Chapter Text
Yoongi hates meetings.
It's not that they're boring. Okay, it is sort of because they're boring. But mostly he can't stand them because everyone invariably takes it upon themselves to make the most dramatic entrances ever.
He's barely been here for five minutes and he's already seen someone fall - sorry, emerge gracefully from the candles of the chandelier. Another person appeared in a swirl of flower petals, someone else walked down the end of a rainbow. Yoongi, for his part, used the door.
He really hates these meetings.
Kim Namjoon doesn't often ask his subordinates to meet up. He's the kind of person who believes in a more flexible structure, and usually he meets the angels one on one to tell them whatever it is that he needs to tell them. But he also believes in being a team and knowing about each other's lives, so once every terrible few months they're all asked to come over to the Tenth Province's conference room for group bonding.
Namjoon isn't here yet. Fortunately he, too, just uses the door.
The conference room is nearly full, but the chatter is quiet. Yoongi is slouched in his chair, head resting on his palm, watching all of them a bit too closely. He doesn't care much for group bonding, but it's important that he knows everyone he works with. And that he knows precisely what they think of Namjoon.
The angel sitting opposite to him, for instance - he was transferred recently from the Seventh Province, and chose to enter rooms in the forms of colourful bugs. He seems to get along with everyone fine, but it's rare for anyone to transfer down. And to the Tenth Province. Namjoon may do his job well, but he isn't well liked across the realm of heaven. The higher authorities think he has too many blasphemous ideas - such as, for instance, being a decent person.
The light in the room abruptly thickens, turning a shade of gold, and there's the gentle warmth in the air that follows whenever Namjoon is nearby. Everyone straightens in their seats quickly, averting their eyes towards the table to be polite. Yoongi does the same.
Namjoon steps inside and the doors shut behind him - everyone else is already here. The warmth he comes with is somehow never overbearing. It sets the entire room at ease, and when he takes his seat at the head of the table, he smiles, and everyone can imagine that he's smiling at them.
"It's nice to see all of you," Namjoon says, and Yoongi will never understand how he means it. "It's been a while, hasn't it? Lots to discuss today, what with the underworld's obsession with global warming, and the whole disaster with the forest fires, but first let's go around the table and tell each other what we've been up to."
The other angels start to share, one by one - stories about clearing out rivers and rebuilding ecosystems. The angel sitting across from Yoongi - Kim Taehyung, who had transferred from the Seventh Province, tells a story about helping some humans find a new species of beetle. Yoongi, for his part, had helped with fundraisers. Fundraisers in the human realm are his specialty - they fit his job description, and at the same time, he gets to be around the arts.
The stories are starting to fade into idle chatter when there's a sudden, focused heat on Yoongi's palm. He clenches his fist by reflex, waiting for it to stop, and when the heat starts to fade, he opens the fist under the table.
Come see me after the meeting. - NJ
Yoongi rubs his palms together slightly, ridding them of the message, and doesn't glance towards Namjoon at all.
/
"So," Yoongi says, when the last of his coworkers have left. "You wanted to see me?"
Namjoon nods, sipping at his cup of tea. They're in the corner of the room, near the window. Namjoon's cup is still full. He hasn't had a chance to drink it with everyone wanting to talk to him after the meeting ended. Yoongi has finished about three cups and enchanted them all to be coffee instead.
"I need a favour," Namjoon says. "And I thought you'd be the best person to ask."
Yoongi sighs. "Nothing good ever happens when you say that."
"It's better than last time," Namjoon insists. Last time referring to the time he'd sent Yoongi on a ten year long wild goose chase to catch rogue demons smuggling human souls through snakes. "I would have asked someone else, but I feel like they might pin it down to just...paranoia. I know you'd take me seriously."
Yoongi's heart stills, suddenly more serious. "What's wrong?"
"I'm not sure yet," Namjoon says, but he looks worried. He takes another sip from his mug. Then frowns. "I swear this was tea before," he says.
"Shit," Yoongi says, quickly enchanting it again. He hadn't meant to mess up Namjoon's cup too. "My fault."
Namjoon's eyes narrow curiously. "Your magic is still messing up?"
