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Being completely honest, he didn't want to hear another lovey dovey word come from the couple next to him today. Yet here he was, on his way to a bar down the street, and passing by several trashcans of which he can vomit his fucking lungs out because GOD they're disgusting.
“I love your gummy smiles, you should smile more,” Jimin cooed at his lover.
“Your smiles are cuter,” Yoongi cooed back.
Jungkook hacked up a real big cough to show how clearly uncomfortable he was. They took no notice of it and instead continued as usual, pinching each other's cheeks and voicing their affection loudly in public. Jungkook sighed loud enough so that the people chatting nearby on the sidewalks looked his way, but it was enough to get the couple's attention. He’d say it was worth it.
“I think Jungkook is getting sick of us flirting,” Yoongi chuckled, only pulling his boyfriend closer as he nuzzled his face into Jimins’ neck.
“He's a grown man, he'll deal.” That earned a scoff from the younger.
“Please, you're only a year older than me and you two say ‘I wuv you’ for god sakes.”
Jimin gives him the biggest, most purest puppy dog eyes he's ever seen and it would be an understatement to say he wasn't a little affected by it. But he won't give in that easily, he's been putting up with this shit for 4 hours now. If he listens to them any longer he might just choke to death, and as much as he hates to admit it, he sadly hasn't gotten laid yet.
“I'm a baby at heart, Jungkookie. I'm fragile. I need affection from my boyfie,” he reasons, and it would probably sound reasonable to Jungkook if he didn't cringe at the word boyfie, euck. The two snuggle together as if it's freezing out, when in actuality, there's a definite heat wave passing through the city. But what does he care if they sweat their balls off?
“Okay, so while I drink all the sappy shit I've had to listen to out of my head , because god forbid I'll be able to stay sober since we're fucking roommates,” He sounds very distraught about that specifically. “Promise me you won't fuck on my bed because you two can't keep it in your pants for another minute?” This is essential information considering he'll be the one who ends up having to wash the jizz off his sheets.
“Dude, relax, I'm not some horny dog.” They exchange a silent blank look before Jimin breaks and turns to Yoongi. “Baby, I'm not that bad, am I?”
Yoongi’s mouth opens and closes, unsure how he wants to answer. He glances over at Jungkook and the younger is shaking his head so fast Yoongi slightly worries he'll get whiplash. “....Well,” he hesitates, watching Jimin’s eyes gaze at him full of hope. He wants to settle on his boyfriend’s side, but in the corner of his eye he spots Jungkook making a throat cutting motion with his finger, and he doesn't exactly want the boy to stop buying him coffee every morning. That's a big price to pay, and he's lazy as fuck.
“I'm a demon, I don't know what you expect me to say honestly,” he says finally, eyes scrunching up. “We classify dirty and kinky shit in an entirely different category, I'm not sure you'd approve.” Jimin’s smile falters and he squeezes his hand to reassure that he's still there for him, a soft smile curling his lips.
Jungkook seems to be content with the answer though, as when they come up to the bar on their left he stops for them. It's a signal to ask if they would actually like to join him, obviously changing his mind from before, but of course they have other plans. Jimin surprisingly detaches himself from Yoongi for the first time today and steps up to the unfairly taller one.
“You, my friend, need to find your soulmate. It's been too long, they're bound to show up somewhere, I know it.” Jimin says pointedly, quietly demanding this to be the time that Jungkook agrees with a “Yes, hyung.” Much to his dismay, the other ignores that order as well and instead chooses to snicker as he gestures to their obvious height difference. Jimin slaps his hand out of the air and sticks a finger to his chest. “You'll see. Soon I'll be the one gagging across the room as you coddle your lover.”
Before Jungkook can say anything the shorter is already turned to Yoongi and they're linking arms, ready to head off. They make a point of blowing exaggerated kisses to him which he swats away in disgust.
“It'll probably be a stripper with an exhibition kink, but I'm rooting for ya buddy! Introduce us to her or him when you meet!” Jimin shouts out, and he's lucky so few are currently roaming the afternoon streets around here because that would been humiliating.
Yeah, he'll make a point of not introducing his soulmate to you guys, thanks.
