Archive of Our Own

“he’s real squeamish, you know, can’t stand the sight of blood,” namjoon continues, leading jeongguk up the stairs. “so if you’re cooking with raw meat or you cut yourself just make sure he’s not around, you know?” and jeongguk just nods warily, getting a weird vibe off of this house. he's keeping himself distracted from it by counting the number of times that namjoon says 'you know' during the home tour. so far, he's up to nine and they just got upstairs.

when jeongguk applied for this job, he thought hey, cool, free rent, like, who wouldn’t want to get paid to basically just do some rich guy’s laundry and vacuum the floor? and get your own room and not pay for food? but he feels a little less sure now, staring around at blank white walls and dark wood floors. it doesn’t feel like someone’s home, just someone’s house. jeongguk never really understood the difference, but he does now, freezing on the stairs as something thuds to the floor upstairs. namjoon jumps too, before sighing like it’s regular occurrence.

“he- jimin, ” namjoon says, voice rising a little, and there it is, finally, the name of the faceless owner of this stupidly huge mansion. after a pause, it gets quiet upstairs, and namjoon continues, “keeps odd hours, you know? just keeps to himself.”

“mhm,” jeongguk hums in reply. ten, he thinks, the little ‘you know’ counter in his head ticking up to double digits. namjoon leads him down a hallway, pointing out the door to what must be his own room, “in case you need me, but i don’t think you will, you know?” eleven.

“anyway, this is your room.” namjoon says, pushing a door open at the top of the stairs, towards the back of the house.

jeongguk’s never seen a more boring space, but somehow, the white walls, white sheets, white floors , make him want the room more. he can fix it, he decides, he can decorate, it’ll be a hundred times better than the broom closet he left back in seoul. he’s already got furniture inside, the bed looking like it hasn’t been touched since it was put there and the nightstand next to it looking the same way. there’s a big pane window on the back wall, with a window seat , one that’s wide enough that jeongguk can totally put blankets on it and sleep there. when jeongguk crosses the room and peers out, there’s a maze garden in the backyard, hedges making pathways and a huge tress growing roses and vines making the entrance. it’s a little overgrown, but jeongguk is already kind of planning to make time to fix that, too. plus, jeongguk can see from the window that the middle of the maze is a circular little courtyard, where jeongguk could lay at night and look up at the stars.

“so, i guess, that’s all you need?” namjoon says from the doorway sheepishly. “you don’t have to bother with cooking, my- seokjin , he likes to cook for everyone anyway, so all you have to do is help out around the house, you know?” twelve. namjoon turns to leave as jeongguk slings his backpack off.

“wait, hyung, a-are you sure?” jeongguk asks, and namjoon turns back, raising an eyebrow at jeongguk’s question.  jeongguk wrings his hands a little, chewing his lip. namjoon hasn’t exactly been specific, and jeongguk tends to worry without nice, clear-cut directions. “i mean, all i have to do is fold laundry and help seokjin?”

namjoon smiles a little strangely. “well, sure, yeah. nothing else for you to do, really, you know?” thirteen . “just remember, try not to bother him , and laundry’s done every thursday.” and then namjoon’s gone, leaving jeongguk alone in a huge room, his huge room.

namjoon hadn’t even shown him the whole house, literally just pointing down the hall to where the kitchen was “the first doorway on the left” and then leading him upstairs, where jeongguk’s room is. this means that since it’s only two in the afternoon and a wednesday, jeongguk gets to explore. he feels anxiety tug at his skin as he leaves his room, like he’s breaking the rules, but he pushes it away. if he’s going to live here, he needs to know where things are. namjoon’s only rule, so far, has just been “don’t bother jimin” so jeongguk doesn’t see the harm in exploring places that jimin is definitely not in. plus, the weather was nice and cool when jeongguk got to the house, fall finally settling in, so jeongguk decides to go outside, into the garden. the maze garden , he thinks excitedly, pushing away the eerie vibe of the house to make way for the childish buzz of excitement that comes with playing outside. he tiptoes back down the stairs, jumping a little when he hears another thud from upstairs, like someone dropping books to the floor.

maybe this place even has a library , jeongguk muses, continuing his spider-crawl downstairs, to the front door. he makes it to the bottom of the stairs, peering around the banister towards the kitchen, where he can see the shadow of someone standing in the doorway. namjoon’s quiet voice floats up the narrow hallway, and someone else laughs brightly, muffled like they’re trying to stay quiet. that must be seokjin, jeongguk decides, silently slipping his shoes back on, wincing when the front door creaks as he opens it. namjoon goes quiet, and jeongguk shimmies between the too small opening, not wanting to make any more noise, tugging the door back behind him. he takes a few steps outside, raising his face to the sun even as a light breeze wraps around him, just cool enough that jeongguk wishes he’d brought a jacket.

jeongguk turns back, when he’s far enough away that he can see the whole front of the house, and notes that the windows all have blinds on them, and that the house is white, but he can see that it used to be trimmed in sky blue, from where the paint is peeling. as he’s staring at the trim around the right corner, contemplating asking namjoon if he could repaint it, a curtain flutters on the other side of the house. but by the time jeongguk flicks his eyes over, the curtain is closed again. so jimin stays in the left corner upstairs , jeongguk thinks, frowning a little, because his room isn’t far away. good to know .  jeongguk wraps his arms around himself and starts to trek towards the back of the house, where his window points to the maze.

jeongguk’s considerably tall, but the opening to the maze is at least four feet taller than him, the overgrown hedges not much smaller. jeongguk takes two steps into the maze, staring up curiously at twisted vines that wind all the way down the maze, as far as he can see. he steps a little further into the maze, shivering as the shade makes the air even cooler, crisper, like early mornings but also in a creepy way that sends tremors down jeongguk’s spine.

jeongguk’s about to go further when someone that definitely isn’t namjoon shouts “hey!” from the back door of the house, startling jeongguk so badly that he falls over backward. the ground is cool and soft enough that jeongguk doesn’t actually hurt himself, but the guy bolts out of the house towards him anyway, face awash with worry. “are you okay?”

jeongguk looks up from dusting his hands off on his knees. the guy standing in front of jeongguk smiles kindly, jeongguk’s stomach flips with homesickness as he thinks about how hoseok is the same way, how he’ll smile just to make a stranger feel better.

“you okay?” the guy repeats, kneeling next to jeongguk. “you’ve got to have some luck to fall away from all the thorns, huh?” he muses, voice pleased, sounding entirely like he’s just told a joke that jeongguk missed. “i’m seokjin, by the way. you must be jeongguk?”

“yeah, i-” jeongguk winces as he turns his wrist and pain zings up his arm. maybe not so lucky, then. “i was just…”

“exploring?” seokjin says amusedly when jeongguk trails off. “i don’t blame you, the house is a little boring sometimes.” seokjin agrees, settling into silence, like he’s thinking about something far away. he shakes his head and pats jeongguk’s knee gently, before standing. “but, jimin, he doesn’t like anyone in the garden, so…” seokjin holds out a hand to jeongguk, and jeongguk takes it, letting seokjin pull him back up.

“oh..?” jeongguk replies softly, an apology and a question all in one, following seokjin on the short walk back to the house.

seokjin turns before they go inside, stopping jeongguk at the door “don’t feel bad, he just,” seokjin frowns a little, looking for the right words. “he just, likes to have that space his own, i guess. and since we help in the house, he likes to go out there alone, at night. to think.”

“if he likes to be alone so much, why have people here?” jeongguk snips, hugging his arms to himself. if he’d known he’d be working for some recluse that didn’t even want his help there, he would’ve stayed in seoul, washing dishes, fight with taehyung be damned. seokjin sighs a little, shaking his head.

“i think being alone would upset him more than having us stay here,” seokjin answers, voice raw with honesty, tugging the back door open. voices that had been talking suddenly cut off and seokjin puts a hand on jeongguk’s shoulder. “stay here,” he commands, voice harder than before. “i’ll get you a towel so you can get that dirt off you.” and jeongguk looks to his hands, where there is approximately no dirt on him. but seokjin’s already gone, disappearing into the hallway. apparently, the back door to the house opens into a room that probably should be a sunroom, but with all the windows blocked off, it’s just another dark, empty room. jeongguk, feeling entirely like a little kid sneaking around, walks to the doorway, peeking around the corner. namjoon is standing in the hall, back to jeongguk, blocking whoever he’s talking to.

