Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The leaves of Jimin’s tree were ablaze in burnt orange and gold.

The melancholy of the coming frost, and the sleep his tree would nestle into, was always kept at bay during autumn. Even as the leaves died, he experienced their departure in the same way he might a small, regretful parting with a friend, the comforting way their bright green and pink hues bled out into yellows and oranges felt more like one big hug than a final goodbye.

Jimin aimed his smile up as far as his gaze could reach. He hadn’t been able to see the top of his tree since he became a teenager, when it had far outgrown him, but he could still feel its presence in his bones, could feel when it bent and swayed with a harsh breeze, could feel its annoyance at the territorial birds when they used its weaker branches as resting spots between their fights before flying off together.

The closest branches reached out, brushing along Jimin’s arm in greeting, leaves rustling, as happy to see him as he was to see it.

Before he could utter a word, Yeontan had beat him to it, his shrill bark echoing through the small wooded area and back through the pathway toward the apartment buildings.

The branches recoiled. Clearly, his tree had not forgotten the way Yeontan had almost left his mark against the base two nights earlier. Even though Jimin had been able to get the dog before he’d started, the sleeve of his new jacket becoming the only victim of Yeontan’s territory marking attempts, his tree could hold a grudge.

It still didn’t like Namjoon even though it’d been twenty years since the incident.

Jimin kept Yeontan’s leash in his right hand as he greeted his tree with his left, letting his palm press against the rough bark, cold still clinging to it from the night, the sun not yet high enough in the sky to warm it.

“Good morning,” he managed to get out, voice raspy and unpracticed so early.

His eyes caught an unusual shape on the forest floor, barely noticeable behind the tree, some of the fallen leaves already covering it.

Jimin scowled and stomped over to round the tree and pick up the discarded trash, an empty paper cup with stains of something brown and syrupy inside.

“Disrespectful,” he muttered to himself, as he led Yeontan back toward the path where there were perfectly good trashcans for assholes wandering around the wooded area to use.

He turned and waved a small goodbye to his tree, still partially visible at the end of the path. The branches and leaves shuddered, sending their own in return.

Jimin felt his jaw nearly disconnect on his latest yawn and he scowled down at Yeontan who was happily sniffing away at all the new smells he came across, unbothered over ruining Jimin’s weekend sleep schedule with his 7 am wakeup calls.

He loved getting to watch Yeontan, at least when those visits were over by the end of the day. Taehyung’s long weekend away had taught Jimin that he was not cut out to be on an animal’s sleep schedule.

“Good thing your appa will be home tonight, hm?” Jimin spoke down to Yeontan, who only wagged his tail twice in response before he discovered the leg of the bench they were passing to be the perfect place to pee.

Jimin nodded at passerbys with their own dogs, who looked as disheveled and half awake as he felt.

They followed the same pathway they had been taking all weekend. The one around and through Jimin’s apartment complex was nice for a short walk, which was all Yeontan needed before his tiny legs were ready for a break.

Together, they rounded the last loop, back to the building with Jimin’s apartment. He only blinked dazedly at the large truck parked in the ‘No Parking’ section in front of the building.

They reached Jimin’s floor, stopping abruptly when loud bangs, shuffling noises, and full volumed voices greeted them. Jimin pulled Yeontan into his arms, holding him tight against his chest as he eased his way closer to his unit, becoming more distraught the closer he got and the commotion only grew louder.

Of course, the noise was coming from the open door right beside his own, but Jimin didn’t have time to come up with a plan for getting inside his place unnoticed, as a man walked through the door, yelling back behind himself.

“I gotta move the truck, I’ll be-” his voice had cut off as soon as he’d turned to see Jimin, standing right in front of him, clutching a wiggling Yeontan in his arms.

“Oh, uh, hi,” the man said, voice deep and rumbly, fitting perfectly alongside his dark appearance.

His ink black hair was tied up in a messy half bun, it matched his dark, piercing eyes and the obsidian talisman hanging around his neck.

Jimin blinked twice, the fog of his barely conscious state kept the puzzle pieces of information from locking in quicker than they should have. He was about to send his new, handsome neighbor his prettiest smile when the memory of his brother’s words from a few days ago hit him.

“Yoongi-ssi?”

It was the man’s turn to blink in question, eyes roving over Jimin’s form for a moment before he gave one sharp nod.

Jimin let Yeontan back onto the floor, then straightened and with a friendly smile said, “Jimin, Namjoon’s brother.”

He waited a moment for Yoongi’s eyes to lift from where he tracked Yeontan’s curious nose, searching for the hint of recognition.

Yoongi’s eyes widened, then he ducked his head, a small grin formed on his lips.

“Ah, of course, Jimin-ah. It’s been so long, I didn’t recognize you.”

Jimin lifted an eyebrow, it wasn’t as though he didn’t know he looked different from when he was 12 years old, but of the two of them, it was Yoongi who looked much different from what Jimin remembered.

Yoongi chuckled, fingers reaching up to fiddle with the talisman around his neck.

“Joon-hyung told me you were moving in, I just didn’t realize you’d be coming so early,” Jimin said, gaze going toward the noises through Yoongi’s open door.

Before Yoongi could respond, there was a loud crash causing both of them to wince and Yeontan to run behind Jimin’s legs.

“I’m guessing hyung is helping?” Jimin said, reaching down to pick Yeontan back up.

“Helping is a relative term in this case, but he’s in there,” Yoongi said, a small grin covering the grimace that had overtaken him at the sound of someone dropping one of his belongings.

Jimin hid his laugh against Yeontan’s fur.

He looked up to see Yoongi still watching him, like he was trying to reckon with the Jimin he was seeing now from the one he remembered from a decade ago. Jimin couldn’t blame him. The Yoongi standing in front of him now looked much more human than the demon he’d met when they were kids.

Instead of relishing in Yoongi’s apparent lack of disappointment by what he saw, Jimin just said, “You know you’re illegally parked out there, right?”

Yoongi’s eyes widened then, the keys in his hands jingled as he broke out of his focused gaze.

“Uh, right, I’m just going to move it,” he said, picking up his feet to shift past Jimin and Yeontan. “It was good to see you again, Jimin-ah, I’m sure we’ll see each other a lot, being neighbors and all.”

“Of course,” Jimin offered.

As he got farther away, Yoongi’s steps became a hint faster than a normal human might be able to move.

Once he was fully out of sight, Jimin poked his head in through the open door, looking around to see boxes and disassembled furniture all around the living room in what appeared to be a mirror image of his own. He also found Hoseok, frowning down into one of the boxes, his hands on his hips as he contemplated it.

“Need any help, hyung?” Jimin asked, causing the dragon-born to flinch.

Hoseok’s yellow eyes flashed toward Jimin before recognition turned them softer and he grinned.

“Now, what are you doing up so early?” Hoseok asked, eyeing Jimin, clearly unimpressed by his disheveled state.

He tried not to think about how Yoongi had done the same a moment ago when Jimin had assumed he’d been checking him out, when it was much more likely he was wondering if Jimin actually went out in public looking the way he had.

Jimin huffed, shaking those thoughts from his mind.

“I think the whole building is probably awake from the amount of noise you guys are making.”

Hoseok rolled his eyes before he moved them back toward the box he was working on.

“Joon-ie got his hands on a lamp, it was an ugly one though so no harm done.”

Jimin wondered if Yoongi would feel the same.

“Need any help?” Jimin asked again instead of worrying about the lamp any longer.

Hoseok shrugged.

“We got almost everything from the car, hyung is getting the last of it now, it’s just gonna be unpacking and maybe building some shelves at this point.”

Jimin nodded.

“Want me to make a coffee run?” he offered after a moment, not wanting to hole-away in his apartment the rest of the afternoon while they all worked.

Hoseok perked up at the mention of coffee.

“That’d be great.”

Jimin nodded and awkwardly stepped farther into the apartment, not knowing how Yoongi might feel about a relative stranger walking into his place uninvited. Hoseok didn’t seem to think he was overstepping though, so Jimin kept going, following the sound of Seokjin’s voice. He peeked his head into what he assumed was going to be one of the bedrooms, if Yoongi’s place indeed fully mirrored Namjoon’s and his unit, to find his brother sitting on the floor, sorting through a box full of papers, and Seokjin setting up the bedframe while simultaneously ranting to Namjoon about his insistence on helping in situations where no one asked him to help.

“I’m making a coffee run if you guys want to place your orders,” Jimin said, interrupting Seokjin’s tirade as it was clear Namjoon wasn’t even listening, it didn’t seem like Seokjin was listening to himself either.

Namjoon looked up and smiled as Seokjin’s scowl morphed into a bright grin.

“Ah, Jimin-ah, are you sure you’re not part Angel?”

Jimin rolled his eyes but couldn’t help the gleeful spread of his lips at his hyung’s teasing compliment.

“There’s definitely something in that family gene pool of yours,” Seokjin continued. “I’m convinced your brother here is part ogre.”

“Hey,” Namjoon protested half-heartedly, sending Jimin a sharp glare for the laugh he’d let out. “I swear, it was like all the screws disintegrated out of the supports or something.”

Jimin turned his gaze to where Namjoon had sent his betrayed stare to find a pile of aluminum tubes resting beneath a lamp shade, along with a small collection of leaves, the same ones that grew from Namjoon’s hair, sprinkled around the heap. He might have been impressed with how fully destroyed it was if he hadn’t grown up in the same home as Namjoon, hadn't witnessed too many of his own belongings unintentionally ruined by his brother’s clumsy hands. It was the reason Jimin’s tree still didn't trust Namjoon, it could sense there had been no improvement in the other dryad’s ability to understand his own strength.

So, Jimin just shook his head and got their coffee orders, rushing back to his apartment to set an increasingly impatient Yeontan up with his breakfast and some water as Jimin hopped in the shower.

He tried to stay mindful of his time, knowing the longer he made them wait for their coffee the crankier they’d become. Still, he made sure to dry his hair thoroughly as he rifled through his closet for an outfit that was both cute and appropriate for the chilly weather.

When he returned from his coffee run, he checked himself out in the window outside the apartment complex, brushing his hair back just enough for it to still look windswept, but not disheveled. He couldn’t quite tell in the dark reflection, but he thought he could see his cheeks were still pink from the chilly wind he’d walked through and he grinned in satisfaction.

The door was still open when he made it back upstairs and he could hear the drone of Namjoon and all his friend’s voices talking over one another.

“Coffee has arrived,” Jimin announced as he stepped through the doorway to see all four men arguing over what looked to be an unassembled entertainment unit.

“Took you long enough,” Hoseok grumbled, but stepped away from the group to take the coffee holder from Jimin.

Jimin hadn’t missed the smirk Hoseok threw him for his much nicer appearance.

“Thanks, Jimin-ah, how much do I owe you?” Yoongi asked, taking the coffee from Hoseok.

“It’s no big deal, Yoongi-ssi, just wanted to help out.”

Yoongi frowned. “I insist.”

Jimin rolled his eyes.

“Let's just say you owe me a favor then.”

The room seemed to stop, everyone’s eyes shooting toward Jimin.

“Jimin-ah,” Namjoon scolded lightly.

“What? I was- oh,” he trailed off, skin warming at his ignorant statement.

“It’s fine,” Yoongi said, face flushed with a tinge of pink, probably both at Jimin’s unintentional proposal, as well as his friend group witnessing it.

The implications of a demon owing him a favor wasn’t the type of thing Jimin joked about, or took overly serious the way some people might. He didn’t want Yoongi to think he was that type of person.

Jimin bowed his head, “I’m sorry, Yoongi-ssi, I misspoke.”

“It’s fine,” Yoongi insisted, voice lighter as the tension in the room slowly dissipated.

“I have a shoe rack I just had delivered that I haven’t had the chance to build yet, maybe you could come over when you’re done here and help me with that?” Jimin suggested, wishing he’d taken Yoongi’s money when he’d offered.

The idea was apparently enough though as Yoongi nodded and sent him a small grin as everyone else turned back to the entertainment center.

“Sounds great Jimin-ah, I’ll come by to help as soon as I can.”

Jimin grinned and nodded, stepping back toward the door.

“Just let me know if you all need anything,” Jimin said.

He waited just long enough for their small wave of acknowledgement before he turned and threw himself through his door, done with embarrassing himself at least for the next hour.

The tags on Yeontan’s collar jangled softly as Jimin and he made their way back outside later in the evening.

Jimin shivered and wrapped his free arm around his middle as a breeze cut through the pathway, not bitter and harsh like a winter wind, but still left his skin tingling beneath his chunky sweater.

They rounded the apartment building to the main path when Yeontan started to bark, pulling weakly on his leash.

Jimin looked up to see Yoongi standing close by, a leash in his hand attached to a dog not much larger than Yeontan, its brown fur curly and fluffed up around it.

“How cute,” Jimin said as they approached, holding Yeontan back before Yoongi gave a nod, okaying their interaction.

The two dogs sniffed each other before growing bored and moving on to inspect their surroundings instead.

“Was this little one here earlier?” Jimin asked, bending and holding out his hand for the poodle to sniff before he scratched behind its ears.

Yoongi shook his head.

“My sister was watching him while we got everything moved in, she brought him over a few minutes ago.”

“And what’s your name, little guy?” Jimin asked the dog in a high-pitched voice, laughing as he snuggled his nose against his hand.

“Min Holly,” Yoongi answered for his dog.

“Well, welcome to the neighborhood, Holly-ssi,” Jimin offered with one last pet before standing.

As he lifted his eyes back to Yoongi it was to see the man watching him with a small smirk and a glint in his dark eyes.

“You met Yeontan earlier,” Jimin said, tugging Yeontan away from the patch of grass he’d been inspecting for the past minute.

Yoongi sent a head nod to Yeontan in a familiar greeting. Yeontan tried to get back to the patch of grass again.

Without a word of agreement, the four of them fell in step with each other, Holly and Yeontan focused on the grassy edges on either side of the pathway as Yoongi and Jimin kept to the middle, side by side, arms nearly brushing as they were pulled by the leashes in their hands.

Jimin racked his mind for anything for them to say to each other. He wondered if he should apologize again for his earlier faux paus, but he decided focusing on it would have only made it worse.

“I forgot how nice this area is,” Yoongi mumbled out, finally, after nearly a minute of them walking in silence.

Jimin nodded and looked over to see Yoongi’s eyes on the woods behind the complex. All the pretty autumn leaves still clinging to their branches filled the area with a cozy sort of warmth. Jimin would miss them when they would go on to be buried beneath the snow.

“How long has it been since you lived here?”

He didn’t know much about Yoongi, only remembered the summer Namjoon and he had become friends and Jimin had been smitten by the demon immediately. He’d wanted to touch the horns growing at the edge of his hairline, wanted to see if they were smooth or rigid beneath his fingertips. But he’d been 12 at the time, old enough to understand asking a demon for that kind of permission was inappropriate.

So, he’d yearned from afar, and had been lightly heartbroken when Namjoon had informed him of Yoongi moving away. It had been a perfect ‘the one that got away’ story for a pre-teen Jimin’s overdramatic heart, not long after being taken by more realistic crushes and relationships once he’d moved into his teenage years. Min Yoongi had become nothing more than a memory, his first real crush, and the first demon he’d ever met.

When Namjoon had called after his first day away at school, and mentioned reconnecting with his old friend, Jimin had only felt fond at the memory of his brother’s short-lived friend, and was happy the two had been able to meet again.

Nearly five years after graduating, Namjoon had told him Yoongi was moving back, and Jimin had only thought to remind Namjoon of the available apartment next to theirs.

Now that he’d seen Yoongi again, even with his pretty horns hidden, Jimin couldn’t help but think his 12-year-old self had excellent taste in men.

“Thirteen years?” Yoongi said, scratching at his jaw as he looked off in thought. “My sister and I moved away with our mom back then. Meeting Namjoon again at school felt like a sign, but then I had a job with the sound engineering department at our university that I didn’t want to miss out on. After a few years of that, without being made a professor, I tried my luck here instead. Thankfully, the schools here doesn’t mind hiring demons for teaching positions.”

Jimin frowned. “I would hope not.”

Yoongi sent him a soft look, his dark eyes making Jimin shiver. Or maybe it was the breeze going past.

His eyes weren’t dark the way Jimin remembered. Before, his entire eye had been solid black. Jimin used to think Yoongi had black diamonds for eyes, the way they glittered and gave off light. Now, it was as though all that black was sucked into only the iris and pupil, an almost human-like eye if one didn’t stare too long at the way they went deeper than any eye should.

Jimin frowned and looked at the talisman around Yoongi’s neck again.

“Is it that?” Jimin couldn’t help but ask, hand resting against his own chest in the same spot the crystal landed on Yoongi’s.

“Hm?” Yoongi frowned and looked first at Jimin then down at himself before understanding dawned on him. “Ah, it's a masking talisman.”

Jimin knew it wasn’t any of his business as to why Yoongi wore a disguise, they barely knew each other, Jimin wasn’t even his friend, he was only his friend’s brother. Still, he couldn’t help himself.

“I guess I don’t know what it’s like,” he admitted, stopping himself from saying something stupid like ‘there’s no reason you should feel like you need to hide yourself’, even if he did feel that way.

Yoongi smirked before clicking his tongue at Holly when he stopped them for too long.

“It’s…easier to just wear it, in day-to-day life,” Yoongi told him simply. “It’s not something I’m ashamed of, but it’s less hassle than dealing with questions and assumptions or even just the looks.”

Jimin nodded, he could see how dealing with strangers could get tiring after a while for a demon. They weren’t any rarer than dryads, and Jimin had his own share of strange questions posed to him that could hit a nerve on his more sensitive days. Most of them were harmless enough, mainly to do with the vines and flowers growing around his arms, or questions about his tree he didn’t think was necessary for a stranger to know. No matter how annoying they could be, he imagined they were much tamer than what Yoongi must hear. It’s not as though he hadn’t heard the way some people spoke about demons, as if they were all going around snatching up people’s souls or possessing them. Jimin would take overly invasive questions about his tree any day over blatant bigotry.

“Um, by the way, did you want me to come over tonight to help you with your shoe rack?”

“Oh, no, that’s ok,” Jimin waved him away. “You should get settled and get all your stuff set up before you help me with mine. I’m not in any rush.”

Yoongi chuckled, but it sounded fake to Jimin’s ears, he looked over to see Yoongi fidgeting with the edge of Holly’s leash.

“Well, just, ya know, let me know, I’ll come over at any time.”

“Sure,” Jimin said with a nod, not wanting to stress him out about it. Once again, Jimin wished he’d taken Yoongi’s money, unfortunately, he was sure the offer wasn’t on the table anymore once they made their agreement.

They walked in silence for a few minutes, watching as the dogs weaved back and forth to either side of the path, before Jimin’s tree came into his view.

Jimin smiled and waved and his tree shuddered in delight, one of the orange leaves drifting down toward the ground and Jimin followed it with his gaze, letting out a small sigh. It was inevitable, an occurrence he’d grown used to as he aged, but every year, having to watch his tree slowly lose its luster until springtime caused an everpresent melancholy to grow between his ribs until winter passed.

He watched the leaf gently land among the others, the ones already curled up around themselves or soggy from the damp earth, before his eyes caught onto movement off to the side.

Jimin scowled at the plastic bag, stuck on a fallen branch, waving in the gentle breeze.

“Can you hold him for a second?” Jimin asked, holding out Yeontan’s leash to Yoongi who took it with some hesitation.

Jimin marched over to the bag, nearly brushing up against the neighboring tree closest to his own. He’d never met the spirit attached to his neighbor tree, but he watched over theirs, just as he hoped anyone with trees in these woods would watch over his.

He snatched the plastic bag, fighting with the branch it clung to for a moment before smashing it into a ball in his hands. He gently brushed the coarse trunk of his tree as he passed before joining Yoongi on the pathway again.

Yoongi raised an eyebrow and handed Yeontan’s leash back.

“Littering problem?” Yoongi asked as they continued on their walk.

Jimin huffed. “They opened up a parking lot on the other side of the woods and people have started cutting through instead of going around.”

“Have you reported it? There must be laws against tampering with a dryad forest,” Yoongi mused.

“The lot was built on public land, and security can only do something if people are caught in the act of trespassing,” Jimin paraphrased the same lines he’d been getting for the past three months since they built that stupid lot.

Yoongi glared over at the woods, most likely seeing through the dark right to the lot, Jimin wasn’t sure how good demon eyes were, though he assumed dark didn’t hinder them much, the shadows bending to their will and all. Jimin appreciated the small show of solidarity though.

