Chapter Text
taehyung didn't know what gambling was until he had moved places. no, not that kind of gambling where you bet money in consideration of your shitty luck, another kind of gambling that is surely more dangerous than the classic one.
gambling with your feelings is far from that — it's frustrating, actually.
you see, when taehyung decided to move away from his home town alongside two of the most important people in his life, he never considered or, god, ever thought he'd meet up with pretty, tall and sweet guys. sue him for being emotionally deprived of relationships, his heart ached for it.
taehyung had a soft spot for guys like the one he dreams of calling his — tall, good looking, sickening sweet and toothy smile which blinded his heart. working in his — now — favorite coffee shop, natural charm hypnotizing poor taehyung more than a vampire's mind compelling would.
the name was minjae — sweet, silly, little minjae, who was clueless of what he was doing to taehyung's heart. taehyung's little, dirty and pathetic secret.
well, if being honest, his tiny crush on the guy was all fun and games for him at the start. taehyung never expected to catch feelings, strong fucking feelings that he didn't know what to do with. catching feelings for someone who didn't is frustrating — mainly when you don't know when and how to stop them.
shortly speaking, taehyung was royally fucked. he couldn't just confess his feelings like that, blurt them out in front of minjae when it meant literally everything to him — and his dignity mattered as well, the thought of being rejected felt like the end of the world.
how dramatic he is being.
that was a problem until jimin, his best friend, the cunning friend of his, came up with the idea of brewing a love potion. at first, taehyung considered his idea a stupid one, proclaiming he still had morals unlike him and that he couldn't possibly live with the idea of forcing people to love him.
only for him to change his mind when he thought better — his chances of making minjae like him were slim, considering the guy never really showed interest in him and, thanks to jimin, once again, taehyung was reminded that as a witch, morals didn't exactly exist.
and his emotional problem became a bit overbearing. so, for a final, he accepted the idea, telling himself that he could have done worse than brewing a stupid love potion.
that's why his hands are shaking while pouring the red, cherry-like smell potion into one of his precious glasses, placing it carefully on the round table by the kitchen counter, all while jimin was watching him with an amused grin plastered on his stupid face.
taehyung side eyed him and poured himself a glass of actual cherry juice, putting it right beside the glass of potion. "jimin, i'm going to hell for this."
his friend could only snort. "yeah that's right, babe. already saved ourselves two vacant seats."
"for fuck's sake, minnie! i'm not joking," taehyung huffed nervously and pointed at his face. "do you see me smile?"
"no, but one would work. the love of your life is coming in approximately thirty minutes and here you are, bitching about how you are such a bad person."
taehyung felt close to tears at this point. "but what if he finds out it's a potion and then he'll hate the hell out of me!"
"he's a damn human, tae. he doesn't know shit, please."
sue a witch for falling in love with a mere human.
taehyung could only sigh as he stumbled on a chair. doing this would finally end his misery of being the only one who felt this way and, looking at the good part, soon enough minjae would move here, together with him, with two dogs, happily married and everything —
right?
minjae probably will be feeling sick after drinking the potion, if taehyung remembers correctly. it said one who drinks the potion would fall in love with the first person they lay their eyes on and right after they start feeling sick, one of the signs to know immediately that the potion successfully worked.
well speaking of which, taehyung read somewhere the symptoms caused by the potion manifested different for some people — but he hoped minjae would have immediate symptoms so that taehyung wasn't needed to wait another day to know if it worked —
but anyway, taehyung would be there to help minjae through the process, to be there when his almond, green eyes would land on him as his heart stops beating for a few seconds — only for the butterflies to fly up from the pit of his stomach, to dance around his again rapidly beating heart — and call taehyung his love, his one and only.
to lean on and press lovely lips against his, to sate the burning fire inside his body that was kept alive for too long. taehyung couldn't wait anymore for minjae to show up.
the living room smelt like fresh brewed coffee, secretly knowing this is minjae's favorite smell — considering he worked in a coffee shop and the only smell lingering inside the shop was this exact one — and taehyung couldn't be more than ready to welcome the guy.
only for the house's demeanor to drastically change. it made taehyung's hairs stand, knowing exactly who just destroyed his perfectly balanced spiritual mood. turning around in his chair, taehyung softly scoffed as his eyes landed on the intrusion.
just a few meters away from them stood in all his glory the mighty, super annoying and too smug for his own good, jeon jeongguk, the vampire whose only job was to visit him whenever he didn't have where to stick his fangs into — looking up for no good.
knowing him, if taehyung doesn't make him leave in less than fifteen minutes, jeongguk could throw out of the window all his hard work and this time taehyung won't be able to conceal his madness like he always does whenever the vampire shows his bitchy face.
