In the solitary mansion, that was so overly fancy for his tastes, there were multitudes of devices that could tell time, provide all sorts of entertainment; he had access to the internet, he had everything yet when he would search for anything that had to do with escaping, a big fat '405' would come up on the screen.
Taehyung had learnt not to threaten the demons with his fists. Similar to a parent who’d realised that they no longer had the strength nor the leverage to enforce physical punishments onto their grown child, he’d learned that Jimin had long shed the skins of a small boy, and held the physique similar to that of, or even more chistled that Jungkooks.
And for Jungkook; did he even have to explain?? The guy's shoulder's were practically twice the width of his own. Along with that he stood a good half a foot taller than him, too.
One more thing that he's learnt is that-- the latter was right.
“You'll regret it”
Yes, he did. He did regret going to see Jimin that day. Because maybe if he'd never accepted the latter's true form so naïvely, maybe if he hadn't trusted him he wouldn't be at this place in this particular moment of time, when he felt like breaking down.
Whilst Jungkook was now often gone out to erase any and all traces of demons on earth, and lower the possible chances of them getting caught, Taehyung now found himself trapped in a room with Jimin way too much of the time.
The demon would often try to spark up conversation, with Taehyung absoulutely refusing to speak.
But right now, he was at his breaking point.
“Why are you locking me up here?” The brunette simply asked the one of his two wards, his eyes dark and hollow, as if he was spiralling into insanity. But Jimin could see it.
The way in which Taehyung was desperately holding onto his sanity, terrified to let go, climbing up and up that familiar cliff of sanity only for it to crumble due to all this madness surrounding him.
“Because you don’t like me anymore.” Jimin paused, “I know; I knew the moment you called the very people that banished me and my brother back to our realm.”
Taehyung smiled bitterly at this.
However, he soon scowled, and stated. “I was found out easily, wasn't I??”
Such a calm look painted Taehyung’s face, it was as if… As if he’d already admitted to it. Jimin clenched his free hand into a fist.
This realisation made the handsome young demon’s bland disinterested look distort into a hard expression; the hand hooked around Taehyung’s shoulder blades also squeezed tightly, powerfully, making the smaller man cry out in pain, squirming pathetically yet being unable to fight back.
When he was urged to eat the spread of fancy and undeniably delicious meals in front of him, each with abnormally large portions, he would scoff and turn his head.
He was malnourished. A malnourished bird of an exotic type caught in a golden cage owned by two demons whose only aim seemed to be his mental downfall.
And Taehyung had to admit, if his mental dissipiation was the demons' intentions, they were succeeding. This; being trapped in a mansion with nowhere to run yet being pampered so badly that he couldn't bear it- was a different type of torture that he never thought he would ever have to go through.
There indeed was a phase in his life dedicated solely to psychological thrillers, murder mysteries in which the victims would be put through all sorts of excruciating tormenting methods. At first, the would beg and beg for mercy. And then?? They would break. Either physically; dying. Or mentally; going insane.
Taehyung was on the mental side of that spectrum. But the torture was different. It was--
It was almost comfortable. It was the only word he could use to describe it but everytime he though of that word, Taehyung would chide himself profusely. He can never get comfortable with such snakes. Such monsters.
“I can clearly remember every detail from when you woke up here, including the way you looked at me.” Jimin stared fixedly at him, a blood-like mist faintly beginning to take over his black pupils; in the isolated darkness, it appeared particularly seductive, the red even more gorgeous than the regular jade black. His eyes narrowed sensually.
Taehyung didn’t feel the need to smile anymore. If anything, he could feel physical weights made of melancholy dragging his heart to the pit of his stomach, but his expression remained stoically pleasant.
What other expressions could he make?
Jimin listened to the brunette's’s intermittent laughter; between each choked laugh, there’d been a light hack escaping his hoarse throat. He was crying. In suck a broken way.
The demon felt an inexplicable yet extreme pleasure, yet beneath that, an agony. An aching, a burning in his chest.
However, he ignored it, as a stupidly wicked grin stretched his ethereal features. For, he as a demon had never felt emotions this deep before. He was a mightily powerful hellborn. And he most often-- sought the pain and suffering of others. It's what he had grown accustomed to.
'Have I brought you pain? Am I reason enough for you to feel sad?'
'Who allowed… Your disdain for me?'