They rounded the last corner, bringing them back to their building and Jimin’s stomach sank. The walk had gone so much faster than he’d realized.

Together, the four of them made their way back up to their shared floor and Jimin struggled for words to say, to not have the evening end on nothing but a goodbye.

Before he could blurt out the first thing that popped into his head, Yoongi turned and with a grin said, “Maybe you and Yeontan can join us around the same time tomorrow.”

Jimin’s mouth hung open as he processed the suggestion. He snapped it back shut when understanding rushed through him. It made sense, Jimin never told Yoongi he was just watching Yeontan and he wasn’t actually Jimin’s dog.

“That…yeah, we’ll be there,” Jimin said, instead of the truth, that Yeontan’s actual father would be arriving to take him back home tonight.

Yoongi’s grin widened.

“Great, it’ll be our standing date then,” he said, and Jimin’s heart stuttered against his ribcage, the same sensation he experienced when a strong storm thrashed against his tree.

A date. Yoongi had definitely said date.

The tendrils of the vines wrapped around his arm began to grow, up past his shoulder, and were about to peek out of the collar of his sweater before he spun toward his door.

“That sounds great, Yoongi-ssi, I’ll see you then,” Jimin said, aiming his words at the keys in his hand as he unlocked his door.

Thankfully, he could hear the smile in Yoongi’s voice when he said, “Great, have a good night, Jimin-ah.”

A couple hours later, when Taehyung arrived back in town and had immediately come to collect his child, Jimin casually broached the topic with him.

“I’ll come over a little before 6 tomorrow night to pick him up,” Jimin said casually, handing Taehyung the giant bag he’d been provided with all of Yeontan’s things.

Taehyung frowned.

“Tomorrow? I don’t need you to watch him tomorrow,” he said, slinging the bag over his shoulder.

“I know, but we enjoyed our nighttime walks together and I told him we could keep it up.”

Taehyung raised an eyebrow, first at Jimin, then at Yeontan who was happily waiting to be picked up and taken home.

Jimin could tell Yeontan wasn’t going to do him any favors, so he turned to a different tactic.

“Please, Tae, just let me walk him every night at six for like two weeks, and then I’ll never ask you for anything again.”

“Two weeks? What're you doing to my dog?” Taehyung demanded, scooping Yeontan up into his arms and sending Jimin a glare.

“Walks,” Jimin insisted. “Just walks around the apartment complex.”

Taehyung continued to keep his narrowed eyes trained on Jimin.

“Tell me the truth, or you get no dog walking privileges.”

Jimin put his hands on his hips. “Until you go out of town again.”

Taehyung rolled his eyes.

“Tell me.”

Jimin pouted, contemplating his next move before he decided the truth was his only option anymore.

“My new neighbor is hot, and he thinks Yeontan is mine, and he said, it would be, and I quote 'a date’ when we agreed to walk our dogs again together,” Jimin explained, pleading for his friend to understand.

Taehyung aimed his narrowed eyes at the wall where Jimin and Yoongi’s apartments met for a long moment before he slowly asked, “How hot?”

“Very,” Jimin exclaimed. “Literally, my first crush who grew up to be an actual sexy demon hot.”

Taehyung’s glare softened.

“Wait, literally?”

“Literally.”

“An actual demon?”

“An actual demon, who is sexy, who was literally my first crush.”

Taehyung blinked and nodded.

“You think you can get him in two weeks?”

“I’m only adding on the second week because of all the extra baggage that comes with him being Joon-hyungie’s friend.”

Taehyung thought it through for one more moment before he nodded and stuck out his free hand for Jimin to shake.

“Park Jimin-ssi, you’ve got yourself a deal.”

Jimin ignored the hand and pulled him into a hug instead, letting his vines join in to wrap around Taehyung’s shoulders. They stayed that way until Yeontan began wiggling in protest.

“Six o’clock?” Taehyung confirmed as they parted.

“How about I pick him up a half hour early, I don’t want him to see me bringing Yeontan home, I’ll look insane.”

Taehyung nodded sagely, “Right, you should ease him into that.”

“Exactly.”

Chapter Text

Jimin kept checking through the viewhole of his front door once he’d arrived back home with Yeontan the following evening.

He was just about to start getting antsy, wondering if he’d missed Yoongi and Holly while he’d been picking Yeontan up, when Yoongi’s door opened. Jimin didn’t move, watching as Yoongi locked his door before looking over at Jimin’s, a small hesitation in his step before he moved closer to knock.

Jimin took a quiet step back and turned in toward the apartment as he softly called out, “Coming!”

He turned to Yeontan, giving him a nod as a reminder for him to not blow this for them. With one last adjustment to his slouchy beanie, Jimin opened the door with a wide grin.

Yoongi’s dark hair was down, the edges not quite brushing his shoulders. Jimin wanted to run his fingers through it, the same way he’d wanted to run his fingers over the horns on top of his head. His childhood desire hadn’t left him, his fingers tingling at the memory, even though they were currently hidden.

“Yoongi-ssi, Holly-ssi,” Jimin greeted as he and Yeontan joined them in the hallway.

Holly yipped and stomped his front paws and Yoongi grinned and nodded his head. Yeontan sniffed Yoongi’s shoe.

“I’m almost positive you called me hyung when we were kids,” Yoongi said as they headed downstairs.

Jimin could feel a flush rise up on his cheeks and thanked the cool autumn air as they stepped outside for masking it.

“I think you’re right,” he responded tentatively, not wanting to get his hopes up over what Yoongi may have been suggesting.

Yoongi raised an eyebrow. “Call me hyung, Jimin-ah.”

Jimin grinned. “Ok, hyung.”

Yoongi didn’t show he felt any sort of way about the familiar term coming from Jimin, just nodded and led them around the corner.

“How’d your first night go?” Jimin asked as he and Yeontan matched Yoongi and Holly's steps.

Yoongi shrugged.

“It was ok, you know how it is in a new place, takes some getting used to.”

Jimin nodded though he couldn’t quite hide the small frown on his face either.

“Or, maybe you don’t?” Yoongi amended.

“I didn’t follow in Namjoon-hyung’s footsteps for college,” he admitted, eyeing the woods behind the apartment complex he'd always lived in. “It didn’t feel worth it.”

Yoongi nodded, showing no judgment at Jimin’s fear of leaving, even temporarily.

“There are good schools right here,” Yoongi said.

“Yeah.”

“Did you go to the Institute, or the Arts College?”

“The Institute."

“You like science?”

Jimin grinned.

“I actually work in the Marine Biology and Arcanology research branch there,” he said, not including he was still only a junior researcher, nothing particularly impressive, but he liked his job.

Yoongi appeared impressed, at least.

“Get to do anything interesting?”

“Did you see the study that came out a few months ago about mermaid scales and their link to accelerated swimming speeds compared to naiads?”

Yoongi’s eyes narrowed.

“I think I saw a headline,” he offered, rubbing at his forehead where one of his horns should be.

Jimin nodded.

“Well, I was part of that, my names on the paper and everything,” he said, proudly.

He didn’t specify that most of what he’d done was data entry, but it was a step in the right direction to be the head of his own research some day.

“Congratulations.”

Jimin grinned.

“What about you?” he asked after a minute of them walking in silence, watching Yeontan and Holly explore.

“Hm?”

“You mentioned you got a position as a professor yesterday, right?”

“Ah, yeah, I’m officially hired to teach Music Theory, and I’ll be in charge of the production workshop,” Yoongi explained.

“How cool, so you’ll be helping students make songs?”

“Sort of,” Yoongi started, but trailed off, Jimin looked over to see him scratching the space on his forehead again.

“Is it an illusion? Or are they really gone?” he asked before he reminded himself Yoongi using a masking talisman meant he wasn’t interested in talking about the features he worked to cover up.

Thankfully, Yoongi didn’t appear offended. He let out a low chuckle and brought two fingers up to his forehead. Slowly, he led them up above his hair line before curling down toward the top of his head. They ran smooth, as though following an existing path, not as though they were meeting air. Jimin wanted to reach up and touch, see if he could feel the invisible horns as well.

“No one can see or feel them but me,” Yoongi answered as though he could read Jimin’s mind, bringing his hand back down to his side.

Jimin nodded, shaking his gaze away from where he knew he was staring, trying to see some kind of outline or a hint of the horns.

“Did you always want to be a teacher?”

Yoongi shrugged.

“Not really, not until college at least. I had a good professor and it reminded me of how teachers can have an important impact on their students. I used to want to be a famous rapper, I wanted to write lyrics and make songs that everyone heard and could make a difference. As I grew up, I knew that wasn’t likely, so when I saw my professor teaching I realized she was doing something like I always wanted for myself. Does that make sense?”

“It does,” Jimin said, nodding. “It’s always good to have passionate teachers, I’m sure you’re great at it. Though I can’t lie, I’d love to see you rap sometime.”

Yoongi chuckled along with Jimin’s laugh and knocked their arms together.

Once Jimin had slowed his laughter he had a thought.

“You’re coming in during the middle of semester, did something happen to whoever was in the position before?”

Yoongi shook his head.

“They haven’t had a Music Theory class for a couple years, and the minotaur they had running the sound booths got a promotion I think. But no, I don’t actually start until next semester, I’ll just be wandering around town and campus until then.”

“Maybe you should get a parttime job to pass the time,” Jimin suggested.

“Maybe,” Yoongi conceded. “If you see anything open, let me know. Preferably, some kind of book store that’s only open at night and is somehow still in business despite the fact that no customers actually go in.”

Jimin snorted.

“I’ll definitely keep my eye out for one of those, hyung.”

Jimin sent a wave and a small wink to his tree as they passed, knowing he’d have to come by soon to tell it all about what was going on with Yoongi and him, once he knew for sure.

Similar to the night before, the walk ended sooner than he’d prefer, and scooping up Yeontan to carry up the stairs brought a small wave of regret for not having more conversation topics ready. He vowed to come up with a list of questions and talking points for their next walking date.

“Have a good night, Jimin-ah,” Yoongi said as he let himself and Holly back into his apartment.

“Night, hyung,” Jimin called out.

He waited for Yoongi’s door to close, and another twenty seconds for him to be far enough from his door before Jimin turned and raced back to the stairwell with Yeontan in his arms to take him home before Taehyung called demanding his son back.

Jimin huffed and jabbed at the buttons of his phone, hoping Taehyung could feel his irritation through the sheer force at which his message was written.

He sighed as he hit send, sitting back in his chair and tried to fight the pout wanting to overtake him.

“Relationship troubles?”

Jimin whipped his head around and sat up straight when he saw Haeju, the new administrative coordinator between their lab and the institute, standing there.

“Huh?” Jimin said once the question registered. “Oh, no, just my friend being unreasonable.”

Haeju grinned. “So, no relationship troubles then?”

Jimin couldn’t help but laugh.

“Well, I’d first need to have a relationship for there to be troubles, so a little bit yes and no?”

“That’s surprising,” Haeju said, moving further into the room, the iridescent dark blue scales along his neck and collarbone shone as he passed by the overhead light.

“Surprising?”

“I would have figured you’d have lots of options.”

Jimin sighed, even if he did have options, there was only one option he was interested in, and Yoongi never picked up on Jimin’s attempts at flirting or his subtle suggestions of doing any other activity together besides walking their dogs, and his occasional reminders of him still needing to help set up Jimin’s shoe rack.

Some days, Jimin would swear Yoongi was flirting with him, but as soon as Jimin would reciprocate, Yoongi would retreat, acting as though he’d been perfectly innocent. Jimin was far past losing his patience, and so was Taehyung.

Jimin checked his phone again, but still no response from Taehyung. The end of the work day was getting closer and he was starting to panic about having to face Yoongi with the truth that he’d been lying to him for the past two weeks, and when Yoongi asked why, Jimin would have to let his self-consciousness go and own up to the crush he’d had when he was 12 years old being reignited and was burning even brighter now.

He looked up to see Haeju watching him expectantly.

“I’m sorry, hyung, were you looking for Dr. Ji?”

Haeju, thankfully, didn’t seem offended by Jimin’s distracted state.

“Nope, I was just passing through, and saw you. Thought I’d say hi.”

Jimin grinned. “Hi.”

Haeju’s smile grew even wider.

“Well, I’ll let you get back to work, or at least to your friend. And I’ll see you at the meeting tomorrow?”

“Sure, see you.”

Jimin sent him a wave before he turned back to his desk, gnawing on his lip as he planned how he could go about explaining himself to Yoongi, explain why he’d let the lie go on for so long. Yoongi deserved the truth from him, and it would be the only way they’d be able to move forward. Taehyung was right, it’d be better to get it out in the open and not keep it going.

He nodded to himself as he came up with his solution.

Opening his phone again he sent another text.

Yoongi began to smile in greeting as Jimin opened his door, only to have to step back in surprise when, instead of tiny Yeontan, he was followed by a giant, happy doberman.

Bam happily greeted Yoongi and Holly, who both froze in place for a moment as they processed the unexpected company.

Jimin grinned and reigned Bam’s leash back.

“Ready?” he asked, moving toward the stairs without a response.

“Uh, Jimin-ah?” Yoongi’s hesitant voice called after him.

“Hm?”

Yoongi didn’t ask the question though, he simply followed Jimin down the stairs with a slight chuckle.

When they got outside though, he sent Jimin a questioning stare Jimin tried desperately to avoid.

“You planning on at least telling me his name? Or confirming Yeontan’s whereabouts.”

“Yeontan is just fine, thank you for asking,” Jimin said, keeping his eyes on the path as they stepped onto it. “And this sweet boy is Bam.”

Bam was already weaving back and forth between both sides of the path, causing Holly to have to stop short every few steps. Jimin tried to nudge Bam back onto his side, but he immediately went back to exploring whatever caught his attention.

Shockingly, instead of calling Jimin out on blatantly changing dogs, Yoongi chuckled and didn’t ask any more questions.

Jimin had half a mind to ask him why, but he wasn’t about to question his good fortune.

“Ya know, I’m pretty much all settled in,” Yoongi said, a moment later.

Jimin nodded. “That’s great.”

“Yeah, so, whenever you want me to come by and help with your shoe rack, just let me know. Maybe this weekend?”

“Sure, hyung, this weekend sounds great,” Jimin said with a grin, knocking his arm against Yoongi’s lightly.

In the past two weeks he’d managed a few small touches here and there. Thankfully, Yoongi hadn’t acted as though he was bothered, outside of a small hint of shyness. So, Jimin never lingered, but he did delight in those small moments, he tried to use Yoongi’s lack of disgust over Jimin touching him as a promising enough reason to ask him out.

Yoongi talked about going into the college to play with the production equipment there and get a handle on what they were working with. Jimin didn’t understand half of the words he was saying but understood that he was pleased with it. When they moved on, Jimin shared his daily update on the project he’d been working on, a topic Yoongi made sure to ask about every night before their walk ended. It was nice, Jimin couldn’t help but feel like they were headed toward more, he could feel it.

Even more so when it was Yoongi who stopped first when Jimin’s tree came into sight and started to scowl. Jimin frowned and looked over, unsure of what had upset Yoongi, joining him in his scowl at the pile of beer bottles littered around the trees in the area.

Jimin began to step forward, but Yoongi put a hand on his arm.

“You should contact the apartment complex security, see if there are any cameras that may have caught whoever left those. Also, have them send someone to clean it up, it shouldn’t always be on you to clean up after these people.”

Jimin nodded, but he couldn’t keep walking and leave the woods in its current state. He handed Bam’s leash to Yoongi before stepping off the path to walk to his tree.

He brushed against it for a moment, feeling the connection sing between them before he moved to pick up the bottles around it.

“At least put on gloves, Jimin-ah,” Yoongi called out, voice closer than he expected.

Jimin looked over to see Bam dragging Yoongi and Holly to come after him.

He let the leaves around his arm grow until they covered his hands. He lifted them to show Yoongi who rolled his eyes but nodded as if to say that would be good enough even if he wasn’t happy about it.

Thankfully, there were only five bottles, so he was able to keep them all in his arms, even as Bam knocked against him in his excitement.

He brushed his shirt off once the bottles were deposited in the designated box for them, only steps away from where they’d been left, and huffed as he looked around the surrounding building to see if the building even had any security cameras set up back there.

“Thanks,” he said softly as he took Bam’s leash back from Yoongi. “Sorry.”

Yoongi shrugged.

Jimin worked on shaking off his frustration as they finished their walk, he had more pressing things to deal with than trespassers in his woods.

His heart began to beat wildly in his chest as they made their way back upstairs, and he was in good enough shape to know it wasn’t the climb causing it.

Jimin took a deep breath, knowing it had to be now, there was no reason to keep holding off, Yoongi had shown clear signs of interest these past few days, why was it so hard?

“I-”

“Ya know-oh,” Yoongi started at the same time as Jimin.

“You go,” Jimin squeaked, holding in the sudden breath he’d taken.

“Ah, well,” Yoongi started, letting out a small chuckle and a grin. “I need to be honest.”

Jimin’s heart leapt to his throat, maybe he wouldn’t need to be the one to ask at all.

“Namjoon told me a week ago that you guys don’t have a dog.”

“Wh-na-ah,” Jimin stuttered out, eyes widening as reality dawned on him, he’d been making a fool out of himself for over a week.

Though Yoongi hadn’t said a word, he let Jimin pretend and went along with it. Yoongi’s gaze was amused, not creeped out by Jimin’s lie, his desperate attempt at spending fifteen minutes together every night.

“I didn’t steal them,” he blurted out instead of saying anything close to normal. “They’re my friend’s dogs.”

Yoongi nodded.

“You know, you can walk with Holly and me whenever you want.”

“Really?”

“Sure,” Yoongi said with a shrug. “Obviously, Yeontan and Bam are welcome, but, when you’re not watching them, you can still come with us.”

He sucked in a harsh breath, his heart opening like the petals of a blooming flower. There was no better sign Yoongi felt the same.

“Hyung,” he said, too loud when it looked like Yoongi was turning toward his door.

Yoongi raised an eyebrow.

“Um, if you ever want to try a non-dog walking date, I’d be up for that too.”

He bit his lip as he met Yoongi’s eyes with hope blooming inside for a moment before the look of shock on Yoongi’s face morphed into something like dread crossing his features.

Yoongi’s eyes shifted around, like he was looking for an escape, and Jimin’s heart shriveled like the dying leaves covering the ground beneath his tree.

“Uh, I don’t think that would be a good idea,” Yoongi said, voice soft and clear and something about the careful way he spoke made Jimin feel sick.

Jimin shook his head, trying to will away the tightness in his whole body to not wilt right then and there. The leaves on the vines on his arms began to withdraw into themselves, squeezing around him.

“Ok, that’s fine,” he said, his voice thin even to his own ears.

“I’m really sorry if I…misled you,” Yoongi said, voice still gentle as though he was afraid Jimin would snap like a twig beneath his feet.

Jimin realized he was bunching up the line of Bam’s leash in his hands. He quickly let his hands relax, but couldn’t get himself to look back up to meet Yoongi’s eyes again.

“It’s fine,” he said, shaking his head. “You didn’t mislead me, I’m sorry for making things uncomfortable, Yoongi-ssi.”

He bowed then turned and together with Bam, walked back toward the stairwell.

Yoongi didn’t call out to him.

Jimin sat in the car outside of Jungkook’s apartment, trying to wipe away the small tear tracks running down his cheeks. Bam nuzzled against his head, whining at his obvious distress.

He reached out, wrapping his arms around Bam’s middle in a light hug as much as they could manage inside of a car.

“At least you like me,” Jimin said, giving Bam one more thank you pet and accepting a wet, smelly kiss on the side of his face.

He sighed and opened the door, letting Bam out who immediately ran to the front door, knowing he was home again.

When Jungkook answered the door a minute later he looked Jimin over with a frown.

“How’d it go?” he asked, though from the tentativeness of his voice it was clear he already had an idea.

Jimin shook his head.

“You didn’t ask?”

“I did. He isn’t interested.”

Jungkook reached down, holding Bam who was jumping around them, excited to be home.

“Not interested how?” he asked, once Bam was calm.

Jimin shrugged. “Just not interested in me.”

“What’s his problem?” Jungkook asked with a frown.

Jimin couldn’t help but laugh.

“He’s not obligated to like me.”

“Yeah, but I thought you said he seemed into you.”

“I guess I was being too full of myself and reading the signs wrong.”

Jungkook looked like he was thinking those words through for longer than they needed to be, his wide, selkie eyes roaming over Jimin’s tear streaked face, before he sighed.

“I’m sorry, hyung. Sounds like he isn’t worth your time anyway.”