"A bit, yeah. I went to Hoseok to get it checked. He says it's just stress."
"Hm," Namjoon says, looking a bit guilty. "I haven't picked the best time, have I?"
"It's fine," Yoongi waves him away. "Tell me what you need."
"It's Kim Seokjin," Namjoon says.
Yoongi freezes. "What did he do this time?"
"I don't know," Namjoon says, but he sounds more and more distressed. "I just - he's been causing a lot more chaos than usual, I'm sure you've noticed that. All kinds of odd things going down on the human realm - changed migration patterns, climate crises, the crows and their uncanny meetings. But he's...he's usually more focused on other things. Traffic jams, internet hacks, that was more his thing. I can't help but feel like this is a targeted attack."
"Maybe he got bored of it," Yoongi says, but he knows the hope is misplaced. While it is like Seokjin to completely throw them off his trail by changing his focus, networks were his thing. He'd never dabble with the environmentalists - he'd never dabble with Namjoon, unless he had a point to make.
"You want me to talk to him?" Yoongi asks.
"I doubt he'd talk," Namjoon says. "But yeah, that might be a start."
"I don't look forward to it," Yoongi says honestly. He's never talked to Kim Seokjin and come out of it completely unscathed. The demon has a way of figuring out exactly where to hurt.
The fallen ones are always hard to deal with. Demons born in the underworld care very little about the moral ambiguity of the angels. They're content with their lives. But the fallen ones, the ones that had to be thrown out for asking too many questions, for doubting too many powers - they know too much about an angel's insecurities.
They know too much about the doubts they all try to hide.
/
The only good thing that comes out of not liking Kim Seokjin, is that Seokjin doesn't like Yoongi very much either.
Unfortunately that's a bit of a problem now, because if he sends a message to the underworld saying heyy, it's your least favourite guy from heaven, do you wanna talk then the message will zip right back to him and blow up in his face.
So Yoongi decides to take a more subtle approach and summon Seokjin to him instead.
He's in the human realm now, in a small apartment on the outskirts of Seoul where he likes to pretend to live every now and then. He's pushed all of his furniture out of the way to make room for the pentagram, and his palms are red from all the substances he's dipped them into.
Summoning a demon is no easy job. Summoning Kim Seokjin is in a league of its own.
He's sweating as he lights the candles, all the magic taking its toll on him. When Hoseok said his magic was messing up because of stress, he'd meant for him to take a break for a couple of years at least. If he found out what Yoongi was doing now he'd probably have a heart attack.
Actually, if any of his coworkers found out what he was doing, they'd have a heart attack. One wrong move and Yoongi might owe Seokjin his soul. That would be awkward for both parties involved.
When the last of the candles are lit, Yoongi mutters his enchantments. He wipes at the sweat on his forehead with his sleeve and powers through. The pentagram glows in dangerous colours, the candle fires rising to terrifying heights. The magic swirls and sings and reaches the point of no return, and Yoongi can feel the words ripping out of him before he gets a chance to say them, sucked out of him and joining the mess of colours and magic and sound.
The room is too hot to stay in but Yoongi has no choice, has no strength in him to shield himself from his own disaster. A couple of items come flying out of the portal and he ducks between his knees, shielding his head.
Finally, finally, it all slows to a stop.
When Yoongi looks up, the pentagram is gone. The candles are gone. In its place is a boy Yoongi has never seen before, sitting cross legged and awkward, blinking around like he doesn't understand the situation any more than Yoongi does.
Yoongi blinks at him too. "Who're you?" he manages, through a cough. He's not Seokjin, that's for sure.
The boy blinks back. "I'm Jungkook," he says. Then he looks even more confused. "Wait, didn't you summon me?"
"I really didn't," Yoongi admits. Something has gone horribly wrong, and Yoongi is pretty sure it's his own fault. Damn his twisted magic. He wipes at his brow again, his clothes uncomfortably damp with sweat. Damn everything.
"You must have," Jungkook says, looking slightly distressed. "I'm sure someone did." He holds out his wrist, blackened by the bond that a summoning leaves behind. "See?"
