protector

The last time Taehyung visited you in your cabin, he left behind a book about wild herbs; their uses, appearance, where to find them and such. He said that some of the best herbs can be found on the land that you owned in the woods around your cabin, land which he had wanted to go on for years but didn’t, without elaborating further on his reasoning. You assumed he didn’t want to trespass on the Kang’s land due to the status they held within his hometown. 

So, you offered to try and find some yourself one day for him alongside giving him permission to forage and search for all the herbs and plants he desired on your land.

But the promise to search yourself led you to pack up a bottle of water and some fruit to snack on later with the book and a little kit Taehyung had helped you prepare, and go venturing past the border of the clearing and into the trees. 

Despite having lived there for two months already, you hadn’t stepped into the woodland before. It was an adventure you were honestly excited to experience.

Taehyung had informed you that anything he wanted would be at least a ten-minute walk past the tree line so you kept that in mind and walked for ten minutes, taking in the beauty of the scenery surrounding you; the great trees, wildflowers and plants in a variety of colour, the creatures that popped their heads out curiously at the new guest to their home before returning to their business feeling entirely unthreatened by your presence.

After the ten minutes were up, you stopped to pull out the book and opened it onto the first bookmarked page; Taehyung had left a messy list of plants he wanted on a scrap of paper there so you didn’t needlessly pluck at wildlife he didn’t desire.

You looked around curiously and found a small patch of muted red leaves that looked vaguely familiar so you approached and crouched beside them. They sat clumped by a tree that must’ve fallen many years ago, thick roots sticking up in the air by the red patch. 

It was only the third bookmark that led you to read the name and purpose of the leaves; the bookmarks were on pages you found interesting and wanted to find yourself in the wild, the fact that those leaves were also on Taehyung’s list made your life so much easier. 

You collected a small bunch, going by how much Taehyung requested before tucking them into your bag and continuing on your journey.

*

Not even an hour after starting you had found and gathered everything on Taehyung’s list, along with a few wildflowers which were pretty enough that you wanted to place in a little vase on your bedside table to wake up to every day.

Instead of returning to your home though, you kept walking, turning now and then and honestly not really concerning yourself over the fact that you could very likely get lost in the woods with no way of contacting anyone. Phones didn’t get any signal on the mountain, after all. You honestly hadn’t even used your phone since moving to the cabin, it laid dead in your sock drawer.

You were forced to a stop when you met a stream. Deciding it was a good place for a break, you sat down and pulled out an apple and your water bottle to re-energise yourself.

Not even five minutes later though, you were disturbed by a rough male voice from across the stream. 

“What are you doing here? This is private land.” 

Your neck almost snapped with the sudden speed that you turned to locate the stranger.

The man on the opposite side of the small body of water looked to be around your age, at least in his facial features because from what you could see from his bulging thighs and biceps, he was certainly much more muscular than any boy your age that you had crossed paths with before.

“Uh?” 

Even though your answer was very inarticulate and plain dumb, the male seemed to lose a hell of a lot of his aggression, his stance relaxing and arms unfolding to fall by his sides. 

“Who are you?” His voice was much softer now, almost sweet-sounding as round eyes stared at you curiously, as if he was trying to figure you out. 

“Y/N, I live nearby.” You pointed your thumb over your shoulder blindly back in the direction you came. 

“Is this your land? I’m new here so I don’t know the boundaries yet, I thought mine was to the stream but I’m probably wrong.” 

“It’s not my land. My family were close with the people that used to own it. We’ve been protecting it from poachers and vandalists for years.” 

“The Kang land?” He nodded. “It’s mine now.” 

“What?” His gaze grew dark and his eyebrows slanted down with anger. “You can’t. You’re squatting. A liar.” 

“I’m really not. I was given the deed and now own the land that used to belong to the Kang’s.” He did not seem to believe you at all. “I literally have the deed at the cabin with my name on it.” 

“I want to see.” You raised your eyebrows. “I have to go now but I’ll be by tonight to look at it.” And then, he left. He just turned around and jogged off back into the trees on his side of the stream.

You sat there for a few minutes utterly dumbstruck before letting out a heavy breath and returning to your snack.

*

You were just about to start preparing vegetables to make a basic soup for dinner when footsteps echoed on your front porch. You waited for only a fraction of a second before there was a knock on the front door. 

It wasn’t Taehyung, his steps did not sound like that nor did he knock in such a manner. He always knocked out a little tune, different almost every time while singing your name out sweetly to beckon you quicker. It worked at least, you were always happy to see him. It did get pretty lonely up the mountain after all.