Jimin rolled his eyes.

“He was really nice about it, just hadn’t expected it, clearly he’s never even thought about me that way.”

Jimin wanted to climb up into his tree and live there for the next twenty years where he never had to see anyone’s face, especially Yoongi’s, again.

“What are you gonna do now?”

“Stop and get ice cream on my way home and then crawl into bed with it and cry?”

Jungkook scowled.

“That’s only allowed for breakups, this was just you going after the wrong guy, all you need to do is go on a date with someone else and you’ll forget all about that jerk.”

“He’s not a jerk,” Jimin argued.

Jungkook rolled his eyes.

“I’m allowed to call anyone who rejects you a jerk, it’s best friend privileges.”

A small smile fought to grow on his still downtrodden face.

“Who would I even go out with?” Jimin asked, the idea of going on a date at all sounded terrible to him.

“What about that guy at your work?”

Jimin frowned. “Who?”

“The-uh, merman guy, the new one,” Jungkook said, hanging Bam’s leash up in the closet beside the front door.

“Haeju?” Jimin asked, incredulous. “Why him?”

“Isn’t he super into you?”

Jimin shook his head. “No? Where’d you get that idea?”

“The other day, when I picked you up for lunch, he was just kind of hanging around you. Then he sized me up like he was trying to figure out if I was your boyfriend or not.”

Jimin couldn’t help but laugh, had that really happened? Had he been so absorbed in Yoongi these last couple weeks he’d completely missed the signs from Haeju?

“I’ll think about it,” Jimin said, still not sure if he even wanted to date, let alone with Haeju, he hadn’t considered him before, he’d need some time to wrap his head around it.

He tried not to think about Yoongi maybe just needing some time to wrap his head around the idea of Jimin and him together. There was no reason to get his hopes up though, Jungkook was at least right about needing to move on and not let himself be brought down by a one-sided crush.

He hugged Jungkook tight in thanks and gave Bam one last scratch behind his ears before he headed out.

He still stopped for ice cream on the way home, because regardless of Jungkook’s claims, he still deserved ice cream in his emotional state.

It was difficult to concentrate in the meeting the next morning.

When leaving for work, despite having never randomly seen Yoongi when he was in the hallway of their apartment complex before, Jimin had been sure his luck would cause them to bump into each other that morning and he’d become an anxious mess trying and failing to walk out the front door.

In the end, he’d thrown the door open and sprinted outside. Even in the cold autumn morning he’d been sweating by the time he’d made it to his car.

He could feel his body dragging as he went through the motions at work, as his brain insisted upon replaying Yoongi’s horrified face as he’d realized what Jimin had been asking. The more he replayed the moment in his head, the more disgusted Yoongi looked in his memory. The vines on his arms were nearly withering against his skin.

Jimin wanted to get back into bed, not sit at his desk and think about research and definitely not sit in staff meetings barely pertaining to him and listen as people talked about projects he had nothing to do with. Normally, he’d be interested in learning about the different research they had going on at the university, but not today. He should have been moping in the dark, not squinting at the too bright presentation screen at the front of the room.

His phone buzzed in his pocket and Jimin looked around to make sure no one was watching as he opened it under the conference table to read Namjoon's messages.

Jimin cringed seeing Yoongi’s name from his brother, it was more than likely Namjoon was the only reason Yoongi had humored Jimin as long as he had.

He sent a quick response, so Namjoon would know he hadn’t been kidnapped, and pocketed his phone again, ready to at least pretend like he was paying attention to what was being said.

The focus only lasted a few minutes when his attention waned and he began to look around the room again, his eyes landing on Haeju, Jungkook’s words from the night before ringing in his ears. Haeju seemed to sense Jimin’s eyes on him, as a moment later, he turned and their eyes met across the conference table, his responding smile was wide and handsome. It wasn’t a quality Jimin had considered much before, but Haeju was an attractive merman, he shared Jimin’s interest in marine creatures, and, if what Jungkook had said was correct, he was interested. Which was a big check in the pros column versus Yoongi. Someone being interested in him was usually one of his favorite things about them.

The meeting ended eventually, with Jimin none the wiser about what the next quarter’s projects of the department were going to be.

Jimin looked back over to see Haeju, who had stood and was rounding the table, coming straight toward Jimin. He looked nice, in dark slacks and a crisp white button down, open just enough for the scales along his neck and collarbone to be visible, but to still look professional.

Jimin stood and sent him a small smile in greeting. Haeju raised an arm, gesturing for Jimin to go first out the door.

“Good morning,” Haeju said once they’d cleared the doorway.

“Morning,” Jimin offered with a slight nod, unwilling to acknowledge anything good about the day.

Haeju walked alongside Jimin back toward his lab, his longer legs made him faster, but he seemed to be keeping pace with Jimin, making his steps slower.

Jimin’s mind ran wild, wondering if he was reading into things because of Jungkook’s words or if Haeju was genuinely expressing interest. He wasn’t sure if he knew what genuine interest looked like anymore. He would have sworn Yoongi was at least somewhat interested before last night, and yet, going by Yoongi’s expression, romantic interest had been the last thing on the demon’s mind.

Thinking back on it, the merman had visited the lab every day he’d been working in the department. Until now, Jimin hadn’t considered it strange, he shared the lab with the other members of his team, so it wasn’t as though Haeju was only visiting him, even if he was the one he spoke to the most. But it was Haeju’s job to check in on them, though his job was more to coordinate with Dr. Ji than Jimin himself.

“Any big plans for the weekend?” Haejun asked, his arm grazing Jimin’s, the vines against his skin perking up in question.

Jimin thought about the rest of the ice cream sitting in the freezer, and the new documentary series he’d been meaning to watch, calling his name.

Instead of admitting to his sad plans, he shrugged and said, “Nothing planned yet. How about you?”

Haeju blinked, seemingly surprised over Jimin continuing the conversation, and Jimin had to wonder if he’d been rude before if the merman was surprised by him engaging in casual conversation. He’d feel bad if he’d been rude, especially as he’d never meant to be, he’d always tried to be friendly. Also, he’d be concerned for Haeju’s tastes if he was in fact interested in Jimin even though he was normally rude to him.

“No big plans, though every Sunday my friends and I like to go to the ocean for a few hours.”

They reached Jimin’s office and Haeju followed him in, hovering awkwardly as Jimin sat.

“Isn’t it too cold these days?” Jimin asked, shivering just thinking about getting near the water.

Haeju raised an eyebrow, a small smirk playing on his lips. The shiny blue scale above his eyebrow glinted off the synthetic lighting and Jimin had to stop himself from knocking his head against his desk.

“Right, sorry,” he offered. “I didn’t get much sleep last night, I’m running a little slow today.”

Haeju chuckled, unbothered by Jimin forgetting he was a merman for a minute.

The chuckle turned into a throat clear as Haeju stood up straight, adjusting the sleeves of his shirt for a moment too long.

Jimin raised his eyebrows.

“Uh, I was wondering, since you don’t have any plans, maybe you’d like to get together for dinner or something tonight or tomorrow,” Haeju said, too fast to be casual, his fingers playing with the edges of the pockets in his pants.

That caught Jimin off guard, maybe not as much as if he’d asked it yesterday, with Jungkook’s insight, at least Jimin wasn’t blindsided, in a way someone else had been, someone he shouldn’t be thinking about, but it was still a shock.

“Oh,” he couldn’t help but say, blinking as he sat up straight, thinking over the proposal.

He wanted to say no, to tell Haeju the truth, to admit he was a little emotionally fragile right now and a date with him wouldn’t be the best decision.

At the same time, he couldn’t help but think maybe Jungkook was right, maybe he just needed to go out with someone else and move on from Yoongi as quickly as possible, to not let the rejection fester and tear him up inside. Haeju was in front of him and interested, that’s the type of guy Jimin should be spending his time on, not people who only humored him for his brother’s sake.

He could tell he was taking too long to respond, with the way Haeju had begun looking around, shifting between his feet and Jimin swallowed down his automatic rejection in order to say, “Sure, that’d be nice.”

Chapter Text

Holly sniffed around the same spot he always did on their walks, the grass around the area was beginning to yellow as the days grew cooler.

Yoongi shoved his fingers into his jacket pockets, bringing the end of Holly’s leash with him as his fingers scratched against the rough surface.

Energy danced beneath his skin like embers shooting off sparks, searching for a new source to latch onto.

The image of the way Jimin became more and more closed off when Yoongi had turned his offer down played like a cruel film in his mind.

When he’d stepped out of his apartment earlier that morning to see Namjoon and Jimin’s front door wide open he’d panicked, worried something terrible had happened. Not thinking it through, he’d ran inside, checking to find Jimin was nowhere to be seen and Namjoon had no idea why the door had been open, but had assured him Jimin was probably at work and confirmed for him a few minutes later that was exactly where he was.

That evening, he’d been much less sure of what he should do as he stood outside of Jimin and Namjoon’s door. Before Jimin had asked him out, Yoongi had offered for him to still come along on Holly’s walks, and he’d meant it, he liked getting to talk with Jimin for the few small minutes it took to circle the apartment complex. But he also figured Jimin wouldn’t be as interested in spending time with him anymore, which was disappointing but understandable. Still, he hadn’t wanted Jimin to think he wasn’t interested in spending time with him anymore. He selfishly wished Jimin had never asked, and they could still spend time around each other without the awkwardness.

It wasn’t as though Yoongi wasn’t flattered. In the moment, he’d mostly been surprised and confused and positive that if Namjoon had heard them he would have wrung Yoongi’s neck. But sitting with it for a day, despite how shitty he felt, he could admit it was also nice, to have a pretty dryad like Jimin express interest in him was no small compliment. He had to assume Jimin had suitors lined up around the block waiting for him to show interest in them. Jimin ignoring all that and asking a demon out instead did make him wonder what was up with him. He had a feeling Jimin had some misunderstandings about what being a demon entailed. Part of him wondered if maybe Jimin had an interest in bad boy types that he falsely misattributed to Yoongi. Or on the other side, because of Yoongi’s shielding talisman, it was possible Jimin simply forgot Yoongi was a demon. He had forgotten on Yoongi’s first day in the building when he’d suggested Yoongi could owe him an unspecified favor. Anyone who’d ever suggested such a vague thing like that to Yoongi in the past had been wanting something much more sinister than for him to help build a shoe rack.

Which reminded him, Jimin had offered that weekend for Yoongi to help him with the shoe rack, finally. He had a feeling the offer wouldn’t stand for the time being. He could only hope things wouldn’t stay awkward between them enough for Jimin to let him fulfill his pledge. It wasn’t as though Yoongi could renege on the favor. He was bound to it, even if it had just been for a coffee.

As they passed the area where Jimin’s tree was, Yoongi kept an eye out for any more litter, thankful to see the woods were clear.

He sighed as he turned the last corner, headed toward the front of the apartment building. He could hear people talking farther away in the parking lot, and was planning to ignore them when a familiar laugh caught his attention.

Yoongi whipped his head over to see Jimin getting into a car and a tall man, a merman, Yoongi corrected in his head, going by the shimmering scales growing in patches along his skin, closed the passenger side door before rounding the car to get in the driver’s seat. The merman’s gait was rushed, like he couldn’t wait to get inside.

There was no doubt in Yoongi’s mind, as he watched the car drive out of the parking lot, Jimin was going on a date. Perhaps the date he’d originally propositioned Yoongi with.

Holly began to growl and he was snapped back to his surroundings. He looked down to see the extra bags he always brought along on their walks had burst into flames.

His eyes widened as he dropped the bags to the ground, stomping on them to put the flame out while holding Holly’s leash as far away from the fire as possible.

As soon as the bags were nothing but a charred spot tattooed on the sidewalk, Yoongi pulled Holly into his arms and raced up the stairs, locking them inside the apartment.

He sighed. It’s been years since he’s lost control of his fire. His stomach churned, not liking what that could mean for him.

Yoongi had begun pacing.

At first, he’d tried to pretend everything was normal, he’d made dinner and set himself up with a show to watch as he ate. But his concentration was shot.

He moved on to pressing up against his door, eye to the viewer, trying to see if Jimin, and hopefully not that merman, were coming back anytime soon. Another hour passed and he’d begun opening his door, sticking his head out to listen for any sounds. There were plenty, especially when he allowed the things he normally blocked out to come through, all of which were not the sounds he was trying to hear.

By the time Jimin had been gone for over three hours, Yoongi had stopped even closing his door. He paced around the hallway, going to the stairwell, listening for any movement, before racing back to his door, nodding to whatever neighbor was walking through, acting as though he had just got home himself.

He contemplated moving his pacing to the stairwell or even outside, when finally, Yoongi heard the front door open and Jimin’s soft lilt rose up to meet him.

Yoongi nearly ran back to his apartment but stopped when the second voice, the merman, if he had to guess, said something about a Dr. Yun, whose name Yoongi didn’t recognize from the few things Jimin had told him about his job, but it made Jimin laugh.

He smelled burning.

Yoongi jumped away to see where his hands had singed the wallpaper, part of the drywall beneath crumbling at the corner. He blanched, looking for a way to cover it up, but it didn’t take long to realize they were already to the floor right below and he was out of time.

Instead of trying to make it to his door, Yoongi ran up the flight of stairs, keeping to the shadows, even drawing a few more over to ensure he was covered better, as Jimin and his date’s footsteps got closer.

Yoongi hovered out of sight as they stepped onto their floor, watching their feet as they walked farther down the hall to the units. He silently begged his neighbors to not need the stairs any time soon, as he didn’t want to explain why a demon was hovering menacingly in the stairwell shadows.

“Well, I-Holly? Where’s your dad?” Yoongi heard Jimin say.

His eyes widened, remembering he’d left his door wide open, Holly must have come out to look for him.

“Yoongi-ssi?” Jimin called out, voice hesitant.

Yoongi tried not to bristle at Jimin removing the hyung honorific after last night.

He slowly came down the stairs, still holding onto the shadows, maneuvering them around himself to keep him covered, craning his head enough to see Jimin hovering inside Yoongi’s open apartment, looking around like Yoongi might pop out. Jimin’s date stood awkwardly outside of Jimin’s door, searching the hallway. Yoongi tucked himself back into the corner when the merman’s eyes turned in his direction.

“That’s so weird, I don’t think he’s here,” he heard Jimin say, unsure if there was worry in his voice or if Yoongi was imagining it.

“So…” the date said slowly, unsure.

“Sorry,” Jimin said. “I should probably figure out where my neighbor is, and keep an eye on his dog until he comes back.”

“I could help,” the date eagerly offered.

Yoongi scowled at the guy clearly not getting the hint Jimin was dismissing him.

“No, it’s ok, thanks though. I’ll show them to you next time, yeah?”

Yoongi peaked his head back around the corner to see Jimin grinning up at the man, he couldn’t tell if Jimin was trying to get rid of the guy, or if he was implying there’d be another date. There was no reason Jimin would be ending the date just because Yoongi was missing if he wanted it to continue though, right?

He had to believe Jimin was not interested in this guy. His eyes narrowed their focus on the merman. Even with his back turned, Yoongi could tell he wanted to argue, make a case for staying longer.

Yoongi waited for the guy to sigh and relent, the two of them distracted with each other, before he slid toward the other side of the stairwell and raced down the steps, two at a time, only slowing once he was outside.

He looked around, eyes scanning the parking lot, digging through his memory to identify the merman’s car.

He stalked his way over to where it was parked, circling the car, trying to remember if it was the same as he’d seen earlier.

His head shot up when the front door of the apartment building opened and Yoongi ducked down. He hadn’t thought through what he was even doing out there.

He listened as the footsteps grew louder and, as with everything else he’d done that night, without thinking his actions through, Yoongi rose from where he’d been crouched behind the car, just in time for the merman to stop short at the sight of Yoongi seemingly emerging from the shadows. It was only then Yoongi remembered his shield talisman was sitting in his pocket.

The merman’s eyes widened, looking around the empty parking lot before his eyes shot back to Yoongi. He swallowed and kept himself still.

Yoongi took a good look at the merman, he was tall, handsome but not overly so, his iridescent scales shimmered like blown glass under the overhead lights, the only illumination over the deserted parking lot.

“Um,” the merman started, but didn’t seem to know what to say to a demon standing beside his car.

Yoongi allowed him to sweat for a moment longer, finishing his assessment of the merman before he spoke, keeping his voice low and rumbling, “Who are you to Park Jimin?”

The merman started, looking back to the apartment building before whipping his head back toward Yoongi, as though he was afraid to have his back to a demon.

“What? We-we’re co-workers.”

Yoongi scoffed, he highly doubted whatever they’d been doing on a Friday evening for four hours was work related.

“We work together,” the merman insisted again. “Tonight was our first date.”

Yoongi sneered, he could feel the shadows around him bending with the way his fingers clenched into fists. The merman noticed too, eyes widening again as he watched Yoongi control the darkness surrounding them.

“And your last,” Yoongi suggested.

The merman took another step back, arms raised.

“Please, don’t.”

Yoongi rolled his eyes.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” he mumbled.

The merman appeared only marginally reassured.

“I just think,” Yoongi said, beginning to round the merman's car, letting the shadows maneuver him. “Dating your co-worker could be a bad look for you.”

Yoongi was pretty sure there wasn’t a rule in the handbook at the Arts College about co-workers dating each other, and he had to believe the Institute operated the same way, but he still found it questionable. Especially if Jimin wasn’t interested, Yoongi didn’t want this guy harassing Jimin at his work.

The merman frowned, eyes shooting back and forth as he thought through Yoongi’s words.

When he didn’t respond right away, Yoongi let out a warning rumbling sound, from deep in his chest, annoyed at the way the guy refused to take a hint.

The merman threw up his hands again, they were shaking this time.

“Ok, ok, please, I won’t see him again, at least outside of work, I’ll end it.”

Yoongi kept his eyes on the merman’s face, to make sure he wasn’t just telling him what he wanted to hear in the moment, but he seemed sincere. Yoongi let his smile go wider than should be possible on his face. The merman shivered.

Yoongi stayed in place for a long minute, making sure the merman understood he could and would find him again if he needed.

When the moment ended, Yoongi allowed the shadows to move him enough for the merman to slide past and into his car.

Tires squealed as he raced out of the parking lot.

Yoongi nodded and made his way back toward the apartment as soon as the merman was out of sight.

He stopped at the front door, looking at the window and seeing his reflection staring back at him

His dark horns were thick and prominent, curling up around his head, the pointed edges looked sharp as knives. His all black eyes took up more of his face than they did on his masked face. The shadows surrounding him rippled like burning smoke, waiting for his command. Yoongi pushed them back to where they belonged.

He pulled his talisman out of his pocket and carefully maneuvered it over his horns and back down around his neck to rest against his chest.

Yoongi held the obsidian in his fist, willing the shield to come back over his features. He peered at the window’s reflection as his horns seemed to disappear and his eyes narrowed, the black of them sucking into the middle.

He studied himself for another moment, accepting the mask was fully in place and nodded before he opened the door.

The weight of the shield reminded him to move at a slow, human-like pace.

As he reached the landing of his apartment floor, he remembered the situation he’d accidentally created with his carelessness.

“There you are, hyung,” Namjoon said as he approached.

Yoongi looked between Namjoon, who was holding his phone up to his ear, standing in Yoongi’s living room, then to where Jimin was sitting in his own living room with Holly curled up in his lap.

“Uh,” was all Yoongi thought to say.

“We found him, I’ll call you back in a minute,” Namjoon said to whoever was on the other end before hanging up.

“Where were you?” Namjoon asked, but it was Jimin standing and coming toward the door that kept Yoongi’s attention.

Holly circled Yoongi’s feet before rushing back into his apartment and he was faced with the dryad brothers and their questions.

“Is something wrong?” he asked, deciding feigning ignorance would be his best option.

“When I got home tonight your front door was open,” Jimin said, though his eyes didn’t meet Yoongi’s, clearly remembering just one night earlier when they’d stood together in this hallway.

“Oh, I didn’t realize,” Yoongi said, looking between Jimin and Namjoon. “Sorry for the scare, guess we’re even now.”

Jimin frowned and met his eye for the first time since the previous night.

There was a scoff beside him.

“Were you trying to teach Jimin-ah a lesson about closing doors, hyung?” Namjoon asked, crossing his arms.

Yoongi chuckled.

“It really was an accident,” he said, at least that part was the truth.

“Holly could’ve gotten out, what if someone had taken him or hurt him,” Jimin said, a fierceness in voice Yoongi wasn’t used to hearing. “Be more responsible.”