“did it have to be him?” a quiet voice snaps, exasperated. namjoon sighs, like they’ve had this exact conversation before, but if they’re talking about hiring jeongguk, that’s entirely impossible. jeongguk leans a little further out the door, trying to see who he assumes is jimin. seokjin comes out of a doorway nearest to the end of the hall, and namjoon shifts a little to let him pass, just enough that jeongguk can see a glimpse of soft brown hair before he realises that jimin is looking, no glaring, right at him. seokjin smiles when he spots jeongguk, despite the fact that he told jeongguk to stay in a spot that isn’t this one. jeongguk freezes, because he’s totally caught, keeping him right in jimin’s line of sight. jimin just stares, like, right through jeongguk, into his fucking soul, and jeongguk squirms, blushing shyly in a way that is so unlike him it isn’t even funny. jeongguk doesn’t blush shyly, not for some reclusive millionaire jerk that looks like he hasn’t gone outside in the past century. jeongguk’s so weirded out that jimin is just staring that he can feel his heart speed up, cheeks turning darker.

“hold still,” seokjin instructs softly when he reaches jeongguk, wet rag in hand. seokjin stands between jimin and jeongguk as jeongguk’s heart tries to pound out of his chest. but seokjin just stands there, gently passing the rag across jeongguk’s palms, completely oblivious to the way jimin’s eyes are probably burning holes into his back.

"seokjin." namjoon cuts, voice cold, and both jeongguk and seokjin look up. “maybe the bathroom would be a better place to get him cleaned up?” and it’s not a question, not even a suggestion, but seokjin frowns anyway, free hand curling around jeongguk’s wrist.

“sorry, hyung,” he mumbles, which has jeongguk frowning, because there is no way in hell that seokjin isn’t older than namjoon. seokjin pulls jeongguk down the hallway, closer to namjoon which is the worst idea in human history, because that means jeongguk has to walk straight past jimin. jeongguk doesn’t look up from the floor as they pass, cheeks still pink even though jeongguk has nothing to be blushing about.

that night, jeongguk falls asleep on the window seat, staring up at the sky, at the stars that he couldn’t see in the city, wondering just what the hell he’d gotten himself into. he dreams, too, even though he can’t remember any other dreams he’s had for years . he dreams of somewhere both close to home and far away, of soft touches that make his whole body feel warm and even softer words that wind around his skin and sink in like tattoos, imprinted into his entire being .

when he wakes up the next morning, he still feels loved, and if he tries, he can still hear a soft voice, affectionate and bitter all at once, repeating the same words that jeongguk had heard on repeat in his dream.

“it’s always been you,”

~

jeongguk decides that nine in the morning is early enough that he doesn’t seem too eager, but doesn’t seem lazy either. he pads around his room for awhile, finally unpacking his few possessions and placing them where he thinks they fit. he puts the picture of him and hoseok and taehyung from the dance showcase on his nightstand, spreads the star map on the wall over his bed, (he hopes jimin doesn’t mind four little tack holes in the wall) and sets his books on the desk for now. in hindsight, jeongguk guesses he could’ve brought more clothes and less books, but that would also mean using jimin’s library, a prospect as unappealing now as it was when jeongguk was packing. he likes the copies he brought better than any jimin would’ve had anyway, because he’s got his own little notes in the margins and sticky notes sticking out at every possible angle. they’re worn, sure, but they’re undeniably his unlike anything else jeongguk brought. he’s got a few books that he’d had for college, before he’d dropped out, like plays he’d pretended to hate but really loved, and a few that he’s got just to have.

unfortunately, jeongguk’s little battery powered radio doesn’t get signal out here, so it looks like he’s stuck with what he’s got on his phone right now, until he can somehow get a stereo that he could play discs in.  thinking back, jeongguk wonders why he didn’t bring his stereo in the first place, because he brought his favorite cd’s, the ones that hoseok mixed for him so he could practice their routines at home, too.

the fact that he has actual things to do today hits jeongguk all at once, and he leaves his room so fast that he nearly trips over the powder blue laundry basket that’s literally right outside his door. jeongguk curses quietly as he maneuvers around it, before picking it up to carry downstairs where he can hear seokjin’s laugh echoing from the kitchen.

“uh, hyung?” jeongguk asks tentatively, pushing the kitchen door open with his hip. seokjin’s cutting vegetables by the sink, with namjoon sitting on the counter next to him, sipping from a coffee mug. when seokjin looks up at jeongguk, he continues, stuttering, “i- uh, where’s the laundry room?” seokjin laughs and pushes at namjoon’s shoulder.

“you didn’t even show him downstairs?” he giggles, and namjoon grumbles, sliding off the counter. he nearly carries his coffee mug out of the kitchen, but seokjin clears his throat, stopping namjoon in his tracks. “hyung, you know how he feels about that.” he reminds namjoon, who sighs heavily and takes one more drink before setting it in his former place by the sink.

“c’mon,” namjoon says softly, nudging jeongguk out into the hall first before leading him to a doorway not far from the kitchen, which turns out to be stairs that lead to a basement. where, apparently, namjoon’s room is, along with the washing machine. “sorry about the mess,” namjoon mumbles, looking around at the clothes strewn on the floor by his bed. “i forgot today was thursday, or i would’ve cleaned up,” he apologises, but his tone gives away that he wouldn’t have, in actuality, cleaned up. jeongguk replies with some offhanded comment about how his room back home was the same way before he notices that namjoon has a stereo .

“sweet!” jeongguk crows happily, making namjoon jump as he bounces over to it. it’s got a disc player, score. “oh, hyung, can i use this sometime, please? ” jeongguk pleads, pouting across the room at a very unimpressed namjoon.

after jeongguk pouts at him for a solid minute, namjoon finally cracks, rolling his eyes. “you’re worse than seokjin.” he grouches, before nodding. “you can use it-” jeongguk cheers happily, and namjoon continues over him, raising his voice to be heard. “you can use it if you ask me first. it has to stay down here to get signal, anyway.” and jeongguk’s so happy that he doesn’t even bother protesting that he’d only use it for discs anyway.

“thank you, hyung!” jeongguk calls as namjoon leaves, resolving to do all the laundry on namjoon’s floor as repayment. it occurs to jeongguk as he picks up the clothes on the floor that there are two different sizes of shirts and pants scattered around the floor, and jeongguk realises that this must be namjoon and seokjin’s room. when he looks, really looks around, he can tell that some things belong to namjoon and some to seokjin, the rest belonging to them both. jeongguk smiles a little, happy that they’re happy, even in this creepy-ass house.

it takes jeongguk about thirty seconds after the clothes are done washing to realise that a) there is no dryer, and b) there’s carpet in the basement, so he can’t hang up dripping wet clothes here. jeongguk sighs to the ceiling (because honestly, who’s got all this money but doesn’t have a dryer ) before shoving all the clothes into the laundry basket and rushing back upstairs and out the back door before someone notices. once he’s outside, jeongguk notices that there actually is a clothesline, even if it looks rickety as hell, it’ll have to work. except there’s no clothes pins.

jeongguk comes back in just as seokjin finishes cooking, asking for clothing pins only to be handed a bowl full of soup, seokjin pushing him to sit at the table and eat first.

“it’s a little late for a first meal, but i made that for lunch, anyway,” seokjin tells him, jeongguk only tasting it once before he floats off to heaven, honestly, and when he tells seokjin as much, he laughs, loud and so happy that jeongguk’s heart swells, too.

“it’s just, i haven’t had actual food in forever, hyung, this is awesome.” jeongguk enthuses honestly, making seokjin roll his eyes.

“they don’t feed you at home?” seokjin teases, taking a sip of coffee. jeongguk shrugs a little, looking down into his empty bowl. being a broke college dropout didn’t really allow for more than, like, crappy energy drinks for breakfast and whatever he could steal from the diner without anyone noticing. “the clothespins are in the top drawer,” seokjin informs him after a pause, pointing with his spoon. jeongguk nods, placing his bowl back in the sink before piling as many clothing pins into the pouch he makes with his shirt as he can. seokjin laughs at this, too, especially when jeongguk crab-walks out of the kitchen, trying not to dump the pins all over the floor.

by the time jeongguk hangs up all the clothes, it’s nearly two, and the weather’s nice enough that jeongguk lays outside on the grass, far enough from the garden that he’s sure jimin won’t kill him for invading his space or whatever. jeongguk floats in and out of sleep, only waking up to namjoon poking him awake after the sun’s gone down.

“well, great, you’re alive.” namjoon says dryly, as jeongguk scrambles up to grab the clothes. “you didn’t have to wash my stuff.”

“i wanted to.” jeongguk replies, folding the third dress shirt in a row. jesus, is all jimin owns corporate casual? “‘cause you’re letting me use your stereo.”

namjoon laughs, nodding. “when you ask.” he reminds jeongguk, gathering up his and seokjin’s clothes despite jeongguk protesting that he could handle carrying it. “just leave his stuff in the basket outside his door, he won’t mind.”

jeongguk has never made it up and down a staircase so fast in his life.

