Eating in the library was permitted so long as they paid for whatever food-related damage was caused to the books.
So, there they sat. Huddled and crowded around a bookshelf in the far back, away from prying ears and eyes, attempting to talk around varying degrees of mouthfuls of burger meat.
"So," Hoseok began, munching merrily on the last bit of his burger bun, "where do we start, Kook?"
Jungkook startled and turned toward Hoseok with a look that the office worker related to one of someone that had been reluctantly put into the spotlight; deer-caught-in-the-headlights mixed with scornful promises. "And how am I supposed to be the captain of this exploration when I don't even have a map?"
"Why are you speaking in metaphors, Demon Boy?" Jimin mocked good-naturedly from his slumped position against the bookshelf.
"Well," Taehyung, still blissfully ignorant of Jimin's presence, spoke up with a blinding smile, "I thought you could just use your supernatural intuition and point us in the right direction with roundabout rhymes and schemes like a full-fledged demon."
"That's not"—Jungkook sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose—"how it works."
Hoseok hooked an arm around the tensed bridges of Jungkook's shoulders and gave his forearm a gleeful shake. "Then strut your stuff and show us how this shit works because, clearly, someone in the media messed up while trying to represent demons."
Jungkook gave him a heated glare that was quick to snuff itself out when Hoseok offered an encouraging smile.
"Alright," Jungkook eventually heaved, shouldering off Hoseok's arm and walking toward the library's selection of supernatural genres. "Well, I would always go for the stuff that looks to be written in the olden times since their stories are more historically accurate." He scrunched his nose up in obvious displeasure. "Modern novels romanticize the shit out of factually incorrect events."
Hoseok stifled his incoming laughter with a hard shove of a second burger into his mouth.
"And, uh, if you happen to find something that was published in the 1800s," Jungkook continued, unperturbed by Hoseok's behavior, "make sure you double-check the author's name on the cover, spine, and anywhere else that's necessary. There was a nasty little pre-demon that plagiarized novels for profit by hand back then, but he somehow forgot he was dyslexic."
Hoseok rose an eyebrow and swallowed his current mouthful of burger. "And it only applied to people's names?"
Jungkook shrugged as he browsed the shelves' contents. "I dunno the specifics since I never did any further research besides that simple brush-up; it's required that a demon knew of at least twenty notable pre-demons before they got their job license."
Hoseok shared a bemused glance with Jimin, who had taken it upon himself to actually settle down in a chair.
"Anyways." Jungkook pulled free an unusually thick novel off the shelf and showcased its cover to Hoseok and Taehyung. "He didn't copy down the content inside word-for-word, and often twisted around some facts as little Easter eggs or something, so just"—he then flipped the book around so that it showed the spine of the book, which held the author's name, only it was missing a vowel—"be careful, please."
"Duly noted," Taehyung replied, offering Jungkook a mock-salute when the demon rounded on him with a raised eyebrow.
"That tedious task aside," Jungkook continued on with a light smirk dancing along his lips, "just make sure you always, always remember to compare the notes and facts written down with other novels and see if there's a notable difference between the sources."
Hoseok, munching on a mouthful of too-much-lettuce-and-not-enough-meat, released a weary sigh at the demon's insistent demand. "Looks like we've got our work cut out for us."
Jungkook offered Hoseok a wry grin. "You should've expected at least a little bit of labor to be put into this deal of ours, right?"
Hoseok frowned good-naturedly at Jungkook's quip and shook his head in slight disbelief.
If only, he wondered, absentmindedly ghosting Jungkook's careful movements through the bookshelves, I had gone along with him to Hell.
The thought had been making a frequent appearance in the crashing waves of panic, fear, and disbelief that was Hoseok's mind. A simple what if that held no such right to be in total control of Hoseok's grief; what with Taehyung's situation being much more pressing than his own, who was he to linger on regrets that held no meaning to their name since the deal was irreversible?
So, with a sharp smartening of his slumped posture, Hoseok finished off the meager remainder of his too-much-lettuce-and-not-enough-meat burger and approached Jungkook with his determination intermingling with the library's dusty atmosphere.
Jungkook looked toward him with unguarded surprise, but it melted away into approving confidence when Hoseok began to browse alongside him with eased comfort.
"Hey, hyung?" Jungkook murmured softly, voice carrying an unspoken weight that had Hoseok tensing up.
"Yes, Jungkook?" Hoseok muttered back, pulling free a promising novel that held the note-worthy title of Witchcraft: A Neglected Artform.
"I haven't gotten any memories of Taehyung yet, and I'm starting to get worried." Jungkook's voice wavered as Taehyung joined them in their leisure browsing. He lowered his voice even further as he breathed, "I'm getting memories of myself, but not of other people, so I'm sure it's not exclusive to just him. But I can't help worrying because he's the thing that I'm constantly exposed to when it comes to my past life, so something should've caved by now, right?"