Yoongi blinked and nodded, ready to apologize again. Before he could, Jimin turned and stomped back into his apartment, a door slammed a moment later.

“Well,” Namjoon said, chuckling awkwardly at his brother’s behavior. “Glad everything’s alright, I better call Seokjin-hyung and Hoseokie, I’ve already got them worried over nothing. Oh, your sister too, maybe you can call her so she doesn’t cuss me out again.”

“Sure, sorry again, Joon-ah. Apologize to Jimin again for me, please,” he said, unsure of which thing he’d done in the last thirty hours he wanted to apologize for, only that he definitely hoped Jimin knew he was sorry.

Namjoon’s gaze narrowed at Yoongi, eyeing him with suspicion before he shrugged it away and nodded.

“Night, hyung,” Namjoon offered as they switched positions in Yoongi’s doorway.

“Night, Joon.”

Yoongi closed the door behind himself and sighed.

He got ready for bed, changing into light pajamas and going to brush his teeth. It wasn’t until he was in his bathroom, talisman removed and his normal face looking back at him again, when the reality of what he’d done settled in.

His black eyes widened, staring back at himself in shock.

He’d just terrorized someone for dating Park Jimin.

Chapter Text

Jimin stuck his head into another classroom, finding nothing but a few students studying together. He moved on before he caught their attention.

He frowned as he contemplated where he might find Haeju. He hadn’t been in his office, and Jimin didn’t know where else the merman usually spent his time, as it had always been Haeju who’d sought him out instead of the other way around. And he hadn’t stopped by Jimin’s lab all day.

Jimin had tried texting him a couple times over the weekend, but never heard back from him. He hadn’t been too concerned, knowing of the merman’s normal weekend plans of going to the sea, so Jimin figured he’d been busy with friends, but it was already past noon and he hadn’t remembered the last time Haeju hadn’t stopped by to at least say hi in the mornings.

The date had gone well, they’d had plenty to talk about, even though most had skewed toward work related topics, but at no point had it seemed as though Haeju had regretted his decision to ask Jimin out. Sure, the night had ended earlier than they’d originally planned with the false scare of Yoongi going missing, but Jimin couldn’t imagine Haeju holding that over his head.

He stuck his head inside another classroom and found Professor Cho on her computer.

“Have you seen Byeong Haeju, seonsaeng-nim?” Jimin asked, bowing to the professor as he entered the room.

Professor Cho lowered her glasses before looking up at Jimin, her smile showing the sharp fangs in her mouth.

“He was in the cafeteria at lunch,” she told him. “But I haven’t seen him since. Have you tried the east side grounds?”

Jimin frowned. “No, I hadn’t looked outside.”

She shrugged and put her glasses back on.

“I think he goes for walks around the grounds most days after lunch,” she said, sending Jimin one last grin before turning to her work.

Jimin bowed and backed out of the classroom.

He smiled to himself as he headed outside toward the grounds, happy that it meant he’d get to pass the greenhouses on his way. He hadn’t been out to see the plants living there in a few weeks. He didn’t visit them often, but he liked to say hello from time to time.

As he approached the greenhouse closest to the pathway, Jimin saw it was already occupied. He was just about to enter when one of the people occupying the greenhouse turned so Jimin could see his profile.

Without a thought, Jimin ducked and pressed himself against the shrubbery lining the structure, hoping Yoongi hadn’t seen him.

He scowled. Yoongi wasn’t even technically working yet, and he wasn’t even a professor at the Institute, so why did he have to come over into Jimin’s domain? Sure, the College and the Institute overlapped their campuses and plenty of professors and students used both facilities, but Jimin’s one saving grace in avoiding Yoongi, despite working so close, was that they technically didn’t work at the same school. Which would mean nothing if Yoongi was randomly deciding to spend his time in the greenhouses. No place was safe from seeing him, apparently.

Jimin pressed his finger to his lips to keep the shrubbery from alerting anyone, or specifically one demon, of his presence. They tittered and teased him, but kept quiet otherwise. Not that Yoongi would be able to hear them, demon senses or not.

He stayed low, rushing past the doorway and toward the side of the greenhouse that would obstruct Yoongi’s view from seeing Jimin pass. It meant he had to take the long way around to get back to the path.

Making it only halfway back up the lawn, he finally found Haeju, walking toward the building, wrapped in his navy blue coat as he ducked his head against the wind.

“Hyung,” Jimin called out, waving a hand when Haeju lifted his head.

Haeju’s eyes widened when he saw him. He whipped around, even going so far as to turn in a circle to look behind himself before he slowly turned back to Jimin, his face almost ashen.

Jimin frowned.

“Everything alright?” Jimin asked, approaching Haeju who was standing as still as a statue.

Haeju eyed him as he got closer, as though he was waiting for Jimin to strike him. When Jimin only stepped in front of him, Haeju’s shoulders lowered marginally.

“Everything’s fine,” Haeju said stiffly, sending Jimin one more side eye before he began walking again.

“Did you have a nice weekend?” Jimin asked, tailing behind.

“I-uh, stayed home,” Haeju said, not looking back as he spoke.

Jimin frowned again, knowing Haeju had been looking forward to his time with his friends.

“Are you sick?” he asked, having to quicken his steps to keep up with the merman’s wider gait.

“I’m fine,” Haeju mumbled as they stepped inside.

“Hyung, what’s wrong?” Jimin demanded, bristling at the way Haeju was avoiding him.

Haeju stopped, his shoulders sagged. The merman looked around the empty hallway before he turned and grabbed Jimin’s arm, leading him toward the nearest empty classroom.

Jimin waited for Haeju to close the door behind them, watching as he took a deep breath then turned to him.

“Jimin-ah, I’m sorry, I-I made a mistake when I asked you out.”

Jimin’s stomach sank.

“A mistake?”

Haeju nodded.

“I-we’re co-workers, I technically have some authority over you. It was inappropriate for me to take you out like that.”

Jimin frowned, he didn’t know Haeju had any authority over him. He wasn’t sure his actual boss would agree with Haeju’s claim.

“I didn’t think you were taking advantage of me, hyung,” Jimin assured him, finally understanding why Haeju looked so upset. “Did someone speak to you?”

Haeju’s eyes flew wide as he looked at Jimin.

“What?”

“Your boss? Did they speak to you about it?”

“Oh,” Haeju said, relaxing back down, as he crossed his arms. “Uh, yeah, my boss heard about it and told me I could lose my job if we went out again.”

Jimin gasped.

“I could talk to him, tell him that this isn’t like that.”

Haeju shook his head.

“It’s the Institute's policy, Jimin-ah, we can’t see each other outside of work.”

“But-”

“I’m sorry.”

Haeju did at least look genuinely apologetic as he bowed and fled the classroom before Jimin could say anything else.

Jimin stared out at the hallway, listening to the distant sounds of squeaky shoes on linoleum and loud chatter travelling all the way from the student center.

He folded his arms across his chest and stomped his way back to the lab.

“What a bullshit rule,” Jungkook said, handing Jimin his beer.

Jimin sighed and shrugged, taking a long pull as he settled into his booth.

It had taken him the rest of the afternoon to get over being upset about Haeju and him not working out.

The rest of his week had him watching Haeju make awkward moves to avoid him, probably to keep himself from getting in trouble with the higher ups. All it did was remind Jimin of who else he couldn’t have.

Which meant Jimin had started thinking about Yoongi again, and how he was going to have to get used to seeing him and interacting with him often, whether because of Namjoon or because living next door to each other made it inevitable. And he’d need to be reminded of how handsome Yoongi was, and how unappealing Yoongi apparently found him.

Jimin didn’t think of himself as ugly. When he was younger he’d been self-conscious of the way his cheeks and lips and nose all sat slightly too large on his face, and the way the vines around his arms often grew too long and made him look unkempt. Since growing into his features and gaining more control over his vines, Jimin knew he was attractive, as dryads went, but Yoongi was a demon, it was possible Jimin just wasn’t his type. He’d never asked a demon if they found him attractive before, as he’d only ever cared about one demon’s opinion of him.

He frowned down at the beer in his hand, then stood and headed to the bar, making the decision for the night, he was going to need something stronger. He deserved it with the week he’d had. From Haeju’s awkwardness and Jimin’s need to be stealthy around the apartment, in fear of running into Yoongi again, he was exhausted.

When he returned to the table Taehyung grinned and grabbed one of the shots Jimin had bought, while Jungkook sent him a raised eyebrow, but chose to stay quiet and grabbed his own.

Four shots in, Jimin was wishing they’d gone to a club instead of their usual bar, dancing would be perfect for him.

He eyed the bar, contemplating another round of shots, before Jungkook snapped his fingers in front of his face.

“Time to slow down, don’t you think?”

“Boring,” Taehyung said, swaying back and forth as he poked Jungkook in the side of the head.

Jungkook motioned to Taehyung as proof that maybe they’ve been drinking too much, but Jimin scoffed, comparing Jimin’s tolerance to Taehyung’s was just rude.

“Thankfully, I don’t need your approval,” Jimin said, scooting to get out of the booth.

“But you do need your phone to pay,” Jungkook said, holding up Jimin’s phone.

Jimin gasped and reached for it, but Jungkook held it back, accidentally smacking Taehyung in the face.

“Give me my phone,” Jimin demanded, holding his hand out.

“No,” Jungkook said, sticking it into his pocket and sending Jimin his brattiest grin.

Jimin fumed, wondering if they’d get kicked out if Jimin started hitting him.

He looked around at the bartenders to see if anyone was watching, but was distracted almost immediately when noticed a figure sitting at the end of the bar.

It was a demon, unmasked, his horns long and curling high up above his head, there were ridges making rings in them, the way Jimin remembered Yoongi’s horns had when they were younger.

The demon sensed Jimin’s attention, and turned his deep set, black eyes to him.

Jimin gasped at the sudden dark stare. He considered sending an apologetic nod and going back to his table, but the tilt of the demon’s head made Jimin think he was more intrigued by Jimin’s interest than offended.

He used the boldness from the alcohol running through his system to carry him forward. It didn’t take long for him to step in front of the demon, who looked down on him, his black eyes seemed as though they may be able to see his soul. He wondered if he could read Jimin’s mind. He wondered if Yoongi could.

“Hi,” he said aloud instead of in his head like he wanted.

The demon smirked.

“Hi.”

His voice was thick and deep, it didn’t rumble the way Yoongi’s did, the tone burying itself deep beneath Jimin’s skin. But it was pleasant nonetheless, fitting for the powerful creature in front of him.

Jimin realized it was a perfect opportunity to get his answer, of whether Yoongi’s disinterest was personal or a species specific thing.

“My friend took my phone and said I can’t get anything else to drink,” Jimin told the demon, pouting his lips for show.

The demon arched an eyebrow, he looked up and over at the table with Jimin’s friends. Jungkook appeared to be on his own phone while Taehyung looked like he might be passed out, sprawled across the table. Jimin cringed.

After a moment, the demon looked back down at Jimin, his grin widening.

“Well then, pretty, let me buy you something.”

Jimin smiled wide and stepped in closer.

Yoongi was half asleep on his couch when a thump against his door startled him awake.

He sat up straight, the fatigue from his long week drifting away as he listened for more.

Instead of anything ominous, like someone trying to break in, he heard the sweet, familiar chime of Jimin’s laughter.

Yoongi only had a moment to relax when another realization coursed through him, there was a demon nearby, and not one with a presence Yoongi was familiar with.

He reached into his pocket where his talisman had been since he’d gotten home and was about to put it on, but let it go just as quickly, if he was going to have to confront a demon, he didn’t want to do it with a mask on.

Yoongi stalked over to the door and looked through the hole in time to see Jimin, seemingly drunk, opening his front door with a cheer.

The demon was standing too close behind him, his gaze on Jimin dark and nefarious. Yoongi’s stomach lurched, watching as the demon began to follow Jimin past the doorway before his head shot to the side, looking toward Yoongi’s door, as though he could see right through it at him.

The demon tilted his head and smirked, before turning to continue into Jimin’s apartment.

Yoongi yanked open his door and grabbed the demon’s arm, tugging him backwards.

The demon resisted, holding his place like a steel rod. Yoongi braced his hand on the door frame with one arm and pulled with the other, throwing the demon back against the far wall of the hallway, the impact made the building shudder.

It took only a moment for the demon to right himself, but before he could do more than hiss, Yoongi held him to the wall by his neck.

“Leave,” Yoongi demanded, tightening his hold on the demon as he began to thrash.

The demon was obviously inebriated, which made him much easier to control, as Yoongi grabbed some shadows from the corners of the hallway to wrap around the demon’s wrists and pin him to the wall.

“What is your problem? Jealous the little dryad didn’t pick you?” the demon sneered, but he stopped resisting when it became clear he didn’t have the upper hand.

“Leave,” Yoongi repeated, letting his voice cause the walls and shadows to tremble at his command. “Now.”

The demon’s eyes widened as the shadows tightened and Yoongi didn’t let his own hold up for even a moment.

The other’s voice was hoarse as he said, “Alright, I’ll go, fuck.”

He let the demon drop to a heap on the ground. Kicking him once, the demon shot up and with a hiss, he flew down the stairs without a backward glance.

Yoongi huffed and straightened his sweater. He turned to see Jimin’s door was wide open still, and there was a burn mark against the doorframe where Yoongi had braced his grip.

He cringed, shoving his hand into his pocket and quickly slipped his talisman back on before he moved to the door, letting the sleeve of his sweater go up over his hand so he could try to wipe the burn mark away. It was no use, other than some ash falling to the floor, the wooden doorframe was permanently singed. He cursed at himself for the loss of control in his hands over the past week.

He didn’t have long to sit with it before Jimin stepped into the living room from the kitchen, a glass of water in his hands, his eyes droopy and unfocused.

“Hyun-oh, Yoongi-ssi…uh,” he stopped, frowned and looked around his living room.

Jimin had removed the jacket he’d been wearing when he’d seen him earlier and for the first time Yoongi saw the vines that circled Jimin’s arms. They were delicate, but strong. Yoongi could tell even as they gave the appearance that they might easily be pulled away from Jimin’s skin, the vines would hold firm where they grew. His fingers itched to run over one of the soft leaves resting against Jimin’s elbow.

“Uh, have you seen a demon around here anywhere?” Jimin asked tentatively, inspecting his living room again as though the demon might be hiding behind the couch or the TV stand.

Yoongi raised an eyebrow and Jimin rolled his eyes and waved his hand.

“A different demon,” Jimin explained, voice higher pitched and whinier than normal, also a bit slurred to match the way he was tilting to one side. “He has the horns and the eyes.”

Jimin motioned above his head, then to his own eyes, only to overcorrect, smacking himself in the face.

“Careful,” Yoongi said, taking a step toward him, before stopping himself, clenching his hands into fists to keep from reaching out.

Jimin pouted and looked around the room again, shrugging, and taking a large drink of his water, using both his hands to hold the glass.

“I, uh, think I passed him in the hall,” Yoongi lied, not liking the disappointment he could see on Jimin’s face again, not liking that he continued to be the one to cause it. “Seemed like he was in a hurry, must’ve forgot something.”

Jimin squinted at Yoongi, looking toward the open door and back before he huffed and set his mostly empty glass down on the coffee table, the edge of the glass hung over the side.

“Maybe it was your fault,” Jimin said, eyes getting droopier by the second.

Yoongi’s stomach dropped.

“I-”

“Maybe he thought you were a priest, coming to exorcise him or something.”

“What?” Yoongi asked, incredulous, unable to keep down the laugh that was bubbling up from his chest.

“You’ve got the,” Jimin started, bringing his hand up to his own throat. “You look kind of like one.”

Yoongi looked down at his high-collared black sweater and scoffed.

Jimin mumbled under his breath, words sounding suspiciously like, “I’d be into that.”

Yoongi’s head shot back up to look at him.

“What?”

“What?” Jimin asked back.

Yoongi watched him closely as Jimin shook his head.

“Is that rude to say to you?” he asked, sleepy eyes now widened in concern.

“Uh…”

“Is being compared to a priest for a demon like…like a dryad being called a fire-breather in a forest?”

Yoongi raised an eyebrow, he was positive he’d heard Namjoon called that plenty of times.

“Ya know, I can honestly say it’s never come up for me, so I have no idea if it’s offensive. You know priests aren’t my mortal enemy though, right?”

Jimin nodded.

“Is it angels?”

Yoongi couldn’t help but laugh.

“I don’t have mortal enemies, Jimin-ah.”

Instead of pouting or arguing, Jimin’s face lit up.

“That’s right, why would you? Because there’s nothing wrong with you.”

“Uh, yeah,” he said, rubbing at the back of his neck, trying not to think about the state of the apartment hallway.

They stood and stared at each other for a long moment before Jimin’s eyes began drooping again.

“You should get some sleep,” Yoongi said, softening his voice.

“Mm,” Jimin seemed to agree, but didn’t move from his spot beside the coffee table.

“Did you, um, need any help?” Yoongi asked, immediately uncomfortable, unsure of what he could even do for him.

Jimin shook himself a little more awake at the awkward question as well.

“Oh, no thank you, Yoongi-ssi, I’m ok. Have a good night.”

With a small bow, Jimin turned and began down the hallway to his room.

“You know, you can still call me hyung,” Yoongi called out, immediately cringing at himself.

There was no noise for a long moment, Yoongi thought maybe Jimin hadn’t heard him and he could pretend he hadn’t sounded so desperate.

But when the moment ended, in a small voice, Jimin said, “I don’t think I can.”

Yoongi’s shoulders sagged as the door to Jimin’s bedroom closed soft behind him.

He sighed and stepped further into the apartment, pushing the mostly empty glass of water farther onto the table so it was no longer hanging precariously at the edge.

Closing the door behind him as he left, he pressed a quick locking charm to the door.

He tried hard to not lay awake all night just thinking about how Jimin had brought an unmasked demon home, willingly.

Chapter Text

Jimin grumbled as he traipsed around the woods, eyes scanning the area for any debris. His fingers were chilled where he clutched the bag he’d been shoving the garbage he’d found into, while his other hand was overly sweaty from the glove he wore to pick up the questionable items.

He’d been coming out every weekend to clean the space, no other dryad in the area seemed quite as concerned about the state of their woods as Jimin was.

The apartment’s security had set up cameras, but they continued to say, unless whoever walked through there was caught in the act, their hands were tied.

So, Jimin continued to do what he could to keep his small area pristine and healthy.

The rapidly fallen leaves crunched beneath his shoes as he scanned his surroundings, and he nodded at the trees that greeted him as he passed. He was contemplating doing one last pass before he called it a day when there was a deep rumble off to the side.

“Jimin-ah?”

Jimin popped his head out from behind the tree next to him to see Yoongi standing at the edge of the woods, the leash in his hand the only thing keeping Holly from racing in.

He had a split second of wondering how Yoongi could even see him, as the sun was close to setting and he was far enough within the trees most wouldn’t be able to see Jimin from the pathway.

Most didn’t have the eyes of a demon.

“Ah, good evening, Yoongi-ssi,” Jimin said, stepping through the trees and reaching out his hand as he approached to greet Holly with an enthusiastic ear scratch.

Yoongi looked down the length of the woods and back, his eyebrows raising into the beanie pulled down over his forehead.

“What’re you doing all the way down here?”

Jimin raised his bag of trash in answer.

“Still can’t get anyone to do anything?” Yoongi asked, a scowl forming on his face.

“It wasn’t too bad today, at least,” Jimin said, showing the bag was only half full.

Yoongi didn’t seem placated.

“I can help?” he offered, though it came out more as a question.

Jimin had surmised back when they walked together daily, Yoongi believed in the boundary of the woods and never stepped foot off of the grass beside the nearest tree.

“That’s ok,” Jimin said with a small smile, appreciating the offer and dreading the possibilities of it. “I’m done actually.”

“Oh, well…then, would you like to join us on the rest of our walk?”

Jimin’s eyes widened, he wanted to say no and run in the opposite direction, but despite him rejecting Jimin, Yoongi had been nothing but nice before and after, and he was clearly trying to make things less awkward between them. Though Jimin was actively trying to move on, he’d so far been unlucky in getting someone interested in him, so moving on from his feelings for Yoongi had been harder than he’d prefer. He supposed a short walk wouldn’t result in him wanting to sink into the ground any more than he already perpetually experienced.

“Uh, yeah, sure,” was all Jimin had to offer when the moment dragged on far too long.

Yoongi’s answering smile was wide and showed his gums.

Jimin wanted to scream.

