Chapter Text
“Jimin, Yoongi hyung, can you guys stop flirting for a second and actually help me move those boxes?”
Taehyung was exhausted. The sweat was running down his back, making his shirt almost see-through, while his friends weren't helping at all.
“Namjoon hyung, that’s my precious vase. Don’t you dare touch it!” Taehyung suddenly shouted, terrified.
Namjoon was carefully holding the vase that Taehyung's grandma had gifted him when Taehyung suddenly turned and noticed him.
Taehyung rushed towards Namjoon, hitting his leg in the process. Namjoon lost his balance and dropped the vase, but before it could hit the floor, Taehyung thankfully caught it.
Taehyung let out a sigh of relief and squinted his eyes at Namjoon.
“But I was trying to help you—” Namjoon started, a little confused.
“Namjoon, you’ll be helping Taehyung by not touching it.” Hobi slapped him playfully on the shoulder.
“And Jin hyung, why are you not doing anything?” Taehyung put both his hands on his hips and looked at Jin.
“You think this worldwide handsome face is for moving things?” Jin scoffed at Taehyung.
“Ohhh God, why did I even think it would be a good idea to ask all of you for help?” Taehyung looked up at the sky and pressed the heels of his palms against his tired eyes.
Jimin finally finished flirting and came over to Taehyung, wrapping him in a burrito hug.
Taehyung wanted to complain, but he could never say no to Jimin's burrito hugs.
“W-What? But, Jimina?” Yoongi reached for Jimin's hand, but Jimin shrugged him off.
“Let’s go, Taehyung.”
Everyone was completely drained and sweaty after working for three hours straight. The empty boxes were piled in one corner of the living room, and the packed boxes were in the other corner. The kitchen was finally set.
Hobi sprang up from the couch and shouted, “Who wants pizza?”
Namjoon was the only one who waved as an answer. The others just groaned in response, and Yoongi was in another world, sprawled on the floor like a cat.
No one said anything, everyone too exhausted to even speak.
“Great, then I'll order pizza and Sprite.”
The next morning, Taehyung slowly sat up and took a long breath. He looked around. A gentle, soft smile was still lingering on his lips.
Taehyung saw the photo frame on his nightstand that he had put there yesterday. It was his favourite picture of his mom and dad.
He reached towards it and smiled for a moment. “Good morning, Mom and Dad.”
Taehyung looked around his room and sat there for a moment, taking it all in.
His home.
With wide eyes, he realised that he finally had a place he could call his. He could already feel that this year was going to be the best year of his life.
But then his eyes fell on the unpacked boxes, and his smile disappeared.
He groaned and lay back on the pillow for a moment and stared at the ceiling. In times like this, he wished for some company, not just friends, but someone more.
Someone to wake up to. Someone who'd wait for him when he came home from work.
But then he simply pushed the thought away. Taehyung shook his head. He had always waited for something or someone special, but he couldn't find them until now.
“Taehyung, you better start cleaning.” He got up and went to the bathroom.
He brushed his teeth and started preparing his morning tea and breakfast before he could start with the remaining work.
It was afternoon. After having breakfast, he was in the storage room. He decided to start from this room so he could store all his extra boxes here.
The previous owner had left so many weird things in the storage room, like an old brass candle holder, a cracked mirror, and some dusty boxes. And a book?
Yeah... The previous owner was definitely some weird old man.
Taehyung put all those things aside in the junk box and got back to cleaning.
The room was filled with tiny cobwebs, with paint peeling from the walls. There was a faint, unfamiliar smell in the room, something different from the rest of the apartment.
There were strange symbols on the cover of the book, written in a language that looked too ancient for him to understand.
It took him half a day to clean just one room. His arms were feeling heavy, and he could sense the headache coming.
He took the junk box to the living room, put it on the coffee table, and collapsed on the couch, letting his head fall back.
Taehyung was about to fall asleep when his phone rang. He got his phone out of his pocket and saw that it was Jimin.
He picked up the phone. “Hey, Jimin.”
“Tae!! I'm coming over to yours. To help you.” Jimin sounded extra cheerful compared to Taehyung's exhausted self.
Without even waiting for an answer, Jimin hung up the phone. Taehyung rolled his eyes at Jimin's enthusiasm, but he was thankful to have the company of his friend.
After fifteen minutes, the doorbell rang. Taehyung went and opened the door, and there was Jimin, standing with a beautiful smile on his lips and his hands full of takeout boxes.
“Hii Tae!!!” He pushed Taehyung playfully and got inside the apartment.
Jimin started looking around. “Wow, Taehyung, you absolutely did change nothing from yesterday.”
Taehyung was standing with his hands on his hips and was looking at Jimin with a dead look in his eyes, like, Are you serious, Jimin?
“Okay, okay, now I'm here to help you, but first, let’s eat something.” Jimin said and smiled his oh-so-sweet smile at Taehyung.
They made a space on the table so they could fit all their food and then sat on the floor. Jimin bought enough food to feed four people, to which he said, “I thought we might need backup.”
Taehyung's stomach growled at the smell of food that filled the whole apartment.
“Ohh God, I don't think I can even move after eating all that.” Jimin collapsed on the floor after eating.
“Who told you to eat three extra pieces?” Taehyung replied from beside Jimin, also on the floor.
Both of them rubbed their bellies as they lay there, completely stuffed.
Taehyung looked at the mess they had made and decided that they should get up and start cleaning.
Jimin dramatically groaned as he grabbed Taehyung's hand and finally got up.
“So... from where should we start?” Jimin asked, looking around.
Jimin took one glance around the apartment and then at Taehyung.
“I already did the storage room... And the previous owner has some weird shit. It's all in that box.” Taehyung made a weird face and pointed at the box on the floor.
“Weird? Ohh, let me see it.”
Jimin rushed towards the box, his eyes lighting up like a kid. He picked up the box, put it on the coffee table, and started going through it.
“What's this book, Tae? It looks like some ancient shit.” He turned the book over in his hands, ran his fingers over the strange symbols, and squinted at the cover. Then he looked at Taehyung from over his shoulder and laughed.
“I don't know. I'm not interested.” Taehyung gave the book a brief glance before returning to his own work.
“Ohh, Tae, look. It has some kind of ritual to summon a demon.”
Jimin's eyes widened a little. He turned around and looked mischievously at Taehyung.
“Jimin, no, we are not doing anything stupid. And you know these things are not real.” Taehyung dismissed Jimin before he could complete his sentence.
“But Tae, imagine we summoned a demon. Then you can tell him to do all the work.” Jimin looked around the apartment, at all the mess and piles of boxes, like he had just given Taehyung a world-class idea.
“Jimin.”
“Taehyung.”
“Jimin.”
“Taehyung.”
“Ugh...” Taehyung huffed and threw his hands up in defeat. “Okay, fine. Just because I'm bored of doing this cleaning and not because I'm convinced by your stupid idea.”
Jimin grinned and immediately opened the book again.
Taehyung sighed.
He already regretted this.