Hoseok looked up from his investigation of the author's name (all clear) and stared up at Jungkook from his crouched position. His lips tugged themselves into a contemplative frown upon noticing the distinct presence of pensive anxiousness swirling in the demon's blood-red eyes.
He'd seen the discomforting expression on the demon's face far too often as of late, and he still hadn't figured out a clear-cut way to work around the stifling atmosphere that ghosted after the despair that lurked in the midnight shadow of Jungkook's eyes. He always kept his silence or brushed off the conversation with the standard excuse of being buried under work.
But here, where there was no rush besides the apparent crunch of time lingering between the lethargic hours of lunch inside a library, Hoseok found himself caught between a rock and a hard place.
"You said it's probably not exclusive to Taehyung-ah, right?" Hoseok ventured after careful consideration.
Jungkook stayed silent at the question, thin-lipped and tense.
"Then you should hold on to that thought," Hoseok suggested. "Think positive thoughts, Kook. There's no harm in taking our time."
"We kind of set up a tight deadline, though," Jungkook muttered eventually.
Hoseok's eyebrows rose in brief shock. "You want to find out a solution today?"
Jungkook shook his head curtly, eyes meeting Hoseok's for the first time since initiating the conversation.
Hoseok startled at the apparent self-deprecating gloom that doused Jungkook's entire expression: his lips curled sourly in on themselves, repulsed by their own attempt at lying; his eyes swallowed out the dim sunlight that shone through the nearby window and appeared cold and pitched with midnight.
Those lips, bitter and nauseated, moved to sound out the simple, gut-wrenching words that had Hoseok jolting back into reality:
"Remember? Deal's up at the end of February."
--
The research session ended up fruitless because the trio had spent the grand majority of their time filtering through the necessary material to see if they were credible or not. The sorting concluded with an oppressive stack of dud publications, and a meager pile of legitimate resources spread neat and even along the table's surface.
"Should we check these out, then?" Taehyung questioned once they had gathered around the selection with reluctant cheer.
"I don't see why not," Jungkook agreed.
"You better remember to turn them in so that I don't have to pay any late fees," Hoseok grumbled as he lifted one of the credible novels off the table. "And no horseplay with Jimin when you're holding one; I can't afford to look for a replacement copy for even half of these ancient things."
"Who's Jimin-ssi?" Taehyung inquired, innocently puzzled.
Hoseok gave a flippant wave of his hand toward Jimin, well aware that Taehyung was still plenty ignorant of the angel's existence. "My guardian angel whom you can't see or hear because of Heaven's rules or whatever."
"Don't give him such a watered-down version as a first-time introduction!" Jimin cried out, offense bleeding into his stood stance.
Hoseok sighed. "And he just got mad at me for not introducing him properly, but I must argue that we really don't have time for this." He gave a sweeping glance toward the library's clock and released a hiss of impatience. "We've got ten minutes before break ends, so let's speed things up, okay?"
Hoseok shoved an odd handful of novels into Jungkook's arms and gave the demon a simple command of "clean these up," before grabbing half of the credible books for himself and speed-walking to the checkout counter.
"When do I have to return these?" Hoseok questioned, watching the librarian's rapid movements of scanning the barcodes of the books.
"The third of next month," she replied sweetly, giving Hoseok a once-over before offering the office worker a gentle smile. "You're not registered, by the way."
Hoseok blanched. "Does that take long?"
The librarian tilted her head questioningly, the smile still splayed across her lips. "Depends on how long it takes for you to get the necessary information copied down onto paper."
Hoseok released an agitated breath of air before gathering about all of his wits and offering the librarian a smile of pure persuasion. "Can I just show some I.D. and take these home with me?"
The librarian returned the smile, shiny and customer-service driven. "You'll also have to show proof of your current address if you do that."
Hoseok groaned in defeat.
"Don't worry, Hoseokie," Taehyung's voice reassured, sudden and coy. "I'll just register for the both of us so that you can get back to work on time, okay?"
Hoseok sent Taehyung an appreciative look before running back to where they had set up camp for their session. "Jungkook!" he hissed upon noticing that the demon was still clumsily putting the books back into their respective places. "Hurry up before I leave you here!"
"You can very well do that, you realize?" Jimin commented casually from where he sat, unbothered and calm. "You don't have a set limit on the distance that can be between the two of you, as far as I'm concerned. Just go to work, Hoseok-hyung."
Hoseok startled from his anxious annoyance and offered Jimin a look. "And you don't feel the need to join me because...?"
Jimin shrugged nonchalantly, though his indifference came off as forced and discomfited when Hoseok closely observed the wavering pupils of his eyes. "I'm just gonna stick back and make sure that Jungkook does his job properly."
Hoseok's gaze lingered on the tense position Jimin held himself in, before finally calling an end to the stare-down and rushing out the library's front doors.
A/N - vibing with the lads at the library 🤙