Honestly, up until you opened the door, you had forgotten all about the guy at the stream but there he was suddenly standing on your porch with a firm expression and wearing the same almost tight-fitting black joggers and black t-shirt.

“Oh, you,” You mumbled, your surprise showing in your tone.

“I told you I’d be by.” 

“That you did,” You hummed and stepped aside to motion him to enter. He did so but a little tentatively, as if the house itself would reject him. You shut the door behind him. 

“Don’t look so awkward, you invited yourself over.” 

“I didn’t.” You gave him a look that made him sigh. “I just...my family are protective of this land and cabin, I can’t just take the word of a stranger on their rights to it.” 

“Hey, I’m not going to argue with you. I never argue with guys that could crack my skull with their thighs.” The flush that tickled his cheeks pink made you giggle. Cute.

“Sit.” You didn’t wait to see if he obeyed before climbing the stairs straight up to your room and walked the small landing to the wardrobe where you kept your box of important documents.

When you returned downstairs, he was perched awkwardly on the very edge of the couch, eyes darting around the room as he took everything in.

“Here it is, one old as hell deed.” You announced flopping down next to him and handing over the document. He took it carefully and read every inch of the thing, reading over your name underneath the names of the previous owners. You had no idea why the deed had never been replaced by one with less age and wear and tear but, it was still a perfectly valid legal document so you didn’t really mind. 

“Oh...guess you do really own it now.” He murmured.

“Told you so.” After staring at the spot your name took for another few seconds, he handed it back. 

“So, going to pass the news on so that I don’t have your family doing exactly this if I bump into them?” 

“You won’t, they died a few years ago. Just me left.” He shrugged but you could see the downturn of his lips and the sadness in his eyes despite the fact he was staring ahead into the fire opposite you both.

“I’m sorry.” Another shrug moved his shoulders. 

“I don’t have any family either, not now but guess I haven’t ever.” You had no idea why you were telling him about your family situation but you couldn’t really stop yourself. 

“A couple of months back the couple I grew up calling mum and dad told me they adopted me by no choice of their own. They said they never wanted me but they couldn’t risk putting me into the care system for the sake of whoever I’d end up with. I didn’t realise how much they hated me until they kicked me out and told me never to go back.” 

“That’s horrible. How could they say that to you?” 

“I honestly have no idea.” You laughed a little, it was humourless but not dark, you had been slowly getting over the pain it initially caused you. 

When you looked up, you found that he was already looking at you and you felt something in his gaze, something in the air between you, something like a mutual understanding, a connection. 

“If it’s alright with you, I’d like to keep protecting your land, Y/N. My family always supported and protected the Kangs no matter who exactly lived in this cabin, maybe I could keep that going by protecting you.” 

“Don’t you think you should at least tell me your name before offering that?” You teased.

“Oh, right,” His cheeks warmed a little at the reminder that he hadn’t yet told you his own name. “My name is Jeongguk.”

“Well then, Jeongguk, I have no problem with you continuing to protect my land, including myself but only if you agree to come in and have dinner with me sometimes. I’m getting a bit sick of eating alone.” 

A soft smile lifted his lips.

“I can do that.” 

*

Taehyung was over the moon with the herbs and plants you managed to collect for him.

“This is great! Joonie can finally make the potion for Yoongi!” He exclaimed dancing happily on the opposite side of his store’s counter to you. 

“A potion...for his cat?” You questioned with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes.” 

“Okay, whatever, I’m not even going to question it.” Taehyung just grinned at you. 

“You look pretty busy today, do you want me to deliver them to him?” You offered after taking in the freshly delivered stock, piled haphazardly behind the counter.

“Oh! Yes please Y/N!” He bundled up the correct plants and handed them back to you so you tucked them safely into your bag. “Thank you!” 

“No problem. I’ll come back and help you with your delivery when I’m done.” His eyes sparkled at the offer making you laugh lightly. “See you in a minute, Tae.”

You decided to walk to Kim’s Oddities knowing it wasn’t far really so it was such a waste to drive the short distance.

Just as you were about to enter the open door, a blur of white darted in before you, weaving through your legs making you yelp in surprise and tumble backwards, falling on your backside rather gracelessly. 

At least the ground was dry.

The white mass jumped onto your lap with a soft trill and you sighed, lifting a hand to stroke through the feline’s soft fur.

“Good morning to you too, Yoongi.” You spoke. He purred and moved forward to press his front paws against your chest so that he could nuzzle your jaw. 

“Yeah yeah, I forgive you for tripping me. Shit happens and you apologised so we’re fine.” 