~

the next week, after they eat dinner, (which is just as good as always, but namjoon declines again, like he has every time they’ve all eaten together) jeongguk practically bends over backward to get namjoon to agree to letting him borrow the stereo tonight.

“it won’t get anything now, the only radio it catches is a day show,” namjoon tells him, swinging his feet from his perch on the counter. “although, it really should, the night sky allows for clearer radio waves on the am frequency to come in.”

“i- what?” jeongguk splutters, making seokjin snort into his bowl. “i have cd’s, hyung.”

“oh.” namjoon says, before nodding. “fine, but be out of there by eleven, i want to go to bed sometime.”

jeongguk hoots and bolts upstairs, digging through his bag for the cd with all of their choreo songs on it. when he gets to the basement, he notes that someone actually had cleaned up from before, leaving even more room for jeongguk to dance in.

he’s halfway through the cd a third time, bass thudding dully against speakers that can’t really handle it, sweat rolling off his skin, when jeongguk sees the light from upstairs click on. he doesn’t think anything of it, really, probably just seokjin coming down to get a different movie like he’d done right after jeongguk had started, telling him fondly that namjoon always picked horror to scare him.

“hey, turn it down.” jeongguk freezes halfway through a body roll because the person speaking definitely isn’t seokjin. when he turns around, jimin is standing at the end of the stairs in slacks and one of his stupid patterned dress shirts, arms crossed. jeongguk nearly falls over with how fast he scrambles to press eject, starting to apologise, when jimin uncrosses his arms and says, no less threateningly, “you don’t have to stop, just turn it down.”

“i- i was done a-anyway?” jeongguk stutters, wanting to be a hundred different places that aren’t here . jimin raises his eyebrows, but jeongguk’s already squeezing past him, bolting back upstairs, leaving a “sorry, hyung,” behind him, leaving jimin downstairs.

once jeongguk’s put two floors between him and jimin, he realises that a) he left his cd downstairs and b) he really needs a shower, which is on jimin’s side of the upstairs. he decides to shower first, because if he really pushes it, he can make it in and out in five minutes, maybe before jimin comes back upstairs.

jeongguk’s almost done drying off when there’s a loud thump on the other side of the wall, in jimin’s room, like something hitting the wall. with his heart feeling like it’s going to explode, fear crawling across his bones, jeongguk slips into his pajamas and bolts for his room, vaulting into his bed and hiding under the covers like a little kid afraid of a monster.

jeongguk dreams again that night, but he wakes up at least twice, gasping for air and covered in cold sweat, tears streaking down his cheeks. he hasn’t had nightmares this bad since he was a kid, when his mom would come running in and hold him until he fell back asleep. the worst part is, they always feel so real , like jeongguk really is there , in the car crash, in the water, helpless to watch himself bite the dust over and over.

the next morning he actually is woken up by seokjin, who frowns and informs jeongguk that it’s almost noon, that he’s missed breakfast again but lunch is already over too.

“i can heat something up for you, though.” seokjin tells him as they come downstairs.

jeongguk yawns a little, stretching toward the ceiling. “it’s fine, hyung, you don’t have to.” he mumbles, rubbing his eyes. really, he felt like he’d been to sleep for about two seconds when seokjin woke him up, finally over nightmares.

seokjin pauses, nodding to a doorway towards the front of the house. “you can watch tv with namjoonie and i, then.” he says, pushing jeongguk towards the door before he can protest. jeongguk didn’t even know they’d be able to get cable out here, but there’s a game on tv, namjoon sitting forward every once in awhile when the action gets good.

there’s also two couches, so jeongguk sprawls out on the one that namjoon isn’t on, flopping onto his stomach and cradling a couch pillow. seokjin frowns at him and gets back up, footsteps padding quietly down the hall.

“nap time for the baby?” namjoon teases, laughing when jeongguk sits up to throw the other pillow at his face.

“you’re not that much older than me, hyung.” jeongguk protests, and namjoon snorts, about to say something when seokjin comes back in with a blanket that he lays across jeongguk.

“sure, kid,” he replies, and jeongguk gets the feeling that it isn’t what namjoon wanted to really say. jeongguk ignores it, dozing on and off until the game’s over, when seokjin shakes him awake and asks if he wants to order chicken or pizza.

“namjoonie doesn’t want any, but i do,” he says, looking hopeful, and jeongguk sits up, rubbing his eyes. “we have to drive to go get it, but it isn’t far.”

“can i get pineapple on my pizza?” jeongguk asks, yawning. namjoon scoffs from the couch.

“how can you do that to pizza?” he asks, shaking his head.

“hyung, you don’t want any anyway!” jeongguk cries, making namjoon laugh as jeongguk heads upstairs to change. jimin’s side of the house is quiet as always, and as jeongguk’s tugging on a sweater he notices something shiny on his bed. the cd. jeongguk frowns and turns it over. it’s the same way he’d left it, except he’d left it downstairs in the radio. “huh.”

“jeongguk-ah!” seokjin calls from downstairs. “hurry up, it’ll be done by the time we get there!”

the pizza isn’t done by the time they get there, but seokjin doesn’t seem bothered, tugging jeongguk back out of the pizzeria and into another shop next door. it’s a little grocery store, and seokjin quickly disappears, telling jeongguk he needs to grab something or another, leaving jeongguk wondering down aisles alone. he’s halfway down the bread aisle when someone’s hand closes around his wrist.

“ hey-! ” jeongguk spits, yanking his wrist free. when he turns around, it’s hoseok, looking like he’s been crying, hand out like he’s still holding jeongguk by the wrist. except, jeongguk definitely left hoseok in seoul, and right now, they’re somewhere outside of busan. “hyung?” jeongguk asks, confused beyond belief, and hoseok hiccups, throwing his arms around jeongguk’s neck.

“jeonggukie!” he wails, volume too loud for this tiny store. jeongguk pushes hoseok off him so they don’t get kicked out, and hoseok wipes his eyes. “i was so worried , jeongguk-ah, you really-”

“i know, hyung.” jeongguk interrupts, looking at his feet. he hadn’t exactly told hoseok goodbye before he’d taken a bus up here, only leaving a sticky note informing hoseok that he’d gotten a job and where on the fridge. “how’d you get here, hyung, what about work?”

hoseok laughs, voice thick. “you idiot,” he sighs. “i took leave to make sure you were okay.”

jeongguk’s stomach flips with guilt. hoseok had been saving days for a visit back home. “hyung, you shouldn’t have, i’m fi-”

“there you are!” seokjin sighs as he come around the corner, paper grocery bag propped up on his hip. “let’s go, jeongguk-ah, they should be done now.” he continues, nose in his phone, completely oblivious to hoseok.

“hyung, this is my friend, from home,” jeongguk starts, getting seokjin to look up. “i’ll, uh, meet you by the car?” seokjin looks from hoseok to jeongguk coldly, setting his shoulders.

“no, jeongguk-ah, we have to get back home.” he replies, tone leaving no room for argument. hoseok’s fingers close around jeongguk’s arm, and when jeongguk looks at him, he’s glaring at seokjin.

hoseok’s about to blow, jeongguk knows, and jeongguk’s not one for conflict. so when hoseok opens his mouth to reply, jeongguk pulls free of his grip and stutters, “sorry, hyung, i’ll- i’ll text you later? maybe we can meet back up before you leave?”

“jeongguk,” hoseok breathes, looking betrayed. seokjin starts to walk away, jeongguk trailing him, when hoseok clutches his arm again. “just come home,” he pleads, looking from jeongguk to the door. “taehyungie’s sorry-”

“if he’s so sorry , he wouldn’t have gotten me fired in the first place!” jeongguk spits, yanking his arm free once more. “i had to drop out of school because of that, hyung!”  hoseok recoils, before setting his jaw. “i’ve got a job now, i don’t have to pay rent, and i’m staying .”

“jeongguk-” hoseok starts, voice low, angry, but jeongguk’s already stepping further away, putting more space between him and hoseok.

“no, hyung, i’m staying at least until i’ve saved enough money that i don’t have to live on your couch.” jeongguk says, leaving hoseok standing in the middle of the aisle. he sprints outside to where they’d parked, to seokjin, who’s already grabbed the pizza and is waiting in the car.

“let’s go, hyung,” jeongguk says wearily, buckling up. thunder rolls in the distance and seokjin frowns, squinting up through the windshield at the clear sky.

“the sooner we’re home, the better,” he agrees, handing jeongguk the pizza boxes and turning the key in the ignition. by the time they get back, it’s pouring down rain, and namjoon’s standing on the porch waiting, hands in his pockets.

