Archive of Our Own

Without fail, Jeongguk's job turns out to be rather gruesome. 

It's not even because he's responsible for the death of all humans, Jeongguk reasons, but because he has to work with so many beings that represent such unpleasant things. In fact, the only being that he works with that isn't all that unpleasant is Yoongi, who's in charge of Sleep. But even though they collaborate quite frequently, it's still not as often as some of the other beings he has to encounter. After all, it's not all that often that a human is able to pass away peacefully in their sleep due to old age.

For every passing that Jeongguk weaves into his tapestry of Death, he has to collaborate with at least one other being to create the scene, whether it be Disease, Famine, Sleep, or Discord to name a few. And each time he has to collaborate with another being to entwine their threads together, either he or Discord has to bring the entwined threads over to Namjoon at his bookstore, who weaves them into his tapestry of Fate, the center of all other beings' tapestries. 

"What's the story this time?" Yoongi will ask him each time Jeongguk comes into the store, always entering through the front door because Namjoon is always particular about that. It's a rule of Fate's, just in case there happens to be a blessed mortal that's browsing among the shelves. Yoongi will help Namjoon clear the table of books and papers as Namjoon brings out the tapestry of Fate with a wave of his hand. 

This particular day is no different. Jeongguk brings out his tapestry as well to land on top of Namjoon's. "I always have too many to keep track of," he mumbles as he starts working on his own chart, using the entwined threads he's brought in as reference. "Are you taking up permanent residence in here?"

Yoongi gives a halfhearted shrug at that. "Depends. I'll probably end up leaving once Namjoon's bookstore stops gathering dust."

Namjoon lets his eyes wander away from Jeongguk's work, taking a glance around his store. "I don't think we'll ever get to a point where we'll be completely devoid of dust here," he says mournfully.

Jeongguk pauses in his work to give Yoongi a pointed, unamused stare. "You just admitted you're staying here forever."

"Semantics," Yoongi snorts. 

Jeongguk reaches a hand out to Yoongi this time. 

Yoongi looks at him defiantly for a few moments, his arms crossed in front of his chest, before relenting and sighing. "I knew I could feel your presence in my work," he mutters, summoning up a small piece of his own purple thread to hand to Jeongguk. "Please tell me it's due to old age."

"You and I both wish that were the case each time," Jeongguk says dryly, entwining their threads together before handing his assortment to Namjoon, who takes them and starts looking over them carefully. Jeongguk waves a hand again, and his tapestry vanishes off the counter. "But Disease had a hand in Namjoon's tapestry months ago." The actual story is, this time around, a human's body was ravaged by disease and the human finally succumbed to death while they were asleep in a hospital. Jeongguk decides to spare Yoongi from too much detail though, because these stories tend to be a little too gruesome for Yoongi's tastes. The god of Sleep usually is ignorant of the majority of the activity of other beings, and Jeongguk's not about to be the one to change that. 

Namjoon starts getting to work, cutting out pieces of his own silver thread from his chart before adding the patterns Jeongguk's created with the other beings. Jeongguk's the only being Namjoon's able to cut his own threads for, because the addition of Jeonguk's thread means the end of Namjoon's. Jeongguk and Yoongi watch Fate work intently, because no matter how often they get to see Namjoon work, it's easy to agree that Namjoon has the most complex tapestry out of all of them. Jeongguk doesn't understand how Namjoon can keep track of all the different assortment of threads. 

"You know," Namjoon starts carefully, eyeing Jeongguk intently while he finishes weaving the last of the threads together. "You're free to stay here with us if you'd like."

Jeongguk is confused. He doesn't get why Namjoon's suddenly given him this offer. "Why the hell would I want to do that?"

"Seokjin says he's worried about you," Namjoon explains, wrapping up his tapestry and putting it away. "Says you decided not to renew your lease on your apartment, so you've taken to wandering around the city. He said it's been getting harder for him to track you down whenever he needs to create a new scene with you."

"Seokjin's just lazy," Jeongguk mutters. "It's not that hard to find me if he actually looks for me. He can just call for me if he really needs me."

Namjoon chuckles a little, leaning his elbows against the counter. "Seokjin is pretty lazy sometimes, this is true. But what was your reason for leaving your old place?"

Jeongguk's not too sure about how he's supposed to answer this. He thinks that using boredom as an excuse isn't really going to cut it for Namjoon. "I'm not the only being who's taken to wandering around for a few months. I'm sure I'll settle down again somewhere eventually. Don't worry about it."

The look Namjoon gives him tells him that he's most definitely worried. Even Yoongi by now, looks a bit worried as well. "You aren't getting restless, are you?" Namjoon asks him, placing a hand on his shoulder gently. "There's been rumors going around that you might be planning to stir up something with one of the other beings. I'm not saying I'm suspicious of you, but you might want to address that at the next meeting with the Order, if you want to dispel any theories."

Jeongguk groans, burying his face in his hands. Now that he really thinks of it, he's heard some of the other deities talking about that in passing. "Give me a little more faith here, won't you?" He pauses to think for a few moments. "Look, if I tell you, promise you won't get mad? Or tell anyone else about this?"

"Your secret's safe with me," Namjoon promises him seriously.

Jeongguk doesn't know how to put this nicely without sounding lame as fuck. "I'm avoiding someone."

"Let me guess," Yoongi says wryly. "You've been running away from Love."

Jeongguk groans again. Of course Yoongi knows who he's been avoiding; the god of Sleep isn't exactly the biggest fan of Love, after all. "She found out where I live again," he grumbles, grabbing a book from a haphazard pile and flipping through it aimlessly. "I'm just wandering around so I can have some peace and quiet for once without her showing up and demanding that I stop ruining her tapestry. It's not like I can help it." He huffs, throwing the book back into the pile, ignoring Namjoon's squawk of protest. "Seriously, these meetings she keeps dragging us to with the Order are getting tiresome."

"You're right, you can't help it, and she can't be hounding at you for that," Namjoon assures him. "Honestly, I don't blame you. She annoys the hell out of me on a good day, even."

At this, Jeongguk allows himself to be surprised. He's never heard Fate speak badly of another deity before. He looks up to give Namjoon a questioning look. "Why would she annoy you?"

"It's because Taehyung doesn't let her get what she wants," Namjoon answers, chuckling to himself a little while all the same shaking his head in disappointment. "She thinks that if she comes here often enough and tries to talk her way into convincing me to do good for humans, I'll magically start weaving my threads with hers."

Jeongguk looks at Namjoon in disbelief. "Harmony, not letting Love get what she wants? That seems strange."

Yoongi snorts, picking up the haphazard pile of books and starting to arrange them. As far as Jeongguk's aware, Yoongi's always been in charge of keeping Namjoon's bookstore tidy. "As nice as Harmony usually is, you'd be surprised at what he's capable of."

Jeongguk's not quite sure he believes them. At any rate, he's never seen anything contrary to what he knows already. 

Harmony and Love work in tandem, after all. 

--

Death has worked with Harmony for as long as he can remember, but never just the two of them, and their threads never overlap directly.

Admittedly they don't work together all that often, but whenever they do it almost always ends up being something related to war. Whenever war is involved, their meetings can drag on for hours or days at a time without stop, because war itself is a complex scenario that can last for years, which means more planning on their part. It's always the same four beings Jeongguk has worked with; Discord, because he is always the one who initiates the war. War, because he is the one who regulates the planning and weaves their threads together into the final product to bring to Fate to add to his tapestry. Retribution, because the war is always in response to something, whether it be an underlying situation or an action. And finally, Harmony, because no matter how long and tedious the war can be, there's always eventually a resolution of some sort at the end of all the conflict.  