“Y/N?” You looked up to find Namjoon standing in the open doorway where your feet still were, and staring down at you with an amused expression. “Why are you down there?” 

“Yoongi here decided to send me on a little morning trip.” 

“Yoongi.” Namjoon scolded after an exasperated heavy breath. 

“I’m sorry, Y/N,” He apologised as he held out a hand to help you up. Yoongi jumped from your lap with a displeased sounding meow when he could no longer stay due to your movements. Once you were upright Namjoon continued to talk.

“I swear he’s literally never outside during the day, he hates how the customers always want to touch him. I thought he was in his room, honestly.” 

“I think he just knew I’d be here and wanted to mess with me.” You mused, following Namjoon into the shop with Yoongi rushing ahead to jump up onto the counter and wait for you. 

“I think it’s more that he wants your attention. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he has a crush on you.” Namjoon sniggered, reaching out to pet his cat but Yoongi hissed and swiped his paw towards the tall man so Namjoon rapidly retracted his hand. 

“Hey! Be nice!” With a grumble, Namjoon wandered off through the door beside the counter. 

“He just wants to love you,” You giggled, approaching Yoongi and scratching behind his ear. He made a grumbling annoyed sort of sound so you removed your hand. The second you were no longer touching him though, Yoongi turned and shuffled closer to you, nudging your hand back onto his head and purring as you resumed your scratches.

“Why me, huh? Why do you like me and no-one else?” 

Of course, you didn’t get an answer.

Namjoon entered through the beaded curtain carrying a crateful of small empty jars. 

“What’s that?” You asked curiously as he started to carefully ladle a shimmering thick silver liquid into the jars. It looked like liquid metal silver. You couldn’t even begin to imagine what it could really be. 

“Healing salve, for cuts and any open sores.” You just hummed, watching silently until all the jars were full. “Hoseok works at the local hospital. It’s run by the town council and they save money by buying local herbal remedies from me instead of all those nasty chemicals in typical medicine.”

“And this salve works? It heals wounds?” 

“Yep. You’ll heal twice as fast with my salve than any chemical salve produced in factories by big companies. Plus, this smells nice.” He held a jar up to you so you sniffed it, eyes widening in pleasant surprise.

“Wow, it really does. Do you happen to have any spare you can sell me then? It’d be helpful to have something like this at home.”

“You can have one for free.” He grinned, continuing when you opened your mouth to argue. “You’ll have to wait for it to set though; if they don’t set properly, they don’t work, unfortunately.” 

“I can’t just have one for nothing, Namjoon.” 

“Yes, you can. You brought me those herbs last time, it was free delivery.” He chuckled.

“Oh! That reminds me!” You pulled your bag around to open it and remove the plants. His face lit up at the sight of the carefully bundled herbs and flowers.

“Tae said you wanted these for a potion for Yoongi.” You handed over the bunch and even Yoongi was interested, approaching Namjoon to sniff the greenery in his hands.

“You didn’t question the potion part?” He teased well aware of your disbelief in anything magical.

“Potions doesn’t have to refer to magic. He probably just meant something medicinal.” 

“Well, I mean, it will help him feel more like himself so you can think of it medicinally if you want,” Namjoon smirked at Yoongi who turned and gave you one last glance before hopping off the counter and disappearing

from your sight. A second later you saw the beaded curtain move so assumed he had gone to the back room.

“This is really great, thank you, Y/N. I’ve been waiting for years for these.” 

“Years?!” He nodded. “Why didn’t you just go pick them? I’m sure no-one would’ve noticed.”

“The Kang land is protected, no-one can step foot on it without permission from the Kangs, well actually I guess you now, huh.” 

“Oh, do you mean Jeongguk?” Namjoon’s eyes widened in surprise. “I met him. Seems like a nice guy.” 

“You should be careful around him, Y/N. He’s dangerous.” The serious expression on his features and unwavering tone made you hesitate. 

Jeongguk didn’t seem at all dangerous to you, sure intimidating at first but once he realised you were genuine, he himself softened up and was actually rather shy. But, Namjoon surely knew him better, he had, after all, lived in town a lot longer than yourself so should know the inhabitants better.

Namjoon could see the internal battle on your features so he forced all thought of Jeongguk from his mind and smiled at you once again. 

“Why don’t you come through for some tea while you wait for the salve?” 

“Oh, yeah, thanks.” You smiled back and walked through the door. 

You spent the rest of the day with Namjoon, helping him dry herbs and clean bottles and jars all while Yoongi stayed close by and watched you work with his human with a smile on your face.

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