➵ 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐉𝐄𝐂𝐓: 𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐒 [𝐊.𝐓𝐇]

"He is NOT in the mafia!"

But now... the way you felt soothed with his presence, the way his touch made you melt and his flirting and teasing now made you flush and laugh and his voice made your heart clench and his smile made your stomach flutter, made you feel something you hadn't felt in a long, long time.

Butterflies.

You but your lip and swung your attention back to your friends, trying to school your expression before they realized you'd been daydreaming. Good god, what had Taehyung done to you? Shaking your head, you once again focused on Soobin, Aurem and Hana.

It had struck you as both flattering and also kind of terrifying when you'd seen the three of them waiting like some sort of wrathful spirits bent on vengeance when they'd seen you walk on campus. It was slightly funny but also terrifying when they'd both leaped on you, yelling so loudly that you proooobably had PTSD at this point.

And yes, they'd asked (ahem— demanded) an explanation. Naturally. Soobin made a face at you as you snorted at both of them, trying to keep a handle on your panic at their clear skepticism in your story.

"I mean, what do you guys not get?" you groaned, sipping at your strawberry smoothie and exasperatedly kicking the lanky motherf*cker beside you in the shin, "Look, I've been a little preoccupied for the past few days with my brother, I've missed him and I hardly get to see him these days."

"That's it?" Hana scoffed, flicking her silky black hair over her ears as she shook her head at you, "Honey, we were this close to sending a SWAT team on your a*s, and you were only hanging out with your brother?"

"Yeah, idiot, do you know how worried we were?" Aurem demanded, face furrowing into a frown that was probably supposed to be intimidating but looked rather like a pout.

Wincing, you let your head hang back, giving you a full view of the annoyingly cheerful blue of the sky that day. A cool wind brushed over your cheeks as you did so, buffeting a few strands of hair you'd let escape from your messy ponytail over your face.

Okay, you were technically telling the truth, but seeing Hana's intensely skeptical expression, you knew your perceptive friend was sure you weren't telling her everything. Which... you weren't. But how in the world were you supposed to explain the entire demigod fiasco to your friends?

Ah, yes, Taehyung Thanos snapped from a sword into my apartment, turns out he and my brother are demigods, turns out my boss is a sphinx, turns out Aphrodite runs Gucci, turns out I've got Athena's blood and I'm cursed by some psycho war spirits who are jealous of a dude who can't even tie his shoelaces.

AH YES, PERFECTLY NORMAL.

"Guys..." you huffed, lip jutting out in an involuntary pout. You hated lying to your friends, it made you feel sticky and tacky and left with the residue of something twisted, but what could you do? You didn't want to make their lives more complicated as well, even if yours was beyond saving. "I'm sorry for worrying you. But I swear nothing's going on, really."

Both Soobin and Hana looked similar— arched brows, narrowed eyes, pursed lips. They exchanged a glance as you very casually dipped at your drink. Aurem arched an eyebrow at you in that knowing way that made you want to kick something.

Finally, Hana relented, sighing. "You know, I was beginning to think you were kidnapped or something," she scoffed in usual Hana fashion, gaze flickering to Taehyung with his phone clothed in his giant-a*s hands today swathed with gloves, because he just wanted to, evidently. "Not that I care, or anything, but your little boytoy has been giving me some weird vibes."

"He's not my—!"

Hana ignored you, barreling on. "I mean, he's a grown-a*s man and he can't drive, he doesn't drink, he wears gloves in the middle of summer, and ever since he showed up, you've been acting sus as f*ck."