He shoved his bag of trash into one of the garbage cans lining the walkway, then stepped up beside Yoongi, and nodded.

Holly led the way, by himself, sniffing from one side to the other as they walked along in silence.

“How’s Yeontan doing? And Bam?” Yoongi asked after a few long minutes of nothing but the jangling sound of Holly’s collar tag, and the whoosh of wind rushing through the bare spots between branches.

“They’re good, Yeontan misses Holly a lot,” Jimin said, though the last time he’d been over to Taehyung’s, Yeontan hadn’t done more than greet Jimin with a small tail wag before he’d gone off somewhere else, Jimin had a feeling Holly and Yoongi hadn’t stuck in Yeontan’s memory for long. “And Bam has complained about making a new friend and then never getting to see him again.”

Yoongi chuckled.

“Well, we’re always available to walk if they ever want to join us.”

Jimin nodded, shoving his hands into his pockets.

“You too, ya know?” Yoongi added, as though he needed to make it clear. “You don’t need them with you to join us whenever you want.”

Jimin looked at him through the corner of his eye, not wanting to meet the pitying gaze he knew he’d see there.

His shoulders slumped and he halted his steps.

“Isn’t it awkward being around me now?”

Yoongi stopped as well, while Holly focused on sniffing a dried out patch of grass.

“It doesn’t have to be. I was enjoying getting to know you on our walks, and I understand that you’re embarrassed, but I wish you weren’t, you have nothing to be embarrassed about.”

Jimin scoffed and kicked a pebble farther down the path. Holly shot his head up in curiosity before he turned back to the area he was inspecting.

“It’s easy for you to say, you weren’t the one who embarrassed yourself,” Jimin mumbled, wrapping his arms around his middle.

“I know,” Yoongi offered, a slight frown on his face now. “Is there anything I can do to make you feel less embarrassed?”

Jimin fought the urge to tell him to change his mind and go out on a date with him. But he knew he was being unfair, if the tables were turned, and someone he barely even liked as a friend had asked him out, he would want things to revert back to the way they were before it happened. Jimin wished forgetting or turning back time was an option. He wanted to give Yoongi that, to give himself the relief, he liked Yoongi enough that friendship could be a perfectly acceptable relationship for them. But he’d need time, and ideally a significant other, before he could fully let it go and accept it had been a funny moment.

He bit his lips as he considered the best compromise.

“Maybe I can join your walks some nights,” Jimin said, hesitantly, wanting to allow himself the nights when the shame overwhelmed him to keep to himself, while opening himself up to continuing to get to know Yoongi better, as a friend.

Yoongi’s eyes lit up.

“Sure,” he said, more enthusiastically than a hesitant promise to join him and his dog on their evening walks ever should, but Jimin couldn’t help but smile in return.“Tell you what, you know when we come out here, how about you join whenever you feel like it, we’ll be here.”

Jimin nodded, liking the lack of expectation.

“And maybe I can come by soon and help with that shoe rack,” Yoongi said, easily. “You haven’t put it together yourself have you?”

“No, it’s still in its box, sitting in my room,” Jimin said, a small laugh at himself for leaving it for so long, it was becoming a common sight in his room he barely thought about it anymore.

Yoongi nodded back and they continued walking.

The silence that fell between them was marginally less suffocating.

Yoongi was burning with impatience for the new semester to begin so he could get to work.

It wasn’t as though he didn’t enjoy having free time, but he’d moved in order to start his dream job. He didn’t want to wait any longer or find things to do to pass the time. It was only autumn though, and he had to wait until spring. Thankfully, the college had allowed Yoongi plenty of time to roam around the campus and get to know the area.

So far, outside of the recording studio and the Institute's greenhouses that sat between the two establishments, Yoongi’s third favorite place was the coffee shop on the far edge of the college’s campus.

It wasn’t the closest to either of the schools, which meant it was never overly crowded, just the way Yoongi liked it.

He could picture himself grading assignments in the corner during long afternoons, or spending his mornings in the seat by the window when he had a day where classes started later.

For now, he liked to sit and read or adjust the syllabi for his upcoming classes as he drank his coffee and allowed himself to get comfortable with the area.

He wasn’t particularly engrossed in his latest book, which was why, when the bell of the door chimed, alerting the shop of newcomers, Yoongi’s head turned to see a handsome werewolf holding the door to let a blushing Jimin through.

Yoongi looked back down at his book, even more unfocused on the words than before.

He couldn’t control the way his eyes shifted to the side as the pair walked up to the counter that Yoongi was sitting across from.

He hoped, for a moment, the werewolf just was a polite stranger, but he had a feeling that wasn’t the case when his eyes zeroed in on the large hand placed at the small of Jimin’s back.

Yoongi scowled and took a drink of his too hot coffee, letting the burn snap him out of his sudden, dark mood.

“Yoongi-ssi.”

Yoongi almost flinched at the sound of Jimin’s voice. He turned toward the register, trying to hold a friendly smile on his face.

“What are you doing here?” Jimin asked, stepping away from the counter to walk closer to Yoongi, a pleased grin on his face.

Yoongi could feel some of the frustration of the day melt away from that one look.

His gaze travelled behind Jimin, to see his date looking between the two of them, his thick brows furrowed.

“Jimin-ah, would you like to order?” the man asked, coming over to where Jimin had stopped and lightly guiding him back toward the register.

“Oh sure,” Jimin said, sending Yoongi one last grin, before he turned to step in front of the tall, vampire girl who worked there. “Iced Americano, please.”

“You don’t want something warm and sweet?” the date asked, his tone made Yoongi’s hackles raise.

Jimin shrugged.

“Not today,” he said easily, grinning up at the man, then back to the girl.

The date nodded and ordered his own hot coffee before they were rung up.

Yoongi was about to go back to his book, or at least to pretend to go back to his book, when Jimin's soft voice reached his ears.

“He’s my next door neighbor.”

Yoongi glanced back to see Jimin’s date watching him with suspicion, he noted the way the werewolf’s stare went to the talisman around his neck. Their eyes met for a moment before Yoongi turned back to his book.

When Jimin’s name was called a few minutes later, Yoongi couldn’t help but look back over to the pick up area where Jimin shot him a sweet grin and a wave before he grabbed his and his date’s drinks and began walking toward the table on the other side of the cafe where his date was sitting.

The date watched Jimin approach before turning a narrowed eyed stare toward Yoongi when Jimin was focused on getting settled.

Yoongi shot the guy his own withering stare.

He didn’t like the look of him, or his attitude, and not just the way he clearly had issues with Yoongi, but the way he leered at Jimin, the darkness in his eyes didn’t leave when he looked Jimin’s way, and Yoongi didn’t like that one bit.

Yoongi tried to go back to his book, but his ears had other plans, focusing in on the soft conversation between Jimin and his date from across the room, fading out the rest of the activity of the cafe.

“So, what do you like to do for fun?” Jimin asked, a nervous lilt to his voice as he tried to settle into his date

“He’s a demon, right?” his date asked, ignoring Jimin.

Yoongi clenched his fists around the pages of the book as he kept himself from looking up at them.

“W-what?” Jimin asked.

“Your neighbor, he’s wearing a masking talisman, but the black in his eyes means he’s a demon.”

Yoongi huffed, wondering what the werewolf’s deal was with him, or at least with demons.

“If he’s wearing a masking talisman then I don’t think it’s any of our business,” Jimin said, shortly and that, more than anything, was what got Yoongi to look back over at their table.

He turned just in time to see the werewolf shrug before taking a drink of his coffee, Jimin had a small pout, his full lips poking out further than normal.

Yoongi didn’t care about whatever the guy’s problem with him was, but to go out on a date with Park Jimin just to make him frown was an idiot move, and Yoongi had enough of the werewolf’s attitude.

He focused his stare on the cup of coffee in the guy’s hand.

“I do a lot of forest runs with the pack,” the asshole replied to Jimin’s previous question before lifting his hand to take another drink.

“Oh, that sounds nice, do you-”

Jimin was cut off as the werewolf took a big pull of his drink before it all shot out of his mouth, some of it hitting Jimin who gasped and flew back in his seat to try and get away from the spray.

Yoongi cringed.

The guy reached up to his chest, gasping and sputtering as he tried to dispel the rest of the liquid from his mouth.

“What happened?” Jimin asked, standing over his date, eyes wide and concerned. “What’s wrong?”

“My drink,” the werewolf said, voice hoarse. “It tasted like…”

He trailed off, eyes widening as his head whipped around to look right at Yoongi.

“What did you do?” he yelled, causing the entire cafe to come to a halt.

“What?”

It was Jimin who asked, frowning and looking between his date and Yoongi.

The werewolf didn’t respond, he grabbed his drink and began stalking over to where Yoongi sat.

Jimin followed right behind.

“What’d you do with it?” the guy asked, slamming the cup down on the table in front of Yoongi, some of the coffee splashing out of the hole in the lid.

Yoongi smirked.

“I don’t work here, I didn’t make your drink,” he said, keeping his voice even and slow like he might be talking to a child.

“No, you did something, this tasted like…like blood,” he said, whispering the last part.

Jimin’s eyes widened as he came to stand beside his date.

“Maybe there was a mix-up?” Jimin offered, looking over to the vampire girl at the counter who raised her hands and shook her head.

“No,” his date said, not letting his glare move from Yoongi for a second.

“It looks like coffee to me,” Yoongi insisted, motioning to the cup.

Jimin looked between them once more before he reached for the cup and tugged the lid off, revealing a warm cup of coffee, lightened by milk.

The werewolf growled.

“You did some kind of demon work on my mind,” he accused.

He shot his arm out to grab Yoongi, but before the fist reached him, a thick vine wrapped around the guy’s wrist and he was yanked backwards, stumbling until he ran into the table closest to the counter.

Yoongi whipped his wide eyes to where Jimin was standing, fuming as the vines around his arms slowly returned to his side, though stayed elevated, ready to strike again if needed. His date looked as equally shocked as Yoongi.

“Jimin, he-”

“No,” Jimin interrupted, his vines orbiting around him like a magnificent whip ready to crack. “You’ve been saying weird, speciest things since we got here. Now, apologize to Yoongi-hyung and then go, before I have you reported for attempted assault.”

The werewolf stood stunned, eyes moving from Jimin’s livid face to the vines ready to attack at a moment’s notice. He scoffed, looking back at Yoongi with those same suspicious eyes.

He contemplated his next move, looking from Jimin to Yoongi then back to Jimin before he growled and stomped away, kicking a chair across the cafe as he went.

As soon as the door to the cafe closed behind him, the silence that had filled the space slowly dissipated as murmurs among the rest of the patrons picked back up.

Yoongi blinked, watching as Jimin’s vines finally lowered and tucked themselves back beneath his sleeves.

Jimin huffed and leaned against the chair opposite Yoongi, his eyes on his date’s cooling coffee.

“I can’t believe people in this day and age are still prejudiced against demons like that,” he said, his voice softening as he spoke, the anger seeping out of him. “I’m really sorry, hyung.”

Yoongi shook himself out of his stupor and cleared his throat.

“Uh, don’t be, I’m pretty used to it.”

Jimin raised his head to look at him, before his eyes trailed down to the talisman.

“Well, still, I’m sorry that you’re used to it, and I’m sorry I brought someone like that around you.”

“Jimin-ah, it’s not your fault,” he said, unable to keep the small laugh from his voice.

“He mentioned he thought you might be a demon, like he was accusing you of something bad. I should’ve told him to leave then. To then have him accuse you of messing with his drink and then attack you over it? I don’t think I can trust that dating site, a bunch of losers on there, apparently.”

Yoongi internally cringed as Jimin mentioned the coffee, as prejudiced as Jimin’s date had been, he hadn’t falsely accused Yoongi of messing with his mind. But Yoongi couldn’t make himself care, as something much more important had come to his attention.

“Ya know,” he said, not hiding the small grin growing on his face. “You called me hyung a couple of times now.”

Jimin’s eyes widened, he opened his mouth to speak but Yoongi held a hand up.

“No takebacks, I’m hyung again.”

Jimin rolled his eyes. “Fine, hyung, do you mind if I finish my coffee with you?”

Yoongi shook his head and motioned to the chair Jimin was standing beside, his eyes followed as Jimin grabbed his things from the other table, and couldn’t help but hope he wasn’t imagining the small grin on Jimin’s face.

Chapter Text

“He used to say it was unnatural that we didn’t sleep by our trees, but I’d catch him sneaking back into his room to play on his computer when he thought no one was looking,” Jimin said, relaying Yoongi with stories of Namjoon and his childhood.

“One time, he didn't leave the woods for almost a week and mom had to drag him out with her vines. He ended up grabbing onto one of my tree’s branches and snapped it when mom pulled him away. I cried and kicked him in the shins. My tree still doesn’t like him.”

Jimin grinned as Yoongi’s shoulders shook during his quiet chuckle.

“I believe that,” he said after his laughter subsided.

“How about you?”

“Hm?”

“Did your family ever get into fights like that?”

Yoongi shook his head.

“Not like that. My parents split when I was a teenager, but there was never really a time when any of us got into it with each other, both of my parents are pretty level-headed.”

“That makes sense,” Jimin said, thinking about how calm Yoongi is about everything, he clearly doesn’t let things get to him and has a good grasp on his emotions.

He caught a side-eye from Yoongi for just a moment before his eyes shot back to where Holly was leading him down the path.

It wasn’t exactly a regular thing, Jimin joining them on their walks, as he’d only joined in twice since Yoongi’s offer, but he thought, if they continued, he’d eventually feel less awkward around Yoongi, the memory of his confession, and Yoongi’s rejection not quite the cumbersome weight hanging over their heads anymore. They hadn’t reached that point yet, but Jimin wanted to believe they could get there. It would just require him to try.

“My sister definitely caused problems though, she's probably the most intense of all of us,” Yoongi continued with a soft chuckle and shake of his head, clearly letting a memory run through his mind.

“Oh yeah?”

“She made one of our classmates think his chair was trying to eat him after he pulled on her braid.”

Jimin’s eyes widened before he let out a guffaw of his own.

“How old were you guys?” he asked, trying to picture a school child trying to escape his chair when no one around him understood what was happening.

“Hm, maybe eight or nine.”

Jimin knew he shouldn’t laugh, especially due to the torment happening to a child, but he couldn’t help but snicker, especially since it sounded like the kid started it.

Yoongi shared a few more small anecdotes of what growing up with a volatile twin sister was like as Jimin giggled and gasped in equal measure.

As they approached the front of their apartment, Jimin stepped around the odd burn mark that had appeared there a few weeks back, Yoongi slowed his steps and turned to him.

“Are you gonna join us tomorrow night?”

Jimin tilted his head in a silent question.

“Joon is having some of us over tomorrow, I just wanted to see if you were gonna come hangout or stay in your room.”

Jimin frowned before he remembered Namjoon had mentioned people coming for a get together. He hadn’t thought much about it, especially hadn’t thought about Yoongi being one of those people.

“Oh, uh, no, probably not. I have a date tomorrow night,” he said, still feeling awkward mentioning dates in front of Yoongi, as though hearing about them would remind Yoongi he was uninterested in those with Jimin, as if he didn’t already know that about himself.

“Not with that werewolf guy, I hope,” was all Yoongi said.

Jimin cringed.

“Definitely not, No, it’s a guy I met at the gym, he bought me a smoothie the first day we talked, and then we went for a walk around the park together yesterday, so I guess tomorrow will technically be our third date.”

He was planning on counting it as a third date, as he’d failed at getting even a second of those lately and he would take what he could get.

Yoongi sniffed, clearly not finding Jimin’s dating life as funny as it was. Maybe he was uncomfortable, like Jimin might ask him out again in his desperation, as though Jimin lacked all self-respect.

“What are you guys planning on doing?” Yoongi asked as he began walking again, holding out the door for Jimin to walk through first.

“Gonna go see a movie, I think,” Jimin said, awkwardly looking back at Yoongi as he tried to climb the stairs without tripping.

Yoongi hummed and they climbed the rest of the way without speaking.

It was only when they reached their doors, Jimin was about to open his when there was a light touch against his elbow. The bumps on his skin rose like tiny mushrooms popping up from the ground, the leaves of the vines of his arms opening wider.

“You guys should hang out with us tomorrow night instead,” Yoongi said when Jimin turned to look back at him.

Jimin frowned.

“If you’re going on multiple dates with the guy, you should probably get some outside opinions on him.”

“My brother and his friends probably wouldn’t be my first choice with that,” Jimin said, amused but also confused at Yoongi pushing the issue.

“It’ll be fun, we won’t give him a hard time,” Yoongi said, voice easy and convincing.

Jimin wavered for a moment, but Yoongi’s earnest gaze caught him, it was dark and heavy like being submerged deep beneath the ocean’s surface, Jimin couldn’t help but surrender to it with a nod of his head

Yoongi’s grin was satisfied and Jimin couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Maybe I could help you build the shoe rack before or after the party?” Yoongi offered.

Jimin shrugged. “Sure, we’ll figure it out then.”

 He frowned at Yoongi’s closed door before making his way into his own apartment. Spending a date with his brother and the guy he recently asked out and was still slightly hung up on was a recipe for disaster.

But he appreciated Yoongi was trying to get them past the awkward phase and into a more friendly relationship, and if he was willing to make the effort, Jimin was willing to try as well.

He just had to break it to Byeongho that they weren’t going to the movies after all.

Yoongi took another drink of his beer, the alcohol bitter on his tongue, as his gaze burrowed into the side of the Elemental’s head.

Unfortunately, unlike the werewolf, this date of Jimin’s, so far, hadn’t come across like a jerk, or given him a reason to throw him out. Yet. Plus, Yoongi had been the one to insist Jimin bring his date along, so he had no one to blame but himself for his current situation.

He could blame Hoseok for being friendly with the guy though, and he would do so happily. He sent a small glare Hoseok’s way, but the dragon just grinned at him and turned back to his conversation with Jimin’s buff date.

“Everything good?” Namjoon asked as he sat down on the couch where Yoongi had been spending his evening.

He raised his beer bottle in acknowledgment, and added a quick, “Yep.”

Namjoon nodded and looked around the room at their friends before he turned back to Yoongi.

“Jimin told me you invited him tonight. It’s cool that you’ve been making efforts to befriend him, I appreciate that.”

Yoongi’s skin warmed, some kind of guilt he didn’t know how to identify ran through him.

It wasn’t like he’d done anything wrong, he’d even stopped more from happening between them when Jimin had asked him out. He didn’t need to feel guilty in regards to Namjoon and his relationship to Namjoon’s brother.

A feeling deep in his gut did not agree.

Instead of acknowledging those feelings, Yoongi nodded.

“He’s great, much cooler than you, at least.”

Namjoon punched a bruise into his arm and Yoongi confirmed that hanging out with Jimin was definitely preferable.

They were interrupted from catching up on their various music endeavors by Hoseok raising his voice.

“I forgot, I brought that game, Joon-ah,” he said, turning to look for his coat in the closet by the front door.

Yoongi frowned.

“A game?”

“It was fun,” Namjoon said with a shrug. “We played it last month at Yewon’s place, everyone had a good time and I mentioned he should bring it tonight.”

“It’s extra fun when you don’t get to pick your partner,” Hoseok said, holding up a deck of cards to present to the group.

Yoongi groaned, but Seokjin slapped his knee as he sat on the floor in front of him.

“Be a good sport, Yoongi-yah!” he sang, before he turned to listen to Hoseok explain what they were in for.

“So, it’s kind of like one of those dating shows where the players have to guess what their partners will answer,” Hoseok said, placing the cards on the coffee table.

Seokjin smacked Yoongi’s knee before he even had a chance to complain again.

“Jimin-ah, get me some pens and a pad of paper,” Hoseok ordered.

Yoongi’s eyes followed as Jimin hopped up and ran out of the room.

“Are the questions dirty?” Seokjin asked with a smirk.

“It’s not a couple game,” Namjoon answered, setting his drink down to grab the top card off the deck.

“What is the best element?” He read off the card before showing it to Seokjin. “You just need to guess what you think your partner will answer and if you get it right, your team gets to keep the card.”

“Put that one on the bottom,” Seokjin said as Jimin ran back in with his hands full of pens and paper. “That one was boring, no offense new guy.”

Yoongi kicked him in the side. Jimin’s date shrugged.

Hoseok tore up a piece of paper from his notepad and began writing numbers on it.

“Why can’t we choose our partners?” Jimin asked, leaning against his date’s side.

Yoongi clenched his hands into fists as his palms began to burn.

“It’s funnier when you’re paired randomly,” Hoseok said simply as he folded the strips of paper in half.

