The kitchen was as dark and quiet as the hall had been, which made it amazing he hadn’t stubbed his toe. The little light over the stove was the only one on, until he opened the refrigerator and the bright white blast from inside seared through his eyelids, waking him the rest of the way up. 

Taehyung groaned, groping for the first drink his fingers came in contact with and uncapping the lid to gulp blindly. The taste of some cherry sports drink that probably belonged to Jungkook hit the back of his dry throat. Good enough. 

Wiping his mouth on his hand, he took a final swig and put it back, preparing to leave the kitchen when he remembered the box on the counter. The bat. She had proven to be a colorful, lively little thing. As much as Jin-hyung scolded everyone (but especially Jungkook) for his insistence on holding it, there was no denying it was cute. So tiny, so much personality. He could have sworn it was almost like there were vivid expressions painted across the small, fuzzy face sometimes as she reacted to parts of the conversation. 

And Jin-hyung was determined to have the wildlife rescuer come and pick it up tomorrow, which a rational part of him knew was all for the best. But then the animal loving part of him thought having a bat around was kind of amusing.

And she didn’t disappoint, staring up at him with tiny, curious eyes and releasing a big yawn that stretched her mouth comically wide. Taehyung grinned, remembering how she had devoured the food he and the other members fed to her before. “Good morning,” he shuffled back, reaching for the fridge again. “You’re up early too.”

Of course, she was just a bat, so it wasn’t like he expected an actual answer, but he could hear her scrambling around in the box while his back was turned, and a few flutters as her wings must have flapped around inside. 

Short tiny chirps of exertion came along with her attempted to get purchase and scale the side when he turned around, holding a fruit cup he thought they could split. At first, he thought he could just pluck some out with his fingers, but a voice that sounded suspiciously like Jin’s rang through his head, telling him he had better not dare.

‘I can’t even escape hyung in my mind anymore…’ Taehyung dug through one of the cabinets until he found a bowl, dumping the contents of the fruit cup into it before digging through the drawers or a spoon. All the while, the little bat watched him with hungry, shiny eyes. So shiny, they almost looked intelligent. ‘That’s weird.’ 

He spooned the first bite into his mouth, then the next. When half the bowl was gone he brought it to the bat and held it nose level. She stayed still, snout tipped into the air, sniffing daintily. Taehyung sat it in her box and watched her scramble after it, nipping at the chilled fruit with her tiny mouth.

“You sure eat a lot for your size.” The bat glanced at him, still chewing and mouth wet, but there was something almost indignant to the beady blink of her eyes.

“Sorry, was I not supposed to say that?” He scoffed playfully. Girls didn’t like hearing they ate a lot, but this was a bat. Leaving the animal where she was, Taehyung wandered back to the fridge to check the freezer and see what frozen breakfast foods were there. 

He could wait until someone else woke up or even cook for the members himself, but it was a little more ‘fend for yourself’ on down days. And this was supposed to be one, albeit in front of cameras. The most he could offer them was putting on a pot of coffee. 

The state of the art coffee maker looked brand new, and he wouldn’t have been surprised if the house had everything they could possibly need added to it all set up just before their arrival. 

Taehyung stuffed some waffles into the toaster and located a large unopened box of cereal while the coffee brewed, almost reaching for his phone before remembering he left it back in the room.

Unplugging from time to time was good for them anyway, and for him, it was more time to plot out how he would spend his day. Jungkook mentioned wanting to go on a hike yesterday, and if the weather shaped up for more outdoor activities, Taehyung might consider joining him.

The slow drag of feet pulled his attention to Yoongi, half-awake and not even bothering to hide a yawn as he sniffed delicately. “It’s over there, hyung,” Taehyung said, already guessing what he’d come for. 

He got a confirmatory grunt before Yoongi slipped right by him to collect a mug and fill it up. He didn’t say anything, just let him quietly prepare his coffee the way he liked. It wasn’t like he’d be much of a conversationalist until he got going. So early in the morning, only a few of the members would be.

“Good coffee.” His hyung muttered. “Thanks.” Yoongi went looking through the fridge and freezer to grab breakfast to go with his coffee, and Taehyung hunted around the kitchen for the maple syrup. Three cabinets later, he’d found the bottle and a plate to drop the waffles onto. It wasn’t until he sat down at the table to eat that he noticed Yoongi peering into the bat’s box intently.

“What?” He mumbled through a big bite of cereal. 

“This has to be the cleanest bat in the world. All you did was feed it yesterday, and I’m guessing this morning, and there’s not a single speck of shit anywhere.”