Jeongguk as Death, of course, has to be present as well, because where there is war, there is always death. War, for Jeongguk, is one of the more complicated responsibilities he's tasked with.

Jeongguk doesn't mind the other three beings all that much, but Harmony is the one being that irks him, that puts him on edge. Aside from war he and Harmony don't really collaborate together, but he's seen enough of the meddlesome nature of Love to learn to be wary of all beings who are responsible of bringing good to human life. Harmony doesn't seem to like him all that much either, preferring to sit on the opposite end of him while they work. 

It's better this way, Jeongguk thinks, because as a rule deities don't usually interact of their own accord if they represent conflicting sides. Love and War, for example, never are in the same room at the same time, unless they are attending a meeting with the Order. And even that for them is rare in of itself.

This time around though, when Seokjin summons him to his apartment to weave out another intricate plan of war, he's surprised to see Illusions there as well. He's surprised again when he realizes that War is absent. All of the beings are gathered in a circle already, with an empty spot in between Harmony and Illusions. If Jeongguk's being honest, he has no qualms about sitting next to Illusions, since he and Illusions have been friends since forever, but sitting next to Harmony makes him nervous.

"Jimin?" he asks tentatively, taking a seat and frowning when he sees that Jimin has his tapestry out already. Jeongguk summons up his own and places it next to his. "What are you doing here?" 

Jimin laughs at him, patting his shoulder, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he continues to smile. "The god of Death, bashful as always. Why would I be here, if not to help you all weave the pattern of war?"

Jeongguk startles at this. "Did you and War switch responsibilities?" He doubts it, because as long as he's been around he doesn't remember any being ever switching responsibilities with another being. It just doesn't seem possible, but all the same he takes a closer look at Jimin's tapestry. "No, that can't be it. You still have your cream thread."

Jimin rolls his eyes at him. "No, I didn't switch with War. Seokjin's actually supposed to explain to us why War's missing today. I'm just here to carry out the hallucinations."

"Hallucinations," Jeongguk repeats. He still doesn't get it.

Seokjin sighs woefully, stretching out his neck a little before continuing. He looks troubled, which is saying something really, because Seokjin is usually in a cheerful mood. Almost too cheerful, at least for a being who is supposedly responsible for all the chaos in the world. "It's a long story, but basically Jimin is here today because the war apparently is supposed to start because a politician's been having hallucinations about another country attempting to assassinate him. War isn't here with us today because he and I got into a bit of a fight."

Jeongguk blinks in confusion. "Aren't you and War pretty close?" He pauses when something occurs to him. "How the hell are we supposed to weave this pattern without War here?"

"We'll be fine," Hoseok assures him firmly, and Jeongguk figures if there's ever a being that he'd put all his blind faith in, it'd be Retribution. "I'm sure Seokjin can regulate our planning just as well as War can. We'll just have to be a bit more careful when we're weaving our threads together for the final outcome, but I don't think it'll be impossible."

"It won't be impossible," Seokjin agrees, summoning up some of his black thread to start out. Jimin follows suit, letting his cream thread fall lightly into his hand. "War lashed out at me today because he believes he should be the one initiating wars, and not me. When I disagreed, he said he refused to help us this time."

"But you've always initiated the wars," Jeongguk says, frowning a little. For as long as he can remember, War has never lashed out at anyone. Sure, he can be ruthless at times, but he's never been impatient with any of the other beings before, especially when it comes to their job duties. "Aren't you supposed to, as Discord?"

Taehyung snorts next to him. For a being such as Harmony, Jeongguk thinks Taehyung can be rather rude sometimes. But then again, Love's not really all that much better. "I'm surprised you're not defending War. Shouldn't you be on his side?"

Jeongguk doesn't understand where Harmony's coming from, or why he thinks Jeongguk has anything to do with war. "I'm on the side of reason," he answers, watching as Jimin and Seokjin start to weave their threads together, the cream thread contrasting with the black. It's a sight to see, but come to think of it Jeongguk vaguely remembers that this has happened before. Jimin must have been involved in a war in the past, at least a long, long time ago. "Seokjin's always brought the overall idea of war down from the higher ups. I mean, isn't it literally his job, to create strife?"

"But you can see where War is coming from too, can't you?" Taehyung presses on, turning to actually look at him this time, regarding him curiously. "War just wants to have a little more control of what goes on with, well, war. Wouldn't you say that's reasonable?"

Jeongguk doesn't know why Taehyung all of a sudden seems to be on War's side. It's a rather strange picture, to see Harmony of all beings trying to reason out War's actions. He considers this carefully for a moment before responding. "War is notorious for being ruthless. On the surface it may seem to make more sense for War to initiate the scene, but I think everyone knows Seokjin has a lot more self control out of the both of them. I can imagine War getting a little carried away." Jeongguk takes a bit more time to think to himself before continuing. "The fact that War even lashed out at Seokjin today is already a bad indicator."

Taehyung almost looks surprised, but if he's being honest, Jeongguk usually can't tell what Taehyung's thinking most of the time.

"It is bad," Hoseok says grimly, summoning up his green thread now to mix in with Jimin's and Seokjin's. "I'm afraid he's going to end up doing something stupid."

"Did he say why he wanted more control over the scenarios?"

"He wants to start wars more often," Seokjin answers him, motioning for Jeongguk to start summoning his thread. "Claims that humans have gotten too complacent over the years, and need to be shaken up a little."

Jeongguk's in the middle of gathering up his thread, but throws what little he has down on the floor at Seokjin's answer. Out of the corner of his eye he can see Taehyung jerk a little. "Isn't there enough death as it is already," he spits out fiercely. 

"Hey," Jimin admonishes, picking up Jeongguk's navy blue threads and handing it back to him. "Do we need to have another talk about being too hard on yourself?" 

Jeongguk sighs in response, accepting the threads from him. "No," he mumbles under his breath. He turns to Seokjin this time, laying his thread out in front of the other being. "How should I do this?"

Taehyung blinks at him. "Don't you just weave in the deaths on your own? Why do you need Seokjin to guide you?"

Jeongguk just sort of stares at Taehyung for awhile. "Man, you really haven't been paying attention all these years, have you?" He can hear Jimin snort in the background.

Taehyung looks bewildered now. "What?"

"I can't just weave the deaths on my own like that," Jeongguk starts explaining slowly, as if he's speaking to a very young child. A very young human child, at that. "I always have to collaborate with another deity in order to finalize a Death. If the human dies because of an illness, it means I collaborated with Disease. If they died due to hunger, it means I worked with Famine. If I didn't do that each time, humans would be dropping dead left and right for no reason."

"And if they died because of fighting in a war, you'd have to collaborate with War for that," Taehyung continues wide-eyed, and it seems as if he's finally getting it. 

"Yeah," Jeongguk says. "I mean, it's a bit problematic now that War isn't here today, but I guess Discord will have to do."

"You guess," Seokjin repeats wryly, directing him as Jeongguk works, weaving his thread together with the other three threads "You really have no faith in me, do you?"

"I'd probably have a little more faith in you if you stopped making weird faces at me and trying to go for the mysterious vibe every time you're explaining to me what balance means," Jeongguk says dryly, to which Seokjin cuffs him on the back of his head in retaliation. 

Once Jeongguk's finished, Seokjin hands over the pattern to Taehyung, who takes it gingerly before summoning up his own gold thread. "How many years are we looking here?" Taehyung asks.

"Around twenty," Seokjin answers him. 

Taehyung raises an eyebrow at that, and Jeongguk is almost sure Taehyung's going to start protesting at the length of the war, but he just lets it go with a shrug. "Sure," Taehyung says easily, weaving in his gold thread as the final component to the pattern.

