyung is going to to catch the perpetrators, reluctantly answering his interrogation on what they looked like and where the attack happened.

"I don't want to make a big deal out of this." Jungkook picks at his nails, forced by Taehyung to sit and rest as they wait for the test results. "I don't want you or the other members to get dragged into this mess."

"Baby," Taehyung says. Judging by the way Jungkook startles, his tone must have been too harsh, and he swallows hard, willing himself to calm down. He feels like a live wire, like one spark from a match and he'll burn everything down to the ground.

He drops to the floor in front of Jungkook, taking his cold hands in his own overly hot ones. "Baby," he tries again, gentler this time. "I don't care if this blows up with the media. I just—I can't stand the thought of trash like them being allowed to roam the streets.

They hurt you, they threatened you with a knife, and you—" He sucks in a shuddering breath. "I want to kill them. I—genuinely, I want them dead, but I can't, so I'm going to do the next best thing and press charges and fucking /ruin/ their lives."

Jungkook stares at him with wide eyes, his bunny ears lifted and alert. His hands are gradually warming in Taehyung's grip as Taehyung rubs them carefully, mindful of the bruises on his knuckles.

When Jungkook pulls one of his hands from Taehyung's, he briefly panics, but Jungkook is only pressing a palm to his face, thumb stroking over his cheekbone.

"I'm okay, Taetae," he murmurs. And he tries for a smile, Taehyung's brave, beautiful bunny who worries more about him even when Jungkook's the one who got beaten up. "I'm here, hyung. Don't worry."

The doctor returns shortly with Jungkook's diagnosis: he's fine save for the superficial wounds, no head trauma or fracture in sight, not even a concussion.

But the relief is quickly replaced by anxiety once again when the police arrive and bring Jungkook and Taehyung into a private room for their statement.

Bile rises up Taehyung's throat as he listens to Jungkook recount the attack in detail, how the three men snuck up on him and held him at knifepoint, demanding he hand over his belongings.

"A robbery, then," the officer nods. "What did they take?" "Um, nothing. I fought them off." The officer looks up from his notepad, frowning at him. "Why didn't you just give them your things? Or you could have shifted into your animal form and run away."

Here, Jungkook hesitates. Taehyung squeezes his hand encouragingly, and Jungkook looks down, his bunny ears laid flat over the back of his head.

"There...were things that I didn't want to give up," he says softly. "If I shifted, I would've been too small to take my bag with me. So I didn't run."

For the second time that night, ice creeps up the back of Taehyung's spine. He feels numb, frozen in his chair as the officers finish taking their statement and promise to contact them with updates. In the panic, Taehyung hadn't considered the logistics of what occurred,

focused only on Jungkook's injuries. But he knows—he knows how fast Jungkook is in his bunny form, that he could have transformed in a second and been out of there before the robbers could even register what happened.

And Taehyung's attention falls to the bag sitting in Jungkook's lap, an innocuous, forgettable presence that he hadn't noticed up to this point. But now he's remembering how the only time Jungkook parted from it was when the nurses told him he couldn't take his X-ray with it on,

and he entrusted the bag to Taehyung for those few short minutes. "What's in there?" Taehyung asks. His voice is trembling because he already knows.

Jungkook's hands slide from his, falling to the backpack. "Mm," he says, clearly reluctant to answer.

But Taehyung waits and waits and waits, hoping against hope that the answer isn't what he's suspecting, until Jungkook finally lets out the smallest of sighs and flips the backpack over.

Where a bright orange carrot is hanging from one of its loops, in perfect condition despite the unsightly rips in the backpack. Taehyung just looks at it. Tears well up in his eyes, until he can't hold them back and they overflow.

It was at least partly his fault, then. The robbers saw the LV logo and chose Jungkook as their target.

"Taetae," Jungkook gasps sharply, and Taehyung can't see properly through his blurred vision but he hears Jungkook's chair creak before he's suddenly got a lapful of his boyfriend, whispering reassurances to him as he wipes Taehyung's wet face.

