"So where's your boytoy, Y/N?"
Already tired from finishing the many lectures you had in succession today, you sighed and turned around, facing Kang Hana with an irritated expression, her in turn just narrowing her contacted, acid green eyes at you. In all the time you'd known her, you'd only seen Hana wear her glasses four times, and even though she looked adorable when she did, that was exactly the reason why she had long foregone them.
Because Kang Hana was a terrifying person.
Today, she was adorned in a black, graphic t-shirt with a rose emblazoned on the front, high-waisted, black denim shorts, and fishnets that wound all the way up her slender, milky legs. A black baseball cap was also fitted over her head, her long sheet of silky black hair falling down behind her and swaying as she walked.
Hana was pretty. Gorgeous, even, with her diamond-shaped face and doll-like lips and big, dark eyes, although the true hue of them was usually covered by a brightly-colored contact lens.
You weren't sure how you had managed to become best friends with this externally cold, reserved, seriously salty girl. Maybe it was because of freshman year in highschool, when you'd first met her, she'd been, just, her regular rude self, snapping something when you bumped into her- and you, being the sarcastic, sassy person you were, hadn't backed down or cowered away from the girl either.
It was the start of a friendship that seemed odd on the outside- the two of you constantly jabbing at each other, eyerolls and hidden insults- but you had both gone past the point where you knew from the bottom of your heart that the other looked out for you, knew you inside out. And even if she seemed unapproachable, Hana was once of the kindest, soft-hearted people you'd ever met.
She was also REALLY intimidating.
To most people. Not to you.
"Taehyung is not my boytoy," you spat the word out with distaste, ignoring Hana's chuckle before she popped another bubble with her gum, "he's just an acquaintance from a while back and he needs a place to stay for a while. I offered him the couch."
You genuinely hoped the girl next to you would buy your story, but you wouldn't be surprised if she didn't. Hana was a kind of sneaky and perceptive that made even you nervous.
"Right," she drawled, raising both eyebrows at you, "and a Greek mythology fanatic as well?"
You inwardly winced, recalling the odd interaction you all had experienced this morning. It was nearing noon now, actually, and you'd almost forgotten about it. But of course Hana would bring it up.
Rolling your eyes as convincingly as you could at her skeptical tone, you quickly thought of a reply. "Well, he knows a lot about it," you relented (it wasn't exactly a lie; his stories-slash-history lessons had been really interesting, actually), "and you know that Adra and I are working on an Ancient Greek exhibit at the museum. He promised he'd help out."
You could tell that Hana didn't buy it, not fully, at least, but she just tipped her head. "Fine. He's weird, but I've seen worse. But tell me, are you actually f*cking this guy? Because it kind of really-"
You choked up before she could finish her sentence.
"NOT- NO," you stressed empathetically, shuddering at the thought, "no way. Absolutely not."
"He had a fresh hickey on his jaw, Y/N, I think you're going to have to lie a little better than that,"
Shooting Hana a glare, you groaned. "I'm not lying! He, being the chaotic, clumsy dumba*s he is, banged his chin on something and that happened, I swear! Don't give me that look, idiot-"
"Okay, fine, fine," Hana raised her hands up in the air in surrender, shrugging nonchalantly, "I'm just saying, it would be great if you were."
"WHAT THE F*CK HANA,"
"Ouch, don't attack me! He's hot as hell and he clearly looks like he knows what he's doi- good GOD, woman, chill!"
Still glaring at the Hana beside you, you let your hand fall to your side, your other one teasing the chain hanging from your neck. You didn't know why, but you felt a little bit of comfort, or warmth when you touched it.
Stepping side by side into your gait again, Hana lapsed into silence, staring at the floor you passed over with every step before letting loose a long sigh.
"And besides, Aurem was all over him," she muttered quietly as you two meandered across the grass to where you'd previously left Taehyung, hoping to god that your phone had given him enough distraction to stay where he was.
At Hana's words, your glare softened a bit and you let loose an exasperated groan. "Hana, Aurem's like that with everyone. And I mean EVERYONE."
Choi Aurem was a sweet, bright girl who was a complete and utter sucker for pretty people and finding 'the one'. You and Hana always had to be on-hand with a tub of ice cream and chick flicks ready in case her latest boyfriend decided to dump her. And yeah, even if she thought things weren't working out, Aurem was way too nice to do any dumping.
"Yeah, I know," Hana huffed, fingering the chains that looped across her multiple piercings in her right ear (the piercings that matched with yours, actually; you'd gotten them done in your senior year), "but... ugh. I just hate it, you know?"