Not trying to be rude or anything, but he really doesn't buy into the whole “your soulmate is destined to be your one true love forever”. Not to say that Jimin and Yoongi aren't the definition of love at first sight, but he knows what he wants. And he wants no connection, no feelings, no problem. One night stands are perfect. Now, he doesn't count himself as a fuckboy or anything, but he much prefers to relax rather than be committed to anything serious. Not to mention, he's not the type to leave the house a lot. His mind is subject to change, but for now he's ignoring the soulmate system. It's pretty insulting to neglect the system entirely -but what has it ever done for him?
It's given him marks. Everywhere. And none of them make any sense.
It's said that when you hit the age of 21, you find your destined soulmate who has the same things written on their body as you do yours.
Yeah, well, it didn't say all of the letters would look like Egyptian hieroglyphics, not to mention they'd be anywhere near your dick. What is his soulmate, a fucking Egyptologist? A treasure hunter halfway across the world?
With that strange thought in mind his urge to drink increases. He really shouldn't have children in the future.... definitely a bad influence.
He's making his way past the door and something new starts being written on his hand in the one place that's barren. No matter how much he twists his wrist and head in uncomfortable positions he still can't make out what it is. A badly scribbled turtle? A person? He's apparently not marrying an artist in the future.
A man walks by him into the bar and he realizes he's stopped inside the doorway and probably blocking people from coming in to drink to death. Silver lining: He’s saving lives.
He hears a low voice resonate from inside, and he involuntarily leans into it’s direction.
“It's a dog, can't you see!?” A huff. “How rude.”
He finally shuffles past the doorway, leaving several people relieved with the newfound space. His heart rate spikes, and he can feel the thrumming in his throat as he nears the bar. For some reason he feels tense, with a slight tinge of nostalgia, as if he's visiting his parents after so long of being away.
“Aren't witches supposed to be good at drawing?” A bartender comes into his line of sight. The man wielding short, stubby horns and currently pouring some vodka into a shot cup, yet his eyes were expertly still focused on the person across from him.
“Funny, last time I heard demons don't usually marry angels.”
“Don't bring my wife into this!”
“Then don't bring up my race!”
Jungkook takes a seat beside the irritated man and the bartender diverts his attention onto his new customer. “Bar special, that's it,” he says knowingly, the employee nodding after Jungkook shows his ID appropriately.
“Birthday, huh? Congratulations.”
“Thanks,” Jungkook feels his cheeks heat up slightly and his lips subconsciously quirk up into a smile. “I didn't expect a demon bartender of all people to be kind, with all due respect.”
“Stereotypes. We're good people, at least -most of us,” He chuckles, finally bringing the special drink to the counter, a small umbrella settling between the ice cubes to make it look more attractive.
“Happy Birthday,” A shiver weirdly goes up his spine as a velvety voice rises up next to him. He dares turn his head to face the other, and his eyes almost instantly fall to the man’s lips as he takes a sip from his cocktail prettily. “You seem like you don't get out a lot.” He smiles, and Jungkook doesn't fight back the smile that takes over his face too.
“I….guess you could say that.” He really doesn't go out unless it's one of those nights, but he also doesn't want to come off as that kind of person to this guy. His eyes start trailing down the guys hand -which is grasping a glass at the moment- and finding small black squiggles in weird shapes and figures, all running down his arm into the folds of his loose sweater. The man catches his glance and raises an eyebrow, following the trail the others’ eyes were leaving along his body. Not flustered, but more like amused, as he looked back up at Jungkook with a twinkle in his gaze.
“Like what you see?” It didn't sound flirtatious, it was merely a simple question. He probably thought Jungkook was a tattoo artist.
“More like intrigued. ” Those scriptures look the same as mine . He wanted to speak, but he wasn't sure what looked the same when every scribble on the man's arm was just as illegible.
“Hm?”
“Can I,” he licks his lips, unsure if he wants to uncover this. “Can I ask you to pull your shirt down a bit,” he gestures by tugging on his collar slightly. “Around here?”
The man doesn't look anything of uncomfortable, but he still holds Jungkook’s gaze for a few more hesitant seconds before tugging his way too loose of a shirt down enough to reveal a few familiar symbols.
The numbers 341.