"You should've run," Taehyung sobs, falling forward and burying his face in Jungkook's neck. "It was just a stupid fucking—pouch, I could've bought a million more of those!"

A hiccup is pressed to Taehyung's ear and he realizes Jungkook is crying too. "I-I know, but I didn't want to abandon it, you gave it to me, you thought of me and bought it for me, I didn't want them to take it—"

Taehyung tears himself away, grabbing Jungkook's face in his hands. His precious honey bun's eyes are red and swollen from more than bruises now, tears rolling down his face.

"Jungkook," Taehyung pleads. "I know, I understand how you feel, but I'm begging you. Please, please. If something like this ever happens again, I need you to run. You have to keep yourself safe, do you understand? Because, I," he grits his teeth,

squeezes his eyes shut. "If anything happened to you, I would die. I can't—I need you to be safe, always. Please."

Jungkook lets out a whimper, quaking against him, and Taehyung pulls him into the tightest hug he'll allow himself with Jungkook's bruises. "Okay," Jungkook sobs. "'m sorry. Sorry for worrying you."

Taehyung shakes his head mutely, petting Jungkook's head over and over again, in an attempt to both comfort and remind himself that Jungkook is here with him. Shaken by the attack, but safe in his arms. ---

The assholes are caught within days due to surveillance footage, and armed with probably the nation's most formidable legal team, Taehyung makes sure they'll spend a big chunk of their lives behind bars.

Jungkook pouts when Taehyung suggests he start bringing security detail with him when he's out, but ends up relenting after Taehyung tells him, "Hey, I've been living like this for the past, like, ten years, and it's not so bad."

They reach a compromise for the security guards to dress in regular clothing and follow Jungkook at a distance, which Taehyung agrees to with relief because he'll say yes to pretty much anything to keep his Kookie safe.

Try as he might, however, the one thing Jungkook refuses to do is give in on is his carrot pouch. "What if we put it in the display case," Taehyung suggests as they're watching TV, wrapped around Jungkook's back like an octopus.

He gestures at the glass cabinets lining their walls, filled with memorabilia, picture frames of the two of them together and the other important people in their lives. "You can admire it at home."

Jungkook sulks, his nose twitching. "But I like keeping it on my bag. It's useful. I put my keys in it, and it fits some crumpled up bills, oh, and my lip balm!"

He turns around, smooching Taehyung square on the mouth, then has the gall to beam at him all bright and sunny. "Gotta have my lip balm since we, you know, kiss so much."

Taehyung groans, letting his forehead fall against the crown of Jungkook's head with a thump. "Stop being adorable. There's only so much I can take."

A fuzzy ear brushes over his cheek, caressing his skin, and Taehyung pulls away from Jungkook's hair to find the latter smiling at him.

"Or what?" Jungkook asks, his big front teeth digging into his bottom lip. Taehyung snorts. "Wouldn't you like to know." "Perhaps I would."

They stare at each other for a moment, smiles growing wider and wider as they lean in simultaneously, lips barely brushing before the kiss inevitably breaks because they're both laughing.

Taehyung tugs him in for a real kiss, one that has Jungkook melting against him with a sigh, and everything feels good, everything feels right. Jungkook with his carrot, Taehyung with his karat.

Karat, as in diamond, if you will. His own little gazillion-karat diamond.

Alright, so maybe Taehyung will let Jungkook keep the dumb pouch, if only for the opportunity to tell him this stupid pun later and have him groan and pretend to kick Taehyung away.

(Besides, who's Taehyung kidding, it's not like he could ever deny Jungkook anything he wanted anyway.)

—end just posted this on ao3 to be with the rest of the whamo series! :D https://archiveofourown.org/works/43569276 hope u liked it!! https://ko-fi.com/afuzzyowl https://curiouscat.live/afuzzyowl