You DID know. Because even though Hana was seriously skeptical of love and crushes and everyone honestly thought that the girl with pink hair and wide smiles was the polar opposite of her, there was one thing that you knew about your oldest friend that no one in the world did.
And that was that she had a HUGE crush on Choi Aurem.
You'd met the bubbly, pink-haired girl at a college frat party two years ago, actually. You'd helped her home when she was drunk, realizing when you got to her house that she was actually the little sister of your old friend Soobin. She'd been insistent on thanking you, and at first you found her overly-outgoing nature to be quite annoying (Hana more than you, really), but she grew on you two quickly, balancing out your sarcasm and Hana's saltiness with her cheer and shine.
And one drunk night between you and your oldest friend, Hana had spilled that she'd had a hopeless crush on Aurem and she needed help.
It was HILARIOUS.
But it also kind of wasn't, because you knew crushes, and you knew that they were named as such very appropriately.
"Hana..." you sighed, lips twisting into a sympathetic grimace, "well, if it's any consolation, I threatened to slice Taehyung to shreds if he so much as looked at her wrong. So, that's something, I guess."
Hana rolled her eyes at you but smiled nonetheless. "Always so violent, sheesh."
"As if you're not!" you spluttered in mock-offense.
"I'm not, though!" she shot back, "I may be a b*tch, but I don't go attacking people randomly like you do! With both your words and your actual fists."
"I- well, actually, that's fair,"
You two shared a quick grin.
The two of you walked along in silence, the bright red of your shirt contrasting with Hana's outfit of darkness and doom, but most people on campus knew that unless they came with good intentions, it was probably best to steer clear of you two. Aurem, poor thing, was stuck in classes today until 4, probably, and Hana would 100% wait for her after hers finished at 1.
But you? You were done now, glad to have taken no free periods from the morning. And even though you usually hung in the library and waited for your two friends to finish, you could under no circumstances do that today.
Because now you had a Kim Taehyung to take care of.
Hana pulled out her phone and checked the time, blanching when she saw that she had less than three minutes to sprint to her class. Gripping the straps of her bag tighter, she shot you a wicked grin.
"Have fun with your boytoy, hoe!" she yelled loud enough to make you wince.
"Have fun in class, b*tch!" you retorted, making her pull a face at you before she whirled around and walked slightly faster than before. Nothing made this girl run. Absolutely nothing, unless it was Aurem when Hana had stolen her food.
Still chuckling, you rubbed your forehead and turned around, making your way to the Jamba Juice on campus, where you had left Taehyung, and, in a desperate a attempt to make sure he didn't destroy anything, your phone.
If he had broken it, you were going to kick him in the face.
Turns out, you didn't have to kick Taehyung in the face, which was good, because that would have caused a scene.
The kid had just spend hours spamming your phone with selfies and very intensely playing flappy bird if he got bored of that before going ahead and spamming some more.
You honestly had no idea if he was actually a grown man or not.
"Taehyung," you sighed in exasperation after you had collected him from a bench on the pathway, eyes lighting up every time he pressed the camera button, "Taehyung, would you give me my phone back?"
He looked up at you with such a childish pout that you honest to god had no idea what to do. It would have been like taking candy from a baby.
"No!" he whined, pulling the device closer to his chest, "I like this strange contraption."
"You and me both," you huffed, kind of amused but mostly just annoyed as you ordered Jamba Juice, getting something grass-flavored for Taehyung just to see his reaction. As a broke college student, you probably shouldn't have done that.
But you didn't care.
"Taehyung, honestly," you huffed, holding out your palm expectantly once the two of you had sat down at a table, "hand it over. You've had your fun."
The red-haired demigod looked up at you and your vexed mask, and a sly smirk pulled at his lips, removing any pretense of innocence. "Very well... IF you do something for me,"
You didn't like the sound of that, at all. "Seriously?" you deadpanned, that statement sounding a bit too provocative for your taste.
"Mhm," Taehyung grinned widely at you, the type of Cheshire grin that instantly put you on edge.
"What, then?" you asked, crossing your arms over your chest as you decided to humor him for a bit. After all, you were sure that all you had to do to collect your phone from this idiot was to wait for the battery to run out. But still.
Taehyung leaned over the table on his elbows, close enough to your languid form that you could see the faint moles on his face, and the gold flecks in his dark eyes.
"Go to this 'black-tie' event with me,"
Wait... what?
Your eyebrows furrowed as you leaned farther away from Taehyung, eyeing him in suspicion. "Do you even know what that means?"