“he was there,” seokjin tells namjoon quietly as he breezes past, voice sharp with worry. namjoon frowns and looks from jeongguk to where seokjin disappeared through the front door, before following.

jeongguk takes his pizza up to his room, and this time seokjin doesn’t argue. he curls up in his bed and eats alone for the first time since he’d gotten there, mind spinning in circles as he thinks about hoseok, how seokjin had cut him off, how he’d looked when jeongguk left. jeongguk sighs and rolls onto his stomach, tucking his face into his pillow. this just sucks , he decides, listening to the rain hit his window in sheets. he starts to fall asleep again when suddenly there’s arguing downstairs, like, loud enough that jeongguk can hear it with his ear pressed to the pillow. jeongguk sits up a little, listening. every once in awhile, the arguing lulls, like someone is speaking quieter than the other. jeongguk opens his door and carries his pizza downstairs. this way, if he gets caught snooping, he was ‘just putting up his pizza, hyung’ . luckily, no one’s in the kitchen, and jeongguk sets his pizza box on top of seokjin’s in the fridge.

“i’m just saying,” namjoon’s voice floats through the open kitchen door. bless old houses and their paper thin walls. “i don’t like it. why show up again, now? this is the last time, right?”

“listen, hyung, he’s trying to win.” seokjin argues, sounding upset. “jimin’s played by the rules, he can’t touch him.”

“i know, but i-” namjoon starts, voice raising, and jeongguk tiptoes a little closer to the door as the quietest voice interrupts namjoon. jimin.

“- can’t love me. he knows exactly where i am, but he can’t touch me. so he’s doing the next best thing, or at least trying to.”

“so what now?” seokjin asks. jeongguk decides he doesn’t want to know anymore, tiptoeing back up the stairs as namjoon starts to answer, but jimin’s voice cuts him off again.

“just like with you, we can’t tell him anything, you already know that. anything he finds out on his own is fair game.” jimin replies wearily. “personally, i’ve had enough of his stupid shit. watching him die- ”

jeongguk, ever stealthy, trips on the stairs, banging his arms on the top step as he goes down. “fucking ow .” he breathes, pushing himself up onto his knees.

“jeongguk-ah?” seokjin calls up the stairs. jeongguk doesn’t need to look to know seokjin’s coming up to check on him “are you okay?”

“it’s nothing, hyung, i’ll be fine.” jeongguk bites out, feeling a little sick a he pushes himself to his feet. falling always made his head spin, like his body was trying to compensate for the sudden altitude change.

“let me see,” seokjin says, fingers carefully bending jeongguk’s arm so he can see. jeongguk isn’t even scraped up. “lucky kid,” seokjin mumbles, smiling at jeongguk, who smiles back nervously. something about seokjin is sending jeongguk all kinds of weird vibes, not to mention he just heard jimin admit to watching someone fucking die like it was the weather report.

today’s weather will be sunny with a little bit of witnessing murder- jeongguk shudders.

“you should probably head off to bed, jeongguk.” seokjin hums, helping jeongguk stand. when jeongguk looks through the window at the end of the upstairs hallway, it’s already night, rain pattering against the window. “you slept a lot today, so you should try to fix your sleep schedule.”

“sorry hyung,” jeongguk mumbles, and seokjin frowns. “i’ll get up early tomorrow and help you make breakfast?”

seokjin’s face breaks out into a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. “sure, gukkie! that would be really nice, namjoon-hyung never helps.”

“night hyung.” jeongguk says wearily, shuffling to his room. from his window, he can see the wind and rain battering the maze garden.

~

“you don’t love him.” a voice spits, and jeongguk tucks himself further behind the person in front of him. why is he so scared? isn’t that hoseok’s voice-

“if i don’t love him then no one does.” the man in front of jeongguk replies cooly. he’s smaller than jeongguk, but jeongguk clings to him like he’s jeongguk’s shield. “i thought witches were incapable of love.”

the earth shakes with power, thunder rolling in and lightning flashing.

“no one can have him but me! we were made for each other, destined-” hoseok’s voice spits, and the rational, not dreaming part of jeongguk’s mind spins. destined? jeongguk and hoseok?

“you’re not his soulmate!” the man shouts suddenly, voice so loud it echoes in the empty clearing. rain starts to fall overhead, starting to soak through jeongguk’s clothes. why won’t they take this inside, out of the rain? “i am, hoseok. not you, get over it already! maybe if you didn’t use black magic to curse and destroy your way through life, you’d have one too- not just that stupid cat you call a familiar.”

“you think i get through life with curses?” hoseok says softly, and in his dream, jeongguk shudders, cold tracking down his spine. “how about this?”

jeongguk feels a burning in his fingertips, and he tugs on the man’s coat, wincing as it gets hotter and hotter, travelling up his arms.

“stupid cats have nine lives right?” hoseok coos, voice coming out with a power jeongguk’s never heard. “how’s this for a curse, then?”

“hoseok, don’t you dare.” jeongguk gasps, trying to pull the man out of the way. if anyone’s getting cursed, it isn’t gonna be the man standing in front of him. jeongguk won’t let that happen.

“it’s just payback,” hoseok hums, and it starts to rain harder, feeling sharp against jeongguk’s skin, cool to the fire burning through his body. “nine times you’ll watch him die.”

the burning reaches his heart, and jeongguk feels his knees give out underneath him.

“-seok” jeongguk hears himself whimper, and hoseok just sets his jaw and continues.

“seven times at your own hand. and you can’t ever tell him why.”

“no, no, please-” the man whispers, holding jeongguk’s face in his palms. jeongguk can’t see the man’s face, his vision’s so blurry, now. is he crying? in his dream, the world feels like it’s spinning.

“and even if you don’t break my curse, neither of you will never die. suffer forever at the hands of your own selfishness. that is my curse.” hoseok tones, and jeongguk feels his failing heart stutter, feels the rain on his cheeks, as the man above him groans suddenly, grabbing his chest, over his own heart.

“l-love- you-”

~

jeongguk wakes up, bright and early as promised, and trudges downstairs, hair still a mess from sleeping. he had some weird dream last night, about it raining or something that for some reason, had jeongguk waking up crying.

“sleep well?” seokjin hums, already cooking something, eggs maybe? “you look like it, at least.”

“mmmhm,” jeongguk mumbles, eyes still half closed. “need help?” he asks, fumbling around in the fridge for the orange juice. what he pulls out is in a juice container but is a thick red color. “this cranberry juice?” jeongguk asks, turning around and holding out to seokjin.

seokjin honest to god squeaks , snatching the bottle away from jeongguk and handing him the correct container. “sorry, that’s just, uhhhh-”

“preserves.” namjoon’s voice chimes in from the doorway to the kitchen, and when jeongguk looks between them, seokjin’s look of relief is so blatant that he feels a little confused. how hard would it have been for seokjin to just tell him that?

“like… cherries or something?” jeongguk asks, pouring himself a glass of orange juice and sitting on the counter next to the sink.

“or something.” namjoon confirms. “making omelettes?”

jeongguk zones out, shovelling food into his mouth quickly because he wants the free time to himself. he leaves namjoon and seokjin in the kitchen, bickering about the better breakfast food choices, and heads up to his room.

it’s nice outside, so jeongguk takes his favorite book outside and sits underneath the clothesline, as close to the garden as he dares, and reads and reads. it’s a love story, one of those idealistic “star-crossed lovers” fairy tales. sometimes jeongguk wonders if people are really like that, if there are people so loyal they’d die for you. like taehyung is for hoseok.

“you’re a fucking idiot-”

jeongguk doesn’t like to think about his fight with taehyung. up to that point, jeongguk had thought they were best friends. close as brothers, him, taehyung and hoseok were. they did everything together: dance, work. even lived together before taehyung and jeongguk got into a fight so explosive it got jeongguk fired, kicked out of their shared apartment.

“you wouldn’t know a fucking thing if it punched you in the mouth.”

jeongguk still doesn’t know what set taehyung off that night three months ago, but he still has the scar over his lip to prove that taehyung did in fact, try to teach him something by punching him in the mouth so hard it split his lip. if jeongguk hadn’t knocked taehyung out, jeongguk’s afraid he’d have a few more scars to account for. it was like tae wanted him dead, nothing like the happy-go-lucky guy jeongguk thought he worked with.

but if he’d never fought with tae, he’d never have come here. fate’s funny like that.