“Can’t Byeongho hyung and I be paired up at least?” Jimin asked, leaning now into Hoseok’s space.

“No, now pick,” Hoseok said, collecting all the strips into his hand and shaking them up before holding his open hands out to Jimin who pouted but pulled out a strip of paper.

Jimin’s date picked next, then Namjoon, then Seokjin reached over to pick his number before Yoongi could. Yoongi scowled, first at him, then at Hoseok who flicked the last piece of paper at him, hitting him square on the forehead.

He rolled his eyes and picked the piece of paper up from his lap, opening it to reveal he was apparently on team 3.

He looked up to see Jimin and his date sharing their numbers with each other.

“Who has 1?” Seokjin asked.

“Me,” Jimin’s date said with a raise of his hand.

“Our name is Team Kim Seokjin,” is all Seokjin told him.

The Elemental nodded.

“2?” Namjoon asked and Hoseok grinned and held his number up high in the air.

“Team Earth and Fire,” Hoseok declared.

Yoongi rolled his eyes.

He stopped halfway through when he understood what that meant and he shot his gaze over to Jimin whose eyes had widened as he looked at Yoongi.

“3?” Jimin asked, though he already knew the answer.

“We don’t have a team name,” is all Yoongi offered in response.

They were only two questions in and things were already heated.

“What do you mean you prefer rainy days to sunny days?” Hoseok yelled, betrayal all over his face at getting their first question wrong.

“Rain relaxes me,” Namjoon said with a shrug.

“Ya know, photosynthesis doesn’t happen without sunlight,” Hoseok said, throwing their lost card on the discard pile.

Jimin’s eyes tracked Hoseok for another moment before he slowly drew his card.

“Do I prefer vacationing abroad or at home?”

Yoongi raised an eyebrow before scribbling his answer on his notepad.

“You seem awfully confident, Yoongi-yah,” Seokjin said, noticing how fast he’d answered.

“Do you have a favorite vacation spot?” Jimin’s date asked.

Yoongi narrowed his eyes, he didn’t like this guy, clearly planning on using this game to learn more about Jimin. He didn’t know why he didn’t like it, he just didn’t.

Jimin shook his head.

“It would be too complicated to go anywhere without my tree,” Jimin explained.

“So, what’d you put?” Namjoon asked Yoongi.

Yoongi turned his notepad to reveal his scratchy writing reading:

Home, wouldn’t want to leave his tree

“Well, that’s pretty obvious,” Hoseok argued, clearly still annoyed about getting Namjoon’s question wrong.

Yoongi chose not to reply by mentioning he also knew about Jimin’s unwillingness to even leave the city to go to school let alone travel abroad, as that was Jimin’s business and not required for them to win the first point of the night.

Jimin smiled wide at him as he placed the card in front of himself. Yoongi offered him his own small smile back.

Team Kim Seokjin shockingly got a point when Jimin’s date asked, “What’s my favorite place to be outside of my home?”

Seokjin laughed.

“The gym?” he asked, while simultaneously writing it on his notepad.

Jimin’s date lit up and nodded.

Everyone besides Hoseok and Yoongi laughed.

Hoseok didn’t wait for a discussion, just grabbed the card at the top of the pile and perked up as he read it to himself.

“What’s my favorite animated character?” he asked, slowly.

Namjoon squinted before he began writing.

“Don’t write without thinking, I don’t even have an answer yet,” Hoseok snapped.

Namjoon stopped and looked up, raising his eyebrows as he watched Hoseok think.

“Ok, I think I’ve got it,” Hoseok said with a definitive nod.

Namjoon went back to writing his answer. When he was done, Jimin turned to Hosoek.

“What is it?”

“Snoopy,” Hoseok answered with a bright smile.

They all turned to Namjoon who sat stricken as he clutched the notepad to his chest.

“What did you answer?” Hoseok asked, his smile dimming.

“You didn’t even know what your favorite was a minute ago,” Namjoon said in preemptive defense of himself.

“What did you answer?” Hoseok asked again, the dragon’s eyes darkening.

“I think we should just accept that we didn’t get the point.”

“Show us, show us, show us,” Seokjin began to chant.

Jimin laughed and joined in.

Namjoon sighed and turned his notepad around for the room to see.

“What the fuck is a Narut-o?” Hoseok screeched.

Yoongi winced.

“It’s Na-ruto, hyung,” Jimin muttered, shrinking back when Hoseok turned his burning eyes toward him.

“How would I have guessed Snoopy?” Namjoon asked, looking down at his paper.

“Pick a card, Yoongi hyung,” Jimin said, clearly hoping to move past this situation as quickly as possible.

“I thought you said this game was fun,” Yoongi mumbled as he reached for his card.

He ignored Hoseok’s angry eyes as they turned to him.

“It was fun at Yewon’s place,” Hoseok said, anger turning into distress as he sat back on his legs.

Yoongi looked down at his card and read it aloud, “Am I a cat person, or a dog person?”

Jimin didn’t even take a moment before he began to write.

Hoseok scoffed.

“That’s too easy, everyone here knows Holly,” he said, pouting, before he turned to Jimin’s date. “Well, except you, I guess.”

Yoongi shrugged and said, “both. I like cats and dogs the same, just because I have Holly doesn’t mean I wouldn’t like a cat too.”

He looked over when Jimin cheered as he turned his notepad around to show he’d written: Both!!!

Yoongi couldn’t help but send him a soft smile, remembering how they’d talked about their shared love of both animals and how they couldn’t understand why people put themselves into the category of one or the other.

“Lucky guess?” Seokjin asked, as he reached for his card.

Yoongi avoided Hoseok’s eyes but he could feel his stare on him. Thankfully, Namjoon was more focused on his notepad and probably cursing its inability to give him the right answer to match Hoseok’s.

“What species would I want to be if I wasn’t a blank,” Seokjin read off.

“You fill the blank in with whatever your species is,” Namjoon explained.

Seokjin rolled his eyes. “Obviously.”

Jimin’s date studied Seokjin for a long moment, lifting his pen to his paper before he asked, “You’re a Jinn, right?”

Seokjin nodded.

The guy thought it over for another moment before he wrote his answer on the notepad. He didn’t even try to stop Jimin from peeking over his shoulder.

Once he was done they all turned to Seokjin.

“So?”

Seokjin scoffed. “Nothing, why would I want to be anything else? I’m the best as a Jinn.”

Jimin’s date’s eyes widened.

“I didn’t know that was an option.”

“Both wasn’t an option for the cat versus dog option, but Jiminie guessed it right anyway. It’s like you don’t even know me at all, Byeongho-ssi.”

Jimin fell against his date’s side as he laughed, which seemed to be what let the guy know Seokjin was only joking, his shoulders relaxing as he looked down at Jimin with a grin.

The notepad in Yoongi’s hand tore.

“What’d you put?” Namjoon asked, prompting Jimin’s date to turn his notepad around to show the group.

“A vampire?” Seokjin huffed, crossing his arms.

“I have a friend who’s a vampire, and you sort of remind me of him,” Jimin’s date said with a shrug.

Seokjin narrowed his eyes at the guy for a moment before he nodded and uncrossed his arms.

“I’ll allow it.”

“Hyung, it’s your turn,” Jimin said when Namjoon didn’t reach for the next card.

Namjoon looked around the circle, eyes stopping on Hoseok who was silently letting him know he would be blamed for picking the wrong card.

Apparently, luck was not on Namjoon’s side as his face paled as he read the card. He looked around at the group again, eyes close to desperate now.

“Can I choose another one?”

“Cheater, no,” Seokjin yelled, pushing the card back toward him when Namjoon tried to put it at the bottom of the deck.

“Any card but this one, please.”

“Ask the question, Namjoon,” Hoseok said, voice tight.

Namjoon turned to Yoongi as though he would save him from whatever this was, Yoongi offered him an unhelpful shrug.

“What’s my least favorite ice cream flavor?” Namjoon asked with all the enthusiasm of someone reading their last words before their execution.

Hoseok, on the other hand, perked up, his pen flying across his notepad.

Jimin laughed.

“Everyone knows this one, hyung, what’s the problem?”

Seokjin chimed in. “I should’ve let you put it back, this is too easy.”

Namjoon, though, kept his jaw clenched and his eyes down, the leaves in his hair began to shrivel.

They all sat and waited for him to give his answer, but apparently, Namjoon decided silence was his only answer.

Hoseok was clearly antsy to get a point for their team.

“I know this one, just answer.”

Namjoon shook his head.

Hoseok rolled his eyes and turned his notepad around. Yoongi squinted at the word written there and cringed, looking back at where Namjoon was making himself smaller and smaller.

“Vanilla?” Seokjin read out with a disbelieving scoff.

Jimin kept his mouth shut and looked between his brother and Hoseok who finally seemed to understand he’d been given false information at some point.

“You told me you hated vanilla,” Hoseok reminded him, stressing his words as he sat up straight.

Namjoon took a deep breath and said, “that wasn’t entirely accurate.”

“So, what is it really?” Jimin’s date asked, and Jimin put a hand on the guy’s arm to keep him from asking any more rage inducing questions.

Seokjin did not have the same reservations.

“How have you not heard about Joon-ie’s hatred for mint chocolate?” he asked with a laugh.

Yoongi had to wonder the same, as Namjoon had never been particularly forgiving about the existence of the flavor and always let people know about his feelings on it. How that had somehow slipped through Hoseok’s radar was confusing.

Hoseok’s gaze drilled into Namjoon’s head. If Yoongi didn’t know that he could only breathe fire from his mouth, he’d be sure flames were about to shoot out of his eyes. Yoongi was not convinced there wasn’t going to be some kind of fire tonight.

“Your least favorite ice cream is mint chocolate?” Hoseok asked, voice eerily calm.

Namjoon looked up at him, regret filling his eyes as he slowly nodded.

Hoseok’s lips were pursed as he took that information in.

“I see,” he said.

Without another word, he reached across the table to where Namjoon had set the card down and placed it onto the discard pile.

They all stayed quiet as they watched him, but Hoseok cleared his throat and said, “It’s your turn, Jimin-ah.”

Jimin looked around at the rest of them, a clear question in his eyes over whether they should continue, but the impatience in Hoseok’s stare seemed to be answer enough.

“What is my least favorite quality or type of person?” he read.

He tilted his head as he considered the question, reading over the card silently to himself.

Yoongi thought it over as well.

He remembered Jimin’s date at the coffee shop, about the struggles he’d been having with the woods behind the apartment complex, and he remembered all the anecdotes he’d heard on their walks and the way Jimin tended to speak about people.

Yoongi didn’t wait for Jimin to finish thinking how to answer, he had the only answer he would know from their limited time together, ready to accept that there was still so much about Jimin he hadn’t learned yet.

Nobody said a word for a minute before Jimin’s date nudged him and asked, “So?”

“Hm, I guess…people who don’t think about how their actions affect other people? Who go through life without any kind of consideration for what other people are going through,” Jimin said thoughtfully.

Yoongi’s stomach turned.

Seokjin smacked his knee when he didn’t turn the notepad around.

With a deep breath, Yoongi turned his answer around to reveal what he’d written.

When ‘Inconsiderate People’ was revealed to be Yoongi’s answer, a few things happened at once.

Jimin’s gaze flew up to meet Yoongi’s, his eyes were wide and unreadable.

Namjoon beside him said, “Whoa, really?”

And there was a crack of a pen snapping in half.

“Why did you know that? Why would you have known that?” Hoseok demanded, standing up and glaring daggers at Yoongi.

Before Yoongi could defend himself, say it was a guess or admit maybe he spent more time thinking about Jimin than he’d realized, Hoseok turned his ire to Namjoon.

“Why does he know that, but we don’t seem to know anything about each other? Why rain over the sun? Do you hate fire too? Why did you not say anything when I bought us mint chocolate ice cream last week?”

Hoseok didn’t wait for Namjoon to respond before he stomped over to the closet, grabbed his coat and his shoes and left without another word.

Yoongi looked to Namjoon to see him watching the door as though he was hoping Hoseok would storm back in and decide he wasn’t angry anymore. His eyes moved to where Jimin was looking down at the coffee table, his lips drooping into a small pout as he sat lost in thought. Jimin’s date on the other hand was looking right at Yoongi.

His eyes weren't hard and accusing the way Jimin's date from the coffee shop had been, but they were assessing Yoongi in a way they hadn’t all night.

“Can I talk to you for a minute, Jimin-ah?” his date asked, keeping his voice low to not disturb the uncomfortable quiet of the room.

Jimin nodded and together they stood and made their way into the kitchen.

That knocked Namjoon out of his stupor as he jumped up and grabbed his shoes before rushing out the door.

“I don’t know what they were talking about, that game was terrible,” Seokjin said.

Yoongi looked down to see Seokjin was looking back.

“Though what was all that about?” he asked, grabbing all the cards and putting them back together.

“What?”

“You and Jimin seem to know each other better than I thought, are you guys friends or something?”

“We just go on walks sometimes,” Yoongi answered, trying to make it sound as unsuspicious as it was, and making it sound extremely suspicious in the process.

“Walks?” Seokjin repeated, the look he was sending Yoongi turning to genuine interest now.

Yoongi huffed and stood up.

“Yes, just walks, he joins me when I walk Holly sometimes, that’s it,” he insisted, it sounded defensive to his own ears despite the fact that it was the truth.

“Ok, walks with Holly, got it,” Seokjin relented, holding up his hands for good measure.

Yoongi rolled his eyes and grabbed his empty bottle to take to the kitchen. It wasn’t until he was in the doorway that he remembered Jimin and his date were also there.

He’d turned the corner in time to see the Elemental place a kiss on Jimin’s forehead.

A moment later, the beer bottle he’d been holding was shattered to pieces at his feet.

“Really?” Seokjin’s incredulous voice came from behind him at the same time as Jimin gasped in front of him.

“Are you ok?” Jimin asked, taking a step toward Yoongi then turning and grabbing a dishtowel.

Yoongi looked at his hand to see he hadn’t been cut, he’d just overheated the bottle. He was really struggling with his fire lately.

“I’ll get going,” Jimin’s date said, sending Jimin a small smile.

“Wait, don’t step on anything, everyone keep still until I can clean this up,” Jimin argued.

His date lifted up though and began to float on the air, hovering off the ground.

“Show off,” Jimin said with an eye roll.

His date winked and began to float toward the doorway, Yoongi turned to allow the guy to pass.

“I’ll see you on Saturdays still, right?” Jimin asked, poking his head out of the kitchen to look at his date who dropped down to his feet.

“Definitely,” he said, turning to Seokjin then Yoongi. “It was nice meeting you guys, uh tell Hoseok and Namjoon the same.”

Yoongi watched the guy grab his things, and didn’t miss the way he shot Yoongi one last long look before he left.

“He seems nice,” Seokjin offered, as the three of them began to pick up the bigger pieces of glass around Yoongi’s feet.

“Yeah,” Jimin said, voice more melancholy than expected.

“But?” Yoongi hedged, noticing the tone.

Jimin shrugged.

“He said that he didn’t think things were gonna work out between us,” Jimin mumbled.

Yoongi tried to keep his face from looking as pleasantly surprised as he felt.

“Why? Did you tell him that Hoseok technically isn’t even your friend and your own friends probably won’t lose their minds over a terrible game?” Seokjin asked.

Jimin shook his head and let out a soft chuckle.

“I don’t think it was about that,” Jimin told them. “There’s something wrong with me, I think. I can’t seem to keep anyone’s interest.”

“Definitely not,” Yoongi argued, not liking the way Jimin was curling in on himself because some guy didn’t realize how great he was to keep seeing him. “Maybe he just figured out you’re too good for him and decided to save himself the embarrassment.”

Jimin’s eyes widened as Seokjin threw him an incredulous look that Yoongi chose to ignore.

“Anyone who turns you down or ends things with you is the one with the problem, yeah?”

That had Jimin watching him even closer and Yoongi understood what he’d just implied, but he wouldn’t take it back, as he believed it, especially in how it related to himself.

“Maybe you just have bad taste in guys,” he offered, squirming as Jimin looked at him like he was trying to read Yoongi’s thoughts and feeling the way Seokjin was trying to burn a hole into the side of his head.

Jimin relaxed back, laughing again.

“Whatever,” Jimin said with an eyeroll. “Maybe.”

He stepped around Yoongi in order to go get the vacuum cleaner, as he walked down the hallway he added, “Maybe it was for the best. If he couldn’t handle Hoseok-hyung, he definitely wouldn’t have been able to handle Taehyung and Kook-ie.”

Chapter Text

“Do I have bad taste in men?” Jimin asked, his head hanging off the side of Jungkook’s bed.

“Definitely,” was Taehyung’s response from Jimin’s phone.

Jungkook didn’t turn from where he sat at his desk, but Jimin was sure he had rolled his eyes.

“What should I do?” Jimin asked, sitting up and letting the blood rush back out of his head. “So far, I haven’t even been the one asking these guys out, except for Yoongi-hyung, but it’s like once they finally spend time with me they realize they don’t like me after all.”

Taehyung frowned as Jimin brought his phone closer to his face.

“I don’t know what those guys’ problem is, but it’s not you,” he insisted.

“Then what do I do?” Jimin asked, flopping back down.

“Well,” Jungkook spoke up, turning to look at him.

He didn’t continue the thought and Taehyung yelled, “Spit it out already.”

Jungkook rolled his eyes.

“I was wondering, are you no longer interested in women at all, hyung?”

Jimin frowned and turned his phone so he and Taehyung could share a look of confusion.

“I like women,” Jimin said slowly, starting to catch on to Jungkook’s question.

He had always defaulted to his attraction to men, but that didn’t mean he was never interested in women.

“Maybe you should try dating some women instead, see if that might help,” Jungkook said with a shrug before he turned back to his game.

Taehyung furrowed his eyebrows before he grinned.

“That’s actually a pretty good idea, Kook-ah, that’s a first for you,” he called out.

Jungkook sent him his middle finger. Despite the fact that Jimin still had his phone aimed toward his face, Taehyung sensed it and cussed Jungkook out for a minute as Jimin considered his options.

“Maybe try that dating app again, but switch to only women this time,” Taehyung suggested after he’d run out of steam in scolding Jungkook.

After the disaster of his last date from the dating app, Jimin wasn’t exactly thrilled about the idea of trying again, but he knew he’d just been unlucky with Woojin, he didn’t think the whole app was filled with similarly speciest people.

He hesitated for another moment before he relented. Opening the app, he went to his profile, changing his ‘looking for’ option from men to women.

The home page switched as soon as he went back, he was now presented with pages of women’s profiles, open for him to look through and try to find someone interesting.

A weight of exhaustion came over him at the idea.

“What am I doing? I wasn’t desperate to find someone to date before Yoongi-hyung turned me down. Now, that's all I can focus on.”

Jimin could faintly make out the small frown on Taehyung’s face as he sat in the tiny box of his phone screen.

“Don’t do anything you don’t wanna do, hyung,” Jungkook said, not looking away from his game. “You were dating to get over Yoongi-ssi. If you don’t feel as hurt by it anymore, or if maybe something’s changed between you…”

Jungkook trailed off, but Jimin knew what he was trying to get at.

He rolled his eyes as he exited the dating app and pulled Taehyung’s call up to full screen again.

“Nothing’s changed between us. Well, he’s been trying really hard to be my friend and that’s been nice. I don’t mind being his friend.”

“Make sure he knows there are at least two ahead of him and there are no cuts in line,” Taehyung said.

Jungkook snorted, but Jimin grinned and agreed.

It was a few hours later, while Jungkook and he were finishing dinner, Jimin checked his phone again to find he’d missed a message. Surprisingly, it was from the dating app.

He opened the app to see he’d gotten a few matches in the hours he’d been away, so far only one match had sent him a message. But it was enough to make him blush.

Hey sweetheart,
I checked out your profile, and I'm very interested to see if we match as well in person as we do on this site. It looks like we’re in the same city, I’d love to take you out this weekend if you’re free? Let me know, pretty.

Yoonji
Female, 28
Species: Demon

“What about this?” Yoonji asked, holding up a black dress to show Yoongi where he was spinning in her computer chair.

“It’s fine,” he offered.

She rolled her eyes and threw it onto her bed.

“Where’d you meet this girl anyway?” Yoongi asked, picking the dress up to feel the texture of it.

“Dating app,” his sister said, digging further into her closet to find an outfit to wear for her date.

He scoffed. “You’re on dating apps now?”

She threw him an unamused glare before going back to her closet.

“It’s easy and doesn’t require me to go out and deal with men in the process.”