Seokjin takes one final look at the entwined threads once everyone's finished their part, nodding to himself before letting it vanish in the air, presumably so that he can take it to Namjoon later to weave into his tapestry. "Thank you for the good work, as always," Seokjin says, smiling at them a little before his features morph into something a little more troubled. "I'll have to speak to the higher ups eventually about what happened today with War."

"Do you think they'll punish him?" Jimin asks carefully. "For not cooperating with us this time?"

"Probably not this time around, no," Hoseok is the one to answer this time. "It's a first time offense for him, after all. I have a feeling though, it won't be his last."

Oddly enough, Jeongguk has the same feeling too.

--

Taehyung corners him after their meeting is over, claiming that he wants to talk, which bewilders Jeongguk, because they've never had anything to talk about before. He half suspects that Harmony is finally coming at him like how Love does all the time, probably to implore him to stop bringing misery upon human life or some utter nonsense like that. If that's what Harmony's plan really is, it's long overdue.

What he gets instead, though, astonishes him.

"I'm just surprised by what you said today," Taehyung tells him, looking at him thoughtfully. "I always thought you and War might go off and do your own thing, or something. Cause a crisis in the human world, if anything."

Jeongguk is a little offended by this presumption, that Taehyung would think that he would just fuck off and start messing around with other deities beyond what he's been tasked to do. He doesn't understand where Taehyung's gotten this perception from. "I play by the rules," Jeongguk says, shrugging a little. "If War's hands are starting to itch, he probably will come find me at one point to try to talk me into collaborating with him."

"And what if he does?"

Jeongguk snorts at this. "I'll tell him to go talk to Seokjin. He understands better than any of us do what it means to be in balance."

"You really wouldn't be tempted to run off with War?"

Jeongguk scowls. "I don't really appreciate beings who try to meddle with Fate like that. I respect Namjoon too much to allow for that to happen." It's why, for the most part, every time Love comes over to try to bother Jeongguk, they always end up getting into a fight and having to go to the Order for some kind of resolution. Most of the time though, Jeongguk thinks with pride, death prevails, because Love is too meddlesome for her own good. 

Taehyung regards him a moment more before speaking again. "I think I like you."

Jeongguk's insides lurch at that. This day just keeps getting more and more perplexing. "I'm not sure I like you?"

Taehyung laughs in response. "I would say that's fair. We haven't exactly been on the best of terms, after all." He gives Jeongguk a little wave. "I'll see you around?"

Jeongguk hesitates before giving a small wave of his own. "I guess," is what he finally says, long after Taehyung's form has vanished into the air.

--

Jeongguk's taken to bumming around in Jimin's apartment for the time being. He'd really rather be doing something else, but Jimin was adamant he stay at Jimin's place for the time being since the rumors of him trying to stir up trouble haven't died down. Even though their group knows War's really the one trying to start all the trouble, not all the other deities know about that yet. They start trying to learn how to play baduk in the meantime, as a way of passing time.

It's funny, how after thousands of years he and Jimin haven't bothered to learn how to play baduk before this. Baduk as a game has been around for thousands of years as well, but it was always something Jeongguk knew about, but never bothered to really look into it. But as immortals, what goes around comes around, he supposes, and they were bound to pick up the game eventually, as with so many other mortal things they've learned over the years. 

Taehyung suddenly appears one day, materializing out of thin air into Jimn's living room. Jeongguk's busy writing notes down from one of the books he's borrowed from Namjoon's bookstore on baduk strategies. "Just the person I was looking for," Taehyung crows happily. "Or should I say, being?"

Jimin raises an eyebrow at him. "You know where I live. I don't see why you feel the need to 'find' me."

Taehyung huffs and places one hand on his hip, tapping his foot impatiently. "Not you," he says, pointing to Jeongguk this time. "Him."

"What did I do," Jeongguk asks blankly, a pen dangling from his mouth. Jeongguk wonders briefly for a moment if Taehyung's changed his mind, and is about to start depicting a woeful story about how Jeongguk's work has ruined Taehyung's chart. It wouldn't be the first time Jeongguk's heard this complaint from an immortal.

"Jeongguk's not in trouble, is he?" Jimin asks worriedly, which Jeongguk supposes is plausible too. "The higher ups haven't been getting suspicious of him, have they? He's been staying with me ever since we've collaborated on the war."

Taehyung rolls his eyes at the both of them. "No, Jeongguk isn't in trouble. I just want him to accompany me this time when I go visit Namjoon."

Jimin's mouth drops open. The fountain pen Jeongguk has in his mouth drops to the floor. "What the hell could we possibly collaborate on?"

"We're not collaborating," Taehyung clarifies, grabbing onto Jeongguk's arm, and within the next second they've materialized in Namjoon's bookstore.

Namjoon squawks, dropping the book he's holding onto the floor. "Taehyung," he admonishes, pointing a finger at him and then at the front door in question. "You know the rules."

Taehyung looks sheepish, running a hand through his hair. "Forgive me just this once? I had to literally drag Jeongguk here, after all."

Yoongi allows the music score that's in his hands to fall onto the counter. From what Jeongguk can make out, it looks like Yoongi's looking through Rachmaninoff. "Speaking of which," he starts dryly. "This is a sight indeed. What the hell are you two doing together? I wasn't aware you two were friends."

"We're steadily making our way down that path of friendship," Taehyung decides, and really, what the fuck, because Jeongguk wasn't aware they were suddenly going to start becoming friends. "Also, I'm here to do some work," he says, gesturing at Namjoon.

Namjoon sighs, seeming to have begrudgingly forgiven Taehyung for the time being for materializing out of thin air into his bookstore. He summons up the tapestry of Fate, placing it carefully on the counter. "What's the story this time?" Yoongi asks. Yoongi always asks, probably because he really has nothing else better to do. Immortals, Jeongguk muses, really have too much time on their hands as it is, even with all the work laid out for them. 

"Resolution of a family feud, and a marriage that is actually going to work out for once," Taehyung answers, handing his threads over to Namjoon for review, a mixture of gold and black for the feud, and gold and white for the marriage. He leans in to take a closer look at Namjoon's tapestry before pointing at a navy blue thread that is woven in with the silver. "Hey!" he says, turning to point at Jeongguk accusingly. "I knew I wasn't remembering wrong. Didn't you say you only show up on Namjoon's tapestry only if your thread's been entwined with another being's thread?"

Jeongguk leans in too. "Yeah," he says, not understanding what Taehyung's trying to point out to him.

"Then what's this? Isn't this your thread by itself, entwined with Namjoon's work?"

"I didn't weave that for him," Jeongguk mumbles, leaning back now, already knowing what scenario has been played out. He recognizes the pattern almost as easily as if it were his own.

Taehyung looks baffled. "This is the thread of death, isn't it?"

Namjoon stops what he's doing to take a look as well. "Take a closer look, Taehyung," he says gently, pushing the chart closer to them. "It's the thread of death, to be true. But whose pattern is it?"

Taehyung leans in closer. It takes a while for him to register, but when it finally does he looks at Namjoon in shock. "You weaved this thread?"

"I don't control any human's death," Jeongguk says softly. Unless it's a scenario where a human has died in their sleep due to old age, but he and Yoongi rarely have the opportunity to create that scene. "I always give Namjoon a supply of my thread, just in case he needs it." As far as Jeongguk's aware, his thread is the only extra thread Namjoon keeps around and uses, besides his own.

"I can't even control these particular scenarios," Namjoon says woefully, heaving a deep sigh. "When this happens, it means the human has chosen the death for themselves. I won't even know about it until I go through my tapestry and find that a thread's been broken. Then I'll weave this in after the fact."