Taehyung's cocky demeanor faded for an instant. "No," he admitted, sheepishly grinning at you when you rolled your eyes, "but it is part of the plan to get my magical item back from that sphinx that likes you so much."
"Keep your voice down," you hissed, the words 'magical' and 'sphinx' instantly putting you on edge. You swung your head around, but thankfully, no one seemed to be listening to Taehyung's odd words. "And what?"
Turns out, Adra had decided to text you while Taehyung had your phone.
Sighing, you looked at the messages she'd sent and that Taehyung had undoubtedly seen.
Ms. Adra:
That demigod of yours is honestly more trouble than he's worth
Delayed the plans for the exhibit opening
WHICH you are required to come to, by the way
Usually I'd ask you to come over about now to help out and clean up the mess you two made, but I think you need some time
I understand that
But tomorrow night is the opening, it's a black-tie event, a banquet, and since you're my intern, you have to be there
Feel free to bring your Son of Ares
As long as you don't destroy anything this time
Of course Taehyung had read all of this.
He looked at you with an expectant look on his face even as you sighed, hating that you now had more of a responsibility to fulfill.
"I suppose you want to go with me?" you raised an eyebrow at him. "I mean, it's nothing worth going to, honestly, but there will be free food, so-"
"No, pretty one, you do not understand," Taehyung interrupted you with a wave of his hand, an imploring expression on his face, "this will be taking place at the museum, correct?"
Okay, exactly WHAT is this dude planning?
"Yes...?" you answered carefully, not exactly sure where he was going with this.
"And so it would be the perfect opportunity to retrieve my item!" he beamed cheerfully at you, clearly proud of himself.
It took a moment for Taehyung's words to sink in.
"Are you joking?" you hissed, leaning forward so you could speak quieter, "Adra invited us! You can't just- Taehyung, that is breaking every single etiquette rule out there-"
"We are stealing," Taehyung deadpanned, fixing you with an incredulous look, "I believe we are beyond the rules of etiquette."
Once again, you cursed the world for throwing you into this situation with this insane demigod.
Your fingers unconsciously ran through the bronze chain on your neck, gently yanking it against your collarbone. Taehyung watched the motion intently, but you paid him no mind.
So you were actually going to do this. You, a star student who had done no wrong in her entire life, were actually going to go ahead and steal something from a guarded facility during a party.
You were tempted to flip the table then and there and tell Taehyung ABSOLUTELY NOT, but you were reminded, painfully, of the way he'd broken last night, and then the way he apologized because he thought it was weak.
And also the way you promised to help him.
Besides, as soon as Taehyung's gone, everything can go back to normal.
In the light of all this, a single word made it past your gritted teeth.
"Fine,"
"Brilliant!" Taehyung cheered, throwing a fist in the air in victory. You pursed your lips as you watched him, unamused, but even you couldn't help the faint smile that grew on your face as you watched the overeager demigod in front of you.
You ran your fingers through your hair, shaking your head. "Tone it down, Taehyung."
"Hm," a smirk rose up on Taehyung's face again, making you wince, "wouldn't you like me to?"
He'd gone seductive again, and even though you had no idea what he meant, his lowered voice alone was enough to send blood rushing to your head.
"Shut up, please," you muttered, ducking your head as your drinks finally came. You happily slurped up your Strawberry Surfrider, the burst of sweetness being just what you needed right about then.
"UGH," you head Taehyung gag as his tastebuds came into contact with the grass juice for the first time, "what the INFERNAL-"
You could see him visibly trying to choke the first long swig he'd taken of it down and although you did try, you couldn't contain that laughter that ripped through you right at that moment.
Taehyung glared at you, visibly disgruntled as he saw your shoulders shaking and you contentedly sipping up your own drink. "What did you even GET for me?" he growled, eyes narrowing at the inconspicuous plastic cup filled with the vile green liquid.
"Grass juice," you hummed, relishing the way Taehyung's face once again twisted up in disgust. His fingers twitched around his mouth- he looked like he wanted to rake his tongue out.
"That... oh, cease your laughter!" he cried once more in response to your now-full-blown giggles, "It is not funny! You did this on purpose!"
You glanced at the finger he was accusingly pointing at you and grinned. "Guilty as charged," you smiled sweetly as you stood up, plucking your phone from his hand as you did so.
With yet another shake of his head, Taehyung sighed and got up as well, leaving the grass juice on the table with another disgusted glare.
He pouted sullenly. "You are mean," he said plainly.
"And you're annoying!" you popped back, still smiling as the demigod in front of you still rushed forward to open the door of the shop for you, although he looked irritated even while he did it. The gesture was still sweet, though.