“Fair enough,” he said, throwing the dress back onto the bed.

“What about this,” she said, turning to show him a wine red jumpsuit.

“It matches your horns.”

“Helpful observation, Gi-yah.”

“Well, where are you going? What’s the girl like? How should I know what will work?”

She sighed and pulled her phone out of her pocket.

“We’re just going to get dinner at the seafood place a few blocks over,” she said, scrolling through her phone. “And Jimin is a super cute dryad I snatched up as soon as her profile popped up on the app.”

Yoongi nearly fell out of his chair.

“Did you say a dryad named Jimin?” he choked out, stumbling as he rose, holding out his hand for her phone.

She smirked and nodded, though as he approached her it turned into a frown.

“Let me see her,” he said, desperate.

Yoonji clutched her phone to her chest.

“No, I was gonna show you, but now you’re acting like a creep.”

Yoongi rolled his eyes and grabbed for her phone. She zapped him for his efforts.

Hissing and shaking his hand, he reached out again with his other hand, more tentative this time.

“I’m serious, Ji-yah, I need to see what she looks like.”

“Why are you being so weird?” she asked, but after a moment of contemplation she turned her phone over to show him the picture she’d pulled up.

The first thing Yoongi recognized in the picture was Jimin’s tree, he saw it multiple times a day, every time he walked Holly they went past it and, every time, without fail, Yoongi would look to the tree and send it a nod. He couldn’t be sure, but sometimes he thought he saw it wave to him.

Before he could tell his sister the truth of the situation, his eyes caught on Jimin in the picture and a soft gasp left his lips.

He could see why, when expecting to see a woman, his sister had assumed that was what she was in the photograph.

Jimin’s pink hair was longer in the picture, and it matched the flowering buds on his tree where he was suspended. It appeared as though his vines were grown out, hugging around the thick trunk of the tree, making it look more like Jimin was floating above the ground instead of suspended from around a branch.

There was a flash of sunlight obscuring part of Jimin’s face, though one of his sweet, brown eyes was still showing, as well as a hint of his cute nose, and the lens flair did nothing to obscure his pouty lips that matched the pink of his hair.

He looked ethereal, like the stories of dryads had made them sound before civilization evolved and drew them out of their forests.

“Alright, that’s enough,” Yoonji said, snatching her phone back and zapping his hand even though he hadn’t fought her for it. “This one’s mine, get your own.”

Yoongi scowled, shaking out his hand again.

“You don’t want that one,” he told her simply.

“Oh no?”

“Not unless you start liking guys in the next couple of hours.”

Her scowl turned to a frown as she looked back down at this picture.

“No, I have the filter on for only women,” she said, though second guessed herself as she began clicking through her phone.

Yoongi shrugged and moved back to the chair.

“I don’t know what happened, but that person in the picture’s name is Park Jimin, he’s my next door neighbor.”

Her head shot up, sending daggers his way now.

“What the fuck is that asshole doing using the only women’s side?” she demanded.

“He’s not an asshole,” Yoongi shot back, bristling at her accusation. “He must’ve messed something up when he set it up, he wouldn’t have done that on purpose.”

“Well, he ruined my new dream of dating a beautiful dryad,” she said, her scowl turning to a pout as she threw her phone onto her bed and began collecting the discarded outfits she’d left there.

“I mean, he is still a beautiful dryad,” Yoongi mumbled.

She rolled her eyes and began hanging her clothes back up.

“What’re you gonna do?” he asked.

“Not go, obviously.”

Yoongi’s stomach sunk, for the last several weeks Jimin’s attempts to date people have gone terribly and Yoongi knew that was almost entirely his fault and his weird reaction to seeing Jimin with other people. After the game night, it has been hard for him to deny that he’d been struggling with the idea that if he couldn’t be with Jimin, he didn’t really want anyone else to get to be either.

He was aware of how unfair that was, and how he hadn’t allowed Jimin any say in the matter, but he’d been acting on instinct up until that point, no real strategical plan in the way he handled those things.

And maybe, along the way, he’d spent too much time thinking about Jimin, paying attention to him and keeping him as close as he could while also maintaining an arms length sort of relationship.

He drove himself crazy. He couldn’t imagine what he was putting Jimin through.

But he couldn’t be the reason another one of Jimin’s date’s failed. Not this time.

“You have to go,” he said, getting up and snatching the last dress out of her hand.

Yoonji scoffed.

“A date with a man is still with a man no matter how pretty he is,” she said, grabbing at her dress again.

“I’m serious, Ji, you cannot stand him up.”

“I’ll send him a message on the app to let him know at the same time I chew him out for coming onto the wrong side.”

“No, please just…please just go on the date, tell him about the mix up, and be nice to him.”

She looked him over for a moment.

“It’s like you don’t know me at all,” she screeched, zapping him once again as she tore her dress from his hands.

Yoongi began to pace, panic rising at Jimin having another terrible night because of him.

“What am I gonna do?” he asked out loud, though more to himself than anything.

“Just go in my place if you wanna date him so bad,” she said with a shrug.

“I can’t.”

“Why? Just show up and tell him what happened, get a spontaneous date out of it.”

“I can’t,” he stressed again, turning to look at her again. “His brother is my best friend, and…he kind of already asked me out a while ago and I turned him down and have been trying to befriend him since. If I turn up at that date he’s going to think I’m fucking with him.”

Yoonji crossed her arms as she looked him over before she snorted.

“You’re a disaster.”

“I’m aware.”

“Your friend doesn’t want you to date him?” she asked, sitting down on the edge of her bed.

He shook his head.

“He’s never actually said that, but in college, Namjoon was sharing some pictures with our housemates and one of the guys said something kind of suggestive about Jimin and Namjoon lost it on him. When Jimin asked me out, all I could picture was that day when Joon shot thorns at Junho.”

Yoonji’s eyes widened.

“Oh shit.”

“Yeah, so…please just meet with him and tell him you’re a raging lesbian and there’s nothing wrong with him. It’s not even a date, it’ll just be you having dinner with a friend of mine. I’ll pay.”

Yoonji arched an eyebrow.

“No,” she said slowly.

He prepared himself to offer her whatever she may want in return, but before he could say a word, she smirked in a way that made his stomach drop.

“I have a way better idea, where you get what you want, and is much more fun for me.”

Yoongi cowered away from her as she stood and held out the dress in her hand.

The grin she sent him presented her as every bit of the demon she was.

Jimin fiddled with the cutlery as he waited for Yoonji to arrive. It had been a long time since he’d last been on a date with a woman and he hoped it would go well. She’d been bold and forward over messages, but Jimin hadn’t minded too much, he was excited to talk with someone with such a strong personality.

There was a soft throat clear behind him and Jimin turned around to see if it was her.

His eyes widened when he saw Yoongi standing there, only, not Yoongi?

Jimin frowned as he stood, trying to make sense of what he was seeing.

A demon was standing in front of him with Yoongi’s face, but different, softer though also sharper due the makeup highlighting her eyes.

Unlike Yoongi, the girl also wasn’t wearing a talisman, her eyes shining fully black and her horns were a beautiful plum color that hooked up over her straight, shoulder length hair.

He’d also never seen Yoongi wear a skirt before, let alone a knee length pencil shirt with a long slit up the side. It went well with the boxy looking blazer she wore on top.

Jimin knew he was staring, probably making her uncomfortable, so he quickly cleared his throat and shook his thoughts away from Min Yoongi and onto his date, Yoonji.

He almost smacked himself in the head when he realized.

“Yoonji-ssi,” Jimin greeted her, bowing lower than normal to make up for his initial lack of manners.

She nodded.

“Jimin-ah,” she said, her voice close to a whisper, as though she was struggling to speak.

He hadn’t expected that from her bold messages. Still, he nodded and sent her a grin.

“I’m sorry, I have to ask this, is your brother Min Yoongi?”

Yoonji’s eyes widened for a moment before she nodded.

That made sense, she was Yoongi’s twin after all, he hadn’t expected them to be identical though.

He quickly moved around the table to hold her chair out for her, he couldn’t help but notice the way her cheeks colored. She came off so differently in person than she had online.

“Thank you,” she mumbled softly as she sat.

Jimin smiled and moved back to his own seat.

When they were sitting across from each other he looked her over again, shocked he hadn’t put the pieces together before. She’d caught him off guard when she messaged, he hadn’t spent much time considering how similar she looked to Yoongi.

“You look a little different from your photo,” he said. “I didn’t even realize who you were until I saw you in person. Your brother has actually told me a lot about you.”

Yoonji looked him over for a moment. She grabbed her water to take a drink before she said, “You look different from your picture too.”

Jimin’s skin flushed, he knew he shouldn’t have let Taehyung convince him to use the older picture. He wasn’t nearly as pretty as he’d been with his long hair.

“I guess you’re right,” he said with a forced laugh.

They sat in awkward silence for a moment before the waiter came to take their order. Once his hands were free of holding the menu, Jimin rubbed his sweaty palms on his thighs.

Thankfully, Yoonji seemed more nervous than uninterested, her eyes scanning the room like she was afraid of being found there.

“So, what do you do?” Jimin asked once it became clear she wasn’t going to be the one leading the conversation, unlike how they’d interacted on the app.

Yoonji’s eyes shifted back to Jimin, they were just as he remembered Yoongi’s to be, like black diamonds, sharp and sparkling.

“I’m a designer,” she said softly, reaching up to tuck a stand of hair behind her ear to show off her sharp jawline better.

“Oh, that’s cool, anything I may have seen around?”

She shrugged.

“I sell some of my designs to a few stores around here, mostly I sell them online.”

Jimin grinned.

“You should send me a link to your shopfront, I’d love to see your stuff.”

Yoonji nodded and took another sip of her water.

Jimin dug through his brain for anything else to talk about when, thankfully, Yoonji finally spoke up.

“What about you?” she asked, then added. “What’s your job?”

“Oh, I’m a research assistant in the University’s Marine Life department.”

“You must be smart,” she offered.

Jimin chuckled.

“No, no, just a special interest.”

“My special interest when my brother and I were growing up was seeing if I could turn all of his CDs into my own type of chakram until he hid in his room. I think your special interest got you a little further than mine.”

Jimin threw his head back, a real laugh breaking through this time.

Yoonji looked pleased to have caused it.

He wiped his eyes as he asked, “Did you terrorize Yoongi-hyung a lot when you two were younger?”

She nodded emphatically.

“Still do, to this day.”

Jimin laughed again.

“You must be the older twin then,” he said. “My older brother was always causing me problems.”

Yoonji’s eyebrow raised.

“If I asked your brother would he agree?”

Jimin let out an exaggerated gasp.

“I was an angel,” he insisted.

A flush went through him as a fuzzy, drunken memory of him asking Yoongi if angels were demon’s enemies ran through his brain.

“I’ve been wondering,” she said, moving past the moment without noting Jimin’s change in demeanor.

“What’s that?”

“Have you ever been with a demon before?”

Jimin’s eyes widened.

“Who had the haemultang?”

He let out a breath as he was temporarily saved from having to reply by the impatient waiter holding their food.

Once they got their food and began to dig in, Jimin almost started a new conversation, hoping they could move on from it.

He wasn’t fast enough before she leaned in further.

“Do you have a thing for demons?”

Jimin flushed again.

“Um, I wouldn’t say I have a thing for demons, but…” he trailed off, licking his lips and looking around before he leaned in as well. “My first crush was a demon, so, I guess I do have a bit of a type.”

That surprised her, she leaned back as she took in that information. Jimin noted how much her contemplative face looked like Yoongi's. It was eerie how similar they were, he figured that was standard for twins.

It was weird admitting his first crush to her, especially as that crush had been on her brother. Jimin wasn’t sure what to do in this situation, even if Yoonji ended up being great and someone he could see himself wanting to get close to, he couldn’t imagine his feelings for her brother wouldn’t cause issues, and Jimin couldn’t tell if his interest in her would only be because she was so much like Yoongi.

“I see,” she said as she thought that over.

“Is that surprising?”

She shrugged, though the look on her face wasn’t as nonchalant as she clearly wanted to appear.

“Not that many people are interested in demons,” she explained.

Jimin frowned, that had been so far from his own experience that it felt incorrect. But in his time getting to know Yoongi, he’d come to understand demons still dealt with discrimination in so many ways he hadn’t expected.

“They’re missing out then,” he said.

That caused her to let out a choked gasp of a laugh, covering her face as her shoulders shook.

He grinned and couldn’t help himself but say, “You and Yoongi-hyung have the same laugh.”

She sobered immediately, her eyes widening before she combed her hair back so it fell into a shiny curtain in front of her reddening face.

“It’s a good laugh,” he assured her, hoping she hadn’t taken it the wrong way.

Yoonji still kept her head ducked, but he could see the small grin spread across her lips.

Despite the rocky start, dinner had been nice, Yoonji had been quieter than he expected, but still funny and smart and became easier to talk to as the night went on.

It had been a great date, with a lovely woman.

Which was why it was so difficult for him to admit to himself that he wouldn’t be able to see her again, at least not in a romantic capacity.

They stepped out into the cool night, Jimin shivered and tucked his hands into his pockets as he turned to where Yoonji was tucking her nose into the scarf wrapped around her neck.

“Are your legs cold?” he asked, worried as her bare legs shook.

She shook her head though.

“Demon,” she reminded him. “I can regulate my temperature better than most.”

“Oh,” was all he could say, wondering if the scarf and coat were style choices.

Instead of letting those thoughts linger, Jimin took a deep breath and met Yoonji’s eyes, which was how he noticed she looked about as nervous as he felt.

“Noona, I-”

“Let’s talk over here,” she stopped him, nodding to an alcove a few buildings down.

Jimin frowned but followed anyway.

When they got to the alcove, slightly out of view of the rest of the street, Jimin noted she had her lip between her teeth. Looking even more worried than he was, as though she knew what he was about to say.

Which meant he had to just get it out there fast, so they could both relax.

“I had a really good time, noona,” he said, feeling tremors in his throat as he spoke. “But, I think…well, your brother, I-”

“Wait,” she said, putting a hand on his arm to stop him.

He looked down at her touch and frowned, noticing her hands for the first time. They were…larger than he expected.

“I have to tell you something,” she said, her voice pulling out of the soft whisper she’d been speaking with all evening, becoming deeper and more familiar.

Jimin’s eyes widened as she reached up and pulled the wig off her, or his, head, revealing Yoongi’s shorter, wavier hair.

Just as he thought earlier, he was definitely looking at Yoongi’s face, different from what he was used to due to Yoongi’s demon form showing, along with the makeup he’d added to alter his appearance.

Jimin stood dumbfounded as Yoongi fiddled with the wig in his hands.

“I’m sorry Jimin-ah,” he said, slowly.

“What?” was all Jimin was able to choke out.

Yoongi finally lifted his eyes to meet Jimin’s.

“This was such a stupid idea,” Yoongi said, closing his eyes and shaking his head. “But I couldn’t let you say whatever you were gonna say without you knowing the truth.”

“I don’t understand,” Jimin said, his voice shaking.

What was happening? Jimin had just had a date with Yoongi, only Yoongi had been dressed up as and acting as though he was his sister. Jimin felt like his brain was filled with static.

“You matched with Yoonji,” Yoongi started, still looking at the wig in his hands. “But…something must’ve happened when you changed your app settings, because Yoonji is a lesbian, she wouldn’t have matched with you.”

Jimin blinked.

He was looking at Yoongi dressed up as his sister right now because he’d messed up an app setting?

“Am I dreaming?”

Yoongi grimaced.

“This definitely wasn’t the right way to go about this, I understand that,” he said slowly. “She was gonna cancel on you, and I just couldn’t take being the reason another date of yours went wrong.”

“You…the reason?” Jimin wasn’t speaking in real sentences anymore, he noted somewhere in the back of his mind.

“It’s my fault everyone keeps leaving, and it’s not fair to you, and I just couldn’t let it happen again.”

“So, you came so I could have the date, but you dressed up as your sister, because…”

“Because it’s ok if Yoonji dates you.”

Jimin frowned and noted, “But she’s a lesbian.”

Yoongi let out a frustrated groan. Jimin wasn’t sure if that was fair or not, he couldn’t tell if he just wasn’t understanding a vital piece of information to make it all make sense or if the situation was as ridiculous as it felt.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t do it to trick you or to mess with you or…or anything you might be thinking.”

Jimin shook his head, he hadn’t even been thinking of that. He wasn’t even sure what that would be, some kind of cruel prank between Yoongi and his sister? It didn’t feel like a prank, at least not in the sense where he was left humiliated and ashamed, and he couldn’t picture Yoongi doing something like that, at least not intentionally.

“I still don’t understand,” he said, shaking his head, looking around trying to figure out how he’d found himself in this situation.

Yoongi’s shoulders sank, and he reached up to scratch at the space where his horns met the skin of his forehead.

Jimin wished he could have seen Yoongi’s horns more before now, they were bigger than he remembered, curled more to accommodate their length, and sharp in a way that made them look dangerous if Yoongi wanted them to be.

Getting to take a moment to appreciate the demon’s true appearance was strange given their current circumstances.

“There’s no good explanation I have for why I did this,” Yoongi admitted. “I just…I wanted you to have a nice night, and I wanted to be the one to give that to you.”

And yet, he hadn’t come to the date as himself, he’d come dressed as his sister, in order to not have to be the one on the date.

Jimin was right the first time, none of it made any sense.

“I think I’m gonna go,” Jimin said, not wanting to stand in the alcove anymore trying to figure out what was going on.

He needed to be at home, in bed, as he let the events of the evening and the last two months play through his mind.

“Can I walk you?” Yoongi asked, voice slightly desperate.

Jimin cringed.

“I can’t stop you, we live at the same place, but I don’t want to walk together,” he said, shaking his head.

Yoongi didn’t take another step forward, so Jimin turned and walked home alone.

Chapter Text

Jimin laid awake in the early morning. He’d thankfully fallen asleep almost as soon as he’d gotten into bed, his exhausted mind too tired to keep running.

But it was barely six in the morning and he was awake again, an unfortunate experience he usually only had to endure when he was watching Yeontan for the night. He couldn’t stop thinking about what he’d learned.

Yoongi had blamed himself for Jimin’s failed attempts at dating, desperate enough to dress as his sister to make sure he hadn’t ruined another one. He couldn’t imagine Yoongi feeling that bad about the encounter with Woojin in the coffee shop to resort to such extreme measures.

The only other date Yoongi had interacted with had been Byeongho, but Yoongi hadn’t done anything to him, it had been Byeongho who’d taken Jimin into the kitchen and gently told him he didn’t think Jimin was in a place for dating other people. Jimin hadn’t known what people Byeongho thought he was in a place to date, but instead of giving him a straight answer, Byeongho had just shaken his head and left a kiss on Jimin’s forehead as a parting gesture.

They’d still worked out together those past couple of weekends since and thankfully things hadn’t been awkward, funnily enough, or maybe not given what Jimin was trying to determine now, he’d asked how Yoongi was doing, bypassing mentioning the rest of the people they’d spent time with that night. He hadn’t even noticed them interacting that night.

Jimin sighed.

Namjoon had been in a bit of a daze lately as he and Hoseok apparently tried to figure out what they were to each other. Jimin didn’t understand why they couldn’t be together, why they had to keep dancing around it even though the truth was fully out on the table after the disaster of a game.

Hoseok clearly took the outcome of the game as something meaningful. Perhaps Byeongho had as well, seeing Jimin and Yoongi's win as an indication of their relationship being more than it was.

Maybe Yoongi saw it that way too.

Jimin bit his lip, trying to see Yoongi’s actions the night before from the same angle, Yoongi desperate for Jimin to not get stood up by his sister, so he went instead. It was an odd, but sweet gesture in a way, if Jimin were to look at it like that.

Anything else was too cruel or too unhinged for Yoongi to be engaged in.

The only solution, he had to admit, was Yoongi had feelings for him, but for whatever reason, he couldn’t act on those feelings. Was it because he regretted rejecting Jimin and believed he wouldn’t have another chance? Or was there something else holding him back?

Those were questions he’d need to ask Yoongi in order to make an informed decision.

Which was how he found himself rolling out of bed, throwing on a shirt and heading straight to the front door.

It wasn’t until he had his hand raised to knock that he remembered it was still early morning and waking Yoongi up to talk about his potential feelings probably wasn’t the best move. He contemplated going back inside, maybe even trying to get some more rest and wait until the afternoon to talk. But his restless mind wouldn’t allow for waiting, so he decided to take a chance on maybe catching Yoongi when he was still half asleep and his guard was down enough to tell him the truth.

