➵ 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐉𝐄𝐂𝐓: 𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐒 [𝐊.𝐓𝐇]

"Then leave it! Leave her be, Tae!"

Oh, by all the gods.

Letting his eyes slide shut and fighting back a groan, Namjoon ran his fingers through his pale silver hair. "Tae, I have said this before and I'll say it again," his voice turned stern and he composed himself, crossing his arms over his chest, "do not try to seduce my sister. First off, she's too smart to fall for whatever games you're playing with her—" Namjoon hoped. At this point, he wasn't so sure. "—and secondly, if you use her to satiate your freakishly large sex drive, trust me, I will not ask any questions, I will not care that you're miraculously back from certain godly doom; your a*s is gong to get beat, you hear me?"

Taehyung paused for a moment, working his jaw.

And then he spoke, voice a bit rougher and deeper than it already was, and that was saying something, since he kind of always sounded like puberty had hit him more times than he'd banged a girl, and that was saying something.

Did having sex somehow make your voice deeper? No, there was no scientific evidence to prove that, and he'd have to conduct a sample and— gods damn it, he was getting distracted again.

"Well," Taehyung said, tilting his head almost dangerously and letting the corners of his mouth tip up into a smug smirk, one that made Namjoon want to punch it off, especially if it was related to the latest conquest of his sister, "I am afraid to relay the fact that even if both of those statements are true, I won't stop trying."

Now Namjoon definitely wanted to punch him. "Taehyung, what the f*ck!" he spluttered, throwing his hands in the air exasperatedly, "You could literally go after any other girl in the entire world, and she'd fall at your feet for you!"

Taehyung's eyes narrowed substantially, gleaming a dark shade of amber under the streetlights. They'd gone outside to talk in private, but Namjoon was beginning to regret that decision, because the dimness of the night was making Taehyung's face an awful lot harder to read.

"I do not want 'any other girl', as you put it," Taehyung said slowly, tugging his bottom lip between his teeth for a moment before he let it go, "I want her. And I'd appreciate it if you didn't try to kill me with your eyes every time I get within a league of her."

It was getting a substantially more difficult for Namjoon not to lunge at Taehyung at this very moment. Why did he have to be so childish and demanding? Didn't he know— gods, Namjoon would die before he let you get hurt in this way again. Not when he'd felt the pain you'd gone through the last time.

Kim Namjoon gritted his teeth and took a step closer to Taehyung, but the son of Ares refused to relent, darkly returning Namjoon's stare.

"What is this about, Taehyung?" Namjoon hissed softly, the wheels in his head turning as he debated the best way to twist Taehyung into backing off, "The fact that you haven't gotten laid in far too long? Your pride? Your ego? That you just want to prove that you can get anyone and everyone, even stubborn, hurt daughters of your father's worst enemy?"

Taehyung stiffened, chin snapping up in defiance and eyes alighting with incredulity. Good, Namjoon was getting to him.

"Grow up, Taehyung. You can't have everything, and if someone doesn't want you, then let it be. Don't act like a spoiled child and ignore everyone else's hurt in your attempt to satiate your gods-damned ego."

There. That should have been enough. He'd touched on exactly what Taehyung was doing this all for— and it made sense. Why else would Taehyung change his entire attitude and be so soft, so sweet around her? Act like he truly cared?

And now that it was in the open, Tae would back off, and everything would be fine. You wouldn't be able to fall for him, he wouldn't have the power to hurt you anymore, and Namjoon wouldn't be put in the compromising situation where he would have to choose.