"what you doing, kim?" jeongguk speaks up, scrounging his nose when he gets a better whiff of the scent. "why does it smell like something has burned in here? have you tried to cook again?"
taehyung clenched his hands into fists, trying his best not to give in jeongguk's childish teasing. "fuck you, jeon and get out, my house ain't no shelter for wild bats."
as always, his words never reach jeongguk — never anger him, never upset him. he's just standing in the middle of his living room unmoving, grinning ear to ear like he was meant to be there to demolish whatever taehyung had planned. jeongguk looked his usual self when he was about to give taehyung a hard time.
introducing the most troublesome being taehyung ever met, the old vampire who wouldn't stop leaving him alone for the love of god, jeon jeongguk the bane of his own existence.
every time jeongguk showed up something terrible happened — like in the first day when he moved into this house, the vampire “accidentally” set fire to it and burnt half of it down. taehyung held a grudge against him since then — or the times when jeongguk purposely messed up some of his potions.
anyway, long story.
jimin, the witness of their short confrontation, rose from his chair to approach the vampire. "jeongguk, hi. remember me, yeah?"
the latter looks at his friend like it's his first time seeing him — which isn't true, jimin witnessed the fire — and makes a face, blandly answering: "right."
jeongguk, as a person, wasn't one to talk to people he never had interest in — speaking from what taehyung could get to know from him — if the robotic manner he answers jimin is anything to go by. taehyung merely wishes he was in jimin's place instead.
"jeongguk, look," jimin says while placing a hand on the said man's shoulder. "my friend here has a very important guest coming over. so, would you be a gentleman for the time being and allow taehyung the comfort to not mess up this date, yeah?"
taehyung studied jeongguk for a few moments, surprised when his features morphed into a scowl before it vanished as fast as it came. "that makes the two of us. this means you are leaving with me, too."
to jeongguk's own demise, jimin chuckles humorlessly into his fist. "well yes, but unlike you, i have the friend privilege to come and go whenever i want."
it only spurs jeongguk more and taehyung could swore he saw a flicker of crimson dangling in his irises. it made taehyung laugh, delighted to see the vampire get angry over the truth being handed to him.
then jimin makes a move to leave, headed towards the entrance. "you've got it from here, tae and good luck!" the other witch winked at him and left, leaving the two of them in silence.
taehyung doesn't really know how much time had passed with jeongguk just boring holes into the back of his head before there is a knock on the door.
that was it.
taehyung rose on his feet, heart beating and driving him into a frenzy — hands getting sweaty and fingers running cold from the emotions he felt all at once — and moved to open the door.
minjae is finally here.
but not before he turned around to face jeongguk, who hadn't left yet, frowning gently. "please, jeongguk, i don't have time for your shit right now." with that, the latter only scoffed, glared at him and disappeared — it made taehyung sigh softly, relieved.
you've got this , taehyung took a deep breath before gripping the door handle as if it was the only thing keeping him from melting like lava, or freaking out. he forced a smile, hoping it doesn't look nervous — hoping he himself doesn't look ridiculous — and opens the door.
the sight of minjae, standing at the door with a bag of probably fresh baked goods, a pretty smile of his own and sparkly green eyes eyeing him so innocently, almost made taehyung feel bad for what is going to happen to the guy — almost .
taehyung took another breath, this time coming out a bit shaky as he opened the door more to make room for minjae to enter his household. in such a short time their household.
"oh hi, minjae! i'm so glad you could come over, really," taehyung managed to say after closing the door with a soft sound. "i… i felt like spending time with my friend outside of work."
that made minjae laugh, sucking in a breath as he handed taehyung the bag he brought. "yeah, same thoughts. i even brought you your regular cupcakes, but couldn't actually bring the drink itself. it has too many things, you know."
the blood that rushed to his head was incredibly embarrassing, causing taehyung to laugh it away and hoping minjae hadn't seen how red his face became. minjae knew what he liked — obviously not because those were the only things he ever bought — his heart jumped in delight at that.