Jungkook pulls his collar down too, and he watches as his soulmate’s eyes slowly open larger in awe. He can’t believe it himself, but the numbers on their bodies were the same. Along with all the other scribbles, and, as his eyes travel to the man’s hand again, he recognizes the badly drawn dog as if it were the back of his hand. Because it is.
Then, suddenly, all the memories of the marks, and confusion, and secrets being kept from his friends come back in a flash. He had to put so much foundation on for the beach.
“This is….cool. I didn't think people could get so many of the same tattoos in the same places, but,” His soulmate begins, running a hand through -what Jungkook noticed now- was glistening, silver hair. And he would think it to be somewhat attractive, but he was too busy interrupting him to pay attention.
“You son of a bitch.”
The other looks at him nonchalantly, as if he were just greeted politely. “I mean I'm a witch, but whatever floats your boat,” It comes out nothing short of casual. He takes another sip of his drink while Jungkook’s lays on the counter, ignored.
“You,” he grits out, attempting to keep his calm. “Are the reason I have fucking hieroglyphics all over my body.”
“Hieroglyphics, what-” he blinks. “Oh. You mean the spell hymns I write on my skin to remember?” It looks like the gears in his head are turning when he abruptly looks to lose his train of thought again. “They appear on you? How?”
“Don't act innocent, I-" he clears his throat to force the statement out, voice hushing to a harsh whisper. “I have hymns down by my ass like a tramp stamp-!”
“Wait, really? I'm sorry, whenever I'm in the shower I have nowhere else to write ideas.” He settles into a more sheepish state, looking a bit more ashamed. “I...run out of space quite often.”
“No shit.” He brushes his hair back out of stress, not expecting to deal with this on the night he should be avoiding it. “What do they even mean? I get like 50 erased, and 20 more put on every day.”
“They’re spells,” he gives Jungkook a weird look as if he should know it already.
“...Uh huh.”
“I'm a witch,” he points to his star shaped earrings, moon choker, a belt -that Jungkook didn't even notice until now was packed with an array of bottles full of whatever chemical concoction. “Can’t you tell? Im kinda obvious here.”
“...Yes.”
“You sound unsure.”
Jungkook nodded. “I am.” That arises a laugh out of the other. “I'm Jungkook, by the way,” he felt the need to introduce himself above everything.
“Taehyung,” He reached his palm out, and Jungkook attempted to slap it, thinking it was a high five. But the minute their hands made contact Taehyung intertwined their fingers, already showing a little too much skinship for just meeting. “I never really paid much attention to the soulmate system thingie, always thought it was a myth,” he adds on. “Guess it's true, though. At least, it looks to be.”
“You? Thinking something is a myth? A male witch?” Taehyung frowned at him, unlocking their hands to cross his arms defiantly.
“Excuse me?”
Jungkook just had a feeling he shouldn't play with witches.
Swallowing hard, he tried at a calm demeanor by sitting back like he was the coolest person in the room. “Well, y'know, it's just rare for witches to be male, normally they're female. So they're almost..” He took a chance and wiggled his eyebrows. “Sacred.”
Taehyung hummed, not looking phased at all. “I see.” He continued to finish off his drink, even when there was no liquid left he kept sipping noisy air through the tiny stirring utensil.
Newsflash: He isn't as cool as he thinks.
“Who knows,” Jungkook said, finally turning to his forgotten beverage. A watered-down margarita. “Maybe you're just pretending to be a witch; like some sort of kink you have.”
Taehyung stopped his action and set the glass down on the counter quite roughly. “Dude, you literally called me a witch like, 3 times already. Why the sudden change?”
“Figure of speech,” He teased.
“Rude!” Taehyung’s lips formed a pout and he stole the others’ drink, picking it up and taking a large swig of it. He held it up and squinted at it as if he just tasted some sort of sour, disgusting mix of flavors. “Jesus, that’s bitter.” he slid it away from himself. “Take it citrus-lover, I can tell you love the classy stuff.” Jungkook took it and managed a sip, coming out with the complete opposite reaction -nodding in satisfaction.
“Once you finish it off, we can head over to my place,” Taehyung placed his elbows on the counter, resting his head in his palms. He grinned boxes ('how unusual' Jungkook thinks) at the inquisitive look he got in return, it only fueling his excitement more. “If you don't really think I'm a witch, allow me to show you then.”