"Wow." Taehyung leans back, looking morose. "I'm sorry I asked."

"You were just curious," Namjoon says. "Although, this isn't completely disconnected from other immortal beings' work." He points a little further up on his tapestry, where the thread of Despair has been woven tightly around the silver thread in question. "But again, Jeongguk's never worked with me just on his own before."

Jeongguk's really just gone with the flow at this point.

It's the best he can do, after all.

--

Taehyung invites Jeongguk over to his apartment later that day, on the premise that they should play chess together as a way of getting to know each other more. 

Jeongguk doesn't get it.

Still, he allows himself to be whisked away, appearing in the middle of Taehyung's apartment which, thankfully, actually has furniture in it. There's a chess set already laid out on what is presumably meant to be Taehyung's dining table, but immortals aren't known for eating, anyway. 

Over their games, they talk about the wars they've worked on together, the mortals they've encountered, what sorts of memorable scenes they have created over the years. Taehyung tells him of the time he spent almost five years in Italy during the Renaissance before coming back because Seokjin got tired of having to appear there each time he had to work with Taehyung on something before going across the world again to meet up with Namjoon to finish the job. "It wasn't all that spectacular anyway," Taehyung admits, knocking over one of Jeongguk's pawns. "Mortals tend to move rather slow for beings with such finite time. At least Yoongi and Namjoon were happy when I gave them all those music scores I managed to collect. Most of those got lost over the years, and were never published."

"Five years is a long time," Jeongguk remarks, moving his queen now. "If Jimin and I decide roam around, we don't stay in a place for more than a day."

"I know," Taehyung says, looking at him with an amused expression as he knocks over Jeongguk's bishop this time. "You two get bored pretty easily."

"I don't know about getting bored easily," Jeongguk disagrees. "Did Jimin ever tell you of the time we spent two years in Namjoon's bookstore just reading books? I think Namjoon at one point thought we were going crazy."

"Oh yeah." Taehyung blinks. "I mean, I remember at one point whenever I visited Namjoon you two were always there, but I didn't realize you two were just reading the whole time. You guys didn't stop?"

"We stopped to work," Jeongguk answers him, knocking over one of Taehyung's pawns this time. "But other than that no, we just kept on reading. I think we ended up making a competition out of it."

"What made you two stop?"

Jeongguk snickers at that. "We cleared out Namjoon's store of what he had at the time. Which wasn't much, to be honest; this was before Yoongi started staying there, so."

"Wow," Taehyung says, looking at him in disbelief. "I didn't realize I was friends with such losers."

Jeongguk picks up his king and throws it at Taehyung's head, who in turn whines petulantly and then proceeds to, with a wave of his hand, lift up the whole chessboard into the air and then chuck it at Jeongguk. Jeongguk ends up lifting a potted plant into the air to throw at Taehyung in retaliation and belatedly, he realizes this is probably why Jimin and Seokjin don't own any furniture in their homes.

--

When Love drops by Taehyung's apartment unannounced, Jeongguk is ready to just get up and leave. When he starts to move off Taehyung's couch though, Taehyung grabs him by the arm and tells him to stay. 

"She's the one that needs to leave," Taehyung hisses, glaring at Love as she crosses her arms and raises an eyebrow at them.

"Aren't you two like, best friends?"

"No," Taehyung answers, looking offended even.

Jeongguk is just baffled at this point. He himself finds Love to be annoying, almost unbearable, but he doesn't see how Harmony and Love aren't able to get along. After all, Jeongguk is sure the two of them collaborate quite frequently. "Don't you two work together a lot?"

"We do," Love answers sweetly, batting her eyelashes at him. If Jeongguk were human, he'd probably be gagging by now.

"Only if we have to," Taehyung mutters, crossing his arms too. Really, he just looks like he's getting more and more annoyed, which Jeongguk finds surprising. "But Love always plays by my rules, and not the other way around."

"How unfortunate that we have to resort to that all the time," Love takes to saying mournfully, and if Jeongguk didn't know already that Love's a devious being, he'd probably feel bad for her. "After all these years Taehyung, really. Don't you want to see more people live together in harmony? It is your job, after all."

"Of course," Taehyung answers easily, huffing at her. "But I tell you this every time: I play by Seokjin's rules. Which means, since you're playing by my rules, Discord is the one who really controls your tapestry."

Jeongguk's surprised by this revelation; he's always been under the impression that Taehyung works alone, that he's able to weave what he chooses, sort of like how Illusions operates. 

Love gives Taehyung a scornful, displeased look. "Does Discord really control what goes on in my chart? I've had countless people fall in love without either of you two knowing."

"Sure," Taehyung replies. "But those who weren't meant to fall in love, they end up leaving each other, don't they? Who do you think played a part in that?" He sits back. "Face it, if my threads aren't there with yours in the tapestry of Fate, these things don't last."

"Namjoon takes my thread without question," Love spits out, eyes flashing dangerously. 

"Yeah, because one, he's just tired of you at this point and he knows if he takes your thread you'll leave him alone. And two, he knows Seokjin does a good job. If it's not meant to be there, Seokjin will take care of it, and restore the balance." Taehyung pauses for a moment. "You don't seem to understand how much trust Namjoon's placed in Seokjin, do you? How much trust all of us have placed in him."

Jeongguk realizes with a start that this is true. For as long as he can remember, he's always perceived Seokjin as being one of the more trustworthy, reliable beings that he can turn to. Whatever Seokjin asks from him, he always agrees without question, because he knows Seokjin wouldn't take advantage of him, wouldn't ask him to do anything that would get Jeongguk in trouble. He also knows that if Seokjin ever misguides him, he'll be right there with Jeongguk when they report to the Order, readily taking the blame for upsetting the balance. 

"Fine," Love says finally with a huff. "I'm sure Namjoon will come around eventually." Taehyung takes to snorting in disbelief, which she pointedly ignores, turning to Jeongguk this time. "My my, I'm surprised to see you here. You've been avoiding me which, can I say, is rather rude of you. You weren't being very subtle about it either."

"You and I have nothing to do with each other," Jeongguk tells her.

"But we do, believe it or not," Love exclaims, starting to twist a lock of her own hair. "I tell you this time and time again, but I'm getting tired of sensing your presence on my tapestry. You should be ashamed of yourself, really, ruining all of this good human life when they could happily be in love."

"It's not like I can control it," Jeongguk mumbles. "I always go by what other beings give me from their tapestries."

"Oh, but you can refuse them," she says firmly. "You just choose not to. Honestly, you have no conscience, do you? The next time I go to the Order I should suggest to them that they get rid of you, in all honesty. I'm sure many beings out there would be glad to see you go; you bring nothing but misery. Even Taehyung here, as headstrong as he is, probably won't miss you much."

"That's enough," Taehyung shouts, standing up suddenly, almost knocking into the coffee table. Jeongguk stands up too, startled. Taehyung looks beyond furious at this point. "Seokjin, I need you," he seethes.

Seokjin materializes in the room a moment later, surveying the room before groaning. "What the hell are you doing here," Discord asks Love in a dull voice.

"She's being meddlesome, is what she's doing," Taehyung says before Love can even open her mouth. "And she's being incredibly rude to Jeongguk here. Do I have permission from you to ban her from my home?"

At this, Jeongguk is surprised. He wasn't aware deities could ban other deities from their home.

"Do as you wish," Seokjin says dryly, and a second later Love disappears from the room. Once she's gone, Seokjin speaks again, looking amused. "Honestly, I'm surprised you banned her after all this time. What made you change your mind?"

"I wasn't even aware we could ban deities like that," Jeongguk mumbles under his breath.