"thank you. let's go to the living room," taehyung suggested. "you look a bit exhausted. it that warm outside?"
minjae nodded, flopping on the couch and ran a hand through his brown looks. "you have no idea, too warm for may."
"want a drink? how does cherry juice sound?" taehyung subtly smirked when minjae eagerly nodded his head, saying he was really thirsty.
entering in the kitchen taehyung almost jumped out of his skin when he found — the fucker — jeongguk there, leaning against the kitchen counter with his arms crossed over his chest. it angers taehyung more than it should, eyes morphing into slits as he glares daggers, knives and whatever would get jeongguk to leave him alone even for once. "why haven't you fucking left yet?"
his question falls to deaf ears as jeongguk continues to stare at him, but this time his blank look transforms into something confused, eyes softening at the corners. taehyung watches as his skin pales for a brief moment before jeongguk covers his mouth with his left hand, gripping the kitchen counter with the other one and suddenly disappears from his sight.
taehyung frowns, finding his reaction strange, but considering this was jeongguk — it isn't like it was the first time jeongguk made faces and reacted this way around before. the witch shrugged his shoulders, choosing not to give too much thought when minjae was the real deal sitting on his couch and took both the glasses with him back to the living room.
the latter muttered a thank you as he took the glass with love potion from taehyung and took a tentative sip — and all taehyung could do was grin slyly behind his own glass, hitting the jackpot .
jeongguk falls to his knees the moment his house comes into view. he never felt this way before — so sick, weak and dizzy — his vision blurring and stomach forming into knots in such a way it made his head throb harshly into his cold hands. whatever poison taehyung put into that fucking cherry juice made him feel worse than a stab to the ribs would.
as if taehyung knew jeongguk would pay him a visit today. a good one, he gives him that. jeongguk, well, really does visit taehyung a lot — to annoy him, nothing more worth than watching the witch crumble apart from anger. he hadn't expected him to have company, to wait for another company and that said company's voice made annoyance creep in his veins.
jeongguk had the nerve to not leave when he was told so, instead disappearing into the kitchen where he found two, probably forgotten, glasses with cherry juice. the juice was his favorite drink apart from what he consumed the most — it looked like actual blood and it tasted good, sour.
he gulped the juice without any remorse, not really caring that taehyung had poured it for someone else — jeongguk actually filled that glass again, making it seem like no one has ever drank from it. at first, it didn't taste like anything in particular, it tasted how it should — no sign of poison or anything like that — but, oh how wrong he was.
the moment taehyung walked into the kitchen and his very own eyes locked stares with taehyung's, jeongguk felt his stomach crumble into an agonizing kind of pain which made him leave the house without uttering another word to the witch, not after poisoning him.
and damn, how much jeongguk hates him.
the vampire made a move to get up so that he could enter inside the house, but his feet protested, stubbornly keeping him glued to the ground. fuck, he's done for.
a wave of everything comes crashing into him, and the beat of his heart oddly slows down. his head spins for a while before jeongguk finds himself emptying his stomach — the cherry juice leaving a bitter taste in his mouth, or even better, the poison.
jeongguk stays like that for a few minutes, closing his eyes, trying to control his breath before suddenly it hitches and the sickness is leaving his system as fast as it came. there's another foreign feeling creeping inside his body and mind, making his whole being tingle. instead of feeling sick, jeongguk feels his heart pick up the beats and blooms into something so heated — urgently fast.
his rather silent heart beats and beats until his mind drifts to different places, before it seals home and there it stays — until the single face his mind can comprehend is taehyung's .
and he hates taehyung so much,
so much.
so much…
࿇ ══━━━━✥◈✥━━━━══ ࿇
the next day, taehyung is happily going on a walk to his favorite coffee shop to meet his favorite person in the world — after jimin — and might as well give his favorite person a kiss. excited is nothing compared to how taehyung feels at the moment, all kinds of emotions twirling around his poor heart as he approaches little by little to the shop.