Taehyung wasn’t an expert on bat bathroom habits, but that was pretty weird. Not weird enough for him to stop eating and comment on it without taking a few bites of his waffles, though. “Maybe it’s there and so small you can’t see it. She’s tiny.”

“Taehyung, everything goes,” Yoongi insisted, stepping away and snatching for the granola bar he’d found in the pantry and set on the counter, “And there’s nothing in there.”

“Maybe she’s holding it.” He glanced at the box himself, able to hear scuffling coming from inside. “We’ve been feeding her a lot of people food she’s probably not used to. She could be backed up.” He didn’t understand where Yoongi could be going with this, if he was going anywhere. Didn’t some animals eat their own droppings, too? He cringed, trying to wave that thought away while he was eating. “Animals are weird.”

“Yeah,” Yoongi said noncommittally, sipping at his coffee and tearing open his bar. “Weird.”

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She didn’t know what she was going to do about these humans. It seemed that there was always one around, and they watched her so closely. Even though they assumed she was just a normal bat, they appeared fascinated. 

Though at least they gave her food with no thought to restrict her diet. In the last day alone she had gotten to eat more variety than she had in years, possibly ever, and she was sure it was a meager amount compared to what most her age had, compared to what else was out there. 

Them being so attentive had its downsides though. Xiǎo Biānfú couldn’t help but be wary of the man with the peachy blonde hair and cat-like eyes. Yoongi. Nothing got by him. He had even noticed the fact that her box was completely devoid of any droppings!

Of course, it would be the one who was already suspicious about the missing food. Who was this human? To her, trouble. She had to throw him off her scent by getting him to lower his guard. 

While she doubted he suspected her of anything, he was bound to figure out something being amiss coincided with her appearance if he wasn’t careful. Sure, the seven men treated a defenseless bat well enough, but who could say how they would react to a hybrid.

Humans had a long history of abusing her kind. She didn’t escape captivity with Gao to embrace it with open arms just because it came packaged younger and more handsome.

Although…some things she just wasn’t willing to do, as a matter of pride. Urinate and defecate in the box to satisfy this Yoongi’s intrusive musings was one of those things.

He didn’t know she had located a bathroom while roaming the house as a human and relieved herself there. Since no one had mentioned it, they all likely assumed it was one of their own they heard when the toilet flushed and the sank ran. 

Now Xiǎo Biānfú waited impatiently but not quite sulking, as more humans trickled into the kitchen, bringing with them conversation and more food smells. It felt like a never ending precession, like she would never be left on her own again. 

A small part of her was aware she was possibly being too dramatic, and it hadn’t been as long as it felt like waiting for them to file out of the kitchen and start her day. How else was she going to raid their refrigerator and sample all the yummy things she still wanted to try if they weren’t completely gone? Still, they weren’t heartless, she would say. 

They kept dropping bits of food into her box in a kind of makeshift breakfast. Discreetly. Because every time the brown-haired, broad-shouldered human (Jin?) caught them doing it, he yelled.

Xiǎo Biānfú munched on things like orange slices, dried cereal, scrambled eggs, nuts and shredded chicken, most of it given by the doe-eyed one, the one with the melodic voice, or the one who had already shared fruit with her that morning.

 The trio appeared the most interested in her of all, feeding her scraps like a pet they weren’t supposed to have and eagerly watching what she ate. Whenever one of their faces appeared over the box, an offering followed.

After years of her meal portions being heavily controlled, always hungry, never allowed to indulge the bigger-than-her-body appetite her species was cursed with, Xiǎo Biānfú gobbled everything given to her, taking it as an opportunity to expand her palette and get a better sense of what she liked.

Later on she would still raid the fridge in search of more delights like the leftovers—jokbal, apparently—but for now, she feasted on their generous crumbs. 

After a while, the food slowed, the chatter died, and the humans started to disperse, done in the kitchen. The last one out was the one who seemed most against her being there—Jin—catching sight of her as she waited for them to go. “Hey!” He called out. “When are we finally going to get someone to take this bat?!”

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In the end, no one could take the bat because no one could find her. Despite her seeming inability to climb out of the box, by the time someone from a wildlife rehab and rescue showed up, the bat was nowhere to be found. Not in the box. Not around the kitchen. Just gone. 

The camera crew followed them around the house on their “bat hunt”, the rehabber explaining that as long as it was still trapped inside, there were a few places it was likely to be. Jin complained in the background about how if everyone had committed to calling someone sooner, a wild animal that might have disease wouldn’t be loose in the house somewhere. 

But the complaints nor their search made the missing bat turn up. Jungkook didn’t know whether to be confused or impressed. He knew she was a wild animal, not a pet, but she had so much personality that playing with her was amusing. 