"Only Taehyung can," Seokjin explains, having apparently heard him anyway. "He has some special privileges, after all."

"She was saying mean things to Jeongguk," Taehyung mutters, glaring at the spot Love was standing on only moments before. "And being a guilt-tripping asshole. If Jeongguk's going to be coming over more often, I can't have her hounding at him here every chance she gets."

"Speaking of which," Seokjin says, his eyes twinkling with amusement. "I'm surprised you two are even hanging out at all."

Taehyung looks unfazed by this. "Jimin's my best friend, he's Jimin's best friend. What do you expect?" He pauses. "You're the second being to say that to us. Is it really that strange for us to be in each other's presence?"

"It's not generally recommended," Seokjin admits, then rolls his eyes at them. "If I didn't know you two any better, I might have actually had a problem with it, but you're the most steadfast being we have out there, and Jeongguk only really gets into fights with Love, so I'm sure you two will be fine. As long as you two don't start battling it out and creating some dramatic good versus evil conflict, I think it'll be okay."

-- 

"I didn't know you worked with Seokjin so much," Jeongguk says later, after they've settled back onto the couch. Taehyung visibly looks more relaxed now that Love isn't in the room anymore. "I always thought you did your own thing, generally."

"Haven't you seen me work with Seokjin before?" Taehyung asks, giving him an amused look. "I always ask him what he wants me to do. If he doesn't tell me to do anything, I won't make a move."

"I thought that was just with war," Jeongguk replies. 

"It's with everything I do," Taehyung answers him. He looks thoughtful. "Come to think of it, actually, Seokjin's probably the one I collaborate with the most. He's the one that makes the calls, but I'm the one that's aware of everything that he has planned."

"Have you ever challenged Seokjin before? Or disagreed with something he wants?"

Taehyung looks bemused by Jeongguk's question, but all the same it takes awhile for him to respond. "No, I can't say I have," is what he finally says. "If Seokjin wasn't so concerned about balance, I might have though." He scoffs this time. "It's ironic, but I think I've gotten into more squabbles with some of the good immortals than with him or even Hoseok." 

"So how come you're able to place bans on other deities?" Jeongguk questions, still not understanding why Taehyung's apparently the only being out there that's able to do this. "Not that I don't think you deserve it, or anything."

Taehyung looks amused again. "Do you remember that time when Affection and Yoongi supposedly got into a fight?"

Jeongguk thinks this over for a moment. "Yeah, didn't that happen like two thousand years ago?"

"Yup," Taehyung says, nodding. "Well, it wasn't so much of a fight, it was more like Affection wanted to burn Yoongi's tapestry and get rid of him. Affection told me of his plan like a fucking idiot, telling me that he was going to burn his because he thought Yoongi was relatively useless. Honestly, I don't understand how all these supposedly good beings don't understand that I'm on the side of balance, not necessarily on the side of good." He shakes his head, huffing before continuing. "Anyway, I hunted Affection down before he had a chance to burn Yoongi's, I mean he got pretty close, but we ended up fighting it out. Obviously I won, and then I dragged him to the Order so he could receive his punishment."

"Wow." Jeongguk's beginning to slowly realize that he really, really knew nothing of Taehyung's life before. "I'm surprised you beat Hoseok in serving out Affection's punishment."

Taehyung groans at this. "Hoseok actually won't let me live it down. He says the next time a being does something unforgivable, he's determined to be the one to drag them to the Order this time."

"Wow," Jeongguk says again. It's the only time Taehyung's admitted to meddling with another being's plans, and with good reason. Messing with another being's tapestry is serious shit after all, especially since each of their tapestries almost acts as their life line. If a being's tapestry ends up getting destroyed, there's really no reason for the being to exist anymore.

"Yeah. Anyway, they gave me the ability to ban other beings, with Seokjin's permission of course, because they were afraid Affection might hunt me down one day and burn my tapestry as revenge, which wouldn't be good. Or that he'd convince another being to burn mine for him."

"So Affection's banned from your home too." Jeongguk regards him warily for a moment. "How many of the good beings do you actually get along with?"

Taehyung snorts at this. "Hardly any, to be honest. The only being I really get along with from that side is Illusions, but Jimin's neither good nor bad, really." Taehyung thinks for a minute before continuing. "Now that I think of it, I've only really banned two immortals from my home. I really should consider banning more of them, come to think of it."

"You didn't have to ban Love on my account," Jeongguk says. 

"I didn't like the way she was treating you," Taehyung answers firmly, eyes flashing dangerously again. "Besides, she's getting a unpredictable, anyway. Everyone's been talking about how War's going to go rogue soon, but honestly between War and Love, I'm not sure who's going to lose control first and do something incredibly stupid." He sighs. "I'm able to ban her from my home, but it isn't foolproof. You'll probably run into her whenever you go outside, or whenever we need to visit Namjoon again, which means she can corner you that way."

"I can't wait," Jeongguk says dryly, rolling his eyes. "I'm really looking forward to getting dragged to the Order again for another incredibly unproductive meeting."

Taehyung regards him curiously. "Does she do that to you often? I'm actually surprised you two seem to know each other so well. I wasn't aware you two would even collaborate at all."

"We really, really don't collaborate," Jeongguk answers him. "We could have gone our whole immortal lives without crossing paths, but she hates the idea of sensing my work in her chart, so she hunts me down to bother me. If I don't give her what she wants, she drags me to the Order to try to stage an intervention."

Taehyung just sort of stares at him. "That sounds incredibly frustrating."

"It is," Jeongguk mutters. "She's the reason I ended up leaving my apartment and started to wander around. She'd show up in my home every other day to try to talk to me."

"And she'd constantly say that kind of shit to you?" Taehyung presses on. "Like, all the time?"

Jeongguk gives a careless shrug at that.

"You don't actually believe any of the shit she says to you, right?"

"Most of it, no," Jeongguk replies. "Like I said, save for when people die in their sleep due to old age, I don't have control over anyone's death, really. But at the same time I don't really bring any good out of the work I do; my presence isn't exactly the most welcoming. She just reminds me of how much my job sucks."

Taehyung leans over and takes both sides of Jeongguk's face between his hands, looking him directly in the eye. "You may not represent the most pleasant side of the world, but as a being yourself you have an incredibly good heart," Taehyung tells him firmly with a solemn expression. "You shouldn't beat yourself up over the tasks you have to accomplish, and besides Love, no one else has a problem with you. Everyone else understands what it means to preserve the balance, and you're a part of that as much as anyone else is. If they don't understand that, they aren't mature enough to be an immortal."

Jeongguk isn't entirely convinced.

Taehyung seems to sense this, though. "Think of Seokjin," he says urgently. "All he's really responsible for is bringing chaos into this world, and he's one of the most respected beings out there. Do you resent him for whatever work he does?"

"No."

"Exactly." Taehyung leans back now, letting go. "The best we can do is just carry out the tasks we were meant to do. So don't be too hard on yourself."

Jeongguk lets out a dry laugh. "You sound like Jimin now. He's always saying the same shit to me."

Taehyung gives him a pointed look. "Maybe he keeps saying the same shit because he speaks the truth."

Later that night, they're back at the table, probably on their four hundredth game of chess before Taehyung speaks again. Jeongguk wonders if he should ask Taehyung if he wants to try his hand out at baduk instead. "Can you do me a favor though."

"What?" Jeongguk asks, knocking over Taehyung's rook.

"I know you work with Yoongi sometimes, but don't let him know I told you about the story of Affection trying to fuck with his tapestry. He doesn't like other beings knowing about it; the story he's told everyone else is just that those two got into a bit of a disagreement."