it hasn't been twenty-four hours since minjae drank the love potion, but the time elapsed didn't really matter. although, taehyung was a bit worried. his crush left without a single, tiny, change in his behavior — hadn't reacted to him in any way.
taehyung can agree that, yes, he's being a little rash and impatient.
the coffee shop finally comes to a view, the bell ringing too loud for taehyung's ears when he enters the cozy building. minjae is there, working on a customer's order, but his head doesn't snap towards him as taehyung expected it to. it's fine, he tells himself as he nears the boy with a hyperactive heart.
that's when minjae finally looks up, a smile replacing the frown on his lips when his green eyes fall on taehyung. "hi there, tae." but other than the way too normal greeting, minjae has nothing more to offer him.
taehyung's heart drops loudly at the very pit of his stomach, mouth curling down as he watches his crush finishing the placed order by the girl waiting for it. no kisses, no hugs, no lovesick eyes — nothing of what taehyung waited for all day. the love potion he brewed with care and maximum attention hasn't worked. taehyung felt close to tears.
then minjae turns to him when the girl leaves with her coffee, smile blinding as ever as he asks him what he wants to order. but taehyung doesn't respond, mind too foggy and preoccupied to understand what actually had gone wrong.
he failed like a fool, taehyung thinks that he looks like a complete one right now, eyes unfocused and almost teary. but when minjae comes grabbing at his shoulders taehyung sniffs softly and finally looks at his damned crush. "hey tae, what's wrong? wanna sit down?"
"no, i'm f-fine." taehyung dismisses him, moving to sit at his usual table. "i want the regular, please. but this time without topping on my drink — i… i don't feel like having it today."
minjae doesn't question him any further, he doesn't look at him — and taehyung doesn't want it, if his eyes aren't filled with love.
"i fucking have no more chances with him, minnie." taehyung whined into the phone, fishing his keys from his jacket pocket. for may, the weather drastically changed back to pouring rain and cold winds.
"well i never told you this potion would solve your love problems." taehyung frowned. "but i'm rather shocked it hasn't actually worked, we did everything at perfection."
it looks like it wasn't enough, but taehyung doesn't voice his thoughts.
taehyung needed two days to recover from the heartbreak and realize that he had no chance of winning minjae's heart, with or without love potions as it seems. the probability of ever looking minjae in the eyes was low, considering if they'll ever see each other again. yes, he was that petty — with himself.
"don't beat yourself too much over it," jimin says over the phone, sounding genuinely regretful that their plan hasn't worked.
"yeah, you're right," the witch mustered the words, finally pushing the keys into the lock and unlocking the door. his house felt cold, getting colder in the hopes of it being warmed by another presence. "this is what happens when you have high expectations of life, minnie, i'm telling you."
jimin softly laughs, the sound making him grin too. taehyung drops the keys in the basket near the hallway and heads inside the living room — he needs to rest for a while, watching something and eating whatever was left in the fridge to make him forget about the unfortunate turn of events.
"don't laugh, i'm — serious…" he trails off the moment his eyes land on the last person he had hoped to see today, or tomorrow, or in the next years. "jimin, i have to go, bye."
this fucking bitch, taehyung approaches jeongguk with an immensely dangerous scowl on his face, feeling the building anger begging to snap and the target is nothing more than perfect to take it. "why the fuck are you here? are you serious? entering my house like it's a goddamn ho-"
the sentence ends there when the vampire abruptly gets up from the couch, eyes never meeting his and jeongguk is moving forward. it made taehyung frown, the fact that he wasn't looking at him angered him more. "well? you have nothing to say?"
and jeongguk finally looks up at him — eyes disgustingly soft. it shocks taehyung for a second, never witnessing this look on the vampire before. it almost made him laugh, but it soon transformed into annoyance knowing jeongguk was probably, no, surely playing with him.
"where have you been?" he asks, voice devoid of the usual teasing and rudeness.
taehyung scoffs, side eyeing him furiously. he was in no mood for jeongguk's playtime — nor ever will he. "i owe you no explanation. now get out." he made a move to push him away because they were close, way too close and taehyung feared someone would end up with a broken nose, but jeongguk is quicker than he'll ever be — catching his wrist in his grasp. "what the hell are you doing?"