Yoongi sighs. He tugs up his own sleeve, and there, unmistakeably, is the same darkened scar. "I meant to summon someone else," he says. "I guess my magic got confused. I don't even know you."
"I'm Jungkook," Jungkook says again, as if that helps anything at all. He seems to realize that himself and looks a little awkward. "I'm - uh. A junior apprentice? I work with the Region 29 tech team." He smiles sheepishly. "This is actually the first time I've been summoned."
"Ahh," Yoongi says. The demon seems young - eyes too wide, all in all too eager. He's dressed completely in black in the way that the try hard demons do in an attempt to fill their shoes. Everything about him screams inexperience, and Yoongi thinks junior apprentice is a gross overstatement. "I'm sorry, I meant to summon someone else," he says again.
Jungkook deflates a bit, but he tries for a smile. "That's alright," he says. "Who did you need? Maybe I know them."
"I was looking for Kim Seokjin."
Jungkook grins. "That's cool," he says. "Seokjin is my brother."
/
Sometimes, Yoongi doesn't know how he still has his job.
There's no way he can dilute the sheer amount of nonsense he's doing right now at the next meeting. Everyone will be sharing stories about saving the planet and vanquishing the demons that get in the way - and what will Yoongi say?
That he's following around a wanted nuisance's little brother on a hunch that it could help him out?
The cafe they're in is small, comfortable. There aren't a lot of people around and the menu is cheap, and Yoongi has enough human cash in his pockets to escape having to use another enchantment. He doesn't want to trust his magic again any time soon, it would be uncomfortable if he tried to pay the waiter with what he thought was won but turned out to be rupees instead.
Jungkook seems fascinated by the place they're in. He's amazed by the lights, the music, the menu. Yoongi is struck by how little he resembles his brother, and finally he decides to pop the question.
"I thought Seokjin didn't have a family."
It's a bit of a sour point, because he did, or he used to, back in heaven. But when he'd been thrown out his name was scratched out from all their lists, and in all official statements he'd never had a family at all.
Jungkook shrugs. "He doesn't exactly," he says. "He says he adopted me but I - I don't think that's how adoption works. My certificates all list him as my older brother though."
Yoongi hums, interested.
There's a sharp, pointed warmth on his palm again and Yoongi glances at it inconspicuously.
Where are you?-NJ
He rubs his palm against his sleeve, brushing it off as an itch or something, and Jungkook doesn't suspect a thing.
Honestly, Yoongi knows he's getting in way over his head. If he'd been working under anyone besides Namjoon, he probably would have been fired on the spot for even fraternizing with a demon. The bond seared into his wrist puts him in testy waters even with Namjoon. His initial plan had been simple - meet Seokjin, ask him what was up, get depressing news, severe the bond and disappear.
But this kid - till date, they'd never known anyone Seokjin might have been scared to part with. If he likes Jungkook enough to adopt him, or whatever the heck he did because Yoongi is sure that's not how demon adoption works either - then maybe, for the first time, they have the upper hand on him.
It isn't a good way to think, but they've let Seokjin run around uncontrolled for too long.
The waiter sets down two plates in front of them - two slices of cake. Jungkook cuts into it delicately, looking still vaguely overwhelmed by how nice the place is.
"What about you?" he asks Yoongi. "Where do you work? You - you're an angel, right?"
It's hard to miss, for a demon the stench of an angel is usually unmistakeable. And likewise, Yoongi can smell a demon from a good hundred meters away.
Jungkook doesn't smell bad - none of the demons Yoongi has met have smelled bad. He smells a bit like petroleum, like the hint of smoke before a fire. Like a disaster waiting to happen.
"In traditional terms, yeah," Yoongi says. "Where I work, though - they call me an environmentalist."
Jungkook looks interested. He's almost done with his cake already, while Yoongi is still poking at his. "Environmentalist?"
"I deal a lot with climate change, pollution, restoration, that sort of thing," Yoongi explains. "Basically trying to get the shit that humans have been up to under control."
Jungkook looks a bit uncomfortable. "Ahh, cool," he says, averting his eyes towards his cake.