But... eh, I feel bad.
He DID say he liked strawberries...
After a minute of silent walking, you shoved your still-relatively-full cup in Taehyung's face. He eyed it suspiciously, raising an eyebrow at you.
"It's not terrible," you shrugged, trying to look nonchalant, "you don't have to drink if you don't want to."
There was a moment of silence, but as you began to withdraw you hand, Taehyung's quickly wrapped around he cup, only showcasing how much larger his fingers were than yours. He took a tentative sip from your straw, and his face brightened considerably at the taste.
"That very honestly tastes amazing," he mumbled around a mouthful of smoothie, "and it's strawberry!"
You chuckled a little at his adorableness. "Yeah, well, you're welcome to share."
And as you pulled the cup back to you and took another long sip for yourself, you didn't notice how Taehyung's eyes softened.
Just a little bit.
You were actually in a pretty good mood, considering how terrible the situation had become- you'd just agreed to stealing something from your boss at a banquet she had invited you to, for god's sake. But you and Taehyung had just lapsed into a sort of a peace while you shared the smoothie, the cup sliding between the two of you until the content inside had vanished.
Your university's campus was large, cleanly designed, and altogether pretty aesthetically pleasing. The buildings dotted around were made of a smooth, white material alternating with glinting glass, the paths that wound around them were brick, always tidy and lined with trees and lampposts. What wasn't covered by building was neat grass, the occasional bench dotted here and there.
Taehyung seemed in slight awe of the place, actually. It was the first time you had seen him honestly paying attention to what was around him.
"It's all so big," he murmured, so softly you almost didn't hear him.
You shot him an amused glance. "Really?"
With a quick nod, Taehyung looked down at you. "How did you mortals even manage this?" he inquired, his eyebrows furrowed in deep thought. You wanted to burst out laughing at his expression, but you thought that doing that would be kind of mean.
He hasn't seen the world since a thousand years ago, you reasoned, of course this would seem insane to him.
Even though your reasoning, though, Taehyung gave you an irked look. "I can feel your amusement," he muttered, pouting involuntarily, "it is not funny!"
"Sorry!" you quickly threw your hands up in the air, although you were smiling. "But hey, us mortals are smarter than you give us credit for."
"Hm," Taehyung cocked his head back to stare at the clean lines of the buildings, letting out a long breath. "I suppose."
Rolling your eyes at Taehyung's superiority complex, you let your lip quirk up. "Well, we have to go downtown to get us some 'black-tie' clothes anyway. Just wait until we get there- I think you'll change that 'I suppose'."
Taehyung chuckled at the way you drawled out your words, his dark eyes lighting up with mirth. "You are always so eager to put me in my place," he snorted, "it is amusing, but what can one expect from Athena's blood?"
You shrugged- he wasn't exactly wrong. This son of Ares had teased you enough.
The two of you fell back into another spell of silence- a peaceful one, surprisingly. Was it possible that you were actually getting along with this fool? Maybe. And to be fair, if you had to be stuck with him for a while, then you may as well try and get on reasonable terms with him, right? Okay, fine, you could do that. He was acting pretty okay right about now anyway. Well, until-
"Hi!"
Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me.
You sighed as you were faced with a subtly seductive, lipstick-coated smile, big, bright eyes, and a pretty face you honestly had never seen before in your life.
You were disappointed, sure. But you were NOT surprised.
Throughout the entire time you'd been walking with Taehyung, you could see people all around you giving the red-haired demigod beside you stares, most from girls who were pretty obviously smitten with the looks of the guy next to you. But you couldn't blame them, honestly- Taehyung, with his tall, broad-shouldered frame and his silky red hair and his symmetrical, astonishingly handsome face was pure eye candy.
No, you couldn't blame basically every female you passed from giving Taehyung at least a double take, in a relationship or not.
But what really irked you was when the starstricken eyes fell on you, and you were suddenly shouldering a whole lot of venom and jealousy that you could physically FEEL from the intensity of some of the stares.
You sighed resignedly as you faced the girl in front of you, one of the more brazen ones who had decided that enough was enough and she was going to get Taehyung's number.
Thing was, he didn't have a number, and you knew that this was going to get pretty messy pretty fast.
You knew Taehyung could feel your irritation and hesitation outright through the mind link, and with a glance at you when you didn't say anything (this girl would undoubtedly ignore you if you did), he shot her a charming smile.