His petty joy was much like a child’s revenge, except it was far worse than just revenge; it was selfishly depriving Taehyung the choice to like or dislike something, someone.
He remembered a very familiar voice telling him. Deep and hoarse. Smug despite the millions of agonized voices in the background pleading for mercy as he talked.
"𝗥𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗼𝗻...𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘂𝗽𝗼𝗻 𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘁𝗲. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁, 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗶𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘁 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺."
"𝗬𝗲𝘁 𝘀𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗱𝗼 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗲; 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘁𝗲. 𝗜𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚."
"𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗹𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗴𝘂𝘀𝘁, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚"
And so he bites back the frustration of the displeasure that the brunette shows at his presence, and smiles.
It's okay if you don't like me anymore, Taehyung. Its even okay if you begin to despise me and try to erase my existence. As long as I have a place in your mind. As long as you are not indifferent to me.
He seemed to have found something. A weakness behind the crumbling walls that the brunette had put up against him. Jimin smiles gently, fiddling with the hair of the person within his arms and bowing his head almost religiously to kiss it.
“Shh, there's no need to cry, Tae. Why are you crying?? Are the facilities here not suiting your needs?? Is there anything that you want for that you do not have here??”
Taehyung remained struggling against the hard and broad chest. It was emmiting artificial warmth that he didn't feel drawn to.
Once Jimin's hold tightened, and he realised that there was nowhere to run in the first place, he became still.
His voice was hoarse and glum as he talked.
“No, Because you turned out to be the opposite of the person I thought you were. It hurts.”
Jimin frowned. Taehyung couldn't see due to his head being buried into the demon's chest.
Taehyung was not capable of restraining all his emotions. He was not a novelist, nor was he a powerful historical figure whose emotions were lost in the pages of history; he wasn’t a scheming politician, nor was he someone who could fully calculate the consequences of his actions.
There were multiple possible reasons for his mood swings nowadays; Lack of sleep, constant survival mode, mental exhaustion, malnourishment and...fear.
It happens in a flash. He grabs onto Jimin's collar and clenches it in his fists, gazing up into Jimin's now sparkling eyes with a gaze he didn't even realize was so captivating.
"Why are you keeping me here?! Let me go!!" His empty eyes are suddenly moist and filled to the brim with tears. His breath trembles through each syllable.
He shook the demon, who's upper body limply swayed to his will. Who's existence would only ever sway to his will.
"I'll do anything! I don't have much money-- but I can give you everything I have! Just stop preventing me from leaving!!" He wails frantically.
And despite his strong demands-- Jimin, ever the unforgiving demon, merely stares at him with relaxed, smug eyes. And seeing this, Taehyung's sense of urgency heightens, almost to the peak.
"Fuck-!! Is it begging you want!?? Im sorry!! I'm sorry I called whoever I did-- I-- Just fucking let me g--"
His vocal chords are abruptly cut off.
As smoothly and quickly as a whirl of cold wind, Jimin had shoved him right down onto the couch and climbed on top of him as his teary eyes widen in both dread and shock.
"We've been very, very patient with you, Taehyungie."
Taehyung shudders, turning his face away when Jimin leaned in yet flinching as he felt the hot breath of the latter fanning his reddening ear, the sirenic voice tickling his canal as sinfully plump lips almost touched the tip of his earlobe.
"Either you accept us on your own accord, or we make you. And with whichever choice you take, you will become ours. In other words...."
"𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞."
Taehyung grits his teeth. His body is relaxing again beneath Jimin as it had before. He refuses to show any signs of submission.
He kicks up his leg, hitting Jimin right in the stomach and despite the rather harsh impact, the latter looks up at him with an amused expression that was answered with a glare. It seemed that even his most strained kicks came off as mere taps to Jimin.
The brunette shivers yet again as that light-heartedly amused expression darkens into something much more sinister.
To this day, he could still not believe it.
He couldn't believe how wrong he was about Jimin. The very thought makes him tear up again. But he barely had time for such things anymore.
He has to think of what to do, and fast. He tells himself this especially as Jimin's breath grows ragged, eyes fogging with a ruby mist as his pupils dilated upon the squirming form of the small body. His accentuated cheekbones were dusted with a hint of pink.
Ignorance...what a terrible trait to possess. Yet rarely is it confronted with anything other than jest. For whomever possesses such alarming ignorance would often be passed off as a mere fool.
However, no one ever addresses what a price there is to pay, for such a trait.