“You aren't gonna like, tell me you're “magical" -” Quotation mark gestures included, “-and then pull out your dick the second we get to your place, right?”
“Uh. What?”
“Right, not like that, gotcha.”
“You really don't get out a lot, do you?”
“Leave me alone, I'm trying.”
Taehyung laughed in amusement, now turned to Jungkook with his cheek resting on top of his hand, waiting for the younger to down whatever unknown sorrows plague his mind. “I can see that.”
By the time they left, the day blue sky was now a pinkish-orange, showing they stayed in the bar for much longer than Jungkook expected. Then again, he didn't expect to find his soulmate at one either.
“Y’know, I thought you were bound to get drunk eventually after how many drinks you ordered,” Taehyung mentioned as he began to take off his sweater, choosing to tie it around his waist now that they were out of the chilly bar. “I'm surprised you walked out looking like the most sober person in the world.”
“I'm not a lightweight. I pretty much own the place when I walk in.” Jungkook played, sending his soulmate a sly smirk.
Taehyung snorted and looked away as to not give any attention to Jungkook. “So cocky,” he bit back.
“Hey, look at your soulmate when having a conversation! We're supposed to be in love here.”
The witch stuck out his tongue and started walking down the side of the street. “My apartment isn't too far away, but beware of Ol’ Gandalf at the front door.” he ended it with a hushed laugh.
“Wait,” Jungkook stopped following him. “I'm lost.” When his footsteps stopped, Taehyung did as well, and he had a very mischievous grin on. Suspicions started crowding his mind, what if he's actually a murderer? What if he's going to take me hostage or something? But then he remembered he's got a basic understanding of martial arts, and this man is as thin as a toothpick, so he let his guard drop back down.
“Is he like a grumpy old security guard, or…?”
Taehyung made a noise of disagreement and shuffled his feet, looking at the ground. “No, he really is dressed up as Gandalf. He'll try to make grabbing hands at you,” Jungkook stared at him in slight terror. “And he'll say something like ‘you shalt not pass’ or whatever, so be careful.” he looks up to see the other stock still with a mix of confusion and uneasiness painted across his face.
“Uh…”
Taehyung rolls his eyes, head following the movement. “Oh my god , I'm just playing! He's just promoting a new LOR movie, he's chill. I get him coffee sometimes,” he explains casually, finally reassuring Jungkook enough for them to continue walking. Not that he still wasn't frazzled, but it was more out of thinking how weird his soulmate turned out to be, giving coffee to Gandalf every morning and whatnot like it was a new trend.
They made their way to the apartment pretty easily, only stopping once again because Taehyung saw a black cat alone in the alleyway and spent almost 20 minutes grieving over the fact he can't have another animal, to which Jungkook said “I don't even wanna know” as he's pretty sure being a witch of course you would attract black cats . Some sort of curse, but not really. They talked about small things, nothing too descriptive about each other apart from Jungkook’s story about how Jimin and Yoongi used his room as a test lab for their kinks. Taehyung, of course, asking him “Do you like stuff like that?” And Jungkook replying with “If they didn't toss my shit on the floor and stink up my sheets, maybe I wouldn't mind it 1% less.” it made the other laugh nevertheless, so he’d say some past situations were perhaps...worth it.
Looking up at the apartment building was like viewing a skyscraper. He couldn't tell when it stopped, the floors just kept going up and up into the clouds as if it was a beanstalk leading to a giants domain. He was tempted to take a picture, being the side photo-fanatic he is, but he reasoned it may seem especially weird doing it out of nowhere. Looking up at the sky and taking a picture of the endless reddening sheet, it was practically there every day for him to do it, so why now?
“You daydreaming over there? I know the sky is beautiful and all, but I didn't peg you for the ‘My heart burns like the sky at sunset’ type o’ guy,” Taehyung says, standing in front of the entrance to the lobby. He was facing him with an eyebrow raised and it matched his smile, playful and curious. He reminded Jungkook of a cat, but with how many stripes he's decided to have all over his colorful clothes, maybe it's more like a tiger.
“I...kind of want to take a picture of the sky,” he admitted with a hint of embarrassment. He doesn’t know why he told Taehyung that, not even Jimin knows he's really into the arts. Maybe it's the soulmates curse.