"Bit of a disagreement," Jeongguk repeats wryly, as Taehyung knocks over one of his pawns. He's actually heard of this rumor before, that Affection and Sleep don't get along, he just didn't realize the whole back story behind it. "I'd say it's more than just a disagreement, but sure. I can keep a secret."

--

Although Jeongguk stays at Taehyung's apartment quite often these days, he makes a point not to work on his tapestry in front of Taehyung. It's not like Taehyung hasn't seen his tapestry before; whenever they collaborate together, all of their tapestries end up being laid out one way or another for all beings to see. Nonetheless, Jeongguk can't help it; even though Taehyung's said that Jeongguk is only doing his work as he should be, it's still unpleasant all the same. 

Taehyung, on the other hand, has no qualms about working on his own tapestry in front of Jeongguk. But really though, Taehyung has every right to show off his tapestry whenever he wants, because his tapestry is captivating, not even just due to the fact that Taehyung works with gold thread, but because the patterns that he weaves are incredibly intricate. All beings have had some sort of mess or unraveling in their tapestry at one point, and each mistake paints a story of what's happened in the past, but as far as Jeongguk can tell the other being's chart is completely void of any sort of error. 

But of course Taehyung, insightful as always, starts to notice. "Why don't you work on your tapestry while you're here?" Taehyung suggests as he has his own out. "You're welcome to if you want, I don't mind."

Jeongguk gives a noncommittal shrug. "I don't really need to do much with it right now."

Taehyung gives him a look that says he's unconvinced, which Jeongguk can't blame him for; at least three other beings have visited Jeongguk while he's been at Taehyung's place already. He sets his thread down. "You don't trust me, do you," is what he ends up saying matter-of-factly, looking more that a little disappointed.

Jeongguk doesn't understand where this is coming from, or why trust has anything to do with his chart. "What?"

"You don't trust me enough to work on your tapestry in front of me," Taehyung repeats again, crossing his arms, "because you think I'm going to mess with it if you have it out."

What Taehyung's suggesting is ridiculous. "What, no! No, that's not the reason," Jeongguk says. "If I didn't trust you, I wouldn't be spending so much time here as it is."

"Then what's the issue here?" Taehyung asks, all the more persistent. "Clearly there's a problem here if you can't comfortably work on your tapestry in my presence."

It takes a while for Jeongguk to respond. "I just don't want you to make you sad. My chart's not exactly all sunshine and rainbows here you know, and what I work on is the opposite of what goals you have."

Taehyung relaxes at this, rolling his eyes. "You act like I haven't seen your tapestry before. Yours isn't all that bad, it's nothing compared to Seokjin's, and I have to see that shit at least once a week." He looks at Jeongguk thoughtfully. "You seem to forget I sense your presence on my chart all the time anyway. Whatever patterns you have on your tapestry are nothing new to me."

Jeongguk gapes at him. "You can sense me in your work?"

Taehyung narrows his eyes at him, as if not understanding why Jeongguk's so surprised by this information. "You do realize every being out there can sense your presence in their work, right?"

Jeongguk slowly shakes his head. This is news to him.

Taehyung groans. "Do I need to draw a diagram out for you? You're literally the end of each human's life, so of course each and every immortal out there is going to sense you on their chart at some point. 

"So what you're saying is, whenever you can sense my work, it means I'm ending whatever path of harmony you've already carved out." Jeongguk wonders how Taehyung doesn't resent him, even if only a little.

"You don't just end good things all the time, you end the bad too sometimes. Take despair for instance, or pain."

Jeongguk stays silent.

Taehyung waves his hand, and his tapestry disappears. "I hope you can understand that one day," is what he ends up saying softly.

--

Jeongguk's staying at Jimin's apartment again while Taehyung finishes up some work with Namjoon back at his bookstore. He chooses to stay behind this time around, because if he still hasn't warned up to the idea of working in front of Taehyung, he doesn't think it's fair of him to accompany him when he's working on his chart with Namjoon. Instead, he and Jimin are going through another round of baduk when Love suddenly appears in Jimin's living room.

Jimin groans, sitting upright from his place on the floor. After all these years, Jimin still apparently hasn't thought that furniture is a necessary addition to his living space. "What the hell do you want," he bites out. Jimin also does not care for Love all that much, which Jeongguk only learned of maybe a thousand years into their responsibilities. He vaguely remembers Jimin bitterly going on about how Love tried to meddle with the dreams he was weaving once. 

"I'm not looking for you, Illusions," Love says sweetly, seeming to glide across the floor as she places a hand on Jeongguk's shoulder. "I'm here for Death, after all."

Jeongguk groans too, and within the next second he's being whisked away. The place they arrive at is all too familiar to him. "What do you want this time?" he asks tiredly as bows before the Order of Higher Beings before looking up. He's been here so many times he's lost count. Too many, he thinks wryly, even for his immortal lifetime.

"I am here to make an announcement," Love singsongs, looking up as well. There are several rooms up above them, each reserved for one of the higher ups, enshrouded in a thick fog so they can't make out their forms. "Something that I've come across that is rather frightening, in my opinion."

"If this is another complaint about my work-" Jeongguk begins angrily, but Love cuts him off.

"I have brought Death here because I am suspicious he has been working in secret with War," Love announces, her voice ringing across the room. "We all know War has grown restless, and has not complied with the other beings for some time. I am afraid Death has been conspiring with War to bring about the destruction of Humanity."

Jeongguk just gapes at her in disbelief. "Surely you can't be serious. Why the hell would I want to conspire with War of all beings?"

"Why would you not want to?" Love shoots back, raising a perfectly arched eyebrow at him. "After all, do you or do you both not represent the same side? Haven't your hands been itching to work more with your tapestry, to weave in more deaths?" This accusation seems relatively familiar; Taehyung's thought him capable of this at one point too. Jeongguk wonders exactly how many other beings out there think he and War have something going on on the side. "As far as I'm aware, you need another being to guide you before you can weave more patterns into your chart."

"Of course we represent the same side," Jeongguk answers fiercely. "But that does not mean we work with the same terms, or we associate with each other on a regular basis. I have no desire to add to my chart more than what I'm set out to do already."

"Then how can you explain your sudden move?" Love challenges. "We all know you've chosen not to stay at your old abode. What could this sudden change mean? Surely this change in habit must mean a change in your immortal life."

Jeongguk doesn't know how to respond to this. He doesn't exactly think saying 'because I wanted to avoid your sorry ass' is really an appropriate answer, especially with all the higher ups watching. It's not exactly professional, at any rate.

"Are you able to prove with confidence that you are not, in fact, conspiring with war?"

"How can Death possibly prove something that has not happened, or in fact does not exist?" a voice suddenly appears behind him. "You are cornering him without giving him a chance to properly defend himself." Jeongguk turns around, and both Seokjin and Namjoon are now present. "Yo," Seokjin says casually, waving a careless hand at him. He pointedly does not give Love a greeting of her own.

"How did you know we were here?" Love asks, a bewildered expression settling into her features. Her eyebrows furrow. "No, how did you even manage to get up here? You are not a part of our predetermined meeting." 

Seokjin points to Namjoon with a bored expression, who gives a careless shrug and a sheepish smile. "Fate has access to the Order at all times, even if he hasn't made an appointment with them already. And we found out you were stirring up trouble because Illusions so very helpfully let us know you once again whisked Death off against his will."

"He is conspiring with War," she seethes, pointing a perfectly manicured finger at Jeongguk.

"He is most definitely not conspiring with War," Seokjin intones. "I can vouch for him, and if for some unfathomable reason he is, the Order is free to burn my tapestry and get rid of me."

