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The sky is dark and starless above them as jimin leads taehyung through the forest.
“I don’t think we should have left namjoon behind.” taehyung says, again. “It feels wrong, leaving him alone.”
“He’s asleep , tae. And it’s not like we’re running away. I just….I wanted to show you something.” jimin isn’t actually sure where he’s leading them, what he wants to show taehyung. He just knows that he’s desperate for some time alone with the fae prince. He has questions he needs answered. Answers he’s hoping taehyung has.
Taehyung is silent and lets jimin lead him. He’s not stupid - he knows that jimin wants something from him. He hasn’t figured out what it is, yet, but he knows one thing.
Whatever jimin wants, taehyung will give to him. Taehyung could never deny the other half of his soul anything.
He wonders if jimin has realized their connection yet - the witch isn’t dumb, and he seems to have some kind of sense about him, like he can tell these kinds of things. Taehyung has watched jimin casually lead people together for weeks now, so nonchalantly that the average mortal would miss it. But taehyung is not the average mortal. Taehyung is not even an average fae. Not only that, but ever since their chance meeting in that seaside town, taehyung has been paying very close attention to jimin, waiting for the moment he puts the pieces together.
They come into a clearing filled with wildflowers and jimin stops, looking up at the full moon.
“Well?” taehyung says softly, standing a few feet behind him, “what is it you wanted to show me, jimin?”
Jimin stays silent, entranced by the huge moon in the otherwise blank sky. “Tell me, tae. What do you know about curses?”
Taehyung makes a noncommittal noise in his throat. “What kind of curses?”
“The witch kind.” jimin whispers.
Taehyung’s eyes narrow. “If you brought me out here to curse me, you should know what a pisspoor -”
Jimin barks out a laugh, mirthless. “As if i could be so stupid.” he goes silent for a few moments more. “It’s me , taehyung.” he whispers. “I’m the one who’s cursed.”
The hair on taehyung’s arms stands up. “It’s not - i should have sensed it. You’re not - it’s not a beast spell, right?”
“No.” jimin sighs. He still hasn’t looked away from the moon. “I’m not going to kill you, or anything like that, taehyung. I just wanted you to know.”
“Does namjoon know?” taehyung asks, crossing his arms behind his back. “He’s an amateur cursebreaker, you know.”
“The curses joon deals with aren’t like mine .” jimin insists. “He deals with cursed items, like books, and jewels, and goblets. Not people.”
“He might know someone who could help you though.” taehyung muses.
Finally jimin breaks his stare with the sky and turns to taehyung, eyes wide and hurt in the moonlight. “You think i haven’t spent the better part of my life trying to find people who could help me, tae? That my parents haven’t? I’m a hopeless case.”
“Tell me the curse.” taehyung says softly. “Maybe i can help. I assume you haven’t thought to ask my people for their help.”
Jimin swallows. “I know the fae don’t meddle in the affairs of witches if they can help it.”
“This is correct.” taehyung shrugs. “But i am their prince. And i want to help.”
Jimin meets taehyung’s eyes only for a moment. “I can see the strings of fate.” taehyung waits for him to continue. Knowing the fate of soulmates was hardly a curse. “I cannot see my own, however. If - if i ever...when i…” jimin pauses. “When i meet my soulmate, it’s because they’ve been doomed to die.”
“How will you know it’s them?” taehyung’s heart is beating a thousand miles a minute.
Tears spring to jimin’s eyes. “Because I can’t see your string, taehyung.”
Taehyung bites his lip. “How do you know it’s not because i don’t have a soulmate?”
Jimin laughs again, somehow more hollow than before. He lets the tears flow easily, now. “ Because , taehyung, everyone has a string. Some are red and broken, some are blue for non-romantic soulmates, some are red - they turn pink when soulmates find each other, by the way. Even the non-romantic ones can change color. I’ve seen the broken strings of babes suddenly grow, as somewhere in the world their soulmate is given life. I see all the strings, taehyung. I’ve never seen someone without one. Not until you.”
Taehyung feels like the air has been pulled from his lungs. “So you’ve known this whole time, what i am to you.”
Jimin sniffs, wipes at his nose delicately with his sleeve. “I’ve been waiting for...i wasn’t sure if i should tell you. But i thought, since this involves you as well, that you deserved to know. I don’t know if it’s because you’re cursed as well, or if i am your curse, but...we’ve met now. I don’t know how much time you have left.”
Taehyung strides forward and takes jimin’s face in his hands. “I have waited hundreds of years for you, jimin. I will not let some witch’s curse take my soulpair from me. We’ll find a way to break it. I promise you that.”
Jimin sniffs again. “It’s going to be hard, taehyung.”
“That’s why we have each other, love.” taehyung whispers. He leans down until his lips and jimin’s are barely separated, only by a breath.
Jimin juts his chin forward, wrapping his arms around taehyung’s neck as their lips connect for the first time, and now jimin understands what he’s been told by all the people he’s played matchmaker for.
There is nothing like the first kiss from your soulmate.
Jimin’s heart beats faster than should be safe before it slows, slows, as if to match the inhuman pace of taehyung’s - part of the secret, taehyung had told him once, to the beauty and agelessness of the fae was their slow heartbeat. Jimin had laughed at him then, but now he thinks he gets it.
Taehyung’s thumbs swipe over jimin’s cheeks, ridding him of the tear trails that had made a home there. He pulls away, not nearly as breathless as his love, and smiles bright and wide. “I have waited so long for you, jimin.” he whispers.
“I hope i was worth the wait, aside from...the curse…” jimin pouts and taehyung leans in to kiss it.
“None of that, now. I told you - we’re going to break it. We’ll return to my kingdom, and my people will help us to free you from this, jimin. I swear on my soul. It’s yours now, anyway.”
Jimin’s breath catches. “Careful talking like that, your highness .” he giggles. “I’ve never been in love before. You have to be gentle with me.”
Taehyung laughs, squeezing jimin’s cheeks in his hands - so large and warm. “I’ve heard tales of you, little siren. I know you don’t like gentle.”
Jimin is thankful for the darkness - the moonlight not bright enough to give away the flush on his cheeks. His heart pounds. “A few trysts, here and there. Nothing more.”
Taehyung hums. “It’s alright, little witch. I’ve had lovers before you as well, but nothing you’ve ever known will compare to the pleasure a soulpair can bring you.”
“Tae hyung .” jimin hisses, scandalized. “Maybe we wait for pleasure til we break the curse.”
“Oh?”
“If we can’t, and you die...i don’t think i could live knowing what i can never have again, taehyung.”
Taehyung places a soft kiss to jimin’s forehead. “Whatever you desire, my love.”
Jimin hums, looking down at the ground. “We should get back to the inn. Namjoon might have noticed we’ve gone by now.”
Taehyung takes hold of jimin’s hand as they make their way back out of the woods. Whatever they had to face going forward, taehyung would make sure they faced it together.