“Is it that beautiful? More so than me?” Taehyung started to fake sob, no actual tears coming out as he's wiping his eyes. “I’m hurt, Jungkook.”
“....You're a weird one, alright,” Jungkook says as he moves in front of the other to push open what looks to be a very heavy door, but it opens up with only a light touch and he ends up stumbling inside with all the force he tried to exert onto it.
Taehyung was following him as he wiped up the rest of his imaginary tears and sniffled, looking at his soulmate solemnly. “Thank you, hun,” Jungkook rolls his eyes. “I didn't know my soulmate was a photographer, I'm so lucky- Oh, hi Gandalf!!” He gets distracted near the end and waves to a hunched figure by the bench near the front door. Jungkook watches it wave back to him and tap his large poorly made staff on the floor, a low, scratchy voice coming out in a whisper,
“You...shall not pass…”
“Yeah, yeah, how's the casting doing?” Taehyung talks as if he's heard the same unsettling phrase every day of his life, but also like he's talking to an old friend.
“Not…. Not good.”
“How unfortunate,” The witch’s smile wobbles but it stays as a smile. “Keep going strong, buddy.”
Jungkook is standing in the middle of the lobby with Taehyung as the two acquaintances exchange hand signals. He's completely lost and almost about to ask if he should say something too, but Taehyung then grabs his wrist and starts to tug him to the elevators. He's definitely more confused than before, if that was even possible. “Why the sudden exit?”
“He's been advertising for that same thing for months now, I feel so bad that things aren't going well still,” He turned to face Jungkook as he clicks the elevator button for the 6th floor - of course. “You shouldn't talk to him, he's not having a good day. He looked pretty upset.”
“How could you see his face underneath that huge hood…?”
“Trust me, I know.”
They take the elevator up to his floor, and Jungkook silently prays to himself “Please don't let his door number be 666, please don't let his door number be 666,” And he keeps his head down at the ground as they walk through the halls to his place.
Hiss.
“Ah, shit,”” The witch swears under his breath.
Hisssssss.
Jungkook picks up his head and stares at the door, gulping at the predictable but still very uneasing numbers that are carved into the wood, and he notices Taehyung pressing his ear up to the door with a finger to his lips. He keeps quiet.
Hissssssssss!
He has no idea what the noise is, but it's not part of his imagination like he would usually think, since the other also seems to hear it. It sounds like a snake, but he would prefer it to be a balloon slowly losing air. Not that that would make any sense, but neither would a fucking snake in an apartment complex.
“Wait here, okay? Don't move. Don't come in. Nothing.” Taehyung explains sternly but fast, and maybe a bit nervously too, as when Jungkook nods, his face instantly distorts into something of worry and he opens the door only enough to slip in and vanish behind the maroon door. The small sign hanging on its door knocker floats and hits back against the wood. It has a witch on a broomstick on it glowing in the dark, and Jungkook almost jumps a foot when it cackles and says “Be back in 3 ears of a pumpkin! Hahahaha!”
It made no sense and he doesn't like how it makes no sense-
CRASH.
“Ow! Shit, Gucci! Chill out!”
He pauses at the loud shout and thrashing noisily coming from behind the door, subconsciously leaning closer to it. “Gucci….?” Jungkook repeats to himself, really wondering if he's in any way talking about the clothing company or the phrase. It didn't fit into the sentence either way, so he wasn't really sure where he was going with that.
Nevertheless, it wouldn't hurt to completely ignore the others’ warnings and walk in, right? He's curious, and it sounds like he needs help.
“Motherfuc- LISTEN YOU ASSHOLE CALM YOUR FANCY ASS DOWN.”
…
Yeah, he's going in.
However, the first thing he saw when he walked in wasn't... really anything to worry about? It looked like something bad, Taehyung originally wrestling with the thing in his grip, now frozen solid as he spotted him standing in the doorway. He was holding a coral snake away from his face as it thrashed and hissed. For some reason though, he felt like he didn't really need to worry about the guy.
“...I thought I told you not to come in.” He stares blankly at Jungkook, voice hushed a bit, and he fears that the snake in Taehyung’s grip will actually grow angrier if he talked louder.