In the end, since they couldn’t find any sign of her and didn’t want to waste the rescuer’s time, they told him they would call him back if they came across the bat again. By late morning, Jungkook was all dressed and ready for his hike with Taehyung, Namjoon-hyung and Hobi-hyung, and the bat was all but forgotten. 

They all put on the proper shoes, dawned hats, packed a first aid kit at Jin’s insistence, and took snacks and water. Jungkook took the lead, sharing a map with Taehyung as the group traveled down the private hiking trail in the woods, near the property. 

“Do you think we’ll see any wildlife?” Namjoon asked from behind them but ahead of Hobi, who was carefully picking his way through the forested path. The camera crew dutifully followed along, documenting their trek with a steady lens. “You know, besides birds and squirrels.”

“You mean like deer and rabbits?” Hoseok asked, glancing up the trail and adjusting his backpack. He was in charge of carrying their medical kit, the most organized and responsible out of all of them, and in Namjoon-hyung’s case, the least likely to trip and spill everything.

“Anything’s possible. It’s not like the animals know we’re BTS. To them this is just home…is a random bat not enough wildlife for you?” he teased.

“Hyung’s going to lose it if we don’t find that bat, isn’t he?” Jungkook wondered aloud. The rescuer had set bat traps before leaving, telling them to call again if she turned up in one, but something told Jungkook their little problem was too smart for that.

“That’s what happens when you treat a wild animal like a pet.” Hobi shrugged. “She’s probably hiding in the walls somewhere.”

Namjoon hummed thoughtfully. “You think so?”

They still had a ways to go up the forested hill they were hiking, the summit promising a nice view of the surrounding area.

The ground was dotted by occasional clusters of wildflowers Namjoon stopped to admire and springy lush green grass that brushed over their covered ankles. “Wouldn’t you?” Taehyung added, looking up from the map. “At that size, we’re all big and scary.”

The grass rustling caught everyone’s attention, and Taehyung clutched his arm, Jungkook almost able to hear the hitch in his breath as a tall bird appeared, some kind of crane or stork.

“That’s…that’s a white-naped crane!” Namjoon sputtered, his voice soft and shocked. “They’re endangered!” It would be his super smart hyung who would know the bird right away, obviously. The crane didn’t look as impressed with them, slowly turning its long neck in their direction.

“Hi,” Jungkook couldn’t help but wave. “Do you know BTS?” He heard a soft snicker at his joke, but they all froze as the bird walked closer, passing right in front of them as it crossed their path. 

Namjoon felt the need to give it a respectful bow, so Jungkook joined, noticing Taehyung and Hobi copy them out of the corner of his eye. 

“Wow, that was cool,” Namjoon whispered after the crane had disappeared back into the forest. 

Hobi patted his back fondly. “Nature came through for you after all.”

Jungkook watched Namjoon-hyung smile slowly, tossing a grin his way too. The camera crew was stealthy and near silent, so it was easy to pretend like they weren’t even there, like it was just him, Taehyung and the hyungs on a relaxing hike.

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Xiǎo Biānfú had waited in silence for what felt like an eternity, until she was certain no one else was around. Her sensitive ears pricked straight up, trying to capture even the slightest sound. But, it seemed, the humans had wandered off, doing who knows what elsewhere in the property.

It wasn’t her concern. They could be back at any moment so time was of the essence. Flying her way out of her hiding place, careful of the fact that the human who called himself an animal rehabber had laid traps, Xiǎo Biānfú plopped onto the neatly made bed and shifted, stretching her arms above her head until her joints gave a satisfying little pop. 

Her poor wings ached a bit, having them bunched in for so long, but it was nothing a hot shower couldn’t fix. She had decided that one thing she would do, before considering going through the kitchen again, was bathe. When they had given up and gone to bed for the night the kitchen would be there, maybe even with more food leftovers.

 But a shower wasn’t something she got to indulge in without the awareness that Gao’s guard was waiting outside the door. Being utterly alone was a real treat. She shuffled her way into the big en-suite and flipped on the light, marveling at the sparkling white tile before catching her reflection in the mirror over the double sinks. More than likely, some of them shared this space. 

Locking the door, Xiǎo Biānfú took her time rifling through what had been left out, the different shampoos and soaps available. Her wings fluttered happily at the discovery of clean towels and rags stored under the sink—in a house full of men that wasn’t really a given. At least some of them seemed to value tidiness.

Turning the shower on was an exercise in patience that taught her the meaning of trial and error. It wasn’t like the basic one in the bathroom she had access to. There were all kinds of fancy settings that weren’t that intuitive for someone who only read Korean on an intermediate level and couldn’t figure out the symbols. 