Jeongguk's mouth drops open. He knows Seokjin will always be there to defend him when he gets into trouble, but to offer his own tapestry to be burned is too much to throw out like that so carelessly. It's a sacrifice that Jeongguk is undeserving of. "You don't have to go that far-" he starts to say, but Namjoon interrupts him this time.

"I can vouch for Death as well," Namjoon says just as succinctly, looking up at the higher ups with a fierce gaze. "As Fate, I have absolute confidence he is not stirring up any trouble. If he is, the Order is free to burn my tapestry as well, and get rid of me."

"Same," a voice appears behind them again. Jeongguk whirls around and is greeted by the sight of Taehyung, who gives him a carefree smile before looking up with a serious expression. Jimin is standing beside him, looking rather worried. "Love has once again given a baseless accusation."

"I agree as well," Jimin announces confidently with a nod of his head. "Love is just trying to find any pathetic excuse to get rid of Death. I swear this upon my chart."

"How did you two manage to get up here?" Love screeches, pointing at Taehyung and Jimin rather rudely. Jeongguk really thinks Love should stop with her habit of pointing at immortal beings so aggressively. "You weren't here earlier with Fate!"

"I have special privileges, keep up heathen," Taehyung answers her in the most poisonous voice, crossing his arms to glare at her. Jeongguk thinks his glare could pierce daggers if he really tried for it. "I also am able to come and go as I please."

"This really is a sight to see," an amused voice booms above their heads. It belongs to one of the higher ups, but Jeongguk isn't sure which room it's coming from. He's never able to tell, at any rate. "Not one, but four immortals come running in here to defend Death? And Harmony defending Death of all beings?"

"I act when it is reasonable," Taehyung replies easily. "You know that better than the rest of the immortals."

"That we do," the voice replies, and the air suddenly shifts around them. "We were convinced even before Discord and Fate came in that Death is innocent, but if even you and Illusions are certain Death is not up to no good, then we are assured."

"Why are you beings always on Death's side?" Love cries out. "I do not understand where this favoritism is coming from."

"Because Death is obedient, and is a hardworking individual," another voice says dully. "You, on the other hand, like to pick fights with all sorts of beings, whether they represent the good or the bad. You are dismissed."

"But-"

"DISMISSED," the first voice roars, and Love cowers back, huffing before turning on her heel and vanishing into thin air. "Fate, I'm sure I need not remind you that you must be careful."

"Of course," Namjoon says easily. "If War is planning something on his own, my tapestry is probably going to be the one he's after."

It's an unsettling, chilling thought. Jeongguk knows that all Namjoon can really do at this point is be vigilant. None of them know War's whereabouts at this point, and the Order doesn't really have much on him to bring him in for actual punishment. 

--

After the whole debacle with Love dragging Jeongguk to the Order and accusing him of conspiring with War, Taehyung is adamant that Jeongguk stay with him at his home for the time being, at least until War either calms down or makes a mistake. "Love's probably going to try to bring you up again to accuse you of working with him," Taehyung explains. "If I could ban her from Jimin's place too, I would."

Quite frankly, Jeongguk isn't all too upset at the prospect of having to stay at Taehyung's place. Taehyung gives him the option of either playing chess with him, or turning on the black-and-white television that he has out in the living room. Jeongguk chooses the television, because even though there's only three channels, at least this way they can sit side by side on the couch, instead of across from each other at the table. 

Jeongguk reaches over the arm of the sofa to bring the lamp closer to him, and with a wave of his hand his tapestry falls into his lap. He can sense Taehyung's eyes on him as he works, using the threads on the side he's gathered up during the week as reference. At one point, Taehyung reaches a tentative hand out, letting his palm slowly rest on the chart, his hand running along the patterns Jeongguk's completed already and stopping at a mess of knots. "What happened here?" Taehyung breathes out.

Jeongguk sighs. That mess in particular isn't something he's exactly proud of. "Before you start lecturing me again about the importance of self acceptance and whatever, this happened like five hundred years ago."

"Okay," Taehyung urges on, looking at him expectantly.

"I rebelled against Seokjin," Jeongguk lets out all at once.

Taehyung's eyebrows shoot up, his eyes widening. "You what?"

Jeongguk winces. "No one knows except for Seokjin and Jimin, but yeah, he came up to me one day asking to collaborate with him in weaving more deaths, and I told him I didn't want to do my job anymore."

"What did Seokjin say to you?" 

Even now, Jeongguk doesn't understand why Seokjin turned a blind eye all those years ago, instead of bringing up this fact to the Order like he should have done; Seokjin should have been worried that Jeongguk was exhibiting a rebellious nature, that he maybe wasn't strong enough of a being to do his job, and yet Seokjin let him go. Seokjin has always played by the rules, as far as he's aware, but that day Seokjin was especially patient with him. "He just took my hand and said he understood why I was having a hard time, and that he couldn't force me to do what he asked. He said I could relinquish my duties if I really wanted to, but that balance was important and if I didn't end up weaving the deaths, the higher ups would find someone else to do it in my place."

"What made you decide to stay?" Taehyung breathes out.

"I realized Seokjin was right. That even if I decided to let go of my role and disappear, my refusal to do my job won't mean that the deaths would stop occurring. The universe will keep on going." Jeongguk shrugs. "Anyway, we ended up almost running out of time, so I had to weave in the deaths in a rush and then fucked up on the pattern. I'm surprised Seokjin hasn't given me more shit for it, to be honest. I must've caused him a lot of stress."

"Seokjin always has spoken highly of you," Taehyung indulges him with a nod of his head. "I didn't understand why for the longest time, because I always thought you were a power hungry asshole that would go rogue one day like how War did, but I'm beginning to see why now. You're incredibly hard working, and you must have a lot of patience if you're able to stand Love dragging you to those meetings all the time."

"A power hungry asshole," Jeongguk repeats, amusement coloring his tone. 

Taehyung looks sheepish now, maybe even a bit embarrassed. "Yeah, sorry. My bad, that was a bad judgment of character on my part. Jimin used to give me shit for it."

Jeongguk shrugs again, not particularly bothered by the idea. It's not as if he hasn't misunderstood Taehyung, at one point. "It's okay. I used to think you were a meddlesome being like how Love is."

Taehyung gives him a mournful look, leaning over to latch onto his arm. "You don't still think that, do you? I'd hate to be lumped together in the same category as a being as annoying as she is."

"No," Jeongguk decides, looking over at a stray piece of hair before tucking it behind Taehyung's ear. "The more I get to know you, the more I realize how wrong I was." Jimin's given him shit too before, for unfairly judging Taehyung's character, but he chooses to leave that part out for now.

The next time Jeongguk has to go visit Namjoon again, which is rather soon, he makes a point to bring Taehyung with him. Yoongi once again notes what a strange sight it is for Death and Harmony to walk into the store at the same time, hand-in-hand even, which Jeongguk pointedly ignores. He looks over as Taehyung watches Namjoon snip his silver threads carefully, enraptured.

--

Ever since War has gotten restless, Jeongguk has been expecting a visit from him sooner or later.

Of course, he didn't expect War to show up at Taehyung's apartment unannounced, with a sword in his hand. Jeongguk highly suspects the sword War is holding isn't just a normal, metal sword from the mortal world, eyeing it warily as War approaches him. Belatedly he realizes with dawning horror that it's actually been a bad idea all along to stay at Taehyung's apartment all this time, because now Taehyung's involved in this shit show too. "Whatever you're going to ask me, the answer's going to be no," Jeongguk says, looking around quickly for anything he can use as a weapon. Unfortunately, Taehyung doesn't actually own any knives because he has no need to cook. Jeongguk briefly wonders if the other being's ever thought to invest in a pair of scissors. 