Yoongi gives him a look, but lets it pass. "So," he says. "We're stuck together for a while. What is it that you do up here?"
Jungkook shrugs. "Cause chaos, wreak havoc," he says. "But not too much or I get in trouble."
"...you get in trouble?"
Jungkook smiles sheepishly again. "I'm supposed to be working with the tech team," he admits. "But it gets kinda boring, so I do other stuff - which I guess I'm not supposed to do? "So sometimes hyung gets mad at me and he hides my license."
"...your license...?"
Jungkook holds up a finger and then rummages in his pockets, before pulling out a small plastic ID card. Jeon Jungkook, it says, Certified Maker of Chaos, Region 29 Tech. And under it a stamp, Underworld approved.
Yoongi's eyebrow twitches.
"You can't prank anyone without a license," Jungkook tells him solemnly.
"So your job is...to prank people?"
"It's cooler than it sounds," Jungkook defends immediately. "I'll - I'll show you, sometime." He fixes Yoongi with an oddly intense stare. "You can see the worst of people when they think the world they're in isn't real."
It's a normal thing to say, but for a moment - Yoongi can believe that he and Seokjin are related.
/
"You do realize how suspicious this is," Namjoon says, sitting cross legged on the floor of Yoongi's apartment.
"It isn't what it looks like," Yoongi insists, wincing at the remnants of his pentagram and the sorry state that he's left the kitchen dishes in. He isn't sure which one Namjoon is referring to, so it's best to be apologetic about both.
"I meant talk to him," Namjoon says, sounding sort of fed up with his life. "Not - what did you even do?"
"It's fine," Yoongi insists. "Think about it, we've literally found the only person who could actually know something about Seokjin."
Namjoon purses his lips.
Talking about Seokjin is hard. It'll always be hard. It's easy to say that Yoongi hates him and has hated him for decades, and that the feeling is mutual, but there's too much buried underneath it all.
There's too much piled up over the fact that Seokjin used to be their friend.
"You can't even trust that he's his brother," Namjoon says. "Why would Seokjin have a brother? He doesn't even have friends. You know that."
Yoongi shrugs. It's true, all of their attempts to find someone who might have been close to Seokjin before had led them straight down the drain. Anyone who claimed to know him was usually just trying to get out of a shitty situation unscathed.
"I can't be sure," Yoongi says. "But this kid - you'd get it if you see him. He's young. All over the place. I don't think he knows enough to lie about something like this."
"He's a demon," Namjoon deadpans. "His literal job description is lying about stuff like this."
"Okay, yeah," Yoongi says. "I just have a hunch, okay? I think this could really help us."
Namjoon frowns harder. It isn't just Yoongi's job that he's putting on the line, it's Namjoon's too. If word got out that Yoongi was running around trying to make friends with a demon, on a hunch, and with Namjoon's knowledge of it - it wouldn't end well at all.
"I'll admit I'm curious," Namjoon says. "I didn't - I didn't think he'd make friends with anyone again. And now, of all things, when he's been acting up in general - " He takes a breath, leaning his chin on his hands. For a moment, he looks almost his age.
Sometimes Yoongi wonders how Namjoon stays sane at all.
"It could help us," Namjoon agrees at last. "We've let him run around unaccounted for too long. It needs to end sometime."
"He's messing up migration patterns," Yoongi says, because he's still pretty sore about that.
"He is," Namjoon agrees. He looks up at Yoongi, from his position on his floor. His stare is too intense, too dark. Yoongi almost wants to look away. "I'm trusting you with a lot on this," he says slowly. "If it becomes too much, if it looks like something is going too wrong, I need to know about it immediately."
"Of course," Yoongi says.
He'll give himself a month. Maybe two.
If he can figure out what Seokjin is up to by then, he'll call it a success.
/
It turns out that being bonded to an angel, even temporarily, is the most interesting thing to happen to Jungkook in a while.
"Tech is boring," Jungkook says, as they walk together near the lake. "It's just the same things over and over again. Hacking systems, cutting off power, messing up traffic - like, yeah it's funny sometimes, but it gets boring."