"but you do," jeongguk says, voice ever so gentle and that damn smile makes taehyung squirm, not liking where this is going. "i waited for you so long, my love. "
and this is how taehyung's brain stops working for a few seconds. what did — what?
"how did you dare name me?" taehyung asks harshly, trying to pry his arm free. the soft stares and smiles weren't made for jeongguk, weren't meant for him to use those on him — right now. "whatever sick game you're playing right now, i don't care."
but jeongguk doesn't listen, as if he ever listened to what the witch had to say. taehyung just stares bemused as jeongguk's hand lowers to take his own, the brush of his fingers cold against his warm ones. his heart hammers inside his chest when the vampire brings his hand way too close to his lips and, jesus, the kiss he presses against his knuckles knocks all the air out of taehyung's lungs.
…what the hell?
taehyung shrieks, pulling away his hand from jeongguk's grasp and watches how the latter tries to catch after his hands again, but taehyung only takes more steps backwards. jeongguk's bullshitting at this right fucking moment, playing with him as he always does — but taehyung's not in the mood to be put up with jeongguk's mess. not when he dares to even think about… he doesn't even want to think about the outcome.
"get out," taehyung says, pointing at the door with a scowl drawn over his whole face. "get out and never show me your face again." tiredness clouds his mind, eyes slowly racking over the other. "and you never get to try that with me… never again."
turning around, taehyung misses the flicker of hurt lighting jeongguk's eyes and the way his lips twitch down, like a frown. but he still manages to hear him open up his mouth, not even close to out of his house. "why are you acting this way? are you alright?"
the way jeongguk asked the words annoys taehyung to a core, and he hates jeongguk — so much.
jeongguk says them like he means to care and it really confuses him. it makes taehyung stop in his tracks, hands balled into fists to surpass the urge to snap at jeongguk — which he might regret doing later, after all the vampire wasn't at fault because his love life got ruined — but being a constant pain in his ass doesn’t help the nagging feeling this time.
“why the fuck do you care? are you cracked in the head?” taehyung didn't mean that, he really didn't — he hopes jeongguk would just smirk at him this time, barking an insult back at him — but right now taehyung is granted only the sound of rain hitting the ground outside.
and jeongguk looks way too serious just to be joking — and taehyung hates it, so much.
“you are important to me, why shouldn't i care?” jeongguk asks, tone unlike the one the witch is used to — so insecure — and the shock taehyung feels when he hears the next words is forcing him to not let jeongguk complete his sentence “i lo-”
“shut the hell up!”
and taehyung regrets looking up from the floor, right into those dark eyes of his, sporting a foolish look on his stupid face — orbs filled with genuine love that it shakes taehyung’s entire body. and then it slowly clicks; the kisses, the hug he didn't want — the lovesick eyes and the dopey smile — jeongguk had drunk the love potion instead.
jesus fucking christ.
now he is forever indebted to taehyung’s love.
taehyung feels like throwing up. what the fuck is he supposed to do now?
the witch pushed jeongguk away so he could take a seat on the couch and looked up at him again; jeongguk looked so clueless, confused and — so in love. taehyung's heart ached, not knowing what to do. he is stuck in such a mess, actually more like jeongguk is the one who is stuck. it’s his fault after all that he drank the potion — he shouldn't have done that in the first place — and is absolutely not taehyung’s fault at all. jeongguk could love him forever for all he cares — so little — and die of heartache.
yeah, taehyung could live with that.
yeah , the guilt would skin him alive.
taehyung sighed, completely overwhelmed by the situation. the silence in the room made him feel extremely uncomfortable as if he were face to face with a stranger. but if taehyung thinks about it, jeongguk is really a stranger to how little he knows about him. other than some facial expressions and some habits jeongguk often would make, the witch doesn't know anything else about him; like, what he likes and–
wait, wait, wait — taehyung doesn't need to know shit about his enemy who is now oh , head over heels in love with him. he still hates his guts even if now jeongguk is in a love induced hallucination. taehyung needs to wake him up, somehow — and when jimin will hear about this situation would surely have the time of his life.
but now, how does taehyung make jeongguk leave without dreaming about doe, heartbroken eyes? fuck , another problem. the vampire is still waiting for him to say something, his slender fingers twitching beside his sides, action driven by the desire to touch — and taehyung would probably laugh only because he never imagined jeongguk fucking itching to be touchy, but right now is not the appropriate moment, merely for himself.