She at least knew hot and cold though, but regrettably only after she had scalded herself adjusting the knobs to just the right setting. Gathering her “borrowed” bath supplies, she stepped under the warm spray and set to work soaping down, getting the length of her body covered in a nice lather to wash off the long journey she had before even winding up here.

The soap she had chosen had a spicy, woodsy male musk scent she wasn’t all that surprised by. Right now wasn’t the time for preferences anyway—her only one was to be clean.

Grabbing up the shampoo—that smelled minty—she squirted some into her palm and worked it into her hair, going from the roots to the ends and back again. It started to drip at one point, and Xiǎo Biānfú  tilted her head back to avoid getting any in her eyes while folding her ears down. 

This was…something new, the way it felt…cleaning herself not because Gao demanded it of her before she was shoved into yet another skin tight dress, but because she simply wanted to be clean and feel refreshed. Rinsing her body felt like it was rinsing some of the weight off too. It would be dumb to let down her guard after everything. She quite literally wasn’t out of the woods yet, but…

Something giddy bubbled in her belly, something that began to work its way up and up, settling in her throat. A song. Xiǎo Biānfú almost gave into the impulse. Almost opened her mouth and let her feelings drift out in a melody, but she bit her lip, fangs digging into the soft flesh, restraining herself just barely. She needed to get on with this and out of the shower before she couldn’t fight it. 

A hasty twenty minutes later found her wrapped up in a towel, another one tightly piled up and tucked around her wet hair as she sat on the edge of the bed and dug out the stolen shirt she had brought from the other room and hidden away. It was safer to use the same one than to steal another one, at least until some of their suspicions about their missing things went away. 

Plus, it was still comfortable and roomy, one side sliding off her damp shoulder as she took her hair down and shook it out. If only her wings could do the same, but without holes for them… Well, later. After she had collected what she needed to go back on the run. Then she could find somewhere with clothes that accommodated wings.

And even though she knew there were a million better things to do, that she should give some serious thought to when she was leaving, Xiǎo Biānfú dug out the remote and flicked the TV on again, determined to have a little more entertainment before she got down to business. The show she found today was some sort of game show, with contestants competing in all kinds of silly challenges to win the grand prize.

 Xiǎo Biānfú  had a little trouble following along with exactly what the point of it was, but she found herself enjoying it all the same. But it was a show with a lot of dancing coming on that really caught her attention. She had been laying bonelessly on her stomach across the bed, nice and relaxed with the back of the shirt riding up and her wings lazily sticking out. 

But one look at all the animated choreographed dancing happening on stage with the group of girls clad in matching outfits, and Xiǎo Biānfú felt something in her blood stirring. Suddenly energized, she rocked herself to the end of the bed until her bottom was on the edge, rising on shaky legs and beginning to follow their movements to the best of her ability. 

Gao didn’t train her to perform the way he trained her to use her voice—her stage persona was built around mysterious sensuality—but she only stumbled once or twice, dancing around in front of the TV and ignoring the breeze that reminded her she was completely bare other than the shirt.

The burn in her legs actually felt good, though, and a few times, her overexcited flapping picked her up completely in the air during twirls. It must have been a concert, because they went through number after number, never slowing down as fans in the audience cheered for them. When Xiǎo Biānfú got tired, she sat heavily down on the bed again, placing a palm over her racing heart, wondering when the last time she had such a rush was.

 Singing in the lounge just wasn’t the same. It was the setlist Gao picked out for her, for one, and as much as she loved using her voice, it was hard to feel her heart went into her performances when the more she put herself out there, the more she inevitably ended up wrung out and left to dry. 

Falling down on her back, Xiǎo Biānfú stared tiredly at the ceiling, one arm spread out to the side and the other on her stomach. She didn’t think it was possible, because she had told herself she would be careful and smart, but somewhere between the background noise of the TV and the peace of being free for the first time in years, her eyes fluttered close and she drifted off. 

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It was almost dark by the time they got back from their hike, just enough time to wash up before dinner. It wasn’t like Jin was just going to let them sit down fresh from the outdoors without showering anyway.

He’d complain and shoot them disdainful looks or flat out refuse to allow them to eat food—even if it was takeout—if they tried. “You can shower first,” Taehyung told him, sheepishly looking at his connected room. “I…I need to actually put my stuff away.”