"Maybe you just aren't good enough at it yet," Yoongi says, because messing up traffic sounds pretty satisfying to him. There's probably some unhealthy frustration in there that he needs to deal with before his superiors bring it up.
Jungkook scowls. "I'm good," he insists. "I shut down the power in the prime ministers office for a whole day."
"That was you?"
"Yeah," the kid says proudly. "I did it when he was in the shower."
Yoongi nods, impressed.
"So what did you need Seokjin for?"
Yoongi shrugs. "I needed some advice," he says. "The kind of advice only someone who's been in the business this long could give me."
"Huh. Why would you need advice from a demon?"
"I don't know, why am I bonded to one?"
"…I don't know, that's what I've been asking."
Yoongi shrugs again. Jungkook tries squinting at him for a while, like he's trying to somehow convince Yoongi to magically spill his entire life story. The smell of petroleum gets a bit thicker, and Yoongi realizes with indignance that Jungkook is trying to intimidate him.
He's been an angel for ages, damn it. This kid isn't going to get a thing out of him.
There's an awkward staring contest, where Jungkook looks more like he can't see without his glasses and Yoongi looks like he can't believe that Jungkook would dare to exist.
Jungkook finally gives up.
"Okay," he says. "But now you're stuck with me instead. What do you want me to do? Beat up bad guys?"
"Beat up bad guys?" Yoongi repeats, deadpan. "Is that what you guys do if you're bonded now?"
"I don't know, okay, I'm still new here."
"Please don't beat up bad guys."
"Should I take their souls?"
"I - what? No."
"What do you guys do about the bad guys, then?" Jungkook asks. He sounds honestly curious. "You do fight bad guys, right?"
Yoongi has no idea what direction this conversation is taking. "I'm an environmentalist," he says. "Not a freaking vigilante."
"But like, you see all these factories polluting the oceans and stuff. Don't you go and beat them up?"
"There's a strict no violence policy."
"Oh," Jungkook says. He sounds disappointed.
There's a moment of peace while he focuses on kicking a rock on side of the road. He kicks at it each step he takes, until it bounces off the side walk and rolls into the middle of the road.
By reflex, Yoongi enchants it to roll back onto the sidewalk.
Jungkook looks amused. He kicks the rock back onto the road.
"Yah," Yoongi complains, enchanting it to roll back again. "It's not safe, it could puncture something."
"That's literally my job description," Jungkook says, kicking the rock back into the road again.
Yoongi takes a deep, exasperated breath. He should have known this was what he was signing up for. Kim Seokjin's little brother, and Yoongi thought this job wouldn't be the most annoying he'd ever had.
He enchants the rock to roll back onto the sidewalk, fly up, and land on Jungkook's head.
"Ow!"
Jungkook rubs his head, looking more offended than angry. "You said you had a no violence policy."
"I didn't hit you," Yoongi says. "I patted you gently with a rock."
Jungkook scowls at him, and then he kicks him.
Yoongi stumbles, and then - he can't even process what just happened. He can't even remember the last time someone had kicked him.
There's so much indignance in his chest that he can't put it into words.
"I patted you gently with my foot," Jungkook says, too smug for the situation.
"How old are you, what the hell?"
"You started it!"
"You kicked me - "
"You're supposed to be an angel -"
"What do you think an angel is?"
"The shitty guys who run around with twisted morals and no life direction and insist that everything they do is somehow to please the gods," Jungkook says, like he's reciting something from memory.
"…how long did it take Seokjin to get you to memorize that," Yoongi asks dryly.
"It's a question on the proficiency exam," Jungkook says brightly. "And hyung told me the answer beforehand."
There's just - so much to unpack in that sentence that Yoongi doesn't know where to start.
What does strike him is Jungkook's use of hyung.
He'd assumed that they'd been speaking in Korean because - well, they were wandering through Seoul. It would be weird as hell if they were speaking in the immortal tongue and someone overheard them.
But the way Jungkook throws out the honorific, so casually - it makes Yoongi suspect that that's what he's used to calling him. Which would mean that he addresses Seokjin in Korean on a daily basis - which would mean that’s the language he's more comfortable in. More than the immortal tongue.