Before he could answer, the snake started snapping at Taehyung, like actually trying to bite him snapping, and the witch pulled his head away swiftly with each bite of air the animal took. “Listen, wh- hey -!” Taehyung took a few steps back, (not that it really mattered) when the snake took an especially far crunch at him, the fangs still skimming his nose sharp enough to cut the bridge of it. “Gucci, ow! That really hurt you dick!” He rubs his fingers over the light scratch and winces.
“...So,” Jungkook starts awkwardly, still standing in the doorway like an uninvited stranger. “Gucci, huh? He's your- um... pet?”
“Yes, that's- watch it,” He scolds Gucci, wagging his finger at the snake before reeling it back from another bite. “That's my snake's name- stop it- he's my Gucci Wucci familiar- SHIT DUDE STOP BITING ME. I MEAN IT.” He shakes the “familiar” around in his hand like a baby rattle, which is probably not healthy , but it stops squirming finally. He breaths a sigh of relief and Jungkook follows suit, viewing cautiously as Taehyung pats his snake’s little head proudly.
The snake then proceeds to bite a huge gash in Taehyung’s finger.
“AHHH-!” Taehyung flings the familiar into the wall out of shock and its slithering body makes a large thud at contact, which is when Taehyung looks over extremely worried and guilty and what he just did reflexively, voice coming out uncontrollably loud. “Gucci-! No, I'm so sorry baby! Ah, shit-!?” He quickly looks over at his finger, it slowly turning a blue and purple color. “The venom. I forgot you're super venomous! Jungkook! Potion, kitchen, NOW.”
Jungkook, now dealing with the pressure of a person possibly dying on them, nevertheless his soulmate, because a coral snake is the 2nd most deadliest one in the world , is absolutely terrified and maybe shaking too much. He goes to the kitchen near the door in search for this potion, but what he finds is a million jars of miscellaneous content with foreign lettering on the labels, leaving him stuck in a box because he doesn't understand fucking hymns and shit.
“There's like, a million fucking jars!”
“Ah, why the fu- the red one!” Taehyung yells through grit teeth, trying to cut off blood circulation from his finger to the rest of his body using a hair tie.
He looks back up at the shelves they're rested on and his eyes fall on several red jars. He starts to take them all down hurriedly, “Which red one!?”
Taehyung groans, both out of pain and distress. “The darkest one!”
Jungkook stuffed the other 4 jars back on the shelf, taking the darkest one he could find -in hopes that it's the right one- and tossing it to the witch. Taehyung catches it easier than expected with one hand, and uncorks it with his teeth, drenching his finger in the solution. He waits a few seconds, but in a flicker his finger sets on fire and he yelps, “Wrong one, I was wrong!” Throwing the jar off to the side he points at Jungkook hopefully. “It's the lightest one, get the lightest one!”
He finds that one instantly and throws it to the other, where he really prays that it's the correct one this time seeing as how Taehyung’s right arm is almost entirely purple, and he's sure that most bites kill in 10 minutes .
Luckily...it magically puts out the fire and clears up his skin, and where the gash once was, finally is healed. Taehyung really does let out a long sigh of relief after his near-death-experience. “Gucci….you really are gonna kill me one day.” It's glad to be alive.
Jungkook, too, is beginning to calm down. Gucci is busy slithering happily (or what he assumes is happily) around the plush red sofa in the living room, so he's not a problem anymore for now. “What in the world happens when you have those emergencies here? It's not the first...apparently.”
A shrug. “It's a challenge every day. I like to live on the edge, y’know?” He grins at Jungkook as though a minute ago he wasn't on the verge of dying.
“ The edge of death,” Jungkook states plainly, not taking any stupid excuses.
“Ok, well,” For once he looks caught red-handed. “I didn't exactly expect Gucci to have a bipolar episode today. Lucifer usually has those,” A pout accompanies his defence.
Again, Jungkook repeats. “Lucifer.”
“...My cat.”
“Of course you have a fucking black cat!”
“That's why I didn't wanna get another one! It's hard,” Taehyung’s brows furrow and he glares up at something in the ceiling. “Luci isn't good with others.”
Jungkook follows his gaze and finds a pair of yellow eyes gazing back at him in the darkness of the ceiling. There's wooden pillars going in criss cross patterns above him, cobwebs in the corners. It fits the whole witch schtick well, and he's actually starting to get comfy with it all, but the sharp gaze he's getting up above has yet to be the same.