~

jeongguk falls into a little bit of a routine in the next few weeks: wake up early and shower before jimin gets up, make breakfast with seokjin, go do whatever, make lunch with seokjin, go do whatever, make dinner with seokjin- he spends a lot of time in seokjin’s company.

seokjin’s nice, but it starts to feel like there’s a layer of seokjin that jeongguk’s missing. like a big secret he’s not in on. sometimes seokjin and namjoon just look at each other and have a whole conversation, just so they don’t have to say what they’re thinking out loud.

jimin remains as elusive as ever, appearing only every once and awhile, and laundry is still done every thursday. as it gets colder outside, jeongguk begs and begs namjoon to get a dryer, because eventually it’ll be too cold to hang the clothes outside, and jeongguk’s not about to give namjoon a mold problem by hanging them up in his room.

namjoon tells jeongguk he’ll talk to jimin about it , which jeongguk takes to mean never gonna happen, but one monday morning in the chill of fall, a delivery truck comes bumbling up the driveway right as jeongguk’s finishing up the dishes after breakfast. namjoon calls up for jimin, and jeongguk watches, amazed, as jimin emerges from his room, dressed in another patterned dress shirt and slacks.

“need any help installing it?” the delivery guy grunts, pulling the dolly out from underneath the big box that reads samsung- meaningful innovations .

“nope, we’ve got it” jimin replies quietly, and the guy shrugs, holding out a clipboard for jimin to sign.

“make sure you boys both carry that now, it’s a pretty heavy dryer.” the delivery driver says, before turning around and driving away.

“we got a dryer?” jeongguk asks, inspecting the box like a kid at christmas.

“mhm.” namjoon hums, before he and jimin lift the box like there’s nothing in it.

“-come help us figure this out!” jin calls not much later, and jeongguk comes downstairs to find jimin leaning against the new dryer smirking at namjoon and jin squinting down at what has to be the instruction manual.

“gukkie, good. come help us get this thing hooked up.” namjoon says, handing jeongguk a page from the instruction manual. owner’s guide it reads. when he notices jeongguk, jimin’s expression goes stoic faster than a lightning strike. jeongguk resists the urge to roll his eyes.

“hyung, i don’t know anything about putting together appliances, what if i get like, electrocuted?” jeongguk jokes, laughing. jimin straightens up robotically, and walks straight out the room, leaving thick tension behind him.

namjoon and seokjin are both staring at jeongguk like he’d just beheaded a teddy bear, but jeongguk doesn’t know why.

“what?” he asks, feeling his voice come out small.

“don’t joke about that.” seokjin says, very serious despite his normally joking tone.

“a-about what?” jeongguk squeaks, and seokjin rolls his eyes, like jeongguk’s incredibly dense.

“about you dying like that- it upsets him .” seokjin pauses, pointing upstairs. jimin . “he lost someone really important to him in a tragic way like that, so it probably just really upset him.”

“oh.” jeongguk replies, voice even smaller, almost a whisper. he feels so guilty, suddenly. maybe that’s why jimin was so distant, he’d recently lost a loved one so suddenly- like maybe a parent. it would explain the big house, the moodiness. “i didn’t know.”

“we know you didn’t jeongguk.” namjoon says softly, clapping him on the shoulder. “i’m sure jimin wants his privacy right now, but it couldn’t hurt to say sorry.”

seokjin’s eyes widen at that. “namjoon-”

“like i was saying.” namjoon continues, and seokjin looks between them, before looking back down at the instructions. “maybe you could just apologise. honestly, i’m surprised he’s being so moody lately too. it would be better for him if he could feel like he’s not scaring you or whatever and come out of his room for a while.”

“so basically… i should go make nice?” jeongguk asks softly, feeling a little tendril of fear sink into his heart. something about how jimin carried himself was so off-putting that jeongguk couldn’t help but be at least wary of him.

namjoon nods, waving jeongguk out of the basement. on the main floor, it’s eerily quiet. jeongguk tiptoes upstairs, knocking carefully on jimin’s door.

“jimin-ssi?” he says, so quiet he’s afraid jimin won’t hear. something thumps on the floor in jimin’s room, and jeongguk nearly jumps out of his skin.

the door swings open to jimin, who immediately crosses his arms. “can i help you?”

jeongguk stamps down any fear he has and says in the strongest voice he can manage. “i’m sorry if i hurt your feelings earlier, i really didn’t know it would…” jeongguk looks up to jimin staring straight through him. he falters. “uhm. i didn’t mean to hurt your feelings-”

“you said that.” jimin says, without a smirk or any hint of a joke in his voice.

“i did.” jeongguk confirms. “i-”

“if you’re going to say ‘i’m sorry’, you don’t need to.” jimin interrupts, expression colder than ever. “i see what namjoon is trying to do here, but you can tell him i don’t appreciate it. we’re not-”

“we?” jeongguk asks, gesturing between jimin and himself.

“-supposed to be friends.” jimin says, and jeongguk deflates. oh.

in retrospect, it’s fair to assume that’s what namjoon was really going for when he sent jeongguk upstairs, but jeongguk just thought it was to relieve the tension in the house. but if jimin’s gonna be like that, jeongguk can play that game too.

“we don’t have to be friends.” jeongguk says, mirroring jimin’s posture by crossing his arms. “but you can stop being a scary dick with the social skills of an earthworm.”

he stomps back downstairs, waiting to hear jimin either tell him he’s fired or the door to his bedroom slam. neither happen. he watches the laundry tumble around in the dryer in peace, feeling stuck between getting upset and getting angry for the rest of the night.

~

the next morning, jeongguk doesn’t get up early. he sleeps straight through breakfast, and wakes up to sun streaming in through the window. for all his excitement about decorating his new room, the only decorations are his photo of hoseok and taehyung, his blanket draped over the window seat, and the books that he brought that don’t fill up the entire bookshelf. the walls are still glaringly white, bare of anything but jeongguk’s star map and a few holes here and there where there used to be picture frames hanging- picture frames that are long gone now.

jeongguk’s hit suddenly with the realisation that he’s not the first person to have this job, to live in this room, and he won’t be the last. eventually jeongguk will have enough money to get back on his feet and go back to school, which means he’ll leave this space behind, and there will never be a singular trace that he was here, not even a nail-hole in the wall.

he needs to shower or something, get rid of this dreadful feeling clinging to his bones for no reason. jeongguk doesn’t remember having a nightmare last night, so this weird state of emotional depression doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. jeongguk’s so wrapped up in his thoughts that when he opens his door, he trips right over jimin’s laundry basket, which is filled to the top with jeongguk’s clean clothes.

who did the laundry? jeongguk wonders vaguely, sprawled out on the floor. he remembers putting everything in the dryer, but only remembers folding everyone else’s stuff.

when jeongguk sits up, he realises he’s split his knee right open on a floorboard that’s uneven, a steady trickle of blood sliding down his shin. childishly, jeongguk feels himself tear up. it didn’t really hurt until he realised it should.

a door opens and jeongguk looks up, feeling a tear track down his cheek. jimin’s standing in his doorway, wearing some 90s-esque patterned monstrosity of a dress shirt, staring at jeongguk- or more accurately, his knee.

“hyung,” he hiccups, remembering that jimin is squeamish. jeongguk covers his knee with his palm, like that’ll cover the blood from jimin’s sight. jimin bolts downstairs, and not much later, jeongguk hears footsteps coming back upstairs.

“gukkie!” seokjin calls, gasping when he sees jeongguk sitting in the floor with his ugly scraped knee. “oh, jimin said you were hurt, i thought it was worse than this.” seokjin tsks, rolling his eyes. “what a drama queen. can you walk downstairs with me? the first aid kit and all the bandages are down there, i can just get you all cleaned up there.”

“um.” jeongguk says, stretching his leg back out and whining softly at the bolt of pain it brings. “can you help?” jeongguk asks, hoping he and seokjin can just like, do a three legged walk downstairs. seokjin nods, before scooping jeongguk up and carrying his dead weight downstairs. “this works too.” jeongguk murmurs dryly.

as they walk past the open kitchen, jeongguk hears a glass shatter, and peers around seokjin’s shoulder to see jimin and namjoon standing next to the sink. jimin looks livid, and does jeongguk hear… growling?

“it’s just his blood, you just fed last night.” namjoon murmurs, hands on jimin’s chest like he’s trying to hold jimin back.

fed ? “h-hyung?” jeongguk whispers, but seokjin just shuts the bathroom door behind them, humming as he cleans up jeongguk’s knee.

if jimin’s… all growly because of jeongguk’s blood- but that would be insane, jeongguk decides. his life isn’t twilight. there’s no way jimin’s a vampire.