War gives him a displeased look. "I see you've been hanging around Harmony too much for your own good. Think of what we could accomplish, just the two of us together."

"Creating chaos is Discord's job, not yours," is what Taehyung reminds him.

"Discord is a fool," War says scornfully. "As much of a fool as yourself." He turns back to Jeongguk. "I know you need a being out there to guide your threads of death. Why not let me be that being for you? You'd be free to do whatever you wish for once, without having to play this tiresome waiting game of yours."

"I have no desire to collaborate with you, or meddle with my tapestry more than what is necessary," Jeongguk says with a note of finality, knowing that War won't be successful in his goal without Jeongguk there to help him. "You may go to Seokjin if you wish to start another war."

"As you wish," War scoffs, and two things happen in quick succession after that.

One, War turns to Taehyung instead and slices into his shoulder. Two, he disappears out of the room as quickly as he came. Taehyung winces, gingerly pressing the wound, trying to stem the flow of gold that's oozing out of his shoulder.

Jeongguk panics, reaching over to place his hands over Taehyung's. He didn't realize Taehyung could literally bleed out gold, but he supposes it makes sense, what with the color of his thread. "What do I do, you're going to die."

Taehyung gives him a blank look. "I'm not going to die, don't be so dramatic."

"You have a gigantic gaping wound on your shoulder, from a magical sword," Jeongguk spits out. "I think you're in danger of dying here man. You're immortal, not invincible." It's an important distinction for beings like them, who have an infinite lifeline, but all the same are capable of disappearing.

Taehyung just rolls his eyes at him. For a being who's just got his shoulder sliced, he seems very unperturbed, almost too calm. "Hoseok, I need you," he grits out.

Hoseok emerges moments later, eyes widening and his jaw dropping as he takes in the scene before him. "What the hell happened here?"

"Go to Namjoon, War's probably there already trying to fuck with his tapestry," Taehyung says, and that's all the explanation Hoseok really needs before he disappears out of the room again. Taehyung grabs onto Jeongguk's arm this time and a second later they're also in Namjoon's bookstore. They're greeted with the sight of War with his sword pointed at Namjoon.

Yoongi, off to the side standing next to Hoseok, throws a book at War, who waves it away. Hoseok gives Yoongi an unimpressed look before reaching a hand out towards War.

In the next second Hoseok literally blasts War's arm off.

War screeches in pain, his arm along with the sword clattering onto the ground. 

Jeongguk is just way in over his head over here. He didn't realize Retribution could just blast other being's limbs off like that. "What the fuck," he manages to get out, his head reeling. Taehyung, as always, looks unfazed by this sudden turn of events.

Hoseok looks like he's about ready to blast War's other arm off too, but is just barely restraining himself. Without another word, he grimly grabs War by the back of his neck before the both of them disappear out of the room.

"How many years do you think he'll get?" Yoongi asks wryly, taking one look at Taehyung's shoulder and motioning for him to sit down on the chair Yoongi usually occupies. 

"At least a thousand," is what Namjoon answers, eyebrows furrowing as he takes in the mess that is Taehyung's shoulder. "Seokjin, I need you," he calls out, and Seokjin emerges as he always does, coming in through the front door.

Seokjin takes one look at Taehyung's shoulder before sighing. He places a hand over the wound, while Namjoon does the same. Both of them remove their hands after a few moments. "Good as new," Seokjin says proudly, looking over his shoulder just to be sure. Jeongguk allows himself to let out a breath of relief. "What happened?"

"War came over and sliced my shoulder, came here to try to steal Namjoon's tapestry, Hoseok blasted his arm off and now he's probably going to get served his punishment," Taehyung says nonchalantly, giving them a thumbs up as he presses into his shoulder again to make sure it's not bleeding anymore. "Just the usual."

Seokjin gives Taehyung a blank look, as if to say it's definitely not the usual course of events that goes on in their lives. "And no one thought to call me until now?"

"We had it relatively under control," Namjoon assures him. "Besides, Hoseok's really the only one of us that could really do anything useful."

"True," Seokjin agrees, then groans, rubbing a hand over his face. "Wars are going to take twice as long to create now without him around."

"Now that you mention it," Taehyung cuts in dryly. "Do I have permission to ban War from my home too? I know he's probably gonna be stuck up there for awhile, but once he gets out I want to make sure he doesn't try slicing into me again."

"Do whatever you want, he's an asshole anyway." With that, Seokjin disappears, not bothering to exit out the way he came.

"None of you bothered to use the front door," Yoongi remarks. "But I guess given the circumstances, we didn't really have time for all that human bullshit."

Jeongguk just rolls his eyes and places a hand on Taehyung's shoulder, whisking them out of the room. 

He's had enough drama for one day.

--

Jeongguk asks later, why Taehyung thinks War chose to hurt him instead of Jeongguk. "I was the one that angered him," Jeongguk says, looking at Taehyung's shoulder again and brushing his hand over it, making sure the wound hasn't somehow magically reappeared again. 

"Well for one, he probably thought you refused him on my account," Taehyung explains to him. "He thought if he got rid of me, you'd be more willing to help him out in the future, especially if he ended up prevailing in stealing Namjoon's chart."

"He's just about as stupid as Love is," Jeongguk gripes, sniffling a little.

"He chose not to hurt you because he knows he'll need you eventually," Taehyung remarks. "You at least have to give him credit for that."

"Fine," Jeongguk bites out. "He's an asshole."

"That he is," Taehyung says cheerfully. He gives Jeongguk a contemplating look, as if he's just gotten an idea. "If you had the chance, would you ever want to switch responsibilities with another being?"

Jeongguk blinks at this. "I didn't think that was possible. I've never heard of it being done, at any rate."

"I think," Taehyung starts out carefully, looking at him intently, "if you dug through your memory a little deeper, you'd find that Seokjin hasn't always been Discord, and Namjoon hasn't always been Fate."

Jeongguk lets himself think back, and it takes him awhile for this to process, as if his mind has been lifted out of a thick, hazy fog. With dawning realization he looks up at Taehyung in wonder. "I had forgotten about that," Jeongguk breathes out softly. Before Seokjin, Namjoon had always been the one to guide him carefully through his work, always whispers of encouragement and assurance. "Why did I forget?"

Taehyung sits back now, a content look settling into his features. He pillows his head on Jeonguk's shoulder this time. "The Order is capable of concealing some of our memories and making it hazy, but they aren't able to make us forget completely. If we really look, we're able to find them."

"How did you figure it out?" Jeongguk asks.

Taehyung sighs. "It took me awhile to remember too, but I have the advantage of working with Discord more than any of the others do. Even though they switched roles, Namjoon and Seokjin don't have the same personalities at all." Taehyung looks up at him expectantly. "So, what do you think? Would you want to switch with me, if given the chance?"

Jeongguk allows this to settle in his thoughts for a moment. He already knows his answer, though.

"No, I wouldn't."

After the aftermath of War trying to steal Fate's tapestry, Taehyung tells him that he's free to leave if he doesn't want to continue staying in Taehyung's apartment anymore. "You still have to come over," Taehyung points out, poking him in the chest rather forcefully. "You just don't have to stay here. I think you're safe from any false accusations, for now," is what he says, looking a little woeful, and Jeongguk against all odds with the universe, chooses to stay instead.

As the years go by Taehyung will, every once in awhile, offer his role to Jeongguk again. Jeongguk always tells him no; it's a way out for him to be sure, out of his role that he always seems to struggle with, but he knows that there's no one that can do Harmony's job better than Taehyung can.

Taehyung, after all, is the most strong-willed being out there that Jeongguk's ever had the pleasure of knowing.