Only, as soon as his knuckles hit the wood of the door, it swung open.

It wasn’t Yoongi on the other side.

“Oh,” the demon who’d nearly barreled into him said as he took a step back.

Jimin also stepped back from the door.

“Sorry,” Jimin offered.

The demon chuckled and nodded his head. He was somewhat disheveled, looking like he’d had a long night without much sleep, his chin length hair was sticking up in the back and he had a blazer, suspiciously similar to the one Yoongi had worn the night before, hanging over his shoulders, not quite covering the thin shirt he wore beneath it.

“I’ll switch you spots,” the demon said, maneuvering around so Jimin was in the doorway and he was out in the hallway.

Jimin stood in the open doorway and said nothing as the demon sauntered off.

“Don’t forget your watch, Yijeong-ah,” Yoongi’s voice called from somewhere farther in the apartment.

There were footsteps in Yoongi’s hall moving toward him and as quick as a lightning strike, Jimin was out of the doorway, closing the door behind him with an unfortunate slam.

It wasn’t until he’d run back to his bedroom and flung himself onto his bed, that his mind caught up to the sick feeling rolling in his stomach.

Yoongi didn’t want him, he had whoever that guy was, who he’d apparently called over after their weird non-date last night.

Jimin fought back the traitorous tears that began to form at the edge of his eyes, there was no reason to cry, Yoongi had already told him no once. Confusing behavior or not, Jimin not being able to let go of his feelings and almost pushing the matter again, was a problem. He needed to get over his crush once and for all, which meant putting some distance between them.

At least he’d been saved from the humiliation of asking Yoongi out again.

Yoongi sighed as Holly focused on the same spot he always stopped at, morning, afternoon and night.

He directed some of his internal heat up toward his face where the bitter winds were beginning to hit. He was blinking away the tears the wind had created in his eyes when he saw movement within the trees.

His head whipped over, looking for Jimin doing his weekly clean up. It’d been a week since Yoongi had last talked to him. He’d seen him a few times since, but those times included Jimin seeing him as well and sprinting away when Yoongi made any motion to approach.

It wasn’t like Yoongi could blame him, after the stunt he'd pulled. He still couldn’t believe he let Yoonji convince him to dress up like her. He wasn’t sure if he was more humiliated or disturbed by what he’d done.

Yijeong had found it hilarious when Yoongi explained why he was meeting him at a bar wearing a pencil skirt and makeup.

Hilarious was the one thing Yoongi did not think it was, especially as it had caused Jimin to avoid him even more than he’d tried to do after he’d first asked Yoongi out.

Yoongi’s eyes raced back and forth, looking for Jimin’s pink hair among the brown of the trees and their dead leaves.

Instead of Jimin though, his eyes landed on Namjoon who was resting against the base of his own tree, a book in hand, flipping through pages with fingerless gloves on.

“Why are you out when it’s this cold?” Yoongi called out, stepping off the path toward him.

Namjoon’s head shot up to look over at Yoongi. He sent him a small greeting smile as he marked his page in his book and closed it.

“It was getting lonely,” Namjoon said, placing his hand on the bark of his tree. “It’s almost winter, it hates the last few weeks before sleep.”

Yoongi nodded, looking up at the mostly bare branches. He wondered what loneliness felt like for a tree.

Namjoon reached out as Holly began sniffing around him and Yoongi released his hold on the leash so Holly could get proper pets from Namjoon.

“Everything ok?” Namjoon asked, looking up but continuing to give Holly belly rubs.

“Hm? Yeah, sure.”

Namjoon raised an eyebrow. “That was convincing.”

Yoongi rolled his eyes.

He looked around the forest, his eye catching on Jimin’s tree a few away.

“How’s Jimin doing?” he asked, looking back over to Namjoon.

“Jimin? Fine, I guess.”

Yoongi nodded, good, at least he wasn’t noticeably upset. Not that Yoongi would rely on Namjoon to be the one to pick up on Jimin’s emotions, but he’d take it for now.

“How about you and Hoseok?” he asked.

He’d talked to both since their failure of a game night, but Namjoon hadn’t been forthcoming, not that Yoongi had asked. As for Hoseok, he’d spoken in riddles about what was going on with him and Namjoon, and Yoongi had walked away feeling even more confused than when he’d first started talking to him.

Namjoon hunched his shoulders.

“Things are…ok,” he said, hesitantly. “We’re working on it.”

“What is “it” exactly?”

“You know we’ve been sort of dancing around each other since college.”

Yoongi shrugged. They hadn’t talked about it back then either, but the signs had been there.

“We sort of finally started talking about things more over the last few months. And it felt like it was leading to something. But then we played that game…we were partners at Yewon’s place too and we did well. I think Hoseok saw it as a good sign that we were really right for each other. Then when we did poorly he felt like…I don’t know what he felt like, but he definitely started questioning things.”

Yoongi frowned. “I think you guys have known each other long enough that a few random questions shouldn’t make you question how you feel about each other.”

Namjoon shrugged. “Yeah, well, try telling him that. I’m sure the fact he found out I lied didn’t help.”

Yoongi snorted. “Yeah, what was that about?”

“He bought mint chocolate ice cream for us to share, he was excited about it, what was I supposed to do?”

Yoongi let out a low whistle.

“If that didn’t prove you were fully in it I’m not sure what will,” he said, mostly serious, it was too bad Hoseok couldn’t fully understand the weight of Namjoon’s sacrifice.

“Yeah well…like I said, we’re working on it.”

Yoongi nodded, he supposed that was all any of them could do.

He bit his lip, watching Holly sniff around the dead leaves.

“You said you guys did well with that game the first night?”

“Yeah, I guess we got lucky, or just unlucky the second time.”

“Do you really think answering those questions correctly means something significant?”

Namjoon thought it over and shrugged.

“I think it can signify that you pay attention to the other person, and understand them in ways that you wouldn’t with just anyone. I don’t know that I’d base a whole relationship on it, but I think it’s a good sign if you know your partner enough to be able to guess the things they’d say correctly.”

Yoongi’s stomach was rolling and he could feel the blood rushing through his veins, but he knew this was his moment.

“Jimin and I won, ya know.”

Namjoon rolled his eyes.

“I’m aware.”

“I pay attention to him.”

Namjoon looked up.

“I notice the things that he does, I listen to what he says and I store it for later, and I think about what might make him laugh the next time I see him.”

Namjoon stood, Yoongi kept himself from taking a step back.

“I care about him a lot, Joon, more than I think I really understood for a while.”

“What are you trying to say to me right now?” Namjoon asked, his eyes narrowing.

“I’m not asking you for your blessing, I don’t even know if I have Jimin’s at this point. But you’re my friend, and I respect you, and I just thought you might want to know what I’m feeling right now.”

Namjoon shook his head.

“You guys don’t even know each other, you go on a couple of ten minute walks together and you think you know my brother?”

“It wasn’t a couple,” Yoongi argued, though in truth their daily walks had ended after about two weeks, but they’d been able to have a few more of those since, even if it hadn’t been daily.

Plus, Jimin had asked him out during those two weeks, so he apparently hadn’t cared how long their walks were, and Jimin’s opinion on the matter was the only one he cared about. He wished he had understood that sooner.

“He expressed interest a month or so ago,” Yoongi admitted. “And I turned him down because I didn’t think you'd be ok with it, but at this point Joon, all I care about is what Jimin thinks. And it’s possible he’ll tell me to leave him alone, and if he does, I will. But if he's willing to give me a second chance, I'd regret not taking it.”

Namjoon scowled as he looked around.

“I don’t like it.”

“Why not? What’s wrong with me?”

That had Namjoon looking at him again.

“Nothing.”

“Then?”

“It’s weird, having my brother date my friend, it’s uncomfortable. That’s my brother, you’re supposed to think of him as your brother too.”

Yoongi laughed.

“I have never thought of Jimin as my brother.”

Namjoon scowled again.

It wasn’t a perfect response, but at least Namjoon wasn’t shooting thorns at him, so he would take it.

They stood in silence for several minutes before Namjoon huffed and rubbed his head, one of the leaves in his hair drifted down to join the ones from the trees on the ground.

“So, why do you think he might not be interested anymore?”

Yoongi cringed.

“Well, like I said, I rejected him once. Things have been weird between us since. Then I did something stupid.”

“What did you do?” Namjoon asked, anger taking over once again. “See, this is why I don’t want my friends dating my brother, I’m gonna have to be mad at you anytime you do something stupid.”

“I dressed as Yoonji and went on a date with him as her.”

The fire in Namjoon’s eyes dimmed into bewilderment.

“I…for…what?”

“It’s a long story and it boils down to me being stupid and a coward, ok. So, now Jimin has been avoiding me and I need to figure out if it’s because he’s completely weirded out by me or wants nothing to do with me or if there’s still something there where I have a chance.”

Namjoon shook his head.

“I dunno, like I said, I haven’t noticed anything. Most of what he’s seemed upset about is the fact that the apartment complex apparently hasn’t actually been keeping any of the security footage of the woods, so we have nothing to use to turn in trespassers.”

Yoongi scowled. “Why aren’t they taking this seriously?”

Namjoon shrugged.

“They keep saying that it’s just a few people walking through and just some litter.”

“Then they should come clean it up instead of Jimin having to do it by himself every week,” Yoongi said, sending a glare toward the apartments, hoping whoever Jimin talked to could feel it from there.

“I help,” Namjoon argued.

Yoongi turned back to raise his eyebrow up at him.

“When I’m out here,” Namjoon amended.

Yoongi rolled his eyes.

He and Holly were finishing up their walk when a text came through.

He moved away from the path, and away from the burn spot on the sidewalk, a constant reminder of his shame, and allowed Holly a few more minutes exploring the grass as he pulled out his phone to see new messages from Yijeong.

Yoongi scowled.

Yoongi stared at his phone, his frown deepening.

Jimin had come over the next morning to talk and changed his mind? And now he wasn’t interacting with Yoongi at all. What could’ve changed his mind so quickly? When all that apparently happened was him running into Yijeong.

Yoongi’s stomach sank.

If Jimin saw Yijeong leaving Yoongi’s place early, he probably had the correct assumption that he’d stayed over, and the very incorrect assumption that something non-platonic had happened between him and Yoongi that wasn’t just Yoongi meeting him at a demon bar still in his sister’s pencil skirt and drinking double their weight in alcohol as he confessed his and his sister’s unhinged plan.

They’d gone home that night and passed out on Yoongi’s couch and bed respectively and that was all.

But Jimin wouldn’t have known that.

He needed to fix things.

Jimin looked up at the knock on the front door before he went back to his phone.

A few seconds passed, and another knock came.

Jimin frowned and listened for any movement in the hallway, but there was no sign of life.

“Hyung, someone’s at the door,” he called out, continuing his game.

A third knock came not long after, much louder then, and Jimin huffed as he pulled himself out of bed and stomped his way out of his room, down the hall and to the main room in order to throw open the door.

His eyes widened when he saw Yoongi there, back in the form Jimin had grown used to, the obsidian talisman around his neck, the black of his eyes sucked down into just the center, no horns coming out over where he’d pulled his dark hair into a low ponytail.

He was also wearing pants today.

Along with his normal look came his abnormal behavior, his hands were fiddling with something Jimin couldn’t make out.

Jimin had half a mind to shut the door in Yoongi’s face and run back to his room.

Instead, he braced himself for whatever Yoongi might be there to say.

“Hi,” was what Yoongi offered.

Jimin tried not to let himself grin.

“Hi,” he answered, slowly.

“Um, I was wondering if you’d like to walk with Holly and me tonight.”

Jimin’s insides twisted.

He would like to, he would like to spend much more time with Yoongi and talk about their days and make each other laugh, but that wouldn’t be a good idea for his heart or for Yoongi’s relationship.

“I don’t think-”

“Holly misses you,” Yoongi said, cutting Jimin’s rejection off.

Jimin raised an eyebrow.

“Hyung, I think-”

“Please?”

There was a tremor in his voice, a desperation there that told Jimin this was more than a walk. Maybe he’d get answers for what Yoongi had done the other night at least, maybe some kind of closure. Maybe Yoongi would tell him about his demon boyfriend and remind Jimin that he never had a chance to begin with.

Jimin took a deep breath and nodded.

“Let me grab my coat.”

Yoongi’s eyes lit up.

“I’ll grab Holly,” he said, before running back into his apartment without waiting for a response.

Jimin couldn’t help but chuckle. So much for Holly being the one who missed Jimin.

They met back up in the hallway a couple minutes later and Jimin noted the way one of Yoongi’s hands was stuffed into his coat pocket, subtle movement from within signaling he was fidgeting, most likely with the same thing he’d been holding before.

Jimin didn’t ask, just reached down to pet Holly in greeting before he followed Yoongi outside.

As adamant as he’d been about wanting Jimin to join him on the walk, Yoongi spent the first few minutes in silence, deep in thoughts far away from where Jimin walked beside him.

Jimin didn’t break his concentration, unsure of what he even wanted Yoongi to say to him. Maybe silence was the best way to get through the interaction.

So, Jimin watched Holly sniff around all his favorite spots and looked over at the woods, examining the area for any stray litter. Thankfully, the woods appeared untouched, it almost shimmered in the low, sunsetting light.

He couldn’t help but admire the way his woods looked that evening, even with the trees all ready to sleep for the winter, it seemed to be wrapped in a sort of sparkling magic, at least more magic than a dryad forest was already filled with.

Jimin only looked away when there was a soft throat clearing beside him.

“Jimin-ah,” Yoongi said, voice tight as he pulled out the thing in his hand and held his palm up for Jimin to see.

It was a crystal, half the size of Yoongi’s palm, translucent with clouds of white drifting within it.

Jimin studied the pretty crystal for a moment before he looked back up at Yoongi, a silent question he hoped Yoongi could read.

“It’s for you,” Yoongi said, moving his hand closer so Jimin could take it.

Jimin’s heart beat just that much quicker as he slowly reached out to take the crystal from Yoongi’s hand. Despite the cool temperature surrounding them, the crystal was heated to the touch. A warmth like a midday sunbeam washed over him as he closed his hand around it.

“Thank you,” he said, softly.

He looked down once more at the crystal, admiring the way it shimmered even with such little sunlight left.

“What kind is it?” he asked.

Yoongi watched him for a long moment, eyes staring deep into him enough to warm him even more than the crystal had.

“I’ll show you,” Yoongi said before he stepped off the path and began walking toward the woods.

Jimin began to follow behind slowly, but stopped when Yoongi and Holly both veered off to the side, as though they’d realized they were going in the wrong direction before.

Jimin stepped closer, confused even further when Yoongi turned back toward the woods and took one step toward it before he quickly turned away again.

“What’re you doing?” Jimin asked, unable to keep the small laugh from his voice.

Yoongi turned toward him with a grin.

“Go in,” he said, nodding toward the trees.

“Go in?”

“Just step within the boundaries of the forest,” Yoongi explained.

Jimin frowned but did as Yoongi said, taking slow deliberate steps, feeling a sense of peace as he crossed the boundaries and stopped when he was beside one of his neighbor’s trees.

He turned back to look at where Yoongi and Holly stood, outside of the boundary watching him.

“Now what?” Jimin asked.

Yoongi grinned.

“Now, you shouldn’t have to worry about trespassers anymore.”

“What?” Jimin tilted his head and stepped back to where Yoongi stood.

“I warded the area all around the boundaries. Only those who belong in the woods should be able to step foot in it. As long as you keep the crystal I gave you, anyone who tries to trespass will have their path diverted.”

Jimin let Yoongi’s words process, his eyes watering as he came to understand what Yoongi said.

He gasped and turned around, studying his forest again, feeling the protective spell surrounding it now that he understood what to look for.

“You…” Jimin started to say as he turned back to look at Yoongi, but words failed to come to him.

He clutched the crystal in his hand tighter, holding his fist to his chest as the weight of Yoongi’s gift rushed through him.

“Thank you,” he managed, his voice nothing but a whisper, but he was sure Yoongi heard him.

“Jimin-ah, I need to say, out loud, that the wards, the crystal, is a gift. Not something I would or even could take back at this point as you hold the key, not me,” Yoongi said, taking one step toward him.

Jimin nodded to show he understood.

“And I want to apologize for a lot of things.”

Jimin shook his head, he didn’t think Yoongi had anything to apologize to him for. But Yoongi continued.

“I want to apologize for the stunt I pulled last Saturday, I didn’t think it through and used some of my desperation to cloud my judgment until it was too late. I didn’t mean to trick you or to disrespect you in any way. I also want to apologize for the way I’ve ruined all of your attempts at dates, it wasn’t right of me, regardless of how I felt, I’m an adult and I know better than to let jealousy get the better of me like that.”

Jimin frowned. Jealousy? Yoongi ruining his dates? Plural? He was so lost.

“Hyung-” he started, but apparently, Yoongi wasn’t done.

“And most of all, I’m sorry I said no when you asked me out. I let what I thought Namjoon felt prioritize how I felt and worst of all over how you felt. That wasn’t fair to any of us, and only caused all of this mess in the first place.”

That struck Jimin in the chest.

“You regret saying no?”

“Every day,” Yoongi admitted easily.

“But,” Jimin started, brows furrowed. “What about the guy you’re seeing or were with Saturday night?”

Yoongi shook his head fast.

“Just a friend, nothing between us at all, ever. He just joined me at a bar as I drank to try to forget the way I screwed things up with you, again.”

Jimin was stunned. Had he been so caught up in his own attempts to get over Yoongi that he’d missed Yoongi struggling to deal with his regret?

“So, you’re saying, if I asked you again, you’d say yes?”

“In a heartbeat,” Yoongi said before Jimin had even finished his question.

Jimin covered his mouth as a delighted laugh burst through. His chest felt like it had erupted in a thousand leaves swirling in a mid-autumn breeze.

A giddiness ran through him, his vines weaved up and down, they wanted to grow and reach out and touch Yoongi, but Jimin held them back for now.

There was one thing Jimin had to address, as he wouldn’t stand for Yoongi blaming himself.

“You saying you ruined my dates, you have to know that what happened with Woojin wasn’t your fault, and I’m glad I learned what a jerk he was early on so I didn’t waste anymore time on him. If anything you did me a favor with that.”

Yoongi chuckled weakly, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Besides, none of the people I tried to date in the last couple months were really what I was interested in anyway,” Jimin admitted, understanding what Byeongho had meant in the kitchen when he said that he could tell Jimin wasn’t available, he’d seen it even if Jimin thought he’d hid it well. “Even Yoonji noona, or you as Yoonji noona, I had a good time on the date, but I knew it would never work out when I was still hung up on you.”

Yoongi’s cute smile was worth that embarrassing confession.

Jimin took a step toward Yoongi, the tips of their shoes nearly brushing as he looked over his face.

He wished he could see Yoongi’s real face, the one with his beautiful, dark plum horns and his sparkling black diamond eyes, but he enjoyed this view as well.

He brought his hand up, brushing his thumb against where he knew one of Yoongi’s horns would come from.

Yoongi shivered under Jimin’s touch, eyes closing for a brief moment before he opened them again, and for a moment, Jimin could see the deep, dark black of them until the shield eased them back.

“I guess I have a question for you then, hyung,” Jimin said, his voice low, keeping it between the two of them.

Yoongi nodded, head leaning into where Jimin’s fingers were now brushing his hair as he closed his eyes again.

“When are you going to come help me build my shoe rack?”

Yoongi’s eyes shot open, shock morphing into a laugh then into indignation. He reached out and grabbed Jimin around the middle, pulling him in so they were chest to chest.

Jimin’s laughter thinned out as he worked to catch his breath for a whole different reason.

“Park Jimin,” Yoongi said, his normally deep voice somehow even deeper. “Please let me take you on a date.”

Jimin felt himself nodding before he even had the conscious thought to do so.

Yoongi grinned and leaned in even more, Jimin could feel his warm breath brush against his cheek. He closed his eyes, waiting for the brush against his lips he knew was coming.

Instead, Jimin felt the rumbling of Yoongi’s voice against his ear as Yoongi said, “But first, please let me build that shoe rack. Please.”

Jimin fell against Yoongi’s chest as he laughed, and Yoongi caught him and kept him from sprawling across the ground.

When he was able to breathe again, looking back at Yoongi’s smiling face as he wiped his eyes he said, “yes.”

“Yes to the date, or yes to letting me finally pay back the favor I owe you?”

Jimin reached down with his free hand and took Yoongi’s free hand in his, leading them back down the path they take every day.

“Both.”