It tells him too much about where Jungkook might have come from - and that's that Jungkook might not have been born an immortal at all.
It makes a little more sense that Seokjin had to adopt him. Yoongi doesn't know a lot about politics in the underworld, but he knows enough to know that without Seokjin's help, Jungkook never would have been promoted so quickly. He'd be stuck turning wheels and pushing levers down in the depths of hell. Humans have to work their way up in the underworld.
They have to finish paying for the crimes of being human first. It's not a sin, not worth a punishment down in hell - but it's laughable. Humans are looked down upon, because there's always a demon somewhere who's seen them in the depths of patheticness back on earth.
It's something Seokjin knew better than anyone.
What business did Seokjin have adopting someone who used to be human?
/
Yoongi feels that something is wrong before it happens.
The stench of petroleum, the aura of danger - it's far too thick in the air. The unease is starting to set in, making him restless, and Yoongi decides to leave his apartment to maybe calm down a bit.
He leaves, wandering Seoul aimlessly. He takes the subway to stations at random. He tries going into deserted places, far enough from technology, far enough from the places that Seokjin usually has a hold of.
What's most terrifying about Seokjin's newfound desire to dabble with the environmentalists, is that it means there's no place left that's outside of his control. He could pop up anywhere.
The chill is starting to set into Yoongi's spine. He knew this was out of his league. It's one thing to try to talk to Seokjin, to just annoy him in general.
It's another to try to touch his family.
He can feel Seokjin's anger in the air, even before he's here.
He sends off a quick message to Namjoon to let him know there might be trouble.
The smell of smoke and petroleum thickens, almost too much to handle. This isn't like Jungkook's smell, which was just - intriguing. Just enough to know that something might burn, but not enough for it to be a threat.
Seokjin smells of disasters that have already happened. Of fire and smoke and poison.
Yoongi stops near a deserted road. It's getting dark already, but there isn't a single star in the sky.
Not a single vehicle passes by him. He waits, the smell of smoke thickening.
Finally, a pick up truck rolls down the road, and Yoongi knows Seokjin has arrived.
The truck is red, sleek, shining even in the dark. He's always found it odd that Seokjin drives a pick up, but at the same time, he can't imagine him driving anything else.
The vehicle slows to a stop, a good ten feet away from him. The door opens, and Seokjin steps out.
Yoongi holds his breath.
He's dressed in dark reds and black, the colours of the underworld. Leather boots strapped to his feet, a silver chain hung around his waist. Yoongi can't see his eyes, behind the large sunglasses he's wearing.
He's grateful for it. He hates meeting Seokjin's eyes.
Seokjin stares at him for a moment, one hand still on the door of his pick up. He looks like he's sizing him up.
"I didn't think you'd show your face to me again," Seokjin says lightly.
"Surely," Yoongi scoffs, sarcastic. "You knew what would happen if you messed with Namjoon."
Seokjin considers him for a second longer, and then he reaches up, slowly pulling off his sunglasses.
Yoongi's heart stops.
Seokjin's eyes are too dark. It's always terrible seeing him, because - he looks nothing like Yoongi remembers. From those days far in the past, when they called themselves friends and could mean it.
When Seokjin was the person Yoongi trusted the most in the world.
But now, his eyes are dark. There's no sympathy in them, no compassion. It's like they never knew each other at all - or rather, like they did, and everything is worse for it.
"I couldn't care less about Namjoon," Seokjin says, and it sounds almost to be the truth. "But apparently Namjoon can't stop caring about me, so do tell, what crimes have I committed this time."
"Don't play dumb," Yoongi says bluntly. His words are short, crisp. If there's one thing he knows how to do, it's to act like nothing Seokjin says affects him. "You've been targeting the environmentalists. Migration patterns have changed. Climate is getting worse. There aren't any fish in the river."
Seokjin sighs heavily. He makes a big deal of wiping the lenses of his sunglasses on his shirt. Then he tries looking through them, to see how he's done, and then tucks the glasses into his breast pocket.
