Chasing Butterflies

Deal With The Devil

"W-what?" Izzy's nose scrunched up cutely, her head falling to the side. Taehyung let out a ringing laugh that echoed throughout the apartment and couldn't help but poke the tip of her nose. It scrunched up even more, which made him grin widely before wrapping his long arms around her from behind, where he still sat on the couch.

"Yeah Izzy, move in with us!" The adorable smile never left his face as he lay his head on her shoulder so he could look at her stunned expression.
"I uh—" Izzy gulped down the lump in her throat, unsure what to do.

On the one hand Izzy loved these boys. They were sweet and fun and albeit a little weird, but that's what made her like them in the first place. But on the other hand... she had lived in three places throughout her life and none of them turned out too well. Her parents tried to bury her beneath six feet of pearls and designer shoes, and when she refused to conform to their lifestyle they kicked her out. Youngkyun had managed to convince Izzy that he loved her and then he cheated on her... before kicking her out. And now she had unceremoniously taken up residence on the shag-carpeted living room floor of Cassie's beer-stained apartment and was swallowing pills like they were Sour Patch Kids. And though Cassie hadn't kicked her out yet, Izzy somehow felt that living under a bridge would be better than continuing to live with Jae and his roaming hands.

"I don't know guys," she admitted, "I don't know if it's a good idea." Seeing the smiles drop from their faces sent a pang of guilt through Izzy's heart.
"But why not?" Hoseok scooted closer to her, an adorable pout on his face, and grabbed one of her hands.
"Don't you like us?" Craning her head around was a bit difficult with Taehyung still pouting on her shoulder, but Izzy managed. Jungkook sat on the couch behind her. His face was blank but Izzy saw the hurt in his eyes, and it killed her to hurt any one of them.
"Of course I do, Jungkook! You guys are the best people I've met in my entire life," she rushed the words, trying to make the pain in his eyes go away. "It's just that," she gulped, "I tend to end up getting hurt by the people I live with. I don't want that to happen with you guys."

Namjoon and Jin both opened their mouths to protest but Izzy quickly cut them off.

"Besides, I don't want you guys to worry too much about me."
Jin sighed at that and crouched down in front of her. "Izzy, you're our friend and you're a part of our group now. We take care of each other. And trust me when I say that we already worry about you, and we would worry a lot less if we could keep you close by us."

Izzy stared up at the older boy, silently mulling over his words. "Are you sure I won't be a bother to you guys?" Her words were so quiet that they almost didn't hear her speak.

All of a sudden Yoongi, who hadn't spoken a word this entire time, came forward, sat down by her side, and placed a gentle hand on her knee. "Look Izzy, we don't really 'make nice' with new people, and we don't have any friends outside of each other, we're the only people we can trust. So we wouldn't ask you to move in with us unless we wanted you to. You're not a burden. You're one of us, Izzy. We take care of you." Tears began to well up in her eyes. Yoongi didn't talk much— as Izzy had noticed— but whenever he did open his mouth it was always worth hearing.

"Please?" Jimin's soft voice whispered, one of his hands squeezed hers and Izzy looked up into his pleading eyes.

The tiny nod of her head was almost invisible as she whispered, "Okay."

Seven loud voices screamed happily as the boys tackled Izzy onto the floor in a massive hug. "You guys are ridiculous!" Izzy had meant to sound stern but the laughter in her voice kept the boys from taking her words seriously, instead they just laughed along with her.