~

jimin’s gotta be a vampire. there’s no other explanation that jeongguk can honestly come up with to explain jimin . he’s never been outside in the day time, he keeps “odd hours”, there’s sloshy red stuff in the fridge (which, now that the idea’s in jeongguk’s head that it’s blood, he’ll never think otherwise.) jimin’s insanely rich for not having a job, he has weirdly old clothes, a weird old house, and a weird old car, but nothing super modern. the tv is pushing at least five years old, one of those big, bulky square things that jeongguk thought were all gone.

he knows that there’s something about jimin at least, and it’s frustrating that jeongguk feels like he can’t ask anyone but the man of the house himself about it. what if jimin eats him or something for knowing his secret? jeongguk’s barely 19, he hasn’t even graduated college yet!

after what is colloquially dubbed The Incident by jeongguk, jimin is more distant than ever before. even the random thumps that used to come from jimin’s room every once in awhile have stopped, so it’s like jimin isn’t even at the house anymore. seokjin and namjoon carry on like nothing weird ever happened, still playfully bickering about silly things and cooking together in the evenings. jeongguk starts to feel distanced from it all, and instead starts to visit the library in the house. it’s a little room just a few doors down from the kitchen, but jeongguk likes to lay on the couch and read in there sometimes, picking through the library’s books when he gets tired of his own.

one lazy afternoon, when the temperature has dropped both outside and in the house, jeongguk’s sitting right next to the the heater, up against the wall, reading a book about victorian uses for flowers. (needless to say, jimin’s book collection is pretty boring). as he flips through the last page, he notices something, handwritten on the inside of the back cover of the book in a loopy cursive.

congratulations to mr. park and mr. jeon on your soulbond! may life be full of orange blossoms for you both. -mijoo 6.25.1957

jeongguk feels a weird sickness roll through his stomach. there’s no way it’s his family jeon right? while it would explain jimin’s reluctance at jeongguk being around, jeon’s a vaguely common family name. jeongguk do not to mention it’s dated for 1957. he doesn’t think anyone in his family that old ever soulbonded. he flips back through the book to where orange blossoms should be.

orange blossom - innocence, eternal love, marriage and fruitfulness, wisdom.

“i don’t remember you being allowed to look through my stuff.” jimin says softly, and jeongguk yelps, nearly throwing the book. when he looks up, jimin’s sitting on the couch like he’s always been there, dressed like he always is.

jeongguk doesn’t know how to respond. but what comes out certainly isn’t the apology he was trying for. “are you a vampire?” he blurts.

jimin’s eyes widen, one of the first reactions jeongguk’s ever gotten out of him.

“wait, sorry!” jeongguk squeaks, holding up the book to hide his face. “please don’t eat me!”

jimin is quiet for a long moment, and jeongguk thinks well, this is it.

and then jimin starts to laugh. quiet, to himself at first, before bubbling into a nasally boyish laugh . color jeongguk confused as fuck .

“i’m not gonna eat you.” jimin sighs, when he’s finally calmed down. “but i am a vampire, i guess.” jimin shrugs, like he’s saying hey it’s snowing outside and not admitting to being a supernatural creature straight out of a stephanie meyer monstrosity.

“s-so you have to like-” jeongguk stutters, not believing his ears.

“drink blood? yes. i don’t drink straight from people, though. according to my medical records i have liver disease, so every other monday morning seokjin drives to the clinic in town and picks up my ‘blood transfusions.’” jimin replies, starting to sound like he’s answering jeongguk’s questions for some kind of interview. his responses sound very… practiced.

“does this mean you’re gonna stop avoiding me now?” jeongguk asks.

“no i don’t sleep in a- what?” jimin splutters. “avoid you? i don’t know what you’re talking about.” jimin stands, and is gone through the door before jeongguk can say avoiding me like you are right now .

jeongguk decides that the bigger point of the night is that jimin’s a vampire?

~

jeongguk suspects that jimin told namjoon and seokjin that jeongguk knows vampires exist because jeongguk starts to notice that they’re much more relaxed all the time. jeongguk learns soon after finding out that jimin is a vampire that namjoon is also a vampire, jimin’s only friend throughout the years. now in the mornings, namjoon happily sips away at what jeongguk knows to be blood while seokjin and jeongguk eat eggs at the same table.

needless to say it’s fucking weird.

the weirdest thing is that jeongguk didn’t expect to be this okay with it. like, yeah, his boss is a vampire. for some reason, jeongguk doesn’t feel scared, or worried, beyond the initial, silly worry that jimin would eat him or something.

“jeongguk, do you want to go with me to pick up jimin’s prescription?” seokjin asks, setting his plate into the sink. jeongguk knows he means blood , but nods anyway excited for a trip out. “we have to drive into busan this time, because the clinic hasn’t gotten a delivery in yet. it’s like a road trip!”

“okay hyung-” it’s like, an hour drive at best, but jeongguk will let seokjin think of it like a road trip.

“so bring blankets and snacks!” seokjin crows, looking entirely too excited.

somehow, jeongguk finds himself sitting in the backseat with jimin, because apparently he has to go in the clinic in person, while seokjin and namjoon sit in the front, bickering about directions.

jeongguk’s phone still isn’t getting enough signal to function out here, but about thirty minutes into the drive, it nearly implodes with the notifications from hoseok, taehyung, and even some of his other friends from dance team, all asking if he’s okay, when he’s coming home.

“can you turn your ringer off?” jimin asks, and when jeongguk looks over to answer, he’s looking down at jeongguk’s phone with a barely concealed look of disdain. jeongguk frowns.

“sorry.” he mumbles, switching it off. ten texts from hoseok, seven from taehyung, and at least fifteen missed calls from both of them.

“didn’t tell your friends you were moving out?” jimin asks after a minute of quiet, peering over at jeongguk’s phone.

“isn’t it rude to look at other people’s phones without asking?” jeongguk counters, closing out of his messages. jimin shrugs.

“never had one. i wouldn’t know.” he says easily. jeongguk rolls his eyes. figures.

“but no i didn’t tell hoseok-hyung and tae i was leaving.” jeongguk answers, glancing back over at jimin. at the mention of hoseok, jimin’s eye twitches.

“hoseok-hyung?”

seokjin and namjoon go quiet up front.

“yeah,” jeongguk says off-handedly, scrolling through his instagram feed. yoongi-hyung got a boyfriend, how cute. “you know him too?”

“not exactly.” jimin grits out. “stay away from him.”

“excuse me?” jeongguk looks up again to find jimin working his jaw, like he’s trying to find the words to say what he wants to say right. “why? you just said you didn’t exactly know him. what if it’s not even the same hoseok you know?”

“it is.” jimin replies simply.

“what if it isn’t?” jeongguk counters. jimin’s being ridiculous. there could be a thousand hoseoks, how the hell does jimin know it’s the same hoseok?

“i can’t tell you why i know it is, but it is.” jimin replies through his teeth. “just promise me you’ll stay away from him from now on.”

“hyung.” jeongguk says finally. “you know if you don’t tell me i’ll just ask hoseok-hyung.”

“please listen to me for once.” jimin whispers, finally looking like he’s serious, not just mad. like he’s actually scared for jeongguk.

“we’re here!” seokjin calls, and jimin sends jeongguk one more pleading look before pulling his hood up and getting out of the car.

jeongguk considers for a second. jimin’s never been this insistent about jeongguk doing something in the half a year or so that jeongguk’s known him.  but then again, something’s eating at him about it. how does jimin know hoseok, if jimin’s some recluse that hasn’t left the house in years, let alone ever been to seoul.

to hoseok-hyung~ ♥: hey hyung you wont believe it.

to hoseok-hyung~ ♥: but my boss thinks he knows you from somewhere!

to hoseok-hyung~ ♥: small world huh ?? hope you and tae are doing well in school~

jeongguk’s phone buzzes almost immediately.

from hoseok-hyung~ ♥: jeongguk what exactly did he say to you?

that’s weird. jeongguk had been expecting him to just wave it off.

to hoseok-hyung~ ♥: idk i guess he just knows another hoseok bc he was all like stay away

to hoseok-hyung~ ♥: but he won’t tell me why :( how dumb is that hyung?

from hoseok-hyung~ ♥: jeongguk. i need to know his words exactly.

to hoseok-hyung~ ♥: why? you’re being weird hyung.

from hoseok-hyung~ ♥: jimin and i have a history. but we also have a deal that we wouldn’t.. speak about it to anyone else anymore. so. what did he tell you.

to hoseok-hyung~ ♥: WAIT HOW DO YOU KNOW HIM ! HE WONT TELL ME :(

to hoseok-hyung~ ♥: idk i guess he just heard your name and told me not to talk to you anymore but he wouldn’t say how he knew you or why i had to stay away from you so i. decided to ask you instead.

from hoseok-hyung~ ♥: damn. i was really hoping he’d finally cave and break our deal. oh well! have fun at work jeongguknie~

to hoseok-hyung~ ♥: wait hyung what deal how do you know him?????

from hoseok-hyung~ ♥: jeongguk :( the whole deal is that we can’t tell you anything you don’t figure out on your own.

to hoseok-hyung~ ♥: so what i’m supposed to play sherlock? that’s bullshit.