Kim Taehyung DON'T YOU DARE-
"Hello," he tipped his head, the lilt and deep was of his voice clearly sending the girl in front of you into utopia. His eyes flickered to you again, but you didn't look at him, just crossing your arms and hoping he would NOT engage with this girl, because then you would have to take matters into your own hands.
"Did you need something, gorgeous?" Taehyung prompted after a heartbeat of silence. You almost facepalmed at the pet name he threw in, but you managed to hold your tongue. His face was decorated with that irritatingly cocky smirk that let no doubt live in your mind that he was indeed readying this girl for a barrage of proper flirting- and no, you were NOT looking forward to that.
Whenever you came to your university with you brother (a pure f*ckboy as well), this would happen too. You weren't new to it, honestly, but let's just say you were pretty much done with this already.
And yet you couldn't leave Taehyung to his own devices, because that was a recipe for utter disaster.
What didn't help WHATSOEVER was that Taehyung was still being his irritating, f*ckboy-ish self and smirking at all the attention he was getting. This b*tch.
"I saw you at Jamba earlier," the girl responded after getting her bearings, flashing Taehyung a sweet smile, "do you go here?"
A flash of bewilderment flickered over Taehyung's expression, and before he could say anything absolutely idiotic, you jumped in.
"No," you said flatly, your voice making the girl in front of you finally let her gaze rest on you for the first time, "he does not."
If this girl had looked completely seductive and beautiful in the face of the man next to you, she seemed purely demonic now. You'd seen it before; the jealousy, the judgement, the flash of bitter fury.
Taehyung had clearly caught it too, and he glanced at you, amusement dancing in his gaze. You threw him a glare before turning back to the girl, who opened her mouth to speak.
"And who are you?" her voice was inquisitive, and she did a reasonably good job of hiding the contempt in her tone. Reasonably.
You tilted your head, a slow smirk spreading across your face as you realized there was only one way to get rid of this girl..
Time to f*ck a b*tch up.
"His girlfriend," you shrugged, before hooking your arm in Taehyung's and just walking away.
Shoot. Now Taehyung was grinning at you, his eyes sparkling with mirth that tarnished the satisfaction you had been feeling only moments before. "Girlfriend, huh?" he chuckled quietly, breath hitting your ear and sending goosebumps trailing all over your skin as he leaned closer to you. You could honest to god HEAR the smirk in his voice as you looked straight ahead, lips pursed.
"Taehyung, I am only going to say this once," you ripped your arm out of his and glared furiously at him as soon as you were out of sight, nearing where you had parked your car, "but for the love of god, if you don't keep your d*ck in check, I will cut it off."
The demigod beside you looked down through strands of scarlet hair that hung into his eyes, his smirk widening. "What do you mean?"
Okay, you were starting to regret ever being nice to this guy. "I MEAN, stop eye-f*cking girls all over the place," you huffed, crossing your arms over your chest as you faced him, the entire wave of annoyance you'd been holding back suddenly bursting forward, and Taehyung undoubtedly feeling it, "you already attract attention, looking as hot as you do, and we do NOT need you exposing yourself by saying something stupid. So stop."
Taehyung laughed, letting his head roll to the side. "Are you sure you're not just jealous, sweetheart?" he cooed. Your lip curled up in disgust, and you shoved his away from you.
"No!" you hissed, "Why are you being so immature about this? I'm serious- stop it! I don't need to be associated with someone who people think came out of an asylum, alright?"
You prodded Taehyung's chest backing him into your car, your eyes narrowed as you glared up at him, meeting his own lazily amused eyes. "Stop," you spat.
The two of you stared at each other in silence for a heartbeat, the wind whistling past your forms in an almost taunting manner.
Finally, Taehyung took a step back and raised his hands in the air, shaking his head and laughing lightly.
"Alright!" he let his tongue flick out of brush over his lips as he grinned at you, nodding faintly, "Alright, pretty one, I'll do as you ask."
Well thank f*ck.
Satisfied for the moment, you let a long breath hiss out from between your teeth as you began to turn away, nodding and reaching for the car door. "Well, good-"
Your words died in your throat as Taehyung's fingers lashed out and wrapped around your wrist, spinning you around harshly and pinning you to the car behind you, his eyes dark and yet bright at the same time.
"But if you keep acting like that, baby..." the scarlet-haired demigod purred, his touch even through your blouse sending sparks up and down your skin, warm and addicting and oh, the things you'd let him do to you-
NO NO N-
"Do you really think I'll be able to control myself?"
A/N: *sweats nervously* TAEHYUNG CALM THE HECK DOWN- no but seriously his new look for the comeback sent me to my grave I kid you nOT-