taehyung looks him in the eyes when he says the words, watching closely to how jeongguk reacts. “listen, i had a complicated day and as much as i want to spend some time with you,” he lies , “i’d appreciate it if i could be left alone?”
well, that sounded like shit.
fortunately, jeongguk slowly nods, albeit reluctantly and taehyung can tell the fact that he feels disappointed his lover asked this from him, yet, “okay, that’s alright. i understand.” so unlike jeongguk . “did i do something to upset you? you acted strange when you came in.”
jeongguk, who doesn't give two single flying fucks about him, asks him this .
“i just had a bad day.” taehyung repeats.
the vampire stays frozen for a few moments before he speaks again, asking from taehyung things he wouldn't have given him before. “can i get a hug, though? i'll leave right after.”
a hug. just a goddamn hug, yeah.
the hug that never got to be minaje’s, but it’s just taehyung being petty about it, yeah.
this is how taehyung shares with jeongguk their first hug — like if this even matters — and he can’t bring himself hating the way jeongguk’s arms engulfs his back, his body so cold against his own. goosebumps rise on his skin, never really returning his hug.
jeongguk pulls away rather depressed than he should be, if taehyung is being honest, and his hands linger a bit more than they actually should , but then he is completely pulling away — taking with him the cold. “sweet night, taehyung” he says, disappears.
and somehow taehyung regrets not hugging him back — even his enemies deserve some warmth, too.
࿇ ══━━━━✥◈✥━━━━══ ࿇
“he did fucking what?” jimin wheezes, eyes wide in shock. “are you serious or are you playing with me?”
“i’m dead serious.” and taehyung really was, eyes unforgiving as he watches his best friend laughing his ass off. “that’s literally my biggest nightmare, to have jeongguk, out of all people, crushing on me. what the fuck was on his mind when he drank that shit? he should be cautious inside a witch’s house.”
jimin looks a minute away from dying of pure ecstasy. “you are right, but jeongguk never really took you seriously.”
taehyung could only glare at the other. “well, what am i supposed to do now? i cannot have him loving me forever while i don't and i won't,” he clearly states the fact that he’ll never have romantic feelings for jeongguk. it makes disgust creep into his body; “i can't mourn over the fact that minjae would never see me more than his friend and now i have to deal with baby fangy and his unconditional love.”
“you know,” jimin says, a grin playing on his lips. “jeongguk is nothing but a baby fangy, and you know it. the guy is hundreds of years old and he is a fine man.”
“and you think i give a fuck?” taehyung spats, eyes hardening in pent up anger. “ you know how much i like mi-”
“minjae is a human , taehyung. i know we don't really choose who our hearts want to love, but i think a human isn't what you need. but that's just me.”
“yeah that's just you.”
they don't bring minjae in the conversation any further; taehyung knows that jimin is hundred percent true, but talking about his other complicated situation isn't necessary at the moment. taehyung invited jimin over to his house to help him find a solution for his most complicated situation, but unfortunately, even jimin doesn't know how to break the spell. a love potion is made to last an eternity for immortal beings like them. and jeongguk seems to be very unlucky to be the one fooled by a witch.
looks like they have to reach for help from other acquaintances.
just when jimin is about to say something, a knock on the front door is heard.
taehyung doesn't have the time to get up to go open the door because jimin beat him to it, literally rushing towards it. and he feels annoyingly dizzy — he shouldn't — but jimin comes in with anyone other than jeongguk.
the witch tries to ignore the smirk jimin sends his way, and tries to focus more on the urge to send the vampire flying out of this house he almost burnt down some years ago. because no way in hell his enemy, jeongguk, came to him looking like a complete lovesick fool, an apologetic expression written all over his pale face and a small smile on his lips which looks close to turning into a cry if taehyung rejects him one more time.
there’s no fucking way jeongguk brought him a huge bouquet of white lilies which left him gaping at like a fish.
“forgive me for being too much when you were having a hard time.” he apologizes.
taehyung somehow feels like he apologizes for all the times he has been an ass.
and he hates jeongguk for that,
so much.