after jungkook goes out of his way to help a sickly-looking stranger on a rainy night, the universe chooses to reward him in the most bizarre and unexpected way possible - with a nest of overprotective vampire sugar-daddies.
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"Namjoon-hyung won't be long," Jimin announces cheerfully as he slips back inside the healer's clinic room, closing the door behind him and tossing a bag-like object over to Seokjin with a quick flick of his wrist. "The receptionist said he's helping one of the apprentices set up something in the hydro-suite, but they're almost done."
Jungkook sends the vampire a grateful smile, then sucks in a sharp little startled breath when his ankle throbs in protest as it's suddenly lifted up onto the pillows that have materialised at the foot of the examination bed.
"Sorry, little one," Jin murmurs, and settles the gel-pack that Jimin had thrown to him over the swollen joint (fuck, cold, freezing, ow). "There now, that ought to help keep the swelling down in the meantime."
Although Jungkook knows it's for his own good, he can't help but grimace internally as the harsh chill of the icepack temporarily intensifies the ache in his ankle, the biting cold seeping in bone-deep. He grits his teeth against the urge to pull his ankle away, muscles growing tense with the strain of holding himself still. He hates ice. For as long as he can remember, Jungkook's skin has always been ridiculously sensitive to extreme temperature changes (although he can shovel down both frozen bingsu and scalding-hot noodles no problem – his mouth seems to be the one exception to that rule), and it's probably got a lot to do with his dormant hybrid genes. Full-blooded bunny hybrids have the ability to develop a very fine insulating coat during the winter months (barely thicker than peach fuzz) that helps them to conserve body heat, but Jungkook's never been able to do that. He sometimes gets a tingling sensation all over his skin when the temperature drops, something a little like goosebumps but worse, which he knows is his body's way of trying to trigger the emergence of that insulating layer, but it's no good; his very-definitely-human hair follicles apparently don't give a shit how freezing it is. It's nothing a few extra layers won't fix, but sometimes in the depth of winter he wishes he could swap his irritatingly heightened olfactory senses for a soft coat of fur.
Still, it does mean that he and Binnie have amassed an impressive collection of thick, fluffy blankets to cocoon themselves in during movie nights, so he can't really complain.
"It is too cold, darling?" Jin asks, studying his face with gentle concern. "Would you like me to wrap it in something first?"
Jungkook forces a smile to hide his grimace and shakes his head. "No thanks, I'm good. Totally okay. Feels great."
Oh sure, that sounded convincing.
The vampire regards him for another beat before decisively lifting the freezing compress away again.
"I'm going to wrap it."
Despite feeling a little embarrassed that he can't even tolerate an icepack (aigoo, could he look any more pathetic in front of Tae's nestmates?), Jungkook's grateful for the vampire's perceptiveness, tensed muscles relaxing now that the frozen-torture-pack has been removed, a faint blush heating his cheeks as he leans into his bondmate's side.