He disappeared into the room right next to him that he was sharing with Jimin, and Jungkook slipped into his own, reaching for the bottom of his shirt and beginning to peel the sticky clothing off. The humidity had gotten worse the further into the hills they went, and considering he preferred wearing dark colors so often…

Jungkook sniffed the bottom of his shirt, convinced he couldn’t smell anything, but tossing it off anyway. He was already here, so, a shower was still in order. He had his shorts halfway down when he turned, doing a double take at the body laying sprawled across his bed.

His brain short-circuited, not sure he was seeing what he thought he was. A person…a person was in his room. A person had somehow made it into the house and… A million scenarios ran through his mind about who it was and what they were doing, and none of them ended well. “Taehyung!”

Several things happened instantly. The body laying on his bed started with a violent jerk, popping up to reveal ears that weren’t human and large, thin wings thrashing around, just as Taehyung burst through the connecting door, looking like he was about to ask questions until he noticed what had him frozen in place.

 His mouth dropped open too, the wide-eyed girl with big bat wings staring between them with pure horror all over her face. Scrambling off the bed, she held her hands out defensively and tucked her head down, sprinting straight at Taehyung as soon as Jungkook instinctively shuffled to block the door. Apparently she had decided who she would rather take her chances trying to get by.

His brain booted up as he watched Taehyung tense, paralyzed that a strange girl was in the room and running at him. “Wait!” Jungkook heard himself shout, crossing the room in a sprint and grabbing for her, a tangle of limbs as they went down. He ended up on top of her, his full weight pressing her into the floor as she cried out and tried to wriggle free. 

Leathery wings beat him in the face as she screeched wordlessly, and he considered what a bad idea it might have been when he realized he was shirtless and the bare skin of her back kept brushing against his as the shirt she had on rode up. “Get off!” She yelled, her voice holding an indescribably alluring quality and thick with an accent he couldn’t immediately place. “I won’t go back to him! I’m not going back to that cage!”

Jungkook quickly sat up on his hands and knees, still caging her underneath him but no longer squishing her, and she rewarded him by turning her head, red-faced and teary-eyed, to chomp down on his arm. He hissed, feeling her sharp teeth dig into his flesh and rearing back, away from her.

The (bat??) girl shot up to her feet, stumbling and almost falling down again as she straightened what he vaguely recognized as Namjoon-hyung’s missing shirt down over her bare ass and tried yet again to escape. 

Taehyung, who had been uselessly standing there, finally moved in closer, and instead of trying to fight her way through him, she turned and fled for the bedroom window between the desk and the bed. Jungkook rubbed at his arm, rising to his feet as he struggled to get the window open with shaky hands and Tae closed in on her. 

He approached cautiously while she hunched in on herself defensively, her wings raised like she was prepared to use them to keep him back if necessary. But the shirt, although it was too big for her, didn’t have the space for her to lift them out fully, and every time she tried it just ended up shifting awkwardly.

“Who are you?” Taehyung managed to ask. “Are you…have you been here the whole time?” Jungkook thought back to the bat they found outside, had been keeping in a box and feeding. A bat that, by the looks of it, wasn’t a bat at all… but a…

“She’s a hybrid!” The hybrid recoiled like she’d been struck as he said those three words, and Jungkook had to admit he was confused by the reaction. He didn’t think he’d sounded angry, just awed. They didn’t meet hybrids every day, though he knew some of their staff had them, and more widely, they were fairly popular companions in some parts of the world.

In others, well…companions wasn’t really the right term, because people didn’t always treat them equally. Was that why she was so scared and desperate to run? She thought they would hurt her?

“Please…” she breathed, her eyes shining as she turned her back to the window and held a hand out. “Just let leave. Sorry for de-deceiving you…” She spoke slowly, like she was measuring every syllable. Her Korean wasn’t perfect, but he could understand her, so she must have been able to understand them for the most part.

“Well, we were the ones that brought you inside from that storm.” Jungkook said, ignoring the sting from her teeth. Jin would have a fit if he found out a strange hybrid bit him.

“Only because you unknown,” she insisted. “I’m going now.” 

Before Jungkook could decide whether grabbing for her again was a good idea, she had the window up and her knee on the ledge. He tried desperately not to notice her hips and thighs, which were exposed again, but as she prepared to crawl outside into the evening air, she lifted her ass, he saw everything, and promptly forgot to breathe. Jungkook.exe had stopped working. Taehyung made a sharp noise, so at least he wasn’t the only one effected. It meant he was less likely to get teased later.

But unlike him, Tae still grabbed at her ankle and tried to, unsuccessfully, tug her back in through the window. “We just want to talk to you. We won’t report you, if that’s why you’re leaving.” He tried. But there was nothing but desperation and fear shining wetly in her eyes, like she couldn’t even hear him.