from hoseok-hyung~ ♥: :( if you come home i’ll tell you~

to hoseok-hyung~ ♥: no, i think i have some detective work to do if you’re not gonna tell me anything right now.

hoseok’s typing bubble pops up and disappears a few times. in the front seat, namjoon starts snoring. jeongguk rolls his eyes. of course he’d fall asleep right now.

from hoseok-hyung~ ♥: have you found the book?

to hoseok-hyung~ ♥: what book? in his library? all i’ve read is that book about flowers.

from hoseok-hyung~ ♥: that’s the one.

jeongguk frowns. the only thing he’d found in that book was the dedication to jimin’s soulbond ceremony or whatever.

from hoseok-hyung~ ♥: don’t you think it’s a little weird that jimin was soulbonded to someone also named jeon?

to hoseok-hyung~ ♥: hyung that was like. 60 years ago or something. they’re like, dead by now.

from hoseok-hyung~ ♥: isn’t there a photo stuck to page 129? i think it’s worth a look~

to hoseok-hyung~ ♥: what the fuck is that supposed to mean.

from hoseok-hyung~ ♥: it means i’m sorry beforehand. it was a mistake on my part to do this. from hoseok-hyung~ ♥:  jeongguk you have to understand. i can’t tell you any more than that. i’m so sorry jeongguk.

to hoseok-hyung~ ♥: hyung??? sorry for what?

to hoseok-hyung~ ♥: hoseok hyung if you don’t answer me i s2g i’m never speaking to you again.

hoseok is silent on the other side. seokjin and jimin get back in the car with a little cooler right as it starts to rain outside, the weather just warm enough to prevent it from snowing.

jimin sticks a straw in a blood pack and sips from it like it’s a capri-sun. the thick, iron-y smell of blood fills the small car, and jeongguk practically sticks his head out the window, cold rain be damned.

“jimin when you’re done with that please throw it out the window or something.” namjoon calls, before telling seokjin to get on the highway at the next right.

as they cruise down the highway, jimin opens the window and tosses the blood pack out. jeongguk glances over and realises that jimin actually looks.. normal. his cheeks are even a little flushed.

cute . jeongguk’s brain supplies.

“hyung,” jeongguk mumbles, and jimin glances over, his normally dull eyes sparkly. “when we get home am i allowed to go in the library again?”

jimin nods, smiling a little, his teeth stained red. jeongguk blinks twice, and settles back into his seat for the drive.

hopefully jeongguk can figure out this stupid mystery that hoseok’s created quickly. he’d like to see the happy side of jimin more. just maybe without the blood red smile.  

~

jeongguk stares down at a photo of himself, smiling up for the camera. it’s a polaroid, old enough that jeongguk feels bad for touching it. old enough that jeongguk shouldn’t be in the picure.

jeongguk and jimin, 1987.

jimin’s in the photo too, lips smushed up against jeongguk’s cheek. it’s cheesy and so cute .

“that’s my favorite photo.” jimin says suddenly, peering over jeongguk’s shoulder. jeongguk yelps, turning to smack jimin in the chest.

“stop doing that!” he whines, pressing a hand to his racing heart. “why am i in this photo? you don’t even have a computer, so i know you didn’t photoshop it. this is really weird hyung-”

jimin gives jeongguk a look like oh come on . “jeongguk, please. you’ve never been this dumb.”

“you say that like you’ve known me for longer than the three conversations we’ve ever had.” jeongguk scoffs. “this is a really weird lookalike.” he decides.

“jeongguk, i have known you for longer than you’ve been here.” jimin says, sounding like he’s pleading. “that isn’t a lookalike.”

“it can’t be me.” jeongguk replies, because that much should be obvious. “i was born in 1997.”

jimin’s lip wobbles, like he’s honest to god about to cry. “ jeongguk. ” he whispers, voice so full of feeling. jimin’s quiet, so very quiet for a long minute. then, “i’m allowing you to go into the garden.”

the garden? “what?” jeongguk splutters, and jimin opens his mouth to reply, only to be interrupted by a sudden thunder roll, so loud it shakes the house.

“you’re allowed to go into the garden.” jimin whispers, taking the photo out of jeongguk’s hand. he stares at it for a long time.

“hyung?” jeongguk whispers, and jimin shakes his head.

“this was a really good day.” jimin mumbles, smiling down at the photo. “i don’t know if i’ve ever felt happier.”

jeongguk leaves jimin to his musings, and sneaks out the back door to the maze garden. the entrance looms over his head, like it did when he first came to jimin’s house. except this time, seokjin doesn’t stop him, and soon, jeongguk’s standing in the middle of the garden’s circular courtyard, staring down at a gravestone, with multiple birth and death date lines engraved on it, like it’s shared by eight people.

this is a cemetery?

the first inscription is engraved beautifully, intricate. the others decline into simplicity, like the carver had gotten tired of the effort.

jeon jeongguk, beloved soulmate, may daffodils bloom for you in eternity 1895-1916.

jeongguk ignores the shiver down his spine at reading his own name on a gravestone. jeon was a common name, jeongguk was a common name, right? it wasn’t him, clearly.

the next inscription is much shorter. jeon jeongguk, 1916-1919.

the next: jjk, 1919-1930 .

the next inscriptions come without a name: 1930-1944, 1944-1958, 1958-1978, 1978-1981, 1981-1997

the last is left open ended, but shares its intricacy with the first. jeon jeongguk, the last of your suffering ends. 1997-

“do you understand now?” jimin asks, and jeongguk turns around to the vampire’s face tucked under a hood.

“are these all… me?” jeongguk whispers, already knowing the answer. jimin doesn’t answer. right, he can’t tell jeongguk anything that jeongguk phrases as a question “these are all me.”

“yes.” jimin says softly.

“i’m your soulmate?” jeongguk asks, and jimin chews on his bottom lip. “i get reincarnated.” he guesses, and jimin nods.

“i can’t phrase any of this as a question can i?” jeongguk murmurs, feeling confusion roll through him. if he’s jimin’s soulmate, where’s his soulmark? where’s jimin’s soulmark?

“you could probably phrase some things as a question.” jimin answers. “i can’t tell you anything about, well.” he points to the gravestone behind jeongguk.

“do you love me?” jeongguk asks, voice quiet.

“more than anything.” jimin whispers, and jeongguk feels his heart break.

“i’m sorry.” jeongguk replies, feeling a tear slip down his cheek.

“please don’t cry.” jimin says, hands twitching at his sides like he wants to wipe jeongguk’s tears away himself. “it doesn’t hurt so bad anymore.”

“but you love me. and i’ve died… eight times.” jeongguk feels a lump in his throat. “why?”

“i can’t tell you.” jimin replies, and jeongguk sighs, because of course he can’t. “but you always come back to me. that’s why it doesn’t hurt. i know you always come back to me.

“even if i don’t love you like you love me?” jeongguk whispers, and jimin nods.

“usually you fall in love with me again before you figure this out,” jimin jokes, and jeongguk feels a few more tears slip down his cheeks. “but you always surprise me.”

jeongguk thinks about it does he think jimin’s beautiful? of course. that’s an exterior quality of him that can’t be denied. but can jeongguk honestly see himself falling in love with jimin? he doesn’t know.

“does this make things weird?” jeongguk asks, and jimin shakes his head, smiling fondly.

“you don’t always love me romantically, you know. a few times you came back to me as a baby, and i took care of you. love comes in all kinds of forms. do you love your friends?”

“of course.” jeongguk says, thinking immediately of seokjin and namjoon.

“but you don’t love them like you’d love a significant other, or a parent, right?” jimin wraps his arms around himself. “of course i want you to love me too. but it doesn’t have to be romantically. i’d be happy with you loving me as a boss at this point.”

“i do.” jeongguk blurts suddenly, and jimin’s eyes widen, surprised. jeongguk just wants to make jimin happy, so bad it aches- “you’re the best boss i’ve ever had, i mean free rent? come on.”

the mood lightens, and jimin smiles, even letting out a rare laugh. “so glad to offer my base package to you and make your whole stay worth it, jeon jeongguk.” he teases.

jeongguk smiles back, ignoring the thunder roll in the distance for the happy squeeze of his heart. “excuse me? does this mean you’ve been hiring around, park jimin? i don’t think that’s very fair. i’ve been very faithful to this operation here.”

jimin starts to laugh, honest and loud. jeongguk feels himself giggling too. “i don’t know, i think you’re my best employee.” he teases back, and jeongguk gasps.

“i’m telling seokjin!” he crows, running past jimin for the house, right as it starts to rain. jimin chases him at a pace that jeongguk’s sure he’s faking, probably easily able to catch jeongguk. they tumble into the kitchen, giggling, and seokjin turns around from the oven with a smile.

