Comments: This wasn’t a request, but this is an idea I’ve been toying around with for awhile. Be gentle.
Member: Seventeen’s Junhui x Y/N x Mingyu
Type: fluffy angst? angsty fluff? idk…it got kinda dark fam.
The Kumiho (구미호), or Gumiho*, is a nine-tailed fox spirit. In Korean tradition, foxes that have lived for a thousand years, accumulating a great deal of energy, turn into Kumiho. The Kumiho is similar to other fox creatures, such as the Japanese kitsune and Chinese huli jing. Though they have similar magical abilities and longevity, Kumiho are more malevolent than other fox spirits. Of these long-lived legendary creatures, the Kumiho is the only fox that kills and eats humans.
Junhui scoffed as he navigated the headstones. He dodged the marble gracefully and with an ease not at all human in characteristic. His moves were soft, but deliberate. He was careful in his purpose.
“Seems like an awful lot of work for a small amount of payoff,” Mingyu sighed, trudging behind him.
“Yah, when did you get here?” Jun grumbled, not even bothering to look over his shoulder at his inconvenient companion.
“Just finished dinner and figured I’d see what my favorite humanitarian was up to,” Mingyu chuckled.
Junhui rolled his eyes, thinking it would go by unnoticed in the dark night, forgetting for just a moment that Mingyu was exactly like him. His eyes were quick and he didn’t miss the small details.
“Rude,” Mingyu spat, poetically tripping over a vine, but catching himself with ease.
“Keep watch of your feet,” Junhui whispered, attempting to hide the laugh on the edge of his lips. “Don’t want to wake the dead.”
“I don’t know how this place doesn’t creep you out,” Mingyu muttered, shaking his head.
Jun snorted as he looked back at Mingyu. “Because what you do on a daily basis doesn’t creep you out?”
Mingyu shrugged. “Your sensibilities are geared toward the living, mine are geared toward the dead. Two sides of the same coin, Jun my boy.”
“No…two different coins,” Jun argued, finally slowing his pace as a mound of fresh dirt came into his line of sight. He paused at the fresh grave and bit his lip. Stretching out his arms he felt himself slowly begin to change into his natural form, the more fox like version of himself.
“Ah, there’s my handsome guy,” Mingyu smiled, leaning against a nearby grave marker. “I still don’t understand why you do this to yourself.”
Jun looked up, his face and arms covered in dirt. “Because I’m not a monster.”
“Hate to break it to you,” Mingyu hissed. “But we’re all monsters.”
“Not me,” Jun insisted, nearly three feet of the six down into the earth.
“We were all given this fate,” MIngyu continued. “Strung along by humanity, but not given the full extent of a human life. To get their life force you have to eat their hearts, fresh hearts, Junhui. You’re getting no where with the human equivalent of a frozen, microwavable meal.”
Jun had dug down to the coffin, it’s wood grain not even aged a day. “I’m not killing a thousand people to become human. At least this way…I’m not responsible.”
Mingyu rolled his eyes, shifting his weight on the marble beneath him. “I’m roughly 900 in. I’ll be a human by spring and I don’t have to wait around for the bastards to die. It’s much quicker my way. How many have you eaten?”
Jun remained quiet as he carefully lifted the casket’s lid. He gazed sadly upon the face of the small boy lying there, not much older than ten. “Seven hundred and two,” he responded.
Mingyu grunted, shaking his head. “You’ve been in this form nearly a hundred years longer than I have. Quit being so soft.”
Jun fiddled with the thin fabric of the boy’s button down shirt, cursing at his luck. He always seemed to find the children. “Quit being an ass. Have a little more respect.”
“Says the man about to eat a dead boy’s heart,” Mingyu whispered.
Jun looked away as he slid a sharp nail down the boys abdomen. After hundreds of years, he still wasn’t able to watch himself puncture the fragile skin of a human. He was soft.
“Have you ever thought about trying a live one?” Mingyu asked, slowly approaching the grave. He plopped onto the ground, his feet sitting lightly on the end of the coffin.
“Of course I’ve thought about it,” Jun grumbled, his mouth full. “Don’t be an idiot.”
“Then why haven’t you exactly?” Mingyu prodded.
“We’ve gone over this, I don’t want to be responsible-” Jun began, only to be cut off.
“It’s because you’re scared, isn’t it?” Mingyu gasped. “That’s what it is. The thought of killing one of them scares you shitless.”
“You speak with such disdain for something you want to become,” Jun grumbled, his pride a bit hurt. “But I’ll have you know, I’m not frightened. I just have no desire.”
He was lying through his teeth. He knew it. Mingyu knew it. Hell, the dead kid even knew it. It had been nearly 900 years since Jun had turned into this malevolent creature, but he constantly fought back on his evil desires. If he had to do despicable things to become a human, they would at least be on his terms. He had never killed anything in any of his past lives and he wasn’t planning to now. No matter how appealing the idea of a fresh, beating heart sounded. As a kumiho, he was destined to consume a thousand human hearts if he ever wanted to become mortal. He hated the idea of killing someone almost as much as he had hated what he had become.