"I didn't think I'd need to say this," he says slowly, like he's talking to a child, "But I have better things to do besides target you. You think this all means something? Revenge, perhaps? Is that what you're hoping for?"
Yoongi's throat is dry.
"Maybe it sounds better in your heads, when you put it like that. You feel guilty for leaving me that day, don't you? For watching as I was thrown out. I suppose a part of you wants to turn me into the villain, to try to get my revenge so that you can get your own redemption arc."
"I don't need to turn you into the villain," Yoongi deadpans. "You did that all on your own."
Seokjin grins, and it's horrible to see. "I did, didn't I?" he says. He leans his side against the pick up, crossing his arms. "I asked the gods why they let so many assholes get away with doing shit. Oh, the blasphemy. The horror. What a villain I am."
There's a tingling on Yoongi's palm, but he doesn't dare check it. The last thing Seokjin needs here is to know that Namjoon might turn up.
"Don't try to patronize me," Seokjin says simply. "We both know your morals are messed up. We both know you doubt the gods as much as I do. I heard you spend all your time with fundraisers now, hm? Your doubts had nothing to do with that?"
Yoongi takes a deep breath, letting it out through his nose. He can't let Seokjin know he's getting to him.
He's built up his life too far to lose it someone who only wants to watch him fall.
"Enough," Yoongi says. "What are you here for?"
Seokjin raises his eyebrows. "Take a wild guess."
"I didn't hurt your brother."
"No," Seokjin agrees. "You didn't. You're using him to get to me."
"It worked, didn't it?"
"Sure," Seokjin says smoothly. "If what you'd been waiting for was for me to come over and tell you you're a loser, it's worked just fine."
Yoongi doesn't respond.
"If you value anything that you've worked for," Seokjin says carefully, voice deceptively light, "You'll leave him alone."
"He isn't like you," Yoongi says.
Seokjin's eyebrows shoot up. "Like me?" he says, choked on a laugh. "What, then, he's like you?"
"He's innocent," Yoongi says. "He's innocent, and he was human. He thinks his job as a demon is to knock over rocks and to play pranks on people."
Seokjin looks even more amused, morbidly so. "You think I've corrupted him," he says. "This is beautiful."
"He was human - there was no reason for you to take him."
"Min Yoongi," Seokjin says, and Yoongi stops.
He doesn't know what he's said wrong, but it's clear he's taken something too far.
"Leave my brother alone," Seokjin says, and his tone leaves no room for argument. "You think you know anything, from what - ? I didn't take him from anywhere. I didn't need to. He came to me."
Yoongi's throat goes dry.
"He came to me," Seokjin says, and his eyes are a little wild. "He had no idea who I was. He thought I was human. He came to me and asked me to save him, and I couldn't. You know why I couldn't? Because your damned gods made sure of that."
No one - not even a demon, could interfere with lives like that. It was the only rule that Yoongi couldn't wrap his mind around, the one that had finally tore Seokjin away from them all.
They couldn't save a life.
"I keep him safe," Seokjin says. "I gave him a home. He loves what he does. He's doing just fine. You aren't here because you care about him, you're angry that the people you've turned into monsters in your head could be so fucking normal. Makes you wonder if we're as messed up as you think, or if we're just right."
"Don't be so full of yourself."
"Imagine this," Seokjin says quietly. "Imagine a world where we could save each other. Where we could save anyone we wanted. I'd never have to watch my brother die in front of my eyes. Imagine that."
Yoongi does. He imagines it with such intensity that there are tears in his eyes, a hollowness in his chest.
What he wouldn't give, to be able to save anyone.
"All that's keeping you from that is that you're just too scared to see that the only way out is to burn everything down."
"You want us to kill the gods?" Yoongi says, disbelieving, haunted.
"I know you won't dare to try," Seokjin says smoothly. "But I will. All I want you to do, is to stay away from my little brother."
He turns, his jacket swishing around him, and then he's gone. The stench of petroleum abruptly disappears, and Yoongi nearly keels over, the fresh air startling him.
He can finally breathe.
The pick up truck is still there in front of him, and Yoongi has a sudden, intense urge to burn it down.
"Well," Namjoon says, from behind him. "That went just great."
/