“he figure it out?” seokjin asks. jimin nods. “thank god. welcome home, jeongguk.”

“does this mean i get my room back?” namjoon asks, not looking up from his book.

“no he’s staying there. we’re strictly a boss-employee relationship.” jimin says, voice soft as ever. namjoon groans.

“hyung, quiet.” seokjin rolls his eyes, tapping namjoon’s book with his spoon. “let them be happy for now.”

“for now?” jeongguk asks, and seokjin hums.

“it is almost 2017, after all-”

“he didn’t figure that part out!” jimin interrupts suddenly, raising his voice over seokjin’s.

“oh, whoops.” seokjin says, not looking very sorry about it.

“what happens in 2017?” jeongguk asks, and jimin suddenly looks very guilty, but doesn’t answer.

“it’s your 100th anniversary.” namjoon says dryly, and jimin hisses namjoon .

“oh okay.” jeongguk says easily, smiling, and jimin relaxes.

and that’s that.

~

the fated 2017 rolls in without much more than a little celebration between the four of them. jimin starts coming out of his room more often, seokjin takes jeongguk with him on his bi-weekly clinic visits for more blood, and sometimes namjoon breaks an appliance and they have to get a new one.

other than that, life goes on as easy as ever. jeongguk learns that jimin used to be a musician, and that the slamming that used to come from his room was actually just jimin dropping his music theory books back on the floor after reading them for the 200th time. jimin plays some piano, and a little guitar, and has a singing voice so beautiful that jeongguk cries every time he hears it.

“you’ve always done that.” jimin says once, when he catches jeongguk wiping tears off his face after jimin finishes singing a little song to himself. “you always cry when i sing, baby.”

little slips of pet names and memories and that jeongguk doesn’t share with jimin start happening more frequently as jimin gets comfortable around jeongguk.

“i don’t mean to make you uncomfortable.” jimin tells him one time, one of the first times he’d slipped up and called jeongguk baby. “you just seem like the very same jeongguk that i’ve loved all these years.”

“it’s okay.” jeongguk had stuttered, feeling his cheeks burn pink. “i kinda am the same jeongguk, aren’t i?”

~

it’s a tuesday morning in the spring, flowers finally starting to bloom again when jeongguk’s happy little existence goes to shit.

“jeongguk, will you get the door? i think it’s the mailman.” seokjin calls over the constant ringing of the doorbell.

“coming!” jeongguk calls, and the doorbell stops. finally . it’s like they were just holding it down. jeongguk pulls the door open. “can i help you?”

hoseok and taehyung stand in the doorway. taehyung puts his foot in the doorway like a needy salesman, preventing jeongguk from slamming it shut in their faces.

“i thought i made it very clear in 1916 that you weren’t welcome on my property.” jimin says smoothly from behind him, wrapping his arms around jeongguk’s waist, touch easy and welcome. jeongguk relaxes a little. he’d nearly forgotten hoseok and jimin’s little feud or whatever it is, but seeing his old friends on the doorstep had nearly sent him in a panic, because, what the fuck?

“you’ve been holding him hostage.” hoseok replies snippily, and taehyung crosses his arms, puffing up like he’s trying to intimidate jimin. “ i thought part of our deal was that i got a chance with him the last time.”

last time?

“you had your chance when he lived with you in seoul. i was very fair about that. it seems your familiar made it very easy for him to decide to leave you, again .”

taehyung deflates at that, looking at jeongguk. “gukkie, i’m sorry for hurting you-”

“i don’t wanna hear it tae.” jeongguk replies steadily, feeling jimin’s arms squeeze around him reassuringly.

“weird how you let the guy who’s gonna murder you in a few months be all cuddly on you isn’t it?” hoseok muses, and jimin splutters out his indignation, smooth front gone.

“ what?! ” jeongguk gasps, as jimin starts to talk over him. all those birth and death dates-

“hoseok, you can’t tell him things like that, that breaks the deal!” jimin shouts, and hoseok shrugs.

“it’s my curse, i can do whatever i want. unless you forgot us witches are evil? ”

“you were gonna kill me this whole time?” jeongguk whispers, turning around and shrugging out of jimin’s hold. jimin’s arms drop to his side limply.

“jeongguk please.” he whispers, sounding like his heart is breaking. “jeongguk, i would never hurt you on purpose.”

“oh, like in 1978, when you were driving and ‘accidentally’ drove into a tree? and then let jeongguk burn alive in the car?” hoseok asks, and jeongguk’s head throbs suddenly.

hyung help me! jimin please! he remembers wheezing as smoke filled his lungs.

“jimin.” he whispers, feeling tears slip down his cheeks. jimin shakes his head, eyes furious even as he starts to cry too.

“what about in 1919, when he let you die alone at home of cholera at three years old because he didn’t want to take you to a doctor?” hoseok continues, and jimin snarls.

“i couldn’t leave the house with him, you wouldn’t let me!” jimin shouts, and jeongguk starts to remember that, too.

hyungie will be right back, okay gukkie? just hang on a little longer-

“1958? when he let you drown in the ocean on your honeymoon?” jeongguk gets the memory of gasping for air, only to inhale water.

jeongguk!

“that’s enough.” seokjin says suddenly behind them, and jeongguk peeks over jimin’s shoulder, and realises he’s crying only because of the watery outline he sees of seokjin. “i don’t know how you got through my wards, but you need to leave.”

“i got through them because you’re weak.” hoseok snaps. “jeongguk, you have to choose right now. either you live happily with me and tae, or jimin ends up killing you again.”

“jeongguk, please, i would n-never-” jimin hiccups, and jeongguk realises jimin is crying too.

“but you did!” taehyung yells, like the answer jeongguk is looking for is obvious.

and suddenly it is. he believes everything that comes out of jimin’s mouth, about hoseok causing it all. he remembers, suddenly, when hoseok cursed him in the first place.

“i’m staying with jimin.” jeongguk says softly, and hoseok’s smile slips right off his face. “you said it yourself hyung. it’s your curse. that means you caused all this, doesn’t it? why would i ever want to be with you like that?”

thunder rolls in, heavy and loud. lightning flashes so close to the house jeongguk suddenly fears that it’ll catch fire.

fire .

“jimin get out of the house!” jeongguk gasps suddenly, shoving jimin outside as lightning strikes the eaves of the porch, setting it ablaze.

“then burn for all i give a fuck.” hoseok snarls, and jeongguk feels his limbs turn to concrete. he can’t move. jimin stands in the lawn, similarly frozen. “after this the curse is over, have fun with your soulmate in eternity.”

lightning flashes again, and hoseok is gone.

“jeongguk!” jimin screams, as seokjin stands behind jeongguk, trying to get him out of the burning house.

“hyung, go. ” jeongguk urges, and seokjin lets out a desperate sob as namjoon pulls him bodily out of the house, through the one spot that’s still clear of fire. everything after that slows down.

“jeongguk!” he hears, and jimin is sobbing, tears streaking down his cheeks. jeongguk realises slowly that his sweater is on fire, but he can’t move. “ come back to me. ” he hears, like it’s right next to his ear, and when he opens his eyes again, he’s laying on the floor, the blaze so high he can’t see jimin anymore.

“come back to me. i love you.”

~

jeongguk wakes up in his bed, sitting straight up almost immediately.

“welcome back.” jimin mumbles, waking up from where he’d been asleep in the windowseat.

back . jeongguk remembers everything suddenly. the fire, the garden, hoseok’s curse. how much he loves the man sitting next to him, loves him so badly it hurts. enough for 9 lifetimes and then some.

“am i cripsy?” jeongguk whispers, too afraid to look. he should be nothing but ash right now.

jimin has the good grace to laugh. “no baby, you’re not crispy. you’re immortal.”

“a vampire?” jeongguk asks, and jimin shakes his head.

“just a human that never dies. i guess the end of your curse took away mine too. i have a heartbeat again.”

jeongguk presses his palm to jimin’s chest, remembering there used to be silence there.

ba-bump, ba-bump .

“so you’re all mine?” jeongguk asks, looking up at jimin. “what happened to the house?!” he sits up, and notices that there’s not a thing out of place, not even a hint of a scorch mark anywhere.

“the house didn’t burn.” jimin informs softly, “but i’m all yours now, forever.” at that, jeongguk stretches up to kiss jimin on the mouth, like he’s wanted to for months, years-

outside, it’s finally turning into summer. jimin pulls back and combs his fingers through jeongguk’s hair. “it doesn’t seem real.” he whispers, and jeongguk pinches jimin’s arm hard enough the older man yelps.

“it’s real!” jeongguk confirms, giggling as jimin pinches him back, heart warm and happy.

over their hearts rests the shape of an orange blossom, and outside summer stretches into eternity.

it’s always been you