“Just try one,” Mingyu urged. “And I’ll leave you alone. For a century even.”
“You said you’d be human by spring,” Jun muttered. “I was looking forward to only having to put up with you for three more months anyhow.”
“I will make those three months a living hell,” Mingyu smiled with a quick wink.
“Too late, I’m already there,” Jun muttered, closing his eyes as he looked down at the boy. He slowly closed the lid of his casket, the thudding noise echoing through the night. He pulled himself from the hole and instantly began to cover it again.
“Come on Jun, just one. I’ll pick it out and help you and everything,” Mingyu nodded, his face eager. Jun sighed, tilting his head to the side as he looked to his one and only friend in this godforsaken world.
“If it’ll make you shut up, and you promise to do the bulk of the atrocities, fine,” Jun spat. “Now help me cover this kid.”
Jun blinked wordlessly as he and MIngyu stood across the street from their apartment building.
“No,” Jun whispered, shaking his head. “No way.”
“She’s who I pick,” MIngyu nodded. “I’ve decided, no takebacksies.”
Jun remained tight lipped as he watched you, hustling up the steps leading into the building and swinging the door open. Your headphones were deep within your ears. You tossed your hair, nearly falling as you caught one of the headphones and knocked yourself off balance.
“She’s our neighbor Mingyu,” Jun hissed. He wouldn’t admit it, but you were one of the most treasured humans he had met in his short 900 years. He had been scorned by love far too often in his lifetime, so he let those feelings lay dormant when it came to you, but it still didn’t mean they weren’t there. You were brilliant, gracious, and radiant. You handled he and Mingyu well these past few years.
“Isn’t it perfect?” Mingyu giggled in glee. “My favorite part is the cover up. We’ll make it look like a forced entry. She seems a bit compliant, so I don’t think she’ll put up much of a fuss.”
“I won’t do it,” Jun whispered, watching your frame carefully as you appeared in different windows, climbing the three flights of stairs to find the safety of your apartment.
“Aish, the difference between Chinese and Korean fox spirits, I swear,” Mingyu grumbled, stepping forward into traffic. “I guess I have to do the damn thing myself.”
“Mingyu!” Jun gasped, reaching out for him, but leaning back as a scooter sped by. Cursing to himself, he kept a careful eye on cars as he hustled across the road, trying to keep up with his friend.
Jun raced up the steps, Mingyu barely in the distance as he mounted the stairs much more efficiently. He had Jun by at least a hundred years, so it was no surprise that he moved with the swiftness of a fox half of his age. Jun’s labored breaths echoed down the stairways, only pausing when he met the third level and made eye contact with MIngyu.
His face was wild, barely able to hide the monster within. It was true that when kumiho entered human form, something about their features remained similar to a fox. Mingyu was so excited, that every time Jun blinked, he was unsure if he was staring at the human MIngyu or the demon within.
Mingyu’s fist hit the door with a heavy knock. Jun shuffled quickly to stand behind his counterpart, his own fist wrapping around MIngyu’s shoulder just as you pulled open the door.
“Oh hey guys! What’s up?” you smiled, tossing a hand carelessly through your bangs. You smiled up at the men fondly.
What a fool, Jun thought. To trust strangers so completely.
“Wanted to visit, we were right behind you coming up the stairs,” Mingyu nodded, attempting to shoulder past you. Jun kept his firm grip on the slightly taller boy, locking him in place.
“But we have a lot of work to do,” Jun nodded. “We’ll have to talk later though.”
You looked up with furrowed brows, eying them suspiciously. “Okay?”
Jun nodded, pushing Mingyu towards their apartment. Mingyu whined, stomping his feet as Jun all but drug him. You closed your door slowly, biting your lip at the strange development. You couldn’t say you were necessarily surprised, the boys were the definition of unique. As your door clicked and you fastened the lock, you could hear their muffled shouts echo down the hallway.
“You’re only delaying the inevitable,” MIngyu gasped. “I’ve set my sights on her and won’t rest until her heart is mine.”
You clutched your chest as you kept your ear tight to the door. You had no idea that the odd and aloof Mingyu had any feelings for you.
“I swear to you,” Jun hissed. “I can’t physically kill you, but I will set you on fire.”
Your eyes grew wide as you pushed your face even harder against the door. Had you unknowingly been placed in a love triangle?
“Do you…do you like her?” Mingyu whispered. “Her?!”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jun spat. “Get inside.”
You heard their apartment door slam just as you opened yours only a few inches. The shouting grew louder, but this time behind their own walls. You grinned to yourself as you shut your door as well, locking it once again.
Two boys vying for your heart, it couldn’t be any better, could it?