“Don't worry, he won't attack you unless there's a reason.”
“Gotcha.” Jungkook takes his focus away from the animal and looks around the house from where he's standing. The awkwardness is still sort of there, but less, now that they've talked a bit. Taehyung is picking up the jars he threw earlier and tossing them in the trashcan across the room with ease, a witch’s touch.
“Mmn,” Taehyung makes a noise as if he's in deep thought. “Could you grab something from the kitchen to eat? I'm kinda hungry from almost dying.” He makes it sound like a daily routine. Inviting your soulmate over, almost dying, then making him give you food. What a pimp move, honestly. Fucking brilliant.
Jungkook does just what he asks, because he's nice like that. But as soon as he steps into the kitchen again, he realizes for the first time that it...really doesn't look like a kitchen at all. Instead of cabinets of seasonings there are shelves of potions, the oven looks like a fireplace instead of anything remotely modern, and the walls are all lined with different sticks and hooks that carry bottles of eyeballs and other weird chopped-up limbs. He wonders how the apartment even looked before all of this, because he's pretty sure they don't sell medieval cottages in the middle of the city.
Taehyung walks over eventually, probably in search of where his food is, but he only finds Jungkook twirling around looking at everything on the walls and such. “Watcha doing?”
“Your place looks like a brewery, where do you even keep the food? I bet that fridge is full of frozen blood or some weird concoctions that'll haunt my nightmares,” Jungkook looks over at the refrigerator warily and his soulmate scoffs, walking over to it to open it himself.
“What are you talking about? Of course I keep food in- not in this fridge.” He opens the door only to close it after seeing what's inside, leaving whatever was in there to the imagination. A slow rush of air leaves his lips and he mutters to himself while trying to subtly look around the area. “Where do I keep my food…?” He fails at trying not to look just as confused as the other.
“How do you even find anything in this place? It's like looking for a needle in a haystack.”
Taehyung stares at him like he just saw a ghost. “You're being rhetorical, right.”
“No.”
He mouths a silent ‘Oh’ and bites his lip, looking away. “...I don't.”
“What? So you're just lost in your own house?” Jungkook looks around the house, at the piles of books covering the floor, the empty bottles tipped over on the crowded countertops, the burnt desk settled in a fairly dirty corner of the room, several open and dented cages for who knows what , and the rest is all stuff he can't make out because he's never seen anything quite like the things in Taehyung’s apartment before.
“I mean…” The witch tilts his head and looks at his left arm, full of scribbles. He changes arms, obviously not finding what he needed on one limb, and then bending over to look down behind his knee. Jungkook didn't even know something was written there. “I can use a location spell for it, I guess. But,” he rearranges his position straight up again. “Spells take forever to cast, so I usually just leave it.”
“And starve?”
“Hm?”
“Because you can't find food here so you, you starve.”
“Nah, I order takeout.” He shrugs the work off as if he's never thought about doing it before.
“Do you even know how to use a phone?” Jungkook coos as if he's talking to a baby.
“Oh shut it, just because my house isn't modern doesn't mean I'm not!”
“Cute~”
“Jungkook!”
“Y’know, I have a fun idea of what we should do today,” Jungkook grins, and he looks like a bunny plotting something evil. Taehyung is unsure whether he's supposed to think the man is adorable or scary. “How about I teach you how to properly take care of your house? Like clean around a bit?”
“...Get out.” Taehyung points to the door narrowing his eyes, but a smile threatens to take over his frown. “My soulmate would never.”
“That's not what the marks say.”
“We'll see about that!” Taehyung yells before sprinting to the bathroom, somehow knowing where it is through the towers of books and witch equipment, and god, Jungkook should've known he would be fast.
“Tae! You're drunk! Don't erase the evidence you fool!” Jungkook shouts after him choking out a laugh, following the path of random items across the floor that the witch (if you could even call him one, he's failing so miserably it's hard to tell) unexpectedly, knocked over.
And when he makes it to the shut bathroom door, rattling the knob to find it locked all the while hearing a huge bout of laughter on the other side, he can't help but smile.
He didn't expect his soulmate to make him feel so close to home in just a day.
“Okay, but do you believe I'm a witch now?”
“I always did, Taehyung.”